Lin Fan stood there, looking down at the minotaur while he was panting and catching his breath.
That fight was without a doubt one of the hardest fights that he had ever fought, but it was also the most exciting fight that he had ever had. Every single second was a brush with death and if he had let his guard down for even a second, he certainly would have died.
As he looked at the minotaur, he had a look of admiration since this was an opponent that was worthy of praise.
But of course, he didn’t have time to just stand there as he turned back to the center of the arena, waiting for the next opponent that came.
He didn’t think that the minotaur would be the only opponent that would appear since that would be too convenient and unlikely. He focused his mind and waited for the next opponent.
But sometimes, life was just this convenient.
The voice was completely silent after seeing what had happened.
After all, this minotaur was its final line of defense and now that it had been defeated, there really wasn’t anything that it could say. All it could do was feel the sense of danger that came from Lin Fan.
After a long period of silence, the voice finally said, “Congratulations, you have defeated the champion. Please take your reward and leave.”
As it said this, there was a chest and a glowing magic formation that appeared on the center of the room, in the same place that the minotaur had been standing when it had first appeared.
Of course, no one in Lin Fan’s group moved forward to take it.
No matter how they looked at it, this clearly seemed like it was a trap. So none of them were foolish enough to move forward to check the chest.
There was another silence as the voice patiently waited for someone to take the contents of the chest.
This wasn’t a trap from the voice, but rather it was its last attempt to bribe them to leave. There were no more defenses left in this dungeon and if they didn’t leave, the only other thing that they could do was destroy it.
Yes, destroy it.
This voice belonged to the “Sacred One”, but the more accurate name for it was dungeon core.
It was the dungeon core that controlled this dungeon, so it was able to control everything in it. As long as it wasn’t destroyed, there was a chance for it to rebuild the dungeon since there were still the goblins on the second floor.
But as it waited patiently for these people to take its bribe and leave, the dungeon core found that they didn’t do anything at all. They didn’t even move towards the chest, even going as far as taking a step back as if they were avoiding it.
Why!
This was its final bribe!
Why wouldn’t they take it!
So the dungeon core couldn’t take it anymore as it said, “Please take the treasure before this dungeon collapses.”
As it said this, it started making the surrounding area shake a bit like it was about to collapse.
But even then, no one in Lin Fan’s group made a move.
The dungeon core couldn’t help becoming more and more nervous seeing this. It tried to keep its cool, but it really couldn’t, so it said, “Please just take it and leave me alone, I’m begging you!”
This time, Lin Fan’s group revealed strange looks.
After all, it really was strange to hear this voice that had been so arrogant earlier acting so humble now. It was even begging them to leave.
But this also told Lin Fan that the other side had nothing left to deal with them.
He had thought that there would be another enemy, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
So as soon as he realized this, he sat down where he had been standing and put his sword back before he started recovering his lost spiritual energy. As he closed his eyes and sat there, he said to the rest, “Go and find the source of the voice. If we find it, we should be able to find a way out.”
The others looked at each other before spreading out across the room to look for the source of the voice.
When the dungeon core heard this, it became even more frantic as it said, “Please just spare me! Take the treasure, it’s all I have!”
As it said this, it even opened up the treasure chest to reveal what was inside.
When the mercenaries saw this, their eyes couldn’t help lighting up since they could feel the aura coming from it. This was definitely an artifact and based on the aura, it wasn’t a weak one.
But Lin Fan said, “Ignore it and find the source of the voice.”
The mercenaries had unwilling looks on their faces when they heard this, but with Tian Tian also glaring at them, they had no choice but to go and search. However, none of them let the treasure chest out of their sight just in case anyone else had any ideas.
As they were searching, the voice kept pleading with them to let it go.
After fifteen minutes, Lin Fan had recovered most of his spiritual energy, so he stood up and started looking around with the rest of the mercenaries.
Even after all this time, even after searching through the entire room, none of the mercenaries had been able to find the source of the voice. In fact, they hadn’t even been able to find another exit to the room other than the way that they came from.
It seemed as if there was no way forward for them.
They didn’t really care about the source of the voice, but rather they cared about the fact that they hadn’t found many treasures yet. They had been able to find some herbs in the jungle on the second floor, but that was far from what they were expecting out of this trip.
So everyone couldn’t help looking at the treasure chest in the center with greedy looks.
The dungeon core saw that they weren’t able to find it, so gradually its voice was filled with more and more confidence.
In the end, when Lin Fan woke up, it even started taunting them.
“Come and find me if you can! Come and find me if you can!”
“If you leave now, I can spare your life! You should leave as soon as possible!”
The mercenaries were a bit annoyed hearing this, especially after how it was just begging for its life earlier, but Lin Fan had them ignore it.
He personally looked around the room and found that there were indeed no signs of any passages, out in the open or hidden. But he didn’t give up there because he had something that others didn’t.
He carefully looked at the area around him, going bit by bit along the wall until he finally saw a notification pop up.
It was the same notification as before, it was another hidden button.
Lin Fan revealed a faint smile as he raised his fist.
When the dungeon core saw this, it couldn’t help feeling a chill run down its non-existent back. That was because where Lin Fan was standing was where the button to open its hidden passage was.
It couldn’t help saying, “Stop your futile resistance and leave this place…”
But before it could finish, Lin Fan had already punched the wall.
As soon as the dust settled from the part of the wall that he destroyed, there was another button that was revealed.
Everyone looked at Lin Fan with shocked looks and Tian Tian couldn’t help asking, “How did you know that it was there?”
Lin Fan didn’t reply as he just revealed a faint smile before turning back to press the button.
The same thing as before happened where the ground shook a bit before a part of the wall suddenly slid open to reveal a passage.
When the passage appeared, the dungeon core immediately said, “Don’t go in there! There is only death and despair waiting for you in there!”
But of course, Lin Fan’s group ignored it like they had been doing the entire time.
They all gathered around the passage, but this time, Lin Fan didn’t bring the rest of his group with him.
He said, “I’ll go check this out alone just in case there’s anything dangerous. If it’s safe, I’ll come back and get you all. Guard this entrance just in case anything dangerous comes.”
The mercenaries looked at each other before giving a nod in response.
They had felt the aura of the minotaur from earlier, so if there really was something there, naturally they wouldn’t want to be the one exploring it. They didn’t mind letting Lin Fan take this role since he was offering.
But Tian Tian didn’t accept it that easily.
She grabbed Lin Fan’s hand before he could go and looked at him with a serious look, “I’m coming too.”
Lin Fan looked at her and seeing the firm and resolute look she had, he knew that it would be useless to say anything, so he just agreed with a nod.
The two of them walked down this long and empty corridor for around five minutes until they arrived in a small room. There was nothing in this room except for a pedestal that had a blue orb on it, as well as a wall full of monitors.
Tian Tian was shocked when she saw the wall full of monitors, but Lin Fan’s attention was drawn by something else.
He looked at the blue orb on the pedestal and asked, “You don’t have anything to say for yourself now?”