บท 82: Below Endow Hill

"We're going hunting today."

Hearing the 'h' word made Zero pump his fist into the air joyfully. Treun was finally able to stay awake for half a day after the meticulous care of both Sage Gods over the past week. However, he hasn't regained his strength both physically and magically. The elf was worried but with Merlin as Zero's guardian, Truen held his tongue.

Hua Tuo handed Zero a basic first aid kit with all the medicine he would ever require. In the past week, Zero had fully mastered basic first aid and healing magic. He'd also memorised majority of the dangerous plants and creatures to avoid or deal with when he encountered them. Of course, there were more but Hua Tuo only taught Zero what he needed to know for now while he was on Endow Hill.

On the surface, Endow Hill was simply a mountain with a dragon rumoured to be guarding it. However, what many didn't know was how Endow Hill had a dungeon beneath it. The dragon was simply the dungeon's original guardian. This dungeon was a little special as it was also the portal to bridge between the dead and the living in a time-space dimension. Adventurers who died there remained as trapped souls to fuel the dungeon's magic. It had many branches linking to the outside of Endow Hill, luring unsuspecting adventures in. The dungeon was essentially alive and the only way out was to defeat the dungeon boss on each level.

"Remember, stay close behind me within five steps. Do not touch anything that I did not touch. It's not only a place filled with monsters; it is also a place full of traps."

Zero nodded with seriousness in his eyes. He hadn't learnt any form of combat apart from some basic magic spells. Merlin forbid Zero to use any offensive magic in fear of destroying the dungeon and trapping them in it. However, Zero was free to use any form of defensive magic and support magic.

As it was the brunet's first battle experience, he was excited. Mii told Zero to add Merlin to his party. The boy was clueless but after a demonstration, he invited Merlin with a smile who accepted the invitation without questions. After all, it was rather common in this world to send temporary contracts to each other for mutual benefits. Merlin wasn't bothered about sharing the rewards. They were going in the dungeon for Zero's benefit in the first place. However, the new contact on his communicator intrigued the magician.

"Oh, Mii is a strawcherry fairy who helps me a lot. She's very knowledgeable but grumpy sometimes. She needs 'experience' to be able to stay out longer here that's why you don't really see her."

Merlin had never heard of such a strange system. Fairies were creatures that used the magic of their contracted masters to materialise. Why was Mii such an exception? Perhaps she wasn't really Zero's contracted fairy and was simply acting so by the orders of someone else. Whichever the case, Merlin agreed to help Zero get Mii some 'experience' by completing the dungeon. It was a weird criteria for becoming stronger but Merlin wasn't going to question it. If one could become stronger in necromancy by sleeping in the graveyard, who was to say clearing dungeons weren't a legitimate method of becoming stronger?

With everything ready, Merlin opened a portal that led them straight to the entrance of Endow Hill's infamous "Sleepy Cave" dungeon. Although it was named "Sleepy Cave", the dungeon was always bustling with life. The name was only to indicate how tranquil it was to unsuspecting victims. The dungeon starts out mild but as adventurers get deeper, the dungeon will move and shift, trapping them in a maze. Monsters will start appearing in vicious waves of coordinated attacks. With each wave successfully dealt with, the next becomes stronger and smarter. Adventurers who cannot overcome this trial will die miserably, becoming a source of food for the living dungeon. Adventurers who survived the waves will be faced by a final dungeon guardian. Many falter at this stage. However, those who survive will be teleported out of the dungeon instantly with special items, usually boss monster loots, meant to discourage the adventurers from trying again.

Strangely, adventurers who successfully cleared the first round tend to return to the dungeon. The living dungeon, having experienced defeat the first time, would increase the difficulty of monsters, attack patterns and boss monsters. Some of these adventurers would survive the increased difficulty but many will fail. However, as the item drop from monsters in the living dungeon were rare and highly valued, many brave adventurers risk their lives doing it.

However, today would be the first time "Sleepy Cave" would be visited by a Sage God and an unknown entity. It didn't know what kind of karma it would reap and continued to plot evilly when the duo entered the maze.