Leveling up. The concept is pretty straightforward. In video games, it's usually a reason to celebrate, a sign of progress and growing power.

But in the real-life hell of Dungeon End, it means a lot more—it's a matter of survival. Here, it's not just about gaining power; it's a lifeline.

When you level up, only one thing happens: you get an immediate boost in your stats.

But unlike traditional games where you can choose which stats to increase, the system here automatically allocates the boosts based on two factors: your class and your skills.

This means your character's stat growth is somewhat out of your control, guided by the system’s interpretation of your progress.

This approach to character progression is unconventional. It can either help you become stronger or lead to your downfall, depending on how well your skills and class align with the stat boost you wish to acquire.

This technical approach adds another layer of challenge. You can't just pick any skills you want as you progress in this treacherous game; you have to carefully manage your choices to ensure the stats you gain will complement your desired gameplay style.

In Dungeon End, leveling up isn't just about becoming stronger.

It's about making smart decisions and hoping the system's stat allocation aligns with your strategy, because here, every little boost can mean the difference between life and death.

And the thing is, leveling up is extremely hard in Dungeon End. Monsters give a meager amount of experience points, and the amount needed for each level increases exponentially.

This means that with every level, you need to grind even more to progress.

But despite the difficulty, leveling up is crucial.

In this unforgiving world, you need every advantage you can get, and leveling up is one of the very few key's to gaining that small edge that could define your chances of survival.

"Alright, team!" I said, looking at my seven slimes. "Pin him down!"

It was time to make some real progress. After a few minutes of walking, I came across another Viscous Slime.

Without hesitation, I commanded all seven of my slimes to attack.

They overwhelmed the creature with their sheer numbers, forming a writhing mass of gel-like bodies that pinned the Viscous Slime to the ground.

Despite its struggles, it had no chance to fight back against so many attackers.

I approached the immobilized Viscous Slime, dagger in hand. The creature writhed futilely under the weight of my slimes.

I plunged the dagger into its body, feeling the soft resistance like cutting through gelatin.

I sliced through the viscous material until I reached the core. With a precise cut, I extracted it, holding the glowing crystal in my hand.

The Viscous Slime disintegrated around my blade, leaving behind its crystallized heart.

You've Defeated A Viscous Fiend. Exp +1

Gaining one experience point, I was now just one step closer to leveling up.

"Alright, team, let's wrap this up quickly. Just one more to go!" I said, a smirk forming as I pocketed the crystallized heart.

My slimes wobbled enthusiastically, ready for another fight. We moved forward with purpose, the slimes forming a defensive formation around me.

I kept my dagger ready, eager to finish this leveling up business.

We hadn't gone far when we hit a problem.

The path ahead split into four distinct tunnels. I stopped, scratching my head.

"Great, a choose-your-own-adventure. Except one of these paths probably leads to the boss."

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The slimes looked at me, their gelatinous forms wobbling as if they were shrugging.

"Let's think this through." I muttered. "Any of you guys have a slime sixth sense for bosses?"

The slimes just wobbled some more.

"Of course not. That would be too easy, you guys can only sense danger when it gets really close." I sighed.

I examined each path, trying to get a read on them. They all looked the same: dark, foreboding, and potentially deadly.

"Alright, team, here's the plan." I said, looking at my slimes. "I'm going to send one of you down each path to scout ahead. Come back if it's safe."

The slimes wobbled in agreement. I pointed to each path, and four of them set off.

As they approached the entrance to each tunnel, I suddenly saw a faint purple light start to glow under them.

"Wait, no!" I shouted, realizing too late what was happening.

Before I could do anything, the purple light flared up, and in an instant, all four slimes disappeared.

I stood there, stunned and speechless. A teleportation magic trap? Here? On the first floor?

My mind raced. Teleportation traps were deadly, and I had never encountered them this early in the game.

