Outside the White Bone Dungeon, a small town had already been established.
Perhaps it wouldn't be long before a city formed, centered around the Landmark Tower.
The town was named after the White Bone Dungeon: White Bone Town.
At this moment, inside the dungeon, adventurers were enthusiastically discussing the White Bone Dungeon.
And every topic of discussion was inseparable from the word “chest.”
“Did you find a chest?”
“No, did you?”
“Of course! The chest I found had a whopping fifty gold coins inside!”
“That's worth two months of my usual earnings!”
“Damn it, get lost!”
The unlucky adventurers who hadn't found any chests quickly rallied themselves and prepared to head back into the dungeon to try their luck again.
Looking at the results, Li Xiuman's plan was far more than a simple success—it was an absolute triumph.
Word of mouth among the adventurers attracted even more of them.
Everyone wanted to see this treasure chest dungeon for themselves.
However, the mortality rate of this dungeon was actually higher than other dungeons.
It was as if the entire dungeon was a massive web spun by a spider, preying on the adventurers who sneaked inside.
Things brewed like this for three days.
Looking at his White Bone Dungeon, which had seen a clear surge in foot traffic, Li Xiuman grew increasingly satisfied.
“It's about time to unleash my trump card.”
Li Xiuman looked at the chest sitting in the corner of the Boss room, his bony face seemingly breaking into a human-like grin.
He flipped his hand and retrieved the Dungeon Core.
He aimed it at the Mimic.
“Create Monster: Mimic!”
“Target Floors: All!”
Instantly, Mimics were distributed across every single floor of the dungeon.
Li Xiuman hadn't created too many Mimics.
After all, if there were too many chests, it would feel overly suspicious and fake.
If that happened, he wouldn't be able to trick the truly destined individuals.
One by one, the Mimics appeared in various corners of the dungeon, radiating an enticing glow.
Facing the massive influx of adventurers, it was as if some wondrous chemical reaction had been triggered.
Excitedly, Li Xiuman watched the reactions of the adventurers on the various floors through the Dungeon Core.
“Whoa, it's a chest!”
“How lucky!”
Click.
Squish.
The opened chest revealed a bloody, cavernous maw lined with sharp fangs, swallowing the approaching adventurer in a single bite.
Only two legs were left outside, kicking wildly in the air.
Stench, corrosion, slime.
I can't take it anymore.
Is my adventure ending here? Looking back on my life, I can at least say I have no regrets.
Li Xiuman wasn't some kind of demon. The low-floor Mimics only possessed a shocking stench and a bit of toxicity.
However, the stench would probably linger for a whole month.
Their main purpose was simply to disgust people.
Furthermore, there was a chance the Mimics could snatch coin pouches or equipment from the targets they devoured.
These pouches and equipment would be stored inside the Mimic's stomach.
Once the Mimic died, the one-time teleportation magic circle inside its body would trigger.
The coin pouches and equipment hidden in its stomach would then be teleported straight to the Boss room.
Meanwhile, the Skeleton Golems and the Troll would also roam their respective floors, hunting down adventurers and transporting the loot back to the Boss room.
These spoils would then be processed into chests in the Boss room and deployed back into the various floors of the dungeon.
This, in turn, would lure in even more adventurers.
This meant more loot, leading to more chests being deployed, which would lure in even more adventurers.
What an incredibly perfect, closed loop.
Although he had realized this many times already, he truly was a genius.
Watching more and more adventurers fall into his traps, Li Xiuman felt like he was watching a spectacular, large-scale live broadcast.
They were devoured by the Mimics in all sorts of creative ways.
The stench was so vivid that it felt like it was wafting right through the Dungeon Core.
However, Li Xiuman's joy didn't last very long.
On the Dungeon Core's display, a party of seven, all of them at LV30 or above, was blitzing their way down from the first floor at an incredible speed.
Li Xiuman shuddered in fright.
Is this cosmic retribution for my misdeeds?
No, luckily I noticed them early!
Is this my reward for doing good deeds in my daily life?
Ignoring everything else, he hurriedly transmitted a message to the Skeleton Golems and the Troll.
“Hide! Danger!”
After transmitting the message, Li Xiuman didn't dare to stay any longer.
Otherwise, there was a real possibility he might be forcefully conquered by this adventurer party.
He took out the Dungeon Core, locked onto the coordinates of the White Bear City Dungeon, and initiated the teleportation.
A pitch-black magic circle expanded, rising from beneath Li Xiuman's feet and enveloping his body.
The surrounding scenery warped, and the ground gave way beneath him.
By the time his vision cleared, he had already arrived on Floor 30 of the White Bear City Dungeon.
“Damn, looks like I won't be able to return to the White Bone Dungeon for a while.”
Li Xiuman looked at the projection displayed by the Dungeon Core.
On it was the sight of that adventurer party—every single one above LV30—sweeping through the dungeon like a slaughter.
They were practically unstoppable.
Moreover, they completely ignored Li Xiuman's chests. Whenever they encountered one, regardless of whether it was a real chest or a Mimic, they would just blast it to pieces.
Looking at the captain of the party, whose clothes were completely drenched, Li Xiuman knew this fellow had likely fallen victim once, which explained the sheer decisiveness.
This goes to show that greed always backfires.
From their lineup, it seemed this adventurer party had entered with the sole intention of clearing the dungeon.
Therefore...
“Until you leave my dungeon, I am absolutely not going back.”
Li Xiuman put away the Dungeon Core.
Since he had returned from the White Bone Dungeon much earlier than expected, he still had plenty of time on his hands.
With the remaining time, he might as well go scout out Floor 31 of the dungeon.
He pushed open the innermost door of the Boss room and walked through the sloping, downward passage.
He arrived on Floor 31.
The end of the passage was a cliff. From here, one could overlook the entirety of the vast tier spanning Floor 31 to Floor 40.
The entire tier from Floor 31 to Floor 40 was unified as a single entity—a colossal volcano.
Lying beneath it was an ocean of lava formed by the molten magma spewing from the volcano.
And the entrance to the labyrinth itself lay right inside the volcanic crater.
This meant he would have to leap directly into the volcanic crater from here.
The magma inside the volcanic crater erupted once a month.
When it did, the interior of the volcano would be completely submerged in lava, leaving any adventurers inside without even a corpse remaining.
The flooding would last for ten days before the magma fully receded.
Therefore, the time available for adventurers to explore was actually only twenty days.
Within these twenty days, adventurers either had to finish their exploration and retreat from the crater...
Or blitz their way down to Floor 40, defeat the Floor Boss of Floor 40, and enter Floor 41 within that timeframe.
Once on Floor 41, they could wait for the magma in the volcano to recede before leaving.
A single miscalculation meant being swallowed by the magma, leaving nothing behind.
Thus, adventurers challenging this tier had to calculate precisely which days the volcano would erupt each month.
They would then avoid those calculated dates before entering through the volcanic crater.
Finally, they had to set their expectations, steel their resolve, and push through to their target floor in one breath.
Rate on N.U.
