Chapter 198: A Bad Plan
Arriving at the Fighters guild Lake walked in and saw Masters talking to a small group that were separate from the large groups. As soon as Masters saw him he waved for Lake to follow him to his office and Lake did. On the way up Lake wondered what the best way to break this terrible news to Masters was.
Lake knew there was no way Masters would be on board with what they needed to do and it was making him wish he wasn't the messenger. It would probably go much better if the Temple Head was here to introduce why this was necessary because Lake didn't feel like he would be able to really answer any questions that Masters had.
With the door closed Masters waited for Lake to pass on the message from the Temple Head and when Lake didn't start talking right away Masters asked. "What's wrong?" Lake guessed Masters had been able to sense that Lake didn't want to say what he had been told to. He didn't really have a choice though and all he was doing now was wasting time.
"We need eight groups." Lake wasn't even able to get the thing about the reinforcements that the Temple Head had wanted him to say out before Masters started making a fuss. "There's no way. That will only leave a few people with any actual skill in each group; there's no way any of them will actually succeed."
"The Temple head said he would be sending some of the Temples forces to back each group up and to send four of them down to the 42nd tier." Lake wasn't sure how the groups would know where to go once they got there but he was sure the Temple Head had that covered. "Reinforcements. How many?" Here came the questions he couldn't answer. "I don't know, the Temple Head was busy with the formation while we were talking so I didn't ask too many questions."
"Well I needed to go see him again anyway. Are you staying here or are you coming as well?" Lake didn't think it would be a good move to take himself out of the action by staying here so he said. "I'm going back as well." Masters didn't seem to like this and said. "I was hoping you would be willing to lead the team heading down to the 42nd tier."
Lake was surprised by this request but quickly realized Masters probably was thinking the same thing as he had been about the teams sent down to the 42nd tier having a hard time finding where they needed to be going without a map or anything. Lake thought about it for a second and was about to accept when he felt the Insider stop him.
It quickly showed him how bad of an idea it was for him to go deep underground at a time like this and made him realize even at his speed escaping would be very difficult if the need arose. "Sorry but I still have things I need to talk to the Temple Head about." This was true even if the things weren't very important.
"Ok in that case you can go ahead I need to split the groups and start sending the ones bound for the 42nd tier." Lake nodded and started to walk out of Masters' office. Once he was back in the lobby he took a few seconds to actually stop and say something to Freed and the others since they wouldn't stop looking at him every time he passed and he assumed it was because they were curious about what he was doing.
"Hello." Lake would just let them ask instead of trying to predict the exact question they had for him. "Lake what are you doing? Is it something for Masters?" Freed asked in a low tone clearly expecting Lake to tell him something secret but Lake answered in a normal tone. "I'm just running messages around."
Lake made it sound like he wasn't doing anything particularly important because he didn't say who he was taking the messages from or to. "Oh, are you done?" Freed was asking this because Lake was standing here like he was going to be joining their team again or something. "No, I just wanted to say hello."
Masters had just gotten downstairs and would soon begin breaking the teams up into smaller groups so Lake wavered bye and walked outside. Heading back towards the Temple Lake looked up into the sky to see what time it was. Not much time had passed since he woke up but because of the speed at which he was running around it didn't feel that way.
The fact that it wasn't even noon yet made him feel like they still had the chance to get the jump on the Demon Worshipers if they were to launch the first round of raids soon and if by some chance the Demon Worshipers were still not ready to lay the formation they might be able to completely stop them before any of the formations effects even happen.
This made him think he should ask the Temple Head about how long a formation like that would take to lay so he could understand just how much time they would have after their first attack and when the formation activated. Stepping into the Metal Temple Lake found his way to where the Temple Head was.
Lake saw the Temple Head was still studying the formation and the amount of books that were now open on the desk in front of him had grown exponentially since he had been gone. "Did you tell Masters what I asked you to?" Lake said. "Yes and four of the groups are already headed down to the 42nd tier."
"Ok, in that case we're almost ready to start but there's one last problem. I found another trap in the formation and we'll need someone to sever this part of the Formation at the same time as we destroy the Mana Siphon. The amount of timing this will take means I must go myself but we have to do it on both halves at the same time so I need you to go to this part of the Formation on the 42nd tier and wait till this lights up to attack."
The temple head handed him a small piece of metal with a formation on it and Lake could tell it was probably some type of communication device. "I'll be holding the other one so when it lights up that means I'll be moving in to destroy the formation and you need to do the same. Do you want any backup, we still have a few people we can send with you."
Lake didn't want this job but he didn't think he could get out of it without making himself look like a coward. He didn't particularly care if he looked like a coward; he just didn't want it to affect his pay at the end of this. After a few seconds of silence where Lake was waiting for the insider to tell him what he should do, Lake went ahead and started to answer since the insider didn't seem to have anything to add.
"I don't need any backup unless it's someone who can lay a formation." Lake still remembered the ball of flesh and the undead he had helped seal and didn't want to arrive somewhere only to find himself unable to actually kill whatever was inside the building. "Don't worry, all of the Metal Temples people can lay a formation to some extent."
After the Temple Head said this he waved his hand and three people in temple robes came into the room. "You three work with him on the mission I just assigned him." Lake had no idea where these three had come from but they had probably been listening this whole time by what the Temple Head said.
"Also would you mind making sure I sent the people down there to the right place. I used a map of the 42nd tier to find where they should go so it should be right but there's no problem making sure with your skill." Lake nodded and asked. "Do you have a map I can have?" The temple head nodded and gave him a sheet of paper with some red marks on it.
"These are the places the groups should be and this one here is where you'll be responsible for." Lake thanked the Temple Head and turned around to his three new dwarf companions. "You three ready?" He would give them the chance to go get whatever they needed in case they hadn't expected to be sent with him.
He felt like the Temple Head had sprung this on him out of nowhere so he could understand if these three needed time to get ready. "We're good to go." Lake nodded and turned back to the Temple Head to ask the question he had prepared on the way here. "How long after we start attacking will they be able to lay the formation?"
The Temple Head gave him an annoyed look and said. "We don't know because you never found what they would be using to power or lay the formation like I asked but since their plan was supposed to be a surprise I would say it will only take them a few seconds to fully form and activate it."
Lake could tell the Temple Head was getting annoyed at him just because of the amount of stress from trying to pick apart a formation that was above his level but it still told him he should go ahead and leave before he started yelling. "Ok you three let's go." Lake dropped to his hands and knees and started to crawl out of the library.
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