Cyrus walked up to the light screen. After a brief hesitation, he finally chose to sit down cross-legged.
Not on his knees.
Greer watched him quietly without speaking.
Honestly, he was not surprised at all.
Even locked inside this prison-like stone room, even after having his most wretched and defeated state seen by outsiders, Cyrus would not throw away the last scraps of his dignity.
Greer lightly rested his hand on his cane, his gaze falling on the pale-blue light screen before him.
It looked thin.
So thin it did not seem capable of stopping anything.
But Greer had no intention of testing it himself.
After all, the best example was right in front of him.
Cyrus stayed silent for a moment before slowly speaking.
“I concede.”
In the stone room next door, Blake abruptly raised his head.
“Captain—”
“Shut up.”
Cyrus did not even turn his head.
Blake’s words jammed in his throat, and his expression grew even uglier.
Greer, however, did not relax his guard just because of that sentence.
“Admitting defeat doesn’t wipe away what you’ve done.”
“I know.”
Cyrus answered quickly. There was no excuse on his face, nor any attempt to act pitiful.
That raised Greer’s opinion of him slightly.
Only slightly.
“If this dungeon is willing to let us out, I swear I won’t go after its core again.”
Greer raised an eyebrow, his tone carrying a trace of surprise.
“That’s it? Cyrus, you and your people have to leave Blackstone Town.”
“Guildmaster, you need to understand one thing first.”
Cyrus lifted his eyes, his tone calm enough to feel cold.
“That assumes we can get out.”
Greer fell silent for an instant.
So that was it.
These people did not even know how long they would be locked up.
The dungeon had not killed them, had not tortured them, and had even given them food and water.
But it had not let them off easily either.
Separated. Confined. Kept alive.
That was not something any dungeon would do.
At least, not any dungeon he knew of.
Greer studied Cyrus again.
“This time, you still went straight for the core?”
Cyrus did not answer.
But his silence was already clear enough.
Greer nodded.
“Fine. I know your methods. I’ll ask a few questions. You answer honestly.”
“Ask.”
Greer nodded, then spoke in a low voice.
“After you came back, did anything feel wrong?”
Cyrus frowned slightly, as if he had not expected that to be the first question.
“Other than dizziness, no.”
Greer noted that down and did not pursue it further.
Now was not the time to investigate the cost of resurrection.
“What happened the first time all of you died?” Greer asked. “According to Rayne’s information, the gatekeeper at that time should not have been able to stop you.”
Cyrus’s expression sank.
“The gatekeeper was strong, but if it had been alone, it really couldn’t have stopped us.”
He paused, as if even now, he still found that scene absurd.
“But when we successfully suppressed it, two more bosses came out from the fog gate. One wielded two swords, and the other should have been Bonecrusher.”
The cell area suddenly went quiet.
Rayne’s expression changed.
Tyren took a step forward despite himself.
“Wait,” Tyren said. “You’re saying Bonecrusher and the dual-blade boss both went to support the gatekeeper?”
“Yes.”
Tyren opened his mouth, but in the end, he only cursed.
“Damn it.”
Greer did not say anything, but his expression did not look good either.
Bosses crossing territories to support each other.
And two bosses had supported the gatekeeper at the same time.
Greer had lived most of his life, and he had never heard of anything like this.
Monsters inside dungeons each had their own territory. Bosses especially so. Unless adventurers actively intruded, they almost never left their original positions.
But Blackstone Dungeon had seemed to know someone was rushing straight toward the core, so it had moved the bosses stationed elsewhere over one by one.
Too strange.
That was no longer something that could be explained as “monsters being attracted by noise” or “bosses wandering by coincidence.”
This dungeon was responding to them.
Greer’s fingers tightened on the head of his cane.
In that instant, he even had an absurd illusion.
As if deep inside this dungeon, there was an opponent capable of thought.
Greer stayed silent for a moment, then continued asking,
“And now? Why are you in there?”
Cyrus spat to the side.
“How would I know? We died, and then we woke up here. How am I supposed to know why?”
“How did you all die this time? Were you surrounded by bosses again?”
Tyren asked before he could stop himself.
Cyrus glared at him, then irritably scratched his hair.
“You think I’m an idiot? This time, we planned to deal with the other bosses first before facing the gatekeeper.”
“The gatekeeper came out?”
Greer asked in a low voice.
