Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?-Chapter 891 - 592: "City Lord" Jie Lian

Sometimes Luluwo wondered if she had been infected by Asam and turned into a masochist.

Otherwise, there’s no way to explain why someone like her, who doesn’t worry about food and clothing, is willing to challenge the Sain Dungeon over and over again.

"Captain, how long have we been here?"

Deep within Red Lion City, next to the Fog Gate lies a small blessing room, which is the headquarters of the Skyrim Strategy Group.

"I don’t know, I really don’t know."

Luluwo clutched her head feeling dizzy, her entire body wrapped in bandages with ointment carefully applied underneath.

Looking around, the entire Skyrim Strategy Group was in the same state, including Fanen, who was beaten back to his original form, using several times more bandages than normal.

The most visually striking were Abel and Moer, the two young Two-legged Dragons, who had transformed into human forms and were wrapped like mummies, not even showing their eyes, lying quietly and motionless.

Apparently, Uffie was the only one missing.

The morale in this small room... was quite low.

At this moment, a Red Lion soldier suddenly appeared at the doorway, yet his arrival did not raise any alarms; instead, everyone sighed upon seeing him.

The Red Lion soldier mumbled and handed forward a bundle he was holding, which turned out to be a pile of ointments, bandages, and various treatment tools.

Everyone looked at each other and then shook their heads in unison.

The Red Lion soldier, seeing this, turned and left the small room, leaving behind a pile of decent-looking food.

Weird, being gifted medicine and food by an enemy? Even in the usually unpredictable Sain, this was a rare occurrence.

However, the adventurers were now too exhausted to comment; it was like seeing a ghost and not being surprised.

Like Tami asked earlier, "How long exactly have we been here," people now felt they had fallen into an endless vortex of torment.

It seemed that after entering Red Lion City, the previous adventuring experience was no longer applicable.

Experience would suggest that monsters in each area of Sain Dungeon have common traits, and discovering their weaknesses would generally be applicable.

However, within Red Lion City, all kinds of powerful monsters, known and unknown, winnable and unwinnable, gathered here.

Upon entering Red Lion City, the Skyrim Strategy Group encountered not a stronger Red Lion Legion, but a bunch of bizarre entities.

Walking suddenly led to a lightning strike from an unseen Ancient Dragon Knight, followed closely by a charge from a Lion Hybrid.

Running into a Molten Furnace Knight’s Melting Furnace Hundred Beasts feathered strike, getting up only to be smacked down by a large tail swipe.

Barely defeating a strong enemy, bathing in its blood, only for a Blood Noble to suddenly emerge from the pool and stab right into the heart.

What the heck is all this...

The process of raiding Red Lion City made Luluwo feel like she’d lost ten years of her life, even causing her hair to turn gray with worry.

No minor monsters here, only elites; the weakest among them equivalent to a white-maned lion from Gael Fortress.

If it were only this, it wouldn’t be so bad, as despite the strength of the elites, their numbers were small, making a strategic advance and clearance possible. However, these monsters played a perfect game of information overload, using abilities adventurers were unaware of, making everyone cautious with each step.

This level of carefulness makes Soulslike Game players the best drivers, as accidents are absolutely avoided.

Luluwo and the others did not know how much time they had spent in this city, but finally, under pressure, they managed to reach the depths of Red Lion City and discovered the blessing and the Fog Gate.

To not exaggerate, upon seeing the blessing, everyone grinned like children, and some even cried tears of relief.

However, the appearance of the blessing was Sain Dungeon’s final mercy, with true torment awaiting after the Fog Gate.

Traditionally, the boss behind the Fog Gate would adjust its strength based on the number of challengers.

But in Red Lion City, this boss not only adjusted its strength, it also changed races, and included a multi-boss battle.

Aside from the Lion Hybrid that would rush in at the start, the next to appear could be a Molten Furnace Knight, an Evil Omen Hunter, or some Elite Monster. In any case, the type and strength would change according to the number and capability of adventurers, with a maximum number of three.

Traditionally, monsters would not rest until adventurers are thoroughly defeated.

However, the bosses behind the Fog Gate in Red Lion City would actually hold back!

They beat the adventurers to the brink of death before stopping, then Red Lion soldiers would carry the half-dead adventurers away, bandage them with ointment and leave them by the blessing, ready for another challenge upon recovery. If the challenge fails, the process repeats.

"... Because of this, I have no sense of time anymore," Luluwo muttered with her face buried in her knees.

Severe injuries leading to near-death leave people in a daze, taking time to recover even with medicine.

When the adventurers awoke, they had no clue how long they had been lying there.

Luluwo and the others only felt they had spent a very long time in Red Lion City, but as for exactly how long? No one remembered.

"If only we had a few more teammates," Tami said weakly, lying on the ground.

"We’ve already figured out the tricks; a few more tries, and we’ll definitely clear it," Luluwo said, trying to encourage everyone yet also seemingly self-hypnotizing.

After leaving Gael Fortress, Uffie parted ways with the group.

Apparently influenced by the Legend of Shattered Star, she went to challenge Red Lion City alone, without including Fanen and the others.

