After running out, he realized that this mineshaft was much larger than he had imagined.

Looking at the numerous tunnels of varying sizes in front of him, Tepi had no idea where to run. Any path looked like it could lead to escape or certain death.

"Whatever, just pick one!"

Seeing the miners getting closer and closer, he made a quick decision and dashed toward the nearest tunnel.

Great, great, the crystal miners couldn’t match his speed at all, only having tough bodies. He could completely ignore these guys and run out on his own. It seemed this tunnel wasn’t that difficult after all.

He smiled and blinked.

When he opened his eyes again, Tepi was stunned. He had returned to the small hut, the sound of mining never ceasing.

"Wha- what’s going on?"

He looked around uneasily. Why was he back? Wasn’t he just about to run into the tunnel...

No, I died just now!

Trying hard to recall, memories surged like a tide. He saw himself eagerly running towards the nearest tunnel, then the sound of something piercing the air came from behind, followed by his body being pierced by countless needles, causing agonizing pain. He fell to the ground and died instantly.

An inexplicable sense of panic pervaded the atmosphere around him.

The miners didn’t look like they could shoot sharp needle attacks, meaning there were other monsters hidden in this mineshaft that he hadn’t discovered yet, whose attack damage and speed far exceeded that of the miners and even surpassed Tepi’s endurance.

This mineshaft was not simple.

"No, the most important thing is, why did I resurrect here?"

Looking at the shabby wooden hut, Tepi was in a daze.

After death, he should have resurrected with blessing or been teleported to the outside world’s Resurrection House via Teleportation Crystal. Since he didn’t have the Teleportation Crystal, he could discount the second possibility.

But he shouldn’t revive in the wooden hut by any means!

There was only one explanation.

"The teleportation trap has issues..."

That thing had restricted him within the mineshaft!

A moment of silence. Once he discovered the cause of all these events, Tepi fell into silence.

But time didn’t allow him to think. He noticed the miners were once again watching him.

By now, even a fool should have realized that his self-talk just now attracted these guys!

"Once I get out, I’m definitely going to flatten you damn dungeon!"

Tepi cursed, sped up his pace, ran out of the wooden hut, grabbed a small knife from the ground, and started running backward into the tunnel, looking around as he ran. When he reached the tunnel entrance, the familiar sound of needles piercing the air came again. Following the sound, he finally found the culprit.

It was a humanoid insect crawling and standing on the roof of the wooden hut!

[Corruption Favored]

He couldn’t imagine such a disgusting and terrifying humanoid insect was standing above his head while he was inside the hut. The goosebumps started to rise again.

The Corruption Favored spread its arms, a large number of spiked appendages called insect silk flew from its back, and they would automatically track their target.

Tepi seized the opportunity to dodge to the side... Successfully avoiding half of the spikes!

But the other half of his body turned into a pincushion.

"Knowing its true face, it’s not that scary anymore."

Despite the pain from his body, Tepi still smiled, a smile that bore some resemblance to Leon’s. He dragged his body with the arm that could still move towards the tunnel, eyes fixed on the movements of the Corruption Favored, aiming to calculate the launching intervals of the insect silk.

But at that moment, the insect silk suddenly came from another direction, piercing him thoroughly.

He then noticed that there was another Corruption Favored crawling on the rock wall not far away.

No, not just one; there were others in different places. This damn mineshaft had four Corruption Favored eyeing him fiercely!

"Heh heh."

Who knows how much time had passed again.

"Swish swish swish——"

The insect silk darted through the mineshaft like tracking missiles, and Tepi, nimble as a cat, dodged them skillfully. Even when facing two strands of insect silk at the same time, he barely managed to cope.

He jumped familiarly into a random tunnel inside and ran forward.

Inside the tunnel were scattered miners and bat monsters. By the time he reached the end, he had suffered quite a few injuries, and even the small knife was blunted.

However, when he exited the end of the tunnel and saw the familiar scenery of the mineshaft, the light in his eyes faded at once, like a broken puppet mumbling to himself:

"It changed again, the structure of the tunnel changed again..."

He returned to the wooden hut once more, with piles of minerals stacked all around the small, shabby house.

Forging Stone, Gravity Stone, Bursting Luminous Stone... All these were collected by Tepi through countless deaths, even though he dropped many along the way, the amount inside the hut was still impressive.

The value of the Forging Stone aside, Gravity Stone and Bursting Luminous Stone had been confirmed by external magic craftsmen to hold considerable value. They can be used to power magic tools and for a host of other purposes, with purchase prices consistently high. The fact that the mineshaft was producing them in large quantities was sure to attract people in droves.

In addition, Tepi even found a page from a magic book.

[Blast Rock Plate]

[A type of Luminous Stone magic from Reyalucaria’s Magic Academy, infuses magic power into the end of a magic wand, inserts it into the ground, causing a massive magic shockwave around it.

[During magic activation, the user can move freely, and stab the end of the infused magic wand into the enemy. It’s a high-level Stone Digging magic used by the luminous stone miners in the Celia Crystal Tunnel.]

This thing was incredibly powerful, crushing miners with no problem, but the rate of magic power consumption was terrifying; he could barely use it.

The teleportation trap really brought him to a treasure-rich mineshaft.

But if he couldn’t get out, it would all be in vain!

With his talent and the experience from dying, he finally honed a superlative movement technique capable of dodging the insect silk and even slipping through the encirclement of several miners like an eel. If he were to return to the past with his current skills, even Leon would have a hard time catching him.

He really had become somewhat stronger through the ordeal of adversity.

But, but——

There were multiple tunnels leading to the outside world, and several tunnels leading deeper inside; the exits of these tunnels would shift!

The exit would change every time he died!

Until now, Tepi hadn’t found a way out. He was going to be trapped and die here.

"I was wrong, I won’t say such reckless things as flattening this dungeon again."

Tepi sat among a pile of minerals, not caring a bit that his self-talk might attract miners’ attention, fingers caressing the Fan-shaped Gravity Stone aimlessly, a faint smile on his lips. He said:

"Such a delightfully exciting place should be experienced by more people..."

He clenched his fist and let out a long howl towards the sky, hair tousled.

"I must bring more people in here!"

"Dong... dong..."

The closing bell of the dungeon began to ring.