The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

Under the command of Lord Jiaqi, the entire ratmen population of North Peak Mine erupted into frenzy, their teeth grinding as they prepared to pounce on the invaders and tear them to shreds.

Meanwhile, the players currently grinding in the mine had no idea what was about to hit them.

After finishing off a slave rat cornered against the wall, the pig-headed Knight skipped forward and deftly cut off the rat's tail with a small knife, tying it in a knot around his rib.

"That's the tenth one! 1000 Joss Paper in the bag! Gah gah gah!"

Fellow Minotaur Warrior, holding a short sword and shield, followed, communicating with a creaking voice.

"Keep it up, only 10 more to go for 50 Contribution Points."

Pig-headed Knight: "Fuck! Why are there still so many?!"

Minotaur Warrior: "You've been AFK for too long, these rats were easy to catch at first, we could've finished quickly."

He had already collected his 20 tails long ago and was continuing to grind just to keep his buddy company.

If he weren't tagging along with this dumbass, he'd probably be mining with those professional gamer types.

You get 50 Contribution Points for mining either 1000 pounds of coal or iron.

Filling up these two highest-paying daily tasks, you could earn 100 points a day.

Try hard, and in 10 days you could make it to Black Iron, then the sky's the limit.

Pig-headed Knight had a look of pure misery, muttering curses under his breath.

"Damn it... Saint Sis."

Minotaur Warrior asked facetiously with a sly grin.

"The Demon King is the one who'd ban your account; why curse Saint Sis?"

Pig-headed Knight rolled his eyes.

"None of your business! I'll curse whoever the fuck I want!"

"Hahaha!"

No longer teasing his brother, Minotaur Warrior led the way with a shield in hand, ready to find the next unlucky rat.

But just then, a ground-shaking tremor suddenly arose from not far ahead of the two skeletons.

It felt like an entire army was charging forward, accompanied by a roaring sound akin to a tidal wave.

Pig-headed Knight's jaw dropped as he stared blankly into the pitch-black distance.

"What the hell is happening?!"

Minotaur Warrior, who also noticed the commotion up ahead, instantly became fierce.

"Something's not right, buddy..."

According to the usual pattern, such commotions meant either an elite mob had spawned or a boss had appeared.

Yet, it felt like neither to him.

Observing the tremor getting increasingly closer, he knew he had no time to hesitate, so he decisively dropped his gear and pulled his buddy to one side.

"What are you doing?!" Pig-headed Knight was taken aback by Minotaur Warrior's actions.

"Playing dead! What else?! It's just us two skeleton soldiers, if we actually run into a boss, wouldn't we be just free loot?!"

He still didn't know the death mechanics of this game; if they ended up being out of battle for a couple of days, that would be seriously frustrating.

"Playing dead? That works?!"

"Why wouldn't it? It's Undead 101, isn't it?! Stop yapping and lie down if I tell you to!"

That kind of made sense.

Both skeletons lay motionless on the ground, looking as if they had been dead for ages.

After a short while, the cause of the great commotion finally stormed past their location.

At that moment, the on-edge Pig-headed Knight finally saw the culprits behind the quake.

"Oh fuck..."

Rats!

Thousands upon thousands of half-human-sized rats!

Some were well-equipped with armor and swords, others ragged and bare-handed.

But without exception, every one of their sharp-toothed faces was filled with a fierce, menacing glare.

Pig-headed Knight even wondered, if these rats really got serious, they could perhaps overrun the group of Earth Cave Spiders at the entrance of the labyrinth. Then, why settle for the mine as their home?

As the rat horde trampled past the vicinity of the two skeletons, they kicked up a massive cloud of dust.

Fortunately, just as Minotaur Warrior said, the rats did not notice them.

The deafening noise finally moved away, seemingly heading toward the direction of the Demon King Territory.

Minotaur Warrior shook his head, stood up, and looking at the smashed shield, eventually sighed and just picked up the short sword.

It had taken so much effort to evolve into a Skeleton Sword Shield Hand, and now he was back to being a lowly skeleton soldier.

What a loss!

"...Seriously, are these rats insane?"

"Don't know, maybe they're desperate..."

All morning, every player in the mine was wrapped with twenty tails, having slaughtered at least seven or eight hundred ratmen.

Minotaur Warrior logically speculated that behind these rats there was either a Mage casting spells or a big rat giving orders.

"...What do we do now?" Pig-headed Knight looked at him for an answer.

There was no way back home, and moving forward seemed like a dead end too.

Minotaur Warrior scratched the back of his head, indecisive, and tentatively suggested.

"Uh... How about we go post on the official website first?"

"And then?"

"And then... then let's just see as we go forward? What if we find a boss?"

"Damn! You just said we couldn't beat it!"

"We don't have to be able to beat it, doesn't the task bar have a line that says finding new landmarks also has rewards... A boss room should count as a new landmark, right?"

Pig-headed Knight gave him a sideways glance.

The guy who just now was scared shitless by the mention of a boss was now all eager to try.

But he also wanted to see what the boss looked like, so he didn't stop him.

