Calling this situation a headache would be a massive understatent...
If Cedric's discoveries were to be true, the entirety of Black Thread City is at stake here.
Arishem was pacing back and forth. Clearly, he was stressed about this entire thing. He already called in so people that could help them with this situation but it's gonna take them so ti before they arrive.
Surprisingly, Erica and her team were also here.
As it turns out, Arishem was the one who inford them about what happened to them. Arishem was also the one who gave them the runes Cedric created that saved them.
Normally, he shouldn't be able to do this. This team just got back from an expedition and they earned their vacation until their next project was issued.
Alas, Cedric was right about this being above their pay grade, and Arishem's hands were tied here. This operation has to be kept as a secret, therefore he couldn't call in for people who were under the direct scrutiny of their enemies for that would alarm them.
Everything has to be stealthy because if their movents were exposed, the cultists would awaken the slumbering demons to lay waste to this city. And they can't be having that...
For the nth ti today, Arishem studied the map that Cedric made them. Thank god for his skills really, Arishem doubted that anybody could provide a map this detailed without raising any alarms like Cedric could.
And precisely because Cedric's map was so detailed that Arishem felt another wave of headache. The number of traps labeled on the map amounted to a whopping 50 in number. Every single one was deadly, and most would certainly escape their senses if they were to infiltrate the place without this map.
'As if the 20 or so Tier 5 Demons weren't enough of a headache, they just had to add this.' Arishem grumbled.
But all of that can't top the biggest headache of them all. That...whatever device Cedric told him about that's siphoning vitality from this City's Ley Line. That's the biggest problem of them all.
'It was a mistake to brush off this treat in the first place.' Arishem lanted.
Not that Arishem was the one responsible for that. He being one of the leaders of the Shadow Runners would never underestimate any kind of threat against humanity as a whole. He was far too experienced for that...
It was the other folks out there who labeled the cult as a low-level threat.
"Arishem...sit the fuck down. You're making dizzy." He heard a gruff voice beside him that woke him up from his stupor.
"City Lord! I...wasn't expecting you to arrive. I thought you were preoccupied with sothing rather important."
"To hell with that shit. How can I not co when my city's under grave threat? Fucking cultists..." the City Lord spat.
The City Lord's na was Reiner Braveheart. A man hulking man in his 40's. He's six foot and eight inches tall, clad in bulky armor that looks like it weighs tons. He had a mop of gray hair and ashy beard. His face had so wrinkles and he had a scratch-mark scar on the left side of his cheek.
In terms of appearance alone, his presence demands respect. He was imposing, intimidating, and scary even. Few people would dare to talk casually with this man due to the pressure he exudes naturally.
As for his prowess, there was no need to doubt it. This man was one of the few Tier 6 experts out there, and his innate Overall Aptitude Ranking was S-Rank, which ans that he's incredibly strong.
This man had faced multiple assassination attempts from Demons and lived to tell the tale. That in itself was sufficient proof of his strength and status.
"I'm not saying that I don't appreciate your presence here. Believe , it comforts a lot. But I'm afraid that you're too 'famous' to be here. That will risk this operation." Arishem reasoned out.
"I left a dupe secretly and went undercover to return here." The City Lord stated. "I know you wouldn't alert of your operations properly if you could handle it on your own. Don't worry, I made sure that nobody I didn't trust saw leaving and coming here."
"I see."
"Well, the rest of the people you called for were also here. They're waiting in the room you prepared so let's go. I want to hear what those heretics were planning to do with my city."
After saying that, the City Lord marched out of the room without waiting for Arishem.
Looking at his back, Arishem grimaced as he inwardly thought: 'Oh, he's not gonna like this at all.'
***
- About an hour later -
"...that about sums up what we collected so far," Arishem concluded his report. "If you all have listened carefully, you should already understand why we called you here."
"As much as it hurts to say this, we, the Shadow Runners, aren't well equipped to handle this kind of operation by ourselves. It was only thanks to the help of a Patron that we even caught wind of the cult's activities right under our noses."
"This is a grave threat to this city, and it must be handled with extre care. One mistake and this city will be buried like all of the cities we lost back then. I, for one, don't want to see sothing like that happening."
Arishem solemnly regarded his audience as he finished reporting everything he knew and could.
And as expected, the atmosphere within the room was tense. Most of the people here were having a difficult ti believing that such a force was brewing right under their noses this whole ti.
"...I'm not usually one to question the validity of your sources but...forgive , I just find it really difficult to believe that all of this is real. Do we have any confirmations at the very least?" One of the people he invited raised his concerns.
"I don't resent that. And truthfully, I myself couldn't declare complete validity of the proof we presented so far." Arishem replied, "But, the person we're working with hasn't misled us so far."
"This sa person was the one who helped us locate all of the hidden bases of the cult within the city. Allowing us, Shadow Runners, to clean them up swiftly and efficiently. I've shown you the ssages we exchanged as well as the follow-up reports of the actions we took after receiving that intel. That should amount to sothing at the very least, no?" Arishem added.
"The sa person was also the one who saved us from Slickthieves." The Leader of Erica's team interjected on the side. "If it weren't for that person, we would already be dead at this point, not knowing how it even happened."
"To top this all off, our source was a person who held a Lv.8 System Authority. That should be more than enough to confirm his alignnt at least. Plus, he gains nothing by lying to us except for this city and its citizen's ire." Arishem concluded.
Of course, he didn't miss the way how the City Lord's brow raised upon ntioning that last part.
He couldn't blad for that. People who held a Lv.8 System Authority like him could be counted on one hand in this city. Thankfully, the City Lord doesn't seem to have any desire to scrutinize their mysterious information source.
"Okay. Listing all of those sounds mighty convincing." The sa person who raised the question finally relented. "What's our plan then? Hopefully, it doesn't include us barging straight into the mouth of the abyss. You all might be strong, but I value my life greatly. A sound plan would make this a lot better."
"Are we really keeping his operation a secret?" Chrissy, one of Erica's teammates asked. "I get that we are trying to be careful here but if we move fast enough, they wouldn't have ti to awaken the demons."
"That would work if only the cultist didn't need a single press of a button to do just that." The City Lord snorted. "We can't show up to that place faster than they can awaken those abominations. The map shows it all, this calls for a thodical approach. Not my specialty but it's for the best."
"Plus, the crowd wouldn't settle fast enough for us to act. We can't risk a city-wide panic since that would just hamper our advance. If we took our sweet ti arriving there, it would be too late for this city already." Arishem shook his head facing this dilemma.
"Can't we...I don't know...ask your source if they could help us so more. I an, they're already in this together with us, wouldn't you say so too?"
"This was already the farthest extent of help we could receive from them. With little interaction I had with them, I could confirm that if they had the ability to provide more help, they would've already done so in the first place." Arishem sighed.
"Besides, it is a risk for that person to join this operation since that would expose their identity. Our helper wasn't ready to reveal their identity to the masses just yet."
"Well, if that's the case, we should start brainstorming ideas now. I'm afraid we don't have much ti left. The longer we dally, the more ti we're giving those demons to grow." The City Lord suggested.
Thanks to that, everybody started brainstorming for ideas to clear this problem as safely as they could.
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