Bus Day 2. The bus parties began to operate in earnest. Despite the failure of the first run, the raiders had already paid their fees. And with Baron Momonte’s public apology, there were no immediate issues with continuing the operation.

[The Hegreim Raid Party has entered Heimdall.]

Hegreim was another top-tier B-rank raider active in the West, and another instructor for the Pradio side.

“Take him down,” Taehyun said flatly.

“Okay. Hendy, you’re up again.”

“Ehh? Do I have to go again?” Hendy whined from her seat in the Master Room.

She had already made fools of several raid leaders, and now she had to go through the trouble of tailing yet another party. With a sigh, she set down Vedder, the teddy bear she’d been cuddling, and stood up.

“Hoo, fine. I’ll be back,” she said, pointing a finger at Taehyun. “Don’t you dare try anything funny with Eleanor while I’m gone. You’d better remember that!”

With her warning delivered, she left the Master Room. No doubt she would once again hide throughout the dungeon and bombard Hegreim with her Massive Explosion skill.

‘I can’t believe using Massive Explosion like this actually works,’ Taehyun thought, shaking his head. ‘It was my idea, but it’s still absurd.’

Hendy, a top-tier A-rank mage, lived up to her title as the Great Mage of Explosions. Her unique ability, Massive Explosion, allowed her to enchant a part of an ally’s body with explosive magic. This made it possible to damage the enemy raid leader indirectly, through his own dungeon soldiers. Taehyun was using this effect to systematically torment the Pradio-side instructors.

“Master, I am a supporter as well. This sort of treatment is not appropr—oof.”

Finally free from Hendy’s embrace, Vedder promptly tripped again. Inhye, sitting nearby, blushed and scooped the teddy bear into a hug.

“H-how can a supporter this adorable exist?” she gushed. “Taehyun, he’s so cute I can’t handle it!”

“Just a random summon,” he replied. “He’s useless at dungeon management, but I guess that special ability of his makes him worth keeping around.”

“I’ve never seen a supporter who can alter a dungeon’s structure before,” Inhye said, snuggling the bear. “And you’re so fluffy, Mr. Vedder.”

Taehyun watched the tormented teddy bear and pulled up its information window.

[Vedder the Teddy Bear]

[Rank: D]

[Level: 8]

[Class: Administrator]

[Title: Pink Teddy Bear Doll]

[Affiliation: Balak]

[Loyalty: 54]

[Favorability: 31]

[Obedience: 27]

[Skill: Feast of the Dolls]

[Special Ability: Dungeon Structure Alteration]

[Strength: 1] [Endurance: 1] [Agility: 1] [Stamina: 1]

[Mana: 2] [Divinity: 1] [Affinity: 8] [Luck: 5]

Vedder was a D-rank supporter, and a low-tier one at that. Unlike the others, it possessed no useful skills. Its special ability, however, was a different story. It could actually alter the internal structure of a dungeon. Thanks to this power, Heimdall had been transformed into a colorful garden, and all its soldiers had taken on cute, adorable forms.

From the monitor, he could hear panicked shouts.

“Bear-bear-bear!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! A teddy bear just knocked down Sir Hegreim!”

“They look cute, but these things are vicious!”

On the screen, adorable teddy bears were mercilessly beating down the raiders.

‘Hmm. This is a little disturbing. Still, their appearance is cute. I bet they’ll be popular with the female raiders.’

Even Inhye, who always carried herself with a calm demeanor, was hugging Beder with a satisfied smile. The other raiders were surely feeling the same. For a moment, Taehyun thought of Songyi but quickly shook his head.

‘If Songyi came, she’d probably try to move in for good.’

The mere thought sent a shiver down his spine. As he watched the Hegreim Raid Party depart, Taehyun took out his communication device.

“What is it?” Momonte’s voice came through.

“That bastard Gelix slipped some of his raiders in as participants,” Taehyun said. “He’s probably suspicious since the opening of Heimdal and the launch of the bus plan happened at nearly the same time.”

