"This is terrible! Guild Master Farr! Something catastrophic has happened—!"
Mirabelle practically smashed open the guild master's office door, the wooden panel crashing against the wall with such force that the documents on the desk jumped from the impact.
Farr, who had been bent over his desk writing furiously, frowned as he looked up at her with displeasure. "Mirabelle, even if the sky were falling, you must remain composed! How can you explain anything clearly in such a panic?"
"G-Guild Master!" Mirabelle's chest heaved violently, her face deathly pale. "The dungeon... the dungeon has begun collapsing! The spatial rifts... they've already spread to the fourth and fifth floors!"
"What?!" Farr shot to his feet, his chair sliding backward with a harsh scraping sound. He planted both hands on the desk surface, leaning forward, his eyes filled with disbelief. "Only a month and a bit? That's impossible!"
"It's absolutely true!" Mirabelle trembled with urgency. "We just received reports from adventurers who escaped about the rifts—they encountered attacks from monsters from other dungeons! I personally went to the basement to check the magical fluctuation collection device... the situation is even worse than they described!"
Farr's heart plummeted: "I need to see this myself!"
The two of them practically ran down the stairs, rushing into the monitoring room in the guild's basement, where Farr finally saw the recorded magical spectrum data.
On the chart, glaring energy spikes rose like the fangs of a raging beast, peak after peak in endless succession, with only extremely brief, breath-like intervals of calm between them.
It looked exactly as if a grand magus had been standing beside the instrument, casting terrifying spells day and night without rest!
These completely abnormal magical fluctuations clearly indicated that the dungeon had entered a dangerous phase!
"Damn that Guge! What kind of rubbish formation master!" The usually dignified Farr rarely lost his composure and cursed aloud. "All that thunderous reputation, claiming it would take at least three months to enter the collapse phase! We're not even halfway to three months yet!"
He whirled toward Mirabelle, speaking as rapidly as popping beans: "If three months can't be trusted, then the so-called six-month deadline is complete nonsense! In the worst case... it might completely collapse within days!"
"Mirabelle! Immediately execute the highest emergency protocol!"
"First, seal the dungeon entrance! Post maximum danger warnings and forcibly evacuate all adventurers—not a single one is allowed to enter!"
"Second, organize the evacuation of all townspeople! The scope of dungeon collapse damage is unknown—everyone must retreat at least ten li away! Prioritize arrangements for refuge in neighboring cities, and contact the local lord to explain the situation!"
"What about the refugees?" Lilian, the maid who had been following Farr like a shadow, suddenly asked.
"Right... there are still the refugees!" Farr felt his temples throbbing—this was the real problem. These refugees were already difficult to manage, and now they were tied here by the mushrooms that served as their food source... Forcibly ordering evacuation would likely only meet with resistance!
In theory, he only needed to fulfill his duties of "advising" and "organizing." Those who wouldn't listen would face life and death at their own responsibility—the blame wouldn't fall on him as the branch guild master.
But Farr paused only briefly before decisively ordering: "Mirabelle! Send people to the surrounding cities—no matter the price, purchase a batch of food that can fill stomachs! Then tell those refugees that if they follow the evacuation teams, they'll have hot porridge to drink!"
"Guild Master Farr!" Mirabelle looked troubled. "Everywhere is experiencing food shortages right now! Even red rice has increased in price by more than five times! The refugee numbers are enormous... and most of the materials stockpiled in the guild warehouse haven't been converted to cash yet due to the previous two high-price purchases..."
"Tch!"
Farr irritably ran his hand through his hair, then looked at the maid beside him. "Lilian, go get that money of mine for Mirabelle!"
Lilian's clear eyes looked directly at Farr: "Young master, are you certain? That's all of your savings."
Farr didn't answer Lilian, his sharp gaze fixed on Mirabelle: "Mirabelle, listen! Use this money to buy as much grain as possible! This is a matter of life and death! You're a smart person—handle this well, and I guarantee your future prospects in the guild will be secure! But if you dare touch even a finger to this money..."
"I wouldn't dare! Absolutely wouldn't dare, Guild Master!" Mirabelle frantically waved her hands.
