Zeno's level was only lv10.
However, her lv10 was a level that surpassed that of a floor boss.
Even Dalun Li found it difficult to estimate her actual combat prowess.
At the same time, she retained most of the Death-Life Vine's abilities.
Among them was the ability to destroy an entire environment; though it took time, it was a true manifestation of power.
The skills she provided to Dalun Li also caused his overall strength to surge once more.
Now, it wasn't a question of whether the skills were strong, but rather that there were so many that Dalun Li felt the pressure.
If he were to burst forth with full power and activate all his skills, his combat strength was currently unknown.
However, even with the power of the nine-floor dungeon as support, it wouldn't be enough to sustain the consumption of all his skills activated at once.
Zeno was not restricted by floors and could freely travel to any existing floor.
This way, if danger was detected in advance, Zeno could head to the floor where the danger resided and resolve the trouble on his behalf.
Furthermore, Zeno could travel outside the dungeon.
Although with her current power she could not stray too far from the dungeon.
But this was the beginning of Dalun Li's power spreading beyond the dungeon's walls.
To grow and develop rapidly, he could no longer just wait around for those adventurers to provide him with sustenance.
Instead, he had to take the initiative, plundering resources from outside the dungeon to replenish it.
However, there were also drawbacks.
Inside the dungeon, if Zeno died, Dalun Li could easily resurrect her by consuming power.
But if she died outside the dungeon, consuming power alone would not be enough to resurrect her.
He would also need to consume precious materials to perform the resurrection.
Of course, the materials consumed would be far less than what was needed to create a guardian from scratch.
But with the dungeon's current resources, it couldn't support Zeno's resurrection more than a few times.
Therefore, even if Zeno was sent out of the dungeon, she had to be sufficiently cautious and not die easily.
For now, it was best to let Zeno acclimate herself first.
Dalun Li gazed at Zeno's tall and slender figure before him.
Beside him, Tongmu stared blankly at this new colleague—such a powerful new colleague...
Meanwhile, Zeno stood there respectfully, patiently waiting for Dalun Li's orders, remaining silent throughout.
"Zeno, keep watch over the changes in the current floors for me."
"Do not allow those adventurers to explore too deep too quickly."
"However, without my command, do not take the initiative to attack those adventurers."
"Yes, my Lord."
Zeno listened patiently to Dalun Li's orders and nodded slightly.
However, Zeno did not possess Tongmu's powerful observation abilities and vision, so she had no way to observe all the floors.
Have Tongmu assist Zeno?
No, Tongmu still needed to help him monitor changes in the outside world at all times.
Wait, if it was this skill of Zeno's...
"Tongmu, you will provide Zeno with the vision of the various floors."
Tongmu was dazed for a moment, its giant eyeball swiveling from Zeno back to Dalun Li.
It had a new task!
But it also had the task of monitoring the outside world...
"Zeno, can you leave behind a Plant Clone to be responsible for receiving the vision provided by Tongmu?"
"As you wish, my Lord."
Zeno dipped her chin and gave a light wave of her hand, causing a sprout to break through the desert soil.
Before long, a brown vine grew out and coiled upon the sand.
This was precisely Zeno's skill, [Plant Clone].
However, the current Plant Clone only possessed the ability to transmit information to the main body while being capable of being remotely controlled by it.
It did not possess power of its own, nor could it mimic the form of the main body.
It was essentially like planting a ward.
Tongmu landed on the vine and projected the scenes of the various floors onto it.
Consequently, the scenes of the various floors appeared within Zeno's mind.
She had no eyes or sight.
But her powerful Spatial Perception allowed her to clearly construct a 3D model of the dungeon within her mind.
This was also a form of enhancement.
"Zeno, take the preservation of yourself as the prerequisite for carrying out your mission."
"I do not like unnecessary sacrifices."
Dalun Li was afraid that Zeno would push herself too hard and do whatever it took to carry out his mission.
"Yes, my Lord."
Having received her orders, Zeno headed to the other floors, leaving behind only a single vine clone to receive the vision provided by Tongmu.
And Tongmu happily assisted Zeno.
It was so happy to be able to serve its master alongside a colleague.
Dalun Li landed on the stone pedestal, recovering the power consumed by creating Zeno.
Zeno's power came with a price.
The power consumed to create Zeno would take more than ten times as long to recover.
He estimated that it would take four or five days for the consumed power to be fully restored.
At that time, he could generate another set of materials for the floor boss Desert Sword Attendant and create a magical artifact, then he could attempt to challenge the tenth floor.
With Zeno secretly imposing obstacles, no matter how exaggerated the adventurers were, they wouldn't reach the bottom in just four or five days.
He had quite some depth now.
Speaking of which, how should he fight when the time came?
Since the tenth floor was occupied, Dalun Li's power could not penetrate it, meaning he couldn't fight remotely.
Driving the core directly into the tenth floor for a hearty king-versus-king battle?
What a joke; how could he do something so unsafe?
But he had to exert 100% of his combat capability on the tenth floor without moving the core.
"Perhaps, I can only deploy you."
...
The sixth floor of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Within the storm-ravaged desert, Manfred and his party trudged forward with difficulty.
Having experienced being ambushed before, Manfred's group had become even more cautious.
Having adapted to the yellow sand by now and remaining alert to their surroundings, they wouldn't get lost in the sand thanks to Rhine's Guiding Magic.
Instead, they were becoming more and more proficient as time went on.
However, a layer of gloom always hung over everyone's hearts.
That was the existence of the terrifying, intelligent monster manipulating the undead lizards from behind the scenes.
They had never seen the true face of that monster.
Naturally, as they pushed through the yellow sand, they were unaware that their every move was being watched.
Not far from the party, Zeno, wearing her half-face head armor, stood amidst the yellow sand.
Behind her, two skeletal shamans knelt respectfully on one knee, not daring to show the slightest hint of disrespect.
"Lady Zeno, the arrangements have been made according to your orders."
Zeno nodded slightly.
Her task was to halt the progress of these people's exploration.
And Manfred's party, by some stroke of luck, was actually heading toward the location of the passage.
So she made arrangements, ordering the undead lizards to set up another ambush in the yellow sand to block their path and whittle down their numbers.
"Your power is not enough to stop them; just interfere with them and delay their progress."
After Zeno spoke, she turned her head.
The two skeletal shamans quickly lowered their heads, bowing their bony skulls respectfully as they spoke loudly.
"We shall obey your command, Guardian. We are willing to offer our lives to our Lord."
Zeno nodded, and her figure subsequently vanished.
The two skeletal shamans waited for a moment before slowly standing up.
To think that after Lord Tongmu, our Lord has actually created a new guardian.
That powerful strength and the thick aura of the Lord, identical to Lord Tongmu's, could not be faked.
To be able to receive a mission from a guardian personally created by the Lord was an honor for them as well.
It must be completed!
The two skeletal shamans quickly headed to the ambush site and lay in wait beneath the yellow sand.
The crisis had been set, yet the advancing Manfred and his group remained completely oblivious.
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