Chapter 90: A Den of Spiders and Secrets

“Ning Beibei, your Great God Sister is so adorable! Completely different from what I imagined!” Cannon Fairy exclaimed, her gaze openly and unashamedly appraising Su Shunhua from head to toe.

Feeling helpless, Su Shunhua could only pretend not to notice, standing quietly at the dungeon entrance, staff clutched in hand, eyes closed in contemplation.

“On another note, Ning Beibei, how did you suddenly get so powerful? Seriously, what level are you?” Cannon Fairy asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at Su Yingning.

Su Shunhua and Su Yingning had both hidden their levels in the party list; otherwise, if others saw them both at Level 36, yet only one appeared on the ranking board, their secret would instantly be exposed.

While modifications allowed Su Shunhua to join parties and guilds—feats impossible for ordinary pets—they still couldn’t appear on the ranking board.

Consequently, Su Shunhua had to act with extreme caution to avoid drawing unwanted attention.

“It’s a secret~” Su Yingning chirped, winking playfully at Cannon Fairy, before familiarly linking arms with her and stepping further into the cave, skillfully changing the subject.

“Fairy Sister, have you looked into the clear guide for this dungeon?”

“Oh?” Cannon Fairy’s eyebrows arched in surprise.

“Are we actually going for a serious first clear? Not just sight-seeing?”

“Of course! We need to grow stronger! Only by becoming powerful can we exact our revenge on Sword Sweeping the World!” Su Yingning declared with boundless enthusiasm.

“Alright, fine. Given your strength and that of your Great God Sister, it would indeed be a waste of resources to come all the way to Spider’s Den and not clear it…” Cannon Fairy conceded, then opened her menu, pulling out a piece of paper from her inventory.

“Let me briefly explain the dungeon’s mechanics first. Listen carefully so we can wipe as few times as possible!”

“We can talk as we go! But first, we need to start with this game’s dungeon mechanics! Everyone here is an old hand, so you should understand the importance of grasping the game’s settings, right?”

Everyone around nodded, except for Su Shunhua.

Su Shunhua had been about to admit this was their first time playing such an online game, but after a moment’s thought, they simply nodded in agreement.

“Firstly, the dungeon system in Pursuit II (TL Note: The game’s title) represents temporal turbulence, where players participate in significant historical events, attempting to alter the course of history.”

“However, the history we enter isn’t true history, but rather a simulated history collaboratively created by the Time Guardians and the Saint-ranked powerhouses of the Nine Splendors Alliance (TL Note: A powerful faction in the game) on the Aethel Continent (TL Note: The main continent in the game).”

“It’s a virtual mirror space, designed to test and cultivate the adventurers of the Aethel Continent.”

They listened in silence, indicating their understanding.

“Depending on the dungeon’s completion rate and stage, we can acquire items left behind by the Saint-ranked powerhouses of the Nine Splendors Alliance, along with gold and experience rewards.”

“Yet, once someone successfully clears the dungeon’s highest difficulty—Hell difficulty—and achieves a one hundred percent completion rate, that dungeon will permanently close.”

“It will then transform into a mere trial ground with only a simple difficulty, at which point the rewards players can obtain will be drastically reduced.”

Pausing to catch her breath, Cannon Fairy declared, “Alright! The dungeon settings have been explained! This was all clarified to us by an NPC when we were doing the Marsh Exploration quest, and I bet many people are still unaware of these details.”

“Next, we’ll cover the content of the Spider’s Den dungeon on simple difficulty. We’ll take it one step at a time.”

“For now, let’s proceed with the first step: head to the left side of the cave to find the mechanism that dispels the poisonous miasma blocking the path to the first boss room.”

The Spider’s Den truly lived up to its name, a network of unsettling underground caverns resembling monstrous spider lairs.

Narrow and dim, it was enough to deter countless individuals suffering from claustrophobia.

Moreover, the inner walls of the caves were covered in sticky, foot-thick spiderwebs; even the slightest misstep would cause these repulsive webs to cling to one’s hair and clothes, an utterly disgusting sensation, despite causing no actual harm.

Cannon Fairy led the way, with the rest of them trailing closely behind her.

The caves here branched out in all directions, like an intricate labyrinth.

Without a vanguard team’s guide, exploring it themselves would undoubtedly lead to endless wandering.

However, it seemed the vanguard team’s guide for Spider’s Den on simple difficulty hadn’t been published online yet; at least, Su Shunhua and Su Yingning hadn’t found it.

It appeared Cannon Fairy possessed her own, rather formidable, information channels.

“The mechanism to dispel the poisonous miasma is in the sixth jar from the left on the ground,” Cannon Fairy instructed.

“It has a wolf spider carved on it. Turn it three times to the right. Don’t get it wrong; while it won’t kill us, we’ll have to reset the dungeon and run through it all over again.”

With an experienced guide leading the way, they bypassed many troubles, completing the mechanism puzzle with surprising ease.

One could easily imagine how a group of unguided players, blundering through, would get stuck on this single puzzle for half a day.

“As we advance, minor monsters will try to block our path. They offer a lot of experience but are also quite strong, around Level 28.”

“However, if our luck is bad, elite monsters with random attributes might spawn, which are incredibly tough and often lead to party wipes.”

“Though, their rewards are considerable, with a chance to drop high-quality blue equipment and equipment crafting materials.”

Equipment crafting materials!

Hearing those words, Su Shunhua’s spirits instantly perked up.

“Attention, here they come! They’ll emerge from the caves on both the left and right sides…”

A rustling sound echoed through the surroundings as Cannon Fairy’s sharp warning rang out, prompting everyone to quickly draw their weapons and brace themselves for battle.

“Meow-tastic… Elite monsters! And two of them!”