Who designed this underworld dungeon?.

Chapter 711, the mid-game map, is definitely going to be a pain.
A temple, much larger than any other building and exuding an aura of solemnity, sits at the deepest part of the city.

The sky above the Eternal City is covered with stars; wherever you go, you can look up and see a sky full of dazzling stars.

However, the starlight dimmed in the area surrounding the temple.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that the closer you get to the temple, the dimmer the starlight becomes, until finally, the area around the temple is completely devoid of starlight.

Only an endless, deathly silence remained in the night.

That place looked like the Demon King's castle that the heroes would finally challenge.

Just one glance was enough to make one feel the oppressive atmosphere contained within. Leon wouldn't be surprised if something jumped out of that tightly closed door.

He leaped out from an inconspicuous flaw in the mountain, and thus witnessed a sight he had never seen before.

This is one of the common map design methods used in the Sien Dungeon, which adds more positive feedback to people's exploration.

Even though he had encountered similar scene designs many times before, such as emerging from the cave after defeating Overlord Wolnir to overlook Irithyll in the Boreal Valley, Leon never hesitated to praise such maps.

"Beautiful! Sion!"

However, the only thing about this place that isn't quite pretty is—

With his current parabolic trajectory, he will crash directly into the bottomless abyss upon landing.

The upside-down building next to him, which offered footholds, was more than two or three arm's lengths away!
Leon instantly snapped out of his reverie and immediately decided to pull back the grappling hook he had thrown towards the cliff edge and throw it back towards the building.

He can do it. With his current strength and reaction speed, he can do such a thing!

"Whoosh-"

A whooshing sound suddenly erupted from behind.

Leon instinctively dodged to the side, but the next instant, a piercing pain shot through his shoulder, and hot blood gushed out.

No, he failed to dodge; the Spirit Arrow struck his shoulder!

The pain from the injury was bearable, but the Ancestral Spirits were all incredibly strong barbarians, and the impact of the arrow pulled his body forward!

Although the grappling hook was successfully pulled up, it was broken by a hail of arrows, leaving only a thick piece of rope in Leon's hand.

With an abyss beneath his feet and a rope without a hook in his hand, no matter how strong he was or how rich his combat experience, only if he could instantly grow a pair of wings could he solve this situation.

Unfortunately, Leon is not a winged race like a demon gargoyle or an angel.

Ever since.

He turned in mid-air and gave the ancestral spirits who had chased him to the edge of the cliff and were firing arrows at him indiscriminately the middle finger.

"Damn it!"

With a roar filled with resentment, Leon killed Robert.

"hiss"

He didn't know how much time had passed when he woke up again, and beside him was the Blessing statue at the corner of the bridge.

Yes, it was the blessing he couldn't reach because the shadow of calamity suddenly invaded.

The city of Sien showed mercy this time. Although it was invaded by the shadow of calamity, it was ultimately determined that Leon had touched the blessing here, allowing him to revive in a closer location.

Otherwise, we'd have to endure another long and incredibly boring marathon, and there aren't any high-quality monsters along the way.

The lack of high-quality, torturous monsters is the ultimate reason why the Sien Dungeon has become so lenient this time. If it were in Farron Keep, do you think it would be so lenient?

"I never expected to recover here. Saine is really—ugh, my head hurts."

Before he could even finish a sentence, Leon groaned, clutching his forehead in a headache.

He hadn't felt such excruciating pain in a long time. He had recovered too many times in the Sien Dungeon today. Ever since he gradually figured out the Sien Dungeon's patterns, he hadn't had such a headache.

"It's because he fell too many times when he jumped down into the giant pit to scout the way."

After downing a bottle of painkillers, Leon shakily stood up.

Looking around, the ancestral spirits who had been chasing them earlier, as well as the summoned spirit beasts, had long since disappeared, leaving only footprints all over the ground. The trees and bushes were trampled beyond recognition, making it a scene of utter devastation.

"Where has everyone gone?"

Leon waited in place for a while, but no one else appeared. Instead, two or three Ancestral Spirits came and attacked him.

Frustrated with his anger and nowhere to vent it, he used all his strength from the very beginning, wiping out the enemies completely. When the battle ended and no one returned, he simply started walking into the forest.

Looking at the direction he was heading, it was clearly the same direction he had run in when he was being chased by the animals.

Leon decided to go back to that area full of buildings and take another look; it wouldn't hurt to explore it on his own.

