Chapter 28
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Your Race level has increased. You have acquired 1 SP.
Your Job level has increased. You have acquired 1 SP.
Your 【Staff】 level has increased.
Your 【Mana Control】 level has increased.
Your 【Lava Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Dust Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Smoke Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Lightning Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Explosion Magic】 level has increased.
Your 【Necromancy】 level has increased.
Your 【Pharmacology】 level has increased.
Your 【Alchemy】 level has increased.
Your 【Appraisal】 level has increased.
Your 【Light-Attribute Vulnerability】 Skill has been mitigated.
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It was the eventful Sunday—the day of the martial arts tournament. Afterward, we returned to our hideout without incident, then logged out and went to bed without even checking our spoils. We were exhausted beyond belief. It was late, too, so it was probably the right decision.
Today was Thursday, but first, let me explain what was announced after the event and what I had been doing until yesterday. The post-event announcements were that there would be another event next Sunday and that the Second Wave would be released. The event's contents were being kept secret. It would be nice if we could participate, but that would probably be difficult.
If we couldn't, we would simply head down to the lower levels of the sewers. Our levels had risen, so it was about time we gave them a try. Last time, we'd fled without even fighting, but things wouldn't be like that now.
As for the Second Wave, it was apparently scheduled for the beginning of next month—in other words, Golden Week. Were they planning to actively draw in students, too? A Second Wave Basic Knowledge Thread had been opened, and even nonplayers could view it, so I'd written various things there. I'd tried to be as honest as possible, so I hoped the harsh realities had come across alongside the appeal. Even so, I wished more monster-type players would appear.
As for my own gameplay, I had spent almost all my time cooped up in the laboratory, apart from going hunting to clear my head. Hmm? What had I been doing? Creating Chimera Skeletons with magic bones, of course.
At first, all I could make were weaklings inferior even to ordinary Skeletons summoned normally, but once I got the hang of it, I was able to create Chimera Skeletons with stable performance. They still weren't up to the ones made by an Undead Mage, though.
The process consumed a ridiculous amount of magic power, and unlike summoned creatures, these were one-of-a-kind creations that could grow, so it was an extremely nerve-racking task. However, once you got used to it, you could make better things more quickly. By now, I could easily create elaborate specimens. One example was this.
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Name: Beast Head No. 2
Race: Chimera Skeleton Warrior Lv12
Job: Warrior Lv2
Skill: 【Fangs】
【Claws】
【Fists】
【Kicks】
【Joint Locks】
【Throws】
【Night Vision】
【Status Ailment Immunity】
【Light-Attribute Vulnerability】
【Blunt Vulnerability】
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As far as Skills went, it probably wasn't much different from what humanoid monsters possessed. However, its appearance was quite vicious. Like the ones controlled by the Undead Mage, it had a humanlike body with four arms, but its skull and two of its four hands had been transformed into wolf heads. The fingers of its other two hands had also been replaced with brown bear fangs. It was a weapon from head to toe.
These days, it had been improving through sparring with Jigoro, and it had grown strong enough to defeat a Ratman even in a two-on-one fight. I was curious how strong it would become. However, because I'd gotten carried away making them, my stock of magic bones was running low. I needed to find an enemy that dropped them.
Speaking of bone drops, the Lesser Small Naga had dropped some. Here was the breakdown.
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Lesser Small Naga Hide Quality: Fair Rarity: S (Special Grade)
Hide from a bottom-tier Naga. It is weak, but contains the power of a dragon.
Though it is called bottom-tier, it is still a dragon's kin and can serve as material for excellent equipment.
Lesser Small Naga Scales Quality: Fair Rarity: S (Special Grade)
Scales from a bottom-tier Naga. They are weak, but contain the power of a dragon.
Though they are called bottom-tier, they are still a dragon's kin and can serve as material for excellent equipment.
Lesser Small Naga Bone Quality: Fair Rarity: S (Special Grade)
Bone from a bottom-tier Naga. It is weak, but contains the power of a dragon.
Though it is called bottom-tier, it is still a dragon's kin and can serve as an excellent catalyst for magic.
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All of them looked capable of being made into excellent equipment. I didn't know what it meant for them to contain the power of a dragon, but they certainly didn't seem weak compared to ordinary monsters. They were promising.
Each Lesser Small Naga bone weighed about five kilograms. I had acquired three of them. In fact, I already had an idea of how to use them. However, carrying it out required 【Alchemy】, and my level was still too low. That was why I was diligently using 【Alchemy】 even now.
Oh, right. I also needed to discuss the new Title I had acquired in the battle against the Lesser Small Naga. Its detailed description was as follows.
