10: Hidden Dungeon of Thark forest

The Earth in the 'Hero of Darkness' novel was a place that changed greatly due to the presence of mana and dungeons that opened up regularly in every few years.

After a lot of research, the researchers found out that the dungeon that opened up in the planet were dimensional planes where monsters thrive and needed to be cleared before dungeon breaks happen.

To clear a dungeon it's necessary to kill its dungeon boss and hidden monster.

As these dungeons were like a pocket space of entirely new dimensions where the monster's population can grow without much threat, it soon reaches its limit and shatters the barrier allowing the monster to trespass outside.

This phenomenon was usually referred to as 'dungeon break'. 

Hidden dungeons on the other hand were different from normal dungeons as there were no dungeon break in them but the end result was way worse.

Hidden dungeons were also like simple dungeons however monsters here have no limiters on their growth which means they can grow in rank the more time they were given.

As the name suggests, the tricky part of hidden dungeons was that they stay hidden until they reach 'A or B rank' after which there mana fluctuations starts to appear.

What made hidden dungeons much more dangerous than normal ones was the fact that once high enough they can merge themselves.

By weaving both spaces together they assimilate themselves with the planet becoming a part of it.

So the best course of action was to clear them as early as possible so that there will be no immensely strong monsters to face later on. 

However there were many restrictions that a hidden dungeon have, each different then previous others. This made them much more harder to conqueror and boosting the probability of failure way high. 

Still each power try to raid them even with many disadvantages due to the sole reason of their rewards. 

The rewards that hidden dungeons gave are more special because of many reasons;

Firstly, artifact are sure to exist in hidden dungeons.

In those hidden dungeons that were as huge as continents, there were chances of more than one artifact being present. 

The maximum number of Artifact found in an hidden dungeons were 4.

Secondly, the monsters that spawn here are rarity and are never found in the outside world.

Thus, finding a Mana art here makes your Art and lineage special then others.

Similarly, Most of the big families gained there mana arts in hidden dungeons, making them special then others. 

Lastly, clearing hidden dungeon Yields high increase in stats.

As the ones who clear the hidden dungeon gets all the mana of the dungeon distributed to their stats according to their level of participation in the clearing. 

Thus this was regarded as the quickest way to increase your ranks. 

But hidden dungeons were not easy to found and their respawn time spread centuries of years apart.

[ !!! Beware !!! ] 

[ You have entered an E-rank dungeon ] 

As Kalki entered the hidden dungeon the system notified him of the level of the dungeon and a warning with a red panel different then all the blue panels he saw till now.

Looking at his rank and the rank of the dungeon which had the difference of 2 major tiers, Kalki sighed internally.

Earlier he had thought that maybe because of how early he came to the dungeon it should be much lower in rank but still, the rank of the dungeon was high for him.

If it was any other dungeon he would have never even thought of going ahead after reading the warning. 

'Okay Kalki !

you just have to silently enter the hidden room, make the boss monster and hidden boss fight each other and get your things. 

Simple…. 

Yup, You can do it

~~I hope….'

Encouraging himself, Kalki moved forward into the dungeon.

The dungeon itself was like a network of Underground tunnels connecting each other. 

The only source of lightning in the dungeon were the mana stones shining brightly in the darkness and illuminating the way ahead.

Although he wanted to snatch all of them away. He controlled himself and moved forward in the tunnel. 

Soon he arrived at the place where two paths diverge towards two boss monsters room and also the very place where the 4* mana arts is present. 

As the 'very place' was the junction itself where the path of both monsters and the door of the hidden room was present, opening it now clearly speaks of his demise. 

Thus kalki acted according to its plan and moved towards the boss monster on the left tunnel first. 

At the end of the path of both tunnels lay incomplete artifacts alongside the boss monsters, both of the treasurers were incomplete without each other.

Kalki who was moving in the left tunnel knew about the monster present ahead. Crabby, a huge crab monster with many different abilities related to water and acid.

As the dungeon was simple and contained only two monsters, no one was able to find its hidden monster. Only through his luck was our mc able stumble upon the hidden monster room and still in the last lost the mana art in the hand of demon prince.

