There was a commotion in the Adventurer Guild Headquarters the next morning.
A possible level 5 National Threat was issued by the Guild.
Unlike during a normal L5NT that applied to potential of war erupting in a nation, this one had to do with monsters.
Lots of monsters.
The SS-rank parties Red Storm, Sky Kings and Dead End were called to the empire but only Red Storm answered the call.
The others refused even though Daraia of House Eusyria, personally called them. Not only was she the Guild Master but also the countess who took over the Eusyria Household, a prestigious household that ruled the north with the Penston House.
Her brother, Flord was originally supposed to succeed her but in the end it was her who was more suited to the role. Both of them were adventurers before becoming executives of guilds. Both had a love for the profession so they chose to pursue the same thing, despite their continued competition.
"—What are you gonna do, sis?" Flord asked after entering her office and sitting down.
There were a crowd of people yelling outside her office demanding to see her.
It was obvious what they wanted.
Of course, none of them would brazenly walk in here since Daraia was a short-tempered woman. There were few adventurers who could handle a single punch from her.
"…How the hell did you hear about what happened? You're a guild master from Lockinge city so you shouldn't even be here today."
"I have the privilege of using teleportation scrolls. I wanted to see you anyway."
No, you're just here to reap the benefits, thought Daraia.
"How many high class adventurers responded to this phenomena?" Flord asked while looking at the hologram on his sister's desk.
The hologram showed thousands of marching monsters that were of different race and sizes.
Daraia slid over a clipboard to Flord, "All the A and S-rankers signed in."
"Huh. Why is there only one SS-rank party listed here? What about the others?"
"This'll have to do. Unless the surrounding nations think of helping out."
In total there were 23 parties, including the S and SS-rank parties. This was a very low number considering the sheer number of total adventurers in the empire and the amount of cities amd towners where they were active.
"I doubt any nation—including our own empire—would spare manpower to deal with monsters. They would expect the Mercenary and Adventurer guilds to do fight against this somehow. That's our job, after all: killing monsters."
"…."
He was right. She couldn't be optimistic and think other nations would spare soldiers or trained knights.
"Those people protesting out there… I take it they are the low class adventurers?"
High class referred to A and above.
Low class referred to B and below.
The low classes were basically the less-recognized adventurers.
"They are, yes. However, their priority is to ensure the citizens are safe, not fight against the monsters."
"I'm sure some of them would be a big help, y'know? Look at all those monsters. How the hell will 23 parties handle this?"
"Firepower is most important in this current situation. Numbers don't matter at all when it comes to large scale monster attacks."
Daraia looked at the map that she had roughly sketched out by looking at the hologram. She had sent out scouts to check the disturbances people have been reporting throughout the continent. Strangely enough, only the southern part of the continent(which was north from the empire) had sent reports.
She found this strange. It was like the monsters had a goal or something.
"Take a look at this," She slid the map over to Flord. Flord took out his reading glasses and looked at what she was pointing at, "A straight line."
Although there were a minority of stragglers wandering in different directions, the majority were marching in a straight path.
Almost like they were migrating somewhere.
"Hm?" Flord suddenly arched his brows, "Something's up. Why are the majority of these monsters showing up near the World Tree Forest and Fairy Province? The animals and monsters that live there never come out of their own habitats."
"What do you mean by showing up there? Maybe their path was cut off so they were forced to walk together. I mean, look at the sheer number of monsters my scouts were able to count. Only an open plain would be able to take that many monsters at once." she pointed at the hologram, "And we all know that the southern regions are nothing but forests and hilly areas."
It was highly likely that there were more than half a thousand monsters marching north. The current image on the hologram showed them charging through a forest, knocking down trees and destroying settlements in the process.
The only good thing was that they didn't just kill people. Their primary focus seemed to be marching somewhere judging by Daraia's observation.
"Strange… There were reports of monster sightings in the empire just a few days ago. The people probably thought some goblins broke into the sewer system so they didn't worry that much since even 3rd star knights can kill goblins. That's the average star score of graduates in the Imperial Force and Academy."
