All of the original adventurers inside that room fell silent for a second after they heard the four-team declaration. Even so, that silent didn't last for long as the voices of adventurers start to flood the Adventurer Bar.
"We, Iron Crown will join this quest!"
"We, Bloody Weapons will join this quest!"
"We, The Protector will join this quest!"
"We, Spider Lily will join this quest!"
"We, Candle Light will join this quest!"
One adventurer team after another declares their intention to join the quest, and before long, all adventurers teams inside the Adventurer Guild have announced their intention to participate. Even so, Guild Leader Fiore didn't look happy seeing everyone taking this matter lightly.
"I'll remind you once again...This quest is dangerous…all of you may end up dead. There might be money and glory for you if you come back alive, but there'll be nothing for you if you're dead! Would you join, even when you know you'll die?"
Most of the adventurers become quiet when asked with that question. There might only be 8 Plague God cult members inside Variesz city, but those who know their capabilities will understand that those hesitate when fighting against them always ends up dying.
Plague God followers can easily use plague skill to those around them and also summon poisonous insect or snake to help them in battle. That's also why they can easily threaten their opponent and make them hesitates to fight by taking everyone near their opponents as hostages.
The one hesitate wouldn't end well, it's because they will start killing after seeing their foe hesitating and start killing more than they threatened.
That's also the reason why most of the people who win against them will become much more ruthless than before. The mindset to save 1000 by sacrificing 100 will be ingrained inside their minds, and while they will feel guilty, that guilt will one day turn into nothingness in the long run.
Guild Leader Fiore explains the strength and action usually taken by the Plague God followers make all adventurers who never fight them suck a deep breath. The more they heard it, the more scared they are, even so, none of them turn back and run.
"I ask once again…is there any gro-"
"Supervisor..." One of the adventurers from Iron Crown interrupt her words and continue "I still have family at home you see…"
"Do you want to back off?" Guild Leader Fiore ask.
"Back off? How can I? I have a family at home and I care about them...But!" The man lifts his head and looks at Guild Leader Fiore with determination "But it's because of that reason...it's because of that, I'll stay and fight!"
"Heh…You're right...my son is still a baby…you can't ask me to run now and live in other places if this operation fails. I can't just take my family to the place I'm uncertain whether they have Plague God follower or not...that's why...if you give the choices to take care of the rats here and live peacefully later with the choices run to a place with unknown danger...I'll definitely choose to stay."
"Heh...you're right about that, rather than dying at other places, why not die at our birthplaces?"
"Hey hey....we're going not to die you know....we're all going to WIN!!"
"WIN!!!" All of the adventurers shout out.
"We will stay Supervisor! Please command us as you see fit."
"Please!!!"
Everyone voices reverberate through the whole Guild. No one wants to back away…no…it's more like, they can't back away. They're not guards whose task is to protect the nation first before citizens, because they're adventurers! They're the one who vanquishes monster, help and protect citizens from harm.
Although there'll be casualties when they fight Plague God followers, all of them remember the word Villia has said to them before. The white smog from earlier will defend them for 5 minutes, that means they need to end the fight as soon as they can, and even if they can't finish it as fast as they can, the poison used by the followers is, after all, a plague — sickness, meaning that their battle power might be decreased, but they will not instantly die.
Guild Leader Fiore turned serious when she saw their eyes. It's not the eyes used for getting money and honor, but an eye full of determination and readiness to die. Seeing those eyes, she can only relent and start to brief their operation this times around.
"Then, as you have known, there are 32 seeds of plague, and there are also 8 Plague God Followers in every part of the city." With that said, she takes out a map and put it in one of the tables. Some adventurers tacitly back off when they saw that, while some come to the table and look at the map.
The map displayed is the map of Variesz city, and now, there're 8 red dots and 31 white dots on the map which symbolize the followers and the seed of plague respectively. The 9 leaders of their respective guild group up and look at the map, but not long after, frown start to appear on their face when they saw the location of those red and white dots.
Eight cult members are separated to 2 at Noble district, 2 at commoner district, 1 at market district, 1 at church district and the last 2 at slum district. Even so, while the other is separated, the two at slum district as of now is together with 16 white dots, meaning, they're together with 16 of those kids, while the other kids aren't that far from the other 6 red dots.
