As I stumbled into the pyramid, I kicked out at a wall inside to try to steady myself. A resounding boom echoed through the chamber as my foot collided with something hard and invisible.
==[You have satisfied the prerequisites.]==
==[You have discovered a hidden dungeon in the Pyramid of Khufu.]==
“What?” I stared dumbly at the message that had just popped up in front of me.
“The hidden dungeon was here all along?” I asked myself out of bewilderment. Once it sank in, I could only laugh out loud in amazement.
“But what did it mean by prerequisites? What did I do?”
————
[You may now decide if you wish to reveal Khufu’s Hidden Dungeon or keep it hidden.
Reveal: Others may also enter the hidden dungeon. (Those under dungeon blessings are allowed.) Maximum of two months allowed in Khufu’s Hidden Dungeon.
Conceal: Only the discoverer may enter the hidden dungeon. (Those under dungeon blessings are allowed.) Maximum of one month allowed in Khufu’s Hidden Dungeon.
Discoverer is granted 20% more EXP, item drop rate and golden ring drop rate.
Reveal/Conceal]
———
“Obviously I’ll keep it concealed!” I selected Conceal without hesitation.
==[Deva Lee Jiwon is allowed one month in Khufu’s Hidden Dungeon. The entrance will remain concealed.]==
A dungeon entrance revealed itself in front of the wall before me. It was much smaller than all of the other dungeon entrances I’d seen.
“I wonder if this is a reward for having to put up with the Blood Prince’s bullshit.” I was still pissed off that I had to fight him. What did I have to gain from fighting him? If I lost, I died, and if I won, no one would know.
“I suppose it’s time to go in.” I took a step inside the dungeon entrance.
==[Five meters around the dungeon entrance is a safe zone.]==
==[Monsters will spawn in this dungeon according to Deva Lee Jiwon’s level. Caution is advised.]==
I nodded to myself as I read through the messages that just appeared. I was getting a little nervous. I’ve been to many dungeons and knew what sort of monsters to expect and that there would be multiple floors. I didn’t need to be nervous, but I had never been to this dungeon. I didn’t really know what to expect.
“I haven’t been to this dungeon before, but it shouldn’t be too hard, right?” I looked around the dungeon floor from the safe zone.
[Undying spearman]
[Undying soldier]
[Undying archer]
[Undying commander]
“I really wish I had the Monster Detect skill right now.” I had obviously never encountered these monsters before. I had no information about them at all. At least I had the message tell me that they were around my level.
If I had the Monster Detect skill, I could know their levels and more, but it was too bad that I still didn’t have enough skill points.
“I suppose I’ll find out once I fight them. There’s no way I can lose now.” I sat down for now. I wanted to take a short break and think about the fight against the Blood Prince.
“I couldn’t push him all the way back. If I could somehow deal with the Blood Pool…” I could have won that fight, but that Blood Pool was a real problem.
“I know that he can’t move from the center of the pool… does that mean I’ll need a ranged skill if I have go up against him again?” Still, I was pretty content with myself that I could match the Blood Prince blow for blow. It just meant that everything I’d done so far was right.
“Ah…that’s right. There’s still the thing with Shaman Ko’s stats!” I received a huge STR boost from Shaman Ko’s stats when I was struggling in the Blood Pool.
“It boosted my STR by 6600. I mean, it was only for three seconds, but that was more than enough for me. Was there a hidden effect to the skill?” It didn’t feel like I could use it any time I wanted to.
“It’s not a good idea to rely on it. I’ll just chalk it up to pure luck.” If I couldn’t use it whenever I wanted to, I might as well plan as if didn’t exist.
I continued to rest for another thirty minutes as I thought about the fight.
—-
“It’s time to start, I guess. After all I’ve been through to get here, I need to make the most out this month.” It did take a lot of luck to get here, but still, I did try my hardest.
I walked over to the group of undying spearmen first.
“I better get a lot of EXP out of you guys. I should get a bunch with that double EXP boost.”
The three undying spearmen saw me approach and charged. They were undead monsters, faster than zombies, but slower than skeletons. They were bonier than I expected, but still seemed sturdy enough. They definitely didn’t look low-level.
“Good for me.” I swung my sword at the leading monster’s spear to deflect the attack. I was slightly pushed back, but was able to block the attack without taking damage.
I raised my left foot and kicked the monster in its chest. The spearman rolled back three meters from the force. I let it roll around on the ground and turned to face the other two spearmen charging at me.
The monster on the right stabbed me in the gut and I winced at the pain. My DEF was raised significantly thanks to my Lightning Boots, but the spearhead was at least five to six centimeters in. I looked over at my status UI and saw that I lost only about 28,000 HP.
-Wait a second. My DEF more than doubled, so isn’t it a lot to lose almost 30,000 HP?-
I had no time to worry as the monster on my left was getting closer.
“Heel Kick!”
[You have activated Heel Kick. Opponent’s movement speed slowed down by 10% for five seconds.]
I had to use my skills as many times as I could once the cooldowns were gone. I needed to level my skills up so that they were of better use against monsters and other devas.
Once the monster staggered from the Heel Kick, I slashed the undead spearman twice.
In an attempt to not go down without a fight, the monster stabbed at me again ,but I managed to grab the spear by the shaft with my left hand.