'We should've listened to those rumors.'
"Hold on," Daraia's eyes narrowed, "Is it possible that someone led the monsters north from there?"
"A beast tamer that powerful wouldn't be able to remain incognito for long. Although it's a fairly new subject at the academy, students are graded by the kind of monsters they can tame. If you could tame S-class monsters then you are an S-class Beast Tamer. Anything beyond that would be Legendary and Unique respectively."
"…So it's impossible that someone is behind this?"
"If we go by logic then yes. Legendary classes like the famous Sword Saint are exceptionally rare while there had never been Unique classes in the history we know of. They are mere legends so that's off the table. The most likely explanation, however, is that there is probably a mind manipulator somewhere controlling these monsters."
Mind Manipulation wasn't exactly a class. It was a skill acquired by mastering a certain degree of dark magic. Nowadays people can use books to learn basic mind control to make others do stuff for them. The most dangerous thing about these simple books was that its mind control was so subtle that the target has no idea they're being mind controlled.
"Like any other skill this one had its limits," Daraia said, "There's another possibility. What if…" she checked the path where the monsters were the most concentrated as a group.
The land of the Elves and fairies: Fairy Province and World Tree Forest.
"What if these monsters came from the dungeons surrounding the land of the Elves and Fairies?"
"Hmm… That makes sense considering how large their land is compared to ours. All our nations combined wouldn't be able to even match up to the land the elves posses. The question now is where did the monsters come from specifically?"
There was a knock on the door. The person who knocked didn't wait for an answer and simply entered the office.
"Sorry to interrupt," it was a brown-skinned woman with tied up silver hair who wore brown tinted armor.
She had long ears and an exceptionally long and thin-bladed sword on her left hip.
She was the leader of Red Tornado or now formally known as Red Storm after she became the leader. Cameria was one of the SS-class adventurers in the empire; she was also the only one to respond to the Guild Master's call.
"Cameria, I told you that all of you will be given orders after I've discussed this with my brother."
"I apologize, once again Lady Daraia. I thought I'd announce that my party is up for recon to gather intel before we attack. It's better to have a clear estimate of where the monsters are going, no?"
That does sound like a good idea, thought Daraia.
However, the problem they were trying to solve weren't where the monsters were going. Not yet, anyway.
"We want to know where they came from, Cameria. Although, you are welcome to gather intel and send it back to us."
"Wait, we can ask for her thoughts on this, sister. She's a Dark Elf so she should know this region better than anyone in the Guild right now."
Both Flord and Daraia looked at Cameria.
"What's the matter? I'll help as much as I can. Everyone in Red Storm is relying on me to lead them so I'll do my best."
Cameria closed the door and went towards Daraia's desk.
Thinking that it wasn't a big deal anymore, Daraia pointed at the hologram and back at the map she drew.
"What do you see?"
"…." Cameria looked once more at both before speaking, "An unusual gathering of monsters. This has never happened in nature before."
"Right, that's what I and my brother thought as well. We tried to come up with different solutions but we don't have the luxury of doing that right now. The horde of monsters are fast approaching from the south. We'll have more than just the monsters appearing in the empire's regions to worry about."
"South? How far south?"
"Can't say. It's impossible to determine where exactly but I think it must be somewhere near the Fairy Province."
"...Wouldn't it be better to ask the Fairy Millennium to help us if it's there? I don't believe I will be much help since I've only been at the province twice before."
"When was your most recent visit?" asked Flord.
"Three months ago. I went there to get a magic sword I commissioned," she pointed at her hip, "They have some impressive magic crystals so I got an upgrade on my weapon."
The Fairy Province was the most magical-technologically advanced nation. Their tower mages from the Third Magic Tower are the only ones on the continent capable of enchanting weapons and magic items with Elemental Magic.
"Three months… Wasn't that the time when the academy students went there for their dungeon exam finals?"
"Yeah, some went earlier than others since there was a big sale on enchantments."
