I ascend to the throne of God with arcane magic.

Chapter 802 Dungeon: Unknown Land

At the entrance to the underground city.

Li Si looked down into the deep darkness, unable to see anything inside the entrance.

Around the mysterious entrance to the underground city, a defensive magic circle emitting a mysterious glow still perfectly enveloped the entire opening.

The magic circle was like an invisible barrier, emitting a faint blue light, with runes flickering in the distance.

However, the mages of the Pan-Continental Mage Association who were originally guarding the cave entrance, as well as the golems that the association had specially set up, had all vanished without a trace.

The scene around the cave entrance was a shocking mess.

Bright red blood flowed freely on the rough rocky ground, long since congealed into shocking streaks of blood.

On the stone wall, deep claw marks crisscross, each one seemingly telling the story of the fierce and brutal battle.

The ground was littered with the remains of various monsters, some still covered in undried blood, others trampled and deformed, emitting a nauseating stench.

All of this silently testifies to the fierce battle that once took place here.

Outside the magic circle, a group of mages dressed in the standard robes of the Pan-Continental Mage Association were busy at work.

Some of them were busily setting up camp, using magic to move huge gray boulders into the ground around the dungeon entrance.

Some were organizing various magical materials and equipment, neatly arranging scrolls, potions, and other items.

Judging from this, it seems they are preparing to establish a brand new, fortified stronghold here.

Completely surround the entrance to this underground city.

Was it a monster attack from the dungeon?

Li Si, who had just arrived, glanced around and roughly understood what had happened.

Just like when the Pan-Continental Mage Association received its first intelligence about dungeons, it should have been that dungeon monsters attacked the surrounding human cities at night.

Moreover, judging from the situation at the scene, these monsters that came out of the dungeon made absolutely no attempt to communicate with humans.

They hunted humans solely as prey, killing them for food.

Therefore, what appeared from this dungeon entrance should not be the races that can communicate within the dungeon, but rather completely mindless monsters.

A magical screen appeared in front of Li Si.

Above it is a report from the association's magical intelligence, detailing what happened around the dungeon entrance last night.

According to survivors, when night fell completely last night, a series of low roars suddenly came from the depths of the dungeon, as if they were a call from hell.

Immediately afterwards, countless monsters of various shapes and ferocious appearances surged out of the dungeon entrance like a tide.

All the monsters bared their fangs and claws, letting out deafening roars, and everything in their path seemed to be trampled to pieces.

Faced with the onslaught of monsters, the guild's mages quickly organized a defense, with various magical lights intertwining and flashing in the night sky as they engaged in a fierce battle with the monsters.

However, there are simply too many monsters, and among them are some powerful, high-level monsters.

Monsters such as the Minotaur and the Poisonous Scorpion Lion.

Although the mages' magical attacks could inflict some damage, they were somewhat powerless against such a massive horde of monsters.

Most importantly, those magical beasts seemed to have no intelligence whatsoever; even after the mages killed a terrifying number of them, they showed no fear whatsoever.

After a night of fierce fighting, the mages successfully withstood the first wave of attacks from the monsters, but at a considerable cost.

However, when dawn broke and the sun rose again, the monsters instantly retreated.

The monster corpses killed by the mages were all taken back by the monsters, seemingly to be used as their food.

The appearance of these magical beasts was, in fact, somewhat strange to the Pan-Continental Mage Association.

Upon discovering the entrance to this underground city, the association immediately dispatched numerous exploration teams to conduct preliminary investigations.

Of course, these investigations yielded no useful clues.

However, several points were clarified.

Below this entrance, the environment is almost identical to that of other underground cities on the mainland, with no significant differences.

However, although the exploration team discovered traces of monster activity, they did not find any living monsters.

It was strange that so many magical beasts suddenly appeared at night.

Even the exploration teams and golems that ventured deep into the dungeons, and the teams that survived without encountering hordes of monsters.

They heard the commotion that echoed throughout the underground city, but they did not make any rash moves.

This also saved them from disaster.

Later, they cautiously followed behind the magical beasts, trying to track their movements.

However, those monsters suddenly disappeared in a certain underground passage.

Even after the team had thoroughly searched the surrounding area, they found nothing of value.

interesting!
This situation exudes a strong sense of suspicion.
Could it be that the appearance of this dungeon entrance, and those monsters, were all manipulated by someone in the dark?
But in his previous life, Li Si had never heard of any similar mission!
wrong!

Li Si shook his head.

In fact, with the changes and influences brought about by Li Si, the events of the past life memories may no longer necessarily unfold normally.

As Li Si's strength and influence continue to grow, the possibility of future changes will become increasingly greater.

However, since a decision had already been made, Li Si was not afraid of any possible changes.

The sudden appearance of this underground city piqued Li Si's interest.

This is territory directly under the jurisdiction of the Pan-Continental Mage Association.

Based on previous explorations, the underground city is quite enormous in size.

It can be basically confirmed that it belongs to the underground city of the mainland.

Moreover, it should be an unknown place within the underground city!
The Underground City: Unknown Lands refers to areas within the Underground City that have not yet been fully explored and are filled with many mysteries.

Dungeons have existed for quite some time.

Not only the races living on the surface of the continent, but also the intelligent life in the dungeons are constantly exploring the entire dungeon.

However, the underground city area is so vast, and compared to the surface area, there are numerous passages. The underground city, which is interconnected in all directions, makes it quite easy to get lost.

Therefore, to date, many areas of the underground cities on the mainland have not been fully explored.

Those areas that have been explored contain many city-states established by intelligent races.

Many of them maintained contact with the ground and even regularly organized caravan trade.

They exchange precious metals, gems, and other extraordinary resources produced in the underground city for food, wine, and even fresh fruits and vegetables.

As for unknown places, few people would venture there.

