Zairon leaned against a stack of grain sacks, flipping through the tattered scroll Kai had "borrowed permanently" from the inner archives. His expression was darker than usual—serious, almost grim.
"This is bigger than just a cult," he said, voice low. "They're not trying to summon a spirit or empower themselves. They're trying to open a gate to Raur."
The others froze.
Yue whispered, "That's… insane. Even the SSS ranks here can't enter Raur freely. The dimensional balance wouldn't allow it."
"Exactly," Zairon said. "Raur is not just another realm. It's a world, vast and ancient. Beasts there aren't restrained like they are in our dungeons. The only reason we haven't been wiped out already is because the dungeons suppress their true power. But if that gate opens…"
He tapped the scroll, where a diagram showed a massive glyph—a gate surrounded by corpses and black flame.
"Then all bets are off. Beasts of every rank will pour through. Not just B-ranks, not just SSS. Even those who exist above rank. Creatures that defy classification. Think of the end of the world, and then imagine it's worse than that."
Rysa muttered, "And we're facing this… with soup spoons and deception."
Zairon chuckled. "Hey, don't underestimate the power of chaos."
Stage One: The Sabotage Begins
That night, the cult gathered in the Great Hall for their pre-ritual feast. Dozens of hooded figures sat in rows, chanting between bites of spicy meat stew and herbal bread. Zairon, still in his cook's garb, moved between tables, ladling stew and offering enthusiastic "Bless the Bloom" greetings.
Unbeknownst to them, each bowl was laced with Mira's Gale Root Extract—a powerful laxative mixed with spiritual suppression. Within minutes, some cultists began to squirm. Groans echoed. The air thickened with impending gastrointestinal doom.
Meanwhile...
Mira, disguised as an apprentice alchemist, snuck into the storeroom and replaced key reagents for the ritual with fakes—shiny powder mixed with crushed root vegetables and beast dandruff.
Yue sweet-talked the High Priestess into delaying the ritual an hour and moving it to another location—right where Kai had rigged the floor to collapse into a pit full of poisoned thornspikes.
Rysa led a fake inspection of the outer sanctum guards, subtly redirecting half the force to "secure the northwest wall," which didn't exist.
Everything was going smoothly.
Too smoothly.
Then it happened.
A thunderous crack tore through the compound as the corrupted glyph near the main altar activated prematurely. Someone had started the ritual ahead of schedule.
Zairon's eyes narrowed. "Plan B, people. They're rushing it. Time to crash their little party."
He grabbed a meat cleaver—still stained with broth—and kicked open the door to the inner sanctum.
"Dinner's over, cultists. The sovereign's in the house!"
Chaos Erupts
Cultists staggered from the stew's effects, collapsing mid-chant.
Rysa burst in from the side, fists blazing with crimson energy, uppercutting a robed elder across the altar.
Mira flung exploding potions that shattered into dazzling illusion clouds—panic ensued.
Yue sprinted to the altar and began drawing counter-glyphs to slow the portal's activation.
Kai rode in on a broken wheelbarrow like a chariot of doom, slamming into a group of stunned acolytes.
Zairon stood at the altar, eyes locked on the flickering dimensional gate.
The stone glowed. A claw emerged, long and covered in scales darker than night. Something massive stirred beyond.
He drew Crimson Crescent and slashed it in a blinding arc. "You're not coming through. Not today."
The cleave shattered the glyph's stabilizing circle. The gate flickered… then collapsed into a swirl of black dust.
Aftermath
Panting, bruised, and covered in stew, the team regrouped.
Zairon grinned, leaning on his blade. "Told you chaos was a valid strategy."
Mira flopped down. "Next time… I'm poisoning the bread."
Kai pointed to the ruined altar. "So uh… are we gonna talk about the fact that that thing almost made it through?"
Yue nodded solemnly. "This was just one cult. One ritual. There could be more."
Zairon looked at the darkened sky above.
"We'll find them all," he said. "Before they bring Raur to us."