I am the Demon King of the Dungeon!

In the picture.

The Oracle Squad is attacking the fourth orc tribe.

Only three hours had passed.

Arthas turned and walked back to the throne.

"Dracula".

"exist."

"At their current pace, when do you expect them to break through the nineteenth floor?"

Dracula opened the file and quickly calculated: "Four of the seven tribes have been defeated so far. The last one, the Dragon Roar tribe, is the largest and is expected to take two to three hours. With the rest before the BOSS battle, I conservatively estimate that they will enter the twentieth floor before tomorrow evening."

"Is the earliest possible date tomorrow evening?" Arthas nodded and looked at Pierion.

"Rest assured, Your Majesty!" Perion straightened his back. "Perion will absolutely not let them pass!"

"Are you sure?" Arthas looked at Pirian.

"Absolutely! Certainly, without a doubt!" Perion jumped off the chair, ran to the throne, and patted his chest, guaranteeing, "Perion has confidence! Whatever epic paladin they are, they'll all be buried in the ground by the twentieth floor!"

"I believe you..." Arthas took a deep breath, "What I'm worried about is what's behind me."

"What does the Demon Lord mean..." Bernea adjusted her glasses, "...assuming there's an even stronger squad?"

"I have no doubt that Pirien can hold them off," Arthas said, ascending his throne. "But what happens after they hold them off? What if this squad is just one of the main forces of the Dawn of Light Chapter? There might be even stronger ones to come."

"So, Lord Demon King, what you're worried about isn't these five people before you," the skeleton murmured, clearing his throat, "but rather the strength of the entire battle group."

"This is another battle against the chapters in decades, and the twentieth floor of Pilian is the first true line of defense for Dark Hemkas. It would be best if we could hold it, but if we can't, there are still you behind us."

"But if the Dawn of Light is determined to conquer Dark Hemkas, they will send waves of people, making it a long-term battle. We must be cautious."

"So what? Afraid of humans?" Bloodhoof stood up and slammed his giant axe into the ground. "I'll kill every one that comes up. It's been years since any adventurers have come up here!"

"Foolish cow, the word now is 'proceed with caution'," Scarlet Dream chuckled. "Do you really think humanity can defeat the great Arthas Dick Illidan?"

These words plunged Arthas into memories, reminding him that Dark Hemkas initially only had ten levels, and that he had to face arrogant adventurers every week.

Back then, there was no Dracula to help manage things, no Pirion, no Bone Whisper, no Bloodhoof, only Scarlet Dream and Bernea.

Besides facing adventurers, he also had to mediate relationships between monsters, leaving him exhausted like a dog.

Finally, Arthas managed to integrate Dark Hemkas, and began recruiting bosses, establishing rules, and adding a treasure chest drop mechanism, successfully shifting adventurers' focus to "farming treasure" rather than strategy guides.

"My Lord Demon Lord?" Perion's voice interrupted Arthas's thoughts. "What are you thinking about?"

"It's alright." Arthas pulled himself back to reality. "Pirien, I'm leaving the rest to you. Go back and prepare well to face the adventurers, and so will the others, understand?"

"Understood."

All five bosses nodded in unison.

They had been with Arthas for decades and knew how to deal with this demon lord. As long as they did their job well, the work was not heavy and they had a high degree of freedom.

"Alright." Arthas stood up. "I should head back to Graystone Town."

"Lord Demon King, are you leaving again?" Dracula adjusted his glasses. "Aren't you going to deal with the adventurers first?"

"I can't be gone for too long." Arthas looked at Dracula. "I'm now the Silver Adventurer 'Dick Reynolds,' and I have two teammates. If I suddenly disappear for several days, they'll get suspicious."

When are you coming back?

"I will bring back more information."

A flash of white light.

Arthas vanished without a trace.

……

Graystone Town, Dusk Inn.

Alsace sat on the edge of the bed; the sky outside the window was already beginning to lighten, and the sun was about to rise in the east.

He changed his clothes; the dark red dragon scale leather armor was too conspicuous to wear in town, so he changed back into a plain linen shirt, pinned the silver and top-grade black iron badges to his waist, and went out.

Familiar noises came from the corridor.

"Sis! Can you please stop going through my things!"

"Your things are scattered all over the house, how am I supposed to find my quiver if I don't search it?"

"How did your quiver end up in my house?!"

"I'm asking you."

Arthas walked to the door of Renn's room. The door was open, and the room was in a mess.

Oris stood in the middle of the room, holding a quiver in her hand, looking expressionlessly at Renn, who was squatting in the corner.

"Found it." Oris turned and walked out, and when she passed the door, she saw Arthas and nodded slightly.

"morning."

"morning."

"Up so early again?" Ryan peeked out from the corner, his hair a mess like a bird's nest, his face covered in pillow lint. "Dick, don't you ever get any sleep?"

"I don't sleep enough."

"That's too little..." Ryan yawned. "I had insomnia last night. Someone next door was snoring like thunder."

snore?

You're probably just making noise yourself...

Arthas glanced at Renn; Renn's room was at the end of the corridor, and his own was on the right.

"Let's go have breakfast."

The three of them arrived at the first floor of the hotel one after another.

The complimentary breakfast was simple, but delicious.

Black bread, fried eggs, bacon, and hot milk.

Renn wolfed down his food.

Oris spoke slowly and deliberately.

Arthas barely ate anything; his mind was completely occupied with the dungeon.

The Oracle Squad will enter the twentieth floor this evening...

Arthas put down the empty milk glass.

"Are we going to the guild today?"

"Go on!" Ryan mumbled, his mouth full of bread. "I have a surprise for you!"

……

Adventurers' Guild.

The guild hall was much livelier in the morning than in the evening, with adventurers who had rested overnight browsing the quest board. Behind the counter, a staff member yawned, holding a steaming cup of tea.

Raine walked mysteriously to the task board and found a boy who seemed to be discussing something.

Oris stood to the side, arms crossed.

Arthas did not go to the quest board.

He walked to the counter and tapped on the table.

The staff member looked up; she was a young woman with faint dark circles under her eyes: "What do you need?"

"I want to check the walkthrough for Dawn of Light."

"Huh? Dawn of Light?"

The staff member looked at Arthas, his gaze lingering on the silver badge at his waist. "Why are you looking into this?"

"To learn." Arthas said without changing his expression, "I heard they're working on Dark Hemkas, and I'd like to learn from their tactics."

The staff member shook his head and said, "Strategy guides are not made public. Unless you are a member of a warband, or have approval from a guild branch leader or higher."

"Is there any publicly available information? For example, chapter introductions, member lists, strategy guides, and battle records?"

The staff member thought for a moment, then took out a thick booklet from the cabinet behind him and placed it on the counter.

"This is the chapter directory, which includes basic information about chapters that have registered with the guild. Dawn of Light is on page seven."