Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Irene nodded in agreement. After they all finished their food, their anger seemed to dissipate into thin air.

"Alright, leaving the fact that you didn't bother to say anything after coming back to the dungeon, what took you so long? And where is that sassy little girl?" Irene asked in an indifferent voice.

However, to Simon who was already familiar with her, he could detect a touch of concern from her tone. Simon recited his adventure from the time he left the dungeon all to the point where he reached the capital city Ellesmere.

Of course, he left some details such as the forbidden trials and events that happened on the final day of the tournament. The reason for him skipping on some of the detail was because he didn't want them to be worried and secondly, if he went to explain all of it, it would have taken a long time.

Right now, there were other pressing matters that needs to be addressed before anything else.

Simon asked how their days were inside the dungeon for the past few months before moving on to the main topic.

"How is the dungeon been faring?" Simon asked, as Guardians responsible for protecting the dungeon there was no one else who would be better knowledgeable about the dungeon while he was absent.

The look on Cecilia's face immediately turned a little dire while Irene had a complicated face. She pondered over how to answer his query and started stating the events that started happening after he left the dungeon.

Simon was amazed to find that only two months after he left the place, his dungeon was besieged by the strongest guild from the city of Mountmend. How the Bloodthorn demonic warhorse who was responsible for ending their advance, became a topic for the adventurers and the constant flooding of adventurers from all the nearby cities after that.

The guilds that came targeting their dungeon after hearing the news were initially as strong as the Burning Arrows Guild; however, as time passed by many more strong adventurer teams and guilds started coming to their dungeon and before anyone knew it, established a small town around the dungeon.

Irene restructured some of the floors and the monsters there; however, it was still too easy for the veteran adventurers to clear the upper floors. With the passage of time, more and more floors were being cleared at a rapid speed and when it seemed like they would reach the floor where the Lightning Draconic Serpent was, the third guardian awakened.

It sent its troops which were strong enough to successfully stall even those veteran adventurers to different floors. The matter was still manageable at that moment in time; however, for some reason unknown to them, an even greater flood of adventurers started diving inside their dungeon a few weeks later, their levels and power even greater than before.

Their powers were so great that the spawned monsters couldn't even hold a candle to them leading Bloodthorn demonic warhorse to interfere on multiple occasions and scurry away those greedy adventurers targeting his dungeon core.

It wasn't just one or two groups that were coming after his dungeon, but hordes of them. It hadn't been long since the third guardian awakened and thus even it had difficulty sending enough troops to deter all of them.

Thanks to Irene's management and efforts they were still able to hold the adventurers around floor thirty but to make matters worse, a week ago another incredible team of adventurers appeared in the tower town and cleared the floors of the dungeon at an astronomical rate.

Their clearing rate was so fast that in just a week they reached the thirtieth floor and were on their way to attempt the thirty-first floor. Normally, Irene would have sent the Bloodthorn demonic warhorse to scare them away and to think twice before attempting to proceed forward.

However, the team that was attempting to clear the thirty first floor was unlike all the other teams and had more than fifteen members each above level 400 with some even approaching level 500. Sending just the warhorse was a foolish choice thus Irene was forming a plan, to restrict the advance of the adventurers on the floor where the Lightning Draconic Serpent was.

This floor was their last defence line after which came the third guardians floor, the Forest Spring Spirit village and ultimately the Main floor where the dungeon core was. Thankfully, before the situation could get any worse, Simon had appeared.

After listening to the overall situation of his dungeon, Simon couldn't help but make an ugly face. His dungeon was exposed to such dangers and he was so far away that he wasn't even aware of it. Fortunately, he returned back before the situation developed till that point.

Simon calmed the anxious Cecilia down before opening the [Archive] function of the [Main Menu] that showed a three dimensional structure of his dungeon, the floors and all the inhabitants/ entities currently inside it, to monitor the status of all the adventurers.

It was as Irene had stated, all the floors from twenty to thirty were currently being besieged by adventurers and if nothing is done, soon they would reach the last floor. It was a good thing that he the dungeon master was here now, only he had the authority to make huge changes to his dungeon such as adding new floors and such.

Even the guardians like Irene and Cecilia didn't have this authority. It was true that their dungeon was being besieged by strong adventurers and was in danger now, but if one looked at it another way, the dungeon was also being benefitted from it.

The DP these hordes of strong adventurers provided was also marginal and couldn't be compared with the average adventurers. Thus, even amidst all this chaos, there was still this silver lining.

Simon saw the huge amount of DP that has been accumulated over the years and a smile crept over his face. Where else would he use his DP if not on his dungeon to advance it? It was not only his home, but also a part of him.. so much so that he even named it after the game he was so proud of but was unable to see it sailing off.

With this amount of DP that was more than twice what it was previously, he could add dozens of new floors, new mechanisms and monsters to slow down the advance of the adventurers.

The adventurers diving inside his dungeon had gotten stronger? So what, As long as he advanced his dungeon and himself, it was not a problem that he couldn't handle. His composure during moments of crisis and his problem-solving line of thought, even surprised himself.

It turned out that the trip outside had helped develop his frame of mind and made it stronger and firmer than before.

Simon explained his decision of adding new floors to his Guardians dissolving some of their worries. Especially Cecilia who still had a scar in her heart from her last experience where her village was invaded.

"Anyways, you don't have to worry, no intruders will be able to make it past the thirty sixth floor" Simon assured.

"If you say so" Irene looked a little sceptical; Nonetheless, she didn't question him any further.

"By the way about the Bloothorn demonic warhorse when did it…"

"Start talking?" Irene completed his sentence seemingly reading his thought.

"Sentient Beasts with powerful bloodline gain the ability of communication and speech as they reach closer to level 500. That is not all, as they keep growing and advancing their level, they can even gain the ability of humanisation and transform their body into a more humanoid form".

"You shouldn't be surprised at the growth of your own subordinate? From what I could see, this change was bound to happen given the purity of its bloodline. Its diligent character that wants to become stronger just like its master, will push it to new heights".

Simon nodded his head at Irene's explanation. Given the fact that he saw beasts such as Lightning Draconic Serpent and the others talk, he expected the warhorse to talk one day. It's just that he didn't expect that it would be able to do so right after he came back to the dungeon from his trip.

He always felt a special bond with it and was happy that it could talk now. If he had to point out something, it would be the warhorse's voice that sounded just like those headstrong ancient samurai with their atypical virtues.

There was nothing bad about it, just that it felt a little weird when it came from a warhorse.

Now that he had discussed about the issue of his dungeon and also the warhorse, it was time he asked the question that was eating away at his mind.

"What do you mean that the Third Guardian had awakened and had sent troops to delay the adventurers?" Simon had to get the question out or else he wouldn't be able to calm his heart.

The third guardian recognised by the dungeon was none other than Wisp the Null Elemental who had mysteriously disappeared inside the floor he had created for it.

"Why don't you use the [Main Menu] and close in on the floor below the thirty sixth floor" Irene said with an air of mystery.

"It was amazing, the whole floor moved… little wisp is awesome it can even create those things and they are super powerful.. I even tried to play with it but it always runs away from me" Cecilia added to Irene's explanation.

However, her words were so fragmented that Simon couldn't take anything from it.