Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 168 - 155 A New Storm Has Emerged

Chapter 168: Chapter 155 A New Storm Has Emerged

The warrior pot shattered to pieces.

The way it died still had visual impact; the fragments of the pot’s body flew everywhere with blood and flesh, and the spiritual body even vividly replicated the effect of the splashing blood.

These fragments were slowly turning into smoke and disappearing, and for some reason, it always felt like this process was much slower than when a typical Assistant dissipated.

Maru slowly widened her eyes, experiencing a level 50 earthquake inside her pupils.

It could be certainly confirmed that at this moment, the spiritual power she radiated was no less than having died once!

[Assistant "Warrior Pot Carl" is dead]

This line of text was particularly jarring, crazily flashing in front of everyone’s eyes to assert its presence.

Everyone was surprised, just when everything seemed to have ended in victory, an unexpected twist occurred.

Couldn’t we have a happy dumpling-making ending?

"Maru," Leon, knowing well what reaction she might have next, felt the need to comfort her in advance.

"Boss, I’m okay."

Maru forcefully calmed her emotions, barely managing to smile like usual, and said, "The death of an Assistant doesn’t mean actual death, so Warrior Pot must be fine."

Is it really fine...

Leon looked at her worriedly, indeed, according to the adventurers’ understanding, the death of an Assistant does not lead to real death.

But does this hold true for Monsters as well?

After defeating the Death Knight, he dropped an item named [Life Ring].

[Life Ring]

[Makes the wearer surge with life force]

[The gem rings blessed by the Primordial Flame often bring various effects, if discovered, they certainly help]

Plain introduction, but a potent effect; Tal, who had half his life force drained, felt some of his life force returning upon wearing it.

More accurately, it actually increased his maximum life value.

But no one had the time to attend to this matter, for after defeating the Death Knight, the Tomb Room had slowly opened a passage leading deeper underground, and there was still more to explore.

With little time left for today’s exploration, continuing forward would likely yield little gain.

Leon looked back at Maru, sighed, and said, "I’ll accompany Maru to see the pots, you guys go ahead."

So they split into two groups, and on the way back, Leon tried various ways to comfort Maru, who gradually calmed down.

When they reached the front of the Warrior Pot’s tomb, she suddenly ran in, unable to hold herself back.

Inside it was still tranquil, but...

One big figure was missing.

Maru’s knees suddenly weakened.

The little pots were huddling around something, but this time it was not flowers, but a blood-stained fragment.

Their emotions were no longer happy and leisurely, but sad.

[Contents of the pot]

[Remnants left behind after Warrior Pot shattered, perhaps they can be thrown to attack enemies]

[For revenge, Warrior Pot bravely embarked on a journey, having guessed his own fate, left a part of his body, perhaps as a memento]

Maru’s body swayed, and she suddenly fell backward; thankfully, Leon caught her in time.

"Boss..."

She turned around, tears welling up in her eyes, and said, "It’s all my fault!"

Now we know who won’t be able to sleep tonight.

Regarding Warrior Pot’s storyline, it’s quite simple. If you choose to ignore him at the first encounter, the side story disappears; helping him results in an ordinary thank-you gift, and finding Wei Pot Material for him yields a higher-level thank-you gift.

If during the Death Knight boss fight, he isn’t summoned, he would continue to stay with the little pots; if summoned, whether the battle ends in failure or victory, he would shatter.

That’s all about Warrior Pot’s story.

But there’s another branch, if you choose to kill him along with the Monster at the first encounter...

Sain Dungeon has differences in the death mechanism of Assistants.

Taking Fantasy Ring Game as an example, in the battle against the Shattered Star General, the Assistant Warrior Pot "Alexander" showed up in the battle, but his real body also suffered injuries.

In the plot, this battle was his actual participation, appearing in the form of an Assistant was merely due to game mechanics.

But when it came to Gong Qiying’s Sain Dungeon, there were different choices.

He could either set the Assistant mechanism not to cause injuries to the body, or set it so that the damage would synchronize with the real body.

This last option, he never used it before, this was the first time using it on Warrior Pot, aiming to achieve some tragic effect in the plot.

Judging by Maru’s reaction, this effect was quite effective.

Soon after.

Until she left Sain Dungeon, Maru still hadn’t recovered.

Even though Leon kept emphasizing that the [Events] of the Dungeon would recur, refreshing each time they entered the Dungeon.

Maru’s empathetic ability was too strong. Even by picking up a piece of Green Flower Grass at the Fire Transmission Ceremony and reading its description, she could imagine a series of stories about the Fran Undead Team, let alone witnessing a friendly Warrior Pot dying in front of her.

Most people would just sigh at such a scenario, unlike her who would react so intensely.

