The entrance to the Dragon Cliff Dungeon was less of a "door" and more of a hideous wound on the earth.
It was located at the end of a wasteland eroded into thousands of gullies by perennial corrosive acid rain. It was a large pit over three hundred meters in diameter, with jagged edges, and the mouth of the pit was shrouded all year round by a layer of thin but never-dissipating gray mist.
At this moment, a team of a dozen or so demons was gathering at the edge of the pit.
They wore worn but practical armor, carrying a wide variety of weapons ranging from heavy battle axes to poisoned hand crossbows. Everyone's eyes held a mixture of vigilance, greed, and nervousness.
They were a typical Empire adventure team, attracted by the unique Dragon Beast materials of the Dragon Cliff Dungeon.
The Empire's officials were not allowed to enter the Dragon Cliff Dungeon, and unofficial organizations or individuals would also be restricted from entering once they reached a certain scale or strength.
But for ordinary adventurers, there were no such restrictions.
In other words, this was a dungeon where no high-level experts came to compete for resources.
In Lin Jun's words: "Just like secret realms in the cultivation world."
Although ordinary adventurers couldn't conquer the Dragon Cliff in the Dragon Cliff Dungeon, just the materials produced by those Dragon Beasts on the bottom wilderness were enough to feed these adventurers.
Of course, if they unfortunately met with an accident and died, these adventurers could also feed the Dragon Beasts.
"Check equipment! Are the ropes secured?" The speaker was a Horned Demon with hideous scars on his face, his voice rasping.
His name was Gore, the leader of this small squad.
A Demon-born pulled hard on three barbed metal stakes driven into the hard rock ground, as well as the ropes thick as an adult's arm connected to them, and answered: "Boss, tied dead tight!"
The other end of the rope was thrown into that bottomless pit.
"Remember the procedure?" Gore scanned all team members, especially those few rookies.
After receiving affirmative answers, Gore directed the team members to go down one by one.
Magic power near the cave entrance was interfered with, so even mages could only climb down the rope like this.
After descending for about four hundred meters, a strange feeling began to emerge. Their bodies became lighter.
The rock wall that originally required forceful pushing off could now lower them a large section with just a gentle push.
After descending another hundred meters or so, this feeling became more obvious, almost reaching a state of weightlessness.
And here, they could see ropes "hanging" down from the bottom of the cave entrance—gravity had changed direction here.
"Attention! Reaching the transition zone!" Gore's voice came.
Team members grabbed the ropes hanging down from the opposite side one after another, tied themselves securely, and untied the ropes from this side.
Then descending turned into climbing. By the time everyone finally climbed into the Dragon Cliff Dungeon, a small half of the day had passed.
Gore glanced at the complete team and nodded with satisfaction.
This time, he didn't encounter any messy situation where a rookie failed to grab the rope in panic and got trapped in the zero-gravity zone, causing the team to spend a lot of effort dragging them back. Although the few rookies were nervous, at least they didn't make mistakes.
It wasn't that Gore cared much about these guys' lives, but this time he was hunting Dragon Beasts in an area familiar to him, so those recruited were all registered official adventurers. If they died, compensation would be deducted from his share.
As for those unregistered adventurers who didn't require compensation if they died, because of the risk of being traced and punished, Gore generally only recruited a few to be responsible for scouting when exploring dangerous areas.
Looking up at the surroundings, it was still that familiar Dragon Cliff Dungeon.
Although the entrance was a large vertical hole downwards, after truly entering it, the scene seen had nothing to do with an underground cave.
Azure sky, boundless wilderness, and that Dragon Cliff towering into the clouds in the distance.
God knows why an azure sky could be seen in an underground space with inverted gravity; such questions were obviously not something an adventure team captain like Gore needed to ponder.
After counting heads, he led the team walking in the direction away from the Dragon Cliff.
This time's target was the tail spikes and gallbladders of a group of Spike-Back Land Beasts inhabiting not far from the entrance, as well as the wing membranes of Shadow-Gliding Pterosaurs.
However, not long after setting off.
"Boss, look over there, in the sky!"
Everyone looked in the direction he pointed in unison.
In the direction of the Dragon Cliff, under that azure sky, at an extremely high and distant place, a tiny black dot was moving toward them.
The distance was too far; couldn't see clearly what it was yet.
A Lizardman holding a war bow rolled his throat, his voice somewhat dry: "Hey... that, that thing... couldn't be... a Dragon, right?"
"Just a flying Dragon Beast, probably..." Another person retorted uncertainly.
Dragon Cliff Dungeon naturally had True Dragons, living on the highest layer of the Dragon Cliff.
And unlike some dungeons, they weren't restricted to moving only in one area.
In fact, except for not leaving, Dragons could come and go freely throughout the entire dungeon. The Dragon Beasts at the bottom layer were merely their food.
Because the strength of entrants was restricted, as long as an adventurer was attacked by a Dragon, it was a situation of nine deaths and one life.
The reason why many people like Gore still dared to enter and hunt for materials was simply because the probability of being attacked by a Dragon was too low.
Inside the Dragon Cliff Dungeon, the area of the bottom wilderness was extremely large, and Dragons weren't diligent creatures. Even when hunting, they mostly just grabbed some Dragon Beasts to eat in the middle layer of the Dragon Cliff or the nearby wilderness.
As long as adventurers didn't foolishly approach the Dragon Cliff, it was very hard to encounter a Dragon. At most, they would see one from afar.
But this time, Gore and his team obviously hit the jackpot.
Before that black dot flew close, Gore felt his arm trembling uncontrollably.
He was Diamond-rank, yet even he was like this. Some weaker team members' legs were trembling so much they couldn't even stand steady.
Experienced Gore realized immediately: this was Dragon Fear!
And that black dot was undoubtedly a Dragon!
Fear spread through the team. Gore roared: "Quiet! Everyone lie on the ground and don't move, and do not use magic!"
Gore was experienced; most demons weren't the primary hunting targets of Dragons.
After all, compared to an adult Dragon's body size, even trolls would take several to barely fill the stomach, let alone small guys with normal body sizes like Gore's team.
There were indeed a few examples of other adventure teams encountering giant Dragons flying overhead without being attacked.
They just had to lie prone and wait for the giant Dragon to leave.
Gore's response could be considered quite seasoned, and the team members were also obedient, making no mistakes.
However, in this world, sometimes it wasn't that smooth sailing just because you didn't make mistakes. If luck was bad, no matter what choice was made, one could only get a bad ending.
The irritable Fire Dragon flew overhead. Without hesitation, a mouthful of scorching Dragon Breath descended from the sky.
Gore and the others lying honestly on the ground only let out a few short screams before being burned into a pile of residue.
After burning these bugs to death, the Fire Dragon actually plunged headfirst into the big hole they came from.
For the first time in hundreds of years, a giant Dragon flew out of the Dragon Cliff Dungeon.
The roar and Dragon Fear of the giant Dragon swept in all directions, scaring the demons in nearby towns out of their wits.
And at this time, Mortis was still on the way to the Dragon Cliff Dungeon.
The Fire Dragon stopped in mid-air, seeming to concentrate and sense for a while, then flew toward the south. But for some unknown reason, after flying for a distance, it turned around again and flew north. Only this time it seemed even more irritable, spewing Dragon Breath and destroying two villages it flew over.
(End of Chapter)
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