Two options.
Either defend and make sure that the town is protected.
Or try and eliminate as many monsters as possible before the reinforcements arrive.
These were the two options that the town had.
Each options had upsides, but also downsides…. And the problem was that the town was still unsure how many monsters had escaped the dungeon. Not only that, but the weather conditions were also playing an critical role in the current situation.
"If the town and its people are to be safe, we need to focus on the defense."
"No! If we want to make sure that this town has future, we need to get rid of as many monsters as possible!"
Adventurer guild wanted to focus on the defense, while the mayor and guards side wanted to focus on hunting down the monsters.
This obviously caused an conflict between the two sides.
However, the mayor tried to use his authority to order the adventurers and the guild master to go and hunt down the monsters.
"…"
"No."
The guild master refused and used his own authority to overrule the mayor order, deeming it as "dangerous" and "unstable".
The adventurers were then given choice between two sides…. But because of the mayor history and reputation, the adventurers without hesitation decided to stick with the guild master, forcing the town to end up taking on the defensive stand.
However, guards alongside the mayor still decided to attack the golems, at least the ones that were isolated and far away from the deep parts of the forest.
And while that was happening, an messenger had left the town on the horse and aimed towards the nearest city where both nearest garrison and the nearest neighboring adventurer guild is located in order to request an support.
…
At first things were peaceful after the dungeon break had started…. But after enough time had passed, one of the problems had already appeared.
Just as the guild master had feared and enough time had passed, many of the monsters started trying to avoided the golems, resulting in these run away monsters invading other monsters territories, which in turn caused an chain reaction.
The reaction was somewhat small right now, but as the time would by, more and more monsters would start reactions…. And that forced the mayor to ignore adventurer guild master instructions and send the guards to attack the golems.
However, the guards not only had to deal with the golems, but also with the monsters going on the rampage, causing the town to suffer some first loses as the first guard was killed…. And the news of the guard death had caused some chaos and fear to spread within the town.
This obviously pissed off the guild master, which then resulted in the stability and relationship of two forces to get damaged even more.
And that rift would only to get worse as the time would went by.
Not only that, but because of the forest being located right next to one of main roads, the number of the merchants that started going in and out of the city had noticeable decreased, which did put even bigger mental strain on the people of the town.
As even more time went by, the number of the injured and exhausted guards and adventurers had started increasing….. And to make matters worse, some of the golems found the town as they tried to hunt down some adventurer that tried going solo, only to run into golem that was not alone.
The group of golems wasn't big and it was easily wiped out thanks to the town being ready for the attack, resulting in the town wall not even getting scattered or with anybody dying as well…. But that was the first time the attack had happened on the town and that obviously it did not did wonders to the people mentality.
People started to get even more scared, thinking that the golems will come to the town and try to destroy it.
Fear and panic was spreading more and more…..
…
However, there was an hope.
"Sorry we are late."
"We had received the request and came to the rescue."
"The adventurers from the Okar city shall assist you."
The long awaited reinforcements had came.
"We tried getting here as fast possible, but it started snowing again, which made the whole getting here much more slower." – said the man in heavy armor.
"Don't worry. I'm just glad you got here before we started having some real ass crises." – said the guild master as he went and greeted the adventurers that just entered the town.
"It has been a half a year, huh Mar?"
[Mar – Occupation: Adventurer]
[Rank: D]
[Party leader of the D rank party: Randoms]
"Yea, long time no see." – said Mar.
"Still, I wasn't expecting to come here…. Honestly speaking, not only me but my entire party thought that we would…. Welp, never come back here again." – said Mar as he started walking alongside guild master.
"Welp, I'm just glad that you guys are here… Still, how many people had come?" – asked the guild master.
"Well…. 26 people in total." – said Mar.
"Us 5 and other D rank party that consist of 6 people, while rest are E ranks as well as some carriers and support."
"Some soldiers should also be already on their way here."
"Good…. 11 D ranks will do the job." – said the guild master.
"…"
"What is wrong?" – asked Mar as he noticed guild master annoyed expression.
"…"
"Its…. The mayor…. And probably the lord." – replied annoyed guild master as he walked away from the people alongside Mar, finding some quiet place where they can talk in private.
"This dungeon is way too unknown and we don't even know how the dungeon break could had possible occurred at all."
"We don't know if somebody was doing something….. Or if by any chance it was the dungeon doing all on its own…"
"…"
"I don't know if we should try to aim to destroy the dungeon or not…."
"We lack too much informations."
"Should we play it safe and destroy the dungeon?"
"…"
"I don't want this."
"If you had arrived earlier…. I'm not blaming you, since its winter and it snow was falling each day and stuff….. But if you had gotten here earlier, I would- "
"Well…. That will be the problem." – said the Mar as he took out an envelop and handed it over to the confused guild master.
"…"
"!?"
"What?!"
"Greetings guild master of the Rabbit Town, August."
"I will get straight to the business."
"Wipe out all of the rampaging golems and make sure to tame the dungeon this time properly."
"If you try and exterminate the dungeon again, I will have no choice but to order your arrest."
"Don't try anything funny."
- Arthur Brown.
"The lord?!" – asked confused guild master as he read the contest of the letter.
"Yeb. His soldiers gave me this letter and told me to hand it over to you."
"…"
(This is a threat…. Pretty much he is saying that all of my "authority" is seized as of right now…. And if I don't fallow orders….. SHIT!) – thought the guild master
(BUT DOES HE REALIZED THE CURRENT SITUATION?!)
(….)
