The Gamer's System

Chapter 158: Progress on the Rift

"Reports." Sylph asked to Amare who came to her.

"We've finally cleared 30% of the area ma'am. Everyone is just waiting for a while before the next wave of attacks resume." Amare continued. It was already lunchtime and, it was Amare's duty to give the reports to Sylph as she had the best vision and also, could compute the correct ratio of things because of her Secondary Job Class of [Scholar].

"Good. Since our enemies are generous enough to come up here themselves, we are greatly reducing possible casualties and dangers." Sylph answered, observing the thick mist below them. The monsters still made counter attacks; it was just that they could only fire projectiles towards the elites.

While these both increased in number and in strength over time, the defenders were entirely capable of keeping up a barrier. This protected them from all the attacks while, at the same time, allowed them to continue their assault and barrage without having to worry about getting hit.

"How much longer do we need to keep this up ma'am?" Amare asked, feeling the strain of the operation building up on her.

"As long as needed of course. Don't worry we're almost there aren't we?" Sylph said in reply.

It has already been a week since they began their attack. As it progressed, they noticed that the monsters also became a bit resilient. It was to be expected according to Sylph because, [AoE attacks] does smaller damage compared to single target spells. That is the price to be paid for such a wide area of attack.

Still, it felt strange that these enemies took at least three waves of [AoE spells] before they are taken down showing just how strong the [Rift Dwellers] were. This term was coined by Merlin who thought that an appropriate name should be given to their enemies. One that was both collective and also encapsulates the totality of their existence.

"The first area is cleared now. We can begin exploring it as we planned." Amare reported to Sylph.

"Okay. Get all the non [AoE] users together. I'll be giving you the names so just wait there for a second." Sylph mentioned, knowing that there are members of the elites who haven't gotten any taste of the action yet.

The reason why Sylph wanted to explore the area cleared was because, there was a cave there. Sylph thought that if they were lucky, they'd be able to get the corpse which might just be inside it. Since it was a cave, they couldn't see what was inside it and, destroying so was impossible. It stuck to the wall of earth itself. If they tried destroying it, a large chunk might be made from the rift possibly releasing more of the poison all throughout the continent. This, in turn, would go against the goal of preventing more of [Chaos Poison Cloud] scattering all over the continent.

"Mirio, Mordred, Eerie, Curio and Julia will be going down there." Sylph finally mentioned, with Amare noting things down on a [System] window.

It was a good composition, party members of all kinds were included which gave them a very balanced lineup. Zilg was supposed to be included but, seeing as the elite provided explosions, he wasn't that fit for the job as he could destiny the cave accidentally.

"Any other orders ma'am?" Amare asked, to which Sylph thought about thoroughly.

"None so far. You can ho back to your station now." She said, with Amare doing as she was told after bowing down in respect.

Indeed, a week has already passed with all the fighting they have done. Because of the size of the rift, they couldn't finish it quicker no matter how hard they tried. But since their experience points were going up nonetheless, they didn't complain as it was an easy way to harvest experience points.

Sylvia herself was able to fully recover and so, she also used her skills from time to time reserving her most of her mana just in case an unexpected attack comes. With their lunchtime finally proceeding, Sylph decided to communicate with Zeke who was also beginning his mission on the Elven Continent of Elysium.

"Honeeey I miss you so much." Sylph began teasingly.

"I'm going to turn this off now." Was Zeke's cold response.

"Hey don't be like that. You know that I'm only sweet to you." Sylphs said in reply, justifying her manner of greeting.

"Yeah. And it's creepy." Was all that Zeke could say about it.

"You're gonna make me sad."

"Does it look like I care? Anyway, what are the updates?"

"Hmph."

*Sigh*

"What are the updates honey?" Zeke forcibly said, getting a hair-raising experience from the mere mention of the words.

Sylph proceeded to gleefully telling all of the things that they have done thus far. It wasn't any feat that some normal people could accomplish of course. It was only something that could be done by a specialized group. Slowly, the elites were being worthy of their name; something which Zeke as their mentor was proud of.

"Anyway I'm sending some of those kids down the rift. One of the areas we've already cleared of course. We've found a cave and, are going to see what lies inside it." Sylph said, wanting to get a shocked response from Zeke but, all he got were three words.

