Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

My heart was pounding as I faced Miss Ais, who was staring intently at me.

"I--"

then.

Just as I felt the sweat trickling down my skin and was about to open my stiff mouth—the next instant.

Clang—, clang—!

The bell tower rang out with a deafening, earth-shattering sound.

""!?"

Miss Ais and I looked up at the sky together.

The sound—was not the bell that chimed at noon.

The sound did not come from the east, as is usually heard, but from the north. More importantly, the ringing of the bells was unusually intense.

It was as if even the bell ringers had panicked.

"This direction leads to the guild headquarters... or perhaps the City Alarm?"

Miss Ais’s whisper startled me.

Yes, I recognize that sound. I just heard the same alarm bell not long ago.

When the Kingdom (Lachia) army—the Ares Familia—attacked the city, the clock tower at this guild headquarters also rang.

This is an alarm signaling an emergency to the labyrinth city of Orario.

The deafening, piercing sound of the bell made me gasp.

"—Emergency alert! Emergency alert!! All [Familia] belonging to Orario, please heed the guild's instructions! The guild will be issuing a mandatory mission!!"

As we had anticipated, the guild headquarters activated the large megaphone made of magic stone.

The familiar voice of the half-elf woman echoed throughout the city.

"The 18th floor, Rivera, has been destroyed by an armed monster!! A large-scale movement of the monster has been confirmed!!"

—And this time, my breath froze completely.

"The guild will quickly assemble an adventurer team to hunt down the monster—wait, how... I... I understand."

Ignoring the fact that time had stopped, after a series of embarrassing sounds, the broadcast continued.

"Citizens and all adventurers are forbidden from invading the dungeon!! All [Familia] are requested to wait at headquarters for further instructions from the guild!! I repeat—"

An urgent warning, describing the urgency of the situation, flew across the sky.

Miss Ais, staring intently at the sky, tensed up, while I remained speechless.

The town (Rivera), destroyed?

Armed monster? Massive mobile creature?

Mr. Reed and the others... Winnie?

How could this be? What happened? What happened?

The astonishingly rapid, whirlwind of thought made my whole body heat up. A sense of unease and confusion spread through every corner of my body, and all my sweat glands suddenly opened wide.

Leaving me behind, my vision blurred, the endless alarm bells echoed in every corner of the city.

The everyday landscape has been completely transformed. Ripples spread across the water's surface, a sign of bad news.

An atmosphere of turmoil is about to approach Orario.

Volume 10, Chapter 8: Turmoil in the City

"That's why I said it! A bunch of armed monsters attacked the town!! Rivera was breached, they were all wiped out!!"

The roar of the wounded man echoed throughout the surrounding area.

He slammed his fist on the counter, and drops of blood flew out. Upon hearing the report from Perth, the town's (Rivera's) chieftain, who had narrowly escaped death, the clerks and the counter staff turned pale.

The guild headquarters is now like a living hell.

The white marble lobby was packed with townspeople who had escaped from the 18th floor. Some adventurers collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat; most were exhausted, and some were even seriously injured.

The reason these injured people dragged their bodies into the guild headquarters was nothing more than this.

The purpose is to report any abnormal situations (irregularities) occurring in the underground city to the surface.

"Those guys came out of the central tree! They came from the lower floors! Their races are a mixed bag, but they're incredibly strong!"

Mysterious armed monsters emerged from the lower floors. They displayed the potential of high-level adventurers, even those above the second-tier adventurer level, and were likely a "subspecies." This group roared as they ran up the central tree, charging straight towards the lakeside town (Rivera) to launch a powerful attack.

Its rapid advance caught even the townspeople, accustomed to dealing with unusual situations, off guard. The city walls were breached, and in the blink of an eye, the underground town's inn fell. Before the residents could even fight back, they were routed by the monsters, and along with the remaining adventurers, they abandoned the town and fled to the surface.

The 334th generation of "Rivera Town" thus came to an end.

"What about the types and numbers of monsters!?"

"Are they giving chase!? Where exactly have the monsters invaded!?"

Guild staff called for healers to assist in the rescue, busily treating the adventurers with bandages and items, while the service ladies frantically extracted detailed information. They repeated questioning and investigation, urgently trying to grasp the situation in order to address this major anomaly.

"W-Wait a minute!? How badly have the adventurers been affected...!?"

"Most of them managed to escape, but... some didn't have time to escape. Those people are already..."

Upon hearing the words spoken by the boss (Perth) with a furrowed brow, Missia, a waitress with rosy hair, almost burst into tears.

"This is serious...!"

As the situation rapidly changed, Eina, who had broadcast an emergency message, returned to the foyer.

The scenery unfolding before her eyes distorted her delicate half-elf features.

"Zul, you're back. We're short-handed, please help us out."

"I understand, team leader!... But..."

Although Eina nodded in response to her chienthrope superior who had run up to her, she still asked:

"What exactly happened by changing the alarm content like that...!?"

The alert states that all adventurers are "prohibited" from "intruding" into the dungeon. They are to remain on standby at base (headquarters) until the order is issued.

