Eren transformed into his wolf form and arrived at another massive circular wall in no time.
His concealment once again worked perfectly, enabling him to sneak directly through the main gate.
Since he already knew how everything worked here, he directly entered a long, narrow corridor without dragging attention this time and arrived at the dungeon gate.
There were more than twenty people in the surroundings waiting for their turn, but Eren just walked past them in his human form and placed his hand on the gate without hesitation.
'Everyone will come to know that I sneaked into the dungeon by tomorrow. There's no need to waste time here waiting for someone to enter Nightmare difficulty.'
[Choose the level of difficulty:
Normal
Hard
Nightmare]
'Nightmare!'
The very next moment, the dungeon gate trembled slightly before its color changed into the same ominous red Eren had seen before.
"O-Oi! The dungeon gate turned red!"
"Hey, I never heard of any team raiding Nightmare difficulty today..."
"Did a guild prepare a team for a raid in secret?!"
"N-No, I don't think so... Is it perhaps a dungeon break?!"
A huge shock spread through the crowd as most people couldn't understand what was happening.
Nightmare difficulty was something hunters without any affiliation to a guild like them couldn't attempt.
According to the information from the forums, no guild team was scheduled to raid Nightmare difficulty today.
To challenge Nightmare difficulty, a well-prepared and experienced team was necessary.
Such preparations would easily be noticed by others, and there was no reason for a guild to hide such information from normal hunters.
So, more than half of them believed a dungeon break was about to happen and prepared to launch an attack if monsters appeared.
But even after a few moments, nothing happened.
The red gate disappeared and returned to normal.
"...No one came out..."
"It's not a dungeon break?..."
"What the hell just happened?..."
All the teams assembled there were well-experienced and had years of dungeon-raiding experience, but this was the first time they had encountered something like this.
Some of them immediately felt something was wrong and tried to leave, but they were stopped by two guards at the entrance.
"Please calm down, everyone... I know you all feel confused and want to know why the dungeon behaved like that suddenly... But we also don't understand what just happened. We have informed our leader, and our core team is on the way as we speak. Please wait until they arrive..."
Even though the words sounded polite, the guards' cold eyes said otherwise.
Everyone understood that the guild wanted them to stay on guard against any unforeseen threat until their core team arrived.
As per the rules, due to the possibility of such incidents, the association required idle guild members to be stationed within the walls surrounding the dungeon gate at all times, but such instructions were rarely followed.
Even though another rule stated that guilds were responsible for handling such emergencies and hunters were not obligated to fight during a dungeon break, and can prioritize their life above anything, no team dared to oppose the guild's "humble request."
So, everyone gritted their teeth and obeyed.
Meanwhile, the moment Eren entered the gate, he was transported to another location.
Eren found himself standing on a narrow and elevated ridge.
The ground beneath his feet was a mix of firm rock and soft greenery.
Patches of wild grass swayed across his field of vision as powerful crosswinds swept through the area.
He felt a strong wind pressing against his body, trying to push him off the ridge entirely.
When Eren took a deep breath, fresh and cold air filled his lungs, carrying a faint scent of earth and damp vegetation.
Around him were vast expanses of rolling green hills and jagged rock formations.
Bright morning daylight spread across the plains, as the clouds left behind a thin layer of moisture while passing by the hill Eren was currently standing on alone.
"This is... Beautiful!"
Despite knowing the obvious danger that the dungeon environment posed with its rocky, moisture-covered landscape, Eren couldn't help but be captivated by such a beautiful scene.
"If I didn't have a quest to finish, I wouldn't mind spending days leisurely inside this dungeon without hunting monsters."
Those words were not an exaggeration, that's how different the environment of this dungeon was from the usual gloomy atmosphere of the Abyssal faction.
Eren spread his senses and found a lot of presences moving and jumping across the edges of the rocky mountains with agile movements.
When he went to take a closer look, he found half-meter-long birds with a blended form of rooster and hen.
Clearly lacking gender distinction, they looked like a mix of both.
Their bodies were covered in dense, green, plant-like feathers that resembled sharp leaves.
What was more disturbing was the thin black snake-like organism that moved independently in place of tail feathers, constantly observing the surroundings as they moved.
They were moving along with the strong winds passing through the terrain.
[Verdant Razorfowl Lv. 21
Strength: 120
Agility: 130
Spirit: 50
Constitution: 160
Beast Skills: [Gale Step] [Serpent Tail Bite] [Adaptive Feather Guard] [Wind-Aligned Movement] [Self-Progenesis]]
Eren took a sharp breath upon seeing those stats.
"These are the most powerful monsters in physical terms I have seen. Even normal-type monsters have such massive physical power."
But on the other hand, it had no active skill other than [Gale Step], which temporarily increased its agility, while the Abyssal monsters Eren had fought possessed very low physical stats but had more than two active skills and other special-type abilities.
"No wonder the Eldritch faction is considered the hardest to fight against..."
Eren acknowledged it in his mind.
This was simply how monsters from the Eldritch faction works.
Instead of having high spiritual abilities like other factions, such as Divine Blood focusing on purification, healing, and buffs, or Abyssal factions relying on corruption, darkness, and curses, the Eldritch faction relied on their bizarre physical evolutions, such as the very monsters Eren was currently observing.
From their passive skills, Eren understood their biological nature.
For example, the skill
Once they die, the clone becomes the original upon hatching.
"Adaptive nature that defies the norm, with bizarre abilities but still within the laws of nature..."
Eren muttered the famous phrase that describes the nature of the Eldritch faction in this world.
Still under concealment and he fully transformed into Crescent Fang Wolf Alpha, dashed toward the strongest presence within his 5 km radius.
'I will finish this one even faster.'
***
Author's Note:
Hey guys! I've my Patreon page where I'll be uploading future chapters ahead of release.
Right now, 10 advance chapters are already available for just $1/month.
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Thank you so much for all the support so far.
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