Chapter 30: Hidden Dungeon — The Lost Princess!
Lin Tianhao could only hope he was overthinking things — because if he wasn't, his current situation was far from optimistic.
The Old Village Chief was already suspicious of him. He had originally believed that sparing the old drunkard would earn Wang the Blacksmith's trust.
His subsequent interactions with Wang the Blacksmith had also led Lin Tianhao to feel that the man had, at least to some degree, begun to trust him.
But if today's encounter with the Old Village Chief here had truly been engineered by Wang the Blacksmith all along...
Then that was truly terrifying.
Before he even reached the mine entrance, the old drunkard suddenly appeared.
"Snow Emperor."
The old drunkard looked at Lin Tianhao. "I was originally waiting for you near the cliff."
"But the Old Village Chief showed up out of nowhere, so I had to hide."
Lin Tianhao let out a small sigh of relief.
"So what do we do next?"
"Find the Icefyre Demon Ore."
The old drunkard said seriously, "There are three pieces of Icefyre Demon Ore in the novice village in total. The first one has already gone missing."
"The remaining two should be somewhere around here."
Lin Tianhao nodded. That Icefyre Demon Ore came with a Platinum-grade necklace as a reward.
To say Lin Tianhao wasn't tempted would be a lie.
But abandoning everything he had been scheming for just to get a Platinum-grade necklace — that was not something Lin Tianhao was willing to do.
And so, for the time being...
Lin Tianhao and the old drunkard began searching the area.
Looking at the situation now, there was a high probability that a hidden dungeon existed somewhere in this mine.
The only problem was that Lin Tianhao had no memory of how to unlock the hidden dungeon here.
But there had to be a way.
For instance, he could try looking for clues on the Stone Beetle King.
After all, the monsters inhabiting this mine were Stone Beetles.
With that thought in mind...
Lin Tianhao began farming Stone Beetles.
As always, he could only gain HP — no experience points.
By now, Lin Tianhao had grown completely used to it.
Leveling up was the easiest thing in the world for him.
What he wanted was to squeeze every last drop of value out of the novice village while also boosting his HP as high as possible.
"Ding — Due to your mass slaughter of Stone Beetles, you have disturbed the Stone Beetle King lurking deep within the mine. It will arrive on the battlefield in five minutes."
Lin Tianhao felt a flicker of anticipation.
The Icefyre Demon Ore was probably connected to the Stone Beetle King.
Five minutes later...
A massive Stone Beetle King with a dark-crimson shell came lumbering toward him.
Stone Beetle King (Iron-Grade): Level 8.
HP: 81,520 / 81,520.
Attack: 215.
Skills: Rockfall, Stone Shield, Terrifying Roar, Stone Cannonball, Petrified Skin.
Lin Tianhao gave the Stone Beetle King's stats a single glance, then launched into a relentless barrage of attacks.
Critical hit...
-4,918!!
His very first arrow landed a critical hit.
The damage figure was absurdly high.
On top of that, with the Nine-Harmony Longbow's bonus, Lin Tianhao's Attack Speed had reached 4.63 — dealing roughly twenty thousand damage per second.
The Stone Beetle King had barely over eighty thousand HP. It didn't even last five seconds before it was slain.
"Ding — You have slain the Stone Beetle King. EXP +859. Because you have not left the novice village, experience points cannot be obtained."
Lin Tianhao didn't care. He went straight to looting the corpse.
"Ding — You have obtained 3 pieces of equipment."
"Ding — You have obtained 1 Skill Book."
"Ding — You have obtained Stone Beetle King's Eyeball ×1."
"Ding — You have obtained Gold Coins +1."
Lin Tianhao raised an eyebrow. He stared at the Stone Beetle King's eyeball, and a certain location suddenly came to mind — one that seemed to match this eyeball perfectly.
The depths of the mine!
Lin Tianhao made his way to a stone wall deep inside. In the corner of the wall was an inconspicuous hollow groove.
If you looked carefully, you'd notice the groove was a perfect fit for the Stone Beetle King's eyeball.
Lin Tianhao placed the eyeball into the groove.
The stone wall immediately began to rotate, eventually forming a glowing gate to a dungeon.
"Ding — You have unlocked the hidden dungeon: The Lost Princess."
"Ding — You have unlocked a hidden dungeon. A Server Announcement is about to be broadcast. Do you wish to hide your name?"
"Hide it."
Things in the novice village hadn't settled down yet, and Lin Tianhao had to consider what the Old Village Chief and the others might think.
"Server Announcement: Congratulations to the player [Hidden Name] for unlocking the hidden dungeon — The Lost Princess! Free attribute points +5. We encourage all players to keep up the great work!"
"Server Announcement: Congratulations to the player [Hidden Name] for unlocking the hidden dungeon — The Lost Princess! Free attribute points +5. We encourage all players to keep up the great work!"
Lin Tianhao raised an eyebrow and stepped through the glowing gate.
The dungeon difficulty selection screen appeared before him.
"Hell difficulty."
Without a moment's hesitation.
Lin Tianhao chose Hell difficulty once again.
This setting was virtually impossible for the average player to complete.
He entered the dungeon.
Lin Tianhao found himself still inside the mine.
The mine was dim and shadowy. Up ahead, Lin Tianhao spotted small zombies appearing one after another!
Holy shit!
The novice village actually had undead monsters!
Undead monsters typically didn't appear in large numbers until the mid-game. If they showed up early, it was usually in relatively high-level dungeons.
Small Zombie (Elite-grade): Level 8.
HP: 10,800 / 10,800.
Attack: 95.
Skills: Reckless Charge, Iron Skin, Bite.
Not weak by any means.
Lin Tianhao struck without hesitation.
The Small Zombie's Iron Skin was nothing but decoration against Lin Tianhao.
After all, his damage was true damage.
-2,250!
A massive damage number appeared.
And that was without a critical hit.
Terrifying was the only word for it.
Combined with Lin Tianhao's overwhelming output, the Small Zombies were cut down before they could even get close.
More and more Small Zombies appeared, but Lin Tianhao handled them the same way as always — kiting and attacking.
As long as his damage was high enough, these Small Zombies were nothing but decoration.
The first stage was cleared by Lin Tianhao without the slightest pressure.
On to the second stage.
In addition to Small Zombies, green-furred zombies also appeared, with noticeably improved stats.
But they still couldn't stop Lin Tianhao's advance.
The third stage.
Lin Tianhao had barely arrived when — just like in the Twisted Jungle — he was faced with four Iron-Grade bosses.
Purple-Furred Zombie (Iron-Grade): Level 8.
HP: 158,200 / 158,200.
Attack: 512.
Skills: Reckless Charge, Iron Skin, Bite, Spinning Shred, Corpse Aura Miasma.
Lin Tianhao furrowed his brow slightly. The Purple-Furred Zombie's HP was decent, but its other stats and skills seemed fairly ordinary.
Just as he was thinking that, all four Purple-Furred Zombies simultaneously activated Corpse Aura Miasma.
A massive cloud of Corpse Aura surged toward Lin Tianhao from all directions.
"Ding — You have been affected by Corpse Aura. Your body is beginning to stiffen. Move Speed reduced by 50%. Attack Speed reduced by 50%."
At the same time, damage numbers began appearing above Lin Tianhao's head.
-299.
-299.
The damage ticks came in rapid succession — four times per second.
Draining Lin Tianhao's HP by twelve hundred every second.
Even accounting for his HP regeneration, his health was still dropping by several hundred per second.
"Whoosh!"
Lin Tianhao made his move. He was not the type to sit back and wait for death.
"Bang!"
An arrow struck the head.
Critical hit!!
-4,548.