Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented-Chapter 165

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**[Divine Mark Activation Progress]**

- [Southeast Divine Mark Activation: 0/1]

- [Southwest Divine Mark Activation: 0/1]

- [North Divine Mark Activation: 1/1]

- [???]

- [Overall Progress in Heavenly Basin: 0/1]

---

As I sat cross-legged on a large pile of rocks, irritably tapping my sword’s sheath, I waited for the next wave of lamia and muttered to myself, full of frustration.

"This isn’t going to work."

It's a waste of time. Just defending a single Divine Mark in the north wasn’t going to cut it. Unless all the Divine Marks were activated, I couldn’t expect any further change in the Heavenly Basin region.

The three Divine Marks were buried in locations that seemed random at a glance, but if you connected them, they formed a perfect equilateral triangle. Each point created the vertices of a sort of holy magic circle.

Only when all Divine Marks were activated and they began resonating would the full purification of the Heavenly Basin commence.

But if I left this area to activate a different Divine Mark, the lamias would swarm this place and tear it apart.

There’s no way around it. Physically, it’s impossible. I don’t have three bodies.

Are they blocking solo play like this because I've been soloing everything so far? They introduced a berserk pattern, but I broke through with the cheat item called the "Hero's Power" and the death-prevention function from the belt Igrain gave me. So now they’re just throwing in a structure that makes solo play physically impossible?

This is ridiculous. I want to push forward alone. Even if the structure of the Heavenly Basin wasn’t purely by the game designers’ intent, it felt like the very continent of Astria itself was trying to troll me.

"Hmph."

I nearly teared up from frustration but held it back and started thinking.

Think it over, Rain, Lee Seol-bi.

**[Recommended Level: 53]**

**[Elite Dungeon (4-Player Party Recommended)]**

**[Heavenly Basin]**

"It’s not a mandatory 4-player dungeon; it’s a 4-player recommended dungeon."

Recommended.

It wasn’t a requirement.

This rule had never been broken.

Damage output was a secondary issue. It wasn’t just me; once players upgraded their specs, other users had managed to solo elite dungeons too.

Every elite dungeon I’d gone through so far could be conquered alone by learning the mechanics, using gear skills, and applying items, though it did force some borderline impossible strategies.

"In that case..."

This should be possible too.

It's just a recommended party dungeon.

I just hadn’t discovered the way to solo it yet.

“‘Recommended,’ that’s all it is, right?”

I recalled what my sword newbie, "Nagi," used to say and grinned. Nagi was sharper than I was, in some ways.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve seen her. I’d been busy calming down Chris recently, had that trial in the Sword Graveyard, and there were so many things on my mind. I wonder if she’s leveled up a lot? Maybe after I clear this elite dungeon, I’ll go see her. It might be time for her to try a forward base mission.

I jumped up from the rock.

My next steps were set.

No need to focus solely on the Divine Marks.

**[???]**

The question mark in the dungeon progress interface was clearly some kind of hidden condition.

This was likely the key to clearing it.

From now on, to find the hidden condition...

I'll search this entire vast instance field, the Heavenly Basin.

---

I immediately leapt off the rock.

Swish!

Leaving the incoming lamia wave behind, I set off to find the hidden clearing condition.

Rumble!

The sound of the lamias tearing up the rocky mound gradually faded behind me.

---

**[Divine Mark Activation Progress]**

- [Southeast Divine Mark Activation: 0/1]

- [Southwest Divine Mark Activation: 0/1]

- [North Divine Mark Activation: 0/1]

- [???]

- [Overall Progress in Heavenly Basin: 0/1]

---

I began to run quickly, passing through the central area of the Heavenly Basin and started scanning the edges bordered by rocky mountains.

In the center, there was a large open space that looked like a final named-boss battle area. And on the basin floor near the edges...

"How did I miss this?"

Huge holes were scattered across the rocky floor.

Traces of something massive moving underground.

And just then—

Slash!

I sliced through the neck of a regular lamia crawling out of one of those holes and assessed the direction the tilted opening led before darting off.

