novelslam Chapter 18 The Abyss of Silence
Chapter 18 The Abyss of Silence
The group stepped into the abyss of silence.
Before me lay a complex of underground caves of far greater scale than I had imagined. The dome was ridiculously high, at least sixty or seventy meters high, and densely covered with luminous stalactites, casting a play of light and shadow throughout the space. The floor was an uneven layer of limestone, dotted with shallow pits filled with water and winding underground tributaries.
The air was humid and carried a slightly astringent, mineral smell.
Lu Yan's gaze swept over the information board above the entrance.
【The Silent Abyss (Level 45)】
[Current team capacity: 1/3]
"A maximum of three teams can enter at the same time?" Lu Yan glanced at Ling Shuang.
"That's right." Ling Shuang had already taken the spear off her shoulder and held it upright at her side with one hand. "The Silent Abyss is an open-world multi-team dungeon where three teams share the same map. There is no protection mechanism between teams."
Liu Yiyi chimed in from behind: "In other words—you can attack people from other teams at will."
"Teams that are wiped out will be forcibly kicked out of the dungeon by the system, all their equipment will be lost, and they will be banned from entering any dungeon for thirty days," Ling Shuang continued.
The penalty of losing all equipment is quite terrifying for an Awakened. A top-tier Awakened has spent at least one or two years accumulating that set of equipment; if they die even once, well, tsk tsk tsk.
No wonder there are so few guides for this secret realm – there aren't many teams willing to take the risk of farming it.
"We're the only team inside right now." Su Qian pushed up her glasses, staring at the information board at the entrance. "We're lucky."
Lu Yan didn't respond to that. When it comes to luck, you only need to believe in half of it.
He shared the list from his communicator with six people via screen sharing.
"Let's get down to business. The buff-type affixes I need only drop from monsters in specific areas." He circled three points on the cave map. "The first point is in the mushroom forest on the east side, where swarms of Echoing Bats that drop 'Friendly Buff' affixes spawn. The second is in the broken bridge area of the central underground river, where a group of water elemental golems drop base materials related to shield recovery. The third is the furthest, in the crystal cluster nest in the northwest corner, where imprint gems that increase movement speed and critical strike chance drop."
He withdrew his finger: "Just follow this route in this order. Ignore the monsters in other areas, don't waste time."
Ling Shuang glanced at the list, noted down the route, and turned to look at her team.
"Walk."
The moment the mission began, everyone's lighthearted smiles vanished, replaced by serious and stern expressions.
Ling Shuang started moving, Liu Yiyi automatically spread out to the side and probe forward, Jiang Xiaorou moved to Lu Yan's left and raised her shield to follow, Su Qian stayed half a step behind him on the right, and Mo Li landed at the very end of the height to find a field of vision.
There were no verbal commands; everything relied on tacit understanding.
The mushroom forest isn't far; you just need to pass through two narrow paths to reach it. This area of the cave is covered with glowing mushrooms as tall as a person, and swarms of echoing bats hang from their caps.
The level 45 bat swarm is numerous but has low health; its attack method is ultrasonic harassment.
Ling Shuang didn't give any motivational speech; she simply pointed the tip of her gun at the mushroom forest.
Liu Yiyi was the first to rush in.
Her speed was absurd; her light armor practically glided along the ground as she thrust her rapier three times in quick succession, each strike precisely piercing the core of a bat. The startled swarm of bats lunged at the group, only to be completely blocked by Jiang Xiaorou's massive shield.
Mo Li calmly fired from the rear, each arrow taking down an elite-level enemy.
Ling Shuang's fighting style is the most direct—sweeping with her spear, one strike and a whole group is swept down.
It took less than twelve minutes to clear out the first wave of bats from the mushroom forest.
Golden light exploded and spread across the ground.
Lu Yan squatted down and rummaged through the items. With the drop rate increased by 100 times, the equipment dropped by the Echoing Bats was layered on top of each other. Most of them were gold and dark gold quality junk items, but the number of equipment with the "friendly buff" affix was quite considerable.