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'Messenger of Death'
A Title bestowed upon one who controls death.
Slightly increases the effect of instant death.
Acquisition condition: Instantly kill a boss monster.
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Its effect was simple and easy to understand. It was also quite powerful. Besides, it seemed to be the kind that evolved, like 'Into the Abyss...' So I decided to use 【Dark Arts】 more actively.
Aside from that, I did little more than produce poison with 【Alchemy】. It had been three days of pouring my heart and soul into 【Necromancy】.
"Alone today, which is unusual."
I was currently alone in the laboratory, making poison with 【Alchemy】. As usual, Jigoro had gone hunting solo, while the other three had gone to undertake the 'Trial of Azure Moon'.
That's right. Today was exactly one month after the previous occasion in terms of in-game time. The forums had predicted that entering the boss area on the night of the new moon was the trigger for the 'Trial of Azure Moon'. The three of them had decided that prediction was correct and gone to challenge it.
It was a shame that work had run late and I hadn't been able to offer them even a single word of encouragement before they left, but they would surely succeed. I had managed to go alone, after all.
"All right, back to work... Hmm?"
A notification chime rang out in my head. Could it be a friend message? If so, who was it? Maybe Jigoro was bored of hunting alone and was telling me to come over.
"Hmm? A private message from the administrators addressed to me!?"
Could that really happen? More importantly, had I done something that would attract the administrators' attention? I could think of a few things... Yes, I could. I'd had the Great God—the administrative AI—tell me where the laboratory was, and although it had only happened once, I'd committed PK on such a spectacular scale that even I felt a little uneasy about it when I calmed down.
However, neither of those things could really be blamed on me. In the former case, I hadn't forcibly extracted the information from the Great God, and in the latter, I'd only done something the game's system allowed. It wasn't worth the administrators sending me a message over. So what was this about?
"For now, I guess I'll take a look...!?"
I opened the message tab from the menu and tapped the newest message. The world before my eyes suddenly turned pure white, and my consciousness began to fade. W-What was happening...?
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When I opened my eyes, I was in the same place I'd visited about two weeks ago: outer space overlooking the planet that served as the stage for FSW. If I let my guard down, I felt like I might once again lose myself gazing at the sea of stars, but this time I searched for the person who had summoned me. That person was behind me.
"It has been a while, Iifa-sama."
"It is wonderful to see you looking well too, Izaam-sama. Were the materials from the laboratory useful?"
As expected, the one who had summoned me was Iifa, the 'Goddess of Death and Chaos'. Now then, what could she want?
"Yes, I am grateful. Now then, Iifa-sama, what brings you here today?"
"Actually, I have a favor to ask of you and your companions. Specifically, I would like to borrow your assistance at the next event."
The event? Was she talking about next Sunday's event? And what did she mean by my companions...? The others didn't seem to be here.
"Ah, Jigoro-sama and the others should be receiving an explanation from a different Great God."
"I see. My apologies."
I hadn't said that aloud, had I? How had she realized it? Even though my head was a skull. As expected of a goddess—or rather, an AI?
"May I explain now?"
"Yes, of course. I apologize for interrupting you."
"Not at all. Then, let me begin again. First, I will explain why I asked you, Izaam-sama, and your companions. Before that, I would like to ask you something. Do you know how many nonhuman players—in particular, monster players—there currently are in FSW?"
That was rather abrupt. There was probably statistical data somewhere, but I hadn't bothered to check. The forums had been surprised enough when they found out. Since I genuinely didn't know, I simply shook my head.
"Five."
"Huh?"
"You and your companions are the only ones, Izaam-sama."
Were we really that rare!? The initial disadvantage had certainly been severe, but had so many players been unable to tolerate it? More importantly, how had all of us even managed to gather together? This was practically a miracle!
"There were approximately a thousand monster players at first, but because of the overwhelming disadvantage, every one of them except you and your companions remade their characters."
S-So that's what had happened. Everyone except players with a clear purpose, like my 'Aspiring Villain' or Ruby's 'Embodiment of Rising from the Bottom', or players like Jigoro who were content simply to fight, had quit.
I'd heard that Iris had also been considering doing the same. However, contacting me had convinced her to stay.
"Unable to overlook this situation, several goddesses, myself included, have decided that we want to increase the number of monster players. I also saw your posts, Izaam-sama, but unfortunately, I do not believe they will have a dramatic effect. Therefore, we decided to devise a plan for the next event."
The goddess checked the forums...? No, I shouldn't let the conversation go off track.
"Is that the request you have for us?"
