You have killed an opponent.

  Experience split between [Necrovore Slime] and [Human] form.

  [Necrovore Slime] has leveled up: 20 -> 21.

  [Human] has leveled up: 15 -> 16.

  Xen had been happy to take the lead for many reasons, and this was one of them—by being at the front in a narrow tunnel, he didn't give any of his party members a chance to land a hit on the enemies, meaning all of the experience went straight to him.

  He didn't know precisely how experience sharing worked among a party. Still, considering he shared experience between his multiple shapeshifting forms, it wasn't out of the question that if one of the party members were to assist him in killing a monster, he would only get a share of the experience rather than the whole amount.

  Of course, there were downsides to Xen being the sole fighter. One of the main reasons he had risked his life by joining a party of humans was that he wanted to learn how human parties functioned so he could exploit them more in the future.

  I'll have to abandon these humans at some point in this labyrinth of tunnels so I can observe how they function in a life-and-death situation as a group. But that will have to wait until I find a more suitable time. For now, I'll take the lead.

  Withdrawing his sword from the wall, he inspected the goblin skewered on the end. Thanks to his incredible perception ability, he was able to see effortlessly in the dark, and he noticed that the goblin had a strange grey tinge to its skin, almost making it look like a clay doll. While it was dead, another was hiding inside the wall.

  He met its beady eyes before promptly stabbing it in the stomach.

  It shrieked in pain at the top of its lungs, giving Xen a perfect opportunity. With his back turned to the group of humans and the dim lighting, he was able to use his Appraisal skill without much risk.

  "Appraisal," he whispered as quietly as he could, and the skill activated.

  [Clay Goblin (Level 19)]

  He then looked at the tripwire.

  [Spider Silk Hair: Uncommon Grade]

  Silk produced by an unknown cave-dwelling spider species. It is infused with mana, significantly increasing its strength and resistance to magic.

  "Interesting. It looks like we are dealing with a horde of clay goblins making use of spider silk for traps," Xen said confidently, showing the group the two grey-skinned goblins impaled on the end of his sword. "Ever run into these guys before?"

  The group exchanged a look and all shook their heads. Randy offered an explanation.

  "While a known variant of goblins, clay goblins are quite rare, as they usually stick to underground areas with a specialty for making traps… they're considered rather dangerous from what I remember—not in terms of levels, but because of their intellect that surpasses most monsters of this level."

  "I see," Xen said, hiding his distaste in his tone. These were considered smart? It was insulting to truly smart monsters like him.

  He tilted his sword downward and dumped the goblin corpse onto the spider silk. Despite the weight of the corpse, it barely yielded and stayed tightly strung.

  The humans behind him tensed at his actions, but he already knew, because of his Geomantic Perception skill, that the spider silk was nothing but a tripwire. Casually stepping over it, he continued forward.

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  The atmosphere among the group was tense, as they only stopped occasionally for Valoria to widen the tunnel with her ground manipulation skill. At this point, the tunnel was pretty much pitch black apart from the very dim glow provided by the blue moss lining the dirt.

  At an intersection, Xen paused and raised his hand, gesturing for everyone behind him to stop.

  "What is it?" Randy said in a hushed voice. "Are you trying to decide which way to go?"

  Xen already knew the exact route, so he shook his head. "No. I know which way to go, but there's a different problem."

  That grabbed the attention of the group.

  "We have a problem?" Vesper hissed between his teeth.

  "What is it?" Randy asked.

  "The hundreds of goblins—they've gone silent," Xen said, struggling to explain what he was experiencing to them. It was like walking through a forest abuzz with life, only for it to suddenly go deathly silent.

  "Gone silent? What do you mean?" Valoria asked, her voice trembling.

  "It doesn't seem like normal goblin behavior—or at least, I don't think it is," Xen corrected himself. He had never actually seen goblins before in his entire life. He only vaguely knew of their existence.

  His primary concern right now was that it felt like his Geomantic Perception skill was failing him. He dropped to his knee and placed his hand on the dirt. What had once been hundreds of noises echoing through the earth had now stilled to zero. It was definitely silent, as if every monster that had been swarming below their feet had perished all at once. That simply wasn't possible. He did, however, have one theory, which he shared with the group.

  "The goblins… I think they know we're coming. Yet instead of coming to attack us like any usual monster would, they're waiting in silence—in the walls."

  If not for the tripwire earlier alerting Xen that something was off, he might not have noticed the Clay Goblin hiding in the wall. So the thought that all of them could be doing the same thing now worried him.

  "Maybe we should turn back," Vesper suggested. "Facing off against an endless horde of brainless monsters is one thing, but diving deep underground into a monster's trap is simply foolish."

  Randy and Valoria slowly nodded, agreeing with their fellow human's assessment. Obviously, it would be reasonable for Xen to agree—that is, if he were really a level 16 human Spellblade. But in reality, he was far stronger than he looked. All because his level 20 Necrovore Slime form added to the strength of his level 15 human form. While he wasn't quite at the same level of power as a level 35 Spellblade, his slime form definitely provided a boost in strength, endurance, and magic to any form he took.

  Essentially, he could punch far above his weight class. And unlike the humans, he could see perfectly fine in the dark and could endlessly regenerate both his limbs and mana—assuming he could get his hands on corpses. The only drawback was that many of these abilities would reveal he was a shapeshifter to the party.

  "We will carry on," he said, walking to the left. It seemed to have the most intricate tunnelways, giving him many opportunities to potentially lose the human party. He didn't necessarily plan to let them die—he just wanted to observe them and also have some alone time to devour a goblin corpse and level up some more. However, with the situation developing in an unexpected turn, he would stick with them for now.

  The three of them hesitantly exchanged a glance as he confidently strode down the left tunnel, and soon enough, they were following him.

  "This is really suicidal," Vesper grumbled to himself from the rear. Xen simply smiled behind his helmet.

  As they got deeper into the tunnels, it seemed a few of the goblins finally gave up on their stealth in an attempt to stop the intruders. Perhaps they had identified that the four of them were a dangerous threat and thought that hiding away in the walls would give them a greater chance of survival than a direct confrontation. However, their continued march into the depths despite the lack of any monsters or treasures had likely forced their hand to act.

  "Vesper—get ready," Xen suddenly said, striking fear into the assassin.

  "For what?" he asked, tightening his grip on both his daggers and looking around.

  "There's movement in the walls behind us. Actually… there's movement all around us now. The Clay Goblins have given up on hiding."

  They were currently standing in a wider tunnel, around three meters tall and wide compared to the tunnels they'd been going through before. This one appeared to be a more natural occurrence, perhaps once housing an underground river. The mud had been replaced with rough rock that dripped water.

  "How many?" Randy asked, as he nocked an arrow.

  "Not too many," Xen replied, grinning behind his helmet as he raised his sword. "Just fifty or so for now."

  "Fifty?!" all three in the group said in shock.

  Xen ignored them. He wanted to get the first hit in.

  "Phantom Strike," he said, meaning his subsequent three attacks would send out an echo attack that did less damage. A large amount of mana flowed out of his body, but he wasn't done yet. "Crescent Rage," he ignited his sword with crackling red mana.

  He then located the weakest part of the wall, which had the most Clay Goblins hiding behind it, and struck. A crescent of red mana roared forth, slamming into the rock and causing it to explode, revealing a dozen terrified Clay Goblins.

  Who then all promptly ate a Phantom Strike to the face.

  to read ahead!