My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 136 - 111: Understanding the Dungeon

Mark tossed the spear with great skill.

The spearhead pointed upward, posing no threat to Fang Zhen. It flew in a parabola over a distance of six or seven meters, landing quite precisely next to him.

Fang Zhen snatched the spear's shaft out of the air with his right hand.

He gave the spear a shake and immediately fell into a fighting stance.

With a long spear, it's the last three feet that count.

Spear masters focus more on controlling the rear of the shaft, rather than just staring at the tip.

Fang Zhen applied what he had learned. He gripped the very end of the shaft with his right hand, used the right side of his waist as a fulcrum, and grasped the spear about three feet from the end with his left hand.

This stance was one of the most common in traditional martial arts.

His left hand merely controlled direction and distance; the real power came from his right hand and the leverage of his waist.

Gwendolyn had drawn his Single-Edged Sword and was holding back one of the Ghost-faced Spiders.

The other Ghost-faced Spider leaped more than three meters into the air, then dropped straight down, pouncing right for Fang Zhen's face.

Fearless, Fang Zhen twisted his right hand, drove forward with his waist, and took a lunging step, instantly closing the distance with the Ghost-faced Spider.

He adjusted the angle slightly upward and to the right with his left hand and thrust.

PSHH!

The spear, angled slightly upward from below, pierced straight through the head of the pouncing Ghost-faced Spider.

If it were a human, he would have needed to strike a couple more times just to be sure.

But this was a monstrous Ghost-faced Spider, and the spearhead was coated in the dried powder of the Blood Burst Secret Medicine.

Landing the blow, Fang Zhen immediately retreated, retracting his spear. He used the centrifugal force to spin around, and with two quick steps, he darted four or five meters away.

Behind him, the Ghost-faced Spider, half-dead from the mid-air thrust, landed on the ground. Less than a second later, its body began to swell.

By the time Fang Zhen had taken a few great leaps to cover six or seven meters and reached Mark's side, the Ghost-faced Spider behind them exploded. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

BOOM!

A spray of green blood erupted, sending the spider's mangled limbs and entrails flying everywhere.

Fang Zhen turned to look back at the battlefield.

"Amazing!" Mark's eyes shone. He wished he had been the one to make that precise thrust.

Meanwhile, Gwendolyn's fight was also coming to an end.

Gwendolyn, old but still formidable, was incredibly skilled in combat. Aided by the Gang Zan Seal, he deflected the Ghost-faced Spider's silk and bite attacks, then rolled in close and severed three of its legs in quick succession.

But he wasn't finished. Gwendolyn side-rolled past the spider's broken legs and, like an Assassin, rose to his feet and stabbed it three or four times in rapid succession before leaping away to safety.

Gwendolyn's Single-Edged Sword was also coated in the crystallized powder of the Blood Burst Secret Medicine. The crippled spider began to swell instantly.

With two more hops, Gwendolyn was back in front of Fang Zhen.

BOOM!

The last Ghost-faced Spider exploded.

Not a single living Ghost-faced Spider remained in the Underground Cave before them.

Fang Zhen walked forward a few steps and picked up the Hunting Crossbow he had dropped earlier.

Gwendolyn stood clutching his Single-Edged Sword, a dazed look on his face, as if lost in thought.

Fang Zhen watched Gwendolyn.

After a long moment, Gwendolyn let out a deep sigh.

"That human face on the Ghost-faced Spider Queen..." Fang Zhen began.

"Yes," Gwendolyn replied, his body suddenly slackening as if all the air had gone out of him. His grip on the Single-Edged Sword loosened, and it hung limply by his right leg. "I knew her."

"To be precise, she was my adopted daughter, Huna."

"She was the daughter of my comrade-in-arms. Both her father and mother died on the battlefield, so I naturally became her adoptive father."

"Twenty years ago, Huna fell in love with an ambitious young Curse Sealer and came to the Ellick Territory with him. I never saw her again after that."

"I never imagined the last time I'd see her face would be on the back of a Ghost-faced Spider."

Fang Zhen looked at Gwendolyn for a while.

"At least she's at peace now," Fang Zhen said.

"Yes," Gwendolyn took a deep breath, seemingly suppressing his grief. "She's at peace."

Fang Zhen shook his head slightly.

He had a good idea who the young Curse Sealer that brought Huna to the Ellick Territory was.

"Maticvia," Gwendolyn said the name at that exact moment.

"He's the man who took my Huna away and left her to die in this filthy, damp Underground Cave, devoured by those damned Ghost-faced Spiders. God, I can't imagine how much pain Huna must have been in when she died."

"And I've heard rumors that Maticvia didn't die but is alive in another form."

"If I ever see him, I won't let him get away. How dare he lead my Huna astray, only to let my daughter fall to such a nightmarish end?" A trace of anger entered Gwendolyn's voice.

Fang Zhen sighed softly.

'Maticvia... isn't he the boss of the Ancient Castle Caverns, according to the instance info?'

If Gwendolyn continued onward with Fang Zhen, he was bound to meet that former Curse Sealer.

"How's your stamina?" Fang Zhen asked.

"I can hold on after a short rest. It's a shame we're out of bolts, and you've used up all your Molotov Cocktails," Gwendolyn said. "That alchemical creation is truly powerful."

Fang Zhen nodded.

'So that's Gwendolyn's backstory.'

'No wonder he insisted on coming to the Ellick Territory at his age.'

At the same time, Fang Zhen also understood the "correct way to clear" the Ancient Castle Caverns instance this time.

'The reason the 'Instance Life' game determined the Ancient Castle Caverns could be speedrun was because the Secret Medicine Blood Burst was the key.'

The Secret Medicine Blood Burst wasn't something that could be triggered guaranteed. It required all sorts of experimentation, plus a bit of luck.

If Fang Zhen had been even a little bit lazy and hadn't taken the cerebrospinal fluid from the Abnormal Ghost to test, he probably would have ended up with Gwendolyn's slow-acting poison.

'Clearing the instance would have been much harder then.'

Mixing potassium permanganate with Gwendolyn's Alchemy Poison was also a matter of probability; it wasn't guaranteed to trigger the effect.

'And there was another key element to the speedrun: Gwendolyn himself.'

'The old master is very capable.'

'However, it seems Gwendolyn only fights favorable battles.'

'Without the Secret Medicine Blood Burst, Gwendolyn most likely wouldn't have come along.'

Without the Blood Burst, if Fang Zhen entered the Ancient Castle Caverns alone, he'd have a hard time even facing six Abnormal Ghosts, let alone taking on a swarm of Ghost-faced Spiders by himself.

Fang Zhen suddenly had a new understanding of how to approach instances.

'An instance isn't something you have to clear alone from start to finish. If you meet the right conditions, the people and factions you encounter inside can become your allies. You can leverage their strength. You can even help them achieve their own objectives, turning them into partners who help you gather resources, gain abilities, and acquire items.'

He felt his understanding of this 'Instance Life' had deepened.

"Alright, I've more or less recovered. We can press on," Gwendolyn said.

Gwendolyn was, at his core, a Warrior. After mourning his adopted daughter for a moment, he got his emotions under control.

But Fang Zhen could sense a deep-seated rage still simmering within Gwendolyn.

It was a rage directed at the Vampire Lord, the monsters, and Maticvia.

"Let's go," Fang Zhen said. "Maybe we really will get to see this Maticvia."