"I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Skeleton," Rachel replied earnestly.

  "Oh, and if you plan to dive deeper, Mr. Skeleton, you really need to be careful," she added.

  "Sometime around this time yesterday, the Hyena Adventure Team passed through here and dove deeper..."

  "Although they probably wouldn't stoop so low as to attack you..."

  "I still hope you'll be cautious," Rachel said with a serious tone.

  "I'll be careful, thanks for the heads-up," Eric said, nodding to Rachel before leaving the shop.

  Those guys had entered the dungeon before him and had the advantage of numbers and experience. It made sense that they were ahead. And since they'd already threatened him with death, he didn't need to hold back.

  He passed through the fourteenth level. As a skeleton, he couldn't exactly strip down and enjoy the hot springs here without drawing unwanted attention, so he skipped them.

  On the fifteenth level, the familiar fire lizards were gone. In their place were red lizardmen walking upright. They had the same red scales and skin as the lizards, and they exuded heat. They looked like an evolved version of the fire lizards. Since they were humanoid, Eric suspected they had some level of intelligence, so he didn't let his guard down. Level 15 lizardmen were more than capable of posing a threat to him. But man, they sure did give a lot of experience.

  Eric gripped his staff tightly and approached the lizardman cautiously.

  "First-tier magic, Wind Stone Spike."

  Two magic circles, one blue and one yellow, overlapped and slowly traced open. The earth-yellow spiral stone spike slowly condensed, wrapped in a vortex of wind magic that kept it spinning. This was one of Eric's experimental spells, a wind-earth hybrid charging magic called Wind Stone Spike.

  As the wind vortex spun faster and faster, the spiral patterns on the stone spike blurred until they were indistinguishable. When it reached a critical speed, Eric launched the spike.

  A sharp whistling sound pierced the air as the stone spike shot out like a shadow, spinning and creating a long, trailing vortex that pierced through the lizardman's skull and exploded.

  [Ding, Fire Lizardman Lv15 defeated, +300 experience]

  Instant kill.

  Eric slowly lowered his staff and pulled out a notebook from his ribcage. It was a blank notebook he had gotten from Rachel. He used it to record and improve the spells he had modified and created. It included his shield series, quagmire series, and now the hybrid magic series.

  "High power, high consumption, and extremely long charging time," he noted.

  "Improvement direction: reduce charging time and consumption," he jotted down.

  Eric closed the notebook and slid it back into his ribcage before approaching the fire lizardman. He pulled out a small knife, sliced open the chest, and extracted the magic stone, dropping it into his pouch.

  "Clang..."

  "What was that noise?" Eric lifted his head, looking around warily.

  Complete silence. No movement.

  "Am I imagining things?" he wondered, gripping his staff tightly and standing up, scanning his surroundings cautiously.

  "Clang."

  It wasn't his imagination.

  It sounded like something breaking. Where was the noise coming from?

  He looked around—stone walls, stone walls, stone walls—nothing seemed out of place.

  His spine tingled slightly.

  This place wasn't safe. He activated [Stealth] and [Agility] at the same time and sprinted toward a spot.

  "Clang!"

  The noise was clearer this time.

  It was coming from... beneath the ground!

  Eric leaped into the air, his bone wings unfolding from his back and digging into the ceiling's stone wall.

  Then, the ground split open.

  "Roaaar!!"

  A fire-red figure burst forth from the ground.

  A massive body burned with fire-red flames.

  A pair of slender, fire-red horns protruded from its head.

  It looked like a regular fire lizardman, but several times larger.

  It was a special variant of the lizardmen!

  [Name] Lizardman King

  [Level] Lv20

  [Class] Monster Warrior

  [Description] A dangerous variant of the lizardmen, the king of the lizardmen, with the strongest physique and magic power among lizardmen, extremely high affinity for fire, level cap Lv20.

  Its fiery red eyes scanned the surroundings and locked onto Eric, who was hanging upside down from the stone wall.

  "Roaaar!!!" it bellowed, charging straight at Eric.

  Not good, not good, not good, not good, not good.

  Eric's hands turned into sharp claws, digging into the stone wall as he scrambled deeper into the maze like a giant spider.

  The Lizard King raised its hand, and fireballs rose, swirling around its body.

  Then, with a wave of its hand, the fireballs shot one after another at Eric.

  He had no choice but to jump off the wall and land on the ground.

  Where he had been hanging, the fireballs exploded, sending debris flying and raising a cloud of dust.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Then, through the smoke, a figure burst forth on all fours, charging at Eric.

