"Guard Athena?"

Gao Yuan muttered to himself. Although he didn't understand why this female statue was given the name Athena,

he inexplicably felt it was very fitting.

Since the dungeon was successfully created, he naturally wanted to test the effects of this dungeon first.

Zhou Huai immediately arranged a ten-person team from the Evernight Guild to enter the dungeon.

"This dungeon is divided into four difficulties: Simple, Difficult, Nightmare, and Hell."

Controlling Zhuge Kongming, Zhou Huai began explaining the rules to the members of the Evernight Guild.

"The rules are very simple: just guard the beautiful goddess Athena in front of you well."

"Successfully holding out against the attacks of thirty waves of alien beast armies counts as success."

"During this process, you can respawn infinitely after death."

"However, if Athena's health bar is emptied, your dungeon challenge will be considered a failure."

The guild members nodded in understanding, their eyes flashing with eagerness.

Zhou Huai smiled and said that since everyone understood, they could begin.

The captain of this team was in a bit of a dilemma, looking at Zhou Huai to ask: "Uh... what difficulty should we choose that is more appropriate?"

Someone in the team immediately suggested: "Captain, why don't we just try the Difficult difficulty directly? I love challenging high difficulties!"

The people in this team were the initial members recruited by the Evernight Guild.

They had experienced the ruins trials and the Donghai City defense battle.

Their average Level had already reached level thirty and above.

Placed in the former Donghai City, such a team would definitely be the ace of the guild.

Therefore, each and every one of them was extremely confident.

Zhou Huai suggested: "You should still start from Simple; the alien beasts' Level will match your current Level."

The team members obediently nodded.

Soon, this Guard Athena dungeon ushered in its very first dungeon challenge.

There was no buffer at all.

From the moment the difficulty was chosen, alien beasts from all directions swarmed over.

"Roar!"

Packs of shadow wolves rushed out from the forest to the east, and dense venomous sand scorpions crawled out from the Gobi Desert to the west.

The volcano to the south spewed out fully burning lava imps, and frost porcupines charged over from the snowy plains to the north.

"Defense warrior, hold the front! Mages, prepare Wall of Fire! Hunters, pay attention to focus-firing the lava imps!"

The captain reacted extremely quickly, immediately issuing instructions.

The team members cooperated tacitly, quickly forming a semi-circular defensive line in front of the Athena statue.

The shield warrior at the very front roared, slamming a huge tower shield fiercely onto the ground as an earth-yellow energy barrier rose.

The first wave of alien beasts slammed fiercely into the barrier, producing a muffled roar, but they couldn't shake it in the slightest.

The mages in the back finished chanting, and a surging Wall of Fire appeared out of thin air, swallowing a large swath of alien beasts.

The assassin's figure flickered in and out among the beast horde, and every time the cold flash of a dagger passed, it precisely reaped the life of an alien beast.

The first wave was easily taken down.

"Just this?" The archer in the team whistled, "Simple difficulty is indeed meant for children to play."

The second wave, the third wave, the fourth wave...

The team members fought more and more easily, even starting to joke with each other.

However, by the fifth wave,

the situation suddenly changed.

"Watch out for the sky!"

A piercing screech came from the sky as dozens of frost gargoyles with wingspans exceeding three meters swooped down from the direction of the snowy plains, spitting out deadly ice cones from their mouths.

"Damn it! They're flying units!"

The captain's expression changed instantly. Their formation was very effective against ground units, but facing enemies in the air, it immediately appeared stretched to the limit.

The archer and mages hurriedly shifted their firepower, shooting arrows and fireballs into the sky.

But the moment they dealt damage to the air, a gap appeared in the ground defense line.

Several thick-skinned lava trolls seized the opportunity to crash through the shield warrior's defense, roaring as they rushed toward the back row.

"Pfft!"

A mage failed to dodge in time and was struck by the troll's stone club, their health bar instantly emptied as they turned into white light and respawned under the Athena statue.

"I died?" That mage looked at their own hands in blank bewilderment, somewhat incredulous.

This was the first death to occur in the team.

Chaos began to spread.

As the number of alien beasts increased and their types became increasingly bizarre, the team kept retreating.

People were constantly injured and respawning.

"Hold on! Everyone hold on for me! Healers, pay attention to topping up health!" the captain roared hoarsely.

Yet the battle line was still being compressed step by step.

Gradually, it reached the tenth wave.

"Rumble!"

A giant ancient tree of war comparable in size to a small mountain stepped out from the forest with heavy strides.

Every step it took caused the earth to tremble accordingly.

"It's over..." The shield warrior looked at that massive body blocking out the sky, despair showing in their eyes.

The ancient tree of war waved its thick vine arms, lashing fiercely at the team's defense line.

"Bang!"

The defense line completely collapsed.

Countless small alien beasts surged through the breach like a tide, frantically pouncing toward the white goddess statue in the back.

"Not good! Hurry up and stop them!"

"Athena is going to lose health!"

The team members split-eyed with anger, wanting to fall back to defend, but they were tightly entangled by even more alien beasts.

The sharp claws of the first alien beast grazed across the base of the statue.

Hum!

A pale golden shield emerged on the Athena statue, and its health bar instantly dropped a small notch.

One hundred thousand health points turned into ninety-nine thousand in the blink of an eye.

This seemed like a signal.

Hundreds of alien beasts bypassed the defense line, surrounding the Athena statue tightly and launching frantic attacks.

The statue's health points began to drop rapidly at a terrifying speed.

Ninety thousand... eighty thousand... seventy thousand...

That golden shield flickered violently, alternating between bright and dim, as if it could shatter at any moment.

Until the twelfth wave of alien beasts refreshed.

Accompanied by a crisp shattering sound, the Athena statue's shield completely shattered.

The statue's health was rapidly emptied.

The entire statue was covered in fierce cracks, its light completely dimming down.

【Dungeon challenge failed】

The cold System prompt tone rang in the ears of every team member.

Gao Yuan and Zhuge Kongming watched the entire process in the spectator space.

"This... isn't this difficulty a bit too high?" Gao Yuan smacked his lips.

Such an elite team, under Simple difficulty, could actually only last until the twelfth wave.

Zhou Huai smiled: "Only with difficulty is it interesting."

"Their coordination still has many flaws. If they did better, holding out to the fifteen waves wouldn't be a problem."

Actually, there was one more thing Zhou Huai didn't mention.

Members of the Evernight Guild had a huge difference from Classer of ordinary guilds.

When night came, they would enter the Night Demon state, and their strength would receive a huge boost.

By that time, there would still be a great chance to clear the level.

Therefore, the dungeon designed by Zhuge Kongming for Zhou Huai was meant solely to serve the members of the Evernight Guild from the very beginning.

For other Classer wanting to challenge it, the difficulty was heaven-defying.

A flash of white light.

The team members who failed the challenge were teleported out.

Everyone's face was full of unresigned resentment and annoyance.

"Damn it! So suffocating!"

"That ancient tree of war is too abnormal, we simply can't damage it!"

"Our formation has problems, we are way too passive facing flying units."

Although the members of this team failed, everyone's face was filled with unwillingness as they immediately gathered together to summarize experience and prepare to continue challenging.

News spread very quickly.

More and more Classer from the Evernight Guild rushed over, participating in the dungeon challenge.

Zhou Huai didn't let his Avatar idle either.

Not long after, Moria, Sona, Da Yi, Xiang Yu, and Yasuo, five SS-Level individuals, stood at the dungeon entrance.