The meeting ended, and everyone was given 30 minutes to relay the information to their party members. Aster returned too, relaying everything back to the three girls.
"... As such, our party would be at the frontlines, mainly in charge of clearing the swarm of Small Cave Spiders."
Thinking of Aster's Carved Seal's ability, it was the best choice. As such, other than Kali, who had a deep frown, none of the other girls had any complaints. "But before that, Kali, let's go and renew our contract."
Today was the 7th day of Kali's party contract, so that means if they don't renew it right now, then she will say goodbye to the party tomorrow. Of course, Aster wasn't worried that she wouldn't renew the contract, as she wasn't here by her choice anyway.
With Zena working on it seriously, without joking around, the process didn't even take five minutes. She too understands the gravity of the current Boss Raid, so she wasn't wasting Aster's time.
Soon, the waiting time ended, and Lizandrea stepped forward once more, gallant as ever.
"Alright, everyone... It's time to head to the dungeon! Let's kick that overgrown spider's ass!"
"OHHHHH!"
A wild cheer echoed, making the entire guild lobby shake.
---
May 12, 4533, at 7:00 a.m., the full Raid Team arrived before the dungeon's entrance.
Under the guild master's name, all members of the Raid Party's entrance fee were waived, making sure that nobody would have an excuse to retreat. Thankfully, nobody seemed to be thinking of falling back or escaping.
"Everyone! Make sure to have at least five Health Potions each! If you don't have enough, you can get more over there. I already bought all their stocks, so just grab what you need!"
The reason nobody was escaping was that the leader, Lizandrea, was generous. She spent her own pocket money to equip the other parties who were tight on their budget, even upgrading the gears of some of them!
"Woah... look at this insignia! It's from the Millicent Dragon Alliance!"
"Monsters coming from up front! Wolves! Numbers: 15!"
One of the scout teams returned and relayed the information. As soon as they received the heads-up, Lizandrea's team rushed forward, attracting the enemy's attention.
"Knight's Challenge!"
Lizandrea used one of her class-specific taunt skills. As soon as she did, all fifteen wolves changed targets, glaring at her with frenzied eyes. "Everyone! Fire at will! My skill's effect only lasts half a minute!"
Without delay, her party members, Aster's party, and the three parties behind her started attacking. Before the 30-second duration of her taunt ended, all the enemies had already fallen!
"Great work! Let's keep this up!"
"OOOOH!"
The plains had few enemies, so they only encountered small numbers of slimes and sometimes a group of wolves as they forged on. Soon enough, they arrived at the forest where Aster's group had fought the swarm of spiders before.
"So it's here... Party 3 and 4, check the entire forest. There should be an entrance to some underground cave somewhere!" Without delay, she gave out precise orders.
Aster was in awe of her quick-wittedness and wanted to learn her ways. As such, he kept observing her, watching her every little action and speech. Learning from observing is one of his strong suits!
After entering the forest, their march slowed down. This isn't only because the forest terrain was harder to traverse, but also because they didn't want to overtake the scouts.
After about an hour of searching, when the main party reached the middle of the forest, Party 4 returned with good news and bad news.
The good news was that they had already found the cave.
"Hiiik! H-Help!"
And the bad news? They have hundreds of spiders on their tail!