"Thank you very much, Brother Ganya. I know we are asking for much but will it be possible to also complete the second part of our request?" asked Underwater. He was one of the elders of Blue Lagoon; just his presence alone was enough to show how much importance the guild was putting on the dungeon.

With Underwater's arrival, Iron Shark lost the position of leader; now, all the decisions were made by the elder. It was not very pleasant to be ordered around, especially since Underwater brought with him his son, Espadon.

Ganya shook his head. He kept his distance from this unfamiliar face. He would have preferred to discuss with Iron Shark with who he had already interacted a few times but Underwater insisted to be the one making all the discussions. He wanted the barbarian tribe to recognize him as the middle man to receive all the credits of the operation.

"No. We are already doing you a huge favor by allowing you to go in before Vultex. If it was not for all the gifts you brought, we would not even have considered it. You should be aware that Vultex did not hesitate to present us with tons of material. We value our old friendship with your guild which is why we still allowed you to go first."

Ganya continued, "You should be aware that you will be the first townsmen to ever enter the dungeon. There are many opportunities there. Even just one day should be enough to receive enough benefits. It is us that is doing your guild a favor."

Underwater was tactful; he faintly smiled and bowed. "Of course, I was being a little too greedy. Please have this small hatchet as a token of our appreciation. We will be going then." Hidden from others' sight, he shoved a weapon in Ganya's hand and moved away.

The barbarian chief looked at the bronze hatchet in his hand in surprise. It was unexpectedly a Grade 4 weapon. He would have been extremely excited in the past but now, with Elsa making Grade 4 items regularly, it was just ordinary.

...

"Let's go, now!"

Under the wrathful stares of the players of Vultex, the Blue Lagoon members left the village in the direction of the dungeon.

"You won't get away with it, Underwater!" shouted one of the elders of Vultex, Viridian. Vultex was also invested in getting their hand on the dungeon. With more conflict arising because of the Venetia situation, these two guilds could already be considered to be at war.

"You want to attack us, old hag? What are you waiting for? Just land a hit and the barbarians will immediately expel you from their village!" taunted Underwater. He laughed and commanded the players to start moving. His time was limited, he did not want to waste any more here arguing with his competitor.

On the other side of the Blue Lagoon members, Iron Shark grumbled. He had recently also been promoted to the rank of elder but in this operation, his words held little to no value. Underwater seized the opportunity to come here and take the credit for himself. While they were both officially at the same rank, in terms of seniority, influence, and connections, Underwater greatly outclassed Iron Shark.

It was unfair but it was also the natural progress of ranking up in the guilds. While Underwater would take all the credits, Iron Shark would also be rewarded behind the scene; the other elders were not completely blind.

"We shall divide ourselves into two groups! One to go and explore the dungeon as deeply as possible and the other will come with me to investigate the secret room on the fifth floor," commanded Underwater.

He then looked at his son, Espadon at his side, "You said that there is an NPC somewhere in the forest that will appear around next week?"

"Yes. She is the one who gave me the quest. I don't know if the secret room will still be reachable without the quest active."

"There is nothing wrong in trying. We can only bring one hundred players with us for now but we are stronger than Iron Shark's team. Don't worry, the elite team will protect you well."

At the dungeon entrance, Underwater nodded to Wesh who was standing guard with a group of barbarians. They acknowledged each other and after chatting briefly, the dungeon exploration started.

...

With a hundred elite players, reaching the fifth floor was extremely easy. It was different from the last time they tried; there were barbarians everywhere, killing the hostile monsters with a single hit. The players did not even have to fight most of the time.

They divided themselves into smaller groups as they realized that the dungeon had developed since the last time they came. Their mission was to thoroughly explore the dungeon, to find what resources could be obtained from here.

Soon, the main group split into two. Underwater stopped on the plains and proceeded to open the secret room while Iron Shark and his men continued exploring on the sixth floor.

The players pushed the monolith, revealing the entrance of the secret room. This did not go unnoticed by the barbarians; many of them were roaming around the plains, killing the Death Knights and the Abominations. As for the Mylingars, the barbarians tended to avoid them; they did not like to fight against spirit-type monsters unless they had to.

