"That's a lot of naga." Greg muttered as he studied what looked like some sort of ant hive with naga streaming in and out of it.

"And the dungeon core is smack dab in the middle of it all." Frank growled next to him, holding a small device that pointed straight at the complex structure.

"Man, clearing this dungeon is going to be a pain in the ass isn't it?" Greg sighed. After spending a week in the dungeon, he was already sick of it. It was just the same thing, day after day. He dismantled traps, he sent his fairies out to explore, and he watched the adventurers kill naga. What made it worse was that he'd already completed his quest, so it barely even felt like he was doing anything here. He knew there was still the possibility of getting some achievements, but other than that, he was just bored.

"That's what dungeon clearing is." Frank chuckled. "A long slog of death. Brutal, exhausting, and one of the few things that actually makes life worth living. Just something about pitting yourself against a horde of enemies and coming out on top… there's nothing else like it." He sighed wistfully.

Greg grinned. "I can appreciate that." He agreed, before scowling slightly. "Unfortunately I'm not at that level yet. Not here at least." He shook his head. "Man, what I wouldn't give to just dive in and fight, you know?"

"I do, bro. I do." Frank grinned, patting him on the back. "Come on, let's get back to the others."

Greg nodded, the two of them slipping into the shadows as they headed back, Greg taking advantage of his new Void Rogue Class. Say what you would about this dungeon, it was great for experience, particularly for stealth and trap skills. He was already level fourteen in the Class! Chris had also gotten a Void Archer Class. This World really liked the Void Classes. Or more accurately, the whole 'memories from another World' was the biggest qualification they had, meaning the Void Classes were their best options. Well, except for the Foundation one, but he was already going down that path using his scorpocroc form, since he could just power through the levels with kills to pick up the necessary skills.

"So, we found the core." Frank announced as they arrived at their temporary camp. "Bad news, it's at the center of a gigantic hive of naga. Good news, we need to kill all those naga anyway. Mediocre news, the tunnels are just as small as all the others, so navigating them is going to be a bitch."

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Marcus sighed. "So, what's our game plan?"

"Well, we could keep doing what we're doing, slowly grinding away at the naga over the next few months." Frank began.

"Please tell me we have a second option." Greg groaned. He could not take another few months in here.

Frank shrugged. "Well, that's why we're talking. We need a method to kill as many of these naga as possible. If you have any ideas, shout 'em out. I haven't noticed any particularly good kill zones, so funneling all the naga into one of those isn't on the table, we didn't bring explosives, so we can't rig anything like that up, and I don't see any reliable method of poisoning them all either."

Greg's eyes went wide for a moment at the mention of poison. "Oh fuck I'm terrifying."

"Oh that can't be good." Andrew frowned.

Greg coughed awkwardly as he went over the literal fuckton of poisons he'd recently been exposed to. "I- may have an idea, but it needs testing. Chris, can I use the naga in your world?"

"Knock yourself out, I'm not doing anything with them." Chris shrugged, opening a portal for him.

Greg headed in, sneaking over to the small village of a dozen naga, dispersing a fine haze of smoke over them. A few frowned, but quickly dismissed the strange phenomenon, while others went on guard, wondering what this strange place was attempting to do this time. This place had never tried to hurt them before, so many had begun to trust it, while others remained suspicious. However, none of them managed to prevent the haze from seeping into their lungs as they breathed, where it began to change. Naga began to stiffen as concentrated doses of paralytic poison entered their blood streams, collapsing to the ground, a few gasping for air as their lungs seized. Then, as soon as it began, it all stopped, the poison reverting to smoke as it left their bodies, leaving them all looking around confused by what had just happened.

"So…" Greg began as he returned to the others. "I may have a plan."

*

A haze of smoke spread through the naga hive, filling the tunnels. At first, the naga avoided it out of suspicion, using their Domains to keep it at bay, but after testing it with a few of the lesser members of their tribe to no result, they began to ignore it, allowing the smoke to spread deeper in. Greg was simply getting the smoke inside the naga at the moment, waiting until the right moment to turn it to poison. The smoke also acted as a scout as it slowly spread through the tunnels, giving Greg a clear picture of what was inside.

"Oh!" Greg suddenly exclaimed with a flinch.

"What? Did something go wrong!?!" Frank asked insistently.

"No, just-" Greg's expression twisted. "Let's just say I'm glad I'm not a furry. Or would it be scaly in this case… either way, I'm not into it."

