Chapter 114: Shifting Hollow

The next morning, the Ashcroft Family gathered around the mission board with the Nephilim standing nearby.

Their new C-Rank status had already changed the missions available to them. Instead of simple relic recovery and lower-level suppression work, the Association was now offering contracts that expected them to handle more complicated battlefields.

One of those missions immediately stood out.

[Mission Available.]

[Mission: Shifting Hollow.]

[Difficulty: C+]

[Recommended Team Ranking: Top 50.]

[Recommended Experience: 10+ Missions.]

[Objectives: Locate and suppress the Abnormality. Protect nearby civilians. Prevent the spread of the unstable Mana zone. Recover surviving personnel. Minimize casualties.]

[Known Threats: Multiple false Mana signatures. Rapidly changing terrain. Spatial interference. Abnormality-generated decoys. Civilian presence.]

[Estimated Duration: 2–4 Hours.]

Maki leaned toward the display, eyes tracking from one line to the next and back again like she was trying to read the mission twice before it finished loading.

"If the false Mana signatures are being generated by the Abnormality, then it could be moving between zones, but if the spatial interference is independent, the signatures could be stationary while the environment itself shifts around them. That would mean our safest route depends on whether the terrain changes according to the Abnormality’s movement or on a fixed cycle, and if there’s a fixed cycle, then—"

Reinhard looked at Lily. Lily looked back at him. He leaned in and whispered, loud enough for the entire group to hear, "She’s doing the thing again."

Maki stopped cold. "What thing?"

"You’re trying to solve the mission before we’ve even left the building."

"I’m gathering information."

"Of course you are," he said, nodding gravely. "How many hours are you planning to spend gathering it?"

She opened her mouth and then closed it again, visibly unable to produce a number. Lily burst out laughing immediately, and Maki shot her a look that did absolutely nothing to stop it.

"Don’t worry," Reinhard said. "I’ll cheer for you."

"Please don’t."

"Why not?"

"Because I know what you’re like."

He looked genuinely wounded. "I’m supportive."

"You’re shameless."

"Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive," he said, delighted with himself, while Rhea laughed and Seraphine watched the whole exchange with the open amusement of someone who had already decided this family was the best entertainment available in Elyndor.

He apparently decided everyone deserved equal treatment before they left. Lily finished checking her sword, and he gave her an approving nod. "That’s my girl. Go cut something responsibly."

Her face went red instantly. "Stop saying it like that."

Rhea laughed harder. He turned to her next. "Rhea, you’re going to do great too."

"Thanks," she said, grinning, clearly enjoying the attention in a way Lily had declined to.

"And Maki is going to make the smartest decision on the battlefield," he announced, loud enough to carry.

Maki froze on the spot. "Please don’t announce that."

"Why?"

"Because now everyone’s looking at me."

Seraphine propped her chin on one hand. "Keep going."

"You’re enjoying this?"

"Very much."

Emily was smiling quietly in the background, and Rika didn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed on anyone’s behalf. "He’s right," she said.

Maki looked around at all of them. "Why am I surrounded by traitors?"

Reinhard turned to Archon last. "You too."

"I don’t need encouragement."

"I know."

"Then why?"

"Because everyone deserves support."

Archon looked away. "...No."

"That’s fine," he said, entirely unbothered, like he’d already filed the refusal under things he’d eventually win anyway.

They departed shortly after. The Shifting Hollow sat in an abandoned district hours outside Elyndor, where unstable Mana had warped the surrounding area into something that had quietly stopped respecting geography.

The moment they crossed into the affected zone, the C+ rating made immediate sense.

The road ahead bent at an angle that shouldn’t have existed. A building that had been standing to their left was suddenly behind them. A Mana signature flared twenty meters ahead and vanished before anyone could close the distance, and another one bloomed behind the group a second later.

Yuna’s hand went up instantly. "Formation."

The Ashcrofts fell into position while Mara arranged the Nephilim around them, and Maki’s eyes started moving across the chaos, mapping Mana signatures, civilian positions, structural instability, possible Abnormality locations, movement routes, escape paths, trying to build a full picture before the battlefield could change underneath her again.

It kept changing anyway.

Seraphine noticed the spiral forming and didn’t tell her to stop. "How many decisions do you need to make?"

Maki scanned the shifting terrain. "At least twenty."

"How many do you need to make right now?"

She paused, looked at the civilians, the road, her team. "...One."

"Then make one."

Maki exhaled slowly. "Move the civilians toward the eastern structure. Yuna, take Lily and Rhea. Emily and Rika cover the center. Mara, keep the Nephilim between the civilians and the southern route. Reinhard—"

He raised a hand. "Cheer?"

