Chapter 5

The phones in an office were ringing ceaselessly as people were scrambling about. Calls from emergency responders, police, the Association, and Media were hounding the staff. In the background a group of people were in full gallop towards an equipment room with some already there strapping on gear as quickly as possible. 

Outside was a fleet of vehicles being put into position to scoop up the hunters that started pouring from the building. With their sirens blasted on, teams of hunters made their way down the busy streets towards the portal that had brought an area of the city to a grinding halt.

"What's the current situation?" 

One man, adorned with a Captain's badge, called through the vehicle's phone. Sounds of sirens and shouts of other people muffled the sound of the person's voice on the other side which they had to shout into the phone to be heard more clearly. 

"Our devices registered the number of people in the dungeon as 23 in total; it has since dropped in the last 30 minutes. Our sensors are currently reading only 12 people left…"

The technician translating the readings sounded panicked. 

"9 people… Captain, get your team here ASAP or there won't be any survivors!"

The Captain wrote down the readings quickly and passed them off to another hunter seated behind him. 

"Mark this dungeon as an A-class dungeon. If people are dying that quickly, we need to assume the environment is extremely hostile. Evacuate the civilians in a five-block radius and get the area on lockdown."

The Captain ordered the people on the other end of the phone who immediately passed the message on. The tension in the vehicle became heavy as the other hunters overheard the orders with one of them relaying the information to the other vehicles that were close in tow.

By the time they reached the portal, most of the people in the immediate area had been evacuated and now it was mainly the crews that gathered for the rescue efforts along with police and ambulance. 

The technicians at the portal had devices that hooked up to it along with a ramp. On the screen, it still showed number 9 in large font. As the forces began entering, the technicians made note of the number of people entering. The point was to stay on top of hunters versus the number of civilians still trapped inside the dungeon. 

The Captain took a count of his crew and once everyone had confirmed they were ready to go, they entered through the stabilized portal.