Chapter 34
Here we are—the day of the second event. My labyrinth was accepted without issue, and apparently it will be used in today's event. The event hasn't even started yet, and I'm already getting excited!
The event briefing will begin at 9:00 a.m. real time, or noon in-game, and the event is scheduled to end at 11:00 p.m. real time. For this, I got up at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday and finished all my chores. I was in perfect shape.
"S-something about this is making me nervous!"
"Yeah! Do you think we can win?"
When there were five minutes left until the event began in-game, Iris and Ruby started saying things like that. Naturally, I was anxious too. However, it wasn't about whether we could win. I was wondering whether the players would fall for the traps and surprise attacks by monsters as I had intended. We just needed to enjoy ourselves.
"I only care about fightin' anyone strong enough to be worth fightin'."
"So do I."
"You two never change."
You battle-crazed duo. I was starting to feel a little uneasy about what kind of labyrinth these two had made. Oh, it's about to begin!
"3... 2... 1...!"
As I counted down to the start of the event while watching the clock, our avatars were enveloped in light when the time reached zero.
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The second official event. Unlike the previous tournament and exhibition, there had been no advance information whatsoever. The players waited at their starting location, in front of the town fountain, their anticipation swelling to match their anxiety.
Gong, gong...
As the bells announcing noon rang throughout the town, the waiting players' avatars were enveloped in light. The next moment, every player had been transported to a completely white space.
"Players, allow me to introduce myself. I am an angel in the service of Calfi-sama, the 'Goddess of Time and Space.'"
'Goddess of Time and Space' Calfi. Any player who had been gathering information knew that she was one of the goddesses—the Comprehensive Management AIs—in this world. Her angelic subordinate was more famous among players than the goddess herself, since it was the entity that appeared when they made a GM call.
The angel who addressed the players could not be seen. Only a gender-neutral voice echoed through the strange space.
"Allow me to explain today's event."
The information that followed was enough to make the players erupt in commotion. The implementation of Random Dungeons—dungeons that appear at random throughout the field—was astonishing enough on its own. Today's event also allowed players to challenge them as many times as they wanted, which naturally caused even more excitement.
Today only, regardless of whether they cleared a dungeon, the moment they left a labyrinth their equipment durability and consumables would be restored, and they would incur no death penalty. They could even take acquired items home. In effect, they could challenge the dungeons as long as they had time, at virtually no cost.
There were also rankings for the number of labyrinths cleared, completion rate, number of deaths, and so on, with rewards given to the top players. The players' excitement rose inexorably. In other words, they could keep challenging dungeons and rake in the rewards.
"That concludes my explanation. Now, everyone, please enjoy the labyrinth to your heart's content."
The instant the angel's voice announced the end, countless floating black holes appeared in the white space. Entering one of them would presumably transfer a player to a Random Dungeon.
Only the recommended level was displayed above each hole, so there was no way to know what kind of labyrinth awaited inside. Even so, the players rushed into the dungeons, each trying to be the first. Thus began the second official event.
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When the light faded, I was sitting in a familiar place. No, I knew exactly where I was.
"The top floor of the 'Cursed Grave Tower.'"
This was the top floor of the labyrinth I had built—in other words, the boss room. I would be spending the entire day here as the boss.
"Now then, I wonder if there are any challengers..."
As a privilege of being the boss, I could freely observe the inside of the labyrinth today. However, it appeared that no players had chosen my labyrinth first. No one had come yet.
"I wonder what everyone else is doing?"
There was no point watching an empty labyrinth, so I decided to look in on the other members' labyrinths. Iris... wasn't there. Jigorou... there he was. Let's see what he had made.
"Hey! That's cheating!"
Jigorou's labyrinth was called the 'Plains of Shura.' It was a field-type labyrinth with a recommended level of 25 or higher, currently the highest difficulty available. It had a simple layout: a circular field with a small hill in the center, and grassland everywhere else.
Numerous large monsters wandered across the grassland, all of them Elite Monsters that dropped treasure chests when defeated. That bastard had set the area to the minimum and dumped every point he saved into turning the monsters into Elite Monsters.
There were no traps or gimmicks whatsoever. The only things here were absurdly powerful Elite Monsters and the boss. This wasn't even extreme anymore!
"...Yeah, they can beat it."
