"Master, isn't this bad?" - Bloom
"Big time. I did expect for them to have an attribute, but this is way off what I expected." - Garami
On the screen showing the Damavand's entrance, a swarm of critters crawled out from the Ruby Coffer territory. And I'm not joking here. Tons of bug-type monsters are dirtying my pretty, abandoned city cave with their many, many, MANY feet. FYI, the bugs consist mostly of centipedes and ants with bright-red bodies, hence the many feet.
But the ground forces ain't the worst of it. The air is painted red by flying beetles, bees, and dragonflies, all matching the colors of the ground bugs.
All this paints a clear (and red) picture of Ruby Coffer's monster selection. That Runitos-fellow, he managed to add the Fire attribute to his Dungeon, plus some "Insect monster line" to use with it.
Did he already have these guys prepared when he agreed to the Dungeon Battle or is it something he slapped together quickly? The large amount of DP-increasing invader-beneficial facilities on his first floor seems to point to the latter hypothesis, but I won't settle on it until I have definitive proof.
"Noire, do you read me? Flyers and crawlers are closing in! Be on guard!" - Garami
[Flyers? Crawlers? Can you please start speaking like a normal person-, GYAAAAA!!] - Noire
Aaaand the bugs have reached her. Looking at the screen, I could see Noire and her army of archer monsters getting assaulted on the rooftops. And I'm saying goodbye to my brilliant "High Ground, Zap Low" strategy here. Not that I expected it would last that long. At least until one more generator got to blow up.
Noire and her Dark Elves archers (she had denied any goblins in her group) released their arrows against the flying buzzers, having no time to spare to stop the bugs down below. Noire herself shot down bug after bug with style, a feat quite impressive when you remember she's technically not a warrior but a mage/crafter.
She took to the air to avoid a diving sting from a bee while releasing an arrow at the back of its head, did a somersault to position herself, and evaded two fire blasts at the same time, before using a magic-infused arrow to blast one of the two culprits, a beetle, with the force equal to a bazooka shot. It must be some Combat Art. When did she get that good?
Noire's awesome performance beat some flyers, and the Dark Elves shot down some more. We got the most kills, but the opponent's numbers are too big. Not to mention that the ground crawlers are going past the "zap zone" and heading deeper into the first floor.
"Master, more enemies are coming through the gate." - Bloom
"Sheesh, we're not getting a break here." - Garami
Looking at the numbers alone, Runitos must be putting all the stops now. That's gotta be almost all the monsters he has available for the Battle. Hey, hold that thought. Wouldn't that make his Dungeon defenseless?
"Ah, Noire is getting burned!" - Bloom
"Tell me something new. Hey, she IS getting burned! Literally!" - Garami
While the aerial combat had been in Noire's favor until now, that changed with the entry of a formidable foe. One of the burning red bees, a D-rank Queen species if I had to guess from the numbers of mini-bees (I presume Tokens or some summoning skills) that are being generated from the flames on the giant bee's back, is painting the town red. Flaming red and burning red at that. The mini-bees are going crazy on the Dark Elves, not to mention Noire. Those stings sure look like they burn. And if this screen's not malfunctioning, I think the stingers are made of literal flames here. Scorching.
Hmm? Something's off about this bee. I tried using some of the screen's functions to take a better look at it... Aha. So that's the case. This could be why that dragon jerk wanted some days to prepare.
Meanwhile, Noire didn't seem like she would let herself be burned to ashes without a fight. She bit her teeth together and fired a golden arrow at the queen bee. The swift arrow had already taken care of the E-rank bees before, but this time, things went differently. The queen bee generated a jet flame from her wings, using the extra acceleration to evade Noire's killer arrow.
Okay, I know this queen is evolved compared to the other E-rank bees, but this is just ridiculous. D-ranks shouldn't be able to outperform E-ranks THAT much!
"Something's fishy about that bee." - Garami
"Decide already! Is it an insect, or is it a bee? Ah, Noire died." - Bloom
She what!? Looking at the screen, I saw the queen bee stabbing Noire's frail body with its stinger. Did it go for a missile tackle while I was distracted? Those "jet wings" should make it possible, but come on!
Light started to gather around Noire...and the queen bee? Zooming in on the two combatants, I saw something I failed to notice at first (but to be honest, seeing someone you know stabbed, even if you know they're not going to die from it, is kinda horrifying!!). Noire had an arrow in her hand, but no bow. She had thrown away the latter and only relied on that single arrow when she saw the bee charging in on her...
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"Don't tell me she managed to score a critical hit on that queen bee's heart while she was getting penetrated!?" - Garami
"Master, that way of saying is sort of..." - Bloom
"...*Cough*. Did that fallen angel of ours manage to do a double KO despite that fast-and-flaming queen bee charging in at her like an oiled missile?" - Garami
"Much better! Though I am not sure how oil would help a missile flying." - Bloom
Goddamn, that takes more than just guts! Even if you won't die thanks to the Dungeon Battle rules, trying to go for a mutual kill like that is crazy! I doubt I could do that myself...
During the time it took me to process the result of the sky battle, Noire and the bee had completely disappeared into a strange light. The same light then started to appear behind the throne, and whaddayaknow? There's Noire! Hmm, so I gotta share this place with whoever gets beaten up during the Battle? That kinda sucks, but better than having them dead in the grave. Even Noire...barely.
