Chapter 36: Exploring the Dungeon (II)
When Sara felt her prowess, she blasted the formation open and jumped out from the windows.
*Thump*
Sara landed safely and with a ferocious look.
"Just you wait for it, Zhen, I'll make you pay for ditching me."
Sara said as she stared in the direction of the new dungeon while running.
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In the interior of the dungeon~
Zhen couldn't help but shake his body suddenly, once again shocking Aaron for his sudden movement.
"Eh, my bad I was just feeling a little bit chill due to the dungeon's environment." Zhen quickly comes up with an excuse and feels a foreboding about his future.
'What is my body trying to tell me? Something malicious is coming for me?'
Although Aaron feels suspicious and wants to kill Zhen for being so carefree while making him a guinea pig in this dungeon.
Aaron grits his teeth as he continues to follow the path indicated on the map and increases the light intensity from his flame as it gets darker as they move forward.
Meanwhile, Zhen continues to try to increase his Sense without any hope. Zhen tried to see if he could activate a disastrous spell but was limited to peak-rank 5.
'It seems this dungeon has its specified rules where only a certain type of magic power is allowed.'
Zhen sighed inwardly for this restriction where no one said anything about it nor indicated about it on the map.
However, no one knew about this restriction because they weren't powerful enough to be restricted by the laws of this dungeon.
This is anything but nice to know since Zhen has an instinct that it's going to be even more dangerous.
When Zhen thought about his instinct, he cursed his thinking as they finally encountered a group of magical beasts.
Although they walked past many adventurers and mercenaries fighting magical beasts, they didn't assist them as it is their fate whether they could survive or die.
Also, Zhen has no reason to help strangers while risking himself since there are no benefits.
The magical beasts in front of them are full of gooey and slimy body parts. Nothing like the beasts they have seen so far.
"What type of magical beasts is this?"
Zhen asked Aaron Flare since Zhen believed Aaron should be the most knowledgeable person in their group.
"I-I don't know, it's my first time seeing this type of magical beasts," Aaron replied and Zhen shook his head for this answer.
'No information regarding these beasts and they are full of murderous intent. I can't even differentiate the ranking they are in but I feel something is wrong yet can't quite catch on what it is.'
"But one thing for sure, this is going to be a tough fight," Zhen said as they got ready for a tough fight.
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Outside in the inner core area of Forest of Trove~
'I finally made it, I would make you pay for sure.'
The person is obviously Sara who traveled at extreme speed to go after a certain person.
Right now, she has been enquiring details about the person's figure and everyone knows who she is, answered truthfully.
Zhen has been too high-key when he calls out Aaron Flare causing everyone to remember him since he also has a rank 5 magical beast accompanying him.
"Thank you for your information, next time you come to the Grotto's Inn, I will give you discounts," Sara said lightly to thank the people for giving her the information.
"Haha, no worries Sara, your father John is an idol for us adventurers so no need for."
Sara nodded while inwardly, she disdained them from her mind.
'My father is an idol for you people yet have lustful thoughts about me. Do you really take women as weak beings that you can fool and do as you please?'
Sara will never talk to them if she didn't need to ask for Zhen's whereabouts. Not trying to interact with these hypocrites any further, Sara walked to the entrance of the dungeon.
Sara paid the entry fee before entering the dungeon. She doesn't know why but she can feel Zhen's aura inside.
Maybe it's a woman's intuition when catching their boyfriend or some other mysterious stuff that cannot be explained.
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Deeper inside the dungeon~
"Aaron, use a flame burst on them but don't go overboard otherwise, this place will collapse on us," Zhen ordered Aaron while blasting away another beast.
'You don't say genius.'
Aaron wanted to say those words as he cast his magic but didn't dare to say it so he said, "Yes, Sir" as he blasted 3 slimy-looking beasts to dust.
Meanwhile, Zhen didn't look happy one bit. That's because they are able to regenerate right after despite being turned into dust.
'Think, there's no way this dungeon would have unkillable beasts, there has to be a way to resolve this fight.'
Zhen can't help but think of multiple scenarios and suddenly, he recalled the open area in the map he took from Aaron.
Zhen closed his eyes as he tried to see their current position and a thunderstrike thought came to him.
'So that's why these beasts are able to regenerate and seemingly immortal.' Zhen smirked as he finally figured out the problem.
"Aaron stop firing your magic and stay still."
"W-What! Are you crazy? We will be squashed to death if we stop blockading them." Aaron shouted as he was already having difficulty so he didn't care anymore.
"Just trust me, do you think I'm a fool who would willingly give up on my life."
Seeing Zhen's stern expression, Aaron stopped firing his flame and stood still. But Aaron couldn't help but sweat on his forehead as the magical beast continued to go closer to him.
"Don't move and continue to stay still. Nothing will happen to you." Zhen replies as he sees Aaron is about to flee and fire his flame again.
Clenching his teeth, Aaron stood still while cursing in his mind, 'Damn it, to think my death would be like this.'
Aaron closed his eyes as his death will soon be inevitable.
However, after a while, there was still nothing happening to his body. Aaron slowly opens his eyelid and finds out the magical beasts completely vanished.
Shocked, he turned to look at Zhen who had a calm expression the entire time.
"I didn't kill them so you don't have to worry about me making you waste all your energy," Zhen replied when he can see the doubt in Aaron's expression.
"The whole magical beasts are basically an illusion, a fraud, a scheme to tire us out and if we continue to retaliate then the magical beasts would soon mature and really deal damage to us." Zhen continues to explain the situation.
His suspicion was correct and the open area marked on the map is due to the illusion where the people who came in before didn't trigger the illusion and were simply lucky to be able to pass through it.
The illusion is probably triggered as it discovers a threat to the dungeon itself and based on this gloomy environment. It was easy to manipulate their mind into thinking there are unkillable beasts that are capable of destroying them.
They simply have to stand still and the illusion will slowly disappear. Although it may seem easy and simple to you but if you think about it harder.
Who in their right mind is willing to lower their entire guard and allow a disgusting mob of slimy beasts to kill them?
After everything that happens, Zhen can only say one thing though, this new dungeon is slowly getting more and more interesting as he found another main point.
'We are being targeted by a hidden being here who is capable of annihilating us.'
Zhen said inwardly while trying to look for anything suspicious or possibly a spying tool on them.