Chapter 80
80. Frenzied Dash
Once the boss was defeated, the statues placed on the altar all collapsed at once.
Now that the collapsed statues had revealed the hidden lever beneath them, I could enter the hidden dungeon after a few more steps.
Before entering the dungeon, I checked my gear one more time.
A full set of Dark Elf-made armor forged from ebony steel.
I had my best weapon equipped, and under my shield I strapped on the wrist guards Erwen had made for me.
A few minutes ago I'd been wondering how many more floors I'd have to climb before I started meeting enemies on my level, and yet...
To break through this dungeon solo without handling the gimmicks, this much prep was only natural.
-Kreeeek!
The floor of the altar opened, revealing the door leading into the hidden dungeon. I went straight inside.
[Jade Staircase]
The hidden dungeon was, true to its name, a place almost like an underground temple packed with green crystals.
Of course, it was a temple, but because it was built in such an ancient style and was underground, it felt closer to a cave.
With the dungeon map I'd gotten from the open community pulled up, I slowly descended the stairs.
-Ding!
Somewhere, I heard a small bell ring. Mana detection picked up several life signatures.
A butterfly-like creature made of green crystal approached me.
The crystal butterfly fluttered around me and flapped its wings, firing a spherical orb of light.
It was similar to the light I create when I use [Concentrate Light]. I reached out and touched it.
-Szzzt...
The glowing orb, blazing with heat, singed my fingertips. Even this tiny thing could still punch through my fire resistance.
It wasn't because it was especially powerful; it was because it was a composite attribute attack that fire resistance couldn't block.
I grabbed the butterflies that were firing light orbs and crushed them in my hand, then kept descending the stairs.
Every monster in this hidden dungeon is of this type.
The monsters themselves weren't that strong, but they attacked from a distance by shooting light orbs or beams like that.
It felt similar to, yet subtly different from, the Crystal Spider that had been the hidden boss on the 7th floor.
A moment later, a new monster appeared with heavy footsteps. This time it was turtle-shaped.
Its shell was made of chunks of green crystal, so it looked less like a turtle and more like a four-legged snail.
-Wooooong...
Green light orbs gathered in the turtle's mouth. The gathered orbs split into multiple beams and poured down on me.
I swung my sword to knock the light orbs aside, then closed the distance to the turtle in one burst and struck it.
-Crack!
The jet-black blade punched through the crystal mass and finished the turtle off.
The dungeon's gimmick starts from the section where this turtle appears.
Just when the path had been nothing but stairs going down, it suddenly widened, and various forks appeared to the east, west, south, and north.
I casually spread out mana detection to check, and all the gimmick devices listed in the walkthrough still seemed to be there.
"Hoo... let's do this. Let's go."
I took a deep breath, loosened up my body, looked toward the eastern path with the gimmick, and took my stance.
-Thud!
I kicked off the ground with all my strength and started running at full speed along the path marked on the map.
After launching into a super-high-speed sprint, with blade-like wind whistling past my ears, only a few seconds passed.
-Zzzt.
Intuition, mana detection, and sensory enhancement—the three skills that widen my field of vision—all shouted warnings at once.
They were warning me to watch the ground beneath my feet.
-BOOOOM!!
A massive pillar of light erupted from the ground.
**
A green beam far thicker than the one fired from the Crystal Spider's mouth.
An attack that looked like the bombardment of a satellite weapon from a sci-fi movie burst up from beneath my feet.
"Fuck!"
Instead of a scream, a curse burst out on its own. I had expected it, but seeing it in person, it really was no joke.
Even so, my feet didn't stop. If I stopped running, I'd die.
-BOOOOM!
The beams didn't stop after one shot. They kept firing again and again, targeting me as I ran.
This endlessly fired, shameless beam barrage was the gimmick of this dungeon.
The Jade Elixir is the spring water pooled on the dungeon's lowest floor, and there is a vicious monster guarding that spring.
That monster is the Emerald Wyvern, a beast that fires beams endlessly with insane detection range and absurd reach.
The Emerald Wyvern detects intruders entering this section and blasts a beam straight toward them.
Its power is enough to instantly kill, and the beam's area is wide enough to engulf and vaporize three or four people packed together at once.
There's only one way to dodge that crazy beam.
