Chapter 103: Death Zone No.2 - Eternal Light Region
Zero shifted awkwardly at the question.
Night assured her, "It’s okay if it’s not something you wish to share. No one is forcing you."
Zero squirmed on her insect legs. "It’s not that... it’s just... it’s just..."
"It’s just?" Night.
Noticing the weird looks she was getting, she simply blurted out, "I was smacked by this terrifying snake really hard! I flew for kilometers through the air exactly like a ragdoll, and when I finally came to my senses, I realized I was already outside the Eternal Light Region!"
Seeing their looks becoming even weirder, she quickly clarified her embarrassing exit.
"I was hiding in a cave after I was crippled, and this terrifying snake just casually came in and told me to leave. But when I honestly said I couldn’t move, it simply said it was willing to ’help’... and then that happened," she admitted in shame.
While Sara and Blade struggled to keep a straight face, Night was quick to realize something important. "The snake was somehow able to bypass the restrictive barrier and knock you out of the Eternal Light Region."
Sara said thoughtfully, "Still, it’s a peculiar way to..."
"Indeed. The smack must have been incredibly profound..." Blade chimed in, her lips twitching.
Night looked at them sternly. It was not good to bully others, especially looking at Zero, who looked like she wanted to dig a hole and escape underground.
"Ahem," Night coughed loudly. "Whatever actually happened, I doubt we would encounter this specific, overpowered snake, so there is no point discussing this matter further."
Zero looked deeply moved at his defense and quickly helped change the awkward topic. "I actually know a safe route that will get us to a relatively weak area in the region."
Seeing Sara, Blade, and Night’s serious faces return, she continued, "This specific area usually only possesses around ten active dungeons."
Sara spoke up in shock. "Ten active dungeons?!"
"Yes, and they should only be around Level 30 to 50 on average," Zero added calmly.
Sara heaved a heavy sigh of relief.
"Once we are there, we can scout out the nearby areas, join the skirmishes, and farm EXP while avoiding attracting the attention of any truly terrifying monsters," Zero concluded.
After they discussed their combat tactics some more, they moved out.
Moving steadily through the dark tunnels, they finally exited the massive mountain. After a brief trek, they climbed the icy peak and reached the other side.
Down at the cold foot of the icy mountain, they saw a frozen valley.
It was guarded by a Level 100 monster that looked like a white gorilla, which was cut down by a enthusiastic Blade in a single strike.
After Night quickly devoured the corpse, they continued. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive any new skills from it.
Zero led the way. As they moved forward, the snowy valley got narrower and narrower, until at the very edge, they finally saw it.
The Death Zone was entirely covered in a glowing white barrier.
Obviously, the barrier served tw purposes: one was to keep suicidal idiots out, and the other was to keep the true terrors of the Death Zone trapped inside
Zero looked back at them. Seeing the nervous Sara and Blade, she paused.
She then looked at Night, who gracefully wore a completely calm, stoic look, and she mentally nodded in respect.
As expected of my Liege. He gracefully remains unmoved like a ll mountain despite having the lowest level, unlike these lowly, fearful mortals.
Zero turned back and, without a single moment of hesitation, crossed the white barrier.
Soon, the others followed.
As soon as Night was inside the Death Zone, he violently felt the increased mana density in the atmosphere.
It was so high that just taking a deap breath regenerated 1 EV.
The other side looked like an ancient forest, and he could already hear chaotic fighting sounds from where he stood.
So soon? he thought in surprise.
He had expected to at least explore some of the region before encountering a massive fight, but this was ridiculously quick.
He quickly covered his entire physical body in [Nightmare Fire], not wanting to take any chances.
Zero turned back once more. Upon seeing all of them safely inside, she said, "Follow me, and be stealthy."
Sara immediately cast a [Stealth] spell on the entire group.
When they stealthily reached the noisy region, they froze in awe.
They saw four massive black gates, and from them monsters were pouring out in endless hordes.
One group consisted of sleek monsters that looked like shadow-black panthers, working together with a agile group of white foxes.
They were engaged in a fierce battle against a rival group of armored red crocodiles and blue bulls.
As the battle spread out over the snowy area, whenever some of them inevitably fell, the dungeons relentlessly kept sending more.
The newcomers stomped on the fallen monsters without a shred of hesitation and charged as if they had gone completely insane.
Each monster carried the same crazed look and fought with only one goal: To kill.
Night’s small group remained hidden behind a huge, frosted tree overlooking the battlefield.
