But he didn’t get far. Just a few meters before the worried shouts of Paul and Annie once again caught up to him; they too had made it out of the dungeon.


    ““Go help her! Leave me here,” a battered Annie instructed.


    Paul paused to assess the condition of the girl leaning on his shoulder. She hadn’t even managed to leave the dungeon with her own strength, and was bleeding profusely.


    But she would make it. Having come to this conclusion, Paul quickly but carefully lay Annie down onto the cold stone floor and was about to spurt towards their even more critically injured group member.


    Then, before anyone could process what was happening, people came swarming inside and surrounded the confused and desperate group.


    “


    On the big screen, it was almost impossible to make out any specifics; nobody knew whether the healer of the courageous group had made it. They only knew, by the way her [Recording Crystal]-the one still recording even at this moment-moved and from its perspective, that the girl had long lost her consciousness.


    “


    But his pleas hadn’t been necessary in the first place. Even before he could finish, a whole range of white, and green, and yellow-colored healing and support skills had enveloped not just Nissa, but all four of them.


    The woman then reached out and-


    ““Did she make it?” cried the more empathetic spectators.


    “Who was that?” demanded the resentful ones.


    To them, in a way, it was even more captivating than all the previous submissions, where the groups, without any real struggle and no suspense regarding the outcome, had basically just been showing off their skills and knowledge.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    The group around Annie might have been very inexperienced and poorly prepared, but there was at least one thing the group got right. And that was that all dungeons-be it the ones such as this one, which transported each group into their own separated and isolated dungeon space for them to conquer, or those existing in the regular plane which would often times pit various groups of invaders against each other-had an exit located at the entrance point. Anything else was unheard of.


    Now that both these fundamental rules had been violated, countless discussions had been sparked; everyone had their own speculations.


    If now, in this atmosphere, this knowledge was to spread, things were all but guaranteed to take a turn for the worse; the ensuing chaos would be beyond control.


    “


    Amongst them, the one actually in charge of those purple-uniformed troops, couldn’t help but ask,


    “Did they make it in time? Did she…?” Jasmine stopped herself, as she didn’t truly expect an answer to her question; her men had yet to return and report back to her. All the more surprised was she therefore, when the old woman nodded and told her, ”don’t worry.”


    The fact that the girl’s dot had still not disappeared from the minimap which had returned just minutes before the group had entered the dungeon, was proof of that.


    “really needed to question, she suspected, had to be Severin. Who, coincidentally, was nowhere to be found.


    So many people wanting answers. Not just Jasmine, who, without hesitation, had sent her local troops to manage the situation.


    But also the Society, which would undoubtedly make this dungeon their business. He could already hear Miriam’s probing questions.


    Questions he couldn’t answer. But even if he refused, then what?


    But Severin knew better than that.


    ‘Even if in the end they don’t try to outright restrict all access, I reckon it will be at least a few weeks before they will approve access to the public. What a hassle this all is. Just because I couldn’t control myself when I saw that dungeon core module pop up.’ Severin regretted how impulsively he had acted. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t still put at least some of the blame onto the System,


    ‘