"T-the branch leader ran away…?"

"Ahhh! Run! That ancient dire wolf is coming for us!"

"Noo-!"

Chomp~!

Following the rapid retreat of the branch guild leader, it didn't take long before the ancient dire wolf that he was facing rushed over to help its companion. Swallowing up an unfortunate human warrior in the process as it soon pressured the two remaining humans above level 60 away from the half dead ancient dire wolf.

"Damn that old man! Running away the moment things get dangerous!"

"Don't worry about that for now, we should retreat while we still can."

Not able to face the two ancient dire wolves all by themselves, the two remaining humans above level 60 didn't hesitate for long as they soon followed in the footsteps of the branch guild leader in rushing back towards the wall of the town for safety.

In the end, the rest of the humans could only do their best to try and follow these three back towards the town with their limited strength. Most of them were unable to escape in time as the stronger ancient dire wolf ran rampant without the suppression of the branch guild leader. Swallowing up over half of them by the time it reached the walls of the town.

Rumble~!

However, it was just as it was about to rush into the town and massacre the rest of the humans that a brilliant light erupted from the town walls, as a transparent barrier engulfed the entire town. Protecting it from the ancient dire wolf, while at the same time sealing off the escape path of any human unfortunate enough to be caught on the outside.

Even then, the massive ancient dire wolf being caught outside unable to proceed any further still made the people on the inside breath out a sigh of relief. Overjoyed that they had managed to survive the sudden and unexpected arrival of a second fully grown ancient dire wolf stronger than the one they had been fighting.

Different from the relief and happiness over being safe that the rest of the people showed upon witnessing the transparent barrier blocking the ancient dire wolf's attack, the branch guild leader understood that the barrier blocking the ancient dire wolf was the final safety mechanism that had been laid down in the town by the guild to protect it from being destroyed.

"The guardian barrier… I'm really dead when all this ends…" Because of this, he was not the slightest bit happy, as he understood the cost of the transparent barrier in front of him activating.

Not only was it something that had been set with the help of an A Rank Adventurer specializing in the construction of barriers, but it had also cost a tremendous amount of resources. Only being made for the sole purpose of avoiding the even higher cost it would take to build a new town inside the dungeon.

All things considered, the activation of the transparent barrier known as the guardian barrier was only to be used in case of a dungeon town facing possible destruction, as it could only be used once.

Not to mention, every single instance a guardian barrier was activated, the branch guild leader in charge of managing that town didn't have a good fate. Possibly even ending up dead if mismanagement reached a level that severely affected the guild's reputation.

As for escaping after the activation of the guardian barrier? That wasn't an option either, as the guardian barrier essentially also imprisoned the people inside the barrier without any way out before it ran out of energy… And being a branch leader of the guild, he understood that the energy inside the guardian barrier would last for at least a week.

More than enough time for the guild outside the dungeon to be alerted about the situation and send an A Rank Adventurer and a group of guild staff to investigate the situation.

"Hopefully, I will be able to avoid any too serious punishment given the unexpected appearance of a second ancient dire wolf…" Shaking his head as he said this to himself while staring out at the ancient dire wolf current trying to break the guardian barrier, the branch guild leader turned around and made his way back towards the guild branch located at the core of the town.

Even if he couldn't escape punishment for his neglect in stopping the appearance of such a powerful monster on a dungeon floor that had been carefully nurtured by the guild for training of those below B Rank, he could still do his best to prepare and clean up some of the hidden dealing he had been participating in outside the allowance of the guild.

From normal bribes by adventures for help inside the town, to selling living dungeon monsters that could be considered a grave crime due to the dangers of triggering a response from the dungeon itself when dungeon monsters leave the dungeon. The response in question being a flood of monsters rushing out through the entrance of the dungeon.

Even more so considering that the Howling Caverns was part of a city without any way to properly deal with such a situation in the short term.

For one, he needed to hide away the main reason behind why an ancient dire wolf of such a level had even managed to appear in the first place without the guild at large knowing about it, him selling the ancient dire wolf cubs to wealthy nobles outside.

Him stopping adventurers from killing them because he wanted to sell them off allowed one- two of the ancient dire wolves to slip out of his grasp and grow to their current powerful adult form.

At the same time, he also had to find an excuse for the large number of adventurers he had sent out to subdue the weaker adult ancient dire wolf after its attack on the city not too long before today.

"Even if I try to play all of it off as a genuine mistake without any problems on my side and me sending people to subdue the ancient dire wolf the moment, I found out about it, those people will almost certainly end up noticing something. Especially if those two can't keep their mouths shut…"

Narrowing both his eyes as he arrived back inside his office room at the top of the branch guild, the branch guild leader grabbed a few documents from a secret drawer before rushing out to meet up with the other two powerful humans above level 60.

Although he could be considered the main culprit behind the selling of living dungeon monsters to those outside the dungeon, it wasn't like the other two powerhouses ruling the dungeon town together with him were unaware of what happened.

On the contrary, both of them participated as well to some extent and would also end up implicated if his dealings were discovered.

For this reason, the branch guild leader wanted to try and prevent these two from cooperating with the guild investigator in an attempt to lessen their punishment while at the same time saving themselves from a worst-case scenario.

…

"Huh?

One of the guardian barriers in the Howling Caverns was activated!?" At the same time the branch guild leader was trying to figure out how to save himself from his current situation, a woman dressed in a light robe resembling an apprentice mage inside a large hall with several artifacts lining up the walls around her, exclaimed loudly in surprise as she noticed one of the artifacts having turned from its normal gentle blue light, into a bright red light.

"This is… The central town on the third floor?! Doesn't close to 50% of the resources gathered on the third floor flow through this place!? What in the world happened…" Feeling increasingly surprised as she examined the few lines of text below the magical artifact, the young woman didn't waste any time as she turned around and rushed back in the direction she had come from.

"Huh? Silica, what is happening?"

Blocking her path, a young man dressed in a similar robe asked her in a somewhat surprised tone after seeing her anxious expression-

"A GUARDIAN BARRIER WAS ACTIVATED IN THE HOWLING CAVERNS!"

"I see, a guard- WHAT!?"

Hearing what the young woman named Silica said as she rushed past him, the young man nodded in understanding before realizing what she had just said… And not a second later, he similarly rushed after her. Knowing just what the activation of a guardian formation was.

In a sense, their job as watchers of the different artifacts monitoring the situation of the different guardian barriers inside the Howling Cavern was a peaceful one without much to do and good pay.

Only with the activation of a guardian formation that rarely happened once every few years, did their job become one of the most stressful among the staff of the guild, as they would be part of the people investigating the situation inside the dungeon.

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