CHAPTER 435: OUT

The toxic, corrosive substance produced by the lizards did work, just like Lane had said it would. After Team Leader Hannah Jones led a small group of Espers out of the cave to collect lizard monsters’ carcasses - Damien couldn’t, because he was too attached to Lane... Literally - they were able to use the substance to slowly dissolve the webbings. It caused extensive burns, just as Damien had feared...

But Etan’s and Jasper’s skin was already raw and partially eroded in places where the spider threads were stuck, so it didn’t make that much of a difference. Even Lane’s skin was in a terrible state... Although that had been achieved mainly through his own effort. Because the threads’ properties didn’t affect him nearly as strongly as the others for a reason that he couldn’t explain, he had made sure to squirm and struggle enough to achieve a satisfactory result through friction, rubbing his body against the threads until it was bleeding.

Either way, with the webbings dealt with, the team’s situation had greatly improved. They still had to temporarily withdraw from the dungeon, since three of their members were too severely injured to continue, but at least everyone could walk on their own. That alone made things much easier, since the rest of the team members only had to focus on defending against the monsters, and not on transporting the injured.

Once the dawn finally came, and the dungeon got bright enough so that they could see their surroundings, they quickly packed up their camp and immediately departed. Moving in a tight formation, with Ethan, Lane, Jasper, and Adrian in the middle, protected from all sides, they rushed towards the Gate, trying to get out as soon as possible...

Not only to get the injured the help they needed so that they didn’t have to suffer any longer, but also so that they could soon go on another raid.

That was the life of the Association’s Field Agent. They had work, then work, and after that, more work... Even after getting in the accident, the higher-ups were surely going to expect them to just regroup and go on another raid in a day or two, either in the same dungeon, or in that other A-rank dungeon that was about to become overpopulated...

They could never catch a break.

Thankfully, at least their way back went smoothly. Only a few hours had passed since they had cleared the path, and the lizard monsters hadn’t spread around it again just yet. They had encountered a few groups, but they were small and weak, with some of the lizards injured - they were mainly the remnants that had managed to escape from the team after being defeated. Their condition was still far from good, which is why most of them didn’t engage in a fight, scuttering out of the way instead. Only a few tried to attack the team, but even they quickly chose to withdraw, allowing the team to proceed easily.

In less than an hour, the team stepped out of the Gate, back to the human world.

It was the middle of the night outside, and everything was dark, peaceful, and quiet. The member of the Association dispatched to guard the Gate was dozing off on the folding chair, his jacket tightly wrapped around his torso. He didn’t wake up even as multiple people stumbled out of the Gate, their footsteps echoing in the empty gymnasium...

"Ahem!" Damien approached the man, loudly clearing his throat. "Ahem! Ahem!"

Only after the third time, did the man finally react. He jerked in his seat, his eyes opening a crack, blinking a few times... "Wha? What?" he asked, his mind still heavy with sleep. He wiped off his saliva from the corner of his mouth, then rubbed his eyes, struggling to catch up to what was going on.

Well, it was understandable that he was confused. The A-rank team wasn’t supposed to be back so soon. It was supposed to be a quiet, boring shift. Sitting around for a few hours, ’watching’ the Gate, until the morning shift came to switch with him...

It was just a mere formality. The Association always left someone to ’guard’ the Gate when one of their teams was going on a raid, but they hardly ever had to do anything. The man didn’t expect much of this shift either, especially since it was their elite A-rank team...

And yet, for some reason, their rising star, one of the only two S-rankers they had, was suddenly towering above him.

It hadn’t even been 24 hours since the raid had started! It was supposed to last three days at least. Could it be that their elite team was so good that they had managed to finish their task so quickly?

That was his first thought, once he realized that Team Leader Damien Lennox was standing in front of him. However, before he could extend his congratulations and express his awe, Damien announced sternly,

"I need you to contact the Association and inform them that we had to interrupt the raid due to unforeseen circumstances. We have four people who require immediate medical attention. They have extensive injuries, and need to be transported to the hospital as soon as possible."

The guard froze with his mouth open, blinking a few times as his brain was slowly catching up to what Damien had just said, before rushing to search for his phone. "Ah, yes. Of course. Right away..."

Thud!

His phone slipped from his hand and fell on the floor.

"I’m so sorry! I’ll call for help right away..." he apologized, almost knocking over the chair as he scrambled to pick up the phone. Team Leader Lennox was so serious and cold that it put the guard in a panic mode. And, while Damien’s words were polite, there was a hint of impatience in his voice...

He must have been annoyed at the guard for sleeping on duty, and being so slow to respond! Everyone knew that Team Leader Lennox was a stickler for the rules, after all! He would probably complain about the guard in his report...

The man was partially correct. Damien was indeed disapproving of the guard sleeping during his shift. Work was work, and no matter how boring the task was, it had to be fulfilled properly (unless the person was Lane. As with pretty much with everything else, Lane was exempt from this rule, at least as far as Damien was concerned). However, his impatience was caused less by the fact that the guard was slacking off, but simply because he wanted to get his injured team members to the hospital without any further delay...

And to do that, he needed the guard to call the Headquarters and request assistance.

He could have made the call himself, of course. He had his phone in his spatial bag, he had all the numbers and necessary connections. It would have been easy to make a quick report and call the ambulance to get proper transport for the injured. He even could have put everyone in the minibuses, and taken them to the hospital himself to make things even quicker.

But... That was against the protocol. According to the rules, it was the guard’s job to report any accidents, request reinforcements or medical help, and so on...

And since none of the team members was in a critical condition, Damien didn’t even consider that. Following the protocol was his default state, after all.

The guard eventually managed to grab his phone and dial the number. By then, he was already fully awake... Probably the most awake that he had ever felt in his entire life. Especially since he couldn’t help but notice that one of the team members seemed to have a suspiciously short arm... It was tightly wrapped with layers of bandages, so the terrible state that it was in couldn’t be seen, but...

That was enough to terrify the guard. He was still a newbie, having only joined the Association recently as a part of the General Staff... He was considering applying to be a Field Agent, since the pay was much better, but...

Now he had effectively changed his mind. In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was bound by the contract and couldn’t afford the cancellation fee (and as an Esper, he couldn’t possibly hope for the Guide Union’s help in getting out), he would have quit the job immediately. Just so that he would never have to enter a dungeon. Or go anywhere near the monsters, really.

And his parents had told him. Don’t rely on your Awakening, study well and get a good, civilian job... Working in the Awakened field isn’t as cool as it might seem.

He should have listened.

But he hadn’t. With his D-rank, he couldn’t get to any of the top Guilds, so he had decided to try at the Association first...

He let out a heavy sigh, watching from the side as the ambulances arrived, and the medical staff started putting the injured on the stretchers, carrying them away...