“L-leader. It w-will be f-f-fine, right?”
“Sure, believe in me. I’ll take us out of this mess.”
And once again, I’m forced to lie. I’m sure Corp knows it’s a lie, but at the same time, he really wanted to hear me say that everything’s alright.
We’re so screwed… It’s all because of Corp’s carelessness. When chasing after him and the bunnies, I lost track of where we were going. Now, neither of us knows how to go back and we’re relying on luck to find the crack that leads outside of this area.
I have awful luck and Corps seems like he has even worse luck than me. That’s why we’re so screwed.
“Aaaagh…! Save me!”
Corp cries from behind, so I turn around, prepared for the worst.
But what I see is his champion submerged up to the waist. He fell into a hole, that’s all that happened. It looks like he’s about to die out of embarrassment.
Come on, Corp…
I know the area is obscured and it’s difficult to see the ground because of the water, but his reaction wasn’t normal… I would have enjoyed it in another situation, but not now. I’m too preoccupied with whatever the Evil Mastermind has prepared for us.
I send him a reprimanding gaze before helping him get out of the hole, and we continue our exploration.
“Now that I think about it… it’s been quite a long time since I last checked my HP… ” I quickly open the status screen to check it. “It’s fine…” I exhale in relief. “Corp, you check it too.”
“I’m on it!” He nods. He then furrows and looks at me in confusion. “The HP is stable, but is it normal the MP is being reduced?”
“The MP, you say?”
I check once again, and he’s right. My MP is dangerously low.
“It’s getting lower! Fuck this, I’m going to die soon at this rate!”
I really don’t want to repeat that experience of being drained to death, so the first thing I do is order the goblin mage to hit me with an area spell.
*Fwoosh!*
When the fire dissipates, I look at my MP again and it continues to decrease.
“Fuck this… this is bad… I thought it was another butterfly, but it must be something else.” I scrutinize everything in my sight. “There must be something… something…”
“Hey, Leader. My MP is only reduced if I look this way. If I turn around, it stays the same.”
“Hm?”
An MP drain effect that’s only active if you look in a certain direction… It reminds me of the Abyss faction. But so far, there has never been an Abyss monster used for any of the monsters, this is weird.
Everybody thinks there was some reason why the Evil Mastermind wasn’t using any of the units with the nastiest innate skill, but now I understand! All along, it was a plot for the invaders to lower their guard, so that we died in this place!
But not this time, because we noticed it before it was too late. We beat you to your own game, Evil Mastermind! Huh, huh, huh!
“Corp, there must be a monster somewhere that’s depleting our MP. We must find it!”
“Ok, Leader! Leave it to me!”
We both search for the culprit. It takes a while, but Corp points in one direction before saying. “Doesn’t that spot look suspicious?”
“What spot? I don’t see anything…”
“A little further ahead.”
“Oh, you mean that?”
Corp is pointing at a part of the floor where there’s a blob of water. It looks identical to the water on the floor, but it’s raised over the water level, which means it can’t be natural.
“It looks weird, but do you think this is it…?” I make one step in its direction, and the water blob moves some distance away from me. “Aha! I got you! Let’s kill it before it runs away!”
At first, the blob tries to run away, but I’m faster. When it notices it can’t run away, it decides it’s time to defend itself and launches several transparent tentacles at me.
The monster grabs me, but it’s all according to the plan. There isn’t a single monster who can beat me in melee, except for those that can, but this certainly isn’t one of them. Huh, huh, huh!
“A fight for survival! It’s you or me! But you’ll never beat me! Huh, huh, huh!”
Our fight intensifies as I release a barrage of attacks. If not for the activation of some invulnerability skill the monster had, the fight would have ended very fast.
“Hah! Nothing can stop me!” I turn around as I flex, but I didn’t expect to see what I do. “Corp, what’s up now!?”
I was wondering why Corp didn’t say anything at all during the fight, but now I understand why. He’s got his own troubles right now with that slime-like creature stuck to his face.
*Sigh!* I’ll have to help get him out of this… Again.
But on my way back to him, another one of these slime creatures falls on my head.
“...”
