Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 510: The Secret Of The Whispering Valley [Part 3]

”Be careful!” Alex warned his comrades. ”This monster grows stronger the more damage it receives. It’s also a Rank 4 Monster, so don’t let your guard down!”

Alex couldn’t believe that right after they entered the Second Floor of the Whispering Dungeon, they immediately encountered such a ferocious beast.

If the Second Floor was already like this, it was practically confirmed that the lower floors were much more dangerous.

”Does it have any weaknesses?” Fran asked.

She was the only Rank 4 among their group and the one with the highest burst damage.

”Its red carapace is very hard, but once it receives damage, it will enter a semi-berserk state,” Alex explained. ”If you can, please target its head and deal as much damage as possible. We must kill it before it can kill us.”

”Understood.” Fran nodded before taking a fighting stance.

As if waiting for that moment, the Bloodlace Arachne unleashed a barrage of Bloodburst Spit.

Alex summoned several magical shields to protect his allies while Fran dashed ahead.

Although she was very agile, Alex didn’t want to take any chances and sent a few magical shields to hover around her like miniature satellites.

When Fran was only a few meters away from the spider, it suddenly jumped backward before jumping a second time toward the wall.

From there, it propelled itself toward Fran, its fangs ready to strike.

”Be careful!” Alex shouted.

The Bloodlace Arachne had used its skill, Venomlash Leap, one of its deadliest abilities.

Instead of dodging, Fran merely stood still, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

She pulled back her right arm in preparation to strike the beast that had vastly overestimated its power.

”Berseker Uppercut!” Fran shouted as she took a step forward before leaping upwards, her right fist covered in bright golden flames.

Alex heard a loud crack as the spider slammed into the ceiling before crashing on the ground once more.

Giving the stunned monster no time to recover, Finn charged at it with his axe.

With a practiced swing, he severed the head of the Bloodlace Arachne from its body, leaving behind a fountain of blood.

The siblings’ teamwork was quite something.

It seemed that Fran always initiated the attack against strong opponents while Finn followed up with a finishing blow.

Alex had assumed that the Rank 4 Spider would be a pain to defeat because of its annoying abilities.

Fortunately, Fran’s burst damage and Finn’s killing blow had managed to subdue it before it could unleash its full power.

But before Alex could even praise the two dwarves, three more red blinking dots appeared on his map.

”Three more Monsters at eight o’clock!” Alex shouted.

Fran and Finn glanced in the direction Alex was pointing at and saw three Bloodlace Arachne headed in their way.

”Allow me,” Lumi said before unleashing the charged purple fireball that she had been strengthening since the start of the battle.

Alex watched as one of the spiders was hit by Lumi’s fireball and sent flying backward.

That spider’s red eyes glowed brighter, which meant that its passive ability had activated.

”I’ll take care of the spider Lumi hit,” Alex declared. ”The rest, focus on the two other spiders.”

”Shield Charge!”

Alex zeroed in on the spider that had entered a semi-berserk state. During this state, the Bloodlace Arachne became much more lethal. Those ignorant of its attack patterns would instantly find themselves at death’s door.

With a screech filled with hatred, the spider lunged toward Alex, its mandibles ready to strike.

”Hammer for all seasons... Fifth Form!” Alex roared as he swung his hammer with all the strength he could muster.

The body of his war hammer burst into flames as Alex unleashed one of the techniques that he had gained during his expedition in the Heracle Mountain.

”Forgefire Strike!”

Alex was now a Rank 3 Oathkeeper. Although he specialized in defense, his blows were nothing to scoff at.

His war hammer slammed on the spider’s maw, dealing critical damage.

However, it was still not enough to finish the job.

Fortunately, Dim Dim was with Alex. In rapid succession, the little bun had thrown three of its Alchemical Bombs into the monster’s mouth just before Alex’s war hammer made contact with it.

A loud explosion followed suit. Before Alex knew it, the Spider had already turned into black mist, leaving its Monster Core behind.

He then turned around to help his allies, but the battle on their side was already over.

Fran and Finn had eliminated one of them with their impeccable teamwork while Lex had merely walked up to the last spider and slapped it across the face, killing it instantly.

”Old man, you’re really strong, huh!” Finn had already sensed that Lex was no ordinary person, but seeing the gardener in action allowed him to confirm his suspicion.

”It’s just a lucky strike.” Lex smiled faintly. ”You and your sister are very strong for your age. I’m sure a few years from now, both of you will be a force to reckon with.”

As someone who had seen many prodigies during his service to the Aetherion Empire, Lex could tell that Fran and Finn had great potential.

After picking up the monster cores, Alex once again checked his map and saw that there was a yellow line opposite the stairs that led to the Third Floor.

When the Map of Forgotten Paths was active, it showed the location of hidden rooms, treasures, and paths.

Hidden rooms were blue while hidden paths were represented by yellow lines.

Back in the Dungeon of Beginnings, Alex had used these hidden paths to enter the lower floor directly without having to go through the previous floors even though that had gone against the natural order within dungeons.

The young man pondered what to do.

Taking the shortcut would save time and energy. However, a lower floor also meant significantly stronger monsters.

While he believed that Lex could handle everything that the dungeon could throw at them, there was a chance that they might have to fight a swarm of high-ranking spiders, which would be extremely dangerous for their party.

In the end, Alex told his friends about the hidden path, which made Finn look at him suspiciously.

”How do you know about these things?” Finn demanded.

He had already seen how Alex easily located the treasures. And now, the latter could even ”find” the path that led to the Second Floor so quickly and seemingly without effort.

Once could be considered a lucky accident. But this was the third time, and Finn could only see it as some kind of pattern.

Alex knew that if he didn’t handle this properly, his future brother-in-law might become more wary of him.

”Actually, I have a special ability that works exceptionally well in dungeons,” Alex replied. ”I can sense the locations of treasures. I can sense concealed paths as well, but not all the time and not always accurately. It also allows me to detect monsters within a certain range.”

”That’s an amazing skill, Alex,” Fran said with a smile. ”It’s the perfect skill for Adventurers.”

Her compliment made Alex happy, but he also felt guilty about telling a white lie.

Finn had heard of similar abilities in the past, so he no longer pressed Alex for more answers.

After roughly explaining the abilities of his map by passing them off his own, Alex had two pieces of news for his companions.

”The good news is... I sense a hidden path that could let us bypass the other floors,” Alex said. ”The bad news is that we don’t know what floor this path will take us. Since it’s like a one-way thing, we might find ourselves on a very deep floor.”

Fran, Finn, and Lumi turned solemn. This was indeed a hard decision to make.

The lower floors were surely filled with worse monsters, but in the future they might regret not taking a peek.

Lex only listened from the side with his hands clasped behind his back.

Although his role was to protect Alex, he wanted the young man to make his own decisions that would allow him to gain the strength he needed to protect himself.

The temptation to play it safe was great, but risking nothing meant gaining nothing.

The four teenagers discussed their options. Within minutes, they had already come to a decision—they would check it out first and retreat if things turned out badly for them.