Chapter 83: The Second Room

Max revealed that the next door might lead to an open world rather than another hall. Since they had no choice but to leave the Hidden Dungeon, they had to see what awaited them further inside. There were two possibilities: either the next monster would be stronger than the one they had just faced, or the monsters would be ordinary ones typical of a Level 50 Dungeon, similar to those in Hall 1. Either way, they had to face the challenge head-on rather than stay here.

Following an extended and in-depth discussion, the party eventually decided to move forward. That decision was heavily influenced by Max, who suggested advancing, and no one outright denied or opposed his opinion. Or rather, they all realized they had no choice. Whatever the case, Max's influence on the party steadily increased, and he considered that an advantage since his decisions would no longer be rejected without even being considered.

"Everyone ready?" Paula asked as she stood in front of the hidden door leading to the next stage of the Hidden Dungeon. Everyone nodded silently, with reluctance still lingering on their faces. That was understandable, considering the situation they had faced. Everyone had been helpless, waiting to be slaughtered before their enemy.

The only good news was that the monsters they had slain had provided an abundant amount of EXP and loot. Everyone had levelled up by at least two levels, except Isabelle and Max. Although that might seem like a small increase, the amount of EXP required to advance from Level 45 to Level 46 was enormous. Thus, a two-level increase was like a miracle, demonstrating how powerful the enemy they had somehow killed was.

Paula had even undergone her second evolution at Level 50, gaining several advantages. Still, those advantages might mean little if the next monsters were as strong as or stronger than the one they'd already faced.

Paula pressed the hidden trigger, and the stone door parted. Suddenly, everyone felt a cool breeze emerge from the opening, gently brushing against their faces. As Marlak had said, the opening led to an open world rather than another hall. That was a great relief, allowing them to breathe freely after being trapped in the hall for three days.

"Max was right! It really is an open field, not another hall!" Isabelle said happily as she felt the gentle breeze brush against her face.

Paula took the first step, and the others followed. Max, who stood at the back, craned his head forward to see what the place looked like. His eyes landed on a green forest, and as he looked to the sides, he saw water and no buildings. Surprised, he walked out of the doorway and looked back at the structure they had just exited, but there was no building. It was just a door that had appeared out of nowhere, and once Max stepped through it, the door closed and vanished.

Max immediately understood where they were. It was an island. Before them stretched a vast ocean, and when he turned around, he saw a green forest behind them. He was now quite certain that they were on an island, especially given the anomalies they had encountered involving the sea creatures inhabiting as a Dungeon Boss.

"Where are we?" Isabelle asked.

"I think we've entered an island, and the monster we need to kill must reside in the green area," Paula said.

"What should we do now, Senior Paula? Do you think the monster is asleep, or is it awake and will attack us after sensing our presence?" Isabelle asked urgently. Since the terrain had changed, would the monster's sleeping condition also changed as well?

"I'm not sure. I can't clearly predict what will happen in this trial. We have to face whatever the Dungeon puts before us," Paula replied, lacking confidence. Everything she had believed about how the Dungeon should work had turned out to be wrong so far, so she wasn't going to make another prediction only for it to turn out to be incorrect.

"Max, what do you think? Do you sense anything?" Paula asked.

"I don't sense any big monsters on the island from here. We may have to walk into the island and explore," Max suggested. That was also true, since Marlak hadn't sensed anything on the island so far. They would probably be safe for now, but there should be a sleeping Boss Monster somewhere that they eventually had to find.

"Okay, let's carefully advance towards the greenery and check whether there are any ordinary monsters or anything else," Paula said as she walked forward. "Everyone, stay alert just in case things go awry."

The vegetation was not as dense as a typical forest. Instead, it consisted of moderately grown trees and bushes, making it easy to walk without much difficulty. Max moved forward, noticing plenty of other living beings, such as mosquitoes, leaf-eating pests, and other small insects. However, he didn't see any birds or animals, and there were no traces of animal paths either.

This meant that the boss monster might have hunted all the animals living on the island if the boss weren't dormant. Alternatively, the island might not have supported any animals in the first place since it was part of a Dungeon. One more thing Max suspected was that the Boss Monster might be living in the ocean rather than on land, since the Dungeon's terrain seemed closely related to the sea. Thus, they would be safe on this island as long as they stayed there.

As for food and supplies, the party had brought a large amount of provisions. Looking around, Max noticed several fruit trees nearby, some of which might produce edible fruit, allowing them to survive for more than a month. With access to the ocean, they could possibly live here for a long time. Ideally, however, they needed to search for the Boss Monster and move towards the next area.

"I see something!" Isabelle suddenly exclaimed, crouching down as she peered between the bushes.

"What is it? A monster?" Paula asked.

"No, it's some building standing in the middle of the island." Isabelle adjusted her position as she peered at the structure.

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"Could that be where the monster was sleeping?" Butterfly asked.

"Max, what do you think? Do you sense anything coming from the building?" Paula asked.

"No, Senior Paula. I didn't sense anything. It might be an empty structure. Let's see what kind of building it is. We may find something that leads us somewhere," Max suggested, since Marlak hadn't sensed anything either. It appeared to be nothing more than an old ruin.

With Max's assurance, everyone walked towards the structure without any problems. Through the gaps between the trees, Max saw that it resembled an old temple with intricate designs on its exterior. As he had guessed, it was a ruin, with one side almost completely demolished.

"It looks like something broke out of it," Isabelle said, noticing how the structure had been destroyed on one side. It had not been demolished by hand but blown apart by something. Based on the scattered remains, they could guess that whatever had caused the destruction had come from inside.

