Chapter 5: No Medication Allowed

"Just what bad luck—almost dying in a 'Common' rated Dungeon, it's too embarrassing for a Silver Rank adventurer team to admit,"

Steeran grumbled as she skillfully sliced off the Minotaur's horns with her Enchanted Knife and stuffed them into her spatial backpack.

As a noble Pure-blood Elf, she had been traveling for fifty years, becoming a Silver Rank adventurer thanks to her god-like shooting technique, her strength was quite impressive, capable of defeating twenty Filis with ease.

Her team, named "Morning Wind," besides her, included another Silver Rank and two Bronze Ranks on the verge of promotion, with a task completion rate of over eighty percent.

Yet they almost got annihilated in the Sain Dungeon...

One of their Bronze Rank teammates was dragged into a swamp by a skeleton monster and a rotten wild dog, and when he was rescued, he was afflicted with the negative buffs "Poisoned" and "Corrupted."

Although they had prepared the Detoxification Potions, but...

The teammate in charge of the potions had earlier opened an unremarkable Treasure Box, and then—

[Triggered a Teleportation Trap!!!]

Now they couldn't find that person anywhere.

Steeran's profession as an Upper Tier Ranger and another Silver Rank teammate's as an Upper Tier Sword Shield Warrior meant that neither of them knew any Healing Skills.

They could only watch helplessly as their teammate died of poisoning...

The Sword Shield Warrior, a hotheaded bruiser, witnessed the pathetic deaths of two teammates and immediately entered Fury Mode, chopping his way from the Upper Tier to the Mid-tier, a godlike rampage!

But due to his rage, he lost his sense of observation, and while passing by a cliff, got hit by a large iron ball that suddenly emerged around a corner and they both took a dive.

Their luck ran out.

"Who would expect a hidden iron ball there!"

Steeran kicked the door with a "bang," opening the way to the lower area, that is, to the mine's staircase.

But she didn't proceed through the door immediately; instead tossing a stone first to test for enemy ambushes behind the door!

It wasn't that she was naturally cautious, but the damn Sain Dungeon forced her to be more careful!

She encountered more traps along the way than she had in the past ten years.

Take the Monster for example—disguised as corpses, hidden under the swamp, hanging from the ceiling, lurking around corners, clinging by the drawbridge...

"The cunningness here is nearly on par with a 'Difficult' rated dungeon; with stronger monsters, it would definitely qualify as Difficult."

Although the traps were devious, Steeran found a major flaw in the dungeon—the Monsters were too weak.

Skeleton monsters, goblins, rotten wild dogs, Blood Mosquitoes... they are all the lowest of Low Tier monsters, who even a few sturdy farmers could take down if they mustered the courage, only the Minotaur was marginally decent, but just a slightly stronger Low Tier monster.

There wasn't a single true Elite Monster; as long as she was cautious, most of the traps would be useless.

"Let's find a way out and then hurry back; everything's been going wrong since we came in here."

They didn't have any other purpose in entering the Sain Dungeon other than with a tourist mindset, wanting to see what the so-called simplest dungeon looked like.

And what they saw, well, this isn't the simplest; it's the most cunning.

She could tell at a glance that an abnormal change had taken place here, a 'change' meaning a major shift in the layout, Monster types, and more within the dungeon.

According to the records, a thousand years ago, Dungeon changes were frequent, with new variations every day, making exploration extremely difficult.

Now, alterations hardly occur even once in decades, to the extent that a considerable number of Dungeons had been mapped out by adventurers.

Sain Dungeon was the first one to undergo such a change in the last thirty years.

"If I can put together a guide for this place, I'm sure to make a fortune," Steeran thought she had found a business opportunity. "Rest for a few days and come back; we will be the first to publish a guide!"

Continuing forward, through a spiral staircase, dispatching the ghost trying to sneak attack from behind, dodging the falling boulders from the ceiling, killing the disguised Treasure Box Monster... they finally arrived at an open mine filled with blood-red crystals.