"Okay. That's good."

"You're not even going to get surprised or hold them back?" Sylph asked, getting disappointed by the anticlimactic and monotone response of the gamer.

"Why do I need to? In the first place, I've placed all those things into consideration before I even deployed you guys there." Zeke said in reply.

"Nothing could surprise you huh?" Sylph asked.

"There's only a handful of those things, don't get your hopes up." He replied, with a smile forming on his face.

"Well that's all for now. How about on your end?" Sylph asked; wanting to get some updates from Zeke as well.

"Actually, everything is already set. We're just completing some data gathering required before the operation commences." Zeke said being both brief and clear with his statement. 

He didn't want to explain everything as it would take too much time and, he knew that Sylph won't ask further because of the same thing. Knowing how Zeke's mind worked, Sylph understood that his plans would go beyond the ordinary and, no matter how crazy it was, she was sure that it could be trusted.

"I gotta go, that Quinn kid of yours is coming right now. Byee honey." Zeke immediately dropped the call, not wanting to respond anymore.

"What do you need kid?" Sylph asked; going back to her normal commanding and authoritative tone.

"Ma'am may I also join the expedition that would be done?" Quinn asked, actually shocked that he wasn't placed on the expedition members.

"Give me a good reason why I should include you." Sylph said in reply finding the composition of elites to be sent as already good enough.

"As their leader I believe that it is also my duty to get a full view of what happens underneath. Plus, with somebody commanding them, they'd be able to move more efficiently especially if something dangerous comes along." Quinn stated his points quickly and briefly, not wasting any of the female elf's time.

As expected however, Syph still gave it a good and long thought. She couldn't simply keep on deploying just because there were positive points presented. She needed to make her conclusions based on a comprehensive view of the situation. 

There was the clearing of course of other parts of the rift but, she also thought how Quinn would be useful on dangerous fights within the cave. She looked at the boy and, remembered how he gave her a hard time during the spar almost forcing her to get serious. 

"Okay. You're gonna join the group. But you gotta make sure that everyone comes out of it in one piece got that?" Sylph said, making it the condition for Quinn's inclusion on the mission.

"Yes ma'am. Thank you." He said in reply, finally taking his leave.

She looked at Quinn as he walked away and, couldn't help but comparing him to Zeke. They were total opposites of course, with Quinn always playing by the rules and using safer strategies. But this didn't allow any room for the same kind of metamorphosis that Zeke underwent.

Placing bullets inside the bodies of his enemies. 

Getting eaten in order to release poison inside. 

Accumulating damage to use Blood Counter later on.

Releasing monster parts in rapid succession. 

These were the kind of things which the old Zeke used and, even the new Zeke was still fond of this. He excelled in being creative with what he had. Frankly speaking, he's also grown so much from the moment that Sylph first met him but, nevertheless, it was till the same Zeke. 

When the gamer mentioned "preparations" earlier, Sylph was sure that it would be something grand again. Something that would probably affect the whole continent because, that is just how strong the new Zeke was. With her memories of being the countess still intact, she recognized just how powerful and scary Zeke actually was.

"Well these kids aren't half bad either." Sylph thought to herself, finally focusing on her meal.

The elites had a strict schedule to stick to. This was created by Sylph in order to make sure that everything gets done on time. There were violators at first of course and, Sylph gave them punishments such as forcing them to cast spells on the rift for one whole evening without rest. The following day, nobody dared to make the same mistake anymore.

"Are the troops prepared?" Sylph asked and, the excavation team went in front.

They all had armor which covered them entirely from their hair to their toes. Their face is covered by a mask which is fueled by crystals that stored air for them, allowing them to breathe fresh air even in the toxic environment of the rift. Aside from this, they also got an extra layer of defense from defenders who casted barriers upon them and, Lizzie also used a spell which strengthened their lungs even more.

"All of them have been geared accordingly." Amare said, also being in charge of preparing them.

At this, the group finally went to the edge of the rift. Due to the nature of the area, Zeke wasn't able to place any transportation circle at the bottom of the rift and so, the group had to do it manually. 

"You may begin." Sylph commanded, with the group jumping within the thick expanse of [Chaos Poison Cloud].