Xen had mixed feelings about the development. He hadn't been lying when he said he worked better alone, as his shapeshifting capabilities were severely crippled when others were around him.

  Yet on the other hand, he wasn't in a position to say no. Before getting in range, he had appraised them and knew that their levels dwarfed his, as did their number.

  [Human (Druid: Level 18)]

  [Human (Shadowblade: Level 24)]

  [Human (Archer: Level 21)]

  The druid he could handle, but the level 24 Shadowblade? Absolutely not. What if he turned them down again, and they started to get suspicious and pressure him? An assassin-sounding class of that level could likely chop off his head before he could even react.

  That's why he had accepted.

  He was also curious about how it would be to work with humans.

  Even if they only ended up partying for a few hours, it would give him invaluable insight into how human groups operated, which would hopefully give him ways to exploit them in the future.

  So in the end, after being pressured somewhat, he decided to say yes.

  He hoped the three-hour walk across the sand dunes towards the staircase to the third floor would be done in silence. But he knew a barrage of questions was inevitable, given his suspicious nature. And when you're putting your life in the hands of others, it makes sense to want to get to know each other.

  Thankfully, the helmet obscured most of his face and cast a shadow over his eyes through the narrow slit. So, he wasn't as worried about them noticing his soulless eyes or if he forgot to move his mouth when speaking.

  The bigger issue was crafting answers that didn't sound weird to any question he might be asked. He had a soup of memories to draw upon for ideas, but it would take time to delve into that soup and find the answers he needed on the fly. This posed a problem, as he knew that any pause in conversation would only make him seem more suspicious.

  "So, Spellblade," the Archer of the group called out while looking in his vague direction. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your name and what Guild are you from?"

  Xen tensed under his armor. He hadn't been planning to group up with humans so soon, so he hadn't really rehearsed the answers to these questions. For his necromancer persona, he had a name and a vague backstory, but he hadn't thought of one for the Wandering Spellblade. To buy himself some time, he turned and looked at Randy.

  "Shouldn't you be introducing yourselves first?"

  Randy seemed a little taken aback by his gruff response. Coughing into his hand, he smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, that's fair. We did force ourselves into your group, after all." Randy paused and exchanged a look with his party members. "My name is Randy, and I will be working for the Guild Association upon my graduation from university as an analyst."

  Xen nodded but had only been half-listening. His mind was racing for answers to the previous question. What Guild was he a part of? Clearly, the Iron Legion was out. He had tried to use that Guild in the past, but it only brought him problems. From what he had learned in his memories, the Stormbringer's Guild seemed rather prestigious, and he hadn't met anyone thus far from the other guilds. Since Randy claimed ties to the Guild Association, he also knocked that one off the list. That pretty much left him with no options.

  Basically ignoring what Randy said, he responded, "I don't work for any Guild, and my name is…" he blanked. What should his name be? "Gerald."

  No wait, why did I pick that name?! Out of all the names, why was it that one which first came to mind?

  "Gerald, huh? Well, it's nice to meet you."

  Xen decided to quickly change topics. While he had appraised them and knew of their classes and levels already, he was curious what they would say if he were to ask.

  "Since we are going to be working together, I think we should show our classes and levels. You seem to have already figured out that I am a Spellblade, so either my equipment gave me away, or one of you can use Appraisal."

  Randy nodded. "I used Appraisal on you." He puffed out his chest a little. "I got it with my Archer class, and it's one of the reasons I was accepted as an analyst for the Guild Association. So you can leave identifying rare monster variants to me."

  That was some helpful information. And thinking back, it was true—Xen had only seen Appraisal used by Archer classes so far. He made a careful note of this and decided to keep his Appraisal skill secret, as clearly a Spellblade shouldn't typically possess such a skill.

  "Stop bragging, will you?" Vesper muttered.

  Randy smirked at his friend. "Hey, I got lucky, what can I say?"

  Xen really wanted to ask how rare the Appraisal skill was but assumed that would be common knowledge, so he refrained. Instead, he stole a glance at Vesper and noticed his lightweight outfit despite the cold and the dagger sheathed at his hip.

