“The Great Forest is almost certainly going through Resurgence,” Giacomo said once I had joined the others at the table. “The team Alessandro and I sent to investigate the dungeon reported a higher concentration of monsters which condensed a core despite their decreasing numbers. The lab also finished analyzing the cores Marco and Mr. Polimeci recovered. Given their instability and lower anathema capacity, our people believe they were formed rather quickly. They don’t have a definite time span, but they have assured me it took less than twenty-four hours.

“For that reason, Alessandro and I initiated a cooperation with the Legione, the guild Mr. Polimeci is part of, to better aid each other in the raid.”

“I’m sorry Mr. Scacchi, but what does Resurgence mean? I’m not familiar with the term,” I asked, interrupting Giacomo and drawing everyone’s attention.

“It means a second Dungeon Heart is forming, one which is replacing the one that was destroyed when the dungeon was conquered,” he told me without missing a beat. “That alone is not much of a concern, but in some cases, the new one can make the dungeon more dangerous by raising the rank of the monsters it spawns. That is the reason why we can’t let that happen. The Great Forest was an A-ranked dungeon with an average monster rank of B. Should it increase to A, considering its past rate of outbreak, it would be disastrous.”

“The only tested way to stop it from happening is killing every single monster inside the zone and using a formation to flush anathema and mana out of it. And that is precisely what we are going to do,” he added after a short pause.

Then, unfurling the rolled piece of parchment he kept by his side of the table, Giacomo stood from his chair.

“This—” he said, passing his hand over the map he had just revealed to smooth any creases left “—is a map of Villa Doria Pamphilj. And these—” he pointed to the two blue squares splitting half of the map into two quadrants, one placed to the northeast, the other to the southeast “—are the areas our guild will have to clear. The other half of the dungeon will be handled by the Legione.”

“We will split into two teams. Alessandro, Simone, and Marco will lead the first, while Giulia, Cristina, and I will take the second. We first will clear the dungeon of any monster in our quadrant, moving progressively from the periphery to the rendezvous point by the lake,” he said, tapping on one of the banks of the lake. “From here, we will proceed as a single group towards Leone XIII road, where we will meet with the Legione and start the second part of the raid.”

“Cristina. Simone. You two will be in charge of setting up the array then, while Alessandro, Giulia, and I will keep an eye out should any monster have escaped our net. Marco, on the other hand, along with all the other mages of our guild, will support the two of you in preparing the array.”

“What if a Furia has already spawned?” Cristina queried. “I know we have three A-ranked Awakened with you, Alessandro and Ms. Pirelli, but I don’t think you three, even together, stand any chance against an S-ranked monster.”

“We have already contacted an S-ranker. He has agreed to help us,” Alessandro reassured her.

“Who?” Simone asked, curious if his leaning forward was any indication of that.

“The Cardinal.”

“Makes sense,” Giulia offered, not giving Simone the time to ask a second question. “Didn’t his wife perish inside the Great Forest?”

“She did,” Giacomo answered to her, looking pointedly her way. “And we are not talking about it until after the raid. Am I clear?”

Giulia only nodded.

“Good. Now, as I was saying…”

During the rest of the meeting, Giacomo and the others went over the problems we might encounter during the raid, while I stayed mostly silent, listening to their concerns. This was going to be my first raid, after all; little—if anything—I said would be helpful to the more experienced group. By the end of it, what remained to do was talking to all team captains—like in many guilds, all delvers employed by the Torre were automatically assigned to a team upon joining—so that they could, in turn, relay the information to their teammates.

The raid was scheduled to begin the coming Monday, and Giacomo and Alessandro expected it to last at the bare minimum three days. Giacomo and Alessandro also made it a point to require that, despite all Awakened could survive various weeks in mana rich environments without eating and drinking, each person also had to bring with them a pack containing food and water.

As everyone beside Giacomo and Alessandro filed out of the room, I hurried after Cristina, calling to her.

“Yes? What is it, Marco?” she asked, somewhat surprised.

“I was wondering if I could ask you some questions regarding which spells I should give priority learning. You are the best mage in the guild, and I figured you had some tips you could give me.”

She mouthed her sister ‘go-ahead’ before turning back to me.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have much time before the raid starts,” she said, looking apologetic. “Just before Giacomo called the meeting, I was about to attempt advancing. I can spare a few minutes. Nothing more, however.”

“That’s fine,” I hastily accepted. Any tips a B-ranked mage on the verge of ascending had to share would be helpful.

“What do you want to know?”

“I was thinking of practicing a spell-chain. I wanted to focus on the purely offensive ones, but from what I have gathered on the web, it’s not recommended. I wanted to have your opinion on the subject.”

“Normally, it isn’t,” Cristina agreed. “After all, all that is needed to put a mage down is a well-placed blow from a monster of the same rank. However, from what Giacomo and Alessandro told us, you are proficient with Mana Step, and at least one Stanza of the 3rd Poem of Destruction. If you are confident in your ability to dodge and cast, I see no problem with your choice. I suggest giving it more thought before taking a definite decision, though.”

I nodded.

“It’s a shame,” Cristina sighed. “Had you been a B-ranked mage, I would have told you to focus on Wards.”

“Wards?” I asked.

“They are spell-chains formed by Mana Bind—the 6th Stanza of the 6th Poem of Imprisonment—and any one of the spells of the Poem of Protection,” she told me. “Essentially, they are moving magical barriers.”