My Infinite Investment System

Chapter 30: Sabotaged Raid II

The first armoured limb crossed Opening Position faster than any E-rank attack Ryan had faced.

It changed direction after his spear committed and struck for the exhausted archer behind him.

Nia rotated into the impact and caught it across her shield.

"Keep the archer inside my cover," Nia said, shifting her injured shoulder away from the impact, "Ryan gets the next angle."

The three recruits tightened instead of scattering while force transferred through Ryan’s planted shaft.

[Full Formation Protected: 6 / 6]

[Rank-Gap Protection Event: 1 / 3]

"Left lane closes on my count," Ryan said, watching the other three arms separate across the floor.

He kept every hunter inside the range he controlled while the three arms searched for a second angle.

"Scout calls the channels," he continued, pointing toward the moving floor, "archer saves two bolts, and nobody attacks armour twice."

Combat Valuation marked a seam beneath the juvenile shell’s shoulder.

Mika shattered it without spending a Step, but black material closed the seam.

Black material folded over the opening and moved the weak point into the lower chest.

[Weak Point Migration Detected]

[Core Position: Unconfirmed]

The second pair of arms split across two heights above the recruits.

"Channel beneath you," the support scout warned, pressing one hand against the floor, "the lower arm is not the real threat."

Nia had to choose between Ryan and the melee recruit until the support scout called a rising channel beneath her rear foot.

She dropped instead of retreating, letting the upper strike pass over her while Ryan deflected the lower arm into the closing wall.

Stone broke against the boss’s armour beside Nia’s shield and scattered across the floor.

The archer recovered another mineral bolt, and Mika drove both conductive batons into the new fracture before it could seal.

[Full Formation Protected: 6 / 6]

[Rank-Gap Protection Event: 2 / 3]

Every broken plate became another layer around a different limb, making damage useful only when the formation understood where the core would flee next.

"It is wearing our progress," the melee recruit warned, hooking one arm away from Nia, "every opening makes the next one smaller."

"Then we stop purchasing the same opening," Ryan replied, holding the spear across Nia’s right edge.

He gave up the visible chest seam and waited where no weak point existed until the boss committed three arms to breaking her shield.

The fourth arm entered from beneath the floor and reached toward the support scout.

It aimed at the support scout who had exposed its movement, but the recruits closed around her before Ryan reached it.

His spear caught the tip, Nia’s shield trapped the middle joint, while Mika released controlled current through both weapons and forced the limb back underground.

[Full Formation Protected: 6 / 6]

[Rank-Gap Protection Event: 3 / 3]

[Evolution Condition Satisfied]

Gold lines covering the spear divided into two circuits instead of one.

"Tell us where to stand," the melee recruit said, tightening the broken hook against her wrist, "we can hold the space if the space remains honest."

[Limited Reinvest: Evolution Complete]

[Sequential Allocation Unlocked]

[Stored Return May Fund Two Categories in Sequence]

Ryan assigned forty-five points to perception before the moving plates shifted again.

The chamber slowed into valued paths, moving plates, and one black pulse traveling between armour layers during every defence.

[Reinvest: Perception]

[Accrued Return: 100 -> 55]

’The core had never occupied the chest, and the survey had never occupied the truth,’ Ryan thought, tracking the pulse through the lower wall.

The juvenile shell was a false centre just as the survey made it a false boss.

"The core reaches the rear-left arm after the next break," Ryan called, retracting the spear, "Mika, spend one Step only when it passes the elbow."

Nia rotated coverage toward the recruits while deliberately exposing Ryan to the boss.

The boss recognised the apparent loss and drove all four arms through his lane.

Ryan surrendered ground without surrendering position inside the declared range of his spear.

He redirected the first arm, ducked the second, then allowed the third to tear across his coat so the melee recruit could hook its joint.

The fourth crossed the line as Mika disappeared in blue-white light.

[Lightning Step Used]

[Daily Steps Remaining: 2 -> 1]

Her paired conductive batons struck opposite sides of the rear elbow.

Every borrowed plate broke at once, exposing a black core already trying to escape through the floor.

With the core exposed, Ryan moved the remaining fifty-five points into acceleration.

"I have one Step left," Mika said, checking the charge under her skin, "use it only if the point reaches the core."

