Party Noiver stepped away from the dampness of Treeze Forest with mixed emotions. For Keyzier, the resentment of being "played" by the mysterious doors inside the cave still lingered in his mind.
They walked along the dirt road toward Verna City with a single goal: to report the anomalies they had found so their investigation mission could be completed immediately.
However, a strange atmosphere began to settle in as they arrived at the city gates. The two soldiers on guard suddenly froze. The swords they held seemed to tremble slightly. The gaze of the two soldiers showed a deep shock, as if they were looking at a group of ghosts who had just risen from the grave.
Keyzier furrowed his brow, bewildered by their shocked expressions. He stopped for a moment, but since neither of the soldiers uttered a word or asked a question, he chose to ignore it. With a steady pace, he signaled his comrades to continue walking into the city.
All along the way to the Adventurer's Guild building, the mood did not improve. Every pair of eyes they passed seemed transfixed.
Whispers began to echo at the street corners, and the atmosphere of Verna City felt much more tense than when they had first departed. Donovan, Novalia, and Evaliza also sensed the oddity, yet they kept their pace, following Keyzier toward the guild.
Inside the guild lobby, the once-boisterous atmosphere suddenly fell into a dead silence the moment the doors swung open. Every adventurer there halted their activities. Their eyes were locked on the four people who had just entered.
Bella, the receptionist, looked utterly stunned. However, behind her shock, a profound sense of relief radiated from her as she saw Party Noiver appear.
"Ah... thank goodness the four of you are alright!" Bella exclaimed, her voice trembling slightly. She immediately stood up from her chair. "What happened to you? Did you get lost or experience something horrible out there?"
Keyzier, Donovan, Novalia, and Evaliza looked at each other with bewildered faces. They truly did not understand Bella's attitude or the excessive attention from everyone in the guild.
"Bella, what are you talking about?" Keyzier asked with a confused tone. "We were only inside that cave for a few hours. Why is there such a commotion?"
Upon hearing that answer, Bella's eyes widened. She stared at Keyzier with a sharp gaze full of disbelief. The entire lobby seemed to hold its breath, waiting for the conversation to continue.
"A few hours, you say? Are you still sane?" Bella cried out, her voice rising an octave in shock. "It has been five days since you went missing after accepting that mission!"
Bella's words hit them like a bolt of lightning. The four members of Party Noiver froze in their tracks.
"What are you saying? There's no way we were gone that long! We didn't even have enough supplies to last for five days!" Keyzier countered loudly.
An inevitable commotion broke out. Keyzier and his comrades insisted they had only been in the cave for a matter of hours, while Bella stood her ground, claiming the guild calendar had shifted by five days since their departure.
"If you don't believe me, go ask them over there instead of arguing with me!" Bella snapped irritably, pointing toward the crowd of adventurers in the lobby.
Keyzier, still feeling that this made no sense, immediately approached several adventurers at random. He asked them about what had actually happened during their absence.
The answers he received were always the same and consistent: Party Noiver had disappeared without a trace for five long days.
He even learned that the guild had asked several other adventurers to scout Treeze Forest to search for them. However, those who entered the forest returned with injuries from fierce forest monster attacks.
Keyzier returned to the reception desk with a pale face. The four of them were truly in shock. How could time be distorted so severely? We felt as if we were only fighting and moving through doors for a few hours, yet in the outside world, life has gone on for five days without any of us noticing.
After things calmed down slightly and their heart rates began to return to normal, Keyzier took a deep breath to begin his investigation report. He had to set aside the confusion regarding time and focus on what they had encountered inside.
"Inside that cave, there are countless Black Wolf monsters." Keyzier reported with a serious tone. "In addition, there is a black wolf that walks on two legs while carrying two swords in its hands!"
The adventurers in the lobby began to draw closer, listening to the extraordinary report.
"Aside from having high speed, this pack of Black Wolves can attack using fire magic from their mouths. They can attack us from both close and long range very effectively!" Keyzier continued.
He went on to clarify the threat. "Then, the large wolf monster carrying two swords has immense physical strength and incredible speed. It can also use wind and fire magic from both its swords simultaneously!"
Keyzier looked at Bella seriously. "Its magical power is truly overwhelming. If we were hit by its attack directly, the four of us would surely have died instantly!"
Hearing Keyzier's report, the people in the guild were stunned. The description of a monster that attacked with two elements and was proficient with weapons sounded too fantastic for a monster found in the forest near the city. Many doubted the report, dismissing it as a hallucination caused by exhaustion.
However, those dismissive expressions changed drastically when Keyzier utilized his Inventory magic. In an instant, he pulled out all the monster carcasses he had gathered from the cave, right in front of the reception desk.
Thud! Thud! Bam!
A pile of Black Wolf corpses filled the lobby floor, and at the peak lay the terrifying carcass of the Black Werewolf along with its two swords. Bella recoiled, her body trembling as she saw the form of a monster she had never seen before.
"A-aren't all these monsters said to originate from the Demon World?" Bella cried out, her voice shaking with fear.
However, before anyone could touch or examine the carcasses further, something unexpected happened. All the monster corpses Keyzier had pulled from his inventory began to glow dimly, then turned into ash.
Even the two large swords used by the Black Werewolf were not exempt from the phenomenon. They crumbled into dust, leaving no physical evidence behind. Everyone in the lobby stood frozen, witnessing the scene unfolding before them.
Bella became absolutely certain and immediately shouted, her face growing even paler. "There is no doubt! That cave is a Dungeon! Because the monsters you brought back vanished the moment they were taken out of it!"
Upon hearing the receptionist's words, the guild building erupted into an uproar. Party Noiver had just discovered an active dungeon located very close to Verna City. It was a discovery of massive proportions.