Few days had passed since the Exploration Team, or what was left of them, returned.
What happened to Party 6 certainly impacted the Raid Team and the climb effort as a whole.
Sigyn and I used the last several days dealing with the changes it caused.
I was really glad that Master approved my recommendation to continue treating Fangli and Haoban.
Due to their conditions, I was worried that Master would discard the 3-stars and synthesized them.
But Master decided to reward their effort despite their poor state.
The two incapacitated heroes had now been sequestered in a special lodging on the third floor, separate from the buildings where the raiders of the Main Forces and the Reserve Forces stayed.
There they would constantly be treated with healing potions and other remedies to suppress the Dark Essence's effect.
I also included in my report that we could use Fangli and Haoban's illness as a way for us to learn dark arts. Likely that also helped Sigyn in approving my recommendation.
As promised, I also put in recommendations to Master to transfer Halim and Ashni to the Main Forces.
The two did not want to remain with the Exploration Team. Apparently they already had enough adventures from their time as mercenaries back in Dunia.
The Tsahanam pair intended to continue climbing the tower with the other raiders, despite all the danger the trials possessed.
Master fortunately approved the transfer.
The Exploration Team did bring the Advent Stone back and the Tsahanam pair were rare bonded heroes. It would be foolish to not include them with the Main Forces.
Sigyn had not assigned the two with a party yet. But they had been relocated to the Main Forces lodging for now.
Darius was really glad of their transfer.
Because of their shared age and life experience, the three along with the old men in Party 4 and Djhotti had been spending time together.
Since Party 6 had been disbanded, the Reserve Forces had been rearranged.
Party 7, Rizarde's party, had now become the new Party 6 while Party 8 became the new 7 and so on.
The changes made Sigyn rearrange the scouting squads as well.
Party 11 from the Third Advanced Scouts, which had two 3-star heroes in their ranks, had now become the new Party 10 and had joined the Fourth Advanced Scouts with the new Party 6 to 9.
The transfer caused the Third Advanced Scouts to be composed solely with 2-star parties now.
Master also transferred the surviving Party 19 from the disbanded Second Advanced Scouts and turned them into the new Party 15, filling the vacancy created by the absence of the former Party 11.
The reassignments should not affect much in terms of the squad dynamics.
Each party supposedly worked alone in the fourth Quintal Trial.
What really mattered was the individual strength of the parties. The groups that would serve as the vanguards, most especially.
There was a clear reason as to why Master was focused on rearranging the scouting squads the past few days.
[Choosing 'Third Advanced Scouts' for the mission.]
[Proceed with your choice?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
-
-
[Choosing 'Party 11' as the vanguard.]
[Party Composition - 'Pammo (★★)', 'Dellanie (★★)', 'Jaquile (★★)', 'Arram (★★)', 'Edvard (★★)']
[Proceed with your choice?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
The scouting effort continued.
Master had actually been preparing to scout the Quintal Trial again when the Exploration Team returned.
I had expected Master to deploy the Third Advanced Scouts no matter the Exploration Team found the Advent Stone or not.
We still could not deploy all five parties to the twentieth floor yet.
There was still plenty of the fourth Quintal Trial we had not yet discovered.
And Sigyn intended to learn them all.
"Victory to the Raiders!'
"Fortune to the Raiders!"
The crowd in the square cheered as Party 11 entered the rift of space-time.
[Main Dungeon, the current challenge floor is the 20th Floor.]
[The doors will open after ten seconds. Get ready!]
Despite no longer having 3-star heroes in their ranks, the Third Advanced Scouts was still composed of capable level 19 2-star raiders.
The leaders in Party 11 to 14 had reached level 6 in weapon skill. Another two or three members in each party also had at least attained level 5.
Even discounting the new Party 15, the Third Advanced Scouts was a better raid squad than the previous two that attempted the Quintal Trial.
We should make another progress in this scouting attempt.
Hopefully.
['Dellanie (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. Her stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Arram (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Edvard (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Pammo (★★)' has been inflicted with bleeding. His stamina will be reduced for a period of time.]
['Jaquile (★★)' is on the brink of death. His life is in danger!]
['Edvard (★★)' has fallen into the state of fear. All stats decreased by 30%!]
20 minutes passed in the mission.
One member of Party 11 got incapacitated.
But they had not lost anyone yet. Four members were still actively fighting.
This new vanguard party progressed better than the previous ones.
[Field formation is complete!]
[Master, the rearguard can now be deployed.]
[Extend a helping hand to the heroes in distress!]
[Choose the rearguard.]
[Designated Parties - Party 11 (on the field), Party 12, Party 13, Party 14, Party 15]
[You have selected 'Party 12'.]
[Party Composition - 'Sagran (★★)', 'Zemirel (★★)', 'Karolyn (★★)', 'Nubai (★★)', 'Tovhan (★★)']
[Would you like to deploy them?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
After the scouting attempt by the Second Advanced Scouts, Master had been relaying to me new intel on what the rearguard parties might face, especially the first rearguard.
It had been known that the rearguard parties would be tasked to reach certain locations in the twentieth floor.
The place the first rearguard party had to reach would be heavily guarded.
Sigyn had shown me the formations the enemies would use and how they wanted the heroes to handle them.
Naturally, I had relayed the tactical information to Party 12.
Hopefully they would make good use of the intel.
['Edvard (★★)' is no longer in a state of fear.]
25 minutes passed in the mission.
The situation had turned for the better with the vanguard.
The first rearguard party must had reached their objective. Faster than Party 17 in the previous attempt.
The trial still progressed positively.
The vanguard remained fully intact with five members. So was the first rearguard party.
But this was the least the raid squad had to achieve at this point in the mission.
We had not gone halfway through the trial yet.
The scouts needed to minimize as much damage as they could.
Else they would perish like the other squads.