At 8 a.m. on December 10, the Lantern Teleport to the Ancient Labyrinth City began smoothly, just as expected.
The team this time consisted of Gelman, Shizuku, Buhara, and Shubika. Their abilities covered combat, transportation and storage, cuisine, and medicine.
Most of Greed Island's members with A-rank clearance had gathered in the Lantern Teleportation Hall on the castle's underground second floor. Once again, they watched the team depart.
Pam, Meleoron, Ikalgo, and the others didn't have sufficient clearance, so naturally they knew nothing about this.
They had all been sent to familiarize themselves with Greed Island, unaware that most of its key figures were underground in Rimuru Castle.
Gelman and the others would be gone for a while, and the only explanation given to Pam, Meleoron, Ikalgo, and the rest was that they had gone out on a mission.
Professional Hunters were used to teaming up to complete missions. Being gone for several months, or even a year or more, wasn't unusual.
Besides, telling them that "they've gone out on a mission" wasn't really a lie. At most, it was an omission.
"Out" meant outside the Six Continents—to the Dark Continent. It was a perfectly reasonable description.
After confirming once again that all their supplies were ready, everyone took hold of the Messenger Imp's hand.
Shubika was actually calmer about the Messenger Imp's cold, dry touch than Buhara, who had experienced it once before.
She hadn't frozen in fear. She was genuinely calm.
The Messenger Imp's hand felt much like the corpses she often handled for dissection. Grabbing it was like returning to the dissection table.
Shubika always followed professional practice and wore rubber gloves, so this felt even more like dissecting a body.
In that sense, Shubika was even more experienced than Buhara.
Bzz—
In a purple glow, the