Chapter 277: Getting Hot and Sweaty
After a quick stop, so that Belladonna could log out and set up the delivery of the Source Remnants, the group left town and followed Figg’s directions, as he led the group to the dungeon he knew about. All the way, telling them all about it for those - mainly Belladonna - who had never heard of it.
"So the official name for these types of dungeons are Divine Proving Grounds, but really it is just a hidden dungeon. Previously a lot of what people were calling dungeons was really just ruins or monster lairs that they would storm. The only problem was they were kind of one and done, first come first serve. So people were fighting over them a lot, especially since they could have amazing rewards or help people advance with monster meat.
The hidden dungeons on the other hand are like the Trial of the Gatekeeper, from the tutorial. Repeatable dungeons with structure layouts. It even has that little gremlin statue outside it that you showed me, but people just think those are the markers for it rather than anything special."
Figg eagerly explained, gesturing to Belladonna as he did so.
"The first one was discovered in some other continent by someone who liked to explore old ruins, like the old myth of the guy with the whip.
He could never beat it, because he was not a combat player, but when the real fighters got through it they discovered that these types of dungeons give massive rewards. Not as good as some of the ruins did, but they were consistent and exploitable."
"Let me guess," Belladonna said with a slight smirk, "People started to fight over them."
"Naturally." Figg answered with a bob of his head, before Saige stepped in to explain more.
"A lot of the high end guilds will have sent out parties to discover the hidden dungeons and monopolise them for themselves. Anyone lower down could try to do the same, but would be better off acting as toll collectors.
I expect this one is the same?" Saige asked Figg.
"Damn, you are good. Yeah, that’s right. It’s ’owned’ by a guild called the Pit Vipers. Well, I say owned, but that’s conditional. Low level guilds are constantly fighting over ownership of them. Pit Vipers weren’t even the original owners of this one, just the ones that took over. It’s changed owners like five times in the last week." Figg answered with a chuckle.
He led them out of the city gates as they trudged along the dirt roads for nearly an hour, before diverting off into the forest. Although there were no official markers, it wasn’t too hard to find the path that had been created by hundreds of feet trudging on the vegetation as they took the same route.
They did have some minor issues with beasts, but it was nothing a [Blood Bullet] from Belladonna or a few axe swings from Lilith couldn’t solve. Plus it gave them plenty of meat for their dungeon offerings.
When they arrived, they were greeted with the sight of a pit in the ground surrounded by charred and blackened grass. The heat rapidly rose the moment they crossed into the boundary of that grass, causing a few of them to start sweating in their heavy clothing.
They weren’t the only ones suffering from this heat however. A dozen or so groups of players were milling about in the clearing, waving themselves with their hands, tugging at their shirts to relieve the sweat, or simply casting ice magic on themselves if they were capable.
Just at the edge of the scorched grass, the heat was absolutely unbearable, and it only got worse the closer you got to the pit. The one’s who had it worst of all though were the tanks.
Heavy, cumbersome metal armour was already tiring on the body and gave poor ventilation, so when faced with heat like that, they were basically a walking oven that was cooking themselves alive. It was because of this that a literal wall of tanks was built around the dungeon entrance, just outside of the black grass border, where the air was still cool.
Naturally, knowing what they were getting themselves into, plenty of players had prepared potions or specific spells in order to combat the heat. But with many players not having a source yet, or even knowing such a thing existed as those who did have one generally kept it a secret, they were not eager to waste their resources on comfort.
Then again, since there were still some using ice spells, that wasn’t a universal rule. Simply that some were better at managing resources than others.
"Why are they just standing around waiting? Is there a queue system? Please don’t tell me we have to wait hours just for a single run at it." Belladonna said with a look of horror as she cast her eyes over the miserable, sweating expressions of those players that were milling about.
She had heard plenty of horror stories about dungeons in these type of games, and her first experience with them was already bad enough. She didn’t need any more experiences like that.
"No, they are probably just looking for new members. Kind of like what happened when we first met." Vestra said with a shy smile, stepping closer to Belladonna and nudging her gently. She still had the book in her hands, clutched tight against her chest, like she was a stereotypical nerd girl from a kids show.
"Or they are waiting for another ownership change, so they can swoop in and run the dungeon in the chaos. Get in for free." Lilith said with a laugh, causing the others to nod in agreement.
The Demoness was holding her baby dragon against her chest in the exact same way that Vestra was holding her book, although Vestra was easily doing it with much more love and obsession. Lilith’s grip was more about protection, as she could see a few people looking her way and exchanging hushed whispers between each other.
Some of them whispering and smiling between each other, exchanging loved words about how absolutely adorable her little baby was, which was perfectly understandable. The ones that she hated were the people who were looking at her with greed, the thieving intent clear in their malicious gazes.
"Oh, Looks like you were right on the money with that guess Lil," Saige said with a smirk, gesturing over to the pit when everyone glanced at him in confusion.
"Someone is moving in for a takeover."
