NOVEL WEB Chapter 21 - Trap
SWOOSH
Adam felt his soul sucked out of his body and when he felt he was back into a physical form, he opened his eyes to the usual site of the long corridor closed off by the metal gate.
{Your dungeon form has been reset to its peak and you will be spawned in the area on Floor 1 that you were last in} the system announced.
The large metal gate creaked open to reveal the long seemingly endless concrete corridor.
Adam was used to the mysterious corridor that seemed both short and long, and didn't have the same time and space as reality.
He knew that to be transported he must be willing and not afraid, so like the previous nights, he closed his eyes and charged straight forwards.
Feeling the same sensation of being sucked into a different space, Adam instantly felt the cold air swarm his body as he spawned in his dungeon form in the place he finished last.
"The small Leporidae beasts have gotten scarce and hard to find and I should focus on hunting other beasts" mumbled Adam to himself.
With the durability of his last E Rank Fur Jacket diminishing and disintegrating, Adam bought a new one like he did every 10 hours that he was in the dungeon and bought a new one for 9 system points.
Most weapons, equipment and items bought within the system would have limited durability that would run out either by uses or over time.
The durability of the E Rank Fur Jacket was the out of 10 and would decrease by one each hour in the extremely cold environment of Floor 1.
With a new brown fur jacket, Adam instantly felt that the cold was mostly suppressed and once again received the same notification.
{Environment Effect Lowered - Now speed and strength are only reduced by 1, and HP shall no longer be lowered}.
With ASDARE, his and Sarah's company, Adam was sure that within a few weeks he would have a sustainable amount of money without needing to rely on gold.
Adam was trying to reduce his spending of gold and system points and was waiting to save up for the transferring feature that would allow him to take out items from is inventory in reality and not only in the dungeons.
[System how much gold and system points do I have] he asked, wanting to gauge how close he was to his aim.
{You have 2080 gold and 243 system points} announced the system.
He was a quarter of the way there, yet he would still need to buy the pill and pay a transferring fee.
Instead of letting these thoughts overwhelm and discourage him, with his Hunter's mind, Adam was able to stay calm and use these thoughts as a drive.
The lower forest-like area that he was in, that had the snow hare beasts, was no longer a challenge for Adam.
"The higher up this mountain, the stronger the beasts. What beast would be in the next area closer to the central mountain" mumbled Adam in thought.
Trudging through the snow, on an incline, heading up to higher ground, Adam was completely cautious and surveying his surroundings as he continued.
After almost 20 minutes of continuous walking, Adam finally began to see signs of beasts.
[This really is like a game dungeon and there are different stages the closer I get to the centre] Adam realised.
Scouring the area with his sensitive senses, Adam didn't find any beasts around him, but was still cautious and knew that the cold environment was suppressing his senses.
Looking at the small paw marks in the snow, Adam assumed it was some sort of Canidae beast, which is the biological family of dog-like carnivorans.
From his detailed research on animals, Adam was very knowledgeable on the subject and after noticing the correlation between the dungeon beasts and animals in his reality with the snow hare, he realised how valuable that knowledge was.
"In this kind of cold environment, the most likely Canidae beasts would be a type of wolf beast, coyote beast or artic fox beast" he evaluated.
However, it dawned on him that Canidae animals or beasts are very social and always move and live in groups, which would make it harder for him to battle them as he would have to face more that one beast at once.
"I guess I will have to fight numbers with numbers" he decided, remembering the Collector Skill he had.
Noticing that around him, trees were scarce and there weren't many spaces to make a home, Adam knew that the most likely place for the beasts to be is within an enclosed den or cave somewhere in the area.
Adam who was unarmed, after the durability of the E- Rank Wooden Club was diminished, was extremely cautious as he searched for any entrances into a den or cave of some sort.
Following the multiple paw tracks in the snow, that luckily weren't covered by snow, they all lead in the same direction of the small hole in the ground that was mostly covered by snow, that Adam noticed.
Adam steeled his will, preparing for the beasts that he knew were coming.
Repeatedly telling himself that if he died here he would still be alive in reality, he began to head closer.
"Leporidae Summon"
The small white hare appeared on the ground before him awaiting orders.
Looking at his summon, Adam felt both slightly uneasy and secure seeing its power and after feeding it the claws of so many snow hares, it was very powerful.
"We will both enter that den" he stated pointing at the hole in the ground.
Receiving a nod from the small intelligent snow hare, both of them headed towards the hole.
As he got was merely a metre away, Adam's hunter mind was blaring, warning him of danger that was to come.
Adam knew that hesitating would only waste his time and his summon that was using his MP would weaken him over time.
"It's now or never," he mumbled as he stepped forwards.
However, instead of stepping on land as he expected, his foot never reached a solid surface, as the snow around the hole fell inside to reveal a much larger hole.
It seemed to be a trap set up for him to fall inside.
By the time he realised it was too late to turn back and couldn't grab onto anything with the slippery snow and his numb hands, as he slid down a large hole, followed by the Leporidae summon who jumped after it's master.
{Ding, the host has now entered a Sub-Dungeon}