The Flying Emporium

“Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s when a dungeon, well, breaks open and releases its inhabitants unrestrictedly into the world.” Samuel wanted to explain further but was interrupted by some indignant shouts.

“What do you mean a dungeon breaking open? How could something like that be possible? Shouldn’t something like this be common knowledge? People need to know about those dangers.”

“Think about it. Obviously, it’s not a common occurrence. Also, almost every dungeon has guards stationed at the entrance. Those should obviously be able to beat some escaping dungeon monsters.” Timothy managed to somewhat calm Miriam down, despite her not being totally convinced by the reasoning. Yet, besides the guards, the gathered adventurers looking to conquer the respective dungeon, should obviously also be able to take care of some random trash mobs.

Suddenly both of them turned their heads towards Xander and his companions. Didn’t he say they easily beat the monsters outside of the cave? So where was the problem in beating a few more? Shouldn’t they be able to clear the whole thing, especially if they had a whole raid group available? They surely couldn’t be that weak?!

“You two! Maybe you should let me finish, before coming up with random stuff.

Surely if it was that easy, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.” Samuel knew exactly what his two students were thinking. He felt that lately, he had to admonish the two of them more and more often. He would have to do something about this in the near future.

Samuel shot an apologizing glance over to the group of five. It turned out to be an unnecessary gesture as none of them seemed to be in a state to care about an unspoken slight borne from the ignorance of two children.

He took a deep breath before continuing his explanation.

“The reason most people don’t know about this phenomenon is just as Timothy guessed. It is obviously a very rare occurrence that requires very specific circumstances. It’s not something that ‘just happens’.

It’s a slow process of mana gathering inside of a dungeon until the whole thing is completely saturated. You should have at least a rough understanding of what that means, right? Such a thing is only possible if no one challenges the dungeon for a very long time and the mana is actually allowed to build up.

That is why most countries make sure to check out the known dungeons inside of their borders every couple of years at the very least.

And even that would usually not be necessary. If there’s a known dungeon then there will also be adventurers.

It is only in neutral territory like the Golden Mountains which at the same time harbors so many profitable dungeons to choose from, that some of the more obscure dungeons see no traffic at all. And from the description so far, I take it as somewhat hidden, to begin with. You probably won’t even find it on most of the maps of the area.”

Especially Miriam felt relieved after hearing this clarification. If it was like this, cities built around dungeons shouldn’t be in any additional danger.

Sigh

‘I’ve embarrassed myself. Most major cities and basically all capitals on the continent are built on top of dungeons if I’m not mistaken. And not just on some small ones. Of course, they wouldn’t do so if there was even the slightest chance of them being overrun by dungeon monsters as a result. It turns out the bigger and more lucrative a dungeon, the safer it is in their immediate vicinity.’

“But that still doesn’t explain…” Timothy once again peeked over to Xander. The question was clear. If a group that clearly was capable of dealing with the dungeon’s monsters, why would they be in such a pitiable state right now?

“Pah! So you didn’t understand after all, “Samuel reprimanded.

“The more saturated with mana a dungeon is, the more monsters are obviously being created. More importantly, the monsters have access to enough mana for them to freely absorb. Strengthening them in all kinds of ways. From increased stats to unpredictable mutations. And the longer the monsters are subjected to those mana levels, the stronger those changes usually are. Sometimes even the Dungeon itself starts to change. Until at some point, the mana has no way to go and the threshold barrier at the entrance gives in.”

Severin who also listened in from the side made a guess.

“So, the monsters fought outside of the cave were just some of the weaker ones? Those that didn’t absorb a lot of mana yet?”

An expression of understanding was reflected on Xander’s face. Even the people who had known of the term ‘Dungeon Break’ didn’t know any more of the specifics. This information would explain a lot of the troubles they met.

“That would be my guess,” Samuel agreed. “It seems the stronger monsters tend to gather near the dungeon core, which most of the time is located at the deepest parts.”

Severin was very curious about all of this, but suddenly he felt like something wasn’t quite right. Didn’t they forget an important point? A question formed in his mind. One he didn’t really know how to ask.

“The others…?”

It was one of Xander’s four companions to first realize that the question was aimed at their group.

“They’re fine!” The man almost jumped up while saying this.

None of them had realized that the way Xander told the story in combination with their appearance and with only five people out of a whole raid group present, they might have painted a very wrong picture.

“Yeah, don’t worry! We all made it out in one piece.” Xander himself quickly chimed in. “Not least thanks to you. I think Andreas specifically got his ass saved by your potions more than just once.

Even as a Tank there’s no way he could’ve withstood that kind of punishment otherwise.”

Some heavy nods affirmed Xander’s words. The images of hordes of monsters surrounding and clawing at them were still fresh in their minds. The Tanks certainly proved themselves.

“As an officer, he’s busy right now. Has to notify the Society. And someone has to report back to the guild as well. Of course, Lynn and the other healers are busy too, especially since some of the caravan members did also survive. For us, though, there’s nothing more to do right now. So, we were sent to inform you of our delay. Thought we’d set camp here and wait for the others. I’d expect most of them to arrive here some time tomorrow.”

‘It’s almost unsettling. Xandi not being a dick…really shows how rattled he is, huh? Let’s see how long that lasts.’

“Sure thing. No problem.”

“So. Tell me. There is no way you guys actually cleared the whole thing on your own. And certainly not in this amount of time. Even if you were fighting since you last left a few days ago. How did you get out of there?”

“Hah.” A humorless laugh answered Samuel’s question.

“You’re right. We fought for a whole day just to push them back to the original dungeon entrance. We didn’t even make it inside. There is no way we could clear this thing. Now knowing these were only the weak monsters…We just were lucky enough to have a [Barrier Mage] with us. He managed to buy us enough time to evacuate by temporarily fixing the threshold barrier.” There was no shame in his words, only frustration.

“Hmm.” Having someone competent enough to even just for a short time being able to fix the dungeon’s barrier was an impressive feat, but all in all the result was just as Samuel expected. Reporting the whole incident to the Adventurer’s Society was the only right thing to do.

Meanwhile, Severin didn’t quite believe Xander’s words. Especially after learning that they didn’t actually resolve the problem.

‘Nothing for you to do, huh? Really? And your appearance has nothing to do with a certain [Berserker] having his camp up here, I take it? One that might very well be able to take care of this whole incident on his own?’