Momonte gritted his teeth on the other end. “That damn fox. So what’s your plan?”

“Well, I expected as much. There was no way he wouldn’t be suspicious. From now on, we’ll start targeting the Anshlayke bus parties in addition to Pradio’s. We’ll begin by interfering, then gradually start killing off a few participants. Every time that happens, you are to provide proper compensation and a formal apology. Promise separate support to the families of the dead, and slowly funnel participants toward the guild-sponsored bus parties.”

Now that Gelix’s subordinates were among the participants, he couldn’t exclusively target the Pradio bus parties. To avoid suspicion, he had to occasionally inflict damage on the Anshlayke parties as well, letting casualties slowly mount. It would put Baron Momonte in an awkward position, but a bit of theater was necessary to prove he wasn’t in league with the dungeon.

“Ugh,” Momonte groaned. “In that case, please minimize the damage to our family’s bus parties as much as possible.”

“Don’t worry. The Pradio side will suffer more casualties and have more of its leaders lose face. This is just a matter of deflecting Gelix’s suspicion.”

“Understood.”

The communication ended. Taehyun saw Hendy return to the Master Room and rose to his feet.

“You’ve been waiting a while, Mr. Beder. Hehehe,” Hendy chirped.

“H-Hendy, if you squeeze him that tightly, you’ll make him uncomfortable,” Inhye chided gently.

‘Urk. All of you are making me uncomfortable,’ Beder thought miserably.

He had already entrusted Heimdal to the three raiders. With Sihan guarding the final room, there was nothing to worry about for the time being.

“I’m leaving now,” Taehyun announced. “Guard it well, just as I instructed.”

“Hmph. If it weren’t for my sister, I would never listen to you. Just hurry up and leave!” Hendy retorted.

“Hendy, don’t be like that,” Inhye said. “I told you before, I’m fine.”

The two sisters had completely different reactions. Unfazed, Taehyun turned to leave the Master Room. Just then, Hendy’s figure momentarily overlapped with someone else’s—a silhouette, its face obscured by thick smoke.

‘Damn it.’

It was a phenomenon he had been experiencing frequently lately. Taehyun scowled and walked out of the Master Room without another word.

“And don’t come back!” Hendy shouted after him.

He fell silent.

“Huh? Sister Elenora, what’s wrong?”

Inhye’s gaze remained fixed on the exit. Oblivious to Hendy’s voice, her thoughts were on Taehyun.

‘Was he being considerate of us?’

Even for a bus party that included a top-tier B-rank raider, there was no need to assign three A-rank raiders. A strange feeling bloomed in her chest, and a smile graced her lips, revealing her dimples.

—

Day five of the bus schedule. The bus raid party was gradually establishing itself as a new fixture.

“Pradio’s leader, Mr. Rest, gets a four-point rating.”

“Damn it! All because one participant died in there!”

“Anshlayke’s leader, Mr. Droster, gets an eight-point rating.”

“Haa… What a relief. I was worried because the guiding was a bit difficult at times.”

The participants’ ratings directly translated into results—namely, the leaders’ pay. A fierce competition had ignited among the leaders, who were desperate for good results, making the participants’ evaluations law. Consequently, the leaders did everything they could to earn favorable reviews, and rumors naturally began to spread.

“The leaders from Pradio are definitely more skilled, but it seems like every time we go with them, one or two people die.”

“It’s the same with the Anshlayke side. The only difference is that they care for us much more than the Pradio leaders do.”

“Remember when Mr. Droster used a single-use skill just to save one participant? I think the guild’s bus is better.”

Currently, the Pradio faction led the majority of the bus parties. But as rumors circulated, participants began to favor the Anshlayke parties. Eventually, they demanded an expansion of the Anshlayke bus service, a request Baron Momonte dutifully reported to Count Dinen.

“Do whatever you want,” the Count snarled. “Those useless raiders aren’t worthy of using the Pradio bus anyway!”

