“Where is the Greed and Resurgence Authority?” That was a question, a question the Dungeon Masters and I kept asking ourselves for "days" straight. Well, upon these "days" of restless questioning and contemplation, we came up with several theories. One thing we all came to was evidence that the authority wasn't with us, and the authority was out there. The latter was less of a theory and more of a proven fact, and how was I so sure? Well, my confidence came from none other than the authority known as authority gathering.
What that authority does, by my guess and own experience, is give the wielder the ability to track down authorities. It comes across as a strange feeling of having a limb away in a vague direction. While compared to my two other authorities, which brought upon tremendous improvement, one could assume Authority Gathering to be "lame." I could easily see that, as a Dungeon Core, this authority isn't used to the maximum. With my control being limited to what I can control in another world, my spawn and my domain, this authority is one better wielded by someone or something not bound by such restrictions.
Anyway, back to our current predicament. Through Authority Gathering, which allows me, albeit in a very vague manner, to pinpoint the existence and, to some extent, the location of other existing authorities, I couldn't come up with a limited number. There was no such thing as a missing authority among the authorities that I feel the presence of out there. It was as if I was never invaded; the authority felt like it was still out there, but the fact is that I was invaded. It was there, in the possession of the paladin, Kevin Karstark, whom Dungeon Master 02's guardian had slain.
Somewhere along the way, I began considering the possibility that this could be an illusion. But as we dissected that conjecture, we all came to the conclusion that it couldn't be it; it just didn't feel right. And, to be honest, I really hoped it wasn't right.
Anyway, as for the question of how exactly the authority ended up back there, we stumbled upon a dead end. We came up with many conjectures and theories, but as of now, they remained baseless. So, we decided to put aside those thoughts and dedicate our time and effort to something more productive.
Some time passed by—how long exactly, I wouldn't be able to tell precisely, but I knew for a fact that there were three human invasions in between that had been handled by the Dungeon Masters. We were still asking ourselves the question in the back of our minds as to how the authority that we were certain was in the Paladin invader's possession was now back out there when it happened. Just like that time, I felt it.
It was a feeling passed over to me by the passive authority known as Authority Gathering. It was telling me that an authority was closing in, and there it appeared.
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[ ???'s Interface ]
System Notification
Intrusion Report:
One thousand nine hundred fifty-eight entities has invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.
Suggestion:
Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.
Intercept and Slay the invaders
Estimated Reward:
- 22317 G.P
- Authorities: Greed and Resurgence
_____________________________
“What the fuck?!” Our voice simultaneously resounded at the sight.
***
One could imagine the confusion and chaos the sight of that authority in the invasion interface brought upon us all, but it was nothing compared to the uproar caused by the sight of our invader, which unlike the last invaders, came in one. Nothing compared to seeing his stats. "What the hell is that?" "How?" Clicking on the new red dot that appeared amidst the ones belonging to the monsters appeared amidst the ones belonging to Dungeon Master 06's domain.
_____________________________
Name: Eland Karstark
Level: 78
Race: Verdenkind
Class: Mage
Title: Archmage Supreme / Elemental Maestro / Arcane Virtuoso / Champion / Undead-Slaughterer / Elemental Creature Slaughterer
Experience: 1,120,200 / 21,380,000
[Status]
- H.P: 1100 / 1100
- M.P: 5200 / 6000
- S.P: 1800 / 2200
- Fatigue: 10%
- Defense: 600
- Offense: 3100
[Skills]
- Spearmanship: Level 4
- Water Magic: Level 18
- Earth Magic: Level 15
- Darkness Magic: Level 7
- Elemental Infusion: Level 23
- Fire Magic: Level 12
- Shieldmanship: Level 4
- Lightning Magic: Level 17
- Arcane Shield: Level 19
- Mana Surge: Level 22
- Ice Magic: Level 13
- Air Magic: Level 18
- Swordsmanship: Level 2
- Blink: Level 21
- Summon & Wield Mana Weapon: Level 11
- Enchant Weapon: Level 20
- Teleportation: Level 1
- Arcanic Healing: Level 18
- Physical Enhancement: Level 17
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Abilities]
- Arcane Unity: Unlocked
- Elemental Fusion: Unlocked
- Astral Projection: Unlocked
- Mana Overload: Unlocked
- Arcane Empowerment: Unlocked
- Time Warp: Unlocked
- Elemental Mastery: Unlocked
- Arcane Resilience: Unlocked
- Spellweaver's Insight: Unlocked
- Dimensional Rift: Unlocked
- Self-Healing Aura: Unlocked
- Arcane Form: Unlocked
[Authorities]
- Greed and Resurgence
『Expand』
_____________________________
Before us was the mysteriously gone authority: Greed and Resurgence, and the wielder was different than the last one. "Eland Karstark... Karstark." Is that like a son of Kevin Karstark?" A Dungeon Master mumbled.
