I am the Demon King of the Dungeon!

Arthas slowly pushed open the bone door, the thick hinges making a teeth-grinding "creak" sound.

Behind the bone gate was not the expected BOSS room, but a narrower, longer passageway. At the end of the passageway, two paths branched off. The door on the left was engraved with a huge skull, emitting a faint green light, while the right side was a spiraling stone staircase leading downwards, with a sign standing at the top of the stairs.

But this is not the point.

The key point is that there were three other people in the passageway.

To be precise, it was a small team of adventurers, lined up against the wall.

Upon hearing the door open, they all turned around, their six eyes simultaneously fixed on Arthas and his two companions.

There was a subtle silence for two seconds.

"Another team?" A tall man carrying a greatsword raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Is the second floor this lively tonight?"

"Brothers, did you also come after hearing the news about the third level?" a round-faced young man asked enthusiastically. "How many times have you fought necromancers?"

Raine instinctively took half a step forward, blocking Arthas's path. This action was completely instinctive, and he himself was unaware of it.

"The third time," Renn said, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "This is the second time already."

"I've fought him twice, that's alright." The man with the greatsword nodded, his gaze falling on Arthas. "Is that guy in your team... a newbie?"

"Yes, it's his first time here." Renn patted Arthas on the shoulder and laughed, "I brought him here to broaden his horizons."

Arthas stood there expressionless, letting Raine play the role of "senior." He noticed that Oris didn't speak, but quietly scanned the three people in the passageway, her gaze lingering on the badges on their chests.

Silver level.

The round-faced youth asked, "What level are you?"

Ryan answered readily, "Bronze."

"Bronze?" The man with the greatsword looked the three of them up and down, his gaze sweeping from Renn's short sword to Oris's longbow, and finally landing on Arthas, noticing that his chest was empty, without even a Black Iron badge.

"Bro, with your setup... you'll probably have a hard time getting to the second level, right?"

"The second level's boss is a third-ring undead mage and a baby bone dragon. Even the three of us Silver-ranked players aren't confident we can beat it, let alone the three of you..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning in his tone was clear: "You're probably here to die," though he didn't say it explicitly.

"Not bad, we've done it twice already." Renn scratched his head and said, "This time we're going to bring even more silver arrows."

The man with the giant sword clearly didn't believe it; his lips twitched. The female archer in leather armor next to him couldn't help but burst out laughing, then quickly covered her mouth.

The round-faced youth was quite enthusiastic: "Why don't you wait until we're done fighting? The BOSS is relatively weak right after it respawns."

"Okay, thank you!" Renn readily agreed and pulled Arthas to stand against the wall.

"Alright," the man with the giant sword withdrew his gaze and leaned back against the wall. "Then you guys line up first. It'll probably be a while before we finish. You can go back anytime you want."

"How long will it take?"

"Hard to say." The round-faced youth shrugged. "The group going in is the Silver Squad, 'Hammer and Rose.' You've probably heard of them, right? They're quite famous. I reckon they'll be there in about ten minutes."

Hammer and Rose?

Yes! The adventurer party even has names!

"However, it could be even faster." The man with the giant sword spoke with a hint of schadenfreude. "The last group was wiped out in less than five minutes, haha."

Upon hearing this, the female archer rolled her eyes: "Can't you wish people well for once?"

"I'm just stating the facts!"

"Shut up."

While the two were bickering, Arthas suddenly had a thought: given Renn's personality, the team's name probably wouldn't be too "normal".

"What's your team's name?"

Renn was taken aback, then straightened his chest, his tone carrying three parts pride and seven parts apprehension: "King Renn..."

The passageway was silent for a second.

"...What?"

Alsace thought he had misheard.

"King Renn's squad." Renn's voice trailed off, becoming increasingly soft and inaudible.

There was another second of silence.

"You dare not reveal the team name?" Oris added expressionlessly, "At first, it was King Rein who was the invincible warrior..."

"sister!"

"I hadn't finished speaking when he felt that Invincible Warrior was too flamboyant, so he changed it to 'Brave Warrior'."

