Raid on Eight Fingers

The Raid on Eight Fingers was a raid on the criminal organization Eight Fingers carried out by Nazarick as part of Operation Gehenna. This also led to them coming to blows with the Re-Estize Kingdom, who were conducting their own raid as part of the Eight Fingers Suppression Campaign.

Background
Blue Roses were able to successfully pinpoint where the other crime syndicate's installations are at. They learned that all these locations are happen to be founded within the domains of different nobles. Princess Renner requested the adventurer group to split up their members and take action, with each of them taking a single location. Considering that there are around eight places to raid and Blue Roses only have five people in their adventurer team, they will be short on manpower. Hence, those who have already finished their attacks will proceed to the remaining three locations that have yet to be taken care of. Renner had even enlisted Gazef Stronoff to their operation and attack the sixth location.

To commence the operation, Lakyus first gathers all the leaders of the various teams involved in raiding Eight Fingers to discuss what their plans are. Lakyus explained the details of the operation, which was to attack and capture eight installations run by Eight Fingers. Before heading off their separate ways, Lakyus warns them that since they are going up against Eight Fingers, they need to be wary of encountering traps and very powerful individuals like the Six Arms along the way. Among one of these Eight Fingers' installations, a Blue Roses adventurer discover a mansion manage by Hilma Cygnaeus who was taken away secretly by Mare to the Great Tomb of Nazarick. However, much to her surprise upon visiting it, Gagaran came across an unknown monster dress in maid-like clothing that appears to be eating human fleshes from a random member of Eight Fingers.

Battle
Upon seeing what the man-eating monster was doing, Gagaran realizes that the monster is not something she cannot easily let go of without killing it due to the danger it may pose to humans. Hence, the adventurer Gagaran charges at Entoma to close the distance between the two of them. Once the monster was within her range of attack, Gagaran raised her spiked warhammer high and smashed down at her. Nonetheless, Entoma gracefully evaded that blow without problem. However, Gagaran refused to let up on her weapon's attack and suddenly changed the direction of its swing, bringing the warhammer at Entoma in a murderous blow. That was not a graceful movement utilizing centrifugal force, but using brute muscle power to forcefully change the direction of the strike. Entoma evaded once more, and then activated a skill.

Annoyed by how Entoma is running away from her attacks, Gagaran swung her warhammer once again at Entoma. The gale in the wake of its blow whipped past Entoma's head, stirring the strands of the latter's hair. Entoma mock Gagaran's swing to be mad wild while using her skill the second time. At the same time, Entoma easily avoided the plunging smash of Gagaran's spiked warhammer. Having missed its target, the hammer crashed into the ground with all the force which had been meant for her. Entoma sneered at her opponent’s simple, repetitive attacks. However, Entoma then realized in the next moment that Gagaran was waiting for the hubris the latter had set up for her. Too little too late for Entoma to react on time, Gagaran smash the ground into smithereens to the point where the stone floor shattered when the spiked warhammer struck it.

This, in turn, created a localized earthquake by Gagaran which forces Entoma to lose her footing while the former remains steady due to a magic item she had equipped. Realizing that she underestimated Gagaran, Entoma decided to stop playing around with her opponent and now holds the intent to kill her. Entoma turned to face the falling spiked warhammer and raised her left arm. In the very next moment, what rang out was not the sound of steel pulping flesh, but two hard objects colliding. At this moment, a shield clung to Entoma’s left arm, an insect with over eight legs gripped her arm tightly and refused to let go. As Gagaran is confuse by her choice of weaponry, Entoma introduce herself as an Insect Master who summons forth insects to fight on her behalf and command.

After revealing her job class, she then proceeded to wave her right hand and out of the night flew a long insect shaped like a broadsword, which attached itself to the back of her right hand. She plans to kill Gagaran off with both her Blade Bug and Hard Armor Bug. Entoma quickly advanced on Gagaran and slashed at her in no time without giving the latter a chance to evade or dodge the blow. She ripped through Gagaran's breastplate and fresh blood spewed out. However, it was not a fatal strike to Gagaran by any means. Although Gagaran had not been able to avoid a serious attack from Entoma, she had only been lightly wounded by it. She swung again, and blood spurted once more, splashing her face. Thanks to the injury she had taken just now, this wound was deeper than the last, and it could no longer be considered light.

Seeing that Entoma is finally serious in attempting to kill her, Gagaran fights back in retaliation to the two blows she had sustain damage from her. The spiked warhammer fell on Entoma with a furious cry, and the monster deflected it with her Hard Armor Bug. Gagaran felt a tremendous impact race through her, but she stood firm, determined not to budge so much as a step. Gagaran rode on the flow of battle, continuing her fluid combination of attacks simultaneously nonstop against Entoma. She uses a fast and furious assault that was augmented by her Martial Arts skills to maintain offense over the monster. This was her trump card made as a super combo. However, Entoma skilfully used her Shield Bug and her Sword Bug to block the series of fifteen continuous attacks without so much as a scratch. Entoma’s innate muscle power had blocked every single strike.

