I am the Demon King of the Dungeon!

Renn crouched down and reached out to touch it.

"Chirp chirp chirp chirp!" Goblin Ji's ears suddenly perked up, and he bared his teeth. His short, golden-brown fur instantly swelled into a ball of spiky feathers.

"What...what is it doing?" Ryan withdrew his hand.

"I'm being mean to you," Arthas explained.

"It's aggressive towards me? How big is it? It's aggressive towards me?"

The goblin Ji seemed to understand what Renn said. It jumped up, spun in the air, and landed with its four paws outstretched in a "I'm fierce" pose.

But because of its small size, it doesn't look like a threat; it looks more like a hamster with its fur standing on end performing acrobatics.

"Hahahahaha!"

Renn laughed so hard he couldn't squat down and plopped down on the ground.

"It's so cute!"

"Chirp chirp chirp chirp!"

Suddenly, the goblin Ji's body swelled up like an inflating balloon, transforming from a small teacup into a large dog. Sharp claws emerged from its paw pads, curved like scythes, and its eyes changed from black to blood red, with its pupils shrinking into a vertical line.

Renn's hand froze in mid-air.

"It, it—"

The goblin Ji's claws aimed straight for Renn's face.

"Step back." Arthas drew his sword.

"clang!"

The longsword blocked the first attack.

Oris's arrows came one after another.

The goblin Ji twisted in mid-air and pounced on Renn again.

Arthas slashed sideways, his sword slicing into the goblin's side. The goblin fell to the ground, rolled twice, and scratched the stone slab with its four claws.

Goblin Ji charged forward again, using a zigzag running style to create three afterimages as he pounced on the three people simultaneously.

Arthas slashed away the afterimages that were lunging at him, and with a backhand thrust, he stabbed the one that was lunging at Oris. The tip of the sword pierced the solid body, and the goblin Ji let out a scream and retreated to the corner.

Blood flowed from its shoulder, and the dark brown blood dripped onto the ground, making a sizzling, corrosive sound.

"Chirp—!"

The goblin Ji's muscles bulged, its bones lengthened, and its size changed from a large dog to the size of a calf. Its claws became longer, its teeth denser, and its short hair turned into dark brown thorns. It opened its mouth, and a ball of dark red light gathered deep in its throat.

"It can attack remotely?!"

Renn's eyes widened.

A dark red orb of light shot out and headed straight for the three of them.

Arthas raised his sword to parry.

The ball of light collided with the blade, and the explosive shockwave knocked Rein to the ground, while Oris was thrown back three steps.

The goblin Ji burst out of the smoke and pounced on Renn.

Arthas kicked Renn aside and thrust his longsword with perfect accuracy into the goblin Ji's chest, the blade passing through the gap between his ribs and embedding itself in his body.

Goblin Ji's body stiffened, his blood-red eyes staring at Arthas, his pupils contracting violently, blood seeping from the hole in his chest, soaking his short, golden-brown hair.

Then, it turned into black mist and vanished without a trace.

Nothing was left on the ground.

Ryan got up from the ground and saw this scene.

"It...is gone?"

"Isn't that what happens when a monster dies?" Oris put away her bow. "The corpse disappears, leaving nothing behind."

"But..." Renn looked regretful, "It's really cute, I want to keep it..."

"Raising hidden monsters?" Oris tapped Rein on the head and said, "Are you crazy?!"

"Let's go fight the boss." Arthas sheathed his sword and walked forward. "Killing the hidden monster will get us two treasure chests from the boss; that's the only benefit."

"You're so heartless," Renn muttered, glancing at the spot where the goblin had disappeared. "That little puppy was really cute..."

……

The three arrived at the end of the passage, where a huge wooden door stood before them, covered with crooked iron sheets.

Oris confirmed the number of arrows and explained, "The Golden Slime is probably around level thirty-five."

"Only level 35?!" Renn immediately perked up. "That's easy!"

"You're level 39 too," Oris reminded Renn expressionlessly. "You have to be careful when facing monsters."

"...Okay, I understand!"

Alsace pushed open the door.

The cave behind the door was much larger than expected, with a dome that was over ten meters high. The surrounding rock walls were inlaid with glittering minerals, making the entire space shine with a golden glow.

There is a golden mountain in the very center of the cave.

This isn't a metaphor; it's a real mountain of gold.

Gold coins, gold bars, gold necklaces, gold bracelets, gold crowns, gold statues, gold goblets... all sorts of gold products were piled up into a small mountain.

At the top of the golden mountain, a golden slime was lying on its back.

It was nearly two meters tall, its body trembling slightly like jelly, its surface gleaming with a honey-like sheen, and two beady eyes perched atop its body, lazily watching the three people at the door.

"Guji."

The soft, gentle voice sounded like a greeting.

Ryan's mouth opened into a circle.

"Is it...is it saying hello to us?"

"The golden slimes in the Savage Mines are deities worshipped by the goblins," Arthas said, surveying his surroundings. "They are said to possess rudimentary intelligence and can understand simple human speech."

