"I really hope the situation gets solved soon or I won't be able to pay rent next month…" Unaware of the situation taking place on the second floor of the dungeon and the fact that the third floor of the dungeon had already fallen to the monster stampede, an older adventurer in his early forties sighted helplessly to himself as he cut down an oversized rat that offered close to no resistance in the face of his sword.
"Hm? Haha, I told you not to settle in the city center! With our measly income, it would eat up all your earnings anyway. No way to get new gear or progress further." Standing beside him, his companion laughed mockingly at him. Clearly pointing out where this worry came from and his bad financial decision to settle in the far more expensive city center that was located close to the entrance of the Howling Cavern Dungeon.
"Hmph! What do you know! I'm already a D Rank Adventurer; I don't need to become a C Rank Adventurer to live in the city center. Not to mention, with our current speed, it would take years to reach C Rank. If we really wanted to reach it before we grow old, we would have to risk our lives!" Defending himself, the middle-aged man firmly stood by his choice, while his companion just rolled his eyes in return.
"True… That is why I wanted to join those seniors from the headquarters down on the third floor to fend off against the monster hordes. Allowing us to make progress that would normally take years in a few short weeks or days if lucky.
But someone didn't want to stay at the third floor and wanted to instead retreat to the first floor to stay out of danger…"
"I still have a family to think of; I can't risk my life on things like I did in the past."
"That is true… I guess we will just count this time as our loss. Hopefully, when the most dangerous monsters are taken care of, we can return to the third floor and see if we can find any weakened or injured monsters of value to hunt down." Nodding his head in understanding after finally hearing him bringing up his family, the slightly younger companion came up with another suggestion that was quickly accepted, as the two of them began planning on moving back to the third floor of the dungeon when it got safer.
But for now, the only thing they could do was spend their time hunting down oversized rats. Not because they had anything against the oversized rats or because they were the strongest monsters that could be found on the first floor of the dungeon. Instead, it was because the oversized rats were the most abundant and valuable monsters that could be found on the first floor of the dungeon and at the same time also one of the main reasons why the Howling Caverns Dungeon could be considered popular amongst younger adventurers in the area.
After all, the oversized rats were easy to spot and had a simple attack pattern. Along with the open forest style of the first floor of the dungeon, it was by far one of the easiest and simplest dungeons for beginners and even drew some people over from nearby kingdoms because of how beginner friendly the first floor of the dungeon was.
The second floor on the other hand… Was by far the most difficult dungeon floor to navigate and in some cases more dangerous than the third floor of the dungeon. Not only being underground with little light but also having countless monsters that preferred to lay in ambush.
For this reason, most of the people that retreated up from the third floor of the dungeon decided against staying at the second floor of the dungeon even if the monsters there were more valuable. Instead, deciding on the simpler first floor of the dungeon where they would be able to relax and not have to watch out for an ambush around every corner.
Of course, this did force the younger adventurers diving into a dungeon for the first time as beginners to be forced away from the safer areas that they were normally hunting oversized rats at but given that most of the senior adventurers ascending from the third floor of the dungeon felt bad about doing this to their juniors. Most of them decided to move further away, while allowing their juniors to stay close to the entrance of the dungeon.
Overall, the situation on the first floor of the dungeon was peaceful, as most of those who had been forced up from the third floor of the dungeon took the opportunity to relax and take a break while the seniors from the headquarters dealt with the situation down on the third floor of the dungeon.
"Hm? Is that another passage to the second floor?" Also having adapted this kind of easy-going style after having returned to the first floor of the dungeon, the two senior adventurers at the D Rank, who had been bantering earlier stopped as the one who had complained about not being part of the adventurers staying to fend off against the monster hordes at the third floor of the dungeon, spotted a staircase leading downwards.
"A passage to the second floor? Hm… I did hear that there were multiple passages leading down to the second floor, but I have only ever used the official passage located close to the entrance of the dungeon. After all, whenever we went down there, it was to reach the third floor. Not explore the second floor of the dungeon."
"Want to take a look?"
"That… Sure, one look can't hurt…" Seeing the eager expression of his companion and knowing that it wouldn't be that dangerous for them as seasoned D Rank Adventurers to briefly descend to the second floor for a look around the place, the middle-aged adventurer nodded his head after a brief instant of hesitation.
"Great! Let's go! Hopefully we will find a monster lingering around the stairs!"
Swish~
Smiling excitedly after hearing the approval of his companion, the younger of the two rushed down the stairs. Already feeling a sense of excitement at fighting something that was not an oversized rat.
After all, though the oversized rats were valuable and were worth it for them to hunt down, it got rather boring to hunt oversized rats day in and day out. By this point, the number of oversized rats that had fallen to the two of them were already over a hundred.
In a sense, this was also one of the main reasons why he had been a bit aggressive earlier on, as his mood had been somewhat affected by the constant stream of oversized rats they cut down before dragging back to the city at the entrance of the dungeon for processing and later selling.
Any monster not an oversized rat at this point, even one that was worthless and sold for nothing would make him more than happy, as he just wanted to get out of hunting down any more oversized rats...
"Huh? That is…?"
However, as he rushed ahead of his slightly older companion, what he saw upon reaching the end of the stairs leading down into the second floor of the dungeon was not some monster waiting for him to fight, but instead a fellow adventurer who looked exhausted to the point of fainting at any moment.
"You- What happened?! Did you get ambushed by some monster down here?" Seeing this, the earlier excitement at facing something that was not an oversized rat disappeared, as he rushed forward to grab hold of this fellow adventurer before he collapsed on the ground in front of him.
"The… The third floor has fallen… A monster stampede… A monster stampede has formed. Need to-"
Thump~
Before the other party managed to finish his words, he collapsed into the arms of the slightly younger adventurer. Leaving him completely bewildered at the words that the other party had spoken, but even though he was bewildered, he still understood the importance of those words.
The third floor has fallen and… A monster stampede had formed! This was something that could only mean that those who had gone to defend the third floor of the dungeon had been forced into retreat. Likely due to the formation of a monster stampede, an event that meant all the monster hordes throughout the third floor of the dungeon had gathered into a single massive swarm or horde of monsters.
"This…"
"We have to get back to the dungeon entrance; this person is likely a messenger of some kind that went ahead of everyone else!"
As the older companion caught up having heard the situation from afar, he quickly went into action, wasting no time as he carried the unconscious man up the stairs, while his younger companion took a few extra seconds to process the news before rushing after him.