"So many corpses..." Night whispered in awe.
Yes, the entire ground was completely filled with the mangled corpses of dead monsters, so much so that you couldn’t even see the white snow anymore.
The corpses had become the new ground.
The entire area also actively gave off a peculiar energy that chilled Night to the bone when he sensed it. It was completely filled with pure, unadulterated madness.
"When the dungeon break is finally over, the black gates will close for some time, and during that window, many opportunistic scavenger monsters will quickly come and clean it up," Zero explained telepathically.
"Sometimes, the final remaining monster claims them all. And when this happens, usually, it gets killed when the looters inevitably gang up on it."
"Some cunning monsters only hunt those victors. Because most of the time, the winners possess something special about them that directly led to their victory. Rarely does a monster win purely on luck here."
Blade nodded slowly. "So this is literally like a self-sustaining ecosystem. And the black gates, I suppose, don’t vanish after the dungeon break is fully over."
"Most of the time, yes," Zero confirmed. "Actually, the black gates don’t follow any pattern. They appear and disappear randomly, and they stay anchored in one place for a random duration of time."
"Usually, these gates just keep continuously breaking and releasing different monsters."
"What if we cause trouble right now and join the fight?" Night asked eagerly.
Zero warned him cautiously. "For you and me, it is perfectly okay, since we are around the same level as these grunts. But..."
She looked at Sara and Blade. "If they interfere with their high levels, then this specific area’s Overlord will come here personally."
"They are not weak monsters. They are terrifyingly strong, and usually, they are Demigods."
Sara frowned. "Overlords?"
"Yes," Zero explained. "They are monsters who control a area with nodes, which empower them immensely."
Night nodded. "Then let’s stick to the rules. But what will Sara and Blade do until then?"
"Just because there is an Overlord doesn’t mean no other high-level monster will cause a ruckus," Zero reasoned.
"If Sara and Blade fight those high-level intruders instead of the grunts, then the Overlord will likely not attack them and just let them be."
Sara thought deeply. So this Node is like a anchor that lets a reigning monster sense all the beings in the area, and even grants them strength.
It reminds me of the human City Nodes.
...
Back on the battlefield, a sleek black panther dissolved into dark smoke and appeared above a charging blue bull, only to be shot squarely in the face by a compressed water ball.
The massive bull seemed to have already predicted the ambush.
The black panther awkwardly tried to dodge the attack in time, but a small part of the blast still connected, making it spin out of control in the air and crash onto the corpse-filled ground.
A armored red crocodile nearby saw this golden opportunity and ruthlessly shot a fireball in its direction, only for the attack to be blocked just in time by a white fox utilizing a volley of ice bullets.
Just when the proud fox thought it had successfully saved the black panther, a white light violently cut through the battlefield and struck the recovering panther, cutting it in two and killing it in a single strike.
[Ding!]
[You have slain a Lvl 35 Dark Phantom | +350 EXP]
Level 30: (EXP: 670/131,000)
The three surviving monsters, and several other beasts fighting violently nearby, quickly saw the execution and looked at the new killer warily.
It was Zero, who had joined the fight.
Instead of continuing to fight amongst themselves, as soon as they actively saw Zero, they all turned and jumped at her.
Zero effortlessly darted around their attacks with ease using her razor-sharp mandibles to split them apart.
From behind her at a little distance, one could see an unassuming small humanoid figure in blackish-purple flames casually running through the field, setting fire to the mountains of corpses and sometimes rapidly devouring some unfortunate monster that stupidly came too close.
Zero distracted the swarm while Night tagged behind her, acting as her shadow.
Just now, when she was about to be ambushed by a Blue Bull and take a head-on attack, a blackish-purple bullet tore through the cold air and hit the charging bull, melting it and leaving nothing behind.
Some of the sharper monsters rapidly spotted Night’s support, but right before they could even try to coordinate against him, Zero shot at them like a blinding beam of light.
As Night continued darting around staying close to his summon, he also quickly spotted several other opportunistic monsters like him.
He briefly spotted a bizarre, chameleon-type monster that rapidly ate a fallen monster, turned completely transparent, and efficiently hid itself deep beneath the corpses below.
He also clearly saw a black worm that would appear at random spots, sneakily eat several massive corpses, rapidly reduce its size somehow, and disappear back into the frozen ground.
Though it possessed no eyes on its body, he swore he felt it lock a gaze with him for a brief moment.
Weird...