Orphanage part 3

The day before doomsday.

Tomorrow was the day of reckoning, the day when the dungeon break occurs.

So much for being a genius...

Theo's plan was simple. He went to the orphanage, where the dungeon break would occur, found the dungeon, then called for reinforcements that could deal with the dungeon before it breaks.

Going to the first floor of the dungeon usually indicates if a dungeon is in the brink of a dungeon break by checking if the mana the torches on the wall of the dungeon becomes blue, a simple and easy solution if a dungeon is about to break.

Theo for the past few days had been desperate on searching for the dungeon, the holy knights he brought with have been extremely suspicious of him and most likely find him strange because of his insistence on searching the vicinity for the sake of security, but it was unusual when they were in the safest region of the empire.

Orders were orders, going against an order from the imperial Prince would place them in a bad light.

Theo also visited other orphanages just in case but the region was too vast for him to search.

And he wasn't allowed to stay in one place for more than two weeks for security reasons.

Having the Prince in one place could potentially endanger his life.

Enemies of Virtus might take this chance to assassinate him or take him as a hostage, hence the two weeks deadline.

Then why can't we find the dungeon?

Theo pondered and arrived to the answer days ago

Because the dungeon is most likely brought here by a person.

Why? Because dungeons can be made and stored with great difficuly.

It's possible for extremely rare Grandmasters specialized in space magic.

Like the Kobold dungeon book he received from Lisa or the hidden dungeon Selene had in her room.

And there was one b*stard that did use dungeons as a means to cause terror.

A Duke class demon, Gremory. One of the first demons that caused chaos in Alethea and specializes in space magic.

He is the only demon who could possibly trap a master tier dungeon inside an artifact.

It was currently impossible for a Demon of his caliber to enter Virtus, when the whole country is covered by a sacred barrier that detects any demon that was higher than Count class.

Demons are categorized in classes and similarly graded like Tiers.

Common

Leader

Baron

Viscount

Count

Marquis

Duke

Prince

Demon King

So, Gremory most likely sent an underling in charge of releasing the dungeon nearby.

Theo didn't know whether It was a demonic worshiper or an extremely skilled demon versatile with stealth, but he knew that they will eventually 

How will Theo find that demon or demon worshiper? Theo has been roaming around the whole region and there wasn't a single trace or clue that gave Theo a lead to the future culprit of the dungeon break.

And what was the reason for attacking this specific region? Gremory's final objective for this place? Other than the joy that the suffering would bring him?

Theo didn't have a single clue, but he knew he needed to do, at the very least, stay and defend his position until reinforcements arrived to prevent the destruction from spreading throughout the region.

Theo already sent out a holy knight as a messenger to call for the Duke Windsor as soon as possible

He was forced to bring twelve knights, minus one because they acted as a messenger. Two of the knights were master tier and the rest were experts, including Bennet.

He could, at most, hold off four floors of the dungeon, because master tier is a rarity in the initial four floors.

Though that's only him assuming, because a lot of the dungeons in Alethea have the first forty percent of the beginning usually released, at master tier, mostly have Expert tier or Astute tier monsters, while Master tier monsters are a rarity.

Everything was only a presumption, his experience and gut feeling, nothing was actually set in stone, so any variable that might happen can only be dealt with in the moment of the event starting.

If one of his predictions were to go wrong, this could place hundreds if not thousands of lives at risk or he was willing to take the blame even if nothing happens, which was actually the best thing that could hap-!

He was suddenly surrounded by holy knights, making Theo jolt in surprise.

"Your highness, a horde of-!

ROAR!!!!*

...!? Don't tell me!

His Astute tier senses were tingling. The holy knights guessed it way before him, which was the reason why they surrounded him.

"Patrick evacuate the town! Take one expert tier Holy knight with you! We will hold the monsters off!"

Patrick was taken aback by the sudden seriousness of the situation, but he nodded to Theo without question and started yelling at the adults to gather the children and carriage for them to depart.

Theo in the past few days prepared carriages just I'm case of emergencies, because he knew that fate might mess with him again.

We still need to buy time.

"Holy knights! We hold off the monsters here in Apple Town and give time for the people to evacuate!"

A master tier Holy knight stepped up rebuking Theo's order

"But Your imperial Highness! Your safety above all is unprecedented, please go with the evacuees. Leave this place to us!"

