Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Considering that Ed had the connections, he'd be stupid not to use them. The spiritual marks were already laid all around and his few links were also all on different floors. Not wasting another second, Ed called up A his trustworthy third through the spiritual mark.

'A, did you feel that tremor? Kimani already set off, right?' Ed asked A who was more likely than not awake.

Ed actually couldn't remember the last time he slept, and why would A who was a blood clot sleep? The only one that could be sleeping at that time would be the body he possessed, Yoashk.

'Yes, it was very strong. I'm surprised you could feel it from there' A promptly replied.

Hearing this response, Ed couldn't help but enter a pensive state.

'Is it possible that it originated from the marshlands?' Ed transmitted his thinking to A who was now also pondering if that was the case.

'Since we both felt it… It's not impossible…' Ed didn't feel a particularly strong tremor but that could be easily explained if the epicenter or cause of this earthquake was somewhere within the mushroom caverns. The ogre cavern, previously the home of the ogre Blurak, was pretty close to Sanctuary after all.

Both Ed and A thought along these lines so Ed felt it wouldn't do him any wrong to ask another nearby party.

'I'll have to ask Var Agus then' Ed thought that the shaman might know something. Maybe a new boss spawned in the ogre caverns for example…? 

The reaction might be a bit extreme but Ed believed the dungeon planned to rely a lot less on him so it was not too far-fetched an idea, just a little odd.

'Var, did you feel the quaking?' Ed asked Var Agus. Their link was still strong and active so Var Agus didn't take very long to respond.

'Yes, it created quite the waves here.' Var Agus responded.

'Oh? Any injuries?' Ed was intrigued but Var Agus didn't give this question too much thought.

'Nothing serious' The flimsy houses that did collapse were well… flimsy. They weren't enough to kill mobs the likes of lizardman. Even humans stood a good chance of survival so it was at most a great inconvenience for the lizardman and their tough scales.

Ed didn't say anything back to Var Agus, he was once again immersed in his thoughts.

'Judging by the answers so far, it has to be the crypt' Ed's eyes gleamed after deducting this. The last time there was an earthquake in that place one of the safe rooms fell to ruins.

The only strange thing was that the shaking at that time was mild in comparison to this one. The shock waves didn't reach into other floors then, or at least Ed didn't think that was the case. He certainly didn't recall things being that way.

The only person who could give him answers was now the adventurer girl Kimani. A guaranteed that she had set off so Ed now had to hope she was in the crypt. Judging by the distance he felt from their link he was sure that was indeed the case.

'Kimani, can you hear me?' Ed transmitted with a hint of worry His question was an odd one given that this was a mental message but who could know? Something definitely happened in the crypt!

'Ah…' A mental exclamation was all Ed received back. The girl had to still be stunned from whatever occurred in the crypt.

'It looks like you are safe, what happened?' Ed didn't comment on her exclamation and quickly probed for information.

'I'm… I'm not sure…' Kimani transmitted back through their link. She explained her experience of going through the portal and the subsequent explosion. This much was extremely important news for Ed, however.

'I see, thanks' Ed now knew that the problem was in the crypt and could act accordingly. 

...By which he meant do absolutely nothing.

'If the dungeon doesn't want me there... I can't do much about it' The only thing Ed could do now was finish his tree array and ponder about a way to overcome this limitation. The latter was easier said than done.

'But…' Not necessarily impossible. A good combo he had just come up with was for example the use of thought manipulation alongside a spiritual mark to transmit himself across space.

'The idea is rather reckless but I can try it out in a small scale' Thought manipulation was the ability to manipulate thought not the ability to manipulate his very being. Ed didn't have much hope for this idea.

At least not while the skill remained in its current state.

'I might need to level up the skill' Ed believed this was his best shot at circumventing the whims of the dungeon. As for whether it'd be happy if Ed ever succeeded…

That was something for future Ed to worry about.