As for the fallen angel in question, she is rolling around the floor while screaming. Not the "I LOST!!"-kinda yell, but the one that sneaks out when you experience an untold amount of pain. Her stomach, which was pierced by the bee, is spotless now. No wounds in sight. Her discarded bow, even her used arrows, had all returned as well, all in prime state, no different from before the Battle started.
"Hey. Welcome back to the land of the living." - Garami
"Don't joke about that!! It hurt so much I thought I was going to die!" - Noire
"Well, technically, you did die. The death was just negated." - Bloom
"Please do not say that! It's way freaky!" - Noire
"Can't blame you for thinking that. Though, you did a good job, taking care of one of the enemies' generals." - Garami
"Generals?" - Bloom
"Bloom, rewind the video a little. To the point where we get a good shot of the queen bee." - Garami
"You can do that? Oh, you can. I kind of like this throne." - Bloom
The screens, a product of the Demon Lord's Throne, have two more functions in addition to showing what's going on inside the Dungeon and seeing what's happening over at the Ruby Coffer through the monsters' eyes. The first is the ability to record and play back what's happening here, but only for an hour at most. The second is to take a sneak peek at the stats of the hostiles inside the Dungeon that are shown on the screens, though this ability relies on the Dungeon's "Knowledge" value, so at our current E-rank, we can only see the target's name.
"Now, what can you get out of the info on this screen regarding this queen bee?" - Garami
"Hmmmmmmm~... I do not get it." - Bloom
"All we see is that the queen has a weird name." - Noire
"Bingo! That's the thing. Dungeon monsters generally don't have names." - Garami
"Aaaaand that is important....why?" - Noire
"*Sigh*. Once you level up a Dungeon's 'Monster' stat value enough, you can name one representative from each monster species in your Dungeon. They will act as a singular individual instead of being one of the mass-produced mobs out there. You can even give them items for power-ups." - Garami
"And what has that to do with..., oh, right..." - Noire
It seems she gets it now. Runitos' battle plan must have been to amass lots of DP-increasing facilities that allowed him to increase the stats of his Dungeon enough to produce even these "named monsters" and to buy them power-up items like Skill Orbs. Now I've got enough clue to guess some of the Ruby Coffer's stat values.
The option to name monsters becomes available after the Dungeon's "Monster" stat reaches level D. There are also those evolved Monster Bulls from the first wave, and since D-rank monsters can only be spawned after having D in both "Monster" and another status value related to that species' evolution line. I couldn't see the evolved bull in battle, but from its appearance, I'd say it's either Strength or Magic. Maybe Magic, seeing how the Goblin Warriors were still common E-ranks instead of D-ranked Goblin Knights.
As for what stat is being reduced, I can say for sure that Stealth isn't one of them. The D-ranked "spiced-up version" Mimic boss from the 1st floor betrays the lack of any D-ranked Stealth values, the stat that practically all Mimics belong to. The queen bee was a D-rank, so that would normally mean the Knowledge stat, related to crafting and leadership, has been increased to D, but the lack of any other queen bees among the invaders is telling me that bee alone was something Runitos must have invested DP for level-ups and an evolution.
To summarize, the Ruby Coffer's stat spread should be something like this:
* Strength: [D???]
* Magic: [D?]
* Stealth: [E]
* Knowledge: ???
* Monsters: [D]
* Luck: ???
Two for sure, two variables, and two unknowns. Should I be glad to have uncovered 1/3 of Runitos' combat options or be angsty over having 2/3 of his Dungeon's powers unexplored?
Speaking of unexplored, let's see how the assault team is faring. As for the invading forces, let's have Bloom and Noire keep an eye out for me. The assault team should be what? Halfway past the 2nd floor? Let's switch to the screen showing them...
[Garami, are you there?] - Mira
"Mira? I was about to check up on you. What's wrong?" - Garami
[We're stuck at the end of the 2nd floor and need assistance!] - Mira
"You're already at the end?! That was fast!" - Garami
[The floor is a giant, simple labyrinth that's not echolocation-proof. End of story.] - Mira
Got it. The Giant Bats. Let's keep that in mind if the labyrinth itch comes to me one day.
"Then, what's the sitch? You said you guys were stuck?" - Garami
[Yup. A huge gate is blocking our path. It seems it will open if we answer some questions..., but they're all related to stuff in Loitan. Please put Flint on the thread!] - Mira
Aha. A so-called "gate of knowledge". I've read about them, but I couldn't find them in my facility's "gate" section. It might be connected to the attribute of the same name. This means the Ruby Coffer Dungeon might level D on that subject too. Weird. I was thinking the named monster could evolve regardless of the stats. The lack of other D-rank bees among the invaders made me believe their Knowledge stat was low and the named bee was an exception, but it seems I was wrong. Knowledge is also related to crafting and leadership, so why did Runitos only use 1 bee for his invasion force...?
"Ok. I'll put you over to Flint. The invaders shouldn't reach the 3rd floor for a while anyway." - Garami
[That's where Flint was placed, right? Thanks. But how come the delay?] - Mira
"Count the number of food-related facilities you guys have encountered and you'll get your answer." - Garami
All monsters in the world are gluttons. As a former Dungeon-born monster, I can attest to that~. And no monster could ever hope to resist the tempting dishes that Revi has prepared in the Glutton Kitchen. It's going to be a pain cleaning up the mess afterward though. Sheesh...