I try to tell Corp to kill the monster before it’s too late, but I can’t talk. This is weird… This is a game, so it shouldn’t prevent us from speaking or breathing even if the monster is choking me. Maybe it has some kind of silence skill?
Regardless, what I have to do is the same. I get close to the closest wall and smash my head into it with as much strength as I can. I then repeat the process until the monster dies.
The problem with monsters that try to choke or cover you is that it’s easy to hit yourself with the attacks if you’re not careful. But if you smash yourself into a wall, you never take damage while the monster does.
I know about this because of the dungeons full of slimes. This isn’t the first time a monster tried to choke me to death.
“Huh, huh, huh! Did you think you got me with this, Evil Mastermind!? You have to try harder!”
Meanwhile, Corp is struggling the best he can, but he won’t achieve anything like this. He needs to kill the monster or he’ll die.
To save him, I grab Corp like a battering ram and start smashing him, headfirst, into the wall. He tries to resist, but I’m too strong for him to get free.
“I’m trying to save you, so stop moving around!”
Finally, after my warning, he stops and I can save him. Save him by smashing him headfirst into the wall.
“Hah, hah… that was close… I’m under a hundred HP…”
“Why didn’t you try to attack the monster, Corp?”
“I, I don’t know… I thought it was a trap and not a monster.”
We survived another encounter. But I don’t have any hope… Corp is too low on HP, and my MP is almost gone.
----------------------------------------
We reach another crossroads and I peek around the corner to see what’s ahead.
“Oh, no…” I step back in panic. “N-no, this can’t b-be… why is it a-a-always me…? We must run away, Corp. Right now!”
“What did you see?” Asks Corp, curiosity etched on his face.
It’s normal he’s so curious. It’s the first time I reacted like this. And the reason is because what I saw is THAT dangerous.
“Fuck… why did he have to come? I hope he didn’t see me…”
“He?”
“It’s the Evil Mastermind! The fucking EVIL MASTERMIND!” Corp jumps in fright. “I clearly saw him, acting crazy as he ran in the opposite direction. He’s looking for us!”
The only saving grace for us is that once the owner of the dungeon enters an instance to defend it, he or she can no longer see where the invaders are. It’s possible to avoid him. But we’re talking about the Evil Mastermind, I’m sure he has everything planned.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Let’s run away, Corp.” But I freeze once I turn around. “W-why!? How can this be possible? He was running in the opposite direction five seconds ago!”
We both stay side by side, frozen, as we watch the Evil Mastermind running in our direction, white foam coming out of his mouth.
“Fufufu! Hahaha!” He laughs.
“Corp, full-speed retreat!” I shout, but he doesn’t react. He’s looking at the Evil Mastermind as if his soul left his body, so I slap him two times to return him to reality. “Run!”
We start running, chased by the Evil Mastermind. He’s faster than us, but we might be able to lose him by hiding inside the closest room after the next turn.
But when the passage turns to the left…
“N-no! This can’t be! It’s impossible!”
In front of us, another Evil Mastermind is looking at us with an evil and crazy grin on his face. How can there be two of them!? This is impossible!
“Aaaagh! I’m going to die! I never wanted to come, it’s all my boss’ fault! I’m going to take revenge for this, I’ll make sure he suffers for the rest of his life! Hahaha! Yes, my revenge is going to be LEGENDARY!” Seems Corp has lost it after the shock of seeing another Evil Mastermind.
We can’t run away anymore. There’s one of them in front and the other at the back. There are no other side passages.
Instead of attacking, the two Evil Masterminds are laughing and pointing at us. They’re mocking us, aren’t they?
I take this chance to inspect one of them. And what I see makes me furious.
“Failed Clone!? Those are clones!? You dare make a fool of me once again, Evil Mastermind!? I swear, one day, I’m going to crush everything you have to the dust and show everyone how cowardly you actually are!” If this wasn’t a game, I’m sure my skin would have turned red instead of green because of how angry I am. “Prepare yourself, clones, because I’m going to turn you into minced meat!”
Before I can finish my monologue, the two Failed Clones raise their arms and prepare to cast a spell. I know that pose, it’s the pose he always has before releasing Chain Lightning.
