The gathering point for the raid was a barricaded intersection a few miles outside the central Safe Zone. Hovering above the asphalt was a swirling, sickly-green vortex—a C-Rank Gate.
Elias arrived wearing the same dark hoodie and jeans. He stood in stark contrast to the twenty members of the Aegis Guild, who were outfitted in matching, high-end tactical gear reinforced with low-grade monster plating. They looked like a private military company.
Silas, the Vice-Master who had recruited him yesterday, walked over with a broad, welcoming smile.
"Glad you made it, Elias," Silas said, clapping a hand on Elias's shoulder. Elias's eyes flicked to the hand, his expression unreadable. Silas cleared his throat and pulled his hand back. "Right. Well, this is a C-Rank Swamp Gate. Our intel says it's infested with Venom Trolls. They have high regeneration, so we brought plenty of fire mages."
"And my role?" Elias asked smoothly.
"You're our wildcard," Silas lied flawlessly. "Since you're a B-Rank Summoner, we need your... creature to hold the frontline if the Trolls swarm us. Just keep them distracted while our mages cast their heavy spells. Easy money."
Elias knew exactly what that meant. Bait. In his past life, the Aegis Guild became infamous for this exact tactic. They would hire freelancers, push them to the front to draw all the monsters' aggression, and then the guild's mages would indiscriminately bomb the area with area-of-effect spells, killing both the monsters and the freelancers. It was a highly efficient, entirely sociopathic way to clear dungeons without risking core guild members.
"Understood," Elias said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "I'll hold the line."
"Good man," Silas smirked, turning to his troops. "Aegis Guild! Enter the Gate!"
Stepping through the green vortex, the ruined city streets were replaced by a putrid, knee-deep swamp surrounded by massive, twisting mangrove trees. The air smelled of sulfur and rotting meat.
Almost immediately, the water began to bubble.
Gurgle... Roar!
More than thirty Venom Trolls erupted from the muddy water. They were massive, hulking beasts with dark green, warty skin, long claws, and jaws dripping with acidic saliva.
"Formation Alpha!" Silas barked from the back. "Tanks, form a wall! Mages, start chanting! Elias, push forward!"
The Aegis Guild's frontline shield-bearers deliberately left a massive gap in the center. Silas looked at Elias expectantly.
Elias walked forward, stepping directly into the knee-deep, muddy water. He stood alone in the gap, thirty enraged Trolls charging right at him.
"Summon," Elias muttered.
A single Shadow Knight rose from the water beside him. Just one.
Silas frowned from the backline. 'Just one summon? A B-Rank and that's all he has? Whatever. He'll die faster, but it's enough of a distraction.'
"Mages, lock onto the center!" Silas ordered quietly, aiming directly at Elias's back. "Prepare 'Hellfire Rain'."
The mages began to channel intense thermal mana. They weren't aiming at the Trolls; they were aiming at Elias.
Elias didn't look back. He could feel the heat of the spells gathering behind him. The Trolls were only ten meters away now, their claws extended to tear him apart.
Snap. Elias snapped his fingers.
He didn't use a spell. He used his Ring of the Void.
Instantly, Elias vanished from the spot, using a burst of pure Agility to blink completely out of sight, leaping high into the thick canopy of the mangrove trees above.
Because Elias had disappeared, the thirty charging Venom Trolls lost their primary target. Their momentum carried them forward, straight through the gap, directly into the Aegis Guild's mages.
"Wait! Where did he go?!" Silas screamed, his eyes wide with panic. "Fire! Fire the spells now!"
The mages released 'Hellfire Rain' out of sheer panic, but the Trolls were already on top of them. The explosion of fire blasted the swamp water into scalding steam, burning both Trolls and Hunters alike.
Chaos erupted. Screams of agony filled the air as the Trolls began tearing into the Aegis mages. The shield-bearers were overwhelmed, their formations broken from the inside.
High up on a thick tree branch, Elias sat comfortably, watching the massacre below. He pulled a protein bar from his subspace ring and took a bite.
"Idiots," Elias muttered.
He waited for ten minutes. He watched as Silas desperately fought off three Trolls, sacrificing two of his own men to use them as human shields so he could escape the encirclement. By the time the final Troll was put down by the surviving Aegis members, the guild's forces had been decimated. Out of twenty men, only six were left breathing, all of them severely injured and covered in mud and blood.
Silas fell to his knees, panting heavily, his expensive armor torn to shreds.
Splash.
Elias dropped lightly from the tree branch, landing perfectly on the muddy surface of the water without making a ripple. He walked slowly toward the surviving guild members.
"You..." Silas gasped, his eyes bloodshot with rage. "You ran! You abandoned the frontline! We lost fourteen men because of you!"
"I was just giving you room to cast your spells," Elias said, his voice dripping with cold sarcasm. "Isn't that what you wanted?"
"I'll kill you!" one of the surviving mages screamed, raising a trembling hand to cast a fireball at Elias.
Elias didn't even blink. He didn't draw a weapon. He didn't move.
"Iron. Blood."
The swamp water around Elias suddenly turned pitch black. The air grew so cold that the remaining steam instantly froze into ice crystals.
From the darkness on his left rose the massive, three-meter-tall Elite Hobgoblin, Iron. From the darkness on his right rose the Commander-Grade Death Knight, Blood, its crimson eyes cutting through the fog like lasers, its massive dark claymore drawn.
The terrifying, suffocating aura of a Level 15 Elite and a Level 20 Boss Monster descended upon the six surviving Aegis members. The mage with the fireball dropped to his knees, his spell fizzling out as his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.
Silas stared at the two towering shadow beasts, his mind completely breaking.
"W-What are you...?" Silas whispered, true horror gripping his heart. "A B-Rank... impossible... you're a monster..."
Elias walked forward, stopping just inches away from Silas. He looked down at the Vice-Master, his eyes devoid of any human empathy.
"You're right. I am a monster," Elias said softly. "And your guild belongs to me now."