The rest of the trip to the 5th-floor entrance didn't go without incident.

  Another swarm of Vampiric Bats hounded them from the darkness, followed by a small group of patrolling Gnolls that shrieked like startled cats upon seeing Xen's Hellfang form loom around the corner.

  However, since Xen was busy ferrying an injured Vesper on his back, he didn't dash ahead to solo the monsters like before; instead, he opted to fight alongside the humans as a group. Even Vesper joined the fight by hurling his dagger at the nearest monsters, earning him a contribution in the slaughter.

  "I leveled up?" Vesper said, his eyes widening in surprise.

  "Me too," Valoria said joyfully, throwing up two fingers. "I'm finally level 20!"

  "I'm still stuck at level 28," Randy said.

  "Wait, Randy, you outlevel me now? That's outrageous," Vesper said with a joking scowl.

  Randy shrugged. "You've been injured and out of the fight for ages, so it makes sense."

  "I wish I had gotten a mage or ranged class. Being an assassin has its perks, but it's too risky to fight when I'm disadvantaged in any way," Vesper grumbled. "One wrong move when attempting a skill and I can die."

  "Same for most melee classes," Randy pointed out.

  "No. Other melee classes often have skills or passives to help them swiftly recover from injuries or avoid them in the first place," Vesper countered with annoyance in his tone. "Meanwhile, if I have a busted foot, I'm as useful as a civilian."

  "Well, to be fair, when uninjured, you can kill me within a second without giving me a chance to really fight back," Randy said, silencing Vesper. He then glanced at Xen. "What about you, Gerald? Did you level?"

  "I didn't."

  "Well, obviously! You're level fifty," Valoria laughed.

  His Hellfang form was actually level nine, but Xen didn't bother to correct her. Not that he could blame Valoria for the misconception, as he had swatted a level twenty Vampiric Bat into paste like one would a fly. It had been so violent that he had surprised himself and sent the remaining bats fleeing into the chasm. This form was strong, frightfully so.

  "Hey, Gerald, since I leveled up, I think I can walk by myself now," Vesper said.

  "Really?" Xen replied. "I'll let you down then." He rose onto his hind legs, and Vesper clambered down from his back. Taking a wobbly step, he nodded in determination.

  "The stamina and mana recovery from the level-up should be enough to keep me going until we reach the teleportation hub," Vesper said and nodded toward Xen. "Thank you for your help so far."

  "We've helped each other out," Xen replied, shaking his head.

  "Guys, I see it!" Valoria called out, pointing into the distance. "The stairway to the fifth floor!"

  Sure enough, there it was. Embedded into the side of the cliff was a large opening. Xen took the front, and after confirming there were no lurking monsters around the stairway, he decided it was time to shapeshift back to his human form.

  Not only was it his strongest at level 45, but there should be other human hunting groups present on the fifth floor, as it housed the teleportation hubs. It had only been quiet on the fourth floor because, frankly, there was nothing here worth hunting.

  "Cover me for a moment," Xen told the group. Mentally selecting to switch forms, his massive Hellfang body melted into biomass, which was then reformed into a human. "Okay, let's go—what?"

  Valoria peeked at him from between her fingers, while Randy and Vesper laughed.

  Xen tilted his head. "Is there a problem?"

  "You're going to need some clothes if you wish to use any teleportation hubs," Randy explained, making Xen immediately realize the problem. "Luckily, I found Ghostwire's suit on the floor when you shapeshifted last time, and I decided to store it in my backpack for a time like this."

  Xen thought back to when he had shapeshifted into a Vampiric Bat. His human body had melted into his slime body, and then he had reformed into a bat. During the process, the clothes must have ended up under him.

  "Thank you," Xen said, taking the offered clothes from Randy. The three humans then worked together to help him get dressed, including his tie, which Randy insisted was an essential part of the outfit even though it didn't seem to offer any practical feature besides choking him a little.

  After making sure his mask covered his face and that his mithril short sword was still in his inner pocket, he nodded with satisfaction.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  ??[Name: Xen]

  [Level: 51 (B)]

  [Race: Hexreaver Slime (Rare Variant)]

  [Current Form: Human (Phantom Scout: Level 45)]

  [Class: Shapeshifter (Unique)]

  One more level in my human form, and I'll be the same level as Ghostwire was when he died. He glanced at the staircase. I hope there are a lot of tasty monsters down there so I can reach B grade in my human form before leaving for the surface.

  "Ready to go, everyone?" Randy asked as he slung his backpack on again.

  Everyone nodded, so they began their descent.

  [Entering the 5th floor of the World Dungeon]

  He passed through the barrier and was instantly blasted with a suffocating dry heat. The reason became immediately apparent as he got an aerial view of a ruined city sprawled out before him that was seemingly built inside the chamber of a slumbering volcano. Lazy rivers of magma snaked through the crumbling city and were the source of the radiating heat. He also noticed giant encampments among the ruins made from animal hides with different symbols inked onto them.

  Those must be home to the various Orc clans Randy told me about.

