Author's complaint:-
It's 3:46 am here and I am posting a chapter. Sigh... what has life come to.
On a more serious note: For everyone who wants to know more about the bracelet and its truth? go read,
CH -4 (Kings P.o.v) & CH -1 (Kings P.o.v).
.
Enjoy.
....................................................................................................................................
Town: Ragnarok
Location: Adventurers guild.
Last night, a mercenary caravan brought three brutally and badly injured adventurers back to the guild. According to the mercenary, he found the adventurers brutally mangled on the side of the road just outside the periphery of the Great Forest. The adventurers were lucky enough to have fallen unconscious outside the forest, and if they hadn’t encountered them, then there was a high probability that the three of them would probably would have been chewed out by the monsters of the forest.
Talking about the forest, it became a huge topic of discussion when the smoke from the fire reached the sky above the town and the night sky suddenly lit up by the forest fire. The fire which suddenly engulfed the whole entirety of it made many monsters of the forest to run out and run towards nearby human establishments to save their lives, which endangered the lives of poor people living in the areas near the disaster zone.
Two of the injured adventurers were just tired and suffering from inflation and tiredness, but the third one of them, a girl, had both of her arms cut and was suffering from high blood loss, probably anemia. The three were obviously the B Rank party who had been given the job to investigate the newly found Ants colony at the edge of the Devil beard forest.
The news went viral and almost everywhere and everyone talked about it. When the guild master heard about it, the shock he felt was real and equally real was his expressions. Both were priceless.
His assistant or granddaughter stood up from her chair and the drink she was drinking spilled on the floor while the cup in her hand slipped and smashed on the ground. But like an Ojo- Chan would do, she didn’t care about her broken cup and ran behind the receptionist who had brought them the news and likely the guild master also followed behind her. But the broken shards of her fallen cup, was left alone in the room.
The Guild master didn’t actually care whether they were alive or not. He just wanted to know the reason for their loss, as he mumbled on the way.
“How the hell did they lose to some damn ants or was there another reason for it? Fuck it.”
He was mumbling to himself, but Eva probably heard him say that because her attitude changed as she looked back at him with her cold and lifeless eyes. She didn’t speak but her eyes were enough to explain her thoughts.
‘You can’t say that to them! I definitely won’t let you speak like that to them!’
Though they had come running to look at the party and do an intensive question answer session with them, but they could only stare absent-mindedly at the two of them who were tirelessly sleeping.
“Where are the others? If I remember correctly, then didn’t I send five of them to on the mission? There are only two of them here. Where are the rest of them?”
“Um… Guild master, we- we don’t know. They never came back. The caravan only brought the three of them, i-I don’t know about where the rest of them are.”
“So… they are dead?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did you check the system for the status on their guild card?”
“I’m sorry. I hurriedly ran to inform you so I dint check.”
“Sigh… Then where’s the third one?”
When the Arnold ‘The guild master’ asked the receptionist about the third member, she told him that her condition was a lot more serious than the others. That girl had both her arms cut, so it wasn’t appropriate to keep her there and she directly sent her to their guilds cleric for treatment. And he informed her that even though growing limbs and regenerating her arms was out of his league, but he would be able to save her life.
Both The leaders couldn’t speak anything after they heard how bad her condition was. But he still couldn’t understand why and how could such powerful individuals die from mere ants. They were ranked players after all, not some newb who didn’t know the truth about adventuring and measures to be taken.
“So they died… Ants~ killed them?” The guild master couldn’t believe what he just heard and so couldn’t Eva, who had already started planning to send an ‘A rank’ Party to completely obliterate those monsters wearing the skin of an ant. She ordered Julie to come and inform them when their conscious returns as she walked back to her… no, the guild master's room.
The news of a ‘B Rank’ party getting annihilated by ants spread through the town like wildfire in the forest and it burnt every ones heart and caused uproar in a single night. But the news about the light in the night sky being the result of an unexpected fire in the devils beard forest was even more shocking and the dread it caused was even greater than the news of ants destroying B rankers.
What would a fire in the forest mean? It meant the monster would start running away from the fire, from the forest to save their lives and that would lead to them running towards nearby human establishments.
The guild was informed and a notice was quickly placed. All the adventurers were called and a massive protection net was designed to protect the town and the surrounding villages from the monster horde, which was assumed to come and strike them in a few hours.