Flord and Daraia's conversation bounced back and forth.
"Wait a second… How many dungeons are right outside the Fairy Province excluding the ones that had been cleared before, Cameria?"
"Only one, Lady Daraia."
"…What about the forest surrounding the World Tree?"
"It's naturally impossible for dungeons to form in that forest due to the overabundance of mana. There's so much mana that nearly the entire forest has crystals growing out of its trees. It's a treasure trove for thieves."
Some dungeons are artificial lairs built by civilizations of the past. They wanted to mimic the underground monster zones built by the old gods. Over time crystals would naturally form inside them due to the mana inside the dungeons. This led many people from the past to attempt building dungeons due to their otherworldly nature. Monsters and magic crystals are naturally born from them.
However, it's rare for dungeons to form in places with an overabundance of mana. A dungeon was like a mana producer to the world. It wasn't necessary for it to exist in a place that didn't need it.
As such, the World Tree Forest had almost no reports of dungeons being sighted over the past thousand years despite the massive scale(500 000 km²) of the forest.
"Dear goddess," Flord seemed to have figured it out just like Daraia, "The Sky God Mountain. That dungeon is the cause of all these monster sightings."
"Huh? Why would you think that?" Cameria asked in confusion.
"I believe that a majority of these monsters came from a dungeon. Not just any dungeon. It has to be a dungeon of considerable size."
Hordes of monsters were very uncommon in places other than monster zones and dungeons. The latter could spawn an infinite amount of monsters if given time. Whereas monster zones were small regions in forests. There was no monster zone in history that could spawn that many monsters shown on the hologram.
"I recently heard from my investigation teams how large the Sky God Mountain is in comparison to all the dungeons recorded in history. The Dragon's Lair—where the Dragon God's bones lay—is known as the largest dungeon in history. Only Dragon's Lair has lost its functions as a dungeon so there aren't any monsters. This Sky God Mountain is the second largest and it's very active right at this moment."
"You're saying… All those monsters came from there?"
"What other explanation could there be? The signs point straight to it."
"But what about the monsters that were spotted near the empire? Surely they aren't also from that dungeon…"
"No, but the Empire has hundreds of dungeons surrounding it. Those monsters that we saw are most likely also deviants that were frightened by the marching monsters so they left the dungeons."
It was like the saying, "Any monster or animal can detect a storm a mile away".
This time it worked the same. The monsters sensed the storm(danger) and fled from their habitats.
'So most of them are stragglers from different regions.'
Daraia stood up. She had been silent while Flord explained everything to Cameria.
"Lady Daraia, what should we do about this?"
Daraia looked at Cameria who asked the question.
"I'll contact the academy's executives and the school district. We have to put our heads together to figure put how to get those students out of there. This is most likely not the only monster wave that we'll experience. Them being inside that dungeon will further escalate the current situation. Their lives are also in danger."
'We should also confirm whether the Sky God Dungeon is even like normal dungeons in the first place. How can there be so many deviants? Is the scale of the dungeon that large?' Daraia thought deeply, 'Is this dungeon like the myth I heard about there existing a dungeon that had dozens of worlds inside of it?'
That was merely a legend that most of the people on the continent knew.
But… what if it was true?
"I'll contact them, sis. You stay here and lead your people. Oh, I forgot to mention that I brought some of my own people with me. They are gearing up throughout the empire as we speak." Flord adjusted his suit and took the map Daraia drew. It would serve as evidence to convince the academy to cooperate with the Guild.
"Alright. I'll leave that up to you, little brother. But deliver that letter for me. It's a report I finished earlier before our meeting. Give it to the people of the Academy. I'll send another one soon. Remember to do your best. We can't do this alone."
"Hold on, sir Flord. Did Misteltein come with?" Cameria asked in a hurry.
"Well, one of them came."
"Is it Nova?"
"No, Nova's companion Lucri. Everyone vouched to bring him along since he's quite skilled in traditional healing. He puts every healer in my guild to shame."