"Could it be that the monster woke up from its sleep and escaped from the building?" Helene, the Healer, speculated.

Max walked in front of the structure, where the entire building came into view. It appeared to consist of two rooms. One had been completely blown apart, while the other remained untouched and was secured by an iron door. The question now was what had escaped from the first room and whether it had been the Boss Monster. If so, what was still locked inside the second room? Most importantly, why couldn't Marlak sense anything inside it?

"Marlak?" Max called out.

"I sense nothing!" Marlak whispered.

"Oh man, this is going to be disastrous. Tell me, do you want to live here? Is that why you're not revealing the truth?" Max asked Marlak. This was an ideal place for the frog to live, with food available from the ocean and no one to disturb him. He could live here for a long time, but his freedom would be restricted to the island. Still, living here freely was better than dying in the hall or opening the still-locked room and letting the monster out.

"I'm telling you the truth. I didn't sense anything in the locked room," Marlak insisted.

"I mean, can you sense that the room is empty, or are you unable to sense what's inside it?" Max asked for clarification. If Marlak couldn't sense inside the room at all, that meant something powerful was blocking his senses. If he could sense inside but detected nothing, they could break open the room and see what was there.

"I could extend my senses throughout the room, but I couldn't detect anything," Marlak said.

"Okay, which means something powerful might be locked inside and capable of concealing its presence from others," Max guessed. This idea came directly from observing the broken room in front of him. He didn't think the room could be empty. If it were, what would be the purpose of locking an empty room?

"Marlak, can you sense anything other than monsters? Anything besides living, breathing things?" Max asked.

"Nothing I can sense," Marlak stated flatly.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Max muttered.

As they circled the structure, Paula asked, "Max, what do you think?"

"I can't sense anything coming from this locked room. It could be empty, or the monster inside could be so powerful that it can erase its presence from others. Alternatively, it might just be an empty room. Looking at the other room, which was blown apart from the inside, we can assume that the Boss Monster caused the destruction when it escaped.

So, there couldn't possibly be two Boss Monsters on a single stage of a Dungeon. However, two Boss Monsters might be possible since this Hidden Dungeon is an anomaly. So, the room could contain a second monster, or it might hold something that would help the participants who enter this Dungeon," Max explained, offering his various speculations.

“Whatever you said makes sense, and every possibility you mentioned could be true, including the presence of two Boss Monsters. But we have to do something, right? We can’t just sit around waiting for the Boss Monster that possibly escaped to arrive in front of us,” Paula said. Her reasoning seemed sound. They had to do something because they were at a dead end; sitting around and waiting would get them nowhere.

"Okay, let's just break open the locked room and see what comes out," Max suggested.

"Max, are you serious? What if something powerful comes out? Then we're dead. It's already a miracle that we're still alive," Isabelle strongly objected to opening the door.

Max looked at the others to gauge their reactions, and everyone seemed to share Isabelle's concerns. They had all just narrowly escaped death and somehow managed to survive. Now he was suggesting that they open a door that might conceal another monster. It was a suicidal suggestion.

"I don't think we have any other choice, Isabelle. This structure was waiting for adventurers—which means us—to open it. So, we either open it or stay here doing nothing," Max said.

Max was deeply confused as to why this Hidden Dungeon had appeared inside the Level 50 Dungeon. According to the rules, a participant's level could not exceed the Dungeon's level by more than ten. For example, only Awakeners at Level 60 or below could enter a Level 50 Dungeon. However, this anomalous Hidden Dungeon made no sense, as the monsters seemed far too powerful, as though the Dungeon had been designed for Level 100 participants. Alternatively, the Dungeon's rules might have been broken, making this a genuine anomaly. Max knew very little about such a breach of Dungeon rules.

However, if the Dungeon's rules hadn't been broken and this was a genuine Hidden Dungeon whose difficulty had been designed to test the participants' intelligence as well as their strength, then they might have a way to clear all the stages through their combined intelligence rather than relying on strength alone.

Although this contrasted with what they had experienced in Hall Two, what kind of intelligence were they supposed to use to kill that monster? Max lacked knowledge about the barrier and the sleeping monster, but he still believed that if this Hidden Dungeon had been designed to test the participants' intelligence, there might be another way to deal with dormant monsters instead of waking them through an attack.

Max felt that this Hidden Dungeon might be a genuine test of the participants' intelligence rather than an anomaly, and that the second Hall Boss Monster might have been handled differently if a knowledgeable person were to enter instead of them who shot an arrow at the barrier. He would read about the barrier and this strange anomaly if he exited the Dungeon alive.

"Everyone, I believe you all have some faith in me and think I'm capable of doing something. So, I want you all to trust me on this and open the door," Max said. "This room could contain exactly what we need to kill the Boss Monster. Since we've already entered this terrain, the Boss Monster could soon sense our presence and come for us. We need to open the room and find out what's inside."

"Furthermore, we're lucky given the current situation. If both rooms had been intact and when we decided which one to open, we might have chosen the room containing the monster and died here. But since one room has already been destroyed, it's possible that the monster escaped from it, meaning the locked room might contain something we need to defeat the Boss. We might have a better chance than we realize, so we should test our luck before it's too late," Max explained, outlining his reasoning.

"Okay, Max, let's open the door and see what's inside the room," Paula finally said. Everyone else stood silently, neither approving nor denying the suggestion.

However, Max didn't wait for their consent. He walked towards the door, taking out his Analyzer to check for anomalous energy, just in case all his theories were wrong.