Snow was relieved that the ordeal was finally over. She didn’t understand what had happened back in the dungeon, but she saw a sharp difference in power between Mike and Dairen. Compared to their usual self, they were three times stronger than before, both magically and physically.
Even the shimmer didn’t disappear for the next few hours except for Snow, who had lost the glow. The others excitedly asked Mike and Dairen on how they were blessed with such luck. They shrugged, looking over towards Snow with a smile.
The Players excitedly stepped out as they were looking forward to taking a break. They were getting tired of fighting as they wanted warm food and a bed to sleep on. It has been a while since they had taken a shower as their bodies started to smell from sweat.
Snow was itching, ready to take off her armor. She couldn’t quite reach her back from the stiff armor that impeded her reach.
Upon exiting, she was glad to see that the city wasn’t further destroyed and still looked the same. The other group that was left outside to police the area kept the other monsters from causing more havoc.
Heather, who was with the third group, ran over with her hands waving over her head with a tablet in her hand. “Snow!”
Snow cheerfully waved back, smiling at her friend. “Heather!”
They both squealed, hugging each other tightly.
“You made it out alive!” Heather said with relief, but with a squeak.
Snow let her go, allowing her friend to breathe. “You thought I would die?”
“Absolutely not.” Heather gave her a feigned gasp.
“Right….”
“Hey, now, I have worries, you know.” Heather stuck out her tongue cutely.
Snow shifted her weight as she placed her hand on her hips. She was saddened by her friend's thoughts, but she was still glad that Heather was still here for her.
“Anyways,” Heather stood straightly in her most professional demeanor as her attitude changed.
“I have good news, bad news, and really bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?”
“Terrible news.”
Heather nodded, clearing her throat. “I got news from headquarters that there is an unnatural influx of magical energy coming from underneath the city.”
“That means?”
“We don’t know, but it's dangerous. The large spike of magic usually consists of unnatural shifts in the planet’s core, but the thing is that we don’t know where exactly it's coming from.”
“And the bad news?”
“There are hundreds of dungeons opened up worldwide. So far, only twenty dungeons are closed, and the rise of magical energy around the dungeons are increasing. I am quite sure that power equals the level of the dungeon that is growing. By three months, I wouldn’t be surprised if the dungeon level jumps by one. In six months by two and a year three and onwards.”
Snow didn’t like where this news was going; since the appearance of Players, many things weren’t going the way they wanted, making it more challenging to handle as the day went by. It was as if the dungeon was bent on multiplying as much as possible to have a burst of dungeon overflow, destroying the area around it.
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“Already, we have so far seven known dungeons that have been classified as an S class dungeon. The rate of magical energy swarming around those dungeons is insane. If a dungeon overflow happens, a whole city will become nothing. Possibly even a whole state.”
“How is it possible that we hadn’t found this out sooner?”
“We didn't have the magical capability until a few days ago. The old magical readers broke apart every time it got read, especially around those S class dungeons.”
Snow gapped at what Heather had informed. She didn’t expect S class dungeons to even appear. Her ignorance and misinformation had caused many unexpected problems and now the Dragon Express. Plus, to hear that they didn’t have the magical capability to handle such magical quality was surprising.
She knew that the devices that they had now were the top of the line, and the magical energy on the planet rarely reached such high levels. Especially seven places.
“You know that is worse news than the first one you gave.” Snow squinted her eyes and stared at Heather.
Heather bashfully twiddled with her fingers, looking away a bit embarrassed.
“So, the good news?” Snow crossed her arms.
“Well, I wouldn’t completely say it's great news or good news.” Heather started to drag it out before she spoke. “You guys destroyed the dungeon, allowing it to stabilize the magical energy around the area. It also helped lower the strange fluctuations that were rising a moment ago as if it lost its power?”
“So, you are saying the dungeons are feeding the source energy or letting it out?”
“I don’t know.” Heather sighed. “Nothing makes sense. It’s as if the magical energy is alive and has a mind of its own.”