"That's still better than what we have now!"

"Later, he felt that 'brave' was not imposing enough, so he changed it to 'unyielding warrior'."

"..."

“‘King Raine is an indomitable warrior,’” Oris said calmly. “Later, he felt the name was too long, so he simply shortened it to ‘King Raine the Indomitable.’”

Arthas fell silent.

The man wielding the greatsword trembled violently; the female archer had already turned around, her shoulders twitching; the round-faced youth was very polite, though his lips twitched slightly, his eyes filled with "It's a miracle this child is still alive."

"How was it?" Renn looked at Arthas expectantly and asked, "Wasn't it handsome?"

Arthas opened his mouth, but found himself unable to find a suitable evaluation.

"...very unique."

Ryan, completely oblivious to the polite remark, exclaimed, "Right! I knew it was a good name!"

"He thought about it for three days and three nights," Olis added coldly, "and listed more than twenty names before finally choosing the most childish one."

"That's still better than your proposal!" Ryan's face flushed red. "What did you come up with? 'The Graystone Town Duo'? It sounds like they're selling roasted sweet potatoes!"

"At least it won't make people so embarrassed they'll dig their toes into the ground."

"Where's the embarrassment! The King of Raine's squad is so awesome!"

"..."

While the two were bickering, the man with the giant sword finally couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. He quickly clenched his fist and covered his mouth to pretend to cough. The female archer had completely given up on hiding her laughter and was leaning against the wall, her shoulders shaking with laughter.

The round-faced youth said politely, "Actually... the name is quite meaningful. When you become a famous adventurer in the future, this name will be the starting point of your legend."

Ryan stepped forward and took the round-faced youth's hands, his eyes welling up with tears: "Brother, you really understand me!"

"He was just being polite," Oris said expressionlessly.

"sister!"

Arthas's lips twitched as he noticed a sign nearby, neatly written in the Kingdom's common language:

[Diversion Channel]

Kill the BOSS three times or more

→ You can go directly downstairs without having to repeat the challenge.

Players who defeat the BOSS less than three times

→Please wait in line for the challenge.

Note: Do not take chances. Anyone who does this more than three times will receive a copy of "The Necromancer's Autograph". Please declare truthfully. Those who lie will bear the consequences.

—Necromancer (signature)

Arthas stared at the sign for three seconds.

He remembered that the necromancer on the second floor was a civil servant in the human kingdom in his previous life. After retiring, he spent his days idly at home and inexplicably turned himself into an undead, coming to the dungeon to apply for a BOSS position.

During the interview, Arthas didn't immediately look at the undead who had come from a different background, but the necromancer submitted a "Proposal on Optimizing the BOSS Challenge Process," which was three thousand words long. The core of the proposal was a diversion mechanism, and the reason given was that "repeated challenges cause unnecessary waste of fear points."

Arthas had also considered this, but he couldn't come up with a good way to implement it. In the end, the two reached a consensus.

But the problem is-

His current identity is "Adventure Novice Dick Reynolds," and this is his first time in Dark Hemcas.

In other words, the number of defeats was zero.

To get to the third floor, you have to fight it once first.

You have to wait in line to beat your own employees at home.

Arthas couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.

The sounds of battle could be faintly heard from inside the BOSS room.

The sounds of metal clashing, spells exploding, and bone dragons roaring were mixed with the necromancer's booming command.

"Bone Dragon, step back!"

"Let him break the shield first!"

"Yes, yes, that's the soldier—no, not that spot, a little higher! You're hitting thin air!"

The group exchanged bewildered glances, for to their ears, the necromancer was simply emitting a constant shriek, while Arthas, fluent in all the languages ​​of the continent of Asgard, knew that undead language was mostly composed of "high-frequency sounds."

"That necromancer... he's pretty busy," the round-faced youth muttered under his breath. "He's always so noisy when we fight him."

Arthas's lips twitched slightly. It didn't seem like a good thing that his employees were too organized and disciplined.