Mental Power.Soul Crystals.
These are the core resources of a territory.
Soul Crystals can be used to construct dungeon facilities, expand territorial functions and capacity, and push a territory toward greater prosperity. Every time an adventurer dies within a secret realm, a Soul Crystal is dropped.
Mental Power, on the other hand, is a resource unique to Dungeon Lords. It is required to construct secret realms and to advance one's own rank. However, it can only be extracted if adventurers generate sufficiently strong positive emotions during the dungeon experience.
A boring dungeonmay repeatedly generate Soul Crystals,but it can never produce Mental Power endlessly.
Only a dungeon that truly brings adventurers joy, excitement, thrill, and exhilarationcan continuously extract Mental Power.
Black Stone Hammer King looked deeply frustrated.
"Damn it! These undead aren't that strong, but there are way too many of them!"
"I think ammunition is extremely precious in the early stages. And from what I've observed, these undead are highly sensitive to sound. Using pistols might attract them, so we should be cautious!"
"I'll give it a try," Lonely Swordsman said.
At a glance, he was clearly the most experienced veteran among them.
After entering the secret realm, Lonely Swordsman did not immediately use his pistol. Instead, he brought down the 'over-the-shoulder smile' zombie with a single axe strike, then began carefully exploring the rooms along the corridor.
Using ambush tactics, he took out two more zombies wandering inside the rooms.
As expected, no additional enemies were drawn in.
Not only that—while searching the rooms, he quickly discovered two spare magazines of ammunition, and even found a second pistol, instantly doubling his available firepower.
"Whoa!"
"As expected of the old man!"
"So ammo can be replenished!"
"This is the right way to play!"
Black Stone Hammer King and Nekomi Momo both cheered excitedly.
At that moment, a zombie lurking in the shadows suddenly launched a sneak attack.
"Uncle Sword, watch out!"
Lonely Swordsman was startled as well. He hurriedly swung his axe, and after several intense exchanges, successfully killed the attacker—but not without sustaining multiple wounds.
"Damn it, that was too loud. The nearby undead definitely heard that!"
The zombies wandering the surrounding stairwell were drawn in. In a situation like this, relying solely on an axe was clearly not enough. Lonely Swordsman flipped over a table for cover and opened fire, emptying two full magazines and killing all eight approaching zombies.
Nekomi Momo exclaimed, "Uncle Sword is amazing! He actually took down so many!"
Black Stone Hammer King added grimly, "We can't relax. There are still undead outside. We can't stay here any longer."
Lonely Swordsman still had one magazine left, but there were at least five or six zombies remaining in the stairwell. Under these conditions, survival would be extremely difficult. Worse still, he could feel his body growing weaker by the second.
He lifted his clothing to take a look.
The wounds had already turned black and were beginning to fester.
Nekomi Momo's eyes widened. "Oh no! These undead might be poisonous! Uncle Sword, how are you feeling?"
Lonely Swordsman replied in a low voice, "Not good. I can hold on for maybe fifteen minutes at most."
Black Stone Hammer King reminded him, "The medical kit should be able to treat your injuries."
The medical kit was one of the three starting items.It contained bandages and medicine capable of treating wounds.
"This place isn't safe anymore," Lonely Swordsman said decisively. "Undead could break in at any moment. I need to evacuate first, reach a safe area, and treat myself there."
"Uncle Sword, look behind us!" Nekomi Momo said. "There's a window. It looks like we can escape from there."
The room had a shattered window. Although they were currently on the third floor and the drop was significant, it was possible to climb down using the exterior pipes. Below lay a narrow alley with no undead activity.
One minute later.
Lonely Swordsman slid down into the alley.
As he stepped out, searching for a safe shelter—
He was completely stunned by what he saw.
The streets outside were densely packed with terrifying undead. At a glance, there were hundreds—no, thousands of them.
Men and women.Young and old.
Some wore sportswear, others suits. Some were clad in police uniforms, hazmat suits, or firefighter gear. All of them wandered aimlessly.
Every single one was mangled and blood-soaked.Every single one was grotesque and horrifying.
A few noticed the adventurer and let out piercing howls.
In an instant, the entire horde was alerted.
"It's over…"
Lonely Swordsman didn't have time to escape. Hundreds of undead surged into the narrow alley, the sight utterly shocking—no, spine-chilling.
A dead end behind him.No path of retreat.
An unprecedented sense of despair washed over him.
Only at this momentdid the adventurers truly understand why this dungeon was called Apocalypse Frenzy.
Lonely Swordsman fought desperately. He emptied his final magazine, then picked up his axe and chopped down two more undead before being completely overwhelmed, torn apart by the raging horde.
[Adventurer 'Lonely Swordsman' has died. Mental Power +1. Soul Crystal +1!]
When Lonely Swordsman returned to the dungeon hall,
the three adventurers stared at one another in disbelief.
"This is insane!"
"There were that many undead?!"
"What happened to this city? Why did everyone turn into monsters like that?"
"This is interesting. There has to be a story behind it."
"I'm getting more and more interested!"
"By the way… do small dungeons these days really have no cost limits? How can they afford this many monsters?"
"…"
All three adventurers were deeply shaken by what they had just witnessed.
They were equally stunned by the craftsmanship of the dungeon itself.
Never before had they seen a secret realm with such rich elements, such overwhelming monster density, and such a unique artistic style. It was completely different from any dungeon they had ever challenged before.
Hands on her hips, Nekomi Momo demanded, "Hey, Lord Ren, I have to admit—your dungeon is incredibly well made. But with this many monsters stuffed inside, how are we supposed to clear it? Did you never intend for adventurers to actually complete it?"
Kanzaki Ren replied with a calm smile, "Every dungeon I create has a way to be cleared. You simply need to explore further, obtain stronger weapons, and discover better escape routes."
"Really?" Nekomi Momo asked skeptically.
"Then can you at least tell us what happened in this world? Why did all the residents end up like this?"
Black Stone Hammer King immediately cut in. "Momo, don't make things difficult for the lord. The dungeon's craftsmanship is incredible—he must have his own ideas. It'll be more fun if we uncover the truth ourselves."
"That's… true," Nekomi Momo conceded.
Lonely Swordsman suddenly exclaimed, "Wait—I got loot!"
This instantly drew the attention of the other two.
"Loot" was the term adventurers used to describe dungeon rewards.
Why did adventurers love challenging dungeons? Beyond the thrill of danger and discovery, the most important reason was access to resources necessary for survival. Different dungeons produced different materials.
Generally speaking,the drop rates were not high.
Of course, actual output was also tied to dungeon completion and development level. The higher the completion rate and the more thoroughly a dungeon was explored, the greater the chance of resource generation.
That was why the adventurers were so surprised. Based on their current progress, their exploration of Apocalypse Frenzy was still superficial. Producing rewards at this stage was unexpected.
Kanzaki Ren, however, was not surprised.
His dungeon was simply too rich in elements and content. Naturally, the resource probability was higher.
Miracle City could drop various resource items from multiple game worlds. These exclusive outputs would become the dungeon's core competitive advantage.
Of course—
Due to the dungeon's extremely low development level,even when rewards appeared, they were very limited.
Lonely Swordsman's reward was merely a crate of ice-cold soda.
Such a basic resource didn't even consume Mental Power to generate.
Still, soda was valuable.
Surface-world production capacity was abysmally low, and resources of all kinds were scarce. Even a reward like this was more than enough to satisfy adventurers.