The night had fallen, but the Adventurer Guild was bustling with activity. By all accounts, the undergoing operation should've been kept under wraps and only known to a select few. Rayne knew Gustav wasn't the only traitor within the guild and that there was a potential danger of information leak on their operation by his accomplices, but he was running out of time.

He didn't return to the adventurers guild, but occupied a small guard station close to the central area and was now working a joint operation with multiple guard divisions and their captains in preparation of sweeping the sewers again in search for bombs. The guards already swept the city once, sewers included, but didn't find anything. Rayne found it odd and wondered if Tiv simply said what she said to distract them. He didn't know what to believe, but had to take every possible scenario into consideration.

"Belle, you sh-"

"I'm going! You can't make me stay behind, doing nothing!" She said, firmly and not budging an inch. Rayne knew he couldn't force her to stay. After a pause, he relented.

"Alright alright, I got it! You will take a few men and check the area from here," he pointed with his finger on the blueprint of the sewer Belle brought him, "up to here. And don't take any risks, understand?"

She nodded her head vigorously. Rayne handed her a detection device and turned his attention to the forty men, guards and guildies alike, awaiting orders. "I've no doubt", he started, referring to the captains of each division, "your men did their job sweeping the sewers before. We hadn't, however, taken something into account." He paused, making sure everyone was focused and paying attention.

"We haven't taken into account that there might be someone among the assailants that had the ability to make illusions or set up a formation, hiding the bombs and masking the mana signature from us. If someone did conceal parts of the sewer, then it is no wonder nothing was found. We will go down and sweep the sewer again. This time, with a map of the sewer and a trap and a tracking specialist in each team. We WILL find those bombs! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir!" The men replied in unison.

"Good! I wish I could tell you all to take an hour or two and get much needed sleep but we don't have the luxury. The clock is ticking away and we are racing against time…I can only hope the bombs weren’t set up to go off during the opening ceremony.

"You have half an hour to get ready and meet back here. Dismissed." Rayne finished and watched as the men broke formation and went to prepare.

"I think you’re doing a marvelous job leading the men!" Belle praised and gave her approval. "You should ask to be reinstated as a guild member once this is over!"

Rayne raised an eyebrow, wondering, and replied he would think about it. It was already dawning when multiple groups of people discreetly and stealthily entered the sewers around the central area of the city.

The sewer system was spaciously designed so the people could access them when necessary but also to accommodate massive amounts of water. Also the reason the sewers were unintended habitat of Ratmen, an anthropomorphic bipedal species of rodents. They were small, fast and besides terrible eyesight, had impeccable senses. The guildies mostly ignored the few they encountered but the intricate network of tunnels and the Ratmen did slow their progress.

The groups explored the tunnels but the expected swarm of Ratmen, however, was nowhere to be seen. Soon, they discovered why… they hit a dead end. The sewers beneath the city didn't have a dead end. All the tunnels were interconnected. The specialists within each team discovered and dispelled the concealment barrier and the wall disappeared, showing the rest of the sewer.

Some of the less adventurous group members, guards specifically, never ventured deep in such places and their inexperience showed. They were easily spooked by the oversized bipedal rodents that came in droves or freaked out when a gelatine blob dropped on one of them from the ceiling. The guard gasped in surprise and by reflex squeezed the blob until it burst, covering him in a substance that began to burn and peel off his skin. He screamed and started grasping at his equipment, trying to take it off. The rest of his teammates hurriedly helped him take the gear off and applied a healing salve on the infected area.

"Be quiet! It's just a slime!" The leader of the group reprimanded, then turned around, hearing the sound of footsteps mixed with the scampering of the Ratmen. The leader turned just in time to avoid an arrow to his head by jerking his head to the side. "Everyone, weapons ready! We got company!"

While the group engaged in a fight, a similar scene was playing out in other places. Rayne was dealing with the swarm of Ratmen while Joshua, his second tier barrier specialist, was in the process of dispelling the concealment barrier when he suddenly cried out in pain and grabbed hold of his head. Rayne rushed to his side and noticed he was bleeding out of his nose and ears.

Joshua extended his hand as if to reach for something and the barrier dispelled, showing a silhouette of a figure at the end of the tunnel. Rayne's eyes widened and he started running toward the figure but stopped after a few steps. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists. Rayne didn't want the party to venture to the sewers with him. There were only two of them in this area and Joshua's safety took priority.

Rayne returned to Joshua but not before catching a glimpse of Silva disappearing around the bend in the tunnel. They were on the right track and for a moment, Rayne had hope that everything might turn just alright.

Joshua sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. "Let me take a look." Rayne said and lifted his head. He saw that the bleeding had stopped but the man himself didn't fare well. "The bleeding stopped Joshua. How are you feeling? Do you know what happened to you?"

Joshua looked up, his eyes bloodshot and said his core, his soul has been damaged. He slumped his head down, tired and feeling like vomiting. Rayne remained silent, but his face was twisted in angst. He propped Joshua up and helped him return to the surface. Rayne saw Joshua wasn't the only casualty. He left the barrier specialist in the hands of a healer and approached the other group that was receiving treatment and asked what happened.

After hearing that the other group was also attacked after dispelling the barrier, Rayne returned to the sewers with haste and rushed the tunnels, looking for other group members. He ordered each group he encountered to retreat and regroup outside the sewers. Within the hour, all groups were accounted for and Rayne listened to reports given by each group leader.

