[CH399+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 555

At the edge of the forest, an impossibly high mountain stretches up into the sky.

It is too wide for me to see its edges, so the structure just looks like a stone wall that tilts back at a hardly noticeable angle and fades up into the pale blueness of the realm above.

My enemy detection skill picks up on monsters that are stronger than the jaguars in the forest high above as well. They're ugly-looking scavenger birds, 5 to 10 meters in wingspan, slowly gliding through the sky in circles, waiting patiently while looking at the forest below. Some of the birds even higher up perch on various ledges with tired eyes and permanent scornful expressions on their faces.

I can't see every bird that I can sense with my enemy detection skill, but of the few that fly very high, a dim red glow radiates off some of them.

Their energy ratings don't differ from any of the others, and this makes me believe maybe we're closer to finding the source of these divine fragments than I thought.

Aside from the birds themselves, there is hardly any life on this endless mountain into the sky. There are small shrubs and old trees that grow on the wall of stone every few hundred meters, but they look as starved of nutrients as the monsters that perch near them.

My gaze continues to travel upward, and I use all of my buffs while continuously replenishing my MP bar with mana crystals, but I can't sense the top of the mountain.

Even so, there's nowhere else to move forward, so I know this is where we need to go next.

I deactivate my buffs and stealth skill, then float down to meet the others after they've had their rest.

Even in the last 12 hours, they've each grown significantly stronger, gaining tens of millions of MCP each, but it's not enough to make any noticeable impact yet. They're still heavily relying on the small mana control I'm sharing with them.

If we can make it to the mountain soon, that will expedite their growth process significantly.

"We're halfway there. I see a change in terrain coming up. Once we make it through these woods, we're finally going to fight some monsters that drop some loot. We're hours ahead of any other teams, so push through and we'll get first picks on the monsters in the new zone."

Everyone does as I say, but despite my constant use of self-regeneration on them after each of their battles, and even more food and rest breaks, it takes us 14 more hours to make it to the base of the mountain.

Natalie and Dane are visibly the most tired while Marcie's outward appearance holds up strong, but I can tell they're all exhausted from traveling through this rocky terrain and fighting hundreds of ranked-up monsters.

What I mentioned before still stands true.

At the rate we've been going, now that the upward tilted stone cliff into the sky is right in front of us, the closest team behind us is over 8 hours away.

Other solo hunters and parties have already stopped to take long breaks to sleep while their travel partners keep watch and alternate.

However, an odd phenomenon has shown itself over the 26 hours that pass: the bright blue sky and sunlight coming down on us from an unknown source continues to light up the day.

There have been small moments of shade as rogue clouds pass by, but for the entirety of the time we've been here, the day has never turned to night.

If this is just a simulation like everyone believes it to be, an endless day makes sense. However, another oddity I find makes me wonder about the physics of this construct even more. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but the total number of monsters coming our way has greatly diminished the longer we're here in the forest.