Chapter 71: Raid

The raid began in broad daylight...

Though that might seem counter-intuitive considering that they didn't want to raise any alarms, they couldn't do this at night because that's the time when the cult was active.

As usual, Arishem and the Shadow Runners were leading this operation. The entire force of their branch in this city was all utilized, though they minimized what the rest knew because this was a sensitive mission.

Arishem blended into the crowd with his men and reinforcements. Nobody could sense their movement, they're using several tools to increase their chances of not getting caught to help them move around freely.

Through signals, Arishem gave orders to the rest. He tasked the first squad to create some distraction while the others were to quietly and swiftly infiltrate the hidden base.

Arishem knows that they just can't completely hide their forces, especially with this many people moving around. They could use that to their advantage though...

Send one squad to purposefully attract the attention of the cult, and keep them distracted long enough for the others to safely get inside the hidden base without raising any alarms.

Through close observation, they discovered that the plan was a success. Without wasting any time, Arishem ordered the rest to move in.

Once they got inside, he ordered another squad to secure the central control that the cultist foolishly placed near the entrance of the base. If they secured that place, they would have more freedom to move around the hidden base.

The rest waited for a few minutes, unmoving and hidden until they received the green signal from the men they sent earlier. They secured the central control. With that, they could move without raising any alarms.

Next was to disable most of the traps they would come across, which is probably one of the trickiest parts of this entire operation.

Even with a full day of preparation, they weren't able to invite an expert when it came to dealing with traps. Everyone they knew was occupied with something.

The traps scattered across this base were all deadly. One wrong move and they wouldn't just alert the entire facility, they might also kill themselves in the process of disabling them.

'Follow the plan...' Arishem signed to his companions.

Thankfully, even though they're lacking a trap expert, they have someone who could transport them safely around the traps.

A person covered in a dark hood, much like the rest, stepped forward and lifted both of his arms. A spatial tear then appeared right in front of him with the other end appearing several meters forward.

As soon as the portal was made, the rest of the squad entered it without any hesitation. The skill ferried the entire squad without triggering the traps, fantastic news for everybody.

The downside is that the caster of this skill looked visibly drained after using it once. Not a big problem though since they have buffs and potions to have him swiftly recover from fatigue.

The room was filled with a series of connected pipes that ran throughout the entire base. Even just by standing here, they could feel the dense Worldly Vitality flowing through the pipes thanks to the 'drill'.

At the center of the room, they found the apparatus itself. It wasn't that big, and it appears like a regular jackhammer that construction workers use.

However, the materials made to create this thing were all rare ones. Arishem could recognize mithril, adamantium, deep sea silver, and T6 Refined Iron just by looking at its body. Each of these materials cost a fortune, and now he wonders how the hell the cult managed to secure that funding.

The 'drill' itself was connected to a single pipe, and that pipe was connected to the rest of the pipe that's installed all over this room.

"How is it, Arishem? Do you think we can disable this and confiscate it?" The City Lord asked.

"I'm not skilled enough for that, City Lord. I apologize. It seems that we could only try to take it away and hope that it wouldn't alarm everybody." He replied.

"It's fine. We can't have it all." The City Lord replied gruffly before taking a step forward to take the 'drill' away.

However, right before the City Lord touches the 'drill', Arishem receives a call from none other than Cedric.

In a daze, the old man answered it, but before he could speak, Cedric's frantic voice reached his ears:

"The squad you left to the Control Center has been compromised. In less than a minute, alarms will go off across the entire facility. The squad you tasked to guard the trigger that will awaken the demons is in the middle of a confrontation as well and they're losing. I'll see what I can do out here, though you all should prepare for the fight of your lives."

Cedric didn't wait for his reply before cutting off the call. Arishem was left in a daze, what woke him up was the palpitating killing intent from the City Lord.

"Well, fuck this then!" He said, throwing all caution to the wind.

Clearly, he has heard everything that Cedric said just now.

He placed both of his hands on the handle of the drill and yanked it harshly, damaging it in the process. At the same time he did that, alarms blared throughout the entire underground base.

"There goes the stealthy approach then." Arishem sighed weakly.

He hoped...like, really. He hoped that this operation wouldn't encounter any hiccups because they couldn't afford to fail here. However, their luck was just the worst as it seemed.

Now, they're left with no choice in the matter.

"...I'm not being paid enough for this bullshit." Arishem sighed once more as he took out his daggers from his inventory.