Chapter 55: What to Do When You Can't Push Through

The second floor of the dungeon was far more perilous than the first. The alien beings here were no longer failed experiments like the beast-corpse chimeras, but evolved entities possessed of rationality and vastly superior strength.

Having advanced a short distance into the second floor, a squad of armored beast-corpses spotted Gu Chen and his companions.

The leading beast-corpse wielded a pair of giant axes and, forming an attack formation with the others behind it, blocked their path.

"Humans, crawl out of our burrow. You are not welcome here."

As it spoke, the attribute details of these beast-corpses appeared.

[Alien: Beast-Corpse Warrior]
[Level: LV.17]
[HP: 62,500]
[Attributes: Strength 180, Agility 173, Constitution 192, Spirit 175]
[Skill: Battle Formation Charge]

These Level 17 ordinary alien beings were the continuation of the beast-corpse chieftain from the first floor.

The Level 20 Dwarf King statue earlier was not part of the standard dungeon storyline, but merely a choice node.

Looking at the dozen or so beast-corpse warriors before him, Xu Xia's face turned somewhat pale.

"Brother Chen, we'd better make a strategic retreat. I know these beast-corpse warriors well—the greater their numbers, the more devastating the damage of their Battle Formation Charge."

"If a fight really breaks out, this squad of beast-corpse warriors can unleash combat power far exceeding their own several times over!"

Gu Chen nodded, yet showed no intention of retreating whatsoever. Beside him, the skeletal golem let out a furious roar, casting two debuffs instantly onto the squad of beast-corpse warriors.

The leading beast-corpse warrior raised its battleaxes high, emitting a low growl from its throat. "Daring to strike at us, human, you are courting death—"

Before the words could fully fade, a string of bright silver bullets materialized out of nowhere in the dungeon, striking the head of the beast-corpse warrior with pinpoint accuracy.

Crack!

Its head shattered into pieces, and a headless corpse crashed heavily to the ground.

[Killed Beast-Corpse Warrior LV.17, EXP +2,299]

Simultaneously, six black-mist-like tentacles of death emerged, launching an assault against the remaining beast-corpse warriors.

The battle broke out in an instant. Yet the remaining beast-corpse warriors showed not the slightest sign of panic; instead, they swiftly formed up and charged straight toward Gu Chen's position.

True to their name as battle warriors, they were well-trained, unlike the beast-corpse chimeras that relied solely on instinct to pounce and kill.

However, it was still not enough.

A surge of dense black Qi erupted around the Nightmare Sovereign, and a dozen dark shadows shot forth instantly, tightly binding the squad of beast-corpse warriors in place.

Battle Formation Charge—did more beast-corpse warriors mean higher damage?

Then the question was, if they couldn't even charge, would the damage still be high?

More than a dozen beast-corpse warriors were bound in place, their health continuously draining under the plague status. The Bloodline Monarch and the Nightmare Sovereign were hardly going to let pass such a prime opportunity; they plunged directly into the squad of beast-corpse warriors like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

Bullets whined through the air, black mist billowed, and beast-corpse warriors fell to the ground one after another.

[Killed Beast-Corpse Warrior LV.17, EXP +2,236]
[Killed Beast-Corpse Warrior LV.17, EXP +2,250]
[Killed Beast-Corpse Warrior LV.17, EXP +2,247]
......

In a mere three to five minutes, the dozen or so beast-corpse warriors lay scattered across the ground in heaps.

[Level Up]
[Level: LV.14 (2,267/89,500)]
[Strength: 457]
[Agility: 456]
[Constitution: 458]
[Spirit: 649]
[Summoned Beasts: Bloodline Monarch LV.14 [Legendary ★], Nightmare Sovereign LV.14 [Epic ★], Skeletal Golem LV.14 [Legendary ★]]

Because the skeletal golem had previously evolved from Epic to Legendary, Gu Chen had gained 100 points across all attributes.

