Dungeon Event (2)

The honor of being the first intruders goes to 'Going My Way,' huh? That's quite an individualistic party name. The ateji has an old-school delinquent vibe, but judging by what I can overhear, they're ordinary, fine young men. What an odd mismatch.

They're amazed by the imposing grandeur of my dungeon. Excellent! Those strained looks are exactly what I wanted to see!

"Ah, so they're not investigating the cemetery."

They seemed to be discussing something, but in the end, they went straight into the tomb tower. Personally, I had hoped they'd investigate the cemetery outside, so that's a shame. I put quite a bit of effort into building it.

Naturally, the cemetery has various gimmicks as well. To begin with, my dungeon is the type where you climb a tower rising in the center of a circular field. Therefore, there's nothing outside the tower that's necessary for clearing it. You have to walk around it if you want to achieve 100% exploration, though.

I digressed. Leaving aside the rambling details, I think they've realized that the area outside the tower has no meaning. So I went ahead and shaved down the area outside the tower, converting it into points. As a result, my dungeon is reasonably tall, but has the smallest possible floor area.

With the area this small, they would reach the edge of the map in less than five minutes on foot. So I made the map loop. To be precise, when they reach one edge of the map, they emerge at the edge on the opposite side of the tower. The drifting fog is merely a theatrical effect meant to disguise the sudden change in scenery. So if they proceed without thinking, they'll experience an endless loop.

Of course, that's not the only gimmick. At specific points in the cemetery, I've set traps that cause huge numbers of Zombies to spring from the ground. What's more, when a Zombie emerges, there's a performance where it grabs the foot of one party member chosen at random. The monsters themselves are weak, but I can almost certainly send at least one person into a panic.

They can also be attacked by Mists and Wisps hidden in the fog, or pass through areas where skeletons do nothing but clatter their teeth. It's full of playful touches. There's even a treasure chest hidden in the fog, so it isn't entirely pointless. If they ignore it, it'll hurt a little, you know?

Well, if they ignore it, there's nothing I can do. Now, let me observe how they act. Oh, is that the 【Exploration Magic】 everyone's been talking about on the forum? We monsters hardly need it, but apparently it's a convenient spell to have. Certainly, it must be essential for players without 【Night Vision】. Darkness doesn't seem to work very well as a gimmick.

"This route is... the wall section, huh."

The inside of the tomb tower is a somewhat complicated maze. The similar-looking walls packed with human bones are sure to throw off the intruders' sense of direction. On top of that, there are Skeleton Walls placed at key points. They should spot them if they observe very carefully, but if they let their guard down, they'll notice them too late and end up in a terrible situation... which is exactly what is happening now.

The Skeleton Wall's attack power was low, so despite the surprise attack, it failed to finish off the mage. Furthermore, when the party leader judged the situation to be unfavorable and ordered a retreat, I ended up forcing them to withdraw.

But that's fine. Now they'll have to keep their attention focused on every seemingly ordinary wall. My dungeon has five floors in total. I wonder if they'll be able to maintain their concentration all the way to the end?

"Oh, my, my. Is it really wise to focus so much on the walls?"

For a while after that, none of the members of 'Going My Way' got caught by a Skeleton Wall. However, that only proves their attention is focused entirely on the walls. Another trick is coming soon, isn't it?

"All right, that's the end. Good work, everyone."

I think 'Going My Way' actually did very well. They knew when to retreat from danger, and had the discipline to learn from a single mistake without repeating it. As expected of top players above level 25—they're even higher-level players than I am.

However, it seems they couldn't avoid the next trap. This one was a pincer attack involving monsters ahead of them and Skeleton Swordsmen pressed against ordinary walls. They couldn't withstand a rear attack from monsters with greater attack power than Skeleton Walls, and the entire 'Going My Way' party was wiped out.

I do think this is a sadistically difficult dungeon. However, I also think Jigorou or Genjuro could breeze through a crisis of this magnitude. In fact, whether it was the Skeleton Walls or anything else, they weren't impossible to spot. They were merely difficult to distinguish; anyone who looked carefully could figure them out.

Besides, I built this dungeon using only the resources provided by the game administrators. Therefore, it should be possible to clear it with enough effort. I can only pray for the success of my fellow players.

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You won the event.

You acquired 6 SP.

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Oh? You get SP for repelling them! Does it give one SP per person? One SP per person, huh? Come on in, in droves!

The intruders are dead. Now I'm back to having nothing to do. In that case, shall I take a look at Iris's dungeon, the one I haven't seen yet?

"Oh, how beautiful."

Iris's dungeon is called 'Vine Forest.' Its recommended level is 20, the same as Ruby's. Do the women all favor safe, steady strategies?

It's a complete maze. You proceed through passages formed by intertwined vines and trees. The correct route requires climbing uphill and descending through holes leading underground, so it looks like it will be quite challenging.

However, it has more gathering points than any of the rest of us. Various medicinal herbs grow along the roadside, and edible fruit hangs from the trees that make up the walls. Is that because she's a production-class character? Having plenty of gathering points must be nice, but the dungeon's turnover rate seems low. It's worlds apart from Jigorou's dungeon, where you can zip right through.

