I am the Demon King of the Dungeon!

As soon as the words were spoken, the firehound that was squatting on the pile of dead leaves suddenly stood up, shook off the debris, and the flame at the end of its tail suddenly shot up and grew longer.

It's not that I want to attack, it's that I'm angry.

It tilted its head and glared at Renn, letting out a dissatisfied grumble in its throat, as if to say, "Who are you calling not?"

Renn took a step back, startled by the glare: "It...it looks like it's glaring at me..."

"Because you spoke ill of it," Oris said calmly. "Be careful you don't get burned."

"It can even understand human speech?!"

"Who knows?"

Arthas's gaze fell on the "Tail Fire Hound." He had felt something was off from the beginning. Fire-attribute monsters taking cold baths, running away from people, climbing trees, and squatting on tree branches looking down were not behaving like monsters at all.

Moreover, the flames on its tail flicker erratically?

Captive breeding...

Arthas stood up, squatted down, looked into the eyes of the Firehound, and let out a series of low sounds.

"Gurgle...woof...click."

"Woof woof, woof woof woof!"

Renn stared blankly at Arthas.

Oris also looked puzzled.

Because it wasn't Common Tongue, nor Elvish, nor any language they had ever heard before, it was simply—

The dog barks.

Alsace is learning to bark like a dog.

Moreover, the pronunciation was extremely accurate. The deep part sounded like a large dog threatening, while the high part sounded like a small dog being affectionate. The "woof" in the middle even had a perfectly timed airflow friction sound, as if the dog had practiced for many years.

Firehound's ears perked up, and it tilted its head to look at Arthas, letting out a short, sharp reply.

"grumble."

Arthas then "said" a few more words.

The Firehound circled in place, the flame at the end of its tail flickering, then walked deeper into the forest. After a few steps, it turned back to look at Arthas.

The meaning of the look in his eyes is: follow me.

Arthas stood up, brushed the dirt off his knees, and looked back at Renn and Oris.

He didn't know what would happen next, so he wanted the two of them to go back first, but as soon as he looked up, he saw—

Renn's mouth was agape, big enough to fit a fist, his eyes wide as bells, and he stood frozen in place as if petrified. Olis's expression wasn't much better; her eyebrows were unusually raised, and her fingers unconsciously rubbed the bowstring, seemingly deep in thought, but she couldn't understand it at all.

"I can handle the rest myself," Arthas said without further ado. "You guys go back to town first."

Rein's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, three times in total, before he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: "You were... talking to it just now? Communicating with a monster?"

"right."

"Learn...to bark like a dog?"

"That's dog language."

"Dog language?!" Ryan's voice rose an octave, incredulous. "Dog language exists in this world?"

"have."

"So how did you learn that?!"

"Self-taught."

"Why are you trying to learn to bark like a dog?!"

"Hobbies and interests".

"You, you..." Renn opened his mouth, but found himself unable to refute it for a moment.

The combination of "hobbies" and "learning to bark like a dog" caused his brain to crash.

Although the scene just now was very strange, Raine and Oris were even more curious about Arthas's background.

Besides his strength, it seems there's much more hidden...

Oris's gaze lingered on Arthas's face for a few seconds before she nodded and said, "Alright, let's go back first. How long will it take you to be back? Do you need anything...?"

"I'll be back before dark."

"If you don't come back, where can we look for you?"

"No need to look, I will definitely go back."

Oris paused for a moment, seemingly weighing the credibility of her words, before finally loosening her fingers from the bowstring, turning around and patting Renn on the shoulder: "Let's go."

"Huh? Leaving already? But he..."

"Let him go by himself."

"But isn't it unsafe?"

"What can you do there? Bark like a dog?"

"I can..."

Raine's words caught in his throat. He wanted to say that he could fight and act as a meat shield or something, but when he looked at the tailed fire hound squatting not far away, the words that were about to come out were: "...Then you'd better be careful."

"Um."

Ryan followed Oris slowly back, turning back every few steps. After walking a dozen or so steps, he stopped again, turned around, and shouted, "Dick!"

Arthas turned around in confusion.

"Don't worry!! If you're not back by dark, we'll find a way to locate you!!!"

Upon hearing this, Arthas's lips curled up slightly, but he did not reply. He turned and followed the Firehound.

After a while.

A man and a dog arrived at the cave entrance.

The Firehound led the way, its pace much lighter than before. The tunnel extended downwards, and the glowing minerals on the walls on both sides resembled orange-red blood vessels, illuminating the entire underground space like the body of some kind of giant beast. The air grew hotter and hotter, and every breath felt like drinking hot water.

Arthas counted his steps.

After walking about two hundred steps, the passage began to widen, the dome gradually rose, and a faint orange-red light could be seen flickering ahead. It was not the light of the ore, but the light of fire.

magic……

Even stronger monsters are ahead.

Arthas was secretly delighted; he hadn't expected to find a wild fire-attribute monster so easily.

Next came the interviews and recruitment...

Upon reaching the corner, Firehound stopped, turned to look at Arthas, and then slowed its pace, almost tiptoeing as it moved forward.

Arthas also slowed his pace, moving forward slowly while sensing the wandering magic.

Not weak...

At least, it's a mid-to-high-level monster.

At the end of the corner is a natural archway, with dark red vines entwined around the stone pillars on both sides. The leaves of the vines glow slightly, as if lava is flowing in the veins of the leaves.

The Firehound crouched beside the archway, not going in. It looked up at Arthas and whimpered softly.

Arthas understood that the other party wanted him to go in by himself.

Behind the archway was a huge underground cave, much larger than expected, with stalactites hanging from the dome, and glowing lava dripping from the tips of the stalactites, forming tiny streams of lava on the ground.

The stream eventually flows into the lava pool in the center of the cave, where orange-red light surges on the surface, like a beating heart.

In the center of the lava pool, there is a protruding rock that looks like a throne, with its imposing figure reflected in the rock wall behind it.

It was a tall, humanoid silhouette, three times the size of a human, with shoulders as broad as a wall.

The body is formed from flowing flames, without a fixed shape, constantly burning and recombining. Occasionally, one can see blurry facial features, but they quickly dissipate.

A Flame Demon?!

Seeing this, Arthas's lips curled into a slight smile.

The boss on the third floor has been found.

The Balrog was larger than expected, its shadow filling half of the rock wall. Its body, solidified with flames, its churning lava pool, and the oppressive atmosphere of the underground cavern made it the perfect floor boss from any angle!