Chris patted him on the shoulder. "I understand. Naga sex is gross." He paused. "Though I suppose all sex is gross… too many fluids getting thrown around."

"What do you mean? The fluids are the best part~" Kara winked.

Thomas frowned. "I think it's more about the sensations than the fluids…"

"The fluids enhance the sensations." Kara retorted.

"Not if you're just watching." Chris countered. "Which is my point. Sex is meant to be experienced, not observed."

"I'd like to agree with you, but I'm pretty sure the entire porn industry begs to differ." Andrew pointed out.

Chris waved dismissively. "Porn isn't sex, it's porn. The point of it is to assist an experience, namely masturbation, therefore you technically are experiencing it, not simply observing it. If you were solely observing porn, without any sexual arousal, it would just be gross."

"But watching someone have sex is sexually arousing, so doesn't that imply it is meant to be observed?" Andrew retorted, smirking slightly.

"If that were the case, then all sex would be arousing to observe, yet that isn't the case. It's only arousing when the participants are attractive to you, and even further, only when the acts they perform are attractive to you. By contrast, sex, even when performed with someone you have zero attraction to, is enjoyable, purely due to it being sex." Chris countered.

Andrew paused. "Touché." He conceded.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"I'd just like to point out, that one was not my fault." Greg commented.

"Eh?" Thomas wiggled his hand. "You kinda started it."

"I just reacted to a disturbing sight! Am I not allowed to react?!?" Greg protested.

"You know what? I don't think you are." Thomad chuckled.

Greg crossed his arms. "Well that's just ridiculous. Also, there's a huge naga in there… is that going to be a problem?"

"Nah, it's probably just the boss." Frank waved dismissively.

Greg blinked. "The what now?"

"The boss?" Frank cocked his head. "Strongest mob in the dungeon, drops loot, extra experience, all that crap?"

"Since when do dungeons have bosses?!?" Andrew asked incredulously.

"Oh, I know this one." Chris snapped his fingers. "Level twenty-five. Oh, and they get elites at level ten. Elites give extra experience as well."

"Huh… neat." Greg cocked his head. "Is that why some of the naga are slightly bigger?"

"Yup." Frank nodded. "Elites are about twenty to fifty percent stronger than normal, while bosses can range from fifty percent to two hundred, sometimes even further in really special dungeons. We did one that was just one huge boss, ten times stronger than a normal mob, roving through this giant labyrinth full of traps and puzzles… that one was a bitch. Thankfully boss monsters split the experience between up to ten people, instead of the usual two, so it wasn't a complete waste."

"Alright, well, I think I got all the naga I can for now." Greg shrugged. "Just a couple hundred though… not exactly a huge dent."

"Hey, better than we'd get just picking off patrols." Frank chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Greg nodded as he turned all his smoke to poison, naga stiffening and falling all through the hive as their bodies betrayed them, slowly suffocating as their lungs stopped working, the process elongated by their natural ability to hold their breath for long periods of time. As the naga began to die, a roar echoed through the hive, the forest beginning to writhe as the boss began to tear her way out of the hive, followed by several of the elites.

"And that's our cue to run." Frank announced, making his way deeper into the jungle. "Run!" He exclaimed, causing everyone to jump and follow him as they rushed back through the jungle.

"Fuck, it's a nature mage!" Marcus cursed.

"I got it!" Val replied, spreading out her Domain to calm the vegetation around them.

"While I appreciate the cardio, shouldn't we just hide in my world at this point?" Chris commented.

"Shit, right, portal now!" Frank ordered.

Chris frowned at him as he opened a portal, all of them rushing in. He debated making a comment about the order, but eventually decided he didn't care enough. "Alright, so, what was that?" He asked.

"That was what happens when you piss off the dungeon boss. Immediately turns the entire dungeon against you." Frank replied. "Bad luck. Turns out we have one that actually cares when its subordinates die."

"So what do we do now?" Andrew frowned.

"We hide out until the boss calms down, then we start again. Should only take a few days." Frank explained. "Also, the patrols are going to get bigger from now on, and there's going to be more of them. Basically, this dungeon is now in hard mode."

"And how much of a problem actually is this for us?" Thomas cocked an eyebrow at him.

Frank blinked. "Well… that depends on whether they can come up with any countermeasures to Greg. All they need to do is keep their Domains up, which isn't exactly hard. Once they figure that out, things will get difficult." He sighed, before turning to Greg. "Still, you saved us a good half a month with that, maybe more depending on how things go."

Greg grimaced. "I guess that's something… kinda thought I'd get more use out of it though."