The barbarians jealously looked at the players; they were naturally aware of the existence of secret rooms but had yet to discover one. They were greedy but they knew they would not be able to interfere. There was a rule set by the Musclewood Tribe to not fight over the loot or treasure found by another group. If they did, they would be forever banned from the dungeon.

The players did not think much of the barbarians; to them, the barbarians were only meat shields diverting the attention of the monsters.

"Go in!"

Once inside, the players once again faced the liches but this time the outcome was different. There were only liches; there were no signs of the monster who attacked from the shadows. The elite players were on a completely different level from Iron Shark's regular team. They averaged level 31 while the best players were already at level 32. It was not hard for the group to kill a few level 30 liches.

Underwater stood safely at the back of the players. He himself was only level 28 but it did not matter. All this time, he had been eying the metallic chest at the back of the secret room. The room was different from Espadon's description; there were no decorations or gold scattered around the room. There was literally nothing aside from the chest and the liches.

Soon, all the liches died and Underwater calmly made his way to the treasure chest. 'This is going to be good. It is the only item in this room!'

However, before he could touch the chest, a shadow appeared and grabbed the chest. Without a word, the shadow broke into a run as yet another tunnel appeared, leading to an unknown area.

The players froze. What had just happened?

Underwater's mind went blank but a few moments later, he recollected his thoughts. "Chase after him!"

The players immediately gave chase to the shadow. They were all enraged; how could a petty thief suddenly appear and take away the fruit of their hard work? The new tunnel was dim but they could see the outline of the shadow.

He was a level 30 dwarf. Judging from his outfit and abilities, the dwarf held a roguish class.

It was clear that the dwarf was familiar with the tunnel. He knew where the twists and turns were contrary to the players who often crashed into the walls.

After a few minutes of wild chase, they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The players rushed after the dwarf as they stepped into a completely new environment. The floor consisted of caves and tunnels. The monsters they saw were Zombeasts and Bonemares.

The players became cautious but never stopped their chase. They were four levels above the monsters and while they could not instantly kill them, they could easily divert their attention. The elite players did not rely only on their levels; they were also skilled in combat.

"Stop here thief! How dare you steal our treasure!" shouted Espadon. The young man's blood was boiling as he ran across the dungeon. He was already breathing heavily and started slowing down but fortunately, the players were not the only one feeling tired; the dwarf had limited stamina too!

"Who is a thief? You are trying to steal our prototype!" To the players' surprise, the dwarf actually answered back.

The chase continued as the two parties swore at each other. However, the players were slowly catching up; the dwarf's short legs were not going to lead him very far but at the same time, the stairs to the next floor came into view.

The dwarf jumped down the stairs but in his hurry, stumbled and rolled down the stairs.

'Ouch!' thought the players.

"We almost have him! Catch him!" shouted Underwater.

The players ran down the stairs and entered another environment. The floor consisted of medieval corridors. They saw the dwarf lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs but another surprise was waiting for them here.

A group of dwarves stood in the corridor and rushed toward the fallen dwarf as soon as he appeared. "Dhotrear! What happened to you?"

The players froze upon seeing the group of dwarves. They stopped in their track waiting for Underwater's instructions. The latter was taken by surprise. He never expected to meet such a large group of dwarves; there were at least thirty dwarves, all above level 30.

'Looks like getting the treasure is not going to be easy but I cannot just let it go like that.'

'Wait a minute. The dwarves can speak and as far as I am aware, dwarves are one of the main races on the continent. They even have villages that players can visit. We can purchase items and receive quests at these villages. We can even argue with the inhabitants when drinking at their taverns...'

"You! Humans! How dare you chase and attack my clansman!" shouted one of the dwarves. His eyes were burning with fury as he raised his ax in an aggressive manner.

Underwater clicked his tongue. "I think there is a misunderstanding here. We did not even attack your clansman. We stumbled onto a secret room and defeated the monsters there. We found the treasure chest in this room but before we could take it, this dwarf appeared and stole it from us. We are only here to get back what we deserve."

"What thing you deserve? This box contains the prototype of our research! How dare you try to steal our possession and shift the blame on my clansman!" exclaimed the dwarf.

