Chapter 43: The Wilderness Instance, the Sinister Demon Flower and the Colossal Treant
District Seven, wilderness...
After leaving the city, Song Qi was hoisted onto the burly man’s shoulder and carried swiftly westward. They traveled for a full hour before finally arriving at a mountain cave.
“This is the place.”
The burly man stopped and set Song Qi down from his shoulder.
“Let me… catch my breath first…” Song Qi didn’t look up right away, but leaned against a tree, closing his eyes to recuperate. After being jostled around for so long, he was grateful for the demon elixirs he’d been applying lately, which had greatly improved his constitution. Otherwise, he might have vomited halfway there.
A long while passed before Song Qi finally recovered. “Alright,” he said, lifting his head to look at the entrance of the cave. On the surface, it appeared perfectly ordinary. Only with careful sensing could one detect a faint, eerie ripple of energy.
“So, I just walk inside now, right?”
“That’s correct,” the burly man nodded. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you—the difficulty of wild dungeons is on a completely different level from those within the city. And this dungeon has likely mutated as well. The monsters inside could rival those in intermediate, or even high-difficulty dungeons.”
As he spoke, the man tossed a white stone to Song Qi. “This is an emergency escape device. If anything goes wrong, don’t hesitate—use it immediately. As long as you don’t die in there, everything else can be worked out.”
Song Qi was a bit surprised by his words. He seemed almost excessively concerned about Song Qi dying inside.
“Why are you so afraid something will happen to me?” Song Qi asked instinctively.
The burly man gave a wry smile. “Since we’re working together, I figured I should know your background, so I did some asking around. I had no idea until I asked—turns out you’re the only super S-class talent in District Seven for years, a personal disciple of the city lord, with free access to the city lord’s residence and the Twelfth Tower. If I’d known who you were, I’d never have troubled you.”
Song Qi scratched his head awkwardly. Was the city lord’s disciple title really that useful? And… was he already that famous in District Seven?
After a moment’s hesitation, he accepted the emergency escape device. The one Gongsun Wuyue had given him before had already gone to his elder sister; he happened to need another.
“Alright, little brother, in you go. Remember—if anything seems off, don’t hesitate, just leave.”
“Got it, I’m heading in then.” Song Qi nodded, turned, and walked toward the cave entrance.
As Song Qi reached into the opening, the seemingly ordinary entrance rippled like water. Strange colors spread outward, crawling up his hand, and a strong suction seemed to want to pull him inside. Song Qi paused, surprised—he’d never experienced anything like this in city dungeons. Still, he didn’t dwell on it, continuing forward...
...
With a lurch, Song Qi suddenly found himself several meters above the ground and crashed down unceremoniously onto his backside.
“Tch, this is definitely a wild dungeon—the entry is as wild as the setting.”
He rubbed his sore rear, grimaced, and got up to look around. Though the entrance had been a cave, the scene inside was completely different.
He found himself in a plain that seemed like a hidden paradise. The ground beneath his feet was still yellow earth, but a dozen meters further, everything changed. Lush grass and blooming flowers stretched out before him. A gentle floral fragrance drifted on the breeze, intoxicating in its sweetness.
Not far away, a river cut through the landscape, clear and deep, dividing the area in two. On the other side, a dense, thriving forest stood, its depths concealed from view.
“It’s a plain, yet the environments on either side of the river are so drastically different?” Song Qi didn’t move rashly, pondering the situation. “And at a glance, I don’t see any sign of monsters. Are they deeper in the woods? Or… could they be plant-type monsters?”
Plant monsters were especially adept at camouflage, often indistinguishable from ordinary flora until their prey wandered into range—then, in an instant, deadly traps would snap shut, killing in a heartbeat.
“Forget it, better safe than sorry. Cowardly as it may seem…” Song Qi snapped his fingers.
“Master!”
“Sir!”
Lu Bu, wielding his halberd, towering and fierce like a temple guardian, appeared at Song Qi’s left. Ying Zheng, resplendent in royal garb and exuding authority, stood at his right, sword in hand.
“Scout ahead, and watch your step—I suspect plant monsters.”
“Yes, sir!” they replied in unison.
Lu Bu strode straight into the tall grass, while Ying Zheng raised his right hand, summoning four terracotta warriors to advance in five separate lines.
But curiously, even after Lu Bu and Ying Zheng reached the forest on the far side, nothing happened.
“Was I being overly cautious?” Song Qi was about to take a step when he suddenly realized something was wrong.
“No—that’s not right!”
“Lu Bu, Ying Zheng! Dig up the roots of the grass and trees on either side!”
Without hesitation, the two drew their weapons and struck at the ground.
The next moment—
A piercing screech erupted from below: “Flesh—fresh flesh—eat—meat—!”
Countless vines burst from beneath the grass, surging skyward. Towering trees shook themselves free from the earth, transforming into giant wooden figures several meters tall. Each step they took sent tremors through the ground, radiating an overwhelming sense of menace.
In the blink of an eye, the once-beautiful plain became a sea of monsters.
Information about the two monster types appeared before Song Qi’s eyes:
Monster: Mutated Bloodthirsty Demon Flower
Level: 32
Strength: 311
Constitution: 525
Agility: 223
Spirit: 108
Skills: [Vine Entanglement] [Regeneration] [Camouflage]
Evaluation: Monsters mutated by an unknown cause. Their power has increased dramatically, but they have lost some of their reason.
...
Monster: Mutated Giant Treant
Level: 38
Strength: 811
Constitution: 765
Agility: 96
Spirit: 34
Skills: [Camouflage] [Bark Defense] [Regeneration] [Healing]
Evaluation: A monster mutated by unknown means. It has immense resistance to physical attacks but is extremely vulnerable to fire.
...
“Level 32 mutated demon flowers and level 38 giant treants? Good grief, are these really supposed to be low-level dungeon monsters? With stats in the hundreds, approaching a thousand—what low-level adventurer could possibly deal with that?”
“Good thing I’m the one here,” Song Qi remarked. “Anyone else wouldn’t just fail to clear the dungeon—they might not even have a chance to use the escape device.”
He sighed. He’d known the wild dungeon monsters would be strong, but he hadn’t expected them to be this strong. Still, they weren’t beyond his ability to handle.