The scholar is now walking towards an alley were he is save by the eyes of commoners and opened the letter.

The letter is written with a beautiful handwriting:

"You are here by summoned to the royal palace by the second princess of the Vextia Kingdom , due to the delving into the woodland dungeon. The princess stated that you should bring your research information's with you and prepare for another expedition.

Further information will be sent by a shadow guard."

On the bottom of the letter is the Signature of the King of Vextia and a red magic circle.

After reading the letter he let out another tired sigh and pricked his finger with a needle to let one drop of blood fall onto the red magic circle to confirm that the letter has safely arrived and read. As the blood landed the letter coughed flames and disappeared with a puff. Leaving nothing behind. Walking out of the alleyway he continued to buy some herbs and life mice for research purposes.

...

Meanwhile Erik is waiting in the guild hall for Simon to his shopping trip. He got the spell scroll without much trouble when he mentioned the royal institute Ferum and quickly used it on the corps . While caring the monster body around he got a lot of attention, but most adventurers are used to the site of someone carrying a monster to deliver it somewhere, so there wasn´t more than some glances. After finishing his task he walked up to the bar and sat down.

Finishing his task he asked the bartender for a cold mug of ale and paid for it.

*gulp* *gulp* *gulp*

After emptying the mug he slammed it on the table while releasing a satisfied sigh. "Ah~, that is some good ale here in the guild!" muttered the adventurer to himself.

While enjoying his drink Erik overheard someone talking behind him.

Out of curiosity he glanced behind him and saw a young adventurer talking to someone siting opposite of him.

"Hey Denik, did you hear about the deaths of the crying lizard group? " said a young man to his friend.

Denik put his mug down and looked at his friend with raised brows. "No what happened to them? I only know that they are the infamous group of criminals that hunt and kill every monster that is walking breathing or money worthy, right?"

A woman with a bob cut who was walking past them and hearing their conversation turned towards them and said, "I heard that they even enslave humans and sell them on the black market."

The young man turned towards her and signaled her to sit down before saying, "That´s true and just a few hours ago two of them got captured after a failed delve into the dungeon. Only their boss and an archer survived the dive in the dungeon. The authorities still don´t know how they got past the guards. But what wondered me the most is that their boss got hurt really badly by a grey snake slinging a blast stone."

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Bewildered about the rumors he curiously asked his friend Denik with disbelieve. "A grey snake in the Woodland dungeon? Where did you hear that all from?"

The young man turned toward his friend and spoke with a little bit of excitement "Crazy right! A friend of mine works as a guard there and he captured them when they came out of the dungeon totally exhausted and injured. He even said that a group of Nagirus rats were chasing them till the very end."

Hearing that Erik stood up abruptly making a lot of noise, as some adventurers turned their heads. He then walked towards the table behind him and placed a hand on the young man shoulder. Erik stared at him with a serious look and asked, "When did that happen?"

"Eh- Emm, I think a few hours ago or so." stammered the young adventurer looking at the adventurer who is towering him in his heavy metal armor and a Nagirus corps in his arm.

Erik just nodded and sat down on a free chair, joining the little group.

...

"A grey snake you said killed them?" asked the bob cut girl after an awkward pause.

The young man turned his head to her and answered, "Well that is what I heard at least. The surviving member said that they encountered singing stones on the first floor and decided to hunt them. But before capturing the last one a grey snake popped up and killed their level 49 scout and threw a blast stone at them and critical injuring the leader of their group."

"That is quite a lucky snake for getting all that experience..." said the petite woman.

They all glanced at her for a moment before hearing Erik ask, "Do you know anything else about the snake or what happened to the group?". Erik is a veteran adventurer who knows the woodland dungeon like the back side of his hand and never in his live did he encounter or even hear about a grey snake that is able to kill a level 49 human. He didn´t even know that there are snakes in the upper levels of the woodland dungeon. It is so bizarre for him to hear a snake that managed to survive in the woodland dungeon, as the dominant species there are treants. That´s also were the name woodland dungeon came from.

"Hmm... Ah! There is one thing my friend said that quite disturbed me. He said that the snake dodged an arrow and killed a level 49 scout with only one bite."

"That is quite a crucial information. Thanks lad." said Erik to him. "One mug of ale on me as thanks for the information." said Erik as he got up, spotting the scholar walking towards him.

The rest of the group were a little bit surprised by the man but thanked him nonetheless for the free drink and continued to discuss about the dungeon.

Seeing the scholar walking up to him, the armored man greeted him "Hey boss, ready to end this mission?"

Simon grinned and nodded "Jup everything is prepared and ready."

"Good, good. I also heard something that might interest you while I was waiting for you."

"Let me hear about it during our ride to the institution."

...

After loading their things on their carriage they got on and began to head towards their final destination.

The institution was quite a bit away from the city and has an own territory that is deemed neutral even if it is under the royal's name. Their ride would take a few hours till they reach it.

"So Erik what did you hear while I was busy buying ingredients?" asked the scholar looking at the scenery.

Erik who was cleaning his sword, looked at the young man for a while before continuing cleaning. "Ah right! The crying lizard group got caught by a guard after sneaking into the woodland dungeon. Well at least what is left from them."

Hearing the name crying lizard group the scholar furrowed his brows and looked towards the adventurer. "What do you mean what is left from them?"

"The group were hunting singing stones and got attacked by a grey snake with abnormal intelligent and reflexes. Killing one level 49 scout with only one bite, dodging an arrow from a level 34 archer, and throwing a blast stone at their boss, sending him in critical condition... or so I heard."

*sigh* "That is indeed quite interesting and troublesome."

"I agree..."