Bab 67: Murderous Eyes
The seventh article of the Awakened Law stipulated that in case of a yellow or red emergency, any Awakened available must offer their help as soon as possible unconditionally.
This law was put into place due to the constant danger of dungeons erupting and foreign races invading. Part of the test to become an official Awakened was memorizing this law, and it was one of the reasons that humanity had managed to hold on during their most difficult times.
Emergencies are represented by three colors.
Green: Low danger to the population. A newly discovered dungeon is a green-class emergency.
Yellow: Considerable danger to the population. When a dungeon is about to overflow, it's considered a yellow-class emergency.
Red: High degree of danger. When entire cities are in danger, it's considered a red-class emergency.
Aware of this fact, we were stunned when the woman that called herself Serena indicated that we were in the middle of a yellow-class emergency!
Does it mean that this dungeon was about to overflow?
But why so fast? It appeared less than one day ago.
'Demon, do you know anything about it?'
[Don't ask me, boy. I don't know either.]
I see...
I was slightly disappointed, but I did not show it in my expression. At the same time, Mary asked Serena about the situation.
"I will explain it to you in the way," Serena said calmly. "Please, follow me for now."
We looked at each other and nodded. We could not refuse anyway.
In the way, Serena explained the situation.
Apparently, she was part of the group sent inside the dungeon to scout the situation and if possible, clear the dungeon. But when they arrived at the core of this dungeon, they discovered two frightening facts.
One, the spiders in this dungeon were Swarm Spiders. A kind of spider that hunted in groups and whose behavior was very similar to ants. They created a nest with a queen and used all the resources nearby to increase the size of the nest.
"Right now, the number of spiders in this dungeon should be over two thousand. That is not a number that my companions and I can take care of."
We were shocked.
"How strong are your companions, Miss?" Andrew asked.
"Another Tier Seven Awakened and one Tier six Awakened."
Just that?
I don't know how powerful a Tier Seven Awakened is, but I don't believe that two of them can kill thousands of spiders by themselves.
"But, can't you ask for reinforcements from the association?" Mary suggested.
Serena sighed with a heavy expression. "We can, but here comes the second problem. After checking the situation in this dungeon, we discovered that the dungeon will erupt in around twelve hours. Two hours have passed since then, so we have only ten hours to clear this dungeon.
"The technology to communicate between a dungeon and the outside world is very immature. Even in the best scenery, the association will learn about our situation only after six hours.
"It means that they have less than six hours to organize a team strong enough to clear the dungeon and send it inside. If something goes wrong, perhaps even less time. Unless the association manages to enlist the help of a Tier Eight Awakened or above, it won't be enough time. Do you understand the situation now?"
We nodded with grave expressions.
If the swarm spiders reach the outside world, it will be a disaster. Thousands of people could die.
Therefore, it was essential to clear this dungeon before that happened.
And if the association did not manage to send reinforcement in time, then the Awakened trapped inside this dungeon were the only ones that could do it.
"The situation is pretty bad…" I muttered to myself.
"It is." Serena nodded. "We can only do our best. These spiders must not leave this dungeon."
After that, Serena led us to the command center that she and the other two Awakened had established. During the way, we did not meet any other Awakened, making Serena furrow her brows.
Including us, Serena had found only thirteen Awakened. She could only hope that her two companions had a better harvest.
The command center was on the top floor of a twenty-floor building one kilometer away from the core of the dungeon. From this place, the situation in the core could be seen easily.
When I looked at it, I was surprised to see that several hundreds of meters around it had been turned into a maze of spiderwebs. Moreover, countless spiders were wandering the streets nearby, searching for prey and food.
It seemed like a scene out of a horror movie.
"You arrived." A man approached Serena as soon as we arrived. He then looked at us. "Are they all the Awakened that you found?"
Serena nodded. "What about you?"
"I found twenty people, but Steven only found nine. Including us, we have only forty-five people."
"That is a lot fewer than we expected. I hoped to find sixty people or so," Serena's expression was serious.
The man nodded. He then looked at us before fixing his gaze on Andrew, Karime, Jessica, and me, and frowning.
"The four of you. Are you Jane Walker, Jessica Kim, Karime Kim, and Andrew Mattew?"
We were stunned. "Do you know us?" Jessica asked.
The man sighed. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is John. Before entering the dungeon, someone asked me to look out for the four of you. It's good to know that you are alright. But…"
John did not continue, but I understood what he wanted to say.
Most likely, my mother was the one that gave that order. But in the current situation, he could not afford to babysit us.
They were short in manpower. Right now, they needed as much help as possible.
Understanding that, I spoke for my friends.
"Don't worry, we understood. We will participate in the operation."
"That is good." John nodded. "There is no need to be anxious. Actually, we sent a message to the Association explaining the situation here. There is a high chance that they will send a team able to take care of this situation soon."
I nodded. That was a very likely scenery.
But–
"What if nobody comes?" Someone asked.
"Then we will fight," John replied without any hesitation. "We will wait until four hours before the dungeon overflows. If reinforcements have not arrived by then, we will proceed by ourselves."
The Awakened nearby immediately became tense.
I was slightly nervous too. With a glance, I could see that most of the Awakened here were not that strong. Besides Serena, Josh, and the other Tier Six Awakened, there were only three Awakened at the Fifth Tier, including Mary.
As for the others, most of them were at the second and third tiers.
I was doubtful about how useful they could be against the spiders.
Well, I'm just Tier Two Awakened, so it's not as though I can talk about them.
After John explained the whole situation to us, we decided to find a place to rest. The battle against the spiders is going to be hard. We should rest now that we have the opportunity.
Right then, though, I felt a familiar aura.
Startled, I looked in the direction of the aura, only to tense up and grab my spear instinctively.
There, a strong-looking man was staring at us with murderous eyes.
He was the leader of the robbers we met a few hours ago, and the brother of the first man I killed.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone