I am the Demon King of the Dungeon!

The interview just ended.

Arthas was still on his throne, pondering who to choose as his backup plan if Celine refused...

Suddenly, semi-transparent warning text appeared before my eyes.

[Dungeon Alert: Warning! The adventurer party "Silverwing" has cleared the fifteenth floor!]

Current progress: Level 16

Adventurer Party: Silverwing

[Captain: Sebastian Steelfist]

[Team Members: Liliana Moonsong, Tibito Bronzetooth, Fran, Groots]

Threat Level: B+

Dungeon stability: 76% → 73%

Silverwing Squad.

It seems that the Dawn of Light intends to take advantage of Perion's imprisonment to forcefully push the progress to the twenty-first level...

"Dracula".

"Here." Dracula was already standing by the long table, flipping through the Silverwing Squad's registration information. "This squad set off from Graystone Town at dawn, paid the fee to pass through the first level, skipped the second level by using the diversion passage, and reached the fifth level in an hour."

"The fifth floor?"

"The Frost Dragon." Dracula adjusted his glasses. "According to the Frost Dragon's battle report afterward, one of the engineers in the Silverwing Squad brought three self-propelled flamethrowers. The Frost Dragon's exact words were, 'They were all breathing fire at me at the same time, and I was very angry.'"

Arthas remained silent for a moment.

"I didn't expect the Dawn of Light to arrive so quickly; the fifteenth floor hasn't even been fixed yet..."

Do you have detailed information about the team?

"Yes." Dracula pulled out a few folded parchment sheets from the folder, unfolded them with both hands, and said, "The publicly available information from the Adventurers' Guild, combined with our own intelligence channels, has basically pieced together the information."

Alsace took the parchment.

Adventurer Party: Silverwing

[Captain: Sebastian Steelfist]

Occupation: Warrior

LV: 387

Adventurer Rank: Epic

Belongs to: Dawn of Light

Titles: Iron Wall, Oath of Steel Wrist, Unyielding Vanguard

"Level 387." Arthas's gaze lingered on the number for a moment. Sixty levels higher than Logan of Oracle, an epic-level warrior.

"Where's the equipment?"

"His legendary shield, 'Steel Wrist Oath,' reflects 15% of the damage dealt upon a successful block. The rest are mostly epic-level. His weapon is an epic one-handed axe enchanted with armor penetration. He has a nickname, 'Iron Wall,' not because of his exceptional defense, but because he never stops attacking."

Dracula turned the page. "He has a calm personality and a conservative command style. He is a very competent captain."

Arthas nodded and looked at the second line.

[Team Member: Liliana Moonsong]

Occupation: Holy Priest

LV: 355

Adventurer Rank: Epic

Belongs to: Dawn of Light

Titles: Staff of Hymn, Master of Single-Target Healing

"What's your treatment style?"

"She specializes in single-target healing and has moderate group healing ability. According to intelligence, she can bring a dying teammate back to full health within three breaths. The downside is that she consumes a lot of mana."

Upon hearing this, Arthas's conjecture was confirmed: the Silverwing Squad, primarily composed of tanks and healers, was advancing through the dungeon at an extremely fast pace, making them a "suicide squad" aiming to seize the twenty-first floor.

[Team Member: Tibit Bronzetooth]

Occupation: Engineer

LV: 261

Adventurer Rank: Platinum

Belongs to: Dawn of Light

Titles: Mechanical Tongue, Fire Wholesaler, Goblin that Ice-attribute monsters least want to see

"An engineer, is he the one with the flamethrower?" Arthas's gaze lingered on this class. There was probably no other engineer in the entire Dawn of Light, because this class was too niche. Its combat power was only average to below average among hybrid classes, but its functionality was irreplaceable.

"Yes. The self-propelled flamethrower also came in handy on the sixth and seventh floors. He also carried three types of mechanical constructs: a detection type, a mobile decoy type, and a trap-disarming type. The Frost Dragon's combat report included a supplementary note on the back..." Dracula paused, "'That short goblin was experienced in combat and very slippery.'"

Arthas's lips curled into a slight smile as he used five flamethrowers to roast the frost dragon goblin alive...

[Team Member: Fran]

Occupation: Assassin

LV: 271

Adventurer Rank: Platinum

Belongs to: Dawn of Light

Titles: Shadow, Silent Blade, Eye of Anriwei

"No surname?" Arthas looked up.