Just like he and the others most likely did, a series of theories juxtaposed in my mind.
Could it be that this authority passed from Kevin Karstark, peace to his soul, to this invader?
Kevin Karstark was gone. His remains were no longer in my inventory as wanting the GP his defeat came along, we harvested the remains for the GP—GP that we promptly split up between ourselves. So yes Kevin Karstark we had no doubt that Kevin Karstark was gone, as where to exactly? I wasn't even bothering asking myself that question; he is just gone, so this Eland Karstark couldn't be Kevin Karstark. So he was a son perhaps or a nephew or someone of the family perhaps or something else, I can't really tell. To be honest, what's really bothering me right now is how, regardless of his identity, that authority ended up in his hands.
That Authority should be here, with me, yet there it was in that man’s possession. In that moment, I admit, I even began considering the possibility that this is some sort of illusion, but as I calmed myself down, I began to understand that this couldn’t be it. It just didn’t feel right.
"Everything I’ve come to the conclusion of doesn’t make any sense. Anyone here got a better way to explain what’s happening?" I asked, hoping to get a better theory from the others. When they’re usually jumping at each other's throats, they’re almost as smart as I am, so perhaps they were about to prove their smartness to me once again. But at that moment, no such thing happened; my question was met with tense silence. "I see, so the same for you guys too."
Having spent quite some time as a Dungeon Core, slaughtering anyone entering my domain, I’ve come to note that most of the invaders, with the exception of two authority wielders like Tusko Vagar, Kevin Karstark, had single names. The fact it wasn’t even all Authority wielder as the first one didn’t even have a second name gave me enough grounds to establish that a single name was common for this world, unlike that of our old world. So while I wasn’t sure if that related to this case, I began to nonetheless theorize that there was some filial link between Eland Karstark and Kevin Karstark that could explain or at least attempt to explain how he ended up having that authority instead of me.
It was then, as I was racking my brain trying to explain what happened, that Dungeon Master 06 complained,"I know you guys are trying to figure out what happened, but in the meantime, can one of you just do like you normally would and get that dumbass out of my domain?"
Staring at the screen before us displaying many red and white dots with scarce blue dots scattered here and there, I immediately understood where Dungeon Master 06’s complaints came from.
The blue dots represented Dungeon Master 06’s spawn, the white dots represented beings that were not considered by the interface as neither invaders nor spawn. As for the red ones, they represented invaders, but all of them, with the exception of the authority wielder, were invading creatures baited in by either Dungeon Master 06’s forest-like domain or the creatures that were baited in by the said-domain. All together, they represented what Dungeon Master 06 considered his cattle.
What was happening on the screen was that out of the red and white dots in big numbers disappeared from the screen. Of course, they didn’t just disappear; they—Dungeon Master 06’s cattle—were being rampantly attacked by the Authority wielder.
"What’s the deal with this guy?"
"Don’t know, and don’t care. Just get him out of my domain."
Upon being handed the role of the main domain, Dungeon Master 06 promptly assumed a personality, or to be exact, a persona fit for what his domain required of him. With his priority being to make sure his “cattle” keeps growing in number, he spent most of his time grooming all the creatures in there so that the domain becomes a haven for the cattle. This process included getting rid of the bad weeds, which at times can be quite the bloody homework, so, of course, the sight of the Authority wielder wreaking havoc isn’t one that sits well with him.
In that moment, if we had eyes, the Dungeon Master and I would’ve looked at each other, as we all went through the same thought process. We’ll be dealing with that Authority wielder; that’s for sure. In fact, if it were just any other new authority, that would’ve already been dealt with. But the big question is, "Who’s dealing with him?"
