"I will remember, Skeleton Gentleman," Rachel replied earnestly."Also, if you continue deeper, you must be extremely careful. Around this time yesterday, a hyena adventuring party passed through here, delving further into the depths…""Although they should not have stooped to attacking you, I still hope you exercise caution."
"I shall be careful. Thank you for your warning," Lixuman replied.
He secured his staff on his back, nodded to Rachel, and departed from the shop. Those other adventurers had entered the dungeon earlier, and with their superior numbers and experience, it was only natural they were ahead of him. Moreover, they had already issued threats on his life, so courtesy was unnecessary.
Passing through the fourteenth floor, Lixuman refrained from the hot springs; as a skeleton, exposing his body would have provoked hostility.
On the fifteenth floor, the familiar fire lizards were gone, replaced by upright, red-scaled lizardmen. Steam rose from their bodies, their red scales glowing as if evolved from fire lizards. Lixuman, wary of their humanoid form and likely intelligence, advanced cautiously.
Lv15 lizardmen posed a credible threat—but the experience rewards were generous.
He tightened his grip on his staff and approached one.
"First-Level Magic: Wind Stone Spear!"
Two overlapping magical circles—blue and ochre—coalesced. An ochre spiral stone spear formed, wrapped in a rotating vortex of wind. This was one of Lixuman's experimental hybrid magics: wind-earth combined charge spell. The vortex accelerated, the spear's spiral blurred into near invisibility. At its peak velocity, he released it.
A sharp whistle cut through the air as the stone spear became a rotating phantom, slicing through the lizardman's skull before detonating.
Ding! Fire Lizardman Lv15 defeated. Experience +300.
Instant annihilation.
Lixuman gently lowered his staff, retrieving a blank notebook from his ribs—procured earlier from Rachel. It was his repository for recording and refining his inventions: shield series, quagmire series, and now hybrid spells.
"High power, high consumption, extreme charge time.""Improvement: reduce charge and energy cost."
He closed the notebook, returned it to his ribs, and approached the fallen lizardman. Extracting a magic stone with his dagger, he placed it into his pouch.
"Clang…"
"What was that?"
Lixuman looked up, alert to his surroundings. Silence. No movement.
"An illusion?"
He gripped his staff, rising cautiously.
"Clang!"
Not an illusion. A sound of shattering—from below!
Lixuman leapt, spreading his skeletal wings to anchor into the upper stone wall. The earth ruptured.
"ROOOAAAR!!"
A massive, fire-red form burst from the ground, its body wreathed in crimson flames. Two elongated, fiery horns crowned its head. A giant version of a fire lizardman—an evolved form.
A special lizardman: the Lizardman King.
[Name] Lizardman King[Level] Lv20[Class] Monster Warrior[Description] A dangerous lizardman variant, the sovereign of its kind, possessing unparalleled physicality, magical affinity, and extreme fire resistance; Level Cap Lv20.
Its crimson eyes swept the surroundings, locking on the inverted Lixuman clinging to the wall.
"ROOOAAAR!!!"
Lixuman's mind raced. He transformed his hands into sharp claws, anchoring into the stone as he scrambled deeper like a giant spider.
The lizardman king raised its hand; fireballs materialized, orbiting its body before hurling toward him. Lixuman leapt to the ground. Behind him, fireballs struck the wall where he had been, sending debris flying and smoke billowing.
Through the smoke, a quadrupedal silhouette lunged at him.
"Quagmire!"
The staff drove into the ground, rippling the mud into a vast bog. The lizardman king sank momentarily—but flames erupted, evaporating the moisture instantly. It leapt, jaws agape, unleashing a fire pillar.
"First-Level Magic: Water Wall!"
Too small a shield for such a torrent. A water wall rose, converging from all sides, steaming violently as Lixuman retreated.
From the mist, the colossal figure struck from the side, claws flaming, hurling him backward. He rebounded, narrowly avoiding the next stomp.
"Wind!"
Using wind magic, he was propelled sideways, simultaneously striking the lizardman king's knee with his staff.
Thud. The blow deflected.
"What resilience!" Lixuman thought. This was no ordinary lizardman—it was the apex of all Lv20 lizardmen.
The beast kicked again. Lixuman braced with his staff, sliding backward under the force. Flames erupted from its claws.
"First-Level Magic: Water Shield!"
He conjured a water shield on his left arm, dodging fireballs while maneuvering through the narrow corridor.
The lizardman king was several times larger than typical lizardmen; terrain advantage could aid his escape. Yet, more lizardmen converged, responding to its summons. Soon, he collided with a throng. Red scales glittered like a raging inferno.
"Out of my way!"
Lixuman barreled through, body and equipment enabling him to force a path. His staff blurred, obliterating lizardmen skulls in succession. Blood soaked his attire; some bone surfaced along cracks. Tissue clung to his staff.
Still, he pressed forward. Yet the lizardmen multiplied with time. Every turn met obstruction.
He gambled all, plunging his staff into the ground. A massive ochre magical circle erupted beneath him.
"Super Quagmire!"
Nearly a hundred lizardmen sank instantly. The spell drained most of his mana; the fire of his soul dimmed slightly.
"Take flight!"
Wings unfurled; his focus sharpened as wind magic blew beneath him, keeping him aloft in the narrow corridor. Precision controlled every motion, avoiding walls, mud, and lizardmen.
Twisting through the passage, he nearly collided multiple times, saved only by the wind's force. Emerging from the encirclement, he knew any repeat attempt would result in collision.
A precipice loomed ahead. Lizardmen pursued from behind. Without hesitation, he plunged downward, aiming to hide until the foes above dispersed.
Below, jagged stone spikes jutted out. Lixuman flapped his bone wings to evade them, descending deeper. Eventually, he landed in utter darkness.
He retracted his wings, raised his staff, imbuing its gem with faint blue light, illuminating the surroundings. Craggy stone vanished, replaced by crystalline walls shimmering ethereally.
Where was this?
According to prior research, no layer of the dungeon appeared like this.
For now, caution was paramount. Leaning his staff against the wall, Lixuman used its gemlight to retrieve the spellbook from his ribcage and began careful study.