Chapter 15: The Hidden Dungeon

However, Beast realized that he seemed to have misjudged the situation. The first time he came here, there were ten Agumon in total, including the Agumon Boss. But now, counting the Boss, there were only five. Moreover, their auras were much weaker than before. Especially the Agumon Boss—his health bar, which was visible, was only about half of what it had been previously, and he hadn’t lost an eye this time.

“Have they been weakened?” The thought flashed through Beast’s mind, but he didn’t dwell on it. The five Agumon before him rushed at Beast without hesitation. Thanks to the Chosen Children’s ring, Beast didn’t feel much fear. As the enemy charged, his Digimon Beast also rushed forward to meet them.

Only then did Beast leisurely open the Boss’s profile, examining it. He could check the Boss’s stats, but only its overall combat power; the rest remained hidden.

After a quick glance, Beast confirmed that the Boss was indeed much weaker. This Agumon Boss now had only one hundred and twenty points of combat power—a direct reduction of thirty points. Whereas before, Beast barely held an advantage in combat power, now he was at a disadvantage.

With even the Boss nerfed, the other four Agumon were naturally weakened as well. Beast had thought the fight would last a long time, but to his surprise, it was over in no time.

And so, Beast and his Digimon fought through dozens of dungeon runs, steadily leveling up to nine, with Digimon Beast’s combat power reaching one hundred and fifty-five.

Each victory brought a one or two point increase in attributes—provided the opponent was roughly equal in strength. If a Digimon with ten thousand combat power farmed monsters with only a few dozen or hundred, no matter how many were defeated, no attributes would increase.

Unfortunately, despite all these runs, Beast only picked up some junk equipment—and mostly duplicates at that, nothing worth equipping to Digimon Beast. He simply tossed them into his storage bag and, after the last run, put them up for sale in the shop.

Aside from junk gear, the Boss did drop money quite often, but only copper coins, anywhere from a few to a few dozen at a time. The money drop rate in this game was, frankly, abysmally low.

Having fought dozens of dungeons, even if each run only took a few minutes, several hundred minutes had passed.

“Forget it. After this dungeon, I’ll go eat…” Truth be told, Beast hadn’t eaten all day. While he wasn’t bothered in-game, his body in the King’s Realm must be howling by now.

At this stage, he couldn’t leave the King’s Realm body yet. Honestly, he didn’t know when he might be able to. So, that body couldn’t afford any mishaps. Otherwise, how would he log in to the game?

Usually, as Digimon Beast fought the dungeon Boss, Beast would let his gaze wander around the environment—just to kill time.

“Hm? Over there…” Just as Digimon Beast finished off the Boss, Beast’s attention was drawn to a particular spot.

It was a section of cave wall, seemingly no different from the rest. But upon closer inspection, subtle differences could be seen—though only if one kept watching carefully.

Beast looted the Boss’s drops—just thirteen copper coins, nothing else.

“Let’s go, follow me and have a look.” With that, Beast led Digimon Beast to the cave wall, reached out and touched it, and his hand passed right through.

It felt much like dipping a hand into water, confirming there was another passage beyond.

[Congratulations, you have discovered the hidden dungeon ‘Agumon's Wrath’. Would you like to enter?] Just then, a panel appeared before Beast.

[Hidden dungeons differ from regular ones: they may only be attempted once. After the challenge, win or lose, the dungeon will disappear.] As Beast finished reading, the words faded, replaced by another line.

[Additionally, this hidden dungeon is time-limited.] After this message, another line appeared.

Finally, information about the dungeon Boss appeared:

Agumon X, Combat Power 300.

[The player who contributes most to defeating the Boss will gain at least three levels and receive a golden Agumon Digi-Egg, which can hatch directly into a mature Agumon.] Below Agumon X’s stat line, another message was displayed, clearly outlining the basic rewards—already quite tempting, not to mention the possibility of even greater prizes.

Beside Agumon X, a twenty-four hour countdown ticked away, giving Beast a single day to decide.

Honestly, if the Boss’s combat power hadn’t reached three hundred, Beast might have tried soloing it with his Digimon. But unfortunately, the Boss was far too strong. And since it was a dungeon, he wouldn’t be alone—there might be mini-Bosses as well. In short, it would be difficult to clear it solo.

“Forget it, let’s leave for now.” In the end, Beast gave up on tackling the dungeon right away.

To challenge the Boss now would be to send his Digimon to certain death—and waste the unique dungeon opportunity.

After leaving, they didn’t visit any other places, but returned directly to the login space, since Beast was already set on getting some food.

Before logging out, Beast glanced at the box beneath the window, deliberated for a moment, then walked over. The large box was actually a mailbox.

Standing before it, he wrote a letter, sent it, then looked once more at Digimon Beast, who was sitting on the bed ready to rest. He breathed out softly, turned, and logged out.