Xen already had a bad feeling about what the Underworld Orc's roar entailed by the twitching corpse in his hand; however, his fears were further brought to light when the massive form of the Underworld Orc stood from its crude throne after finishing its cavern-shaking roar.

  It towered over its kin at an impressive eight feet tall. But unlike the Clay Orc that Xen had been fighting with, this Underworld Orc's silhouette was anything but normal. As it hunched over, Xen got a good look at the dozen twisted bone totems protruding from its back like gnarled wings. Hanging from the tips of these totems like ornaments were clay-encased weapons, likely looted from fallen Hunters. They swayed and crashed into one another as the monster moved and raised its head to look right at Xen from across the lake.

  Xen felt his chest tighten.

  The Underworld Orc's face, much like the rest of its body, was a grotesque mixture of half flesh and half clay, as if it had once been alive but had slowly solidified into a living statue. Its movements were awkward and restrained as it grinned at him with only one working eye, the other hidden behind a mask of clay. At the edges of its cruel smile, tusks protruded unevenly, one broken and the other wrapped in a metal brace fused into its jaw.

  Raising both its arms as if heralding a god, earthy mana was drawn up from the ground into the Underworld Orc.

  "It's a mage?!" Randy said in shock, stumbling back a few steps.

  "Is that a surprise?" Xen asked, keeping his gaze locked onto the greatest foe in the room as all the other monsters seemed to have paused, as if waiting for their king's orders.

  "Yes... It's rare for an Orc to become a mage," Vesper said, also taking a step back. "We won't know what kind of mage that monster is until it attacks, and I'm not sure I want to find out the destruction a floor boss mage can unleash in a closed space like this."

  Xen's eyes scanned the cavern. While it was large for an underground space, it was now looking increasingly like a death trap, especially since this Orc mage was drawing in a disturbing amount of earth mana.

  "I don't know what it's going to do, but get behind me," Xen said, stepping forward confidently. With his Indomitable Defense skill still active, he was the only one in the group that could survive a hit of... well, anything. The three humans weren't wearing armor, or much of anything, to be exact.

  Randy, Vesper, and Valoria shuffled to get behind him while stealing sneak peeks at the Underworld Orc in the distance. After a full minute, it seemed the floor boss was ready to show them its power as it opened its arms wider and announced in an ancient voice that made the cavern quake, "Raise Claybound!"

  The gathered earthy mana erupted out of the Underworld Orc's hands in a wave that washed through the cavern. Xen winced, expecting it to knock him off his feet. Yet it harmlessly passed over him and flooded the floor.

  "Huh—Ow?!" Xen yelped as he felt something bite his hand. Looking down, the Clay Goblin corpse he had been holding was glaring up at him with empty eyes, with his gauntlet crushed in its mouth. Xen had many questions. One, how was it alive when he had literally devoured its brain, and two, how did a measly goblin have the strength to bite through his armor strengthened by his Indomitable Defense skill?

  Similar to how one would instinctively try to swat a fly, Xen raised his arm with the Clay Goblin still attached, and relying on the strength provided by his Buff of the Berserker skill, he slammed the Clay Goblin down on the ground with all his might. To his surprise, it shattered into dust on impact.

  You have killed a reanimated construct. No experience awarded.

  "What?" Xen said, looking at the pile of dust at his feet. "Reanimated construct? The skill name the Underworld Orc shouted out was Raise Claybound. Is it perhaps some kind of earth-based necromancer-style skill?"

  "I think you got it," Randy said, grunting as he drew back his bow loaded with a mana arrow and let it fly. He cleanly struck an incoming Clay Goblin that had been dead a moment ago, as evidenced by its missing arm, reducing it to dust. "They seem to be quite easy to kill," Randy added as he drew and fired a second arrow at another, killing it as easily as the first.

  "The Underworld Orc must be trying to tire us out with numbers," Valoria said while swinging her staff and pulverizing a Clay Goblin that was leaping at her from a nearby rocky outcrop. Much like Randy, she crushed it into pieces in one hit. "Wow, that was easy," she said, turning to them with genuine surprise.

  "Yeah," Vesper agreed as he sliced one in half. "Almost too easy."

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  Vesper's words caught Xen's attention. The amount of mana infused in the Underworld Orc's skill had been tremendous. While animating so many golems from afar was quite impressive, if they were this weak, he could think of more efficient uses of that mana.

  Just toppling the ceiling on us would have been well within the realm of that monster's power if it wanted to kill us. So why raise some useless constructs instead? Xen's thoughts trailed off as he caught something in the corner of his eye—the shattered remains of the Clay Goblin that Valoria had killed were quivering and starting to clump together.

  "Valoria, behind you," he pointed out. The druid turned around and yelped as a smaller-than-before Clay Goblin spawned from the rubble and almost bit through her leg. She kicked it hard, and it once again shattered. However, this time, none of them commented on how easy it had been to defeat it.