A player party had engaged an Elite Monster that had noticed them. They were attempting a dungeon with a recommended level of 25 or higher, so they were putting up a fairly solid fight. They were definitely part of the strategy group.
The cow-type Elite Monster was quite tough, but it was already on the verge of death before five minutes had passed. They would surely finish it off.
"Ah, they beat it. Now what are they going to do?"
The players defeated the Elite Monster while remaining in control until the very end. They acquired a treasure chest, checked its contents, and celebrated. They were certainly strong enough to do that, but whether they could clear the labyrinth would depend on what they did next. Well, what would happen?
"Oh, they got greedy."
Apparently, instead of heading for the central hill, they had decided to hunt other Elite Monsters. They were done for.
I understood wanting more treasure chests. But the master of this place was a monster with Jigorou installed in it. Even at full strength, it would be a tough fight, and they were deliberately wearing themselves down by fighting Elite Monsters first. It was practically suicide.
Incidentally, the boss Jigorou was playing was a level-30 Ogre. It had a musclebound body standing two and a half meters tall, along with Jigorou's combat instincts... There was no way I would ever want to fight it.
The outcome was obvious, so I moved somewhere else. Genjuro... there he was! Let's take a look. First, the labyrinth was called the 'Insect Paradise.' Its recommended level was also 25 or higher. Like Jigorou's, it was a field-type labyrinth, but this one was a densely wooded forest. It was square, and the boss area was at the corner farthest from the players' starting position. Unlike Jigorou, Genjuro clearly intended players to explore the field.
All the monsters were insect types. There were Insector types like Genjuro, as well as many monsters I had never seen before, such as butterflies that caused status ailments and huge spiders that laid traps with their webs. The traps were equally varied, ranging from pit traps to plants that released scents to lure monsters. This labyrinth had been made with nearly as much murderous intent as mine.
The boss Genjuro was playing was a level-30 War Insector Beetle, a stag beetle type. Instead of his usual swords, he used four curved swords. He was taking it seriously, but the fact that he wasn't using his usual form was probably a precaution.
The challengers... looked somewhat familiar. Were they one of the strategy groups that had tried to defeat Jigorou? I didn't know their name, but they must have been capable. Do your best, everyone.
It looked like it would take them a while to reach the boss. Then it was Ruby's turn...
"Whoa..."
That was my first reaction when I saw her labyrinth. It was called the 'Water Corridor,' and its recommended level was 20, somewhat lower than ours. As the name suggested, it was a labyrinth where players proceeded through narrow passageways.
That alone wouldn't have made me recoil. However, in her own way, Ruby had modified her labyrinth to the same absurd degree as Jigorou. Her entire labyrinth was constantly flooded to about knee height. She had reduced its size and the levels of its monsters just to flood the whole place.
The point wasn't merely to make walking difficult. Apparently, there was a water inlet in the ceiling and a drain in the floor, so the constant sound of splashing water echoed throughout the labyrinth. That alone seemed like a mild form of torture, but the floor was also uneven, making it easy to lose one's balance. On top of that, there were vicious traps galore, including pits full of snakes, Slimes raining down from the ceiling, and fish monsters that bit at players' feet.
Waiting in the boss room after they had expended their mental and physical stamina was a level-25 Grand Slime. It was an extremely tough monster that could produce countless copies of itself from its body. Naturally, this area was flooded too, making it the perfect place for Slimes that could swim freely underwater.
Shouldn't the recommended level be raised by at least ten? Oh, a player who fell into a pit just drowned. Since the labyrinth was flooded, an ordinary trap instantly became a death sentence. They haven't even made it a quarter of the way, though. Is this going to be a total party wipe?
"Oh, looks like they've arrived."
While I was checking on the three labyrinths, I received a notification that intruders had arrived at mine as well. Come on, players. Enjoy yourselves.
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The player party 'Going My Way' was one of the groups known as top players. Made up of six real-life friends, they lacked the flashiness of Luke and his companions, but they were known for their solid skill, steady play, and, above all, the good character of their members.
They had decided to first clear a labyrinth well below their recommended level before taking on one of high difficulty. After successfully clearing a recommended-level-20 labyrinth and restocking their consumables, they challenged a recommended-level-25 labyrinth as a test of their strength.
