Zhou Huai's heart skipped a beat as he watched the stone door slowly open.

What's going on?

A hidden dungeon?

He had cleared it so many times before, but this door had always remained motionless.

Why did it open by itself this time?

Zhou Huai's thoughts raced as he quickly analyzed the differences.

The biggest difference was that Gandalf had reached Rank 10.

His skill power was stronger, and his efficiency in clearing the map had greatly increased due to his attribute surge.

This time, they completed the dungeon in just thirty minutes.

Could it be... that this was the key to opening the stone door?

To defeat the final BOSS within thirty minutes?

Zhou Huai pondered, unable to think of any other reason.

If that were truly the condition, it would be extremely demanding.

Even an elite team of Rank 20 players would need at least four or five hours to clear the Shadow Swamp Demon Cave on Calamity difficulty.

And those above Rank 30 would exceed the dungeon's Rank limit and be unable to enter.

What exactly was hidden behind this door?

With the thought of 'since I'm already here'.

Zhou Huai controlled Yasuo and Gandalf, one in front of the other, as they stepped into the deep darkness.

However, after only two steps inside.

Zhou Huai's brow furrowed sharply, and he immediately stopped, quickly retreating.

The moment they stepped through the door.

Yasuo and Gandalf's health began to drop rapidly at a rate of one hundred points per second.

-100!

-100!

It was as if an invisible, potent poison permeated the space behind the door.

As long as they stepped in, they would continuously take damage.

Yasuo and Gandalf currently only had over three thousand health points.

At this rate, they probably wouldn't last even half a minute before both would die.

Go out and find some healers?

Zhou Huai immediately dismissed the idea.

Not to mention whether he could find trustworthy healers.

What if the stone door, which had been so difficult to open, closed again if they left and re-entered the dungeon?

Moreover, at this rate of health loss, even if he found several healers, they probably wouldn't be able to keep up.

Zhou Huai was momentarily in a difficult position.

Theoretically, the higher the danger of such a hidden map, the richer the rewards usually were.

Giving up just like that was truly unwilling.

After a brief moment of thought, Zhou Huai's gaze fell on Gandalf.

With a thought, he controlled Gandalf to raise his staff.

"Arcane Barrier!"

Buzz—!

A surge of arcane energy instantly erupted, forming a nearly solid, translucent shield composed of countless blue runes around Gandalf's body.

The shield's surface glowed, exuding an indestructible aura.

He wondered if this barrier shield could withstand the invisible poison damage?

Zhou Huai controlled Gandalf, who had activated his shield, and stepped into the stone door again.

-100!

-100!

The familiar damage numbers appeared again.

But this time, what was deducted was no longer Gandalf's health, but the shield value of his Arcane Barrier!

Zhou Huai's heart filled with joy.

Gandalf's shield value was over sixty thousand points!

Even if the shield was depleted, the skill cooldown was only one minute, allowing it to be regenerated.

This was simply an unlimited 'free pass'!

Thinking of this, Zhou Huai immediately made a decision.

Let Yasuo guard the entrance, just in case.

Gandalf would go in alone to investigate.

Gandalf strode forward, walking into the depths of the darkness.

The scene before him was an ancient stone staircase that spiraled continuously downwards.

As he delved deeper, the dusty torches on the rock walls on both sides ignited automatically without warning.

The flickering flames were an eerie, quiet blue color.

The light of the flames made the twisted and grotesque carvings on {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the rock walls flicker, as if they could come alive at any moment.

A chilling wind howled up from deep underground, carrying a scent of decay.

All the way down, Zhou Huai did not see any traces of strange beasts.

The entire space was eerily silent.

After an unknown amount of time, the spiraling staircase finally came to an end.

The view below suddenly opened up.

What appeared before Gandalf was a corridor so long that it stretched out of sight.

The corridor was dilapidated, with various strange beast skeletons scattered on the ground, having been silent here for an unknown number of years.

Zhou Huai controlled Gandalf to continue forward.

Beneath his feet, a dark green gas began to spread like a light veil.

Gandalf's shield value, which had been deducting one hundred points per second, gradually increased to one hundred fifty points.

Then, not long after, the damage increased again.

-200!

-200!

Zhou Huai became more and more alarmed as he walked, and seeing a section of his shield value drop, he quickly cast Arcane Barrier again to replenish the shield.

This poison damage was so fierce that any other tank class would probably not be able to withstand it.

The difficulty of this hidden map was somewhat terrifying.

Only a Forbidden Spell Mage with an abnormal shield could barely gain a foothold here.

Soon, Gandalf arrived at the end of the corridor.

There were even more strange beast skeletons here, densely packed, almost forming a small mountain.

Only a narrow passage could barely be seen between the bone mountains.

Zhou Huai was about to control Gandalf to continue forward.

The moment he stepped out of the corridor.

The shield value, which had been continuously deducting, suddenly stopped.

Zhou Huai breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that this area should be free of poison damage.

He continued forward.

Suddenly, a loud 'rumbling' sound came from behind him.

Zhou Huai looked back in surprise.

He saw that the exit of the corridor he had come from was slowly being sealed off by a huge gate.

His retreat was cut off.

At the same time, a 'crunching' sound came from the bone mountain ahead.

Clusters of eerie green Soul flames suddenly lit up in countless scattered skull heads on the ground.

The scattered skeletons, as if pulled by invisible threads, began to quickly reassemble.

【Undead War Beast LV30 (Elite)】

【Health: 1000 / 1000】

【Skills: Bone Charge, Undead Bite】

【...】

It was as if some mechanism had been triggered.

One, two, ten, a hundred...

More and more skeletal strange beasts appeared, resurrecting from the bone mountain and staggering to their feet.

Within mere seconds, hundreds of Undead War Beasts surrounded Gandalf.

Zhou Huai, seeing this, was not surprised but rather pleased.

A Forbidden Spell Mage fears nothing more than a large number of enemies.

"Perfect timing."

Gandalf slowly raised the staff in his hand, and ancient incantations chanted from his lips.

"Forbidden Spell - Meteor Shower!"

Boom!

The space above his head seemed to be torn apart by an invisible force!

A gigantic, blazing portal, engulfed in raging flames, materialized out of thin air!

Immediately after, massive meteorites, trailing long fiery tails, plummeted from the portal with a roar, like an apocalyptic disaster!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth trembled violently.

Each meteorite impact triggered an earth-shattering explosion.

Violent fiery shockwaves swept wildly in all directions.

The recently resurrected Undead War Beasts, unable to even launch a decent attack, were smashed to pieces and reduced to ashes in the flames.

In an instant, countless strange beast skeletons were pulverized.

【Killed Undead War Beast LV30, gained 2000 experience points!】

【Killed Undead War Beast LV30, gained 2000 experience points!】

【...】

In Zhou Huai's mind, System notifications flooded like a waterfall.

【Ding! Congratulations, Host, Clone 'Gandalf' has leveled up to LV11!】

A brilliant golden light of advancement shot up from Gandalf's body.

Zhou Huai's eyes instantly lit up.

Oh my goodness.

This place was simply a Holy Land for leveling up!