85: Chapter 85, the ninth one to appear? You guys don't understand the world of whales.

The morning mountain breeze carried a hint of chill, blowing from the direction of the sea, rolling the fine sand on the beach into shallow ripples. The four of them stood at the entrance of the hiking trail, looking up at the towering cliff that reached into the clouds.

Obviously, they couldn't really drive vertically along the cliff to the summit as Hu Jinsi had joked about last week.

That wouldn't just make Lin Rui break down; imagine driving an all-terrain vehicle vertically on a ninety-degree rock wall for half an hour—for someone with a fear of heights, it would be no different from a long torture.

More importantly, for casters with weaker physiques like Su Wan and Zhou Wen, a sudden rise in altitude was something they couldn't handle. Altitude sickness, physical exhaustion, the biting cold—any one of these would be enough to make them lose their combat effectiveness halfway up.

Therefore, the travel plan was for the three of them to ride their magic brooms and the all-terrain vehicle, spiraling up along the mountain trail.

This trail must have been carved by creatures native to this world, spiraling upward circle by circle along the cliff. The road surface varied in width, but fortunately, even the narrowest parts were passable for the all-terrain vehicle; perhaps this width was never intended for humans in the first place. For a physically fit walker, completing the entire journey would take at least six or seven hours, and the physical exertion would be immense.

But it was different with transportation. The magic broom could fly at low altitude outside the trail, and the all-terrain vehicle's off-road tires could firmly grip the rugged road surface. Although they couldn't reach the summit in half an hour as Hu Jinsi had joked, cutting the day's journey down to two or three hours was still a significant improvement.

"Follow the trail," Hu Jinsi said, pointing to the winding mountain road, "Lin Rui leads the way, Su Wan and Zhou Wen follow behind. I'll clear the mobs in front; you don't need to stop, just keep going up."

"What about you?" Su Wan asked.

"I'm going up by myself," Hu Jinsi flexed his wrists, "going in a straight line."

Hu Jinsi did not advance with the three of them.

He ran quickly and straight up along the cliff by himself.

This section of the cliff was almost a sheer wall to ordinary people, but for him with the [lickers leg bind], it was no different from flat ground.

With the dual speed buffs from [Unarmored Movement] and [Longstrider], his progress was also faster than the other three; after all, a straight line is the shortest distance between two points.

His feet precisely found footholds among the rocks, and his form ran upward like an arrow released from a bowstring.

This wasn't just to save time.

By going this way, he could also clear a wave of small mobs on the road in advance, preventing the other three from having to stop and waste effort. After all, every stop wasted a few minutes, and it would add up to half an hour.

Of course, they had already agreed that they would ignore most of the small mobs if possible. Hu Jinsi suggested that after accumulating a certain number, they should pull those mobs to a wide platform to deal with them all at once, which would also improve efficiency. Instead of fighting sporadically ten times, it was better to clear dozens at once.

The four of them had finished breakfast and set off shortly after 6 AM.

By 10:30 AM, they had arrived at the entrance of the temple where the golden Minotaur was located.

Nearly four hours faster than last time.

For the battle against the golden Minotaur, the format was similar to the battle in the second stage.

Su Wan used the [Magic Missile Wand] to output damage from a distance, while Zhou Wen assisted the attack from the side using the cantrip [Ray of Frost]. The latter's [Tide-Caller Bone Staff] increased the range of [Ray of Frost] by three meters, allowing him to hit the target from a safer position.

The rest of the work was left to Lin Rui and Hu Jinsi to pull and distract.

Lin Rui held his shield in front to attract attention, while Hu Jinsi circled around from the side to attack the joints. Although the golden Minotaur had thick skin and flesh, it couldn't last long under the cooperation of the four. Every time its battle-axe swung out, it was dodged by Lin Rui's sidestep, and when it turned to chase Hu Jinsi, it was hit in the back by Su Wan's [Magic Missile].