Consequently, his average attributes now exceeded 500. Even placed in the Third Tier, he could easily crush the vast majority of professionals.

[Talent—A Dark Bloodline is currently available]

Following the usual rule, the Level 14 Dark Bloodline was kept as a reserve for the Level 15 summoned beasts.

On the other side, Xu Xia's pupils trembled with shock.

He had expected the beast-corpse warriors on the second floor of the dungeon to pose a formidable obstacle, but he never imagined that the moment they confronted Gu Chen's summoned beasts, they would instantly turn into a mob of pathetic weaklings.

Lin Yuan, Lin Qingqing, and Su然 stared in wide-eyed excitement. Although they weren't the ones carrying the burden, by riding on Gu Chen's coattails, they experienced the true thrill of cheating in a game.

Having reached Level 14, the Bloodline Monarch's health skyrocketed to 56,340, allowing it to convert 80 bloodline descendants.

Immediately afterward, it activated its skill, consuming 20,000 HP to transform all the corpses on the ground into Level 17 bloodline descendants.

Because Gu Chen wanted to break records, and the combat power of the bloodline descendants wasn't particularly outstanding, he had never let them join the actual combat, using them merely as scouts.

However, one must never underestimate them on that account.

Aside from a handful above Level 20, the rest were all Level 10 and above.

The self-destruction damage of a bloodline descendant above Level 20 was 5,000, while those above Level 10 dealt 3,000.

Thus, if all 80 bloodline descendants self-destructed simultaneously, they could unleash an instant burst of 250,000 damage.

This was Gu Chen's plan: to hit the final boss with a massive parting gift.

Next, with the bloodline descendants continuing to lead the way, Gu Chen led the group forward.

The terrain of the dungeon's second floor was far more complex than the first, crisscrossed with numerous passages. Even with Gu Chen's intention to find the main prison of the second floor, he almost got lost within them.

Fortunately, there was Xu Xia.

It wasn't that Xu Xia was particularly familiar with the routes; on the second floor of the dungeon, he was just as much of a hopeless wanderer.

The saving grace was that he possessed a piece of high-tech gadgetry, something resembling a scanner that he had invented himself.

By scanning the map and then scanning his current surroundings, he could generate a holographic map.

The holographic map could display their current location and generate the optimal route, effectively preventing them from getting lost in the complicated terrain.

"Prepare to move out. The total distance is 10 kilometers, and it will take about 45 minutes."

The high-tech device began navigation.

This timeframe was calculated based on the average speed of a Level 14 professional; there might be slight discrepancies, but they wouldn't be too far off.

Regardless, 10 kilometers was still somewhat far, so they needed to pick up the pace for the journey ahead.

"Would you like me to have a summoned unit carry you?" Gu Chen asked, looking at Xu Xia.

With the navigation set, they were about to resume their march. Xu Xia was merely an ordinary person without a class advancement; he simply couldn't keep up with the group's speed.

"No need, I can keep up."

As he spoke, Xu Xia retrieved a set of mechanical apparatus from his spatial ring and skillfully strapped it onto his body.

The apparatus was dark grey overall, accented with silver-white lines. Its design was rugged and streamlined, perfectly contouring the human form.

Armor covered his shoulders, chest, and legs, equipped with a power drive. Support structures were fitted around his waist and hips, while his back featured cooling fins and an antenna.

This sight left Lin Yuan staring in absolute disbelief.

"Holy crap! Old Xu, are you... are you wearing a mecha?"

"No, this is a combat armor, model MARK1."

Click! Clack! Click!

Xu Xia began warming up, flexing his joints and limbs as the armor emitted a series of mechanical whirs and clicks.

With his very first stride, he moved like an agile panther, bounding eight or nine meters away in a single breath.

"To reduce weight, I purposely omitted the weapons system, so my walking speed is much faster now."

"Let's go. We should reach the second-floor main prison in 45 minutes."