A Cold-Blooded POV

Pacing back and forth, Elton's mind was conflicted attempting to process what he had just heard.

A few feet away from him, Wilfred was sitting with his arms crossed at one of the tables that decorated the guild's strategy room. He glanced toward the lone knight in all black armor; Dalton stood disciplined with his hands behind his back next to the exit door. With difficulty, he restrained himself from mocking the failure of a commander.

Seconds later, the Chronicler halted his movement, he looked up toward Dalton then spoke.

"So, your telling me that the Anomaly escaped?"

The commander looked straight, his eyes locked on Elton. "That's correct, Wiseman Elton. The monster got away from us, and we haven't been able to locate it since"

As soon as he said this, a masculine chuckle resounded from a bit further in the room. Dalton glanced at the Guild leader, a vein bulged in his head, but this went unnoticed since his helmet concealed his features.

Elton dropped his face in the palm of his hand. He squeezed at the bridge of his nose, his stress level increasing progressively.

Too frustrated to even look at the commander, Elton asked "For the sake of all things forsaken, How did you lose it? You had over 150 knights, each one a grand knight of the 4th rank. Not only that, we asked for, and obtained 40 middle-rank mages from the Board of Sorcery. How on Atinen did you manage to not eliminate the anomaly?"

Before Dalton could talk, Wilfred laughed once again. "Haha! This must be embarrassing for you, Commander. I mean, you did say that we, the Tremblebane guild, weren't even capable enough to keep our own members in check, yet, you failed to complete a simple task. Haha! Ahem, my apologies, I'm sure you have a decent enough reason for failing to kill ONE monster."

Dalton replied with silence. Moments later, he answered the Wiseman, completely ignoring the mockery from Wilfred.

"Although the monster's intelligence is higher than the norm, we were easily able to find it's whereabouts. Apparently, it had been observing some of the knights during their sweep, after they finished incapacitating the monsters the reptile took that opportunity and ate the corpses and bodies of the fallen monsters."

Hearing this Elton couldn't help but mumble to himself: "Of course, even a monster with intelligence can't turn down free biomass".

The commander continued. "After it finished, it retreated back to its lair, possibly to hide from the knights that it had encountered. In the process though, it left a trail of footprints which led us to its home".

Elton and Wilfred listened intently, in their minds, what Dalton was saying up to this point were things that was good. So how did he slip up and allow the monster to escape?

Dalton continued his explanation. "When I sent knights to the cave it was staying in, it dug its way out before any of the knights could reach it".

Elton cuffed his chin. "Hmm… Is that all? You were in the dungeon as well, did you not make contact with it personally?"

Dalton remained silent for a minute, then he finally spoke. "I did. However, the monster somehow dodged my attacks-"

"What?! That makes no sense, I was positive that the anomaly was, at most, a 2nd tier monster, if even that. How is it possible that its speed can match you, a Radiant knight of the 8th rank?!" Elton interjected, sweat dripped from his head as he imagined a monster with this much speed at such a low tier.

However, Dalton quickly corrected the Wiseman. "No no, the monster's speed was nothing note worthy. It wasn't because of its speed that it dodged my attack. It survived by pure luck, the gods had to have been on its side because I had a clean attack, but by a hairs inch, it escaped. Though, it is currently injured".

Elton's worry visibly decreased, however, the wrinkles on his face remained scrunched.

He sighed. "Regardless, it still got away. The fact that it had the ingenuity to dig a hole and escape instead of confronting invaders of its territory explains its diverse mindset from others of its species. Dalton, do you happen to know where the specimen could have went?"

The commander shook his head with difficulty. "Unfortunately, Wiseman, we weren't able to find out where it escaped to. I had the knights look through the whole forest expanse and asked the mages to check if the monster was in the area with magic, using it's blood as a catalyst, however, nothing came up".

He paused to catch his breath, then continued. "However, the cave that the knights cornered it in had two other tunnels leading to unknown destinations. I didn't allow any of the knights or mages to enter any of them because there a high chance that they are infested with monsters. Being in a tight space with tons of monsters aiming to kill you would be a hellish nightmare, and I'd rather not lose anyone in the process".

Elton nodded understandingly. Suddenly, Wilfred spoke, breaking the silence he had.

"Different tunnels you say? I think I have an idea of where the monster could have went".

Elton and Dalton glanced at the large framed man. Elton raised an eyebrow. "You do? Are you sure?"

Wilfred nodded. "I do. During the most recent times the guild has entered the dungeon we have also encountered weird holes in the walls or in caves. In curiosity, I once had an expedition into one of them and found out that those tunnels were created by monsters. Each of those tunnel routes connect to another, wrapping itself all around the dungeon. They are a never ending maze with constant twists and dead ends, I can only imagine where they would lead someone if they entered and followed it all the way to the end."

"Ah, I see. Thank you for that information, the council will definitely make use of it in the future". Elton thanked appreciated.

"Sure, no problem. This is for the sake of the royal family after all. Also, good call not allowing any members into those tunnels Commander". The guild leader said looking in the direction of the knight in all black.

Hearing the extremely rare compliment from Wilfred, Dalton simply grunted and raised his hand in acknowledgment.

"Now that we know the monster isn't in the dungeon, our next set of priorities is to find out where it is currently, we still have to prevent it from growing any more. In the meantime, before we leave Veenvale and head back to the capital, Dalton, I'll have you and some of the knights enter the dungeon once more and block those tunnels. You can take some mages as well, have them use their magic to make things easier". Elton ordered.

The commander saluted. "Yes sir.", then he immediately left the room, leaving only Wilfred and Elton in the room.

"Seems like you're going to be busy from now on, hopefully you don't die from the overload." Wilfred commented jokingly.

"Oh shut up you brutish monkey, you're also going to be busy".

Hearing this, Wilfred had a confused expression. Elton smiled, his wrinkled face growing crumpled.

"Oh? You didn't know? The royal family is going to call a summons for all of the Six Great Guilds soon".