You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

She turned and pushed open the door, almost fleeing from the suffocatingly heavy atmosphere outside.

Inside the office, Amata, the branch guild leader of the Emerald Town Adventurers' Guild, had already heard the conversation outside the door.

"President, they..."

As soon as Veronica opened her mouth, Amata waved his hand wearily.

"Tell them to go to the third conference room, I'll be there right away."

As he spoke, he quickly organized the documents and magic scrolls on the table.

Veronica went out to deliver the message as instructed.

Once the crowd outside had left under guidance, she returned to her office and looked at Amata, who was still busy tidying up, with a hesitant expression on her face.

"President..."

Amata stopped what he was doing, looked up at her, his expression gentle yet tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"Say what you want to say."

Veronica breathed a sigh of relief and eagerly began to speak, blurting out her words like beans spilling out.

"I think... it's necessary to activate the anti-testing mechanism! The Black Language Cave is clearly just an E-rank dungeon, how could it be this difficult?"

"Even the top three elite teams were completely wiped out! There's only one reasonable explanation: that dungeon was cheating!"

Amata gave her a deep look, his gaze profound.

"Is that what you think too...?"

He didn't say anything more, picked up a stack of organized documents, and gestured for Veronica to follow.

The two walked one after the other through the spiral staircases and corridors inside the guild treehouse toward the large conference room located high up, which was used to receive important visitors.

Frankly speaking, as the branch leader of this small place, his status and position are not as high as those of the leaders of the large adventure groups present here.

Presiding over a crucial meeting for these people is a heavy burden.

Pushing open the heavy oak conference room door, the leaders of the top teams from earlier were already seated around the oval table.

Amata sat down at the head of the long table, his gaze slowly sweeping over each serious face.

"You all already understand the seriousness of the anti-testing mechanism."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the quiet conference room:

Are you sure you want to file a formal application for this?

Without hesitation, the several high-ranking leaders nodded in unison.

Amata took a deep breath.

“Alright, I have no procedural obstacles here and can report to the headquarters immediately. But I must reiterate the rules clearly: all consequences after the anti-testing mechanism is activated will be borne by all of you.”

"While the documents have not yet been sent out, you all still have time to make final considerations."

Anti-testing mechanism —

This is an ironclad rule jointly established by the Adventurers' Guild and the Underworld Lords to deal with the most extreme situations:

This refers to dungeon lords or designers who extract enormous amounts of gold and experience far exceeding their level cap.

By forcibly integrating his core essence into the dungeon in a near-suicidal manner, he illegally crammed powerful monsters that were far beyond the dungeon's level cap into it.

If this illegal operation succeeds, all adventurers will be wiped out, and the success rate will be reduced to zero.

However, the cost of sacrificing the core is terrifying and irreversible.

Once the dungeon is successfully cleared, the core embedded within it will be completely destroyed, and the dungeon lord and designer will face real death!

The enormous profits once drove a few madmen to take risks.

But the consequences were disastrous—

A wave of protests swept across the entire adventurer continent, with people refusing to explore any dungeons.

Countless legitimate dungeons have also run out of income, leaving the great lords without a source of revenue.

Ultimately, the highest levels of both sides affected reached an agreement through the "Eye in the Underground" and the "Adventurers' Guild," establishing this brutal "anti-testing mechanism" as a powerful arbitration tool:

When encountering an extremely strange dungeon with an abnormally low completion rate, the Adventurers' Guild can initiate an application.

After the application is approved—

1. This dungeon will be immediately sealed off by the Underworld Overlord.

2. Lord's Ring and Designer's Ring will be forcibly confiscated, and all adjustment permissions will be frozen.

3. The dungeon lord and its designer must personally lead a team to conquer the dungeon under strict supervision! The entire process will be broadcast live across both worlds via magical projection to eliminate any possibility of cheating!

Chapter 61 Signing Agreement

There are only two possible outcomes for the anti-testing mechanism:

Firstly, neither the lord nor the designer can complete the game.

The evidence is overwhelming! The underground city is in serious violation of regulations!