Steeran suddenly stopped in her tracks.

The blood-red, sharp crystal clusters illuminated the whole mine in crimson light, as cool as it was, nothing compared to the "person" ahead.

There stood an exceedingly tall knight, cloaked in a bronze-colored armor and a helmet shaped like an axe, exuding majesty, his Great Sword and Big Shield indicating a history of battles.

The Armor's intricate and mystical patterns, their meanings unclear.

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At this moment, with his back towards Steeran, just from his standing posture, one could tell he was very strong!

Activating Combat Skill [Fighting Qi Perception]!

A faint light shone in Steeran's left eye as she immediately sensed the other's surging Fighting Qi.

Very strong, stronger than Big and me (Sword Shield Warrior) combined!

"Uh, hello?"

After some thought, Steeran decided to greet first.

Since it was impossible to discern what lay beneath the armor and the aura did not seem like that of a Monster, just in case it was a friendly...

The Molten Furnace Knight slowly turned around, and just as Steeran was about to say something, he suddenly charged!

"Not friendly then!"

Steeran cursed, pointed her toes, and nimbly leaped high into the air, drawing her bow and shooting nearly ten arrows in a quick succession.

The Molten Furnace Knight raised his stout shield, blocking each and every one.

No damage!

"No way, using a shield like that is just cheating!"

In the City Lord's room, Gong Qiying cradled his chin with crossed hands, intently staring at the battle unfolding through the Crystal Ball.

"Shield Stab is truly invincible; it's a pity the equipment of the Molten Furnace Knight cannot be changed."

He was collecting combat data.

Among his usable troops, a C-tier Molten Furnace Knight was the highest rank, in addition to other soldiers of similar rank like Black Knights, Silver Knights, etc.

So far, F-tier Monsters required a single-digit amount of spiritual power, E-tier required double digits, D-tier had reached three digits but did not exceed five hundred, and as for C-tier... three to four digits, with a broad range. There were still many he could not summon.

Having inherited Gedwin's memories, Gong Qiying also possessed the ability to gauge others' strength; if his analysis was correct, at the very least, Steeran has one Upper Tier and one Mid-tier class.

Everyone could possess multiple classes, with class ranks ordered from low to high as Lower Tier, Mid-tier, Upper Tier, King Tier, Holy Tier, and Legendary.

While the adventurer ranking of Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and so on was based upon the contribution from completing commissions.

Steeran's strength was also among the middle pillars within adventurers, which was why Gong Qiying wanted to see to what extent the Molten Furnace Knight could fight with her.

After just ten minutes of skirmishing, Steeran already showed signs of fatigue.

Ordinary arrows had no effect on the armor and Great Shield of the Molten Furnace Knight; only by enchanting arrows with "Magic Power" and shooting them using powerful "Combat Skills" could she penetrate the weaker parts of the armor.

But this significantly increased her physical exertion.

The Molten Furnace Knight's armor seams had been turned into a porcupine, yet his movements remained agile and ferocious, with no sign of weakening.

Steeran retreated backward to dodge the Molten Furnace Knight's ground-shaking attack but ended up cutting her arm on protruding shards of stone. Just as she was about to counterattack—

A golden light flashed by, and behind the Molten Furnace Knight suddenly sprouted a pair of dazzling, golden light wings!?

Danger!

The word leaped to her mind as she instinctively rolled to the side; the next moment, the Molten Furnace Knight swooped down!

"Ah!"

Even with the swiftest of dodges, Steeran's waist was still slashed open by the sharp wings, leaving a bloody gash.

"Healing Potion, Healing Potion, thank goodness I brought some!"

The Molten Furnace Knight's dive increased the distance between them, giving her the chance to take the potion!

Steeran quickly uncorked the bottle and poured the red Healing Potion into her mouth, catching a glimpse from the corner of her eye.

The Molten Furnace Knight, eyes red as if provoked, charged at her frantically!

All I want is to take my potion; is that too much to ask?!

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