NOVEL WEB Chapter 163
As I passed through the valley and entered the Heaven-Descended Basin, a completely different scenery unfolded before me.
It was just a basin surrounded by rocky mountains, yet it felt entirely different from the outside. The air itself was strange. To put this feeling into one word…
Discomfort.
And I knew the identity of this discomfort.
“Heavy magic.”
Here, the magical energy was thicker than the life force of nature.
Some presence was exuding dense magic.
Unlike other Elite Dungeons, the sky was wide open here. However, the murky air made the sky appear cloudy.
Instead of trees, there were piles of rocks and large stones, with monsters roaming around. Griffins, Ogres, Goblin hordes—there was a wide variety of monsters. These were enhanced creatures influenced by the thick magic here. They wouldn’t be easy to take down.
In a way, it felt more like a field than a dungeon.
The strategy was different from dungeons where areas were divided, and you would face Named Enemies sequentially based on your progress.
Still, I knew how to tackle this because I received the information when I accepted the initial Clear Quest.
Before the seal of the Heaven-Descended Basin was completely lifted, the elite knights of the House of Roede had infiltrated this place and prepared ahead of time.
“We have hidden Divine Marks in three locations in the Heaven-Descended Basin. If they start to emit holy power, there’s a risk that the owner of this basin will notice, so they are currently in a deactivated state. It’s up to the adventurers to activate them.”
Activating in an area dense with magic was extremely dangerous. It could be seen as a small demon realm descended into the present world. Since I was an adventurer from “Star-Descended Adventurers,” I could take on this challenge without pressure.
Once the Divine Marks were activated by the adventurers, cleansing of magic would begin centered around those spots. If I managed to activate all three Divine Marks, the boss of this area would become aware, and the air would suddenly grow distinctly murky.
[Activate Southeast Divine Mark 0/1]
[Activate Southwest Divine Mark 0/1]
[Activate North Divine Mark 0/1]
[???]
[Total Progress of Heaven-Descended Basin 0/1]
First priority was to meet the activation conditions for each Divine Mark.
The locations were Southeast, Southwest, and North. Three places.
And the total progress required was one instance.
Usually, total progress updates with each Named Enemy defeated.
“Is there only one Named?”
This could be the first Elite Dungeon to have only one Named Enemy.
If that’s the case, the process of activating the Divine Mark would likely be challenging, comparable to fighting a Named.
And there was one more hidden condition.
[???]
“What could this be?”
I tilted my head at the hidden condition that popped up in the quest interface.
I was very curious about that question mark, but I needed to focus on activating the Divine Marks for now.
Tap, tap, tap.
I moved quickly between the rocks.
Towards the closest place where the Divine Mark was buried.
Tap.
Not long after, I arrived at the location where the Southwest Divine Mark was buried.
In a wide-open area, there was an artificial trace. Judging by the way the stone piles were stacked in the center, the Divine Mark was probably buried below.
Monsters were wandering around, but the most noticeable one was…
Ssssssssst.
[Level 55 Lamia]
[HP 10,000,000 / 10,000,000 (100%)]
A monster with a snake’s lower body and a naked female upper body, a Lamia.
They flicked their tongues like snakes, crawling between the rocks and making grotesque sounds.
I instinctively covered my face with my hand.
“Whoa, that’s sexy.”
I’m okay with brutality, but this is a bit overwhelming.
I found myself missing the safety filter. Wouldn’t it be great to dress them up in swimsuits if I had the filter?
First, I needed to deal with the monsters surrounding me.
Tas-tas-tas!
With Astaroth drawn, I dashed out from behind a rock, starting to run swiftly.
Swoosh, swoosh!
Kiiiiiing–!
The nearby goblins were taken down one by one.
And soon, the Lamias spotted me.
Ssssss-sst!
The snake women let out eerie sounds, writhing as if to wrap around me with their snake lower bodies.
They were numerous. Their HP wasn’t trivial either. It seemed these snake women were the main force of the Heaven-Descended Basin.
Taking them down one by one would be burdensome. I decided to use a wide-area skill for the first time in a while.
[Moonlight Slash (S)]
– Deals a powerful slash attack in a 360-degree range. (Cast time: 2 seconds)
– (Instant activation) Successful block enables entry to Sword Drawing Technique (Cooldown for re-entry: 30 seconds)
– (D-rank) Reduces casting time by 1 second after skill activation.
