Comparison

"Inner North District?"

Lu Yuan confirmed.

"Yes. I heard it's near an ant nest, but I'm not sure exactly where. I overheard people talking about it while I was running my stall."

Li Luo replied.

Lu Yuan nodded.

"I understand. Thanks for telling me."

"Hahaha, you're too polite, Mr. Lu. You're one of my biggest clients now... If you find any treasures in the ruins, it would be best if you sold them to me."

Lu Yuan smiled. "If I find anything, I'll consider it. I'll go take a look first."

Lu Yuan said goodbye to Li Luo and was about to leave when someone called out from behind him.

"Boss Lu Yuan! Yuan Ge!!"

Lu Yuan turned around in confusion and saw Zhuo Ming running toward him.

Behind Zhuo Ming were the Guardian Warrior Lu Yuan had met last time and several teammates.

However, compared to last time, their team had two additional members.

"Yuan Ge, you're here too? What a coincidence!"

Zhuo Ming said with a smile.

"It is quite a coincidence. Did you just come in?"

"We've been here for two days. We just came out to resupply and are about to head back in."

"Black Knight Lu Yuan, we meet again."

The Guardian Warrior approached with his teammates and extended a hand toward Lu Yuan.

"We didn't have time to properly introduce ourselves last time. My name is Green. As you can see, I'm a Guardian Warrior."

Lu Yuan shook Green's hand. "My name is Lu Yuan."

"Hahaha, there's no need to introduce yourself. We've been hearing your name all over the market these past few days."

Green laughed heartily, admiration in his eyes as he looked at Lu Yuan.

"When we met last time, I knew you were no ordinary fighter. I just didn't expect you to make such a name for yourself so quickly. I've been scraping by in the Sandstone Dungeon for years and still haven't made a name for myself."

Several of Green's teammates also looked at Lu Yuan curiously.

Recently, one of the main topics in the market had been this Black Knight.

After all, Gene Warriors who could kill hundreds of ferocious beasts every day were rare.

They had not expected to meet the man himself here.

Hearing Green's words, Zhuo Ming seemed to remember something and looked at Lu Yuan.

"Yuan Ge! You're way too strong, aren't you? People in the market said you bring back hundreds of materials every day? Doesn't that mean you kill hundreds of ferocious beasts daily? That's insane! Xiangxiang Jie said you were a genius before, but she definitely didn't expect you to become this strong so quickly."

Lu Yuan smiled. "I'm only taking advantage of the Guardian class. My defense is strong, so I'm less likely to run into danger."

Green gave a bitter smile. "I'm a Guardian Warrior too, so why do I feel like we aren't even in the same class?"

The teammates beside him burst into laughter.

"Captain, if you were as strong as the Black Knight, you'd have your own title too."

"Captain, you need to work harder. Maybe you can earn a title like White Knight or Gray Knight."

The Gene Warriors clearly had a good relationship, and several teammates laughed as they teased Green.

"By the way, Lu Yuan, I have some news. Want to hear it?"

Green looked at Lu Yuan, his expression turning serious.

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. "What news?"

"A small ruin has been discovered in our area. A lot of people are planning to check it out. We're heading there too. Do you want to come?"

"A ruin? I just got the news myself and was planning to take a look."

Green smiled. "Perfect. Why don't we go together?"

Zhuo Ming looked at Lu Yuan and spoke up as well.

"Yeah, Yuan Ge, why not come with us? There's safety in numbers."

Lu Yuan considered it, then nodded. "Sure."

There were more ferocious beasts in the inner circle of the dungeon than in the outer circle, and they were stronger as well.

Even Lu Yuan had to deal with them carefully.

With others accompanying him, he could ease some of the pressure on himself.

Compared to strangers, Zhuo Ming and Green's group had worked with him once before.

Green was fairly strong.

Green smiled. "With the Black Knight here, the journey should go much more smoothly."

"Then let's set off."

The group entered the dungeon once more and headed toward the inner circle where the ruin had been discovered.

Not long after Lu Yuan's group entered the dungeon, another group approached outside the market.

At the head of the group was a female kobold with smooth white fur, dressed in black leather armor.

It was Bertha Vermi, who had escaped last time.

More than a dozen kobold Gene Warriors followed behind her.

Bertha Vermi's expression was grim as she spoke coldly.

"A bunch of useless trash! I told you to find that human, yet after all this time, you still have no news!"

Beside Bertha Vermi stood a black-furred kobold.

