The information provided by Paper Book left everyone feeling puzzled.
Someone couldn’t help but frown.
“Logically speaking, if this place is related to the Barenna Underground Fortress, the monsters here shouldn’t have such low fire damage.”
The burn damage they had taken earlier was the same way, like being lightly scratched, completely failing to show any real threat.
Unless…
Unless the fire damage inside the Barenna Underground Fortress wasn’t actually as high as the rumors on the forums claimed.
Everyone in the party came to the same realization.
Black King Caesar thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“It might just be an issue with the strength of the trash mobs up front. Don’t overthink it for now. Let’s keep moving.”
The Stormwind members didn’t dwell on it either and followed their guild leader deeper into the cave.
But they had only gone a few steps when an accident happened.
One of the mages in the party was walking down the middle of the path when flames suddenly sprayed out, splashing onto him and instantly inflicting a negative status effect.
Thinking it was a burn, he hurriedly drank a fire-resistance potion.
However, his HP didn’t stop dropping as expected and instead continued to fall.
“Damn it, why is there also a poison status…”
Fortunately, the party’s priest reacted quickly and dispelled the poison effect from his body.
The commotion naturally caught the attention of Black King Caesar and Blade Dim.
After hearing the member’s explanation, Blade Dim froze for a moment.
“Poison? And a special one at that? How could that be?”
The rest of the team was equally confused, unsure of what was really going on.
Just then, Black King Caesar spoke up.
“Look ahead.”
Prompted by his reminder, everyone finally noticed that the flames periodically喷ting from the path ahead carried a faint, eerie green glow.
Clearly, there was poisonous gas mixed into them.
“So it’s not fire damage, but poison damage?”
Black King Caesar muttered to himself.
This incident seemed to be nothing more than a brief interlude and was quickly brushed past.
Under Black King Caesar’s leadership, the Stormwind group smoothly cleared waves of monsters along the way and reached the depths of the cave, where they engaged the Molten Flame Hellhound.
Spells, blades, and arrows intertwined in the entrance area formed of lava and stone.
Even the Molten Flame Hellhound couldn’t withstand damage that came down like a violent storm.
Accompanied by a wailing screech, its massive body collapsed to the ground, leaving behind nothing but a pile of loot.
However, defeating the boss didn’t bring much joy to Black King Caesar or Blade Dim.
On the contrary, both of them frowned deeply.
The fire-resistance potions they had prepared specifically for this dungeon were barely used at all.
Instead, all the antidotes they had casually brought along were completely consumed.
What was worse, the boss’s attacks carried a potent poison effect, putting tremendous healing pressure on the party’s priests during the fight.
Combined with their earlier experiences along the path, Black King Caesar and Blade Dim found themselves thinking about the same thing.
“Blade, what do you think?”
After instructing the team to pick up the boss’s dropped equipment, Black King Caesar turned to ask Blade Dim beside him.
“It’s probably exactly what you’re thinking, Guild Leader,” Blade Dim nodded.
After this series of events, they both began to doubt the information circulating on the forums about the Barenna Underground Fortress.
There was fire damage, but extremely high fire damage was clearly unlikely.
The truly deadly factor was the poison effect.
Firsthand experience was far more convincing than hearsay.
Even data dug up by hardcore researchers could be wrong at times.
Compared to that, they trusted the intelligence obtained from this dungeon instance, which was deeply connected to the Barenna Underground Fortress.
Black King Caesar nodded and didn’t hesitate any longer.
He immediately contacted Birchwood and informed him of the situation inside the dungeon.
“I understand. I’ll handle getting rid of those fire-resistance potions as soon as possible.”
On the other end of the call, Birchwood pondered for a moment and agreed with Black King Caesar’s assessment.
“Then we need to start buying up antidotes right away, especially Rotgrass Potions.”
Rotgrass Potion was a type of antidote capable of removing special corrosive poison states.
That status was exactly what the Dread Hellhound boss inflicted with its attacks.
Although this was only the entrance boss, there was no guarantee that similar monsters wouldn’t appear deeper inside the Barenna Underground Fortress.
Better safe than sorry.
After Black King Caesar’s group uncovered this information about the dungeon entrance, other guilds naturally did the same.
One after another, they began dumping their stockpiled fire-resistance potions and instead purchasing antidotes or related formulas.
Roseheart was no exception.
Just as Crimson Rose was about to clear out the fire-resistance potions in the warehouse and arrange for the guild’s logistics team to start procurement, Dolan stopped her.
“Sister Rose, I think we shouldn’t touch those potions for now.”
“Why?”
News from the Plains Eleven indicated that other guilds were already selling off fire-resistance potions in massive quantities.
The result was oversupply, turning it into a buyer’s market and causing potion prices to plummet.
If they didn’t sell quickly, they might not even recover their costs.
Crimson Rose believed Dolan understood this perfectly.
But she also believed Dolan wasn’t foolish.
If she still chose to hold onto them despite knowing this, she must have had her reasons.
“Tongtong…”
In the party channel, Shuiyan, who rarely spoke, unexpectedly mentioned a name.
“What does this have to do with Little Tong?”
A subtle sense of alert rose in Crimson Rose’s heart.
Could it be that this quiet girl had also taken a liking to that adorable little one and was planning to compete for a daughter?
Women’s intuition could be terrifying at times.
Of course, it was best to ignore the latter half of that thought.
Dolan didn’t speak.
Instead, Scarlet Rain explained,
“Sister Rose, do you remember when Little Tong asked us to help buy potion formulas before?”
“I do,” Crimson Rose caught on immediately.
“You’re saying Little Tong might already know some inside information?”
“But that was several days ago. The Barenna Underground Fortress entrance only opened today, and the intel just came out. Even if she knew something, she should’ve contacted you by now.”
“No,” Dolan interjected, shaking her head.
“She contacted us not long ago and told us to continue purchasing those potion formulas.”
Crimson Rose fell silent and began to think.
That little one’s actions had always hinted at deeper meaning.
Still, in this situation, the responsibility she bore as a guild leader didn’t allow her to make decisions lightly.
After a long moment, Crimson Rose finally sighed.
“I understand. But I’m still going to buy antidotes.”
The three of them nodded.
They understood Crimson Rose’s cautious stance.
In fact, they already felt it was a success just to have convinced her this much.
Unfortunately, they seemed to be celebrating too early.
“And if we take a loss, I’ll deduct it from your New Year’s allowance. If this year’s not enough, we’ll make up for it next year.”
Crimson Rose left that sentence behind before cutting the call.
……
After a brief silence, Dolan made a suggestion.
“If we lose money, should we just beat up that little brat?”
“Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”
Someone who had just logged out of the game suddenly sneezed several times in a row, rubbing her nose in confusion.
“Mm… Did I catch a cold?”
I don’t know if you’ve seen that picture before.
You plan to open a supermarket right next to another supermarket—what name would let you crush the competition?
—Supermarket Entrance.jpg
That was where I got my inspiration from.
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