After all, those places conceal countless unknown dangers and all sorts of powerful and terrifying monsters.

Aside from powerful adventurer teams, few people would willingly venture into unknown lands.

Within the dungeon area, the concentration of magic energy is uneven.

In some areas where magic is highly concentrated, in addition to various strange phenomena and precious treasures, all sorts of incredible beings will emerge.

The key dungeon area is also a rather special area in the Gaia world.

This is especially dangerous for mage players. Due to the unique geographical features of dungeons, a mage's exploration and perception are inexplicably affected within them.

Moreover, the rugged and narrow environment of most dungeons affects the effectiveness and power of spells used by mages.

Therefore, warriors and assassins are actually more at ease in the dungeon area.

The Pan-Continental Mage Association does recruit these professionals, but they are not a significant force.

In the current situation, it's basically useless.

Of course, the Pan-Continental Mage Association can request assistance from the Warriors Guild and the Assassins Guild, but the Association does not intend to do so until the situation becomes extremely dire.

However, the association has temporarily halted its large-scale exploration of the dungeons until the source of those monsters is determined.

This is the time for the core members of the Pan-Continental Mage Association to step in.

The association's magical intelligence has issued dungeon exploration commissions to all mid- to high-level mages.

Most of them are members of various schools of thought within the association.

Of course, at the last meeting of the Legendary Council of the Association, many legendary council members were also interested in this newly emerged dungeon.

Who knows, other legendary councilors might be coming to the dungeon right now.

However, like Li Si, he did not make a direct appearance.

The environment of the dungeon is rather harsh for the average mage.

However, for the legendary mages, it's a different story.

With proper preparation, ordinary dungeons pose little threat to legendary mages.

Of course, this only applies to general dungeon areas.

The underground city before him exuded an aura that made Li Si feel somewhat dangerous and uncomfortable.

However, this was not enough to stop Li Si.

Li Si flashed and disappeared directly into the dark entrance to the underground city.

In the deep, unfathomable underground, rock passages meander and twist like giant dragons, extending into the unknown depths.

The top of the passageway is lined with towering stone pillars of various shapes, which look like works of art carefully sculpted by time.

Water droplets slid slowly down the texture of the stone pillar.

Tick-tock, tick-tock~
The crisp, rhythmic sound echoed through the silent passageway, like a melodious nocturne.

Thick moss grows rampantly on the surrounding rock walls, like a fuzzy green carpet covering the cold rocks, exuding a primitive and mysterious aura.

Here, most of the passageway is shrouded in endless darkness, inspiring awe and fear.

However, in this deep darkness, there are occasionally a few patches of glowing moss that shimmer with a dim yellow light.

They were scattered like stars in the corners of the passageway, like faint stars twinkling in the night sky, trying their best to dispel the surrounding darkness.

Although the faint light was insufficient to illuminate the entire passage, it brought a glimmer of hope and comfort to those who came here in this dark world.

At this moment, a five-person team was carefully advancing along the underground passage.

This squad consists of two mages, one warrior, and two rogues.

The two assassins positioned themselves one in front of and one behind the squad, advancing while carefully observing any potential dangers.

Warriors and mages are positioned in the middle of the group.

The tall warrior was not equipped with any weapons, but instead carried a heavy shield, standing guard in front of the two mages.

The two monks were highly focused.

One of the mages had his eyes closed, seemingly using special magic to survey his surroundings.

The other mage held a yellowish-brown staff in his right hand and a dark yellow parchment scroll in his left.

The scroll was surrounded by faint spatial fluctuations.

Everyone in the team was quite cautious.

They had no idea what dangers lurked in the darkness of the underground city.

Although they were all veterans who had explored the dungeon areas before, they dared not be careless in the slightest when it came to this mission commissioned by the Pan-Continental Mage Association.

It was because of their experience exploring underground city areas that they understood the dangers of the unknown underground world.

Even legendary experts could perish if they are not careful.

Moreover, having faced such a terrifying monster horde some time ago, they don't think the dungeon in front of them is a safe place!

Just then, the mage in the middle of the group, whose eyes were closed, suddenly stopped.

The surrounding teammates immediately turned their attention to them.

"Pascal, what's wrong?"

Van Buren, who had been on guard the whole time, quickly asked.

His left hand, gripping the teleportation scroll, tightened involuntarily.

"The magic concentration on the left side, 100 meters ahead, is incorrect."

Pascal opened his eyes and said softly:
"Based on my experience, it should be a magic mine related to earth."

"I'll mark it on the map."

Hearing Pascal's words, Van Buren breathed a slight sigh of relief, then took out a map that emitted a faint magical glow and began to record his observations on it.

The stalkers at the front of the group had already set off to explore the place Pascal had described.

On the map in Van Buren's hands, a winding, downward-sloping underground passage was already marked.

Along this route, numerous markings have been left on the map.

Most of these markings represent some kind of magical resource.

Despite this, the exploration team did not feel particularly joyful.

The more magical resources there are, the higher the concentration of magic power contained in this dungeon.

At the same time, the corresponding underground areas will become more dangerous.

However, so far, apart from some naturally occurring dangers in dungeons, they haven't encountered too many dangers.

Jarl, one of the soldiers in the group, leaned against the surrounding passage and pointed to a small space on the left side of the passage ahead, saying:

"It's about time, let's rest here for today."

The ground there is relatively dry and has fluorescent moss, making it a good place to rest.

Although the group wasn't too tired yet, conserving their energy was the most important thing in the dungeon.

"Who?"

Just then, Pascal sensed that one of the magic threads she had placed in the passage behind her had been activated, and he immediately called out a warning.

"what's the situation?"

Instantly, everyone in the group grabbed their weapons and looked warily into the dark passage behind them.

(End of this chapter)