Death Maze, First Underground Level.
This was not a maze in the traditional sense; it was more like an alternate dimension. After entering, there was a vast, boundless wasteland paved with pale shattered bones.
Closest to the entrance, a dozen mid-tier Ghouls were roaming, their eyes burning with oily green hellfire. Their iron-blade-like claws easily ripped open adventurers' leather armor, tearing flesh and burying their heads to gnaw on the decaying meat.
This kind of monster was no longer something low-tier adventurers could hunt.
Moreover, there were so many of them!
To be safe, adventurers of the Ruby or Emerald level would need to form a party, led by at least a Silver-rank Adventurer, to eliminate them.
However—
This was merely the entrance to the Death Maze.
To truly farm monsters and complete quests in the Death Maze, a party of Silver-rank Adventurers was required.
Not to mention, below the first level of the Death Maze, there were even more terrifying second and third levels!
"Roar?"
Just then.
The Ghouls, leisurely gnawing on corpses, looked up in confusion towards the entrance behind them.
"Rumble—"
A violent, deafening tremor passed through, as if an earthquake had struck.
An unstoppable dark torrent surged madly from the maze entrance, crushing everything in its path with overwhelming force.
Leading the charge were the vanguards of the Shadow Legion—the Shadow Riders, Trolls mounted on giant demonic wolves!
As their large weapons swung, the Ghouls vanished silently into dust, like chalk drawings erased by a rubber.
No screams, no resistance.
Like stepping on an unnoticed ant by the roadside.
The Boneyard also contained numerous undead monsters, vast in number, forming an army.
But against the charging Shadow Legion, they were simply crushed.
Naruto stood atop the Hellhound's head, currently not releasing the Black Dragon Monarch, Shadow Godzilla, or the Goblin God.
These were his three strongest subordinates, far surpassing existences like the Hellhound, which was an ultra-high-tier species.
[Demon God King's Revival Feast]
[Source World: Goblin Slayer World]
[Recommended Level: 50 ~ 250]
[Description: This is the 'staircase' to the core of the Underworld, gathering almost all mid-to-high-tier monsters, demons, and even Demon God Generals from the Goblin Slayer World. The first level of the Death Maze is recommended for levels 50-100, the second level for 100-150, the third level for 150-200, and the Underworld's core area for 200-250.]
[Limited-Time Quest: Sweep the Death Maze]
[Quest Content: Eliminate all monsters in the Death Maze within one day.]
[Quest Reward: 2 million experience points, 80,000 exchange coupons, Red-quality item "Death Maze" * 1, Underground City Team Badge * 10]
Naruto, perched on the largest head of the Hellhound, casually scanned the pop-up window before looking into the distance.
Though the Death Maze was vast, it could not withstand the overwhelming advance of the Shadow Legion.
No Skeleton Legion, no Skeleton King, no mutated Ghouls were a match for the Shadow Legion.
Even if Shadow Soldiers were torn apart, as long as Naruto, the Shadow Monarch, was alive and his Shadow Power had not dried up, they would continuously revive.
"That Skeleton King is good, I can recruit him."
Naruto muttered.
He saw the highest-tier Skeleton species, the Skeleton Monarch, wave his scepter, summoning 1000 Skeleton archers, 3000 Skeleton soldiers,
and 1000 Skeleton cavalry, and couldn't help but feel a desire to 'cherish talent'.
"Roar—!"
The Hellhound roared, charging forward to the front lines. With several blasts of demonic flames, a purple-black sea of fire immediately blocked the arrows of the Skeleton archers.
The Troll King roared defiantly, swinging a several-meter-long wooden club, charging into the Skeleton formation, sweeping through the ranks, and then heading straight for the Skeleton Monarch.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Naruto formed a hand sign, summoning a thousand Shadow Clones, letting them act as 'dominators' to recruit promising monsters into the Shadow Legion.
Naruto didn't even need to act personally.
Pop-up notifications of monster eliminations constantly appeared, and experience points grew at an astonishing rate.
Naruto no longer stood. He yawned, sat cross-legged on the Hellhound's head, and watched as the distant Skeleton Monarch had its skull blown off by a Shadow Clone, then was infected by shadow and transformed into a Shadow 'Soldier'.
Thus, as the battle continued, the Shadow Legion grew larger and larger, its momentum immense.
Although the Death Maze had many monsters, they were ultimately a disorganized mob, posing no real threat.
"God—Goddess above—"
A human soldier muttered, his longsword still trembling.
The battle before him filled him with both shock and awe.
"An army of one, a thousand troops and ten thousand horses. Is this—is this Lord Shinigami?"
"He is more than just the strongest adventurer in the Adventurers' Guild; I doubt the thick history books of humanity could find anyone stronger than him."
"Thankfully—he is human, not an enemy of humanity."
Even the young king and several Gold-level adventurers gaped in astonishment.
They watched as the black tide swept forward with constant, unstoppable speed, and the monsters of the Boneyard were annihilated at a visible rate.
Beyond the wasteland was the second level of the Death Maze.
The air was filled with unbearable heat, and everywhere were rifts with flowing, scorching lava.
Here, the human army stopped; they didn't even have the right to advance.
The magma flowing on the high-temperature ground meant that even the elite equipment of the Royal Capital's army could not easily traverse it.
"You all return the way you came. I and a few Gold-level adventurers will continue deeper."
The young king said to the commanders of the Royal Capital's army.
"Your Majesty, your safety—"
"No matter. With Lord Shinigami and his Shadow Legion present, the monsters of the Death Maze likely won't cause any trouble."
The young king said with certainty.
He and a few Gold-level adventurers set off again.
From afar, they saw hundred-meter-tall Lava Trolls throwing burning boulders.
The boulders arced through the sky and fell, like an ancient forbidden spell—a meteor shower—presenting an apocalyptic scene before their eyes.
Goddess of Gun, Heather, holding her gun, murmured with a pale face, "Last time, I and two other Gold-level adventurers stopped here, unable to cross the barrier formed by the Lava Trolls."
The Lava Trolls were too powerful.
The roaring Hellhound pack came treading on fire, massive in size, yet easily dodging the burning boulders falling from the sky!
At this moment.
A large area of shadow covering the lava ground intensely boiled, and a brave and majestic giant dragon slowly rose.
It opened its gaping maw, spewing a world-destroying column of dragon's breath, shooting forward, then sweeping horizontally.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The insurmountable wall formed by the Lava Trolls in the distance exploded into mushroom clouds. The terrifyingly powerful Lava Trolls were easily annihilated by a single breath from the Black Dragon Monarch.