Theo in response shook his head in disapproval

"Don't worry I'm going with them. Retreat when it gets dire. I will be waiting for you at the entrance of the valley."

"""By your will!!""" The holy knights responded, kneeling.

Good. Let's go help with the evacuation while the others hold them off!

*****

"F*ck" 

Theo said as he slashed down an astute tier Satyr. 

Satyrs and Minatours were the majority of those attacking. Satyrs were Astute tier and Minatours were at Expert tier, numbering in the hundreds.

Theo, with his other knights, were holding off the horde of monsters at the entrance of the valley.

It was an easy place to defend, because of the narrow pathway towards the valley they stayed in previously. 

It would take time to go around and attack them from behind because of the mountains surrounding Apple town.

But it'll only take four hours to reach the other towns, so we need Uncle John as soon as possible. luckily for us he'll probably arrive in two hours as long as the messenger gets there on time.

Theo, in all honesty, believed that the culprit would give up after finding our presence or delay it for another time till he left because of his deadline or even go for another town that Theo wasn't guarding. 

Why risk it now when there's people that could hold off a dungeon this scale until reinforcements arrived? 

Theo felt that the person wouldn't be so dumb to do that. Demons or demon worshippers might be hungry for destruction but a lot of them weren't dumb, especially when they're in charge of this kind of mission, where they're handling a precious artifact that traps dungeons and this one was a master tier dungeon which was beyond rare and extremely difficult to trap because of the amount of mana needed to contain one in a different space.

The knights were actually still easily blocking all the incoming monster horde. Not a single master tier monster has appeared yet, so Theo opted to help as much as he could before a master tier monster, where he'll be useless if one were ever to appear.

"Stand your ground! We just have to hold on until reinforcement arrives!" A master tier holy knight said as he fired a wave of mana, cutting dozens of Expert and Astute tier monsters with ease.

Theo was accompanied by Bennet and another Master tier holy knight from behind just in case things became dire, holding the far right in the line of defense.

Theo only focused on dealing with Astute tier monsters as much as he could, avoiding burdening or worrying the people escorting him. He would let the Master tier knight and Bennet deal with any monster with a higher tier.

If anything more dangerous appeared, Theo was going to be forcibly get taken away from the battlefield.

"Fire ball!" Theo shouted as he threw a golden fireball at another Satyr-

BOOM!

-,disintegrating it to ashes. 

Alright all we need to do is hold one and-!

ROOAARRR!!!!!!!!!

A Red minotaur appeared!

Red minotaurs were an upgraded version of the Minatours. They were two times bigger than a normal five meter tall minotaur and were obviously stronger, reaching up to the peak of the Master tier.

The one that was behind the horde of lower tier monsters stood two red minotaurs.

"Young master, we have to go! leave this to the holy knights to deal with this'' Bennet insistently said.

Theo clenched his fist, frustrated that he couldn't help the holy knights from buying time for the reinforcements to arrive. He also knew that if the Red Minotaurs are already here, this means that it'll only get worse from there and a possibility of some of the holy knights dying is high.

Theo and Bennet started sprinting farther from the valley and in the direction where the retreating townspeople were. 

Whoooosh! 

BANG!*

"BENNET!!!"

A shadow from the bushes darted out and slammed the unaware Bennet on a nearby tree, destroying it in the process.

Theo retreated a few steps back and took a good look at the assailant that attacked Bennet out of nowhere.

The man wore a brown hooded robe, hiding the identity under it, preventing Theo from knowing more about the person in front of him.

"Hello, child. I'm glad you ran away from your stupid guards" 

The man said in an eerie and cheery voice, then he proceeded to reveal his identity.

"The name's Grin and you're dying here your imperial highness!" 

A man Theo was familiar with. Grin always had a distinct red scar across his cheek as if it was recently wounded in a fight and he also had a tattoo of servitude binded on his neck, a tattoo given to him by a demon for a wish that sacrificed his entire life for.

Grin, the supposed boss in charge of causing an incident in the Academy entrance exam.

Grin took something out from his pocket, it was a purple orb with an ominous aura radiating from it.

That's an isolation orb!

Theo took a step back in fright, but not before Grin, who was faster in terms of speed, closed in on Theo and smashing the orb in his hand in the process.

Fuck!

The purple light that erupted from the orb covered both Theo and Grin, snuffing them out of existence, not leaving a single trace of their visage behind.

"Young Master!!" Bennet, who just recovered, reached out in horror at the disappearance of his master.