Flashy Adventurer System : Show Off to Get Stronger! - Chapter 943

Chapter 943: Another Message
Shye and the others faced no challenges they couldn’t handle, clearing floors at an unprecedented rate—one to two minutes per floor.

With the Battle Tracker constantly updating as they descended, mapping out the next three floors in advance, the cohort easily determined the fastest route forward.

Of course, there were times when they encountered massive groups—over a thousand elites or defensively programmed Soul Warriors.

Yet, none managed to trouble the cohort. Larger groups were only a slight inconvenience due to their numbers, but with Harry and David around, clearing them out simply took a bit more time.

They weren’t a threat at all.

Strangely, none of the Hawklings had appeared since Hathor was slain by Shye.

Shye wasn’t about to complain, though.

After all, every time Dweezel’s bastard appeared, they would cause significant trouble, bringing with them various items that would tip the scales into their favor before they would dirty their hands by fighting personally.

Perhaps they were setting up another trap elsewhere—or waiting at the Black Dragon Gate, prepared to defend it to the death alongside Dweezel.

Who knew?

In any case, the cohort wouldn’t waste time overthinking.

They pressed on, slaughtering and obliterating everything that dared stand in their way.

Abominations, Soul Warriors, Lesser Soul Warriors, Hawkin Elites, traps, turrets—none could slow the cohort down.

Not with Shye leading the charge at the tip of their spear of carnage.

They continued descending floor after floor.

But then, upon descending to the twenty-sixth floor, the surroundings began to change.

The hallways remained the same—dimly lit and metallic—but now, strange black crystals had begun to appear.

There weren’t many.

Some sprouted from the floor, others clustered in the corners, and a few clung to the ceiling.

The cohort paused to observe the strange growths—Shye even touched one.

But after confirming they were harmless, they pressed on.

The cohort remained vigilant, nonetheless, as there was always the possibility that these black crystals could be activated and turned against them.

Had they the time, they might have opted to destroy every crystal.

Their decision not to do so soon proved wise.

With each descent, more black crystal clusters appeared—not only increasing in number but also growing larger and larger.

They would have wasted their time in even attempting, as there were simply way too many crystals to destroy.

This, however, meant that the growth of the crystals couldn’t be controlled, and it was highly likely that even Dweezel did not have power over them.

The crystals should be mere decoration.

…Or obstacles.

Upon descending to the fortieth floor, the metallic hallways gave way to corridors of solid black crystal.

Thick clusters blocked their path, obstructing their advance toward their destination—the fiftieth floor.

Shye was now certain there had to be a hidden shortcut or formation that allowed easier access to the Black Dragon Gate.

Unfortunately, they lacked such knowledge.

As mere outsiders, they were forced to take the long way.

All they could do was press on and hope they would have the chance to unseal the Black Dragon of Destruction.

The last thing they wanted to find was a dangerless, empty room.

They would much rather face hundreds or even thousands of enemies.

After a brief scan of their new surroundings, the cohort proceeded. It had been two floors since they last encountered Hawkin Elites.

‘Do the crystal growths pose a hazard to humans?’ Shye wondered as he sprinted across the crystalline floor.

Enemies were scarce on the fortieth.

When they did appear, they came in small groups—two or three abominations, each on par with an (S)-ranked monster.

Lethal threats to most.

But to the cohort, they were nothing.

Clusters of black crystals blocked their path at every turn, and truth be told, breaking through them was harder than killing the abominations.

Shye would have much preferred fighting enemies.

Unfortunately, they had no say in the matter—this was the challenge the headquarters had set before them.

By the time they reached the forty-fifth floor, the abominations had vanished entirely. In their place, the black crystals had multiplied.

Passing through would have been impossible for anyone else.

‘Where the hell did that damned old snake get these crystals?!’ Shye cursed inwardly. ‘There weren’t any of these in the simulation practice!’

Cutting through the crystals was becoming increasingly inefficient. Their once-rapid pace of one to two minutes per floor had slowed to three, then four—now five.

Despite his [Unfazed Heart] trait, Shye felt a creeping sense of panic.

The thought of finding nothing but an empty hallway inside the Black Dragon Gate gnawed at him.

‘There has to be an easier way to cut through these things…’ Shye thought as he struck another crystal, hitting it with full power three times before finally shattering it.

Even Shirley, Siegfried, and Seira had to focus their efforts on a single crystal, landing multiple blows just to break through.

With the sheer number of obstacles between them and the descending staircase to the forty-sixth floor, they were looking at over twenty minutes per floor—and that was assuming the growths didn’t become even denser.

Which, of course, they would.

Their chances of arriving on time were growing bleaker by the second.

Just as Shye was pushing all nine hundred points of intelligence in his brain to work, everyone’s mana communicator beeped.

A message had arrived.

Earlier, Shye had informed their insider that he and his cohort would form a small strike force and make for the Black Dragon Gate as fast as possible.

Only now did the insider respond.

And given the likely circumstances, the message was brief—just two cryptic words:

“Divine Lights.”

For a few seconds, no one could understand, until something clicked in Shye’s brain.

He then hurriedly summoned the system, unhesitatingly revealing to everyone the secret he had been keeping for years.

Shye frantically pressed buttons in the air as if he’d lost his mind, leaving everyone confused—except for Shirley.

This wasn’t the time to keep up appearances.

Besides, he had long wanted to come clean, especially to Siegfried—the one he felt the system had been most unfair to.

“I’ll explain later.” He said without looking at them, fully focused on searching for a new skill.

He had once browsed through a skill of the [Divine] element in the system.

However, the skill came at an absurdly high cost and dealt no damage, making Shye feel like the skill was a filthy scam.

A complete waste of five hundred thousand points.

It was a semi-passive ability that simply illuminated a ten-meter area in front of him with a pale purple light.

If that was all it did, then the [Light] element skill [Illuminate] was far superior in every way—cheaper, more mana-efficient, and providing better illumination.

Now, the skill he looked down on suddenly became his last hope.