The Flying Emporium

After a mentally and physically exhausting battle, Vik was struggling under the weight of Nissa’s limp body. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to keep going.

But he didn’t get far. Just a few meters before the worried shouts of Paul and Annie once again caught up to him; they too had made it out of the dungeon.

“Nissa! Is she…?” Paul screamed.

“Go help her! Leave me here,” a battered Annie instructed.

Paul paused to assess the condition of the girl leaning on his shoulder. She hadn’t even managed to leave the dungeon with her own strength, and was bleeding profusely.

But she would make it. Having come to this conclusion, Paul quickly but carefully lay Annie down onto the cold stone floor and was about to spurt towards their even more critically injured group member.

Before he could take even the first step, the already dimly lit room suddenly became even darker. Something was blocking the daylight from shining through the small gap at the entrance into this crypt-like building, which served as the vestibule of the dungeon.

Another moment later and the double-door flew open; wide enough to illuminate the entire room.

Then, before anyone could process what was happening, people came swarming inside and surrounded the confused and desperate group.

“Wh-What’s goin-”

At least ten people-some in green, the majority, however, in purple uniforms-were securing the premises and shouting instructions.

On the big screen, it was almost impossible to make out any specifics; nobody knew whether the healer of the courageous group had made it. They only knew, by the way her [Recording Crystal]-the one still recording even at this moment-moved and from its perspective, that the girl had long lost her consciousness.

“Help! Help! Someone please help my friend!” Unlike the audience, which at this point was long forgotten by the group, Vik didn’t for a moment dare to entertain the idea that it might have already been too late for her. And so, not understanding who those people were, he started to scream and yell and beg for help. All that mattered right now was that Nissa got the attention she needed.

But his pleas hadn’t been necessary in the first place. Even before he could finish, a whole range of white, and green, and yellow-colored healing and support skills had enveloped not just Nissa, but all four of them.

The atmosphere in the audience was electric. At this moment, half the audience had forgotten to breathe; no one dared to make a sound. But just at this critical moment-the blinding light of those high-ranked spells was just dissipating-, a round woman with a strained, clearly unamused smile on her face appeared in everyone’s vision.

The woman then reached out and-

“What’s happening?!” from one moment to the next, all the tension within the audience was unleashed, as at this the most important moment, the screen suddenly went black. Now it was the audience that began shouting and yelling and cursing.

“Did she make it?” cried the more empathetic spectators.

“Who was that?” demanded the resentful ones.

Now that the woman in her green uniform had crushed the [Recording Crystal] with her bare hands and the transmission was abruptly ended, the crowd could no longer be contained.

While not as divisive as the previous submission which had introduced of a new dungeon strategy revolving largely around the Emporium’s consumables, the overall reception wasn’t any less impressive. If anything, it was the opposite, as this time around, even the non-adventurers got their share of excitement.

To them, in a way, it was even more captivating than all the previous submissions, where the groups, without any real struggle and no suspense regarding the outcome, had basically just been showing off their skills and knowledge.

The adventurers amongst the crowd, despite being closely familiar with such life and death experiences, also weren’t completely immune to such a sight, capturing their attention and emotions. But more than that, just the news of a new dungeon was enough to rile them up. It didn’t even matter that it seemed to be a rather low-leveled one. Because what they had just witnessed contradicted what had always been assumed to be two immutable rules governing all dungeons:

The group around Annie might have been very inexperienced and poorly prepared, but there was at least one thing the group got right. And that was that all dungeons-be it the ones such as this one, which transported each group into their own separated and isolated dungeon space for them to conquer, or those existing in the regular plane which would often times pit various groups of invaders against each other-had an exit located at the entrance point. Anything else was unheard of.

As was the notion of a dungeon without actual dungeon monsters. Just a single boss and nothing else? For many, that was hard to believe, even after they had seen it on the screen.

Now that both these fundamental rules had been violated, countless discussions had been sparked; everyone had their own speculations.

The most troublesome part of this, however, where the more attentive members of the audience, those who realized the true meaning of the-in this world-hitherto unknown phenomenon of video feedback:

This new dungeon with its unique properties was located right here, somewhere close nearby on this mountaintop. And that should have been impossible. How could all these people, over the span of two days, and on this otherwise largely empty mountaintop, have overlooked such a distinct looking building?

If now, in this atmosphere, this knowledge was to spread, things were all but guaranteed to take a turn for the worse; the ensuing chaos would be beyond control.

“Please remain in your seats,” Jake tried his best to pacify the masses whilst an increasing number of purple-uniformed troops secured the parameters.

Meanwhilst the people seated in the VIP lounge of the makeshift open-air festival site, though more composed than the average spectator, were still all the same confused and excited.

Amongst them, the one actually in charge of those purple-uniformed troops, couldn’t help but ask,

“Did they make it in time? Did she…?” Jasmine stopped herself, as she didn’t truly expect an answer to her question; her men had yet to return and report back to her. All the more surprised was she therefore, when the old woman nodded and told her, ”don’t worry.”

The fact that the girl’s dot had still not disappeared from the minimap which had returned just minutes before the group had entered the dungeon, was proof of that.

“How-?” the [Princess] began, but reconsidered. She knew probing any further would be pointless. Even when Mylana had originally given her the warning, she didn’t say anymore than was necessary. The one she really needed to question, she suspected, had to be Severin. Who, coincidentally, was nowhere to be found.

Mylana, meanwhile, was in close contact with the man in question.

[[You can’t hide from them forever,]] she told him.

Severin knew she was right, but the headache coming his was just too enormous.

So many people wanting answers. Not just Jasmine, who, without hesitation, had sent her local troops to manage the situation.

But also the Society, which would undoubtedly make this dungeon their business. He could already hear Miriam’s probing questions.

Questions he couldn’t answer. But even if he refused, then what?

Unless he wanted the antagonize the whole Adventurer’s Society, there was no avoiding having them officially map and categorize that new dungeon. Which would have been fine if what they had seen during that broadcast was all there was to it.

But Severin knew better than that.

‘Even if in the end they don’t try to outright restrict all access, I reckon it will be at least a few weeks before they will approve access to the public. What a hassle this all is. Just because I couldn’t control myself when I saw that dungeon core module pop up.’ Severin regretted how impulsively he had acted. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t still put at least some of the blame onto the System,

‘But since when do those changes apply immediately, anyway?!’ he lamented‘And speaking of hassle. Now that all systems are back online again, we’ll have to start prepping for business again. Not to mention the contract for those damned [Heating Spheres].’The prospect of having to work again was probably Severin’s biggest grief in all of this. Frustrated, almost petulant, he refuted Mylana, saying,

[[I can certainly try!]]