Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Adalinda was sitting on top of a branch munching on some snacks that he had given her, Simon was seated on a branch next to her. What were they doing? Obviously, they were acting as sentries.

Simon's group was one of the many people that were assigned as night guards for tonight.

"Hehehe… cough..cough… hehehe" the little girl while almost choking on her snack, was laughing gleefully. Naturally, it attracted the attention of Simon who was caressing a small azure crystal that Irene had given him before their departure.

Putting the thing in his inventory, he locked his brows and asked curiously "What are you laughing at all alone?".

Her laughter that had a trace of excitement and anticipation, kept ringing out for a while.

"Hehe, I was right this trip is not going to be as boring as I initially thought. I get it now, you are the type of person who invites trouble wherever they go" her eyes stared at the demon who was currently masquerading as a human.

When being stared at by such bright crystal like eyes, Simon felt giddy and every strand of hair on his body stood on end. A premonition struck him and he vaguely felt that Adalinda was pointing out something.

He narrowed his eyes trying to figure out the hidden meaning behind her words when suddenly a loud noise that came from the opposite end of the campsite rang out.

BOOOM… ROAAAARRR…

It was late at night and other the people acting as night guards, most of the individuals of this convoy, were peacefully sleeping. However, this peace was disturbed when all of a sudden thunderous roars of monsters rang out coming from the forest.

Before these people even had a chance to come out of their camp, they could hear multiple hurried footsteps of humans rushing in from the forest.

"Everyone on your guard, there is a group of monsters heading towards our campsite" one of the adventurer bellowed nervously and quickly notified the sleeping individuals of this campsite.

As if this was the ember that lit a fire, the entire place started humming with noise and every person rose up from their beds with quick succession.

BANG… one of the particular tall trees behind the adventurer that ran to notify the campsite, was felled in one swoop by one of the monsters that had caught up to him.

The tree made cracking noises before falling down towards the blanked out adventurer who seemed to be too nervous to move at this moment.

SPLAT… the heavy tree that was more than thirty meters in height, fell down on the pitiful adventurer and buried him underneath. The scene that happened need not be mentioned as the insides of the man was splattered everywhere making the scene quite gory.

It was also at this moment that the inhabitants of the campsite saw the appearance of the monster and the nearby trees igniting in fire.

People that were acting as sentries, were running towards the campsite with bloodied bodies and missing limbs. Their expression was covered with terror and fear as they tried their best to run away from the entity chasing them.

<br/>In the darkness of the night, the spreading fire became even more glaring and illuminated the dozens or so figures encircling their camps.

A furry body more than five meters tall and packed with fat muscles came into view. The being was standing on its hind legs, eyes masked in crimson madness and drool continuously dropping down from their wide-open jaws.

A bunch of sharp incisive teeth were covered with the blood of the being that they have just eaten. Its entire body that easily dwarfed the humans, was releasing a fierce aura.

With the spreading of the fire, more and more of these beings came into view. At a glance, there were more than ten of them. The scene caused the entire campsite to descend into complete stillness as an eerie silence gripped everybody's heart.

"B-Battle Bears" the tranquillity was shattered by the sudden scream of one of the adventurers. The scream was the trigger that suddenly woke these people out of their daze.

Adventurers and guards hurriedly donned their equipment and the non-combatants swiftly fell back. Although the guards and adventurers were caught off guard, they were veteran warriors that have seen many bloodsheds.

"Miss you must retreat back. Guards form a perimeter around and allow none to pass through. Adventurers I'm counting on you all to finish these monsters" Alvara the guard commander rose up to her name and regained her composure before handing out orders.

The adventurer smiled bitterly as they saw the dozen or so Battle Bears encircling the camp. The command to eliminate them was easier said than done, each of these monsters was individually very strong and although the guild classified them as normal monsters, they were the strongest monsters in this category.

ROOAARRR…

A loud roar that contained enough force to even extinguish the wildly spreading fire, came from the darkness behind the Battle Bears.