The underground city has been sealed off.

All adventurer teams that request the activation of the anti-testing mechanism will receive a full refund of all their expenditures (gold, special items, experience loss).

The dungeon lord and designer involved will be convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned in an eternal prison, with their cores stripped away for compensation.

Secondly: The lord and the designer successfully completed the game!

The dungeon has been proven to be legal and "complete"!

All adventurer teams (not individuals) that activate the anti-testing mechanism will face a hundredfold compensation for all losses suffered by the lord and the designer.

Such a huge compensation claim is enough to bankrupt any large team!

Meanwhile, the leaders of all adventurer teams participating in the activation mechanism will face severe trials by the guild on charges of "false accusation" and "abuse of the mechanism."

All experience points are reset to zero, level is reduced to 1, and all equipment is forcibly removed!

The strength and status gained through years of bloody struggle vanished in an instant!

This is a high-stakes gamble that involves the lives, careers, and years of hard-earned wealth of both sides!

Just moments before, the atmosphere at the conference table was filled with enthusiasm, but as Amata finished his deep yet clear explanation, the atmosphere suddenly plummeted to freezing point.

Every commander looked extremely solemn, and some even subconsciously clenched their fists or gripped the handrails tightly.

The air seemed to freeze, with only the rustling of leaves outside the window.

After a moment of suffocating silence, someone finally couldn't take it anymore.

"We...we, the Warhawk Regiment, have urgent matters to attend to...so we will not participate in this matter."

A regimental commander stood up, his voice hoarse.

"Ahem... I suddenly remembered that there's an emergency at the Dawn's Eye team's base, and I need to go back immediately to deal with it!"

Another group leader also made up a clumsy excuse that no one called out, and hurriedly left the table.

As if the first domino had been toppled, several team leaders who were already of slightly lower status and lacked confidence got up to say goodbye.

Before long, the once packed conference room was reduced to just five people still sitting in their seats.

Besides the top-ranked "Silver Blade" Viser, the second-ranked "Holy Lance" Belin, and the third-ranked "Golden Wind" Mills.

That left only two leaders: "Iron Spine," ranked ninth, and "Frost Wolf," ranked fourteenth.

The atmosphere became even more somber.

Amata's gaze swept over the five finalists once more.

"Now, only the five of you team leaders remain to represent your respective teams... Shall we begin the final confirmation?"

Viser's face remained expressionless, his eyes as cold as iron, though the knuckles of his hand resting on the table were slightly white.

He nodded without hesitation.

Belin and Mills had no other choice.

The price of the Holy Lance Ring and the Anubis Resurrection Stone was too high; they had no way out.

Both of them nodded heavily.

As for the ninth-ranked "Iron Spine" regimental commander, he forced himself to remain calm, but a gambler's burning desire was hard to conceal in his eyes.

The fourteenth leader, "Frostwolf," was breathing slightly rapidly, and even had beads of sweat on his forehead.

They stayed, all with the same plan in mind—

With the top three groups betting everything, how could things not succeed?

If they win, they will make a fortune by leveraging the prestige of the three major groups.

If we lose... there are tall people to hold up the sky if it falls. The first three regiments compensated for the bulk of the losses, so their share of the losses is relatively acceptable!

"Sure!"

The two responded almost simultaneously, with a sense of recklessness and a willingness to gamble everything.

"Very good, since you five team leaders have made the decision on behalf of your respective teams."

Amata's voice sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet conference room.

"Now, please sign this magically effective contract."

He unfurled the heavy scrolls he had brought and pushed them to the center of the oak table.

The intricate patterns and designs on the parchment emitted a faint glow.

The five regimental commanders focused their attention on the documents that symbolized a heavy gamble.

The air seemed to freeze, and even the sound of the wind outside the window disappeared without a trace.

In the exchange of glances, they both sensed an indescribable heaviness—

The previous enthusiasm or calculations were ultimately suppressed by deeper considerations of reality when it came time to actually put pen to paper.

This is not surprising.