Who designed this underworld dungeon?.

Chapter 614 Plants vs. Adventurers, but a Hybrid Version

"Let me tell you, I'm a famous adventurer from the Sien Dungeon! A veteran who has conquered countless elite monsters!"

Wow, that's amazing!

"That's right, that's right. Back in the day, I even fought against Tyrant Warnir. He truly lived up to his title of Tyrant. But I'm not bad either, hahaha!"

In the daily life of an adventurer, there is a must-do daily task—visiting the tavern.

So what should we do inside the tavern?

In a tavern in Spring City, a burly man exuding the aura of an adventurer held up his wine glass and boasted to the children in front of him.

That's right, this burly man is an adventurer who is doing the daily quest "Tavern Bragging"!
The burly man looked unfamiliar; he wasn't a well-known adventurer or a member of a team, just an ordinary adventurer. The most valuable thing he owned was probably a King's Army Greatsword, with the war ash on it being one of the most common types of war ash—the Whirlwind Slash.

However, his appearance was quite like that of someone who had come out of the underground city of Sien, looking like he had been through a lot.

He was quite pleased with the children's gazes and was about to down his entire glass when a thin, bespectacled man with a stern-looking face next to him pushed up his glasses and said in an upturned tone:
"Since he's a famous adventurer from the Sien Dungeon, why would he come all the way to Kasuga City to do quests?"

The burly man froze upon hearing this, stuffing the several quests related to the Cangyin Underground City that were sticking out of his pocket back inside. He glanced at the children and said:

"That's because I'm tired of having fun over there! There's no need to be tied to one person forever."

"Oh? You can get tired of the Sien Dungeon?"

The bespectacled man gave a sly smile. "I heard they released a huge area over there all at once, and all the 'famous' people went. Aren't you going to check it out?"

"you!"

As the atmosphere between the two became increasingly tense, the other people drinking in the tavern started shouting that they should fight.

However, they didn't end up fighting. The burly man backed down and walked out of the tavern, where he ran into some of his teammates.

"Let's go do this boring quest." He waved his hand, and his teammates followed.

"Sigh, this Cangyin Dungeon is interesting, but it's too easy. There's no challenge at all. It's far inferior to the Sien Dungeon. Can't they add some difficulty?"

Standing at the entrance of the portal, he uttered these words of reflection.

If Hines were to send out a survey to all adventurers right now, he would probably answer "very easy" without hesitation.

His teammates behind him had rather subtle expressions.

Everyone came to Spring City because they couldn't make it in the Sien Dungeon. As for the reason, it's because they couldn't beat Overlord Wolnir, and they couldn't explore the high-paying areas like Irithyll and Anor Londo. They had some strength but were unwilling to lower themselves to become gatherers in the food-producing areas, and their morale had really been broken.

In short, due to various factors, they came to the Cangyin Dungeon to make a living. In fact, there are quite a few adventurers like them.

However, they would never say that they left the Sien Dungeon because they were completely defeated; they would usually say that they got tired of the place and came out to try something new.

I don’t know when it started, but having “been in the Sien Dungeon” has become a symbol of an adventurer’s status. People usually look at you with more respect when they say that.

If two complete strangers were to shout this phrase simultaneously in a town tavern without a portal to the Sien Dungeon, they would probably exchange a knowing smile and reveal a subtle expression.

They met eyes; they were all people who had escaped from Sain.

"Today's task is to collect green tree essence, which is enough to fill an entire bottle. This is too troublesome. Let's get this over with quickly."

Stepping through the portal, the view changed, revealing the unique natural beauty of the Azure Underground City—a sight the burly man had grown tired of seeing lately.

"This scenery is like a game of make-believe; it doesn't have the scary feeling of the Carthus Catacombs at all."

He suddenly stopped before he could finish speaking, and carefully twitched his nose twice.

"What's wrong? What did you smell?" the kobold in the group asked, puzzled. He hadn't noticed anything except the scent of flowers.

The burly man's expression turned grave as he said, "I smell danger."

"what?"

Everyone was confused about what he meant. Could there really be danger in the Cangyin Underground City? That was ridiculous.

