Chapter 28: To Charm or not to Charm
DM was sticking to plan A. Unlike plan B, which was an all-out attempt to charm his intruders using his highest-tier ability, plan A involved faking his death while he remained invisible in the corner using his hide ability. DM had no particular desire to permanently harm the knights and mages that accompanied Barney. From what was audible during their journey through the dungeon, they were simply following orders, not understanding DM’s nature or harboring any malice.
In contrast, Barney was a real enemy and this was personal. Apparently, the Lord of the Twin Cities had attempted to destroy the Guild and as many members as possible. Some of DM’s acquaintances nearly perished as well. As the Lord’s proxy, Barney was trying to silence DM despite his many self-sacrificial efforts to be friendly and avoid hurting all but the most heinous people. If the Lord had determined that they couldn’t coexist, then DM would defend himself using the full extent of his powers and influence.
DM’s other reason for relegating plan B to the backup role was that it carried great risk. He didn’t have much experience charming high-level opponents. Also, he knew the enemy could be aware of his propensity for charming intruders. What he didn’t know was what measures were taken by the party as a precaution or what levels of defense against status effects like charm were possible. If the efforts were even partially blocked, DM would run out of MP before he could charm everyone, given the high costs of the tier 6 ability.
One further drawback of using charm, like he had on Michael’s entire party way back when he started defending his dungeon, was that it would draw attention to exactly how DM defended himself. Unless DM eliminated the entire party, some of them would piece together that they were charmed and forcefully sent away from the dungeon. After that, any attempt to have Barney or anyone else carry out actions while charmed would meet suspicion and ultimately heavy resistance from the city.
Better, if possible, for the group to think they successfully defeated the dungeon master and its minions. Draining as the experience was for them, physically and mentally, he doubted they would question if perhaps they had failed to even accomplish their main objective.
The one knight with prior experience adventuring had scared the crap out of DM. She was scrutinizing the tentacle monster corpses closely, most likely realizing that the dungeon master was actually a body double. Had she spoken up, DM would have been forced to revert to plan B immediately. Fortunately, she left without saying a word about the inconsistency in the bodies of the defeated monsters. DM suspected that she had in fact pieced together what happened, but chose to withhold that information from Barney. Time would tell what, if anything, she would tell anyone else.
Ultimately, DM profited from plan A immensely. He learned that Barney’s actual goal was to access the dungeon console. Thaw had vaguely warned him about that, and now he knew why. Assuming Barney’s conversation wasn’t misleading or filled with misinformation, a person could reset the dungeon, relocating it to a new random place and probably bringing it back to LVL 1. Further, the dungeon master would get replaced by a brand new dungeon master. DM wasn’t sure what would happen to him if that occurred, and he didn’t intend to find out.
Just as the one-on-one battle with Barney was beginning, DM received an alert. He didn’t have time to inspect the console and check the identity of who else was entering the dungeon. He’d have to confirm that information after the battle, assuming he won.
Barney’s words were fierce but his facial expression couldn’t fully hide his nervousness. “More swords doesn’t make you a better fighter, monster.”
“…Does more knights make your mission easier? You brought a lot of them.”
“You won’t speak in my voice ever again.” Barney stretched into a ready position like a runner or a swimmer seconds from go time. Using his considerable agility, he launched at DM, blade held behind him and ready to slash at an unpredictable angle.
DM had spent plenty of time comparing his stats to Barney’s. DM won easily on HP, MP, MAG, and MDEF. Barney had superior AGI and somewhat higher DEF. Their STRs were similar. The biggest challenge DM faced was overcoming the difference in levels. Although the outlook wasn’t as dismal as when Thaw threatened to attack, Barney was still double DM’s level. Effectiveness of everything except for raw damage would be reduced, and DM didn’t know by how much. Even the difference between Barney’s STR and DM’s DEF was scary. DM guessed Barney’s attacks would do five or perhaps seven times more damage than they would against a clone of himself with matching stats. He did have that reduced damage from males ability, courtesy his dryads, to help him, but he wasn’t sure how effective it would be.