As for dying?

Then just die.

It's just a game, anyway. If you haven't died seventy or eighty times, can you even call yourself a player?

"Fine, I'll go with you to take a look," Spirit said.

"Wait for me a minute, I need to visit the official website first!"

With that, the Minotaur warrior squatted by the wall and turned back into a corpse, going offline to submit a report.

...

Deep within the Demon King Territory, near the entrance to the first level of the labyrinth, several thieves squatted in the Stone Prison, shivering.

That evil Mage... no, the evil Demon King was even more cunning than they had imagined. No sooner had he given them a bite to eat than he would use dark Magic to drain them nearly to death.

The sensation was incredibly unpleasant, as if being hollowed out by disease, their souls sucked away.

"I can't take it anymore... someone, anyone, please save me," the muscular Am groveled on the ground, his spirit broken.

The Berserker with the highest level and toughest image among this group of silver-edged sabers was unexpectedly the first to crumble.

Chris didn't have the strength to mock him.

Because she felt she was about to reach her limit as well.

"What do you think... that guy plans to do with us?" Grey Dog asked, shivering, as he looked fearfully at Reksen, the great swordsman who was still holding on.

"I don't know..."

Reksen shook his head, his eyes under his damp bangs filled with shadow and regret.

If they had known that guy was so dangerous, they never would have waited to take action inside the mine.

"...I've never dealt with an Undead Mage before."

"Aren't there any Undead Mages in the Underground Street?" Grey Dog swallowed, asking with a tremble in his voice.

Compared to these veterans, he was just a country youth who hadn't been in the business for long.

Joining the Silver Crescent was partly to strike it rich overnight, but more so because of a certain woman.

Chris glanced sideways at the kid, her vacant eyes staring straight ahead.

Underground Street... is nothing more than a bunch of thieves doing dirty work and poor wretches without hope. And as for Undead Mages... those are foes that only the Lord's army need worry about," she replied.

Undead Mages were the evil among the evil, only the vilest hells would pardon their sins.

This group of people didn't just betray the faith of Saint Sis, but also the moral norms of being human.

It is said that a silver-level Undead Mage can create disasters troublesome for Gold Level and even Platinum Level knights.

Such a rare existence, she had only heard about in rumors.

At that moment, Reksen, who was feigning sleep, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

"Something's moving."

Chris reacted as well, flipping onto her stomach on the ground to listen attentively.

As a thief, her greatest skill was scouting. Although it wasn't always reliable, the commotion this time was extraordinary, and there was no way she could have heard it wrong.

"It's a rat tide!"

Her face turned deathly pale in an instant, and she sprang to her feet, throwing herself against the solid Stone Prison walls, putting all her strength into pounding the unbreakable stone pillars.

"Hey! Is there anyone alive out there? Can you hear me? Let us out now!"

No one responded.

Instead, a few Skeleton Soldiers tilted their heads towards her, but it was clear from their clattering that they didn't understand what she was saying.

That guy...

Had left them there!

Her feeble punches were powerless against the rock-hard cage. Chris's eyes filled with despair as she howled with a hoarse voice.

"That... Qin Shihuang... you're nearby, aren't you?! I beg you—"

"Enough, shut up!"

A thunderous voice cut off her pleas, as a dark figure stood in the middle of the mine tunnel.

The man with hair so purple it appeared black held a magic wand in his hand, his arrogant face full of impatience, as if he didn't take the advancing rat tide seriously at all.

Chris's eyes widened as she stared at him.

Reksen was equally astonished, his eyes filled with incredible disbelief.

Had this guy gone mad?

Or was it that he, who had been dealing with corpses all year long, had no idea what a rat tide really meant?

"Scared by a few mice... and keep in mind your attitudes. You are my prisoners; do you think I'm joking around?"

When the piercing gaze fell upon her, Chris's face turned even paler, and she immediately moved away from the pillar, stumbling to sit down on the ground.

Luo Yan's gaze shifted away from the prisoners and he began to chant a Spell while waving his magic wand with his right hand.

"Awaken—"

"My servants!"

In a corner not far away, a corpse that had already begun to emit a putrid smell started to shakily rise from the ground.

Flesh sloughed from its body, and its expressionless face betrayed no hint of life.

Witnessing this sacrilegious scene, the prisoners swallowed nervously, unable to speak.

It was their teammate Bond—

Luo Yan watched the corpse, a trace of surprise flickering across his brows.

This guy was just an ordinary person without Extraordinary Power, yet his soul was at the bronze level?

Good.

As a puppet, he had a much higher limit than a regular one.

Controlling the puppet named Bond, Luo Yan ordered him to pick up the massive sword that players couldn't carry and stand guard around the Demon God Statue.

Then, he commanded Youyou.

"Youyou, gather all the players and tell them the monsters have started their siege!"

"If they hold off this attack, in addition to the basic rewards for the task, each player will receive an extra 10,000 Joss Paper and 100 Contribution Points!"

"If they can't hold it, tell them to look forward to the next beta test!"