The moment they exited the portal, their eyes were met with the sight of a small holy pillar showering more than fifteen kilometers of surface area, with a small mountain in the center of it.
This was Drowned Court’s nest.
"All nightcrawlers should be dead unless they escaped before their team’s defeat." Nurah stretched lazily, "Ah, this is so much easier... if only those f*ckers did their job as saviors, our planet would be squeaky clean."
"Let’s get started... We have three hours at most before the protection of the Holy Light fades and leaves us under the mercy of thieves."
Levi ordered while swiftly stepping inside the Holy Light, knowing that it was harmless to the winning team.
Once a Raider team won the Death Game, the Radians sent down a holy pillar from the heavens, distinguishing between neither humans nor nightcrawlers.
Anyone daring to step inside would get burned to ash besides the winning Raiders, who were given a three-hour blessing to loot the treasury.
As for whether the nest held human hostages? The platform enforced that any participating nest must not have anyone from a different race within their nest before the Death Game started... otherwise, they would be penalized heavily.
That’s why most major nests kept their hostages in different locations away from the registered nest.
Those hostages weren’t really used to interfere in the decision of the Death Game or such... the nightcrawlers weren’t that daring to screw around with the CRS Platform’s rules.
They kept them around because they feasted on their light... considering them as nothing more than a supply for a constant stream of solar energy.
That’s if they refused to give up their bodies to help them become Sleepwalkers.
With this kind of horror happening to humans daily across the globe, how could Levi and the others not enjoy murdering the nightcrawlers daring to invade their planet?
While there were a few, very few, good apples among the nightcrawlers, the majority of them sought nothing but their evolutions, desiring to achieve it at all costs... regardless of how much destruction and fatalities they left behind.
***
Sometime later...
Levi and his friends returned to Heliodor’s capital through another dimensional portal the moment they finished clearing the nest... When it came to the CRS Platform, transportation was always taken care of.
As for the nest? They found nothing moving in it... only hundreds of crystallized seeds lying everywhere, ranging from Tier 1 to Tier 3.
Tier 3 nightcrawlers had no access to the dimensional network since they weren’t part of the team... since they were on their own in this forsaken piece of land, they had no source of information about their team’s results.
But, they had full belief that they would wipe the floor with Levi’s team; their leader’s utter confidence in the past fifteen days had rubbed off on them.
Alas... Before they knew it, they were lasered down from the heavens, turning them into ash in an instant.
Meanwhile, Levi and the others had stepped straight into the High Council’s auditorium, returned to the exact location they had entered the Game’s map.
Clap! Clap! Clap!...
The moment the light hit their faces, everyone was left dazed a bit as they stared at the governors and agency leaders giving them a standing ovation... big, proud smiles across their faces.
Even the High Chancellor was clapping with a smile, his wrinkly face spilling with joy.
"You sure have made us proud." He praised.
"I knew you guys were powerful, but still, it wasn’t enough to prepare me for witnessing such a glorious moment." A governor complimented.
The rest shared the same sentiment... after the High Chancellor came to them with the plan to create a superteam, they were a bit hesitant to vote for it.
However, when the three big agencies got involved and they heard the names of the team, it made them understand that maybe they would have a shot at making waves in the Great Campaign.
In their eyes, even if the team failed to win it, if they did great, the exposure would help their region expand its international influence.
Thus, they approved it and left the work to the three big agencies... This raid was the first time they watched the team in full motion.
They had to admit it now more than ever... Heliodor’s Raiders genuinely had a shot at winning the Campaign... How could they not show their full support?
"Take a chair, all of you did great." Lord Idriss offered, smiling faintly.
"We just did our job." Levi replied with a serene tone as he gazed at the governors in front of him.
Heliodor’s region had ten Governors, and all of them were at Solarbound rank and governed a settlement or multiple ones in rare cases... Since the government banned being an agency leader and a governor at the same time, none of them had an agency under their name.
