Inside the hidden dungeon, the adventurers were running around like headless chickens.
It was not because they were clueless, but because…
"FUCK! WHO'S ATTACKING!?"
SNAP!
"OWWWWW!" A burly adventurer holding a long sword yelled as something hit his butt.
The same situation was with everybody on this level of the dungeon and they had little to no idea how to deal with it.
Lith and his maids had climbed up many floors of the dungeons and were currently standing in a hidden passage, looking at all these guys getting beaten up by a swarm of spectres.
The spectres were tricky to handle as they were like ghosts. They didn't have a body and touching them with normal weapons was a near impossible task. Add to that, they were also appearing in and out of existence, giving a hard time for everybody to grasp this situation.
Lith was surprised to see so many adventurers here, but it all made sense since the dungeon was in Langerhan city, the dungeon capital of the Vampire Continent.
Looking at so many adventurers, Lith couldn't help but think, 'the association sure is fast.'
The World Adventurer's Association and the World Merchant Association were government owned organizations formed in the Neutral Contient by the main races. They had connections everywhere in the world and it wasn't difficult for an adventurer to quickly go from point A to point B in minutes.
There were categories within the organization and different sets of quickly go from point A to point B in minutes.
There were categories within the organization and different sets of players enjoyed different privileges.
Their ranking within the organization was shown by their badges. The badge had the insignia of the association on the back and the name of the player etched with a special mark on the front.
As Lith could see, the guys running around here had the Emerald or Ruby badges, meaning that they were indeed some important adventurers and had access to a variety of resources.
The levels in the association were Nickel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst.
'Good, good, good. Some high ranking pawns to cause some nice chaos,' thought the Vampire Prince, for whom these high ranking beings were nothing more than ants.
A plan formulated in Lith's mind as he watched them and turning to Luna, said, "change into an adventurer's outfit, Luna. Also wear a mask to appear mysterious, but ensure that half your face is visible."
Luna nodded and in a second, changed into the outfit Lith asked her for.
Lith then pointed at the battlefield and said, "kill those sceptres in a flashy manner. Make sure that those guys see you for an instant and get amazed."
"As His Highness commands." Luna said and excused herself.
"Qingyue, do the same thing as her. I'll instruct you further when the sceptres are killed."
Qingyue excused herself as well and left.
The people on the battlefield were having a really tough time. Even though they were immortals and at such a high position in the association, they were getting humiliated by some mere dungeon monsters.
They were not able to land a single hit on the wandering sceptres and were starting to panic. Is this how they would die? They all thought.
But soon…
An adventurer was about to attacked again, but the attack from the sceptre was blocked right in front of his very eyes.
There he saw it! A woman! No! A pretty lady with red eyes! She appeared right in front of him and hacked the sceptre to death!
The man was shocked and dumbfounded with the events. He tried to see the lady again but she was gone, as if she never existed in the first place.
However, he soon heard a few metal clanging sounds and the aghast whispers of the sceptres who died one by one.
The sceptres fell on the floor after their deaths and once all were killed, the man saw the lady again.
'So pretty…' he thought to himself as he got mesmerized watching a lady in black mage outfit.
"The association tricked us…" A melodic voice woke everybody up from their stupor.
It wasn't of the lady in black mage outfit, but of another lady in blue mage outfit standing a bit away from her, looking at the killed sceptres.
"They did." Another melodic voice resounded in everyone's ears, and this time it was that of the lady in black outfit.
"I didn't think they would trick amethyst badges like us. It's really a shame…"
'What!?' Everyone felt their ears ringing and rubbed them to understand if they were just imagining things or if it was real.
As if understanding the doubts of those watching, the lady in black said with a serious gaze, "what's the point of being an amethyst badge anymore? We were served nothing but a plate full of deception."
"Right… who would've thought those guys were just disposing us one by one for their greater good."
The two's profound conversation seemed like something these Emerald and Ruby badges weren't worthy of hearing. It felt as if they were eavesdropping and doing something highly illegal.
Still, everyone perked their ears up and shut up. They didn't even dare to breathe loudly, afraid that it might interrupt these two experts from continuing further.
Qingyue, the one in blue outfit, got up and turned to Luna, the one in black outfit.
"My guess was correct. They are monopolizing everything and clearing dungeons on their own, not giving a chance to anyone else," said Qingyue.
"Yes, it should be obvious by now. I saw a few dungeon rewards in the black market. They're a hundred percent using us for their own benefits," added Luna.
