Aldon’s group followed the ambassador of the Kingdom of Anae as he rushed towards the direction of the Kingdom’s Castle. He pushed through the chaotic crowd of elves and made way for the group.

Along the way to the Kingdom’s Castle, Aldon took a quick glance at the situation of the Kingdom. He found out that the Royal Guards of this Kingdom were calming down the tumultuous elves and keeping them from causing much destruction.

The group quickly reached the gates of the Castle and requested passage. The Castle Guard in charge of allowing passage to the Castle was lazily lying down on his chair with a hat on his face. He yawned, and without any hesitation, shooed them, “Get lost! Don’t you see that the Kingdom is in a state of emergency?! The King has no time for you hillbillies. The King is quite busy with the Kingdom’s matters. Come back after this unrest has calmed down, then I’ll consider giving you an audience with the King.”

The ambassador was embarrassed by the Castle Guard’s pathetic behavior and muttered to himself, “For fucks’ sake! This Kingdom’s integrity is going down the drain! I should bring this matter to my Father’s notice!” He then shook the Castle Guard’s shoulders with such a force that the Castle Guard fell down from the chair.

Furious that his nap was interrupted, the Castle Guard stood up and started to cuss, “Listen here, you piece of...” his words quickly became stuck in his mouth as he noticed who was standing before him!

The ambassador slapped the motionless Castle Guard and spoke irritatedly, “You piece of what? Don’t mind me, complete the sentence!” The Castle Guard stood motionless, with his head bowed low, and didn’t respond.

Sighing, the ambassador took out his Medallion of Identity and presented it to the Castle Guard, “Let’s forget about this for now. I’m in a hurry. Quickly do your job!” The Castle Guard, with his head still bowed down, confirmed the identity of the ambassador and spoke awkwardly, “Your Royal Highness can proceed!”

The ambassador nodded, gestured to Aldon’s group behind him, and spoke, “These elves are the representatives of the Elven Empire. They’re with me, so they don’t need to identify themselves, right?” The Castle Guard felt beads of cold sweat forming on his face as he realized that he had antagonized not only the Prince of the Kingdom but also the respected delegates of the Elven Empire. He quickly nodded his head like a bobblehead in affirmation.

Not bothering with the Castle Guard anymore, the ambassador spoke to Aldon’s group, ‘Come, let’s go meet the King.” Aldon’s group didn’t mention anything regarding the Castle Guard’s behavior and nodded in response to the ambassador.

Aldon’s group followed the ambassador as he quickly navigated through the Castle and arrived in front of the doors to the Throne Hall of the Castle. While following the ambassador, Aldon noticed that though this Kingdom’s Castle was in no way comparable to the grandeur of the Empire’s, it was still emitting a sense of royalty and responsibility. Aldon was pleased by this discovery, as according to his viewpoint, this indicated that the King of this Kingdom was not an incompetent ruler.

The ambassador gestured to the group to follow him and opened the door. The situation inside the Throne Hall was even more chaotic than the outside of the Castle. The court officials of the Kingdom were all in a heated argument with each other. The King, who was seated on his throne, was busy consulting with his Advisor on urgent matters.

The ambassador ungracefully plunged into this chaotic mess and reached the King. He whispered something in the King’s ear that made him sit upright on his throne. Aldon’s group hesitated for a while before eventually setting foot onto the chaotic Throne Hall.

With His eyes shining with delight, the King stood up, and spoke with a loud voice, “All of you, be silent. The assistance from the Empire has finally arrived! Let us show some courtesy and not squabble in front of them!”

The court officials became silent and returned to their seats. They observed the group of young elves intently, and finding them to be powerful, gave them a warm welcome.

The King sat on his Throne and continued, “I wish I could entertain you properly, but this Kingdom has fallen into a state of emergency and requires your help as soon as possible! One of the Dungeons that appeared recently seems to be at its tolerance limit as it is becoming more unstable as time passes. If the situation remains unchanging, the Dungeon may explode within two days! Your arrival couldn’t be more timely! Young heroes, we request your assistance in dealing with that Dungeon as soon as possible! If you wouldn’t mind, could you depart to deal with the Dungeon immediately? Of course, I’ll direct my son to take you to the barracks where the units sent by the Empire to our aid have been stationed. My son will also join you all with a squadron of our Kingdom’s best fighters! What do you all say?”

