Chapter 139: The Dungeon

From a rational perspective, she really shouldn’t be following them.

Given that she couldn’t be sure when she would truly die, perishing inside the Dungeon wasn’t an impossibility—especially when this meant stepping into the Twenty-Seventh Floor.

At present, her own progress only reached the Twenty-Third Floor, but this time, they were heading for the Twenty-Seventh.

The dangers spoke for themselves; she might very well lose her life inside.

But let’s not forget, this was the world of a certain ‘kicked from the party’ web novel.

Now, there was no reaction from the script in her mind, and the floor on which she was supposed to die wasn’t the Twenty-Seventh.

Besides, with Red as the story’s protagonist, this venture wasn’t necessarily a death sentence—dangerous, yes, but with a sliver of hope.

Most important of all, based on past experience, if there was true danger ahead, her mind’s script wouldn’t tell her how to avoid it, but it would definitely give her a warning.

Right now, it was completely unresponsive.

That being said, in the original story, did Letia go with Red into the Twenty-Seventh Floor?

If Letia hadn’t gone in the original, but she did now, would that change her ending?

Would it be for better or worse?

After mulling it over for a while, Letia felt it was more likely the former.

“Hoo… Might as well follow and take a look.”

However, Letia didn’t plan to move alongside Red as a team.

Instead, she would shadow them from behind, acting alone, and only stepping in if her help was needed.

After all, this was the Twenty-Seventh Floor.

The monsters here weren’t on the same level as those on the Twenty-Fourth Floor.

Even if she and Red could barely manage them, if two or three showed up at once, all they could do was run.

Red dashed close behind Tos and Mason, icy wind brushing past his ears.

As he ran, he brought up the most pressing issue.

“How are we supposed to get into the Twenty-Seventh Floor? What’s your plan?”

“No need to worry about that, Red,” Tos pointed at Mason behind him, “See him? He’s the captain of ‘Judgment Holy Night.’ He’s got the authority to take us into the Twenty-Seventh Floor.”

“Judgment Holy Night?”

Red’s pupils contracted slightly, his face unable to hide his shock.

Of course, he knew the weight of that name—a legendary party of six, who had already conquered up to the Thirty-Third Floor, each member’s strength unfathomable, considered the very pinnacle of individual might!

…And Mason was actually their captain?

“I… didn’t expect that.”

Red muttered, unconsciously reassessing the calm, bespectacled young man before him.

Mason adjusted his glasses atop his nose.

As for Tos’s praise and Red’s surprise, his reaction was exceptionally calm, as if they were discussing something trivial.

“No need for surprise, Red. With your talent, if you had stayed with Dawnblade, reaching or even surpassing this floor would’ve been only a matter of time.”

As he spoke, he suddenly stopped and pointed ahead.

“All right, we’re here.”

The three of them stopped at the edge of a massive, ancient, and mysterious array—this was the Teleportation Array set at the entrance of the Dungeon.

This astonishingly large array was the lifeline for Adventurers delving deep into the Dungeon.

Imagine if, for every expedition, you had to fight your way from the first floor to your target floor—what a long and hopeless ordeal that would be.

This ancient array—no one knew who created it or when—perfectly solved that problem.

Once permissions were activated, Adventurers could instantly travel between the surface and any cleared floor.

It’s worth noting, this array wasn’t the result of anyone’s research; it had always been there at the Dungeon’s entrance, and naturally, no one knew who had drawn it.

Mason took out his own Adventurer Certificate and placed it in the center of the giant array, its intricate patterns swirling under his hand.

Immediately, the array began to activate.

Soft milky white halos floated up around them, and the spatial distortion grew more and more intense.

“Stand still.”

Before his words had even faded, their vision was completely engulfed by white light.

In a moment of daze, Red noticed a small figure slip into the array just as the light swallowed the three of them.

But before he could confirm, the array activated.

“Ugh…”

As the blinding light and sense of weightlessness vanished, the three of them successfully arrived at the Dungeon’s Twenty-Seventh Floor.

That familiar chill and dampness slowly crept up their spines.

