VIP Chapter 368: Meteor of the First Phase (3k)
Two days later.
Will and Liya stood on the 60th floor of The End of Ice Abyss. Because Liya was a former member of the “Rocking Cage” Adventuring Team, she used some special channels to obtain the key to enter the 60th floor of the dungeon. The final BOSS floor was on the 70th floor, which meant they still had to clear ten more floors.
If it were their original team, they should have been able to directly reach the 70th floor.
It was a pity that the favor of being a “former member” could only get them this far.
“It’s so desolate.”
The 60th floor was very desolate.
The environment of The End of Ice Abyss dungeon was a bit like the depths of a snow mountain crevasse, with smooth ice surfaces, bottomless downward cracks, and gusts of cold air emanating from them.
The monsters even appeared directly from the depths of the ice surface with a “swish.”
“It wasn’t this desolate before. After two consecutive S Rank adventuring teams failed to clear it, it became like this.”
Liya extended her staff forward.
The staff lit up with warm flames, allowing Will, who had been rubbing his hands beside her, to finally put them down.
“Two S Rank adventuring teams? Are S Rank adventuring teams so worthless now? They can’t even defeat this and are still called S Rank?”
Will walked forward.
A small Snow Ghost suddenly appeared on his right, and he immediately defeated it with a fireball.
“S Rank adventuring teams have become inflated. In the three months after you died, they inflated more than threefold… Tsk, this phrasing is so weird.”
Liya scratched her head after speaking. But she found that she truly couldn’t find a more suitable word to describe the time Will had disappeared.
The two of them tried to avoid combat as much as possible to conserve their strength. They followed the shortest known route and quickly reached the 61st floor.
Will also discovered…
Perhaps it wasn’t just the “S Rank” adventuring teams that had become inflated.
The dungeons had too.
After Carver and Treya reached a secret agreement for “official-business cooperation,” Treya, as the new Empress, intended to expand the Adventurer’s Guild. Naturally, the Royal Family received a lot of money and resources from the Adventurer’s Guild, which was then channeled back into the lives and development of the residents.
This kind of cooperation led to the rapid expansion of dungeon floors. The current 60th floor even looked like the old 30th floor. However, the BOSS on the 70th floor still had the appearance of a 70th-floor BOSS. Lowering the difficulty of normal floors might also be a form of dungeon development.
Treya was a good Empress. So, this kind of feedback was indeed half successful—her half.
But…
Carver was definitely not a good person.
Behind his prosperity, he was constantly trying to find ways to increase the number of dungeon floors and the strength of the Adventurer’s Guild. Most importantly…
He had been hiding one thing. Dungeons and humans could “communicate” and “cooperate.” By cooperating with the Empress of the “Death Hall,” he had monopolized this possibility.
Floor 65.
“Speaking of which, although I joined your adventuring team before, what’s the new adventuring team called? Is it still Shining Star? You seem quite fond of that name? Did you pick it yourself back then?”
This journey was too easy, so Liya even started chatting midway.
“Default name.”
“So what is it?”
“Default name. Those four words.”
“Are you serious?”
“…I haven’t thought of one yet. Anyway, I can change the name anytime. I’ll pick a good one later.”
Will actually disliked the name Shining Star.
He had used that name back then simply to follow the plot.
Now that he had decided not to follow the plot, there was no need to use that name anymore.
But…
He still hadn’t thought of one. If… if he were to call all four of them back, what name should he choose?
Floor 68.
“How’s our consumption? Can we face the 70th floor?”
Will was still accustomed to being the logistics person and asked Liya.
“Hmph, you underestimate me.”
Liya twirled her staff, and it lit up with a glow, like a sparkler spun around on one’s hand during a festival.
Her intention was to test her magic reserves by filling the staff.
But now it looked…
Exaggeratedly like a child who had just learned to use a staff, happily playing with it.
“How old are you, yet you play with your staff like a child?”
“Over a hundred years old! So what?”
Liya’s defense was exceptionally righteous.
Floor 70.
This was Will’s first time stepping into this area.
But…
When he saw the ice and snow castle rising from the ground, he could already imagine the appearance of the Snow Woman and how difficult Liya’s previous two battles must have been.
The space occupied by the castle alone was the size of an entire dungeon, let alone its height, which reached about four or five stories.
“It’s been a long time since I had guests.”
The Snow Woman’s voice, enchanting and echoing throughout the entire space, sounded.
She stood on the highest spire of the castle, looking down at the entire BOSS floor.
She seemed to particularly enjoy watching various people attack her city and then fail.
Her long black hair scattered in the air, becoming the only “different color” amidst the white of the snow and ice.
Will glanced at her.
The Snow Woman had never revealed her name, which was not uncommon among dungeon monsters, leading outsiders to refer to her as “Snow Woman” or “Empress of The End of Ice Abyss.”