Aldon, Taeral, Sylph, and the Prince looked at each other and came to a decision. They answered in unison, “We are honored to be presented with an opportunity to assist the Kingdom of Anae! We will immediately depart to deal with the Dungeon.”

Satisfied with the immediate response, the King laughed with relief and ordered his son, the ambassador who had accompanied the group till here, “Orym, show them the way to the barracks.” Facing the group, he continued, “I wish the utmost luck to your undertaking! Please be safe!”

The group bowed to the King and thanked him for his well-wishes. The group soon followed Orym as he exited the Throne Hall.

The moment the group had exited the Throne Hall, the court officials returned to their bickering, and the King sighed as he tried to resolve their problems.

***

The group followed Orym as he led them to the barracks where the troops from the Empire were stationed. Unable to bear the silence during the walk, Taeral mustered up the courage to question Orym, “So, Orym. You never mentioned that you were the son of the King of Anae? Wouldn’t that make you a Prince?”

Orym replied while still guiding them, “Well, you didn’t ask about me! And, yes, that makes me a Prince. Bear in mind that my father has three sons, and I’m the youngest one, so address me as the Third Prince when the formalities require you to. In other times, you can simply call me ‘Orym’.”

The group made a mental note about Orym being the Third Prince and replied affirmatively in response to the Third Prince’s words. The silence once again returned to the group as they traveled from one street to another.

Fortunately for Taeral, the barracks came into view mere moments after he had questioned Orym. The group followed Orym as he entered the barracks. He spoke to them, “Wait here for a while. I’ll bring the Lieutenants of the three units sent by the Empire.” The group made small talk with each other as they waited for the Lieutenants.

After a while, Orym appeared, with three elves following him. One was a fair-complexioned green-haired female elf with a slightly muscular build; another was a brown-haired male elf who was bulky and had many scars on his face; the last one was also a male elf, but he was quite lean and was heavily tanned. Orym left the Lieutenants with Aldon’s group and left silently to assemble his own troops.

The three Lieutenants intently observed Aldon, Taeral, and Sylph as they, in return, examined the lieutenants. The Prince, Rydell, was not examined by the lieutenants since he was standing behind Aldon and appeared as an attendant to their eyes.

After observing the group for a while, the three lieutenants kneeled down the ground and spoke in unison, “We are honored to serve under you all for this mission. For the duration of this mission, you will be our direct superiors as acting Captains.” They paused for a while and continued, “We know that this could be considered as immensely offensive to you all, but we request you to let us choose which Captain we wish to serve under.”

Aldon, Taeral, and Sylph shared a glance, and Aldon understood the meaning behind their eyes and replied, “Sure. We don’t mind.”

The three Lieutenants looked at Taeral and Sylph for their direct approval. Taeral and Sylph smiled and nodded, giving their approval.

The instant all three of them gave their approval, the green-haired elf dashed in front of Aldon, kneeled before him, and introduced herself, “Hello, Young Master Aldon! I’m Celes Tial. You may not have heard about me, but I’ve heard great tales about the exploits of the Throm family! I’m honored to serve under a member of the esteemed Throm family! I hope you’ll lead my squadron to great heights!”

Aldon was surprised by the reverent gaze present in Celes’ eyes and wondered what other things he didn’t know about his own family. Snapping back to his senses, he formally accepted her under his wing.

The slender, tanned elf was next to move as he kneeled before Sylph and introduced himself, “I am Julio Ernst, a Master Caster[1]. It’s my squadron’s privilege to serve under the granddaughter of the elf renowned as the Hundred Beast, Hagan Neige!” Sylph Neige had no perceivable change in her expression as she accepted him as her subordinate.

The remaining elf sighed imperceptibly and kneeled before Taeral. He introduced himself, “I’m Elmon. A former Imperial Guard. My squadron and I hope to serve Young Master Taeral to the best of our abilities.” Taeral was overjoyed to have his own squad as he happily embraced Elmon and welcomed him.

After choosing their Captains, the three Lieutenants pulled their Captains aside to introduce their squad to them. Taking this moment where everybody was distracted from him, Rydell quietly slipped away from the barracks to start his own mission. Aldon noticed this out of the corner of his eye and gave a hidden thumbs up for good luck.

