Chapter 111
【Wave defense successful.】
【Rewards are being calculated based on difficulty.】
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This time, I didn't bother uploading a screenshot of the wave reward.
Because there was a huge hot topic circulating in the gallery right now.
It was the strange incident that had happened during the wave of Flame School mages we had just repelled, triggered by the bizarre behavior of the 'Anomaly'.
The Otherworld Insect, who should have been in the unlit hallway, burst out of the elevator and wiped out the intruder in one shot.
As proof, there are seven shriveled corpses in the hallway right now.
I went out into the hallway with Malang and looked down at the corpses.
Is this for real?
Golem King : Is this for real...
Golem King : What the hell is going on...?
ㄴDIP : Dunno...
ㄴDIP : Is there anything written separately in the item description about this?
ㄴTV Head : No.
ㄴTV Head : The Otherworld Insect is a kind of gimmick generated by the elevator, so... the relevant explanation should be over there, but it wasn't visible in the picture Newbie uploaded.
ㄴSquad Head : Hmm...
ㄴSquad Head : Since the Otherworld Insect isn't a minion... it probably doesn't have a separate 'cannot-be-raised' tag or anything. Could it have evolved...?
ㄴAnt Queen : Honestly, that hypothesis is kind of over the top.
ㄴAnt Queen : Like TV-nim said, it's nothing more than a gimmick that comes with buying the trap in the first place.
ㄴAnt Queen : Well, of course, it gives Newbie rainbow rice cake and shows up in the elevator from time to time to bow and say hello, so I guess it's no different from the minions we create, ㅇㅇ...
ㄴMagic Hero : Hmm...
ㄴMagic Hero : B-b-but the Anomaly theme is completely different from ours...
ㄴMagic Hero : The killing power of a 3-star Dream Land minion can kill even a Sword Master in one shot. Among the high-grade minions we use, do any have attack power as outstanding as the 'Weeping Statue'...? They don't...
ㄴMagic Hero : If you don't solve the gimmick, there is no way to stop it... and because it comes with the Immortal tag by default, it can't be sealed unless you have the special trait of a Blessed One... honestly, just looking at that, it's a minion with hopelessly absurd performance...
ㄴMagic Hero : What it sacrifices in exchange for that powerful performance is the trait that it becomes powerless if you follow the rules. That's what makes the Anomaly treat Sword Masters and ordinary humans equally...
ㄴKing Slayer : So what's your point, then?
ㄴMagic Hero : I'm trying to say that that bug-human bursting out of the elevator and killing the intruder doesn't seem like it happened for no reason... something like that... um...
ㄴKing Slayer : So you're saying there was a reason the bug-human acted like that? Is that it?
ㄴMagic Hero : Right...
ㄴKing Slayer : Actually, I agree with Magic Hero.
ㄴKing Slayer : I mean, it's impossible to clear it, isn't it.
ㄴKing Slayer : To be blunt, if the elevator just chomped the intruder to death the moment they boarded, the wave would be over, right?
ㄴKing Slayer : The elevator really does have that ability, too. But it doesn't do that, does it? That's what makes it an anomaly.
ㄴKing Slayer : In the first place, Oblivion systemically blocks anything that would make dungeon clearing impossible. The dungeon walls don't break, and it doesn't even allow us to block the path with them.
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Hmm.
I can't say for sure about this part either. I'm a newbie, after all.
Honestly, from a dungeon master's point of view, it just felt like at some point the bug-man suddenly awakened and started killing every intruder who entered the dungeon.
I can't just leave it at that, though.
The system, I mean.
This thing called Oblivion is extremely favorable to me.
Of course, making me a dungeon master without my consent, while I was living just fine on Earth, is truly infuriating.
But it's an indisputable fact that compared to other dungeon masters, my experience and point gains are several times higher, and it even provided a hidden theme selection option that others don't have.
And unlike the other dungeon masters, I can go outside too, so I'm definitely getting special treatment.
Still, there are limits to pampering.
Would it really give me privileges that make clearing it outright impossible?
Hmm.
The thing that's different from the waves so far is the golem.
I think that's the trigger. The golem touched something taboo.
Orange★ : In my opinion...
Seems I wasn't the only one thinking that.
The mod started talking about a very interesting hypothesis.
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Orange★ : Guys, remember how the Dream Land minion tag has 'Anomaly' stamped on it?
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Yeah yeah yeah yeah
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Of course I remember
ㄴThe World Is Cold : But why?
ㄴOrange★ : I just thought it might be the influence of the tag.
ㄴOrange★ : For example, with Malang, it basically has the 'Harmless' tag, right?
ㄴOrange★ : It can leave notes, scout, and obey Newbie's orders, but it doesn't physically harm intruders or secretly gobble up their food and water behind their backs.
ㄴOrange★ : Tags, in many ways, represent the absolute traits of the pieces. But.
ㄴOrange★ : In fact, they also metaphorically describe abilities. 'Immortal' is a prime example, ㅇㅇ
ㄴOrange★ : I think the 'Anomaly' tag might not allow non-living beings to attempt an invasion... so it punished it?
ㄴOrange★ : For example, a Winter-themed minion with the 'Winter' tag is completely immune to ice attacks, but that level of detail isn't written out, right?