Usually, they appeared only on much higher floors, where the stakes were even higher. This was completely unexpected.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered to myself.

I knew that any path I took would likely end in my death if I triggered a teleportation trap. But what puzzled me even more was the presence of such a trap here.

In the game, the lower floors were filled with simple physical traps—pitfalls, spike traps, etc... nothing magical. This deviation from the game's mechanics was unnerving.

"This doesn't make any sense. if the game's mechanics don't match this reality, then I can't fully rely on my previous knowledge. Even though every was already unpredictable, things got even worse."

Realizing the traps were unavoidable, I decided to retreat and stay near the exit portal.

It seemed wiser to let the Viscous Fiends come to me rather than chasing after them.

I had already lost four slimes, so it made sense to use my remaining ones while patiently waiting for the experience points and crystallized hearts to come to me.

I still had many days ahead, and by then, I should be able to acquire the remaining crystallized hearts.

"It was a sound plan." I thought.

However, as I stepped into the pathway to head back, a new teleportation magic trap activated.

"What!"

This was a conditional activation trap, meaning it only triggered when stepping inside it in a specific direction.

This explained why the Viscous Fiends I encountered hadn’t been teleported—the traps didn't activate because they were exiting the path.

In contrast, entering the path triggered the trap, which was why my slimes were affected.

The same applied to the path back. Once one of the traps was activated, the way back would also conditionally activate the trap.

It felt like a strategically placed trap, and a thought crossed my mind: was this trap made by a person rather than the system?

But it was too late. The magic circle beneath me glowed brightly, and I couldn’t escape. I was being transported.

As the teleportation magic activated, my vision blurred out, the same disorienting feeling washing over me as when I first entered the dungeon.

The world around me seemed to dissolve and reassemble itself in a matter of seconds.

When my vision finally cleared and I regained my composure, I noticed my other slimes, the ones that had been transported earlier, right next to me.

This meant that all the teleportation's led to the same location—it wasn’t random.

Sudden sounds of yelling, explosions, and the clashing of weapons echoed through the cavern. The noise startled me, and I turned my head to see the source.

"What the—?!"

Ahead of me was a scene of chaos. A large, enclosed area stretched out before my eyes, with numerous people frantically fighting off a monstrous entity. My heart sank as I recognized the creature. It was the Viscous Overlord, the very boss I had tried my best to avoid.

“This can’t be happening…” I muttered, my voice barely audible over the din.

“Hold the line!” A voice bellowed, trying to rally the fighters. “We can’t let it break through!”

Explosions of magic and the sharp clanging of weapons against the slime’s gooey body filled the air.

The Viscous Overlord towered over the combatants.

"Stay together!" I heard a voice shout from the throng. "Don't let it divide us!"

My slimes wobbled nervously at my feet, sensing the danger.

This was when realization struck me, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

This explained the traps, the unexpected teleportation, and the sudden appearance of so many adventurers in one place.

"This... is a planned raid!"

Raids were a concept well known in the role-playing game world—a group of people banding together, whether from random party members or a well-organized guild, to face off against a boss monster that far surpassed their individual capabilities, pooling all their resources into conquering it.

This explained the situation regarding the teleportation traps.

This wasn't implemented by the dungeon itself but rather applied by adventurers, most likely purchased from a magic scroll a highly skilled mage had crafted.

There were dozens of people present, trying to face off against the Overfiend.

This meant they had scouted ahead of time, found this large open space, located the boss's position, and set various traps without considering who might end up getting caught in them.

They were waiting for the boss to fall into the trap, teleporting to this area to use it as their raid arena.

This was quite a common tactic I used in the game myself, so I was quite familiar with it.

Since this method was made to face off against a first-floor boss, it was likely that this was a newly formed guild with low-level adventurers trying to make their first stand as a guild. It was quite a common practice.

This also allowed them to gauge if their general power level was good enough to advance further into the second floor.

"But looking at them... they might end up failing this raid."