You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

He reached out and turned off the recording function on the console, whispering, "This line is clean."

In the stone chamber of the carnival maze, the firelight from the brazier illuminated the animal hides on the walls, making them appear as if they had been stained with blood.

Vanessa knelt on the ground, her hands and feet bound by chains, her hair disheveled. She was silent, as if all her strength had been drained away.

Bacchus, holding his wine glass, slowly walked up to her and whispered, "You are the best pretender I have ever met. Unfortunately, a pawn is just a pawn."

He raised his hand, and the man in black robes stepped forward in response. The cold blade sliced ​​through the air with a crisp sound. A flash of fire appeared, and the ground was splattered with tiny specks of red.

The stone chamber fell silent once more.

Bacchus put the glass back on the table and turned to the black-robed subordinate: "Send another group of people, and attack the guild directly."

"A guild?" The man in black robes was taken aback. "A direct confrontation?"

"No physical action," Bacchus said, narrowing his eyes. "Let's try a different approach."

A few days later, the Emerald Town Adventurers' Guild welcomed a new batch of registered free adventurers. Their registration information was complete, and their backgrounds seemed clean, but some of these people were former subordinates of Bakus—they had changed their names and identities and were transferred here from the small territory.

They quickly infiltrated the guild's mission allocation group and began accessing the circulation list of Black Whisper Caves challenge tokens. As long as they could obtain the challenge order, they could arrange for people to scout ahead and even cut in line to secure a spot at crucial moments.

On the other side, Ron also noticed that the atmosphere inside the guild had changed.

In the past few days, he saw several unfamiliar teams obtain the challenge qualification for Black Whisper Caves on the guild's task board, and they even cut in outside the normal queue.

“Someone is tampering with things within the guild.” Ron sat at the control panel, gently tapping the runestone.

Claudia handed over a list she had obtained from Amata. Ron glanced at it and recognized a few names—all of them were newly formed teams that had only recently appeared, and their equipment and style of operation had a strong foreign flavor.

He realized what was going on—Bacchus had taken a different approach, infiltrating the guild from within.

This time, he didn't plan to fish once or twice and then quit like he did with Vanessa; instead, he planned to slowly build up the line.

"Don't rush to pull the hook, let's see how far they want to go."

At night, Ron changed the monster spawn rules in the Black Whisper Caves to two levels:

The first layer is the standard layout that challengers registered with the guild will trigger, and it looks compliant and normal;

The second layer is a "hidden killing formation" that will be triggered whenever a challenge team with specific energy fluctuations enters.

That specific fluctuation was exactly what Ron extracted from Vanessa's rune mark. People from Bakus, even if they change their identities, will still carry this fluctuation—because the scrolls, equipment, and even communication tools they use all come from the same rune system.

Simply put, this was a trap tailor-made for the people Bacchus sent.

Three days later, the first new team, carrying that fluctuation, stepped into the Black Language Cave.

Everything was normal at the entrance; they were even laughing and discussing whether they could reach the core that day. But as soon as they entered the second buffer zone, the killing array activated as if it had smelled prey, with stone spikes, poisonous mist, swarms of snakes, and collapses erupting all at once.

In less than two minutes, the entire team was wiped out.

Those in the spectator area saw nothing unusual; they only thought that the Black Language Cave had taken a few more lives. But Ron knew in his heart—this was just the beginning.

What he wanted was for Bacchus's men to die in his trap, one after another, and for them all to die in a "reasonable" way.

Inside the stone chamber of the Carnival Maze, the air pressure was very low.

Bacchus sat at the end of the long table, with a thick death record spread out in front of him, a list of challengers who had died in the Black Whisper Caves in the past month.

The man in black robes reported in a low voice: "None of the groups that went in came out."

Bacchus tapped his fingers lightly on the table, the rhythm growing deeper and deeper.