"Dude, you killed hundreds of level hundred and forty-four creatures while under level twenty-five." Frank rolled his eyes. "I think you've already defied expectations. I honestly didn't expect you guys to be able to do anything in here besides tank the traps for us."

"Yeah, yeah." Greg sighed, waving his hand dismissively. He didn't even particularly care about killing the naga, he just wanted to be done with this. Shaving half a month off was nice, but it wasn't enough. These naga needed to die, fast. Chris wouldn't be able to do any more than he already was, Andrew didn't have many options against creatures this strong, which left… "Thomas, do you think you can do anything here?" Greg asked. "Not bodily, obviously, but as points?"

Thomas cocked his head. "I'm… not sure?" He had literally never considered doing anything as just points. Well, except maybe making himself a body out of points so he didn't have to worry about healing himself all the time… "I suppose I could try?" He shrugged. "Chris, a small portal please?"

Chris opened a small portal as Thomas sent out most of his points, only leaving a few to maintain his connection with his body, the energy ball flying out into the dungeon as he considered what he should try to do. He could try simulating Energy like he did Spirit or Essence in his World, but he doubted anything he could do would have the oomph necessary to really affect any of the mobs. Making something wouldn't be any more effective than what Greg was doing… unless he made poison in their bodies? But even if it was just a point per naga, he'd be out of points before he could get them all. Plus, wasting that many points just to speed their progress through the dungeon didn't seem worth it to him. And that just left… Thomas blinked. That- might actually go somewhere.

"Hey, do you know where the boss is?" Thomas asked, turning to Greg.

"No, but I can find out." Greg replied, turning some of the smoke he'd used to poison the naga into fairies and searching the jungle. "Bit north of the hive, in a huge swarm of naga. Can't miss it."

Thomas nodded, sending his ball of energy that way until he started encountering the naga. He briefly dipped his points into one, borrowing their senses to find the boss, before shooting off again, the ball darting straight for the boss's head. "Okay, let's see… huh." Thomas frowned. "It can't be that easy." He muttered as he went to make a small adjustment to the boss's mentality. Thomas gritted his teeth as it turned out it wasn't that easy, his head beginning to pound as he fought against the boss's will, but it was a small change, almost insignificant really, and after a few moments of struggling, it clicked into place, Thomas collapsing back with a groan as he rubbed his head, an ice pack appearing in his hand a moment later. "Why- huh. That actually helps."

Chris nodded. "You're welcome."

Greg's eyes went wide. "Ho-ly shit… what did you just do?!?" He asked incredulously, turning to Thomas.

Thomas coughed awkwardly. "I just made a small change to the boss's mentality… just clipped a thread, really."

"And it caused that?!?" Greg exclaimed. "Dude, you've been holding out on us."

Thomas's expression twisted. "It's not exactly something I enjoy doing, you know. Plus, it only worked because of how dungeon bosses are."

"What are you guys talking about? What's happening?" Frank frowned, looking between the two.

"It's- fuck, I don't even know how to describe it." Greg shook his head. "It's fucking terrifying though."

"I- really, it isn't as bad as it looks, I swear!" Thomas flushed awkwardly.

"Guys! What is happening!?!" Frank exclaimed.

Thomas and Greg shared a look. "Uh… the boss is- kinda- killing everyone." Thomas explained, looking away uncomfortably.

Frank blinked. "Wha- do- you mean- all the naga?!? Why!?!"

"Well… okay, so, you know how dungeon mobs just see everything that's not a part of the dungeon as an enemy?" Thomas asked, everyone nodding along. "Well… I kinda snipped off the 'part of the dungeon' aspect. See, I figured that since the compulsion is mindless in the first place, completely resistant to negotiation and all that, then by turning it into just a general aggression, the dungeon boss wouldn't be able to think their way out of it. To them, everyone is an enemy now. It- actually created a bit of a feedback loop, because the alive nagas are enemies, but the dead ones aren't, so every time it kills one, it just gets more and more pissed off, making it kill even more, and on and on."

"Yeah, she's fucking pissed." Greg nodded, watching the massacre through his fairies. "Why aren't the other naga fighting back?"

"They literally can't go against the dungeon boss." Thomas shook his head, having checked that out himself. "Another compulsion from the dungeon."

"So… you just beat the dungeon by flipping a mental switch?" Andrew asked skeptically.

"Essentially?" Thomas shrugged. "I mean, it wasn't easy." He gestured to the ice pack on his head. "But yeah, it worked."