The sect master opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again to reconsider what to say. You couldn't exactly tell the seed you were here to kill it just because it sucks up waaaay too much mana from the land, could you? The disciples stopped attacking (the puppets were still attacking tho), awaiting the master's decision. The master's face scrunched up from the stares of the students, a look of indecision (Why the heck are you so indecisive if you came here to kill the chaos seed in the first place?).

Just as he was about to say something once again, the sound loud sound of many footsteps rang out from afar. I turned back to see that another legion donned in red equipment was heading towards the cave from the distance. Well, I suppose it was no surprise that there were other people wanting to hunt down the dungeon seed too. The sect master did brief that a dungeon seed's core could be used to make valuable equipment or simply to aid cultivation speed during the pre-hunt announcement.

"Fireborne sect!" Our sect master cried out in anger.

We waited as the Fireborne troops settled before us, already in attack formation. Most of the mushrooms were already retreating back into the cave at this point, and the melee mages start scrambling for the mushroom cores that were still intact on the ground. I was suddenly reminded that I should start looting, so I too started to grab and stuff them into my bag.

"How dare you try to kill one of my top disciples!" Our sect master shouted at another old man (I turned away from looting to see what was going on at this point of time). I assumed that old man was the Fireborne sect master from how he was leading the legion and wearing the most exquisite armour (Why the heck are there so many jewels on the amour? You think you need a hundred to make your armour look good?) set out of all the other Fireborne members.

"Kill? What kill?" That old man seemed genuinely puzzled.

"Stop pretending! Your top disciple Yado robbed Pewjack's Fire Lotus and left him to die in the forest!" Yelled our sect master.

"As if! Where's your proof?" The other old man huffed indignantly, crossing his arms.

"Bastard! The proof is right on the fire lotus you stole! Pewjack used a permanent marker to write his name on it!" (I almost laughed out loud when I heard that, but I managed to stifle my laughter.)

The Fireborne sect master was speechless right after.

"I don't have time to check for your accusations!" He said. "Fireborne, attack!"

With a roar, the Fireborne legion charged at our unprepared people. (What the fuck? You got accused of something you did wrong and now you are getting angry as if you were in the right?)

"Idiots!" He shouted. (no u) "I meant attack the chaos seed!" (oh, that's who he was talking to)

The Fireborne army then detoured around our confused legion, conveniently picking up some of the core. Shit! Those bastards are looting our hard work! I quickly resumed stuffing the cores into my bag in an attempt to save as many as possible. Some other disciples behind the wall finally realised what they should be doing, so the earth mages took down the walls and unleashed dozens of "core hungry" disciples. (Shit, my loot count is gonna go down!)

Seeing that the our people were finally competing for the cores, the Fireborne sect master told them to ignore the cores and hurry into the cave. Our sect master then told us to hurry into the cave too. Me? I was ecstatic, staying behind to fill my bag. If no one was going to pick up the treasure, I sure as heck am taking it all.

"Alan? You aren't joining us?" Asked Griaugh who lingered to talk to me.

"Just look at all these rank 4 cores! Think of how much they're worth!"

"Oh! But I think I still want to fight and stuff." He said, pondering. "I know! Since I helped to pay for stuff earlier, help collect some for me, deal?"

"Sure." I said as I continued to stuff the treasures in my bag, but in a less hurried pace (there wasn't any reason to rush now that no one was competing with me).

Admittedly, one of these cores would probably cover the entire costs of what he helped me with, but I would have been in deep shit if not for him. Helping him gather a few wasn't that big of an issue. So while the legion was having their fun, I was busy looting the cores.

It took a while, but I wiped the field of most of the cores. There was so much loot, I even considered running off in case they asked me for a share for the rest of the army. But being the "nice guy" I am, I wasn't going to make off with all the loot. Now that the job was done, I stared at the empty field, contemplating. It would be the best choice to wait for them to be done since I wasn't helping much (plus, it's safer this way), but it was boring as heck!

Who would be able to sit still while you knew your comrades were fighting an epic battle? At least, not me. I must have been influenced by those fighting novels I loved to read when I was younger.

Just then, I heard the loud sound of countless footsteps yet again. Another sect had arrived to snatch the pie (aka the dungeon seed)!