  "Are you perhaps some kind of assassin?" Xen asked.

  "Something like that," Vesper said. "And my level is around 20."

  "Same with me," Randy said.

  Xen frowned behind his helmet. Having used Appraisal on them, he knew that the information they were giving wasn't exactly wrong, but it wasn't right either. Vesper seemed to have some sort of rare class that was an offshoot of an assassin called Shadowblade, and his level was 24.

  "I'm a druid, and level 18," Valoria sheepishly said—earning her a small glance from the two other party members, likely because she had been wholly truthful about her class and level.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Xen didn't point out the other two's lies and simply gave the girl an appreciative nod.

  "I see we have quite a good party here then," Xen said, simply parroting what he had heard from the discussion earlier. He didn't actually know if this was a well-balanced party or not, but it seemed to be, considering they wanted to drag him along to the third floor.

  They continued walking in silence for a while longer until, to Xen's annoyance, Randy asked another question.

  "Say, Gerald…"

  The name threw Xen off as memories of the mage he had devoured flashed through his mind.

  "What is it?" he asked in a somewhat unhappy tone. He wanted to come across as a grumpy person, hoping it would discourage them from asking him questions.

  "Your accent is kind of hard to pinpoint. Did you grow up in Tokyo?"

  Xen quickly searched through his memories and confirmed that Tokyo was the name of the megacity that sat above the dungeon, and was likely where all these humans kept pouring in from. Since it seemed like the most obvious answer and the city appeared quite large, he decided that it was safe to say yes.

  "Yeah, I did," he said dismissively.

  "But from what area?" Randy pressed.

  "Why do you need to know?" Xen asked, genuinely curious. "It doesn't seem relevant to our current situation."

  "Hey, man," Randy said, raising his hands defensively. "Just making small talk here to pass the time, and you seem like quite an interesting fellow."

  "I prefer to keep my private life to myself."

  "Come on, it's not like I'm going to show up at your house or something," he said in a joking tone. But then Xen could see in his eyes that he was anything but.

  Randy had mentioned being an analyst for the Guild Association, which meant he had a keen eye for details. The worst possible matchup for Xen.

  Staying quiet for a moment as he contemplated how to answer, Xen remembered that Gerald had actually provided him with an apartment. Now, of course, he wasn't Gerald. But he was sure that there could be other people named Gerald out there, so as long as he kept it vague enough, it would be hard to track him down.

  "I live on the East Block housing estate," Xen said, omitting the exact apartment number.

  "Oh, I see," Randy said, backing off slightly. Xen didn't know what that meant, but he was just happy to have Randy off his back.

  "I know a person who lives on that housing estate," Vesper said, side-eyeing him. "It's a rough place. I can see why you would be so secretive and keep your cards close to your chest."

  Xen simply nodded. While he did plan to check on Gerald's cat, it wasn't as if he had any attachment to the place or considered it his own. A silence fell over the group, much to Xen's relief. It seemed that mentioning he was from that housing estate had deterred them from asking any more questions. Which was good, as if they pressured him any more about the fact that he wasn't part of a Guild, his story would have fallen apart.

  "Oh hey, I think I see it!" Valoria said energetically. The exhausted group glanced up, and sure enough, there it was, the three pillars she had mentioned, with a little bit chopped off the top, peeking over a dune. They crested the dune, giving them a good vantage point.

  The journey over had been mostly uneventful, with only a single run-in with a group of undead that were swiftly dealt with from range by Randy, using a multi-shot skill that seemed to fire five ghostly arrows alongside one single arrow. Since the legion of undead had been in the single-digit levels, Randy's level 20-plus firepower had annihilated them with ease.

  Which is why Xen was rather surprised to see a large group of undead milling about the three pillars as if it were some sort of heavily defended site.

  Is this where all the undead in a three-hour radius have gathered? It certainly looks like it.

  "All right, Gerald, it's your turn. Can you show us what you've got and try wiping them out?"