"So this is a recommended level of 25 or higher—the 'Cursed Grave Tower.'"
"It has quite an atmosphere."
Beyond the black hole that served as the entrance to the Random Dungeon stood a tower in a graveyard, its outer walls beginning to peel away. The graveyard wasn't very large, but dense fog obscured everything beyond their immediate surroundings. Although it was daytime, the sky was dim and shrouded in dark clouds. It was extremely creepy.
"The labyrinth is called the Grave Tower, so we should go inside, right?"
"I suppose, but should we search the surrounding area first?"
"There might be hidden treasure chests."
"But if we take too long, we won't be able to visit many labyrinths. We decided to compete based on the number we clear, remember?"
"What do you think, leader?"
The leader of 'Going My Way,' Goki, thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"We decided to compete based on the number of dungeons cleared, so let's keep detours to a minimum."
"Got it. Then let's head in."
With that, the scout player checked the tower entrance and opened the door after confirming that there were no traps. The door was heavy and imposing, but rusted over, and it opened with an unpleasant groan. The six of them steeled themselves and stepped inside.
The interior of the 'Cursed Grave Tower' was pitch-black, leaving them barely able to see what lay ahead. The party's mage could use 【Exploration Magic】, and they also had lanterns hanging from their waists in case they ran out of magic power. There was no problem at all.
"There are skeletons everywhere, right and left..."
The interior of the Grave Tower had been designed by Izam, who had taken inspiration from underground catacombs, so the walls of the passageways were packed solid with skeletons. The members of 'Night Parade,' who were accustomed to seeing Izam and his servants, might not have been bothered, but to anyone else it was a truly terrifying place. 'Going My Way' proceeded with extreme caution.
As they explored, the scout at the front noticed something. When they peered in that direction, they saw monsters at the end of the passage. Whether it was a memorable occasion or not, this was their first battle in the 'Cursed Grave Tower.'
"The 【Appraisal】 results say all three are High Zombies! Two are level 21, and the last one is level 22!"
"Got it!"
There was a reason their 【Appraisal】 results were vaguer than Izam's. This was something no one—not even Izam—knew, but reading the Skills possessed by a monster required not only 【Appraisal】 but also 【Linguistics】. This was because of a hidden mechanic in which 【Linguistics】 converted a monster's perception into terms intended for players.
Furthermore, when a player was appraised, information about their Skills was hidden. Therefore, anyone with 【Linguistics】 who used 【Appraisal】 could immediately determine whether their opponent was an ordinary monster or a monster-type player.
If someone discovered this mechanic, the number of players with 【Linguistics】 would naturally increase, and more people would become capable of communicating with monster players. If that happened, human-type and monster-type players might even form parties together. For now, however, that was impossible.
"Everyone knows zombies are weak to fire! Fire Lance!"
The mage's fiery spear burned the High Zombies. Just as expected, the High Zombies were weak to the Fire attribute, and they went up in flames like torches.
"If we keep this up... huh!?"
Just when the entire party thought they would have an easy time of it, numerous spears suddenly shot out from their left and right—in other words, from the walls!
Worse, the one struck by the spears was the mage, their main source of firepower. Perhaps being protected by everyone had caused the mage to let their guard down, but even so, this was an entirely unexpected ambush. What had happened?
"It's the walls! The walls are monsters! Level 22 Skeleton Walls!"
Skeleton Walls were evolved monsters descended from the Bone Wall Izam had encountered in the underground graveyard. They were not mere walls like Bone Walls, but offensive fortifications that possessed weapon- and magic-type Skills.
The Skeleton Walls had held their breath until the players entered combat. Once the players let their guard down, the Skeleton Walls attacked with spears made by assembling bones and disguising them as sections of the wall. That was the trick.
"Clatter, clatter, clatter!"
"Ooooooh!"
"R-run!"
Surrounded from the front and both sides, 'Going My Way' somehow managed to escape. However, their disastrous first battle had dealt them a psychological blow. The scout who had failed to see through the trick and the mage who had taken the damage in particular looked deeply frustrated.
"Whoever made this labyrinth has a seriously nasty personality..."
Goki, who had carried the mage as they fled, reportedly muttered that with an exhausted expression after they finally got away. Their completion rate for the 'Cursed Grave Tower' was still under ten percent. They had a long way to go before reaching the boss.