At the heart of a vast, tranquil forest teeming with a rich aura of life—
A woman sat by the edge of a crystal-clear pond, her long legs immersed in its pristine waters.
She wore a simple gown woven from fresh flowers and green leaves, and her long hair, as soft and green as new spring foliage, flowed down her back.
Over the centuries, she had acquired many titles: Legendary Adventurer, High Priestess, Guide of the Lost… But now, she preferred to be known simply as— the Goddess of Life.
It had been a while since she last performed a miracle.
As usual, she decided to choose a few places today to reinforce her believers’ faith.
Without that, lower beings would never understand the meaning of reverence.
With a gentle tap of her toe on the pond’s surface, ripples spread out, and countless prayers neatly surfaced on the water:
“Tch, why are they all just the usual ‘Bless me, oh goddess’ stuff? Hmm… There are quite a few believers in Rebirth City. I could do a miracle there. Meteorite Fort too… Oh? Why does this one from Deya City feel different?”
The Goddess of Life touched the prayer from someone in Deya City.
It was filled with despair and unwillingness, its color in the water unusually distinct.
And the one who prayed… seemed to have once received her blessing?
Interesting… She opened the prayer, and a hoarse, desperate plea echoed around the pond:
“Please, Lord Demon, no… it was the butler… spare me!”
“Your goddess hasn’t answered you even as you scream like that… Does she enjoy hearing a worthless mutt like you scream?”…
What was this? The Goddess of Life narrowed her eyes. A demon dared cause trouble in her domain?!
In the next scene, the one who prayed was hurled into the air and impaled.
Blood splattered onto the goddess’s portrait, and the final frame froze on the demon’s face. But—
The demon’s features were obscured!
“Anti-detection? That’s at least a mid-tier demon!” the Goddess of Life muttered, gritting her teeth.
It had only been a little over a century since the last demon hunt, and already these creatures were getting out of hand again.
Because of the anti-detection ability, the demon in the vision appeared as a dark-red mass, abstract and shapeless, like a pool of exploded blood.
At its center was a single deep, eerie black eye— it was undoubtedly a Blood Demon!
The Goddess of Life gently stroked the multicolored gemstone necklace on her wrist.
In the next instant, a rainbow beam shot straight down from the sky above Deya City.
Clouds gathered and transformed into a hazy face— her own, though indistinct.
“Look up at the sky!”
“The goddess— our goddess has descended!”
“It’s been over a hundred years, and the goddess has finally returned to Deya City!”…
Everyone except for those deep in the underground labyrinth fell to their knees and worshipped the sky.
A transparent beam of light soon descended into the city’s central plaza and quickly expanded outward.
Meanwhile, in a military camp fifty kilometers from Deya City, a knight clad head to toe in gleaming silver armor received a divine oracle:
“The Blood Demon runs rampant. Dispatch a demon-hunting squad to Deya City.”
Five seconds later, a divine-tier barrier enveloped Deya City, sealing it entirely.
Only after all this did the Goddess of Life turn to look at the crowds below— and noticed that the entrance to Deya City’s underground labyrinth had opened.
“The labyrinth? Didn’t I seal it up secretly? Has the seal weakened over time?”
Because many heretical writings from “players” were carved deep within the underground labyrinth, the five major gods of the human faction had sealed numerous dungeons across their domains to maintain control.
“Too much adventurous spirit isn’t always a good thing. Maybe I should just bury the whole thing.”
……
“Tell me, Truth— does the Blood Demon described in the books actually exist?”
“Probably extinct by now. Bit too hard to use.”
“What about the Shadow Demon— the kind that hides in someone else’s shadow?”
“That one’s too weak. Nobody bothers with it.”
“I don’t get it. Oh, and also…”
At the pitch-black entrance to the underground labyrinth, Suna and her three companions followed the faintly glowing mineral veins along the walls, slowly making their way deeper.
They were the second group of students to enter the dungeon.
The labyrinth was a complex structure with upper, middle, and lower levels, and three bosses.
Since the records of this dungeon were ancient, the Adventurer’s Guild had decided to let most of the first-tier academy students explore the safer side paths to map the area, while second-tier official adventurers hunted the monsters near the main corridors.
“Seriously though, scouting and killing weaklings is so boring. We already did enough of that in the Mist.”
Suna sighed. But what could she do? She was just a first-tier mage.
Only those with second-tier strength could go to the frontlines and fight elite monsters.
All they could do was clear out minor enemies along the side paths, mark the map, and look for any special junctions— earn points the slow and steady way, and hopefully graduate without incident.
“It really is boring. Would be great if an elite monster suddenly popped out and beat you guys half to death,” said Truth from the back of the group.
“Uh… that’s a bit much. I just want a little excitement, that’s all. Hey, Truth, look— there’s some ancient writing over there. Do you know what it says?”
Carved faintly into the floor ahead were a few simplified Chinese characters. Truth stepped forward for a look.
“‘Bull ahead’?”
Boom!
Suddenly, a powerful tremor shook the entire underground labyrinth.
The three others instinctively grabbed onto the walls for balance— Truth remained steady. Then came the crashing sound of collapse from behind.
“The entrance is caving in! Run forward!” Reg shouted. All four of them took off at full speed into the depths. But Truth felt something was off—she was sure this dungeon didn’t have a collapse event programmed in.
“Left, turn left—wait no, that’s a dead end. Go right, go right—no, that’s an elite monster’s territory!”
At the front, Reg skidded to a stop and drew his longsword as he came face-to-face with a confused minotaur elite monster… only to get a hard slap on the butt from Anderson, who didn’t slow down at all and darted past the monster.
“Idiot, who has time to fight monsters right now? Just run around it— it’s not even a stage boss!” Anderson shouted as he sped past. Suna and Truth also dashed by Reg without hesitation.
“Right, makes sense.” Reg sheathed his sword.
The minotaur elite, now seeing the collapse rapidly approaching, dropped its massive axe and suddenly charged forward— overtaking Anderson and the others.
“Damn, this elite monster’s fast!” Anderson exclaimed. Truth was stunned too— this was the first time she’d seen an elite monster smart enough to flee its own territory.
But they hadn’t gotten far when the minotaur suddenly noticed the floor beneath its feet starting to crack. Louder rumbling followed.
“Crap, the whole labyrinth’s collapsing— we’re about to fall to the next level!”
The entire structure began to tilt. As the cave crumbled, the four of them slid down the slope at full speed, dodging falling boulders along the way.
Rolling uncontrollably, Anderson shouted toward Truth:
“Truth! Got any protective spells?!”
“Nope!”
“I’ll give you 20 silver coins— don’t hold back on us, Miss Priest!”
“I really don’t have any!”
“I swear you’re lying—”
Before Anderson could finish, the back of his head slammed into a chunk of rubble ahead.
His vision went black, and he immediately lost consciousness.
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Tftc!