Underwater almost choked. 'If it was your prototype, then why do you not keep it with you? Why was it in the secret room?'

"This..."

But before he could complete his sentence, the dwarf spoke: "However, I see that there is indeed no signs of injury on my clansman. We can forget this matter but we cannot hand over our precious prototype. At least not without a fair trade first..."

Underwater's eyes lit up as he heard the last part of the dwarf's sentence. 'It might be possible to still get the treasure chest and we won't even need to fight over it. Maybe that's just how this dungeon works; it will not hand over the content of the secret rooms easily.'

"We can agree to trade but to make it fair, we should at least be allowed to see what is inside the chest, right?" said Underwater.

The dwarf paused for a moment, seemingly hesitating before nodding his head. "Let one of your men step forward."

Underwater did not understand why the dwarf made this request but he still signaled on of the players to do so.

The dwarf smiled and unlocked the chest. "Now, attack him with all your might!" The chest flung open by itself as a shadow emerged from it. It was a small robot!

The robot was slightly smaller than the dwarf but it was much faster. It beeped before dashing toward the surprised player. Another beep sounded as the robot swung its blade at the player. The latter was taken off guard but with his training, he was still able to block the attack. "-1" appeared above his shoulder.

The robot's red eyes flashed. It raised its second blade and attacked once again but the player once again blocked it. The player frowned but quickly adjusted himself. He blocked a few more attacks before going on the offensive. Soon enough, the robot lost its first blade and then, its second blade was knocked away.

"Stop! Return!" shouted the dwarf. The robot beep and froze. It then silently collected its blades before returning to the dwarf's side.

"You are quite skilled human. But this is just our prototype! Our engineers have already designed much better mechs than this one!"

Underwater had been observing the fight with a solemn expression. His interest was clearly piqued. "What are your thoughts?" asked Underwater to the player who faced the robot.

"Not bad but aside from the first attack which was more powerful than the others, it should have the strength of a level 20 player," answered the player.

Underwater nodded and started mumbling to himself. 'A mech with the strength of a level 20 player? And they say they have even better ones? What if this can be mass-produced? It is far below the strength of actual players but they can be used in situations to avoid losing our own players!'

"You said you wanted to trade with us?" asked Underwater.

The dwarves smiled. 'Master will definitely be pleased with us.'

"Possibly but you will first need to be able to reach our village. Furthermore, we do not trust you humans enough to give you our weapons but trust can be earned. We need some help from someone that can go outside the dungeon. Will you agree?"

Underwater furrowed his brows. He knew obtaining these mechs were not going to be easy. "Tell me more about it first."

At that moment, the players all received a system prompt:

[System prompt: You have triggered the quest: "Request of the Dwarves" (Unique)]

Help the dwarves take revenge on the Swift Gazelle Tribe located in the West. The rewards will only be awarded if the Swift Gazelle Tribe is destroyed.

Task: Go to the Swift Gazelle Tribe and infiltrate cause as much trouble as possible. The dwarves will make their own move and attack the tribe on their side.

Duration: two days

Rewards: 50000 exp and 20 prototypes Alpha-13. Additional rewards can be obtained if the appropriate conditions are fulfilled.

Note 1: This quest can be shared with other players but they will only obtain half the experience. The mechs will only be given to one player.

Note 2: The dwarves are aware of the difficulty of the task and your identity as a merchant. They are willing to give you twenty barrels of explosive to detonate at the Swift Gazelle Tribe. An additional 10000 exp will be awarded for each barrel detonated.

Note 3: The dwarves will lead an attack but the players are also allowed to join and contribute. Each barbarian killed will reward the players with an additional 10000 exp.

Note 4: The totem spirit of the Swift Gazelle Tribe is a major threat to the dwarves. Additional rewards will be provided if the totem spirit is not summoned during the attack. Each Shaman killed with reward the players with a prototype Beta-5.

Note 5: The dwarves will view you in high esteem if you contribute actively. You will be allowed into their village: 'Tinyland' and will unlock the purchases of the mechs at their shop.

Note 6: If the dwarves do not even need to attack, the blueprints of the mechs will be available for purchase at their shop for a limited period of time.