E26's first appearance

Iris clenched her fists as she focused her attention on the screen. She saw Lord Brann mumbling inaudibly while grabbing his pendant. She knew she was contacting one of the most powerful existences of the game.

She did not even know who it was; all she knew was that in the past, Lord Brann saved that person and in exchange for his help, he was given three wishes. Regardless of what Lord Brann wished for, that person would do his best to accomplish it as long as it did not go against his values.

About one week after the game began, the tutorial period came to an end and Iris was going to leave Lord Brann's side. Iris explained her plans to her mentor; she wanted to build a town and help the players around her. As a result, Lord Brann decided to not give her any monsters. Instead, he gave Iris one of his wishes. He explained to her the circumstances and warned her, "This is the one and only thing you will get from me. Don't waste it and use it only if absolutely necessary."

Iris did not think much of the wish at that time and only kept it at the back of her mind. She did not need it for what she wanted to accomplish. But she never expected to use it so soon and it was not even to protect herself. She joined the game and agreed to become a dungeon master, not because it would allow her to regain her freedom when the game ended, but because it would make it easier for her to find Five!

What was the point of continuing to play if he died before she could explain herself? The wish was the only tool she had that could influence the situation.

The screen suddenly shook. The image changed, showing the endless sand dunes of the desert. All the dungeon masters were taken aback. Whenever the screen shifted the point of view like that, something important was about to happen. But what could be more important than the scene of Ivan destroying the dungeon core?

A ripple appeared on the screen, followed by a giant crack! Soon, the crab legs came out and dug into the sand. A few seconds later, the whole body of the creature stepped out of the crack. It was a giant with the lower body of a crab!

The dungeon masters were dumbfounded. They stared in silence as the gigantic creature stabilized itself and started examining its surroundings. The screen shifted, focusing on the bulging eyes of the creature.

Iris felt a shiver go down the spine as she stared at the screen. She did not know why, but she felt like the creature was not just looking at the landscape; it was actually looking at her.

With a rasping voice, the creature grunted, "I hate being watched like that."

And as soon as the creature spoke, the screens in the stadiums suddenly all cracked! All the scenes being displayed were replaced by a black screen with the words: "Connection Lost".

"Mentor? Was that giant creature really the one you helped a few decades ago?" asked Iris.

Lord Brann nodded slightly. "Yes. But it was in its human form and I did not know its real identity. What you saw was its real form; not very pleasant to the eyes if you ask me."

At that moment, a commotion broke out among the other dungeon masters.

"What on Earth just happened? I demand a refund!"

"What is this sh*tty ending? You cannot just disturb a battle like that. Our bet must go through! I demand compensation!"

The winged devils hurriedly flew around the stadium, appeasing the furious guests. "Sir, I am very sorry. We are looking into the situation and are trying to resolve it."

"Miss. We apologize for the event but the bets will be voided and all the DP placed on the bets will be refunded."

Soon an official announcement was made by a larger Winged Devil. "Ladies and Gentlemen. I am very sorry for the unfortunate turn of events. However, the rules are the rules; in the case of a draw, 80% of all the DP you betted shall be refunded. Line up at the betting counter for your refunds. As for the entry fee, we will also refund 80% of the 100 thousand DP it cost you to spectate the battle. Again, we apologize but we must also abide by the rules."

"What this is unacceptable!" complained the dungeon masters. Many placed their bets on Farsight's victory. They all already knew that the user of the Challenger Gauntlet had a massive advantage in this battle and the odd ratios reflected this. They were unwilling to give up this opportunity where they could have almost doubled their DP.

Nevertheless, there were a few dungeon masters who remained silent. They were the few opportunists who decided to bet on Five instead, hoping that he would somehow reverse the situation. They still ended up losing part of their DP but at least, they were being refunded 80% of the amount they betted.

"Are you happy with yourself?" asked a voice.

Iris frowned, she looked at the speaker who stopped in front of Lord Brann. he was a middle-aged man but his hair and beard were already showing signs of turning grey.

"I don't understand your words? Is the Storm Alliance looking for trouble?" nonchalantly answered Lord Brann without looking at the speaker.

The middle-aged man cursed loudly. "F*ck. You know what you did. You are the only one to have a connection with the Cancer. If you did not ask him to, why would he suddenly turn up to this abandoned realm?"

Lord Brann lightly chuckled. "How would I know? The Sacred Beasts are known to be wilful and do whatever they want. Please stop bothering me, or should I view it as a threat? Monika, you should keep an eye on your first elder."

The leader of the Storm Alliance swiftly appeared and grabbed the middle-aged man's shoulder. She lightly squeezed it, signaling him to remain silent. "Apologies Lord Brann. Our first elder is a bit frustrated. It was his student that was fighting in this battle."

Lord Brann met Monika's gaze for a moment and silently nodded. But behind him, another voice sounded. "Really, he is pathetic. He cannot even win against someone abandoned by my alliance. The owner of the Core of Lust is unworthy of all the resources you channeled into him."

"Shortcliff. Stop meddling in other people's conversation. You don't have the qualifications to speak; you did not even manage to invite that person in your alliance. He is proof that the Cyclone Alliance is trash."