The situation now is one where every second counts.

Not only has the town (Rivera) fallen, but if the legion (monsters) that invades from the lower layers breaks through the safe floors, they may even form a guild... no, a "landing on the surface" of monsters (monsters) that humans fear.

If the myth of security that the labyrinth city has upheld for so many years collapses, it will have an impact on the entire lower realm.

Just like the failure of the "Three Great Adventurers' Quests" in the past—when the two strongest factions were defeated by the "Black Dragon"—it may bring great chaos to the world.

Eina couldn't help but press for answers when the cancellation order came without warning.

"...This is a decision made by higher-ups."

"That's what the higher-ups said!?"

"Yes. We've been ordered to urgently change the message... No, judging from the guild leader's panicked look, it's probably not the higher-ups' idea, but rather..."

The slender orc stopped speaking at this point, as if he had something to hide.

Eina opened her emerald eyes wide behind her glasses.

"No way," she thought to herself.

"Could it be the god Uranus...?"

"Uranus, the god of the heavens! Why did you give such an instruction...!?"

The bloated, fat elf, drenched in sweat, shouted.

This is the "Prayer Hall," the deepest part of the guild headquarters.

Upon hearing the direct appeal from Loiman Madir, the highest-ranking official in charge of the governing body and the guild master, Uranus calmly replied:

"Calm down, Leuman."

"But! This is a huge problem!? If the monster attacks don't stop, those things will spread to the surface, further jeopardizing our guild's authority... collapsing, collapsing, collapsing...!?"

Loemann swayed his pig-like, obese body and screamed in a shrill voice.

Faced with the guild leader's fear of both the overthrow of the management organization and the stripping of his own power, the old god maintained a leisurely posture on his throne.

"If this were truly a large-scale movement targeting the surface, the monster would have already broken through the 'Tower of Babel' along with the town's (Rivera) residents."

"This...this is true."

"This is undoubtedly an unusual situation. However, it would be premature to label it as an urban crisis."

Seeing that the elves had temporarily regained their composure, Uranus uttered the decisive sentence:

"Most importantly, my prayers were not broken."

"oh oh……!"

Upon hearing this declaration, Lloydman's expression brightened.

On this altar, Uranus, the creator god of Orario, offered a "prayer" to the dungeon. It is generally believed that this immense divine power stopped the dungeon from becoming active and the large-scale movement of monsters.

Uranus's own words, articulating the majesty of the gods, were far more convincing than hundreds of theories. These words completely convinced Leumann and gave him a powerful sense of reassurance.

"Sending multiple [Familia] on missions will cause unnecessary chaos. The entire expedition will be handled by the [Ganesha Familia]. Furthermore, they must rescue the adventurers still trapped in the dungeon, especially those exploring the lower levels. Send the order immediately."

"As you command!"

"I will issue other instructions later. Go ahead."

"yes!"

Lloyd knelt before God, then his obese body turned around.

He shook his fat belly and ran up the long staircase leading to the first floor.

Then, as if handing over the baton to him—

"This is really a headache...!"

"yes."

— Fels, who had just concealed his presence, emerged from the depths of the shadows.

Seeing the magician's agitation upon his appearance, Uranus also adopted a serious expression.

"Before we even received the intelligence, Lloydman and his men took action."

"The best-case scenario would have been to find out the truth before things escalated and settle the matter peacefully..."

Armed monsters, suspected to be a "subspecies," attacked the 18th floor. The guild leaders acted rashly, taking this as a sign that the monsters were about to reach the surface, and under Lloyd's instructions, they issued an emergency alarm.

It's understandable that those unaware of the details would have such misunderstandings. Not only the "middle class," but some have even witnessed inhabitants of the "lower class."

Monsters on "layers" or "deep layers"—monsters that can only move between two floors at most—are enough to fuel a sense of crisis and fear.

When Uranus and his companions learned of the situation and tried to stop it, it was too late.

Forced into a passive position, they resorted to a less desirable approach: to prevent further unrest, they ordered changes to the alert content and mandatory tasks in order to control the situation.

"If the intelligence is reliable, those monsters must be 'heretics.' Although the reason is unknown, they did attack the town (Rivera)...!"

Fels' black clothes trembled, revealing his unwillingness to believe it.

The magician, who calls himself "The Fool," is still struggling against the tremors that are gnawing at his own body.

"Fels, what do you think happened?"

"I'm afraid it's related to the loss of contact with Reed. Although this is just my speculation, if they were attacked by those hunters, and something happened that allowed them to storm the town (Rivera)..."

Uranus asked Fels in a self-questioning tone:

"Is it the wrath of the monsters...?"

The old god, seated firmly on the altar, quietly closed his eyes.

"...I need to give the order. Prepare the familiar."

"So……"

"Exactly. As I told Lloydman, I will send Ganesha's faction to the 18th floor. At the same time, the configuration of the city's garrison and inspectors will be changed. Only those who cooperate with us will be allowed to participate in the mandatory mission."

Sending the cooperative faction (Ganesha's Familia) into battle is ostensibly an elite force to subdue the monster with minimal damage.