New pets

The one that ran ahead of all the others and jumped into her embrace was Seul Ah.

Luckily, Maria had hidden the cat and the wolf behind her back before getting tackled by Seul Ah like this or they would have been crushed between the two of them.

Though Seul Ah tackling her still knocked her to the ground, so they fell underneath her.

Being squashed like this hurt, but it wasn't as if they could do anything about it.

Maria just made a mental note to make it up to them with some tasty snacks later.

As she buried her head in Maria's…small chest, Seul Ah cried and said, "Maria! I was so worried about you!"

Maria just patted her on the back with a smile on her face and said, "It's fine, it's fine. You should know that these kinds of things are normal and you all came to save me, right?"

Seul Ah wouldn't be calmed down as she kept crying in Maria's chest.

As for the other S Rankers, while they couldn't dive into her embrace like Seul Ah did, they all had worried looks on their faces. They stood in front of her and carefully looked at her, using their various observation skills to make sure that she was alright.

Maria naturally felt uncomfortable being scanned like this by them, but she knew that it would just be worse if she didn't let them do it. So she just accepted being scanned by them like this with a sigh.

It was a good thing that they were so focused on her safety that they didn't notice the cat and wolf.

Once they were certain that she was alright, they finally all let out a collective sigh of relief.

Then it was Guang Liang who noticed that there was something off with Maria first.

He narrowed his eyes to look at her before saying, "Big sister, what do you have hidden behind you?"

When he said this, all of them couldn't help turning to look at Maria. As for Maria, when she heard this, she couldn't help jolting and jumping up like a little kid that had suddenly been caught doing something naughty.

Seeing this, all of the S Rankers couldn't stop a gentle look from appearing in their eyes because she really was too cute like this.

It didn't take long for them to find what she had hidden behind her because all of them had high grade investigation abilities. They were also able to see right through the wolf and see that its true identity was…a Fenrir.

As for the little cat, they could tell that it wasn't normal, but they couldn't see through its disguise completely to tell what it was.

In short, it didn't take them long to figure out what Maria was hiding and their true identity.

However, not a single one of them was surprised since they were already used to this.

After all, they all knew the true identity of Xiao Bai and the bird in the shop…

Seeing that everyone was staring at her, Maria had no choice but to pull out the wolf and cat from behind her.

Guang Liang gave a sigh when he saw this and asked, "Again? Big sister, if you keep picking up animals like this, your house will be filled with them."

Maria lowered her head since she knew that he was right. But she just couldn't help it when it came to cute and fluffy creatures like this. Before she knew what had happened, she would be taking them home.

The cat revealed a displeased look at being talked to like this, but it still had to act like a cat, so it couldn't do anything to Guang Liang standing in front of it. However, it did make the silent decision that if the chance allowed it, it would take revenge on Guang Liang.

As for the Fenrir…

It was in shock at how many powerful people were standing in front of it.

It could tell from the auras coming from these people that every single one of them was stronger than it.

In just an instant, it had gone from heaven to hell…

Was this where it would die?

After all, all of these people were humans and it was well known that humans and monsters like it didn't get along.

But after a while, Guang Liang said, "This is the last time, alright?"

Maria looked up with sparkling eyes as she said, "Really?"

Guang Liang gave a sigh before saying, "You'll take it back with you even if I said no, right?"

Maria was about to give a nod, but she stopped herself in time.

Guang Liang gave another sigh when he saw this.

His big sister was calm and collected when facing most things, but…when it came to cute animals, that was when she lost her cool.

However, he found it very cute when he saw her like this.

He knew just how much she had sacrificed to put him through school after their parents died, so he just wanted the best for her. This was the one thing that she enjoyed, so he wanted her to keep enjoying this, even if the animals that she picked up…had some dubious backgrounds.

At least now he was strong enough to help her take care of this.

As for worrying about whether they would be able to harm her or not…There was no need to worry about that at all.

All of the other S Rankers agreed that she was at her cutest when she was playing with animals like this. So they were all happy when they saw her hugging the wolf and cat as she told that they were coming home with her.

Seul Ah also came forward and patted the cat and wolf on the head, but soon she was caught up in a lecture from Maria.

She had suffered through this before…Any time they encountered a cute animal like this, Maria would always tell her about the fluffiest parts of their fur and the best thing about them.

