Huff-puff!
The group sat onto the cavern floor, breathlessly gasping for air. They had been fighting hundreds of A-rank beasts continuously for nearly half an hour, the relentless assault testing their endurance and team-work to its limits.
Thankfully, the beasts were finally all dead. Despite storing many corpses during the battle to clear movent space, many still littered the floor, waiting to be collected and processed for cores and materials.
Grant surveyed the team with an approving expression, "Well done, everyone. You all perford excellently. Although I am surprised that only two S-ranked beasts were among this horde. Based on their numbers and the supposed danger level of this gate, I would have expected more S-Rank threats mixed in."
The others nodded in agreent, sharing his assessnt of the disproportionate ratio.
Everyone except Moon, who knew the truth.
Although they were wrong, they weren't actually too far off from reality. In truth, only three S-rank beasts had appeared within the horde. Moon had managed to kill the poison toad without anyone noticing, securing it as a solo elimination. The other two S-rank creatures had been engaged by the team before he could isolate them for personal kills.
"Captain... I don't agree with you about the performance of our team," Nina said abruptly, her frown deepening as she turned to glare at Moon with clear anger visible on her face. "This individual disrupted our formation with his unauthorized aggressive movent. The consequences could have been catastrophic if more S-rank beasts had been present to exploit the gap he created."
"I agree," Mara added, joining Nina's criticism. The healer's face showed visible irritation.
The others remained diplomatically silent, though Cain and Abel could be heard giggling to each other about sothing, their private joke providing comntary without taking explicit sides.
Realizing that the knight had no intention of dropping the issue despite the battle being over, Moon sighed heavily.
"She's right. I made a false judgnt in following one of the beasts I injured heavily," he admitted with calculated contrition. His words were carefully asured, ensuring that his mistake appeared totally plausible, and unintentional.
"But I already apologized imdiately after returning to formation. There's no productive reason to keep bringing this up repeatedly. What are you planning to do about it? Kill ? Abandon in an S-rank gate?"
He paused, letting that sink in.
"We're a team. You will eventually make mistakes too. There's no benefit to dwelling on past errors that have already been acknowledged and corrected."
Although she was right about the fact that leaving the team was dangerous, that didn't an it applied to him. He had managed to kill an S-Rank beast during that ti, removing a powerful threat to them.
Any attack by an S-Rank beast was dangerous if it was a direct hit.
Moon found Nina's persistent pestering increasingly annoying. She hadn't stopped making pointed remarks since he'd returned from his sprint to secure the toad's corpse, constantly reminding everyone of his "reckless behavior."
"You!" Nina was about to launch into an angry retort, her hand tightening on her sword hilt.
Grant interrupted firmly before the confrontation could escalate. "Alright, that's enough. Moon has apologized and acknowledged his error. Let's leave the past in the past, collect our loot, and move forward. The gate hasn't been cleared yet, which ans there are still more threats lurking deeper in this complex."
He stood up from his resting position atop one of the larger beast corpses, imdiately storing it in his storage ring to demonstrate moving on from the conflict.
Nina grunted with obvious displeasure but didn't speak further, recognizing that continuing the argunt would undermine their leader's authority and make her appear immature.
Kael had remained completely silent throughout the entire exchange, but Moon noticed his eyes kept glancing in his direction with an unreadable expression. Curiosity? Suspicion? Assessnt? Moon couldn't quite determine what the pyromancer was thinking.
Moon rose from his own brief rest, beginning the tedious process of storing beast corpses in the oversized storage ring Tom had provided. The others joined in, and within approximately five minutes of effort, they'd managed to store all remaining bodies.
As they collected the corpses, the group also conducted an informal count. The final tally ca to roughly three hundred beasts, including the three slain S-ranked beasts.
After securing all the loot, Grant addressed an important point that less experienced leaders might have overlooked.
"This is not the final distribution of spoils," he stated clearly, his tone brooking no argunt. "I don't want anyone focusing ntal energy on tracking individual contributions or worrying about fair splits right now. The loot division isn't important at this mont. What's important is staying alive long enough for us to actually share this bounty back on Earth."
Everyone nodded their agreent, appreciating the leader's wisdom. Grant had proven himself a competent commander who understood the psychology of risk and reward, addressing potential sources of team conflict before they could fester.
"Alright, let's keep moving deeper," Grant commanded, gesturing toward the multiple tunnel openings that branched off from the main cavern. "This cave system appears to be huge, and we've barely scratched the surface of exploration. Maintain formation and pay careful attention to your surroundings. The enemies are not finished, and danger still lurks ahead."
The group resud their advance into the cavern's depths, their eyes constantly scanning for threats that might erge from the darkness beyond their lighting runes.
♢♢♢♢
Outside the gate, major news channels continued their continuous coverage of the S-rank gate crisis.
Under the direct influence and guidance of the Awakener's Association, the broadcasts made deliberate efforts to calm public anxiety, reducing the perceived existential threat by emphasizing the overwhelming power of humanity's Surpassers and Ascenders whose capabilities dwarfed First Order S-Rank threats.
They also introduced detailed profiles of the ten S-rankers currently inside the gate, showcasing their backgrounds, family connections, and previous accomplishnts. The narrative emphasized that these individuals represented humanity's absolute elite, the cream of the crop, carefully selected warriors who would definitely clear the gate and return victorious.
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