"Brother Dylan, don't undress yet—come have a drink first."
Watching Dylan, who had just finished tidying up the campsite and was preparing to take off his clothes, Kelolo extended the pot containing magic potion in his hand.
"Big Brother Kelolo, this isn't really appropriate..."
After passing through two cities that both had detection magic arrays set up, Dylan couldn't enter the cities to resupply, so he had to conserve his magic potions carefully.
Meanwhile, Kelolo could use his racial shapeshifting talent to evade those low-level array inspections, so he never lacked supplies throughout their journey.
But these past few days, Dylan had been drinking Kelolo's magic potions continuously, which made him feel quite embarrassed.
"What are you talking about? If you're naked and drawing attention, I'd be in danger too. Don't be so polite with me—it's just a bit of magic potion."
Dylan scratched his head, accepted the potion and took a few sips, then pulled out several gold coins from his pocket.
Kelolo immediately understood his intention and pressed down on his hand holding the coins.
"No need—it's all on the company's expense account anyway."
In Kelolo's view, Dylan was just a young person who had recently entered the profession.
Although Dylan appeared older than this merchant persona of his, that was merely the age of the host he was parasitizing. Just like himself—his real age was also greater than that of the merchant he was disguised as.
Every time he saw Dylan's mistake-riddled performance, it reminded him of his own early days in the business.
He himself had only reached where he was today thanks to help from various seniors.
And Dylan's situation was far worse than his own had been back then.
Low mimicry level, unprofessional spy training, and he was handling the most difficult type of mission—delivery.
Although little brother Dylan had always maintained his principles and never revealed any mission information, Kelolo had still observed Dylan's backpack that almost never left his side yet had never been opened.
Or rather, after spending so many days together, it would have been hard not to notice.
Kelolo hadn't even found any openable pockets on that bag—it was probably a sealed item, the kind that would automatically destroy itself if forcibly opened.
This type of delivery mission was the most difficult.
Intelligence gathering only required being careful not to act too abnormally, but delivery missions—especially with such a suspicious large package!
Sometimes Kelolo even wondered if little brother Dylan had offended someone and was deliberately sent on a suicide mission.
All he could do was help this unlucky junior as much as possible before his own new assignment came down.
"Big Brother Kelolo, why have the inspections been so strict lately?"
"Big Brother Kelolo, why have the inspections been so strict lately?"
Dylan remembered that in the past, entering cities in this area was straightforward—nothing like the current situation with investigations and detection arrays everywhere.
"Brother Dylan, that stuttering problem of yours...
Of course they'd be strict—isn't it because they're afraid of His Majesty's retaliation!"
"The Emp... His Majesty?" The word felt strange coming from his own mouth, and Dylan was still uncomfortable with it.
"Exactly! His Majesty the Emperor must be furious right now.
That fake hero summoning trap the humans set up left Lord Shadow Demon's fate unknown—the Empire suffered a huge loss.
How could His Majesty not retaliate? It's just that everyone still doesn't know what form the retaliation will take."
The Shadow Demon's disappearance couldn't be concealed at all, so these matters weren't secrets among the demon race. Kelolo spoke without any reservations.
But this was Dylan's first time hearing about it!
What fake hero summoning?
A trap?
And they had taken out Shadow Demon, one of the Empire's Twelve Pillars?
So much had happened in the outside world while he was in the dungeon!
However, he quickly grasped the key point—retaliation!
"Then... is it possible they'll go to war directly?"
War was undoubtedly the most direct and impactful form of retaliation.
But Kelolo merely waved his hand.
"How could that be possible? Brother Dylan, as spies, judging the current situation is also a necessary skill.
The elves and dwarves are still watching from the sidelines—they wouldn't let us destroy humanity and become too powerful.
Unless..."
Kelolo deliberately paused, and Dylan predictably asked, "Unless what?"
Kelolo moved closer, putting his arm around Dylan's shoulder. Even though they were in the wilderness with no one else around, he still lowered his voice:
"There's currently a theory that besides that trap, humanity actually secretly conducted a real hero summoning as well.
If this information can be confirmed, the Empire could go to war without any reservations."
"Huh?" This time Dylan's eyes were truly clear with confusion—he couldn't understand the connection between summoning a hero and going to war without reservations.
Seeing this, Kelolo looked completely exasperated, as if dealing with a hopeless case.
"Stupid! If there really is a hero, the elves and dwarves won't help humanity!
When our Empire grows strong, their lives become difficult—but would their lives be any better if humanity grew strong?
They're currently siding with humanity purely to balance the Empire's power.
But if a hero has truly been summoned, the situation becomes entirely different.
With the Demon King currently missing, a fully grown hero would possess combat power beyond normal specifications!
Trust me, not only would we want to eliminate them at all costs—if given the chance to kill the hero, the elves and dwarves wouldn't pass it up either.
Who would want an existence above their heads that could decide their life and death at will without any restrictions?
At that point, at least until the hero's death, they would most likely maintain a hands-off approach.
Of course, all of this is predicated on a hero actually being summoned."
Kelolo opened his pot and took a sip of magic potion to moisten his throat. Seeing that Dylan still looked like he hadn't fully understood, he didn't press the matter.
He just added one final reminder:
"Brother Dylan, some dangerous missions might come down recently—you need to know your limits.
Failing a mission will result in punishment, but if humans catch you, you'll lose your life!
Between the two, weigh your options carefully!"
After saying this, he patted Dylan and took the lead in continuing their journey.
Dylan followed behind, still digesting that flood of information.
---
Lin Jun was similarly digesting this sudden influx of information.
Humans versus demons, elves, dwarves, hero summoning, traps, confrontations and friction, retaliation...
No wonder!
No wonder there were so few Diamond-rank adventurers active in the dungeon!
No wonder he hadn't encountered any humans above Level 60 entering the dungeon!
They had all been drawn away by the demon race.
That meant...
Almost no one could threaten me now?
He had been controlling the fungal carpet to only spread through the first five floors without continuing downward, fearing it would attract too much attention.
Now it seemed this caution had actually wasted considerable development time!
Fortunately, the tense relations between humans and demons were continuing, and might even develop into war later.
It wasn't too late to start developing downward now—he could spread the mushrooms throughout the entire dungeon before humans freed up their hands!
And perhaps... he could even try extending fungal threads to the dungeon entrance and exit that he'd never dared touch before...
...
Speaking of which, that hero summoning rumor was false, right...
Wasn't he the hero?
Lin Jun was even a bit confused about whether the so-called hero was really supposed to help humanity.
Up to now, he hadn't killed a single demon, but had dissolved a bunch of humans instead—what kind of hero was that?
As for being a demon hero?
That didn't seem right either—wouldn't that role conflict with the Demon King?
Wait...
Don't tell me I'm the hero of the monsters???
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