"As you can see, the quest isn't merely defeating the Plague God followers, but also rescuing and evacuating the citizens and the infected child. Remember the fact that once one Plague God member spot you, the other will also know your presence." Guild Leader Fiora says with a stern face and continues "Seven teams will be sent to battle the follower while two other teams will support them by evacuating the citizen. Tharen, your team, will handle the slum district. Mavieli, your team and Spider Lily will handle the Noble District. Charlison, your team, will handle the Market district. Filant your team and Bloody Weapon will handle the Commoner district. Iron Crown, take your team to Church district and both The Protector and Candle Light will evacuate the child and infected villager back to the Guild with the help of the guards. Is there any objection?"
Every team leader who heard her words didn't voice out any complain and nod their heads. Even though some of them feels dissatisfied that Supervisor didn't call them by name, they didn't show that dissatisfaction as they know they're not qualified yet.
Seeing everyone agree to her arrangement, Guild Leader Fiore start to explain to them every task they need to remember before they start the quest. One important point it to not attack before everyone is ready, as to not alert the enemy. That's also why they can't evacuate the citizens, or it'll look suspicious.
The second point is where they attack at the same times, whereas other guards will come to evacuate the citizens, while the support team will save the closest children as soon as they can. Know the fact that those children can be exploded by the followers to spread temporary plague if they're at 10-meter range with Plague God followers, that's also why they need to save the children before they notice the Guild objectives.
To prevent that explosion, Villia willingly shares Disruption powder which can interfere the connection between the Followers and the seed of plague for a while, which also means they need to save all of the children within that time.
"Supervisor, did we only have Sister Villia as our healer? Why not ask the Priest and sister of Humanity Church for help?" Candle Light team leader unkindly looks at Villia and asked Guild Leader Fiore.
"If you look at the map carefully, you will realize there're only 31 white dots even though I've said there're 32 seeds of plague left." Some team leader looks at the map again, but the top 4 team leaders seem to figure out long ago and wait for Guild Leader Fiore answer. "We have secured one of the children and let the priest of Humanity Church inspect him. What do you think his first diagnosis about the kid is?"
"Eh…there's no problem?" Charlison reply in doubtful voices as he is only trying his luck, but Guild Leader Fiore nod at him after he says that words.
"That's right…he didn't find anything wrong with the body. Even though the boy can't easily lift his body, he can't find anything wrong at all. Although Father Murguna is a priest, he's also a skilled doctor, but he didn't find even one problem inside the boy…of course we didn't say anything about plague at first, and get the diagnosed that the boy only paralyzed for a while and can move later on, but how could it be like what he said!?"
"Although he didn't find anything wrong, after hearing Sister Villia explanation and instruction, Father Murguna finally find an invisible thread all over the boy body, he has also tried to destroy those thread and cured the boy, but there's nothing he can do as it's ineffective."
"We have also tried to ask the priest and the sister to cure him after we have determined the problem, but none can cure the boy except Sister Villia. All of you should have seen the cloud that entered your body before, and you should know what effect it has for your bodies." All of the team leaders nod, even Tharen and the others nod their heads, as some of the clouds also get inside their body…as if Sister Villia know they're there from the very start.
"The boy complexion has turned better now, but he's not cured yet. It's because sister Villia is afraid that we will caution the enemy if she cured him. One cured child can be said coincidence, but two people isn't a coincidence anymore. Although they shouldn't know the fact we know their location, I hope you guys didn't let your guard down when you're fighting them."
Seeing everyone nod their heads, Guild Leader Fiore clap her hands and declare.
"Remember, go back here as soon as you beat the enemies and got infected by the plague, because one wrong move and you may die today. Oh…and remember that Variesz city is our own turf, it also means we should clean our own troubles while we're at it. I know that some of you pray for Imalios and think Sister Villia as a heretic, but do know that any disrespect for the one who is not involved yet try to help us is not permitted. Do you get it?" Guild Leader Fiore says with words full of threats to Team Leader of Candle Light and the other.
Team leader of Candle Light gulps and nodded his head, followed by the other team leader.
Guild Leader Fiore who saw them nod with satisfaction and announces
"Then, the quest Plague Rats Extermination starts … now!"