– (B-rank) Further reduces casting time by 0.5 seconds.
Pop! Pop!
Moonlight flickered around me. Long wounds appeared on the bodies of the Lamia rushing toward me.
As I’ve mostly been engaged in Named battles or fighting strong single entities, I hadn’t used this technique much, but there’s no skill quite like it for dealing with monsters coming from all directions. In fact, I frequently used it in low-level areas, where there were a lots of weak monsters.
And now, I had powerful area skills like One Flash and Starlight Swordsmanship.
Flashing, pop-pop!
Before being surrounded by the Lamia swarm, I escaped using One Flash and immediately turned around to unleash a blade wave. However, the magic-enhanced elite Lamias didn’t go down easily, even after taking both the One Flash and the blade wave.
Chuk.
I corrected my posture and raised my sword.
Should I try using my newly acquired technique?
The sword in my hand began to dance. Starlight gathered around my body.
[Blade Barrier]
[Invulnerable during casting (Cooldown: 1 minute)]
Bam!
The sound of Lamias bouncing off the Blade Barrier reverberated loudly.
After a few seconds of dancing, I unleashed the gathered starlight forcefully.
[Blade Barrier. Release]
[Follow-up after Blade Barrier]
[Delivers a powerful cutting strike in a circular range of 30 meters centered on the caster]
Wooh-ooong!
Pop-pop-pop!
Kiiiiiing–!!
Starlight swept the area. The weakened magic protection could no longer shield the Lamias. The powerful starlight storm shredded the Lamias into pieces, spilling green blood across the basin floor.
I widened my eyes in awe at the spectacle created by my Blade Barrier.
“Wow.”
I had envied the mages’ area skills for so long, but now I didn’t need to anymore.
Swish, swish.
After dealing with the monsters around me, I crouched down and began to draw an activation circle near the stone pile where the Divine Mark was buried.
Using the simple activation magic circle I received from Eleonora, a soft white glow soon began to emanate from the stone pile.
Wooh-ooong.
“Holy power.”
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.
The light I always saw when Saintess Elena healed me.
Elena’s holy power was much more impressive than what came from this ancient holy relic.
As I momentarily reminisced about the past, I shook my head vigorously and moved southwest for the next Divine Mark activation.
Tap-tap!
[Activate Southeast Divine Mark 1/1]
[Activate Southwest Divine Mark 0/1]
[Activate North Divine Mark 0/1]
Shwoosh!
Puddles of shredded Lamia corpses were left behind as I immediately began the activation work for the second Divine Mark.
Wooh-ooong!
The activated Divine Mark shone with holy power, emerging from the stone pile.
The second one was successful without any issues.
I tilted my head in confusion.
“This feels too easy.”
It’s true that the Lamias in this area were numerous and very powerful monsters.
However, considering I could continuously unleash powerful skills alone, it was definitely manageable.
This dungeon, which had the name ‘4-Person Recommended Elite Dungeon,’ was not living up to its name with this low difficulty.
Have I become too powerful?
Feeling an unexpected twinge of disappointment in this seemingly simple dungeon, I opened the dungeon progress interface to check the location of the last Divine Mark.
[Activate Southeast Divine Mark 0/1]
[Activate Southwest Divine Mark 1/1]
[Activate North Divine Mark 0/1]
“Oh?”
The progress of activating the Southeast Divine Mark had reset.
The only location currently meeting the conditions was the Southwest, which I just activated.
I started pacing back and forth.
“Why!?”
Did I draw the magic circle wrong? That can’t be. I clearly verified the activation condition before leaving the Southeast.
As I was briefly lost in confusion, an eerie sound soon reached my ears.
Ssssssssst.
The sound of Lamias.
I looked around.
It was Lamia, Lamia, Lamia everywhere.
More Lamias than the ones that had just been in this open area began to swarm, their eyes bloodshot as they headed toward the location where the Divine Mark had been activated.
I gritted my teeth.
Activating the Divine Mark wouldn’t be the end of it.
The situation in the Southeast would probably be similar. After I left, the Lamias likely gathered again to dig up the Divine Mark that was exuding holy power.
I had to defend each spot until all Divine Marks were fully activated.
This situation felt like…
“A Defense Dungeon…!”