Continuing to move deeper into the empty monster stronghold located inside the small mountain, Scaly couldn’t help silently cursing the dungeon core in her head as she looked at the different hallways and tunnels that had already been decorated and looked like they were being occupied. From a glance, it was clear that the monster stronghold should have been filled to the brim with monsters, but the dungeon core had seemingly stopped midway before creating the required monsters to fill up the space, something she had grown too familiar with over the past few hours and had originally hoped she wouldn’t see again.
The reason why the dungeon core crated these monster strongholds in the first place and even placed a few guarding monsters outside without creating the countless monsters that should normally live within these monster strongholds was a mystery, though Scaly herself had already guessed that it might have to do with it being far more expensive and difficult to create monster compared to creating something like a monster stronghold. Essentially allowing the dungeon core to skip through the process and present a finished product on the outside while it focused on finishing the rest of the ninth floor.
In a way, it was different from how Verdell had described the core of the ninth floor, as he had made it seem like this part of the dungeon had already been completed and it would be easy for her to find a group of powerful monsters to hunt down while she waited for him to return from his little trip to the dungeon core.
It was finished so to say, but the monsters that should have been around were missing. Leaving Scaly to grow increasingly annoyed with the dungeon core itself the more time she ended up wasting exploring these empty monster strongholds that should have been brimming with life.
If anything, it made her understand that the only real way for her to gain experience from hunting monsters was to focus on those who roamed outside of the monster strongholds that were visible to the naked eye and couldn’t be skipped over by the dungeon core. In fact, she had already decided to focus on those monsters roaming outside after she finished searching through this monster stronghold.
Even if she had ended up wasting a bit of time on these monster strongholds, she didn’t feel too bad about it knowing that she should be able to speed up her progress after confirming the lack of monsters within this monster strong hold-
Huh? What is that...?
Or that was at east what she wanted to do, but as she was about to turn around and conclude this monster stronghold to be a lost cause as well, she suddenly discovered the hallway before her had seemingly collapse with a large hole having formed in the middle of it leading down below the monster stronghold’s lowest mountain tunnels.
If that was it alone, she wouldn’t have been that interested in this suddenly appearing hole, but outside of it just being a hole leading down below the monster stronghold, she could distinctly hear what sounded like countless monsters moving around down below. Making her feel a sense of growing excitement, as she realized that there was a very real chance that the monsters of this monster stronghold had all somehow ended up falling down this mysterious hole and ended up beneath the monster stronghold, thus leaving it in its current empty state.
Okay... She understood that didn’t really sound convincing, but se was intent on making sure to make her now close to twenty-minute-long search through the empty monster stronghold seem as useful as possible.
So what if it wasn’t really the case and the monster below weren’t from the empty monster stronghold? If she believed it, then it was the case and her previous two searches of empty monster strongholds had only ended up failing because she had been unable to find the hole that the monsters of those monster strongholds had ended up falling into.
Who knew, she might even get lucky and run into the monsters of those two monster strongholds down there. Making up for the time she had wasted in the past.
Whoosh~
Having convinced herself that the monster from all three of the monster strongholds she had searched through had somehow ended up falling into different holes in the ground that were all connected and would thus allow her to sweep through all of them without having to return to those empty monster strongholds, Scaly happily descended down the mysterious hole that had appeared in the middle of the hallway carved into the mountain. The hallway in question and even the countless tunnels throughout the monster stronghold, having been more than large enough to accommodate a dragon her size, as the mysterious hole in the middle of the hallway was no different, being more than large enough to accommodate her. Allowing her to easily descend through it without any problems.
The only problem, if there were any, was the fact that everything was dark to the point where even someone normally able to see in the dark like Scaly found it difficult to see anything beyond a few meters around her. Completely different from the underground floors of dungeons that she had grown used to, as there would normally be a few light crystals scattered around through the underground tunnels and caves. Making it simple enough to see her surroundings.
Still, it didn’t take her long to realize why everything had suddenly grown dark, as it was clear that it was another one of the dungeon core’s cost saving measures.
While the monster stronghold above didn’t have any monsters, it did at least have some basic lighting throughout and now that monsters were around, this small cost had been skimped on by the dungeon core that had made it awfully clear by now that it had no intention of creating monsters unless absolutely necessary.
Then again, the presence of these monsters that wouldn’t normally be visible also made it clear that they had been placed there for some reason, as there was no way the dungeon core would recklessly decide to construct an entire underground section for the ninth floor of the dungeon for no reason. Especially considering how clearly strapped for resources it was.
To be honest, it made Scaly feel quite excited thinking about what she might end up finding, though before she could start seriously exploring the underground world that had been created beneath the surface of the ninth floor of the dungeon for some unknown reason, she first had to get her eyes used to the perpetual darkness the underground of the ninth floor found itself engulfed in.
After all, without getting used to the darkness down below, she understood full well that she ran the risk of being ambushed by the locals who had undoubtedly adapted to the dark environment and lack of light. If anything, she had a feeling that she might end up being targeted by the locals the second she reached the bottom of the mysterious hole and officially stepped into the underground world of the ninth floor if they realized her weakness.
Thud~
For this reason, before moving pat what looked like a cutoff point between the mysterious hole and the massive underground space beneath the empty monster stronghold above, Scaly came to a stop as she lingered around the edge where light still managed to stream through a illuminate part of the dark underground world.
[Shadow Magic Mushroom, lvl 114]
[Description: A mushroom that has grown in perpetual darkness for over a hundred years in a mana rich environment before gaining sentience. Known for their cunning ability to blend in with their surroundings and make themselves seem harmless on the surface. Able to use Dark Magic and Shadow Magic.]
[Black Nest Spider, lvl 13]
[Description: The black nest spider is one of the most common kind of spiders found living in places entirely devoid of light. Living off mana alone, if left unchecked, they can grow into massive colonies of millions. Turning into a disaster waiting to erupt.]
[Black Shadow Snake, lvl 135]
[Description: An entirely black snake who blends in with the darkness so well that even other monsters living within the darkness fail to spot it slithering around. Known amongst adventurers as one of the most terrifying ambush monsters at the S Rank when exploring the dark world underground.]
[Frog of Eternal Darkness...]
Observing the different monsters, she could see from the edge of the hole moving around down below, it didn’t take her long to understand the general strength of the monsters down below. Understanding that while they were strong, they were something she couldn’t deal with given her current strength.
Although... They did look rather annoying to deal with, as even with her ability to inspect them and see where they were, she still couldn’t see them. Especially that snake. Even while moving around, it remained completely invisible to her...