  Xen didn't react to the order straight away, as the name was unfamiliar to him. His focus was entirely on the group of undead, counting their number and seeing if there were any rare variants among their ranks. In total, he could see a legion of fifty and a few undead mages sprinkled among their number wearing cloaks with an aura of mana radiating off them.

  "Don't want to do it?" Vesper asked.

  "Mhm?" He hummed in confusion as he noticed the trio looking at him.

  "As a Spellblade, wiping out a weak group like this should be your forte."

  While that was true, Xen was hesitant. He'd have to get closer to unleash his spells, and they might notice that the undead would ignore him due to his [Undeath Resonance] passive. So he came up with an excuse.

  "My mana is still recovering from my earlier encounter with the Living Armor floor boss, so I'd rather save what mana I can for the third floor, where I'll be needed for wiping out the goblins."

  Vesper didn't seem very happy with his excuse. But Valoria stepped forward, raising her gnarled wooden staff.

  "Snaring Roots," she said. Green mana cascaded down the dune and flooded the area around the entrance to the third floor. Vines that seemed dry and cracked sprang from the sand like nestling snakes and coiled around the many undead. The undead seemed confused at first, and their slow reaction gave the spell time to fully snare them.

  Valoria raised her staff again, and the vines violently pulled downward, toppling the main undead with a thud and throwing up sand.

  Randy nocked an arrow and targeted the few undead mages that had resisted Valoria's spell. His arrows flew with a whistle, impaling the mages' heads.

  Xen couldn't help but wince, imagining those monsters being him.

  "The spell won't keep the undead down for long, so we should get moving," Valoria said, and skidded down the dune. Everyone else followed, and Xen gave the snared undead flailing around a brief glance as they passed. The spell had seemed very grand, but considering it did no damage, he understood why it could be cast by a level 18 on such a large group. A simple fire spell or something would be able to counter this easily.

  "Why do the vines look so dry?" Xen asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

  Valoria glanced over her shoulder. "My mana is used to create the vines, but the spell relies on surrounding moisture to strengthen the vines, which clearly there is none of. It's also one of the reasons I want to go to the goblin floor. My druid spells are severely weakened in a desert."

  Xen nodded as the explanation made sense.

  "You should take the lead," Vesper said, gesturing toward the staircase.

  Xen really didn't want to take the front, but as the most armored individual of the group, it would be hard to justify why he shouldn't. So, without complaint, he took the lead. He went down the steps, and like before, a strange feeling washed over him as he passed between the floors. The first thing he noticed was an intense, humid heat. Walking down a few steps further, he got a good view of the third floor from above. It was a jungle filled with rivers, dense foliage, and a blazing fake sun overhead, too bright to look at.

  "Holy shit, I always forget how hot this floor is," Randy grumbled as he started taking off his thick coat and tying it around his waist. Valoria and Vesper followed, also removing their overcoats and exposing their lighter clothing underneath.

  Xen, of course, had no plans to take off any of his armor as he continued proceeding down the staircase to the bottom. His feet touched the swampy lands of the third floor, and he frowned as his armored boots sank into the mud slightly with a squelch.

  "Aren't you feeling a little hot under there?" Randy said, chuckling.

  "I'll be fine," Xen said dismissively.

  "Really? Even seasoned tanks usually drop down to lighter armor or no armor at all on this floor. The heat is absolutely brutal, and we'll be doing a lot of trekking through the jungle."

  "Hey Randy, stop bugging him," Valoria said. "If he wants to keep his armor on, he can."

  Randy shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

  Xen wanted to get a move on as soon as possible, so he tapped into his [Geomantic Perception (B)] skill to locate the enemies. His head snapped to the left, where he felt a lot of movement, likely from a settlement of goblins. They numbered in the hundreds.

  "We should head this way," he said and started moving.

  "You sensed something?" Randy asked. "That's surprising for a Spellblade."

  "As I told you. I'm perfectly capable of hunting on my own," Xen said and started to run forward, despite his armor and the heat, clearly surprising the three humans behind him.

  to read ahead!