The Guardian

Chapter 234: You Can’t Underestimate Them

Aurora walked beside Alice down the hallway of the command center.

“I shouldn’t have come,” Alice muttered, opening a bag of chips.

The comment sounded annoyed, but really...

“If I had stayed and read a book, I would have been more useful,” Alice muttered with a sigh.

“That’s impossible. The meeting calls for all S-ranks to participate,” Aurora replied with a smile.

Where they were now was a rather gigantic building where the meeting would be held to discuss the goblin raid.

All participating S-Ranks were asked to come and be present for the meeting.

“It feels too formal,” Alice remarked, observing a few individuals standing in the hallway.

Chatting amongst themselves or just waiting, each of them looked quite formal.

Both came in more casual attire, but formality was not required and everyone sought to present themselves in the best light because three SS ranks would be at this meeting.

Some appeared to appear to be heroes, others were more experienced adventurers, and there were even some who displayed a relaxed mercenary appearance.

There were many individuals present, but it did not surprise Aurora.

This time, unlike last time, the authorities were going all out.

As they advanced, they passed the final door and entered a large room where other people were gathered.

Aurora counted about fifty people with a quick glance, but it was possible that there were more.

Men and women of different ages and different nationalities.

In Africa, an S-Rank was equal to a warlord in strength and it was the same in the ‘lawless lands’ where demons had a ‘status’ of ‘demon lord’, but here were several such individuals.

Every single one of them was S Ranks!

There were several glances towards them, though it wasn’t because they were young, but they were analyzing how strong they both were.

There were other young people in the crowd and if someone were to look closely, then they would find that they both seemed to be the youngest.

But the one who stood out the most was...

“Isn’t she the ‘glutton’?”

Aurora heard as a couple of people murmured amongst themselves while pointing at Alice and both of them unmindfully moved to a secluded corner.

Millions of people watched the international tournament and on the internet, some videos or short films of the battle continued to go viral, and they transformed even some situations into ‘memes’.

Quite a few students became known, and Alice was one of them.

An S-Rank, among the A-Ranks, a beauty with a perfect and too captivating figure who possessed an ability so rare that it could be described as terrifying.

As if that wasn’t enough, she was an eccentric who ate chips in the middle of her fights... Alice was the definition of attracting attention.

Now Alice opened a bag of chips with a nonchalant expression and while that nonchalance might have seemed arrogant, she was actually focused on her snacks.

“What do you think?” Aurora asked as she looked around.

Some S Ranks were unfamiliar and although she recognized some, others were totally unknown.

There were many and from different regions.

Although advancing from Rank A to reach Rank S was an abyss and in some ways a huge change in strength and if one counted the huge number of people around the world... Then, the number of Rank S was high.

Twenty years passed from the Great Cataclysm and before that there was Terra nova where the players gained enormous experience... If humanity did not improve after all that time, it would certainly be strange.

Maybe not all players awakened, but those who did had enormous experience compared to non-players or, to be precise, those players who were non-combatants.

General education worldwide also included skill management by students and other schools were specialized to improve skills and strengthen their students.

That was why when the others entered the Hero Academy most were rank C... Skill users who had superhuman strength, but ultimately lacked experience.

So it was remarkable that there were so many S-ranks gathered together, but at the same time not impossible and more so for this world, where some could rise in rank without having that much combat experience.

Of course, the training the fighters did to improve their bodies, the swordsmen to understand their sword aura, the mages and psionics for increasing their energy sources were vital.

“They are many. Some are strong and some are weaker. But the experience can be noticed at a glance,” Alice replied subtly, pointing to a woman in her late forties.

The woman had a stern face and a serious look as she crossed her arms, giving the presence of someone who was difficult to approach.

Aurora noticed from the upright posture that woman was a swordsman... That was the kind of posture someone had when swinging the sword continuously.

Most of them were strong, but even in that same range, there were stronger and weaker individuals.

Artifacts or armor could give a minor difference, however, it was experience, dexterity, and strength of skills that differentiated one from another.

An example was Edward, whose overwhelming power stood out among the S-ranks.

There were people on this site whose strength varied and while she could sense the strength of others, she could not say for sure when they had not seen them fight in person.

To fully understand the strength of any one required a battle.

“That’s an accurate comment.”

Someone’s voice rang out, and they both looked at the approaching hero, unfazed.

The man gave a half-smile at the lack of response, but lowering his voice, he muttered. “I’m sorry about the last time. If I had helped you maybe that event could have been avoided.”

