Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 509: The Secret Of The Whispering Valley [Part 2]

"We’re inside a Dungeon?" Finn asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Alex replied. "And this place is called the Whispering Dungeon."

After their battle with the Rock Cave Spiders, Alex decided to tell his comrades the truth about the ruin they had found.

With a frown, Finn crouched down and pressed his ear against the ground.

Fran did the same wordlessly, leaving Alex, Lumi, and Dim Dim to wonder what the two dwarves were doing.

"You’re right. This is indeed a dungeon," Finn confirmed a minute later. "To think that the Dwarven Ruins turned into one... This is not going to be easy."

Fran nodded in agreement. They had come to check the Ancient Ruins because she had been hearing it call out to her ever since their arrival in Solivane.

Finn could also detect dwarven ruins, but he hadn’t sensed this one as strong as his sister had.

"How can you tell that this place is a dungeon?" Lumi asked.

""It’s because of its heartbeat."""

Fran and Finn answered at the same time, but their answer clarified nothing for Lumi.

"Dungeons have hearts?" Lumi blinked in confusion.

"The Dungeon Core can be considered the heart of a dungeon," Fran explained. "No matter how deep a dungeon is, we dwarves can hear the fluctuations coming from the Dungeon Core. We refer to these fluctuations as the Dungeon’s Heartbeat."

Finn nodded. "We also confirmed that this dungeon has ten floors. We are only at the First Floor, yet we’re already fighting Rank 3 Monsters. I’m afraid this will not be an easy expedition."

The Dwarves had only come to investigate the Dwarven Ruin. However, now that the ruins had turned into a dungeon, they were wondering if they should continue their expedition or not.

Alex felt worried upon hearing their words, but then he remembered Lex was with them. An idea lit up in his mind and he immediately voiced it out.

"How about we try to dive in as deep as we can?" Alex proposed. "If things get really too hard to handle, we can just leave. Besides, if we’re really the first to discover this dungeon, we can always come back and bring more capable helpers with us."

Fran and Finn glanced at each other before nodding at the same time.

"It’s a good plan, Alex," Fran stated.

"Since we’ve come this far already, going back without exploring will feel like a waste of time," Finn commented.

Alex then glanced at Lumi, and the latter shrugged. If Alex wanted to explore the dungeon, then she would follow him. If he wanted to leave, she would leave with him. It was that simple.

As for Lex, the old man had a faint smile on his face.

"It’s been a long time since I last entered a dungeon," Lex commented. "I want to explore it a bit more as well."

With the strongest fighter in the group pushing for further exploration, Alex felt that they might be able to even reach the Tenth Floor.

"But we didn’t bring a lot of supplies with us," Finn pointed out. "Our food and water can only last us two days. If we want to explore for longer than that, we have no choice but to exit and get more supplies before returning."

"Food and water are not a problem." Alex grinned. "We have Dim Dim here. He will solve our food and water problems."

"Ahem!" Dim Dim proudly raised its body.

If they needed food, the Dim Sum God could just summon bamboo steamers filled with dumplings to feed everyone to their hearts’ content.

For water, it could buy stuff like Cola Cola from its God Shop. It wanted to share these drinks with its friends as well.

With food and water not being a problem, the group started their expedition with Alex at the lead.

He had a map with him, which made traversing the dungeon easier. Although most places were covered in black fog, the places they had visited were now visible to him.

Alex then activated the special function, Map of Forgotten Paths, which allowed him to see the locations of the treasures as well as hidden rooms on the floor that he was currently on.

There were two treasure chests on the First Floor, and he planned to take them back and ask Astrea to open them for him.

Besides, he had long agreed to share some of the treasures he would find in the Whispering Valley with her.

After finding the two treasure chests, Alex led their party to the staircase that led to the Second Floor.

At first, everyone thought that Alex just got lucky when he found the treasure chests. But when he also easily found the way to the Second Floor, they were starting to think that he had some very useful ability for dungeon exploration.

As soon as they entered the Second Floor, Fran’s and Finn’s expressions suddenly changed.

"What’s wrong?" Alex noticed that the two dwarves seemed to have sensed something.

"There’s a faint smell of blood in the air," Lex commented. "We might be in the domain of Blood Beasts."

"You’re quite impressive, old man," Finn said with a smile. "Ordinary humans can’t pick up this scent. Are you perhaps some kind of unknown expert?"

Lex chuckled after hearing Finn’s praise. "Indeed. I used to be a very famous person in the past. But now I’m just a blind old man who needs to make a living to survive."

The corner of Alex’s lips twitched at the old knight’s attempt to be humble. However, Lex wasn’t able to hide the big grin on his face after being praised by the younger generation.

Suddenly, Alex saw a red blinking dot headed towards them, prompting him to warn the others.

"Now, that is one nasty looking creature," Finn said as he firmly gripped the handle of his War Axe.

"You’re right," Lumi commented. "But as expected, it’s another Spider-Type Monster."

Alex wasn’t able to see what everyone was seeing, so he grabbed the orb of light that was floating on top of his head and hurled it at the spot everyone was eyeing warily.

It was then when he saw a two-meter tall red spider and wondered if he shouldn’t have been so curious.

———

< Bloodlace Arachne >

"Its shell is a walking chalice, every strike spills more fuel for its fury."

Monster Rank: Rank 4

Monster Grade: Rare

Attribute: Blood / Toxic

Species: Crimson Widow Spider

Type: Blood Beast

Health: 10,420 / 10,900

Attack: 820 – 1,200

Active Skills:

Bloodburst Spit – Fires a corrosive glob of blood-acid.

Venomlash Leap – Leaps onto a target, dealing multiple rapid bites.

Carapace Shatter Charge – Cracks its own hardened shell to unleash a high-damage tackle.

Passive Skills:

Hemotoxin Surge – Increases damage the lower its HP becomes. Has a high chance of dealing critical damage with each strike.

———

"Oh sh*t..." Alex cursed after his appraisal skill activated.

This wasn’t his first time seeing this type of monster. He had fought them many times in the game since they were common in dungeons and even in the open world.

The most annoying ability of this spider was its Hemotoxin Surge.

He recalled some of his team members dying to this beast when victory was within grasp. Its attacks were the deadliest when it was closest to death, making it an incredibly dangerous monster that could wipe out an entire party if not handled properly.