ㄴOrange★ : Same with tags like Harmless, One-Time, Immortal, and so on.
ㄴOrange★ : Anyway.
ㄴOrange★ : When a non-organic being tries to clear it...
ㄴOrange★ : The Anomaly imposes a penalty on the intruder that tried it. Something like that, maybe?
ㄴOrange★ : Really, tags are one of those things you can interpret however you like, so Oblivion's explanation is pretty ambiguous and open to interpretation.
ㄴOrange★ : For now, this is the only kind of hypothesis we can make, I guess?
ㄴOrange★ : Also, the reason intruders who have had their memories erased and still feel how unreasonable it is keep stepping into Dream Land again might be the influence of the Anomaly tag.
ㄴOrange★ : For the record, I've thought this way since the dwarf incident, ㅇㅇ
ㄴOrange★ : Anyway, we'll know once we gather more data.
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As expected, it was the mod.
That makes sense.
But I don't know if that's the truth.
We'll know the next time an intruder comes in.
It's not exactly information that would hurt to know.
Newbie : I'll upload proof of the wave reward
ㄴThe World Is Cold : Damn, I was wondering why you weren't doing it
ㄴThe World Is Cold : It's been a while, so I'll off myself
ㄴKongKong : Secha, do you have 32,153 lives by any chance?
I posted proof once to freshen up the mood.
"Malangie."
"Ehk."
I had Malang clean up the disgusting corpses.
And in the white hallway, which looked especially gloomy today, I crossed my arms and thought.
Right now, the important thing was information about the Flame School mages.
I needed to find out now why these guys were targeting me and how big this was going to get.
"It wasn't intentional, but there's a good guide out there."
The golem pilot.
Unlike the others, that guy didn't freeze up and used an escape scroll right away.
The Flame School mages did get taken down kind of pathetically.
Maybe it was because the area in front of the entrance elevator was a safe zone.
Well, they said they were doing some kind of experiment inside the dungeon.
They'd have to take the results back out with them, so maybe they got even more flustered.
Anyway.
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"Tiny Malang, move out."
"Ehk."
Let's watch and see.
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-Fuck, did I escape alone? Why the hell aren't these bastards coming out?
-What the hell, why is nobody coming out...?
-What happened to the experiment? The golem? Did they really all die...?
-They definitely said the area in front of the entrance elevator was safe. There's no way.
-Because I don't have any memories... I don't even know what's what....
-What the hell did those idiots do inside!
-No. Still, I did get the information that even the area in front of the entrance elevator might be dangerous now......
-Shit, shit, how am I supposed to go back to the tower alone and explain this......
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Tiny Malang is keeping an eye on the golem pilot.
Is this the famous five stages of grief?
He's outside all by himself, crying, getting angry, bargaining, and just throwing a complete fit.
Right now he's doing everything except acceptance.
Listening to him rant to himself, it doesn't seem like he's sad that his comrades died; it seems he's terrified that he came out with no results at all.
More precisely, his friends all had escape scrolls too, but in the end he's the only one who made it out alive.
The intruder was worrying about how to explain this.
And he spent a very long time doing it.
-For now, I should rest in a nearby village and think it over.
He stood up from his seat.
Then he trudged toward the nearby village.
But he's spinning excuses so crazy it's almost enough to make me think he's a lunatic.
"Let's hole up at the village inn, drink, and think it over."
"Maybe after taking in a bit of Frostthorn Mountain, I'll be able to decide."
He was trying to put off his decision with this outlandish excuse.
Newbie : This bastard isn't going back to the tower...
Is he more timid than I thought?
Maybe it'd be better to leave him alone like this.
Shibgan Love Dog : Newbie-yam!
ㄴNewbie : Mm-hm.
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Do you want to call the other Flame School mages to Dream Land and wreck them right now?
Um.
ㄴNewbie : Why would I???
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : If you don't really want to wreck them, just leave them alone!
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Anyway, if the report is slow, time will just keep getting wasted until you can take the next action!
ㄴNewbie : Wow, Love is smart
ㄴShibgan Love Dog : Then we have to meet and kiss (seriously)
ㄴNewbie : What does that have to do with kissing...
Good.
For now, let's leave this frustrating bastard crying in the snow.
Still.
Since I already sent Malang out, I might as well get some information about the Flame School.
Not anything too detailed, though.
The veterans should at least know the rough geography of the tower, so after that Malang's abilities should be able to cover the rest somehow.
"That's why I'm asking you."
-Ehk.
Malang flew off.
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Shibgan Love Dog : The Red Magic Tower... so the Flame School's base is in the Drisred Viscounty, as far as I know!
Shibgan Love Dog : It's really close to the Wolfhaufen Earldom, so if you see a huge tower to the east of there, that's probably the Red Magic Tower!
Love knows the tower layout.
They say Love, through the ability called brainwashing, has obtained and shared more information on the gallery than anyone else.
So if you search old posts, most of them are solid info posts.
Even their whole shtick was pretty serious.
I made a Newbie figurine doll Ver.14 hehe [21]
52 reasons why Newbie has no choice but to obsess over me [33]
I honestly have no idea why they're like this these days.
Anyway。?