Ball of Nothing

Putting his fingers up into a frame, Zero tried to scour for a good camping spot. Jermine and the sand walkers would need a comfortable place to be at. It would be even better if he could add some light sources and water sources but the dungeon seemed to not like it.

"The laws of the dungeon differs," Mii explained while filming Bob's fight. The dragon didn't seem to be struggling with the ghoul scorpions but he was having a hard time cooking them at the right temperature.

"Some dungeons absorb life energy, some dungeons absorb blood. Other dungeons like this that absorb mana will try to stall the adventurers here for as long as possible. It will also use the absorbed mana to nourish the monsters in the dungeon and the dungeon structures. Adding a light source inside the dungeon isn't going to work if you're using magic. Instead, a regular light source with fire or electricity might work."

From behind him, Zero heard Bob yelling at the ghoul scorpion to be still. The doctor ignored his summon and tried to think of another solution.

"Hah! You thought I was going to fall for it again? Well, you thought wrong! Try this, Scorpion Whirlwind on The Grill!"

Zero turned back briefly only to see Bob squandering his mana recklessly. When he said they would be ok with trying cooked ghoul scorpion meat, Zero was not expecting Bob to grab a ghoul scorpion by its tail, set it on fire and use that flaming mess to smack its pals. What a huge waste of mana!

"Bob, stop that! You're only feeding this dungeon mana that can be put to better use! Also, that grill is overdone, the meat will not be tender enough!"

On the other end of the broadcast, Isis and Merlin wondered why this was more important than the mana exhaustion that Bob was going to face in this dungeon.

The dragon quickly apologised for his mistake and turned the heat off. True enough, the outer shell of the land lobster was completely charred and smoking. He looked at the remaining ghoul scorpions and decided to go for the fast approach. Since this dungeon absorbed mana, Bob wouldn't use any mana. He would simply beat them physically.

Zero turned back to his problem when he heard Bob using physical force instead of magic. The screams of scorpion ghouls echoed in the background but it did nothing to hinder Zero's concentration. He heard the exoskeleton crack audibly but as long as Bob left most parts intact, they would still sell for a good price. Better send Zoe the message first, she would need time to schedule some extra hands for dismantling before Monoman and New Moon Village arrived.

Isis and Merlin discussed in lengths about the safety rating for this unfound desert dungeon but Zero zoned out on them. He was more curious about how far the reach of this dungeon extended. The sandstone and bedrock layer that lay just beyond these dungeon walls looked like a good spot too. Could the dungeon recover the breached wall?

Bob cheered in the background after all the scorpions were dead so Zero decided to borrow a corpse for testing and told the dragon to shove the rest into his inventory. Bob took a long time to squeeze the fourteen bodies into the bag and Zero took the charred ghoul scorpion to the very edge of the dungeon with the intention of squeezing it through the hole in the wall.

As Zero neared the broken wall, he felt a strong pull backwards, preventing him from leaving with the corpse in hand. No matter how Zero tried to get the corpse out of the dungeon through the hole, it wouldn't go past a certain line and Zero gave up. He let the corpse go and found that he was no longer restricted.

"Do dungeons have certain areas that dungeon monsters cannot pass? Or is this just a retainment spell?" Zero asked.

Mii turned the camera sp that Merlina and Isis could take a look at what Zero was talking about. Thanks to modern technology, even in the darkness, they were able to view what Zero was talking about.

"Did you make a hole through that dungeon wall?" Merlin asked and Zero nodded. Mii briefly told the viewers how Zero and Bob used mana coated YY Tonfa pickaxes to break through the thick wall.

"There was a groan when the wall was breached but it didn't seem to have any other reactions," the strawcherry fairy concluded and Zero agreed.

Isis frowned and told Merlin that this wasn't a space crack dungeon like Sleepy Cave. "It's a mana dungeon so these monsters were most likely born from the dungeon using mana it harvested from somewhere. There should be a boss monster controlling everything, that wall doesn't look normal. Bedrock can be broken but not this easily with mana coated pickaxes."

Merlin agreed. "Zero, move out of those walls. It's safer to be outside of them than inside. If you find the entrance, let me know. There should be a dungeon controller so be careful. Do not fight the boss monster, we don't know what would happen if it dies. This dungeon is very deep beneath the desert. Defeating the boss monster could automatically undo the magic binding thee dungeon and you would be buried beneath a sea of sand."

Bob who was busy cleaning up after he stored the corpses away listened in on the wizard's conversation. Zero did several more seats so that Merlin could go back to research on the type of dungeon they had encountered but the one thing bothering Bob the most was how Merlin said that this was a tentative A rank dungeon.

Mii thanked Bob and Zero for their cooperation and ended the live broadcast as soon as the dungeon became quiet once more. The strawcherry fairy looked at Bob and her master before reminding them that they were safer outside than inside.

"Knowing you, you'd want to explore. However, I will recommend leaving the poor girl somewhere safer. Don't forget to prepare emergency teleportation scrolls and a home marker in case you accidentally kill the boss monster and start collapsing the cave."

Zero agreed with Mii and thanked her for the advice before handing Bob a pickaxe again.

"Help me out, we're going to make the hole wider. I want to see the limits of this dungeon."

Unable to refuse, Bob got up and started chipping away at the interior of this cave. There was a pained moan each time the sharp edges dug into the rock as if the pickaxes were a stab to its face. It was slightly creepy but Bob ignored it and continued. Zero usually had an idea whenever he did strange things like that.