She would completely lose control of herself when it came to her hobbies…

As they were chatting away, the other hunters finally caught up to the S Rankers.

They were all shocked to see that they were surrounding a single girl, but they could clearly tell how important this girl was to these S Rankers. After all, all of them were currently looking at her without a care for anything else around them.

After hesitating a bit, Ryu still came forward as their representative and presented the dungeon core to them.

All of the S Rankers then remembered where they were and what they were here to do, so they took the dungeon core from him and shattered it.

Once the dungeon core was broken, the dungeon started to collapse around them.

Without hesitation, all of the S Rankers immediately surrounded Maria and released their powers to form a barrier around her. This was a barrier that was formed from the power of more than ten different S Rankers, so this was not something that even a nuke could break.

When the other hunters saw this, they immediately ran over to the barrier to hide in it as well. However, they found that the moment that they touched the barrier, it was like hitting a wall.

This was an absolute barrier that wouldn't let anything in…

When they saw the glares from the S Rankers, these people had no choice but to release their own barriers.

As for the other people in the camp, luckily they were already under a part of the building that had already collapsed. So even when the building collapsed around them, there was nothing that hit them.

Otherwise, this kind of dungeon collapse really would have been dangerous.

Of course, not all dungeons were like this.

There were many different ways for dungeons to close, it all depended on what kind of dungeon they were.

There were dungeons that could be cleared again and again that were called farm dungeons. When these dungeons were cleared, there would be an exit portal that opened for the ones that cleared them to leave.

There were dungeons that could only be cleared once that were called outbreak dungeons. These were dungeons where there would be a boss and once the boss was defeated, a dungeon core would be dropped.

Once the dungeon core was dropped, it could be shattered for the dungeon to fall apart.

Just like this dungeon that they were currently in.

These dungeons were normally dungeons that contained powerful monsters.

According to the theories that leading scientists had, these dungeons were actually invasion paths for the other world monsters. So once they were cleared, they would collapse so the monsters wouldn't be able to invade them again.

Seeing that this was a nine star dungeon, it wasn't strange for it to be an outbreak dungeon.

Then there were also dungeons that could be cleared once, but these dungeons were more like trials. They usually featured some kind of challenge and one could leave if they either failed or cleared the challenge.

But these dungeons were special in that they normally didn't take the challenger's life and they gave generous rewards unlike normal dungeons.

People had named them treasure trove dungeons.

Once all the rubble had fallen around them, the S Rankers finally released their barriers.

At the same time, the dust around them cleared and they were able to see the appearances of the other hunters.

All of them looked very sorry since they didn't have enough time to deploy proper barriers, so most of them had been hit by the rubble that fell down. It was just a good thing that they were powerful hunters, so they didn't suffer any heavy injuries.

It was just a few light injuries like bruises and scratches that lined their powerful bodies.

But seeing how they looked, Maria couldn't help complaining to the S Rankers, "Why didn't you help them?"

None of the S Rankers said a thing, but they all looked away as if they couldn't look at her.

But when they looked away, they also glared at the other hunters around them.

Seeing these glares, all of them felt chills run down their spines.

Before long, Ryu quickly came forward to help give an excuse for these S Rankers, "Miss, please calm down. It was already hard enough for them to put up those barriers, so of course they couldn't help us in time. Not to mention, we all have strong bodies, so it didn't hurt us that much."

As he said this, he used his one remaining arm to pat his chest.

Maria looked at him with a bit of doubt in her eyes, but she didn't hold onto that doubt for long. After all, she didn't know much about the powers of these hunters, so she chose to believe what this hunter in front of her said.

At the same time, she couldn't help looking at his missing arm with a look of pity.

She turned back to Guang Liang and asked, "Can't you help him? He fought so hard that he even lost an arm."

Since this was a request from his big sister, Guang Liang didn't hesitate at all as he came forward. He reached his hand out to Chloe who was holding Ryu's arm and took it from her.

He put the arm to his stub and then with a flash of light, the arm reattached itself.

Ryu looked down at his own arm in shock and then he started slowly moving it in disbelief as he couldn't understand how it had attached itself like this.

All of the other lower rank hunters were also shocked by this and couldn't help gathering around him to look at his newly attached arm.

When they finally came back to their senses, they found that all the S Rankers and the young girl with them were gone…

All of them couldn't help wondering…

Just who was that girl?