  "Quagmire!"

  Eric's staff struck the ground, creating ripples that turned into a large patch of mud.

  The Lizard King sank into it, but only for a moment. Its body burst into flames, evaporating the moisture in the mud.

  Then, with a deep crouch, it leaped into the air and opened its massive jaws.

  Fire elements charged in an instant, forming a pillar of fire that shot out.

  "First-tier magic, Water Wall!"

  Faced with the raging fire pillar, a water shield would be too small.

  The magic circle was instantly traced, and water rushed from all sides, forming a wall in front of him.

  "Sizzle!"

  Steam exploded and filled the entire space.

  Eric took the opportunity to retreat.

  But the next moment, a massive figure burst from the side, its flame-covered claws swiping at Eric's chest.

  He was knocked backward, crashing into the ground and bouncing off.

  The Lizard King followed with a wild charge, leaping and stomping down on him with both feet.

  "Wind!"

  Eric used wind magic, blowing sideways to dodge the stomp.

  At the same time, he shot upward, smashing his staff into the Lizard King's knee.

  "Thud."

  A dull sound echoed as the staff was deflected.

  "What kind of defense is this?!"

  The Lizard King was no ordinary lizardman!

  It wasn't just level 20; it was the king of all level 20 lizardmen!

  The lizard lifted its foot and kicked at Eric again.

  He had no choice but to block with his staff, sliding backward under the immense force.

  The Lizard King, seeing Eric sliding away, raised its claws and shot fireballs.

  "First-tier magic, Water Shield!"

  Eric raised a water shield on his left arm, dodging the fireballs while dashing into a narrow passage.

  The Lizard King was several times larger than a regular lizardman, so maybe he could use the terrain to his advantage.

  The Lizard King pursued relentlessly from behind.

  At the same time, more and more lizardmen were converging on the passage.

  This thing could command the other lizardmen!

  Before long, he ran head-on into a group of lizardmen.

  Their fire-red scales formed a continuous expanse, like a wall of flame in front of him.

  "Get out of my way!"

  Eric charged into them, using his high constitution and equipment to bulldoze his way through.

  His staff was a blur as he smashed lizardman heads one after another.

  By the time he broke through, his clothes were stained blood-red, and some of his bones had cracks forming.

  His staff was also coated in some suspicious flesh and blood.

  But he didn't stop, still charging through the maze of passages.

  However, the lizardmen just kept coming, growing in number with each passing moment.

  No matter which way he turned, there were more lizardmen blocking his path.

  Eric had no choice but to go all-in, slamming his staff into the ground. A massive earth-yellow magic circle spread beneath his feet.

  "Super Quagmire!"

  In an instant, nearly a hundred lizardmen were trapped in the mud.

  Such a large-scale spell drained more than half of Eric's mana, and even his inner soul fire shrank a bit.

  "Get me up in the air!"

  His bone wings spread wide, and Eric focused harder than ever before, blowing wind magic towards the ground.

  Flapping his wings in the narrow passage, he had to precisely control the wind magic to avoid crashing into the walls.

  The slightest mistake would send him smashing into the stone, falling into the quagmire and the swarm of lizardmen.

  He turned left and right through the passage, nearly colliding with the walls several times but managing to pull back using wind magic each time.

  He burst through the encirclement once more.

  Eric was certain that if he had to do it again, he would definitely crash into the wall.

  A cliff appeared ahead.

  Lizardmen were hot on his trail.

  Eric didn't have time to hesitate; he dove right in.

  First things first, he needed to get out of sight and wait for the lizardmen above to move on before making his move.

  Down at the base of the cliff, jagged rock spikes jutted out everywhere. Eric flapped his bone wings constantly to avoid the spikes.

  He had no idea how deep he'd gone.

  When he finally landed, it was pitch black around him.

  He folded his wings and raised his wand.

  With a gentle infusion of magic, the gem at the tip glowed a soft blue, illuminating his surroundings.

  The rough stone walls vanished, replaced by beautiful crystal walls made of sparkling crystals.

  Under the blue light, they shimmered with a dreamlike luster.

  Where on earth was he?

  According to Eric's research on this underground city, there was no level that looked like this.

  Well, he'd better explore carefully... or not.

  He knew himself better than anyone. In a place this eerie, the best bet was to stay put and wait for the lizardmen to leave.

  That's right, that's exactly what he'd do.

  Eric leaned his wand against the wall, using the glow from the gem to pull out the spellbook tucked under his ribs and started to read.