"Go quickly!" Farr waved dismissively.
Mirabelle turned and ran off.
After she left, Lilian said softly: "You won't be able to afford the red porgy shipped from Fisher's Harbor anymore."
"It doesn't matter!"
---
"What the hell is going on?!" The swordsman captain's face was twisted almost grotesquely with rage and grief. His companion's inexplicable death left him desperately needing a target for his hatred. "A magic surge? The guild didn't issue any magic surge warning, did they?!"
"Stop thinking about useless things—let's get out of the dungeon first!" Before the words finished, a bowstring twanged, and a feathered arrow shot through the air with a sharp whistle, precisely piercing the eye socket of a stone-hide boar that had charged from the shadows to the side!
The beast shrieked and fled madly in another direction.
Suddenly encountering this unknown situation, naturally no one dared linger. Vera's trio and the four remaining members of the swordsman team formed a temporary defensive formation and retreated toward the upper levels.
They jogged to the fifth floor, where everyone's tightly wound nerves relaxed slightly—this level, completely controlled by the puffshrooms, was relatively safer.
However, this relief lasted barely ten breaths.
From the shadows, a tall, thin figure approached with a "rustling" sound!
It was a "scarecrow" crudely bound together from withered yellow grass and unknown vines, standing over two meters tall. Its arms were sharp dried grass, its face simple features painted with black mud, with only ominous light flickering in its eye sockets.
Its movements were stiff yet extremely swift, targeting directly the warrior who was carrying the wounded.
"Enemy attack! How can there be such a thing on the fifth floor?!" The swordsman captain's eyes bulged with fury as he roared, his greatsword carrying the sound of wind as it struck viciously at the scarecrow's waist!
Simultaneously, Vera's curved blade traced an arc of light, slashing across the scarecrow's outstretched arm.
Both attacks struck the enemy almost simultaneously. The scarecrow's remains, with rotting grass flying and broken straw scattered, struggled twice on the ground before completely falling apart.
However, this wasn't victory—this was just the beginning...
"Right side!" Fein's voice rose in sharp warning.
Under the eerie glow of the mushrooms on the ceiling, more withered yellow figures appeared in the distance, shadowy and indistinct!
Not just one, but over twenty!
They advanced with slightly stiff steps, silently closing in. The rustling sound of dried grass rubbing together merged into one, instantly filling the entire space.
Worse still, among this group of slowly moving ordinary grass-men, there was mixed in one individual with a more compact build and obviously much swifter movements!
"Fein! Speed everyone up!" Vera reminded while running.
"Maintain formation! Retreat to the fourth floor!" the swordsman captain bellowed, trying to maintain their formation.
However, they hadn't run far before they encountered another group of scarecrows head-on!
With no way to avoid them, after two fireballs, both sides finally clashed in combat.
Before long, their formation was completely broken!
In the chaos, Vera could only barely protect Fei Ling and Fein, fighting while retreating, and was finally forced into a cave.
Vera recognized this place—it was the puffshroom lottery cave.
But now, the fat puffshroom that had hosted the lottery was long gone. Only scattered fragments and a floor covered in mycelium remained in the cave.
The three tried to use the cave entrance to block the grass-men, but under the numerical disadvantage, they were forced to retreat step by step.
"That feeling is coming again!" Fein suddenly called out loudly.
"What?" Before Vera could finish speaking—
A particularly fierce grass-man's claws tore through the air, striking with fierce intent!
Vera, nearly exhausted, struggled to block, and the massive impact instantly threw him off balance. He staggered and fell to the ground.
"Vera!" Fein cried out, magical light flashing urgently at her staff tip as a translucent magical shield instantly condensed in front of Vera.
However, the expected heavy blow never fell.
Right before Vera, space suddenly twisted and tore apart, and that familiar spatial rift that could sever anything appeared once again without warning!
*Swoosh!*
This time, it was the scarecrow that suffered.
*Pop—*
Under the stunned gazes of the three, a round, plump puffshroom leaped lightly out of the rift, landing steadily in this cave that was surrounded by layers of grass-men...
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