The group sat in silence as they digested the information shown to them, what the hell could have happened here?
Whatever that...creature was that attacked the Security Guard, it was clear that it was humanoid and at least somewhat intelligent due to how it was clearly using a primitive bow.
And whatever that creature was...it was clearly sadistic.
Based on the remains of the skeleton, the creature clearly tortured the security guard...
But that raised another question, How could such an Advanced Civilization be attacked by something so...primitive?
Based on what the Guard said, the city must have been attacked by a lot of these...creatures, and that made the group worry.
Would there be more of these creatures hiding in the park?
Was the city evacuated? That might explain why the place seemed to be in disrepair. Though why wouldn't they come back?
As time passed, the group had more questions than answers, and little did they know, the other search groups were coming across similar scenes.
Skeletons wearing tattered uniforms, some were the other security guards for the other checkpoints, and some seemed to be scientists, yet all were found dead, with arrows still lodged within the skeleton's bones.
Not only that, one of the search groups found the skeletons of civilians, the same cause of death.
By the time three hours had passed, three of four security stations were activated, with only one remaining deactivated.
This caused the 3/4ths of the 'fence' around the Obelisk to become active, and prevent crossing.
Seeing as this could be an added security measure to keep the camp safe, the three groups that activated the fences left them activated, while the last search group ended up never following the fence and proceeding further south, soon coming upon a strange 'divide' that separated two completely different biomes, a sand dune in a desert, and a marshy swamp, two drastically different biomes that shouldn't be so close to one another.
It was strange to look at, the two biomes were split, forming a straight line down the middle. Even stranger was the fact that they could see that the...weather was different for both of the biomes as well as if they were in a bubble.
It was unnatural, so much so that they assumed it could only be artificial.
They didn't proceed, however, deciding to head back to the camp to inform the others of their findings.
Meanwhile, Kohl who was watching them, had already started his work in expanding the dungeon past the Fog wall, working on the next project of the Dungeon.
The Ruins of Invictus.
Of course, not even two days had passed since Kohl's dimension breached the IKEA, and his Mana generation was still pathetic.
However, what made up for that, is now more than fifty of the ninety-three humans had become 'Classed' and gave me a single point of mana per day for each Classer.
At the moment, his mana generation was sitting at one hundred and fifty-eight per day, and if all of the Humans integrated with the system, his mana generation would be only a few points away from reaching two hundred a day.
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With the mana he did have, he already began making the foundation of his next expansion, though he definitely didn't have enough since he wanted to make the city ruins four times larger than the Dome, leaving the Dome at the center of the city.
However, Kohl had bigger problems, it would soon be night, or at least, it should have since Kohl had Synchronized his day and night cycle with that of the IKEA. If the previous night was anything to go by, then his...people? Wards? Humans. Would soon be sieged by the Staff, and unlike their previous town, their camp had no defenses worthy of note.
Hmm...Kohl's mind went deep into thought before he eventually had an idea, as his eyes gazed towards the Obelisk.
...
By the time all of the search groups returned to the camp, it was already becoming dark, as Kohl's core which provided the light in the dungeon began dimming, to signal the end of day, and the start of the night.
The people of the camp noticed it, as they finally noticed Kohl's core, which acted like the largest star in the sky, surrounded by tiny embers acting as stars in the dark sky.
And as they looked towards the sky, voices came from behind.