In fact, “Snow Woman” wasn’t entirely accurate, as there were many monsters of that race, and she, having been promoted to Empress, had her unique qualities.
But what Will needed most was her “name.”
He wanted to confirm one thing…
Whether she was the one who shouldn’t have appeared in “The End of Ice Abyss” but should have existed in…
The Snow Woman from “Apex of the Galaxy.”
“But—why is it always you? And another Witch! Aren’t you Witches, one after another, annoying?!”
The Snow Woman, arms crossed, peered down from the city walls and shouted at Liya.
“This guy… could she be near-sighted too?”
Will muttered as he watched her somewhat comical appearance.
“I was going to ask you that. Other dungeon BOSSes change their tactics, why are you so stuck in your ways?”
Liya swung her staff, aiming the tip, especially near the pointed top of her Witch’s magic hat, at the Snow Woman.
“What do you know… I, I call it retaining my unique characteristics.”
“You won’t be so stubborn about retaining your unique characteristics when you’re blown away!”
“Oh dear. Miss Witch, who failed several times, what’s wrong? You brought seven people before and failed, now you think bringing one person can defeat me?”
“Seven… seven pieces of trash and one good student I personally trained are completely different.”
Will listened to the two of them bicker and thought that even elementary school arguments were more nutritious than this.
They had only fought twice, yet these two were surprisingly “compatible” when it came to arguing.
“Let’s make it clear first, I’m not participating.”
Will raised his hand, stepped aside, found a relatively safe tree, and dutifully hid behind it.
“Will. Since you’re here…”
“Ahem.” Will reached out and tossed the bottle of red liquid with a cork stopper in his arms to Liya. “Teacher, you promised me you would defeat her yourself.”
Liya caught the liquid she had been longing for with one hand.
Just by holding it, she could feel the palm of her hand getting a little warm.
However, now was not the time to use it, so she gripped it tightly and put it into her ring.
“It’s just this one bottle, use it well, okay?”
“It seems the man Miss Witch found isn’t very reliable either. You need to keep trying.”
The Snow Woman’s taunts were endless.
“You can insult me, but you dare to speak of Will—”
But since she chose to provoke like this, Liya couldn’t be blamed for attacking first.
A meteor shot from the tip of the Staff of Ancient Flames towards the spot where the Snow Woman was standing.
Will watched as Liya put away the potion and immediately opened fire.
“She didn’t use it in the first phase? It seems she’s confident in the results of her special training.”
Then, he looked at the Snow Woman—
The Snow Woman on the castle waved her hand, and a row of crossbows appeared on the top of the city walls. Simultaneously, a faint layer of ice appeared on the ground outside the castle.
It was like a trap, inflicting movement restrictions and protruding ice spikes on anyone who stepped on it. Therefore, it was best to use flight in a fight against her.
Will looked at this defensive method.
This Snow Woman, this Snow Woman… there was no mistake.
It was…
The one from the original work.
Her personality was very much like a spoiled princess, and she always spoke sarcastically, which was why she clashed so fiercely with Liya.
However, when it came to actual combat, her offense was very low, adhering to a “turtle” policy and protecting herself well.
The light on top of the castle flashed slightly, blocking Liya’s preemptive projectile.
“Ever since before, you couldn’t get past my ice arrows. Hm. What do you plan to do this time?”
The Snow Woman stood at the edge of the city wall and waved her hand at Liya below.
In an instant.
Innumerable ice crossbows formed on the previously bare city walls.
The ice arrows fired by these ice crossbows did not directly lock onto Liya but were scattered randomly across a large area below the castle.
Adventurers were not fools; a single locked target could be dodged. And the Snow Woman had no shortage of materials. So she chose…
Total bombardment!
“Heh, just like before.”
Liya chuckled.
But…
This time, she didn’t run.
She didn’t even fly.
She stood on the ice, and if she didn’t move, the spikes wouldn’t rise.
This gave her enough time to chant.
“Hmm…?”
The Snow Woman was also surprised. Liya’s current actions were vastly different from before.
If she was a mobile aerial bombardment unit before, now she was purely a stationary turret.
Who could have…
Made her change her habits so quickly, and even find…
The correct way to conquer her?
“Extreme Flame Meteor.”
Light gathered on her staff. Facing the countless arrows falling like ice cones, this Extreme Flame Meteor with low total energy poured out from her staff—
The individual ice arrows, in her eyes, were like falling leaves at that time.
And now, she knew how to break them.
Boom.
The flames spread past the ice arrows.
It was like a meteor shower descending from the sky onto the sturdy castle!
Directly targeting the ice crossbows on the Snow Woman’s castle.
“Hey, hey, hey—when did you learn to shoot so many?!”
The Snow Woman covered her head and crouched down.
