The Demon King is Unfathomable

‘Accelerate.’

‘Climb up the walls.’

Araklulu nimbly leaped across the obstacles in its way like a hunter in the shadows. Its eyes remained firmly locked on its targets while scurrying across the wall.

‘Fire… Attack!’

Araklulu’s sure-kill hunting skills were on point today, as always!

Its agile front legs were about to knock the fragrant skeletons down to the ground, but the feedback against its leg was exceptionally hard, different from what it had expected.

One of the skeletons had turned around and raised its shield to block its attack.

Duang!

Araklulu was taken aback. It tried to use the force to leap backward, but it was already too late. The skeletons made cackling noises as if shouting…

He had long noticed the spider lurking behind them.

Right after he said those words, Autumnleaf, who had been charging all this while, brought his sword down on the monster in front of him.

“Execute!”

His sword qi sliced through the crypt spider’s skull, spraying red and yellow fluids all over the ground.

The lethal attack instantly zeroed the crypt spider’s HP. Its legs curled up, and it collapsed to the ground.

Just like that, Araklulu’s past valiant feats became fodder for an unknown skeleton’s legend.

Everything had happened so abruptly that the other hunters of the Weaving Shadow Nest froze on the spot. Arakdor was so startled that he nearly fell from the labyrinth’s walls.

‘Is that… the adventurers’ skills?!’

He had encountered it once back when the previous demon king was still alive, and he had nearly died to that skill then.

“Damn it—Araklulu!”

“Boss! I’ll avenge Araklulu!”

“Hold it!” Arakdor raised his leg to stop his agitated subordinates. He looked into their grieving eyes and growled, “Something… is amiss with those skeletons. They are using the adventurer skills.”

A crypt spider whose overgrown fur was nearly covering its eyes replied in agitation, “Isn’t that even more reason to kill them before it’s too late?!”

“You fool! Those are skeleton soldiers, a necromancer’s servants! As long as the necromancer wills it, he can summon as many of them as he wants. There is no lack of bones in the human world! Even pig bones cow bones goat bones dog bones can summon them! Are you telling me to trade your lives for a bunch of rotting bones?!”

It was even possible to conjure bones out of nothing, just that skeleton soldiers summoned in such a manner needed a constant influx of mana to maintain.

The hunters fell silent after hearing Arakdor’s words.

Indeed, there was no point in killing a couple of summons. The anger must have gotten to their heads. They were the sentient monsters nurtured by the Weaving Shadow Nest!

The enemy would die laughing if they learned that his lowly summons had taken down the pillars of the great Weaving Shadow Nest!

“But… are we to let this go?” the crypt spider with overgrown fur growled indignantly.

“Let this go? Of course not!” Arakdor watched as the two skeletons disappeared at the bend in the path with narrowed scarlet eyes. “I’ll make them and the necromancer behind them pay the price for this… but not now. Come with me. We need to investigate our destroyed sentry post. Don’t forget the mission Lord Alakinse entrusted to us.”

…

On the other hand, Autumnleaf and Twilight advanced deeper into the labyrinth in search of a better farming spot.

This game had no minimap, so they could only leave markings along the way and go offline every now in a while to jot down the pathways on paper.

Fortunately, the labyrinth was easier to navigate than the mining shaft; most paths were straight, and the bends were at right angles. Only a few smaller paths were a little twisted.

Twilight: “Now that I think about it, that earlier spider was stronger than the others.”

Autumnleaf: “It’s probably an elite mob.”

Twilight: “No wonder it gave more experience… Are there no other mobs here other than spiders?”

‘Or are the other monsters not added in yet because the game is still in closed beta?’

Autumnleaf surveyed his surroundings and, after a moment of contemplation, replied, “Maybe… an ‘incident’ happened here.”

Twilight: “Incident?”

Autumnleaf nodded before carrying on, “This game doesn’t have many storyline events, but if you pay close heed, there are still many clues in the details.”

Twilight: “For instance?”

Autumnleaf: “Hmm, do you remember the mage carrying a crystal ball we saw in the opening cutscene?”

Twilight: “Of course. That person is the Demon King, right?”

Autumnleaf nodded with a smile. “Yes, but he wasn’t the demon king then. He seemed to be studying at an academy and later attended what appeared to be a graduation ceremony with many high demons.”

Twilight: “Your point being?”

Autumnleaf: “That academy could be a school in the demon realm that nurtures demon kings. The previous demon king stationed here might have died or was dispatched elsewhere, so our boss was sent here as Necropolis’ new demon king.”

Twilight widened his eyes in astonishment.

‘Isn’t this… too far-fetched?! And what does this have to do with there being only crypt spiders in the labyrinth?’

“So… what about it?”

“Work your imagination.” Autumnleaf looked at the spider webs hanging on the labyrinth walls. “The previous demon king died, but the labyrinth monsters remain. A gap appears in the order. So, the birds occupy the snake's lair. The snakes chase off the spiders. The spiders evict the rats…

“A new order is formed. Powerful monsters rise to fill the vacuum. Some races flourish due to having strong individuals. Others due to their incredible reproduction rate or incredible adaptive prowess.