That man was Dan Stolojan, the archer who was part of the raid against Arminio that led them to discover a demon lord.

His words sounded sincere and he, regardless of the onlookers, lowered his head slightly in apology.

Was he looking for someone to apologize to?

Yes, that was what Aurora could understand... It depended on each person’s perspective of how one would classify what happened with the goblins.

For some people, seeing children die next to their mothers caused a great shock, no matter if they were goblins, but for others, they wouldn’t even feel something when they saw the scene.

Aurora was this first type, and Alice was of that second.

“You don’t need to apologize to me. You did your part by not obeying orders right away,” Aurora replied, using a serious tone.

Theodore had ordered Dan to fire, and he didn’t obey immediately.

Aurora knew very well that if an S-Rank archer fired with all his might, he could have brought the yacht down.

The explosive effect that archers could give to arrows was enormous, and they were even more dangerous when they used enchanted arrows.

Dan only sighed as he listened to her reply.

Aurora didn’t accept his apology because there was no apology to give.

“I didn’t think the church would do that... That’s the problem with working with people you don’t know.” Dan said with an annoyed, but mostly apologetic tone.

She could tell he was still affected by what had happened.

“Don’t think about it, since the Cardinal showed up there was nothing we could do,” Aurora said, giving a sigh.

How do they stop an SS rank?

Aurora was not afraid of such individuals and if necessary she would confront them, however, she understood that those of that rank were terrifyingly strong.

Remembering the past, thinking that they could have done better than they did, was useless.

It was fine to conduct a retrospective in search of improvement, but not to constantly regret and more so when they would soon have a related mission.

“I didn’t think you’d come after that,” Dan muttered as he let go of his emotions.

“The Church of Order and I have the same goal. It’s inevitable to cooperate,” Aurora replied in a simple tone.

She could rage at the church, but it wouldn’t change anything... She had a goal to achieve and right now it coincided with the Church.

Control the abyssal portal... That was the overall goal.

Having to see the big picture was a difficult situation that required looking beyond her own desires and goals, prioritizing something more important.

Aurora would not sacrifice innocents to reach that goal, but if she had to work with the church to get to the same point, she would... No, to be precise it wasn’t about the church, it was about cooperating with Cardinal Auguste and in a lower position Theodore.

Life was not so fair as to allow everything to happen the way she wanted it to.

She knew when to grit her teeth and back down, but she was also someone spiteful who knew how to strike back.

“Aurora, come with me.”

At that moment, Alros walked into the room and approached her, gesturing for her to follow.

Aurora obeyed, knowing it was about the higher-ups.

Alros also looked for the paladin they had been watching earlier and Aurora, being closer, recognized her because she was someone who had faced goblins before and led the paladins of the Church of Time and Space.

Amanda Minal nodded to her in greeting, and Aurora returned the greeting.

They both continued to follow Alros and the three of them exited the hallway.

Alros looked around until he noticed a young woman arguing quietly on the phone.

“No, I’ve already said it. I will take part in this, you don’t need to say more. I enjoy being a heroine and protecting the cities, but... I want to do something like this, something bigger,” Said Adala, the ‘Blue Tide,’ and seeing that she was wanted, she muttered. “Sorry, manager, but I’ve made up my mind. I’ll talk to you later.”

She ended the call quickly, and realizing that they were waiting for her, she blushed.

“Sorry about that,” she mumbled.

Aurora gave her a look and, noticing that Adala was showing a serious and determined expression, she said nothing.

She didn’t know her to give recommendations and understood her desire to help or do something bigger than protect cities, but at the same time she knew that if a stranger told her something, it would be useless.

She came across as an inexperienced heroine who had not seen too much suffering.

Alros advanced without saying anything and they entered an office next to the room, finding Cardinal Auguste next to Theodore, Duke Kristoph next to Urfin, and Cardinal Najjar.

The latter gave her a rather curious and slightly serious look.

Aurora had met her, but in her time as a ‘heroine’ where she had worn a mask that changed from hair color and aura to disguise her.

She didn’t flinch at the sight of Cardinal Auguste and Theodore, just nodded in greeting.

“Thank you for coming,” Duke Kristoph said with his usual coolness, and looking at the group, he remarked. “Aurora and Amanda have fought two S-ranks on the goblin side. We need you to explain to the others the difficulty.”

Pausing for a second, he looked at Theodore.

“Theodore and his team captured one. That’s why we have more information from them that we will reveal now. Ragas was a chief among chiefs, an individual below the leaders and you also faced an individual of such a level,” Duke Kristoph explained.