  "This is bad," Randy hissed through gritted teeth. "A war of attrition is tiring enough, but this is on another level. No matter how weak the enemies are, we will be forced to fight here until we die from exhaustion." He surveyed the group, "I assume you all got the same system message upon killing one of them about getting no experience?"

  Everyone nodded.

  What a pain. Since they are simply soulless beings controlled by the Underworld Orc, we gain no experience for killing them. This prevents us from leveling up and recovering. Randy is right, this is bad, even for me.

  Xen glanced at the Clay Goblin he had pulverized. It seemed to be taking far longer to recover as he had literally reduced it to dust, but he could see clumps of clay slowly gathering. However, there was no gray light arcing from it, meaning his Soul Leech skill didn't recognize it as a valid target to drain mana and biomass from.

  Had the Underworld Orc used this skill on purpose after sending in waves of weaklings to test Xen's capabilities? Would it have used a more offensive skill if he seemed like a squishy mage? Or was this the Underworld Orc's one and only trump card?

  Somehow, he doubted that. Considering how strong he already was at level 25, he couldn't imagine the strength a level 41 mage fighting in perfect conditions could unleash.

  "It seems that the more thoroughly you kill them, the longer they stay down. But we need to go on the offensive," Xen said, "A battle of attrition here will only spell death as you three will eventually tire..." he paused, realizing he had accidentally implied he wouldn't tire. "I mean, I will as well, but..."

  "Gerald," Randy said, looking straight at him. "Don't worry, we know. It's pretty obvious you're a monster. Why you're able to speak like a human and are protecting us, I don't know—nor is it important." He took a deep breath and looked at his two friends. "We just want to survive."

  "Can I ask what gave it away?" Xen asked.

  Randy actually smiled at his question as if it were amusing. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the many strange things you can do, like running through the heat in armor, not needing to breathe underwater, or your odd variety of skills. I had serious doubts about you before you took off your helmet."

  "Ah," Xen said, realizing he had taken off his helmet earlier to eat the Clay Goblin and gain its form, as his face was currently bare.

  Randy continued, "If the slime tendrils hanging out of your mouth when we found you weren't enough, the instant healing of your body like an Orc, and those soulless eyes of yours sealed the deal. You're a monster that is helping humans."

  Xen turned, giving them his back. "It seems there's no need to hold back anymore now that you figured me out." Raising his sword, he unleashed a Crescent Rage. The roaring red mana slashed through a dozen Clay Goblins. Many instantly turned to dust with system messages flashing past his vision, informing him that he hadn't been rewarded any experience.

  The attack continued, slamming into the Clay Orc. It sent the monster stumbling back a few steps, and the remnants of the attack killed another stray Clay Goblin that dumbly leaped into it.

  You have killed an opponent.

  Experience split between [Necrovore Slime] and [Human] form.

  [Necrovore Slime] is pending an evolution.

  [Human] has leveled up: 21 -> 22.

  The Orc was still very much alive, so that experience must have been because of the Clay Goblin he killed.

  "We can still level up," Xen muttered with some hope restored. Glancing over his shoulder, he repeated, "Leveling up is still possible—we just have to press forward and focus on killing the Orcs and Clay Goblins that are still alive rather than reanimated constructs by the Underworld Orc's spell."

  "What's your plan to get through that Clay Orc then?" Randy asked, gesturing to the regenerating monster that had given him so much trouble so far.

  Xen narrowed his eyes at it. "If regeneration is its greatest asset, then I'll need to target that. Luckily, I have just the spell for the job," raising his hand, he said, "Corruption Missile."

  Six orbs of corruption mana appeared around his wrist like a bracelet. After pointing his finger at the Orc to target it, they flew out one by one into the regenerating wound left behind by the previous Crescent Rage strike. The Clay Orc roared in understandable pain as corruption spread throughout its body. Blackened steam rose from the wound as the Orc's regeneration attempted to fight against the rotting corruption.

  "Good hit!" Randy cheered.

  "Hold on," Xen said, narrowing his eyes. Something was off. The Orc's regeneration was actually starting to win, so he swiftly ran forward. The Orc sluggishly tried to raise its arms in protest but was too exhausted from fighting the corruption to put up a fight. "Die," Xen said as he chopped the Orc's head cleanly off.

  You have killed an opponent 2 levels above your own. Bonus experience awarded.

  Experience split between [Necrovore Slime] and [Human] form.

  [Necrovore Slime] is pending an evolution.

  [Human] has leveled up: 22 -> 23.

  The Orc's body fell forward with a ground-shaking thump.

  Seeing his Human form close in on the D-grade evolution threshold, he got an idea.

  What if he upgraded two forms at once? Wouldn't that save him time and make him far stronger?

  "Either way, it's time to feast," Xen said, putting his foot on the downed Orc's head. He wanted that regeneration skill.

  to read ahead!