Coincidence? Of course not!
Su Yao had been staking out their party on the second floor of the Dungeon for two days now.
[Crystal-Tailed Dragon Lizard]: A subspecies of drake, it spends most of its time Dormant, burying its body underground with only its crystal-covered tail exposed. When it wakes, it sweeps up all visible prey nearby. Its body is covered in hard scales and has virtually no natural enemies.
In order to control the number of monsters in the mine—and out of a tiny bit of curiosity—Su Yao summoned this creature.
A drake originally costing fifty thousand DP, its tail was covered in “crystals,” and its level was fifty.
Unlike the Big Mushroom on the second floor, it lacked high intelligence. After being summoned, it first “ate a great deal,” then burrowed into the ground.
More than half of the Salamanders and Water Salamanders were devoured.
Up to this point, everything was within expectations; it had completed its task perfectly.
But the problem arose when Su Yao was collecting those Magic Ores. Suddenly, the dragon lizard burst out from underground and, upon awakening, launched an attack without a word.
Just to be clear, this dragon lizard is a purely carnivorous monster; it doesn’t need Magic Ores for food.
As for why this guy attacked him, Su Yao had a guess.
When it comes to “dragons,” one of their most infamous bad habits is their irresistible attraction to anything “shiny.” They claim such things as their own and guard them jealously.
Though it’s only a drake, it inherited this “bad habit” perfectly.
Those dazzling, high-purity Magic Ores were probably seen as “treasure” by it. So, with it around, Su Yao couldn’t mine at all.
Logically, Su Yao could have waited until it went Dormant to secretly dig, but for some reason, every time he entered the mine in these past two days, the big guy would always wake up right on time.
Unbearable! It had to be taught a lesson to understand who the real boss was!
……
Sorry, she spoke a bit too loudly just now. Whether sword or magic, her attacks barely tickled those “dragon scales,” while the other side could probably slap her to death with a single swipe.
Su Yao, drawn in by that “crystal tail,” had acted on impulse and summoned it—now, as a result, she’d lost her mining rights over this pit…
This must be what they call “ruin brought by a marvel.”
With no other choice, she had to go find someone to help…
There weren’t many suitable candidates, which led to her and Miss Arthur’s party meeting by chance in this very room.
Back to the point: Though the Sword in the Stone mechanism was entirely her own creation, Miss Arthur drawing the sword before the assembled Adventurers really looked the part.
Perhaps she truly could become a “king,” who could say?
Troubles always follow after obtaining such a treasured sword, but those who would make trouble can’t even get past Uzo.
“What does Miss Su Yao plan to hire us for?”
“I encountered a drake deep in the third floor of the Dungeon. I hope you can help me teach it a lesson.”
Once the sword had found its master, the Adventurers in the room scattered.
Of course, Su Yao could sense some people were merely hiding, but at this range, nothing stopped her from speaking about the situation deep in the third floor of the Dungeon.
“Teach it a lesson?”
“Uh, direct subjugation is fine too. But in case there’s some sort of ‘ecological balance’ or other unforeseen effects, I can’t be sure…”
“I see. Miss Su Yao, you are truly knowledgeable. Very few people ever notice that even ‘monsters’ form their own kind of balance.”
“Hmph, in plain terms, you just don’t want to harm your own… such fake kindness!”
Of course it was fake kindness. That’s thirty-five thousand DP! If she really got it killed, where would she go to cry?
Wait a minute? Maybe she could try Reviving a “monster”?
Speaking of which, up until now she’d hardly used her Binding Card on monsters. She’d never had the chance to verify if there were any side effects from Reviving them.
Maybe now was the time?
“Of course, your safety comes first. If you can’t go easy, just subjugate it directly.”
While Su Yao amended her words, she used the Binding Card, gaining two new skills and checking the dragon lizard’s detailed status screen.
[Monster Name]: Crystal-Tailed Dragon Lizard
[Species]: Earth Drake Subspecies
[Skills]: Earth Magic Lv6, Low-rank Mana Conversion (consume mana to increase other attributes at a 1:1 ratio)
[Status]: Dormant (all bodily functions decreased, mana and energy consumption greatly reduced), Dungeon Boss
Good grief, as expected of a level fifty drake—those attributes were outrageous.
After binding the drake, Su Yao’s own stats increased quite a bit, but since the dragon lizard’s HP was so high, almost the entire one hundred points granted by the Binding Card were allocated to HP… a bit of a loss…
As for the two new skills she received after binding it, they were Dragon’s Might and Earth Magic.
The first was basically useless at her own level of thirty-six, but it should still be enough to scare people.
As for using the latter, she’d need a lot of Earth Magic scrolls. She couldn’t expect the dragon lizard to teach her the human version of Earth Magic, after all.
“Very well, I accept. But depending on the situation, we may abandon the fight or go for direct subjugation.”
Miss Arthur’s answer was truly meticulous, but that was fine.
The plan was simple: Su Yao would bring in some people to give this dragon lizard a beating. If it learned its lesson, all the better.
If not, she’d just Revive it and keep beating it until it obeyed!
Once all preparations were complete, she led the party to the room directly below the Big Mushroom.
The monster guarding this place had already been “enthusiastically” dealt with by the Adventurers. A long spiral staircase extended down into a deep darkness.
Sporadic flashes of firelight showed Adventurers coming up from below.
When Su Yao designed the third floor Maze of the Dungeon, she only set a Teleport Point on the platform outside the spiral room.
Those who hadn’t reached the deepest part of the Dungeon could only return to the second floor by circling around the ring-shaped mine tunnels.
The Maze, formed by three concentric ring-shaped mine tunnels, wasn’t especially difficult.
If one didn’t plan to explore the innermost ring, it only took a day or two to loop back to the second floor from the third.
The neatly built staircase gave way halfway down to rough rock. At the end, the party was greeted by the faint scent of dampness and earth.
“Welcome to the third floor of the Dungeon. This is the underground mining area I mentioned.”