All barriers were concealment barriers hiding parts of the sewers. No group was able to delve deeper on account of being attacked. The assailants were few in numbers, three or four per group, but were prepared and strong. Two guild agents at second tier and five guards died in the confrontation. One agent was slain by a weapon and the other had his core shattered. Rayne ordered each leader of the group to mark the location they encountered a barrier and directed everyone below the second tier to return to the guild and await orders.

While Rayne was planning a new course of action, a third tier gold ranker Forvas Vog was summoned from the frontlines and was busy interrogating all the men apprehended the day before in the hideout. He was a top ranking officer in the army and an interrogation specialist, spending the last month on the frontlines acquiring intel from the captured Aphitonians.

"Mr. Vog, you have called for me?" Belle asked after the messenger found her and relayed the message that she was needed back at the guild.

"Greetings Belle, I did. I finished interrogating the lot. Here, deliver the report back to Rayne at once while I'll go and deliver one to the prince."

Belle received the report and rushed out of the Adventurer Guild and headed in the direction where Rayne was staying. The members of the group that didn't stay at the guard station returned to the guild by now and reported what happened in the sewers.

It was nearing noon and Rayne was feeling the pressure of responsibility weighing on him. There were only a few hours left until the opening ceremony and he felt he was close, to both finding the bombs and dealing with Silva. He was standing outside the station looking around and noticed more people heading toward the squares. The crowd is starting to gather early…

He looked back at the blueprint of the sewer system in his hands and noted the concealed parts of the sewer leading to the squares in the central area.

"Squares huh? Makes sense. That's where the crowd will be most concentrated." Sandro, one of the second tiers that stayed behind approached and said. Rayne nodded, sharing the same opinion.

"It's a gamble though." Sandro stated and continued. "What if it's a diversion and instead they attack the royal palace? Or the Adventurer Guild? Or any other place? Any place and anyone could be a potential target…"

"Easy now Sandro. It's my job to stress about what if's, not yours."

"RAYNE!" Belle shouted from afar. Rayne turned and saw her speeding towards him. She reached him with a report already in her hands and ready to hand it over. Rayne grabbed the report and immediately started listing through the pages while making his way inside back inside a guard station.

"Well?" Belle impatiently asked, following him inside. Rayne held up his finger and after a minute turned to her. "In short? It says the men we arrested yesterday have no knowledge of the attack. They are local muscle paid to gather intelligence and do mundane work for Silva. As for the man himself, their answers to what they know about him was vague and scrambled. Forvas added a note saying he noticed traces of mind manipulation on some of the men and one critical case of soul tampering…"

"Silva…" Rayne added, gripping the pages in his hand.

"You think Silva did that to them?" Belle asked. This was the first time she heard about Silva having manipulation abilities.

"Yes. I saw him, Belle. Down in the sewers, I caught a glimpse of him." Rayne paused, then added. "He used soul attack on Joshua."

*gasps* "OH MY GOD! IS HE DEAD?" Belle screamed, drawing the attention of everyone inside.

"What? No, he is fine. He WILL be fine!" Rayne reassured her then turned toward the remaining men. "Here's the deal. We six are the only ones capable of withstanding soul attacks. Luckily, only one of the assailants seems to pose real danger, but I don't need to tell you not to let your guard down. We will go down to the sewers once more and focus on the uncovered areas together."

"We have around two hours until the start of the festival. We don't know exactly when they plan to attack but we have to assume the attack would commence shortly after the ceremony starts. "Belle, go find master Frose and ask him to try and delay the ceremony."

"Umm, the guild leader isn't in The Guild. He already left for the royal palace and Mr. Vog said he would go and deliver the report to the prince himself. Also, Mr. Vog had sent reinforcements. They should be here within minutes."

"Alright, we can spare a minute. The situation turned for the worst and I don't want you anywhere near the squares! Go back and stay in The Guild."

"But-"

"Please…" Rayne pleaded with her to listen.

"Alright, be careful Rayne and it's fine if Silva gets away, understand?"

Rayne smiled and nodded. "Sure." Belle left and Rayne waited until the said reinforcements arrived. The reinforcements were another gold ranker like him and three silver rankers in second tier. With men at his disposal and a newfound confidence, Rayne ventured into the sewers.

While they narrowed the search area, they were still left with an intricate network of tunnels. The new team was strong and forced their way beyond the barrier and through the ambush set up by Silva's new lackeys. In the time they were preparing for a new expedition into the sewers, Silva made preparations of his own.

The new lackeys, while easily subdued by overwhelming force, didn't stay down and stop attacking. There was something odd about them. They had a crazed look about them and threw themselves at danger without care for their life. There were nine of them but the gold rankers noticed more coming from behind.

The other gold ranker, Arndell, confronted the incoming threat from behind. After repeated clashes without any signs of stopping, Arndell stopped pulling punches. He punched one of the lackeys and his body exploded from the impact.

"Mother of…RAYNE!! There's something seriously wrong with them!" Arndell exclaimed drenched in blood, guts and pieces of the lackey.

Rayne saw what happened but couldn't make head or tails of what was happening. These men weren’t at their level of power. Far from it. They were barely at silver rank but their attacks, while wild and poor in execution, were ferocious and bursting with power. The other members, silver rankers, didn't have a hard time avoiding the wild and unruly swings of the newfound threat, but any blow that hit, even against the guard, put them at disadvantage.

"I don't know Arn! They attack like possessed! Just try and put them down for now!"