We cut short our leveling plans and returned to Boltana to assess the situation, heading straight into the Adventurers' Guild.
"Ahhh! What in the world is happening in the dungeon!?"
At the counter, the receptionist sat slumped in her chair, muttering to herself.
She had likely received countless reports from adventurers about the dungeon's bizarre changes.
『Orcs just started pouring out from everywhere! This can't be normal!』
『Some guys who left town came running back—said ogres and skeletons are roaming the upper layers!』
『If things are this bad, shouldn't we just move to another town?』
The guild was packed with people exchanging information or panicking after encountering the chaos. The noise was overwhelming.
"It's really turning into a mess…"
Fatima watched anxiously.
Until very recently, nothing like this had ever happened around Boltana.
(Still… why is the dungeon spawning monsters?)
"Hey! You're here too!"
A familiar voice called from behind while I was deep in thought. I turned to see the thief from the party we had fought the Skeleton Ogre with.
"Good to see you're safe. Thanks again for back then."
The armored man from the same party appeared behind him, along with the priest woman.
"Right—we never properly introduced ourselves. I'm Gaston, leader of this party. Currently C-rank, thanks to you."
Gaston gave a light laugh.
Reporting that they had defeated the Skeleton Ogre (with my help) must have bumped them from D to C rank.
"I'm Ark. Do you know anything about the dungeon?"
"Yeah—monsters suddenly appearing everywhere. We were lucky and didn't run into it ourselves, but no idea what's going on. The worrying part is…"
"Emergency!"
A breathless man burst in, shouting before collapsing to the floor.
"Wh-what's wrong!?"
The receptionist rushed out from behind the counter.
"A—a monster horde is heading this way! Huge numbers!"
"What!?"
Everyone in the guild froze at his gasping words.
『What do we do…?』
『A horde…』
『We've got no choice but to run!』
"No—it's already too late for that. But there is a way."
Gaston spoke up amid the rising panic.
"Any large monster horde always has a 'commander' leading it. Kill that one, and the rest will scatter and flee."
"B-but how are we supposed to find the commander in that mass?"
Another adventurer asked, but Gaston shook his head.
"No idea. We just have to search. Usually, it's the strongest monster in the group."
Hearing that, I immediately started walking toward the exit.
"Ark-sama? Where are you going?"
"Outside the town—to take down those monsters."
If Gaston was right, killing the commander should end this chaos.
"Wait—hold on!"
The receptionist hurried after me.
"You have a level cap of 1, don't you!? You'll just get yourself killed!"
"Level cap 1…? So you're that rumored adventurer."
Gaston seemed to finally understand.
"Ark may have a level cap of 1, but believe it or not, he's probably stronger than anyone here right now. Still—even for him, taking on that many alone is suicide."
"Yeah! We should just retreat west!"
"My mana is practically limitless. I can keep fighting indefinitely."
As long as the enemies were vulnerable to magic, I could chain "Death" while recovering mana through Soul Collection.
"Fatima, stay here with everyone."
Many of the enemies were C-rank or higher.
I could not drag Fatima—still relatively low-level—into this.
"No."
But she refused flatly.
"Why not?"
"Because we're a party, aren't we?"
"That's not—"
"It is! Sending a companion alone into danger—that's not what a party does!"
She stared at me stubbornly, refusing to back down.
"Even if you say no, I'm coming anyway."
(She's clearly not going to listen.)
"…Do what you want."
"Yes! Then let's go!"
In the end, I gave in to Fatima's insistence, and the two of us left the guild.
A rumbling like distant thunder came from outside town—growing steadily louder.
We hurried to the gate and saw the situation with our own eyes.
From the eastern forest surged a wave-like horde of monsters.
A thousand? Two thousand? Perhaps even more.
The majority were E- to D-rank: goblins, orcs, black wolf-like dreadwolves. Scattered among them were ogres and skeletons.
Not just upper-layer—mid-layer monsters were mixed in too.
"Absolutely do not push yourself too hard."
"Yes!"
I drew the broadsword from its sheath and charged alongside Fatima toward the oncoming horde at full speed.
""Death""
『Guaaaa!!』
An ogre at the front fell instantly to my magic.
Soul Collection made my body feel even lighter.
I kept swinging the broadsword at nearby goblins and orcs while chaining magic with my left hand.
""Death", "Death", "Death"…"
I targeted larger monsters like ogres with magic and used the sword on orcs.
『Guooo!!』
An orc struck by a single slash screamed and dissolved into particles of light.
Dungeon-spawned monsters left no corpses.
That explained why the numbers never matched earlier.
"Haa!"
Fatima focused on intercepting monsters heading toward town rather than forcing fights with strong ones.
We could handle them individually, but the sheer quantity was the problem.
The remaining monsters continued advancing toward town.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time.
"We'll support you two! Prioritize the weaker ones—thin their numbers!"
A voice rang out from the town gate.
A large group of adventurers had gathered there.
At the front stood Gaston.
"Ark-sama! The other adventurers came!"
"…So it seems."
The adventurers surged past us, attacking the monsters flowing by.
Some were clearly C-rank or higher—several even took down ogres with magic.
"At this rate, we can protect the town!"
Now we just needed to find and eliminate the commander leading the horde.
『Gugooooaaaaahhh!!!』
Right then, an especially massive roar shook the air.
"Wh-what is that!?"
At the rear of the horde appeared a gigantic, pitch-black, four-legged monster.
A lion's head stared straight ahead.
A goat's head protruded from its back.
Where a tail should have been writhed a skeletal serpent, mouth constantly opening and closing.
Adventurers knew this kind of monster by one name.
Chimera.
"A black chimera…!? An A-rank monster—why is something like that here!?"
In that moment, I understood clearly.
This was the one causing the phenomenon.
This was the commander leading the monster horde.