Work with party members to activate the dungeon's devices and lure the beams in another direction.
Because you have to activate several separated devices at once, of course you can't do it alone.
For challengers from other towers, it's basically a cooperative puzzle game.
For a solo player like me, it's a life-or-death running action game.
-BOOOOM!
"Ugh, fuck!"
Yet another beam blocked the path ahead of me as I ran like a madman to evade the barrage.
I quickly forced a change in direction and dodged by stepping onto the dungeon wall.
As you can see, there isn't just one wyvern firing beams. There are six in all.
If I could handle the gimmick, six or ten wouldn't matter, but my situation was different.
At least I'd learned mana detection, so I could sense when the beams were coming.
If I'd just rushed in cluelessly, I'd have been hit by three beams by now. One hit would kill me outright!
Then mana detection picked up beams being fired simultaneously from an awkward angle.
I took a hatchet out of my inventory and slammed it into the wall of the narrow passage.
My body, which had built up tremendous momentum, stopped on a dime, and the beams pierced the spots one step ahead and two steps behind me.
"Hah, fuck."
Damn, this is another problem. It'd actually be easier if I could just keep running.
If I don't make the right turn and stop at the right time, I can still get hit by the beams.
I couldn't keep stopping like this for long either. Another sharp warning crackled beneath my feet.
[All-Out]
"Hup!"
With the longest standing long jump of my life, I dodged the beam fired from beneath my feet.
**
The most fucked-up thing about this beam bombardment is that the closer you get to the destination, the faster the beams come.
It's because the place where the Emerald Wyvern is stationed is very close to where the elixir pools.
The farther down I go, the closer the firing point gets, so the beams arrive that much faster.
Honestly, there are plenty of other fucked-up parts too.
For one, the terrain keeps changing little by little as it gets blasted apart and restored over and over.
Because the terrain keeps changing, the route I had to take ended up much longer than planned.
Unlike the protagonist of some running action game who can run forever, I have a real limit to my stamina.
I can drink potions while running, but I can't ignore the chance of messing up my breathing while doing so.
If I even so much as trip and get hit by a beam, I'm dead, and with the terrain this screwed up, I can't help but curse.
And apart from the beam barrage, this is still a dungeon. Of course monsters appear in dungeons.
If they were just butterflies or turtles at the start, I could ignore them, but bigger, stronger ones are showing up now.
-GROOOO!
A horse-headed monster made of crystal appeared straight ahead, as if it had been waiting for me.
I quickly took the spiked shield out of my inventory.
I held the shield out front, didn't slow down, and activated [Sprint] at the perfect moment.
-CRASH!
The crystal horse-headed monster was smashed to pieces on impact.
If my stats were even a little lower, I wouldn't be able to smash through monsters with my body like this.
As I complained inwardly, a system message popped up before my eyes saying my [Sprint] skill had leveled up.
The closer I got to the elixir's location, the more dangerous it became, but my body was getting more and more at ease.
Because I was growing faster than the dungeon's danger was rising.
As expected, I grow much faster when I'm in a crisis.
**
After running for ages, I finally reached the only safe zone.
They say long-distance running dulls your sense of time, but I have no idea how many hours I kept running nonstop.
"Hah..."
My legs were trembling, and I couldn't breathe properly. My mouth tasted sweet, and my vision was spinning.
If I lowered my head, I felt like I'd throw up, so I deliberately looked at the ceiling and steadied my breathing.
I'd probably be the only one on the entire server who's ever cleared this dungeon by just running through it.
[Red Potion]
I suppressed the urge to collapse and forced the potion down.
My exhausted body quickly recovered thanks to the potion and [Combat Regeneration]. I checked my gear once more and prepared for battle.
Now there was only one thing left: to scoop up the elixir pooled on the floor.
But the problem was that the wyvern that had been firing beams nonstop was stationed near the pool of elixir.
The normal way to do this is to use the dungeon's devices and bait to divert the wyvern's attention away and snatch only the elixir.
That, of course, is impossible for a solo player like me. So what do I do now? Simple.
Just kill them all and take it.
Sitting in a safe place and sniping at will is over now, you fucking pterodactyl bastards.
If there aren't any enemies on this floor suited to my level, then I'll just go find them.