However, being a settlement governor meant being part of the High Council and the government... no agency was bigger than the government.
Then, Levi sat down on one of the six chairs prepared for them... his teammates sitting after him.
"It was one hell of a job... to wipe out a Shadow Castle nest with multiple Tier 4 nightcrawlers is no easy task." Lord Hicham smiled wryly, "To do it without my daughter’s assistance... I don’t know how to feel about this."
Lord Hicham and the rest of the Governors believed Jasmine was going to play a vital role in their first raid since she was considered the strongest in the team... Yet, they left her behind to draw in peace while they took care of their enemies.
"It was my decision." Levi smiled, "It’s best to keep our strongest cards hidden since the true competition has yet to show itself."
Lord Idriss and the others nodded in approval, knowing that the Drowned Court team’s strength was decent, but it was nowhere close to the qualified teams they would be facing in the tournament’s brackets.
They were so powerful, the team would still have difficulty beating them if they evolved to Warden ranks through perfect evolutions... if it wasn’t this hard, Earthlings wouldn’t have a single win under their belt for decades now.
The Duskbound Order was sponsoring the nightcrawlers’ nests... and they had already prepared the eight qualified teams.
"How about the nest? Have you looted the treasury and closed the main Stygian Gates?" The High Chancellor inquired.
"Yes, and yes,"
Levi confirmed while bringing out two giant pouches... one filled with a portion of the crystallized seeds, and the other with about 10% worth of the treasury.
Then, he placed them in front and said, "As decided in the contract, here is your 30% Saviors’ Tax, and 10% treasury tax... I threw in some extra."
The High Chancellor shook his head with a kind smile, "Keep them... you will need all the resources possible for your next evolutions."
"Those two taxes are a default term in the Daywalkers’ ID contract... but it’s not applied for you." Lord Idriss said, "You represent us, you are already carrying your duty to the region."
"If you say so."
With a cough, Arthur swiftly took back the pouches and placed them in his wallet under everyone’s twitching eyelids... he gave no time for polite back-and-forth chitchat.
Levi smiled, unbothered... if his brother didn’t do it, he was going to retrieve it. The Larson brothers knew no such thing as shame when it came to free money.
"We were waiting for you to return to check your team’s position in the ranking."
High Chancellor stood up while chuckling softly... then, he pulled out a dimensional screen, showing the current rankings of the Great Campaign Raider teams.
The list showed more than two hundred teams.
It might be small considering that the Campaign included the entire world, but one shouldn’t forget that the teams had a condition of being limited to Tier 4 nightcrawlers and Warden Daywalkers.
//1- Halamar’s Region: The Imperial Raiders... Campaign Points: 1600 points.
2- Veythralis’ Region: Make USA Great Again... Campaign Points: 1500 points.
3- Heliodor’s Region: Heliodor’s Raiders... Campaign Points: 1000 points.
4- Auravel’s Region: Justice Sword... Campaign Points: 900 points.
5- Eryndral’s Region: The Ashen Tribunal... Campaign Points: 800 points.
6- Thalurean’s Region: The Serpent Concord... Campaign Points: 750 points.
7- Elyraeth’s Region: Eternal Winter... Campaign Points: 700 points.
8- Veythoria’s Region: The Sovereignty... Campaign Points: 600 points.//
9- Zephyris’ Region: Dune Chasers... Campaign Points: 550 points.
10- Vardhan’s Region: The Silent Lotus... Campaign Points: 500 points.//
While the list was long, Levi and the others didn’t have to scroll before finding their team’s name... which was a first for their region.
It was right there, sitting proudly in third rank, between the strongest regions in the world... this left most governors with brimming grins, feeling a sense of pride wash over them.
In the case of Levi’s team, they focused more on the top two teams above them.
"We finished the game in less than five minutes, and we still came third?" Arthur frowned, "I know we didn’t go all out... but still, why is the gap in points so wide?"