Cyrus shook his head.
“No.”
He paused, and his expression grew even uglier.
“We dealt with Bonecrusher smoothly. But...”
Cyrus clenched his teeth, anger pressing beneath his voice.
“It didn’t drop anything.”
Greer’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Nothing?”
“No magic crystal. No equipment. No token.”
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Cyrus said coldly,
“We killed it, and other than removing one threat, we got nothing out of it.”
Greer did not speak immediately.
When Rayne’s party defeated Bonecrusher, he had personally seen the drops.
Magic crystal. Equipment. Token.
Blackstone Dungeon was not without rewards.
It simply had not given any rewards to Cyrus and his people.
“So you gave up on clearing the dual-blade boss and went straight to challenge the gatekeeper.”
“Yes.”
The corner of Cyrus’s eye twitched faintly.
“Then we all died again.”
The cell area went silent for an instant.
Tyren looked as if he wanted to ask something, but after seeing Cyrus’s expression, he swallowed the words back down.
Cyrus took a deep breath.
“The gatekeeper got stronger again. When we went in this morning, it was probably at Upper Bronze-level strength. By the time we went in again, it had already reached Peak Bronze-level strength.”
Greer tightened his fingers around the head of his cane.
That was not good news.
The gatekeeper of a low-level dungeon had still been at Lower Bronze-level strength a week ago. Now, it had already become Peak Bronze-level.
And what truly concerned Greer was not the speed of its growth, but the timing.
It had grown stronger only after Cyrus’s party failed their first direct rush toward the core.
That made it very hard to treat as coincidence.
“Wait.” Rayne spoke before he could stop himself. “You said the gatekeeper got stronger? You’re sure?”
Cyrus glanced at him.
“I’m not blind.”
Rayne did not argue.
Because he knew that question had been somewhat stupid.
Greer asked in a deep voice, “During your second challenge against the gatekeeper, did the remaining dual-blade boss go to support it?”
“No.”
Cyrus answered quickly.
Greer narrowed his eyes slightly.
“No?”
“No.”
Cyrus’s expression became even uglier.
He seemed very unwilling to admit what came next.
But in the end, he still gritted his teeth and said it.
“There was no need.”
The cell area fell quiet.
This time, even Tyren did not immediately cut in.
Everyone understood.
The second time, there had been no boss support.
Only the gatekeeper.
And Cyrus’s party had still been wiped out.
Tyren opened his mouth. In the end, he only cursed under his breath.
“That’s way too ridiculous...”
No one refuted him.
Because it really was ridiculous.
Greer did not speak right away.
He only looked at Cyrus behind the light screen, watched him sitting inside that narrow stone room while still holding up the last bit of composure he had left.
After quite a while, Greer finally withdrew his gaze.
“Enough.”
Rayne turned to look at him.
“Guildmaster?”
“Asking more now would only mean hearing his side of the story.”
Greer leaned on his cane and turned toward the depths of the canyon.
“We’ll see for ourselves.”
Cyrus lifted his eyes.
“You’re not going to try getting us out?”
Greer stopped and looked back at him.
“This dungeon didn’t kill you, didn’t torture you, and even gave you food.”
His gaze swept over the wooden tray and cup on the stone table.
“At least for now, you’re living better than plenty of people in real prisons.”
A low curse came from Blake’s side.
Greer ignored him.
“I don’t know what will happen if I attack this light screen. Besides, for now, it’s better that you stay inside.”
Cyrus fell silent.
Greer looked back at him, his voice still calm.
“You had better pray Blackstone Dungeon really only intends to lock you up for a while.”
After saying that, he did not linger.
Rayne and the others followed behind him, walking from the canyon entrance toward the depths.
Only when their footsteps gradually faded did the cell area quiet down again.
◆ ◆ ◆
After leaving the canyon entrance, Rayne could not help glancing back.
“Guildmaster, do you think Blackstone Dungeon is targeting them?”
“No need to think.”
Greer did not stop walking.
“It already has.”
As soon as those words came out, everyone felt a chill crawl up their spines.
Tyren instinctively tightened his grip on his shortbow, his gaze sweeping across the cliffs on both sides and the fog gate ahead.
There was clearly nothing there.
Yet for some reason, at that moment, he suddenly felt as if the entire dungeon were watching them.
When they reached the first Desiccated Convict standing blankly in place, Tyren, who was walking slightly behind the others, suddenly stopped.