The Minotaur's battle-axe swung out for the last time, only to be steadily blocked by Lin Rui's tower shield. Hu Jinsi seized the opportunity to cut in from the side, and the chain claw strikes of [Crane Stance] precisely hit its throat area. The Minotaur let out a roar of unwillingness, its massive body swayed a few times, and finally collapsed with a boom, dissipating into a patch of light.

However, this time the golden Minotaur didn't provide any equipment, only leaving behind about 200 credits in silver coins. Fighting the same boss a second time, the drop rate had clearly decreased.

"200 credits..." Su Wan sighed, "Not even enough for a hot pot."

"It's better than nothing," Hu Jinsi picked up the silver coins, "Let's go, enter the temple."

The squad left time for a short rest for Su Wan and Zhou Wen. Lin Rui stayed here to guard the two casters, while Hu Jinsi entered the temple first to clear out the skeletons and orcs inside.

15 minutes later, the short rest ended.

But before Hu Jinsi had even cleared one-fifth of the entire temple, he heard the buzzing sound of the all-terrain vehicle coming from behind. Leading the way was Lin Rui's all-terrain vehicle, followed by two magic brooms; the three vehicles were spiraling up along the inner wall of the temple under the effect of [Spider Climb].

The scene was quite spectacular: a military-green all-terrain vehicle driving along the wall, followed by two magic brooms emitting a pale cyan light, the three forming a peculiar landscape on the spiraling stone wall.

Hu Jinsi signaled them not to wait for him and to drive directly to the platform where everyone had rested last time.

Immediately after, Hu Jinsi stopped clearing leisurely and instead activated both [Unarmored Movement] and [Crane Stance], jumping in chains within this rotating staircase. His figure was like a gray shadow, shuttling rapidly between stone pillars and steps, catching up to the others' progress in a few steps.

Arriving at the platform before the final boss, Hu Jinsi signaled Zhou Wen and Su Wan to take a short rest first and change their spells to the configuration for the boss fight.

The specifics were discussed by Su Wan and Zhou Wen, while Hu Jinsi guarded the stairs himself, defeating the chasing skeletons and orcs one by one. As for Lin Rui, the journey up was a bit stimulating, and he needed to recover.

"His face has turned pale again," Su Wan whispered.

"He's used to it," Hu Jinsi said without turning his head, "You two hurry up and recover."

Hu Jinsi's solo blocking battle was very simple.

The staircase was only so wide, and he just needed to stand in place and use [Spinning Crane Kick]. The red-skinned orcs surged up from below, only to be kicked down the stairs one by one, rolling down and crashing into the pile of people behind. Anyway, they didn't know [Spider Climb] and couldn't crawl over along the wall.

Occasionally, a few skeletons jumped down from above, only to be knocked apart by a casual strike of his staff.

After the battle ended, the two casters also synchronized Zhou Wen's spell selection work with Hu Jinsi and Lin Rui.

For level 1 spells, Zhou Wen chose one [Grease] and kept three [Magic Missile]s.

The reason for choosing [Grease] was to test if it had any effect on the Cyclops. If it was effective, a successful [Grease] would be equivalent to nullifying one of the Cyclops' normal attacks, which was a very cost-effective choice.

As for the level 2 spells, they were directly reserved for two [Enlarge Person]s. Considering that the existing level 2 spells didn't deal very strong damage to the Cyclops, and Zhou Wen's School of Divination wasn't good at control, it was better to just cast [Enlarge Person] on Lin Rui.

In this way, Lin Rui's size would reach over 2.5 meters. Although still shorter than the Cyclops, the gap between him and the Cyclops wouldn't be very large.

In addition, relying on Lin Rui's current 20 points of Strength, with the extra judgment bonus from [Enlarge Person], he believed that he already had the possibility of melee combat with the Cyclops.

This way, the squad would have more attack methods against the Cyclops, and it wouldn't necessarily be the same "attract attention back and forth" style as last time. Lin Rui could also have 2 minutes of strong attack time to keep the Cyclops' attention on himself.

Hu Jinsi and Lin Rui were obviously very surprised by Zhou Wen's choice. They had originally thought Zhou Wen would choose a few damage spells and finish using them on the side with Su Wan.

