First Signs

While casually dodging the Mushroom Cannons, it chewed huge mouthfuls of still-wriggling Pujis.

This Dragonkin actually had a blissful expression on its face?

Good grief, it thought my Pujis were tasty, huh?

Linden simply took over and helped aim.

Predict its movements, cut off its path in advance, blanket the area with firepower—

Then... not a single shot hit...

This Dragonkin was the fastest creature Linden had seen so far.

It was not just fast in a straight line. It accelerated quickly, decelerated quickly, and turned quickly too.

This guy was fast in every possible way!

And at the same time, its destructive power was astonishing.

It was absolutely absurdly overpowered.

After trying to attack it a few times, Linden gave up—it was a waste of effort.

Besides, more Monsters were emerging from the Rift. Losing this side was inevitable...

Just as Linden thought that, the Dragonkin dashed forward in the blink of an eye and tore the heads off two Monsters.

After emerging, the Monsters had intended to eat the Pujis in front of them.

Huh?

Was it guarding its food!?

Linden stopped letting the remaining Pujis fight. He merely had them all gather in front of the Rift, ensuring that any Monster coming out would notice them immediately.

He had planned to exploit the Dragonkin's food guarding, but the next Monster that emerged still startled him.

Just one claw extending from the Rift sent a freezing aura sweeping outward.

It was a massive Monster with bulging muscles all over its body and countless sharp exoskeletal spikes.

It squeezed itself out of the Rift with considerable difficulty.

[Race: Ratkin - Frost-Bone Giant Rat]

[Level: LV54]

It was called Ratkin, but with a massive body nearly seven meters tall, it was hard to associate it with a rat at all.

If he had to point out a similarity, only its pointed head resembled one a little.

The Dragonkin and the Giant Rat were both powerful Monsters above level fifty.

The Monsters emerging from this Rift seemed far stronger than those on the other side.

After coming out, the Giant Rat naturally noticed the half-frozen Pujis before it.

Its thick forelimb stretched out, ready to casually swat the little creatures to death.

Before its claw could fall, that black figure charged straight at it.

The Dragonkin looked tiny compared to the Giant Rat, yet it rammed the Giant Rat directly to the ground.

The Dragonkin's claws flashed, tearing through the Giant Rat's chest flesh and drawing waves of agonized howls from it.

Roaring, the Giant Rat blasted a torrent of frost at the Dragonkin before it.

The two Monsters fought viciously in front of the Rift. Though the Dragonkin held the upper hand, the Giant Rat was not without the strength to resist.

Every Monster that crawled out afterward was caught in the crossfire. They were either crushed to death or frozen to death.

Meanwhile, the Pujis hid in the distance, ready to become the victor's snack.

Linden had even dispatched over a dozen Hallucination Pujis as an extra course. They were on their way over.

Could he perhaps reap the benefits while they fought?

In any case, the trouble at this Rift had at least been temporarily resolved.

But Linden did not relax much...

After the two Rifts, a third problem appeared—the Monsters from the Lower Zone had begun charging toward the Fifth Floor.

Looking down from the edge of the stairs, Monsters of all kinds swarmed upward like insects, layer upon layer.

The circular staircase, which had originally been fairly spacious, was so packed there was no room left. Every now and then, several Monsters were squeezed off the edge.

There was almost no fighting among the Monsters.

Linden even saw natural enemies climbing upward side by side.

Why did it feel like all the other Monsters were part of one big Dungeon family, while he was the only outsider...

You wouldn't let me play?

Then die!

More than a hundred Pujis filled the edge of the corridor, raining Mushroom Cannons down from above.

With nowhere to dodge, the Monsters took the full brunt of the damage. Those at the very front were splattered directly across the walls.

Naturally, there were counterattacks. But because of the height difference, very few could harm the Pujis.

Spikes and water jets fired from below occasionally took out one or two Pujis.

But new Pujis immediately filled the gaps, so it had no real effect.

The ones coming now were almost all Monsters from the Sixth Floor, so the pressure was still manageable.

But later, Monsters from the Lower Zone or even the Deep Zone would probably appear.

And these black Rifts surely could not have appeared only on the Fifth Floor by such coincidence...

In front of the Amethyst Dungeon's entrance.

Adventurers were firing through the gaps at the Monsters assaulting the barricades.

These Monsters were not particularly high-level.

Still, a question lingered in everyone's minds.

Besides several common species from the First and Second Floors, the Monster horde seemed to include some creatures they had never seen before.

Flying Worms a meter long, with horrifying mouthparts.

Small Sub-Dragons with powerful hind legs that ran incredibly fast.

Had the Amethyst Dungeon always had things like these?

But in the middle of battle, no one mentioned it and distracted themselves.

In any case, these new varieties were not particularly strong, so they did not make much difference.

Inside the Adventurer Guild's president's office.

Oberon, who had been monitoring the entrance through a surveillance crystal, breathed a small sigh of relief.

It was a blessing in disguise that it was not directly connected to the Lower Zone of the Dragon Cliff Dungeon.

If they could maintain this pace...

In the crystal's image, the Adventurers standing at the entrance seemed to see something. They visibly panicked.

People scattered to both sides, while only one Adventurer remained by the gap, peering inside with all his might.

That scene made Oberon tense as well.

No way...

As though the more one feared something, the more likely it was to come true.

The exit blocked by wooden boards and stones burst apart like a fragile eggshell before a massive Scale Armor-covered body.

A Giant Lizard two zhang tall burst from the flying debris, its long tail covered in bony spikes whipping behind it.

The unfortunate man who had failed to escape in time was buried beneath the rolling rubble, his fate unknown.

Faced with this sudden change, every Adventurer present felt their hair stand on end.

Marshall truly deserved his reputation as a veteran Gold Rank Adventurer. He was the first to react, roaring everyone awake:

"What are you standing around for? Attack!"

As he spoke, he charged forward at the head of the group.

Though the Giant Lizard was enormous and its Charge was immensely powerful.

The impact from smashing through the entrance had left it dazed as well.

Under the Adventurers' concentrated attacks, it quickly fell.

But the entrance had already been breached. The Monsters were no longer obstructed and surged outside one after another.

The scene instantly descended into chaos.

A curved blade pierced the belly of a Flying Worm, slicing it open in one stroke.

Vera hurriedly wiped the blood from her blade with a cloth.

It was not because she cherished this ordinary curved blade. She had discovered that the Flying Worms' blood was corrosive.

If she let the blood cling to it, the curved blade would turn into scrap iron before the day was over.

"Feiling, Feiyin, don't leave my side."

After receiving affirmative replies from behind her, Vera looked around.

Although many Monsters had rushed out, the situation had not yet spiraled out of control.

Several Mages worked together, using magic to temporarily block the Monsters still coming out.

Though there were many Monsters that had already escaped, their levels were not particularly high.

Most of those present were experienced Adventurers, including quite a few Silver Rank Adventurers like herself.

There were even more than ten Gold Rank Adventurers as strong as Marshall.

They should clear the area soon.

Yet Vera was still deeply worried.

Wasn't the Magic Tide supposed to be weak during its first few days?

Yet the entrance had been breached on the very first day.

Glancing at the two sisters behind her, Vera made up her mind.

If the situation truly turned bad, then even if the Guild revoked her Adventurer qualifications, she would take them away early.