Large Rock Snake, Bazelgeuse
At three in the morning, it was pitch black. It was autumn, and the night wind was biting cold.
Long queues had already formed in front of the Zane Dungeon. Due to its current popularity, the flow of people was increasing, with many arriving two hours in advance to queue. Some even went so far as to skip going home and continue queuing even after being kicked out of the dungeon at midnight.
Despite the adventurers' best efforts, they could not overcome the privileges of the nobility.
The guards of the Bede Family looked at the adventurers with a mocking expression and said to their companion, "What's the point of queuing up so early? We'll still have to make way later."
"Keep your voice down, these guys have terrible tempers," another guard said. "It's almost time, hurry up and call all the workers over. Once they're all inside, we'll start collecting tickets."
The adventurers glared at them, and shouts of abuse rang out from the party.
If the guards hadn't belonged to the lord, who was a nobleman protected by the kingdom, they would have started fighting long ago!
Many people, after weighing the pros and cons, believe that entering the Zane Dungeon is still worthwhile, so they come with suppressed anger. But it's clear to everyone that the suppressed dissatisfaction won't disappear; instead, it will continue to brew over time until it finally explodes.
In fact, some efficient people are already organizing protests and marches, but it's unclear exactly when they will take place.
Looking at everyone's expressions, the Magician Luo Jieer felt that his sociological experience had improved.
Yesterday, the Exploration Team informed Sid of various intelligence, including campfires, images, oaths, and so on. The sheer volume of information caused the old man, who had experienced many things, to fall silent for a moment. He then handed over the previously agreed-upon huge reward to each person and added extra rewards.
He said he would organize a new expedition after a while, but Luo Jieer felt that the current group of people could not be gathered.
"Lion" Leon claims that the senior he has always wanted to learn from but has never had the chance to do so will be interested in the Tear Drop Larva. To show his sincerity, he personally takes the Tear Drop Larva on a journey to visit the senior. It is said that the rest of the Strategy Team also went along and will not be back for a while.
After performing a wild and ecstatic dance in the conference room, the Flame Monk hurried to the Sparkfire Church's stronghold, saying he wanted to summon all the remaining believers to become Sun Warrior. The stronghold was in a neighboring city of Bede City, a journey that would take several days to make round trip.
The Holy Light Knight went to the church to report on the situation, and then he was never seen again.
Si Telan remained in the city as her Sun Warrior, but her appearances were reduced due to Mei Erjia's harassment.
As for Pei Li, the boy returned to the Crystal Scroll Magic Association with a deep sense of resentment, since his purpose in coming here was to verify the campfire images for the association, and he had to go back to report.
So why is Luo Jieer staying here?
Hehe, of course it's for the monsters.
"This amazing spherical tool can even catch dragons, so maybe it can catch other monsters too." He was going to continue catching monsters in the dungeon. In his eyes, the monsters produced in the Zane Dungeon were all unprecedented species, much rarer than the monsters on the surface that he had long been tired of seeing!
If we're going to catch something, we should catch something rare. Who knows, maybe in the future, Gong Qiying will release shiny Curse Frog, shiny Mushroom Man, shiny Female Fire Dragon, or something like that.
"[Invisible] "
Luo Jieer cast an invisibility spell on himself and quietly blended into the workers' ranks, preparing to enter the dungeon with them.
There's no way I'll ever queue; I'll never queue in my entire life.
"Um?"
At that moment, a man standing with the guards suddenly turned his head to look in Luo Jieer's direction and squinted.
Have you spotted me?
Luo Jieer was slightly surprised, but when he saw the man's clothes, he suddenly understood.
The man was strong and wore full silver-white armor with simple patterns on the surface. Not only was his helmet shaped like an eagle, but his breastplate was also painted with a lifelike falcon.
So that's how it is. This is the mercenary group Mr. Sid was talking about— the Light Eagle Legion.
No wonder the adventurers haven't caused any trouble yet. Everyone has heard of the reputation of this almost undefeated mercenary group, and no one wants to clash with mercenaries who live on the edge of death.
Judging from the specifications of the armor, this person is at least a captain-level individual, and their strength should not be underestimated.
However, this didn't scare Luo Jieer. He gave the other person a thumbs up and followed the worker in front of him into the portal.
The captain of the Light Eagle Legion suddenly chuckled, drawing puzzled expressions from the surrounding guards.
