The cave's walls were covered in blue moss, which radiated dim light.

"It's luminous moss," Eder said.

"Luminous moss? Are you referring to that blue moss?" Kang Oh asked.

"Yes. It's a lively plant that can thrive anywhere, even in barren ground. As you can see, they radiate light. And if you eat them, you can breathe underwater for about 10 minutes."

As expected of a legendary healer. He was knowledgeable of anything that could be categorized as a medicinal herb.

Then...

"Something's coming!" Sephiro pointed at the distance.

Agagaga!

More than ten monsters appeared, letting out a noisy cry.

The monsters were covered in colorful scales, possessing eyes like a chameleon and faces like a lizard.

Their two webbed feet were shaped like flippers, and they had a fin on their backs too.

"Utankas." Kang Oh knew exactly what they were.

"You're right, they're Utankas." Sephiro knew them too.

They lived in groups around rivers, shallow coasts, beach caves, etc.

They were around level 250.

"Mr. Sephiro, please aim for the one with the staff."

There were two types of Utankas.

The Utanka Warriors wielded weapons like spears, axes, clubs, etc., while the Utanka Tidecallers cast water magic.

Obviously, the one holding a staff was an Utanka Tidecaller.

"Understood." Sephiro nodded his head.

A mage possessed a ton of firepower, but their defense was laughable. Thus, taking the mage out first was the go-to strategy.

"Let's go." Kang Oh drew Demon Sword Blood, and Eder raised his Hellfire Mace and square shield.

Sephiro notched an arrow and let it fly.

Whizz!

Thwock!

His arrow hit the top of its head! The battle had begun in earnest.

Aka!

Aka!

The Utanka Warriors screamed and rushed at Kang Oh, Eder, and Sephiro.

Eder stepped forward.

Thud!

Eder stomped on the floor, and the magic circle beneath his feet transformed into black lines and spread outward!

Cursed Ground: Ruined Ramparts!

It was an AoE curse that reduced his enemies' defenses.

Ukaru!

The Utanka Tidecaller raised its staff. Then, its staff began radiating a blue aura.

Water Empowerment!

This spell imbued an ally's weapon with the water element, increasing its destructive potential.

The Utanka Warriors' weapons were enveloped in blue energy.

Swish, swish, swish, swish!

They then swung their weapons at Kang Oh and Eder.

Kang Oh moved like a nimble squirrel, allowing him to completely avoid all of their attacks.

Then, he counterattacked!

Demon Sword Blood unleashed a bat-shaped wave.

Darkness Strike!

Boom!

The Utanka Warriors tumbled onto the floor.

Kang Oh kept up the momentum and repeatedly swung his sword.

His attacks were precise, yet powerful.

Having lost the momentum, the Utanka Warriors were slowly being driven into a corner, despite surrounding Kang Oh.

Meanwhile, Eder blocked the Utanka Warriors' attacks with his square shield.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

A spear, axe, club, etc. bashed on his shield, resounding with a sound akin to roasting beans.

Eventually, Eder got his chance to attack.

"My turn!" He quickly swung his mace, whacking an Utanka's face.

Bam.

What a refreshing sound!

Eder didn't stop there.

Shield Bash!

Eder bashed the Utanka Warrior's jaw with his shield's edge; its body briefly jumped up, but just as quickly fell to the ground.

"You're next!" Eder charged like an angry bull and fiercely attacked the Utanka Warriors.

Until now, the Utanka Tidecaller had been observing, but decided it was time to intervene; it swung its staff once more.

Water Spear!

A long, whirling water spear came flying at Kang Oh and Eder. They had no choice but to cease hostilities and take cover.

"Mr. Sephiro!" Kang Oh yelled. He was essentially saying, 'Keep him busy!'.

"I know." Sephiro took action. He notched three arrows and...

Triple Shot!

Three arrows came flying at it, forcing the Utanka Tidecaller to cast a defensive spell.

Water Wall!

A stream of water gushed from the ground. Sephiro's arrows were unable to break through the barrier of water. Despite that, Sephiro continued to let loose arrows. Because the arrows were caught in the Water Wall, Sephiro's arrows hadn't dealt any damage.

However, his actions weren't meaningless.

Forcing it to maintain its defensive spell was keeping it from casting offensive spells on Kang Oh and Eder.

Because of that, Kang Oh and Eder could focus entirely on the Utanka Warriors in front of them.

Sometime later...

Unable to withstand Kang Oh's devastating assault, the Utanka Warriors began dropping one or two at a time.

In order to turn the battle around, the Utanka Tidecaller decided to create a giant tsunami, releasing its hold on its Water Wall.

But Kang Oh had already switched to Ubist. He easily eliminated the tsunami via his demon sword's magic absorption ability

The Utankas had no way to win and were soon met with death.

"Did you pick up the junk?"

"Here." Eder passed him the Utanka Warriors' colorful scales.

"Let's go!"

That battle had been too easy, so resting now would be ridiculous.

Kang Oh's party made their way through Teyno's Cave, intent on reaching the end of the dungeon.

* * *

There were other monsters here too.

For example, there were rock-eating worms, or Stone Eaters, and the Gnus, which looked like sea lions but with only one eye and a giant horn.