***

The worries of the people of Arbor Town clouded the early morning with a solemn atmosphere.

The sky was clear and although there was a chilly winter wind, the day was perfect. So how come everyone appeared so gloomy?

The suffocating atmosphere was being caused by one piece of news.

"Sigh…" Samuel felt exhausted just thinking about the report he received. Jasmine was acting as the head of the Freedom Union branch until a replacement was sent but that didn't mean her and Samuel had completely cut ties.

Jasmine would have someone send a weekly report to Samuel's home and in emergencies, an urgent report. This was such an emergency.

"It's closer to breaking out…" The cave of myths was not going to break out just yet. Nevertheless, as Samuel understood it, there was only a final barrier in its way.

There couldn't possibly be a bigger catastrophe for not just the Bosque Kingdom, but for the entire continent. This was something Samuel solemnly believed in.

From Samuel's years of adventuring, the reason behind dungeons was unknown. Clearing them was simple in contrast, however.

Destroy the core.

Destroying the dungeon's core was akin to killing its brain. Without a brain, there was a chance for the dungeon to either remain as a sort of corpse or collapse instantly. The exact science behind it was not known.

Whatever the case, when this phenomenon occurred the dungeons were known as cleared dungeons. Another popular name was zombie dungeon since more often than not the dungeons would self-destruct in a couple of years.

Another method to clear a dungeon, or rather eliminate one was to overhunt it. 

If the dungeon continued to waste its resources summoning mobs it would eventually reach a point of no return.  That was unless the dungeon stopped summoning mobs in which case the adventurers would just destroy its core.

Either way, the dungeon was getting cleared.

Another method that piggybacked off overhunting the dungeon was farming the dungeon. This was a risky and forbidden method.

The ones in charge of the dungeon would provide it with sacrifices. This was a very frowned upon method since things could easily get out of hand.

Given that it was impossible to measure how much energy a dungeon had, the humans holding the dungeon hostage could be tricked into feeding it until it could break out. After a few farming incidents this method was completely outlawed.

It was tricky though, overhunting could still cause the dungeon to receive sacrifices. That's to say adventurers that died inside the dungeon would still feed the dungeon. Another risk was cultists. There were lunatics everywhere.

Knowing all of this, there was only one end for this. The Bosque kingdom had to destroy the dungeon's core in haste or start a more organized killing of the dungeon's inhabitants.

In fact, Samuel suspected that his plan to increase traffic to help clear the dungeon had backfired. The amount of deaths had more likely than not sped up the dungeon's natural process.

"Sigh…" That was also why Samuel couldn't stop sighing. He felt responsible.

He wanted to jump into the dungeon and clear it himself but apart from knowing it was impossible he also couldn't abandon his family and the academy he was building at such a critical juncture.

"Let's do this… Let's overhunt the dungeon" Since clearing the dungeon by going floor to floor was impossible, Samuel believed it would be more beneficial for him to talk to the Freedom Union and the Bosque royalty to limit influx into the dungeon.

'The first step is raising its classing' They shouldn't allow C-class adventurers into the dungeon anymore. Those were needless sacrifices.

'Next… I should get the royal family to strip the Freedom Union of its right to this dungeon' Letting a money driven organization hold power over the dungeon was a substantial risk.

The Freedom Union would not be against raising the dungeon's classing since they would still be able to collect fees, at an even higher price actually, but it was a problem to get them to fully cooperate with the overhunting efforts.

The Royal family could be convinced to only allow approved individuals into the dungeon but the Freedom Union would never allow for their money cow to be restricted.

Having sketched out a rough plan, Samuel was now prepared to put it into action.

'I can talk to the Duke and Miller' They were the only way to get the Freedom Union to make any concessions. If that wasn't enough, Mite Volcan could probably be persuaded into taking action.

Samuel didn't think the young man was a bad guy. Though his methods were most certainly more than frowned upon.

"Let's hope it doesn't get to that" Samuel would rather not deal with the young emperor.