[A few hours after The Six Hunters entered The Labyrinth]

I had just gotten off the phone with the president about the ongoing Dungeon excursion. I notified him that The Six Hunters, our country's pride and joy, had just entered two hours ago. The president has already been briefed about the Dungeon's name, difficulty, location, etc. He has high hopes that The Six Hunters, Murim, and Olympus will be successful. If a Dungeon Outbreak were to occur, the death count will probably be in the two million, substantially more than the first-ever Dungeon Outbreak in history.

A knock from the door snapped me out of my trance.

"…Come in."

Paul, a person who can be considered my right-hand man, has just entered my office located in a bustling city near The Labyrinth. I had an office set nearby in case of an emergency. My motto is to arrive first when there's trouble.

Paul gave me a curt nod. "Good afternoon, Mr. Reed."

"Hello, Paul. You know you can call me by my first name whenever you want, right?"

"I know. It's just to keep up the professionalism. If I get used to calling your name out in a professional setting, I'm afraid I'll be reprimanded," Paul chuckled. He was holding a back suitcase in his right hand. He walked over to the desk I was sitting at and placed the suitcase down.

"So, Paul, is it safe to assume the reason why you set up an appointment with me is because of whatever is inside this suitcase?"

"Correct. Open it up." Paul stood by as he watched me slowly unlatch the locks. Inside the suitcase was a tiny stack of documents filed on top of each other. Wondering what the hell these could be, I promptly grabbed the first paper on top and scanned the contents.

"…This is!"

"Yes Mr. Reed. These are the documents you requested regarding Murim and Olympus. Although the information is limited, that was all we could gather. China and Greece do a well enough job to hide information about their golden crops."

I scanned the contents of the files carefully as a shadow slowly formed over my face. “…Paul. How accurate is this information?”

"…I'd say eighty percent accurate."

Sounds accurate enough. It doesn't hurt to be cautious in these situations. This is my job as head of the Department of Mythical Affairs. It is my sole responsibility to prepare for any sudden events that could occur, even if the chances are slim.

"Paul, I trust you a lot. So, with that in mind, Get ready. You know what to do, right?"

Paul nodded his head as he carried a serious expression. "You look determined, Mr. Reed. Are you actually going to go along with 'that'?"

"Yes. I have never expected Murim to be this heavily affiliated with Shadow Oni. If The Six Hunters were to be backstabbed by Murim, then we'll have to activate the contingency plan. Get the preparations ready on your end, Paul. Give me a call once you're finished."

"Yes sir, Mr. Reed." After being dismissed, Paul was already out the door.

"…"

I’m a careful man. The president has high hopes that I will continue doing a good job of managing these new types of superhumans. I oversee everything involved with them, be it building facilities to hone their skills and powers, guilds, recruitment, and even hiring them as bodyguards. That is only the tip of the iceberg of my responsibilities as head of the Department of Mythical Affairs. And right now, this will be one of the biggest events in human history. If only I'd gotten this information sooner…

"Damn it…" I sighed, hoping that all my stress would escape from my body, but it was never that simple. As I looked over to my right, what stood on my desk was a small mirror. In my reflection, I noticed that there were some gray hairs already forming on my dark-brown hair. For a thirty-nine-year-old to already be graying…

I shouldn't have taken over this stressful job, but I did, nonetheless. I knew that those old fogeys would take over this new development of superhumans. They would have tried to make a profit over superhumans and Dungeons. I applied just so I could prevent that kind of corruption from happening. By some miracle, the president had chosen me, and I hadn't a clue om why. My resume didn't particularly stand out amongst the other applicants.

Well, whatever. What is done is done. I'll just have to keep doing what I've been doing for the past eight months. It's time to prepare the contingency plan I've set up if a Dungeon Outbreak was highly probable. I just hope that I'm needlessly worrying and that this Dungeon Outbreak won't happen.

I really hope everyone comes back home alive…

Stolen story; please report.

****

What I'm witnessing right now is truly amazing. To think that Darion of all people would be smiling! Well, it's not a full-blown smile, it's just the edge of his lips curled, but I can tell that's his way of smiling.

"Nice kill there Darion! You're pretty good at using the spear!"

"It's no problem at all. I didn't know you could use a sword too. Are you not a mage?"

"Hmm… At this point, I am a mage, but also a swordsman. You know what? Call me a magic swordsman!"

"That's a cool title. After you join my guild, you'll be a super rookie. Who knows, I might even promote you."

"Haha! I'll take you up on that offer!"

These two boys were happily getting along with each other as they kill whatever poor monster got in their way. Against these two's might, nothing stood a chance. Whenever a harpy would fly away after engaging, Isaac would throw an ice spear their way. If an ogre-like creature with half of its body a skeleton were to rush at them while they were chatting, Darion would kill the ogre skeleton swiftly. It's almost like these two are in competition with each other. I didn't think boys who haven't even met each other before could bond in a matter of minutes!