“Everyone, scatter!”
I order everyone to scatter, and the orc and goblin mage immediately follow my orders.
“...Then, I’m going to put salt instead of sugar when he asks me to bring him a coffee. Hehe, when he has an important meeting with the other bosses, I’ll put one of those farting pillows on his chair, and spike his drink with laxatives. Hahaha!…”
But Corp doesn’t react, so I kick him away, making him fly to the wall until he smashes into it with quite an impact.
Maybe, it was too strong? Well, at least he didn’t die because he continues his monologue about the ‘revenge’.
The lightning immediately follows, both of the spells hitting me and only me. Am I their target because I taunted the Evil Mastermind, or am I just unlucky?
“Hyaaah!” I shout to motivate myself. I’ll use this time between casts to take the initiative. “You two take the other one, this one is MINE!” I order my two remaining support mobs.
As soon as I reach the clone, I unleash the strongest attack I can: the Mighty Blow. About half of his HP vanishes like this.
“Hah! Weakling!”
In retaliation to the attack, a lightning burst comes at me. I take some damage, but the feared stun from the Lightning Shield doesn’t activate. It might be because I have the Battle Focus skill or simply because I was lucky.
Battle Focus (Passive skill) You have a 0,5% chance to resist stuns and immobilization status effects for every 1% of HP lost.
Battle Focus is a very useful skill for melee Champions like mine, especially when we have to fight against ranged enemies that have means to prevent us from getting closer. In this fight, in particular, it’s incredibly good.
“Haah! Die, die, die, DIE!”
I release my pent-up anger and stress onto the clone. He’s already dead, but I continue to mutilate his cadaver.
I swipe my forehead when I’m finished before turning to the other battle. “They should be finished by now too…”
*Booooom!*
What greets me, instead of a victory scene, is a dark and light explosion that swallows the whole passage. The dungeon trembles.
Two more explosions happen right after the first one.
*Booooom!* *Booooom!*
When the light and dark energies dissipate, the only thing remaining there are the corpses of my orc, goblin mage, and the clone. As well as the corpses of three monsters I haven’t seen before.
“W-what was that!?” Asks Corp.
He finally snapped out of his trance and is staring at the corpses. He’s lucky I pushed (kicked) him away because, otherwise, he would be dead by now.
“I… I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore…” I can’t give him the answer he wants. “We should be glad we’re still alive.”
“Yeah…”
----------------------------------------
“Huh, huh, huh! This is it! THIS IS IT! I’ve been waiting for this! After so many stupid monsters and tricky situations, I finally encountered a monster that is worthy of my time! Huh, huh, huh!”
“L-leader, I can’t move…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this.”
The giant spider releases another bunch of spider silk at me, but I’m not affected by the immobilization and our battle continues.
Thank you very much, Battle Focus. I’m really glad I picked this skill.
After our fight with the clones, we discovered a room with two of these monsters inside, and I decided to fight them. They look like a giant spider with a mushroom on their backs. At this point in the fight, I’ve killed the first one, and only the second one remains.
The spider releases a cloud of spores. They’re spores that paralyze the enemies that stay in the range, but I resist them once again. As my HP gets lower, my chances to resist the spores and the webs increase.
“Bring it on! I’m not afraid of you! Huh, huh, huh!”
I swing my axe once again and the spider takes some damage. This is fun, they’re resilient enough so that I can’t quickly kill them, giving me enough time to enjoy this fight.
“Hyap!” I avoid the spider’s bite and attack once again. In retaliation, ice bursts at me and I’m momentarily immobilized. “Well, I can’t resist it every single time.”
Our fight continues until the spider is at about half HP.
“I’m free now, Leader.”
“Good, then stay in a corner so you don’t get targeted again.”
“Sure thing.”
I don’t want to waste my little remaining EP with another Mighty Blow, so I only use basic attacks. It’s also a good way to prolong the fight.
“Aaaagh! Save me!”
“Come on, Corp. You know I’m in the middle of a fight. I told you to stay in a corner.”
“N-no, it wasn’t me…” Replies Corp.
“Help!”
