Chapter 132: The Dungeon Beneath the Ruins of the Ancient City

This tiny demonic flower was not even as large as a magic crystal once planted in the ground. Yet its little bud clung tightly to the crystal, sucking up its magical power with all its might.

Luo Yong watched for a while. A magic crystal of this size would be enough to sustain it for quite some time. Who knew how long it would take before it grew up and began to show some usefulness?

After persevering in the Demon Secret Realm for nearly another day, Luo Yong finally reached that moment. His level rose to sixteen.

All that effort, just to accomplish the simple task of gaining a level, had caused the entire area around the entrance to the Demon Secret Realm to sink by three feet.

Countless low-level magical beasts had been slaughtered. Soil stained black by dark blood had been blasted into the air, only to fall again...

It seemed that the omnipresent corrosive force around him had weakened slightly.

When Luo Yong appeared once more in the Stonehenge, he saw several familiar figures within the protective barrier.

A Holy Light Warlock and a Truthspeaker.

There were also several human heroes who looked vaguely familiar. Judging by their appearance, they were probably the few who had fled from the Fearless Regiment.

“It’s him!”

“He’s the one! He turned all our teammates into stone statues, then cruelly shattered them to pieces. Not a single corpse was left intact!”

Several members of the Fearless Regiment pointed at Luo Yong and shouted loudly.

“But judging from the poses of those statues, they looked as though they were attacking one another. Was the situation really as you described?” the Truthspeaker asked.

Given what she knew of the Fearless Regiment, she did not even feel the need to bring out the Book of Truth to verify their words.

“Er... th-that’s right, of course it is!” one of them stammered.

“A Forbidden Arts Guardian. How rare!” The Holy Light Warlock waved at Luo Yong, signaling for him to come over.

“Are you calling me?” Luo Yong waited until the protective barrier dispersed on its own, then walked out of the Stonehenge and pretended to ask. Without another word, he opened a portal and left.

“Hey, hey! How did he get away?”

The members of the Fearless Regiment muttered among themselves, plainly dissatisfied.

But none of them dared say anything more.

Although the Holy Light Warlock and the Truthspeaker were both only level fifteen, far weaker than the famous elven adjudicator of the Mages’ Guild, they represented the Heroes’ Association, after all.

Even when their commander, Handesum, had still been alive, he had not dared act too arrogantly in front of these two.

“This man has entered and exited the secret realm several times in a very short period. Clearly, he has some unusual purpose,” said the Holy Light Warlock. Ignoring the members of the Fearless Regiment, she continued, “The Heroes’ Association will investigate the matter you reported. For now, this Stonehenge is under our control.”

“Guard this place. Then we won’t have to worry about him failing to return,” the Truthspeaker said.

Since they could not chase him down, they might as well wait here and catch him when he came back...

They would simply wait him out.

“Ugh!”

The members of the Fearless Regiment exchanged glances and let out a long, weary sigh. They had no better solution.

Without appealing to the Heroes’ Association, they themselves would never have had the courage to confront that Forbidden Arts Guardian.

“Ugh!”

Stepping out of the portal, Luo Yong also let out a long sigh. He could not exactly attack the Holy Light Warlock and the others.

Ahem.

Leaving aside whether he could defeat them, if he antagonized the Heroes’ Association, his future days would become miserable. He would never know peace wherever he went.

Like that deadbeat fatty Pang Ding, once he was placed on the blacklist, he could only spend his days wandering between light and darkness, struggling to survive in the cracks between them.

That was not what Luo Yong wanted.

“I only want to find somewhere quiet where I can grind levels to my heart’s content. Is that really so difficult?”

Luo Yong muttered as he walked.

He was following a narrow path through the forest. Heroes passed by him in groups of two or three from time to time, representing every imaginable race and nearly every profession.

Along the way, many people overtook Luo Yong, hurrying forward as though terrified of being left behind.

“What’s going on?” Luo Yong asked, puzzled.

“Eh? You don’t know? Then why are you walking so fast?” A thinly built human hero approached him. Dressed like a boy, she was nevertheless obviously a girl at a glance. Limping badly, she headed straight toward Luo Yong. “Mister, I injured my leg. Could you help me and take me farther ahead...?”

“The ancient city ruins lie ahead. Since you’re injured, you should return to camp,” Luo Yong said without emotion.

“This injury is nothing!”

The girl, her face smeared completely black, slapped her chest and declared, “I’m an expert at wilderness survival. A little wound like this will heal as soon as I apply some herbs!”

“This is a scroll for returning to camp.”

Luo Yong took out a teleportation scroll, pressed it into her hands, then turned and walked away.

When he reached the ancient city ruins, he found that everything had changed. All the arrangements he had made earlier had been destroyed, and the ground had caved in severely.

What he found most difficult to understand was that there really was an aura of a necromancer here—that ancient, long-sealed presence belonging to the undead.