Also because the treasured artifact from the boss monsters were already stolen by Ambit way before when the association found out about the dungeon, Nobody knew there were once any artifact present here. 

This was one of the reasons why its exploration was handed to the academy as a mission task.

Just like all people, Alec, the other transmigrator also didn't know of this hidden dungeon. As this event never ever transpired in the story of the game that he played.

the founding of this hidden dungeon itself was a result of the butterfly effect that he caused when he injured Ambit in the battle. 

Moving slowly, Kalki calmed his breath and reduced the noise of his footsteps as he could see the end of the tunnel in front of him.

Just a few meters away from the exit of the tunnel, Kalki found a deep crack in the wall large enough for him to fit. 

Looking at the crack Kalki thought,

 'how tough the boss monster would be that he forced the ever-arrogant Ambit to hide here instead of fighting it.' 

Kalki removed all of his clothes including his underwear too. 

With him fully naked, he rolled himself on the ground and covered his whole body in the dirt from the top to the bottom in order to mask his smell. 

At the end of pathway was a huge muddy place with a lake in the middle. 

Kalki saw the massive crab in the left side of the room which seemed to be sleeping peacefully. 

Near the lakeside were many trees and shrubs shining brightly by themselves, massive in the size. 

Although from Kalki's place it wasn't visible clearly, somewhere there between trees and shrubs lies the stone slab where the first half of treasure was present.

[!!! C-rank monster detected !!!] 

[ Advised to be evacuate in a safe place and not to be engage in combat ]

Kalki looked at the notification that the system transmits to him.

He knew that the boss monsters in hidden dungeons were high-level monsters but how the f*ck he was entire 2 levels higher than the dungeon itself ?

Now Kalki knew why the Ambit had to run away instead of engaging in a battle. 

He moved toward the treasure from the edges of the room silently.

Kalki knew he wasn't strong enough to charge head-on, so he decided to camouflage himself in the mud and move slowly towards the lake from the right side.

The two weaknesses of crabs were their low hearing and the inability to move forward even at a normal pace.

Because the crab was sleeping on the right, Kalki saw this as a golden chance. 

Slowly and steadily moving at the same pace, Kalki reached the treasure after hours of hard work. 

The stone slab on the ground had many array symbols glowing with mana, clearly distinctify itself in the bushes.

Standing on the stone slab which was big enough for more than ten people to stand simultaneously, Kalki looked at the orb containing white liquid in the middle.

Although he can pull it out at any time but decided against it, As the moment he would remove the ball he will cause a mana disparity in the surrounding area.

Mana disparity phenomenon in a closed limited space will surely awaken the beast as monsters are way too sensitive with mana than humans.

Kalki prepared himself, he concentrated for a minute and moved his mana towards the sole of his feet. 

'fuuu… finally one part of the treasure is in my hand' 

Kalki picked the ball from the slab dulling the bright arrays.

Vibrations started to happen throughout the cave as a result of kalki action. 

The crab who was asleep earlier woke up instantly and tried to move backward which did not happen very fast.

 *THUMP*

a large stone fell on top of the crab's head.

"He he he he"

 Unintentionally a laugh leaked from Kalki's mouth aggroing crabs' attention. 

'Shit shit shit'

Kalki shouted in his mind as he jumped forward releasing the mana from his sole with a burst.

The push from the mana burst propelled Kalki in the air covering 3/4 distance in few seconds span.

" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...…."

A painfully loud voice escaped Kalki's mouth.

This was his first time facing pain of this magnitude. 

In the air he found his visioned blurred for a few seconds due to the pain, however Kalki didn't let go of his rationality. 

*BAAM* 

Kalki hit the ground with his shoulder facturing it in the process. 

Biting into his lips he endured his pain. However the moment he tried to stand up his pain intensified many folds resulting in the eruption of blood from his bite in the lower lip.

"DO IT….. DO IT !!" 

Kalki shouted at himself as he forcefully moved his body enduring his pain. 

He knew the moment he stopped, he would DIE.

The sound created by monsters movement was growing by every second, stating distance was getting closed at a fast pace.

Kalki didn't even want to confirm it by looking back, he just ran with his full strength towards the cave entrance.