Soul Merger

Alissa was a little impressed at how much support her friends had managed to rustle up. It almost made the whole thing less crazy. The biggest catch was Rosalina had somehow managed to bribe, cajole, or threaten the Silver Order into supporting them. They'd sent a team to assist in planning the raid.

Of course that meant there were far too many new people around for her. She'd hunted out a nice dark corner of the guild house they were working in and promptly hid there. She'd speak up if she was needed.

Fortunately no one was bothering her about that. She'd been a little worried Raiel and Kotori being front and center might cause trouble since from what she heard the Silver Order was fairly militaristic and anti monster. But the leader the Silver order had sent, Chris, was some sort of angel meld and had just given Raiel a respectful nod and overlooked the harpy. And the other order members had followed their boss's lead.

Currently Chris was marking out a delving route on some very well detailed maps. "Unfortunately we lack the higher tier delvers who could perform a proper raid currently. However, with the assistance of our allied guilds and some hired help we can properly saturate the top three layers. That will clear out the initial opposition and confirm that none of the missing children are elsewhere in the Labyrinth."

Rosalina nodded happily. "Reducing the amount of combat time will help keep us fresh for the fourth and fifth layers."

Fili stepped up from there. "Alissa confirmed that Kotori can manipulate bird monsters to some degree." The mage gave her a wave and smile which Alissa returned. "So the fourth layer should be manageable, so long as we keep our eyes open."

"That brings us to the fifth layer," Clara said. "Which is gonna be a pain, but the Pacio Engraver's Guild is lending us some eye and ear protection so we don't have to fiddle around with tinted glasses and wax earplugs. After that it's just the fight."

The Silver Order man gave them all a hard look. "And it will be a fight. Remember the fifth layer is bottled up, so there's no cleaning operations. Fifth levels are always similar to a horde situation. You'll need to hit hard and move fast."

"Ibaraki should help considerably there," Akari said. "We also have mage tower information that lets us pick the quickest route between stairways. I think it should be doable." The catgirl tapped the final destination. "What I'm worried about is what we'll find on the other side of the portal."

Chris pulled out another map, this one a far cruder version. "The Silver Order has supported a raid there before, so we can give a little breakdown on the immediate surroundings. The focal area is actually two coliseums. To the north is the larger one, while to the south is a smaller one. In between there's two buildings, one being a mostly empty shell while the other had a fair number of artifacts, though it's mostly cleaned out now.

"The portal leads to the shell building at the top, so you'll have to get down via ramps or stairs. From there you can take a number of entrances to each coliseum, some of which we've marked here. However, it's been at least twenty years since a team has raided the area so obviously things will have changed."

Alissa moved up to look at the map. It was messy, but there was good info there about stair and door locations. She'd have to make a copy or two. It was much better info than she'd hoped for. Still there was one more burning question about their destination. "What's the demon presence like?"

"No idea," the man said. Not great but expected. "Again it's been twenty years. At the time it was fairly thin. Most Demons were scavenging the areas when encountered, so we assume they were living outside the immediate area. Monster presence was low, but we can't count on that remaining true."

Alissa sighed and stepped back again. It all made sense, but she didn't like wandering into that mess without info.

"I have one personal concern about the mission," Chris said as he tapped the map. "You said that damn sex demon that went on a rampage was involved. How will your group handle an incubus attack?" Alissa grimaced. It was nice to see the man was invested in their success, but that particular mess was something she didn't like bringing up.

Fortunately Fili stepped up to answer. "We've determined that succubi and incubi naturally can't exist around each other. Their innate drives cause them to attack each other. Apparently it also affects merges. If that demon shows up as an incubi, Alissa will be driven to kill it."

"Interesting. Won't help our teams, but it's good information." The man nodded. "Now let's do a rundown of the other possible level V monsters you might encounter. Just because most of the labyrinth follows type doesn't mean we can get complacent."

Two big lectures later Alissa flopped down on a seat in the houseboat. She let her cloak fall off and immediately felt a wave of relaxation hit her. "Finally. Please, give me a moment to clear my brain before we get onto the next painful planning bit."

Kotori nearly face planted on the table. "Food," the harpy demanded.

"There's a polite way to ask," Raiel chided her charge.

"Yes, but the bird has a point," Alissa said. Her stomach was starting to complain as well now that she'd been reminded.

Clara chuckled. "Well good thing I planned ahead." She pulled out several meat pies. "Got myself a thermal rune for my pack while I was picking up the loaner gear from the Guild. Even got a discount."

"Clara once again proving who the most invaluable member of the team is," Rosalina said, grabbing some wine from the cupboard.

Alissa pulled up next to Fili and dug into the meal. It was fairly simple, but her hunger helped spice the dish. She focused on eating, letting her brain rest. The others seemed similarly inclined.

Finally after they were done, Akari picked up the dishes. "Well we've planned out the easy part. Now I fear we must discuss the hard part of the expedition."

"Getting back alive," Fili said quietly.

"With as many surviving kids as possible," Alissa added.

Akari nodded. "Which means we'll need supplies for them as well. This won't be a simple excursion."

"Fortunately we've got some workarounds there," Clara said. "We know at least some of the kids are alive. Which means there has to be some food down there. A decent supply too based on how long this nonsense has been happening. So we follow the old method back when people had armies. We steal from our enemies."

"Oh, that's clever, I like that. Though it's not stealing, it's our just reward for conquest," Rosalina said with a toothy smile. "I imagine we'll do something similar for protective gear. No reason to pack bulky eye and ear guards when wax and closing your eyes will work."

Clara nodded. "Exactly. We're gonna be fighting. They'll stick to the back with some spears or something as we push through."

"Not the most elaborate plan, but probably the best one we can put together," Alissa said. "Raiel, I imagine you can help with the kids?"

"Me too," Kotori said. "I can stay above them when there's room." The angel smiled and nodded.

Akari gave the bird a headpat and Alissa had to admit the extra eyes would be very helpful. She considered the situation. "So one day of food and water each, along with bare minimum supplies for the kids when we break out. That should keep our packs light for fighting."

"Even with extras," Clara said. "And we'll want extras for sure. Be a real mess if we lost the one pack with ear protection and had to scrounge up something to keep the kids from being brainwashed by sirens."

Rosalina rubbed her temples. "That's all I can think of. So we'll start with that. We've got one day to figure out if we're missing anything and to practice with the new gear. Then we have to get down into that Labyrinth. This has been going on too long."

Alissa took a deep breath. "Yeah. And that's going to be a big problem. I know we're prepared for layer five, but there's some group pulling this nonsense at the bottom. And we're going to have to fight them."

"Let's hope we have time to think up a plan," Akari said.

"Or that Ibaraki just steamrolls them," Rosalina said cheerfully.

Somehow Alissa didn't think it would be that easy.