Impenetrable Dungeon - Chapter 26

The goblins immediately rushed forward to welcome the fainted Honour Guards into the town. Well, it would be better to say that they hauled the fainted Honour Guards into town. They immediately notified Marcus when the Honour Guards arrived on their front door. They rushed to give them medical aid and save their lives if they are possibly severely injured. Fortunately, it was only exhaustion and there were no severe injuries, only superficial ones. They simply needed to rest and they would be just fine. How long they had to rest for was questionable but at least they would definitely wake up, probably. The goblins then also sent out parties of goblins to try and kill the adventurers and disperse the massive wave that they had created. Fortunately for the adventurers, the goblins made too small of a team to properly kill an experienced and skilful adventurer. However, they harassed them to the point of exhaustion and all of them left with at least some severe, possibly fatal or career-ending, wounds. It was safe to say that if they didn’t die finding their way to the exit then they certainly wouldn’t come back to any dungeon. However, they had to move fast if they wished to live since a massive raiding party was being built up to hunt down the surviving adventurers. The goblins and orcs were the leaders of the raiding party however the other races in the dungeon were also building their own raiding parties to hunt down the adventurers. This would definitely cause the adventurers entering the dungeon to be misery for a long time. The suffering of the Honour Guards under the hands of a massive group of adventurers was soon made known around the dungeon. This had caused anger to spark in the hearts of the inhabitants of the dungeon. The way the Honour Guards were treated felt like disrespect towards their Dungeon Master, Marcus, which left them infuriated. As such, the dungeon soon became a tomb for any adventurer that would come in. It already had the ability to spell death for them since the beginning but under the orders of Gaia, the monsters in the dungeon weren’t allowed to chase after the adventurers. However now Gaia’s orders no longer held any power. In the eyes of the monsters, Marcus was the more authoritative figure while Gaia was merely a personal assistant meant to execute orders that were given by Marcus and pass it down the hierarchy. The adventurers were chased down by the monsters whether they took part in the hunt against the Honour Guards or not. This caused the dungeon to be called ‘Netherworld Dungeon’ amongst the adventurers as during the time that the monsters were angered not a single person came out of the dungeon. Marcus was informed of this the moment he came out and immediately ordered all the monsters to retreat. He needed the adventurers to enter his dungeon to gain resources and provide training for his soldiers. If they couldn’t even enter the dungeon or if the dungeon was notoriously known for being a place of no return then why would adventurers enter? To seek death?

The Honour Guards slept like a rock for 3 straight weeks. This had alarmed those taking care of them as they were thought to be dead. Fortunately, Marcus came out a week into their slumber and pacified the disheartening news. He told them that his Honour Guards were simply exhausted and they would wake up soon enough. This put the hearts of the monsters at ease and they eventually stopped their ruthless chase of the adventurers. The adventurers had also started returning and the previous instance was considered an accident or an annual beast tide that would happen. Whatever the truth was didn’t matter to the adventurers as long as they could make a living.

The adventurers woke up three weeks later in their own rooms. The moment they exited their private space they were greeted by the sight of Marcus sitting on a four-legged wooden chair reading an old worn out book. Marcus looked up from his book and motioned for them to come closer. The Honour Guards quickly walked to his feet and kneeled. “Milord,” they greeted in unison.

“Milord please forgive our awful performance,” Asura started. He was now recognised as the defacto leader of the group.

“What is there to apologise about?” Marcus cut in. “Do you find it shameful that you collapsed after a long hard battle?”

The Honour Guards solemnly nodded as they hung their heads in shame.

“There is nothing to be ashamed about,” Marcus assured them. “If you hadn’t collapsed I would be more ashamed of you because that would mean that you weren’t mortals but spies from the Gods, Devils or Buddhas. However, now I am assured of your loyalty to me.”

“We are honoured,” the Honour Guards replied.

“Hm! Then here are some Cultivation Techniques that I have prepared for all of you,” Marcus said as he took out the Recording Crystals that he had prepared previously, “Distribute them amongst yourselves. You should be able to easily find out which one is for you as I had personally tailored it for you.” Marcus handed the Recording Crystals to Asura who was overwhelmed without emotions. They bowed deeper and said, “Our lives are yours, Milord!”

“I don’t need your lives. What I need is a powerful group of generals who can command my armies in my steed,” Marcus looked at them with scrutiny, “Can you become my generals?”

“Yes, Milord!” they thundered.

“Prove it,” Marcus said as he walked away. “There are some more Recording Crystals in the bag by the chair. Hand it over to Gaia and tell him to create a library for them. Tell him that it can be used as a reward for monsters who have worked hard. Tell him that he can set up the Reward and Punishment system himself. I’m off to sleep.”

“As you wish Milord,” Asura replied as he lifted the bag while clutching the Formless Sword Arts Recording Crystal.