Everyone was made to run and get to their designated areas without any wait. Fortunately the monster horde never came and all of their preparations came to a naught, but unexpectedly, Rain fell and washed away their grievances.
The fire spun, smoke rose and after a flash of light from somewhere deep in the forest, dark black clouds covered the sky above the town, forest, all of the nearby areas and beyond. Then it rained. The Burning forest wailing, taking the last of its breaths and blowing drums of its destruction; became calm and serene again, as the rain drops falling on burning timber. The fire which was getting carried away was slowly put to sleep.
Though the fire was really great and could have been a real threat, but the part which got burnt didn’t even reach ten percent of the forests total area. The fire couldn’t even burn a small edge off, when the rain stopped its advance.
The monsters had really started running out from the forest and towards the town, but they unexpectedly stopped in the mid and returned back, though some places had an increase in monster sighting, but it wasn’t to a point that the adventurers positioned there couldn’t handle them.
&
The night passed away.
The guild master and his assistant, who couldn’t sleep through the night both had red, swollen eyes and were looking… No, staring towards the door, waiting for someone to come.
“Grandpa, don’t you feel it’s obvious, who lit the forest on fire?
“Ho! I am not thinking about that, my child. I am thinking about what really could have happened inside the cave that killed such a high ranking party. Surely they weren’t originally a party to begin with, but teamwork isn’t something which those individuals couldn’t have been able to handle.”
“Yes, I also think that something unordinary must have happened to hurt them so bad. So, what should we do with the prize money?”
“Ho! Do you really have no emotions? Of course we will give them their reward. Even if they are not able to provide us any useful information, we’ll still at least take care of their hospital bills.”
“Sheh, it’ll be such a waste then.”
They were going to continue their petty talk about saving money, when they heard someone running towards them while shouting,
“Hi~me~ SA~ MA~”
“She is here.”
They both stood up from their chairs and started intensely at the already open door.
And after the shout that same beautiful girl, with her green curled hair entered the room, while a drop of her sweat glistened and shined in sunlight, as it travelled down from her head, caressed her face and fell, sharing its experience with the floor.
Arnold’s cheeks twitched when he saw her giving Eva more importance than him- The Guild Master.
“Speak what happened.”
She saw the bear looking at her with his wide open blue eyes and trembled, but then her head moved and a beautiful coyote came into her vision and her same sunken scared eyes started shining.
“They are awake! … No, sorry, only the knight is awake, but…”
They didn’t let her finish her sentence before they both started walking towards her.
“Okay, kid, let’s go.”
Arnold’s excitement was enough to shame even the newest and youngest adventurer. His charismatic smile was enough to put girls in daze and even though age took away his charm in the eyes of girls and young ladies, but for the men he was still their idol. And who wouldn’t get excited watching at their idol walking next to them, looking so fresh and full of vigor.
They both followed the receptionist, as they left their private room and guild hall behind and entered the room where the knight was recuperating in.
D’sue was sitting on the bed looking at the wall in a daze when his guild master and the goddess of every one’s dreams entered the room.
He haphazardly and unconsciously tried to stand up in respect, but the pain his body was in was enough to make him rethink. He thought he was disrespecting the legend standing in front of him, but then Arnold calmed his mind.
“Don’t worry keep sitting and tell me what happened?”
‘Really, right now?’ he thought when he heard his idol getting straight to the point.
“Grandpa! Please don’t mind him D-D-D…”
“It’s D’sue.” He said as he clenched his fist and cried in his heart, ‘Please at least remember my name~’
Though after the incident with the assassin, he wanted and tried to change his nature which doubted everyone and twisted the reality, but his change lead to another problem.
“Yes D’sue. Please don’t mind our Guild master, he is just excited and happy that you are awake and doing well, nothing more.”
‘No, he isn’t happy because of that. He clearly just wants to hear my story and know about what we encountered in the dungeon.’ But he didn’t give voice to his thoughts and buried them deep inside just as they came.
“Do you think it is the right time to speak now or do you want us to come back after you recover completely?”
“Oh! Eva what are you saying! Do you want to come back after some time? Can you remain calm for even a second more? Because I can’t!”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
‘She is just saying that to give me some face old man. Why do you not want to remain as my idol anymore? Just let her speak. Shesh.’ He knew how atrocious his thoughts were, so he promised himself that no matter what happened he won’t ever spill the beans.