“Huh, I guess I can do that too, now.” The undead spearman pulled back to free its spear from my grasp, but I held on tight. I raised my greatsword as if it were a one-handed broadsword and stabbed at it three times.
The monster was still standing. I stabbed at it until it disappeared to into a cloud of black dust without spilling a single drop of blood. -Probably because it was undead-, I mused to myself.
It took a total of seven stabs. I was much stronger than I was when I could kill Gorgons with three attacks, so that meant these undead spearmen were that much higher level. I liked that a lot.
I turned around to the other spearman. It had already pulled its spear out of me and was about to attack again.
It stabbed at me once more, but this time, I watched the spear come closer and turned my body at the last second.
“I can see everything you do.” I stabbed my sword into its stomach and was rewarded with a dry roar of pain from the monster. The blade didn’t penetrate completely, but did leave a large gash between its chest and stomach and pushed the monster back by about two meters. I jumped right on top of it and swung my sword down on its head.
I placed a foot on each arm to hold it in place and chopped at its head relentlessly. On the fourth hit, the strike flashed yellow and the monster died from a critical hit.
“I’m seeing a lot more critical hits this time.” I brushed off some of the dust the monster left and turned to the spearman I had kicked away.
“And then there was one,” I whispered before charging at it. The monster thrust at me, but I deftly deflected it and began stabbing at it. I was much faster now. I dodged every time it tried to counter and slashed it twice for each time it tried to attack.
After my seventh attack, the monster finally died, turning into a cloud of black dust.
==[You have gained a level.]==
“Nice!” The level up alert was always a welcome sight.
The undying spearmen left 158 golden rings and one cursed soul shard in their piles of dust.
“If these monsters can drop at least 60 golden rings each, that’ll be more than enough. I can always sell these soul shards, as well.”
From my memory, hidden dungeons didn’t have boss monsters or multiple floors. The whole dungeon was on a single floor, but it was enormous. That was another difference between hidden dungeons and normal dungeons!
“I am definitely not leaving here for a month. I’m going to make it to at least level 300.” I raised my sword in front of me and charged at a large group of undead.
Somewhere in the middle of the fight, a bolt of red lightning struck an undying commander.
==[Your opponent has been struck by Powerful Shock. 100,000 points of damage has been inflicted. For three seconds, your opponent’s movement speed, attack speed, DEF and MDEF is lowered by 80%.]==
“Tsk. Where were you when I fought the Blood Prince?” It was the first time I saw Powerful Shock go off. I slashed at the now snail-like undying commander. It crumbled to a pile of dust with one hit.
I kept going for three days straight, until my fatigue rose too high, and rested at the safe zone by the entrance. Soon, the desire to sleep washed over me and I took out a one-day Safe Crystal and promptly fell asleep on the floor.
———
A few hours after Lee Jiwon entered Khufu’s hidden dungeon at the Myth Guild’s headquarters in Old Cairo…
“Shit! Um-nefer, you son of a bitch! How dare a filthy descendant of Ay fuck me over like this?!” Shin, the guild master of the Myth Guild, slammed her fists on her desk. Her guild administrators and officials watched her, but didn’t stop her. Their last hope against the Blood Prince’s Myth Guild invasion just went up in flames at the very hands of the Blood Prince himself.
“How incompetent do all of you have to be to let Old Cairo get destroyed like this? Huh? Tell me!”
“We’re very sorry, ma’am.”
“We have no excuse, ma’am.” Her administrators could only hang their heads in shame.
The heir and direct descendant Horemheb, Shin was an absolute being of the Myth Guild. She wasn’t even thirty, and yet her administrators had never gone against her word.
“Please calm down, ma’am.” Ebonene, the vice-master, decided to step in to relieve the tension in the room.
“But…” Shin’s administrators were loyal to her since before they became devas, but Ebonene was different. He served her father and was someone she trusted even after her father’s passing. She couldn’t get mad at the man who was always at her side.
All of a sudden, someone burst into the conference room. It was the head of Intelligence.
“What do you want?”
“I apologize for the interruption, but there’s something you must know.” He beckoned at the door and Edwifu entered, still covered in sand.
“I highly doubt you’re here to report what happened to Old Cairo now. And if you’re here to report that the Blood Prince killed the guards at Khufu’s Pyramid, then you’re too late. I already know about it,” one of Shin’s officials spoke in her stead.
“No sir, it’s something else. I haven’t reported this to another administrator yet.”
“What? What is it?”
“It’ll be faster if I showed you. Master Shin, may I have your permission to put on a video?” Edwifu truly believed that as a descendant of a pharaoh, Shin was truly a goddess of Egypt, as did many of the members of the Myth Guild.
“Is it something that truly requires my attention?”
“Yes, ma’am. Without a doubt,” Edwifu replied confidently.
“Very well.” Shin was not in the best of moods with the destruction of Old Cairo, but knew better than anyone else to act professionally. She was taught to at the earliest of ages.
Edwifu approached a projector at Shin’s permission.
“Turn the light off, please.” The lights in the room were turned off, and Edwifu turned on the projector. It wasn’t a long video; only about ten minutes long.
“He’s an Unrivaled.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
They could tell that the deva fighting against the Blood Prince was an Unrivaled right away. They had fought against the Blood Prince many times themselves, and could tell at a glance.
