[Evolution to Undead Mage (D) is complete. As a reward for reaching D grade in your Undead Mage form, you have been rewarded a suitable new skill and passive]

  Xen awoke to a system message hanging in his vision. It quickly vanished, only to be replaced by a pair of new messages.

  Skill Unlocked: [Necrotic Pulse (D)]

  Unleash a burst of necrotic energy in a small radius around you, dealing moderate death-type damage and applying a short-duration slow and corruption effect to all living beings caught in the blast.

  Passive Gained: [Corpse Conduit]

  You passively siphon residual mana from nearby corpses. Each corpse within a short radius slowly restores your mana over time. The more powerful the creature in death, the greater the mana gained.

  Xen read through the new skill and passive. Both seemed quite self-explanatory. His latest skill was an AoE type that he could use if surrounded, while the new passive was a massive boon. From his talk with Gerald and his own experience, he knew mana was a difficult resource to get hold of and was a major pain point for mages. When evolving into a Necrovore slime, he gained the skill [Soul Leech (D)] that let him drain lifeforce from weakened enemies to regenerate mana and biomass over time.

  Yet he now had a passive skill that would let him drain mana from nearby corpses as well. While a lot more situational than a simple skill like Mana Regeneration, it was still appreciated as he did find himself near corpses quite a lot. Well... until he devoured them.

  The system messages faded, and he was greeted with a cracked dungeon ceiling and the chin of the living armor that silently loomed over him.

  I successfully evolved without incident, that's a relief, Xen thought to himself. He tried to move, but the heavy warrior armor was like a prison to his weak Undead Mage skeletal body. I need to swap back to my human form—

  His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps echoing from the corridor behind him. Straining his Mystic Perception skill, he counted six pairs of steps. Panic set in. Was this a hunting party sent by the humans to take out this over-leveled Living Armor? Was he going to get killed in the crossfire of this upcoming epic battle?

  I need to run, but how? There is an exit on the other side, but I can hardly move right now, and they are about to be here!

  "Monster up ahead—a powerful one," Xen heard a human whisper down the tunnel. The steps slowed, but Xen could still track the clinking armor. The group had at least three warriors. However, by the tone of the voice, they were unaware of the Living Armor.

  Xen decided to stay put and pretend to be dead. He didn't have time to shapeshift, and he didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention right now. No matter what, the Living Armor would stand guard. Perhaps he could bait the humans into trying to save him, getting them killed by the over-level 50 Living Armor? It was indeed a possible option.

  Watching on with Mystic Perception, he saw a human peek around the corner and quickly backtracked like they had seen a ghost. Based on the second he got, he guessed they were female and, by the bow nocked with an arrow, likely an archer.

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  Hold on, their face seemed familiar... no, surely not.

  The woman peeked around the corner again, this time her eyes shining with golden mana.

  There's no way. Is that the archer I ran into earlier that I led the wolves to?! Xen was in disbelief. Did she come after me for revenge? I thought wolves were relentless, but are humans really this vengeful that they would chase me into the depths of the second floor?

  "Living Armor, level 52," the woman said. She then glanced at him. "There also seems to be a warrior lying below the Living Armor."

  Xen was amazed. If this archer could tell the level of the Living Armor, it suggested her appraisal skill had to be at the B grade. If he were to devour her, would his skill reach that grade, too? However, his concern at the moment was whether she could detect him. She had used her appraisal on him in the past, and it had only given her the level of his current form rather than exposing his true self as a slime.

  "I can't get a read on the warrior, either because they are dead or because the Living Armor is in the way," the archer said quietly to the people behind her.

  Interesting. That means the appraisal skill requires a direct line of sight to work. Is that why it can't notice my slime form when I'm assuming another form?

  "Good job, Aria," the warrior with the tower shield Xen had encountered earlier said. "Level 52, there's no way we can fight that thing. What is it even doing here on the second floor?"

  Brandon is here too?! Xen would always recognize that warrior from the Iron Legion, as the scene of him pulverizing wolves with that shield was burned into his mind.

  "It's likely a floor boss," another woman said. Her hair was as red as the fireball floating beside her head, illuminating their faces. Finally, someone new that he hadn't seen before. Xen could tell in his Mystic Perception that she was a fire mage of a high rank, yet she paled in comparison to the Living Armor floating between him and the humans.

  "Why isn't it attacking?" another voice said, and Xen almost felt his soul leave his body as he laid eyes on a silver-haired elf. It was Sarah, the Stormbringer Guildmaster's daughter, and one of the original people he had encountered after becoming a shapeshifter. With the gathering of so many people he had run into before, he was starting to get suspicious.

  Were they really here for him?

  "Floor bosses are higher level than the floor they appear on and need high mana environments to function, so they are usually confined in a room or space. There's no doubt the Living Armor is aware of our presence—it simply doesn't care to attack unless we encroach on its area," the red-haired mage explained. "Actually, the presence of this Living Armor explains the increase of undead on this and the first floor. While confined, the mana from their rooms leaks into the surroundings and is what typically causes a dungeon rush."

  Sarah slowly nodded. "I think I remember learning that during the dungeon training course, now that you mention it."

  "It was likely mentioned in passing, as they rarely appear on the upper floors, so are of no concern to low-grade Hunters like you, Sarah," a man whispered, and Xen wanted to scream seeing his face. It was that shiny warrior who had tried to stop him from going down the stairs to the second floor—the one whose partner he had killed with corruption missiles.

  Any doubt left his mind. These people were here for him.

  "What should we do now?" another warrior, one Xen had never seen before, asked. He turned to the fire mage. "Any ideas, Jill? I'm thinking we should retreat and report this to the Guildmaster."

  "That would likely be for the best," Jill agreed.

  "Hold on," the archer said.

  "What is it, Aria?" Brandon asked.

  "Something's not quite right about that armor on the floor," Aria said, her eyes narrowing. "The dungeon isn't reclaiming the body, meaning whoever is inside is still alive."

  Xen cursed in his mind.

  "If he's alive, why isn't the Living Armor killing him?" Sarah asked.

  "That's the question, isn't it?" Aria smirked as she crouched down to get a better look. "Why would this warrior be left alone by an undead?"

  "Wait. I recognize that cloak," the shiny warrior said, narrowing his eyes.

  "You do, Eric?"

  Eric nodded. "It was worn by the Reaper that killed Mary."

  They all exchanged a look that made Xen's nonexistent skin crawl.

  "It looks like we have found Joe," Sarah said.