I have some free time until the hour I agreed to meet with Ricard and the others for our dungeon training.
The thing is that, right now, I’m in one of those situations when you have enough time that you don’t want to waste it, but not enough to focus on anything.
In short, I have no idea what I can do to avoid boredom.
“Hmm… I suppose…. I could fix the Demonic Swarmers. It shouldn’t take too long and I’ll have them ready for when I update the rest of the dungeon… Yes, let’s do this. It isn’t as if I had anything better to do anyway.”
I open the Templates menu and search for the Demonic Swarmers.
“Hah, they’re still level 3! Poor, pathetic weaklings… they’ve stayed the same since I created them, and they were the first combat unit I created after the Stitched…”
It’s no wonder they were so useless. They were created when I still didn’t know how to go about my dungeon. It doesn’t help that I didn’t put them where they were supposed to go, either. But if they’re like this, even if I put them in the tunnels, they would be useless anyway.
“Don’t worry, my useless and deformed babies. I’ll fix you up now.”
Currently, all Demonic Swarmers are waiting in one of the ‘warehouse rooms’ – empty rooms that aren’t connected to the main dungeon, so invaders can never reach them. I put them there because I didn’t want them disturbing my new cave area.
I’m sure that, by now, they and the Silent Kidnappers are best friends.
Poor, useless guys… They’re more useless than the random creations in the failed experiments area. Well, the monsters in that area are just pretending to be useless, but they actually fulfill their respective roles. It isn’t fair to compare them.
I start by opening the Template and reading their skills. It’s been so long that I forgot what I gave them.
“Dash, Demonic Revenge, Strong, and Commander for the elf half. As for the dwarf half, it has Bash instead of Dash. Yes, I remember now...”
But why did I give them the Commander skill…? Ah, I remember! It was because without at least 1 COM they couldn’t call for help at the start of combat.
“Ok, then. Let’s start with the changes.”
The first thing I’m going to do is look at the upgrades of the Demonic Revenge skill. Marta told me I should upgrade this skill first, and that I’d recognize what upgrade she was talking about as soon as I read them.
“Hmm… aha… yep, it’s definitely this one. I’ll give them this upgrade right away.”
There’s one upgrade that increases the bonus stats; another that prevents them from dying as soon as the buff disappears, giving them a stat reduction penalty instead; one that increases the effective radius… there’s even one that increases the duration. But there’s only one that’s actually useful for what I need.
I level the Demonic Swarmers to level four and select the upgrade. I get two skill points, one for each half, but since both halves have the Demonic Revenge, I must spend both to upgrade both sides. The upgrade is called Fuelled Rage.
Demonic Revenge - Lv 2 (Triggered skill) When an ally dies within 1 meter, increase all stats by 100% for 5 seconds. When this skill ends, you die. Upgrades Fuelled Rage: After this skill is triggered, each following ally death extends the duration by 2 seconds and the stats by another 10%.
The idea behind the Demonic Swarmers was that they would call for help at the start of combat. Then, when one of them died – and keep in mind the two Siamese halves count as different units – they would get a buff, making them very dangerous until they died.
But the main problem with this is that I never created lots of them, only about ten. There never was an actual ‘swarm’. Another important reason they failed is that a strong monster with 100% bonus stats is dangerous, but a weak monster with 100% increased stats is still weak. Moreover, the players only needed to survive for five seconds and the buffed Demonic Swarmers would automatically die.
With the Fuelled Rage upgrade, two of the main problems will be solved. Now, as long as I create a lot more Demonic Swarmers, they’ll turn from useless to extremely dangerous.
“Hahaha! And this is without taking into account they’ll be in the tunnels filled with mushrooms! Nature Attuned will finally have a chance to shine! Fufufu! Hahaha!”
Now that I’ve fixed them, it’s time to improve them even further!
For starters, and since they share passive skills, I’m going to give them something useful. I level them up another time and, with one of the skill points, I upgrade the Strong skill.
Strong - Lv 2 (Passive skill) Increases the unit’s Strength stat by 5. Upgrades Proficient: Triple this skill’s bonus stats.
