The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 447: Commencing the Raid

Chapter 447: Commencing the Raid
Lane gulped loudly, freezing under the emerald gaze.
Not that Damien’s eyes were cold. They could probably never be truly cold, at least not when looking at Lane.
But they were very much serious and stern. It was clear that Damien had heard everything they had been saying, and, well... Let’s just say that he was not amused.
"Umm... Well, this is..." Lane let out a nervous chuckle, trying to quickly come up with a way to resolve the situation. Technically, he hadn’t done anything wrong - he was just stating his thoughts, that’s all. Damien would surely disagree with him, but that didn’t mean that he would reproach Lane just for his views...
If that were the case, they would have never gotten together in the first place, since Lane had always been fairly open about the fact that he found many of the rules and protocols to be stupid, pointless, and overall, better ignored. Damien knew it, he also knew that Lane was breaking the rules whenever he found it suitable, and he more or less accepted, or at least tolerated, it...
Criticizing the Association wasn’t a crime. Neither was gossiping about conspiracy theories.
It was just that they had only just gotten past Lane’s murder attempt not long ago, so Lane was more sensitive about Damien’s disapproval than usual. And expressing his views in private was one thing, and trying to make his teammates lose trust in the Association was another...
Damien let out a quiet sigh, before turning to the rest.
"Is everyone ready?" he asked, sweeping his eyes through the group, some of whom still had some of their equipment out, as they had been in the middle of checking it when Cora had started the gossip talk. "We are about to commence the raid."
Ah, so that was it!
Lane had exhaled softly with relief. Now that he glanced around, he was able to finally notice that everyone else was already standing by the Gate, ready to head in. It seemed that Damien must have been trying to get their attention, but Lane, Cora, Arlo and the rest of their group hadn’t noticed, because they had been too busy gossiping...
Ooops.
Well, at least that was better than Damien getting angry at Lane for what he had been saying. Of course, just because the reason why he had interrupted them wasn’t the conspiracy talk, but the fact that they had to start the raid, didn’t mean that he wasn’t at all angry or disappointed at what Lane had been up to...
But still. He would worry about it later, when he had time to have a proper chat with Damien. For now...
"I’m ready!" he announced, jumping to his feet. "We’re all ready, we’ve just been waiting for your command!"
Damien’s brows twitched, his frown deepening. He had already given the command. A few times, actually. But Lane and the others had been the only ones who hadn’t responded to it...
He hadn’t pointed that out, though, and instead asked, "Have you heard what I’ve said about the formation..."
"Yes, yes, we’ve heard everything!" Lane interrupted. Of course, they hadn’t, because they had been too busy gossiping...
But they all knew it anyway. It had all been said on the pre-raid meeting, and then explained again in the mission brief in the system... Damien just had this habit of repeating all the ’important information’ a thousand times, just to be absolutely sure that everyone understood absolutely everything. But honestly, if any of the team members still didn’t get it after hearing it once and then reading it... Then they didn’t deserve to be on the elite team.
There wasn’t all that much to remember anyway, not really. Their knowledge of this dungeon was still very much incomplete. Even Lane didn’t know everything.
"Now, let’s get back to the front," he said, tugging on Damien’s arm as he dragged the man towards the Gate, away from the group, to his teammates’ relief. "So that we don’t slow down everyone, yeah?"
Damien’s brows twitched again. Why was Lane acting as if it were Damien delaying the team, when HE had clearly been one of the main culprits?
He still allowed Lane to drag him, though. They were about to go on a difficult raid, so it was hardly the right moment to scold his team, lest it might lower morale. The things that Lane, Cora, and Arlo had been saying must have scared some of the team members enough, Damien didn’t want to make the situation any worse... As long as they were finally ready to listen and focus on what was truly important, he was satisfied...
For now.
He took a deep breath, and took his spot at the front, grabbing his sword. They were about to reenter the dungeon on the verge of overpopulation, after all. If things were to be anything like the last time, they had to be at the ready from the moment they stepped in.
A moment later, the remaining few members of the team quickly finished their preparations, and took their spots in the formation. Damien swept his eyes through the crowd once again to confirm that everyone was where they should be, and nodded his head.
"Let’s head in. Everyone, stay safe," he simply said, and turned around, entering the Gate. He had already given his pre-raid speech (even if not everyone had heard him), and he saw no point in repeating himself...
He wasn’t much of a motivational speaker anyway. More often than not, he only made people even more tense... Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, at least according to him, since Field Agents should be serious and on edge when facing monsters... But he was also aware that not everyone felt that way. For some, reassurance was perhaps a better strategy...
Figuring out the right way to address his team was something that Damien was still working on.
For the time being though, he dismissed those thoughts, as the ground underneath his boots changed from the gymnasium’s flooring to a rocky path.