“Where is the Greed and Resurgence Authority?” That was a question, a question the Dungeon Masters and I kept asking ourselves for "days" straight.

  Upon these "days" of restless questioning and contemplation, we came up with several theories.

  One thing we all came to was evidence that the authority wasn't with us, and that thus the authority was or at the very least should be out there. This was, in fact, less of a theory and more of a proven fact. How was I so sure? Well, my confidence came from none other than the authority known as authority gathering.

  What that authority does, by my guess and own experience, is give the wielder the ability to track down authorities. It comes across as a strange feeling of having a limb away in a vague direction. While compared to my two other authorities, which brought upon tremendous improvement, one could assume Authority Gathering to be "lame." I could easily see that, as a Dungeon Core, this authority isn't used to the maximum. With my control being limited to what I can control in another world, my spawn and my domain, this authority is one that would be better wielded by someone or something not bound by such restrictions.

  Anyway, back to my point. Using Authority Gathering—a skill that allows me, albeit vaguely, to sense the existence and, to some extent, the location of other authorities—I tried to pinpoint a specific one—Greed and Resurgence, which is an authority I'm strangely confident in recognizing. But no matter how hard I focused, I couldn’t narrow its presence down, which is tragic. No doubt. But, while I failed to locate it, I did notice something else. Comparing my current senses to past probes using Authority Gathering, there was no sign of a missing authority among those I could detect.

  That meant one thing: it was as if I had never been invaded at all—as if Greed and Resurgence still existed out there, untouched. But that couldn’t be right. I had been invaded. And we had repelled that invasion. By all logic, that authority should now be ours.

  But it wasn’t. It had been taken.

  Somewhere along the way, I began considering the possibility that this could be an illusion. But as we dissected that conjecture, we all came to the conclusion that it couldn't be it; it just didn't feel right. And, to be honest, I really hoped it wasn't right.

  Anyway, as for the question of how exactly the authority ended up back out there, we stumbled upon a dead end. We came up with many conjectures and theories, but as of now, they remained so-tragically baseless. So, we decided to put aside those thoughts and dedicate our time and effort to something more productive.

  Some time passed—how long exactly, I couldn’t say for certain. But I knew this much: in that span, there had been three human—and I emphasize HUMAN—invasions, all dealt with by the Dungeon Masters.

  Yet, despite everything, one question lingered in the back of our minds. How was it that the authority we were certain had been in the Paladin invader’s possession was now back out there?

  And then—it happened.

  Just like before, I felt it.

  It was a feeling passed over to me by the passive authority known as Authority Gathering. It was telling me that an authority was closing in, and there it appeared.

  _____________________________

  [ ???'s Interface ]

  System Notification

  Intrusion Report:

  Forty-two million nine hundred seventy-five thousand five hundred ninety-four entities has invaded your dungeon domain. G.P safety compromised.

  Suggestion:

  Secure G.P, put an end to the invasion.

  Intercept and Slay the invaders

  Estimated Reward:

  - 8317 G.P

  - Authorities: Greed and Resurgence

  _____________________________

  “What the fuck?!” Our voice simultaneously resounded at the sight.

  ***

  One could imagine the confusion and chaos the sight of that authority in the invasion interface brought upon us all, but it was nothing compared to the uproar caused by the sight of that name—that authority of the invader, which unlike the last time, came in alone, making him the third Lone Invader.

  "What the hell is that?"

  "How?"

  Clicking on the new red dot that appeared amidst the other ones belonging to the monsters proliferating in Dungeon Master 06's domain, we caught sight of his full stats.

  _____________________________

  Name: Eland Karstark

  Level: 78

  Race: Verdenkind

  Class: Mage

  Title: Archmage Supreme / Elemental Maestro / Arcane Virtuoso / Champion / Undead-Slaughterer / Elemental Creature Slaughterer

  [Status]

  - H.P: 32,800 / 35,280

  - M.P: 68,5544 / 73,880

  - S.P: 4300 / 5200

  - Fatigue: 6%

  - Defense: 7,803

  - Offense: 21,075

  [Skills]

  - Spearmanship: Level 4

  - Water Magic: Level 13

  - Earth Magic: Level 10

  - Darkness Magic: Level 7

  - Elemental Infusion: Level 13

  - Fire Magic: Level 12

  - Shieldmanship: Level 4

  - Lightning Magic: Level 15

  - Arcane Shield: Level 15

  - Mana Surge: Level 12

  - Ice Magic: Level 13

  - Wind Magic: Level 13

  - Swordsmanship: Level 2

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  - Blink: Level 11

  - Summon & Wield Mana Weapon: Level 11

  - Enchant Weapon: Level 10

  - Teleportation: Level 1

  - Arcanic Healing: Level 8

  - Physical Enhancement: Level 6

  [Abilities]