"Once I clear this, I’m going to have a good rant with that guy Jie Lian!"

Luluwo gritted her teeth in anger.

Initially, people thought the changing bosses behind the Fog Gate were the Sain Dungeon acting autonomously.

Later, they realized it was all the doing of that spectator Jie Lian.

He would sometimes stand atop the city walls, watching the battles against the Lion Hybrid and choosing whom to send next based on the adventurers’ performances.

If that were all, it wouldn’t be so bad, as everyone guessed he was filtering those qualified for the Battle Festival and naturally adjusting the difficulty of the trials.

But what made everyone angry was that even when people were about to win, even facing the combined attack of the Molten Furnace Knight and the Lion Hybrid, they somehow managed to hold out and see the dawn of victory.

Yet at that moment, Jie Lian sent in new Monsters down.

How can we still fight like this?

Because the leaders of the Fog Gate always held back, causing adventurers to hover near death, spiritual power naturally wouldn’t explode, and along with the healing from the bandages, this allowed Luluwo and the others to stay in the Dungeon for a long time without being kicked out due to lack of spiritual power. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Unless they choose to leave voluntarily.

Then why not leave voluntarily?

"These medicines have a magical power, every time I’m beaten near death and recover, I feel a sense of growth in strength," Fanen observed the changes in his body and said, "Although it’s a very subtle change, it indeed has benefits."

Because of their greed for this life-or-death strengthening effect, everyone was reluctant to leave.

And so, the poor adventurers, tempted by these petty gains, were trapped in a painful cycle.

"I have recovered!"

Abel suddenly jumped up at this moment, tearing off the bandages wrapped around his body and shouted.

"I’m going to fight once more now, this time I will definitely win!"

"Wait, don’t rush—"

Before everyone could stop him, Abel, clearly already heated, charged out and dashed into the Fog Gate.

Based on past experience, perhaps his odds of winning might be even greater if he went in alone, after all, he was the senior disciple personally taught by Uffie—

This thought hadn’t fully formed in people’s minds when the next moment Abel was thrown backwards, tossed out from the Fog Gate, seriously injured.

How did he not even last a few minutes? That shouldn’t be!

"...."

The Red Lion Soldier, who had turned into a professional medic, briskly gathered around and picked up a bandage, ready to wrap it around him.

At this moment, Abel suddenly flipped to dodge the soldiers’ bandages, soaring up into the sky, rapidly flying out of the Red Lion City, shouting:

"I can’t beat them, I need to find help!"

"Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, I need your help!"

Shouting this, his figure disappeared into the sky.

Everyone watched his disappearing silhouette in silence for a long time, it was Tami who eventually broke the silence.

"Is he... making an excuse to slip away?"

No wonder he was thrown out shortly after entering the Fog Gate, he had planned his escape long ago.

"No, I think he’s serious," Moer suddenly said seriously beside him, "Two-legged Dragons have always been protective of their own."

Meanwhile, over on Uffie’s side.

"If you can successfully defeat those guys, I think you might qualify to become a Warrior."

Standing before Uffie, who had half of her shell armor shattered and was severely injured to the point of slowing her recovery, Jie Lian spoke with undeniable appreciation in his tone.

Uffie said nothing, but looked at him as if seeing an enemy, if she had the strength, she would have wanted to make a move.

Having braved countless difficulties in the boss battle, but ultimately ended with a good result, she successfully passed the boss battle, trudging to Jie Lian.

The Molten Furnace Knight surely qualifies to participate in the Battle Festival, so having defeated both the Molten Furnace Knight and the Lion Hybrid, she should naturally be qualified.

"Let me ask you, do you like festivals?" Jie Lian suddenly said.

"Enough chit-chat," Uffie exhaled, "I want to spar... no, I want to pay respects to the Shattered Star General, I want it now."

"Don’t be impatient."

Jie Lian’s tone carried the calmness unique to an elder.

"Currently, this place is just a fortress of a defeated army, but when the sky is filled with stars, it will transform into the stage for a festival.

"That’s to commemorate the most powerful Demigod during the Broken War—General Latan, to commemorate his final battle, and the Battle Festival to inherit the Great Rune."

A trace of disappointment flickered in Uffie’s eyes, it was obviously time for her to wait.

Jie Lian’s next words must be requesting you to wait for certain something.

"Please wait until the stars appear,"

Sure enough, Jie Lian spoke thus.

Uffie was about to sigh when she heard him continue:

"In the meantime, are you interested in accepting a commission, a commission in my personal name."

Uffie instinctively asked, "What commission?"

Jie Lian took out a badge, engraved with the image of a roaring lion’s head, and pressed it into Uffie’s hand.

"For the festival bidding farewell to General Latan, countless Warriors must come to pay respects, only then can it be worthy of the General’s final battle."

"Therefore, I ask you to invite more Warriors, and give them the badge. Although the badge will be damaged after one use, it will bring the Warriors to this Red Lion City when the festival begins."

Jie Lian’s voice was solemn and serious.

"Please find thousands of Warriors to become the flame of this festival!"