Ch.236Adventurers, Assemble

The well where the tentacle monster had emerged had already dried up long ago.

After confirming the interior was safe using Phyllis’s night vision ability, I climbed down into the well using a rope and discovered a black stone half-buried in the well floor.

The stone had arcane words engraved on it, just like those found in the warehouse and beneath the banquet hall.

“The cunning usurper, not content with merely splitting and hiding the emperor’s authority, had powerful guardians from the demon realm protect it.”

“If you wish for the emperor’s return, take the medal hidden here, gather the crown and scepter, and bring them to the place where the emperor once reigned.”

After reciting the arcane words and obtaining the medal, I recovered the tentacle monster’s magic stone, climbed back up to the surface, and shared the contents of the black rock with everyone.

With this, the conditions for returning the Tyrant Emperor were now fulfilled. All that remained was to wait for the other adventurers to arrive, gather everyone’s opinions, and decide whether to proceed.

About 30 minutes later, noisy sounds began coming from outside the castle gate.

The adventurers who had departed from Wellord Mine were entering the dungeon one by one, returning fire against the watchtowers’ attacks.

“They arrived earlier than expected?”

“They probably picked up the pace since they couldn’t see us. The watchtowers’ attacks aren’t much of a threat, so they’ll be inside the gates soon.”

Sure enough, after several gunshots were exchanged, the commotion outside the gates subsided, and familiar faces began appearing one by one through the hole in the wall that Jessica had created.

“Hey there, good work.”

“…I can’t believe you really arrived by carriage. Have you already cleaned out the inside?”

“We wanted to, but time was short. We looked around the smaller buildings, but we haven’t even entered the watchtowers or the inner castle.”

“That’s quite unfortunate. Hahaha.”

The adventurers were delighted that their share of the dungeon remained untouched and rushed toward the inner castle, but upon seeing the main gate sealed by a magic circle, they shook their heads and returned to where we were.

“Well, well… so that’s why you’ve been resting so comfortably.”

“If you can’t conquer all four watchtowers in time anyway, might as well preserve the party’s strength, right?”

“I’d like you to think of it as us leaving the prime adventure for everyone’s enjoyment. Each of us can tackle a watchtower of our choice, then storm the inner castle together to clear the dungeon. Sounds good, doesn’t it?”

I said with a grin, but these adventurers weren’t the type to take such words at face value.

“Look, we may be slower than you, but we’re not fools. It’s easy to see that you must have found some important clues while exploring everywhere except the inner castle and watchtowers.”

“Why do you think that?”

“If you arrived hours before us but had nothing to show for it, you’d be busy exploring the watchtowers by now. It’s obvious that the inner castle is the core of this dungeon, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t treasures in the watchtowers.”

“The fact that you’re calmly resting and waiting for us means you’re either hoping to benefit while we scramble around the watchtowers, or you were waiting until enough people gathered. Am I wrong?”

Besides the two who questioned me directly, many of the adventurers gathered here seemed convinced that we had discovered “something.”

Even the few adventurer parties who had entered later and were planning to check the inner castle before moving to the watchtowers noticed the unusual atmosphere and began gathering around.

“Everyone’s quite perceptive. You’ve saved me the trouble of explaining the situation and gathering everyone.”

“Well then, let’s hear your story. What did you find after racing here in that huge carriage?”

Facing about 30 adventurers waiting eagerly for my story, I cleared my throat and told everyone about the Tyrant Emperor and the Cunning Usurper.

Of course, I didn’t mention the arcane words or show the three actual treasures.

“…So to summarize, the boss of this dungeon is this Cunning Usurper fellow, and you can potentially resurrect someone called the Tyrant Emperor using the three treasures you found.”

“The resurrected Tyrant Emperor will likely be hostile to the Cunning Usurper, but there’s also a chance he won’t be.”

“Sounds fine to me. Even if this Tyrant Emperor is stronger than the Cunning Usurper, we have over 30 people here. Worst case, we can abandon the competition and rush in together to riddle him with holes.”

When the tan-skinned man with dual pistols said this, many adventurers nodded in agreement.

In reality, most dungeon bosses in Grantis are defeated by parties of 5-6 adventurers, and there have been cases where two or more parties joined forces to take down powerful bosses.

“And I heard this recently… monsters that appear only when specific conditions are met in a dungeon tend to drop valuable materials or magical items more frequently. If it’s a boss-level monster, that goes without saying.”

“Oh! I’ve heard about that too. In a dungeon with Crawler Worms, someone activated a trap that turned all the worms into moths, and those moths dropped high-quality fiber materials as loot, earning them a hefty profit.”

“Then there’s nothing more to discuss. Let’s summon this Tyrant Emperor or whatever, have him cut off the usurper’s head, and then we’ll take the emperor’s head ourselves!”

When someone brought up the possibility of additional rewards, the adventurers’ opinion quickly shifted toward bringing back the Tyrant Emperor.

After all, adventurers are people who wander the dangerous frontier driven by curiosity, with their lives as collateral.

They won’t be satisfied until they uncover all the secrets of this dungeon, if only to see the conclusion between the Tyrant Emperor and the Cunning Usurper.

“Alright, let’s establish a concrete plan of action. First, regarding the conquest of the four watchtowers…”

From there, the discussion proceeded smoothly.

Including us, there were a total of 36 adventurers who had entered this dungeon, divided into 8 parties.

This meant that two parties could tackle each of the four watchtowers.

Which party would be responsible for which watchtower was decided fairly by drawing lots, and it was agreed that entry into the inner castle would only happen after all surviving adventurers regrouped at the plaza in front of the gate.

This was to prevent casualties from parties rushing to conquer watchtowers quickly in an attempt to be the first to enter the inner castle.

Of course, this agreement had no binding force or enforcement, so if someone was determined to cut in line, there would be no way to stop them… but I don’t think anyone would risk their reputation as an adventurer to do such a thing.

After entering the inner castle, each party would be free to act as they wished, except that they should refrain from entering the boss room until the Tyrant Emperor could be summoned.

However, since dungeon boss rooms don’t always have impressive appearances, it’s entirely possible to end up fighting the boss unprepared.

If this happens, we would inevitably conclude the dungeon investigation by defeating the Cunning Usurper, but at the very least, we agreed to postpone destroying the core until the dungeon interior had been thoroughly investigated.

“Good, it seems we’ve established all the important rules.”

“Come on! Let’s get moving! Our party is taking the northeast tower!”

“We’ve got the southwest! Everyone, prepare yourselves!”

As soon as the plan was set and the lots were drawn, the adventurers moved out to tackle their assigned watchtowers.

Our party was paired with the smallest three-person party to take on the northwest watchtower.

“Oh! So you’re the team coming up with us.”

“Yes, it’ll be a brief partnership, but we’re counting on you.”

The three-person adventurer party joining us at the northwest watchtower consisted of two gunners and one staff wizard, but interestingly, all three carried large-caliber double-barrel shotguns.

“Do all of you use shotguns? Even the mage?”

“That’s right. I specialize in defense and support magic. A shotgun blast is more reliable than mediocre attack spells.”

“We’ll take the lead, so be careful not to get in our way up front. Hahaha!”

The trio confidently led the way with their double-barrel shotguns, opening the entrance and heading into the watchtower.

“We have close combat specialists here though…”

“They probably want to collect the monsters’ magic stones. Let’s just let them do as they please for now.”

“OK. They’ll fall back if things get dangerous.”

We followed the trio up the watchtower stairs, hoping to find a device at the top that could deactivate the magic circle protecting the inner castle.