Only a few minutes were left until the clock struck midnight, and the only light that could be seen in Thirteen's residence was from the lamp posts outside their house.

All the lights inside were off, normally indicating that the people inside the house were

already asleep.

Under the cover of darkness, eight Grandmasters crossed the distance between the forest and the Leventis Residence.

The first place they visited was Gerald's Forge, where he kept most of his forging tools.

The intruders scanned the interior of the forge and closely observed some of Gerald's tools to check their quality.

"All of them are Adamantine-Grade," the Leader of the group muttered. "Still, I don't see anything special here. How about you guys?"

"There's nothing to see here, Sir," one of his subordinates replied. "The Monster Parts that have been stored in the other room belonged to Rank 6 and Rank 7 Monsters. There's nothing special about them."

The Leader nodded as he returned and gave the surroundings another glance.

"Are there any hidden compartments that we might have overlooked?" the Leader asked.

"We did find a hidden compartment but..." the Subordinate hesitated.

"But what?" the Leader asked. "Speak up. We don't have much time."

"There's nothing special hidden on it aside from Graveur Magazines," the Subordinate replied.

The Leader of the group was stunned after hearing his subordinate's reply. Out of curiosity, he asked who the model on the covers was. It might give him a hint on what kind of hobbies Gerald had, which might become useful in their future operations.

"It's Freya Ellen," the subordinate replied.

The Leader nodded. "He has good taste. Perhaps he's afraid that his wife would get jealous, so he hid those things in his secret compartment."

After doing one last sweep of the Smithy, the group decided to sneak inside the house.

However, just as they were about to do that, all the lights of the lamp posts went out, and darkness descended upon the group.

None of the people panicked because they all possessed abilities similar to Dark Vision, allowing them to see even in the darkness.

Suddenly, the Leader brandished his sword behind his back, dispersing a few magic bullets that were aimed behind his blind spot.

The intruders exchanged a glance with each other before they all ran in different directions. They had already made many contingency plans beforehand, so they already knew what to do in the case that they were discovered.

All of them were Grandmasters who specialized in stealth, infiltration, and escaping from critical situations.

They knew that Gerald and Alessia were both Grandmasters, though the one they were most worried about was Gerald.

There were rumors flying around that he was already a Champion after he had defeated the Assassins from Death Wish twice.

So instead of a confrontation, all of them chose to escape and fight again another day.

The Leader, who was the strongest of them all, thought that he had already escaped after running for nearly ten minutes straight.

However, before he could feel good about himself, he saw something move from the corner of his eyes.

Five magic bullets were headed in his direction, which made him snort.

With a few precise slashes of his sword, the Magic Bullets were all dealt with, making them disperse in a faint light.

"It's already late at night, My Lady," the Leader said. "Isn't it time for you to get some beauty sleep?"

The group had already investigated everyone staying in the Leventis Residence. Because of this, the leader already knew who he was dealing with.

"How can I get any beauty sleep when there are some perverts lying around?" Erica asked

with a smile as she hovered dozens of meters away from the Grandmaster.

"You are not a match for me," the Leader of the Group stated. "We didn't come to hurt anyone in the residence, so don't force my hand."

Right now, Erica's Rank was Elite.

The Grandmaster was three Ranks above her, but she didn't care about that.

After seeing a Rookie like Zion fight against monsters whom she couldn't possibly hope to defeat, her mentality had started to shift.

She no longer cared about the Ranks of her enemies.

If a Rookie like Zion can fight against a Majin Prince and a Majin King, how could she possibly back away from fighting a Grandmaster?

Erica flicked her hands, and countless Magic Bullets rained down on the sky, making the Leader of the Infiltration Group frown.

'She's so young, yet she's already this good,' the Leader thought. 'As expected of the Sorceress from the Hero Party.'

Although he and his group had fought on many battlefields and dyed their hands with blood, they truly had no intention of killing or crippling the members of the young generation, especially those from the Hero Party.

First of all, they were afraid that the Monarch of the Central Government would retaliate, which was something that his employer wouldn't want to happen at all costs.

Because of this, the members of the Hero Party were part of the list of "Untouchables," meaning that the Monarch Clans and the Prestigious Families wouldn't attack them no matter

what.

Of course, there was an exception.

As long as they were able to do it without the deed being traced back to them, they didn't have

to worry about retaliation.

At least, that was what other people thought.

However, they had been warned that the Grand Marshal of the Central Government, Lawrence Seaton, had a special ability that allowed him to know the truth of the world.

The Leader of the Infiltration Group was just an ant in the grand scheme of things, and this was a hidden danger that he wouldn't want to test. This left him no choice but to endure Erica's bombardment.

While the Leader was dealing with the Sorceress of the Hero Party, his other members found themselves entangled with several persistent individuals that made their escape quite

difficult.

Mikhail and Shasha dealt with one Agent each.

The same could be said for Derek.

Diana, Rianna, and Mildred were also fighting one-on-one battles with the intruders.

Shana, on the other hand, stood on the rooftop of the Leventis Residence and unfurled her

Silver Banner.

She then expanded her support abilities towards his comrades, giving them powerful buffs that allowed them to fight against opponents above their current Ranks.

The only thing she could do right now was to play her role well and ensure that her friends would not suffer any fatal injuries in battle.

Meanwhile, a few miles away from Thirteen's home, Arthur stood on the roof of his mansion

and observed the battle from afar.

Thirteen had already informed him that something like this might happen, and he was

requested to not interfere in the battle.

Arthur agreed, but that didn't mean that he would just stand by and watch as the other Clans mess with his territory.

Since they dared to play dirty with him, he would definitely return the favor in the future.

'They really look down on the Leventis Family that much, huh?' Arthur curled up his lips in disdain. 'If only I didn't promise that kid to keep a low profile, this world would understand that messing with me is the last thing they wished to do.'

After the battle against the Artemians, Arthur, Lady Callista, Michael, and Hans received a great boost in their strength with the help of his no-good grandson.

Right now, Arthur's sword was properly sheathed in its scabbard.

However, the day he took out the blade from his sheathe, would be the same day where the balance of power in the world would be reshuffled.