DMS Chapter 199

Early the next morning, Flinx used one of his Cleric healing spells to cure everyone's hangover.

Afterward, everyone cleaned themselves by taking proper showers instead of relying on magic, and they all felt considerably refreshed.

With that done, they proceeded to the third floor of the wild dungeon.

The third floor had a forest theme, and its monsters reflected the environment.

There were still slimes, goblins, hobgoblins, dire wolves, dire bears, and giant spiders. In addition to those common monsters, they also encountered trolls, ogres, gnolls, forest harpies, giant bats, and magical creatures such as forest spirit foxes, treants, and undead vultures capable of casting spells.

As always, Pip scouted ahead while Flinx eliminated every group of monsters using his strongest spells.

He continued rotating through his ninth-, eighth-, and seventh-level Wizard spells.

For now, he decided not to practice his Cleric offensive spells. He wanted to become completely accustomed to casting his Wizard spells first until both his body and mind performed them almost instinctively.

Flinx had also begun worrying more about his friends' safety.

To strengthen their defenses, he summoned two additional Water Elementals, bringing the total number of guardians to eight powerful elementals.

So far, none of the monsters had survived his initial attacks long enough to threaten his companions.

He was equally unconcerned about ambushes.

The Earth Elementals could detect anything moving underground, the Wind Elementals could intercept flying enemies, and the Water Elementals would immediately sense monsters hiding in rivers, ponds, or any other body of water.

As a result, the only thing his friends needed to do while Flinx cleared the dungeon was entertain themselves from the comfort of their camping chairs.

Fortunately, access to the System Shopping Site and Earth's internet gave them an endless supply of entertainment.

When noon arrived, Flinx chose not to stop.

He simply told everyone to eat whenever they became hungry.

His goal was to complete two dungeon floors each day.

In truth, he could probably clear three floors a day if he truly pushed himself.

However, there was no reason to exhaust himself.

Spending roughly eight hours delving each day, with breaks in between, was more than sufficient and would still allow them to conquer the entire dungeon in approximately two weeks.

The elite monster guarding the third floor was a hydra.

Even so, a single ninth-level Wizard spell was enough to destroy it.

After collecting the mana stones and storing the magic item it dropped, the group immediately advanced to the fourth floor.

Flinx paused only briefly to eat lunch before continuing his relentless assault on the dungeon's monsters.

One strange characteristic of the wild dungeon was that defeated monsters never respawned after a floor had been cleared.

The dungeon would become permanent—like the dungeons beneath the city of Ilioven—only if someone chose to preserve it by claiming the dungeon core.

Doing so, however, would forfeit the reward promised for clearing the dungeon.

Flinx had already decided to destroy the dungeon core upon reaching the final floor.

Besides, the dungeon existed in the middle of nowhere, so there was little reason to preserve it.

By the end of the first week, they had cleared ten floors.

The only reason they had not progressed farther was that Paul occasionally insisted that Flinx rest.

There was no strict deadline.

Rushing through the dungeon at the expense of his health served no purpose.

Fortunately, Flinx and his friends had little trouble entertaining themselves once each day's dungeon expedition ended.

One evening, Flinx introduced them to a fantasy novel series he had recently finished reading called The Spellsong Cycle.

Some of his friends found it amusing that he still loved fantasy novels despite living in a world that was already filled with magic.

Flinx simply laughed.

He admitted that he had tried reading other genres but always found himself returning to fantasy and science fiction.

At this point, he had accepted that his tastes would probably never change.

He also mentioned that his next project would be The Saga of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Since the series contained twenty-six novels, he knew it would take quite some time to finish.

Because Flinx spoke so highly of the author, several of his friends became curious enough to begin reading the books themselves.

Whenever they camped outside the dungeon, Flinx always refreshed the Hallucinatory Terrain spell surrounding their campsite.

He had no intention of allowing wandering adventurers—or monsters—to discover them.

By the end of the first week, all of Flinx's companions had reached level three.

Even then, they still treated leveling as largely meaningless.

Once they returned to Earth, they would lose their systems anyway.

Flinx briefly wondered how long it would take before some of them managed to convince their loved ones to relocate permanently to this world.

Another week passed.

Finally, after defeating the giant red dragon that served as the final boss of the unnamed wild dungeon's twentieth floor, Flinx and his friends reached the dungeon core.

Flinx had to admit that the expedition had accomplished exactly what he had hoped.

After two weeks of constant combat, repeatedly casting his most powerful Wizard spells had become almost second nature.

Only a handful of monsters had ever survived his opening spell during the entire expedition, and those survivors had been swiftly eliminated by his elementals.

Not a single monster had managed to approach his friends.

Surrounded by eight powerful elementals, they had been as safe as if they were sheltered behind the walls of a heavily fortified fortress.

The dungeon core rested beside the exit.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, it was neither alive nor sentient.

It appeared to be nothing more than a sphere of condensed energy.

When Flinx touched it, he expected some kind of system panel asking whether he wished to preserve or destroy the dungeon.

Nothing like that appeared.

Instead, the choice manifested directly within his mind.

With a single thought, he could decide the dungeon's fate.

Since the group had already reached a unanimous decision, Flinx chose to destroy the dungeon core.

Before he could do so, everyone received a mental message instructing those who had selected the corresponding reward to hold the magic item they wished to protect from the effects of an unawakened world's consciousness.

Flinx did not need to do anything.

His chosen reward was the extension of his Plane Shield, allowing it to protect him from a world's consciousness for a longer period.

Once everyone held their chosen magic items, Flinx mentally confirmed his decision.

The dungeon core cracked apart before dissolving into countless particles of light.

At the same time, every protected magic item emitted a brilliant blue glow before the light gradually faded.

Everyone assumed that the enchantment protecting the items had been successfully applied.

A final mental message informed them that the dungeon would soon collapse and instructed them to leave within the next few minutes.

Naturally, they headed for the exit.

"I wonder what would've happened if we stayed?" Samuel asked.

Flinx shrugged.

"My guess is we'd simply be transported outside, just like what happens when Galder's Tower disappears. But that's only a theory."

Throughout the expedition, Flinx had collected an enormous quantity of mana stones.

He first replenished his own reserves until they matched the amount he had possessed before setting out.

Everything beyond that, he divided among his friends.

Their next destination would be Ilioven, where they planned to exchange the mana stones for gold and gemstones to bring back to Earth.

Before doing that, however, they intended to test their theory.

They wanted to find out whether an ordinary Earthling would also receive the transmigration system if brought into this world using the Plane Shift spell.