Silence.

Utter and complete silence.

I could feel the beating of my heart and the blood rushing through my body as I finished listening and said

"When do we start?"

---

A horned being was reading complex data in an unknown location with a furious expression. Something unexplainable had occurred on the same planet that had shown abnormalities some time back

The signals placed on the pathetic beasts that held a level of power had all but disappeared.

This gesticulated a message of failure. They wouldn’t be able to start any operations on this planet for the time being. Having diverted many pieces into this one planet so frequently caused them to be restricted towards it. They could not forcefully send more pieces for at least a few months as these restrictions loosened

The being’s anger quickly reduced as he changed his mindset. His role was only to pioneer and establish connections to otherworlds in preparation for takeovers in the future. Many of his peers still had their focus on finishing the conquest of the major world they were in now

The only pockets of resistance remaining were the kingdoms where lineages of mythical beasts were ruling, as well as the Frozen Kingdom where the last of the human race on this planet was thriving

A devilish smile appeared on the horned being’s face as he thought about his contribution that led to the downfall of the most powerful kingdom in this world and allowed for them to take root fully

The remaining places would all fall in due time, no matter how long it took. He could already see it happening in front of his eyes. For he is the personification of lies and evil, the Prince of Darkness. Ranked 68, he was commonly known as Demon King Belial...

---

Places all over the world were becoming stabilized as hunters performed their roles and quelled the onslaught of beasts.

Cities in the Blessed Empire and the various countries of the United Federation were discussing the regulation of dungeons across the world.

New knowledge was coming out everyday that ascertained how frequently dungeons had to be cleared in a day in order to completely destroy them.

The number of times differed depending on the ranks, with lower level dungeons requiring to be cleared many more times until their monoliths were destroyed.

The conclusion wasn’t fully ascertained by the hunters, but the actual cause was that lower ranked dungeons required less supply of essence to be kept active, and thus could more easily be replenished as they were cleared. High ranking dungeons required significantly more essence in order to replenish the origins of the beasts inside it, thus required a less number of times to be cleared before the outflowing of essence surpassed the inflow and cause the destruction of the dungeon

The discussion taking place was which number of dungeons should safely be left for hunters to regularly clear and become stronger, while putting the effort in cl.u.s.ters where many dungeons appeared and it would be better to destroy them before a dungeon break occurred

The discussion and regulation of this was ongoing, with the different countries and cities deciding for themselves what was best

I had spent a significant amount of time talking to the System in that blank room and learned many more things.

I was currently flying back to the Star City of the Blessed Empire to receive awards and recognition. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that important to me right now as my mind was fully filled with dangerous information and I was only thinking about the expansive world I would be descending in soon enough

I left King’s Harbor after sharing a few words with Kazuhiko and apologizing for not being able to stay any longer.

The System had mentioned that we wouldn’t be getting any mass descents of dungeons like what just occurred any time soon, as it could feel tight restrictions against beings descending down that were covering the planet after the most recent attack. But we didn’t know exactly how long this would be

Maybe a few months, or half a year, or the same time span that passed from the first invasion we faced to this second one, we were not completely sure.

So I was moving with the goal of wrapping everything up, before heading to a location specified by the System to start my next journey

The mystery of Kazuhiko and the other figure I saw in the smaller rooms attached to the blank room was not too explosive. The other figure that shone with a golden light was most likely the strongest hunter of the Empire, Steel Mikhail

Both him and Kazuhiko had received more attention and essence from the System when they first awakened, granting them powerful Inherent Skills that allowed them to lead the hunters forward and save many more lives when the apocalypse first began

With the advent of [Skill Combination], their lead from other hunters will continue to get wider as they start combining many of their skills to produce higher ranked ones. The reality of them combining several rank A skills to become A+, and then spend a few weeks to raise those skills up to the required proficiency in order to produce a rank S skill wasn’t too far off. I wasn’t sure whether hunters holding multiple rank A+ skill could fully match someone with 1 or two rank S skills, but time would tell as things progress

This was something I confirmed with the system, the combination of two "+" skills would almost always give you a powerful skill of the next rank

These two powerful hunters would continue growing their strength here and prepare for any descents that occur in the future. Their power, as well as many of the veteran hunters all over the world, would surely rise to rank S in the months to come and give them the ability to withstand many of the things coming

They would be leading reformations for both powers to make sure lives are not needlessly lost if anything like the mass dungeon descents occur again in the future.

As for the white haired figure on the remaining room, the System mentioned that I would meet her soon enough.

I flew through the skies using [Flight] and observed the many dots of people congregating in the countries I passed. None of them had any idea of the larger forces in play, or where they would be a few months from now

They all felt the momentary peace and calmness that was settling right now while mourning for the many that lost their lives.

After I passed a few countries and continued my reflections, I casted [Summon Virulent Abomination] and got on top of the terrifying beast that was much faster than me. A green streak passed across the the clear skies, crossing the border between the two nations