His gaze passed over the Desiccated Convict’s shoulder and landed on an inconspicuous corner not far away.
“Wait.”
Tyren raised a hand and pointed in that direction.
“Look over there.”
Everyone followed where he was pointing.
In that dim corner, a small section of something brown was exposed.
It looked more like...
The corner of a wooden chest.
Tyren’s eyes immediately lit up.
“That’s a treasure chest, right?”
He lowered his voice, but he still could not hide the excitement in his tone.
However, Tyren did not rush forward recklessly.
He did not think the area around a treasure chest was guaranteed to be safe.
Maybe there was a trap buried there.
Maybe what was inside the chest was not treasure at all, but some damn thing that could bite.
Rayne had originally been about to stop him.
But when he saw Tyren only standing in place without the slightest intention of going forward, he froze instead.
Then he grinned.
“Boss, what’s so funny?”
Rayne reached out and ruffled Tyren’s hair.
“Nothing.”
He withdrew his hand, a few traces of relief entering his voice.
“You did great, Tyren.”
Only after they cleared the nearby Desiccated Convicts did they truly walk up to the treasure chest.
It was an ordinary wooden chest.
At least, it looked ordinary.
No exaggerated metal decorations. No embedded gemstones. It did not even have a lock. It simply sat quietly in the dark corner, as if someone had casually placed it there.
But the more ordinary it looked, the less willing anyone was to reach out carelessly.
Tyren crouched beside it and stared for a long time before finally looking up at Rayne.
Rayne looked at Barton.
Barton lowered his head to look at his shield, then looked at the chest.
Serin silently took half a step back.
Asar simply folded his arms around his sword and stood to the side without offering an opinion.
For a moment, they all looked at one another.
In the end, Tyren whispered,
“So... who opens it?”
Barton immediately said,
“Don’t ask me.”
Tyren’s eyes widened.
“Aren’t you the shield guy?”
“I don’t want to get bitten.”
Tyren was speechless for a moment.
Rayne let out a low laugh.
Greer stood at the side, watching these young people who were clearly nervous yet still able to joke with one another, and his gaze softened slightly.
But very soon, he looked back at the wooden chest.
“Don’t rush.”
He lightly tapped the ground with his cane.
“First, confirm whether it really is just a treasure chest.”
Barton gave a very soft sigh. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
He raised his shield and slowly walked up beside the treasure chest.
Tyren muttered quietly at the side,
“Didn’t you just say you didn’t want to get bitten?”
Barton stopped, and the corner of his eye twitched faintly.
A moment later, he placed his shield horizontally in front of Tyren.
Tyren immediately rubbed his head and laughed dryly.
“My bad, my bad.”
After saying that, he very tactfully retreated a few steps.
“I’ll leave it to you, Barton!”
Barton did not turn around.
“Shut up.”
But his shield still remained firmly in front of the treasure chest.
Rayne slowly walked over from the side.
He did not reach out directly. Instead, he removed his sheathed sword from his waist and half-crouched behind Barton.
“Don’t lower the shield.”
Barton answered in a low voice, and the shield pressed a little farther forward.
Rayne gripped the end of the scabbard and used the tip to press against the edge of the treasure chest’s lid.
Everyone subconsciously held their breath.
A moment later, he applied slight force with his wrist.
The wooden chest’s lid was slowly pried open bit by bit.
No arrows shot out.
No poison fog sprayed out.
And no tooth-filled damn thing lunged out from inside.
Tyren quietly leaned over and poked his head closer.
“...Looks like it doesn’t bite.”
Barton glanced at him and could not be bothered to respond.
Inside the chest, a longsword lay quietly.
The scabbard was plain, and the guard had no ornate decoration. It did not look like some high-level magic weapon.
But it was too complete.
So complete it almost did not seem like something found inside a dungeon.
Rayne reached out and took out the longsword.
The instant his fingers touched the hilt, a faint light screen suddenly appeared before everyone.
[Lovenhill Standard Longsword]
[Standard-issue equipment forged by the blacksmiths of the Kingdom of Lovenhill according to unified specifications. It has no ornate decoration or exaggerated enchantments, but its materials are solid, and it is far more reliable than longswords made by ordinary small workshops. It is already more than enough for Upper Black Iron-rank adventurers. Even newly promoted Bronze-rank adventurers can use it in combat for a time.]
