Chapter 82: With Great Numbers...

Using their extra resources, they also pushed for Hercy to reach the stat limit at +250, and even leveled up her skill to Level 3. Thanks to that, the range of her skill underwent a substantial upgrade.

She could now "show" the floating screen to up to 5 places within 10 kilometers around her.

With that, Raive didn’t wait any longer and began.

"Then, we’re airing in three, two..."

With Hercy’s words as the signal, Raive fixed his stance, looking gallant and serious, before speaking out loud. Since his figure was now being transmitted to five equidistant locations at the edge of Hercy’s range, it should reach many people’s ears.

That was more than good enough.

"I am Raive Asterates. And I’d guess most of you already know who I am." He started.

As the one who basically led the entire clearing of the second trial, there’s nobody within the same trial who didn’t know his face.

And since trial groupings were seemingly area-based, the other members of the near nine hundred survivors should be nearby too. This announcement mostly targeted them.

"As you’ve all realized, the second trial was much harder than the first." He continued. "We only managed to clear it so easily thanks to everyone working together perfectly from start to finish."

Of course, it wouldn’t have worked without him taking the lead, but he left that part out.

He didn’t want to sound narcissistic, singing his own praises.

"Thus, I’m calling to all of you... Please join my team! Together, we shall aim to be the last survivors here on earth!"

Right.

What he was doing was addressing their only real weakness right now: numbers.

Raive could already feel it. The next trial would be impossible to clear without great numbers gathered as a team. Not a prophecy or a prediction, but the only conclusion he could draw after analyzing the trends from the first two trials.

After laying out the benefits of joining, along with the requirements, he quickly wrapped up the announcement.

"So, if you’re interested, visit the OOO Mall today, from noon until sundown, for the screening. I’m looking forward to meeting you all."

After finishing what he wanted to say, he nodded toward Hercy, who quickly cut off her skill.

She’d projected the screens at maximum size and volume in five different directions, each covering a radius of at least a kilometer. There should be quite a number of listeners.

Even if only 1% showed up, that should at least double the team’s current size!

More numbers meant a substantial upgrade to their strength and flexibility too.

"Alright!"

Raive clapped his hands, grabbing everyone’s attention.

"As you’ve heard, we’ll be doing a screening and picking a few new members for our team. Still three hours away, so for now, let’s clean up the neighborhood!"

After the second trial ended, it wasn’t just the uncleared dungeons releasing their monsters—new dungeons had started appearing everywhere too.

From what Raive could detect, there were already over 300 new dungeons within the area he’d cleared before. Twice as many as after the first trial. Even the red dungeons he could sense had doubled.

They only had a week to clear them, too. Raive couldn’t stay confident he could handle it all alone this time.

The previous trial had run on fixed timelines. If this new batch followed the same pattern...

"These dungeons should all take a considerable amount of time to clear." Raive declared. "So we should start as soon as we can."

"Understood." Hazel nodded quickly. "So, do we hunt on our own, or move as a single group?"

Raive paused, thinking.

"Let’s... go as a group, for now." He decided, after some thought.

"Another premonition?" Shymine asked with a frown.

Raive shook his head. "Not yet. Once we reach a dungeon, I think I’ll get something. I’ll decide again after that."

Thankfully, the closest dungeon was just a hundred meters away.

So they moved together as one, marching toward the nearest dungeon, a violet one, and stopped right next to the entrance.

Raive placed a hand over the edge and quickly frowned.

[Detected a Pseudo-Trial (Violet). Creating a new checkpoint...]

[One save slot available. Saving...]

[Success.]

As expected, the earlier warning about his saves being deleted before the second trial turned out true. A real waste, since he’d been planning to keep a save at the earliest point, letting him loop back to the past whenever he needed. But...

’Feels like the gods are trying to nerf my skill now...’

The way the archangel had stared at him, calling him "irregular," was more than enough of a clue.

’Guess my skill’s just too overpowered and needed a patch.’ He shrugged.

Either way, the save went through successfully.

Which meant he could now scout the nearby dungeons, figure out their properties, figure out which ones were worth farming, then loop back to let everyone know.

That would mean dying at least once, but it should be more than worth it.

"Everyone, listen up." He said, turning around. "I only got a vague premonition this time, so I don’t want to gamble."

He took a deep breath, checking everyone’s expressions one after the other.

"For now, we should split into two groups and check out the dungeons in parallel." He said. "I’ll be part of the first group, while Hercy takes the second."

"H-Huh?"

Hercy, suddenly named, looked shocked.

For her first dungeon dive as a member of the team, she had to lead a "weaker" splinter group! She felt confused, even a little targeted by his words, but—

"Of course, this is for a reason. Hercy, I want you to broadcast what you see onto a single floating screen... and then attach that screen to me."

Raive had never actually heard Hercy’s skill description, but he could still make a few guesses. One of them—that she could "anchor" the screens to certain objects, keeping them moving along at a fixed distance and angle.

What he wanted to achieve was pretty obvious, though.

"I want to see the progress of your team’s clearing even while I’m at a different dungeon."

Of course, Raive still wasn’t sure it would actually work.

But if it did, their scouting runs were about to get a serious overhaul.