  - Arcane Unity: Unlocked

  - Elemental Fusion: Unlocked

  - Astral Projection: Unlocked

  - Mana Overload: Unlocked

  - Arcane Empowerment: Unlocked

  - Time Warp: Unlocked

  - Elemental Mastery: Unlocked

  - Arcane Resilience: Unlocked

  - Spellweaver's Insight: Unlocked

  - Dimensional Rift: Unlocked

  - Self-Healing Aura: Unlocked

  - Arcane Form: Unlocked

  [Authorities]

  - Greed and Resurgence

  『Expand』

  _____________________________

  Before us was the mysteriously gone authority: Greed and Resurgence, and the wielder was different than the last one. "Eland Karstark... Karstark."

  "Is that like a son of Kevin Karstark?" A Dungeon Master mumbled.

  Just like he and the others most likely did, a series of theories juxtaposed in my mind.

  Could it be that this authority passed from Kevin Karstark, peace to his soul, to this invader?

  Kevin Karstark was gone. His remains were no longer in my inventory as wanting the GP his defeat came along, we harvested the remains for the GP—GP that we promptly split up between ourselves. So yes we had no doubt that Kevin Karstark was gone. Gone and Harvested.

  So this Eland Karstark… perhaps he was a son or a nephew or someone of the family perhaps or something else, I can't really tell. To be honest, that’s not even what's really bothering me, what’s really bothering me right now is how, regardless of his identity and link to Kevin Karstark, that authority ended up in his hands.

  That Authority should be here, with me, yet there it was in that man’s possession. In that moment, I admit, I even began considering the possibility that this is some sort of illusion, but as I calmed myself down, I began to understand that this couldn’t be it. It just didn’t feel right.

  "Everything I’ve come to the conclusion of doesn’t make any sense. Anyone here have a better way to explain what’s happening?" I asked, hoping to get a better theory from the others.

  When they’re not jumping at each other's throats, they’re almost as smart as I am, so perhaps they were about to prove their smartness to me once again. But at that moment, no such thing happened; my question was met with tense silence. "I see, so the same for you guys too."

  Having spent quite some time as a Dungeon Core, slaughtering anyone entering my domain, I’ve come to note that most of the invaders, with the exception of two authority wielders like Tusko Vagar, Kevin Karstark, had single names. The fact it wasn’t even all Authority wielder as the first one didn’t even have a second name gave me enough grounds to establish that a single name was common for this world, unlike that of our old world. So while I wasn’t sure if that related to this case, I began to nonetheless theorize that there was some filial link between Eland Karstark and Kevin Karstark that could explain or at least attempt to explain how he ended up having that authority instead of me.

  It was then, as I was racking my brain trying to explain what happened, that Dungeon Master 06 complained,"I know you guys are trying to figure out what happened, but in the meantime, can one of you just do like you normally would and get that dumbass out of my domain?"

  Staring at the screen before us displaying many red and white dots with scarce blue, red and white dots scattered here and there, I immediately understood where Dungeon Master 06’s complaints came from.

  The blue dots represented Dungeon Master 06’s spawn, the white dots represented beings that were not considered by the interface as neither invaders nor spawn. As for the red ones, they represented invaders, but all of them, with the exception of the authority wielder, were invading creatures baited in by either Dungeon Master 06’s forest-like domain or the very creatures that were baited in by the said-domain. All together, they represented what Dungeon Master 06 considered his cattle.

  On the screen, something alarming was unfolding—the countless red and white dots were vanishing one by one. But they weren’t just disappearing like that. No, they—Dungeon Master 06’s cattle—were being mercilessly slaughtered by the Authority wielder.

  "What’s the deal with this guy?"

  "Don’t know, and don’t care. Just get him out of my domain."

  Upon being handed the role of the main domain, Dungeon Master 06 promptly assumed a personality, or to be exact, a persona fit for what his domain required of him. With his priority being to make sure his “cattle” keeps growing in number, he spent most of his time grooming all the creatures in there so that the domain becomes a haven for the cattle. This process included getting rid of the bad weeds, which at times can be quite the bloody homework, so, of course, the sight of the Authority wielder wreaking havoc isn’t one that sits well with him.