These men weren't just street thugs; they were spies he had personally selected and planted within the guild. But once they entered the Black Language Cavern, they all died without a trace, not even bringing back a hint of intelligence.

“A coincidence?” Bacchus sneered.

He didn't believe it. Three or five batches might just be bad luck. But eight batches dying in a row, all of them newbies who had only recently joined the guild, meant someone was deliberately targeting them.

Chapter 122

The man in black lowered his voice: "Then...did Ron find out?"

Bacchus remained silent, only gesturing for him to leave. Once he was alone in the room, he let out a long sigh—it seemed the other side had seized the initiative in this covert battle.

Black Language Grotto Observatory.

Ron sat at the control panel, with the guild's internal appointment list that Amata had just sent him spread out beside him.

He circled several names in red pen; those names completely overlapped with the list of challenge teams he had set up for specific energy fluctuations.

“It’s about time to take this group back.” Ron pushed the list aside and turned to Claudia, saying, “Tell Amata to call all the guild’s inspectors for a small meeting.”

The next day, the door to the meeting room on the third floor of the Emerald Town Guild was locked from the inside.

Ron, Amata, and several inspectors dressed in dark gray robes sat in a circle.

Ron cut to the chase: "I can confirm that Bakus's people have infiltrated the guild and obtained the challenge token quota for Black Whisper Caves."

As he spoke, he tossed a stack of records onto the table—each one labeled with the challenge date, team name, location of death, and the energy fluctuation detection results that triggered the special killing array.

“This fluctuation is the unified rune system on their bodies.” Ron pointed to the record. “As long as they bring it into the Black Language Cave, it will trigger the second layer of the scheme I set up. As you all saw, they were all wiped out.”

Amata's face darkened: "What do you want us to do?"

“A fake green light,” Ron said.

"Continue to approve their applications, but at the same time, add a hidden mark in the task allocation system. Once more than half of them have gathered, send an inspection team under the guild's name to conduct a 'routine inspection' and arrest them directly."

The inspectors exchanged glances, and one of them nodded: "No problem."

Three days later, two more groups of people from Bakus's side successfully obtained the challenge tokens.

They assumed no one was watching them this time, and proceeded according to plan once inside the Black Language Cave. But this time, before the killing array could be triggered, the outer surveillance team had already blocked the exit.

"It's a routine guild inspection, please cooperate." The inspection team leader said coldly.

Several spies tried to resist, but as soon as they made a move, the guard runes along the entire exit passage lit up, trapping them all in place.

After this "routine inspection" ended, Bakus received not intelligence in the Carnival Maze, but a long list of names that had been detained by the guild.

When Ron received the feedback list from the inspection team, he tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

Once these people are imprisoned, Bakus's eyes and ears in the guild will be halved.

“Next, it’s his turn to panic,” Ron whispered.

In the stone chamber of the carnival maze, Bacchus smashed the glass of wine in his hand against the wall, the liquid sliding down the animal hide and seeping into the cracks in the floor.

A series of intelligence reports were completely cut off, the guild's spies were eradicated, and the news spread rapidly. Bakus didn't need anyone to remind him to understand that this stab was delivered by Ron, and with the approval of the guild's higher-ups.

The man in black robes said in a low voice, "The guild is moving very quickly, and we don't have much time left."

Bacchus sneered, "Then let's not take the secret route. Let's go straight to the front—I'll talk to the guild and have them come to Blackwhisper Caves to cause trouble for Ron."

Three days later, the Emerald Town Guild held a routine meeting. Ostensibly, it was to handle routine affairs, but in reality, Bacchus had used his status to force his way in.

At the start of the meeting, Bakus slammed a stack of documents on the table: "I demand a second assessment of the Black Language Caverns—publicly. Monster types, spawn rates, and kill zone density—all must be re-examined."

He didn't explicitly mention any violations, but everyone present could sense the barbed tone in his words. If the guild agreed, the investigation team could re-enter the site, or even directly freeze Black Whisper Caves' opening status.