The people gasped softly hearing that. They could roughly make out that the association had probably cheated these two experts.
Luna and Qingyue talked some more on this to provide more assurance to the ones watching while also sowing seeds of doubt.
In just a few minutes of talking, the first seed germinated when one of the guys said:
"Uhh… excuse me…"
Luna and Qingyue turned to look at him, but didn't respond.
The guy gulped his nervous saliva and said, "you're talking about the World Adventurer's Association, right?"
"What else do you think we would be talking about?" Qingyue glared at the guy. "Those bastards… they fooled us!"
"Umm… can you please elaborate, senior?" The guy said nervously. "This junior is having trouble understanding."
"Junior?" Qingyue asked in doubt.
Luna replied, "look at their badges, they're Emerald and Ruby ones."
"Oh." Qingyue said with some surprise. "So you all are from the association too."
"That's right, senior." The guy said with an enthusiastic tone.
Qingyue clicked her tongue and looked at Luna. "Look, big sis. Those bastards stooped so low to even have us attack on our juniors."
"What…" everyone was shocked once again.
Luna nodded and then began having a conversation with Qingyue again, in a manner in which everyone could understand the picture.
Apparently, the association had sent Luna and Qingyue, two amethyst badges to clear the dungeon. But upon arrival, they were then instructed to kill the ones flocking to the dungeon instead.
These two obviously found something fishy in this and investigated it. They had found things suspicious for a long time, but it was this time that their patience broke and they did a deep investigation.
Upon inspection, they found that the dungeon had already been cleared.
Not only that, it also seemed to have purposefully hidden from the eyes of everybody.
When they looked into things further, they found out that someone had accidentally triggered some mechanism, causing the dungeon to appear again.
This alerted the association and they sent people immediately so as to not appear suspicious.
The association had sent the ones it deemed useless from their side and they wanted them to be gone for good along with dungeon plundering they did secretly.
"We were so loyal to the association and this is how our loyalty is treated?" Qingyue said with an angry look.
The ones hearing the conversation were really shocked out of their wits. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that such a fiasco would appear.
Not to mention, the organization in which they were working so hard… it wanted them dead!
One of the girls among the crowd couldn't help but ask, "s-senior, will you kill u-u-us?"
Luna looked at her and sighed. "Why will I do that? What benefit does it bring me?"
The people sighed in relief.
Qingyue then looked at the guys and said, "no, we shouldn't spare them. What if they go snitch on us and get us killed?"
Gasp!
Everybody sucked in a cold breath of air as they got accused baselessly. Why would they dare!? They couldn't help but scream internally!
Luna thought about it and said, "you're right. We should kill them and pretend nothing happened."
"NOOOO!" Someone couldn't take it anymore and shouted. "Senior, don't do that!"
A person fell onto Luna and Qingyue's feet, pleading for his life.
These guys had no doubts whatsoever about these two ladies in mage outfits being not from the association. It was because… there were just too many people in the association.
Although chances of finding a Sapphire or Amethyst badge was low, it wasn't impossible. Plus, these guys were just another level or two away from that level and this was a SS rank dungeon.
It wasn't out of place for these guys to appear and chat like this.
They also had great strength, visible from the killed spectres on the ground. This confirmed it even further.
Looking at the pleading guy, Qingyue said, "look, junior. We have nothing against you, but the association would come after us if we didn't follow their orders."
"NOOOOO! PLEASE SPARE ME!" The guy shouted. He knew he would be fucked if these two didn't show any mercy.
Some of the adventurers already started sneaking away, but Luna caught them and threw them on the ground beside the pleading guy.
They all shouted for mercy as well and the rest of them froze to their spots.
Luna and Qingyue watched these people plead for their lives for a while and then sighed.
"Stop it. I won't kill you."
The guys started feeling relieved hearing that.
"But…"
Everybody tensed up immediately with this one word!
Of course there was a but! Nothing went smoothly in this accursed world!
They all looked at Luna and the pleading guys on the ground and asked, "but?"
Luna looked at them and continued, "but, there are a few conditions."
.
.
.
.....
A/N: The month is coming to an end and I thank everybody for the support! I hope this stays next month as well and later in the day, I'll post a bonus chapter for you guys for GT completion :)
Oh yes, I also seemed to have noticed that you guys forget the goals, so I'm just gonna add it by the end of the chapter. Hope it isn't an inconvenience. If it is, so let me know. Have a good day!
PS- Be sure to check out character illustrations on discord. There's some nice nsfw ones too :')