Chapter 234 : 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.

    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.''