There were only two dungeons below Level 20.
The Mutated Forest and the Spider Lair.
The Mutated Forest was a Level 17 dungeon with the lowest requirement, demanding entrants be between Levels 15 and 19.
The Spider Lair was a Level 20 dungeon, requiring entrants to be between Levels 18 and 22.
Just from these two dungeons, one could see the Academy had strict level restrictions for its dungeons.
This also formed a comprehensive system for nurturing students.
As students' levels gradually increased and their combat experience grew richer, these requirements would gradually relax.
"Nightmare difficulty.
Enter the dungeon."
Spending 10 Points, Morintis entered the dungeon.
Wind whistling through the caves sounded like the cries of infants.
The wind came in gusts, the sound intermittent and quite frightening.
The cave was extremely dark; even Morintis's vision struggled to see clearly.
A flame appeared in his palm.
Soul Flame, without a target, simply hovered over his palm, used for illumination.
The flame wasn't vigorous, and the area it illuminated was limited.
Morintis could roughly make out his surroundings.
There were rock walls all around, with only a single passageway wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, leading to an unknown destination.
The rock walls were covered with small holes, some as small as a thumb, others large enough to fit a fist.
There were many spider webs overhead.
The sound of wind was mixed with the skittering of spiders, sending shivers down one's spine.
The dungeon was called Spider Lair; this was a world belonging to spiders.
A large number of Skeleton Warriors appeared.
Their dim soul fires acted like torches, casting numerous shadows.
The Skeleton Warriors charged down the passageway.
The environment within the Spider Lair was very complex and extremely winding.
The Skeleton Warriors spread out, running through the caves.
A map, constantly expanding and generating, appeared in Morintis's mind.
The entire lair contained countless caves, one connected to another.
Some caves even had multiple exits.
They interconnected, forming a hive-like, extensive, and maze-like structure.
The Skeleton Warriors continued to disperse, each moving forward.
Soon, some Skeleton Warriors encountered monsters.
Both sides engaged in battle.
[Level 20 Crimson Spider slain. Experience +9000]
[Obtained Spider Silk*5]
[Level 19 Hairy Spider slain. Experience +8000]
[Obtained Spider Silk*4]
Messages continuously popped up.
The Skeleton Warriors entered combat one after another, and the speed of map exploration rapidly slowed down.
There were many monsters, and they were densely packed.
Judging by the experience, they were Enhanced Elite Monsters.
The Skeleton Warriors encountered attacks almost every few steps.
Spiders often ambushed them, usually lurking on the cave ceilings.
They would attack when prey passed by.
Morintis advanced through the caves along the already cleared paths.
It was his first time in a dungeon with this kind of environment, so Morintis proceeded cautiously.
Suddenly, faint skittering sounds reached his ears.
In the dim light, small spiders crawled out from the surrounding rock walls.
Each small spider was smaller than a fist.
Dense and countless, they covered the entire cave in an instant.
There were at least a few hundred, completely surrounding Morintis.
[Lesser Spider]
[Level: 18]
[Strength: 200]
[Agility: 200]
[Spirit: 100]
[Constitution: 200]
[Skills: None]
They were just ordinary monsters, even weaker than average monsters of the same level.
But their numbers were truly massive.
Even ants could kill an elephant if there were enough of them.
Morintis recalled that among the top three ranked teams for the Spider Lair, all had at least two Mage class members.
Mages possessed extremely strong area-of-attack capabilities, probably to deal with situations like this.
"The same team holds the top rank for both the Spider Lair and the Mutated Forest dungeons..."
"Their time seems to be 1 hour and 12 minutes."
"And that record has also stood for three years."
Morintis thought to himself.
The Soul Flame constantly burning in his palm flew out.
The flame landed on one of the Lesser Spiders.
Soul Flame, enhanced by 20 levels, was enough to instantly kill ordinary monsters of the same level.
Moreover, the Lesser Spiders' Constitution was only 200, weaker than ordinary Level 18 monsters.
The Lesser Spider let out a shrill cry and died instantly.
The firelight went out, plunging the small cave into utter darkness.
BOOM!
A violent explosion swept through the cave.
The deafening sound reverberated throughout the entire Spider Lair.
The lair rumbled and shook, startling countless slumbering spiders awake.
Before the Skeleton Warriors could even reach them, they had already crawled out.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Two more consecutive explosions followed, as if the cave was about to collapse.
By the time light once again bloomed in Morintis's palm, no living Lesser Spiders remained in the cave.
