Two hours went by,
Kroff was quietly rejoicing himself on his throne. He naturally closely followed the situation. He was first getting anxious when he saw the huge increase in the number of humans at the dungeon today, especially when the humans assaulted the secret room on the 4th floor. It seemed like they had a way to communicate with each other and suddenly, many other humans poured into the dungeon.
Kroff first thought that it was Five's plan to use the secret room as a bait just like he did a few days earlier with the secret room on the goblin's floor. But he quickly gave up this idea when he noticed that the humans were now assaulting the 7th floor's secret room.
No matter how he looked at it, there was no way enough DP would be generated to compensate for the loss of two secret rooms. Unless Five was somehow able to kill all those present in the dungeon, he would definitely come out with a deficit. "These humans must be good at finding secret rooms... Hehe, I can just tell Five to reimburse me these rooms!!" said Kroff to himself.
With a move of his hand, he changed the hologram in front of him to display Five's current location. "Huh, this guy is carelessly enjoying the weather at the Harpy's floor secret entrance. Is he really clueless of what is happening in the dungeon or did he just give up?"
On the side, Mehlroth quietly appeared. "We should be careful, master. I have a bad feeling about this..."
"You too? There is also something that's bugging me, but I simply can't find its source... Never mind that just stay here and look after the dungeon!”
“Yes master, leave this task to me!” answered Mehlroth with a joyful tone. The fact that he was ordered to look after the dungeon was a clear proof of the trust Kroff had in him!
“I still need to contact the Duke Shercliff to discuss something important. The leader arranged a meeting for the Cyclone Alliance. I need to go to the conference room. Do not disturb me unless something urgent happens!" said Kroff as he left the Throne Room.
...
On the 7th floor, Shining Blade triumphantly brought down his sword, taking out the remaining HP of the Giant Mine Bat. That monster was the boss in charge of guarding the secret room. It was relatively powerful; it could control the wind to some extent but more importantly, it could recover its HP by biting and sucking its opponent's blood like a vampire.
Shining Blade had to sacrifice some of the players under him to secure his victory but fortunately, when he took out the treasures he obtained from the secret room on the 4th floor, many leading figures of his guild chose to trust him and assist him in capturing this secret room. Even his father chose to listen to his son for once after lecturing him.
With the Giant Mine Bat dead, the normal Mine Bats did not represent a major threat. Shining Blade and his men easily dealt with them and wiped the room clean. They quickly distributed the loot among their players and regrouped to discuss the final operation.
"You were indeed right, Shining Blade. I did not expect such a thing to be true. Let's hurry up and look for the last secret room!" exclaimed one of the players.
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"There is no need to hurry. Let's first secure the loot we already have! The Gem Family and the Fleeting Clouds Sect should soon arrive. The spy they planted into our guild would not stay idle; they might have ignored the first room since we could have just randomly stumbled on it but two secret rooms in a row would definitely arise suspicion!"
"You are right! But lets at least check the location of the last room! We have a lot of players right now. If we play our cards right, we can also obtain the third room's treasure!" declared another player.
Shining Blade was silently listening to his comrades with an expressionless face but he was inwardly smiling. His father finally acknowledged his skills! He even went to the point of temporarily giving him true command of the guild. Now, all he needed to do was to prove himself and obtain the third room's treasure.
"We are not retreating! It does not matter if these 2 guilds arrive, we already lost so much when fighting for the open world boss; this time, it's our Stone Defender's time to shine! Follow me!" declared Shining Blade as he resolutely took the stairs to the 9th floor.
...
Five was quietly sitting on the edge of the cliff-like dungeon wall. His feet were hanging hundreds of meters above the ground. The wind up there was quite strong, but he was not scared of falling. He spent countless nights watching over the city he lived in on top of skyscrapers; the strong wind reminded him of his past.
"Time goes by so quickly when you have something interesting to watch," said Five to himself. He was excited
In front of him, a hologram was being projected, showing the players exploring the corridor hiding the third and final room. He had been watching Shining Blade since the second he stepped into the secret room on the 4th floor.
"It is really interesting, this feeling of using someone as a pawn for one's own purpose... I wonder if these guys felt the same way when they used me..."
At that moment, the players being projected in front of him were carefully examining the corridor. The 9th floor housed level 13-14 goblins. But Shining Blade already ordered some players to get rid of the goblins near the secret passage’s location.
There were quite a few goblins there but since they did not have any weapons, they did not last long under the constant attack of the players.
Shining Blade was carefully examining the surroundings but did not find anything that stood out. He even went as far as to try to stab every inch of the dungeon wall with his sword.
"Dam..., could it be wrong? No, the first two were real. This one should also be real... Maybe it is harder to find because the reward is even greater!" exclaimed Shining Blade to himself.
The latter looked around him but to his disappointment, did not find anything. Players around him were starting to send him questioning looks. "No, I cannot fail now! Wait... What if the hiding spot this time is not on the wall!" said Shining Blade.
Quickly, instead of examining the wall as he did for the first two secret rooms, he turned his attention to the ground. Using his sword, he careful swept the floor in search of hints and eventually, "Ding!"
A loud noise was heard!
Shining Blade immediately bent down and looked at the shiny metallic lever that was buried into the ground under dirt. In normal circumstances, that metal lever would have never been found. Who would have enough time to sweep the ground clean?
Without hesitation, he quickly tried to pull the lever straight. The lever was about 30 cm long. One of its ends was connected to the ground while the other was pulled by Shining Blade, causing the lever to stick out of the ground.
He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. Despite that, Shining Blade did not give up, he quickly resumed examining the ground. The players accompanied him also noticed the lever and quickly helped him look for others. They were all smart, that metallic lever should have some purpose!
It did not take long for three shiny metal bars to stick out of the dirty floor. At that moment, the nearby wall shook for a few seconds before shifting slightly, leaving an opening large enough for one man to enter at a time.
At that moment, one of the players next to Shining Blade suddenly said: "Leader, I just received important information! The Gem Family is at the dungeon's entrance! They mobilized more than a thousand players and according to the spies, more are coming from the city! Not only that, but the Fleeting Clouds Sect is also on its way!"
Shining Blade frowned, "We also have more than a thousand members in the dungeon right now, there is nothing to fear! Tell everyone to gather on the 9th floor and stall for time! We will quickly rush through this room and leave with the treasures!"
"But won't it be useless if we die! In the end, the one who will collect everything will be the Gem Family!" said one of the players.
"This is yet another reason for us to hurry and collect the treasure! This secret room is located on a higher floor; it definitely has some good stuff! As for losing the treasure, don't worry, I have something for that!" declared Shining Blade as he walked towards the opening in the dungeon wall.
...
On the Harpy's floor, Five let out a cold smile, "It is about to begin!"