Generally speaking, if all the dungeon bosses are defeated but players are still required to survive, either the dungeon game developer is a perfectionist or there’s a hidden boss.
Considering everything, the latter is more likely. Why do you ask?
You, as the reader, surely know more than these two guys, don't you?
“So you think there’s still a hidden boss?”
On the way back, Kent led the way, while Fang Xinhan and Yuan Qingchen whispered behind him.
“Hmm, you’re right. Usually, after a dungeon boss is defeated, we’d be prompted that we can leave the dungeon directly. But now we have to survive for Seven more days. This indicates there’s likely a hidden boss or other dangers here.”
Yuan Qingchen nodded slightly, agreeing with Fang Xinhan’s idea.
“If it’s a hidden boss, it’s probably related to the Old Town Chief. If we don’t fight the hidden boss, we just need to hide for a few days and wait for the system to teleport us back.”
Fang Xinhan analyzed it briefly.
“How about we hide for a few days?”
Yuan Qingchen always felt that the hidden boss would be difficult to defeat.
“What if we can’t beat it?”
“True.”
Fang Xinhan looked at Chuckel’s drops: fluorite, redstone… Wait, do I have diamonds?
Fang Xinhan immediately checked; those diamonds were dropped by Chuckel’s Sludge Golem at the time.
Then what am I afraid of? Equivalent Exchange, activate!
After walking for a long time, the three finally returned to the town. The townspeople had heard the commotion from afar and had stopped what they were doing, waiting for them to return. After a long wait, the three finally came back.
Although the three were covered in dust and grime, fortunately, they weren't too badly injured.
That night, everyone held a celebration feast, celebrating the dissipation of the fog, the defeat of the monsters, and the town's return to normal life.
At the banquet, everyone was drinking and cheering. Yuan Qingchen mingled with the townspeople. He used his enhancement skill to strengthen his stomach and accelerate his metabolism, ensuring he wouldn't get drunk.
Meanwhile, Fang Xinhan synthesized a philosopher's stone at his residence. Then, he disassembled the unbaked crucible he had bought, re-synthesized it, and then baked it.
Next, he heated the crucible and added cobblestone until it melted into lava.
Fang Xinhan directly placed the refined lava into his crafted stone bucket and cooled it with water, thus obtaining obsidian.
Repeat the above steps four more times. You ask why four times and not three? Of course, it's for backup!
Fang Xinhan, with an excited heart, arranged his items. A Transmutation Table appeared on the right. The moment Fang Xinhan obtained the Transmutation Table, it was as if all the world's problems ceased to exist.
Fang Xinhan quickly backed up all items with EMC (excluding enchanted ones). The scattered items added up, and his EMC value reached 320,000.
“Not enough EMC to make a portable one, never mind. I probably won’t lack resources in the future; now it’s time to strengthen myself.”
Fang Xinhan made the Ultraman and Seven transformation devices. Now, possessing the transformation devices of three Ultraman, Fang Xinhan finally felt a little sense of security.
“Finally, I have some trump cards.”
Since there were no Yo-kai Soul Fragments, other swords couldn't be made. So, Fang Xinhan made a few more puppets, hoping to get more Yo-kai Soul Fragments if they broke.
Time passed bit by bit, and it was the morning of the sixth day. This morning, everyone went to the church as usual to listen to the teachings, but one person was absent: Fang Xinhan.
Last night, when Yuan Qingchen returned to his residence, Fang Xinhan told him to stall the Old Town Chief; he wanted to go to the Old Town Chief's house to investigate.
So, after listening to the teachings, Yuan Qingchen immediately sought out the Old Town Chief and chatted with him. Fang Xinhan, meanwhile, had already infiltrated the Old Town Chief's house, searching room by room. Fang Xinhan finally found a secret passage entrance in the Old Town Chief's bedroom.
“It looks like it must be opened with magic.”