DM was compensating for the difference in individual attack effectiveness by harnessing his body’s ability to sprout additional arms. If he was taking hits that dealt six times as much damage, he simply needed to deal six times as many hits. That would be challenging when considering how their AGI stats compared: 76 to 37. At least DM had 258 more HP and some passive regeneration.
DM wielded six swords taken from lesser demons he summoned to prepare for a battle such as this. Each sword was enchanted with confusion strike T1. Ideally, DM would have equipped some of the lizardmen’s spears enchanted with sleep strike as well, but he found wielding both types of weapons at the same time too difficult. At tier 1, he only expected the status effects to influence Barney very infrequently regardless.
Preparing to receive Barney’s attack, DM unleashed the technique he developed while whaling on his minions previously in secret sparring sessions. Barney’s speed made his arrival difficult to judge but DM didn’t mind. He brought his first sword down in a swing that would intercept Barney’s body. The motion was a tad early, but that was intentional.
Barney clearly was expecting a counter and was already shifting his weight and twisting in order to avoid the attack while dishing out one of his. To prevent that, DM brought a second sword down in a decapitating motion as the first sword was still descending. The second sword was timed better and was also better aimed at where Barney was likely to be in just a few more milliseconds.
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To Barney’s credit, he further shifted his weight and further twisted, finding the positioning that would pass between the two sword attacks and keep his sword clear like some type of homicidal contortionist. The movement, while praiseworthy, was inadequate to deal with the threat of a third sword sweeping towards him and homing in on his altered course. By now, Barney had run out of muscles he could use to avoid taking a blow. There wasn’t anywhere else he could go without suddenly reversing course entirely or teleporting.
Widening his eyes at the realization that he underestimated the threat of a well-armed tentacle monster, he seemed to accept that he would take a blow. Instead, he opted for a simultaneous exchange, hoping to deal considerable damage to DM despite taking some himself. Once again, this decision was impressive and showed Barney had both commitment to his cause, whatever it was, and a great deal of experience navigating life-or-death situations.
Barney did not seem to realize that DM intended to use the same strategy for defense. The remaining three swords moved to intercept Barney’s, using staggered timing. Two noises echoed the chamber simultaneously: the clank of swords colliding, and the telltale sound of a blade slashing human flesh.
Were this a normal swordfight, the bout would be over and the fighters would regroup, preparing for their next attack. Distracted by the six swords, Barney hadn’t seemed to notice the two tentacles spawn behind him, each forming a T3 fireball which he was especially susceptible to as a physically-oriented combatant. Just as Barney was recoiling from the pain of receiving a blow, the fireballs caught him unaware, boring into his back before exploding, dealing considerable damage.
>6 damage.
>7 damage.
>6 damage.
>81 damage.
>78 damage.
Unlike Barney, DM had not been injured in the slightest, not that occasional slight injuries would matter much.
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As Barney staggered, the tentacles leaned forward and hooked around each of his ankles. Although they weren’t squeezing tightly, he suddenly felt excruciating pain where they were touching him. Distracted by the effects of pain touch, he didn’t even notice DM wind up and strike with three of his swords again.
>5 damage.
>6 damage.
>6 damage.
Individually, the sword attacks only took away one or two percent of his health, but the cumulative effects of taking weapon blows head-on were more significant for humans than they were for monsters. Adventurers were trained to minimize the blows they received. Further, they kept their guard up until the monster’s HP was reduced to 0 since it could lash out viciously even when nearly dead.
Despite the weakening effects of taking many sword strikes, Barney expected the monster to drop some of its swords and more aggressively pelt him with deadly magic. Barney was actually much more susceptible to the creature’s spells, judging from the damage he took from those surprise fireballs. Honestly, being able to launch attack spells from any direction was just unfair. Barney was waiting for the moment when DM would switch to a magic-based strategy. The moment DM dropped the swords, Barney would act.
