[If things followed the normal process, the dungeon administrator should have given you a note explaining how to open the stone door]
Under the gaze of the Eye of God, information about the stone door gradually appeared.
[However, you refused. But that's fine—the opening mechanism is very simple. Three circles on the inside, three circles on the outside, then three circles in the middle. Turn them all clockwise, and it'll be okay.]
Xuan Sheng's face darkened. He hadn't understood a thing, and he cursed the administrator for being so underhanded.
Something this important wasn't given directly. Instead, the administrator had rambled on for ages. What was the point?
No wonder even the puzzle master couldn't do anything about this stone door. It turned out he hadn't even been given the basic clues.
Following the information provided by the Eye of God, Xuan Sheng slid the rings on the door. Soon, the three interlocked rings clicked, clearly triggering some mechanism...
The stone door trembled slightly. The young man took two steps back and watched as it slowly descended, revealing the passage beyond.
However! At that very moment, an adventurer corrupted by demonic energy pounced out from behind the door!
Damn, a door-opening ambush? Were they all playing dirty and targeting the lower routes?
Since the attack had been launched right in front of Xuan Sheng, he was naturally forcefully dragged into bullet time.
After a slight pause, Xuan Sheng, who had ample time to react, couldn't help getting angry. He stepped forward and threw a punch!
[Adventurer Corrupted by Demonic Energy (Lv.10): HP 1000/1000 Attack: 100 Defense: 20 Strength: 40 Agility: 35 Intelligence: 9]
This level-ten monster wasn't as agile as Xuan Sheng. Thus, although the punch came later, it struck first, smashing into the adventurer's face with a fierce gust of wind!
A tremendous force surged through him. The adventurer's face, which had just begun to show bewilderment, twisted violently, and his entire body was sent flying nearly three meters!
"Being ugly is fine, but don't ambush people and scare them..."
Still shaken, the young man disdainfully shook his hand.
Who could possibly stay in a good mood after opening a door and seeing a ghost face?
This dungeon's design was full of pitfalls. It was honestly disgusting.
Blasted away by a punch carrying twice his own strength, the adventurer monster would have cursed furiously if it still possessed any sense.
Who the hell ambushed whom? You weren't any slower than me!
Who was the one caught off guard here, huh?!
Following the basic combat principle of striking while the enemy was down and finishing them off, Xuan Sheng saw that the humanoid monster hadn't had time to stand up. He stepped forward and slashed his sword across its throat.
[Execution! Weakness Damage! -227!]
Only at times like this did Xuan Sheng miss the dagger he had once owned with the [Throat Cut] affix.
A 30% increase to weakness damage... It was incredibly powerful...
Unfortunately, the longsword in his hand was only a blue high-grade piece of equipment. It couldn't possess the affixes available to green rare equipment, much less acquire the [Throat Cut] affix from the [Gray Dagger] through the converter.
"Ugh..."
In an ordinary world, that would absolutely count as a fatal wound. But in the game world, as long as one's Life hadn't reached zero, all injuries would slowly recover instead of causing death.
Seeing the adventurer struggle and attempt to counterattack, Xuan Sheng planted one foot on its shoulder and pointed his longsword straight at its head!
Completely suppressed, the humanoid monster soon lost all its Life and turned into a pile of dust.
Once again, it dropped nothing but experience and coins, making Xuan Sheng curse its stinginess.
[Be careful here. This is a hidden trap pit. Stepping on it will make you fall to the level below.]
After killing the adventurer guarding the entrance, Xuan Sheng discovered that most of the monsters here were adventurers corrupted by demonic energy, or Black Bats lurking above.
Along the way, Xuan Sheng encountered quite a few hidden traps like this. Generally speaking, as long as one stayed close to the edges, the traps wouldn't be triggered.
But unfortunately... beneath this trap lay an area that absolutely had to be explored.
"Tsk. The only hidden treasure chest is actually hidden inside a trap. Dirty—this is seriously dirty..."
Rolling his eyes, and with no other choice, Xuan Sheng pretended not to see the trap in the center of the floor and foolishly walked forward...
His foot suddenly found no ground. Losing control of his body, Xuan Sheng fell straight into the pit.
"Are there no spikes?"
Rising from the ground and dusting himself off, Xuan Sheng grinned.
I laugh at Zhou Yu's lack of cunning and Zhuge's lack of wisdom. If they'd placed a row of spikes here... Holy crap!
In the darkness, a giant python as thick as a bucket opened its bloody maw and lunged straight at the young man, who had just gotten up!
Xuan Sheng only felt a foul wind rush over his back. He hadn't seen the lurking python, and because he hadn't entered bullet time, he had no chance to react to the attack from behind!
By the time he turned around, a tremendous force had surged through his body. He had already been tightly wrapped up by the giant gray python!
[Gray Python (Lv.10 Elite Monster!): HP 3000/3000 Attack: 140 Defense: 20 Strength: 65 Agility: 40 Intelligence: 9]
[Skill: Constriction! Deals damage equal to its own Strength every second to a restrained and controlled target, lasting until the target breaks free!]
His legs, waist, chest...
Every part of his body was being bound and crushed with the python's full strength. The pressure from its solid muscles was so intense that Xuan Sheng could barely breathe...
[Restrained!]
[Every second, Life will be deducted by an amount equal to the Gray Python's Strength!]
[-65]
"Ah... this is so painful... I'm going to die..."
Staring directly at the snake's head as it flicked its tongue, the young man furrowed his brows and put on an expression of extreme suffering.
"If only I'd known, I wouldn't have jumped down... I'm going to die..."
Perhaps it couldn't stand Xuan Sheng's fake performance. A burst of holy white light rose up and slowly restored the Life he had lost from falling.
[+76]
"Hehe, I was pretending."
Looking at the Gray Python's bewildered expression, Xuan Sheng grinned.
This level of damage was nothing. He could let it squeeze him here for an entire day without a problem.
"Master, your massage isn't hard enough. Don't slack off."
The smile never left his lips as Xuan Sheng leisurely teased it.
He had to admit, being tightly wrapped up by a python felt rather strange...
The first loving hug received by a lifelong single man had come from a snake. That was seriously bizarre...
As for this feeling... he had never experienced a massage before, but he supposed it was probably more or less the same?
"Hiss!"
Unable to understand its prey's words but clearly sensing its provocation, the elite python roared angrily, opened its enormous jaws, and bit straight toward Xuan Sheng's face!
"Cough, cough. Don't you brush your teeth? Your breath stinks..."
With both hands firmly pressing down on the Gray Python's jaws, the man and monster entered a stalemate.
Faced with this situation, visible confusion appeared in the Gray Python's pitch-black little eyes.
Hadn't this prey's limbs already been bound by it? Where had the other's hands come from?
"I pulled them out. You didn't wrap me tightly enough, sis."
As an Elite Monster, sixty-five Strength was indeed considerable.
But before Xuan Sheng, it still wasn't enough.
Discovering in shock that its body was being forced open against its will, fear finally appeared in the Gray Python's eyes.
"I told you already."
Tensing his body, Xuan Sheng slowly broke the Gray Python's constriction apart. Looking at the fear filling the Gray Python's eyes, he smiled cruelly.
"I'm the real monster..."
If a snow-white giant python had come up and been this enthusiastic, giving him a powerful hug right away, perhaps he might have felt moved and spared this Elite Monster guarding the treasure chest.
Unfortunately, this ugly Gray Python's breath stank, and he really wasn't in the mood.
"So die!"
A snow-white flash of cold light swept past, carrying a spray of hot blood!
Before you continue