[Third Month.] [After two months of fighting and adaptation, your level has broken through again, reaching LV 16.] [This Gnoll body is stronger and more powerful than the previous crow, with sharp claws and teeth.] [By continuously challenging, defeating, and even devouring other Gnoll warriors, you quickly established prestige within the tribe.] [And today is the day you challenge the Gnoll Queen.] [The challenge takes place in the crude “Royal Court” where the tribe gathers, decorated with huge stalactites and beast bones.] [The Queen is a Boss-level magical beast.] [Her level is as high as LV 21, but the long simulations have brought your foundation to a very high level.] [How high?] [About three or four stories high.] [In short, you don’t even bat an eye at ordinary Boss-level magical beasts.] [“Roar—!!!”] [You stood on the Queen’s corpse, letting out a victorious roar to the sky.] [The surrounding Gnolls, male and female alike, after a brief silence, lowered their heads and let out whines of submission.] [Just as the euphoria of victory filled your mind, a cold, mysterious female voice directly sounded in your head.] [“Congratulations on your successful challenge.
You have become the new leader of the Gnoll tribe.”] [“Fulfill your duties, guard your treasure.”] [“Don’t let anyone…
defeat you.”] [The voice was devoid of emotion, like a pre-programmed prompt, and disappeared without a trace after speaking.] [You were stunned, your ears perked up and vigilantly swiveling, looking around.] [Only the burning torches crackled.] [“Who’s speaking?”] [You were startled by the sudden voice.] [But as you looked around, no one responded.] [“What the hell…”] Outside the simulation, Ray asked curiously, “System, who was that speaking?” System: “Most likely it’s an awareness left behind by the dungeon creator.
Its purpose is to maintain the operation of specific floors of the dungeon.” Ray sighed, “There’s actually something like that.” An awareness responsible for the entire dungeon’s operation?
Doesn’t that mean it holds the power of life and death over the entire dungeon?
After a brief shock, he continued watching the simulator.
[Suppressing the doubts in your heart, you accepted the tribe’s worship and moved into the Queen’s former residence.] [In the deepest part, you found the treasure mentioned by the “female voice”: an exquisite stone casket.] [This doesn’t look like something a Gnoll could make at all.] [Opening the stone casket, inside were dozens of neatly stacked gold coins, a dozen mid-grade magic crystals, and a single silver-white ring.] [You put the ring on your claw-finger, and a stream of information flowed into your mind.] [Ring of Miracles (Rare): A seemingly ordinary silver ring, yet imbued with a certain ‘miraculous’ power.] [Effect 1: Magic power recovery speed increased by 30%.] [Effect 2: Can actively activate ‘Miracle Shield’ once daily, generating a protective barrier with no blind spots, capable of blocking a single target attack no stronger than ‘Lord-level’ (approx.
LV 40).
Cooldown: Resets every dawn.] [Good stuff!] [You were overjoyed.] [Especially the once-daily life-saving shield, which is simply a divine artifact in battle.] [“With this, once I’ve absorbed these magic crystals and my strength improves further, I’ll go take out that Blazing Sun Great Lion on the other side and get its treasure!”] [You calculated thus.] [You had long since investigated the Blazing Lion pride in the Western Lava Zone.] [That male lion leader’s level was as high as LV 24, and its individual combat power far exceeded that of the Gnoll Queen.] [It was a very powerful Boss-level magical beast.] [Facing it now would probably be tough.] [After becoming the leader, you immediately issued your first command.] [Find a way to leave this damn fifth floor of the dungeon!] [You were truly fed up with this desolate little place.] [The little Gnolls were driven by you, roaming around the limited area of the fifth floor, exploring for possible secret passages or magic arrays.] [Of course, the position of leader was not without worries.] [In the history of the Gnoll tribe, there was almost no precedent for a male becoming leader.] [After all, females usually had an advantage in strength, cunning, and tribal rule.] [Soon, some female Gnoll warriors, confident in their strength, challenged you to a “Bloody Battle for Succession.”] [However, the outcome was without suspense.] [Possessing multiple talents, human combat intelligence, and the ring’s enhancement, you were far beyond what these magical beasts fighting with brute force could compare to.] [You won cleanly and decisively, even deliberately using cruel methods to deter future challengers.] [After a few times, challengers became extinct.] [Not only that, some female Gnolls’ gazes towards you began to change, from fear and defiance, gradually adding flattery and fawning.] [They would even strike some awkward, Gnoll-specific “seductive” poses in front of you.] [You had no interest in this, even feeling physical discomfort.] [Because you knew they had “style.”] [Fall for these smelly female Gnolls?] [“What a joke!”] [You immediately set strict rules: anyone who dared to try and harass the leader would be chopped into minced meat!] [And you actually tore a female Gnoll to pieces in front of the entire tribe!] [The bloody deterrence was immediate.
All inappropriate thoughts were suppressed by fear.] [Fourth Month.] [The escape plan made no progress.] [The little Gnolls had almost touched every inch of the stone walls on the fifth floor, but found nothing resembling an exit or a teleportation array.] [This area was like a completely enclosed prison.] [You used all the magic crystals from the treasure for cultivation, and your strength improved slightly, but there was still some distance to breaking through to LV 17.] [You started to get anxious.] [Fifth Month.] [You finally broke through to LV 17.] [But the increase in strength did not bring joy.
You sat dejectedly on the throne, your claws unconsciously tapping the armrest.] [“Am I really going to be trapped here until I die?”] [“Like the endless guardian monsters in dungeon legends, until overthrown by new adventurers?”] [You thought unwillingly.] [Your gaze inadvertently fell once again on the now empty treasure stone casket.] [With this treasure chest, you had already roughly figured out the situation of this dungeon.] [It was most likely a legacy type.] [Waiting for the adventurer who would inherit it to arrive…] [Wait…
adventurer…] [Suddenly, a flash of inspiration, like lightning, streaked across your mind!] [“Treasure…
guarding…
defeat leader…”] [“There’s only one way to leave the dungeon!”] [You abruptly stood up, your eyes flashing with excitement and realization!] [“Clear the dungeon!”] [You growled out this concept from your previous life’s games.] [“This is simply a standard dungeon level!
It has monsters, treasures, and even a ‘level boss’!”] [“To leave this floor, perhaps it’s not about finding some hidden exit, but rather—”] [“To defeat all the ‘BOSSes’ on this floor as an adventurer!”] [Thinking of this, you instantly saw the light!] [So, the goal is clear!] [The two known “BOSS-level” faction leaders on the fifth floor: the Gnoll King (yourself) and the Blazing Lion King (Blazing Sun Great Lion).] [“It’s time to end this boring standoff.”] [You bared your teeth, revealing your stark white fangs.] [You immediately walked out of the cave, letting out a roar to gather the tribe.] [Soon, all Gnoll warriors gathered before the Royal Court.] [You stood on high, issuing the supreme command with simple, crude Gnoll language and body movements.] [“Assemble!
Prepare for battle!”] [“Target: Western Lava Zone, the Blazing Lion pride!”] [“Kill them all!
Seize their treasure!
For…
leaving this damned place!”] [Although the Gnolls might not fully understand the profound meaning of “leaving.”] [But the desire for battle, Plunder, and lion meat was enough to make their blood boil.] [For a time, wolf howls echoed throughout the eastern region of the fifth floor.]
Maybe it’s not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”