"Yes, exactly. It is something we can ask only of you."
Only us, huh? What could it be?
"Our request is this: we would like you to play the villains in the next event. More precisely, we would like you to enter the bodies of the labyrinth's boss monsters and fight the players."
"Whaaat!?"
Get inside boss monsters!? Well, it would certainly be a valuable experience, but still!
"I do not want you to misunderstand. The boss monsters you will enter are all species that monster players can reach with relative ease."
"Oh?"
"After the event, we plan to release videos of the boss battles on various video-sharing sites as official videos. We will explicitly state that players who become monster-types may be able to become the same monsters as these bosses."
I see. They planned to make a huge advertisement for the Second Wave by uploading boss battle videos after the event. If it went well, it could certainly have a powerful promotional effect.
However, to do that, we would have to show ourselves fighting impressively in the boss battles. Ah, so that's why they'd singled out us, who were accustomed to playing as monsters.
"What do you say? Will you accept?"
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God Quest: 'Master of the Labyrinth'—Accept?
Yes/No
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"Of course, Goddess-sama."
I answered without hesitation. I mean, come on—we'd get to play villains officially! There was no way I could refuse. Besides, a God Quest had to be incredibly rare. Letting it slip away was unthinkable!
"Heeheehee, thank you. I will make sure the reward is worthwhile."
"That is something to look forward to."
There was no reason to complain when I would get valuable experience and a reward on top of that. Oh, right. If I was going to play an official boss, there was something I needed to ask.
"By the way, Iifa-sama, since we will be boss monsters, are we expected to lose?"
Games were designed to be clearable. Even if the difficulty was harsh for ordinary people, a game without a solution could not truly be called a game. If that was the case, would I have to fight on the assumption that I would lose?
"No, please run wild. Rather, I would like you to go all-out enough to prevent the players from clearing it. If they fail to clear it even once, I will give you a special reward."
Whoa, Iifa-sama was serious. And there was even a special reward? In that case, I would gladly go all out. I would aim to be called the crappy boss of a crappy dungeon! Heh heh heh, I was already looking forward to it!
"I will now send you the data containing the details of the request. Please decide on such things as your choice of boss monster and send them to me by midnight on Saturday. You can view and configure the data from the Event tab in the menu. That is all from me. Do you have any questions?"
"No, not at the moment."
"Is that so? Then, if anything is unclear, please call me through GM Call."
"Understood."
All right, was that the end of the conversation? Whoa, I couldn't wait for Sunday!
"May I ask you one final question?"
"Oh, yes. What is it?"
A question from the goddess? Whatever it was, I couldn't very well refuse to answer.
"Izaam-sama, are you enjoying this game... this world?"
What, was that all? In that case, there was only one possible answer.
"Yes. More than anything."
"Heehee, I am glad to hear that. Then, it is time for us to part. I look forward to the day we meet again."
Before I could reply that I felt the same, my vision once again turned pure white. And so, my first meeting with the goddess came to an end.
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"I'm back, huh?"
When I came to, I was back in the laboratory. It felt as though I had experienced a waking dream, but when I opened the menu, there was an icon labeled 'Second Event Data' in the Event tab. Apparently, it hadn't been a dream.
"Well, well, let's take a look."
Let's see. The Second Event seemed to be a dungeon-crawling tournament that also served to introduce and showcase a new feature called Random Dungeon.
As soon as the event began, players would be transported to the event field. Countless entrances to Random Dungeons would be waiting there, and each player would enter the dungeon they selected. There were three ways to leave a dungeon: fully clear it by defeating the boss, have the party wiped out, or withdraw midway. In other words, you couldn't leave until you cleared it, were wiped out, or gave up.
Incidentally, there would be no death penalty during the event. The idea was probably to keep challenging the dungeons for as long as time allowed.
Also, once you had either cleared or fled from a dungeon, you could never enter it again. Apparently, you could take home any drop items and gathered materials from the dungeons, so this was probably intended to prevent everyone from going only to dungeons with materials that were too lucrative for their difficulty.
Conversely, this also meant that zombie attacks on high-difficulty dungeons were forbidden. The inability to reenter a dungeon was apparently a feature of Random Dungeons, so getting players accustomed to it was probably another objective.
The number of dungeons cleared and their difficulty levels would be recorded and announced in rankings after the event. Parties that placed highly in each ranking would receive rewards. That was bait to motivate people, if I'd ever seen it.
Those who wanted the rewards—especially the strategy group—would come at full strength. We would be waiting to face them. It seemed we could get involved starting with the dungeon design, so I would take my time making it as I pleased!