Chapter 290 - 55: Entrance to the 4th Floor

Right now, in the boss room of the third floor.

The massive Shark King lay on the ground, the crown on his head beaten into a mangled wreck.

And he was even more of a wreck.

The rabbit leader flexed his wrists. His muscles, gleaming and lustrous, shone like polished alloy.

Cracking his neck, the rabbit leader said disdainfully, "Shark King, you’re the same as ever. Pull this again, and I’ll kill you."

"Get lost!" the Shark King snarled, his body half-buried in the dirt.

The rabbit leader didn’t hesitate to give the Shark King another kick. Then, he deftly opened the Shark King’s pockets and dumped out all the contents.

After sorting through the pile, the rabbit leader picked out a candlestick, a key, and a Crystal Ball, handing these items to Duan Fei and the others.

"Alright, these items will be very helpful on your journey. Due to the Demon King’s restrictions, this is as far as I can take you. You can set this place as a waypoint, so you can teleport directly here next time you enter."

"Thank you, Rabbit Leader."

"Don’t mention it." The rabbit leader flashed the gloves on his hands and grinned.

Since he still had his own duties to attend to, he turned, gave the Shark King another kick, and said, "These are my bros. Remember to look after them."

Shark King: "..."

"Did you hear me?! Answer!"

"I heard you..."

"There’s a good boy."

Satisfied, he gave the Shark King one last kick, waved a friendly goodbye, and left.

Only when the rabbit’s footsteps had faded away did the Shark King pull himself out of the dirt.

He spat out a mouthful of shattered teeth, then strained with all his might—like a man on the toilet—and a new row of teeth instantly grew in.

"Wow, nice trick, Chief!" Duan Fei said, clapping his hands.

Hearing the applause, the Shark King whipped his head around and roared, "Shut your trap, you little Slime! I can take it from the rabbit, but now you punks are mocking me, too? I have a reputation to maintain, you know!"

"After that beating from the rabbit, I’d say your reputation is shot."

"You shut your mouth!"

Muttering angrily, the Shark King sat down. His heart bled as he watched Duan Fei and the others holding his items.

Three treasures he had worked so hard to collect, snatched away just like that.

Still, what was gone was gone. He had no intention of trying to get them back. Instead, he picked his ear and said, "First off, congratulations on clearing the third floor. You can now proceed to the fourth. As per the Demon King’s decree, the fourth floor is a new Starting Point. You’ve officially passed the tutorial zone and are now proper Adventurers."

"On the journey ahead, you will encounter all kinds of dangerous Monsters, unthinkable traps, and a variety of strange Curses. If it weren’t for their mindlessness, some of the lower-level Monsters would be even stronger than us bosses. Going down there without sufficient strength is a death sentence."

Hearing this, Duan Fei raised his hand and asked, "So, Shark-for-Brains King—"

"You’re calling me that on purpose, aren’t you?"

"It was an intentional accident. What I really want to know is, why are you bosses sentient?"

The Shark King stared at Duan Fei. ’This little Slime is surprisingly perceptive,’ he thought.

Lying on his side, the Shark King said, "It’s simple. From the second floor on, every boss was once an Adventurer. We all set out on the path to defeat the Demon King, but in the end, we all failed. Failed Adventurers are forcibly transformed into the Demon King’s servants. Countless Adventurers have been turned."

"How long has the Demon King been around?" Duan Fei pressed.

"A long, long time. At least a thousand years. Most of the time, the Demon King lies dormant, becoming active in hundred-year cycles. When a cycle begins, Adventurers come to challenge the Demon King, clear out the Demons, and bring materials back to the surface. Unfortunately, for all their numbers, the Adventurers can’t destroy the Demon King. The most they can do is quiet him down for a while."

Pointing upward, the Shark King said, "When a cycle begins, the climate goes haywire. Droughts follow, the people suffer, and life becomes unbearable. These are the signs of the Demon King’s return. I was an Adventurer once, too. Until I failed my quest and was reduced to this."

"How pitiful." Darts Guest wiped the corner of his eye. "Do you have any family? I can pass a message for you."

"No need. My relatives don’t understand human speech. They’re all sharks."

"Oh."

Duan Fei looked at the Shark King. ’The biodiversity in this world sure is something else,’ he thought.

With the explanation over, the Shark King stretched his fins. "Alright, you can continue your adventure. The next floor is behind that mirror over there. It’s a mirror maze, and the paths are a real pain. The old rule about a boss room appearing after a set distance no longer applies. You’ll have to find the exit on your own."

"Got it. Thanks."

After thanking the Shark King, Duan Fei and his companions walked over to the mirror.

It was a massive wall of mirrors, like one you’d find in a dance studio.

The mirror’s craftsmanship was clearly out of place with the dungeon’s overall setting.

The world was supposed to be a standard sword-and-Magic fantasy, with a medieval level of production. There was no way they could have manufactured such a large, smooth mirror.

In front of the mirror, Duan Fei finally got a clear look at himself.

His green body was translucent, with bubbles occasionally floating up from within.

His eyes were big and round, giving him a dopey, vacant look—not exactly the portrait of intelligence.

This dumb-but-cute appearance immediately pegged him as belonging to the bottom of the food chain. No wonder all the sentient bosses they’d met so far had looked down on them.

His self-assessment complete, Duan Fei poked the mirror’s surface with a pseudopod. The mirror rippled like water, and their reflections wavered along with it.

Duan Fei tried to step through. He found the mirror felt like a thin membrane. The three Slimes passed through it with ease, walking right into the mirror’s world.

Behind the mirror was a world of crimson.

The room’s layout was identical to the Shark King’s, but inside was only the corpse of the Shark King.

The Shark King’s corpse had rotted and putrefied. Its massive body had bloated with decomposition gases and exploded, splattering the surroundings in crimson.

In a room that looked like a censored mosaic of gore, Duan Fei was immensely grateful this was a 15+ rated game. Otherwise, he might have had to face this sanity-shattering scene head-on.

But even so, the stench of decay hung heavy in the air, assaulting their nostrils and refusing to fade.

"Why do we still have a sense of smell now that we’re Slimes?" Darts Guest asked in confusion.

"Probably psychosomatic. Just like Kobayashi."

"That reference is getting a little old."

This place looked identical to the one outside, but everything seemed to be reversed.

The once-lively Shark King was now a corpse, and the room, once filled with seawater, was now bone dry. It made one thing clear to the three players:

In the mirror world, everything was flipped.

On the opposite side of the room was another mirror. Beyond that mirror lay the true fourth floor.

A vast, sprawling fourth floor, filled with mirrors.