“Let's put that aside for now. What do you all think of this?”
Nearby, the Magician pointed his elemental wand at the ship graveyard ahead, asking the group.
“Placing the portal in the seawater instead of inside the ship graveyard was likely to prevent the monsters in the dungeon from escaping. After all, it is a two-way portal,” the High Priestess, who usually enjoyed playing around, said with a serious expression.
The High Priestess had also put on some extra layers.
“Hierophant, don't you feel anything?”
The High Priestess asked the old Hierophant, who was standing still, while she adjusted her clothes.
“Not really. I don't feel much of a difference. It might be because I'm a merman; I'm not very sensitive to temperature.”
The Hierophant shook his head.
“Do you think it's because of the dungeon? After all, there are undead-type monsters inside. Or maybe it's related to resistance and attributes?” The Sun said, glancing around.
Lan Qingyou frowned slightly, observing the massive ship graveyard composed of broken vessels some twenty to thirty meters away.
“I believe it is related to this dungeon.”
“Oh?”
Lan Qingyou's certain tone drew everyone's attention.
“The dungeon's name is ‘Undead Bay.’”
“The description says thousands of undead who died here a millennium ago reside within. If we can slay all of them, the dungeon will cease to exist, and we will receive all the rewards inside. However, there may be one to three relatively strong monsters within.”
Lan Qingyou said calmly, pressing down on her witch's pointed hat.
“What's your basis for that?”
“My Magic Eye is a support type, similar to identification. One look and I know the identification results.”
“Whoa—”
Upon hearing Lan Qingyou's explanation, everyone marveled.
However, Lan Qingyou was only telling half the truth. While she could identify things, she could also analyze them.
The existence of the stronger monsters was a conclusion drawn from her analysis.
“By ‘stronger monsters,’ do you mean something like a dungeon boss?” Gu Xiaobei, the game enthusiast, asked.
“Yes.”
“Now that’s interesting. A beginner dungeon with three bosses... I can hardly wait.”
After receiving Lan Qingyou's confirmation, Gu Xiaobei excitedly pulled a torch from her cards.
This was an ever-burning torch, a magic tool that provided a fire source in the wild without needing to build a fire.
It was certainly fitting for her profession as a chef.
But looking at Gu Xiaobei's posture, it seemed this level 1 game enthusiast intended to use the torch as a weapon.
“Let's head up first. The bubbles are starting to time out,” the Hierophant reminded them.
Everyone noticed their bubbles had deflated somewhat and prepared to land. However, Li Huai called for them to stop.
“Wait, let's gather some intel first.”
As the person with the most combat experience among them, his words held significant weight.
So, everyone came to a halt.
Li Huai then cupped his hands behind his ears, looking as if he were listening intently to something.
Gathering intel? I should help out too.
Since this was a team effort, Lan Qingyou naturally wanted to do what she could.
After looking around, she reached out and let Steel Wool hop onto her arm. With a toss, Steel Wool flew out with a series of soft puffs.
Steel Wool then circled the entire ship graveyard.
“Landing is clear, but behind that long, pier-like landing point, there are a few blade-and-shield skeletons and a ghost we need to watch out for,” Li Huai said after listening for a while.
“Mm, I saw that squad last time I was here, which is why I turned back,” the Hierophant nodded gravely.
“We can actually go back? That's amazing. Does the dungeon portal never close?”
As the High Priestess spoke, she turned and stuck her head back through the portal, seeing the boat the Hierophant had anchored.
“It really is! The Emperor, come look! This is so interesting!”
“It's a good thing we had to take a boat to get here. Otherwise, with a portal that allows entry and exit at any time, we'd probably end up fighting if we ran into another dungeon party.”
The High Priestess’s 'headless' body hopped about as she called Gu Xiaobei over. But Gu Xiaobei, her mind already in game mode, couldn't be bothered with such things.
“Whatever. Since there's no danger, let's just get up there. The air in the bubble is almost gone.”
With that, Gu Xiaobei took the lead and stepped forward.
In truth, the bubbles weren't going to run out that quickly; they were only about half deflated.
However, since someone had moved, the others naturally weren't going to let her charge in alone.
Finally, after a minute or so, the eight of them walked onto the simple pier.
It was only after landing that Lan Qingyou gained a clear concept of these wrecked ships.
One word: huge.
Two words: absolutely massive!
They were easily the largest wooden-structure ships Lan Qingyou had ever seen.
The overturned deck was as high as a ten-story building, and just the broken prow alone was about a hundred meters long.
She couldn't even imagine the total length of the ships.
“Ji!”
While Lan Qingyou and the others observed their surroundings, Steel Wool flew back, landing smoothly on her Magic Broom before hopping onto her shoulder and nibbling at her ear.
“Ji-ji—”
“Mm-hmm, I see.”
As Lan Qingyou listened, she nodded from time to time, leaving the others nearby looking confused.
“Wait, you can actually communicate with your familiar after signing a contract? You can understand its language? That’s a great feature.”
Seeing the interaction between Steel Wool and Lan Qingyou, the High Priestess’s eyes sparkled.
Who wouldn't want to have a heart-to-heart talk with their pet?
It was practically a fairy tale.
However, Lan Qingyou's next sentence shattered her fairy tale dream.
“I don't understand it either, but we do have a heart-to-heart connection.”
Lan Qingyou shrugged at the starry-eyed High Priestess.
“That...”
“What did Steel Wool observe?” Gu Xiaobei interrupted the High Priestess. Her gaming itch was becoming unbearable.
“The entire dungeon is about three thousand meters long and two thousand meters wide. Most areas are blocked by ship wreckage. There's a relatively well-preserved ship at the very back; if nothing goes wrong, that should be where the boss is.”
“However, this doesn't rule out the possibility of encountering mini-bosses along the way.”
Lan Qingyou summarized what Steel Wool had seen.
Dungeons were generally structured this way.
Everyone present had played games to some extent and was naturally familiar with the concept.
“Excellent! With this intel, our clearing speed will be much faster.”
The Sun nodded, tossing the rune stones carved with Runes in her hand, looking determined to win.
“Let's just push forward slowly. No one's in a rush to get back anyway,” Li Huai reminded them.
A watched pot never boils. He personally preferred a steady and stable approach.
He couldn't help it; his previous experience being trapped in the volcano was still fresh in his memory.
While it didn't result in death, that kind of aggressive assault that seemed to save time often ended up being the most time-consuming in the end.
Especially when one had to recover from injuries...
Rate on N.U.