"̶É̴̄̎x̶̞̊͗c̸̄͆̈́u̷͓͝s̴̜͕̋̈́e̴͆͐ ̷̖̂m̴̨͉͑͠͠e,̷̂̒̌ ̸̨̟̐th̵̥͇̆é̴͕ ̸̼͙̹͌͌s̶͈̠̉͂͐ẗ̸ȍ̶̬́r̸͝ẽ̸̛̹͎ ̸̘̯̠̈́͠is̸̛͈̫̕ ̵̀̐͝ͅņ̷̼͝o̷̩̚w̵ ̷͗̾c̶͍͂̈́l̶o̷̹͌̀s̴͓̠̓e̴̖̫̫̾d̸̿̑,̷̌́̈ ̶̛̛̰̼̦̋p̷l̷̞͗̏͘ė̶͚͈a̵̹̘͂s̵̢̡̤̋e ̷̽͐̈́e̸̬͇̮͝x̴͎͖͘î̵͖̌̓t̸ ̶̈́̔͝ț̸͗̀ͅh̸̎̋̈́e̷͑ ̷͖̐̕b̵̠̣̲̄ụ̸̏̀̉i̵l̵̀̋d̴͈̞̺̀͗̀ḭ̶̻͗̅ń̷̮̫̚͠g̸̛̹̪̝,̸"
The distorted voice of staff called out, as they began pouring through the portal.
People cried out in fear as the Staff charged through the portal, the Classed who were guarding the portal were the first to react, those who were mages casting spells before charging, while those who chose more...physical classes stopped the Staff from getting past.
Unfortunately, it was all in vain as the Staff easily outnumbered the guard, so, those who had selected classes and who were brave, charged forward, hoping to keep the Staff back long enough for everyone else to escape, even the search teams that were now back at the camp began helping in holding the staff back.
However, that's when things changed, as the Obelisk suddenly glowed and pulsed, vibrating the air around it.
The vibration was powerful, almost sending everyone to their feet, but that's not what caught the people's attention.
Those who were fleeing, stopped, turning back to see a stream of white material flow from the Obelisk.
Before everyone's eyes, the stream of material began morphing to be similar to the Diamond symbols that were on the Keys of the Guard stations, to those integrated into the system, lines of text were visible over the new machine.
[Guardian - Level ???]
[A/N: Same form as the Overseer in Ark Survival Evolved]
Humming for a second, the Guardian seemed to vibrate, as it floated over to the gate.
With a hum, multiple lasers blasted out of the strange machine, vaporizing the IKEA Staff, strangely enough, the Guardian avoided hitting all of the people fighting, being precise enough to even vaporize the Staff that was actively attacking.
Not even a few moments had passed, before the beams of energy waved over every staff member, turning them to dust, but more continued to pour through the gate.
It became a literal tide of yellow, and blue, as the Staff members seemed to desperately climb upon one another to get through the portal, only to fall to the ground once inside, to be instantly vaporized.
The people, now no longer needing to fight, watched the spectacle with wide eyes.
While some were hesitant to stay, others realized that if the machine wanted them dead, they would, be dead.
And while the leaders of the camp were thankful, they also quickly grew even more concerned.
Once again they wondered why this...obelisk was abandoned, what on Earth could have happened for this advanced version of Humanity to leave such a thing alone and in disrepair?
Was it really forgotten?
Hundreds of Staff were utterly destroyed, then thousands...then more.
Whatever was happening, resulting in what felt like all of the staff of the infinite IKEA invading through the portal, either to eliminate them to prevent their escape or for some other unknown reason.
Jay and Clair exchanged glances as they watched the pinpoint carnage done to the Staff by the Guardian.
By the time an hour had passed, the amount of Staff began to visible decline in number.
Near the end, the dungeon began brightening, signaling that it would soon be daytime, Clair decided to approach the Guardian and talk.
"Hello...?" She hesitantly asked, before continuing, "Would you happen to be...intelligent? Or sentient?"
Getting no answer, they began to think it was simply a guard dog for the Obelisk, to make sure it was safe.
However, that was when a mechanical voice came from the Guardian.
"[Scanning...Scanning...Human, Status...Civilian. Scanning Credentials...None found. Authorization, denied.]"
And before their eyes, the guardian seemed to melt into multiple liquid streams of material and flowing back into the Obelisk.
Silence was what followed, as the people tried to digest what just happened, and what the hell just saved them.