Morintis's vision was flooded with hundreds of messages.
[Level 18 Lesser Spider slain. Experience +500.]
[Level 18 Lesser Spider slain. Experience +500.]
[Obtained Spider Silk*1]
[Level 18 Lesser Spider slain. Experience +500.]
...
Although each Lesser Spider only provided 500 Experience points,
many a little makes a mickle.
Twenty Lesser Spiders provided more experience than a Level 18 Enhanced Elite Monster.
Furthermore, that wave just now had at least three to four hundred Lesser Spiders.
It was equivalent to killing over twenty Enhanced Elite Monsters of the same level in one go.
Incredibly profitable!
Morintis's eyes shone, a rare look of delight appearing on his usually impassive face.
He discovered that the various caves where his Skeleton Warriors were located were now also filled with these Lesser Spiders.
These Lesser Spiders had been drawn out by the explosion sounds earlier.
"An experience paradise," Morintis thought.
Then his expression changed slightly.
The Skeleton Warriors began taking damage.
The Skeleton Warriors were covered in Lesser Spiders.
The small spiders used their fangs to bite the Skeleton Warriors.
The damage wasn't high, but it was very fast.
The Skeleton Warriors' life force was slowly decreasing.
'Many ants can kill an elephant' – it was literally happening to the Skeleton Warriors.
During his class change, he had seen how Skeleton Warriors could kill a giant dragon.
Now the roles were reversed, happening to the Skeleton Warriors themselves.
Morintis's first reaction was to recall the Skeleton Warriors.
But he found that because the Lesser Spiders were crawling all over them, he actually couldn't recall them.
The Skeleton Warriors had no area-of-attack skills.
A swing of their greatswords often only killed one Lesser Spider.
On a lucky strike, they might kill two or three.
It was a drop in the bucket.
"Come back!"
Morintis focused his will, immediately ordering the Skeleton Warriors to run back.
Even if he couldn't recall them, they could run back.
If they didn't leave, they would eventually be completely devoured by the Lesser Spiders.
The Skeleton Warriors, covered in Lesser Spiders, ran back.
Behind them, they brought a huge number of spiders.
There were Lesser Spiders, and various Enhanced Elite Spiders.
The Skeleton Warriors had fought through dungeons time and again, steamrolling everything, cutting down hordes of monsters like chopping vegetables.
This was the first time they had been forced to retreat in such a sorry state.
Morintis became increasingly aware that his Skeleton Warriors were still too one-dimensional.
Although their attributes were high, they also had huge shortcomings and significant limitations.
Now he could only hope that reaching Level 20 might bring new skills.
A Skeleton Warrior appeared in his sight.
Morintis raised his palm.
Skill: Corpse Explosion!
BOOM!
Amid the violent explosion, the Lesser Spiders covering the Skeleton Warrior were utterly obliterated.
Then, Skeleton Warriors continuously returned, and explosions sounded without cease.
The entire Spider Lair shook incessantly, as if on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Morintis used Corpse Explosion to push forward, his experience soaring like a rocket.
Back in the Dungeon Hall.
A group of people saw Morintis enter the Spider Lair dungeon.
"He's not going to set another new record, is he?"
"Hard to say, but the Spider Lair is a great dungeon."
"If I weren't already over Level 22, I'd really want to run it a few more times."
"Yeah, Spider Lair is a material goldmine.
You can make loads of money there."
"Besides money, there's tons of experience.
Even though each Lesser Spider doesn't give much experience, it adds up to a frightening amount.
The experience from many Level 24 dungeons isn't as much as the Spider Lair's."
"Having lots of experience also depends on your class composition.
If you can't get a Mage in your party, or the Mage you get doesn't have area attacks, it would be a joke."
Everyone discussed outside, full of anticipation.
They really wanted to know if Morintis would create another new record.
Meanwhile, Morintis was inside, thoroughly enjoying the slaughter.
Or rather, thoroughly enjoying the explosions.
Corpse Explosion cleared the path ahead, countless experience points and materials raining down like drops of rain.
Morintis didn't let a single cave go uncleared.
The Skeleton Warriors no longer spread out completely, but advanced in groups of ten.
Morintis followed behind.
Whenever Lesser Spiders appeared, he would rush over immediately and use Corpse Explosion.
He wasn't aware that others typically found the shortest route and went straight for the dungeon's end boss.
He, however, intended to clear the entire dungeon.
Not planning to leave a single monster behind.