Only I Level Up By Shoveling-Chapter 52: "My Gut Says: You’re A Snack"

Castra and the others didn’t know that the twins merged into one person and sneakily entered the dungeon using such a loophole.

Right after they entered the dungeon, the group was greeted by a dark and damp cave.

The cave’s ceiling was three times Castra’s current two-meter height, definitely tall for just a cave.

This was the first time Castra entered a dungeon in this world and he couldn’t help but marvel at the thick darkness around him.

"So this is a dungeon..."

It was similar to dungeons described in many Korean hunter-themed novels, unlike a traditional dungeon in Japanese novels that didn’t have dungeon portals.

Ray, who could finally stand on his own feet, unknowingly stuck closer to Castra while mumbling,

"A cave dungeon...is it a dark element dungeon?"

If it’s a dark element dungeon, there would be a debuff for light element spirits and light element races, but thankfully, no one in the team would get a debuff.

Just when Ray was about to sigh in relief, Lady Castra cruelly crushed his hope.

"Fufufu, dark element dungeon. You guys are unlucky~ "

Ray almost jumped up three feet high.

"W-what? Why is that??"

They didn’t get a debuff, so shouldn’t it be good?

"Tsk, tsk, don’t you know that all elemental spirits aside from the dark spirits are considered from the light camp?"

That means all the spirits here will get a debuff!

True to Lady Fera’s words, Castra instantly got a red panel from the Spirit World.

BEEP!

[Warning! Warning! You have entered a dark element region!]

[You will get an all-round debuff, including slower mana regeneration and wound healing!]

Castra could feel his entire body slowly becoming heavy, as if someone put a shackle on him.

Miria, the pink-haired spirit and the bidet spirit also became slightly sluggish.

Ray’s face instantly turned pale.

"Ah! How could this be?? Miria, are you okay? Ughhh, t-this is so unfair to us Daylight Summoner!"

There were so many daylight summoners compared to dark summoners.

The academy wanted to target summoners with this dungeon, right?

Other professions wouldn’t be affected as badly as daylight summoners!

Lady Fera shrugged and spoke nonchalantly,

"Stop whining, kid. Walk deeper and find monsters to kill!"

"B-but Miria..."

"Miria this, Miria that, move your a*s!!"

"O-okay, ma’am!"

Ray flinched and hung his head low as he trudged deeper into the cave—

Still hiding behind Castra’s tall body.

Castra could only smile bitterly at his summoner using him as a meat shield, not noticing that Lady Fera’s expression was not right.

The samoyed who was always smiling actually had a chilly expression for a split second.

Something is wrong. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

This dungeon...it doesn’t feel that it is originally a dark element dungeon.

The dark element here is added later...

Is it an artificial dungeon set up by the examiners?

The dark element density is too high...

Oh well, the dungeon’s rank is still around D-rank, so it’s probably okay.

Lady Fera cast aside her ominous feeling, thinking that she was just worrying too much, not knowing that a while ago, when the elf boy entered the dungeon, the Althea Academy’s professors and late years seniors, went into chaos.

"No! How could this be? Why does the Rainforest Dungeon A’s dark element keep rising??"

At this rate, wouldn’t the entire dungeon evolve into a higher rank??

"Professor, the communication magic circle is disturbed by something! We can’t directly contact the examinees inside that dungeon!"

"Dimwit! Can’t we enter the dungeon with a Dungeon Gem or other artifacts?!"

"No....we can’t! The dungeon is closed too tightly! It’s as if someone is controlling the dungeon..."

"Send monitoring magic orbs around that dungeon portal! Find any suspicious people!"

"P-professor, the reinforcement can’t get close to 500 meters around the dungeon portal!!"

"! No! The examinees...they’re in danger!"

•

•

Castra and the others silently walked into the dark cave relying on the spirits’ natural glowing body, especially Lady Fera with her brightest light.

Not knowing that she was being used as a light source, Lady Fera sniffed around and commented,

"Fufufu, there should be a bigger cave ahead. There might be monsters waiting for us there~ "

She also vaguely heard the voice of the elf duo and the mysterious petite mage from before.

"Okay, everyone, don’t let down your guard— "

Castra had just warned his summoner when Ray suddenly widened his eyes.

"A-ahhh!!!!— "

Ray’s words had not fallen when something else fell from the ceiling and shot straight at Castra’s head.

SKREEEE!!

At this point, Castra had been ambushed so much that he didn’t even curse and just calmly swung Llyod above his head.

Bam!

Llyod hit whatever thing pounced at Castra and the thing was immediately thrown to the cave’s wall with a loud noise.

"S-skreee..."

The thing embedded in the wall cried out weakly but it couldn’t get out of the crate, so it could only wail anxiously.

Castra and the others immediately used Lady Fera’s bright body to illuminate the true form of the sneaky thing.

Then, they saw something unexpected.

"Uh...a baby dragon?"

It was a strange monster that Castra had never seen before and the sight of the monster triggered his passive skill.

BEEP. [The passive skill Gut Feeling is triggered!]

As the familiar stomach cramp swept over, the voice in his head rang lazily,

[Ah, a D-rank dragon-like monster. Do you want to be a dragon warrior, or a dragon’s snack? You’re obviously a snack, sigh...]

Castra twitched his lips and ignored his chatty gut feeling.

One rank higher, but who cares?

He had even fought with a monster two ranks higher than him!

Castra was calm, but Ray, the timid boy, shrieked while hiding behind Castra.

"I-it is a Lizard Bat monster! A fusion between a lizard and a bat...i-it often lives in damp and dark caves to find prey!"

Ray’s words had just dropped when the seemingly weak lizard bat—

Suddenly opened its mouth wide and screamed:

"Screeeee!!!!"

An invisible sound wave spread from the lizard’s mouth and the sharp sound wave instantly stung everyone’s ears straight to their brain!

"Ugh!"

"Ouch!"

"Kyaa!"