If Gong Qiying could see this scene, his face would surely be filled with smiles.

"Let’s grab something to eat, how about some lemon cupcakes?" Leon tried to change the subject, almost dragging Maru to their usual dessert cafe.

Her favorite lemon cupcakes were brought to the table, but she wasn’t in the mood to eat at all, even shedding tears.

Left with no choice, Leon started feeding Maru the cupcakes bit by bit. That got her to start eating.

While feeding her, Leon thought about today’s gains.

First, he had a preliminary understanding of the operation logic of the Meat Pigeon level, and had learned how to utilize its mechanics for challenges.

Keep playing if you get a good blessing, restart if not— a perfect strategy indeed.

The Historical Battle Certificate and its associated reward exchange system was the biggest surprise. When people were able to redeem more rewards in the future, the overall quality of adventurers would certainly increase.

The upgrade mechanics of fire and soul, the level reset mechanism of the Tear-Drop Embryo, the oath and cooperator mechanics, as well as various unseen Magic and weapons.

Any of these items could become a main attraction in any other Dungeon, but now they all appear in the Sain Dungeon.

This place is truly a treasure trove.

Also, a preliminary method has formed concerning the giant guardians and archers of the Tombstone Plain, and the details could soon yield a new strategy.

Two of the legendary paths had already been explored, only one path left unexplored, tentatively set for tomorrow’s goal.

Regarding the events and rewards of the Warrior Pot, an outline was forming, though he wasn’t sure if other branches might appear.

Leon’s "Wheelchair Radar" responded to the Death Knight’s axes and the Sub-human Swordsman’s Linked Star Sword. He needed to figure out a way to acquire those weapons.

The death of Dungeon Monsters occurred in two ways: one was leaving the corpses where anyone could harvest, and the other was turning into ash along with equipment.

The latter usually applied to strong Monsters with good gear that shouldn’t drop easily.

"That’s about it."

He summarized the gains of the trip in his mind, and Leon unconsciously talked to himself.

Opposite him, Maru made a whimpering sound and upon looking, the lemon cupcake on the plate had already been eaten; he had been poking her mouth with an empty spoon.

"Ah!"

Leon immediately apologized. He was so lost in thought that he hadn’t realized his mistake.

Maru’s cheeks reddened slightly, an embarrassing reaction for Leon, but much better than her wallowing in sadness.

The atmosphere somehow turned a bit ambiguous, even the voices of other customers in the store had quieted down significantly.

"Another round?" Leon asked.

"Hmm," Maru nodded, hesitated a moment, then said, "And feed me..."

"Isn’t that ’Lion’ Leon? Long time no see, flirting with your team member?"

Just then, a familiar voice ruined the hard-earned mood.

Leon frowned slightly as he looked at the owner of the voice. But he realized he didn’t recognize the person.

"You are?" He didn’t know the person at all.

"Boss," Maru tugged at his sleeve, saying, "His name is Berto, he is..."

"That’s right, the great me is Berto, the diligent assistant of the giants’ New Strategy Group!"

Berto boasted, thumbing himself, striking a pose reminiscent of a certain Saiyan Prince.

Leon stared at the tall and thin Berto, finding it hard to associate him with a "giant."

But he quickly caught on to the term "New Strategy Group."

"What’s going on?"

Leon ignored the flamboyant Berto and turned to Maru.

"I never told you," Maru scratched her head. "During the month you were missing, several groups claiming to be strategy groups appeared, all wanting to replace us. This guy’s New Strategy Group was the most capable among that batch. The intelligence about the cemetery I mentioned earlier came from them."

Leon suddenly understood and his look towards Berto became colder.

"So it was you who intentionally hid the traps?"

"What do you mean by intentionally hiding? You make it sound like we are completely malicious," Berto countered. "It’s already generous of us to share the intelligence we worked hard to gather. We’re not providing false information, and not mentioning one bit isn’t wrong."

What he said wasn’t indeed wrong; providing some hard-earned intelligence was already commendable.

But Leon didn’t appreciate his words, perhaps because of his annoying tone or maybe because of the New Strategy Group title.

A more significant reason might be that he disrupted the good atmosphere between him and Maru, though he seemed not to realize it.

It was evident now; this Berto was seeking trouble.

Leon had seen many such individuals before and didn’t bother to engage, pulling Maru to leave, but Berto blocked them, unaware of the danger.

"Step aside." Leon was not in a good mood now, and he might lose control and hit him.

Berto revealed a grin he thought was benign but actually irritable, waving his hands repeatedly:

"Calm down, I’m just passing a message from our team leader, don’t be tense."

He cleared his throat and said:

"Let’s have a competition, Leon. Let’s see who can clear the Sain Dungeon fastest, the loser must relinquish the title of the strategy group."