The Martial Unity

"Kane, go dump the esoteric ore deposit in the hole that we dug up earlier," Rui informed him. "We're running out of time."

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that," Kane nodded.

It didn't take Kane too long to finish this task. Rui had wisely chosen the closest adequately deserted location to the Shionel Dungeon, as long as Kane traveled at top speed, he would be able to reach there in two minutes.

It wasn't long before Kane returned, Rui sought him ought since he was the only one who could navigate and detect him. Yet, the first thing Rui told him when they reunited puzzled him,

"We need to head back to the floor, I need to know what's going on," Rui told him.

"You want to head back?" Kane tilted his head frowning. "We just barely got back from there. I thought you stayed back because I was faster without you. What if we get hit with another attack from that psycho again?"

"Think about it Kane," Rui calmly explained. "That Martial Squire probably killed two or three Martial Squires and severely hurt the rest. Even if he is highly impulsive, he is not going to repeat a decision that he probably regrets from the bottom of his heart, most likely. Furthermore, Void Step broke because you were caught off-guard since you did not expect an attack to hit you. However, if you knew that you were going to get hit ahead of time, would your technique have still been disrupted?"

"No," Kane shook his head. "In combat, I adopt a mindset that prioritizes fortitude, and I can get hit without letting the technique break because I'm expecting it and can also see it happening usually. But that's different from the mindset I have when we're mining esoteric ore deposits, or pulling off extraction operations like that."

"Right, the issue was just that there was a mismatch between what you had primed yourself for, and what ended up happening. We just need to be specifically prepared for anything to happen." Rui told him.

"Sure, but why do you want to go back in the first place?" Kane frowned.

"I want to eavesdrop on their conversations," Rui replied simply. "The more we know, the better we'll be equipped to make the right decisions ahead of time."

"Won't you need to get very close to hear what they're saying since your hearing is jammed, and your Rieman-whatever Echo does not sense sound right?" Kane asked.

"Right, but I can read their lips, tongues, and even their larynxes to deduce what they're saying to each other," Rui replied. "That's why we don't need to get too close to them, even a hundred meters is more than enough for me to comfortably spy on all conversations happening around me at that range, thus the risk is minimized."

Kane considered his words for a bit before nodding. "Alright sure, though they've probably finished whatever conversation you want to eavesdrop on."

"The probability of that is quite low," Rui replied. "That report from the Martial Squire does not take priority over the fact that a few Martial Squires are probably dead while a hundred are injured from light wounds to critical injuries. Regardless, intelligence is intelligence."

Kane considered that rationale, it certainly made sense.

The two of them quickly activated Void Step as they headed back the way they came. This time, both Rui and Kane prepared defensive techniques if anything similar happened this time as well.

They soon reached the opening to the fourteenth floor, entering it very cautiously and abrasively.

Rui's predictions turned out to be spot-on. The patrol guards had closed up, forming a tight perimeter around the raiding team of Martial Squires that appeared to be quite injured, consuming potions.

A little ahead were three corpses laid side by side. These were the Martial Squires who were closest to the grade-ten Martial Squire who recklessly launched a powerful omnidirectional wind attack, resulting in their skulls being cracked, causing irreparable brain damage, and taking their life subsequently.

Some distance away was a Martial Squire who was surrounded by several figures. Rui recognized him immediately.

It was the man responsible for all of this. He was standing with his head lowered surrounded by many Martial Squires who had taken their stances. Yet they didn't attack.

('He's probably going to be restricted,') Rui mused, before glancing around at the entire site. He also happened to spot the patrolling Martial Squire who had sensed them, causing this whole problem to spring up, but as Rui predicted, he was in a position where Rui could not kill him. If there were only two, maybe three witnesses, Rui could still kill them with the help of Kane's Void Step, but right now the perimeter had been tightly compressed to protect the recovering Martial Squires in this time of vulnerability. Even if there were no monsters sighted on the fourteenth floor, none of them dared lower their guard. The Shionel Dungeon was far too dangerous for them to do so. The uncertainty that came with highly restricted senses did not help them either.

However, it appeared clear to Rui that he had most likely not made any extensive report to the head of the operation, who was preoccupied with far more immediately pressing matters.

"YOU FOOL!" A Martial Squire wearing a particularly extravagant attire with the emblem of Deacon Industries bellowed at the Martial Squire who caused all this mess. "How could possibly launch such a wide and powerful attack with so many of your comrades around?! We entrusted you to have our backs! Not break them! That too with a grade-ten wide-scale technique! You've done precisely that because of your impulsive reaction to the smoke screen!"

"He's the one in charge, clearly," Rui noted as the other Martial Squires stood a few steps behind him, clearly in deference to his status and authority. "He seems quite strong actually."

"Sorry boss…" The Martial Squire lowered his head, gritting his teeth.

"Sorry doesn't bring back the dead you imbecile!" He screamed in the man's face, despite the latter being a grade-ten Martial Squire.