Now I have to decide what to do with the second skill point. I could always give them another stat-rising skill, but I think I can give them something nastier.
For example, what if I give them the Shared Senses skill? Wouldn’t it make it so that the cries of one alert the closest ones, and those alert the others with the shared senses? Almost all the Demonic Swarmers in the entire dungeon would swarm the invaders at the same time! Fufufu! Hahaha!
“Just imagine… the invaders going crazy as enemies come from everywhere at the same time…! Ah, no. I can’t do that… it would be too extreme. Also, I don’t want to risk messing with the Hauntlings. They have the same skill and who knows what could happen.”
There’s still another skill I can give them that’ll help them find the intruders without making them too OP: Presence Detection.
If they know when an enemy is within 20 meters, they call for help, and those that hear the call, come closer, it can still turn into a chain reaction too, though not as big as with the Shared Senses.
“I guess I’ll have to settle with the Presence Detection.”
They’re level five now. I can level them up to level 8, but I won’t do it unless I find skills I really like for them. Also, I don’t want to make them too strong before testing how the changes work.
“Not this one… No, no. Useless… This one’s too broken.” I scrutinize the skill list for the perfect skill. “This one… This, this is… Fufufu! Hahaha! This one is soooo good!”
What do the Demonic Swarmers want to do? They want to swarm the enemy, and they want to die, powering up their allies. Then, they want to inflict as much damage as possible before dying.
So… What if I give them a skill that prevents them from dying prematurely? And what if this skill is more powerful the more deaths there are? Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor to introduce you to the Death Shield! The shield that activates when something close dies!
Death Shield (Triggered skill) When another unit dies within 1 meter, you obtain a shield that lasts for 10 seconds. The shield absorbs all the damage you would take from the first attack or skill.
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Similar to the Demonic Revenge, the Death Shield’s effective radius is tiny. But, equally similar to the former, the tiny radius doesn’t really matter once you take into account the Siamese’s nature, as well as the fact that they’ll swarm the enemy.
And this combination is so stupidly broken!
Every ally that dies will raise their stats, increase the buff’s duration, and give them a shield.
Sure, DoT effects can easily pop the shield. And sure, it only triggers on ally deaths and can’t accumulate charges. But stopping a free attack after every death, applied to multiple monsters at the same time…
“I wonder how much the players will like (hate) them. Though I won’t add them yet, I’ll wait until I make the rest of the changes. Then… do I want to give them another skill…? No, I think they’re ok like this.”
Demonic Swarmer - Scout Half (Lv 6) HP 67 (45) STA 9 (6) SOU 6 (4) EP 90 (60) MP 75 (50) STR 30 (20) CON 6 (4) AGI 9 (6) SPI 7 (5) WIL 7 (5) DEX 7 (5) SPD 6 INT 5 COM 1 Skills
Active: Dash. Triggered: Demonic Revenge - Lv 2 (Fuelled Rage), Death Shield. Passive: Commander, Presence Detection, Strong - Lv 2 (Proficient), Nature Attuned (Innate), Stoneskin (Innate).
Demonic Swarmer - Miner Half (Lv 6) HP 97 (65) STA 7 (5) SOU 4 (4) EP 75 (50) MP 60 (40) STR 31 (21) CON 9 (6) AGI 4 (3) SPI 6 (4) WIL 9 (6) DEX 7 (5) SPD 6 INT 5 COM 1 Skills
Active: Bash. Triggered: Demonic Revenge - Lv 2 (Fuelled Rage), Death Shield. Passive: Commander, Presence Detection, Strong - Lv 2 (Proficient), Nature Attuned (Innate), Stoneskin (Innate).
You can argue all you want, saying it’s a waste of skill points to give them both the same triggered skills. I disagree. It’s precisely because of this that they’ll be good. At least, this is what I hope.
*Piring!*
“A message? From… Ricard, he’s asking if I’m ready. It seems everybody has logged in… What a timely coincidence, I’ve just finished this.”
I reply to his message, saying I’ll send the party request. First, I update the Template’s changes and then start a new party.
