I've Got A Mana Processor In A Magic World-Chapter 197: Dungeon Delving
Zephyr watched the party — if it could even be called a party — of ten champions, squabbling over who should enter first.
At this point, even Zephyr was tired already. They'd been at it for nearly five minutes. The problem was from the four elf variant girls, who despite their petite, beautiful features, had temperaments more fiery than taverns' barmaids.
They, with their small figures, insisted on leading the charge into this unknown portal, something that was absurd to the ears of the demon and orc variants in the other group. It was like the greatest insult to their pride.
One had to know that these were champions coming from different parts of the universe. In fact, different star zones or galactic clusters entirely.
They had totally different cultures and norms, something that the Voice of The World, despite its amazing capability to remedy the language barrier, couldn't remedy for them.
The elf variant girls were the dominant gender on their home planet. The women played the leading role, while the male elf variants were simply homebodies that took care of the children and served as breeding mates.
Theirs was so extreme that they subconsciously bore a deep-set superior outlook to any male they saw…
The demon and orc variants were not having any of it.
They were from societies where males were the dominant gender, hence the current situation. A battle of egos.
Zephyr was so tired of their bickering that he seriously considered intervening subtly, if only to get them to shut up and refocus their attention on something else.
But it seemed he wouldn't have to go that far.
The other single elf variant — the one who had obviously tracked him to this point — stepped forward with her lackey directly in front of her, and without hesitation, took the plunge into the portal to the shocked shouts of exclamation of the others.
"Hey! What are you—"
'Finally!' Zephyr practically yelled in relief.
The others didn't wait after seeing the elf girl and her lackey lead the way, entering safely. They followed right in their tow.
'Ahh. The silence…' Zephyr savored it for a while as he waited. They were going to serve as the spearheads, and he also didn't want them to find out of his presence.
Aegis had informed him to be careful since that was his goal. He might be invincible to the senses, but the dungeon would definitely be able to detect his presence might announce his entry immediately he crossed into the portal… though it might also not do this, one couldn't be sure.
So just to be safe, he stayed back for a while, perhaps till when they would have moved forward past him, and even if he was announced, he'd have ample time to maneuver his way forward, making them think the intruder had gone right back out the way he came.
But he also didn't want to give them too much of a headstart that they went so far ahead, he couldn't trace them anymore.
Who knew whether dungeons could erase traces to that extent.
So he'd given them only a minute and twenty-two seconds of lead time. It was the calculated minimum necessary to ensure they and gone ahead, but not by too much.
"That's enough."
He stepped through the circular, striated rock that held the shimmering gate without hesitation, and immediately he did, the ambient temperature immediately plummeted. The air here felt heavy with the weight of magic — if Zephyr had to describe it.
It looked like a large cavern, or maybe a tunnel, with an extremely high ceiling and black hard stone-carved walls without any other embellishments. Basic and to-the-point. The only other feature he noted was that the ground sloped downwards slightly further down, suggesting that the progression forward led underground.
The air inside was tinged with the smell of sulfur and iron, drawing a sharp, abrupt contrast without buffer compared to the dust and wind of the outside world.
Just as he was observing the surroundings better, the toneless Voice of The World suddenly sounded in his head.
[New Region Discovered: The Subterranean Vault 17.]
[Current Status: Dungeon Progression Trial Activated.]
[Primary Goal: Reach the Core Chamber and Eliminate the Vault Guardian.]
[Secondary Goal Activated: The Descent Race.]
Zephyr didn't move for a beat, letting the information settle.
"That was direct…" he noted.
Compared to the 'vagueness' of the Voice of The World on the outside world, here inside the dungeon, it was more specific with the goals and objectives… exactly like Aegis said…
'...like a game.'
He walked forward tentatively and his ears picked up the sounds of a distant battle, echoing across the black walls of the dungeon tunnel.
[Notice]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Blood Pact.]
[Champion <unknown> has been awarded a 2.5x Kill Count Multiplier for 10 minutes.]
The Voice of The World abruptly sounded again, this time informing the inhabitants of the dungeon of their announcement.
"Kill count multiplier?" Zephyr raised a brow in surprise. That was as straightforward to comprehend as possible. 2.5x the number of your kills for the next 10 minutes?!
