Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

A transmission conch can be seen on her hand, she was talking to someone on the opposite end of the transmission conch.

After she gave those words, the humming noise from the teleport gate became louder and louder and soon enough, people wearing adventuring gears started appearing out of it.

Alfred who was looking at the scene from the distance, sighed. Although he was no adventurer, from his years of experience working as the mayor of this city and meeting with different kinds of people, he could somewhat tell the power of a person just by looking at them.

That is why, he could say with certainty that each and every adventurer that came out of that portal, was more powerful than any of the adventurers you could find around this part of the land.

Even the weakest amongst them released a pressure comparable to the vice guild master or guild master of their city. What was even more astonishing was that their numbers weren't in the hundreds but thousands.

Droves and droves of adventurers carrying the badges of their respective guild came out of the teleport gate and soon the entire plaza was filled with it.

Seeing that the number of people coming out of the portal didn't seem to be slowing down, Alfred called for his subordinates who respectfully led those adventurers to a different part of the mansion.

The teleport hummed for a whole three hours before the light from the construct died down. A massive lineup of adventurers could be seen on the plaza. All of the adventurers that were waiting in the capital, were here.

The coalition of more than twenty guilds, comprising of more than thirty thousand people, was here. One can imagine what kind of atmosphere the city lord's mansion was basked in when these many strong adventurers, gathered in one place altogether.

The powerful auras from the adventurers became one coagulating mass of energy that even disturbed the surrounding mana. Some weak levelled servants inside the city lord's mansion even fainted, unable to take the pressure.

Alfred witnessed the powerful lineup of adventurers with his own eyes, his face was complicated as various thoughts ran through his mind. This lineup of adventurers was so grand that had he not known what their objective was, he would have thought that they were here to take down a country, forget about a dungeon.

Not even in his wildest dream would he have thought that, not only the guild master of the mage guild, but all of the guild masters that he had only heard talks and rumours about, would show their faces in this distant remote city of his in person today.

Nevertheless, knowing their objective did not particularly make him happy. The emergence and placement of the dungeon, was something that had deeply affected the economy of his cities and the other neighbouring cities.

Thanks to the dungeon and the various benefits it provided, various people from different walks of life came over after being attracted by it. Their cities started flourishing, commerce thriving, market booming with new jobs propping up every day.

The average level of satisfaction amongst the citizen rose and the city was filled with vitality and life. Nobody would be able to deny that the dungeon was deeply connected to the development of Mountmend and all the other neighbouring cities.

However, knowing that it would all come to a stop soon, made Alfred unable to take joy in seeing this big mobilisation of power. If it was some other cause or occasion, he would have been delighted to have people of such calibre come over to his city but not today.

All he could do was sigh in regret seeing their strength.

-------

One day later, tower town. The always bustling town of adventurers, was covered with an unusual silence today. An army of more than thirty thousand adventurers marched through the southern region of the forest and arrived at the town where a huge tower was located.

Their sheer number and presence was enough to subdue the people of the tower town and clear a path for them. Many discussions rose amongst the adventurer until the entire town was buzzing with hullabaloo.

It was not every day that one gets to see so many powerful adventurers gathered in one place. The sight was mind-boggling to say no less.

Adventurer's Association branch, a large group of people were gathered outside as they tried to get a peek at the appearance of the famous adventurers that they have only heard in rumours and news.

The people inside the building were like their idols, these people worshipped and held in high regard.

The large hall would usually occupied and filled with adventurers; however, today it was empty with only a selective group of people sitting inside. These people were the guild master and the vice guild master of the various big guilds of this kingdom.

Karina Lowell, Brutus Sarge, Arven Lantz, and the guild leaders of the top five guilds were also present. Nonetheless, they weren't seating on the seat of honour and instead a man with short grey hair, covering his face with a mask, sat there.

His aura was restrained and he seemed ordinary at a glance but given how respectful the various guild leaders were around him, one could tell that his position was higher than anyone present in the room.

"Have the Sea God's Trident contacted yet?" the grey haired man asked.

Seated on his immediate right was a person with a badge of a blue trident stitched to his clothes. This person was the former vice guild leader of the Sea god's trident and a pillar of the guild, Dalton Lance.

"My earnest apologies, I talked with my guild leader yesterday. It seems like they are still stuck inside a dungeon and cannot free themselves currently. He asked me to lead the members of the guild for this expedition on his behalf" Dalton said, bowing his head a little towards the grey haired man.

"Tch... well whatever, it's not like we absolutely need their power. The manpower we currently have is enough. However, since you guys aren't providing all of your assistance, don't expect the reward I originally promised to you guys".

Dalton revealed a bitter smile when he heard those words, those guild leaders from the rival guild and the other famous guilds all revealed a gloating smile. For an expedition this large, all of the guild participating today were promised reward that they couldn't decline.

Seeing the Sea god's trident guild be excluded from it, some of the guild leaders couldn't help but become happy. Even though they were working together right now, they each belonged to a rival guild.

The sea god's trident held the position of the head amongst the top five guilds. Them losing the favour of the grey haired man was a pleasant development from the other guild's perspective.

Dalton was aware of what these people were thinking however, the situation was so that he couldn't do anything. Currently, the Sea god's trident was tackling the forbidden grounds and cannot free all of their manpower immediately.

Not to mention Godwin and Raven were also away and training on the Mainland. Thus it only left him and a few other members available for the expedition.

"Hnn~ I believe this expedition was something that was suggested by the guild leader Benny Beckerman. He tried every means to rope all of us into this yet when the time came to reap the rewards for his efforts, why is it that he and the other important member of the Sea god's guild are absent?".

Karina Lowell seated on the left side of the table asked. Her charm was so that every eye immediately focused on her, and the various guild leaders who wanted to get closer to her, started questioning Daxton further.

"Enough... Benny Beckerman isn't the type of person to back down. I believe he must have his own reason for being unable to provide assistance. Perhaps he really is stuck inside a dungeon" the grey haired man admonished, silencing the crowd.

Karina narrowed her eyes when she saw that person side with the Sea God's trident. Various thoughts flashed in her mind as she wondered about the two parties motives.

"Ahem... now all of you please look at this" the grey haired man coughed once to disperse the weird atmosphere in the air and took out something from his space ring.

The thing on his hand was a small orb as big as a fist. Everybody immediately recognised it as the transmission orb that transmitted information in the form of images and videos.

When the visuals inside the orb played, a dark cavern came into view and a group of adventurers could be seen clearing it.

The place inside the orb was filled with monsters, traps and various magical things. Scenes changed as the adventurers proceeded forward, all eyes were tightly glued to the visuals inside the orb when suddenly it stopped and everything turned dark. The transmission had ended.

"So what do you all think?" the grey haired man asked after giving them some time to digest the information.

"Are those images from the dungeon that we are about to tackle?" the people inside the hall weren't any ordinary people, they were the guild leader of the renowned and big guilds of this kingdom. It was easy for them to connect the dots and associate the images inside the orb with the dungeon.

"Correct, these are the images from the various floors of this dungeon. I procured this thing through some means of mine so that it can help us clear the dungeon faster" the grey haired man explained.

He shook his hand and dozens of transmission orbs appeared from his space ring which flew towards the guild leaders of the various guilds.