[Chapter 76. A Necessary Task]
The group entered the dungeon together, the threshold of the hollowed-out tree trunk acting as a gateway between the natural forest and a subterranean nightmare. The transition was imdiate; the warm, humid air of the outside world was replaced by a heavy, stifling dampness that clung to their skin like a second layer of clothing. The tunnel ahead was not truly dark, but rather illuminated by a faint, sickly, multicolored glow emanating from vast colonies of fungal growth that encrusted the walls and ceiling. This bioluminescence cast long, distorted shadows that seed to dance with every movent. The air was thick and stagnant, heavily saturated with the pungent, earthy scent of rot and decomposing organic matter—a sll so pervasive it felt as though it were coating the inside of their lungs with every breath they took.
"Vanessa," Searanox’s voice sliced through the oppressive silence of the cavern. His tone was flat, disinterested, and carried an edge of cold pragmatism that made the won jump. "As the self-proclaid leader of your little group, how exactly do you plan to handle the darkness deeper in? Or did you expect the dungeon to provide lighting for your convenience?"
Vanessa flinched visibly at the suddenness of the question, the sharp inquiry catching her completely off guard. She looked around frantically, her green eyes darting toward the faint, receding light of the entrance as if searching for an answer written in the stone. "I... we don't have torches," she stamred, her voice echoing weakly against the damp stone. "We didn't have a chance to prepare properly. We were just... we were just following your lead."
"You had all night to consider the basic requirents of exploration," Searanox said, his voice devoid of any sympathy. He didn't wait for a further excuse. With a flick of his ntal intent, he summoned ten units from his personal arsenal: five basic air drones and five assault drones. They materialized in a flurry of blue sparks, their lights a predatory crimson in the gloom. Without a verbal command, the drones banked and flew off into the dark throat of the tunnel. The distant, muffled sounds of energy fire began almost imdiately as they systematically cut down anything that dared to move in their path.
"This ti, all of you will co with ," Searanox directed, gesturing for them to move forward. "Behind this initial tunnel lies the main chamber and the conclusion of this dungeon. We aren't here to loiter." His voice remained lackluster, as if he were discussing a mundane chore rather than a perilous descent into a parasitic nest.
Vanessa looked from the disappearing glow of the drones to the pale, frightened faces of the other won. She saw the desperation in their eyes and tried to summon a fire of her own. "Stay together!" she ordered, her voice shaky but holding a note of desperate command. "Lana, you take the front with your shield. Carn, stay right behind Lana and watch our flank. Sarah, you stay with in the middle. Watch for any openings or movent in the shadows, but whatever you do, do not get separated."
They advanced through the tunnel in a tight, terrified knot of humanity. Their footsteps were swallowed by the cavern's oppressive, damp quiet, replaced only by the distant thrum of the drones and the occasional wet slap of moisture dripping from the ceiling. The walls continued to pulse with that faint, sickly green light, making it feel as though they were walking through the throat of a living organism. With every step deeper into the earth, the air grew noticeably thicker, and the scent of decay intensified until it beca a physical presence, a weight that made it difficult to draw a full breath.
The tunnel finally opened up into a vast, cavernous space. It was a cathedral of rot, filled with massive, glowing fungi that reached toward the ceiling like skeletal hands and long, weeping tendrils of mycelium that hung down like static rain. At the very center of the chamber, a grotesque mass of pulsating tissue dominated the floor: the Mycelial Heart. It throbbed with a rhythmic, low-frequency hum that vibrated in their bones.
As they crossed the threshold into the chamber, a translucent System window flickered into existence within Searanox’s field of vision.
[System Notification]
─ NA: Mycelial Heart
─ TYPE: Invasive Parasite
─ OBJECTIVE: Survive the infestation for ten minutes.
─ TIR: 09m 59s...
The mont the tir began its countdown, the surrounding darkness seed to exhale. The horde began to spill from the nurous shadowed tunnels honeycombing the walls. Leathery-skinned Spore-carriers, their bodies bloated with toxic gases, and multi-legged Cave Stalkers, with their many eyes reflecting the drone light, poured into the chamber in a silent, relentless tide of chitin and rot.
Searanox’s drones reacted instantly. They opened fire with surgical precision, their crimson beams of energy cutting through the damp air and slamming into the advancing monsters. The first wave was decimated in seconds, but more beasts surged forward from the shadows to replace their fallen kin, climbing over the mounting piles of smoking remains.
"Get ready! They’re coming!" Vanessa’s voice rose into a high, thin cry of pure panic as she fumbled with her focus, her eyes wide as she watched the sheer number of enemies.
"Shhh~ calm down," Searanox said, turning his back on the carnage to face the won. He looked entirely out of place in the center of the battlefield, his posture relaxed and his hands tucked into his pockets. "You won't be doing any of the fighting in here. You're simply here to collect the clear bonus and nothing more."
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He watched them for a few seconds, taking in their dumbfounded expressions—especially Vanessa’s, whose mouth had gone slack with confusion. After a mont of heavy silence, he asked a question that felt utterly surreal given the circumstances: "Would you like sothing to eat or drink while you wait for the tir to expire?"