“Yes, leader, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern. It is alright, I think we can talk.”
“I am glad to hear that. So, tell us what really happened inside that cave? How did that girl receive such horrifying wounds? Ah! I'm sorry for my unethical and thoughtless words, but don’t worry about her, she is alright. Our guilds cleric saved her life, though…”
“Yes, I know. Thank you. I was already informed about her condition and I glad that she is alright.”
“So,…”
“Yes, let’s talk. But firstly, there was a very big problem with the initial information provided. That place is no cave, it’s a dungeon.”
“A WHAT?”
Both of them cried out at the same time when they heard him say that it was a dungeon and not an ants burrow.
“Yes, I understand your reactions, but it is how it is. That place is a dungeon, moreover, a never before seen one. It’s an insect dungeon at that.”
“An insect dungeon? Grandpa has there ever been an insect dungeon in the history? I haven’t heard about their being or had been an insect dungeon before.”
“Hmm, Hmm, I think, no. I haven’t been to an insect dungeon before. Well, so what. Tell me about the monsters, I mean ants. Were they the one who almost killed all of you or was there some external factor involved?”
When D’sue heard his guild master talking about there being an external factor he subconsciously gritted his teeth and spoke sarcastically.
“An External factor, you should call it an internal one not external.”
Watching the polite knight turning violent in a second, Arnold didn’t even flinch and asked in the same tone of voice.
“Elaborate.”
D’sue shook his head to calm his mind and sighed when he remembered where he was.
“I’m sorry for my behavior, but it is true. But Before telling you what really happened inside the cave, let me show you something.”
He then looked here and there and found his item bag lying nearby, which he picked up and opened to recover the monster drops which they had acquired in the dungeon.
“This is what dropped after the monster died. One of the ants dropped these mandibles while another two dropped those pairs of antennas and lenses.”
They weren’t intrigued when he told them that he was going to show them the monster drops, but when they actually saw the items their eyes opened wide in astonishment.
“You mean to say this was dropped by an ant? This humongous mandible is from one of the ants that you fought in there? What kind of an ant was it to have such magnificently sharp and large mandibles? This explains why your party got destroyed and you returned with such heavy losses, being attacked by hundreds of monsters being led by someone who had such a powerful weapon. It’s already an accomplishment that all of you didn’t die in there.”
D’sue snorted when he heard his gild master say something like that and spoke as his voice got heavy and his mood darkened.
“You might think this is something from an overly evolved king or male dominant ant, right? But let me tell you it is not. It is from one of the normal worker ants patrolling the rooms and tunnels of the dungeon. Though we didn’t experience any other variant of the ants in the dungeon, but it was still mind boggling to see a five foot tall Ant running towards me at extraordinary speeds and attacking like something had possessed them with a weapon sharp enough to cut through steel like it was cutting through butter.”
Eva, who was already feeling light headed seeing the mandible, which was long enough to cut a big tree in two, got scared and felt bewildered when she heard about the monsters capabilities.
“How could this be? Grandpa, aren’t ants actually really small about one- two feet in height?”
“Yes, normal ants are not even the size of a dog and their mandibles are not even sharp enough to cut through twigs, but if what he is saying are true then…”
“Then, even though the dungeon is a rare one with never before seen monsters, but we can’t take the risk and let it develop any further. I think they didn’t encounter only one variant of ants in the dungeon because the monsters hadn’t gone through their evolution, yet, so it means the dungeon is fairly new. We need to destroy it before it without giving it the time to grow. After all, who knows how many ants and protectors and floors it would end up having if we don’t act now and hesitate. Then should I send a “S Rank party’ no, let’s make it an open subjugation job.”
“It won’t come to that”
D’sue sudden words made the beautiful coyote to stop walking and return back.
“What do you mean? We surely need to destroy the dungeon. If we let it grow then it will only return our kindness with corruption and death, nothing more.”
But her reason didn’t flatter him as he said, looking straight into her eyes.
“You don’t understand. I don’t think the birth rate of the ants in the dungeon is as great as normal ants. If it was, then we wouldn’t be alive right now.”
“Huh.”