Before it could finish speaking, the golden slime's beady eyes suddenly widened as it noticed Arthas.

To be precise, it was the aura emanating from Arthas that made its entire body tremble with fear.

The Primordial Dragon God.

At the very top of the food chain on the continent of Ashu.

The golden slime's body began to tremble, and the golden luster on its surface flickered. It slowly rubbed down the golden mountain, but stopped halfway down, as if it felt that "rolling down" was disrespectful. So its whole body suddenly contracted and sprang up from the golden mountain like a spring.

"Splat!"

The golden slime landed face down on the floor not far from Arthas.

The entire cave shook.

It shook its body frantically to shake off the dust, then flattened, stretched, and shaped itself, eventually transforming into a small golden coffee table with a jelly-like texture.

On the coffee table are three glasses of golden liquid.

It is probably the highest grade of autologous "tea" that can be secreted by golden slime.

"Gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle! (Please sit down, please sit down, please have some tea!)"

Raine was dumbfounded.

"What...what is it doing?"

"They're entertaining us."

Arthas remained expressionless.

"Invitation? Aren't we here to fight the boss?"

Upon hearing "fight the BOSS," the Golden Slime's coffee table form instantly collapsed, reverting back to a trembling jelly. It frantically shook its head, its body scattering a ring of golden droplets.

"Goo-giggle! Goo-giggle! (No no no no no! I surrender! I surrender right now!)"

It twisted its body and climbed to the side of the mountain of gold, rolled up the gold coins with its body, and diligently piled them at Arthas's feet.

One after another.

Gold coins piled up like a small mountain in front of Arthas.

The golden slime took two steps back, its body flattened, and its beady eyes cautiously looked at Arthas.

Renn looked at Arthas, then at the golden slime, completely bewildered. "Does it... think you're some important person? That's so strange!"

"Perhaps," Arthas said without changing his expression. "I have a rather dignified appearance."

"Majesty?" Renn sized up Arthas's young face. "Where do you get your dignity from?"

"Born that way."

The golden slime's beady eyes darted back and forth between Arthas and Renn a few times, seemingly realizing that it might have mistaken the occasion. The important figure in front of it seemed unwilling to reveal his identity to his companions.

Its jelly-like body suddenly stiffened, and then it began an extremely exaggerated performance.

The golden slime first deliberately straightened its body, looked around, and pretended that nothing had just happened. Then it saw the silver badge on Arthas's chest, its beady eyes widened, and it leaned back, making a surprised expression.

"Goo-giggle! Goo-giggle! (Oh no! It's a human adventurer! How scary! How scary!)"

It took a few steps back and assumed a "fighting stance".

As Renn watched the golden slime pulsating in and out, as if it were doing some kind of strange gymnastics, he couldn't help but scratch his head.

"Should we go up and cut it down?"

"Don't wait for the BOSS to make the first move, let's go!" Oris nocked an arrow and the arrow struck the golden slime.

"Goo-chih!!!"

The golden slime let out an extremely exaggerated scream.

Arthas swung his sword down.

A gash appeared on the golden slime's body, and golden slime gushed out. It let out a scream in response, and its body shrank a size.

Renn also came up and delivered a finishing blow.

The golden slime has shrunk another size.

Oris's arrow pierced its body.

Shrink it another circle.

The three attacked in turn, and the golden slime cooperated perfectly, shrinking, trembling, and emitting appropriate "screams" with each attack, its voice gradually becoming weaker from high-pitched. The whole process was filled with a strange tacit understanding.

In the end, the golden slime turned into black mist and dissipated.

Two treasure chests were left on the ground.

One is made of wood, and the other is made of pure gold.

The cave remained quiet for several breaths.

Renn scratched his head, looked at the dissipating black mist, and then looked at Arthas.

"I've been playing dungeons for so many years... and I've never fought such a strange boss battle before."

"What's strange about it?" Arthas sheathed his sword.

"It didn't fight back at all from beginning to end."

"Maybe it's in a good mood today."

"In a good mood?!"

Renn had a "Are you kidding me?" look on his face, but after seeing Arthas's unchanging expression, he swallowed back all his doubts.

Oris put away her bow, her gaze lingering on Arthas for a moment, but she remained silent.

But a hint of doubt crept into his eyes.

Arthas knew what Oris was thinking.

First, the maned wolfhound ran away when it saw him, then the tailed fire hound cowered when it saw him, and now even the golden slime kneels before it.

It was a coincidence.

Both times it was luck.

Three times?

Oris is not like Raine; she is not so easily fooled, but that's a matter for later.

"Let's open the chests," Arthas said, pointing to the two chests. "You open the gold one, I'll open the wooden one."

"Yeah! Treasure chest!!! Gold coins, gold coins, gold coins, gold coins—!" Renn's attention was instantly diverted, and his eyes lit up as he rushed toward the golden treasure chest.