Not really wanting to argue with Baem anymore, Seneos simply focused on his plans for the future. He knew he had just breezed through the menus and had potentially missed a lot of important information, but he needed to act, for he had a few issues. His first issue came in the fact that the dungeon could be damaged during attacks. The fight between Hojosa and Baem had shown that. The health bar, so to speak, of the dungeon would go down if his creatures died but also if the structures of the dungeon were destroyed. That issue was immediately fixed when Seneos used the help menu once more and was told that whenever the dungeon was at peace, meaning whenever it wasn't getting attacked, Seneos could restore the buildings by using his magic. He had a limited amount for now, but it wouldn't be a problem in the future.
The second issue was that the dungeon could still be attacked by hunters, something that would spell misery for him since there was only Baem to protect it. However, Vodka eased his worry. The disturbing process that had linked him to the dungeon had made it so that Sen could summon or banish the dungeon at will.
He could do so at any time, and that was good until he realized that he couldn't just banish the dungeon when it was being observed by the KHG. Unfortunately, they weren't going away anytime soon and he couldn't afford to just wait. Vodka had told him about the Japanese team that had appeared in front of the dungeon.
He wasn't a pillar of knowledge, but he did watch the news sometimes. That and history classes had been the only ones he had followed during high school. He knew that the Japanese held a neutral status in Asia and were welcomed everywhere. Hence their hunters ran around and conquered dungeons left and right. While the people loved them due to past events that made Japan into what it was today, many Asian Hunters absolutely hated them.
They were parasites to those hunters, but Seneos wasn't like them. He still knew though that this unique right to hunt wherever they wanted in Asia had made the Japanese hunters a tremendous force. Like in all countries, there weren't only strong hunters, but the hunters of the rising sun were still feared no matter what.
He couldn't tell how strong that particular team had been, and neither could Vodka, so he decided that he couldn't take any risks. It was perhaps a really horrendous decision, but he decided to close the dungeon, and that resulted in another argument. This time though Baem and Seneos were in agreement, while Vodka showed a little emotion in the form of cold anger.
"I am telling you, Overlord. You cannot do something like this. Focus on getting troops in the meantime. This monster can simply hide until the people outside get tired and leave. You absolutely cannot close the dungeon. You will reappear in the playground and everyone will see you, they will know what you did. " She said. She talked slowly and in a very low voice. It was bone-chilling but Seneos wouldn't budge on this.
"I told you, I have a plan."
He knew that argument was rather ineffective given that while he had a plan, he refused to tell Vodka about it. Even Baem didn't know what it was, and it made the beast pause for a second.
"Actually, leader.....Your plan might be incredibly risky too. I only just realized...But I don't see any good ways to get out of this. What is that plan of yours? You gotta tell us, or else we won't let you go."
Seneos wanted to yell at the beast for its treason but held in his anger. He really didn't want to explain his plan, for he knew how crazy it was. Yet, he knew he had to.
"Alright, this is simple. Either I just accept the consequences and try to handle what will come after I banish the dungeon, or...I convince the fire mage Hojosa to act as though he conquered the dungeon himself." Seneos said, and immediately winced as the beast roared.
"You cannot tell that human about all this! Are you mad, leader?! You can't reveal your secrets that easily!"
Vodka voiced her agreement with what Baem said, and Seneos could only shake due to his fury.
"The hell do you want me to do then ?! I can't fucking wait! None of you know how dangerous this is! I don't know a lot about hunters, but I am pretty sure I know more than both of you! If you knew enough, you would be able to tell that waiting like this is the best way to lose! If those Japanese hunters are strong enough to kill Baem, then we are fucked! They could enter at any-"
It was then that Sen felt something pulse on his hand. A strange mark that looked like a paw with three fingers or even perhaps a crown, given that the bottom was a half-circle, appeared on it and shone. His eyes widened as a vision came to him.
He could see the entrance of the dungeon, the immense rooms with dozens of pillars and primitive drawings all over the walls. He saw a group walk through the portal and spotted a woman with a loosely wrapped piece of cloth around her eyes.
Stolen novel; please report.
"They...They're already here! I need to banish the dungeon now!" Sen yelled in panic as Baem snarled.
"Damn those hunters....Always so quick when the call of power and riches comes to them...Guide! The leader is right, we need to close the dungeon! I don't think I can handle those people."
Hearing Baem confirm his fear, Seneos panicked even more. Yet, it was Vodka who spoke.
"You can tell you won't be able to handle them? They aren't even here." She questioned the beast who turned towards the throne that Seneos had previously left to argue with them.