It turned out Zhou Wen had thought more than they had.

"If this [Grease] can be successful this time," Zhou Wen pushed his glasses, "next time I can completely change all four level 1 spells to [Grease]. Four [Grease]s plus two [Enlarge Person]s, that time is enough for the squad to control the Cyclops to death."

"Are you serious?" Hu Jinsi raised an eyebrow.

"We'll know once we try."

Since Su Wan and Zhou Wen had finished preparing, Hu Jinsi didn't need to do any further preparation. Lin Rui just moved his tower shield from his back to his front and put his commonly used riot shield on his back, completing the preparations.

The four of them pushed open the door to the top floor of the temple, ready to start the final battle of this dungeon.

---

This time the squad accepted Zhou Wen's tactical arrangement.

After the start, Zhou Wen immediately cast [Enlarge Person] on Lin Rui.

Pale green light enveloped Lin Rui's entire body, and his figure began to expand rapidly. Muscles bulged, bones lengthened, and in the blink of an eye, he changed from an average height of 1.8 meters to a little giant over 2.5 meters. His shield and weapon also enlarged accordingly, as if he himself had been magnified by a circle.

Lin Rui didn't drag his feet either; holding the [sigons saber] and [Military Tower Shield], he directly [Charge]d towards the Cyclops.

This time, with Lin Rui's 20 points of Strength and the buffs from his magic and numerous equipment, he surprisingly managed to knock the Cyclops back a step.

The Cyclops clearly hadn't expected this "little guy" to have such great strength, and a flash of surprise crossed its huge single eye.

Seeing that the tactic worked, the three members of the squad also seized the pace of output immediately. After all, each round of [Enlarge Person] could only last for 1 minute.

Just like last time, Hu Jinsi circled to the back of the Cyclops, and his hands and feet frantically output damage to the Cyclops' left ankle. The claw strikes of [Crane Stance] brought up gusts of wind, each strike leaving deep marks on that rough skin.

On Su Wan and Zhou Wen's side, one was chanting [Shattering Sonic Wave], and the other was chanting [Magic Missile], launching magic attacks at the Cyclops. Sound waves and balls of light intertwined, exploding into blooms of damage numbers on the Cyclops.

From Lin Rui's perspective, he could clearly feel the Cyclops' anxiety.

It wanted to be distracted to deal with these three guys, but now Lin Rui and the Cyclops were evenly matched in strength. The Cyclops, being pressured by Lin Rui, could only passively endure the attacks of Lin Rui's weapon; Lin Rui's [Shield Bash] always destroyed the Cyclops' center of gravity at just the right moment. Even if the Cyclops occasionally had a counterattack action, because the distance between the two was too close, it couldn't pull away to regain its strength and could only be easily blocked by Lin Rui's [Block].

Seeing that the time for the first [Enlarge Person] was about to end, Lin Rui signaled Zhou Wen not to rush to release the second [Enlarge Person] so quickly.

He did a [Tactical Roll] backward, pulled away from the Cyclops, and swapped out the [MS-15 "Steel Nail" Heavy Pistol] he had prepared from his backpack.

Bang, bang, bang.

Three rounds of S-bullet ammunition hit the Cyclops' chest accurately, and the huge impact force made its body lean backward.

The Cyclops, which had just jumped up to grab a boulder upon seeing Lin Rui pull away, dropped the boulder in its hand to the ground due to the sudden pain.

With a boom, the boulder hit the floor, and gravel splattered.

At this moment, Hu Jinsi, who was behind the Cyclops, had attacked the Cyclops' left ankle until it was deep to the bone without any interference. Blood flowed down the wound, forming a dark red stream on the stone floor.

Clearly, the Cyclops only felt pain at this moment, and perhaps it didn't even know that it had basically lost its ability to move.

The next time it lifted its left foot, it would be the time its left leg was temporarily crippled.

With Lin Rui's harassment no longer in front of it, the Cyclops soon wanted to deal with these three "little guys" around it first.

It tried to turn around to attack Hu Jinsi, its huge body making a tooth-aching sound of bone friction. But at the moment it turned.

Crack—

A crisp sound of bone fracture echoed in the empty hall.

The Cyclops' left ankle was broken.

Its massive body fell to the ground like a collapsed mountain peak with a boom. The entire hall shook, and dust fell from the ceiling.

Clearly, this result was also something Hu Jinsi hadn't expected. Because rarely could a boss let him output damage on the spot for as long as 1 minute without any hesitation.

(The style evolved from Nanto Suicho Ken... to have such power under continuous cutting.)

Hu Jinsi looked down at his hands, a complex emotion surging in his heart.

(Perhaps I have paid too little attention to this style. It still has great potential waiting to be unearthed.)

Obviously, the Cyclops still wanted to struggle and stand up. But at this moment, Zhou Wen immediately cast [Grease] under the Cyclops.

A patch of slippery Grease instantly covered the ground around the Cyclops, and its massive palms slipped on the Grease, making it impossible to support its body.

Without interference from others, the injured Cyclops failed to stand up under the effect of [Grease], and the injury to its wounded left ankle worsened once again.

Facing the Cyclops that was now slumped on the ground and unable to move, the four members of the squad clearly had no mercy.

Su Wan's [Shattering Sonic Wave] slammed into its chest, shaking its massive body backward. Zhou Wen's three [Magic Missile]s all hit its single eye, causing it to let out a painful howl. Hu Jinsi circled to the side, and his long staff unleashed a flurry of attacks on its right ankle; since the left foot was already ruined, he might as well ruin the right one too.

After the two spellcasters poured all their remaining spells onto the Cyclops, it only had a sliver of health left.

Lin Rui, buffed with the last [Enlarge] spell, rushed toward the dying Cyclops with a [Charge] and a [Heavy Strike].

The [sigons saber] slashed down with a heavy whistling sound, accurately hitting its skull. Its massive body twitched once and then collapsed to the ground.

The battle ended.

The entire process took less than 8 minutes.

---

The three members of the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad had never imagined that the battle would change so much just by adding the mage Zhou Wen.

The last time they were so shocked was by Liu Betti in the [Cold Plains].

But this time, the surprise Zhou Wen gave them was even greater. Perhaps for 95% of the journey in this dungeon, Zhou Wen was unassuming, occasionally existing only as a buff provider.

But just in this final battle, the role he played was already worth the squad giving him a spot in this dungeon.

Hu Jinsi didn't even bother to pick up the boss's loot, but instead ran back to Zhou Wen excitedly, slapping his shoulder hard:

"Not bad, Zhou Wen! That move was beautiful! You've really got skills!"

"And you said you wanted to learn our combat style?"

"You're too modest!"

At this moment, Zhou Wen was clearly very excited as well. As a mage, it was rare for him to be so uninhibited, laughing out loud. This was also a rare highlight moment for him. At this moment, he felt that he might have found a path for his future.

Not a standard control mage, not a pure damage-dealing turret, but a mage who knows how to think and maximize the abilities of his teammates.

This positioning might be more suitable for him.

And perhaps because the way the Cyclops died was too frustrating, the equipment it dropped this time was unusually generous.

After its corpse turned into light particles and dissipated, two pieces of equipment were left on the spot: a tower shield and a ring.

Lin Rui picked up the tower shield and took a look; it was better than the one he had now and more suitable for his current style. It was just right for replacing the military tower shield in his hand.

[Solid Rock Tower Shield]

[Type: Tower Shield]

[Defense Bonus: +6]

[Cover: When you wield this shield and take a defensive action, you can provide half cover (+4 Defense) to an ally within 1.5 meters of you.]

[Rock Toughness: The hardness and damage threshold of this shield are twice that of a normal heavy shield.]

[Item Description: A heavy rectangular tower shield, the surface covered with a layer of enchanted sedimentary rock plates, with edges wrapped in dark metal. In the center of the shield is a relief of a simplified mountain pattern, symbolizing unshakable defense. This shield has clearly experienced countless Blocks, and its surface is covered with cut marks and gouges of varying depths.]