Forests are dangerous places, where ancestral spirits and strange animals may lurk everywhere.

For example, there were a group of goats several times larger than the rampaging Tel, who rolled together like dump trucks and could send people flying dozens of meters in an instant. There were many other strange but powerful animals like these, and they all obeyed the command of the ancestral spirits who blew the horns.

"Whizzing--"

A cold arrow shot from behind, but he, already on edge, dodged it all with a few leaps. As he turned to attack, he saw the archers drawing their stone axes and charging towards him.

The dynamic strength of these ancestral spirits is comparable to that of Japar, meaning that their numerical power has been amplified to almost full.

Unfortunately, their attack methods were somewhat simplistic, and they were not particularly powerful opponents. Leon, relying on his exquisite control of his backhand sword while dodging, quickly killed all of these Ancestral Spirits.

Normally, adventurers' physical abilities are at a disadvantage against the monsters in the Sien Dungeon, so almost every adventurer trains their movement skills so that they either fight the monsters without taking any damage or are killed in one or two hits.

Having grown up in such an environment, Leon was naturally as slippery as a mudfish and difficult to catch.

He plundered the spirit arrows that appeared as points of light from the dead ancestral spirits.

"The elves of Stellar should like this."

[The shadow of calamity has invaded us!!!]

Before he could even put the Spirit Arrow into his pocket, a vicious notification came through.

"Ok?"

This time, Leon learned his lesson and lunged forward the instant the prompt appeared.

"boom!"

The instant he lay down, a sound of exploding cold air came from the spot where he had been standing.

"You bastard, how dare you come looking for me!"

Leon finally found an outlet for his anger, instantly drawing the Kalia Knight's Sword from his back. The azure-blue Kalia Greatsword swung back and slashed at the Shadow of Calamity.

That crimson spirit was the real Shadow of Calamity. It leaped to dodge the slash of the Kalia Greatsword and was about to launch a new attack on Leon with the Royal Greatsword when...

Leon suddenly canceled the Kalia Greatsword spell and instantly activated a new Kalia Greatsword. Almost in the blink of an eye, the giant blade stood upright and slammed the leaping shadow of calamity to the ground!
Cast a new spell to cancel the aftercast delay of the previous spell!

This is a combat technique he has learned from years of using the Ring!
It sounds simple, but only the right magic can do it this way, and he's done a lot of training for it.

"This time I will avenge my previous defeat!"

Holding the Kalia Knight's Sword in both hands, Leon rushed forward to try and stop the Shadow of Calamity from getting up, but the latter quickly adjusted his posture with a backflip, swung the Royal Greatsword, and started fighting with him.

The battle on the scene was extremely fierce, and all the flowers, plants and trees that were caught in the turbulence were completely destroyed by the wind pressure from the clashing swords.

The battle seemed surprisingly evenly matched. Under the enemy's relentless onslaught, Leon fought with all his might to parry, and even in this critical moment, he was hiding, secretly charging up his weapon, intending to unleash a powerful attack to kill the Shadow of Calamity.

No wonder he's Japar's apprentice; the two of them use almost identical strategies.

The charge is complete; it's time to end this battle!
A slight smile appeared on Leon's lips, and a faint light emanated from the Kalia Knight's sword—

"boom!"

Suddenly, the shadow of calamity roared at the ground. The roar exploded the moment it hit the ground, and the shockwave rushed in all directions. Leon had no choice but to raise his sword to defend himself.

And what about the enemy? Taking advantage of the impact, the Shadow of Calamity leaped backward dozens of meters, making a startling move.

He turned and ran!

"#!"

Upon seeing this, a bulge of veins, shaped like the Chinese character "井" (well), appeared on Leon's forehead.

"Hey! Don't run away, get back here!"

But how could pale words hold back the shadow of calamity that had made up its mind to escape? The figure disappeared into the forest in a few leaps, and it was too late for Leon, who had blocked the shockwave, to chase after it.

A wolf howled through the forest, and the bushes rustled. Several Ancestral Spirits emerged to investigate. Upon seeing Leon, they immediately blew their horns, and various small animals rushed out.

"hateful!"

Seeing that there weren't many small animals, Leon thought for a moment, then grabbed his sword and charged forward to start the fight.

After the battle, he was completely certain that the calamity shadow he had just encountered was definitely not Blaze; apart from their appearance, the two had no relation whatsoever.

