Apocalypse Gachapon

A scream rang out but was cut short. A terrifying gust of wind sliced through the air like a blade, nearly shattering the Bone Armor. The skeletons and Lich Generals were hurled to the ground, unable to move.

Mu Xianxian was also flung away and lay unconscious, or worse. The only one still standing was Lin Moyu. All of this chaos was merely caused by the roar of the Archaic Earth Dragon.

The boss appeared before Lin Moyu as if it had teleported, its enormous eyes fixating on him. A chill ran up his spine and shot into his brain, and every hair on his body stood on end. In those eyes, Lin Moyu saw intelligence and emotion—this Archaic Earth Dragon was nothing like the ones he had faced before.

What on earth had happened? The situation had spiraled beyond his understanding.

"You’ve gone too far!" A thunderous voice rose, causing Lin Moyu’s ears to ache. The boss had actually spoken. This was getting out of hand.

The Archaic Earth Dragon’s eyes gleamed dangerously, "There is a saying, one should not make the same action more than three times. How many times do you intend to kill me?"

Lin Moyu lifted his head, his mind racing. He had never encountered anything like this before. But then, a sudden realization struck him—'weakened.'

"Are you the real Archaic Earth Dragon?" He asked.

"What do you think?" The Archaic Earth Dragon snorted, sending two massive streams of air from its nostrils. The Bone Armor creaked again and then shattered.

Lin Moyu didn’t bother to recast Bone Armor. If mere air could shatter it, reapplying it would be pointless. There was no escape from this dungeon; all his escape items were ineffective. His intuition told him this boss was far more terrifying than the Archaic Luanniao he had faced in the core area.

The Archaic Earth Dragon lowered its head, bringing its massive eyes even closer. Lin Moyu could see his own reflection in them. His mind raced, “Honored Elder, you seem to have violated the rules.”

Lin Moyu deduced that the Archaic Earth Dragon in the dungeon was merely n avatar, explaining the term ‘weakened’ in its description. It was the same concept as the Shenxia Tower's main body and avatar. Now, however, the main body of the Archaic Earth Dragon had arrived.

Despite the overwhelming situation, Lin Moyu had already calmed down, speaking with courage.

"What did you say!" The boss's roar sent shockwaves through the dungeon, its power threatening to break through the entire structure.

Outside, the dungeon entrance suddenly erupted in brilliant light. Everyone was startled, bewildered by the sudden glow. What was happening inside? No one knew.

The three factions were at a standoff, with none daring to venture in and check.

"I hope Colonel Lin is okay." Jiang Hanshan mused. Jialan Yeyu was also worried, but her concern was for Mu Xianxian.

...

Inside the dungeon, Lin Moyu kept his composure, "I said you violated the rules. According to the level of the Eartheart dungeon, a being like you shouldn't appear here."

He was now 80% sure the boss was an avatar of the entity before him. The Archaic Earth Dragon suddenly let out a thunderous laugh, shaking the dungeon again.

Lin Moyu waited patiently. It seemed the terrifying entity before had no intention of killing him. After laughing for a while, the Archaic Earth Dragon lowered its head and roared, "I could burn you to ashes with a single breath."

Lin Moyu shook his head, "You won’t kill me."

"Oh?" The boss sounded surprised.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it already." Lin Moyu continued, "You wouldn’t need to restrain my undead legions or knock out my teammate. My guess is you’re here to give me a warning."

As he spoke, Lin Moyu remained calm, showing no signs of fear. After all, the worst outcome was death, and that was nothing to fear.

The Archaic Earth Dragon laughed heartily, "Not bad, not bad at all."

Lin Moyu had guessed correctly. He asked, "Is there anything else?"

The Archaic Earth Dragon shook its large head, "No, I just came to see what kind of person could make my avatar suffer so badly."

...

As Lin Moyu expected, it was indeed an avatar. He said, "I wonder..."

The Archaic Earth Dragon interrupted him, saying in an overcast tone, "Alright, I have no intention of eating you. You’ve already guessed as much, so there's no need for me to pretend anymore. I came to make a deal with you."

Lin Moyu uttered respectfully, "Please continue, Elder."

The Archaic Earth Dragon rumbled, "There’s no rush. You’re not qualified for this deal yet. When you reach the true center of the upper layer, I’ll be waiting for you."

Lin Moyu was surprised. "You are...?"

The Archaic Earth Dragon didn’t give an answer. "I’ll be waiting for you at the center."

With those words, the boss dissolved into countless motes of starlight, just like the starlight Lin Moyu had seen after defeating monsters in the core area. The motes shimmered briefly before vanishing completely. Moments later, a vortex appeared before him, signaling the end of the dungeon.

Lin Moyu sighed with relief. Thankfully, the other party hadn’t intended to kill him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have survived. He suspected the Puppet Talisman he had received from Bai Yiyuan might have been useless against such a powerful entity.

"If I’m right, that should be the boss stationed at the center of the upper layer’s core area. It unexpectedly possesses intelligence—this isn’t just a regular boss."

He thought of the Archaic Luanniao, which also seemed to have some intelligence, though it was childlike compared to the Archaic Earth Dragon’s adult-level intelligence.

"Could it be that because it has lived for countless years without being killed, it developed intelligence? Or is it something to do with the light in the core area...? I’ll have to go to the center of the core area sooner or later. And when I do, I’ll take my revenge."

The Archaic Luanniao had relentlessly chased him, and Lin Moyu couldn’t possibly forget that.

While he was deep in thought, the Lich Generals and skeletons gradually recovered. They hadn’t been injured, only restrained—yet another testament to the Archaic Earth Dragon's overwhelming power.

With a soft moan, Mu Xianxian woke up. She touched her head and asked, "What happened?"

Lin Moyu shook his head, lying with a straight face, "The dungeon mutated, and then the boss disappeared."

Hus? Mu Xianxian couldn’t believe it. Dungeon mutations were extremely rare; she had only heard of it and never expected to encounter it herself. She only remembered reaching the Archaic Earth Dragon, hearing its roar, and then blacking out.

After mutation, some dungeons became much more dangerous, with bosses leveling up drastically. Even with Lin Moyu’s strength, he could be in real danger. The memory of the Archaic Luanniao was still fresh in her mind.

"Are you alright?" She asked urgently.

"I'm fine." Lin Moyu reassured her.

Mu Xianxian patted her chest in relief, "As long as you're fine, that's all that matters."

Lin Moyu then said, "The dungeon is finished; we should deal with the ones outside now."

Mu Xianxian exclaimed, "It won’t appear again?"

It was gone—it won’t show up again. It was merely an avatar of that great being. Even if it appeared before him again, Lin Moyu wouldn’t dare to kill it.

Lin Moyu equipped both himself and Mu Xianxian with Bone Armor and activated an Earth Gem. He had five left, and one of them was set aside for Shi Xing'an.

The gem emitted an earthy-yellow light that enveloped him, granting a 50% reduction in physical damage. Although he didn’t acquire a physical-type skill, he was mentally prepared for this outcome and wasn’t disappointed. As a Mage-type, the physical skill wouldn’t be particularly useful to him anyway.

"I’m curious—if you used your Group Collection skill on Abyssal Demons and Dragonkind, what would you obtain?" Lin Moyu asked quietly.

Mu Xianxian shook her head, "I don’t know. I’ve never tried it."

"If there's a chance later, you should test it out."

"Okay!" Lin Moyu had been half-joking, but Mu Xianxian took it seriously.