Chapter 239: Massive Explosion at the Camp

Chapter 239: Chapter 239: Massive Explosion at the Camp

Lance stepped into the area and found a wide, bluestone plaza before him.

At the far end of the plaza stood a massive Bronze Gate, over ten meters tall.

The heavy metal gate was currently wide open, and he could clearly see groups of Adventurers and cargo carts passing in and out of the entryway.

And this massive plaza where Lance stood was the former domain of the Underground City’s First Area Gate Guardian Lord.

After that powerful Lord monster was defeated by the first Pioneers, it vanished forever, never to respawn.

Unless the entire dungeon was reset after being cleared.

Lance stroked his chin.

’I wonder if I’ll get a chance to solo a boss during this Summer Crown and test the waters.’

Rusted Stone Echo was a long-established, basic Underground City, and so far, only the layout of its First Area had been fully mapped.

As for the second area, this year’s map had yet to be fully explored. The professional cartographers hired by the Grand Guilds still hadn’t found the location of the boss room.

Lance followed the crowded stream of people through the Bronze Gate.

After passing through the gate, he was greeted by the sight of a vast area carved directly into the belly of a massive mountain.

The ceiling of this space was embedded with countless glowing ores, resembling a brilliant night sky.

What was most stunning was that in the center of this mountain cavern, there was even a small, crystal-clear subterranean lake.

Surrounding this lake, along the gentle slope of the cavern walls, a dense cluster of buildings constructed from stone and logs had been erected.

There were inns, Blacksmith shops, Potion stores, and even several huge warehouses for storing supplies.

The encampment’s layout and scale clearly showed that it had developed into a bustling little market town.

The plaza was abuzz with activity, filled with Professionals who had come for the Summer Crown.

Besides Adventurers, one could clearly see many heavy wooden carts moving in and out along the streets.

This bustling scene wasn’t just about shipping out the expensive resources mined here. It was also about bringing in massive amounts of supplies from the outside through the most primitive of means, all to keep this underground encampment running.

However, this supply line was not safe. It was under constant threat of frenzied attacks from wandering Demons, so every caravan had to hire a large number of Adventurers for a full escort.

Walking along the lively streets of the camp, Lance noticed that the vast majority of those participating in the Summer Crown were well-equipped Adventurer teams with balanced Profession compositions.

A Lone Wolf like him, here by himself, seemed rather out of place.

"Did you hear? The main team from Silver Hand just pulled back from the second area to rest up."

As he passed an open-air tavern, he overheard a few Adventurers, who were sitting on barrels and drinking, talking loudly about something.

"Their team points shot them straight into fifth place on the leaderboards!"

"As expected of a veteran Guild backed by the Royal Family. Their pace is terrifying. They’ve already caught right up to the teams ahead of them."

Lance listened to this free intel on the top-tier teams while curiously surveying his surroundings.

He needed to find the safe post established here by the Veterans’ Guild first.

Uncle Rein had specially marked the location in the information he gave him before he left, saying that with the token, he could get a free and safe room there to rest.

While searching for the post, Lance noticed that the proportion of Sub-human Species in this Underground City seemed to be much higher than in the outside world.

Moreover, as he passed a luxurious headquarters with a Silver Arm Armor insignia hanging by its entrance, his gaze lingered for a moment on a particular figure.

It was a woman with long, ice-blue hair.

She belonged to the Snow Lady clan, a race rumored to appear only in the Northern Territory. They were an incredibly rare sight in the warm climate of White River Province.

The Snow Lady wore a suit of light Plate Armor interwoven with silver and blue. Far from looking bulky, it perfectly complemented her cool, aloof aura.

Lance could tell just from a distant glance that the suit of armor she wore was definitely high-grade gear.

’Its Resistance Threshold must be incredibly high.’

’So badass...’

She stood quietly by the headquarters’ main gate, staring blankly at the noisy crowd ahead, lost in a daze.

Lance looked down at his own Leather Vest, which had several white scratches on it from the claws of a Sound Wing Beast.

He instantly felt that his own getup was pitifully shabby.

He secretly set a small goal for himself: see if he could run into some clueless rich guy in the Underground City and use his Protection to forcefully acquire a new set of armor.

But just as Lance was about to look away and continue on his way, he noticed something extremely abnormal.

’Aren’t you supposed to be safe from Demon attacks in this area?’

But when he had habitually glanced at the "Environmental Stability" indicator floating in the corner of his vision, it had been flashing red the whole time.

Just as Lance was feeling confused, a clear, childish voice suddenly pierced through the noisy crowd ahead.

"Big brother!"

The voice sounded somewhat familiar, catching Lance’s attention.

He looked toward the sound.

In the middle of the street, less than twenty meters away, stood the Minstrel named Bazzer, holding his daughter Lilia’s hand.

Bazzer’s expression was also one of great surprise. He clearly hadn’t expected to meet the young man again in this Underground City.

Yesterday, when they disembarked from the ferry, he had been delayed for a while writing his manuscript and hadn’t been able to find him at the docks.

In order not to miss the firsthand scoop on the Summer Crown, he had no choice but to come to the Rusted Stone Echo Underground City first and set up, feeling a sense of regret.

He never imagined that after just one day, the young man his daughter called a "Hero" would miraculously appear before him.

’Could this be the legendary guidance of fate?’

He instantly made up his mind about something.

Just then, Bazzer felt a slip in his palm.

Lilia had already happily wriggled free from his grasp. Like a cheerful little sparrow, she took off toward Lance on her short legs.

Bazzer smiled helplessly and just called out softly after her.

"Slow down, be careful you don’t fall!"

But Lance, standing in his place, suddenly felt all the hairs on his body stand on end.

His Perception Attribute was warning him!

No time to think, no time to hesitate.

Lance subconsciously shouted at the small figure.

"Look out!"

And at the very same instant he shouted the warning...

"BOOM!!!"

An earth-shattering explosion ripped through the camp’s street!

A bustling street, over ten meters long, had been rigged with an unknown amount of Alchemy Explosives, all of which were detonated in a single moment!

A searing fireball, mixed with countless sharp shards of stone and wood, was about to engulf the entire street, threatening to tear everything to pieces.

In that split second, out of the corner of his eye, Lance saw that the silver-and-blue figure who had been staring blankly at the headquarters gate had actually moved a split second before the explosion—even faster than he had!

Lance couldn’t afford to hide his strength any longer.

The Ethereal Melting Furnace inside him instantly went into overload.

[Dragon Leaping Tail]!

His right foot stomped down, shattering the stone slab beneath it. His entire body blurred into an afterimage, and with an unprecedented burst of speed, he lunged recklessly toward the small figure in the blast zone.