When Lu Mao woke up, quite a few monster patrons had already begun trickling into the tavern's main hall.
He pushed himself up from the bar counter, the crease from his sleeve still imprinted on his face, and looked around in a daze.
In a corner, two cloaked lizardmen were gnawing on bones while whispering to each other. A flesh-covered golem stood near the door, its drink completely untouched.
Seated at the bar was a skeleton mage wrapped in a tattered cloak. He pinched a gold coin with his bony fingers, counting it three times before finally sliding it over to Chen Jiu.
Chen Jiu stood behind the bar, pouring a drink for the skeleton mage without even looking up as he said, “There's food in the kitchen. Grab some yourself if you're hungry.”
Lu Mao rubbed his eyes, slid down from the barstool, and went to the kitchen to fetch a bowl of dark, mushy paste.
This time, he didn't have the system scan it. He simply scooped up a spoon and shoved it into his mouth. It still tasted like that familiar salty meat, but perhaps because he had smelled enough blood the night before, he actually found it tolerable.
【Physique +1】
【Physique +1】
No complaints. It was indeed delicious.
As he ate, he scanned his surroundings and realized that the person with two horns on her head was gone.
“She's gone,” Chen Jiu said, seemingly anticipating Lu Mao's question. “I sent her deep into the dungeon to do something for me.”
Lu Mao let out an “Oh” and didn't pry further.
It was just as well that the female dragon wasn't around—at least he wouldn't have to deal with her staring at him like that again.
After scraping the bowl clean, he walked over to the bar, rested his hands on the counter, and put on a rare, serious expression. “Boss, I want to borrow a few people from you.”
Chen Jiu was pouring himself a drink. Hearing this, he glanced up at him.
Lu Mao quickly added, “Not many, just two or three will do.”
Indeed, he wanted to find some helpers to escort Liz and the others.
Chen Jiu stared at him for a few moments with glass in hand, asking neither about the specifics of the task nor what the benefits would be.
He took a sip of his drink, set the glass down, and said, “Consider your second quest complete.”
Lu Mao was taken aback.
“I have a rough idea of who the faction that destroyed the altar is. Although I don't know all of them, I've at least figured out one of the parties involved, so I'll count the quest as passed.”
He pulled a sealed letter from a drawer, placed it on the bar counter, and slid it over.
The envelope was made of beige parchment, sealed with a crimson wax stamp depicting a bird spreading its wings. The craftsmanship was extremely intricate, unlike a hastily carved personal seal.
“Your third quest is to go to Falan City in the neighboring kingdom and deliver this letter to Mayfield, the president of the Alchemists' Guild.
“He owes me a favor. Once you give him this letter, he will know what to do.”
Falan City... Could it be the same place Elliot mentioned? Could it be such a coincidence?
Upon closer reflection, Lu Mao realized that the quests issued by the system lately seemed to highly overlap with what the tavern owner wanted him to do.
He decided to explain the situation to the latter.
“In that case, lending you some people can serve as advance payment for completing your third quest,” Chen Jiu said, seemingly unsurprised by the coincidence. “It works out perfectly, lest some other blind fool decides to make a move.”
He turned his head toward a corner and called out, “Troll.”
The troll, who had been wiping a wooden club in the corner, looked up, his cloudy yellow eyes blinking blankly. “Huh?”
“Go with him. Do whatever he tells you to do, and I'll buy you a drink when you get back.”
The troll slung his wooden club over his shoulder and slowly stood up, the floorboards trembling with his every step.
He walked over and stopped in front of Lu Mao. Looking down at the young man who barely reached his waist, a low rumble vibrated in his throat, as if to say, “Okay.”
“I'm going into the city alone with a troll?”
Lu Mao looked at the wall-like, massive figure in front of him, feeling that this scene was wrong no matter how he pictured it. “The gate guards of Rhode City won't let him in.”
“It's fine. I've already informed them of the quest details. If you head straight to the dungeon's entrance now, you should make it in time.”
Them?
Lu Mao gave the tavern owner a skeptical look, but still walked out of the door with the troll.
The troll followed behind with the club on his shoulder, each step shaking loose dust from the moss on the ceiling of the passage.
With nothing to do along the way, Lu Mao casually analyzed the stats of the big guy beside him.
