Chapter 407: A Pleasant Surprise
'A little more…Now!'
As the shark's enormous jaw threatened to rend him to shreds, Shye suddenly disappeared, reappearing inside the Selachimorpha's mouth using his trusty [Blink] skill.
'Crap, I need to go deeper!'
Unfortunately, he was still within range of the shark's teeth, which extended all the way back to its throat.
He had to rush further in, otherwise, he would be crushed to death.
'Dash!'
With one violent step, Shye dashed forward with all his might, instantly reappearing several meters deeper inside.
However, there were still numerous teeth that could crush him to death. It seemed that two gap-closer skills were not enough…
To make things worse, the gigantic mouth was already closing. Furthermore, the skills that would help him navigate through this sticky situation were all on cooldown, including [Rush Stab].
Realizing he only had one short-distance repositioning skill left, Shye made a frantic dash deeper into the armored shark's throat.
'Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!'
With a wildly racing heart, Shye's legs worked hard. He was akin to an agile cheetah.
However, with how enormous the mouth was, the throat seemed so far away.
Still, Shye didn't give up and continued sprinting.
'Swallow Step!'
Subsequently, just when he was about to get crushed by the modest-sized yet sharp and tough teeth, his body suddenly disappeared and reappeared a short distance away.
'Stoic! Physical Barrier!'
*BAM!*
The calm sea momentarily raged as the enormous armored shark violently closed its horrifying maw in hopes of crushing the human who dared enter, and since it felt something solid touch a few of its teeth, the Selachimorpha inwardly concluded that the enemy had been crushed to death.
Thus, it gradually began to calm down despite its horrifying eye injury.
After a few more minutes, the vast pitch-black expanse of water returned to its eerie stillness, as though nothing ever happened, and that nothing lurked beneath.
Only, the silence was short-lived as explosions occurred within the eerie sea—one after the other.
…Successfully getting away with a mildly crushed left foot with the help of two protective skills, Shye began wreaking havoc inside the shark's throat.
Embers roared and frosty winds howled as Shye swapped both of his greatswords for elemental staffs, unleashing a barrage of spells that systematically destroyed the Selachimorpha's internal organs.
Feeling sudden consecutive excruciating pains inside its body, the shark thrashed in agony.
Unfortunately for it, no matter how wildly it moved or how far it swam away from the original location of their battle, there was no way for it to stop Shye's assault.
Thus, in just a single minute, the enormous armored shark was sapped of its strength due to spine-chilling internal injuries.
'This thing is still alive?' Shye was impressed.
He already used more than ten skills, yet, the darned shark was still alive.
'Damn… if I hadn't taken the risk, it would have taken me days to kill this massive beast with external wounds alone… assuming I could even survive that long in the fight…'
Slightly shivering at the thought of what could've happened, Shye decided to finish the shark off as he did not want to stay inside its stinky mouth any longer.
'Gravitational Drain!'
Casting his ultimate mage skill inside the shark's body, it was impossible for the aquatic monster to dodge, hence, in just a few seconds, the shark slowly withered to death.
'I-It should be dead…right? Then when's the freaking dungeon rule going to activate?!'
The already stinky environment he was standing in just got even more stinky.
Fortunately, the dungeon didn't make him suffer too much.
Shortly after the shark died, it slowly disintegrated into blue mana particles, returning Shye to the chilling sea beneath the chasm.
What he didn't expect was that a huge notification made of blue mana particles would appear in front of him.
Although it somewhat resembled the system's notification, Shye knew that it wasn't one.
[Congratulations! You have defeated the Boss of the Polva Dungeon! You will now be guided towards the dungeon's core!]
'W-What? Y-You mean this is the boss area? And that I had to fight that thing anyway if I wanted to clear the darned dungeon?' Shye mused in stupefaction.
He was merely trying to survive after falling from ridiculous heights, and now, he's somehow managed to clear the dungeon.
'I-I don't think falling into the abyssal chasm was a requirement…there should be another way…'
Dumbstruck as he was, Shye was elated.
The boss fight was both scary and difficult, fortunately, he managed to pull through.
And now, he would be rewarded for his efforts.
Eagerly anticipating the rewards from Corvus, Shye couldn't wait to return to the city in triumph.
While daydreaming about his glorious return, Shye's attention was drawn to thin blue streams of mana extending from his location toward the horizon on his left, dragging him back to reality.
'Oh…right. I still have to retrieve the dungeon's core…'
Swimming for who knows how long while keeping an eye out for potential threats, Shye finally arrived at what seemed to be a hidden shore that resembled an altar.
At the center of the shore was a modestly sized azure sphere, emitting a soothing aura.
'Hoh…so this is the core of a mana dungeon…'
Admiring the sphere for a while, Shye stored it in the system's inventory.
'Mana Pen!'
Shortly after, he drew a long-distance teleportation magic circle on the shore, and then, once done, he stepped inside.
'Recall!'
Opening his eyes, the scenery changed. He was now back to the familiar barren lands.
***
Meanwhile, back at the eerie shores of where the dungeon core previously was, a group of seven adventurers—a mix of young men and women—furiously rowed their makeshift raft, seemingly both anxious and excited.
"Go! Go! Row faster! We're close to the location of the dungeon's core!"
"Hahahaha! Dodge, we're so glad you were our party's leader. After weeks of trying, finally, we shall return triumphantly to our city!"
"Hahaha! Just a bit more and we shall seize the core without even fighting that darned shark!"
"Ahhh…How I wish to see the disappointed faces of the adventurer parties from other cities upon realizing that they were inferior to us, the adventurers of Krevar City!"