Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

On top of a small hill inside the southern region of the Ghastly Winding Forest, a group of ten people could be seen camping. They all had the insignia of the seven swords and belonged to the same guild.

They were precisely the team led by Dale. Currently, inside one of the tents, Dale was sitting cross-legged on the ground. He had a pensive look on his face as he said "What are you trying to say? Are you implying that I'm deliberately hiding that girl from you? Don't joke with me. I have never seen any little girl you speak of. My answer shall remain the same no matter how many times you ask Laris".

Though there was no one inside the tent, Dale was talking with someone. He had a small white conch on his hand that transmitted his voice to the receiver and vice versa.

The thing on his hand was called the transmission shell. It is marked with a small magic rune that allows the user to transmit their message and location to the other party holding a transmission shell with a similar pattern.

The higher the quality and complexity of the rune, the higher the distance one can transmit their message through. A transmission shell had varying costs depending on the quality of the rune inlaid. But even the cheapest one wasn't something an ordinary individual could afford. The transmission shell on Dale's hand was one of the cheapest ones available on the market and couldn't transmit messages if the distance is more than three thousand kilometres.

Saying that he had nothing else to say anymore, Dale cut the transmission.

A man dressed in ash grey robe, holding a wooden staff with a gem as big as a marble inlaid in between, came up to him and bowed. He was one of the three [Wizards] of his team and was quite a capable man.

The [Wizard] said, "Why is sir Laris putting so much emphasis on that little girl? Could it that there is something special on that little girl he talks about?".

Dale squinted his eyes before saying "There is definitely something that he is hiding from all of us. It makes me curious but unfortunately, I cannot get involved in all of that".

He cleared his thoughts and asked, "Did the exploration team dispatched by the Sea God's guild arrive yet?". The [Wizard] immediately replied, "They are at the borders and will soon be entering the forest".

"I see" Dale nodded before asking another question "are our preparations ready?". His task was to lure the team sent by the Sea God's guild towards the newly formed dungeon located at the east side of the forest.

The Sea God's guild was one of the top five in the entire Ellesmere Kingdom, therefore he cannot go on with his mission with half-assed preparations.

The [Wizard] pointed at a steel cage more than ten meters big and said "Sir Dale rest assured, the three beasts inside are fully in our control and can be let out anytime with your orders".

Dale looked at the wide cage from which continuous roars and snarls came out. Three pairs of crimson eyes stared at others as if they would leap at them any moment.

"Alright, after they enter halfway through the forest, send these three chimaeras after them. Make sure that they follow orders and properly lead the Sea God's guildmembers towards the dungeon". He stared at the three mix-match of beasts that were so hideous to look at that even he couldn't help but look away.

"It will be done as per your orders. This subordinate shall take his leave now" the [Wizard] said and immediately left to carry out his orders.

Now left all alone, Dale gazed at the further end of the southern region of the Ghastly Winding Forest and clenched his hands. He cannot fail his task. The success of this whole mission depended on whether he could successfully distract the Sea God's guild long enough to allow Laris's team to move out of the forest.

As for the demon living inside the dungeon, he did not pay any attention to it, after all, he believed that the newly formed dungeon would be taken down by the Sea God' guild quite easily and when the dungeon dies so will the demon living inside with it.

There was no need for Dale to pay attention to something that was about to be destroyed. It was common knowledge in this world that a newly formed dungeon is very weak and should be placed in an area that makes it difficult for others to find it easily.

There might be some exceptions but a newly formed dungeon is always ranked at [E], which made it quite easy to conquer.

Dale did not pay much attention to the dungeon, but he was a little concerned whether the dungeon would be able to stall the Sea God's Guild long enough for their guild to get out of the forest.

From the reports he got before coming here, he was aware that it hadn't been long before the dungeon had emerged inside the forest, and to top it off the dungeon master did not even bother to hide it from others.

From the report, he could infer that either the demon thought that it was strong enough to push back any intruders or was foolish enough to not know about the consequences of not hiding a newly formed dungeon.

Dale believed that the demon belonged to the latter category and was foolish enough to not know about the common sense of this world.

"Well, it doesn't matter. If you can at least delay them for a while, it would be plenty enough. You should be thankful that even a demon as foolish as you can be of use to our guild.. Knowing that you were useful to our Seven Swords guild, you can at least die without regrets hahaha" Dale laughed out loud.