The status panel popped up very quickly, likely because the troll had so few thoughts in his head that analyzing him took almost no effort:
【Target: Subterranean Troll (High-Tier Monster)】
【Race: Giant】
【Level: 12】
【(Main) Passive Skill: Troll Regeneration—Rapid Healing of flesh wounds. Severed limbs can reattach within minutes, but vital organs cannot be regenerated】
【(Main) Active Skill: Heavy Strike (charged smash), Intimidating Roar (AoE deterrence, chance to trigger fear in Low-Tier monsters)】
【Status: Excited. Except during a dungeon riot, dungeon monsters usually cannot leave the dungeon. However, the tavern owner seems to have a way to bypass this restriction】
【Remarks: Trolls aren't very bright but are usually very obedient. As long as room and board are provided, they will follow you. However, very few people can afford a troll's eight meals a day】
Combining his last two save-returns, Lu Mao had been an adventurer for almost a month now, so he could be said to know a thing or two about common adventurer and dungeon knowledge.
For instance, the original purpose of building dungeons was to seal monsters or Demon Kings that were difficult to kill by conventional means, trapping them deep underground. Various magic arrays would slowly release the magicules from their bodies, eventually wearing them down to death over time.
And the pure magicules leaking from monsters of this level easily attracted and spawned a large number of Low-to-Mid-Tier monsters. Over time, troublesome Elite or even Overlord-tier monsters would easily emerge.
At the same time, the sealing arrays' effectiveness would weaken, resulting in a brief, semi-inactive state in each cycle. This allowed the dungeon's monsters to leave the dungeon to raid surrounding villages and even towns.
To suppress or prevent this, kingdoms near dungeons would regularly issue a large number of commissions through the Adventurers' Guild, sending adventurers to clear out the monsters in the dungeons.
At the same time, the monster materials or magic cores obtained by adventurers from killing monsters could be used to feed back into the guild or kingdom, forming a positive cycle.
Over time, this "biological control" gradually became a tried-and-true method for various kingdoms to deal with all kinds of high-status monsters.
Because of this history, dungeons were generally named after the target imprisoned within them.
For example, the Blood Fiend Dungeon where they were currently located was naturally the place where the Demon King who had once wreaked havoc—the Blood Fiend—was imprisoned.
However, Lu Mao had heard that this Blood Fiend had actually disappeared many years ago, which caused the Blood Fiend Dungeon to decline for a long time. The monsters in the dozen or so floors closest to the surface had once been hunted to extinction by adventurers.
Yet in recent years, the magicules in the Blood Fiend Dungeon had begun to grow dense again—extremely dense. The quality of the monsters inside had also progressed by leaps and bounds, far exceeding that of other surrounding dungeons.
The King of Famlok had once tried to figure out the source of the anomaly in the Blood Fiend Dungeon, dispatching Gold Rank adventurer parties to explore its depths multiple times.
However, after all the adventurer parties that attempted to enter the depths of the dungeon vanished without a trace, no more adventurers were willing to go in and throw their lives away, and the matter was eventually dropped.
Precisely because of such incidents, any adventurer who knew even a little about the background of this dungeon was practically unwilling to accept commissions for the Blood Fiend Dungeon anymore.
...
The exit of the Blood Fiend Dungeon.
The archway at the dungeon's exit glowed a grayish-white in the morning light.
From afar, Lu Mao spotted several figures standing beneath the archway. Silhouetted against the light, their outlines looked less and less human.
On the far left, Lumu wore leather armor, her purple hair flowing like a silky waterfall. Hovering beside her was Novia, who was currently in full battle gear, the edges of her silver-white light armor gleaming coldly.
He had met these two before, so they needed no introduction.
As for the other two—
To Novia's right stood a tall, slender figure over two meters tall, dressed in plain white clothes. His skin was so pale it was almost transparent, looking like a semi-transparent membrane stretched directly over a skeleton.
The two clumps of eerie green flame in his eye sockets looked exceptionally deep in the morning light, and two horns just like Novia's grew from his head.
On the far right was a skeleton dressed in deep purple robes. His bones were ivory-colored, and he wore a wizard's hat on his head while clutching a bone staff taller than himself.