"Huh, where is one person?" After entering the underground city, the workers counted the number of people and found that there were only nine.
After waiting for two minutes, the remaining worker didn't come in either. The workers cursed a few times and then began their work for the day, heading to a designated mining site to extract ore.
Luo Jieer originally wanted to leave them and act alone, but then he thought that so many people might attract more monsters, so he simply followed the workers from a distance.
Shortly after they left, the workers were attacked by Skeleton Monster. Luo Jieer secretly dispelled the monsters, preventing any casualties.
"The Skeleton Monster are too ugly, aren't there any more handsome ones?" That's why he made his move.
Under his protection, the workers arrived at the mining site without any major incidents, repeatedly expressing their good fortune, as they usually suffered heavy losses when they came here.
Are monsters getting more ferocious?
Luo Jieer sat beside him, still keeping his figure hidden.
He had a feeling that the monsters were more ferocious than last time. Was it just his imagination? Also, the Curse Frog and Fishman were gone, as if only Skeleton Monster remained.
It's strange, very strange, there's a feeling of calm before the storm.
"Huh? Were there such big rocks here before?" a worker asked, pointing to the enormous rock in front of him.
"No," the other person said. "I remember these are all Bloodstone, not ordinary ones."
His voice stopped abruptly, replaced by a scream.
Because this stone suddenly stood up!
Large Rock Snake
[Spirit Power Required per Unit: 99]
Overall combat strength: D-
"There's a monster!"
That scream marked the beginning of the disaster. When the Large Rock Snake slapped the worker in front of it to death with its tail, the surrounding Bloodstone ore suddenly cracked, and one round stone after another suddenly popped out. No, these were not stones, because they had arms!
Small Fist Stone
[Spirit Power Required per Unit: 49]
Overall combat strength: E+
With a single charge, Small Fist Stone knocked down the nearest worker, then swarmed him and beat him to death with a flurry of punches before scattering to chase the others.
The Large Rock Snake was like a merciless meat grinder, slaughtering the workers; its blood-stained appearance was truly terrifying.
One after another, new Small Fist Stone emerged from the Swamp, blocking the workers' escape route, and everyone wore expressions of despair.
The turn of events was so sudden that Luo Jieer was stunned for a moment before he could finally smile.
This is a new monster he's never seen before; he has a new monster to catch!
Ignoring the workers' surprise, he revealed himself, grabbed a Small Fist Stone with his Mage Hand, and quickly threw a Poké Ball at it before it could struggle!
The Poké Ball opened in mid-air, Small Fist Stone was caught in the ball as a streak of light.
"Perfect!"
Luo Jieer clenched his fist involuntarily, but the next second, the Poké Ball suddenly opened, and an angry Small Fist Stone rushed out!
Capture failed!
"Ah?"
He looked bewildered. How could the capture have failed?
He dodged Geodude's attack with Small Fist Stone, but then Large Rock Snake used Rock Slide on him, sending a barrage of rocks crashing down on Luo Jieer.
"Earth-attribute magic? That does match its appearance quite well," he dodged easily, pondering why he had failed to capture it earlier.
I thought that as long as I threw the Poké Ball, I would definitely catch the monster.
"[Surprise Magic Gravel] "
Luo Jieer used the magic he had just learned.
The Large Rock Snake was repeatedly attacked by magic from behind, which greatly bothered it.
Taking advantage of this excellent opportunity, Luo Jieer used the Megamorph Mage Hand to control the Large Rock Snake's body. In that brief moment, a huge hailstone had already formed above its head.
"If I weaken it, can it still break free from its grasp?"
Hailstones crashed down, hitting me squarely on the head!
The Large Rock Snake let out a mournful cry and collapsed. This was a good opportunity to catch it, and Luo Jieer pulled out the even rarer Super Ball.
"Roar--"
As if timed perfectly, before the Super Ball in his hand could be thrown, a roar suddenly came from the air.
Something seemed to fall, and upon hitting the ground, it immediately exploded!
"What's going on?"
Luo Jieer was caught off guard by the sudden explosion and was in a sorry state. What was worse, a series of explosions went off around him. If he had been hit by one of them, he would have been killed without a trace.
In the brief moment between dodging, he looked up.
He then revealed an expression of extreme surprise.
Because what flies in the sky is a dragon! And another dragon he's been longing for!
Bazelgeuse!