Is this the fabled… bromance?!

In the far distance, I saw a white piece of fabric just before it could enter a destroyed building.

"Hey, guys." I ran up to Isaac and Darion who has now stopped talking and were looking at me.

"What's the matter?" Isaac asked. I pointed over to what appeared to be ruins made of some dark-colored bricks.

"I saw something white shimmering over there. If I'm not mistaken the Cardinal was wearing a white robe. I think they're over there."

Isaac looked down at the sphere he was holding. Sure enough, the red arrow was directing us toward the ruins. The Cardinal and the archbishops must've entered the building because the item is in there!

"The item must be over there then. Let's go!"

Without wasting any time, we all hurried over to the ruins. The place was humongous! It reminded me of a cathedral, albeit it was damaged badly. The roof was completely gone, and the place looked like it received a hailstorm of bombs. Some of the pillars up front had the top half gone. I don't know what the heck happened here, but I also didn't care either.

With me in the lead, Darion in the middle, and Isaac in the rear, we all barged inside the ruined cathedral. The place was made of black bricks with a red tint. Most of the roof was gone, so the dark clouds gave the cathedral a gloomy atmosphere to it. There was no light shining here, so it was extremely dark, but [Night Vision] solved this problem. Debris, probably from the roof, littered the dusty floors, and most of the wooden chairs were either under the debris or smashed to pieces. On the far end of the area was a large marble statue of a… person wearing a mask. They had their arms wrapped behind their torso and were staring us down. Whenever I looked at it, I had the faint feeling that whoever this was, was a god, and we were mere insects to it.

"Cardinal Nicholas!" Isaac yelled. Right under the statue were three people standing right in front of it. I couldn't tell since they were blocking my view, but there was a basin on top of a pedestal. The statue wasn't staring at us, but at the basin instead. Why did they choose that design choice though? Does the basin hold some significance?

"…You are too late, humans," said the Cardinal, not even peering over his shoulder. The archbishops turned their bodies and hovered over him like guards. The Cardinal reached into his robes and pulled out a small cage. After a couple of seconds, out of nowhere, the cage expanded, big enough to fit a dog. Faintly, I could hear rustling and a sort of growling noise coming out of it.

“…The hell is that?” Darion mumbled. He was squinting hard to catch a glimpse of what was inside the cage, but the archbishops were blocking our view. What I do know is that it has to be some animal since I hear growling. The thing inside obviously feels in danger because of the Cardinal.

"It doesn't matter what it is. What matters now is we stop him," Isaac proclaimed, taking one step forward.

“…I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The Cardinal sneered. After he so graciously warned us, a roar was heard from above. From the first came another. All three of us gazed upward to see two large figures descending downwards, landing right in front of us. The creature had the body and the legs of a lion, its golden-wheat-colored skin complimenting its muscles. It had the upper body of an eagle, with brown wings that fluttered ever so slightly. Its yellow beak and sharp talons were long and fierce looking. Just thinking of being on the receiving end of those sharp features had me shuddering in fear.

"Oh shit... Those are griffins!" Isaac exclaimed. Why does he look so excited? Those things are glaring at us with the intent to kill! These things are about six feet and I'm way shorter than they are so their intimidation factor is cranked all the way up! I just wanna go home already…

"So what? Do you think these things are gonna stop us? You're even stupider than I've imagined," Isaac jeered.

"Stop you? No… These creatures are here to stall. Even though these are the guardians of the cube… they are of no match against you three." After answering, the Cardinal unfastened the lock on the cage and grabbed a squirming creature out of it.

"Is that a fucking dragon?!" Isaac, once again, cried out. I'm starting to think this teenager is one of those types…

As he said, it was a quadruped dragon, although it was a baby. It had scales of angelic white and two stubby gray horns on its head. It had small a pair of small wings and a thick tail. The baby dragon tried to wiggle itself free as it smacked the Cardinal across the face with its tail. When the Cardinal turned it around with one hand, the dragon was scowling with piercing lavender eyes, snapping at the man with its jaws. It was the cutest thing I have ever laid eyes on.

"That cute creature needs to be saved!" I adamantly shouted. Darion looked bewildered, probably surprised that I could scream that loudly.

"Uh… What?"

"That's the attitude, Sophie! We must save that dragon!" Isaac walked forward, brandishing a crystal blue sword. The griffins glowered at the human, ready to pounce at any moment.

"Darion, Sophie. I'll handle these bad boys on my own. You know what I'm getting at, right?"

"Sophie and I will deal with those archbishops then," Darion finished for him. Isaac gave both of us the thumbs up.

"Good. I'll leave it to you guys then."

And with that, Isaac charged at the two monsters, summoning icicle spears high above. With the griffins now occupied, Darion and I both carefully made our way across the ruined cathedral. The two archbishops prepared themselves and walked forward, ready to stop us.

Don't worry you adorable little dragon! Sophie will save you!