【Four friendly units detected. Their current state allows for an excess acquisition of information】
This was exactly what Lu Mao wanted:
【Target: Lumu (Overlord-tier Monster)】
【Race: Succubus】
【Level: 19】
【Main Abilities: Charm, Mental Intrusion, Shadow Affinity, High-Tier Illusion Mastery】
【Special Skill: Nightmare Raid—Can forcibly drag the target into a dreamscape for interrogation or mental attack. The target must make a willpower check; failure results in remaining trapped in the dreamscape until the caster actively cancels the spell】
【Remarks: She is currently rolling her eyes at you, taking advantage of the backlighting hiding her face】
...
【Target: Agrix (Overlord-tier Monster)】
【Race: Bone Dragon / Formerly White Dragon】
【Level: 20】
【Main Abilities: Rot-Ice Breath, Dragon Fear (Undead variant), Cold-Rot Domain, Physical Resistance (Extremely high, only breakable by blunt weapons), Partial Gigantification】
【Special Skill: Rebirth of the Dead—A product of secret dragon arts to convert into an undead species, he will automatically reassemble and resurrect after being killed for the first time. Can only be triggered once】
【Remarks: As a chromatic dragon who voluntarily transformed into a bone dragon, his strength is far greater than other types of bone dragons】
...
【Target: Sorge (Overlord-tier Monster)】
【Race: Undead】
【Level: 20】
【Main Abilities: Bone-type Necromantic Magic (High-Tier), Soul Manipulation, Curse Mastery, Undead Summoning】
【Special Skill: Soul River Reflection—A pseudo-forbidden spell level magic. Temporarily tears the boundary between life and death, summoning all undead within the domain under the caster's command regardless of friend or foe. Requires a long chanting time and consumes massive resources. After casting, non-Demon King / non-Legendary casters will be forced into a dormant state】
【Remarks: This trick is extremely useful for turning a dying person into an undead】
...
【Target: Novia (Demon King candidate)】
【Race: White Dragon】
【Level: 21】
【Main Abilities: Holy Ice Dragon Breath (deals dual damage of extreme low temperature and holy purification to the target), Dragon Fear, Extreme Cold Domain, All-element Dragon Tongue Magic (Tenth-Circle and below)】
【Special Skill: Everfrost Divine Punishment—A forbidden-grade Dragon Tongue Magic. Deploys an absolute zero domain centered on the caster. All targets within range will suffer extremely terrifying dual erosion of freezing and holy light, with a special attack effect against undead and dark-attribute monsters. The caster cannot move during chanting, and after the domain is deployed, it continuously consumes magicules until the caster actively terminates it or magicules are exhausted】
【Remarks: A veteran monster, just one evolution ritual away from becoming a Demon King】
...
“Isn't this lineup... a bit too luxurious?” Lu Mao asked in all sincerity.
With a party composition like this, they could probably go out and wipe an entire upper-middle-tier town like Rhode City off the map, right?
Since arriving in this alternate world, he had never fought such a well-funded battle!
No, no, he had to hold back. He would declare victory once they reached Falan City...
What a pity for the troll. He had originally wanted to entrust him with a heavy responsibility.
Looking at it now, he was merely a commoner born in an era without them.
Lumu walked over with unhurried steps, her tail swaying lazily in a half-circle behind her.
First, she pointed to the tall, slender fellow and said in a somewhat languid tone, “Agrix, a bone dragon. He has been tabbed for three years of Dragon Breath Spirits at the tavern; his bills stack higher than he is. Beside him is Sorge, an archmage of the undead—another old rascal, and, well, an old acquaintance.”
She withdrew her finger and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear before finally turning to Lu Mao.
There was a hint of a half-smile in her eyes, but her tone was much more restrained than usual.
“The boss specifically instructed that we are to follow your command completely for this mission. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
Lu Mao shook his head.
A succubus, a white dragon, a bone dragon, an undead archmage, and... a troll.
Then he turned around and patted the troll's thick forearm, saying sincerely, “It's okay, you're still very useful. At least you can... uh, help cheer us on.”
The troll blinked his cloudy yellow eyes and let out a low rumble from his throat, though it was unclear whether he was agreeing or expressing dissatisfaction.
Lu Mao turned back, scanned everyone present, and straightened his back.
“Alright then, let's head out.
“Destination—Falan City!”
Rate on N.U.