“An underground dungeon?”

Luo Yong had not expected that someone would actually discover an entrance beneath these ruins.

“So there really is one!”

The surrounding area was already crowded with people. Quite a few parties had organized themselves and were preparing to enter and explore.

Luo Yong did not see Pang Ding anywhere. Presumably, the man now understood all too well what “Wenman” meant. It was just that Luo Yong probably would not get another chance to kick him in the future.

“Bro... er, I mean, friend.”

A human hero approached him and greeted him. “Want to join us? We’re going into the underground dungeon to explore. As for the rewards, they’ll be distributed according to everyone’s performance. But our captain has promised that anyone who joins will receive a share.”

“And how many shares can someone earn by performing well?” Luo Yong asked as he walked.

“That... depends on how well they actually perform.” The human hero smiled. He looked bright and sunny, as though he had not yet suffered too many setbacks.

“Thanks for the invitation, but I already have a party.”

Luo Yong waved a hand, passed by him, and walked straight toward the dungeon entrance.

No one was guarding it. There was only a single sentry recording the names of those entering. As he wrote, he muttered, “How many set out, and how many return... Exploring a place like this is no different from throwing your life away...”

His voice was not loud, but several parties waiting nearby heard him clearly.

They merely exchanged glances and shook their heads. No one said a word.

Luo Yong, meanwhile, passed them with scarcely any presence at all and walked directly into the entrance. In the blink of an eye, his figure vanished.

“Hey...”

The sentry saw him and wanted to say something, but it was already too late.

All he could do was let out a long sigh.

Luo Yong did not think much of it. Aside from the stale and unpleasant air, there was nothing particularly dangerous about the dungeon passage. After all, he was someone who had dared to face Adela, the Crimson Spider Queen, head-on.

Granted, Adela had been in a state of absolute weakness at the time, but it was still not something an ordinary person would dare attempt.

As Luo Yong went deeper, scattered monsters began to appear throughout the dungeon.

Before they could even approach, they were spat to death by the Snake Maidens he summoned.

Luo Yong checked the information and learned that this move of the Snake Maidens was called Death Ray, though it could also be known as Black Light.

When he had entered the underground dungeon, Luo Yong had assumed there would be plenty of monsters to fight. Yet after walking a great distance, winding through one passage after another for a long time, he discovered that the monsters along the way were few and far between. A few Snake Maidens were enough to deal with them all. There was not even the slightest challenge.

“Could it be... that someone has to draw the monsters out?”

Luo Yong wondered whether this place was like the Skeleton Secret Realm, where the monsters only awakened from their slumber after sensing the presence of intruders.

As far as exploration was concerned, Luo Yong had no particular interest. He had come in mainly to grind monsters.

“Do I have to leave and form a party with someone else?”

“Ahhh!”

Just as Luo Yong was preparing a teleportation scroll to return to the ancient city ruins, an ear-piercing scream suddenly rang out behind him.

Then...

It seemed that someone had finally found the correct way to open the dungeon.

In the darkness, something awakened from its slumber.

“Roar!”

A furious bellow resounded throughout the entire dungeon, even reaching the outside.

Immediately afterward, wave after wave of roars and howls erupted.

The ground began to tremble with a deep rumble.

The scene instantly reminded Luo Yong of the time he and the barbarian priest had fallen into the level beneath the underground palace.

“Mister! Save me!”

A somewhat familiar figure darted around the corner. It was the same girl Luo Yong had encountered on the way here.

Only now, she seemed to be clutching something in her arms. She ran as fast as she could, like a startled rabbit, and there was no sign whatsoever that she had been injured.

Behind her, countless figures surged out of the darkness, their cold, ghostly lights gleaming.

“Huh?”

As the girl passed Luo Yong, she noticed the several Snake Maidens beside him and seemed somewhat surprised.

But she did not slow down for even an instant. Like a gust of wind, she quickly disappeared around the far end of the passage.

“That certainly saves me the trouble.”

The monsters surging toward him were all around levels twelve to thirteen—not too weak, and not too strong. They were perfect for grinding.

Inside the dungeon, Luo Yong did not dare summon the Cannon Girl or the Gatling Big Sister. He was afraid they might blast the whole place into collapse.

Instead, he summoned all sixty Peerless Sword Maidens, along with the rest of the Snake Maidens, without the slightest emotion.

Together, there were still fewer than a hundred.

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

Swish, swish, swish...

Black light and sword light danced together, weaving a deadly net of slaughter.

When that net descended, not a single fish escaped.

The distant monsters were pinned in place by the Death Rays, while those that charged close were all cut in half.

The ones with tougher vitality took several additional sword strikes.

Within the span of a few breaths, every monster that had surged toward them lay motionless, utterly annihilated.

And just then, the girl who had run far away came racing back.

Her scream had attracted countless monsters...