Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

[Divine Mark Activation Southeast 0/1]

[Divine Mark Activation Southwest 0/1]

[Divine Mark Activation North 1/1]

[???]

[Overall Progress of Heaven-Descended Basin 0/1]

Knock, knock, knock.

Nervously tapping my sheathed sword while sitting with my legs crossed on a large pile of rocks, I muttered to myself, filled with discontent as I waited for the next wave of Lamia.

“This won’t do.”

It’s a waste of time.

Just defending one Divine Mark to the north is pointless.

Unless all the Divine Marks are activated, no further changes can be expected in the Heaven-Descended Basin area.

Three Divine Marks are buried in a location. At first glance, it looked like they were just placed anywhere, but if you draw lines between those spots, they form a perfect equilateral triangle.

Each point serves as a vertex, forming a kind of sacred magical circle.

Only when all the Divine Marks are activated and begin to resonate with each other will the proper cleansing of the Heaven-Descended Basin commence.

But if I leave this location to activate other Divine Marks, the Lamias will excavate this area.

There’s no way around it. It’s physically impossible.

I can’t multiply myself.

Am I being blocked because I keep trying to solo play? Even if I throw in a berserk pattern, my Hero’s Power cheat makes it easy to break through, and with the belt feature that Sister Igrim gave me, I can bypass the instant-death gimmick, so this is their way of presenting a physically impossible solo play structure?

This is tyranny. I want to advance alone. Although the reason the Heaven-Descended Basin is structured this way might not entirely be the game developers’ intention, lately it felt like the Continent of Astria itself has been targeting me.

“Uugh.”

I felt tears welling up due to my frustration, but I held them back.

Then I sunk into thought.

Think carefully, Rain, Lee Seulbi.

[Entry Level Required 53]
[Elite Dungeon (4-player Party Recommended)]
[Heaven-Descended Basin]

“It’s not a 4-person party dungeon, it’s a 4-person party recommended dungeon.”

Recommended.

Not enforced.

This rule hasn’t been broken from the start.

Damage output is secondary.

Not just me, but after leveling up their specs, other users have also occasionally succeeded in soloing the Elite Dungeon.

All the Elite Dungeons I’ve cleared so far were manageable through understanding gimmicks and using equipment skills and items. Of course, it forced some somewhat cheesy gameplay.

“Then.”

This too is possible.

It’s just a dungeon that recommends party play.

I just haven’t discovered a solo play method yet.

‘It’s just a recommendation, right?’

I thought of my novice swordman, ‘Nagi,’ and smiled.

It’s thanks to Nagi. In some ways, she’s sharper than I am.

Speaking of which, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her. I’ve been busy comforting Sister Chris lately, there was the Tomb of the Sword try, and with everything tangled up in my head. I wonder how much her level has gone up? After clearing this Elite Dungeon, I should go see her. It seems like it’s about time for Nagi to challenge the Forward Base as well.

With a start,

I stood up from the rock.

My tasks have been determined.

I don’t need to focus only on the Divine Marks.

[???]

The question mark that appeared in the dungeon progress interface must be some sort of hidden condition.

This might indeed be the key to clearing.

From now on,

I’ll search the vast Heaven-Descended Basin, the entire instance field.

To find hidden conditions,

I’ll thoroughly investigate.

Thrust!

I immediately leaped off the rock.

Swish!!

Leaving the incoming Lamia waves behind, I set out to find the hidden clear conditions.

Crash!

I could hear the group of Lamias digging through the stone mound in the distance.

[Divine Mark Activation Southeast 0/1]
[Divine Mark Activation Southwest 0/1]
[Divine Mark Activation North 0/1]
[???]
[Overall Progress of Heaven-Descended Basin 0/1]

I dashed quickly through the central point of the Heaven-Descended Basin, beginning my search around the edges of the valley surrounded by rocky mountains.

In the center was a wide plain that seemed to serve as the final Named combat area. And all around the edges of the Basin floor…

“Why didn’t I notice this?”

Massive holes punctured the rocky floor here and there.

Some enormous creatures had clearly moved beneath the ground.

And…

Swish??

Wham!

As I swiftly decapitated a regular Lamia that was crawling out of one of those holes, I noticed the slanted holes leading in a certain direction and started running that way.

‘Dungeon Progress Interface.’

It surely provides a useful function that presents the necessary conditions for dungeon攻略.