Aurora had faced a muscular hobgoblin with a scar and at that time his cuts were powerful because of the strength that goblin was capable of exerting, and as if that wasn’t enough, the speed was also high.

She had trained with her master, who taught her in several ways and one of them was using different cold weapons, getting her to adapt to different styles when it came to fighting.

Her opponent’s strength was at a high level among the S-ranks she had faced with a sword.

When Aurora and Amanda nodded, Duke Kristoph gave a signal for them to follow him.

The meeting was reported and those in the halls entered, while the group moved forward and into the room.

The number of people increased and from her position, Aurora counted close to seventy people... All of them were S-Rank.

A very big number.

When they got to the front where everyone was looking, Cardinal Auguste activated an artifact to create a very strong barrier.

Security to prevent eavesdropping or information being revealed, it was simply business as usual.

“Everyone present in this place will be part of the battle against the goblins, whose goal is to take the abyssal portals,” Cardinal Auguste announced, and with a serious tone, he pointed out. “Most here have some idea on the subject and already have their decision determined. However, regardless of whether they accept or reject, in the end, they have to sign a confidentiality contract.”

It would surely be impossible to prevent others from learning of their objective because of the preparations of the military and the other members of the force who would be fighting in the group.

Still, it was important to maintain certain standards to prevent the situation from becoming too complicated.

Everyone was briefed on the subject and nodded... Some were professionals and until they heard about the mission, they would not accept.

It would be foolish to accept a job where they could be sent to their death by a suicidal plan.

There were too few loyal individuals to give their lives for a cause and even fewer to give their lives for something ‘greater’.

“Here present are seventy S-Ranks who will be our main combatants, but on the opposing side are about thirty goblins who have a strength of S-Rank,” Duke Kristoph reported and, with a serious tone, continued. “The overall leader is called Zrag, and he has a force that is at the limit of Rank S. Then there are three leaders of the different castes who under his command have three ranks S each who are considered ‘chiefs among chiefs’. Leaving at the end, five S-ranks for each of the three caste leaders. That means they have another fifteen S-ranks that have not appeared so far.”

Those who took part in the previous battle gave tense looks.

They were ambushed and retreated, but not only did the allied force not let their full strength show, but so did the goblins.

Capturing Ragas meant having access to all that information that chief among chiefs could get... That meant they had everything detailed.

“However, the number of their S-Ranks is not the problem. We expect about four thousand soldiers among its members. About two hundred A Ranks, eight hundred B Ranks, and three thousand C Ranks,” Duke Kristoph added and with a serious tone, he commented. “Of course, you are not our entire force. Some of you are leaders of other S-Ranks or are captains of different forces.”

The descriptions of the number were quite shocking... They were talking on the scale of a war with such a number and that was proof that a great battle awaited them.

Duke Kristoph was also calming down hearing about such numbers.

The allied forces had gathered considerable strength and, while not all were present, here were the leaders.

Amanda was representing the paladins of the Church of Time and Space who had sent part of their forces into battle.

In Theodore’s case, it was the same, and he represented the Executors of Order, which was a considerable force, and of that same in this place were leaders of guilds or mercenary groups or heroes.

Behind them were several people who were to be the primary force.

“Today we have gathered you here with a single goal. Our battle group has to secure the abyssal portal,” Duke Kristoph said, and looking at the two cardinals, he added. “The three of us will have different tasks. I will be in charge of keeping the abyssal portal stable and avoid destabilizing it. Cardinal Auguste will be in charge of confronting the leaders, and Cardinal Najjar will be an emergency member acting in different places.”

With those words, he explained the battle plan for this group.

While there were other S ranks that would accompany the major forces to deal with the number of enemies, the goal of those gathered here was to secure the portal.

Because of security, those present would have to split into small teams and advance through combat until they approached the portal and, at that point, secure it.

While Duke Kristoph could prevent it from becoming unstable and prevent the goblins from using the magic circles to cause a disaster, the spell would only do so much.

As long as the abyssal portal was in the hands of the goblins, they would continue to hold the advantage, and it was for that reason that they were gathered here.

The army would fight head-on and they would have to advance in order to secure the portal.

Once in place, they had to secure it until the main forces reached the central point.

For that mission, seventy S-ranks were designated with the idea that even two of them could dedicate themselves to a single objective, thus avoiding battles to the death and reducing the danger, but that was not all.

