Chapter Eleven: The Desolate Shore

Staring at the task description, the hunter hesitated for a long time before finally speaking slowly, “I know all about the altar and the brazier on the cliff. As for the so-called three-headed sea beast, it must be the three-headed serpent, Bikadrak, the hidden boss of the dungeon. We can help you deal with it. But we’ve never been below the cliff—that part you’ll have to handle alone.”

Liu Zong paused, then asked after a moment of consideration, “Can we fight the boss last, then?”

“That’s not a problem. It’ll just take half a day, since this hidden boss is troublesome. To summon it, you need a lot of fresh blood and corpses. You might lose something in the process.”

Hearing the hunter say this, Liu Zong nodded, though anxiety lingered in his heart. The “Memory of Cain” quest had no listed rewards, but it was certainly a high-level Lv2 (blue) quest. Without the hunter and his team’s help, Liu Zong wasn’t sure he could succeed.

But there was little time to dwell on it. Following the hunter’s party, Liu Zong stepped through the blue portal and entered the bleak coastline dungeon.

Since the world map had been open for three months, most of the dungeon’s plot had already been uncovered. The Bleak Coast lay at the northeast corner of the Desolate Lands, relatively far from the center and thus less frequented.

Because of this, an organization calling itself the Black Hand Church had taken over this area. This group was a bioengineering cult that extracted various elements from bones, infusing them into creatures to cause mutations.

After discovering that the center of the Desolate Lands was the graveyard of behemoths, the Black Hand Church set their sights on this coast. They began excavating, harvesting behemoth bones and modifying them.

The scene Cain witnessed was their ritual, sacrificing the three-headed serpent Bikadrak—a process of mutating its body.

Most of the dungeon’s bosses originated in this way.

At the outermost perimeter were jackals fused with lizard elements. Among them was a gigantic jackal boss, specially engineered by the Black Hand Church as a reinforced guardian of the Bleak Coast.

Further in was a fishman village controlled by the Black Hand Church. The fishman chief, the second boss, had also been altered, though his enhancements were unique—optimized for aquatic combat. To enter the tunnel excavated by the Black Hand Church, one had to pass through the fishman village; there was no avoiding a fight.

The third boss was the Black Hand Church’s gatekeeper—a cyclops among beastmen, mutated into a hundred-eyed giant. His body was covered in eyes, always watching whoever entered the gate.

The final boss was the archbishop of the Black Hand Church in this region, a madman of modification. He himself appeared frail and weak, lacking much fighting power, but possessed three bodies to choose from: a modified behemoth, a deep-sea octopus, and a two-headed hound pieced together from various creatures.

During the boss fight, the archbishop would possess one body, while the other two provided buffs. Of course, this was only a Lv1 dungeon, so even the boss’s power was limited to Lv1, and he could possess only once—nothing too outrageous.

As all this was explained to Liu Zong, the group had already reached the coastline of the Bleak Coast. The hunter leading the way slowed his pace and released his pet—a black panther.

The druid beside Liu Zong began transforming, but not into a bear; instead, he became a lion.

After communicating briefly with the panther, the druid vanished into the mountain path, followed closely by the rogue.

The hunter and shaman stood casually by Liu Zong’s side, though Liu Zong could tell they were on guard.

Soon, the rogue reappeared, gesturing to the hunter, who nodded and quickly led Liu Zong and the shaman forward.

After turning through several patches of grass, Liu Zong found himself in a clearing. The space wasn’t large, but its position was excellent—surrounded by mountains on three sides, with only the path they’d entered as an exit.

The druid, who had left earlier, now stood at the entrance as a giant bear.

The hunter, who had brought them here, explained, “This is where we fought on the first day. The first boss, the Giant Lizard Jackal King Bikadya, is a troublesome foe. He commands a horde of strange jackals, always moving in packs. If we charged straight in, none of us—not even you—would be likely to make it out alive.

Only by setting up a battlefield here ahead of time do we have a chance. I’ll set traps at the entrance. You stay by the shaman and watch. The rogue will pull mobs, but will start with just a few.”

The rogue, hearing this, vanished without a word, heading back along the path. The hunter and shaman began setting traps and totems at the clearing’s entrance.

Soon, the rogue returned, leading a strange jackal. The jackal’s body was pale blue, as if coated in fine scales, and its eyes were reptilian slits rather than wolf eyes.

Upon spotting the druid in his bear form, the jackal grew excited and charged straight ahead.

The druid at the entrance looked amused and disdainful. When the jackal rushed up, he raised a forearm and stunned it.

The jackal stumbled back two steps, and at that moment, the hunter’s black panther lunged, raking the jackal several times.

Just as the jackal recovered and tried to retaliate, the hunter’s arrow struck true, and the rogue appeared behind the jackal, plunging a dagger into its hindquarters.

The druid seized the opportunity, raising his paw high and slamming it down, knocking the jackal to the ground.

Before the jackal could recover, a flurry of attacks followed. Liu Zong saw only the shaman, somewhat exasperated, drag the corpse aside as the rogue went off to pull more mobs.

While skinning, butchering, and boning the corpse, the shaman remarked, “Don’t worry. As long as we don’t pull three at once, the fight’s manageable. You’re attuned to shadow, right? Planning to become a necromancer or death knight? Have you learned how to handle bones? Would you like any of these?”

With the shaman steering the conversation, Liu Zong’s attention shifted. He stepped forward to help process the corpse, smiling as he asked, “When you usually clear dungeons, does anyone want these bodies?”