The roar seems to instigate the battle bears as they hurriedly charged towards the adventurers and silver armoured guards making a formation around Cynthia.

At this moment, each and every one of them suddenly recalled the words of the young provisional adventurer and couldn't help but bitterly curse in their heart for not listening to his advice. The campsite was indeed the lair of the Battle Bears and have not been deserted as they had thought initially.

When their train of thought arrived till this point, they also glared at Bignosio who at this moment had quite the amusing face and cussed him internally for spreading misinformation.

BIgnosio who had become quite the celebrity in the hearts of these individuals, had a green face and a tongue-tied expression. When he felt the piercing stares from all around him, his eyes twitched and he had a sudden urge to wring the neck of the fellow that had told him about this information.

Because of that guy, he had to take the blame for all of this.

"Hold your ground" the adventurer leaders cried out loud and the warrior classes in the front swiftly raised their shields.

CLANG… intense sparks generated when the claws of the Battle bears collided with the shields and forced the [Sword Knights] and [Sword Masters] a couple of steps.

The assassin classes such as the [Killer Assassins] and [Night Assassins] threw their short swords and arrows from tricky directions to slow down these monsters and provide adequate time for the mages in the back lines to conjure their magic.

Spells bombarded the battle bears that were charging forward and dealt them quite a bit of damage; nonetheless, their speed remained unabated.

The scene around the campground quickly became one where blood was spilled everywhere and the fight came to a standstill after a while. Neither the humans nor the Battle bears could gain an edge over the other.

ROOOAARRR…

Just when everybody was taking a breath to stabilise their condition, a thunderous roar that came from within the dark forest, rang out. The roar was so heavy and brutal that it had the effect of immediately immobilising a weak-hearted person.

After that beastly roar, to their surprise, the adventurers and silver guards saw that the battle bears had stopped attacking and were instead spreading out… No, it would be right to describe their behaviour as making way for someone or something.

As these people looked on with dazed gazes, out from the corner of the forest, came out a towering presence that was even bigger than the Battle Bears.

Its front paws were so wide that they could chop a tree with one swing. Its furry body was laden with numerous battle scars and it had a thick mane that ran down its spine.

The appearance of this battle bear instantly caused these adventurers to open their mouths in wide disbelief, the hand with which they were holding their weapons, also trembled for an instant. Their reaction was as if they couldn't believe that such an existence was amongst the Battle Bears.

Battle Bears were a kind of monster that was born with a strong physique that allowed them to reign supreme in the Normal category. However, that assessment was a little faulty since it only classified those Battle Bears that liked to hunt alone.

Those that formed packs, were clearly more powerful and high-levelled and their ability even had the potential to reach  the Strong category. If the monsters they were facing was only in the normal category, these adventurers wouldn't have a hard time disposing them.

But the Battle Bears in front of them were each at the peak of Normal category not to mention the one that had shown itself just now was a cut above.

"B-Battle Grizzly?" one of the adventurer who seemed to be a little cowardly, cried out with fear in his eyes.

The other adventurers weren't like they were unaffected, their faces were pale and devoid of any colour.

"A battle grizzly? But that's absurd? It should be deep inside the forest. Why would it come out here?" the adventurers crazily bickered.

Hearing their commotion, the silver guards of the blue Moon merchant guild that were unaware of the race of this monster, cried out in surprise.

"Battle Grizzly? Do you mean the one that is one rank above the Battle Bears and is classified as a strong monster by the guild?".

The warriors making a round formation to protect those in the rearguard, showed a dismayed expression as they looked at this being that was clearly the leader of this pack.

"Do not falter!! Brave your heart and prepare for the enemy. No matter the cost, don't let it break the formation" Alvara shouted out loud, immediately dispersing the gloomy feeling that had crept up to everybody's heart.

                                                                    *****

Ranks given to monsters by the Guild

level Class

100 Normal

200 Strong

300 Elite

400 Super

500 Disaster

600 Calamity

700 Catastrophe

800+ ???