Elite Professional Team Enters the Dungeon

The next morning.

Adventurers' Town.

Amid the astonished gazes of countless adventurers who had just woken up, a mounted party of adventurers suddenly appeared. They radiated powerful auras and wore exceptionally fine equipment, every piece seeming to gleam beneath the morning sun.

"Ironblood Thorns? The legendary Ironblood team? What are they doing here?"

Someone among the adventurers recognized the party, his face filling with surprise. Ironblood Thorns was an elite adventurer team that served the great Oss Family. Why had they come to this border region of the kingdom?

"It must be the lord who summoned them. After all, he's a member of the Oss Family too."

Another adventurer picked up the conversation. It was no secret that the local lord was called Korien Os. There was a ninety-percent chance he had realized he could not conquer the dungeon himself and had sought help from the main family.

"I heard they've already conquered three small dungeons. Does that mean this dungeon will be conquered soon too?"

"Are you new here?"

The adventurer who had just spoken looked curiously at the person beside him, wondering why he knew that.

"Of course. Anyone who has entered this dungeon knows it's impossible. This dungeon is completely different from the ones before it."

After saying that, the adventurer turned and headed for the inn. He needed to gather his teammates and enter the dungeon quickly. Although he did not think Ironblood Thorns could conquer this dungeon, the first few floors would not be able to stop them at all.

They could not waste any more time. Otherwise, Ironblood Thorns would take all the treasures from the dungeon's upper floors.

Not long after Ironblood Thorns entered the dungeon, the entire Adventurers' Town learned that an elite professional team had gone inside. Adventurers who had originally planned to rest for a few days all rushed into the dungeon.

The dungeon entrance was especially lively that day.

"They're fast. This adventurer team is no joke!"

At the deepest part of the seventh floor, Luo Ao, who had been routinely spying on the adventurers, was suddenly drawn to a party that had just entered the dungeon. In only a few hours, they had fought their way from the first floor straight to the fourth.

No matter what monsters they encountered along the way, they killed them in a single blow. Even the Venomous Swamp and the Purple Poison Giant Mosquitoes on the fourth floor caused them no trouble at all. The Purple Poison Giant Mosquitoes could not even pierce their skin.

"What an irritating bunch of monsters."

On a magic boat, Aik stood on the deck with his arms crossed. He glanced at a Purple Poison Giant Mosquito that had landed on his arm, impatience appearing on his handsome face. Those monsters could not even break through his defenses, but there were simply too many of them. No matter how many he killed, more kept coming.

That incessant buzzing was unbearably irritating.

"Monsters I've never seen before. How interesting."

Behind him, Mary appeared. She was a tall mage with an alluring, strikingly beautiful face, and even her loose mage robes could not conceal her figure. She held a Purple Poison Giant Mosquito in her hand, her eyes full of longing and curiosity for the unknown.

"But isn't something off about this dungeon? The first few floors of the three dungeons we conquered before weren't nearly this difficult."

A burly man clad in heavy armor and carrying a massive shield walked over. His eyes, visible beneath his helmet, continuously surveyed their surroundings. The dungeon environment and monsters on the first few floors posed no threat to them whatsoever.

Yet the monsters were already far stronger than those in ordinary dungeons. In the three small dungeons they had conquered before, even ordinary Formal Professionals could reach the eighth floor. Here, however, the mutated monsters on the first three floors alone were enough to threaten unprepared Formal Professionals.

It was difficult for him not to notice such an anomaly.

"Isn't it better if this dungeon is unusual?"

At that moment, Aik turned to look at his teammates from the deck. An ambitious smile spread across his handsome face. If the Oss Family wanted to advance further and become a ducal house, it needed a Legendary powerhouse within the family.

However, the resources for advancing to Legend in the capital's large dungeon had long since been divided up by the royal family and several dukes. If the Oss Family wanted to produce a Legendary powerhouse, it could only seek out other large dungeons.

That was also why, after Korien Os sent a letter back to the family, the main house had taken the matter so seriously and dispatched them immediately.

"You're right, Aik."

A half-orc over three meters tall stepped forward, voicing his agreement with Aik. Having been raised by the family since childhood, they had long been bound to the Oss Family's fortunes. If this really was a large dungeon, it would possess enough resources for the family to produce a Legendary powerhouse.

When that happened, trusted retainers like them would also gain tremendous benefits. Perhaps they might even have a chance to advance to Master rank, or even Legend, in the future.

"Aik, there's a group of monsters and a treasure chest ahead."

Suddenly, a phantom appeared on the deck. An assassin cloaked entirely in black stood there, her translucent body faintly visible beneath the robe. A low voice, impossible to identify as male or female, sounded beside them.

"Our goal is to reach the deeper levels of the dungeon. There won't be anything particularly valuable a few floors ahead. Ignore them."

After thinking for a few seconds, Aik decided to pass them by. Things on the upper floors might be quite valuable to ordinary adventurers, but they were not worth wasting time on for his team. Their priority was reaching deeper levels.

"Mm."

The assassin nodded gently. A breeze swept by and lifted her black robe, faintly revealing a transparent figure beneath it, ghostlike from head to toe. Yet she lacked the deathly aura and hostility toward the living that were characteristic of undead creatures.

As an adventurer team carefully cultivated by the Oss Family, all five of Aik's group had taken more powerful and rarer professions. The assassin who had appeared last, for instance, was a Ghost Assassin.

After advancing to an elite professional, a Ghost Assassin could freely switch between a spirit body and a physical body. She could even enter other people's bodies, and every attack inflicted soul damage on her enemies.

Both her strength and potential far surpassed those of ordinary assassins.

One hour later.

At the outskirts of the Mushroom Jungle, atop a giant mushroom dozens of meters tall, a catfolk assassin who had just finished patrolling the camp suddenly looked down. A magic boat had emerged from the rolling dense fog below.

Just as the catfolk assassin was preparing to carefully observe the newly arrived adventurers, the blond man standing on the deck suddenly raised his head and looked at him. Even from thousands of meters away, the catfolk assassin felt a surge of fear, and all his fur stood on end.

That scared the life out of me, meow!

Almost instantly, the catfolk assassin hurriedly shifted his viewpoint and vanished from where he stood.

"Aik, what's wrong?"

"I spotted a little kitty spying on us. Don't worry about it."

Aik waved it off, signaling that it was nothing. His gaze swept across the dreamlike Mushroom Jungle ahead. According to the information Korien Os had given him, the most valuable thing in this mushroom forest was a type of mushroom containing gentle, pure mana.

Once they completely conquered this dungeon and took control of its core, the family could send people to cultivate and grow Mana Mushrooms here.