“It’s true, it’s my gut feeling!” The burly man looked into the depths of the dungeon and said, “Something has definitely changed here, I swear on my experience adventuring in the Sien Dungeon!”

"This sense of danger is just like Sion has invaded this place!"

"We didn't feel anything. Okay, okay, let's go. We still don't have money for dinner tonight."

Despite the burly man's repeated attempts to dissuade them, his teammates seemed oblivious, heading deeper into the area where the green tree spirit was most likely to appear. The burly man looked conflicted, but ultimately decided to follow them, after all, one has to save face.

However, the deeper they went into the jungle, the more an ominous chill crept over the adventurers, and this time they finally sensed that something was wrong.

"Something does feel off."

Someone had just raised a question when someone else shouted, "Look ahead, it's a marigold!"

People's breathing suddenly became rapid, and when they looked into the depths of the jungle, they could indeed see the faint outline of a marigold!
This magical plant can produce silver and gold coins, and it is the rarest of all plants. If an adventurer were to take it out, they would probably never have to worry about food and drink.

"Catch it!"

People rushed forward, forgetting all about the green tree essence, and all pounced on the marigold. But the marigold seemed to have grown legs and ran away in a flash, so the adventurers chased after it and ran down another side road.

"Hey, don't get so worked up!" The burly man sensed something was wrong. "It might be a trap!"

"That's a design only found in the Sien Dungeon, so don't worry about it here!" the teammates replied confidently.

"I still feel something's not right." The burly man gritted his teeth and chased after them.

In the dense jungle, a fierce chase is unfolding. The adventurers stare greedily at the marigolds, already fantasizing about what it would be like to become a millionaire.

Just then, they spotted several swaying figures in the shadows of the jungle.

"Is it a zombie? It's a weak monster. I'll deal with it myself. You guys go after it."

An adventurer broke away from the group and ran towards the zombies. The zombies here were weak and easy to defeat, and even he could take on a whole group by himself!
It wasn't until he got closer that he realized the zombies had plants growing on their heads.

"It's okay, he's just a little stronger, I can still win!"

He even chuckled; he loved these plants that could move around on the heads of zombies because they were so satisfying to use.

He's the most loyal fan of the giant mushroom!

The adventurer grabbed his weapon and swung it at the nearest zombie, only then realizing what was on its head.

Is that a sunflower? No, why does it have two heads, and why are they connected like cherry bombs?
This isn't a sunflower, but a [Sunshine Bomb]—a fusion of a sunflower and a cherry bomb!
"BOOM!"

"what sound?"

The burly man looked back and saw that the voice seemed to be coming from near the teammate who had left the group. Was the other person alright?
"The marigold is running towards you, catch it!" His teammate's shout brought him back to his senses. He saw the marigold jump over his head and disappear into the bushes again. He immediately followed it.

The other adventurers were about to follow when they suddenly noticed many swaying shadows around them.

"Tsk, why are there so many zombies today?"

They assumed a fighting stance when they suddenly saw the zombies pushing something. The shape looked like a Peashooter, but it seemed much larger.

It wasn't until they cast a Flash of Light that they could see the thing in its entirety.

It is indeed a Peashooter, but it only has a head; its body is connected to a wheel.

"This is fucking amazing!" Upon seeing this thing, the adventurer's hair stood on end.

This isn't a Peashooter; it's a fusion of the Peashooter and the Corn Cannon—the [Pea Cannon]!
The pea cannon shot out peas bigger than a person, which exploded with a "bang" in front of everyone!

The violent shockwave sent everyone flying backward. Enduring the pain, they looked up and saw even more plant zombies appearing in front of them.

"What are all these?" they asked, full of questions.

What appeared before them were plants they had never seen before.

[Destroyer-shroom], [Enchantress-shroom], [Enchantress-shroom], [Gunshot], [Ice Berry].
These strange-looking things approached step by step, bringing people an extremely strong sense of oppression. Only then did they realize that they had unknowingly run to the deepest part of the Cangyin Underground City. Logically speaking, this should be the boundary, so how did it expand again?

