Merging the tribes

"May I ask why you suddenly requested all our men to retreat from the dungeon? What could possibly be so dangerous that we need to wait so far away from the dungeon?"

The leaders of the 3 tribes, as well as their elders, were all sitting around a campfire in the middle of the village. The Forest Fox Tribe Leader and the Scarlet Crow Tribe Leader had both sent a few men in the dungeon to evaluate its potential; they would usually roam around and observe the surroundings but would not take part in the action.

To their surprise, in the middle of their inspection, Achi made a strange request for everyone to get out of the dungeon and to return to the village. The tribesmen immediately reported it to their respective leaders which led to this situation.

"It was the request of the dungeon master. He said that he would not be responsible for what would happen to those who did not leave. As we are about to enter a partnership, I simply wanted to alert your men," answered the Shaman. He did not have any more details about the reason for the evacuation.

'To ask us to leave the dungeon for thirty minutes, what on earth is he doing?' thought the Shaman.

The tribe leaders were displeased. They wanted a satisfactory explanation but clearly, the Shaman was unable to give them one. They did not agree to merge their tribes yet. Although they realized the potential of the dungeon, they were not hasty in making their decision. The tribe leaders took the decisions but they also needed to look at the response from their tribesmen.

Suddenly, a few scouts rushed into the camp and interrupted the meeting. "Chief, chief! There is a big army of skeletons walking out of the dungeon!"

"Chief! Just one minute ago, several skeletons left the dungeon and walked to the West."

The different scouts each reported their information to their respective tribe leader. All the leaders were stunned. 'An army of skeletons? Was that the reason why we had to leave the dungeon?'

The Shaman was equally surprised by the news but instead of simply staring at the others, he took out a small pouch from his coat and tossed it in the flames of the campfire.

"Boosh"

A tiny explosion occurred as the flames greedily devoured the small pouch. A few moments later, the campfire started to emit a thick grey smoke. A small cloud of smoke started to form above the fire and to everyone's surprised, an image started to appear in the middle of the cloud.

It was the entrance of the dungeon. The cloud was actually able to act as a screen, showing any particular nearby area according to the Shaman's wishes.

The image in the cloud showed countless skeletons neatly arranged in rows of 4 walking out of the dungeon like soldiers. The stream of skeletons seemed endless.

As the Shaman willed it, the image moved, moving down the stream of skeletons. In front of the long line of skeletons, several other monsters appeared in the image of the cloud. The cloud showed the Zombeasts walking behind the Death Knights. The liches, defacers and the wraiths were sitting on the Bonemares, using them as mounts. At the very front, Dreidus was leading the way on top of the largest Bonemare.

Silence fell on the camp as the barbarians all observed the army of undead steadily making its way West. They all had their own thoughts. Achi and the Shaman were both relieved to not have attempted a crazy raid at the dungeon. 'Fortunately, we did not dig in too deep in the dungeon; the entire tribe might have been exterminated if we fought such an army without the help of the totem spirit.'

As for the leaders of the two other tribes, they immediately reconsidered the offer of the black Iron Tribe. Seeing how Achi had ordered the retreat of the barbarians to allow the army of undead to go through, it was clear that there was some sort of relationship between the dungeon and the Black Iron Tribe. The dungeon was not weak! If they had such an army protecting them, wouldn't the safety of their tribe be guaranteed?

The average barbarian's level would fall between 25 to 30 which was about the same level as those monsters. However, the barbarians were well aware that they would inevitably lose if they faced those monsters in a one-on-one duel.

"I have a question though... If the army protecting the dungeon has already left, why don't we seize the opportunity to attack the dungeon?"

The Scarlet Crow Tribe leader finally broke the heavy silence as the cloud showed the long line of skeletons disappearing in the distance. However, no one answered him. His proposition was simply too crazy; he wanted to take advantage that the main forces of the dungeons were not here to raid it!

The Scarlet Crow Tribe leader felt awkward. Nobody was responding until one of his elders said, "Naive thinking. If he is sending out such an army, it means that there are still a few monsters guarding the fort. The real question should be: where exactly is this army headed to? It is made up of enough monsters to cause serious damage to any medium tribe."

"You are right. I am against making a move against the dungeon for now. Don't forget the winged woman we noticed the other day. She is nowhere to be seen in this army and might be guarding the dungeon core. If she is the one to make a move, I doubt even our totem spirit would be able to fight her."

One of the elders nodded. They did not want anything to do with fighting against Harriet. They were old enough and had enough experience to recognize a fight they could not win. "I suggest sending a few scouts to follow the army. It would be useful to see what is the aim of the dungeon master."

"I agree with this proposition and I will also add that the Forest Fox Tribe agrees to merge with the Black Iron Tribe under the condition that the dungeon master will also protect us," carefully said another elder.