And naturally, to clear the dungeon, those conditions must be satisfied.

Currently, all the user pioneers challenging this dungeon would be fixated on activating the Divine Marks, checking the clear conditions. They wouldn’t see anything else. They might be pondering about the hidden conditions, but if the numbers are sufficient, there’s no issue in carrying out the defense. If the cleansing succeeds and no boss appears afterward, I can ponder the hidden conditions then.

But.

“Even with enough members, the defense process itself won’t be easy.”

The large holes scattered across the Heaven-Descended Basin. They surely can’t be made by regular Lamias.

There must be special entities.

When all the Divine Marks are activated, these entities will appear to actively interfere with the cleansing operation.

As long as those special entities are alive, defending will be extremely difficult. They need to be dealt with first.

Of course, even if numbers are sufficient, there would likely be a way to withstand the attacks from the special entities while performing the defense. But dealing with these hidden Named special entities will make the overall difficulty significantly easier.

And the Lamias continuously appearing within the Heaven-Descended Basin. This is clearly not the normal combat structure of an Elite Dungeon.

This place is not an open field. Even the “regen” of an open field has conditions. This game, Astria Online, while being a game, is also very realistic. The monster regen mechanics in an open field do not simply spawn in mid-air; instead, new entities emerge from nearby forests or similar areas.

Monsters dealt with in their respective instance dungeons don’t regen.

But here, they keep appearing.

What if the regular Lamia regen conditions are linked to the survival of those special entities?

“If I deal with the special entity, there’s no need for defense.”

Thrust.

I gazed at a cave nestled in the rocks at the edge of the Heaven-Descended Basin.

The cave entrance isn’t that big. It’s just about large enough for one or two adult men to barely squeeze through. One might think it’s simply a natural small cave.

But,

I smiled as I glanced around at the enormous holes in the ground.

The highway used by those special entities.

These guys move underground.

Then, this must be.

“The nest of the special entity.”

I cautiously, yet confidently, stepped into the cave entrance.

Stepping carefully.

“Wow, it’s cleaner than I expected.”

The cave’s interior had a neat stone floor.

It was quite spacious.

I’ve seen structures like this in other Elite Dungeons more times than I could count.

This is likely a Named combat area.

And around the edges of that wide pupil, there were…

“Whoa.”

I was taken aback for the first time in a while.

Eggs, eggs, eggs.

A magnificent array of gigantic eggs enveloping the walls.

They were so big that if I curled my small body, I could fit snugly inside one of them.

The egg size is incomparable to that of earth’s ostrich eggs or the Copopo eggs of the Astria continent.

I’ve seen eggs of this size before.

During the攻略 of Aspero’s Fortress, when I encountered the Chimera’s hatchery.

Could these be…

“Lamia eggs?”

The surrounding red and blue magic energies were promoting their growth. The ominous light emitted by that magic faintly illuminated the cave.

If that’s the case, the beings that birthed these eggs…

Are in here?

They’re nowhere to be seen on the cave floor or walls.

Then…

I looked up at the cave’s high ceiling.

In the dim light…

Swish-

“A… Aah!”

Unintentionally covering my eyes, I felt my face heat up.

Two massive Lamias, glowing red and blue, were intertwined with their snake-like lower halves wrapped around each other, their upper bodies pressed closely together.

Naturally, as Lamias, both possessed female upper bodies.

Wait, these eggs. Did those things give birth to them?

Lamias are all female; how is that even possible?

“How could eggs form between women?”

Some strange curiosity arose in me, but more than that, I felt disgust.

A safety filter, a safety filter is needed for minors.

Clang!

I pulled out Astaroth, thoroughly angry, and unleashed a sword wave towards the entangled giant Lamias above.

Bang bang bang!

“Anything lewd is off-limits!”

Screech–!!

Thud.

The two Lamias hit by my sword wave let out a loud noise as they descended to the cave floor.

Kaaahh!

Swish!

They raised their long snake-like lower halves, emitting threatening sounds.

I gazed at the clearly hostile giant Lamias, the blue and red girls, and wore a confident smile.

I don’t want a defense. I’d much rather have this.

“Now, it feels like an Elite Dungeon.”

[Hidden Named]
[Level 55 Red Lamia]
[HP 69,140,050 / 70,000,000 (99%)]

[Hidden Named]
[Level 55 Blue Lamia]
[HP 69,117,998 / 70,000,000 (99%)]

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