In the primary group that would basically be the army, the paladins of both churches and the other forces had thirty S ranks that would serve as a support in the area.

The number of soldiers was also large, and they were from different countries, but the main force was the Romanian army, who were armed to prove their worth.

They would employ tanks, heavy vehicles, soldiers, snipers, and artillery.

The battle would be urban and that meant that they would split up in the streets, advancing everywhere.

In the midst of that combat, they would have to advance with the idea of clearing a path and securing the area around the gate until any other group arrived.

“The fighting will be tough. They will prevent us from reaching our destination with all their might. And once they are cornered and realize they cannot destabilize the portal, they will go straight to the portal to recapture it,” Cardinal Auguste revealed, and giving a solemn look, he added. “They have strange objects and artifacts. We don’t know what else they are capable of.”

The man’s seriousness was unique and his voice stern.

“We also can’t move forward and hide in the buildings. Right now they have a great control of the area with their army and they are watching for us to hide like last time,” Duke Kristoph said.

It would be great to advance now and hide in a building like last time, but at this time they did not stand still, but on the contrary, they advanced, gaining ground.

They had artifacts to detect enemies and also had S-ranks distributed around the area, preventing any secret infiltration.

Now, if they wanted to reach the abyssal portal, they had to create a path through blood and corpses.

“Also, don’t underestimate their strength. The bosses among bosses and those at the top are strong as S-Rank, but above all, they have enormous experience. In their world, they have been living surrounded by chaos and monsters. They are desperate and extremely dangerous,” Cardinal Auguste warned, and giving Aurora a look, he ordered. “Do not hesitate and kill everyone you meet. They would kill you.”

She looked back at him fearlessly.

She was not going to apologize for stopping Theodore, as they would not apologize for doing as they wanted.

“However, be careful. The soldiers are your enemies, but not the civilians,” Cardinal Najjar pointed out and looking at everyone present, announced. “You do not kill innocents and weaklings. This is a war, not a massacre or extermination.”

Her seriousness and determination cowed some of the onlookers.

“The soldiers will attack you as you would attack them, but the children and weak will only look on in fear,” Cardinal Najjar added, and giving Cardinal Auguste a cold look, she mentioned. “Killing that kind of weak individual who cannot harm you is just fear and savagery.”

It was a direct criticism.

Possibly, she had already heard in what happened with the yacht and even though it was a direct criticism, Cardinal Auguste returned the look without losing in force.

Those present were silent at this internal clash of allied forces.

“As Cardinal Najjar said, this is a war. We have a goal and we will accomplish it by eliminating our enemies and those who try to prevent us from reaching it, but that is all.” Duke Kristoph mentioned and giving a glance to the audience where some were frowning, he warned. “Once the war is over and they surrender, their soldiers will be treated as prisoners of war and their people will be treated by the Church of Time and Space.”

The Duke’s intervention was timely and made it clear that he supported the Church of Time and Space, tipping the balance.

While these lands belonged to Romania, the truth was that the government of that nation was still in conflict with the guilds and, at this point, the representative of the Romanian forces had no voice.

Marius wore a cold expression that showed he did not like the situation, but he kept silent without being able to intervene.

Two SS ranks were making it clear that this war was not one of extermination.

Going against two powerful factions was a very serious matter, and it was obvious that none of those present wanted to try.

“And what happens if they don’t surrender?” Someone in the crowd asked.

Duke Kristoph released his powerful presence that gave the feeling of being a river of blood filled with corpses and looking at those present, he announced. “They will have to surrender or only one end awaits them.”

He could be against extermination, but if someone was putting them at risk by trying to fight to the death, then they had to be stopped and, in case that was not possible, they had to eliminate them.

An S-Rank could be very dangerous, and a cornered beast was not to be underestimated.

“Now you can talk to those who confronted those S-Ranks, then we will send you a full report,” Duke Kristoph ordered and looking at those present, he revealed. “The date will be before the new year... Be prepared.”

It was only a few days before the new year.

Seeing that some approached her to ask about those S-ranks, Aurora let out a long sigh.

It was hard to say much about her opponent when in their battle only several blows were exchanged, but at least in that sense, she had felt the force before and after the goblins used that artifact that produced an increase in goblin strength.

The main thing she could say was...

“You can’t underestimate them.”

Those words came out of her mouth.

She was young and many people might think she might actually be exaggerating, but at least the individual who was chief among chiefs was strong.

And from what she had seen, the others were just as strong.

Making it clear that the battle was going to be a tough one.