The filter automatically blocks out useless equipment and picks out those with the target affix and puts them into the collection box.
Ling Shuang helped sort the goods quickly.
The six men spent twenty minutes collecting the first batch of target equipment, which they then finished counting.
"Seventy-three pieces." Lu Yan typed a number on the communicator. "Conservatively speaking, we can extract about twenty engraving stones. That should be enough raw materials for the first affix."
Su Qian rolled her eyes when she heard the number.
Seventy-three pieces of equipment with specific affixes, in one morning.
Brother, do you know what this means?
It would take a full team at least several days to farm equipment with a specific affix to collect enough pieces for that affix.
Having a 100x drop rate equipped with this item gives me a real sense of what that means.
"Finished cleaning up? Let's move on to the second point." Ling Shuang had already picked up her spear, the tip pointing towards the central underground river.
The group regrouped and proceeded along the main passage of the cave towards the Broken Bridge area.
After walking for about seven or eight minutes, the terrain changed from an open mushroom forest to a narrow riverside corridor, and the stone slabs underfoot were smooth and shiny from being washed by the underground river.
Liu Yiyi walked at the front to scout the way, but suddenly stopped.
She didn't speak, but brought her right index and middle fingers together and made a standard "touch" gesture backward.
Ling Shuang's shoulders immediately slumped down.
From the bend in the riverbank twenty meters ahead, the faint sound of human voices could be heard. It wasn't a monster—it was the sound of humans talking.
"Someone's there?!" Ling Shuang whispered.
Liu Yiyi held up five fingers.
A five-person team.
Lu Yan looked up at the information board at the entrance of the secret realm—although he couldn't see it from a distance, he remembered that it showed 1/3 when he came in.
When did it become 2/3?
The group behind the corner came out first.
The five male Awakeners were all equipped with the same dark gold-grade gear and dressed uniformly. The same emblem was engraved on their left breastplates—the character "Emperor" framed in gold.
Ling Shuang's spear tip dipped slightly by two inches.
"The Imperial Gate," she said, uttering two words.
Lu Yan had never heard of this name before, but the change in Ling Shuang's tone when she said those two words told him that she was no pushover.
"The Imperial Gate?" Lu Yan asked Su Qian in a low voice.
Su Qian pushed up her glasses and lowered her voice: "The top three Awakened Guilds in the country have been dominating multiple dungeons and suppressing solo players and small teams for a long time. Their behavior is not very respectable."
"Do you have any connections with foreigners?"
"No, not at all." Su Qian thought for a moment. "She's just a bully at home. But to be fair, she's never done anything like leading a traitor."
The opposing Royal Gate squad also spotted them.
The heavily armored man leading the group glanced at the Dragon Guard badge on Ling Shuang's chest, slowed his pace, but didn't stop.
"Oh, an official team?" His voice echoed in the cave. "Rare guests, rare guests. You guys are here to farm a second-rate map like the Silent Abyss?"
"We're about to reach the front-line secret realm again. I hope you guys don't embarrass yourselves, or I'll be left without an S-rank secret realm to fight."
Although the people from the Imperial Guard were sharp-tongued, they didn't dare to take direct action, because the National Guard was an official organization, and all civilian organizations would be wary of it.
"Let's go." She said a single word to her team, changed direction, and went around to the other side of the riverside corridor.
Ling Shuang ignored them and led her group away into the distance.
The leader of the royal team scoffed as he watched them walk away.
"What kind of official team is this? They still get completely crushed by foreign teams. I think it would be better if I went in instead."
"In my opinion, those girls on the other side should just switch to our guild. Our guild's equipment and strategies aren't bad either, hahaha."
The sound still reached Ling Shuang's ears.
"Lu Yan, crush this portal scroll in a moment and retreat first. I will not allow our team to be insulted. I will take full responsibility for the consequences of mission failure."
Lu Yan didn't speak, but silently activated all his auras.
"It's alright, even if they don't kill me, I won't leave. How could I miss out on disciplining a dog like that?"