23: Chapter 23: Dragons are practically charging in!

"Th-this... is it... over?"

Looking at the clearance notifications and record-breaking announcements scrolling across their wristband light screens like a flood of messages, Su Xiaoxiao and Li Murou were both filled with disbelief, as if they were still in a dream.

Especially Su Xiaoxiao; she knew better than anyone just how terrifying a level 20 Hell-difficulty BOSS was.

This Frost Dragon might look huge, but its movement speed was actually extremely fast.

Skills like the slow formation-building she had just used could never have been cast when dealing with the Frost Dragon before.

Furthermore, when the Frost Dragon's HP dropped to a certain level, it would summon a group of Frost Young Dragons to join the battle.

Back when their Night Curtain first ran this dungeon, just the fight against this Frost Dragon took over three hours of grinding before they finally managed to kill it with great difficulty.

But just now...

Thanks to Li Murou's Sorrowful Elegy, which pinned the BOSS down, it took the full damage of her "Sword of Apocalypse," which had the highest power and the longest preparation time.

And it was instantly killed without even calling for reinforcements in the second phase...

From the moment the BOSS appeared to when it was killed... the whole thing probably didn't even take thirty minutes.

Is this... scientific?

Facing their shocked and bewildered gazes, Chen Xi just shrugged indifferently and said matter-of-factly: "Yeah, it's over. What else did you expect?"

While they were talking, a portal emitting a soft white light slowly appeared on the huge, empty circular clearing in front of them.

Chen Xi gestured with his chin towards them and said: "Let's go, we can talk about whatever it is after we get out."

The three of them stepped through the portal.

As the familiar feeling of weightlessness faded, they returned to the bustling and crowded trial grounds.

The warm sunshine and gentle breeze were a world apart from the bone-chilling cold of the cave they had just left.

"Ah—!" Li Murou stretched comfortably, revealing her exquisite curves, her face beaming with a satisfied and excited smile.

"So this is what it feels like to clear a dungeon! It's just... so exhilarating!"

Meanwhile, Su Xiaoxiao stood there, stunned, clearly still unable to fully recover from the massive shock of that almost magical battle.

After a while, she repeated, in a somewhat dazed manner, the same words she had said in the dungeon: "We... just cleared it like that? And broke the record? Is this really... scientific?"

Seeing her dazed and cute expression, Chen Xi suddenly found it amusing.

Feeling playful, he raised his hand and gently pinched her fair cheek: "Does it hurt?"

"Ow!" The warm touch shocked Su Xiaoxiao back to her senses as if she had been electrocuted.

"It hurts!" Su Xiaoxiao rubbed her stinging cheek, feeling the sharp pain, then looked at the familiar campus scenery before her and the real, bustling crowd around them.

She finally woke up completely from that massive shock and sense of unreality.

"Th-this... all of this... it's actually real!" After confirming this, the cold expression on Su Xiaoxiao's face was instantly replaced by an uncontrollable, immense joy.

Beside her, Li Murou felt a bit confused by Su Xiaoxiao's exaggerated reaction.

She leaned in curiously and asked: "Xiao Xiao, what's wrong? You've been looking so shocked since just now?"

"With our lineup, we cleared a level 20 Hell-difficulty dungeon in only five hours and broke the record! Shouldn't... this be shocking!?"

Su Xiaoxiao was also puzzled by Li Murou's overly calm reaction.

Seeing this, Chen Xi found the interaction between these two beauties to be truly amusing.

He quickly stepped forward and explained with a smile: "Because this is Mu Rou's first time in a dungeon. So, she doesn't have a very clear concept of the dungeon's difficulty level yet."

As he spoke, Chen Xi turned to look at the bewildered Li Murou and patiently explained: "Actually, according to the official data from Jiang University, for a standard freshman team to clear a level 20 Hell-difficulty dungeon, the average clearance time is about 48 hours. Even though the process for this Frost Dragons Lair is relatively short, it would still take at least 42 hours. And that is with the recommended team composition... which means it requires 5 Professionals all at level 20 or above to even have a chance."

Hearing this, Li Murou woke up as if from a dream.

Her beautiful, large eyes instantly widened even more than Su Xiaoxiao's had earlier; she finally realized what an incredible feat she had just accomplished!

The next second, she could no longer suppress the excitement and adoration in her heart, and she let out a scream that echoed throughout the entire teleportation zone.

Like a koala, she hung directly onto Chen Xi.

"Awesome! Captain Chen! You're just amazing! You're my god!"

"Ahem... mind your image..." Chen Xi was caught off guard by this sudden move.

While feeling the softness of the young girl's embrace, he rubbed his ears, which were ringing a bit from the noise, and said: "Alright, alright, everyone calm down. Let's call it a day here. Go back and get some good rest, and digest today's gains. We'll meet at the base room tomorrow morning at nine!"

"Yes! Captain Chen!" The two girls replied excitedly in unison.

...

On the other side, after waiting for the sudden rain of ice spikes to end completely, the members of the Shenfeng Squad finally dared to poke their heads out from beneath Fang Yue's crumbling Holy Shield.

They stepped into the depths of the cave with lingering fear.

They had only taken two steps forward when, from behind the ice walls on the left and right, two Frost Wyverns radiating chilling cold silently flew out from the shadows of the pillars.

They opened their bloodthirsty maws and simultaneously spat two blasts of ice energy at Fang Yue, who was walking at the front of the team.

"Pfft—!"

Fang Yue didn't even have time to react before he was hit squarely by the two extremely fast blasts of cold air.

His limbs were instantly frozen solid by a thick layer of ice, leaving him rigid in place.

"Oh no!" Lin Feng, who was following behind, saw this, exclaimed, and quickly shouted: "There's an ambush on both sides! Everyone watch out!"

Looking at Lin Feng, who was always a step behind and only ever spoke in hindsight, the extremely displeased look on Yan Zidong's face was about to overflow.

"The damn Wyverns are already in our faces, and you're still shouting 'watch out'!? Can't you just give a combat order directly!?"

He finally couldn't take it anymore and snatched the command of the team directly from Lin Feng's hands.

"From now on! I'm in command!"

With that, Yan Zidong's figure instantly ejected from the center of the team.

He jumped directly in front of the frozen Fang Yue, conjured a scorching fireball in each of his hands, and fired them fiercely at the two Frost Wyverns on the left and right.