The Stone Eaters, which were around level 280, were the strongest monsters here. The Gnus weren't as strong, but they were at least stronger than the Utankas.

They were obviously no match for Kang Oh's party. However, Stone Eaters had a ton of Hp, so it took quite a long time to kill them.

"Looks like only these three monsters spawn here," Sephiro said.

They'd explored the dungeon for quite some time, yet they had only encountered Stone Eaters, Gnus, and Utankas.

"Yeah. Perhaps Teynos is the name of the boss," Eder said carefully.

The dungeon was called Teyno's Cave. If that's the case, then perhaps this 'Teynos' was somewhere inside.

"Let's take it step further. I hope it's the hidden dungeon's boss or the soul dungeon's guardian," Sephiro said.

After their confrontation with the Empire Guild, Kang Oh's party had explored several dungeons.

However, they hadn't found any hidden dungeons or soul dungeons. Thus, he thought it was about time they found one.

'If we do find a soul dungeon, then I have to get a piece of the pie!' Sephiro pledged.

He had to! He wouldn't allow Kang Oh to take all of it for himself. That would be too much for him to handle!

"Let's keep going until we reach the end."

"Yes sir!"

Kang Oh's party didn't stop.

They plowed through any monsters that they came across, and eventually reached the end of the cave.

There was a small lake there.

"It's seawater," Sephiro tasted the water and said.

'Seawater, huh...'

That meant that the lake was connected to the sea.

"I don't see the boss monster anywhere. Do you feel anything with your Hyper Intuition?" Eder asked.

"Nope," Kang Oh immediately replied.

While traversing through the dungeon, his Hyper Intuition hadn't activated even once. Now wasn't any different.

"Do you think the boss or a hidden dungeon resides within the lake?" Sephiro asked.

"Maybe," Kang Oh said. 'Monsters don't all live on land after all.'

"Are you going in?"

"I am," Kang Oh said.

He'd come this far already, so not going in and checking what's inside would be ridiculous.

"But won't it be a problem if there are monsters or the boss inside? We've never fought underwater before," Eder said concernedly.

How well would they be able to fight underwater?

"Plus, we can't breathe underwater," Sephiro said.

An undead like Eder didn't need to breathe, but Kang Oh and Sephiro were different.

If they couldn't breathe, then their HP would drop, and when one's HP drops to 0, they die.

"Ah, I have a solution for that. If you eat the luminous moss, then you can breathe underwater for 10 minutes," Eder said.

The luminous moss was everywhere inside. At this very moment, they could take as much as they wanted.

"Then that solves one problem. The other problem remains. Will we have to fight underwater or not... Honestly, I'm not confident in my ability to fight underwater," Sephiro said.

He was an archer. However, he couldn't shoot arrows properly underwater.

"I'm not comfortable fighting underwater either..." Eder looked unsure. If he was underwater, would he be able to swing his shield or mace properly?

"We'll have to be as careful as possible while investigating."

Kang Oh was going in no matter what.

"What if we have to fight?"

"Then we fight. But if it doesn't look like we can win, then... Eder, sacrifice yourself."

"What?" Eder widened his eyes. It was as if he were saying, 'Why me!?'.

"If things go bad, then Mr. Sephiro and I will run while you keep them busy. Once we're safe, I'll summon you."

"Mm, I understand." Eder acknowledged that he was best suited for this task.

"Alright. Then let's get some luminous moss."

Kang Oh and Sephiro gathered a ton of blue moss that grew on the walls or nearby rocks.

Then, they ate it.

"Ugh."

Bitter! The luminous moss tasted really bad.

[You have eaten Luminous Moss.]

[You can breathe underwater for 10 minutes.]

"Dress lightly. You can't afford to go in wearing heavy armor or carrying a mace," Kang Oh said. He immediately stashed Baramut's set and Demon Sword Ubist into his inventory.

"Please take mine too." Eder passed him his gear. It seemed like he wanted Kang Oh to take care of his gear too.

Sephiro removed his leather armor, and placed both it and the Lasselpino Bow into his inventory. He then pulled out a danger from his inventory and strapped it to his waist.

Now that they were ready, Kang Oh's party unhesitatingly leapt into the lake.

Splash!

* * *

It was beautiful inside.

Various kinds of fish were swimming around. Sephiro had said that it was seawater, which was made clear by the coral and the seaweed. Fortunately, there weren't any underwater monsters here that could pose any danger.

Their eyes gleamed as they investigated the lake.

How much time had passed?

Kang Oh suddenly waved his arms. He couldn't speak underwater, so he was giving his party a signal.

Eder and Sephiro approached him.

'What's wrong?' Or so they seemed to say with their eyes.

Kang Oh pointed somewhere; he was pointing at a turtle that was leisurely swimming around.

Sephiro immediately received a system message.

[You have encountered an animal that brings good fortune, the Lighthouse Turtle.]

[Item drop rate increases by 20% for the entire day.]

'Lighthouse Turtle?'

It was the first time Sephiro had heard of it.

'What about it?' He looked at Kang Oh questioningly.

Eder stared blankly at Kang Oh. What did he want him to do?

Then, Kang Oh followed the Lighthouse Turtle, and motioned for them to do the same.

Eder and Sephiro didn't know what he was doing; nevertheless, they decided to follow Kang Oh and the Lighthouse Turtle.