"Where's Nova then?" Daraia interjected, "We can use him since he's an A-class adventurer and one of few who can stand on equal grounds with a full grown wild dragon."
"He's been missing from my Guild for quite some time. I thought he came to the empire?"
Daraia pressed a button on her desk.
-Yes, lady Daraia?
A familiar voice answered.
"Josephine, tell me if you see Nova of Misteltein in any of the quest records from this month."
-Nova? Oh, there's no need for that. He was here a few days ago to finish one of the extermination quests on the board. I was the one who received him and gave him his reward.
"…."
-Is there anything else?
"No. You can go back to work," Daraia switched the transmitter off, "This means Nova is somewhere in the capital."
'But why hasn't he come to the Guild after his quest yet? This situation will guarantee a rise in reputation in the Guild. That's something any newbie wants.'
The current situation was known as a Monster Wave. It's only called that when hundreds or perhaps thousands of monsters could pose a threat to an entire city or multiple cities.
It was a level 5 National Threat.
There had only been two in history before. However, neither of those were on the same scale as the current monster wave. This was the third and largest ever recorded.
"Cameria, I want all of the adventurers to work as an entire group and not just individual parties. That said, we need people to lead these adventurers. I want you to be one of them. Nova will be one as well. That's if we find him."
"Got it. But how will we find him? The entire empire is in chaos. He probably left the empire."
"No. I don't believe he would leave his party member to face this alone," Flord spoke, "He definitely considers Lucri an important ally. I think he'll come even if we don't search for him."
◇◇
Reports were sent to the Academy using teleportation delivery. People all over the empire seemed to have heard about or were aware of what was happening.
Some reports went as follows:
◇Report 1◇By Sergil Moklyn, Commander of Imperial Force Unit 4, squad 6-1.
-Monster sightings have been reported over a span of 13 days to which none of the Guilds specialized in subjugations had responded to. We sent out multiple squads to deal with it but the situation just never died down. Cities and fiefs surrounding the southern regions of the Eulia Empire have reported the most sightings. Only one case has been reported in Nuaria city to which one adventurer party responded. No one had received any new reports on what is going on in Nuaria city but we can determine from the direction the monsters are going that they are heading straight for the city. We humbly ask the Adventurer Guild to handle this as it affects the work of our department.
◇Report 2◇By Elite Mage Catrina, of Fourth Magic Tower in Province of Zrek.
-More news came in that stated that monsters appeared out of nowhere after a pillar of light struck the ground. We concluded that there is some creature among the horde that it capable of transporting or teleporting the monsters closer to their objective.
◇Report 3◇-By Daraia, Guild Master of Adventurer Guild Headquarters. (Old Report)
-Strange occurrences have been happening all over the continent. We tried to get to the bottom of this but it's impossible given how widespread my adventurers are at the moment. I will give further update on this once news arrives and I've figured out what's going on.
◇ Report 4◇-By Daraia, Guild Master of Adventurer Guild Headquarters. (Recent Report)
- We managed to figure out what could be the cause of this. The monsters aren't just some random horde, they are from one location, with some being exceptions. We will ensure that this problem is dealt with. However, we need assistance from the Academy concerning another major problem that contributed to the current situation the Empire is facing. I would like the Academy to assemble a rescue party, consisting of more than fifty people. This is because it is highly likely that more monsters would escape from the Sky God Mountain dungeon. Numbers will be important when scouring a dungeon that vast. It is heavily advised that all of us do as much as we can to pull the students out of there. If we don't do that soon then it's possible that they might die. The priority right now is to stop the wave.
◇Report 5◇ By Student Disciplinary Committee President, Isaac Languard.
- It has come to my understanding that one of my members, whose name I will not say, warned us against letting the seventh years continue exploring the dungeon. They warned that great chaos will ensue and it seems their words have come true. How did they know? That's not important. Questioning comes after we come up with a solution to avoid further chaos. I would like to request that the Academy and all the affiliated schools assemble a rescue party to save the students, lest their lives be left in danger.