Fang Xinhan gave a ‘that’s all?’ smile, then took out a lever, stuck it on the side, and pulled it.
And guess what? The secret passage opened.
Fang Xinhan immediately entered the secret passage. The passage was intricate, but Fang Xinhan had a mini-map, so he just followed its directions.
After walking for a long time, Fang Xinhan finally arrived in a huge cave. Fang Xinhan transformed into Kuuga's Growing Form and used night vision to see the situation below.
“Is this a magic circle?”
Fang Xinhan looked closely; the components of the magic circle below were black powdery substances.
Fang Xinhan felt that this thing looked a bit familiar. Before he could continue observing, a book placed on a nearby table caught his attention.
Fang Xinhan's scalp tingled when he saw the contents of the book: it was a detailed explanation of a massive sacrificial array.
“Sacrificial array? Is the Old Town Chief planning to summon some evil god?”
As Fang Xinhan was thinking, a familiar voice rang out.
“Of course, it’s to summon the great Lord.”
The Old Town Chief walked in from the entrance of the secret passage. The torches in the cave began to burn and light up. At this moment, Fang Xinhan also saw that the Old Town Chief was carrying a coma Yuan Qingchen.
“What did you do to him!”
Fang Xinhan’s tone turned cold, as if he was about to tear the Old Town Chief to pieces the next second.
“Don't worry, he's just unconscious.”
The Old Town Chief threw Yuan Qingchen to Fang Xinhan.
“Actually, after you dealt with Chuckel, you just needed to wait until the seventh day to leave. But you continued to explore and discovered my secret.”
The Old Town Chief’s expression was no longer kind, but rather emotionless.
“What exactly is this ‘Lord’ you speak of? And those black powders used to draw the magic circle, aren’t they the black stones we picked up this morning?
The excuse about it not working after noon was actually the usable time for the ‘key,’ right?”
Fang Xinhan had read about this black stone in the book. It was a special substance that connected to other realms. This stone could only be used before noon, but with special preservation methods, its properties could be ignored.
“Presumptuous! The Lord is a God!”
The Old Town Chief said furiously. He would not allow anyone to slander the Lord.
Just then, the unconscious Yuan Qingchen slowly woke up.
“Where the heck did you take me, you old bastard? Is this even the same dungeon?”
Yuan Qingchen looked at his surroundings and uttered the same words, as if from a famous scene.
“Oh, you’re awake? Get ready to fight.”
Fang Xinhan and Yuan Qingchen conversed in the team channel, telling Yuan Qingchen to run immediately if things went south and not to worry about him because he had a trump card.
Yuan Qingchen took out his white sheath and stood shoulder to shoulder with Fang Xinhan.
“Old Town Chief, aren’t you going to explain?”
“Explain? What’s there to explain? Does the Lord’s grace descending upon this land need an explanation?”
The Old Town Chief said with a fanatical expression.
“Then you at least have to tell us what the Lord’s grace is, right? Otherwise, how would we know what this ‘grace’ you speak of truly is?”
Yuan Qingchen remained vigilant and tried to get information out of him.
“Then I’ll tell you. This array is the Lord’s summoning array, but the Lord’s descent requires immense energy. Originally, I planned to sacrifice the townspeople, making them offerings for the Lord’s arrival.”
As he spoke, the Old Town Chief closed his eyes, recalling something.
“However, merely the residents of the town are insufficient for the Lord’s descent, because their life force is too low.
So I gave the Witchcraft Manual to Chuckel. The result was as I expected; he couldn't resist the temptation of becoming a wizard and eventually harmed people.
Afterward, he was driven out by everyone. Chuckel, filled with resentment, created stronger creatures.
Originally, if you had just obediently spent these few days and left, I could have retrieved Chuckel’s corpse to sacrifice to the Lord. But you chose to continue investigating, so in that case, I will no longer wait.”
(PS: This dungeon will probably conclude in two more chapters.)