Ah, but the traps are quite vicious. Thorn-covered vines extend through gaps in the walls and hang people upside down, while flowers mixed in with the harvestable plants scatter pollen that causes status ailments. Someone engrossed in gathering could die in an instant.

And the boss is a level-25 Great Roper. It's about twice the size of Iris, a Lesser Roper Worker, and its tentacles are thicker and more powerful. It still seems slow, but its long tentacles can reach the edges of the boss area, so that isn't a problem at all.

However, what concerns me is that she isn't a combat specialist. No, it's not that she's inexperienced at fighting. She performed her role without a hitch during the cave exploration and the subjugation of the Ratman General, and she is one of the few people who cleared 'Azure Moon's Trial.'

The rest of us, myself included, are hardcore combat classes, but she's devoted herself entirely to production. These days, she gains monster experience even through production, so she spends more time working in the laboratory without leaving it. Besides, I don't think she's ever experienced fighting multiple opponents at once. The one saving grace is that Ropers haven't appeared as ordinary mobs yet, so they'll be a new sight for every player.

Either way, it'll be a good experience for her. She might even become a production-class character who can fight as a result.

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You won the event.

You acquired 43 SP.

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Mufu, mufufufufu! What a cushy job this is! Just as I thought, everyone falls right into my traps!

Since the event had reached its halfway point, I logged out once to grab a light snack. Nobody can enter the dungeon while I'm away, so there was no problem.

This is probably the critical stage for the players, so I can't let my guard down. My five-floor dungeon has only been conquered as far as the third floor. No party has reached me yet. Boy, am I bored!

Is this the superiority complex that comes from being on the game creator's side? Nearly fifty players have already been dancing in the palm of my hand! By my own sense of time, I've been waiting in the boss room for over a day, but I still haven't gotten tired of watching! I don't think I have any particular knowledge or talent for schemes and intrigue, but perhaps I'm surprisingly good at luring people into traps. Not that anyone would praise me for it.

However, is it just my imagination, or have the parties starting around the fourth one been moving as if they knew where I had placed my traps?

No, this isn't a coincidence. Even parties more careless than the first, 'Going My Way,' managed to clear the early stages. Information must be circulating, isn't it?

This is exactly when I should check the forum... Wait, the event forum has a 'Dedicated Strategy Information Board'? Is this where people post information about dungeons they failed to clear?

"...So that's how it is."

Apparently, rankings are announced based on the number of dungeons cleared and the difficulty of the dungeons cleared, with rewards given according to rank. One of the categories used for the rankings is something called strategy contribution. It seems to be judged by how much information is posted on the aforementioned 'Strategy Information Forum.'

The other parties are competitors, so ordinarily, it would be wiser to keep quiet about information on a dungeon where you failed. However, this 'Dedicated Strategy Information Board' is making everyone rather loose-lipped.

That's because posting useful information there earns you SP as a reward. The rule that you can't challenge the same dungeon again today may be encouraging people to share information as well. Since they can't clear it today anyway, perhaps they want another party to avenge them?

Information about my dungeon, 'Cursed Tomb Tower,' and Iris's 'Vine Forest' is on the board too. There are all sorts of details, from the monsters they encountered to the items they obtained. My dungeon has especially many posts about its trap gimmicks. Some even include insults attacking my character, such as 'The sadistic bastard who designed this dungeon' and 'A shitty dungeon full of first-time-killer traps.'

On the other hand, some players have posted comments exactly as I intended, such as 'The traps are cleverly hidden, but you can figure them out if you observe carefully' and 'This isn't about first-time-killer traps; it's a battle of concentration.' As an old man, I'm thrilled just that someone understood me.

What made me laugh hardest while reading was the discussion of Jigorou's dungeon. It was described as 'the only dungeon where you can go straight from the starting position to the boss area.' Well, he wants to fight as many strong opponents as possible, so I suppose that's fine for him. In fact, its turnover rate is absurdly high. For parties aiming for a ranking based on the number of dungeons cleared, being able to challenge the boss immediately is very attractive. Still, I can't help but shed tears over the fact that its number of successful clears remains at zero.

"Oh? A new challenger... Wait, is that a hero party!?"

Th-they've come now of all times! I knew they'd show up eventually, but I never expected that I'd be the first to face three players at the recommended level of 25...

I instantly killed the priest and the girl mage back then, so the only information I have about those two comes from the party battle at the martial arts tournament. I had planned to observe them fighting Jigorou and formulate a strategy, but... it seems my plans have gone awry.

What's more, I'm alone this time. I've experienced fighting multiple opponents in 'Azure Moon's Trial,' but they're top players. Their teamwork is bound to be on an entirely different level.

However, I have a goal: 'Don't let anyone clear the dungeon.' And I'll receive a special reward from Iifa-sama!

"Sorry, but I'll have to crush you with everything I've got. For the sake of my reward!"

I watched the hero party enter the tower through the monitor as I muttered those words.