Losing strength in prolonging her super combo for any longer, the combination attack by Gagaran had stopped. Entoma cocked her right hand, the one with the Blade Bug back like she was drawing a bow, and then stabbed forward like loosing an arrow. She was aiming for the chest of Gagaran. In response, Gagaran raised its warhammer to fight back and defend herself, but it was too slow to stop Entoma. As Entoma’s strike was faster than the human, she tries to piece the adventurer's chest but only to have it be miss by Tia who arrived at the scene of the battle between the two to pull Gagaran away from the attack. Gagaran thank Tia for saving her in the nick of time and two started bantering with each other much to the annoyance and frustration of Entoma. Entoma immediately grew cautious of Tia after presuming she is a ninja to be level 60 to have such a class.

Refusing to hold back any longer, Entoma sprung into action and threw four summoning talismans from her right hand to the ground. After the talismans landed on the ground, it instantly transformed into huge spiders. She was hoping to use them in buying herself some time to prepare her next course of action against them. Meanwhile, Tia activated her ninjutsu, calling forth her [Shadow Clone]. On the other hand, Entoma called out her trump cards; her Bullet Bugs and another kind of insect. At the same time, she pasted talismans on herself to further strengthen her abilities. A swarm of Bullet Bugs gathered out of nowhere and covered her left arm. The shadow clone was running ragged just trying to evade the attacks of one spider, while the original was dealing with two of them. The fact that she had only killed one after so long suggested that her foes were most definitely not high-leveled.

The weight on her left arm pleased Entoma, and she extended the finger of her left hand at Tia. The bugs had encrusted Entoma’s arm until they had practically doubled its diameter. As one, they crawled to the front of her arm and then took wing from her extended finger, one after the other. The incessant buzzing of wings called to mind the image of a Gatling gun. The path of the Bullet Bugs meant that they pierced through her own Shikigumo, but in total, 150 of them flew downstream at Tia. In the face of the fatal projectiles shot at her, Tia used another ninjutsu technique, [Immovable Adamantine Shield]. As a scintillating rainbow-colored shield sprang into existence in front of Tia, the bugs slammed into the gigantic wall of light that was shaped like a six-pointed star. Within a few seconds, the shield shattered with the crisp sound of breaking glass. However, the fusillade of insects had stopped as the shield broke, revealing an unhurt Tia behind it.

Later, Tia threw a kunai at Entoma's direction in order to hit her while Gagaran attempts to use that chance in launching a mid-air strike on her. Unfortunately for the two of them, Entoma deflected the kunai flying from the front with the Blade Bug before then blocking Gagaran’s plunging mid-air strike with her Hard Armor Bug. The Hard Armor Bug had to take a lot of pressure, and it squeaked like it was wailing in pain despite tanking the blow from Gagaran who jump down on her at quite a high place. If the dazzling lights of the [Immovable Adamantine Shield] had affected Entoma’s vision, she would not have been able to block Gagaran’s leaping attack from the darkness. However, Entoma's vision was not affected by that trickery as her field of vision was much larger than that of a human, even when she wore "that".

Sensing that it would be dangerous to do a follow-up attack, Gagaran moved away from Entoma and kept her distance. Gagaran was able to move so nimbly despite her massive frame proved that her wounds were completely healed with assistance from Tia who was buying her time during the ninja's exchange of attacks with Entoma. She took her place beside Tia and crushed the Bullet Bugs' corpses underfoot, making a clear pachipachi noise. Tia and Gagaran can't help but feel baffled by how well-time Entoma's attacks and movements are, deducing that the maid monster is carefully studying all the moves they have made until now.

With no intention of looking down on these two humans before her, she decided to have no more use for her Blade Bug and Shield Bug. The insect clinging to Entoma’s right arm fell to the ground and vanished into the night with a scrabbling noise. Another insect called Thousand Lash Bug crawled onto the now-vacant arm which resembled a ten meters long centipede with sharp fangs. Entoma began channeling her strength into her legs. Through fighting them, Entoma had learned the attack speed, destructive power, defensive strength, evasive ability, and movement abilities of the two humans. Feeling hungry, she began to have second thought of not just disposing Gagaran and Tia, but making a meal out of them as well. The two of them shuddered, exposed as they were before Entoma’s hungry gaze. They were not afraid of the killing intent she emitted, but this was a trembling born of the revulsion any living being had when a carnivore set its sights on them.