“The ratmen we encountered in the mining shaft were chased out by the crypt spiders, and they were immediately eradicated when we tossed them back into the labyrinth… Here comes the million-dollar question—what does this all mean?”

Twilight was immersed in the story when the sudden question threw him off the loop. He thought about it before replying, “This means that the ratmen are weaker than the crypt spiders?”

“Not exactly.” Autumnleaf shook his head with a smile before offering a succinct answer, “Organization.”

“Organization?”

“That’s right.” Autumnleaf nodded. “That is the upper hand a civilization has against the wild. The crypt spiders’ ability to efficiently eradicate the ratmen and take their place despite the latter having grouped up points to the crypt spiders having formed a tight organization.”

“Is that possible?” Twilight stared at Autumnleaf in disbelief.

As much as Autumnleaf’s analysis made perfect sense, his instincts were screaming that a game shouldn’t have such meticulous details…

‘It has to be a coincidence!’

As much as he wanted to say that, he couldn’t find a better reason to convince himself. It was also at the same time that he noticed a massive issue.

‘If Brother Autumnleaf’s conjecture holds true, doesn’t that mean we are doing something incredibly risky right now?!’

“Hold on. That means that if we continue advancing, we might bump into a spider similar to that humongous rat?!”

Looking at the guarded Twilight, Autumnleaf replied with a laugh, “There’s no need to panic. I picked the road with the least spider web, so something else should await us at the end.”

The formation of factions in the labyrinth meant the monsters were no longer sharing living spaces. There were now demarcations of territory. The labyrinth area closest to them had been occupied by the crypt spiders, so no other monsters would appear there.

But the crypt spiders were nowhere strong enough to occupy the entire labyrinth.

In other words, they should encounter other monsters as long as they went a bit deeper.

While they were chatting, the scenery suddenly opened up. They were still inside the labyrinth, but there was a conspicuous change in the atmosphere and the background.

If they were previously in a spiders’ lair, they were now in a human city’s underground sewer. The walls were affixed with rusted pipes, and rotten wooden crates and everyday trash were casually scattered around.

It was a good thing skeletons had no noses, or else they would have smelled an ungodly stench.

“I was right,” Autumnleaf murmured as he assessed the surroundings. “We should be out of the crypt spiders’ territory now.”

Spiders should be fond of damp places, yet the crypt spiders rather scurry into the mining shafts than occupy this place. It made him wonder which monster had taken this territory.

‘Is it snakes? Lizards? Centipedes? Or a fantasy creature—’

It didn’t take long before Autumnleaf discovered something else. In the room at the far end, he spotted a green, slimy bundle crawling across the ground.

“That is…”

“A slime?!”

The two skeletons’ soulfires flickered in shock.

At the same time, the green, slimy entity also noticed them. Unlike the crypt spiders, the slimes displayed immense interest in the skeletons and started squirming toward them.

“Looks like we stumbled upon the slimes’ territory.” Twilight fearfully took a step back.

Rather than rats and spiders, he felt much more biologically averse to these booger-like entities.

Autumnleaf, on the other hand, stood his ground and studied the pasty monsters in fascination.

“Interesting… It has a slow movement speed. We don’t know how it attacks yet, but it is intriguing why the crypt spiders fear them.”

As he spoke, he drew his blade and started charging his ki. When the slime came within attacking range, he slashed his blade with lightning speed.

“Execution!”

The sword ki sliced through the slime, and the latter exploded into goo like a popped balloon.

“The experience is a third of the crypt spiders. It’s only slightly higher than the ratmen.”

Something of this level shouldn’t spur the crypt spiders’ fear. It baffled him why the crypt spiders hadn’t chosen to occupy this area.

‘Is it because slimes are not in their diet? Or… is this place occupied by more than just slimes? Are there more dangerous beings dwelling here who are either symbiotic to or are the masters of the slimes?’

Twilight was baffled too.

“These mobs seem much weaker than the crypt spiders… This should have been the beginners’ farming spot, right?”

Even lifestyle players should face no difficulty defeating these monsters.

Autumnleaf nodded. “Perhaps… Let’s jot this place down first.”

‘Let’s call this place Underground Sewer. Monsters: Slime. Recommended levels: LV0~5.’

Since the developers didn’t bother naming locations, he could only do it on their behalf.

Autumnleaf was planning to leave before the slimes surrounded them when Twilight suddenly noticed an anomaly with the slime’s carcass.

“What’s that?”

Twilight suppressed his aversion and plunged his hand into the green goo puddle. From there, he picked up a rice-sized crystal.

“Let me see…” Autumnleaf took the crystal and observed it.

He was initially confused too when he suddenly recalled seeing a certain forum post from a netizen whose username had a dampening effect on his appetite. That person should still be muted at the moment.

“I see… This is a magic crystal?”

Twilight was surprised to hear that. “Magic crystal? What’s it for?”

“I don’t know either, but I have a bad feeling about it.” Autumnleaf frowned. “We might have missed a lot of things while farming…”