----The next morning----
Tenn woke up to the sunlight peering out at him from the window, the clock at his bedside beeping slightly and showing the time – 8:30 a.m. As it’s a vacation for everyone, they had came to an anonymous agreement to sleep in, even the ever early riser like Mitsuki – as he don’t have to make breakfast for everyone. Walking into the hotel’s cafeteria, Tenn is not surprised to see most of the idols sitting around, as it’s already quite late to sleep in even by normal standard (except some people like Tamaki, Yamato and Yuki, who are not morning person). What was surprising was the atmosphere in the room, it was so tense you could probly cut it with a knife. The Adventurers, Riku included, were in heavy discussion, pooring over a map on the table with several props like in a mediveal movie. Tenn went to where the others were seated and asked the nearest person, who happened to be Procella’s Fuzuki Kai:
“Good morning Fuzuki-san. What is going on, if I may ask?”
“Ah, Kujou-san, good morning. It seemed they are in some kind of strategy meeting, but I don’t really know the details as they have been at it since 5 in the morning…” Kai said sheepishly and pointed to Iku, who was trying to make the sleepy Rui to eat his breakfast “Iku said that when he went for his usual morning jog, Soujirou-san seemed to have received an urgent call and had assembled their group to discuss, and they hadn’t stop since then”
“I wonder what happened that they seemed so stressed? Well Shouryuu-san and Isami-san did…” Sougo wondered worriedly.
“Well, you guys will find out…right about now” Shimotsuki Shun, Procella’s leader said plainly when the Adventurers stood up from their table and looked towards everyone else.
“Sorry, but can you guys go to the conference room now? And someone call the managers and presidents, we have an enmergency.” Soujirou said to the idols.
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“What’s wrong?” Yaotome Sousuke said directly after everyone had assembled into the conference room the hotel provided, with the three presidents appearing on the TV’s conference call function.
“We have just received an urgent report from our Adventurer post in Okinawa, there is an abnomaly large gate appearing near here, thankfully not close to any other towns.” Soujirou explained.
“A gate?” Otoharu asked.
“Yes, a gate. I’m sure you all know about Elder Tale?” Nazuna asked, and when she received nods from everyone the were-fox continued “These gates are a side effect of us connecting with Earth, and the five Adventurer post – Okinawa included – are set up to prevent the monster that escaped through the gates from attacking normal human.”
“So the gate this time is larger than normal, means that there will be more monster?” Haru spoke up.
“Yes, the larger the gate the more monster that will come out, but there is another concern.” Soujirou confirmed.
“This time, the monsters that come out of the gate would not be the normal Goblins or minor monster from low level training fields. Our machine had detected that these monster come straight out of a newly formed dungeon.” Riku said, to the surprise of the idols and managers alike.
“Dungeon?! That means bigger monsters?” Tamaki said, his face going paler by seconds.
“Then where exactly is the gate? And are you gonna do something about it?” Sousuke demanded.
“The gate, according to our caculation will open fully in the forest to the west of this hotel, the distance is about 5 kilometers give or take. As this is a private establishment, we can at least be sure that no one else other than us and the hotel’s staff are heavily affected.” Nazuna pointed at a map of the area, circling a spot that is dangerously close to the hotel.
“And you can be assured that we will deal with the threat, but as the connected dungeon is a new one, we need some more time to investigate what kind of monster we are facing.” Riku explained “As I will go back to Elder Tale to investigate, the rest of us will stay here to inform the autorities and set up barriers. We will need you to stay inside the hotel, starting from the day after tomorrow for your safety, so today you are going to the town for supplies with some of the staff. And don’t go near the forest.”
“But Riku, it’s dangerous to go alone! At least take someone with you!” Tenn protested, his mind going to the scenarios where his twin would be in danger without any help.
“Tenn-nii, it’s okay. I’m used to this. And as we are pressed for time, me going alone is the best solution.” Riku reassured his worried twin.
“That’s right. All of us except Sou-sama are no match for Riku-san’s speed and strength, and Sou-sama have to stay here to inform the authorities and to evacuate the nearby civillians. Some of us will help with the evacuation while the others will be setting up the barriers.” Isami explained to the worried idols.
After the discussion, they were divided into groups to lighten the workload, with the hotel’s staff being informed of the situation. There was a moment of awe seeing Riku summon a Griffin to fly back to the gate, but things soon fall into a buzz of activity to prepare for the gate. Meanwhile, Riku had quickly flown back to the gate and arrive back in Akiba at night and had informed RTCA of the situation. Shiroe and Nyanta quickly summoned their Griffin, with Riku riding with Shiroe – as his own Griffin was exhausted after flying from Okinawa back to Mount Fuji. They arrived at the gate of the new dungeon and cautiously went in occasionally putting markers on the wall to map their way back. The first few level of the dungeon was full of low level monsters, but Riku used his Cloaking Skill to hide their presence and save time exploring. When Shiroe’s spell detected gate’s activity, the three had went to the middle room of the dungeon (according to the sensor). It was a throne room for the dungeon boss.
“So this is the throne room…” Shiroe whispered while doing his best to record everything.
“But to think there are this many monster-nya…” Nyanta commented worriedly “And the gate is being opened directly from here…”
“Orc, huh?....I knew that I can’t like them…” Riku said quitely in disgust while pulling off his eyepatch “Most of them are the grunts…on par with Sanhuagins…the 5 black ones are the generals… higher level than the rest, and of course Orc Lord…eventhough it’s not to the level of a last boss it’s level is quite high…”
“We should send some back up over Okinawa…to amass a large operation in raiding this dungeon in a day is impossible…” Shiroe mumbled.
“We still have the Landers and the rouge Adventurers to think about…Souji, Nazuna-nee, Isami-san, Hien-kun and Shouryuu-kun being in Okinawa is enough of a loss in man power…” Riku said, silently activating Cloaking again along with Mute Barrier to cancel out the sound they make when moving.
“Still, I’ll send the rest of our guild except Akatsuki over…Except for her doing recon mission everyone else are not really needed in our plan against the Landers…” Shiroe said bluntly.