When gathered, they formed one giant Slime; when dispersed, they were like countless tiny Slimes scattered everywhere.
Although a portion of the small Slimes could be captured amidst the swarm, using this method always allowed some members to survive.
As the saying goes: Better for a fellow daoist to die than for me, the humble one.
These small Water Slimes that managed to escape would tenaciously survive; their jelly bodies, devoid of brains, held no grudges.
Therefore, even if they accidentally let one small Water Slime go, there was absolutely no need to worry about it staging a grand drama like, 'The three-year period has arrived, welcome back, Dragon King.'
There were many other monsters like the super-large Water Slime that had evolved unique abilities due to the environment of the Underground Mine.
For example, the Coal Ball Monster, which was round, covered in black fur, and dropped charcoal upon death.
Similar to the Wenut in the Sumeru desert, there were also Burrowing Worms that hid underground and ambushed people or prey passing by. However, compared to the Wenut, the Burrowing Worms were much smaller, not even as big as a cat.
Upon killing them, they dropped pink worm meat, which looked a bit strange. One just didn't know how it tasted?
And then there was the most disgusting monster Arkz had encountered so far—the Specter!
Unlike ordinary Specters, the Specters inside the mine seemed to have been modified by some mysterious power; their ATK did not exceed a certain limit, and not only could attacks below that limit fail to cause any DMG to them, but they would also reflect the damage back onto the attacker.
One of Arkz's clones was sacrificed to one of these mine Specters.
Fortunately, the mine Specters only flew along specific trajectories and did not attack proactively.
Arkz felt that the mine Specters with this characteristic were more like some kind of mechanism within the mine than living creatures.
He observed for a long time, only seeing them repeat meaningless flights back and forth, just like a punished Sisyphus. He never saw the mine Specters engage in feeding or other behaviors.
The Final Boss: Arkz tried to probe these strange insects using various methods.
But even after tearing off their wings or hacking them into eight pieces, they showed no reaction whatsoever.
Although the monsters inside the Underground Mine were varied and strange, they posed no threat to Arkz. At least in these first thirty floors, there was no monster capable of injuring him.
Just as Arkz was sweating profusely in the Underground Mine, swinging his pickaxe and slaughtering monsters left and right, a meeting among the monsters was quietly commencing.
On the 100th floor of the Underground Mine, a rare gathering of high-level monsters with diverse forms took place.
High-level monsters generally had their own territorial divisions; they usually occupied one floor of the mine each, so regarding them as the final BOSS of each floor was quite reasonable.
And the monsters qualified to attend this meeting were all powerful beings from the 80th floor onward.
Of course, there were also some arrogant and reclusive monsters who disdained attending the meeting, believing it to be the behavior of the weak banding together. True powerhouses did not need to rely on the strength of others.
These monsters adhered to the philosophy that 'fierce beasts always travel alone, while cattle and sheep travel in herds,' and their methods were relatively ruthless.
The Slime Queen, in a pink humanoid form, bent over and bowed like a human, then spoke solemnly, "Ahem, as the initiator of this meeting, I am very pleased that everyone could grant me the courtesy to attend this meeting on time."
"Last time, we cooperated and successfully drove away those humans who wanted to invade our home. This was inseparable from the joint efforts of all of us."
"Everyone is praiseworthy; everyone has done well!"
The Slime Queen delivered an impassioned speech, and the 'audience' below applauded with fiery enthusiasm. For a moment, the space on the 100th floor of the Underground Mine was filled with thunderous applause.
However, upon closer inspection, one could notice something amiss.
Pink little Water Slimes had infiltrated the crowd of monsters at some point, clapping incessantly.
The burly, fierce-looking monsters next to the Water Slimes actually showed expressions of apprehension towards the cute monsters beside them and quietly moved away from them.
"Hmph!"
"Stinking Slimes! They might be afraid of you, but I am not!"
"In my opinion, why bother with all this elaborate deception to scare away those humans? Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill them all?"
"If it weren't for those greedy humans, my King wouldn't have... In any case, there isn't a single good person among those humans!"
The one speaking so arrogantly was a large lizard-like Dark Ancient Geo Vishap; he was the occupier of the 99th floor of the Underground Mine—the Dark Ancient Geo Vishap.
As the favored child of the Geovishap clan, the Dark Ancient Geo Vishap's inherent Talents were top-tier among all Geovishaps. Furthermore, being trapped in the Underground Mine for several hundred years of harsh training, and having accidentally absorbed the power of the Abyss, his strength was already not inferior to the ancestor of the Geovishap clan.
(The ancestor of the Geovishap clan is not Azhdaha, because Azhdaha was born naturally. The Geovishaps are at most dependents blessed by Azhdaha's power, not considered the same race.)
He was that Ancient Geo Vishap who followed their King, Azhdaha, through countless campaigns and became Azhdaha's number one general.
He was also that unlucky Ancient Geo Vishap in Qingce Village who entered the player dungeon and was tortured by players every week.
Several hundred years ago, because of humanity's endless excavation of The Chasm, the erosion on Azhdaha's body continuously worsened until the erosion caused Azhdaha to lose consciousness and voluntarily allow Rex Lapis to seal him beneath the Transcending Tree.
It's just that no one knows why Rex Lapis sealed Azhdaha with his rear facing upwards.
It was even more miserable than the Monkey King back then!
The Monkey King at least had his head exposed back then, and a shepherd boy even brought him peaches to eat. But for Azhdaha, not only was his posture awkward, but if he encountered someone a bit perverted, like a Pangolin who enjoyed burrowing, his rear end would instantly be compromised.
Pity the dignified Azhdaha, the former Geo Dragon King, whose strength was in no way inferior to Rex Lapis, yet he ended up with such a tarnished reputation in his later years. No wonder Azhdaha later became merciless and attacked Zhongli, hehe.
It was a pity for the Dark Ancient Geo Vishap; he originally possessed the protagonist template and should have been reigning supreme in the Underground Mine, but he ended up encountering the peculiar existence known as the Slime Queen.
In the outside world, the weak Slimes, easily handled by anyone, completely crushed the Dark Ancient Geo Vishap in every aspect.
Whether it was strength, subordinates, or wisdom, the Slime Queen displayed power that was just slightly stronger than the Dark Ancient Geo Vishap, making him feel unconvinced but not completely despairing.
Originally, the Dark Ancient Geo Vishap also had a solitary nature and disdained recruiting subordinates. However, their strength level had plateaued and couldn't be improved for the time being, so he planned to surpass this old rival in terms of the number of subordinates.
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