"I can sense their aura, Guide. This does not look or feel good, trust me." He simply said.
Not really one to calm himself easily, Seneos panicked even more and looked at Baem.
"How am I supposed to do this?! Do you think I should just face everyone, or should I make a run for it?!....Or....Wait...I could..." Seneos cupped his chin and used up every single brain cells he had to come up with a viable plan.
He looked at Baem and steeled his resolve.
"Alright, here is the thing...It could be risky but....It's better than simply standing in the playground and waiting for people to question me or reveal things to that fire mage."
While Sen explained his plan, the team at the entrance of the dungeon devised their own plan.
They were a group of six, all clad in long white coats. They would've looked like scientists if it wasn't for the golden plates of metal protecting their shoulders, elbows, and knees. They also wore tight jeans and each had belts with pouches full of items attached to them. They had come in prepared even though their arrival had seemed random.
While the first three hunters wielded long golden lances, the other two had their crossbows resting on their shoulders, though they both had a hand tightly gripping the weapons. The last one, who was the woman with the blindfold, growled at one of the teammates.
"I know what I saw, I may wear a blindfold but I am not completely blind yet. A man entered this dungeon. I didn't see his face, but he looked quite small and had a very standard build. He didn't look like a strong hunter."
The one teammate who was on the receiving end of her anger simply nodded, too scared to speak up once more. He didn't want her to get even angrier.
Contrarily to her teammates, the woman wore something that betrayed her origins, a white kimono with golden roses embroidered on her sleeves and around her black Obi ( The belt of a kimono. ). She did not have a single bit of metal on her outfit, but her weapon indicated that she was not much of a careful fighter. She was wielding a weapon that not many hunters used, a weapon commonly called the tiger claw. Its real name was Bagh Nakh and it could be taken for brass knuckles, however, it was a weapon used to pierce rather than crush. Hers had fairly long spikes that passed through her slender fingers and dripped with an unknown liquid.
She was a beauty, that much was true, but she looked deadlier than any members of her team. That was simply because her pink aura was crushing everything around her. She was letting out so much of it, that even her eyes started glowing in the same color, through the blindfold.
Since none of her teammates looked willing to argue with her again, like they had been doing ever since she told she had seen someone enter the dungeon, she decided that it was time to explore the place. She was about to order the other hunters when something caught her attention.
A figure was running behind the gigantic pillars of the room, trying and failing to be discreet. She silently pointed at it, and her teammates spun into action. The two crossbows were armed while the lancers got into position beside their leader.
However, the figure didn't come to attack them as they thought. Right as it neared them, just as the hunters got ready to pierce it with three lances and two bolts, the figure yelled.
"THE DUNGEON IS GOING TO CRUMBLE !"
A roar followed, the roar of a terrifyingly huge creature. Two burning suns glared at them from the other end of the long room as the entire structure shook. The pillars trembled as the woman with the blindfold took a step back. While the entire team turned their attention towards the monster that had appeared and was ruining the walls in its fury, the figure passed right by the group.
The woman only had a second to turn around and gaze once more into the eyes of the man who had entered the dungeon before them. He wasn't even looking at her and looked quite terrified. She had first thought that he was an enemy, but he was simply running away from the creature.
She wanted to grab the arm of that man, question him, but her worthless teammates shrieked and yelled at her, shaking her out of her thoughts.
"WHAT IS THAT THING ?!"
"Lady Haruka! That thing is going to make the entire dungeon crumble! We need to get away for now!"
She looked around and saw that the beast was indeed just wrecking everything. In its fury it was punching walls, kicking pillars, and running his antlers all over the ceiling. The dungeon wouldn't hold on for much longer. She simply sighed and glared at her teammates.
"You made me buy the rights for this dungeon, and look at what's going on now! I told you that hunting in Korea is not a good idea! There is a reason why the hunters of this country die so often! All the damn dungeons here have problems!" The woman named Haruka threw up her arms in annoyance. She wasn't worried about the dungeon, or about the beast, she was just really pissed off.
As her group fell back and left the dungeon in a hurry, she grabbed one of her teammates by the collar.
"You are going to find me the person who entered this dungeon before and angered that beast to such a point, and then we are leaving this country! I didn't come here to waste my money on dungeons that crumble as soon as we enter !"
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Hope you liked it ! If you wish to support me, you can review, comment, follow or even share the book ! This series of chapters named ' Enter the big fish's ocean' is supposed to be focused on the introduction of many potential 'big fishes' of this universe, which is why that Japanese team was introduced here. This world is one of politics and the story won't just circle around Seneos all the time. The world is alive all around him and he isn't the center of it.