Chapter 76 - The Looming Stampede (1/2)
The next day, Tsutomu went to Ealdred Crow and asked Rook if he had gotten in touch with the Enchanter yet. Instead of the expected good news, Tsutomu got a bad, worrying one,
“You see, the Stampede this time seems to be quite a lot more… large-scale than they were before. It’s totally chaotic out at the town where I sent our informants to; they couldn’t even get very far. They heard from the townspeople that a monster looking like a Fire Dragon had been seen in town — that’s how bad the Stampede is.”
“That does sound worrisome, yes…”
Stampedes had at first been considered to be like natural disasters, with no ways of dealing with them. But then it had turned out that, by having the Labyrinth Conquerors and the military force thin out the monsters in the Dungeons ahead of time, the scale of the Stampede could be minimized.
In turn, that had led to relatively weak monsters coming out of the Dungeons and attacking well-defended towns, so soldiers and explorers no longer had to risk their lives as much, and merchants could make a good profit since they would get to trade a great quantity and variety of materials. The Stampede had since turned into a festival for those living in Dungeon City, and Tsutomu had been told as much.
Since the establishment of the Labyrinth Conquerors, the monsters in the Dungeons had been thinned out regularly, so the Stampedes had been manageable for many years without any unexpectedly strong monsters. This time, however, a large monster had appeared. There had been such unforeseen events once every twenty years or so, but even then, the appearance of a monster the size of a Fire Dragon was unheard of.
Currently, the Labyrinth Conquerors were rushing towards the city under attack, to secure evacuation routes for the residents and to stop the monster. According to Rook’s explanation, the aftermath of the Stampede would still be hitting Dungeon City regardless.
“Oh, please don’t talk about this to anyone yet. I only found out by accident because we happened to have sent our informants there — the Labyrinth Conquerors and the Security Team are still keeping quiet about it.”
“Then why’d you even tell me in the first place…?”
“Consider it part of my thanks for your guidance. Besides, the Security will be announcing it in three days anyway. The main thing might happen in less than a month, so you might as well do your shopping while you can, Tsutomu.”
“Ah, right. Thanks for the reminder.”
“C’mon, man, relax. You’re looking really tense like now.”
“Not as much as you, Rook,” Tsutomu talked back, seeing Rook’s grim expression, unfitting for his youthful, adorable face.
Since it was not yet public that the coming Stampede will likely be more intense than usual, Rook had been working to hoard various essential goods for his Clan, in case things later jumped up in price.
“Anyway, with the Stampede happening, we’ll have to put off the Enchanter’s training to after that’s over.”
“Yes, I understand. I’ll be taking a break until then… Well, and I think I’ll be a little busy the next three days.”
“Right,” Rook said and smiled in the corners of his mouth.
Tsutomu thanked him and left the Clan House, hurrying to see if there was anyone reselling the Forest Apothecary’s Potions. Finding one, he saw that both Green and Blue Potions were relatively overpriced, but he did not mind paying for them.
After that, he went to get his equipment checked, stocked up on emergency food that would last for a long time, and also bought some Magic Stones as substitute fuel for his magic tools. Although Tsutomu had yet to go through a Stampede, he acted now just like how he would before a Town Defense Battle event in Live Dungeon, for now assuming them to be the same thing.
Finishing the preparations of his equipment and supplies without difficulty, Tsutomu then headed to the Guild’s fee-charging reference room on the second floor. There, he searched for information on the Stampede while thinking back to the game’s Town Defense events. The first things Tsutomu thought were about God’s Dungeon and the risk of his own death.
If monsters were to enter Dungeon City during the Stampede, the city would definitely lose its function. This would, without a doubt, slow down his progress down God’s Dungeon, or in the worst case, the monsters could occupy the city and make exploration impossible altogether. Tsutomu wanted to avoid the latter from happening, so he figured that he needed to help protect Dungeon City.
However, fighting outside of God’s Dungeon came with the risk of death — of the permanent kind, unlike inside, where one would come back to life, just as Tsutomu had experienced himself.
[…Wonder if there’s some kind of logistical support unit in a safe place.]
The materials were full of detailed procedures of how to organize groups and act during Stampedes; Tsutomu flipped through them, and was disappointed to see that only medically-specialized White and Gray Mages would be put in charge of such matters.
Inside the Dungeon, a failed attempt at healing would not be much of a problem, with the target being back to normal once they left, but elsewhere, it was necessary to confirm what was wrong with the patient first before proceeding with the treatment. Although healing skills were decently versatile, there were times when the healing came out… wrong and strange. Such was the reason such things were generally left to specialists.
[Hmm… At least the usual monsters won’t be much of a threat, from what I’m seeing.]
The main monsters of Stampedes were Goblins and Kobolds, individually weak but quick to increase in numbers. The other monsters were like those found in the Grasslands and Forests, with the occasional stronger monsters, but even those were at the level of Swamp monsters at best. The Explorers of Dungeon City would indeed have no difficulty doing away with them.
However, Rook’s mention of a Fire Dragon-like monster was worrisome. In Town Defense Battles, one would know what event-unique special monsters they would face, but the game had no history of any Fire Dragons and similar monsters spawning. If the informants’ news were true, then things could get quite troublesome.
[I’ll make sure to secure myself an escape route, at least.]
To Tsutomu, God’s Dungeon was an important lead to his return to his old world; losing access to it would be the same as losing one of the objectives that motivated him. Then again, him dying would mean losing everything, so he looked for escape routes just in case.
[Maybe I should learn how to ride a horse. But I don’t have a place to keep one… and if I leave it in someone else’s care, I might not be able to access it quickly enough in an emergency… Well, I’ll just learn it. I might not be able to always use <<Fly>>, after all.]
In this world, horses were the most common means of ground transportation. There were some people who tamed monsters to use as vehicles, but that was not yet practical enough to let just anyone use them. Magic-powered trains also existed in some other towns, but not in Dungeon City, the reason being that Stampedes occurred every six months, making it impossible to maintain the tracks.
Stampedes had been a thing before the emergence of God’s Dungeon, with the monsters flooding out of the Dungeons and laying waste to the nearby areas in search of food. After God’s Dungeon had appeared, however, the monsters would always head to Dungeon City after their initial rampages.