“To tell you the truth we only encountered 5 normal worker ants in the dungeon and one queen. Even our injuries were not inflicted by the monsters, but… our own party member.”
“…….”
“WHAT?”
This news came as a shock to all of them present in the room. Being injured by members of the same party! What could be more abnormal and torturing than that?
“Huh, what are you saying? Did you mean your party members fought each other for some monster drops?”
“No, actually… we were back stabbed.”
Then he told them the whole tale. He started by describing having the hero in the party, which obliviously made Arnolds and Eva’s to furrow their brows. He continued with the hero’s fight with the archer and then being illusioned to believe that the archer was killed in action by the ants, who was actually killed by the assassin in disguise. Then he explained how the assassin used illusions to deceive them all and showed them the lenses and ant antennas and told them that if they didn’t have them, then the assassin could have possibly succeeded in his plan. He didn’t forget to tell them the words he said, how the assassin admitted killing the archer and then mutilated Dusts arms. Then told them the reason for their deaths was not because of his own choice, but because he was ordered by someone, his master to kill them all and that it was all to destroy the dungeon; that they had to die because the dungeon needed to be destroyed.
When his story ended the normal atmosphere of the room had long ago turned serious. Eva was too in shock to talk with him, but Arnold still spoke normally.
“So you mean to say that you he used illusions to make you see the hero- Ramses the third travelling with you?”
“Yes.”
“And then he used the illusions, his natural abilities and spells to kill the archer and cut your Earth Mage’s arms and when he was going to kill you all, you all coordinated an attack with the queen and killed him?”
“Yes.”
“Sigh, this is absurd, but at least not hopeless and I couldn’t even see through his illusions; Seems like being away from the action has made my skill rusty.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, we are sorry. You had to go through all of that because of my lacking ability. But according to you the queen let you go after she killed the assassin?”
“Yes, she did. I still don’t understand why she did that, but I am grateful to her for her kindness none the less.”
“If what you are saying is true, then there won’t be any need to destroy the dungeon, at least not for now. If she that much restraint, then I don’t think there is any need to destroy her.”
“But grandpa..”
“No, this dungeon will make our town prosper, but we’ll still need to be vigilant and also try to find who this master behind the curtains really is.”
When Eva saw her grandpa giving his opinion with such confidence, she couldn’t do anything to stop him and that resulted in the dungeon having gained some more days to live. SO she did what she could and sighed.
“So what should we do?”
“Firstly, make it an official dungeon and give a warning to everyone that anyone who went far with his actions and destroyed the dungeon will be punished with death.”
She felt that he was going a bit too far and making the punishment too hard.
“Is there really a need to go so far for a dungeon?”
“You will understand. Give it some time to grow and you’ll understand, but don’t give it a B rank. If the queen really could handle them all without any problem, moreover, on her own, then her threat is equal to an A rank monster. Don’t send the adventurers to die, but still give the dungeon a C rank difficulty at the minimum. If the adventurers didn’t try to fight with the queen, then a c rank party will probably be able to handle the normal ants I think.”
“Are you sure grandpa?”
“Yes, yes.”
“Okay, then.”
They left the room and D’sue on his bed and went back to their room to discuss more about the dungeon.
Meanwhile,
Some place far away. In a very dark room, a black gowned person was sitting on a crazily, but satisfyingly lavishing throne and reading a parchment. They read through it and then burned it.
“So he failed huh. Though I didn’t have high hope from him, but he was strong enough to take care of such an easy task. He was strong, but he still failed. He still failed even though I bestowed upon him the grace of being personally trained by me in the art of illusions.”
That person clenched their fist and the burned parchment got crushed to ash.
“Human really are such incompetent and useless fellows. No matter how much you take care of them, they never return anything in return. Looks like I’ll have to go to the extremes to take care of him.”
They stood up and floated towards one of the bodyguards standing behind them and said in an unusually lack luster way.
“You, listen up. Send one of your subordinated and tell the king that the thing which he is trying to find is in the possession of the dungeon. It’ll be a nice change of pace to see the empire whole heartedly going against a dungeon. Let’s see them killing each other… Fufufuu.”
“Yes, master.”
They looked at his determined face and nodded as they went back to sit on their throne.
“It’s only an artifact after all. I already have enough of them, but he can’t be allowed to live and grow, or he will probably become a great threat to him in the future.”