[Reinvest: Point Acceleration]

[Accrued Return: 55 -> 0]

The telescoping spear extended before the armour could migrate toward another limb.

It carried accumulated force from six protected hunters through an opening Ryan saw by remaining calm.

Black light collapsed inward as four arms lost structure beneath the broken shell.

The juvenile shell split around Ryan’s thrust while every trapped recruit watched an E-rank cross the D-rank threshold for one earned instant.

[Actual Dungeon Controller: Destroyed]

[Peak Recorded Output: D-threshold]

[Sustained Output: E-rank]

[Full Formation Survived: 6 / 6]

The quarantine barrier released when the controller died above the surface.

Across the licensed exit, the partner team still held weapons as if containment required an audience.

"All six are clear," the archer said, raising her camera toward the partner captain, "the barrier is open, and the recording is still live."

Ryan reached the surface with six body cameras uploading, the registry emergency channel open, and every refusal preserved beneath the captain’s voice.

"Remain behind quarantine," the captain ordered, though the steel barrier already stood open, "your team has not completed contamination review."

At the painted line, Ryan placed the filed survey on the ground between them.

He added the older map showing the omitted chamber, then played all three refused rescue requests through his body camera.

"Your charges created the collapse, your map concealed the lower structure, and your authorisation sealed six hunters beside a C-tier controller," he said, stepping across their painted line, "record which rule gives you custody of people I brought back alive."

Nobody blocked him after the registry operator ordered the partner team to surrender raid authority.

The emergency review lasted four hours because six synchronized recordings left little room for a fifth explanation of the same collapse, while each witness supplied a separate timecode that defeated the partner team’s prepared version.

Each surviving hunter gave the registry a separate timeline before comparing notes.

The accounts matched on charges, sealed route, hidden chamber, and the captain’s refusals.

Minor differences in seconds made the testimony look lived rather than rehearsed.

Ryan submitted raw files instead of a prepared montage, leaving the partner guild to argue against six clocks it had helped synchronize.

Blaming a survey contractor lasted until the support scout produced her offline copy.

Her map showed the lower chamber before entry.

During review, the captain called the support charges an emergency precaution.

"The charges were armed before entry," the support scout said, turning her offline slate toward the registry clerk, "the timestamps are on the copy they failed to seize."

Afterward, the registry synchronized their detonation with his formation change and found they had been armed nine minutes before any structural warning.

"The detonation preceded the warning," the registry operator said, turning the timecode toward counsel, "the timing is in the file."

By the time he requested counsel, the three recruits’ fee letters sat beside the insurer authorisation, altered survey, and quarantine order issued from the same approval tier.

Seven-B released only the rescue footage cleared by all six hunters.

The abandonment clip crossed one hundred thousand views before the written decision arrived.

The Exchange priced attention only after registry findings made it credible, refusing to treat noise as reputation until evidence gave it value.

{Targeted Opportunity-Cost Fees: $15,000}

{Fees After Review: $0}

{Partner Operation Status: Suspended}

{Raid Survey Status: Referred for Fraud Review}

At release, the three compact-bound hunters received written clearance before leaving the registry.

All three requested Seven-B membership through the same process they had watched protect them underground.

Ryan reviewed field judgment plus contract exposure for all three new members.

"We will not repeat the lower route," Nia said, opening the new member files, "the next map gets checked before anyone enters."

"The next contract gets read before anyone accepts it," the archer replied, touching the copied conditions on her armour plate.

Nia approved formation conduct, while Mika gave the second yes only after asking each hunter what they would refuse next time.

[Guild Membership Verified]

[Seven-B Roster: 5 -> 8]

[Reputation Asset Recognized]

[Verified Rescue Record: 0 -> 1]

[Local Operational Trust: 14 -> 39]

’The guild had gained three members by showing the thing it refused to hide,’ Ryan thought, filing the rescue record beside the new contracts.

Beneath the eight verified membership records, Ryan’s accelerated-review notice arrived.

{Accelerated Rank Review: Required}

{Reason: Repeated Above-Rank Performance}

{Evaluation Standard: D-rank}

{Assigned Proctor: C-rank}

The signature block beneath the assignment carried the same authority printed below the raid-survey initials.