Snow thought about what Heather had said. Was there something else going on? What was the correlation between the dungeon and the magical power that was sparking out in Atlantis? A thought flitted by in her mind, but as quickly as it came, it disappeared, leaving her thirsty for more.
“Anything else that we need to worry about?”
Even if two weeks have gone by, there was a lot that could have happened. The dungeons were always fluctuating at a rapid growth that she wouldn’t be surprised if the other two dungeons had grown.
“None. Everything seems okay, for now.”
“What about the other team that went out to the second dungeon?” Snow hoped that they would have destroyed it by now.
“We haven’t been in contact with them for over two weeks now, just like you guys. I think they are still in the process of clearing it out.”
Snow didn’t expect them to be slower than them, mostly because having two strong vampire classes with them, she would have thought they would have cleared the dungeon way earlier.
“Really, nothing?”
“Yes.” Heather gave out a concerned gaze, “We thought of entering into the dungeon that you guys have entered today, but when you guys came out, we decided to shift our manpower to check out the other dungeon.”
Snow wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for the third team to even go anywhere as they were here to protect and bring over people that needed help. Just from looking around, she could see that they had cleared up a large amount of land and even made camp inside a handful of broken buildings.
Already, the camp swelled to over hundreds of thousands of people, both awakened and Players alike. She had never seen such a large camp of refugees. The number of people was quickly swelling.
There was still too much destruction that the Overflow has caused, leaving many homeless.
All around her, she noticed hundreds of tents that were pitched up in rows. Young and old people were running around, handing out food to one another.
The number of fighters inside this refugee camp was low, as many of them were just Awakened. They looked up, realizing that the first team that went to the nearest dungeon arrived. Many of them stared because they had never seen such a vast army of Players before congregating in one area.
“Every day, we have more people spilling over for help,” said Heather. “The third dungeon is still not under control and bringing problems as days go by. I don’t know how much damage is around that area, but I believe we will need a sizable force to take it out.”
Heather's expression was heavy with a hint of worry, but Snow could tell that her friend would not break so easily under the stressful situation. Instead, she seemed a lot more alive.
“I want to take a rest. Is there an open tent for me?” Snow asked her to sit down and allow her tired feet to rest. Trekking through all that land and fight made her tired.
“Yea, I started up a small shop for Dragon Express. We got new supplies and more people that I had hired,” said Heather. “I was getting a bit overwhelmed, counting the new materials that were brought over.”
“That bad?”
“Yea. For a while, I wasn’t able to sleep,” Heather chuckled, sighing. “But everything is under control. Because of the influx of new Awakened, I had to work with some of the local Blacksmith and Crafters to build some new armor. I’m quite surprised at the quality of the materials these monsters have.”
Heather was getting excited. A slight glimmer sparkle in her eyes. Both Snow and Heather walked towards the back of the camp, away from most of the tents that were put up.
It was a partially broken-down building with the top of it missing. Snow guessed there were at least three floors. From the jagged painting in red, she saw the Dragon Express Field Store written clearly above the entranceway.
A few players walked in and out, bringing in a carcass of monsters through the large opening, which Snow assumed was purposely there for a reason.
“It’s not much, but it's something,” Heather replied, proud of her handiwork. “The other Dragon Express is on the north side of the town. We will have a hard time transporting items there, but it's something that we can do for now until more reinforcements come. A convoy will be coming in the morning to pick up the carcasses and bring more items for the Players. At the rate that we are selling, I wouldn’t be surprised we won’t have anything to sell by midday today.” Heather chuckled. “Anyways, here is your room.”
Heather handed her the keys. Snow reached over and gratefully took it.
“It's the second floor on the right. I’ll see you later when you feel a bit better.”
“Thanks.” Snow headed straight for the stairs, ready to fall asleep. She unconsciously rushed up towards her room and entered. Her eyes dazed out, and she flopped on the bed, falling fast asleep.