(Considering Mar expression….. Shit. I already don't have any authority left…. Shit.)
(They want to make sure the dungeon is tamed…. But would that even work?)
"Anyway, I'm sorry if this is sudden, but me and the others are going to hunting." – said Mar.
"We want to know what we are dealing with ourselves."
An long awaited reinforced had finally arrived…. And with their arrival, the situation almost instantly changed…. And the change itself wasn't an small one either.
It was an massive change.
For the days the town was on the defensive, but now? It was an complete change.
The D rank adventurers who just arrived were able to easily hunt down the golems. Even the feared earth golems with their deadly fire power were also easily hunted down.
And they were not alone. The E rank adventures reinforcements also made their presence know.
The golems were being hunted down left and right, but obviously the golems were no longer the "lone" problem. The other problem was the rampaging monsters.
It did slowed down the golem extermination…. And it only slowed it down.
The golems were still being left and right… Which was obviously noticed by the dungeon master as it noticed the sudden increase in loses.
(Something isn't right.)
(A lot of my golems that are now reporting in and also brining in sacrifices have… Decreased noticeable….)
"…"
(Lack of preys?)
"…"
(Or maybe….. Maybe somebody is hunting them down….)
"…"
(But…. The change is too…. Sudden?)
(….)
(No…. Something abnormal is happening.)
Dungeon master realized that something was going on, which made it worry…. And that was only the start.
The suddenly change started being bigger and bigger, as less and less golems were coming back…. Before then there was no longer any other golems coming back at all.
"…"
(DANGER!)
Dungeon master instantly understood that something was "OUT THERE" hunting down golems left and right.
"…"
(Nothing…. There is no longer even an single golem coming back….. This isn't good…. It was way too sudden.)
(Too many golems were going missing all at once nonstop…. And now not even single one had came back…. There is no mistaking it, they've gotten wiped out.)
(….)
(Still, the preparations on my side are over.)
(New defense forces had been made.)
(Dungeon adjustment had been made.)
(Core…. It is not finished yet… I won't be able to use magic at all, but I will be able to fight.)
(They will come and they will be exterminated.)
The golem outbreak that once terrorized the whole forest… It was gone. Just like that, as if had never had happened.
Every single golem that once caused an big mess, was just eradicated with ease thanks to the reinforcements.
And now? After all the wild golems had been eliminated?
The next target was obvious.
The dungeon.
The extermination squad now gathered to right outside the dungeon, starting their preparations for the invasion.
"…. Nothing. We looked around, but there was just nothing at all." – said the short man as he ran to the group of D rank adventurers.
"By the looks of things, the last of the golems has been hunted down in this area. There are no tracks or anything, just peace and quiet. There won't be any Suprises at all happening from the outside."
"Good. With that, the preparations are good as over." – said Mar.
"Huh…. This was easier than I had thought." – said the cat eared girl as she held onto the destroyed head of one of the wooden golems.
"You sure those things were really E ranks? They felt weak…. Honestly, I don't think that dungeon would be any problem if it has "that" kind of monsters inside."
"You idiots. It is just us who are strong. If those golems were really weak, then the town wouldn't had requested any backup, would they?" – said the male adventurer with spear.
"We are D rank and there is big difference between E and D, unlike the E and F ranks."
"Still… I've got to say… The whole clean up took way longer than I've had expected."
"Well, what did you expected? We are covered in head to toes in the winter coats since its freezing like living hell in here and there is an god dammed snow everywhere." – said adventurer that approached Mar group.
[Tomasz – D rank – Part leader.]
"Anyway, the plan is this."
"Our two parties alongside these 12 guys are coming in with us. 10 E ranks combatants and two carriers."
"And we are not supposed to kill dungeon master or destroy the dungeon… Instead, we need to wipe every single monster in the dungeon?"
"Yes. That is the plan." – replied Mar.
"However, the guild master August made an special request to try and investigate the dungeon, to be more specific the core room."
"?"
"Investigate?" – asked Tomasz.
"Yes." – replied Mar.
"According to him, nobody knows how dungeon break could had occurred at all, since all the time the monsters inside the dungeon were always hunted down."
"Us 5, we were active in this town and we were the ones that did the dungeon investigation of this very dungeon back in the past…. But there was nothing at all."
"So, guild master ordered us to try and hold back the dungeon master in place and possible check the core room, since there is an chance that the whole dungeon break could had been man made by somebody…. And the culprit in question could be hiding inside the core room, behind the dungeon master."
"Hm…. I see." – said Tomasz.
"Anyway, are we going in or not?"
"Yes. The preparations are over." – said Mar as he got up.
"EVERBODY! GET YOUR ASSESS READY!"
"I HOPE YOU ALL GOT READY BECOUSE WE ARE ABOUT TO GO INTO THE DUNGEON!"
"THOSE WHO FEAR FOR THEIR LIFE! FUCK OFF AND JUST GET OUT OF OUR WAY!"
"THOSE WHO TO GET PAID! FALLOW US!"
"…"
"!"
(Invaders.) – thought the dungeon master as it had noticed somebody entering the dungeon.
"…"
(They are finally here….. And….. Huh…. This is bad.) – thought dungeon master as he saw an large group of adventurers entering the dungeon.
(There was never that many of them at the same time…. Danger…. Unknown…. But probably very high.)
(I need…..I need...)
"…"
Dungeon master suddenly stopped in tracks…. As it spotted somebody…. Or more specific spotted several people that the dungeon master had recognized instantly.
Those people that had filled the dungeon master with dread beyond any other…..
…
They had returned.
"THE PREDATORS"