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DM was elated when he noticed how much damage his fireballs dealt to Barney. Barney would of course be more on guard, but just having a way to deal serious damage to the enemy was a huge boon to DM’s morale. This was his first serious battle since he was killed back at the beginning of his time as dungeon master, and he wasn’t totally sure what to expect. His sword strategy had worked so far, and his spells were super effective.
If this battle dragged on, surely Barney would adapt to DM’s tactics and figure out how to attack while being on guard for magical or physical interference from spawned tentacles.
It didn’t seem like Barney was focused on adapting. He slashed away the two tentacles grabbing his ankles and turned towards the door, most likely planning to escape. His eyes widened as though he was asking himself, “When did the door get shut!?” Of course, it had shut just as the morphling started talking to him before the battle.
“You fucker!”
“…I’m an abstinent tentacle monster.”
Barney peered over his shoulder at the clone of his which was just observing the battle from the side, testing if looks could kill. He turned back to DM and prepared for the next round. Once again, he lunged forward, only to find tentacles popping up right in front of him, disrupting his pace. He slashed at them, destroying them instantly, but they respawned quickly.
DM had to be careful to manage his MP. He had not enacted his semi-permanent mana battery plans yet. As effective as those fireballs were, he needed to save some MP for an even more expensive ability. Deciding to take a risk, he switched up his sword technique to use all six swords offensively during this exchange. Barney took the sword strikes while dealing damage himself.
>6 damage.
>5 damage.
>5 damage.
>7 damage.
>5 damage.
>6 damage.
As for the damage DM received?
>18 damage.
DM could afford to take some damage after all.
As Barney staggered again, the tentacles gripped him. After resisting their touch abilities several times, he succumbed to paralysis.
“Did that do it?” DM asked himself, not conveying the message to his morphling.
Barney collapsed to the ground, eyes open. DM could see his cheek moving around suspiciously. After a few moments, Barney lay still.
“I think I know what’s going on here.” DM re-spawned the tentacles to Barney’s side and had each charge up a T3 fireball. They fired simultaneously.
>77 damage.
>82 damage.
Barney jumped to his feet, crouching as though he lacked the energy to stand up straight anymore.
“You fucker! Who attacks a paralyzed opponent!?”
“…I’m just a monster. So, where’s the paralyzed opponent?”
It looked like Barney was trying to decide how to respond. Before he could, he took a tentacle slap to the back of the head. Still awake, he was lying on the ground again.
“…You had some type of recovery item in your tooth, didn’t you?”
Barney essentially used the last of his strength to widen his eyes again. Clearly, he couldn’t understand how some monster could know one of his secrets.
“…That’s a trick I’ve seen before.”
“Where?” Barney asked weakly.
“…If I told you that I’d have to kill you.”
Barney coughed as he tried to speak again. “You’ve already killed me. I’m on borrowed time.”
“…How could I ever kill someone named Barney?”
“What?”
“…I’m going to heal you up good as new.”
“You… lie.”
“…I’m not beyond lying, but I’m actually telling the truth this time.” DM focused his sensing magic on Barney’s gear and jewelry. “…That ring… It provides you complete protection against charm?”
Barney didn’t seem to even have the energy to respond anymore. He was still breathing and still conscious, but that was it.
“…I’m going to eat it.”
>Absorbed charmproof ring.
>Charm Guard has increased to T2.
>Gained 1 LUCK.
“…You won’t pay for what you’ve done with your life. Well, in a manner of speaking, you will.”
DM wrapped one of his six appendages around Barney’s arm. A moment later, charm T6 was successful. With the last of DM’s MP, he cast a simple heal spell. It wasn’t enough to return Barney to full health, but it would buy time.
“…Oh look, you have all this MP you’re not using.” DM absorbed the MP right out of Barney and used some of it to further heal him. Once Barney was fully recovered, DM began the slow process of applying affection (T1) until it reached its full potency.
“…I’ll need to do a better job of screening candidates for my fan club in the future.”