Based solely on Blaze's performance at the Battle Festival, it's clear he's not the type to run away halfway through a battle!

No matter how powerful the Shadow of Calamity is, or how well it can wield cold energy, it will never become the real Blaze.

However, in reality, the Shadow of Calamity doesn't use cold energy; he just swings his greatsword around and slashes. The [Wolf Strike] combat technique and the use of cold energy on his royal greatsword were added by Gong Qiying specifically to make it closer to Blaze's characteristics, with a slight enhancement as well.

Although the ancestral spirits in the forest are not everywhere, they are not far apart.

At least when they hear the sounds of their comrades fighting, they will definitely be able to run over and provide support.

Leon, braving the attacks of hidden arrows, wiped out all the animals he was commanding, but when he looked back, a new generation of ancestral spirits appeared in all their glory, each of them aiming their arrows at him.

A tactical retreat is necessary; at this point, running away is neither shameful nor particularly useful.

But just then, the sound of heavy iron blocks splitting through the wind came from above, and Leon instinctively dodged to the side.

"boom!"

The explosive chill blasted around him, but luckily he tore off a magic shield scroll in time, which successfully blocked it.

Sure enough, it was the Shadow of Calamity that attacked him.

"You...you bastard with no martial spirit!"

Comparing the character of the Shadow of Calamity to that of Blaze, Leon felt even more determined to tear the guy to pieces.

"Trying to team up with monsters? Come on, I'm a veteran of countless battles and I'm not afraid of you!"

At this point, Leon was unaware that he was caught in a long and agonizing tug-of-war.

If we had decisively chosen to retreat when we encountered the Ancestral Spirits, the situation would never have turned out this way.

At the same time, they were also in the forest.

[The shadow of calamity has invaded us!!!]

"Meow!?"

Maru leaped and bounded through the forest, several excessively long spirit arrows piercing her back, while the howling shadow of calamity relentlessly pursued her.

"Why is this guy chasing me?!"

The most crucial point isn't why the shadow of calamity is chasing her.

Instead, this bastard would disappear every time he chased her to a place where monsters gathered, and only reappear when she finally managed to defeat all the monsters!

Unfortunately, Maru isn't very good at head-on combat. She struggles to fight the Shadow of Calamity head-on and can only be chased and fight other monsters.

"How can this guy be so shameless!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest...

[The shadow of calamity has invaded us!!!]

Drew instantly conjured a magical shield on the spot, and almost at the same moment the shield was opened, the crimson greatsword, wreathed in cold air, slashed down.

"boom!"

A tremendous crash resounded, and the magical shield was instantly riddled with cracks from the strike. Dru had to quickly expend his magic power to rebuild the shield.

When he released the new shield, the Shadow of Calamity appeared again and shattered it with a single sword strike.

The two, one human and one wolf, attacked each other in a very rhythmic manner.

"That despicable guy!"

Drew gritted his teeth. He glanced at Tel, who was lying on the ground barely clinging to life. Although he wanted to heal him, he couldn't even focus on healing him because of the Shadow of Calamity.

It could have shattered the shield directly, but it kept managing to evade the attack.

Drew understood that this bastard was playing him.

It's like a skilled hunter toying with his cornered prey, but Drew, the prey, lacks the ability to fight back and bite the hunter.

"That's outrageous!"

Accompanying his angry curses was the sound of the greatsword striking the magic shield once more.

Sometimes, a complex map design isn't even necessary.

All you need to do is split up a well-organized team of adventurers, add a group of powerful monsters and a cheeky invader, and you can achieve the ultimate tormenting pleasure.

As a map that isn't in the early stages and offers plenty of benefits at the beginning, adventurers should know that this is not a place to enter lightly.

"Where am I?"

Japar looked at the complex of buildings in front of him, especially the temple, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

He clearly followed Leon's trail here, so why didn't he see him and instead found a new place?
"It can't be that he went inside."

With that, Japar leaped away from the forest and arrived at a place that resembled Nokron.

But the real name of this place is actually the [Dark Night Divine Realm] that just appeared before their eyes.

There are no roads here, only a jumble of houses pieced together from all sorts of upside-down and crisscrossing structures. You have to be careful just to walk, let alone walk around.
"Bam—"

Two plumes of smoke erupted not far away.

Watching the two silver teardrops slowly transform into his own shape in the smoke, Japal gripped his weapon tightly.

(End of this chapter)