She closed her eyes. "Protect the rear."

"Got it."

The team moved, and Maki’s call wasn’t perfect. The eastern route twisted as the terrain shifted again, sealing off the path the civilians had been using, and for one frozen second the old instinct came roaring back, the urge to calculate exactly why it had happened and predict the next shift before committing to anything.

There wasn’t time for that kind of thinking anymore.

"Cancel the eastern route," she ordered. "Move them south."

"Understood," Yuna answered instantly, and the formation reshaped itself before the ground could change again, the civilians reaching safety a breath ahead of the next shift.

Seraphine looked at her. Maki caught it. "What?"

"You changed your plan."

"I was wrong."

"You didn’t stop."

Maki looked out at the unstable field stretching in front of them. "I didn’t have time to."

"Exactly," Seraphine said, smiling like that answer had been the whole point of the exercise.

Something rushed in from the side before Maki could say anything else. Archon didn’t bother turning around.

The creature crossed several meters, then the pressure around her simply thickened, and the Abnormality got slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the road underneath it.

Everyone else froze. Archon kept walking.

"Excellent," Reinhard said, visibly impressed.

She said nothing.

He pointed at the crumpled creature. "That’s what I call proper enthusiasm."

Rhea looked down at it. "Is that enthusiasm?"

"Very enthusiastic."

"I don’t think that’s what she meant," Mara said.

"It worked," he said, which was somehow both an admission and a victory lap.

For a stretch after that, things ran smoothly. Maki kept adjusting to the shifting ground, still calculating possibilities but no longer letting herself get trapped inside them. Then three Mana signatures appeared ahead, one of them sharper and heavier than the other two.

"Rika, Emily, intercept the eastern signature," Maki called, and the moment they reached it, it vanished.

Her eyes widened just as the real Abnormality tore out of a fresh distortion behind the group. Emily caught the strike, but the force cracked through nearby structure and sent debris raining toward the civilians, Yuna already diving to shield them before it landed.

Maki stared at the unfolding mess. "I misread it." Her thoughts started spinning immediately, three signatures, four possible routes, two civilian clusters, five structural weak points, the terrain shifting twice already, the Abnormality’s—

"Maki," Seraphine said. "Next decision."

She breathed once, stopped trying to rebuild the entire picture, and simply watched what the thing in front of her was actually doing instead. "The false signatures aren’t random. It creates them wherever we’re most likely to respond."

Mara caught it instantly. "It’s predicting our reactions."

"Then stop reacting to the signatures."

"That’s my Maki!" Reinhard bellowed, fully unprompted.

Her face went scarlet on the spot. "Reinhard!"

"What?"

"Don’t cheer while I’m trying to think!"

"I’m supporting you."

"You’re embarrassing me!"

Lily lost it laughing, Rhea joined her, Seraphine made no effort to hide her own grin, and Emily just shook her head, amused. "He’s not wrong," Rika offered helpfully.

"Why is everyone on his side?" Maki demanded.

He put a hand over his heart. "Because I have excellent judgment."

"I regret becoming stronger," she muttered, and went back to the fight.

The battlefield lurched again.

The entire district folding inward this time, buildings leaning like they’d lost a fight with gravity, roads twisting into walls, distances shuffling without warning.

Mana signatures multiplied until the area looked flooded with enemies, and for a moment the team lost sight of each other entirely.

The old weakness tried to crawl back into Maki’s head immediately, too many possibilities, too much information, too much that could go wrong at once.

She forced her focus back onto the environment, the Mana, the civilians, and noticed something small, that the Abnormality’s real signature flickered weaker every time the terrain shifted. It wasn’t steering the chaos directly. It was hiding inside it.

"It’s moving during the transitions."

"Can you track it?" Seraphine asked.

"Not perfectly."

"Good enough?"

"Good enough."

That was all she needed. "Yuna, hold the civilians in the western zone. Mara, cut off the northern route. Emily, don’t attack the body, wait for the next transition."

"Understood," Emily said.

"Rika, follow Emily. Lily, stay with Rhea."

Lily raised her sword. "Got it."

"Reinhard."

He smiled. "Yes?"

"Don’t move unless I call you."

Both his hands shot up. "Understood."

Lily leaned toward Rhea. "That’s the first time I’ve seen anyone successfully order him around."

"Enjoy it while it lasts," Emily murmured.

"I follow orders," he said, offended.

"You follow good orders," Yuna said.

"Exactly."

The team spread out. An Abnormality construct charged Lily, and this time she didn’t meet it head-on. She waited, let it close the gap, and at the exact last second stepped aside and drove her blade straight into its Mana core.

It dropped instantly.

He cheered immediately. "Beautiful!"

Lily turned, proud. "Did you see that?"

