666. Belly of the Beast

--A week later, somewhere west of Beta--

A long caravan of carriages was traversing the rugged terrain without anything like a road in sight. They had long left the tree route and were traversing westward into the wilderness of the mountains. Snowstorms laden with magic power were constantly raging, forcing them to stay inside the prepared carriages and take shelter from the weather.

"Ugh, who would have thought that I would rather risk my life in a fight with some monster, than keep being jolted around int his carriage for just a day longer.." Ortega lamented.

He and the rest of the team of elite Oathguard were seated in one of the carriages closer to the back. They were not the only ones, almost half of the Oathguard were given the chance to join the Field teams on this journey.

Distributed over six carriages in the back of the long procession were over 70 members of the Oathguard. Aside from theirs, there were also several carriages with chimeras and teams from other guilds of Delta.

The Adventurer guild had prepared several dozen carriages and went far and beyond to get as many people as possible from Delta to join them in their quest to claim their Holy Land. The place was just that dangerous.

"Just another day or two and we will be arriving at the base camp, You won't have to endure much longer, but you might end up wishing it would have, " the guild representative in their carriage answered his groans with a wry smile.

Every carriage had a high-level adventurer as representative of the guild to explain the situation and the plan for the expedition.

"I still don't get how can there be so many beasts that even the elite teams of the guild couldn't penetrate further in," Anga, the healer of the teams asked again.

" I mean, I understand that the dungeons keep breaking and spewing out monsters if nobody prunes them, but why is it so excessive in this place?" he had kept pestering her on and off about this for the whole journey, but she had kept saying that it was hard to explain.

"Fine, fine, I will explain it from the beginning, if you will shut up then."

She sighed and started.

" Let's see, where to start... Dungeons have three fundamental ways to replenish their monsters. Which method they prefer depends on the core, the location, and the dungeon master-"

"How so?" Anga interrupted curiously. The adventurer gave him a biting glare but made a tangent to answer.

"As you may know, dungeon cores develop from the power of the dungeon god. They have innate properties and preferences based on the location they were born in, but they are not very smart. That's why they summon or appoint a dungeon master to manage the dungeon's function."

She paused to see if someone wanted to interrupt again, but everyone was listening more or less interested.

"Good, if you paid attention, I just mentioned two of the three methods. A dungeon can recruit local beasts as fighters in the dungeon, or use its energy to summon them from other realms. The third method would be to build a spawn point and use the dungeon energy to generate mindless drones.

Each of the methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Which method to use would be up to the dungeon master, once appointed. Got that?"

Anga only nodded, not daring to ask a question.

"Now, to get to your question. Which method to use is primarily based on the location of the dungeon, as it will dictate how much power it has for growth. A small dungeon would typically try to lure in and recruit local beasts for defense, as this is the cheapest option. The next best would be conjuring creatures from other worlds. Although the transfer will cost energy, these beasts of often stronger and more intelligent, making it the most effective option at the start.

Building spawn points on the other hand take time and energy, but creating drones would be cheaper, later on, compared to summoning individual monsters. Of course, for all methods count, the stronger the beast, the more energy is needed to ensnare it. Apart from some exceptions...

This is just a rough outline but as you can see, the greatest restriction to the growth of a dungeon is the energy the dungeon has at its disposal. The Holy Land is not just a place with a myriad of deep natural caves, but also a knot where several dragon veins meet.

With as much energy as they need, the dungeons were able to constantly grow, strengthen and break as much as they wanted and develop in any which way they wanted. That is why it's overflowing with powerful beasts vying for supremacy. But if we can conquer them, and get them under control, they will be a massive source for growth to the people of Urth."

The group inside the carriage was silent for a moment. They had stayed their whole life in Delta and it was the first time they heard this much about the function of a dungeon.

"You mentioned summoning creatures from other realms. Is that happening randomly against their will, or where do they come from?" Morgana asked a question that kept bothering her.

What of these creatures were just as unwilling to fight inside these terrible arenas as them?

"Are you going to feel sympathy for the beasts that come to kill your people?" she asked wryly as of she read her thoughts.

"It's a pointless notion. Most of them are creatures that also follow the dungeon god for their own reasons. Let me ask you, do you think you are the only ones that don't die in the dungeon?"

The representative looked with a satisfied smirk into the stumped faces of oathguards.

"Where do you think the experience and items you lose upon death go? Exactly, many of the intelligent creatures you meet in dungeons enter it for the same reasons you do. They just stand on the other side."

"But why do dungeon break then? Why would they risk their lives and leave a place they can always revive in?" Ortega threw in.

It was one thing to accept that the monsters in a dungeon were technically immortal, the same as adventurers were. But if they had the same perks as them, wouldn't it also mean that they would be able to permanently die outside of dungeons?

"Now, you are asking the right questions. Well, what could be the reason for a people or beasts to use a means of inter-dimensional travel to fall into another world and wantonly murder the native populace? Any idea?"

She looked into their faces and could see that some of them got the hint, others not so much.

"Conquest. New lands, new territories. New prey to feast upon, resources to plunder, and land to govern. There are a lot of reasons, but technically the dungeons are not much different from the Pathworks, except that they are better regulated and maybe a little farther spread," she ended mysteriously.

Everyone fell silent. They needed time to grasp the magnitude of what they had just heard.

"There are humans and humanoid races coming through the Pathworks, but why is it only monsters in the dungeons?" Calder, the team's archer asked indignantly.

The high-level adventurer suddenly smiled with a crazed look and their pearly whites shone eerily in the dim carriage.

"That's why I said it's better regulated. This is the dungeon god's mercy. You wouldn't want to see what the humans that get access to the dungeons do to the world of "monsters" as you call them."

Before anybody could say anything more they heard the signal of a loud horn.

"We are about to breach the first ring! Everyone grab something and hold tight!" the representative suddenly screamed and the carriage started rocking shortly after like a boat on the stormy sea.

Looking out of the window, they could see almost nothing in the rampant storm that had grown stronger by several levels.

"Hold on tight! We will break through soon!"

After shaking for several minutes they all had the feeling of their stomach trying to leave through their throat. The feeling of falling, a moment of weightlessness, and then a sudden impact made the first feeling almost come true.

Looking outside, the situation had changed completely. There was no blizzard, no massive storm, not even a lot of snow. The mountains still looked desolate, but there were little signs of life. Moss and lichen made the landscape look almost verdant compared to the ice desert they had traversed previously.

"We entered the outer rim. Welcome to the belly of the beast."