Staring into the dark, humid Dungeon corridor, Mason spoke in a low voice.

“Stay safe. Try to stick behind me.”

Given that Mason was someone who had reached the Thirty-Third Floor, it was only natural he took the lead.

Tos, coming from the Scarlet Legion, was in the middle, while Red brought up the rear.

That actually suited his role as a magician, though it felt somewhat unfamiliar to him personally.

Mason had wanted Red to deploy Bloodtracking Hunter Spiders for scouting, but when he turned around, he found Red was instead gazing behind them, as if searching for someone.

“Red, what are you looking at?”

“It’s… nothing.”

Red withdrew his gaze from the dark passageway.

He could have sworn he’d seen a small silhouette sneak into the array with them, but when they landed and he looked back, there was nothing there.

Was it just his imagination?

Red didn’t dwell on it.

He summoned over a dozen Bloodtracking Hunter Spiders using his mana, sending them to scout a wide area nearby.

After a few minutes, he spoke to the other two.

“This way—about five hundred meters down that corridor, there’s a monster pack on the move.”

With the Bloodtracking Hunter Spiders scouting, Red quickly found the safest route that avoided the monster groups of the Twenty-Seventh Floor.

Yet this simple statement caused Mason to scrutinize Red even more intently.

Others might not realize it, but he knew well—the usual range for controlling mechanical constructs as a Great Magician of Creation was about a hundred meters.

Even the Magician in his own party barely managed just over two hundred meters.

But Red…

How was he able to control constructs and detect monster groups nearly five hundred meters away?

And Mason suspected this might not even be Red’s limit.

“I have to admit, your spiders are incredibly useful…”

Tos clicked his tongue in awe.

“But why is it that the Bloodtracking Hunter Spiders you buy from the Gilded Chamber of Commerce only have a two-hundred-meter range?”

“Is the Commercial Version the same as the Exclusive Version?”

“That… does make sense.”

Tos nodded, and, following Red’s guidance, the three of them set off down the Dungeon corridor.

The air was thick with the stench of decay, the cramped space making every footstep echo.

Coupled with the distant, guttural roars, this environment was oppressive in the extreme.

Anyone with a weak mind would likely go insane after a month in here.

“Careful.”

Tos was about to walk forward when Red yanked him back.

Only then did Tos notice half his foot was already dangling in midair.

It looked like normal ground, but as soon as his foot touched down, it vanished—an illusion.

In fact, aside from the vicious monsters, the Dungeon’s traps were even more numerous and insidious.

Tos looked down and saw, beneath his dangling foot, a cluster of razor-sharp, glinting spikes.

Because they hadn’t scouted the Twenty-Seventh Floor beforehand, even Mason didn’t dare move forward recklessly until Red had thoroughly investigated the path.

Even so, the trio moved surprisingly fast.

The Bloodtracking Hunter Spiders followed the faint smell of blood in the air, quickly locking onto Brian and the others’ position.

Through the spiders’ feedback, Red saw dozens of Scarlet Legion members resting in a hall.

They looked as if they’d just survived a brutal battle; most were wounded, more than ten seriously so—including Hera.

Her abdominal armor had a gaping hole, as if it had been viciously bitten by massive fangs.

Luckily, she hadn’t died on the spot.

But if she didn’t get treatment soon, she wouldn’t last long.

“I’ve found Brian and the others’ location.”

Red shared the spider’s visual feed with Mason and Tos.

Mason’s face grew somber, but Tos was genuinely surprised.

“That can’t be right. With the Scarlet Legion’s strength… it’s impossible for them to end up this battered. This isn’t even Brian’s first time on the Twenty-Seventh Floor. Did they run into something?”

Hearing Tos’s words, Mason asked, a bit puzzled, “Tos, you’re a member of the Scarlet Legion too. Why aren’t you with Brian’s group?”

“Because this trip to the Dungeon is mainly for exploring and analyzing the Twenty-Eighth Floor, not for clearing it. We didn’t need that many people to go in. Not just me—a number of others are on leave right now too.”