Chapter 280 – Willing Volunteers

A tingling sense of apprehension settles on Emily’s shoulders, but she doesn’t let it show as Peripal continues.

“Now, you’ve already completed registration as a crew temporarily affiliated with the FAF, so our first order of business will be deciding which of your members are willing to volunteer to enter the new dungeon those mechanoid scum are trying to claim.”

Something about his use of volunteers, likely the sneering hiss he actually used when saying it, sets off alarm bells in Emily’s head.

“So, you really are letting outsiders in?” Yorn confirms leaning forward in anticipation. “What are the entry requirements?”

“Unfortunately, they’re nearly identical to a barrier breaker: fourth level awakened and below only.”

“Damn!” Yorn growls in frustration, before clearing his scowl with a huff and shaking his head. “Whatever, I guess some of our weaker members get the chance to show their worth. What else?”

“There are multiple doorways in, and there’s only a single entry window per cycle. You don’t have to worry about that, though, you’re in time,” the Sub-Commander explains, his tone coming through the Translator as calm and reassuring, where it’s naturally clipped and condescending, the small inflection barely noticeable. “However, unlike a barrier breaker, our scans suggest it’s a single challenge within, and physical contact upon entry won’t be required to stay together.”

“How’s entry being handled?”

Emily’s mildly surprised by the reasonable question and glances towards Silvia, who immediately catches her gaze, silent understanding passing between them.

Is she telling him what to say?

The corner of the vampire’s mouth faintly curls in amusement, confirming Emily’s suspicion that Silvia’s communicating with Yorn using an untraceable qi transmission.

“Affiliated groups and a small party of FAF elites will enter together, followed by our main force,” Peripal replies. “You, as one of said affiliated groups, will be expected to take the frontline and the associated risk, but you will be permitted to keep sixty per cent of the tradable resources you claim.”

“What about untradable?”

“Oh, well, anything you can’t exchange without risking your life can be kept in full. Obviously.”

Emily turns her head to meet her son’s eyes beneath the low hood of his cloak, and he wordlessly extends a small tendril from his sleeve, closing the gap between them and making contact before opening an undetectable mental connection.

‘He’s expecting something that can’t be passed on,’ she says the moment she feels his presence click into place, ‘but doesn’t expect anyone else to be able to claim it.’

‘Would you like me to?’ her son offers without hesitation.

‘We’re yet to see if it would be useful to you, but there’s only one way to find out. It could slow down our takeover if we separate, but I’ll work something out.’

He nods and pulls back, breaking contact a split second after it was made.

“Okay, give us a few minutes to get an accurate head count,” Yorn says, seemingly satisfied.

“Of course, I’ll return shortly for your answer,” the Sub-Commander sneers, though none of the pirates hears it but Emily, before turning and marching back towards the door he entered through, wordlessly gesturing for two of the watching guards to follow him.

For a few moments, nobody speaks, letting the hall fall into silence.

Elwaine wordlessly raises his arms, slipping one hand into the opposite sleeve of his robes, he draws a unique casting focus, a short rod of pale stone covered in minuscule etchings of runes: a wand. The base of the wand’s handle holds a small, sparkling gem that’s nearly clear, filled with enough raw, unattributed mana to match a lesser essence in density.

He sweeps the wand out, channelling mana into it and lighting the delicate runic carvings with a soft blue glow that dances up the focus’s length in a twisting spiral, tracing a border around their small group. After connecting the border into a full circle, the elven mage gives a few small flicks of his wand, letting out several intent-filled bursts of mana, before stowing it away again as a perfect privacy ward settles into place.

Emily hears the thin, barely perceptible barrier he’s built around the group activate as much as she feels it, the faint clicking sound of one of the guards tapping a finger to his gun disappearing in an instant. She resists the urge to reach out with her own hidden mana and catch a glimpse of his runework.

“Speak freely,” Elwaine says, giving Yorn a firm nod before falling silent.

“So, none of us can enter the dungeon,” the Captain starts gruffly, looking around the decision-making crew members and pausing briefly on Silica and Mensacus, frowning at his cloak but not questioning it, before finally settling on Silvia. “Who are we sending?”

“Do we think it's worth allocating a large portion of our forces?” Silvia questions in return.

“They’re sending us in first. They’re clearly trying to use us as meat shields. Why waste the bodies?” the four-armed woman asks with an exaggerated shrug, seemingly disinterested. “It’s only a fourth-level dungeon.”

“Azala has a point,” Elwaine says, though his expression is curled in mild disgust as if the admission hurts him. “Though one should never underestimate the value of rewards from the universe’s natural trials and tribulations, in this case, the boon likely won’t outweigh the risk should we send a large force. We’ll just make ourselves a target for the other crews joining.”

“So, we send a smaller team we can trust to get out in one piece if things go south and hope they can extract enough resources to make it worth the effort?” Silvia confirms, looking around and finding no one disagrees.

“I’ll go,” Mensacus says in the silence before she can continue. “I can feed off anyone who falls along the way and benefit no matter what.”

Silvia nods, appearing completely unbothered by the declaration, whilst looking to Emily for permission. Emily catches a flicker of honest confusion in the vampire’s gaze, questioning why she’s sending away such an important piece to their plan.

“Both of them can go,” Emily nods towards her children as she pulls her Terminal from her belt and sends off a message with a spark of machina. “Silica needs some more combat experience to reach her next ascension, and I trust Mensacus to keep her safe and make sure we profit from the opportunity. I’m sure I can manage without them for a short while. Oh, Pod and Ivor will be joining too. I’ll make sure they’re well equipped to handle themselves, no matter who or what strikes, but a few more to accompany them would be appreciated.”

