NOVEL NEXT Chapter 92 "Delta Squad leader Guram"
Osbon looked at Guram, the imposing Leader of the Delta Squad, and immediately rendered a respectful greeting, acknowledging the man's rank.
Beside him, Ray remained entirely passive.
Ray just gave a dismissive look to the massive man, not out of malice, but because he simply didn't care about the authority of the Delta Squad Leader, just as he didn't care about Erina's position as Leader of the Gama Squad.
Osbon began his practiced speech. "We were looking for you, Leader Guram. There is something sensitive to discuss with you regarding the death of Vice-Leader Zeth."
"About Zeth, you say?" Guram's brow furrowed, his attention immediately captured.
He finally gave a keen look to Ray, who met the gaze impassively. "But who might this be?" he asked, his voice now laced with suspicion.
Osbon had a pre-prepared answer in mind, meant to be vague but reassuring, but before he could speak, Ray interjected with a cold confidence that cut through the pleasantries.
"I'm with the Temple."
Osbon winced internally, looking quickly at Ray. The answer was technically the same, but the abrupt, flat delivery was likely to be taken as an insult.
Guram's questioning eyes sharpened. "With the Temple? I don't remember seeing you. Are you someone of very low status in the Temple? But that doesn't explain how you can ride beside Vice-Leader Osbon.
Then are you a higher-up, which I wasn't aware of?" hi tone stern.
Ray smirked, deciding to press the uncertainty and avoid a tedious explanation. "You can say that."
Seeing the conversation rapidly heading towards outright antagonism, Osbon seized the opportunity to redirect towards the actual matter.
"It's a very sensitive matter, Leader. I hope the Leader of the Delta Squad will listen and choose the right thing."
Guram's attention snapped back to Osbon. The urgency in Osbon's tone, coupled with the unusual presence of a Vice-Leader from another squad and the mention of Zeth, signalled a crisis that transcended rank squabbles.
"If the matter is this serious, then come inside," Guram said, turning his bulky figure and leading them toward the Willson manor's entrance.
As the three men—Guram, Osbon, and Ray—began walking through the archway, Erina's meticulously planned operation was set in motion.
In a silent, pre-arranged maneuver, a handful of knights from Osbon's main group broke off.
Moving as they departed immediately toward the Dorian family house, their mission to arrest the family while securing the evidences.
Then, the final, most shocking phase of the vanguard attack commenced. As Guram took one step inside the manor, several more soldiers—men Osbon had personally selected and trusted—rushed past the imposing Delta Squad Leader and Ray, pushing deeper into the Willson house.
They did not stop for greetings or questions. Their goal was clear: to arrest the members of the Willson family and secure the victims and records inside.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Guram roared, his voice shaking the stones of the archway as he spun around, his hand instinctively gripping the hilt of his massive, two-handed greatsword.
His surprise was complete, his authority violated on his own turf.
"I'll explain you later, Sir," Osbon said, maintaining a polite but firm tone, positioning himself squarely between Guram and the manor's interior.
Osbon's body language was an apology, but his stance was like a barrier, not ready to go down, even if he has to face the leader of the Delta Squad.
Guram stood frozen for a moment, his mind struggling to process the blatant insubordination.
He was the Leader of the Delta Squad, and a Vice-Leader from another unit had just ordered an unsanctioned military operation right under his nose.
Before Guram could issue a command to his own Delta guards, Ray stepped slightly forward, his voice low but sharp, cutting through Guram's rising anger.
"Your Vice-Leader, Zeth, was a pig, and this house is his sty. We are cleaning up your mess, Leader Guram.
You should be grateful we did it before the public found out the depth of your squad's corruption."
This final, brazen accusation, delivered by a man who claimed to be the part of the temple, was the emotional tipping point.
Guram's face instantly darkened, his surprise now boiling over into righteous fury and a desperate attempt to salvage his honor.
He would tolerate neither the accusation against his squad nor the insult to his authority.
"You dare accuse my squad for corruption? You who are you, show me your authority?" Guram bellowed but still showed patience.
Vice leader Osbon looked at Ray, "Can you show him that?"