The Scarlet Crow Tribe Leader furrowed his brows. He briefly looked at his elders before saying, "The Scarlet Crow Tribe will also agree to merge with the Black Iron Tribe under the same conditions."

Achi and the Shaman were both surprised by the sudden turn of events. They thought they would have to go through a lot more negotiations for their tribes to finally merge. The tribes all had different backgrounds and habits, it was not easy for them to merge with others but as soon as they saw the huge army, the two tribe leaders did not hesitate to make the decision.

"Excellent! You have made the right decision. Together, our tribe will be invincible! From now on, we are just a single large tribe!" excitedly said Achi.

"What will be the name of the new tribe?"

...

Five looked around him and found himself in a luxurious modern hotel room. He was immediately confused, having spent two months in a medieval world, seeing an actual modern room took him by surprise.

"Where is this? It looks exactly like a 5 stars resort." Five looked around him reminiscing the memories of Earth. He crouched down to look inside the small fridge and let out a smile when he saw the iconic soda drinks and beers of Earth.

Next to him, Angela looked nervous and confused. She did not dare to touch anything and stood straight like a doll. Her wings were completely retracted, a clear sign that she was uncomfortable.

"Don't worry. This room is perfectly safe. You wanted to see how Earth is, right? Well, this is an example of how hotel rooms are. You can try the bed if you want," said Five. There were no instructions on what to do. Since he appeared in such an environment, there was no harm in letting the harpy try the modern items of Earth.

There was a pair of twin beds that could be brought together to make a single large bed. Angela hesitantly pressed the large white blanket and soon found how soft it was. She quickly jumped onto the bed and started rolling around like a child.

Five looked around him. He was waiting for some sort of instructions but still did not get any system prompt. He walked to the door to the balcony and slid it open. A fresh salty smell of the sea immediately assaulted Five's nostrils. From the balcony, Five could see the beach and the sea; a few boats could also be seen in the distance but there was not a single human being in the entire scenery. There were similar private balconies to his right and left that belonged to the other players who were also teleported to the auction.

Five was curious. He wanted to see if there were really other players. The balconies were quite close to each other, it would be easy for him to jump over. However, it would be rather impolite and before he could do anything, a system prompt sounded next to his ears:

[System prompt: All the dungeon masters have arrived at the location of the auction. You are free to use all the facilities of the hotel for the duration of your stay but for now, please proceed to the reception by following the guidance on the map that has been automatically added to your inventory.]

[System prompt: The auction will start in exactly 30 minutes. A cloak and a mask have been provided to the players for the duration of the auction. Feel free to use it to hide your identity.]

[System prompt: We remind all the players that attacking others at the venue is strictly forbidden. The hotel has an arena for players to resolve their conflicts.]

"Interesting... They gave us items to hide our identity?"

Five walked back into the room and closed the door behind him. Angela was still curiously observing her surroundings. She was in the bathroom, examining the different lotions and soaps.

"Angela. We need to leave soon. The auction will take place downstairs."

The harpy nodded and quickly let go of the plastic bottles and sat on her bed. Five internally laughed; it was obvious that the harpy was very fond of the bed and the pillow.

When he looked at the door, Five quickly noticed a long red coat and a clown mask on the coat hanger. They were the two items mentioned by the system prompt. Without hesitation, Five picked the two items and looked at the information:

[Red Coat]

Effect: Invincibility-Mitigates all damage taken by the user.

Note: This item will be automatically discarded when leaving the auction venue.

[Clown Mask]

Effect: Hides the user's physical features and character details.

Note: This item will be automatically discarded when leaving the auction venue.

None of the items provided any stats but they were both extremely useful. The problem was that there was only one set of items; Angela would be unable to hide her identity.

'The rules say that we are not allowed to attack other players... But does that mean that the monsters can fight each other?' thought Five. He quickly equipped both the coat and the mask and looked at himself in the mirror.

'I just look like a shady person...'

He then turned toward Angela who had been quietly observing him while hugging her pillow. "Let's get moving. There should be a lot of people going there; we might need to queue up at some point; it is better to go in early to secure a good spot."

"En."

The pair quickly left their room and walked down the corridor to the main building. Angela looked around her like a curious child; her eyes would sparkle whenever she would walk past a window.

As Five expected, there were quite a few people making their way to the main building. Along the way, he saw several players wearing the same red coat as him. Their masks were different but one could easily mistake one for another.

The most interesting part was naturally the monsters accompanying the dungeon masters! As there was only one set of cloak and mask per player, the monsters' details were fully revealed to the other players.

Five briefly looked at them. There was a large variety of monsters but all of them ranged from level 30 to 40.

"As I expected... Most of the players should have brought their strongest monster with them but none of them is at the level of Harriet."