Chapter 4: Meeting of Rulers

“What do you think about the boy?”
A deep voice came from a man with long black hair and red eyes who seemed to be conversing with a woman.
“He is an unexceptional Angel as far as I could tell. His soul as well as power is just like that of a regular Principality”
“Yeah, I don’t understand why Amira would turn him into one”
That question which probed their minds was a recurring thought. As far as they knew, Amira was not a goddess that would favor one person over the other based on her feelings, unless it was her father.
“Maybe she likes him, you know how she likes to meddle with humans”
“That’s not possible”
Her teasing thoughts were immediately dismissed by Akaroth.
Amira was not the kind of goddess who would fall in love, much less with a human. These thoughts were imprinted in his mind and he couldn’t imagine otherwise.
“Hmph. You are so boring”
Aerva pouted before her tone all of a sudden became stern.
“What about the Okubi? The dungeons are becoming more active, it’s only some time before one breaks”
Akaroth sat there in deep thought. The matter of Okubi was not something even a Dragon Sovereign like him can ignore, for it entailed with it, the fate of himself and the rest of the world.
The dungeons were the gates that connected the Okubi to the ordered world. Each having floors that had stronger monsters the more you went deeper. Until now, no one has ever seen the far end of a Dungeon.
And the fact that he couldn’t just destroy that and be done with it was frustrating.
Okubi was, after all, a part of this world. Without it, the world would collapse in on itself and if left unchecked, it would devour the planet and perhaps the universe itself, leaving an emptiness with only darkness to dwell inside.
And even if it was sealed, it would take at most a few centuries to return ever stronger.
His figure was unperturbed; however, an intense uneasiness was building up inside him.
When the Okubi last ran amok upon the world, he was alone and fearless; however, he now was not. The thought of his wife or son being taken from him was frightening, it made even him—the Infernal Dragon Sovereign—tremble.
Dismissing such thoughts, he let out a sigh.
“The dungeons were reinforced by the King; they won’t break that easily”
“Oh”
Aerva was amazed at the confidence her husband displayed, even though she knew him long enough to figure out how insecure he is.
She knew that the Okubi was close to breaking out, they both did, but they didn’t want to involve a ‘mere’ principality in this, especially since it would take him too long to amass enough power to actually make a difference.
“He’s back”
The couple looked above, as a humanoid figure descended through the entrance of their lair overhead.
“Hello Mother, Hello Father”
The duo replied with a nod to the boy’s jolly greeting.
“How is he?”
Zeddrarth’s lips curled upwards in a playful fashion, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?”
The couple deadpanned, before sighing at his antics.
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In another place, one known to a select few, at the headquarters of the Jadebane Guild, the largest and most influential in the world; a group of people sat with a tense look.
The thick atmosphere only worsened as two people rowed.
“We should mobilize our troops as quickly as we can. Time is running out, the Treniths in some dungeons have gotten up to the third floor”
A long blonde haired man with a thin figure and unusually long pointy ears spoke in a state of urgency.
“No, we can’t rush in blindly, Alluin. We must wait till the Dragon Sovereigns make a move.”
A short man with a big brown beard and a short stature retorted.
“We can’t always rely on them, Gastrik. They only intervene if we can’t handle it, and we cannot afford casualties to rise this time”
Alluin Luzana’s worries were justified, being one of the few people still alive that had witnessed the tragedy a thousand years ago.
He was the king of the elven Kingdom of Luzana, and had the responsibility of all the lives in his kingdom.
His memories were still fresh of the horror he had witnessed, the lives fallen, the sacrifices and the ignorance of the prideful dragons, he remembered it all.
Having lived for more than 3 millennia, he had never witnessed comparable to that and this time, he was not going to let the same disaster strike once again.
“There are still 2 floors left, we cannot proceed without a plan. We should let the Dragons deal with it, just have the adventurers or the heroes. We just have to push them some floors down”
Gastrik’s words were infuriating of many present even if they didn’t show it. He may be the Ruler of the Kingdom of Dwarves, Amberstone, but most of the others present were rulers as well.
Being the only one here who had seen the tragedy all those years ago, Alluin was the most affected by this declaration, being visibly upset at this, something the others were seeing for the first time in their lives.
What Dragons? What Heroes? They are just arrogant cowards who don’t care about life beside them—Alluin could not suppress his contempt towards these Dragons and so-called heroes.
He had seen what they were really like in the past. The Dragons just waited till majority of life had vanished from the world, only then did they interfere. Hell, they didn’t even do anything while all the Phoenixes were devoured by the Okubi.
And Heroes? The Heroes, so-called brave warriors that are summoned from another world were just cowards with gifted abilities.
They were only so brave while facing an enemy they could overwhelm, otherwise they ran with their tails between their legs even if innocents were harmed.
He was about to retort, but a voice did before he could.
“I am with Alluin in this”, He turned to meet a familiar face, “Being passive in this matter is not a good idea. The Treniths are getting more powerful each passing moment, you already know about this”
The dark haired man, with a muscular figure dawning a royal guise spoke on the behalf of the Kingdom of Galasi.
He—the Ruler of the Great Empire of Galasi—Jacob Galasi, was after all the who could be said to rule the entirety of Humankind as well as many other races of Demi-humans.
After a moment, more and more hands were raised and agreed to Alluin’s proposal. In a couple of seconds, only Gastrik seemed to be intent on being passive.
Treniths, the evil beings manifesting from the dungeons that are only intent on destroying anything in sight.
While they dwelled in the deeper floors of the dungeons, they could rise up if left unchecked, which was the reason adventurers were required to fight at least one a month in floor that was suitable for their rank.
“Now that the rest have chosen to attack the Dark Dungeon, what will you do?”
Gastrik seemed hesitant.
“Maybe this will change your mind”
Alluin added, before a screen appeared in front of him, created by one of the elf’s many abilities, 〘Illusion Manifestation〙.
The panel then lit up, before showing something that alarmed them all.
A wasteland filled with the corpses of humans and monsters alike, Rivers of blood smearing across the land as everything lay in shambles.
The once-prosperous lands seemed to be veiled in an angst-ridden shimmer of red light, as the very air seemed to carry the agony of the victims that laid bare.
Is this Hell? —was the mutual thought shared by witnesses.
They turned to Alluin with widened eyes.
“Yes, what you see is the tragedy that befell our lands a thousand years ago”
Gastrik’s thoughts were immediately shattered upon seeing the scene.
“The Kingdom of Amberstone will aid you in this campaign”
Alluin gave a nod with a feeble smile.
“Now that we have established our objectives, we should discuss how we are going to proceed”
Receiving nods from the others, Jacob called forth his nation’s Commander to give a more accurate accession of the circumstance.
The said man introduced himself with a sincere greeting before beginning his report.
The dungeons seemed to be fairly dormant, except 1.
The Dark Dungeon was a dungeon located on the Blaze Continent, the only place home to 2 Dragon Sovereigns.
The Blaze Continent was for the most part a large barren land, and was considered the center of the world, being rumored that the Dragon King himself dwelt there.
It was home to many dragons, and was barely explored.
Because of this reason, expeditions were rare for the Dungeon present there, only allowed for the S-ranked Adventurers, Heroes or people of a similar class.
So, counting the current personnel, only around a hundred were capable to going there.
“That is all”—he concluded.
After a thorough deliberation, it was decided to send 20 S-rank Adventurers, each capable to slaying a Regular Dragon to access the current situation of the Dark Dungeon.
“Does anyone have anything to add?”
Receiving total silence, Jacob declared—
“This concludes today’s assembly. The next time will be after we get the report of the Dark Dungeon”

Chapter end