My Infinite Investment System

Chapter 29: Sabotaged Raid I

Six hunters remained sealed beneath a sabotaged dungeon while Ryan’s emergency authority existed only if the partner captain’s recorded refusal survived registry review.

Every second spent arguing left three exhausted recruits below an unstable collapse, ’The route was worthless unless the people came back with it,’ Ryan thought, fixing the camera toward the retreating signal.

[Registry Emergency Channel: Recording]

[Incident Command: Seven-B / Provisional]

[Accrued Return: 0 / 100]

"Partner captain, return to the collapse and transmit your current map," Ryan said, keeping his voice flat for the registry channel.

"Return denied," the partner captain replied, "the structure is unstable and my people are already beyond the licensed exit."

"You placed three hunters below that structure, carried away the only current survey, then detonated registered support charges across their retreat line," Ryan said, "do you dispute any part?"

Silence held for four seconds before the registry operator requested an answer.

"I dispute your characterization," the captain replied, "not my withdrawal."

Ryan marked the refusal, transferred duplicate footage to the registry, then followed Mika and Nia through the first opening they had carved into the collapse.

Broken stone dropped around them until Ryan planted Opening Position across the descent.

Every fragment plus unstable foothold became one spear-controlled lane under Ryan’s point.

[Opening Position Established]

Nia drove two manual anchors into the wall and rebuilt the path one shield-width at a time.

Mika cut fused support mesh without spending either Lightning Step.

The first slab broke above Nia’s injured shoulder before her anchor line could settle.

Ryan caught its weak edge on the black spear and redirected several hundred kilograms of stone down an empty shaft.

[Protected Formation Exchange]

[Accrued Return: 0 -> 14]

"The map calls that shaft solid rock," Nia said, securing another line with her good arm, "I would like the registry to admire its structural honesty."

"Your observation has been recorded," the operator replied, sounding less neutral than before.

Below the retreat line, one body camera returned through stone interference.

It showed the melee hunter over the filed boss, the archer guarding a cracked doorway, and their support scout holding the failing relay.

Most supplied equipment had already failed inside the lower chamber.

Three mineral bolts remained, one hook had snapped, chest armour showed no charge, and the scout’s mapping lens had burned opaque.

"Your signal is clear," Ryan told them, keeping the channel open, "hold the doorway for sixty seconds, then move toward Nia’s anchor light."

"The chamber is moving," the archer answered, firing her third-last bolt, "sixty seconds may need a smaller number."

A plated crawler entered the descent before Ryan could provide one.

Its body gripped opposing walls while hooked limbs cut Nia’s new line.

Mika struck the first joint without stepping while Ryan valued the exposed plate.

Ryan valued the exposed plate while Nia released her upper anchor and smashed the creature away from the rope.

[Clean Counter Exchange]

[Formation Route Preserved]

[Accrued Return: 14 -> 31]

Its rear limbs caught stone and prepared another charge against the weakened descent.

Mika’s second baton drove lightning through the joint Ryan had marked, dropping the body into the shaft the survey denied existed.

They reached the lower chamber with twenty-six seconds remaining on the registry clock.

Nia covered three exhausted recruits while Ryan levelled his spear across the cracked doorway like a line the entire dungeon would pay to cross.

The next wave struck all at once through three channels around the formation.

Bone-thin tunnel hunters forced through three wall channels rather than the single entrance shown on the filed map.

Nia absorbed the centre impact, Mika broke the right lane with ordinary speed, while Ryan redirected the left creature into the melee recruit’s remaining hook.

The support scout called the exposed throat, letting the archer recover one fired bolt from the floor and send it through before the creature could retreat.

[Full Formation Reconnected: 6 / 6]

[Successive Protection Return]

[Accrued Return: 31 -> 58]

"The filed boss is behind us," the melee recruit reported, pointing her broken hook toward the corpse, "we killed it before the walls opened."

Combat Valuation crossed the body from split head to hollow abdomen.

The core was too young for its armour, and command channels had never connected to the dungeon.

[Filed Target Appraisal: False]

[Creature Classification: Juvenile Shell]

[Command Authority: None]

"That was not the boss," Ryan said, angling his body camera across the hollow core, "it was a shell placed where the survey needed a conclusion."

Mana answered beneath their boots before any hunter could challenge him.

The old lower chamber rotated around omitted channels beneath the licensed route.

The descent sealed while walls divided, floors lifted, and the dead shell slid toward a gap beneath its spine.

Ryan drove his spear through the corpse and stopped it halfway, but something below pulled with enough force to bend the black shaft.

Golden valuation lines spread along the weapon.

Nia locked her shield against his back, Mika caught the corpse’s rear plate, and all three recruits anchored the formation instead of escaping alone.

[Protected Asset Exchange]

[Accrued Return: 58 -> 83]

The pull released without warning and threw the entire formation backward.

All six hunters fell backward as the juvenile shell disappeared beneath the floor.

From the sealed descent, the registry operator announced three failed requests for the partner team to reopen the route.

Each request received no response from the retreating partner team.

"We retreat through the licensed corridor," Ryan said, shifting Opening Position toward the only remaining exit, "Mika keeps both Steps unless the formation breaks, and nobody chases what went below."

The decision surrendered the unseen target while preserving three exhausted recruits, Nia’s injured shoulder, and the only witness group carrying complete evidence.

They crossed the lower mineral shelf in formation while the chamber produced creatures through every omitted channel.

Each attack bought the dungeon time rather than seeking a clean kill.

Ryan parried a hooked limb away from the archer, absorbed another strike across his reinforced coat, then valued a ceiling seam so Nia could block falling stone before it divided them.

[Successive Protection Return]

[Accrued Return: 83 -> 100]

[Field Return Capacity Reached]

At the licensed corridor, a steel quarantine barrier dropped from the surface and locked against them with the partner guild’s remote authorisation.

"Captain, remove the quarantine," Ryan said through the registry channel, "your own withdrawal report identifies the upper route as stable."

"A deeper unverified creature has entered the licensed area," the captain said, "protocol prevents reopening until containment review."

"Your team refused rescue because the structure was unstable," Ryan replied, "now you claim it can safely seal six hunters inside?"

Even the registry operator received no reply after repeating the demand under emergency authority.

Mika looked from the barrier to the moving floor.

Lightning brightened both pathways beneath her skin.

"One Step through the lock," she asked, keeping both batons lowered, "or do I save it for whatever is dressing downstairs?"

"Save it," Ryan replied, keeping the spear against the barrier, "we open the barrier together."

The juvenile shell rose behind them before anyone touched the quarantine controls.

Black limbs emerged from the floor and threaded through its empty core.

Shattered plates pulled around a taller frame while each omitted mana channel lit as part of one body.

Combat Valuation failed across the creature’s chest, recalculated from its lowest visible limb, then returned a threat projection one full tier above the filed dungeon.

[Actual Dungeon Controller: Revealed]

[Threat Projection: C-tier]

[Accrued Return: 100 / 100]

[Field Return Capacity: Insufficient]

[Evolution Condition: Protect Full Formation Through Rank-Gap Event]

The real boss lowered four armoured arms toward the sealed corridor, forcing all six hunters into the range Ryan’s spear could still define.

He levelled its point while gold lines reached the end of the shaft.

Nia moved one step closer to the recruits while Mika placed both batons beneath her shoulders and waited for the first committed strike.

"Then nobody leaves the formation," Ryan said.