The question was so absurd, so fundantally detached from the reality of the situation, that for several long seconds, none of them could even begin to process it. The sounds of the desperate battle—the high-pitched sizzle of energy beams, the wet, heavy thuds of multi-legged carcasses hitting the floor, and the occasional screech of a dying Stalker—served as a constant, terrifying backdrop to this bizarre exchange. Vanessa stared at him, her mind seemingly refusing to bridge the gap between the horror unfolding re ters away and his mundane offer of refreshnts.
"N-no," Lana stamred, her knuckles white as she gripped the rim of her shield, her eyes never leaving the swarm of monsters being held back by the wall of drone fire. Carn gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of her head, her mind likely stalled by the sheer audacity of his indifference. Sarah just stared, her face a mask of pale shock, her earlier attempts at bravado completely extinguished.
Searanox simply shrugged, a gesture of casual, bone-deep indifference that felt more terrifying than any monster in the room. "Suit yourselves. More for ."
He turned his back on them again, his attention returning to the flow of the battle. The four won huddled together in a small, shivering cluster of fear, an island of humanity in a sea of carnage. They watched, srized and horrified, as the drones crimson beams thodically partitioned the room. The drones moved with frighteningly cold precision, each shot calculated to ensure maximum lethality with minimum waste. Wave after wave of Spore-carriers and Cave Stalkers fell, their bodies piling up in charred heaps that began to block the tunnel exits.
Searanox barely had to lift a finger, letting the automated systems handle the heavy lifting. He directed the units with minor ntal adjustnts, a simple task that required only a fraction of his attention. His mind was already miles away, thinking about the next move, the next dungeon clear, and the next incrental step in his pursuit of absolute power. The five assault and five basic air drones were more than enough to maintain the periter; the beasts never even managed to get within twenty feet of the group.
As the final beast of the final wave fell, twitching, to the floor, the System window reappeared. The tir hit zero and froze. A wave of relief washed over the four won, so intense and sudden that it was almost physically painful. They had survived. They had done absolutely nothing to contribute to the victory, but they had survived nonetheless.
A single, ornate chest materialized in the center of the chamber near the pulsing Mycelial Heart, its dark, polished wood gleaming with a supernatural sheen that seed to repel the surrounding filth. Searanox walked over to it with unhurried, rhythmic steps. He flipped the lid open, the hinges creaking softly, revealing the spoils of the clear: a small pile of silver coins, an E-Grade Skillstone glowing with a faint amber light, and a single ring.
Just as he reached into the chest to claim the rewards, a sharp, piercing voice cut through the silence of the now-quiet chamber.
"Only three hundred twenty experience?!" Vanessa scread, her voice echoing off the damp fungal walls. She was staring at her own System interface, her face contorted with a mix of shock and outrage.
Searanox’s head snapped toward her, his eyes narrowing behind his shades. The temperature in the room seed to drop several degrees. "Yes. Only that. There are six of us in this, so the System naturally splits the total experience earned between us," he said, his voice coming out as a cold, flat rasp. "If you find that amount unsatisfactory, you are perfectly welco to attempt clearing these dungeons on your own. I'm sure you'll find the experience gains much more to your liking—assuming you live long enough to see the notification."
Vanessa stared at him, her green eyes wide with disbelief and a hint of stuttering defiance. "But… but that's… after all that, that's almost nothing," she stamred, her voice failing her and dropping to a ragged whisper.
"That is exactly why I stated we are here for the bonus and nothing else," he replied, turning back to the chest and ignoring her outburst.
He picked up the ring, a simple silver band featuring a small, polished red stone set into its center. He examined it for a heartbeat, clicked his tongue in minor disappointnt, and stored it away. "A minor health ring... pathetic, but a resource nonetheless." The silver coins and the amber E-Grade Skillstone followed, vanishing into his storage ring a second later.
"But we got the multiplier for being the second group to clear it..." Vanessa said, her voice trailing off as she tried to make the math work in her head.
"Vanessa, use your head for sothing other than being a target," Searanox said, turning his head just enough to look at the four won with a bored, weary expression. "How many beasts were in here? Three hundred? Perhaps four hundred. Half of them were level four or lower; they gave you zero experience because of the level gap. That leaves you with roughly two hundred kills, that actually provided a single experience point. Now take that base, apply the eight-tis multiplier for the second clear, and then split that total among the six of us. You get less than a few hundred. I believe you can grasp the idea now. If you want to level up at a significant pace, you need to stop hiding behind my drones and go into dungeons of your own level or higher."
Vanessa’s face flushed a deep, hot crimson—a mixture of rising anger and stinging humiliation. "So this was just a complete waste of our ti then?" she snapped, her hands clenching into tight, trembling fists at her sides.
Searanox let out a soft, dark, and entirely humorless chuckle. "It was far from a waste of ti. You five just received the most important reward this dungeon has to offer: three additional points to all of your base stats for the clear," he said, his voice dropping to a low, cold murmur that vibrated with authority. He let the silence stretch for a few uncomfortable seconds, letting the reality of that power-up sink in. Then, he turned to Iris, who had been standing silently by his side the entire ti. "We’re leaving. If any of you want to continue this pointless conversation, we can do so on the way back."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and stepped through the shimring exit portal, vanishing from the Fungal Caverns in a flash of light.
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