This was the kind of thing Zephyr was after to rack up points.
"But also… Champion unknown…?" What did that mean?
Zephyr brought up his general champion ranking panel, and on it, other information was displayed. It showed his current status as being inside a dungeon, along with his alias, which had a 'Hide' option right next to it.
He toggled that, and immediately, his alias switched from ZeroOne Sovereign to <unkown>.
"Heh! Neat."
Imagine how things would pan out if for every kill he made, the Voice of The World announced champion ZeroOne Sovereign…
The others might even stop and make finding him their sole purpose. And even if they didn't, they'd already know that he was somewhere in the vicinity of this western region.
Thankfully that was avoided cleanly with this feature.
He looked straight forward to the distance that sloped out of view.
"So multipliers are the currency of survival," he muttered, moving past the gate. He was already jogging, with {Silent Mirage} eating up the sounds of his steps even on the hard stone floor.
If the goal of the convergence trial is to cultivate apex predators… Capsules of improbability like Lytheron had said, then this approach of making champions strive for multipliers forces continuous high-risk, high-efficiency engagement, which rapidly refines combat prowess, Aegis analyzed.
And it was right. Zephyr was already feeling eager to get started, simply for these multipliers.
'If I'm like this, then the others in the heat of the battle right now will probably be more eager to rack up kills…' Zephyr scoffed internally. 'They'll be pushing harder now…'
And that recklessness would be his greatest tactical advantage. It would give him sufficient space to maneuver his way forward. Right now he had discarded his previous idea of trailing behind them. They'd served their purpose of paving the way to see if it was safe. Now it was time for Zephyr to burst ahead of them in the chaos and actually rack up points.
He jogged down the slight incline, noticing the wreckage of the party's initial attack. Scorched stone, deep gouges from some kind of Orc or Dwarf variant's attack, and the pulverized remains of the first mobs. Zephyr didn't even slow, his eyes focused entirely on the path ahead, and he didn't have to move forward too far before he noticed them.
The corridor opened into an even larger chamber that the Voice of The World announced was the main Level 1 chamber immediately he stepped in.
The ten champions were currently a messy cluster of flaring magic and focused movement, engaged in a brawl against packs of (Sludge Hulks).
Zephyr watched the battle and placed the monsters at somewhere around Tier 2 equivalents… though the accuracy was questionable since it was based off his own experiences.
The (Sludge Hulks) were a slow, stone-skinned, and resilient breed of monsters. Ideal cannon fodders for grinding and honing skills.
Zephyr tried to guess which one of them had gotten the 2.5x kill count multiplier, and it didn't take long for him to figure the person out.
The frantic barrage of spells coming from one of the elf variant girls made her stand out.
She was being supported by her three colleagues who were helping her weaken the stony body of the (Sludge Hulks) before she delivered the killing blow.
It was a brute force, mana expensive method to try to make the most of the ten minutes before it ran out.
'Hmm… So they are far along on the evolution scale,' Zephyr noted, since the elf variant girls, unlike the other party members, were the only ones making use of spell models to actually cast magic… That is besides the seer elf and her lackey who were still wildcards.
Zephyr only noted these passively, as he edged along the fringes of the cavern's expanse, relying on {Silent Mirage} to cover his approach. He could've walked right through, but in the height of a fight, most people's senses were the sharpest. They could notice the differing sound vacuum, or some stray rock disappearing from sight, or some other weird effects of his passive cloaking spell, so he simply played it safe and took a round about arc.
[Notice.]
The Voice of The World abruptly announced to all again.
[Bonus Task: Achieve 50 Kills in the next 90 seconds in the current chamber.]
[Reward: 3x Point Multiplier on the next 20 kills.]
Zephyr slowed immediately with a weird expression on his face. He had moved past the center of the room and was free to waltz straight towards the exit and further down the dungeon alone, but now with this announcement…
'Is the Voice of The World tempting me to stay?'
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A/N: This chapter's special thanks goes to DestroyerMagus and John_Smith2224 for the Golden Tickets and continued support. 🤙 I really appreciate.
In regards to my second book, I messed up the timing a bit. Most of the novelkiss editors in charge of vetting a book before it can be published are on their leave of absence and won't be back till Thurs/Fri. So my new book would not reflect publicly until then...😮💨
