Dungeon exploration (1)

"Do you sense anything inside the cave?" Maya inquired.

"No," Alex shook his head, a frown on his face. "In fact, I can't seem to sense what's going on inside this cave."

"And you still want to enter?" Maya questioned, looking at Alex as if she couldn't believe his decision.

"It's better than staying here waiting for the storm," Alex replied, his voice steady. He took a deep breath and proceeded to step inside the cave.

Amelia and Maya, who had a wary expression on her face, followed right behind him and also entered the cave.

The instant the three of them stepped inside the cave, it began to shake!

Suddenly, the cave's entrance disappeared, and they were left in utter darkness. The air grew thick with an unexplainable pressure, and the sound of their own breaths became their only company.

"I guess we have the answer as to why there is a huge concentration of mana in this cave," Alex sighed. "It's not a simple cave at all, it's a dungeon."

"Hii," Maya let out a startled sound. "S-see? I warned you it was a bad idea to enter!"

"Calm down," Amelia said, her voice steady. "We just need to clear all the floors to be able to exit."

"What she said," Alex nodded. "I still believe it's better than the storm outside."

"Better? What if this is a high-grade dungeon?!" Maya exclaimed.

"Stop shouting," Alex warned, "you might attract the monsters on this floor."

Maya instantly clamped her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with realization.

"Anyway, let's go. I'm curious as to what kind of treasures we will find in this dungeon," Alex said in a relaxed and somewhat excited tone.

"I don't know how you are still excited about treasures after raiding the night's base whole treasury," Amelia said with a wry smile.

"We never have enough money, sis...never," Alex replied with a resolute tone, his eyes gleaming with determination.

"If you say so," Amelia sighed, shaking her head with a resigned smile.

She took out a few seeds from her space ring and scattered them on the ground.

"Why are you planting seeds here?" Alex curiously inquired.

"You will see," Amelia smiled and concentrated on growing the seeds.

Pretty soon, the small seedlings began to grow at an astonishing rate. The stem shot upward, unfurling leaves that glistened with a vibrant green hue. Within seconds, the plants had grown to their full height, with their apex forming a unique, bulbous structure. This bulb, initially green and unassuming, began to swell and change color, becoming translucent and luminescent, emitting a bright, white light that illuminated the surroundings with a soft, ethereal glow.

"Ohh," both Alex and Maya marveled as they looked at the bioluminescent plants.

However, while Maya was captivated by the plant's beauty, Alex's mind was already calculating the potential profits these plants could bring him.

"Tell me, sis, did you create these plants?" Alex asked, wrapping his arm around his sister's slender waist with a charming smile.

"Mm," Amelia nodded, a proud smile adorning her captivating face.

"Good, good, good," Alex nodded approvingly. "What happens if I detach the bulb from the rest of the plant?" he inquired.

"The bulb will continue to glow for a few hours before wilting and losing its brightness," Amelia explained with a content smile, pleased that her brother was showing interest in her creation.

Alex exhaled a plume of smoke and skillfully used it to detach the luminous bulb from the rest of the plant. As Amelia had said, it continued to glow brightly even after being completely separated from the plant.

Holding the luminous bulb with his smoke, Alex placed it in front of them to illuminate their path forward.

"Come, let's venture further into the dungeon. With some luck, it won't take us too long to clear it," Alex said to Maya while walking with his arm still around his sister's waist.

'Why am I the only one nervous about this dungeon?' Maya wondered as she walked behind the siblings, her gaze locked on Alex's hand that was holding and lightly caressing Amelia's waist. 'Is it normal for a brother to be so touchy with his sister?'

Together, the trio walked further into the cave, with Alex and Amelia chatting and laughing as if they were on vacation and not inside a deadly dungeon.

It wasn't long before the trio encountered a group of three monsters.

The monsters in question were towering, two-meter-tall monstrosities, resembling lizards with vaguely humanoid forms. Their skin was covered in tough, scaly armor that glistened with a sickly green hue. Sharp, menacing claws extended from their powerful hands, each one capable of slicing through flesh and bone with ease. Their eyes, cold and reptilian, gleamed with predatory intelligence, and long, sinuous tails swayed behind them.

"Lizardmen," Alex said with a thoughtful expression. 'These guys rarely show up in low-level dungeons. Plus, all three of them are at peak level 1. That's pretty high for the first group of monsters.'

'Well, we will know this dungeon's level and grade the further down we go.'

Generally, dungeons were divided by level and grade. To determine the level, people usually relied on the amount of mana a dungeon released.

Unfortunately, determining the grade of a dungeon wasn't as straightforward, as the grade of a dungeon depended on the number of floors it possessed. Nevertheless, based on the dungeon's level, it was sometimes possible to infer the dungeon's grade.

Hisssss

The group of lizardmen hissed angrily at the appearance of intruders and charged at the trio.

However, they barely crossed a few meters before their heads flew into the air, cleanly severed by Alex using his smoke element.

He controlled his smoke to retrieve the monsters' cores before motioning to Maya to continue.

As they traveled further into the dungeon, its walls expanded, becoming larger. The trio also stumbled upon other groups of lizardmen. These lizardmen had the same strength as the first ones they encountered, but their numbers were far superior.

Unfortunately for the lizardmen, it didn't seem to matter to Alex how many of them there were; the fight always ended a few seconds after it started, with the lizardmen's heads rolling on the ground.

'Amazing!' Maya thought as she watched Alex's smoke element cut through nine lizardmen at the same time. 'I didn't know the smoke element was this incredible.'

Just like that, the three of them—well, Alex—completely killed all the monsters in their path until they appeared in front of a staircase that descended.

This staircase led the three of them to the second level of the dungeon.

The second floor of the dungeon was even larger than the first. Even the rough and uneven walls of the first floor seemed polished in comparison.

Another change compared to the first floor was the level and number of lizardmen. Here, they were even more numerous than on the first floor, while their strength was at peak level 2.

The number of monsters actually surprised Alex. He thought that the number of monsters would diminish the further down they went, because the higher the level, the fewer individuals reached that level.

Alex tucked this away in the back of his mind, slaughtered his way through the second floor, and together, the trio left the second floor barely thirty minutes after stepping foot on it.

The same thing repeated itself on the third floor. Alex relentlessly eliminated all the lizardmen they came across and proceeded to go to the fourth floor.

The speed at which the trio traveled plummeted once they stepped foot inside the fourth floor. That was because Alex's smoke couldn't pierce through the lizardmen anymore.

The scales of the lizardmen on the fourth floor were simply too tough. Additionally, those monsters were at peak level 4, granting them greater sense and reaction time, causing Alex to frequently miss his targets.

The worst thing was that on this floor, each wave of monsters contained at least thirty to fifty lizardmen!

'This dungeon is absurd,' Alex thought, frowning.

Usually, the further you proceeded in a dungeon, the more powerful the monsters became, and it's true that their numbers increased accordingly. However, the increase of monsters in this dungeon was too insane!

'I hope this is the last floor before the boss's room,' Alex thought, wearing a grim expression, 'otherwise, I doubt we will emerge unscathed from this dungeon.'