His body vanished from the spot instantly, leaving only a few dissipating wisps of Sword Qi on the sand.
Sword Qi instantly severed the head of the giant undead lizard.
The skeletal swordsman atop the creature swung its broadsword rapidly, but Manfred reached out and grabbed the swinging blade directly with his hand.
Were his fingers about to be severed?
Hardly.
A layer of Sword Qi clung to Manfred's palm; though it left his flesh a bloody mess, it also allowed him to grip the broadsword firmly.
His other hand slashed out in a flash.
Without any suspense, Manfred landed on the sand as the skeletal swordsman's head crashed to the ground beside him.
Gripping his longsword with both hands, he charged toward the skeletal lizards before him, Sword Qi radiating from his blade in all directions and shredding every skeleton that rushed him.
The swinging edge of his blade traced the fangs of a beast seeking vengeance.
He didn't hate these monsters; he knew exactly what the root cause of all his misfortune was.
But none of that mattered now; he didn't want to think anymore, only wanting to follow his most primal instincts to fight and seek revenge.
Because the moment he stopped to think, the cruel reality made it impossible for him to breathe.
He swung his sword and fought without restraint.
Like a god of slaughter, he tore into everything around him regardless of the cost.
Until—crack.
The blade snapped in the middle, its broken shard spinning into the air.
The sound of the break jolted Manfred back to his senses, but a boundless killing intent was already surging toward him.
Holding the half-broken hilt, he suddenly felt a sense of relief in his heart.
He could be free; he wouldn't have to think about reality anymore; he could just let go like this.
The Sword Qi settled around him like a dozing tiger, no longer fierce.
Just then.
Boom!
"Immovable Fortress!"
Weiss, covered in burns, rushed in front of Manfred and blocked all the incoming attacks.
His shield was gone, and he was currently relying on the magical artifact Copper-Vine Armor to endure the surrounding strikes.
Manfred tightened his grip on the hilt once more.
Weiss was still alive.
That meant Rhine was definitely still alive as well.
As long as Weiss could move, he would never allow himself or Rhine to die before his eyes.
And for Manfred, as long as Weiss was still alive, he still had family to protect.
That was the kind of family they were.
In Weiss's heart, he absolutely had to protect Manfred and Rhine.
In Manfred's heart, he couldn't afford to lose either of them.
The battered team stared at the encroaching death from their corner.
They struggled in the face of despair, like a small boat tossed about in a storm.
Just how long could this fragile boat struggle in the dungeon, and how far could it drift?
No one could answer that.
The death closing in from behind forced them to sprint toward the dead end in the depths.
They would either sharpen their fangs with the blade of death or have their throats pierced by it.
...
"I can't hold it, it's too heavy! I'm just an apprentice heavy warrior!"
"Hold on, brother! The greatsword is almost done charging!"
"Now!"
Swish!
The descending greatsword heavily severed one of the Wellmouth Sentry's arms!
"It's cut off!"
"Don't get ahead of yourselves, the Wellmouth Sentry can regrow!"
"Hurry, fire the fire-oil arrows!"
"The oil is almost out! It's clearly made of wood, so why is its fire resistance so high!"
The apprentice swordsman who had swung the greatsword was about to complain when he was directly upended by the Wellmouth Sentry's large shield arm, falling to the ground.
Then, the Wellmouth Sentry leaped into the air.
"It's Stomp!"
The adventurers had long since figured out the Wellmouth Sentry's skills.
The fallen apprentice swordsman didn't care about his weapon; he abandoned the greatsword and scrambled away to put distance between them.
However, the crashing Wellmouth Sentry still sent him flying, stripping him of his ability to fight.
Next, poison mist erupted from the Wellmouth Sentry's shattered lower body.
The group didn't care about being frugal anymore and quickly drank alchemical potions to resist the toxin; while the Wellmouth Sentry was unable to move, they rushed into the mist to attack.
But the alchemical potions only provided a certain degree of poison resistance and couldn't fully immunize them against the mist.
As they attacked inside the cloud, the toxins continued to accumulate.