I turn around, ready to rebuke Corp. “Again!?” He looks at me with a weird expression.
“It wasn’t me, I swear.” He says.
“Do you think I’m a fool? There’s nobody else here…”
“Why did I come here? I miss my home so much…”
This time I can properly see that Corp didn’t open his mouth at all. Then… did the real Evil Mastermind come, after all?
“Baaaaaaahaha! Guess who’s on the menu today!”
I feel the spider bite me from behind. Bah, I can’t waste time with this. There’s something more urgent I must do.
“Corp, you’re in charge of those voices. I’ll focus on the spider first.”
“M-me!?”
“Yes, you.”
I and the spider resume our fight. Meanwhile, the voices continue to talk.
“Give it baaaaack, you thief! Give it baaaaaack!”
“I-I never stole anything!” I hear Corp reply in fear.
“Why did you come here, oink? Didn’t you know this place is dangerous? Hahaoink!”
“Hyaaaah, don’t come closer!”
“Hyaaaah, don’t come closer!”
I’m certain the first of those two was Corp. I’m not so sure about the other one…
“Pet my head, pet me! I’ll forgive you if you do.”
“Noooo, get away from me! I-it’s disgusting!”
“You’ll make a lovely stuffed human, you know, oink? I’ll bring you to Mad Rat to stuff you! Hahaoink!”
“L-l-leave me a-alone!”
This is getting ridiculous. They don’t seem to be dangerous, but Corp is having a hard time against them.
“Join us! Join us, I said!”
“Feed me, I’m hungry. Can I take a bite out of you? A little tiny bit will do.”
“Everything’s real! The end is nigh!”
“I waaaaas an adventurer like you, but the Mad Rat captured me aaaaand now I’m like this. You’ll be neeeeext, baaaaaahahaha!”
“Don’t come! I’ll defend myself! I-i swear! I know how to fight too!” Shouts Corp.
“My grandma can punch harder than that, oink!”
“Aaaaagh, save me, Leader!”
Finally, the second spider falls to the ground, dead. When I turn around, I see Corp surrounded by a bunch of monsters. He’s grabbing his legs while sitting on the ground, hiding his face behind his knees, sobbing.
“What’s this? They’re animals with a human head? Ugh, gross…”
I walk closer to them and swing my battleaxe once, killing the closest man-pig. But before it dies, it turns around and says this: “B-but I loved you…”
I shudder. I don’t feel bad for killing this monster, but I do feel awful because of that last sentence… WHY did it have to say something like this? So cringy! I’ll have nightmares because of this!
“Waah, sniff! Leader, you came to save me, sniff! T-thank you!”
“Sure, I’ll save you.”
I raise my battleaxe once again, with the intention to ‘save’ Corp from the talking monsters, when I receive the following message.
You have died!
What the hell? How did I die!?
I scan my surroundings, looking for what could have killed me until I see another one of those suspicious water blobs standing out of the water a few steps away.
This must be it… I died because I reached 0 SOU after my MP was depleted. Why did it have to be right now? I finally got to enjoy myself in a battle, and I had to die immediately after!?
Are you kidding me!? After the surprises, monsters that choked us, the clones, the exploding monsters, the giant spiders, and even the talking monsters, I die because of MP drain? In a non-abyss dungeon?
Because of MP drain!? …Really!?
“FUCK YOU EVIL MASTERMIND!! I swear, one day. ONE DAY! I’ll make sure one day you’re the one to suffer instead of me!”
I raise my fist in anger and blame the Evil Mastermind as the custom dictates.
Meanwhile, Corp is staring at my phantasmal champion in dread. He just realized the thing he feared the most, being alone in this damned dungeon, has actually happened.
“N-now, what should I do? I-i’m alone…”
I lower my head to look at him. I’m going to be the better person here and forget about enjoying his despair.
“I suggest you surrender, Corp. I can help you get info about this dungeon another time.”
“...ok.”
[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
Not long after this, the attention of a certain person’s boss fixated on The Mad Rat’s Lab. This marked the beginning of what was going to come in the future, something Andreu never expected to come, but would catapult his dungeon to the top rankings.
But that’s a thing for the future.