After they join, I select my sister’s dungeon from my favorite dungeons. After having to go into it so much the past two weeks, I saved it so I wouldn’t forget its name.
“Here we go, to our team training session… I hope Marta isn’t too hard on us…”
There’s no need to choose which support mobs I’ll bring with me because we’re not using any. We’re going only the four of us. It was both a request and a requirement my sister imposed on us if we wanted her help.
----------------------------------------
After the flash of light, we find ourselves in Marta’s dungeon entrance.
We’re floating in a dark space and right in front of us, there’s a colossal, golden gate. It has engravings everywhere, and it shines with its own light. It’s as if we were in front of the real heaven’s gate.
Every time I see it I feel tiny, insignificant. This gate sure fits my sister’s personality. I’m not sure why, but I never get tired of this spectacle.
Ah, but don’t tell Marta, ok? As far as she knows, my opinion of her dungeon’s entrance is on the level of ‘passable’.
“Wow!” Exclaims Ricard. “I knew we were going into a Divine Blood dungeon called ‘Heaven’s Path’, but I never expected it to be so literal.”
“Hehehe. Isn’t it amazing? Our sister is the best.” Clara chimes in.
“But… I don’t know why… this feels familiar. It’s as if I’ve seen this before...”
I’m sure you saw it on some DMA videos, Ricard. Both this dungeon and my sister are famous. But I’ll stay silent for now... I’ll let you have your fun for now.
“Of course you have, our sister is famous!”
Ricard rolls his eyes. “If you say so…” Then, he mutters to himself. “She must have copied it from a famous player, I’m sure of it.”
“Muuuu…”
Don’t cry, Clara. I’ve tried it too, but he doesn’t listen. Just let him fall for his own delusions. You’re going to enjoy it more if you let him continue to embarrass himself.
“Alright, let’s go.” I clap my hands to get their attention. “Our sister won’t join us until later, but she told me how to get into our training area.”
I walk to the door and press a few of the ornaments in a certain order. When I press the last one, it makes a *Click* sound, so it should have worked.
“Is this it?” Asks Ricard. “Will the door lead to a new area after this?”
“No, this is only to activate the mechanism. After we enter, there’ll be a column to the left. There’s the actual door.”
“Oh, I see… A double lock, to prevent meddlesome players from accidentally triggering it…” Says Laura.
“You’re right. She used more awesome words to describe it, but it’s basically the same.”
Letters engraved in the gate start glowing when we get close to it. It says: ‘Heaven’s Path is the last trial’. I’m tired of reading it by now, but the first time I couldn’t stop myself from thinking how appropriate it is.
The celestial gate starts opening as soon as I press the glowing orb below the letters.
“All right, let’s go,” I say.
Clara runs past me, spinning her hands around. “Hehehe! Today I’ll show our sister how much I’ve improved. I’m sure she’ll be surprised.”
“It’s a shame we won’t go into the actual dungeon… I’m curious about the stuff inside a pro player’s dungeon.” Comments Laura from my side. “I’d instantly die if I came alone, so this is the first time I could give it a try… truly, a shame.”
Meanwhile, Ricard… “Hey, Andreu. When will your sister come? I’m itching to fight her!” …is still in his own world. Let’s hope he learns something today.
“When she comes, she’ll watch our invasion, and come after we clear it, or when we die. She’ll be evaluating your performance and will only accept the duel if you’re good enough.”
“What!? How dare she? Does she believe she’s some kind of god? Did the faction’s theme go to her head? It’s decided! I’m going to give my best today, I’ll put her in her place!”
Yeah… good luck with that.
Laura and I exchange a knowing look before stepping inside, following after Ricard and Clara.
[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
“I discovered this later, but when I updated the Demonic Swarmers, I didn’t take into consideration the fact that Presence Detection works through walls. Given the nature of the Tunnels, the Demonic Swarmers could create spontaneous swarms before the invaders knew they were close. They met the players in a massive group, unlike the original one at a time… which was exactly what I wanted, much to the invader’s dismay.”