In this temporary adventurer team, there wasn't a single extraordinary being who could completely resist the poison.
Soon, they felt a numbness spreading through their bodies.
However, relying on the alchemical potions, they successfully dealt significant damage to the Wellmouth Sentry.
Arrows soaked in oil were fired continuously from bows and crossbows.
After grinding down its health for a while longer, they finally killed the Wellmouth Sentry at their absolute limit.
All six adventurers were wounded.
"Too strong... it's much stronger than the fifth-floor bosses of other dungeons."
"Did it drop any materials?"
"No, only one magic crystal coin and some copper and wood coins."
Magic crystal coins.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Magic crystal coins were very rare; currently, the only ways to obtain them were through chests and the monster merchant, and the number of coins each monster merchant could exchange was extremely limited.
A magic crystal coin could be sold for many gold coins on the fourth floor; after deducting the costs of alchemical potions, fire-oil arrows, and mana items, they had made a small profit.
Furthermore, for twenty-four hours after they challenged the Wellmouth Sentry, the floor boss would not respawn.
They could also collect a subjugation fee from other adventurers.
However, the six injured people clearly didn't have the strength to continue exploring the sixth floor, the Desert Stratum.
"Let's head back to the fourth floor first. We'll treat this subjugation as a learning experience," the apprentice heavy warrior suggested.
No one opposed him.
A station was also being established on the fifth floor, but it was nowhere near as prosperous as the one on the fourth floor, and the conditions were still quite poor.
A large number of merchants and logistics personnel were gathered on the fourth floor.
After recuperating, it was more than half a day later by the time they withdrew to the fourth floor.
The team members quickly exchanged their loot for coins and, after splitting the profits, gathered in the tavern to enjoy themselves.
There was no helping it; in a new dungeon, the tavern was the only place in the station for people to blow off steam.
In some dungeons that had been explored for a long time, the surface stations were no different from towns and even had brothels.
"She's really beautiful... and so strong it's barely human. Are all elves that powerful?"
Staring at the various wanted posters plastered in the tavern, the drunken apprentice heavy warrior couldn't help but speak up.
The wanted poster in the tavern was, naturally, for Zeno.
There were also posters for Manfred's group, but they were clearly not as prominent as Zeno's.
By now, every adventurer in the Well of Eternal Imprisonment knew of the legendary Zeno.
"Our team ran into the monster merchant today and exchanged for two magic crystal coins!"
"That's incredible luck! You'd better buy a round of drinks!"
"Next time, definitely next time!"
"Does anyone have news about the Forbidden Fire?"
"What fire? Did your team dig up some intel?"
"..."
The bustling tavern was filled with heated discussions over information, accompanied by the light strumming of a lyre.
The adventurer team that had just returned from subjugating the Wellmouth Sentry was also bragging while listening to the flying rumors.
At that moment, a commotion came from outside, and the tavern doors were pushed open.
A group of extraordinary beings dressed in uniform armor like knights entered the tavern.
The cloth strips attached to their heavy armor were uniformly embroidered with the Grey family crest.
It was the knight order under Caiman!
The adventurers were all startled, and the entire noisy tavern fell silent.
The bard's singing stopped a beat late.
The events above the dungeon had long since spread down into it.
Everyone in the dungeon knew about the arrival of the Grey family knight order.
Manfred's vanguard team had rebelled.
The legendary Zeno had stolen a masterpiece grade magical artifact.
People might dare to mock the Grey family behind their backs, but no one dared to act up in front of the knight order.
"Zeno once appeared at this station."
"Have any of you seen or had contact with her?"
No one spoke.
The Northern Territory legend, Zeno, had already been automatically categorized into the adventurer camp by these people, and adventurers were quite protective of their own.
"For a valid piece of information..."
"One gold coin."
"..."
"I've seen her! I've seen her!"
"Don't talk nonsense, I actually talked to her!"
"You were just flirting and got ignored! I stayed in the same inn as Zeno!"
"You're nothing! I'm the owner of that inn; I have information!"
Rate on N.U.