"Her surname isn't recorded in the files. She's probably not of noble birth, nor from an adventurer's family. Her registration record in the Dawn of Light only lists her name as 'Fran.' According to intelligence, she's an assassin recruited by the current chapter leader, Anrivi." Dracula turned to the next page. "She's low-key and quiet, and there's not much information about her."

Arthas's gaze lingered on Fran's name for a moment. The nameless assassin personally recruited by Anrivi—the danger of such a person lies not in how strong they are, but in the fact that you never know what they are thinking.

[Player: Grotter]

Class: Heavy Guard

LV: 248

Adventurer Rank: Platinum

Belongs to: Dawn of Light

Titles: Unbreakable Wall, The Man with the Pillow

"A level 248 heavily armored guard." Dracula's tone became somewhat subtle. "Extremely high defense, extremely low attack power, a specialized defensive adventurer."

"The defining characteristic of the Heavy Guardian is its tankiness." Arthas placed the parchment on the armrest. "He's not there to deal damage, but to protect the Engineer and Priest. With him in front, the Engineer can safely dismantle traps and place machines, and the Priest can safely cast heals."

The five players averaged level 350, with a class configuration of Warrior, Priest, Warlock, Assassin, and Heavy Guardian. It was a standard variant of two tanks, one healer, and two DPS, except one of the DPS players was replaced with an Engineer Warlock.

That assassin must have dealt a lot of damage...

"They didn't bring any mages."

"Yes." Dracula nodded and replied, "This team doesn't have wide-area magic output. They rely entirely on the engineer's mechanical creations and the warrior's Whirlwind to clear mobs. The damage is enough against a single boss, but it will probably be quite difficult if there are a large number of mobs."

Arthas placed the parchment on the armrest of the throne.

"A team without a mage relies on the mechanical creations of the engineer and the single-target burst damage of the assassin to supplement its output. The advantage is stability, but the disadvantage is that the potential is not high."

"Exactly." Dracula closed the folder and agreed, "The Shadow Labyrinth on the sixteenth floor is a typical example of a war of attrition. The Shadow Fiend has already started to move, and the stone walls are separating them. The engineer and the heavy guard are blocked in the same passage, while the warrior and the assassin are separated on two other dead ends. The priest is standing alone at the crossroads."

Inside the crystal ball.

The black mist was slowly gathering along the labyrinth's passageways.

Liliana's Holy Light Staff illuminated only three steps around her in the fog, while Sebastian pressed his shield against the stone wall, trying to find a way through.

Tibbits crouched on the ground, rapidly assembling something. The Shadow Fiend materialized from the black mist and silently pounced on the lone priest…

however.

There was a shadow that was faster than the Shadow Fiend.

Fran slid out from the shadow of the stone wall. The dagger's reflection flashed for only a moment in the darkness. Before the Shadow Demon could even turn around, the blade had already plunged into the shadow crystal at its core. The dagger spun halfway inside the crystal, splitting the entire core in two.

The Shadow Demon let out a short hiss and dissipated into black mist.

The stone walls of the maze stopped moving.

Sebastian emerged from the dead end; Tibit raised his head, the detector he was only half-assembled was not yet finished; Groot held his great shield and looked around blankly, clearly still unable to find the enemy.

"Shadow Fiend is dead?"

Liliana's voice came from the crossroads, and the light from the Holy Light Staff illuminated Fran's half-crouched figure.

Fran didn't speak, but simply sheathed her dagger and retreated back into the shadows. The whole thing took less than three breaths.

"...It's over in seconds." Arthas looked at the crystal ball, his fingers pausing on the armrest.

Dracula pushed up his glasses, his pen hovering over the battle report for a long time before finally falling.

Unexpectedly, the boss on the sixteenth floor was instantly killed by the assassin at level 371.

"Make Shadow Fiend write a self-criticism report."

Alsace said.

"Understood." Dracula said worriedly, "Should we inform Pirian to prepare? I'm worried he might possess other world-class artifacts..."

"Don't worry," Arthas said. "They're just trying to take a shortcut. They're not as strong as the Oracle, so Perion can handle them. Proceed as planned. If Celine agrees, it's the first choice. If she doesn't, then we'll recruit Vestan. At least it'll cooperate better."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Please rest assured."

Dracula gave a noble salute and sat back down at his workstation to continue handling miscellaneous tasks.