Chapter : 605

Princess Iris sat at the head of the table. She wore her crisp dark blue uniform. Her silver hair fell smoothly over her shoulders. She looked at her Vice-Captain. She saw the serious expression.

"What is it, Sayma?" Princess Iris asked politely. "Did the Upper Council send a new directive?"

Sayma nodded. She opened the yellow folder. She pulled out a very pristine, official document. The paper had a bright red wax seal. The seal displayed the imperial crest.

"Yes, Princess," Sayma stated smoothly. "The Upper Council just released a brand new mission. It is a highly competitive, ten-point objective. All Royal factions received this exact same document this morning."

Naomi stood near the large glass window. She wore simple dark pants and a comfortable gray shirt. Her bright red hair was tied back in a neat ponytail. She spun a silver dagger in her hand. The metal clicked sharply. She stopped spinning the blade. She smiled a very confident, bright smile.

"A ten-point mission?" Naomi asked. Her green eyes sparked with intense excitement. "That is a massive opportunity. We can really solidify our rank on the leaderboard. What is the target?"

Laxmi sat on the edge of the table. The fire user tossed a tiny orange spark between her fingers. The spark danced in the air. She grinned a wild, eager grin. "Please tell me it is a giant monster. I really want to punch something huge. The last few days have been way too quiet. My fists are getting bored."

Zinia stood right behind Laxmi. The strong earth mage crossed her muscular arms over her chest. She laughed a deep, booming laugh. "You just want an excuse to set things on fire, Laxmi."

"Fire solves a lot of problems!" Laxmi argued playfully.

Luna lay flat on a long wooden bench near the wall. She rubbed her sleepy eyes. A soft knitted blanket covered her shoulders. She let out a massive, dramatic yawn. "Missions require walking. Walking is terrible. Can we just send an email and ask them to mail the points to us? I want to stay in my bed."

Ira stood perfectly still by the doorway. Her pale face showed zero emotion. "Statistically speaking, the Upper Council does not award points via postal service. Active participation is mandatory in one hundred percent of recorded cases."

Risa sat on the rug. The sweet pink-haired healer hugged her stuffed teddy bear tightly. She used a colored pencil to draw a picture of a smiling cat. "I hope the mission is safe. I do not like scary places."

Ken Eliot sat in a wooden chair at the far end of the table. He wore his navy blue suit pants. His white dress shirt hung completely untucked over his belt. He did not wear a tie. His black hair stuck up in wild, messy spikes. He slouched his shoulders as far as they could possibly go. He slid down in his chair until his chin almost touched his chest.

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He held a large bag of sour cream and onion potato chips in his lap. He reached into the bag. He pulled out a crispy chip. He tossed it high into the air. He opened his mouth. He caught the chip perfectly on his tongue. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

"I agree with Luna," Ken mumbled lazily. He chewed his food. "We should just stay home. We have done enough work this month. We fought a giant bug. We stopped a crazy scientist. We deserve a very long vacation. We should order a massive pizza and watch cartoons."

Naomi walked over to Ken. She smiled a very warm, friendly smile. She looked at him with genuine affection.

"Stop whining, Ken," Naomi teased softly. "You know we cannot skip a ten-point mission. We are in the middle of a massive war. We have to keep moving forward. Just eat your chips and listen to the briefing."

"Listening requires brain power," Ken complained. He grabbed another chip. "My brain is currently on standby mode. But fine. I will lend you my ears. Proceed with the boring details, Sayma."

Sayma picked up the official document. She read the elegant text aloud.

"The mission is officially titled 'The Sunken Labyrinth,'" Sayma announced. Her polite voice echoed in the quiet room. "The objective is a high-stakes race. We must retrieve an ancient Belmontian relic. The relic is completely hidden."

Laxmi leaned forward. Her golden eyes widened. "Hidden where? A dark cave? A mountain peak?"

Sayma pushed her glasses up again. She looked directly at her teammates. "It is hidden deep within an underwater ruin. The ruins are located at the very bottom of a massive, submerged crater lake outside the city."

The strategy room went entirely silent for exactly three seconds.

Ken stopped chewing his potato chip. His jaw dropped open just a tiny fraction of an inch. He stared at Sayma with wide, completely horrified eyes. He slowly sat up straight in his chair. He dropped his bag of chips onto the table.

"Underwater?" Ken shrieked loudly. His voice cracked with highly exaggerated, totally comical panic. He threw his hands into the air. "Are you absolutely kidding me? An underwater mission? That is the absolute worst thing I have ever heard in my entire life!"

Zinia raised an eyebrow. She looked at the panicked boy. "It is just water, Ken. You take baths, do you not?"

"A bath is very different from a sunken labyrinth!" Ken yelled dramatically. He waved his arms wildly. "You guys do not understand video game logic at all! Water levels are the absolute bane of human existence! They are a massive design flaw! The developers always make them terrible on purpose!"

Naomi chuckled softly. She crossed her arms and leaned against the table. "Here we go again with the cartoon logic. Please explain, Ken. Why is a water level so bad?"

"It is totally obvious!" Ken argued passionately. He pointed a finger at the ceiling. "First of all, your movement speed drops by fifty percent. You try to run, but you just flop around like a confused jellyfish. It takes ten minutes just to walk across a single room. It is a massive waste of cardio!"

Laxmi started laughing. She grabbed her stomach. "A confused jellyfish? That is a very funny image."

"It gets worse!" Ken continued his rant. He paced a tiny circle near his chair. "The music always changes. The music turns into this very stressful, fast-paced ticking sound. It gives you massive anxiety. And you have an oxygen meter! A tiny blue bar floats over your head. If the blue bar runs out, you start taking damage! You have to swim around frantically looking for giant, glowing air bubbles just to survive!"

Ken stopped pacing. He looked at Princess Iris with big, pleading eyes.