Having initiated the bus plan, canceling it now would be a great loss of face. With raiders from various regions flocking to the service, there was no way he would relinquish such a lucrative source of income.

[Permission granted for the expansion of the Anshlayke Guild’s bus raid parties.]

[Henceforth, the Pradio and Anshlayke buses will operate in equal numbers.]

That day, news of the expansion was posted on the Raider Association bulletin boards throughout the West. The participants were overjoyed and even began to show interest in joining the Anshlayke guild.

“I heard that if you join the guild run by the Anshlayke family, one out of every three bus rides is free!”

“Let’s join while we’re at it. A guild supported by the Anshlayke family must be amazing.”

“I heard from Mr. Siskan, one of the Anshlayke leaders, that they’d welcome us if we joined!”

A wave of new guild members signed on as participants flocked to the Anshlayke side. As a result, the guilds operated by Momonte gained a stronger foothold. By launching a large-scale training program for novice raiders, it also had a tremendous promotional effect.

“The bus is now an indispensable part of raiding in the West. Where else would you find such good treatment?”

“I heard the bus parties in the West are quite the thing. Maybe I should check them out. My combat skills are still sloppy, and my comrades yell at me all the time.”

“I never thought Baron Anshlayke would do so much for novice raiders. I heard the guild is even providing additional support now!”

Slowly, perceptions of the Anshlayke family began to shift. The envious gazes that had always been directed at the overshadowed house began to change. The balance of power naturally tilted, and Baron Momonte’s personal influence within the bus system grew.

Balak reaped the benefits, its dungeons becoming known in distant regions. There was the original Balak for A-rank raiders, the second Balak for B-rank raiders, and the Labyrinth of Balak for C-rank raiders. Now, with Heimdal—a bus-exclusive dungeon for D and C-ranks—the tiered system was complete, drawing in raiders from across the entire continent.

All the while, Count Dinen could only grind his teeth as he watched his influence slowly erode.

—

Day seven of the bus schedule. A bus raid party entered Heimdal, led by none other than Droster, the Anshlayke leader who had achieved the top results in the first week.

[You have arrived in the second area.]

[Playground of the Coniconies]

Droster skillfully guided the participants into the new zone.

A chorus of cute, chiming neighs filled the air as unicorns roamed about, but the raid party remained on high alert.

[Lecherous Conicony]

[Swindler Conicony]

[Ferocious Conicony]

Three Coniconies came into view. Droster drew a club he had prepared in advance and approached slowly.

“This is an iron club I recently crafted,” he announced. “Its power is significantly lower, but it’s suitable against C-rank soldiers. I will now demonstrate how to switch weapons during close-quarters combat. Mr. Hover.”

“Yes!” Hover, the shield bearer, raised his shield and moved to the front. Droster stood beside him, waiting for the Coniconies.

“Hee-hee-hing?!”

Soon, the Coniconies spotted the party and charged fiercely. Hover blocked their advance with his shield.

“Ugh.”

“Now,” Droster continued, “the three Coniconies have begun to focus their attacks on Mr. Hover. The shield’s durability is fine for now, but he is slowly being pushed back. In times like this, a proper switch is necessary. Mr. Hover.”

“Yes!”

Struggling to hold his ground, Hover executed a shield bash. The charging Coniconies stumbled, their bodies tilting as they lost their balance. This was the moment. Droster seized the opening and swung his club.

“By switching and attacking like this, you can inflict critical damage on the enemy. But even a C-rank soldier won’t die in a single blow…”

‘Thud.’

The Coniconies struck by the club collapsed, their tongues lolling out. Droster froze for a moment before calmly continuing his explanation.

“…but if a massive critical hit is triggered, they can die in one shot like this!”

“Woooooah!” the participants roared.

“That was amazing, Mr. Droster!”

“Long live the Anshlayke bus!”

And so, the Anshlayke bus raid party continued to lead its participants to success.

—

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep