111: underground cave
Song Ming did not hesitate in the slightest and led the two women into the hell-level Dragon Island Instance.
As for Guo Jun outside...
He was merely an insignificant nobody.
He was not worth his time to deal with yet.
Passing through the vortex portal, which was over ten meters high, Song Ming's eyes were met with another massive iron gate, more than a hundred meters tall.
He looked around and found that they were in a tall cave.
The surroundings were eerie and dim, filled with a damp, musty smell.
It was completely different from the environment in Thunderbolt Canyon, as if they had entered an underground world.
Ning Hua then spoke, "Junior, behind the gate is the dungeon, a naturally formed underground cave!"
Before coming here, she had already consulted a lot of information about this Trial Grounds in the academy's library.
This also included specific intelligence on the Dragon Island Instance within the Trial Grounds.
Forbidden Dragon Island, theoretically speaking, was divided into an inner island and an outer island.
The entire island outside the dungeon was collectively referred to as the Outer Island.
The Inner Island referred to the underground cave within the dungeon.
And in the deepest part of the underground cave, a Black Dragon resided.
It was the final BOSS of the dungeon.
Only by defeating this Black Dragon could they obtain the spring of life.
Song Ming nodded, raising his eyes to look at the very tall steel gate.
In the very center of the gate, a coiled Dragon pattern was engraved.
The Dragon's mouth was wide open, its fangs exposed.
It gave off a very domineering and terrifying feeling.
Song Ming still maintained his calm expression, extended his right hand, and placed it on the steel gate.
Click, click, click!
The moment his palm touched the iron gate.
The heavy iron gate slowly opened to both sides, revealing the pitch-black passage behind it.
The passage was estimated to be several hundred meters high and dozens of meters wide, extending diagonally downwards, with no end in sight.
Out of caution, Song Ming did not immediately step into it.
Instead, he first released two Shadow summons, sending them ahead to scout.
Sure enough, not long after the Shadow summons entered, intense fighting sounds and monster roars came from within the passage.
With the gate fully open, Song Ming finally saw the scene inside.
The two Thorn Dragon Turtles he sent in were being beaten into a frantic retreat by a Dragon-type monster.
This Dragon-type monster had only a pair of thick bipedal legs, barbs growing on its tail, and a pair of wing-claws like a bat.
It resembled a Dragon, but its size was more than halved.
He immediately cast an Appraisal Technique towards the front.
【Wyvern (Enhanced Elite Monster)】
【Health: 12000000】
【Rank: 80】
【Strength: 5500】
【Agility: 6110】
【Spirit: 2000】
【Physique: 4520】
【Defense: 4420】
【Skill: Frenzied Bite】
"I didn't expect even a gate-guarding monster to be an Rank 80 Enhanced Elite Monster. The rewards from this dungeon should be much higher than I imagined!"
Song Ming's face showed a hint of joy, then he unhesitatingly flicked his finger forward.
Immediately.
Streaks of lightning burst forth from his fingertips, instantly enveloping the passage ahead.
The originally dim passage immediately became as bright as day.
Countless purplish-red lightning pythons roared forward; the Wyvern, which had been brandishing its claws and acting arrogantly just moments before, was instantly swallowed by the lightning pythons.
These purple lightning bolts then continued their assault into the depths of the passage without slowing down.
【Killed Rank 80 Wyvern, gained experience +554200】
【Killed Rank 80 Wyvern, gained experience +554200】
【Obtained a blue top-tier equipment, Wyvern's Tooth】
...
One after another, experience notifications appeared before Song Ming's eyes.
There were probably at least a dozen Wyverns lurking in this passage, and before they could even launch an attack, they were annihilated by Song Ming's Blazing Sun Divine Thunder.
The monsters in the passage near the iron gate had been completely eliminated.
Only then did Song Ming and his companions step in and walk further inside.
After walking for about a hundred meters, several passages suddenly appeared before them.
Without too much deliberation, Song Ming turned to Ning Hua and asked, "Senior Ning, which Dao should we take?"
Ning Hua quickly explained, "Junior, actually, no matter which Dao we choose, they all ultimately lead to the deepest part of the underground cave."
"The various passages in the underground cave are intricate and interconnected."
"So, I suggest you choose the middle Dao; it has the fewest monsters and is also the shortest distance to the final location where the underground BOSS is located."
Song Ming nodded.
He pondered for a moment, then released all the summoned creatures from his summoning space.
And commanded them to enter different passages in batches.
There were five passages before them.
These five passages certainly contained a considerable number of Enhanced Elite Monsters.
Song Ming naturally couldn't let go of these experience babies; fortunately, he still had a large number of Shadow summons.
In this way, apart from the middle passage,
each of the remaining ones would be led by a Dragon, so there would be no situation where they couldn't defeat the monsters.
Song Ming sent out all the Shadow summons, then led Ning Hua and the others into the middle passage.
The maximum distance between the Shadow summons and him was ten thousand meters.
Beyond this distance, the Shadow summons would automatically disappear and return to the summoning space.
So Song Ming was not worried about these Shadow summons getting lost or becoming disoriented in the underground cave.
Seeing this, Ning Hua couldn't help but sigh at the gap between herself and a true Genius.
Ordinary teams would probably only choose one passage to advance.
Because they could only barely clear the monsters in one passage.
But Song Ming was different; five was the upper limit of this underground cave, but not his upper limit.
As long as he wanted, even if there were a dozen or twenty passages, he would definitely not let them go.
At the same time, she truly understood why God Yi paid so much attention to Song Ming.
His true strength was simply astonishing.
Even Dragons were no match for him.
And they all ended up becoming his henchmen, which clearly showed Song Ming's Prodigy ability.
Song Ming and his companions continued to advance through the middle passage, slaying many Enhanced Elite Monsters along the way.
At the same time, monsters in other directions were also being ruthlessly slaughtered.
One message notification after another constantly appeared before Song Ming's eyes.
An hour later.
Song Ming and his companions finally passed through the labyrinthine passages and arrived at the lower half of the underground cave.
This was a massive circular space with a diameter of over a thousand meters.
The ceiling of the space was embedded with countless large and small Ore emitting green fluorescence.
The surrounding rock walls were dotted with dozens of meters high caves, from which beast roars continuously emanated.
Song Ming could even smell the strong scent of blood and an unbearable stench emanating from these caves.
Directly in front of them was a cave over a hundred meters wide, which was also the passage leading to the deepest part of the cave.
Within that cave, four blood-red eyes, as large as lanterns, were coldly staring at them.