[Current Time: 23:58]
[Operation Commencement: 2 Minutes]
The approach to the eastern route was worse than the maps suggested.
Liam pressed himself against rock that was still warm from the day's volcanic heat, his fingers finding purchase in cracks that felt too narrow, too shallow. Above him, forty demons moved in near-perfect silence - it told just how seriously they were taking this.
One sound. One dislodged stone. One moment of carelessness.
And fifty paladins would turn this approach into a shooting gallery.
The Cognitor painted the route in his mind's eye, overlaying probability matrices and danger zones. The path was a narrow ledge that skirted the ravine's eastern edge—barely three feet wide in places, sometimes less. To their right, solid rock. To their left, a drop that ended in broken stones and old corpses.
[Environmental Analysis: Extreme Risk]
[Recommended Party Size: 0]
[Current Party Size: 41]
Even the System thought this was stupid.