Duke Shercliff sneered. "If we are trash, then what is the Storm Alliance? Your best member could not even defeat the reject of trash like us?"

Lord Brann sighed and quickly pushed Iris to a more peaceful area. He knew the alliance leaders would never miss an opportunity to argue with each other. He could already see the sparks between Duke Shercliff and Monika and soon, the leader of the Tempest Alliance joined the battle of words.

Only the Hurricane Alliance remained silent. Their leader wore a pensive expression as he looked at the three alliance leaders. It was pointless to argue with them and he also knew he was bound to lose any argument. The Hurricane Alliance had more important things to deal with; they were slowly declining.

The new generation of dungeon masters brought a breath of fresh air in the dungeon master community but it also sealed the Hurricane Alliance's fate. All the dungeon master alliances managed to recruit two dungeon masters with their dungeon core representing a sin, all except for the Hurricane Alliance who only recruited one. There were seven deadly sins and four alliances, one was bound to draw the short straw and unfortunately, it ended up being the Hurricane Alliance.

Iris followed Lord Brann to the exit of the stadium. They did not bother with getting refunds for their tickets to come here. It was only 100 thousand DP; it was not worth waiting in line with the thousands of dungeon masters present at the venue.

"Your friend is safe. The Cancer confirmed it; he should have returned to his dungeon," said Lord Brann.

Iris' eyes shone. "That's great. Thank you very much, mentor. I will always remember your help."

"Forget about it. Shall we return?"

"Sure."

And the two disappeared from the stadium.

When Iris opened her eyes, she found herself in her house where she had been chatting with Mercy before the battle started. Her friend had already left the house but when Iris looked around her, she found another person in the living room. The latter was busy cleaning up the table, grabbing all the half-empty glasses of wine.

"Neptune! You finally came back!" exclaimed Iris as she rushed into the living room.

The Naiad jumped in fright. When she turned around, Iris had already grabbed her from behind.

"Iris. You scared me. I wanted to be the one to surprise you but I was the one who ended up getting surprised." The Naiad lightly laughed as she hugged Iris back.

Iris smiled brightly. Neptune was one of her main monsters who went to Ormskirk town to spy on Count Desmond's actions. She finally came back after spending so many weeks there.

Iris was delighted to see the Naiad back but the next second, her expression darkened. She received a system prompt:

[System prompt: During your absence, a character holding the title: E26 Carrier has entered your dungeon.]

...

After the white blinding particles disappeared, Five found himself standing in the same spot; he felt that nothing had changed. However, he knew he was back on Zero, at his original location in the Musclewood Forest.

The Succubus Dowager and the other enemy monsters have all disappeared. only the dozens of monsters who survived and the craftsmen remained.

Five clenched his fist and walked toward the goblins. These treacherous creatures wanted to betray him but in the end, the dungeon was not destroyed!

He raised his hand as he stepped forward. The Goblins instinctively took a step back and trembled in fear. They knew it was pointless to run away. They were all bound to the dungeon core; running away would only worsen the punishment.

Five stopped in front of the first goblin but did not strike yet. Instead, he grabbed the dungeon core and walked back. Expecting to be hit, the goblins remained still with their eyes closed. It was only after hearing Five's steps moving away that they opened their eyes back.

"Don't get me wrong. You are all going to be punished. I was too kind. I fed you and gave you a comfortable place to stay. I never looked much into what the crafting department was doing but things are going to change from now. I only wanted your loyalty but it seems that I expected too much."

"Go and clean up the workshop. We will postpone your punishment for now." Five opened his interface and started repairing the massive hole in the dungeon. He did not have time to deal with the goblins yet; his dungeon was currently defenseless. He needed to quickly repair the destroyed floor and resummon enough monsters to defend him. Anything could happen in this game; it was better to be safe. Fortunately, he had more than seven million DP that was now accessible.

He quickly got to work and in the corner of his eyes, he noticed the craftsmen quickly rearranging their workshop. Five sneered. He did not blame them for trying to jump ships; he would have probably done the same. Nevertheless, this was not an acceptable behavior; he thought that by summoning his own monsters, he would have an army of trusted subordinates.

However, the monsters had their own thoughts and emotions. They could feel fear and wanted to live. He gave them everything they needed; the monsters working at the crafting department even had the most comfortable life out of all the monsters and they took it for granted. They did not need to work hard and sweat to earn their living. All of this needed to change!

Five quickly repaired the dungeon back to its original state. He summoned the monsters like before and once he confirmed that the dungeon was well protected, he closed his dungeon interface. There was still a lot to do. He needed to explain the situation to the Shamans; the dungeon and the Musclewood Tribe worked in closed partnership. The sudden expulsion of all the barbarians in the dungeon should have already caused the Musclewood Tribe to panic.

However, before leaving, there was one more thing he needed to do. He recalled the words uttered by the mysterious speaker who saved him. Someone requested him to make a move. More specifically, a woman asked for his help.

Five was not certain of it and had no way of confirming it. But he had a rough idea of who might be the one who requested the mysterious creature to help him. He cut ties with many people in the past and close to no one knew he was still alive playing the game.

He had one particular person in mind. He opened the player interface and started browsing through.

[System prompt: You have accepted "Iris" as a friend. Send her a message now.]