  In that moment, if we had eyes, the Dungeon Masters and I would have exchanged glances, all arriving at the same conclusion.

  We would be dealing with that Authority wielder—and that authority. That much was certain.

  If this had been just another newly emerged authority, we’d already be at each other’s throats, each vying for the right to handle it. But no. Standing there in silence, we found ourselves facing a much bigger question:

  "Who’s dealing with him?"

  Naturally, it wasn’t going to be Dungeon Master 06. It wasn’t going to be me either—for reasons. Had the "lone invader"—let’s call him that—been of a slightly higher level, say 100 or above, then by all rights, the task would have fallen to my domain.

  But reality was different.

  Dealing with the lone invader would be left to one of the others—Dungeon Master 01, Dungeon Master 02, Dungeon Master 03, Dungeon Master 04, or Dungeon Master 05.

  "Really guys, we’re really doing this again?"

  "Yes, we are, but now that I think of it, there’s one of us who shouldn’t be part of this, don’t you think Dungeon Master 02?"

  "What?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You know exactly what you’re talking about; you’re the one who took care of the last Authority-wielder; you’ve done your share now it’s for us to get the job."

  "I agree with Dungeon Master 05; this is a job for one of us four alone."

  "I second that."

  "I do too."

  "Tch, you greedy bastards."

  "You’re one to talk about greed Dungeon Master 02."

  "Just give up. We’re not accepting you seeking a rematch for the lost authority as an excuse."

  "Tch. Fine, fight over him between yourselves," Dungeon Master retorted after a tense standoff.

  "Welcome to the club," I and Dungeon Master 06 greeted our newcomers.

  "Mph, don’t get me started you two."

  "Okay okay, nevermind us."

  Following Dungeon Master 02's withdrawal, a heated debate unfolded among the four Dungeon Masters regarding the responsibility for handling the lone invader.

  Various arguments were thrown around. One Dungeon Master claimed that their Guardian was best suited to eliminate the intruder, while another boasted about their Guardian’s superior stats. Someone else argued that their Guardian was the perfect counter to the lone invader, and one even insisted that since Dungeon Master 02 handled the last invasion, it was now his turn. Each made their case, eager to take on the task.

  Another very unreasonable line of reasoning focused on the order in which they had confronted previous waves of invaders. One Dungeon Master argued that, since three others had already dealt with their respective batches while he had not, it was his turn. However, the others, unwilling to concede, countered that past assignments were one thing—this situation was entirely different.

  Eventually, at the urging of Dungeon Master 06, who’d grown impatient at both their unending disagreement and the sight of his cattle being slaughtered, the task of dealing with the lone invader fell into the hands of Dungeon Master 05.

  "Well gentlemen, I guess it's showtime," Dungeon Master 05 pompously declared as he took over control from Dungeon Master 06.

  The domain swapped.

  Much like Dungeon Master 02 and the others, Dungeon Master 05’s domain could be divided into two parts: his domain, which was just an empty space with no spawns to speak of. Much like the others, the domain existed only as a place for him to safely and temporarily store Dungeon Master 06’s cattle. The other part was the Guardian sanctum, a separate space that he immediately had the lone invader spawn into.

  ____________________________

  - Spawn Dungeon Guardian

  ____________________________

  “Well then, Eland Karstark, you had your fun terrorizing Dungeon Master 06’s domain, let’s see how you handle this,” he declared before shouting with a vivid voice, “yes.”

  ____________________________

  - Choose Guardian Protocol

  ____________________________

  ____________________________

  [ ???'s Interface ]

  Reclamation Protocol

  『Confirm Activation』

  [ YES [ NO

  ____________________________

  "Yes!”

  ____________________________

  [Abyssal Dragon]

  Level: 12

  Type: Abyssal Dragon (Fake Dragon)

  Title: Abyssal Scion

  [Status]

  H.P: 64,550 / 64,550

  M.P: 126,060 / 126,060

  S.P: 84,480 / 84,480

  Defense: 45,540

  Offense: 60,720

  [Skills]

  - Gravity Manipulation: Level 7

  - Breath of Singularity: Level 6

  - Voidborn Wings: Level 7

  - Abyssal Roar: Level 11

  - Dimensional Tremor: Level 14

  - Infernal Breath: Level 5

  - Draconic Physique: Level 5

  - Elemental Resistance: Level 4

  - Overwhelming Presence: Level 8

  [Abilities]

  - Graviton Core

  - Gravity Crush

  - Event Echo

  - Adamantine Scaled Armor

  - Mythical Resilience

  ____________________________