Understanding Dungeon Runs

Nothing happened that night, and morning soon arrived.

Wang Zhifan woke up earlier than usual that day. Perhaps after his attributes had improved, his need for sleep had begun to decrease. He no longer needed to sleep as long every day to feel full of energy.

"Feels like I ate too much at the buffet yesterday. I'm not hungry at all now, so I'll just get started."

After washing up, Wang Zhifan would normally have gone out for breakfast, rested briefly, and then entered a Dungeon. But he felt exceptionally good today, so he skipped that step. After fully equipping himself in the Rental House, he directly summoned the Player Panel with a thought and chose to enter a Dungeon.

Just like before, the moment Wang Zhifan activated the Dungeon, he quickly disappeared from the Rental House. When his mind recovered from a brief daze, he found himself standing on a barren stretch of desolate ground.

The area around him was covered in rocks and weeds. Aside from two female teammates nearby whose expressions were still somewhat vacant, the most eye-catching thing was whatever hung from a dead tree over a hundred meters away.

"Two female teammates this time... That's a first."

Fully armed, Wang Zhifan wore Wolf Pelt Armor, Berserk Bracers, and Fury Gauntlets. He held a Fine Grade Handgun in his left hand and the Rare Grade Wolf Slayer Blade in his right, while Chapter of Gloom, Wrath of the Ape King, and the Unyielding Ring adorned him as accessories. An Iron Mountain Belt was wrapped around his waist. He thoughtfully looked at the two female teammates two or three meters away.

He had encountered female teammates in Dungeons before, but far less often than male teammates. Furthermore, the female teammates he had met seemed somewhat weaker, which gave him a faintly ominous feeling.

About a second later, as the two female teammates recovered from their initial daze upon entering the Dungeon under Wang Zhifan's calm gaze, the objective description for this Dungeon flashed before all three of them.

Dungeon Objective: Kill the nearby Poison Fang Spider (Lv4).

Before Wang Zhifan could even begin discussing team strategy, one of the female teammates suddenly cried out in panic.

"Spiders?! Where are the spiders?! I'm terrified of spiders! We're not really going to fight spiders, are we?!"

She was a young woman dressed like a white-collar worker. Judging from the Handgun in her hand, she was probably a Gunner. The moment she discovered that this Dungeon's Boss was a type of spider, she immediately fell into a state of fear. Panicked and at a loss, she stood where she was and looked around, appearing to want to locate something but not daring to.

"The spider's on that tree over there."

Seeing this teammate's absurdly panicked reaction, Wang Zhifan somehow felt a little more at ease instead. He raised a hand and pointed toward the dead tree over a hundred meters away.

At that moment, hanging from several threads beneath the branches of that not-so-near dead tree was a vicious eight-legged creature clearly no smaller than an adult human. It looked ready to drop to the ground at any moment and charge at them on eight long legs.

"Ah!!!"

Following Wang Zhifan's helpful indication, the flustered white-collar woman turned and glanced at the giant spider hanging from the dead tree. She instantly let out a scream painful to the ears, then her entire body went limp and she collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Wow, she just fainted outright."

Wang Zhifan was not particularly surprised by her reaction, because he was gradually beginning to understand why the Dungeon had arranged things this way.

"Are you a newbie?"

He shifted his gaze away from the woman who had fainted on the ground and looked at the other woman. Though her body trembled slightly, she at least remained basically composed. She neither screamed nor passed out.

This woman also looked quite young, around her twenties. She appeared to be a Gunner as well, but her clothes were somewhat old-fashioned: a thick, dark long-sleeved top and long pants. Judging from her overall bearing, she might not have been from an urban area.

"Yes... yes, it's my first... time running a Dungeon."

The somewhat plain-looking young woman grew nervous when Wang Zhifan addressed her and answered with a slight stammer, her body still trembling faintly.

"Mm... Then stand here and don't move. Leave the monster to me."

Having learned that the only teammate currently capable of moving was a complete newbie, Wang Zhifan lost interest in continuing the conversation. To him, that would be nothing but a waste of time.

"Making an Lv2 like me take on an Lv4 Boss with teammates like these... This Dungeon really knows how to calculate. Still, I can barely understand it..."

After the attribute improvements he had gained in Gray Domain Cave yesterday, Wang Zhifan's confidence in his own strength had reached a new level. After all, there was probably no second Lv2 player in the world with average attributes close to 30.

He then calmly walked toward the dead tree a hundred meters away, gradually approaching the enormous spider still hanging there. The Wolf Slayer Blade in his right hand began striking the ground again and again to stack Buffs. At a certain moment, he suddenly raised the Fine Grade Handgun in his left hand, aimed it at the giant spider, and pulled the trigger! Bang! The Fine Grade Ammunition fired by the Fine Grade Handgun was remarkably powerful. The instant the bullet hit the giant spider hanging from the tree, a huge burst of dark green fluid exploded from its orange-yellow oval body covered in six-inch-long bristles. At the same time, this Dungeon Boss let out a pained hiss and dropped from the tree in the blink of an eye. Its eight two-meter-long legs moved so quickly they left afterimages as it charged toward Wang Zhifan like an arrow, dragging a long streak of dark green fluid behind it.

But Wang Zhifan had fully stacked his Berserk and Fury Buffs, raising his Strength Attribute to 35 and his Agility Attribute to 28. His speed had long surpassed human limits. Though the Lv4 Poison Fang Spider burst forward in pursuit, snapping viciously at him, it could not touch him at all. Like a cat toying with a mouse, Wang Zhifan kept circling and changing position, luring the giant spider all over the place. Dark green bodily fluid spilled from its wounds across the ground, yet the distance between them remained seven or eight meters, impossible to close.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Even while running and being pursued, Wang Zhifan had enough leisure to keep firing at the giant spider. Thanks to his exceptionally high Agility Attribute, he discovered that his shooting had improved considerably. Even with both sides constantly moving, he could maintain a hit rate of sixty to seventy percent. Such a thing was previously beyond anything he would have dared imagine.

Thus, about three minutes later, just as Wang Zhifan began wondering whether he should fire the final bullet in his handgun's magazine, he saw the battered giant spider suddenly kick out with all eight legs and die outright from its severe injuries. Its entire body quickly dissipated into the air like smoke.