Chapter Seventy-One: The Colossal Instance

Clang—

A towering green tree monster, seven meters tall, crashed to the ground, and seven figures leapt down from the branches.

"This forest is enormous. I'm afraid we won't be able to cover the entire outer region today," Qu Zheng said with a wry shake of his head. The seven of them had been traversing this area for quite some time—perhaps not long in the outside world, but inside the game, it had already been a grueling few hours.

Nightfeather recalled the path they had taken and the expanse of the outer ring of the Ancient Stone Forest. Looking at the map, he furrowed his brow, clearly finding the abbreviated map both frustrating and helpless.

"In the gray zones, the map you see is scaled down by an unknown factor. As you move, the map of the Ancient Forest gradually becomes clearer in those gray areas. As for how much it's been shrunk, you'll have to judge for yourself," said Wen Jiushi, patting Nightfeather on the shoulder with his left hand.

"Let’s just keep moving as far as we can. Wherever we get to, that’s where we stop." Nightfeather nodded, cast another glance at the map, then began searching the edges of the surrounding trees. After a short while, he crouched down and plucked a string of small fruits from the ground.

"What’s that, Third Brother?" Lowe was the first to ask.

"These little fruits have obviously been here for quite a while—perhaps even a few years," Wen Jiushi said, his eyes narrowing as he observed the faint, dim glow swirling around the fruit's surface. He could sense that these fruits were aged and carried an aura identical to the monsters of the Ancient Stone Forest.

The group inspected the fruit closely and felt a wave of disgust. The fruit's exterior resembled the slit pupil of a venomous snake and seemed to squirm ever so slightly.

Qu Zheng's expression twisted with discomfort as he muttered under his breath, "If this thing has any weird taste, I swear I’ll quit this game."

Huang Hong let out a hearty laugh. "You’re too much. It just looks gross, that’s all. It's no different than a frozen octopus meatball."

With that, everyone popped the fruit into their mouths, chewed a few times, and swallowed. After a few moments, a faint, dim glow began to emanate from their bodies, swirling around them. Nightfeather’s eyes lit up—this method seemed effective. By doing this, venturing into the depths of the Ancient Stone Forest would be relatively safe; at least, as long as they didn’t provoke the monsters in the inner region, they wouldn’t be attacked.

The seven advanced deeper into the inner forest. As they moved forward, the differences between the inner and outer regions became obvious. The inner forest was darker; at times, their only source of light came from glowing plants at the base of the trees. It was a realm of utter, deathly silence.

Occasionally, they heard the distant growl of wild beasts, and a chilling, sinister aura swept toward them. Were it not for the matching scent clinging to their bodies, they would have already been savagely attacked.

The monsters deep within the Ancient Stone Forest were countless. Many creatures dwelling in this shrouded place had been twisted by wicked energies; even ordinary rabbits looked vicious and ferocious, with attributes that left Nightfeather and his companions pale with shock.

The weakest monsters were level 40, with well-balanced attributes. Attacking such creatures without knowing their weaknesses would be extremely unwise.

Moreover, Nightfeather noticed that these monsters either wandered about or hunted each other for food. Occasionally, a few would charge at the seven, but their actions never triggered a mass attack from the rest of the forest’s monsters.

After almost half an hour, Nightfeather and his six companions found the first dungeon deep within the Ancient Stone Forest. This instance was located in a clearing on the eastern side of the stone forest. However, Nightfeather neither hurried to enter nor used the teleport to notify their guild of the discovery.

Instead, he frowned, checked the map, and recalled the core heart known as the Stoneheart.

"Even when we attacked earlier, we didn’t attract other monsters to swarm us," Nightfeather muttered. Beside him, Wen Jiushi also frowned and nodded. "It was the same in the old servers," he said. "But later, I heard some players attacked monsters and ended up facing a full-scale onslaught from everything nearby."

"It seems my guess was correct," Nightfeather said.

He gazed at the swirling vortex that marked the dungeon entrance, shadows of dark energy coiling from its depths and spreading outward.

"I think the Stoneheart might just be—" Nightfeather paused, took a deep breath, and stared into the vortex. "—the entrance to this very dungeon before us."

"If that’s your guess, you must have some sense of the dungeon’s scale?" Luo Feng interjected, his eyes gleaming with anticipation, clearly following Nightfeather’s line of thought.

"Indeed, I’ve considered the size of this instance. The Stoneheart isn’t here, and the aura emanating from the vortex is strikingly similar. If I’m right, this dungeon is a colossal one."

As Nightfeather finished speaking, a cold gleam flickered in his eyes.

"You think this is a super-large dungeon?" Wen Jiushi asked, standing right beside him.

Nightfeather stroked his chin thoughtfully before nodding. "In the world of 'Divine Fall,' it’s entirely possible. The Ancient Forest is meant for early player development, and even the background lore for these gray zones is detailed. There’s every possibility of a colossal dungeon here."

Such massive dungeons could span several kilometers, teeming with monsters and numerous levels, featuring more than one boss. That meant more experience, materials, and equipment drops.

Nightfeather gazed at the swirling vortex before him, a faint smile curving his lips. "This challenge," he said, "is one worth anticipating."