The thirtieth floor underground.
Li Xiuman stared at the massive stone door towering before him.
The stone door was dozens of meters tall, resembling a colossal rock wall with a rough, uneven surface.
Just looking at it conveyed an immense sense of heaviness.
And behind this stone door lay the Floor Boss of the thirtieth floor of the White Bear City dungeon.
Only by defeating the Floor Boss could one explore the floors beyond.
Li Xiuman was by no means confident that he was a match for a Floor Boss.
Floor Bosses were super monsters that usually required the coordination of an entire adventurer party to take down.
Li Xiuman planned to observe a bit more, grind some levels on this floor, and then head back.
He had already given up on those two Unique Variants.
After chasing the succubus party for quite a long distance, he had returned only to find no trace of those two Unique Variants left.
“Huh...?”
Li Xiuman's attention was drawn to a groove on the massive stone door.
The groove was in an inconspicuous spot on the stone door; if one did not look closely, it could easily be missed.
[Ding! Detected Labyrinth G-03 authorization port.]
A system window popped up next to the groove.
What in the world...?
This was the first time Li Xiuman had ever seen a pop-up window of this type.
Its contents also felt completely out of place.
Then, as if sensing something, the groove began to shift like plasticine, morphing into the shape of a handprint.
What should he do now?
Press it, of course... wasn't that the obvious choice?
It was dangerous, too bizarre, he shouldn't touch it...
No, no, no, how could he think that? Finding a groove shaped like a handprint and pressing your hand into it was the only correct course of action.
Of course... he had to press it.
His fingers slid into the handprint groove, fitting perfectly.
[Ding! Starting authentication.]
[Subject... Individual: Dragon-Blooded Skeleton Lv.23.]
He couldn't pull his hand out?
The entire stone door seemed to come alive, spreading along Li Xiuman's arm as if seeking to envelop and swallow him whole.
A pitch-black magic circle expanded beneath his feet.
[Commencing teleportation.]
[Teleportation successful. Establishing Labyrinth Z-01.]
[Generating Labyrinth floor...]
[Labyrinth floor count: 23 floors.]
[Generating Labyrinth Boss... Labyrinth Boss is a Unique Variant...]
[Dragon-Blooded Skeleton Lv.23.]
The continuous pop-ups before his eyes snapped Li Xiuman back to his senses.
What was happening? What was going on? What was going on?!
Why did he press it?
How did he even have the urge to press it? Was his mind being influenced?
He had 46 points in Spirit! Had he really been influenced without any resistance at all?
What was going on?
The light from the pitch-black magic circle beneath him continued to rise, wrapping Li Xiuman completely in black light.
He could see the surrounding scenery distorting.
This was just like the legendary teleportation spell?
[Special panel unlocked.]
[Demon King Panel]
[Special Skill acquired: Demon King Lv.2]
[Demon King Lv.2]: Lord of Monsters, Lord of the Dungeon. You can control and reconstruct your dungeon as you please.
[Special Class acquired: Necromancer]
[Sub-class unlocked]
[Sub-class]: Necromancer
[Necromancer]: A mage who summons the undead. Can use Necromancy to create Skeletons, Evil Spirits, Ghouls, and other such races.
[Acquired Necromancer-exclusive skill]
[Necromancy Lv.3]
Pop-ups kept flashing in front of him, and his bones were continuously penetrated and eroded by black energy.
It felt as if countless insects were relentlessly burrowing into his body.
He could smell the rotting stench of death.
At this moment, it was as if he were a skeleton buried deep underground, his body rapidly decaying.
The power of Self-Healing struggled against this decaying force, but it was like trying to put out a burning house with a cup of water.
He couldn't take it!
His body could not withstand this decaying energy.
With great difficulty, he operated the panel and allocated one Free Stat Point to [Constitution].
The rate of decay slowed down slightly.
Gritting his teeth.
He allocated his last Free Stat Point to Constitution. Finally, the decay of his bones ground to a halt.
But the situation was still far from optimistic.
[Ding! Eroded by decaying energy. Constitution -1.]
His Constitution had dropped!
What total bullshit!
By now, Li Xiuman's pristine white bones had turned entirely pitch-black.
Only his right arm remained white.
Even the Skeleton's Rib Sword in his chest had become tattered, though it was slightly better off than his other bones.
But despite its ragged state, it continued to devour the pitch-black aura at an extremely slow rate.
[Ding! Constitution -1.]
[Ding! Strength -1.]
His Strength and Constitution were still falling, his body continually eroded.
Pop-up windows kept flashing before his eyes.
Only his Spirit remained unaffected on its high ground.
By the time the windows stopped popping up, Li Xiuman's stats had become absolutely hideous.
Strength: 28 ↓
Constitution: 39 ↓
Spirit: 46
At least he survived.
Li Xiuman looked down at his body.
His current appearance was even more pathetic than when he had first turned into a skeleton.
His entire body was rotted through, resembling pitch-black decaying wood.
It felt as though the slightest movement would crumble him into dust.
And...
[Status]: Bone Decay, Rotting (Eroded by the power of death, bones are continuously rotting), Death Energy (The body houses a large amount of Death Energy, resulting in a drastic decrease in Constitution and Strength)
Estimated time until collapse: 30 days.
Bone Decay was a status effect he had had since the beginning. In fact, it was a status common to all skeletons; without flesh and blood to nourish them, their bones would naturally deteriorate over time.
The subsequent [Rotting] status was a newly acquired one.
With these two status effects stacking, they had forcibly reduced his remaining lifespan—which should have lasted another thirty years before collapsing—down to a mere thirty days.
Then there was the [Death Energy] status.
This Death Energy was undoubtedly the main culprit behind his current state.
He had to find a way to purge this Death Energy from his body if he wanted to restore his Constitution and Strength.
However, this Death Energy wasn't entirely without its benefits.
It had unlocked a sub-class for him, granting him Necromancy and the [Demon King] skill.
Two classes.
Li Xiuman had never heard of anyone in this world possessing two classes.
So in the long run, he didn't seem to be losing out.
But for now, he didn't even dare to move.
The massive reductions in his Strength and Constitution had left his physical body incredibly fragile.
Furthermore, he had no idea where he had been teleported to.
He was very likely no longer in White Bear City.
Based on the system pop-ups, he... might have become the ultimate boss of a dungeon.
What in the world... was this?
Conquering other dungeons and subjugating bosses was indeed quite thrilling.
But becoming the boss himself and waiting for others to come conquer and subjugate him? That was not fun at all.
[Ding! Dungeon Z-01 is scheduled to open in 72 hours.]
[Would the Demon King please prepare the dungeon.]
[Dungeon] Z-01
[Floors] 23
[Existing Monsters] Low-Tier Skeleton Lv.1–10, Mid-Tier Skeleton Lv.11–15, Low-Tier Elemental Skeleton Lv.16–20, High-Tier Skeleton Lv.21–23, Dragon-Blooded Skeleton Lv.23 (Boss)
[Main Quest] Prevent adventurers from completing the conquest.
[Sub-Quest] Create a Unique Variant monster. Reward: 3,000 EXP.
Rate on N.U.