---

But what was truly surprising was that ring.

The attributes of this ring might not have seemed so important before this dungeon, but if Zhou Wen intended to delve into this dungeon for the next few months, this ring would become exceptionally valuable to him.

After all, the special effect of this ring was almost equivalent to directly adding a metamagic feat to Zhou Wen, and a metamagic feat with no cost at that. Although Lin Rui was not a spellcasting class, his intuition told him that the value of this ring would not be low.

[Focus Secret Ring]

[Type: Ring]

[Class Restriction: Mage, Wizard]

[Spell Focus: When you cast a spell that requires concentration to maintain, you gain an additional bonus (+2) to checks to maintain concentration.]

[Spell Extension: Once every 4 hours, when you cast a spell with a duration other than "instantaneous", you can double the duration of that spell. This effect cannot stack. The buffed spell cannot exceed 3rd circle.]

[Item Description: A simple ring made of dark silver metal, with a precision-cut transparent crystal inlaid on the face. When the wearer concentrates on casting a spell, subtle geometric light patterns appear inside the crystal, as if automatically calibrating the focal point of the spell.]

---

Lin Rui tried to hand the ring to Zhou Wen, but Zhou Wen had clearly noticed something during the earlier laughter. He walked to the wall of the temple, noticed the murals and patterns on the wall, and stared intently at the text on it, trying to interpret something.

After a while, he seemed to give up, just circled around the top floor hall once, and then returned to the squad. Only then did Lin Rui hand him the ring.

Zhou Wen was also happy to receive the ring, but this happiness was different from the feeling he had when watching the murals in the hall just now.

"Any discoveries?" Hu Jinsi asked.

"Because there is no reference for the text above, it is difficult to fully interpret." Zhou Wen pushed up his glasses, "But the general meaning can still be guessed; the native world of this dungeon should have dragons."

"That's not hard to guess." Hu Jinsi smiled, "After all, the dungeon is named [Dragon King Warrior I]."

Zhou Wen slapped his own head. True, he had been studying it until he was a bit silly; the name was [Dragon King Warrior I], how could there not be dragons?

"Any other discoveries?"

"The others are mainly stories of past crusades against evil dragons." Zhou Wen said, "Wave after wave of crusaders organized to crusade against the evil dragons. The ring Lin Rui just gave me might be the spoils of war collected by the Cyclops after the failure of previous crusaders."

"However, it seems that there are no portals in their stories. In the stories I saw, they were all advancing by climbing mountains and wading through rivers."

Su Wan thought for a moment: "It's already painful enough for us with portals; if there were no portals for the whole journey for us to walk like this... let alone 72 hours, it might not be completed even with three times that."

The few of them were clearly not prepared to waste any more brainpower on this matter. After all, it was just a guess, and there was no possibility of verification.

---

It was now noon, and the four were facing a choice: eat in the dungeon before going out, or go outside the dungeon to see if there were any small vendors selling fast food.

Regarding this, Hu Jinsi suggested going out to take a look first. If there was food for sale, they would buy it outside, saving them from having to make it themselves. At the same time, they could go out and send a message to Teacher Fan, saying they were ready to enter the dungeon for the second time.

Su Wan asked: "Wouldn't that make us look too outstanding again?"

Hu Jinsi was confident this time: "With so many pay-to-win whales here this time, if I'm not mistaken, perhaps some of them already finished a run and went out yesterday."

The few of them clearly didn't believe this guess. After all, it was too exaggerated—previously, for such a short dungeon as [Burning Village], they still needed a day. Now, changing to such a large dungeon as [Dragon King Warrior I], climbing mountains and crossing the sea, it could be finished in one day?

Hu Jinsi smiled and didn't explain.

"Wouldn't we know after going out and calling Teacher Fan?"

