Chapter 209 -Blackrock Depths (Continued)
The Blackrock Depths entrance was situated within an underground mining cavern in the northern side of Deep Stone City. Legend told that a long time ago, it was the historical remains of a Dwarven Kingdom. However, in the eyes of everyone now, it was merely a large cave. Rhode led his men towards the entrance of the underground tunnel and saw two men dressed like mercenaries leaning lazily on a table with one elbow. They were playing cards and drinking beer, clearly not interested in doing their duty.
When Rhode let out a soft cough, their ears perked up and turned their heads sharply towards the sound.
“Mr. Rhode! Y-you’ve arrived… we are—”
One of the mercenaries quickly addressed Rhode nervously.
“I’m here to follow up on our bet. Have they returned to the surface?”
Rhode pointed to the underground entrance, and the two mercenaries looked at each other awkwardly and shook their heads.
“No, they haven’t, Mr. Rhode. We can assure you that no one came out.”
“Alright, so can I go in now?”
“Yes Mr. Rhode, as you wish.”
“Marlene.”
Rhode called and turned to Marlene.
“I need you to keep the Flame Shield up at all times like Lize had done. Prioritize yourself first before the rest of the group. This journey will be a long and arduous one, and we will face multiple dangerous situations. Both you and Lize should prepare yourselves mentally and distribute your spiritual energies reasonably.”
“Yes, Mr. Rhode.”
Hearing Rhode’s reminder, both of them nodded in response. Ever since they had followed Rhode, they knew that as long as he reminded them of something, it wouldn’t be redundant and will be crucial to the mission’s success. Thus, any information they received from Rhode would be treated of the highest importance.
“Ok, let’s go.”
Rhode turned back towards the steel gate and walked into the underground tunnel.
–
Inside the dark tunnel, there was only silence.
Rhode led the group at the front while Lize maintained her Holy Radiance at the rear. Beside her was Marlene, Anne, and also Celia. As per usual, Rhode would summon Celia for assistance. At this moment, she walked beside Rhode, furling her wings, not minding the mercenaries’ gazes from the back.
“…!”
Far away in the tunnel, a faint sound echoed.
Hearing this sound, Rhode clenched his fist into a ball.
It worked!
Previously, the reason why Rhode agreed to Barney’s conditions wasn’t solely because of conflicts of interest, in fact, when Rhode discovered this mission, his head throbbed incessantly over something troublesome — the characteristics of this dungeon. Compared to the mechanics of a regular dungeon, the Blackrock Depths was a somewhat unique experience. The first group to enter would trigger the sleeping BOSS and the monsters, and then the following group who entered would be able to clear the dungeon as per normal.
This setting caused a wave of unhappiness amongst the players who felt that this feature was unmeaningful. However, there were still some that felt that this was a reasonable development because it created an unexpected variable to an otherwise unremarkable dungeon. They felt that it was exciting because a BOSS wouldn’t appear every single time they triggered the instance which would be more challenging and realistic.
While not everyone agreed to this setting, there was nothing much that could be done as this was how the dungeon was established.
So, afterward, once they understood the mechanics, the players devised their own strategies to tackle this dungeon. By how you say? By stripping of course! They would strip down to their underwear and force the BOSS to spawn, get killed, respawn and then re-enter with their full gear on. There was another option though, — kill the boss through brute force. If the player were highly skilled and had extremely good gear, it would otherwise be nigh impossible to kill the BOSS in the first run.
During the first run, when the BOSS was summoned, monsters would appear from the rear of the BOSS, and if one weren’t powerful enough, there would be no way of defeating the BOSS and its monsters.
This was exactly the reason why Rhode hesitated to pick up this mission. He couldn’t possibly send his men to their grave, and the method to overpower the BOSS with overwhelming strength was out of the question as well.
However, Barney’s intervention resolved Rhode’s dilemma. Since the other party handed itself on a platter, then Rhode wouldn’t mind taking up their offer. Not to mention that he had already warned Barney. Alas, he didn’t listen to his advice and since that was the case, what else could Rhode say?
The only worry that lingered within Rhode’s mind was Barney being unable to trigger the BOSS, but from the sound of it, it seemed like he had successfully awakened it.
“Everyone, get ready for battle.”
Rhode quickly raised his hand and gave a command.