  In the distance, he could see what appeared to be beacons of blue light that pierced the ceiling of the enormous cavern in which the city lay. Around them were fortifications made from the existing ruins of the city, and he could see humans and elves patrolling the walls with weapons drawn. One such mage on the wall pointed their staff—a fireball swiftly manifested and whistled through the air, only to impact a street beyond Xen's view.

  This place was alive with activity.

  "Those are the teleportation hubs," Randy said, rightfully guessing what he was looking at. "There used to be three in total on this floor, but one of them was captured by the Orc clans."

  "Captured? Why doesn't anyone regain control of it?"

  "Because it's still technically owned by the Titanborn guild. While they did abandon it, they never gave up their claim to the teleportation hub, and nobody is going to dare take it from under their noses," Randy explained.

  "The Titanborn guild?"

  "Oh, you likely don't know much about Japan's various guilds. Then let me quickly explain, as you're going to run into people from all of them on this floor. I guess we can start from the top. The Titanborn guild only accepts S rank Hunters into their guild, and it's run by Chronos, the only SSS ranker in Japan."

  Xen paused on his step in disbelief. "SSS rank? That means this Chronos person is over level 200?"

  Randy also paused with him and nodded. "Chronos is said to be approaching level 300 and is probably the most important person in all of Japan. Even the Prime Minister has to listen to his every whim. The next strongest would probably be the Guild Association, simply because of its ties to the government. You will be able to pick them out because they wear standard government attire, which looks quite similar to what you're wearing right now, actually. Anyway, the next strongest would be... mhm."

  "The Ether Technocrats," Vesper said.

  "Yeah, it's between them or the Stormbringers Guild, whose Guildmaster's daughter put a bounty on you."

  Xen snorted. He hadn't found the Stormbringers to be very impressive thus far.

  "The weakest guild is definitely The Iron Legion," Valoria added with a chuckle. "Only people with suboptimal skills or common classes with low potential join them."

  "Or people scared of being actual Hunters," Randy said.

  Valoria agreed. "Yeah, I have to admit the allure of their Guildmaster's metal aura to low-level folk, as even a wolf on the first floor can be frightening to face for most people."

  "You almost cried after our first dungeon raid together—ow!" Randy yelped as Valoria punched him in the arm.

  "Shut it," she glared at him.

  "Okay, okay, geez. It was funny, though," Randy sighed. "Anyway, those are the five major guilds at play in Japan. You won't see anyone from the Titanborn Guild below the 50th floor, so the Ether Technocrats are the ones you should watch out for the most."

  "They are ruthless," Vesper said with a scowl. "They claim to be businessmen but operate more like a mafia."

  "Mafia?" Xen asked, not familiar with the term.

  "If you do something they dislike, they will make you an offer you cannot refuse, and by that I mean hold a gun to the head of your family members or send assassins after you into the dungeon."

  Xen frowned behind his mask. "Why don't the other guilds do anything about it?"

  "Because the Ether Technocrats bankroll the government and are the sole producers of mana-based technology like the phone I'm carrying. If they were to fail, Japan would lose its presence on the global stage," Randy clicked his tounge. "Politics. Anyway, I digress. With one of the teleportation hubs out of commission, we need to pick between the central hub and the eastern hub."

  Xen didn't know what to say, so he let the three humans reach an agreement.

  "The central hub is closest and the cheapest to use, but because we have Gerald, I think we should push to the eastern transportation hub," Vesper suggested. "It's owned by the Iron Legion, who only care for profit and will wave us through if we pay, whereas the central hub is controlled by the Association, which could raise issues."

  "I agree, but can you make it that far?" Randy asked, while pointing into the distance. "The eastern hub is through multiple Orc clan territories."

  Xen liked the sound of that.

  "That won't be a problem. Remember, the Iron Legion uses this place as one of its main hunting grounds, as their Guildmaster's metal aura also shields its members from the heat," Vesper countered.

  Randy's eyes widened. "You're right. I'd totally forgotten about that. In that case, so long as we stick close to the central hub and make our way to the eastern side, there should be no clans in our way."

  Xen didn't like the sound of this plan.

  "I want to fight the orcs as much as possible," he insisted. "Can we fight our way to the Titanborn guild's hub and use it?"

  Randy frowned. "That's... going to be difficult. The monsters aside, there are other reasons the northern hub was abandoned. Its location is in the most mana-dense part of this dungeon's floor, so there's likely to be a boss residing there. Not to mention that transport hub deposits us far from the city, unlike the other two, which exit in the city..." he trailed off as he seemed to come to a realization.

  Vesper had thought of it too. "Isn't all of that perfect for us?"

  Randy chuckled. "Yep. With a level fifty warmachine on our side, I suppose the abandoned northern transport hub will do just fine."

  "Then to the northern hub we go," Vesper said, and hobbled down the staircase, and the rest of the group resumed their walk down the stairs.

  Though the moment they set foot on the ruined city's floor, a hunting party of humans approached them.

  "Ether Technocrats," Randy said under his breath. "Let me handle them."