The ‘Dungeon Progress Interface.’

It’s a feature that outlines the necessary conditions for clearing a dungeon.

To clear the dungeon, it’s essential to satisfy those conditions.

Currently, most players attempting this dungeon would focus solely on activating the Divine Marks. No one else would notice anything else. They might worry about the hidden condition, but if they had enough people, defending wouldn’t be an issue. If the boss didn’t appear after the purification, they could think about the hidden condition then.

However...

"Even if there are enough people, the defense itself won’t be easy."

These massive holes in the Heavenly Basin couldn’t possibly have been made by regular lamias.

Clearly, there’s a unique entity.

Once all Divine Marks are activated, this entity will likely appear to disrupt the purification process.

As long as this unique entity lives, the defense will be extremely challenging. It needs to be dealt with first.

Of course, if there were enough players, they could endure its attacks and carry out the defense. But if I eliminate this hidden named entity, the overall difficulty would become much more manageable.

And then, there are these lamias endlessly spawning in the Heavenly Basin. This is obviously not a standard elite dungeon battle structure.

This isn’t an open field. Even in open fields, spawning follows conditions. Astria Online, while a game, strives for realism. In open fields, new monsters don’t appear out of thin air but emerge from nearby forests or similar areas.

In individual instance dungeons, defeated mobs don’t respawn.

But here, they keep coming.

If the normal lamia respawn conditions were tied to the survival of a unique entity...

"If I take out the unique entity, there’s no need for defense."

---

I stared at a cave entrance carved into a rocky corner of the basin's border.

The entrance wasn’t that large. Just enough for one or two adults to barely squeeze through. It could easily be mistaken for a small natural cave.

I glanced at the large holes surrounding the area and grinned.

These are the tunnels of the unique entity.

They move underground.

Then, this must be...

"The lair of the unique entity."

I cautiously, but confidently, stepped into the cave entrance.

Tiptoeing.

---

"Inside is unexpectedly clean."

The cave interior was paved with smooth stone.

It was quite a spacious area.

I’d seen similar layouts in other elite dungeons. This was very likely a named battle area.

And, along the cave’s walls...

“Whoa...”

I was momentarily taken aback.

Eggs, eggs, eggs.

The walls were lined with enormous eggs.

They were so large that if I curled up, I could fit inside one.

This size... I’d seen it before.

During the raid on ‘Aspiro Fortress,’ in the chimera hatchery.

Could these be...

"Lamia eggs?"

Red and blue mana radiated around, accelerating their growth. That ominous glow dimly illuminated the inside of the cave.

If that’s the case, then the ones that laid these...

Are in here?

I didn’t see anything around the cave floor or walls.

In that case...

I looked up at the high ceiling within the cave.

In the dimness above...

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Swish...

“Ah...ah!”

I covered my eyes, blushing before I knew it.

Two gigantic lamias, one red and one blue, were entwined, bodies coiled and pressed tightly together, their upper torsos wrapped around each other.

Of course, being lamias, they both had female upper bodies.

So, these eggs... were laid by them?

If all lamias are female, then... how in the world—

“How did they produce eggs?”

A mix of curiosity and discomfort washed over me.

Safety filter... We need a safety filter for minors!

Sching!

Furious, I drew Astaroth and unleashed a slash toward the massive lamias entangled on the ceiling.

Zap!

“No inappropriate behavior!”

Screeeech—!!

Thud.

With a loud thud, the two lamias hit the cave floor.

Hissss!

Raising their long snake tails high, they snarled as they glared at me.

Looking at the two towering lamias, clearly brimming with hostility, I grinned confidently.

Defense? No thanks. This is more my style.

“Now it finally feels like an elite dungeon.”

---

**[Hidden Named]**

- **Level 55 Red Lamia**

- **HP: 69,140,050 / 70,000,000 (99%)**

**[Hidden Named]**

- **Level 55 Blue Lamia**

- **HP: 69,117,998 / 70,000,000 (99%)**