He wore a bitter smile as he said, "Third Miss, Graystone Forest is too vast, and the terrain is complicated. Finding a single human is extremely difficult. We've already done our best."

"Don't make excuses for your incompetence!"

Bertha Vermi rebuked him.

The black-furred kobold stiffened, his face full of helplessness.

"Yes, Third Miss. This subordinate has failed in his duty."

"Hmph. But now that a ruin has been discovered, I'll let the matter of the human go if you manage to gain something from it."

The black-furred kobold smiled.

"Rest assured, Third Miss. Not only have the experts of our consortium been mobilized, I've also invited Blood Blade Sally and Madman Li Xiao. Even if other factions receive the news and rush over, they won't be as well-prepared as we are. We'll definitely gain a great deal this time."

Bertha Vermi smiled faintly. "I hope you won't disappoint me this time."

Hmph! If I can obtain something worthwhile from the ruins this time, I'll have more influence with Father and won't be mocked by my eldest brother and second sister.

"Please rest assured, Third Miss! We absolutely will not disappoint you this time."

As they spoke, the group entered the dungeon.

Deep within the dungeon.

Lu Yuan's group advanced through a passage. Green walked at the front with a massive shield in hand, Zhuo Ming and the others followed behind him, while Lu Yuan walked at the rear.

At that moment, Green, who was at the front, suddenly stopped, his expression changing.

"Hm?"

He lowered his head and saw that his foot had been caught in white spider silk.

"Something's wrong!"

The moment he spoke, two enormous pitch-black spiders, each around six feet tall, pounced down from the ceiling of the passage ahead of Green.

Their sharp claws stabbed toward Green's head.

Green hurriedly raised his shield to block.

Boom!!

The spiders' claws struck the shield, and the immense force pushed Green back two steps.

The others reacted as well.

"Captain!"

Zhuo Ming and the others gripped their greatswords or longswords as they stared at the enormous Dungeon Spiders.

"Watch the ground! Burn the webs first!"

Green shouted.

Everyone came to their senses and looked at the ground nearby.

They found many white strands of spider silk spread across the floor and along both sides of the passage.

A handsome blond youth whom Lu Yuan had not seen last time formed a fireball in his hand.

He fired the fireball at the webs.

The webs immediately caught fire.

Seeing the webs burn, the two enormous Dungeon Spiders shrieked and charged furiously toward the blond youth.

"Don't think you're getting through!"

Green shifted sideways and raised his massive shield, trying to block both Dungeon Spiders.

However, while one Dungeon Spider was blocked, the other rushed past Green's defense and pounced toward the blond youth.

Everyone's expressions changed drastically at the sight of the enormous spider charging over.

Especially the blond youth.

The Dungeon Spider was too fast. He had inscribed an Elemental Extraordinary Gene, which gave him no special boost to speed, so he had no way to dodge.

The others were not particularly strong either. Faced with the suddenly attacking Dungeon Spider, they could only widen their eyes and watch helplessly as it rushed toward the blond youth.

At that moment, Lu Yuan appeared in front of the blond youth.

Activating Black Iron Body, he gripped his enormous greatsword and slashed at the gigantic spider, his swing carrying a fierce gust of wind.

Clang!!

The Dungeon Spider's claw collided with the greatsword, producing a metallic ring.

Then, the Dungeon Spider shrieked as its huge body was forced back several steps.

Fine cracks appeared on the claw that had collided with the Beetle Claw greatsword.

Expressionless, Lu Yuan stepped forward, gripping the greatsword with both hands. His attacks surged like an endless tide, fierce and relentless as he struck again and again.

The Dungeon Spider shrieked repeatedly and retreated without pause.

The others stared wide-eyed at Lu Yuan as he suppressed the Dungeon Spider.

"So, so strong!"

"So this is the Black Knight's strength?"

"That Dungeon Spider is so large, its Tempering Level must be over 70%. I can't believe the Black Knight is suppressing it in a head-on clash?!"

While everyone was astonished, Green, who was holding back the other Dungeon Spider, shouted.

"What are you doing?! Hurry up and help me!"

The others snapped back to their senses and looked toward Green.

Though he was also a Guardian Warrior, Green could only hold up his massive shield and block the Dungeon Spider's attacks.

The contrast made them feel a little embarrassed.

Their captain looked so weak.

"Coming, Captain!"

"Hurry and help the Captain!"

Thanks to readers 20190907093602120, A Bottle of Blue Little Pills, and 20170725180658728 for the rewards~~