"Of course."

"Did you see how I waited?"

"I did."

Her smile stretched wider. Rhea shook her head. "She’s actually learning."

Nearby, Emily waited for the next spatial shift, and the instant it hit she used it, altering the distance of her strike mid-motion instead of simply dodging. Space compressed. Time slowed by a breath. Aeon slid through the gap clean.

"Cleaner," Rika noted.

"Getting used to it," Emily said, smiling.

Yuna and Mara ran the formation without needing to discuss every move. Rhea kept the civilians moving while covering the rear.

Seraphine stayed close enough to help Maki without once stepping in to decide anything for her, and Maki noticed that too, that the help was in the restraint, not the answers.

Then the field shifted one more time, three false signatures blooming at once, and Maki ignored all three to watch the civilians instead. One of them had stopped moving while everyone else kept running.

"Behind us!"

The figure turned. The disguise fell apart, and the Abnormality erupted straight out of the civilian shell it had been wearing.

"Formation Three!"

The team snapped into position instantly, Emily and Rika meeting it head-on, Lily shielding the civilians, Yuna and Mara sealing the escape routes, Rhea hitting the exposed flank, Seraphine blocking a second distortion trying to open behind them. The Abnormality tried to force a gap through the net.

Maki tracked its movement, then called it. "Reinhard, now."

He stepped forward and simply moved, no dramatic flourish required.

His All-Cutting Slash sliced clean through the creature’s defensive shell, invisible and relentless, adapting the instant the shell tried to resist.

The defense gave out. The Abnormality threw one last burst of Mana at him, and he caught it head-on, overpowered it with nothing but raw strength, and drove it straight into the ground.

The unstable Mana around the district began collapsing in on itself.

He glanced back at Maki. "Was that good?"

She was breathing hard, but nodded. "Yes."

He grinned. "Excellent. I’m putting that on the report."

She knew immediately where this was going. "Don’t."

"I’m absolutely writing, ’Maki told me to do it.’"

"Reinhard."

"I’m proud of you," he said, and her expression softened despite every intention she’d had not to let it.

"...Thank you."

The Abnormality was suppressed, the battlefield settled, and the surviving civilians got evacuated while Association cleanup teams moved in to secure the area. Seraphine walked over to Maki.

"You know what changed?"

"I stopped trying to predict everything."

"Not quite." Seraphine shook her head. "You still predict everything. You just know which prediction actually matters now."

Maki turned that over. "Think faster."

"Act sooner."

"Adapt immediately."

"Right."

"Now you’re thinking like a field analyst."

"I thought I already was."

"You were thinking like a researcher," Seraphine said, and Maki considered it for a second before smiling. "That’s fair."

...

The Association processed the results shortly after.

[Mission Completed.]

[Shifting Hollow — Suppression Successful.]

[Civilian Casualties: 0.]

[Rescued Civilians: 23.]

[Contribution Points Awarded.]

[Fame Increased!]

[102,456 —> 132, 456]

[Current Fame: 132, 456 / 1,000,000]

[Description: Even the most average person knows about the fast rising Ashcroft family and the Nephilims. And if they recognize them in the streets, will to take a picture with them]

[High-Difficulty Performance Bonus Awarded.]

[Team Ranking Updated.] [Ashcroft Family — Team Ranking: #34 → #31.]

"Three positions," Maki said, eyeing the board.

"One more," Yuna said.

"Top 30 next?" Lily asked.

"Top 30 next," Reinhard confirmed.

The mission board refreshed.

A new recommendation appeared.

[Mission Recommendation.]

[Mission: Black Veil Expedition.]

[Difficulty: C++ / B-Rank Risk.]

[Recommended Team Ranking: Top 30.]

[Recommended Experience: 15+ Missions.]

[Estimated Duration: 6–10 Hours.]

[Known Threats: Abnormality activity. Unknown hostile Awakeners. Spatial instability. Unconfirmed Bloodkin presence. Relic-class Mana source.]

The room became quiet.

They were ranked #31.

They were finally standing directly against the wall separating them from the Top 30.

"A chance to run into Bloodkins?" Emily furrowed her brows.

Lily stared at the mission details. "That’s definitely harder."

Maki studied the screen.

Normally, she would have immediately begun calculating every possible outcome. This time, she simply looked at the people standing around her. "We can do it."

Seraphine smiled. "That’s one decision."

Maki smiled back. "Then let’s make it."

Reinhard watched the two of them for a moment before smiling.

[Investment Opportunity Detected.]

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Current Rank: C.]

[Current Value: C.]

[Objective: Help the team complete Black Veil Expedition.]

[Difficulty Grade: A.]

[Success Probability: 31%.]