Celes escorted Aldon to where her squadron was stationed and introduced them with great familiarity. Pointing towards a scrawny-looking elf, she spoke, “This is Tasar. He may not look like much, but believe me when I say that he’s the elf with the most endurance in my squad.”

Moving further, Celes pointed towards a short elf who had slightly menacing eyes and continued, “This here is Rascal. Though his name is funny, he is one of my best fighters. If anyone manages to irk his usually tolerant temper, be it a friend or a foe, he’ll be sure to give them a piece of his mind.” Noticing his menacing look, she hurriedly added, “Don’t feel offended by his menacing eyes. Unfortunately, he was born with them. He is good at heart!” In response, Rascal smiled widely and waved his hand as a greeting to Aldon.

Moving on, Celes introduced a blonde short-haired girl who was looking at Aldon with a meek look in her eyes, “This is Kaitlyn. As you can see, she’s usually quite shy.” Shaking her head, Celes continued with a wry smile, “But, her personality during battle changes quite drastically! She’s my most trusted Caster in the squad.”

Next, Celes pointed to a short girl with a cute smile. Instead of calling her short, it was more appropriate to call her appearance child-like. Before Celes could introduce her to Aldon, he accidentally said out loud what he was thinking, “Wait, is this child also a part of your squad?” He instantly regretted it as he noticed the scars of the girl with the child-like appearance. They were clearly battle-scars obtained from experiencing numerous near-death encounters. The girl pouted and replied, “I’m no child! I’m a full-grown adult!” Aldon immediately apologized profusely for his blunder. The girl was still pouting and looked away. Celes laughed and introduced her, “This is Kesha. Though she looks like a child, it’s not due to her age. It’s because of a complicated curse. She’s my squad’s Healer.”

Celes moved on to the last person who was picking his nose uninterestedly and introduced him, “This is Vulen. He’s my most trusted assassin. Not only is he useful in infiltrations, but he can also easily see through disguises. He is also quite skilled at estimating the full extent of his opponent’s prowess.” She continued, with a whisper, “Though I occasionally worry about his hygiene!”

Though Celes’ whisper was barely audible to Aldon, Vulen easily heard it and spoke irritatedly, “Oi! Fuck, off! It’s not like I don’t like hygiene, but the missions you give me require my utmost preparations, and sometimes I forget to bathe. It’s no big deal! The utmost I’ve gone without taking a bath is for only three days! Don’t give me a bad reputation!” He turned to Aldon and spoke innocently, “Captain, converse to what Celes here says; I have the best hygienic habits than anyone in this squad.”

This proclamation by Vulen started a squabble between the members as they refuted his claims and argued with him on how hygienic they were compared to him. Witnessing this, Aldon felt warm as he felt that he was already a part of the squad.

Celes noticed this and chuckled beside Aldon. After a moment, she remembered something and addressed Aldon, “Captain, there are another four members in our squad. I apologize in advance as I’ve sent them on a mission to the other two Dungeons that had started to destabilize. In fact, the other two squads have also sent four members each to combine forces to deal with the other two Dungeons.”

Aldon became serious and questioned her, “Explain why you made that decision.”

Celes promptly answered, “Yes, Captain! A week ago, I received information about the destabilization of three of the Dungeons in the Kingdom of Anae. I sent Vulen to scour the situation of the three Dungeons. According to his calculations, one of the Dungeons was rapidly destabilizing compared to the other two. We had just received information from the Emperor that he was thinking of assigning the Captains to our squads. So, we distributed the manpower to the two Dungeons to slow down their destabilization while we awaited the Captains’ arrival to deal with the rapidly destabilizing Dungeon.”

Satisfied by the explanation, Aldon recognized the severity of the situation and spoke, “Then let’s not waste time. You are all prepared to go deal with the Dungeon, right?”

The squad members answered in unison, “Yes!” Aldon instantly replied, “Then let’s roll!”

The squad followed Aldon as he arrived at the entrance of the barracks where Taeral, Sylph, and Orym awaited his arrival with their respective squads. Embarrassed that he made them wait, Aldon quickly rushed and joined them.