“Certainly.” Silvia nods, understanding flashing in her gaze as she turns away. “Lethia, Perinith, Azala, Shale, please put out the word in your branches that we need, let’s say, four volunteers each for a dungeon dive. I want at least one other fourth level to join.”

The four branch leaders in question nod and take out their Terminals to send word to the gunners, casters, brawlers, and defenders, respectively. It only takes a couple of seconds for them to receive responses.

“Hey, hound,” Azala calls out, drawing an annoying huff from both Rotlith and Rotwin as they turn to her. “I’ve got one of yours here, Rotwire, offering. You cool with that?”

“Of course,” Rotwin nods, turning his focus from the four-armed woman to Emily to explain. “He’s fourth phase and one of my most reliable packmates. He’ll help keep your cubs safe.”

Emily nods with appreciation while Azala rolls her eyes.

“Great, I’ve got four then. One fourth phase, one third, and two second.”

“I’ve got mine as well,” Lethia says with a flat, bored tone. “One third stage, two second, one second phase.”

“Two third circle, two second,” Perinith adds the moment she’s done.

“I have one third circle, two second, and one second stage,” finishes Shale, the winged humanoid that looks as if carved from stone: a gargolian.

“Perfect.” Silvia nods, turning to face Yorn. “That’s two fourth level beings, five third level, and twelve second level.”

“Actually, six third level and eleven second level,” Emily corrects. “Ivor succeeded in his ascension while we were separated.”

“I only needed the numbers,” Yorn says with a dismissive huff, looking to Elwaine and nodding with intent.

“Congratulations,” Silvia says to Emily anyway, ignoring their Captain.

Elwaine dismisses his privacy ward with a gentle wave of his hand, and Yorn nods to one of the waiting guards, who scuttles out through the door the Sub-Commander took. They only have to wait a few minutes before Peripal strides back in.

“I take it we have our volunteers?” he asks as he comes to stand before Yorn, flanked by the two guards who left with him earlier.

“We have a team of two fourth level, six third level, and eleven second level crewmates willing to go,” the pirate captain replies smoothly.

“Wonderful. It’s best they’re taken to the meeting point as soon as possible.” The Sub-Commander gestures to the two soldiers at his sides. “My men here know the coordinates and can direct them if one of you would be able to take them to the ship carrying these crewmates of yours.”

Yorn silently meets Silvia’s gaze for a moment before giving her a small nod.

“I’ll see to it that they’re sent off swiftly, then I’ll return,” Silvia declares, gesturing for the two soldiers to follow her with a sweeping wave of her hand before turning and meeting Emily’s gaze with a smile and a small tilt of her head.

Emily falls into step beside her without missing a beat, while Mensacus and Silica fall in behind the soldiers.

“Now, as for the rest of your crew,” Peripal continues as they leave, “There are several conflict zones that need support, and you’re a large group. Would you prefer to remain as a unit, or do you work well separated?”

They step into the teleporter before Yorn can respond, vanishing from the room in the blink of an eye and reappearing in the transportation hub.

‘Are you sure volunteering your son was a good idea?’ Silvia asks as they walk towards the teleporter linked to the port where their fleet is docked, transmitting her words directly into Emily’s ears with qi to avoid the FAF soldiers overhearing. ‘We’ll have to put our plans on pause while he’s away, and he’s meant to be keeping a low profile within the crew; he doesn’t even have a piracy mark.’

‘I trust him to make the most of the opportunity, and I’ll deal with the rest,’ Emily replies confidently, a plan forming in her mind as she matches Silvia and speaks with waves of directed machina in place of sound. ‘I’m going to travel to the dungeon entrance with them. We’ll enchant his cloak properly so no one will be able to identify him as anything more than a standard darkness mage, and I’m going to put my focus fully on my mental affinity. If I can’t get to the point where I can cast his Mental Lock alone before they enter the dungeon, I’ll burn a few of the crystals my teacher gave me to speed the process up.’

‘You’re sure that will work?’

‘Positive. Achieving manifestation is only a matter of time, and I’m no longer quite so bound by that.’

They step through another teleporter and arrive back in the port. Silvia pulls out her Terminal and reads through a message waiting for her before pinning her gaze on one of the ships in the distance and marching towards it.

‘Okay. In that case, I told Yorn it was more efficient to offer to split the crew before we left, so I’ll return to the meeting and keep pushing for that once you’re off. I’ll get Lethia to send you logs of all groups and their deployment coordinates, so when you’re ready, start checking who they’ll draw for. I’ll make sure that Yorn doesn’t notice the ships under your command are missing.’

‘What about the FAF?’

‘They shouldn’t care about or look for a few unaccounted for ships across all their combat zones, but if you run into any trouble by chance, you may want to try to keep it quiet or use Elivarus’ name instead: they may be inclined to inform Yorn if they find Heavy-Blade ships where they shouldn’t be.’

‘Noted.’

“These ships will be your ride,” Silvia says aloud, mostly to the FAF soldiers, gesturing to five vessels on the smaller side not painted with the Heavy-Blade colours. They’re all lightly armed fighters that Emily doesn’t recognise from Silvia’s splinter fleet in the recent separation. “Their crew are already on board and loaded to go, and our dungeon volunteers should be on their way now. Emily here will be in charge of the squadron, so I will leave you in her capable hands. Good luck.”