12 C12. The Next Step

I know I'm gorgeous but y'all should be running instead of just staring at me."

Val said as she grabbed Gean by his collar and dashed towards the exit of the cave, everyone still remaining inside the cave stared at the scene in absolute disbelief.

Val and Ben had only just advanced to become D-ranked Rifters and while they had done their training together, this was the first time they had truly seen the extent of her newfound strength.

The idea that she was now capable of slaying an E-ranked monster by herself was still a foreign concept to them so seeing it now had completely taken them by surprise.

However, they were still professional rifters and Val's words instantly brought them back from their stupor as they quickly turned around and chased after her.

Normally, monsters found within rifts could not exit the limits of their territories but there were certain exceptions to this rule, As such, the moment they had all escaped the cave, everyone had instantly prepared for battle as they turned to face the cave entrance.

It was only after several minutes had passed and the clattering sounds of rusted armor stopped did they allow themselves to breathe, most of them dropping to the sand like puppets whose strings had been cut.

"Damn... that was close."

"I haven't felt that scared in a while."

Gean said as Val tossed him face-first into the sand and he just rolled over and lay there panting heavily.

"Who knew skeletons could be so intense."

Lisa commented on Gean's words as she sat on the sand completely exhausted despite being an archer with greater mobility than the others. They had been the ones to hold the Skeletons back so she understood just how tense that encounter had been.

"For real, who knew we would encounter undead beings in a desert rift? This is the first time I've ever seen armored skeletons before."

"That's to be expected, this is a Grade 6 Rift after all. We shouldn't have expected everything to be the same as we're used to."

"Those skeletons were tougher than any we've faced before. I guess that's a Grade 6 Rift for you."

One of the mages, Ray, responded to a warrior's words with a completely somber expression on his face. As the only fire mage on the team, he had been completely spent as he had needed to push himself as his spells were one of their few things effective against undead creatures.

"That only makes this more infuriating. Damn it! How do we fight in such a place!"

"Calm down!"

Ryan sighed as his teammates discussed their earlier encounter, his thoughts racing as he considered their chances of clearing this rift. This had definitely not gone as planned.

They hadn't expected what was essentially a separate area within this Rift. Not to mention, the restrictions imposed on him by the narrow space as his ability would lose more than half of its effectiveness and his entire role within the team would become meaningless.

He couldn't tell just how large that cave was and had no idea how to explore it without running into another group of skeletons maybe even more powerful than the last. It seems their only option this time was to abandon their usual method and attack the cave directly.

That is to say, they could no longer explore the rest of this Rift and it was time they moved on to the next step.

"We should head back."

"Huh?..."

"Really?"

Naturally, his guildmates were a little surprised by his immediate decision even though they all knew in the back of their minds that this was to be expected after what they had just encountered.

With their current strength, especially without a proper tank, there was no way they could bypass those undead skeletons and explore the cavern. Besides, it would be even more dangerous if they ventured into uncharted territories unprepared.

The mood sank as everyone wore a sour expression on their face at the thought of their current predicament. Well, almost everyone.

After all, being well prepared was what their entire guild was founded around.

"Alright, after everyone's catch their breath let's head back and take a break. I need to get the sand off my hair and take a bath. Hmm... what?"

Val spoke as she ran her fingers through her hair with an annoyed expression as she walked over to Ryan. The others couldn't help but stare at her with disbelief with their mouths agape as they watched her speak casually as though they had not just almost died a moment ago.

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle seeing this as he gently shook his head in amusement. There was a time he had thought this girl was doing this to help lighten the mood but he had soon found out otherwise.

Still, her presence alone was enough to lighten the heaviness that had been looming in the air and the entire team felt the tension in their hearts loosen as they all broke out into laughter making Val even more confused by their reaction.

Ryan could only chuckle softly as he gave Val a pat on the shoulder and shook his head, the other laughing even harder at her confusion.

After taking a few minutes to catch their breaths, the group soon exited the Rift with the aid of their earlier mapping, being able the easily navigate the Rift by skillfully avoiding the the monsters' territories along the way.

Still, it had taken them several hours to make it back to the spatial Rift the west end of the desert. Despite the finite space within the Rift, the desert was still fairly large, and navigating from one end to the other would usually take hours, and that was without any monsters' interference.

After finally leaving the Rift after a full 12 hours of exploration, the group soon met up with Ben's group, who were camping out at the construction site.

As the location of the Rift was on the outskirts of the city, it was a considerable distance away from their guild building and any of their member's residences so they could not easily make it back home after each day's work.

Most guilds would normally organize their Shifting missions to reasonable hours of the day allowing their members to return home at the end of each day or be accommodated at the Guild's building or temporary halls usually rented close to whatever rifts they were issued to close.

However, Azral Org was a little different, for one, they could not afford to rent any hall for missions that barely paid and their method of Rifting was a lot more time-consuming than other guilds making their work hours hard to predict.

As such, setting camp close to whatever rift they were working on was the norm for them.

Soon, most of the members of the exploration team were gathered at the largest tent in the uncomplicated apartment complex with the other key members of the guild.

Recalling their experience inside the Rift to everyone else, Ryan could see the confidence in the elimination team's eyes dim slightly but decided to remain silent.

After all, he couldn't force anyone to do something they didn't want to do otherwise they would end up dragging the others down which could lead the the complete collapse of their plans and strategies.

The reason for this being the core of their entire guild lies in their great teamwork and understanding of each other. This may have been their greatest strength but it could also be their greatest weakness.

"Skeletons huh? This could be trouble."

Ben muttered as he contemplated the possibility of their earlier plans which did not include the presence of an entire separate rift inside a rift. Especially since most of their attacks would be ineffective against undead monsters.

How truly unfortunate could they be?

"For now, we can only make adjustments to the current plans and increase the team a bit, that way even if we get split up, we would still possess enough firepower to plow our way through like the big guilds and we'll have to rely heavily on Ben and Val."

Sarah suggested as the group brainstormed ways of approaching their current predicament, of course, everyone else Boyced their ideas and nothing was off the table especially now that Ryan's leadership would become very limited inside the dark cave and tunnels.

After a few hours of brainstorming and planning their next course of action, they finally settled on a method and approach. Coming up with a last-minute plan was a big group of people wasn't exactly an idea but they all understand the risk.

As such, everyone began their preparations for tomorrow's Rift run, which would essentially be the true beginning of their mission.

"You okay?"