"Shall we continue patrolling then?"
"No problem."
Just as Rayleigh and the girls were about to resume their patrol, the small figure of a Pallum appeared before them.
It was Lyra.
"Yo, how is it going?"
"Lyra, what brings you here?" Alise asked
She was puzzled because today's patrol mission was supposed to be just her and Ryuu teaming up, and they had only invited Rayleigh along.
Lyra's assigned patrol area was in a completely different direction.
"Did you finish your patrol already?"
"Yep."
Lyra's gaze swept over Ardi, Alise, Ryuu, and Rayleigh, as if she was searching for something interesting.
But remembering she had serious business to attend to, she stopped.
"I'm here to deliver a message."
Lyra wore a smug smile, which made everyone curious.
"Suspicious activity detected, set the net early."
The Pallum girl conveyed the content of the instructions she had received.
Hearing this, everyone's expressions changed.
Alise asked, "Where did these instructions come from?"
Lyra seemed to have been waiting for someone to ask this question.
She replied, "Why, from our Pallum hero, of course!"
"Finn?" Rayleigh narrowed his eyes. It seemed the strategist had noticed something.
Just then, Ardi spoke up. "I have some information to share with everyone too. Let us have dinner together and talk while we eat."
Alise agreed. "I'm in!"
Rayleigh nodded as well.
...
Two hours later, the hungry group found a restaurant and sat down.
Ardi requested a private room, once they were seated inside, Ardi began to explain.
"It should be safe to talk here. Actually, my sister asked me to tell you all about this."
After their conversation, Rayleigh and the others learned a lot of real-time information.
One of the more important points was the situation outside Orario.
Recently, the Ganesha Familia had discovered illegally traded items among circulating merchant caravans.
A Branch of the Great Sacred Tree.
This was a precious material that could only be obtained from Elven tribes, and Elves would never allow other races into their homeland.
For some reason, the Evilus were attacking Elven forests outside the city.
Some organizations outside the city were funding the actions of the Evilus.
Orario's enemies were not just the Evilus, there were also other kingdoms eyeing Orario, as well as underground merchants seeking greater profits.
Additionally, during the previous attack, the evilus faction had stolen a Trigger Device from the magic stone workshop.
"Seriously, I wonder what the Evilus stole that thing for," Lyra grumbled.
Finn had shared his thoughts on this.
He believed this was intentional on their part. If they wanted to hide their plans, they would not have just taken the trigger device.
They would have taken more things to cover their true objective. The reason they did not do that was because the Evilus' goal was much more straightforward.
Hearing this, Rayleigh's eyes widened.
He looked up and said, "It is a bomb!"
His statement left the girls stunned!
"What do you mean by bomb?"
"Are you saying the trigger device can make bombs?"
Rayleigh nodded with a grave expression as he explained, "If the trigger device is used on flame stones, it can create bombs with terrifying destructive power."
"So that's it!?" Lyra's expression changed, and she said, "I will report this to Finn as soon as possible."
"Tomorrow's mission, I will leave it to you all."
"Okay, leave it to us!"
"How long has it been since our team was together? It is finally coming back to life this time!"
Looking at this lineup, Rayleigh let a smile form on his lips.
It had been several months since the team stopped its activities, yet he felt as if many years had passed.
For Finn to entrust their team with this mission showed his judgment was very good.
Or rather, that was just like him, was it not? For investigating the matter of the Evilus, perhaps no one was more suitable than them.
...
The next day.
Rayleigh and the team members entered the Dungeon early in the morning.
They made their way to the safe floor, the 18th floor.
According to the intelligence Shakti gave to Finn, the Evilus seemed to be hiding on this floor.
However, after the Guild sent people to search the entire floor several times, they found nothing.
This led to suspicions that there was a hidden door somewhere on the floor.
"Leave the scouting to me and Ryuu. Once we get close to the enemy, don't act without thinking. I will use Kidō to hide everyone. Wait for the right moment to move."
Although it had been a long time since they last operated as a team, Rayleigh got back into the groove.
He began commanding as the team leader.
The girls nodded and started moving according to his instructions.
Ryuu released the Shikai of Haineko, spreading it out to probe the surroundings in the form of dust, while Rayleigh focused on sensing the spiritual networks.
After lying in wait for half the morning, the two spoke at the exact same time.
"Found it!"
The team mobilized, heading toward the passage connecting the floors.
This was a path that Adventurers had to take.
"The Evilus are insane, daring to ambush Adventurers in a place like this."
As they got closer, Rayleigh signaled the girls to stop.
He made a hand sign. After waiting two seconds, a barrier of distorted light made of Reiatsu covered their figures and it made them all disappear from sight.
"Whoa!"
"Are we invisible!?"
"So cool."
This was Bakudō Number 26: Kyokkō.
By covering an object with special Reiatsu, it could be made invisible to the naked eye.
In their invisible state, they arrived at the scene. In the middle of the passage, there were fewer than ten members of the Evilus.
Among them was a man who stood out from the rest. Unlike the others who wore black cloaks, he practically had "I am the leader" written all over him.
At that moment, they were attacking a group of Adventurers.
The leader was very strong, taking down several high-level Adventurers alone in an instant.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!?"
"It is the Evilus!"
"Its those Adventurer Hunter! Damn it!"
"They will not even let us explore the Dungeon properly!"
"Run!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
Facing the fleeing Adventurers, the leader laughed while mocking them.
"Don't run away, you lot! Even if you cannot become heroes, as Adventurers, abandoning your comrades' bodies is shameful!"
While he was engrossed in chasing the fleeing Adventurers, Rayleigh and the others had already circled around behind him.
They appeared out of nowhere, taking down all the Evilus members except the leader in one swift strike!
"What!?"
The leader turned around.
Facing Rayleigh and the others, he shouted, "Who are you!?"
The answer to his question was a water strike to the face!