Amata frowned: "What's your reasoning?"

Bacchus spread his hands: "The completion rate within a month is zero, and the challenger mortality rate is far higher than that of dungeons of the same level. Shouldn't this be reviewed?"

After the meeting, Amata immediately told Ron about the situation.

Ron didn't rush to respond, but just smiled and said, "That's perfect. I also want to upgrade my defenses and show them what high-difficulty compliance really means."

Inside the Black Language Cave, Ron began a new round of planning.

This upgrade focuses on three key areas:

Monster Co-op Enhancement

The combination of slime and old blind fishman is no longer just used at the start of the game, but is divided into multiple groups and randomly distributed in different areas, making it almost impossible for challengers to avoid all the combinations at once.

Killing Formation Disguise

He cleverly concealed the originally exposed traps with the terrain, making them appear as ordinary ground. They would only be triggered when a key rune was stepped on, making them difficult for even the investigation team to detect immediately.

Multi-stage Boss

The original final boss battle had only one phase, but now it's become a three-phase fight: the first phase is a strong offensive and defensive phase, the second phase is a monster summoning horde, and the third phase is a berserk one-on-one battle. Even the investigation team could only say it was "compliant but abnormal."

In less than a week, the defenses of the Black Language Cave were upgraded.

Ron deliberately chose a busy day and opened the entrance and spectator area to their maximum capacity so that everyone could see the changes.

Meanwhile, Bacchus was also waiting for the investigation team to arrive.

“Once they see this, even if they can’t find concrete evidence, they can still pin the blame for ‘malicious murder’ on Ron,” Bacchus whispered.

Ron stood on the high platform, watching the first challenge team under the new setup slowly walk into the trigger zone of the killing formation, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips—

"Come on, let's test the knife."

Early that morning, the Emerald Town Guild's investigation team arrived. Three archmages, accompanied by a recorder and carrying authorization documents, set up a temporary observation point at the entrance to the Black Whisper Caves.

Bacchus was also present, standing in the crowd with a long-handled pipe in his hand, squinting at the entrance. He had been waiting for this day—once the investigation team discovered that the Black Language Cave was "abnormally difficult," Ron's reputation would be ruined.

Ron greeted the guests as usual on the high platform, being extremely polite on the surface, and even personally arranged the best viewing spots for the investigation team. The runestone on the control panel glowed steadily; he had already mentally rehearsed today's challenge route.

The first challenge team was a test group sent by the guild itself, all six of whom were veteran adventurers of level 20 or above.

As soon as they stepped into the entrance, the slime and the old blind-eyed fishman approached from both sides. Unlike before, this slime's surface was as clear as crystal, and it looked completely harmless.

The front-line test team charged forward with shields raised, but the first slash sent the slime instantly turning into a puddle of water that circled past their feet. The next second, the water suddenly solidified, sticking together and firmly attaching the feet of the two front-line members to the ground.

Chapter 123

The old blind murloc's fishy mist followed closely behind, twisting the middle-row mage's staff and forcing him to fire a fireball at his own people.

The archmages on the investigation team stared at the scene, their brows furrowing slightly—they had seen this combination before, but the speed at which the slime switched between liquefaction and solidification was clearly specially trained. However, from a rules perspective, this was not against the regulations.

The test team finally managed to escape the first wave of traps and circled into the canyon.

The wind in the canyon sounded strange, and the ground occasionally trembled slightly. Halfway down, small stones fell from the rock face, followed by a large, loose rock crashing down, forcing the group directly to the bottom of the canyon.

Before the sandstorm had even subsided, sand snakes emerged from both sides simultaneously, attacking from the left and right.

The shield warrior in the front row had just raised his shield when the sand serpent's tail wrapped around his waist from the side, while another one bit the priest in the back row, throwing him into a crevice in the stone wall.

In just twenty seconds, the team's formation was completely disrupted.