They even found another marigold among this group of strangely shaped plants, whose leaves even had something that looked like magnets.

Driven by fear, they forgot their greed and only thought about running away. Fortunately, the zombies weren't very fast, and they could easily escape.

The Magnetic Marigold suddenly activated its magnetic force, sucking away weapons, shields, and other miscellaneous items from each adventurer.

The adventurers stopped abruptly and turned around as if they had seen a ghost.

The things that were sucked away were their most valuable possessions; without those...
"Damn it, why does the Marigold also have the Magnet-shroom's abilities?!"

To retrieve the weapon, you must reach the Magnetic Marigold, and to get there, you must pass through that group of strange plants.
"I'll try my best!"

Some people roared and charged forward, while others gritted their teeth and turned to run. Behind them, explosions and screams continued. Those who fled dared not look back to check the situation, constantly telling themselves that running away was the right thing to do.

But just then, a powerful suction force came from behind, and the adventurers, who hadn't run far, realized they were being pulled backward.

Oh right, the armor I'm wearing can also be attracted by magnetism.

"No!"

Seeing that he was about to fall into the monster horde, he let out a cry of grief and indignation.

"If you can absorb armor, why didn't you do it from the beginning?!"

Meanwhile, the burly man was chasing after the marigolds when he turned around and found that his teammates were gone.

"Where is he? I have a bad feeling."

This kind of "walking around for a while and then finding that all your teammates have disappeared" scenario is all too common in the Sien Dungeon; his PTSD is about to flare up.

Fear drove him forward, oblivious to the fact that he had ventured deep into the jungle. It was then that he spotted the marigold in the distance.

"It's too dangerous here. At worst, I'll catch him and stay put until the dungeon closes!"

He made up his mind and rushed toward the marigold that was standing still.

Just as he was about to succeed, his foot slipped, and he fell with a scream, crashing heavily to the ground. The ground was hollow!

He looked towards the cave entrance, but before he could even think of climbing out, he saw that it was blocked by [spiky potato mines].

"what?"

The burly man's eyes glazed over for a moment, as if to say he couldn't get out.
Driven by his survival instinct, he explored his surroundings, and when the burly man turned around, his eyes were even more vacant.

Because what lay before him was a one-way street, or rather, a tunnel.

However, the tunnel was densely packed with sharp and frightening spikes.

The area stretches as far as the eye can see, seemingly without end, and is filled with an atmosphere of despair.

"I... I'll use a Rock Spell, that should be enough to get through it, right?"

Just as the burly man said this, a buzzing, rotating saw blade suddenly emerged from the thorn bushes not far away; Gong Qiying generally referred to it as a chainsaw.

Chainsaws of all sizes were distributed in a regular and spaced manner in the thorny jungle, moving up and down quite frighteningly; those rotating saw blades must be able to easily cut through rocks.

Not only are there spikes on the tunnel floor, but the rock strata above are also entwined with steel-like thorns, and strange-looking insects are peeking out from inside the thorns, which are probably not good things either.

All these things combined created an eerie atmosphere that made people absolutely afraid to approach.

And this is just the beginning; who knows what even more bizarre things might come later.

"."

Staring at this outrageous map, the burly man fell silent.

"Why does this smell like Sion?"

The fear that had been lurking deep within him was awakened at that moment, and his hands began to tremble.

Just then, he noticed a few fragments of tall nuts piled up in the corner, with scraps of paper scattered around them.

To obtain treasure, one must first endure suffering.

The fragments of the nut are like long sticks; when hit on the spikes, they bounce up. Perhaps by constantly hitting the spikes with these fragments, one can move through the spike tunnels.

However, if there is even the slightest mistake, you might fall directly into the spikes and get pricked like SpongeBob SquarePants.

The burly man gripped the fragments of the high-nut in his hand, gazing at the gleaming tunnel.

His eyes hardened with determination, and he slowly began to speak:

"I can't stand it! How could anyone get through this?"

On this day, the adventurers of Spring City sensed that something was wrong.

That day, the underground city was filled with cries of agony.

(End of this chapter)