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Tyren blinked.
“Lovenhill?”
Barton frowned.
“Never heard of it.”
Serin also shook her head.
“I never saw that name on any Church map.”
Asar rubbed his chin, his expression somewhat hesitant.
“Kingdom standard-issue equipment... But among the nearby kingdoms, there’s no place called Lovenhill.”
Rayne looked at Greer.
Greer did not answer right away.
He stared at the light screen for quite a while, his brows slowly furrowing.
He had lived a long life, and he had been to quite a few places. He had also seen equipment from many regions.
But the name Lovenhill was one he truly had never heard before.
Even stranger, the description on the light screen sounded far too certain.
As if what it described really was a kingdom that had existed for a long time, and a piece of standard-issue equipment widely known to others.
Tyren asked quietly,
“Could it be somewhere really far away?”
Greer was silent for a moment. In the end, he only said in a low voice,
“Write it down first.”
His gaze returned to the longsword.
“No matter where Lovenhill is, at least this sword is real.”
Rayne held the longsword and tried giving it a light swing.
The blade was not exactly light, but it had a stable center of balance. When swung, it felt solid and smooth in his hand.
Compared to the refined-iron longswords they had seen in small-town blacksmith shops before, this weapon was clearly more reliable.
“It really is a good sword,” Rayne said in a low voice.
Greer looked at the longsword, but he did not immediately nod.
What surfaced in his mind was what Cyrus had said earlier.
No drops.
After Bonecrusher disappeared, it had left nothing behind.
And yet now, inside an ordinary treasure chest, a complete standard-issue longsword like this was quietly waiting.
Blackstone Dungeon was not without rewards.
It simply had not given them to people like Cyrus.
Greer’s gaze darkened bit by bit.
“Looks like this dungeon is more selective than we thought.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Inside the Core Chamber, Owen watched Rayne and the others carefully approach the treasure chest and burst out laughing.
“Hahaha, I didn’t even put a trap in there. Do you really need to be that nervous?”
He watched Barton raise his shield, watched Rayne use his scabbard to slowly pry open the lid, and watched Tyren quietly lean in to peek. The more he watched, the more interesting he found it.
It was clearly just an ordinary equipment treasure chest, yet those people were treating it like they were disarming some dangerous mechanism.
But that was exactly how it should be.
“Hmph, this is how a normal party should react when they see a treasure chest! The ones who ignore them completely are the real bastards!”
Owen gave a smug snort.
But a moment later, he suddenly fell quiet.
Treasure chest.
Trap.
Owen’s core brightened faintly.
“...That might work.”
He casually made a note on the management interface.
[New Memo: Treasure Chest Traps]
After writing it down, Owen stared at those words for two seconds.
As for exactly how he would make it work, he could slowly think about that later.
For now, he would write it down first so he would not forget later.
The most important thing right now was not letting these trivial matters disturb him from watching Rayne and the others open the treasure chest.
When Rayne took the longsword out of the chest, Owen’s core immediately brightened noticeably.
“There it is, there it is!”
He looked at the plain but complete longsword, and his mood improved quite a bit.
This was a proper reward he had specially prepared.
Although it was not any high-level equipment, it would definitely be enough for them to use for a while.
When the item light screen appeared and Rayne and the others began staring at the name “Lovenhill” in silence, Owen’s core trembled with excitement again.
“Hmph! That’s right, you don’t know!”
Owen said proudly,
“If you want the answer, then hurry up and beat The Whisperer. Go explore the world beyond the Bronze Gate...”
As he spoke, Owen’s voice gradually faded.
He remembered the area beyond the Bronze Gate that had not truly unfolded yet.
Then he remembered the little dirt mound that was only half-built.
He immediately felt somewhat guilty.
“It’s all because I don’t have enough Soul Energy!”
Owen gritted his teeth and said in a low voice,
“Otherwise, I would have expanded the outside world ages ago!”
But none of that mattered for now.
What mattered was that after Rayne picked up the sword, a satisfied smile really had appeared on his face.
Seeing that, Owen suddenly felt that the energy he had just spent did not hurt quite as much anymore.
Rayne and the others did not know.
Their caution at this moment had given a certain petty dungeon core a brand-new idea.
As for how many adventurers that idea would make suspicious of treasure chests in the future, that was a different matter entirely.