Only proof of his identity with Ray was his pure holy aura, and they knew that willingly or unwillingly, Guram had to accept Ray's identity after seeing Ray's holy aura.
Ray nodded and shows his holy aura which erupt from his body like a torrent. It was even purer than the time Osbon saw earlier, his jaw dropping after seeing the spectacle.
After this Osbon met Guram's gaze. "You have to understand this, Sir. The evidence points to Zeth being an accomplice in severe crimes against the innocent. We are here on direct orders from Leader Erina to secure the evidence and witnesses."
Guram's fury intensified. He knew he was losing control of the situation.
He didn't need Osbon's evidence to know the truth. He knew of all the crimes the Willson family, Dorian family, and his own Vice-Leader Zeth had committed.
His refusal to act had been a cold, calculated move: he planned to remove every piece of evidence, silence the victims, and frame Zeth's death as a consequence of the werewolf attack, thus safeguarding his own position and the public image of the Delta Squad.
But before he could commence that cover-up, the vanguard arrived.
Realizing that Ray—a man clearly from the Temple's highest echelons whom he hadn't known existed—was here, Guram speculated that the central Temple must be aware of the corruption, and he had already lost face.
The rage began building in his heart, fuelling a desperate impulse to fight the shame. He tilted his massive hand on the hilt of his broadsword, ready to draw.
In that instant, Ray moved.
Ray's movement was so swift and blindingly fast that neither Osbon nor Guram realized when Ray had closed the distance and placed his hand firmly over Guram's, pinning the Delta Leader's hand to the sword hilt.
It was less a grab and more a sudden, absolute stillness imposed on the weapon.
Guram's heart rate spiked violently. He looked down at Ray's hand, then up into Ray's calm, impassive eyes.
The enormous Leader felt utterly helpless, as if a mountain had been shifted by a child's finger.
"You still have a chance to make black into white by becoming a saviour rather than a villain," Ray spoke, his voice carrying the chilling certainty of a man who knows the future.
"Now the choice is yours, because your end won't be different than Zeth's."
Saying this, Ray removed his hand as quickly as he had placed it and turned, walking past the astonished Guram.
Ray entered the hall of the Willson manor and sat down on a luxurious sofa in the reception area, settling in as if he owned the place.
He was letting Guram decide whether he wanted to fight and face the consequences, or choose to speak and save whatever little face he had left.
Guram stood there, his expression utterly shocked. He looked at Osbon, who shared the exact same expression of bewildered awe.
Then, Osbon, recovering his composure, decided to follow Ray inside the hall.
Guram remained outside for a tense moment, his mind reeling.
"How can someone be so quick?" he thought, his shaky hand gripping his sword hilt tightly.
"It's like I was standing in front of those night-creatures—the ones who move faster than the eye can follow."
With a heavy, audible sigh, he relented.
Ray knew too much, and Ray had too much power. Guram slowly removed his hand from the sword hilt, turning his bulk and walking into the manor's hall to join them.
Inside the opulent hall, the initial phase of the raid was already complete.
Osbon's knights, moving quickly and professionally, had dragged the whole Willson family into the main room, their hands tied with rough ropes.
The family head, Rauf, a once-pompous man, was now crying, looking at Guram with desperate hope.
"Sir! Save us!" Rauf pleaded, believing his relationship with the Delta Leader would protect him.
Guram ignored their cries, his dignity the only thing he cared to save now. He walked past the bound family members and fixed his gaze on Ray, who was lounging on the sofa with casual indifference.
"What does this 'Sir' propose?" Guram asked, the sarcasm heavy in his tone, unwilling to acknowledge Ray's authority but forced to acknowledge his power.
Ray leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. "It's simple, the main culprit Zeth is dead, and now all you have to do is pin all the crimes into these people, isn't it simple.
You will tell the outsiders that you are now personally overseeing this arrest and investigation under the direct help from Leader Erina."
Osbon nodded rapidly, trying to stress the logic of the move. "It will make it look like the Gama Squad came here to inform you, and you took the initiative, Sir. It minimizes the perceived division between the squads."