May 30, 9:30 p.m.

It was the peak of the after-work rush hour, and the brightly lit metropolis of Montphera was choked with endless, crawling traffic.

Sangerte, an orc sorcerer and the local captain of the Montphera Red Hats branch, was aggressively rubbing his face. It was a bad habit he'd developed in childhood, back when he used to imitate his family's old calico cat. Whenever anxiety gripped him, he would scrub at his skin as if trying to physically erase his worries, until his face was completely contorted and unrecognizable. The dry flakes scraped loose by his palms felt like the physical manifestation of his unease drifting away.

He glanced anxiously at his Book of Gospel. The third Gospel rankings had yet to update. Because May had thirty-one days, the new standings could drop at any moment over the next forty-eight hours. If the system was lagging, it might even delay the update until 11:59 p.m. on the 31st.

"Captain," a voice called out from behind him.

Sangerte looked up to see a Red Hat elf whose height easily matched his own stepping forward. The elf warned coldly, "Follow my orders, and you'll share the credit afterward. Act on your own, and you'll share a coffin instead."

Despite being a powerful local figure in Montphera, Sangerte merely rubbed his nose and nodded repeatedly in the face of the blatant threat. "The overall commander for this operation is Captain Senheiser. Captain, if you still feel uneasy about it, you are welcome to assign someone to supervise my unit."

"Good," Quinna replied unceremoniously. She immediately ordered a Red Hat from the Vanmura branch to take remote control of the local squad's Stabilizer Boots.

Sangerte caught his subordinates' frantic glances. He gave them a sharp nod, signaling them to comply.

Stabilizer Boots were standard Red Hats issue, critical for aerial maneuvering and high-altitude combat. It took at least a year of...