The Desert Stratum also held dangers that the upper floors did not.
Because the Desert Stratum was led by intelligent monsters...
"Damn it, they're back again!"
The guard responsible for monitoring the desert from the sentry tower paled in shock and quickly blew his whistle.
In an instant, the entire small settlement nestled in the desert tensed up.
Inn and tavern owners slammed their doors shut, and merchants on the roads hurriedly packed their goods to hide in crude underground shelters, while the simple rock walls were closed.
All adventurers quickly organized their gear and prepared to meet the enemy.
Outside the walls, a massive number of skeletal lizards and skeletal lizardmen charged toward the settlement.
"Start firing!"
Adventurers stationed on the walls let loose their arrows.
These were no ordinary arrows, but blunt-headed arrows alchemically crafted from the dropped bones of lizards from the Desert Stratum.
These blunt-headed arrows possessed a powerful striking effect, capable of delivering forceful blows to undead monsters.
The impact of the blunt-headed arrows was highly effective.
Undead lizardmen were accurately struck down one after another.
However, the blunt-headed arrows were not as useful against the skeletal lizards that could burrow beneath the sand.
Skeletal lizards charging through the sand leaped out, launching rapid ambushes onto the walls.
At the same time, the undead lizardmen began to raise their longbows, aiming at the walls to return fire.
"Engage them in close combat!"
At the commander's shout, adventurers drew their blunt weapons and jumped down from the shoulder-high walls to battle the skeletal lizards emerging from the sand.
With sharp, practiced attacks, they shattered the skeletal lizards surfacing from beneath the dunes.
Most adventurers who dared to explore the Desert Stratum of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment were powerful experts with considerable experience.
Their levels were generally above LV6, and there were many at LV10, the peak of the non-extraordinary ranks.
At this moment, they appeared quite capable of handling the skeletal lizards.
"You damn monsters, are you so generous that you're delivering materials straight to me!"
A muscular, sturdy adventurer swung a blunt-headed hammer, smashing a pouncing skeletal lizard while shouting in excitement.
However, in the next second, he could no longer make a sound.
"Watch out!"
Before the adventurers on the wall could finish their warning, a giant skeletal lizard burst through the sand.
Mounted on the skeletal lizard was a saddle, carrying an undead lizardman knight clad in adventurer's armor and wielding a long spear.
The massive skeletal lizard knocked over the strong adventurer, and the undead lizardman knight atop it swung his spear, thrusting it down ruthlessly.
The impaled adventurer's eyes widened as he looked at the undead lizardman knight in disbelief, unable to accept that his adventuring career was ending like this.
The undead lizardman knight pulled out the spear, the white bones stained red by the spraying blood.
These were undead lizardman knights, specialized and modified by skeletal shamans.
The giant skeletal lizards were a giant species modified from ordinary skeletal lizards by the skeletal shamans.
The skeletal knights were similarly special, modified undead lizardmen.
Among adventurers, these skeletal knights were famous and had been given a unique name.
Wandering through the desert were the...
"Undead knights!"
An adventurer cried out in terror.
The presence of an undead knight meant this was no ordinary raid; they weren't being attacked by a random gathering of skeletal lizardmen.
This was an undead legion!
Sure enough, in the next second, more hideous undead knights burrowed out of the sand, charging toward the teetering town.
"Defend!"
The adventurer commander raised his weapon and shouted.
A battle between the monster legion and the adventurers erupted.
By the time the fighting ended, blood, corpses, and bones were scattered across the desert.
"It's too dangerous; the difficulty of maintaining a station on just the sixth floor is immense."
The adventurers had won.
But the losses were heavy, and the settlement had been thoroughly looted.
"Clean up the battlefield and tally the casualties."
No matter what kind of attack they faced, they could not retreat to the upper floors; the station had to be established.
Only then could they support the progress of exploration further ahead.
However, now that the base was built, it would become more stable as more adventurers gathered and explored.
They were simply in a difficult, grueling stage right now.
Exploration of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment had reached the tenth floor, as the Grey knight order was charging ahead.
Information from the deep floors was constantly reaching the sixth floor, reporting on Forbidden Fire, ruins, and monsters.
The tenth floor was still not the bottom of the Well of Eternal Imprisonment.
Once the tenth floor was cleared, the Adventurer Association would likely dispatch a significant number of adventurers.
The major powers would also likely increase their stakes.
By then, this station would have a much easier time.
...
On the tenth floor.
Across the vast desert beneath the starry sky, the knight order led by Caiman Grey marched in formation through the night.
"Stop."
Caiman Grey signaled, and the marching knights halted.
In the desert directly ahead, a monster merchant was riding a giant skeletal lizard, traveling across the sands.
This monster merchant was somewhat unusual; both his hands and feet were bound by iron shackles.
"A monster merchant?"
Caiman Grey approached cautiously, and the monster merchant noticed him, stopping his giant lizard.
"This Eternal Night Desert has actually welcomed outsiders."
"I am Origami Mane."
Caiman Grey looked at the unique monster merchant before him, a flicker of anticipation in his heart.
The Well of Eternal Imprisonment was different from other dungeons; the more strange and unique something was here, the more likely it was to hide some secret treasure.
This distinctive monster merchant might be hiding some clues.
"Do you have any goods?"
Caiman Grey spoke expectantly.
"I am sorry, guest, but as you can see, I have committed an unforgivable crime and have been stripped of my status as a merchant; I am merely a wanderer of this desert."
Origami Mane lifted the shackles on his hands and spoke in a raspy voice.
Hearing this, Caiman Grey's heart beat even faster.
"A crime?"
Caiman Grey asked curiously.
Unexpectedly, Origami Mane did not follow the usual script; he shook his head and prepared to leave on his desert lizard.
Caiman Grey thought rapidly, his mind racing, and then, as if a sudden realization struck him, he looked up and took out a magic crystal coin.
Origami Mane stopped and turned around.
"I did not expect anyone to still care about the story of a sinner like me."
"The crime I committed was the crime of theft."
"I stole a gemstone from a palace candelabra, which caused the Forbidden Fire to splash out, allowing madness and slaughter to flow along with the flames, leading to a great disaster."
"To atone for my sins, I can only wear these chains and wander the cold desert day after day."
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