Noticing that everyone had assembled, Orym made an announcement, “Now that all of us have assembled here, I take it that everyone is prepared to deal with the unstable Dungeon inside the city of Cartos. Now, let us not delay anymore and proceed to Cartos. Since the entire city has been cut off from the world and heavily guarded, it won’t be possible to teleport into it. We can travel only on foot. But it will only take us a few minutes to get there as it is near to us! Let us not delay further. LET’S MARCH!”

The entire troops went wild as they had been starved for some action. Aldon’s squad followed his lead as he marched behind Orym, who was guiding them to the city of Cartos. Taeral’s and Sylph’s squad soon followed suit.

***

After marching for a few minutes, Aldon was able to see the walls of the city Cartos. Royal Guards were deployed to the maximum as the city was in complete lockdown. A transparent dome covered the entirety of the city. It seemed to be a barrier of sorts. No one could enter or exit the city. But since the inhabitants of the city were already completely evacuated, the security was mostly present to restrict people from entering the city.

Orym went ahead and had some words with the Royal Guard in charge of the security. After securing the passage for the entire troops present, Orym gestured them to enter the city and entered it along with his troops. Aldon, Taeral, and Sylph soon followed suit and entered the city.

***

The inside of the city was completely gorgeous as they encountered architectural marvels on almost every one of its streets. Unfortunately, the city seemed to have come to a standstill as it experienced its residents’ absence. The entire troops sent to deal with the Dungeon stayed silent as they traversed the dead streets.

Soon, they encountered a large and wide monolith that looked very ancient, which was in the shape of a door resting atop the now destroyed street. It also had exquisite carvings on it and a door handle on its bottom.

Noticing the imposing aura it emitted, Aldon thought to himself, ‘Wow! Though I’ve encountered many Dungeons with such an imposing aura in my previous life, it was actually very rare to do so! I can’t believe such a powerful Dungeon suddenly appeared out of thin air? It’s practically impossible! I’m beginning to think that the Eye of Eclipse guild is actually involved in all this!’

Orym broke Aldon’s train of thought with a proclamation to the troops, “You might have seen such Dungeons scattered throughout the Elven Empire. These kinds of Dungeons are common and are ranked the least dangerous. Yet, don’t believe for a moment that these are your usual run-of-the-mill Dungeons. There has been an increase in the appearance of such unstable Dungeons throughout the Kingdom recently. So, always be on your guard. This Dungeon is a jungle-type dungeon. So bear in mind that all the beasts you will encounter will be an amalgamation of jungle-type animals found in nature. I’ll now open the Dungeon. Get ready to enter it!”

Aldon’s mind was blown when he got to know that these types of Dungeons were a common sight in the Elven Empire. His curiosity towards the Elven race skyrocketed. But he kept it in check as he was embarking on a dangerous mission.

After his proclamation, Orym reached for the door handle, intending to open it. A peal of small laughter, unnoticed by everyone, resounded at a height directly above the Dungeon’s gate. In an instant, an indiscernible figure appeared where the laughter had resounded, sprinkled some mysterious black powder on the Dungeon’s gate, and vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

Orym suddenly sensed the Dungeon gate vibrating uncontrollably. Realizing something, he stopped his advance, turned back, and shouted in a panic, “Run! The Dungeon gate is about to explode...” His shout was cut off by a loud bang as everyone’s vision went white as the Dungeon’s gate exploded.

All the elves gathered in front of the Dungeon gate were sent flying, their fate unknown. The shockwave of the explosion battered the barrier that had enclosed the city. Though the impact created some cracks on the barrier, it held on and successfully blocked the shockwave. It even began to glow and repair itself.

Due to the explosion of the Dungeon, the entire city very quickly began to turn into a dense jungle, transforming into the environment which was previously present inside the Dungeon.

In a very short time, the previously beautiful city was nowhere to be found as it had been converted into a dense jungle, with Dungeons Beasts rampaging inside it.

Before blacking out, due to being in the close proximity of the blast, Aldon only had one thought on his mind, ‘Why had the Dungeon, which was predicted to last at least two days before exploding; which was in a relatively safe condition when they were about to enter it, suddenly destabilize to such an extent that it exploded?’

***(Footnote)***

[1] Since all the people in this Universe who utilize Mana are known as Mages, those that cast spells are known as ‘Casters.’