"Who's with me?"

Adam raised his hand first—of course he did. He was even grinning, practically glowing after hearing how confident I sounded. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or sigh at how simple‑minded he was.

Not that I hated people like him. Actually, I had a feeling we'd end up being good friends once we survived this place.

Well… that's assuming he doesn't mind me charming his daughter someday. Once I set my sights on a girl, I don't miss.

"Anyone else?"

His guild members followed, one after another, hands going up with varying levels of enthusiasm. Some looked confident. Some looked resigned.

Half the crowd agreed. Which meant the other half realized they were about to be outvoted, outgunned, and outpaced—and reluctantly joined in.

"Good," I said, trying not to sound too pleased with myself.

Leading a hundred-plus people sounded heroic until you remembered most of them required constant supervision to not die.

"Let's go."

We moved out quickly, weaving through shattered buildings and smoke-thick alleys as we pushed deeper into the city. I had left marks on the trees beforehand, making it easy to backtrack my way to my two companions.

After reaching it, I touched the bark and carefully dug a hole—just big enough for a person to fit through.

Amanda was the first to crawl out through the hole, straightening herself the moment her boots hit the ground, brushing off wood dust.

Hai-Min, on the other hand, stayed inside. Clinging to the inner wall like the tree still held legal custody of her.

I reached in, grabbed her by the forearm, and gently pried her loose. She emerged blinking rapidly.

"Are you okay?" I inquired.

"I—I was comfortable," she muttered, absolutely lying.

"You were shaking," Amanda said.

"From comfort." she insisted.

Got to admit, Hai-Min had a knack for bantering, and I liked this side of her. She wasn't like those other girls trying way too hard to be "feminine" or "Classy". Maybe it was just that she was still too young to care about that kind of thing.

"Boss..." Amanda scanned the growing crowd, then leaned closer. "They all followed you?"

"What's there to be shocked about? I'm the most powerful person here, so it's my responsibility to help those in need."

Hai-Min smiled at me—not in a romantic way, but more like a fan admiring her favorite hero.

Before either of them could say my actual name, I raised a hand.

"Don't. Use. My name. From now on, call me MF."

Amanda lifted an eyebrow at my undeniably awesome alias, but she didn't question it.

Then I turned my attention to the people waiting for my orders.

"We'll set up camp here. Eat, drink, and then get ready to move out. If you're fast or have any scouting-type abilities, congratulations—you're on stair-finding duty."

Not everyone liked the idea of scouting—it was dangerous—so I had to sweeten the deal first.

"Listen up. Whoever finds the stairs first gets to opt out of the actual boss raid."

The announcement hit the crowd like a lightning bolt. Humans—powers or not—always chose self-preservation, and between going out to scout and facing a boss, it was obvious which option they would pick.

Just like that, more than half of the group began their search. With the fear of the monsters returning at any moment, finding a way to the floor quickly was motivation enough for them to give 110%.

Adam walked closer to me with serious expression.

"Something on your mind?" I asked.

He cleared his throat. "Is that you… Amanda?

"Hello, Guild master," she politely nodded.

Adam's mustache twitched. "Is my daughter okay? Please tell me my daughter is okay."

Amanda blinked, then softened just a touch. "She should be fine. She was teaching a class when the Tower Echo happened. They were in the training center which was far away from us."

Adam's shoulders dropped like someone had cut the strings holding him upright. "Oh thank the gods… I—I thought she might've

"She's safe," Amanda reassured him.

Adam nodded rapidly, wiping at his face as discreetly as a man with hands the size of helmets could wipe discreetly. Then he straightened, trying to recover his image.

I clapped him on the shoulder.

"Good. Now that your heart rate is back under human levels, we've got work to do."

"Right. Yes. Of course.

We moved toward a flat boulder I designated as the "table."

"Alright," I continued, "I want a list of everyone's abilities. Every single survivor. We're dividing them into categories: Tanks, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Healers, and Supports."

It was the easiest way for me to plan ahead—using gaming terms. Fortunately, party formation worked the same way here.

I began outlining the plan. It was really just a basic MMO-style strategy, and I knew I was being wishful to think it would work perfectly—after all, one hit from the boss could wipe everyone out unlike in games.

But I didn't need everyone to survive; I just needed them to serve as distractions while I unleashed all my attacks.

And for that to happen, I needed them to live long enough to be useful to me.

I also got Adam's input—and the rest of the A-ranks' opinions. They were more experienced at this sort of thing. But their next words caught me off guard.

"Wait… you mean none of you have experienced a Boss Raid yet?"

They scratched their heads, looking awkward. Adam stepped forward to explain.

"Only Tier-One guilds attempt a Boss Raid," he said. "It requires huge resources and manpower. Honestly… a third-rate guild like ours can't afford a total wipeout."

Ah. That explained a lot. He went on to tell me what had happened to a small guild—completely unaware that I had just bought their building.

The guild leader had grown arrogant, convinced he could take on a boss, and ended up sacrificing his main fighters. The guild was effectively bankrupted in the process.

It made me wonder what had forced them to be that bold.

Amanda moved closer and whispered, her voice muffled by the shadow I used to cover us.

"Boss, you might not know this, but defeating a boss on the higher floors has a chance to drop what we call Celestial Gears. They only drop once, which is why powerful guilds fight over Boss Raids."

"Celestial Gears?" I mumbled. "Are they that strong?"

She nodded. "An A-rank with a Celestial Weapon can fight against an S-rank, and an S-rank becomes virtually unrivaled if they get one. That's why some guilds take the risk—even if they don't use it, a single gear could sell for hundreds of billions."

"Wait… does this mean that if we beat the boss, we can get one for ourselves without even fighting for its rights?"

That just made things a whole lot sweeter. For someone with my status, only something like that was worth using.

I removed the shadow and faced the others again. Before I could speak, Adam raised his hand.

"I think we should grab more resources from our guild base. We don't have much, but our armory still has different types of explosives, potions, and other items that could really help in the raid."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.