Naturally, it wasn’t going to be Dungeon Master 06, and I wasn’t going to be me either for “reasons.” Though with the current level of the "lone invader," let’s call him that, had he been of a slightly higher level, let’s say 100 or above, it would’ve qualified, if not straight up named, my domain to be the one to deal with him. But reality was something else; dealing with the lone invader was something between Dungeon Master 01, Dungeon Master 02, Dungeon Master 03, Dungeon Master 04, and Dungeon Master 05.
"Really, we’re really doing this again?"
"Yes, we are, but now that I think of it, there’s one of us who shouldn’t be part of this, don’t you think Dungeon Master 02?"
"What?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what you’re talking about; you’re the one who took care of the last Authority-wielder; you’ve done your share now it’s for us to get the job."
"I agree with Dungeon Master 05; this is a job for one of us four alone."
"I second that."
"I do too."
"Tsk, you greedy bastards."
"You’re one to talk about greed Dungeon Master 02."
"Just give up. We’re not accepting you seeking a rematch for the lost authority as an excuse."
"Tsk. Fine, fight over him between yourselves," Dungeon Master retorted after a tense standoff.
"Welcome to the club," I and Dungeon Master 06 greeted our newcomers.
"Mph, don’t get me started you two."
"Okay okay, nevermind us."
Following Dungeon Master 02's withdrawal, a heated debate unfolded among the four Dungeon Masters regarding the responsibility for handling a solitary invader. Various arguments were tossed around, such as the notion that the Dungeon Master with the Guardian would likely dispatch the intruder effortlessly—a qualification that all their guardians possessed should be the one to be choosen. Yet, there remained a subjective debate over which guardian would be most adept at it.
Another line of reasoning revolved around the sequence in which they had confronted previous batches of invaders. One Dungeon Master contended that, since the other three had already addressed their respective batches and he hadn't, he should be the one to handle the lone invader. However, the other three, being somewhat obstinate, countered that one matter was one thing and this one was another.
Eventually, at the urging of Dungeon Master 06, who’d grown impatient at both their sight and the sight of cattle being slaughtered, the task of dealing with the lone invader fell into the hands of Dungeon Master 05.
"Well gentlemen, I guess it's showtime," Dungeon Master 05 pompously declared as he took over control from Dungeon Master 06.
Much like Dungeon Master 02 and the others, Dungeon Master 05’s domain could be divided into two parts: his domain, which was just an empty space with no spawns to speak of. Much like the others, the domain existed only as a place for him to safely and temporarily store Dungeon Master 06’s cattle. The other part was the Guardian chamber, a separate space that he immediately had the lone invader spawn into.
____________________________
- Spawn Dungeon Guardian
Yes
No
____________________________
“Well then, Eland Karstark, you had your fun terrorizing Dungeon Master 06’s domain, let’s see how you handle this,” he declared before shouting with a vivid voice, “yes.”
____________________________
[ Regent of Putrescence ]
Level: 27
Type: Draconic Monarch
Class: Zmey Gorynych
Title: Sovereign of the Storms, Many-headed Monarch
[Status]
[Status]
H.P: 7650
M.P: 5950
S.P: 4760
Fatigue: 0%
Defense: 2240 (+700)
Offense: 3460 (+1400)
[Skills]
- Infernal Breath: Level 35
- Venomous Barrage: Level 30
- Petrifying Gaze: Level 25
- Hurricane Wings: Level 28
- Regenerative Scales: Level 26
- Multi-Headed Awareness: Level 32
- Thunderous Roar: Level 30
- Tail Cyclone: Level 28
- Draconic Physique: Level 35
- Elemental Resistance: Level 24
- Earthshaking Stomp: Level 25
- Overwhelming Presence: Level 28
[Abilities]
- Threefold Wrath: Unlocked
- Immortal Regeneration: Unlocked
- Elemental Affinity: Unlocked
- Adamantine Scaled Armor: Unlocked
- Aura of Death: Unlocked
- Mythical Resilience: Unlocked
- Draconic Fury: Unlocked
- Winged Dominance: Unlocked
- Petrifying Roar: Unlocked
- Arcane Might: Unlocked
____________________________