Too Late to Mourn—Next Up Is

The instant Si Telan met the Curse Frog's gaze, goosebumps rose all over her body.

Her sixth sense screamed a warning: stay far away from that strange creature!

Without hesitation, she fired two arrows through the Curse Frog's Big Eyeballs. It let out a strange cry and sank into the Swamp, crimson blood soon floating to the surface.

It should be dead, right?

Drawing on her years of experience hunting monsters, Si Telan judged that the pair of Big Eyeballs were likely the Curse Frog's weakness.

"What happened down there?" Xiu En poked his head out.

"Just a monster," Si Telan said. "Did it drop any loot?"

"The monsters dropped these. Take a look."

As he spoke, Xiu En tossed down a leather pouch. Inside were several Moss Balls of different colors.

Dungeon monsters had a particular trait: upon death, they had a chance of dropping points of light—items. Monsters outside the dungeon did not possess this trait.

"What are these for?" Si Telan examined the Moss Balls. Red, purple, green—there were all sorts of colors.

"Let me see." Medicine Expert adjusted his glasses, put on gloves, and picked up a Purple Moss Ball. After a series of professional tests, his eyes filled with surprise.

Seeing this, Vierde hurriedly asked, "Well? What does it do?"

If a new high-value material appeared in Zane Dungeon, his family could immediately organize people to harvest it.

The Bede Family clearly treated this place as their own backyard.

"It has a very potent detoxifying effect." Medicine Expert's gaze shifted between the Moss Balls and the Swamp. Then, suddenly gritting his teeth, he scooped up a handful of filthy muddy water and stuffed it into his mouth!

"Holy shit!" Everyone nearby was stunned by this absurd act.

The Swamp's poison was no joke. Medicine Expert's face quickly turned liver-colored, and blood streamed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth!

Trembling, he put the Moss Ball into his mouth and chewed. Then a miracle happened.

His condition rapidly improved, and in the blink of an eye, he had completely recovered. If not for the blood still on his face, no one would have believed he had just been afflicted by a deadly poison.

"The detoxifying effect is comparable to an advanced Holy Light Healing spell!" Medicine Expert grew excited. "It's incredibly valuable, incredibly valuable! This is a new discovery!"

Vierde instantly clenched his fists, unable to hide his delight. When he looked back at Ka Rong, the corners of his mouth had also curled into a smile.

"Different-colored Moss Balls have different effects. This is the first time I've ever seen something like this." Medicine Expert rambled as he studied the Moss Balls of other colors. Finally, he muttered to himself, "This trip down here was absolutely worth it."

"What monster dropped them?" Si Telan poked Xiu En.

"Those humanoid monsters made of weeds and vines. Their drop rate is pretty high—each one produces one or two."

The party's morale soared.

Ka Rong pulled Medicine Expert aside and whispered something to him. Vierde was thinking about bragging to the women after they got back, while the adventurers...

They were drawing.

Recording the newly discovered monsters and submitting the information to the Adventurers' Guild could earn them a considerable reward.

"By the way, I saw a monster over there earlier that I've never seen before." Si Telan remembered the Curse Frog.

"I'll take a look." Dan Ya volunteered and ran over. After feeling around in the Swamp for a while, she indeed found the Curse Frog Si Telan had shot dead.

She had never seen a monster like this before. It was roughly human-sized, with two round Big Eyeballs on its head. It looked downright creepy.

"It really is an unfamiliar monster. Huh, its eyes—"

Dan Ya froze because the Curse Frog was staring straight at her.

Beneath that pair of huge eyeballs was another pair of small eyes. An evil light shone from the Curse Frog's eyes as it suddenly opened its mouth wide.

"Whoosh!"

A dense cloud of black mist struck Dan Ya in an instant, engulfing her completely.

"Dan Ya!"

Si Telan and the others were startled. Xiu En rushed into the mist to save her, while Ai Li chanted a wind spell to blow the black mist away.

"Cough, cough, cough. I'm fine." As the black mist dispersed, Dan Ya could be seen coughing uncontrollably. The dagger in her hand was buried deep in the Curse Frog's skull. The monster was clearly dead beyond doubt.

"That scared me. Luckily, this thing was ridiculously weak. The black mist seems like it can only block vision. Why are you all staring at me? Is there something strange on me?"

"Y-you... there's something on you." Ai Li pointed at her, her face pale.

"Something?"

Dan Ya looked down and saw something black wriggling beneath her skin, wriggling, wriggling—

"Ah!"

She screamed. The next second, a "tree" appeared.

A tree twisted from black thorns!

She was impaled in midair by thorns growing from her abdomen, struggling and wailing as maggots poured from her body in great swarms, hatching into buzzing flies in an instant.

By the time Xiu En cut through the thorns and rescued Dan Ya, she had already stopped breathing. The Teleportation Crystal on her body flashed and sent her back to the Resurrection Room.

"W-what the hell happened?" Vierde staggered backward in fright.

She had died without even knowing how!

"Xiu En, your hand!" Si Telan suddenly cried out. Thorn Branches had already sprouted from the arm Xiu En had used to hold Dan Ya earlier, though they were neither growing as fast nor as large as Dan Ya's.

Xiu En made a split-second decision and cut off his left arm with one stroke. Deprived of its host, the thorns on his arm stopped growing.

Only then did everyone realize the Curse Frog was the problem, and they all hurried away from its corpse.

But there was not even time to mourn Dan Ya. Next up was—

The Curse Frog Swarm!

When countless Big Eyeballs emerged from the Swamp, everyone went numb.

Vierde's teeth chattered. After a long moment, he finally screamed at the top of his lungs:

"Run!"

That cry was like the starting gun for a race. Both the adventurers and the Curse Frogs broke into a sprint, beginning a desperate race for survival!

And some unlucky people suffered for it.

"SONASI!"

Several Wobbuffet suddenly jumped out, crying loudly. Two people failed to dodge in time and had their shadows stepped on. They were instantly unable to flee and were surrounded by the Curse Frog Swarm.

With several wet pops, two more Thorn Trees grew up.

"This crap again!" Si Telan's eyelids twitched wildly. She recognized the Wobbuffet at a glance. These Slime-like monsters were the ones that had caused her to die miserably at Crucible Knight's hands.

Now that enemies had met, naturally she would—

Si Telan ran even faster.

Of course, in the spirit of the contract, she still ran behind the experts, occasionally joining Ai Li in holding back the Curse Frog Swarm.

Melee fighters like Xiu En did not dare approach the Curse Frogs again. One blast of that black mist could cost them their lives.

"Everyone, run faster! Shake them off!"

But things did not go as planned. The Curse Frog Swarm's aggro range was extraordinarily far, and they pursued the adventurers relentlessly!

And as the commotion grew louder, other monsters were drawn over as well.

Goblins carrying all kinds of weapons, vast hordes of Skeleton Monsters, Straw Men that suddenly charged out, and Giant Crows circling overhead.

And even more Curse Frogs!

Si Telan's group was having a fantastic time running for their lives.

"This proves that stacking monsters is the most efficient method."

Gong Qiying, who was monitoring everything, laughed happily.

At that moment, another group's performance caught his attention.

"Oh, aren't these the lucky ones who took the Greatsword? They're back so soon."

On the screen, Jack led a group carefully around the monsters and lit the beacon at remarkable speed. The Fortress gates slowly opened.

Having a guide really did make things faster!

"Time to crank up the difficulty for him too."

Gong Qiying muttered to himself as he browsed the monster interface.

I really want comments. Playing alone is so painful.