After speaking, the few of them didn't delay any longer and chose to exit the dungeon. After all, if they could buy ready-made food, who would want to do it themselves? In fact, they had already been tired for half a day in the dungeon, and they didn't even want to exert the effort to cook.

Stepping through the portal, the four arrived outside the dungeon.

The familiar forest at the entrance of the dungeon came into view again. Sunlight streamed down through the leaves, forming dappled spots of light on the ground. Unlike the air in the dungeon, which was full of the smell of gunpowder, the air outside was exceptionally fresh, carrying a mixed smell of grass and earth.

The four who exited the dungeon first went to the old man at the entrance registration office to register their information.

The old man at the registration office was clearly happy to find something to do, as he was idle all day anyway. He also enthusiastically said to the four: "Congratulations to your squad, you are the 9th team to come out in this round, which counts as being in the top 10."

Zhou Wen was very surprised to hear this information: "Sir, you aren't wrong, are you? There are already 8 teams that completed a round of the dungeon and came out before us?"

The old man rolled his eyes at Zhou Wen: "I'm still young, how could I remember wrong? It's exactly 8. Among them, three teams came out last night; they even went home to sleep for a night and only re-entered this morning. The remaining 5 teams also came out before you."

Zhou Wen was clearly unable to accept this news.

He had thought that by following the Jack-of-All-Trades Squad this time, he could at least manage a top-three speed, but he didn't expect to almost fall out of the top 10 fastest list.

Hu Jinsi put his hand on Zhou Wen's shoulder at this time: "Believe my words now? That's why I said there would definitely be no risk of standing out this time when we came out."

"Look at those pay-to-win whales; they could come out last night. By comparison, we leisurely wandered until noon today, having already spent nearly 30 hours."

"Besides, for us, it is completely meaningless to come out at what position. Didn't you get the gains you should have in this dungeon? You also found your own combat style, had equipment gains, and had career experience. It's all good, don't care so much about these superficial things."

After being comforted by Hu Jinsi, Zhou Wen also figured it out.

After all, he hadn't even passed the third level last week, and this time, going from bottom to top 10 speed, this was already a huge gain. Furthermore, what is compared in the dungeon has never been speed; his own gains are known only to himself, so there is no need to compete for these things.

The group, having adjusted their mindset, arranged for Lin Rui to communicate with Teacher Fan over the phone, while they began to look for snack stalls nearby.

As expected, outside this kind of dungeon where students gathered, there were quite a few snack stalls in operation.

After all, inferring the time students would come out from the difficulty of these dungeons, these snack stall owners might know even better than the school teachers.

This is like in university, during final exams, the course instructor might not be as clear about the types of questions that have appeared over the years as the owner of the outside copy shop.

The group arrived at the snack stalls and dispersed, each looking for food they liked, agreeing to meet again at the dungeon entrance in 20 minutes to enter the dungeon.

Hu Jinsi walked straight to the cold noodle stall and ordered a bowl of cold noodles. He also ordered a portion of sweet and sour grilled cold noodles at the stall next to it.

At this time, Lin Rui, who had finished reporting to Teacher Fan, walked to the snack stall, saw Hu Jinsi's choice, and couldn't help but tease: "Are you, Mr. Hu, changing careers to become a cold noodle killer again? Or a Korean cold noodle killer?"

Hu Jinsi didn't pay attention to Lin Rui's teasing. Although it was only the end of February and the weather was still a bit cool, the mixture of a bowl of cold, sweet and sour cold noodles and a portion of hot grilled cold noodles intertwining complex flavors in the mouth was clearly a delicacy for Hu Jinsi now.

Although he also thought that the wonton noodles he cooked in the morning were not too bad, it was clear that compared to people who had been running snack stalls for years, his style and flavor profile were not yet mature.

After leisurely finishing his lunch, Hu Jinsi bought a few meat buns at a nearby stall, put them in a cooler, and stuffed them back into his backpack. Only then did he slowly walk back to the dungeon entrance.

The others in the squad were clearly also very satisfied with this meal after coming out. After the few of them gathered, they re-entered the vortex at the dungeon entrance.