"E-rank? What?" everyone immediately showed their disbelief at the news they were hearing. Even Ning felt that it was wrong.
These dungeons were special, created by the constellations to screw with him and his plan to teach people about the magic circles.
He wondered how many constellations it took to open so many dungeons. 10? 20? He was sure there weren't many constellations involved in this, but certainly, there was a large enough number to deter the other constellations from either not joining in, or stopping them from doing what they did.
'Dammit,' he thought. 'If only I had more information.'
He didn't have access to the system to easily get the information he wanted. If he had, not only would he not have to send Blue, Night, and Ely to go around the world to document every single dungeon, he would have been able to tell what rank each one where and who had made them.
However, right now, he had no such ability.
He could contact Ning and ask him for some help, but given the amount of time that had passed since he had left, he had most likely already begun working.
Since what he was going to have to do was a delicate task that required his full attention and even the system to work along with him, he couldn't just call him and disturb him.
He would have to wait 10 days before he could contact him.
"Are you sure it's E-rank? That sounds impossible," one of the guild leaders said.
"That is what has been recorded," the director said. "We will do some more tests and will have to figure out if that is correct or not. But the fastest way will be for some of you to go in."
"Ning and I will go into the one here near our city," Kim Min-Soo said. "We will report our findings once we go through with it."
"Really, Apostle Kim? Thank you," the prime minister said.
Ning didn't even get the chance to refuse. "Why did you speak for me?" he asked.
"What? Are you not going to go?" she asked. "You are the strongest of us. If you don't go, who will?"
Ning got a little frustrated. He was no longer the strongest at all, so he would rather stay low-key for a while.
'Screw it! What use is staying behind if others die due to my inaction,' he thought.
"We will get you the answer soon, prime minister. Just wait for it," Ning said. "Aside from that, regarding the magic circles, what will happen to that meeting?"
"I'm afraid that is going to have to be delayed, isn't it?" the prime minister said. "We have something new we need to take care of before we can even think about doing what you said. Besides, your request to gather every country will be impossible for a while since every country will have to go through this."
"I see," Ning said with a blank face.
They had won. Those damn constellations, especially since Briss had successfully stopped him from spreading the information about magic circles.
'For now at least,' he thought. 'They must have had to give up a lot of power to make this happen. But still, why E-rank? What does that accomplish?'
Of course, they were most likely not E-rank dungeons. Or else, those people that entered would have come out by now.
'Maybe it's a maze? That's why they are stuck in there for so long?' Ning thought. There was something fishy going on with the dungeons that he will have to find out soon.
"I just received another piece of information," the director said. "Ning's dungeon did indeed exist. We found the gate in the abandoned building and people are heading there to evaluate it."
"Dear lord, so there really are 26 new dungeons?" the prime minister shook his head as he thought about it. "So the number is now up from 58 to 84."
"Hopefully these new ones really are E-ranked dungeons. Otherwise, we won't have many people to spare for them," one of the Apostles said.
"Alright, Apostle Kim, Apostle Ning, please prepare your group and go to the dungeon as quickly as you can," the prime minister said.
"Yes, prime minister," Kim said and turned around to leave. The vice leader took her place to continue talking with the others while Ning walked out with her.
"Do you really want to go?" he asked her.
"Huh? Of course," she said. "It's not like I have anything to fear. You're going to be with me. You have the power of 5 gods in you, so what's there to worry about?"
Ning gave a wry smile, not knowing what to say. There was a chance this dungeon run was going to be dangerous.
With constellations involved, death was all but confirmed for him. 'If it really is so dangerous that I die, then at least I will learn that something big is going on here,' he thought. 'Even if I have to stop what I'm doing, I will come back.'
"You stay, I will go alone," Ning said.
"Huh? I'm going too," Kim said.
"As I said, gods are involved in this matter," he said. "And…" he couldn't tell her about his lack of power just in case a Constellation was listening to him.
"Anyway, stay here," he said and teleported away, leaving Kim with nothing to do.
Ning appeared outside of the dungeon, surprising a few people that were working there. He didn't immediately enter the dungeon, however.
He instead contacted Ely with his divine sense and told her what he was planning to do and how dangerous that task likely was.
Ely wanted him to stay out, but she understood that it had to be done.
"Don't worry," she said. "I know what to do in the case of emergency."
Ning nodded after hearing her and finally was slightly relieved. He no longer had to worry about anything, even if he died.
As such, he turned towards the gate of the dungeon and walked through it.
