“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaa!” My manly shout, about as high-pitched as a little girl’s, echoes through the dark tunnels. “Get away from me, you monster!”

I forcefully break free and run away, falling to my but in the middle. I scurry away on my fours to take as much distance as possible. Then, when I feel there’s enough distance between us, I pick up my leaking courage and look at the other party.

It’s… it’s a beautiful woman. Her translucent body is as white as the snow. She’s floating above the ground and is smiling at me.

“Mad Rat, are you here?” She says, again.

“The fuck’s going on with you? Why do you sound like… Oh, I see…”

Now that I’ve got some time to calm down and think about the current situation, I can finally understand what’s happening.

Right in front of me, this woman… I’m sure she’s a Ghost.

Ghosts look similar to Specters and Banshees but have a significant difference in their combat ability. While Specters are resilient and strong, and Banshees have the powerful Wail skill which can cause a TPK by itself, Ghosts are a lot tricker.

Ghosts aren’t suited for combat, but this doesn’t make them any less lethal. They have a very high intelligence, and their skill makes them invulnerable to everything.

Incorporeal (Innate passive skill) You can’t deal or take damage and can move through any kind of terrain. Your skills can’t affect units without this skill.

While Incorporeal makes them utterly useless in combat, their strong point is elsewhere: they can give orders to other units while being invincible, they can scout without any consequences…

…and the nastiest of them all: they can play tricks on the players.

If you ask me if they’re suitable to invade other dungeons, the answer is clear. No, they aren’t. They’re utterly useless against AI-controlled mobs.

Since they’re only useful against players, I’m sure you all are thinking the same: ‘Who would ever want to create one of them?’, am I right?

How wrong you are… Oh boy if they can be troublesome against players…

Take this Ghost as an example.

I’m sure this Ghost recorded Laura’s voice calling for me after we were separated. Then, it came to me to ‘play’ with me. I’ve been lucky this ‘game’ didn’t include any deadly trap, or I’d be done for.

And the worst is that I can’t retaliate! I can do absolutely nothing to it!

Impotent, anger starts filling me. My fists tremble in rage.

I swear it’s because I’m angry and not because I’m scared. It also doesn’t have anything to do with the shame I feel after releasing that shout. Absolutely nothing to do with it, I swear.

“Stop pretending to be my friend, you dumb AI!”

The only reaction of the Ghost is to continue smiling and repeat the same sentence.

“Mad Rat, where are you?”

“Argh… I said shut up!” It seems the only purpose of this ghost is to annoy me… Then, the best I can do is ignore it too, and move on. “See you never again, and don’t you dare follow me!”

I run up the stairs, only stopping when I reach the next floor to take a peek behind me. I can’t see the ghost anymore, it didn’t follow me.

“Wow, I’m saved… The last thing I want is to be haunted for the rest of the Dungeon Battle.”

I’ll forget everything that happened in that room.

What do you mean by a ‘ghost’? What ghost? I was dragged away from Laura, and then I fought against some zombies, immediately after I found the stairs and climbed them, and now I’m here, on the upper floor.

Nothing happened in between. No ghost, no nothing.

This upper floor is brighter. There’s white light coming directly from above, through small holes in the ceiling. Though… I can’t see what’s producing this light because it’s too bright.

The strong light creates equally deep shadows. Everything looks even darker than before except for those places that the light directly touches.

Similar to the other rooms, most of what I can see is made out of stone.

“Shit. I come out of a dark place perfect for ambushes only to end up in another that’s even worse… Who designed this dungeon? Did they expect invaders to enjoy– Ah, right! This is a Dungeon Battle. Hahaha…”

There are three exits, four if you add the staircase. I have no idea which one is the correct one, so I’ll have to inspect them first.

“This… what’s this sound?” Before I start my investigation, I hear some chants. “They come from this passage… Let’s investigate!”

It’s the only thing that stands out, so I might as well follow the sound.

…what do you mean by ‘look for clues’?

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Pffft! Hahaha! You’re so funny! Looking for clues is for losers!

I only agreed to do it because there was nothing else, but now I have a lead. True adventurers – and crazy scientists – go with the ‘what looks more interesting’ rule. There’s nothing that catches my attention other than these chants, so I MUST follow them.

The passage continues for a while, turning left and right semi-randomly. As I continue, the light grows brighter and the chants grow louder.

“By now I should reach another room… here it is!” Right on time, the passage ends and I enter a circular chamber.

Right in the middle, there’s a light beam, coming from the ceiling. Or at least this is the first impression I get, because as I get closer, I notice it isn’t a simple light beam: the light comes through a circular iron grid in the ceiling.

“Hmm… how weird…” I get even closer, stepping into the illuminated area until I can finally see where the light is coming from. “...a light orb? And it somehow looks… sacred?”

Floating a few meters over the iron grid, there’s a floating orb of white light, shining so brightly I can barely see its shape. Taking into account the distance, the orb must be about two meters wide.

“The chanting comes from above too…” This means there must be another level on top of this one. “There must be some stairs somewhere, the problem is where…”

I return to the dark area and start looking for another staircase.

This bright light, the chants… The undead and angel players… if I’m right, there must be some kind of ritual ongoing right above me. I’m sure the dungeon core is close to that place.

If I can find the way there… Fufufu! Hahaha!

“Can I win a 2vs2 match by myself? It’d be legendary if I pull it off…” My chuckles echo in the empty chamber. “...it’ll be… LEGENDARY! Fufufu! Haha–”

In the middle of my epic laugh, someone grabs my shoulders, forcing me to stop. A chill makes me shudder as I remember what happened not so long ago.

Their hands grab my neck. It’s cold.

“Mad Rat…” whispers a familiar voice, next to my ear. “Mad Rat… I got you…” it says, blowing cold air on my neck.

“W-wha…!?”

Is it the same Ghost? I try to run away, but I can’t. Whatever is grabbing me isn’t as incorporeal as that ghost. Then… is it something worse!?

“Kyaaaah! Release me! Release me, you monster!” I shout, wildly swinging my staff around, in panic.

Why is everybody pretending to be Laura today?

“Stop! Stop it!”

I hear somebody shouting, but I can’t understand what it says because I’m shouting too. Finally, when I take a breath to scream some more, I can hear what my aggressor is saying.

“Stop hitting me I said!”

“...huh? This voice… Lily?” I say, sounding like an idiot. “I-is it, you…? The real you…?”

My aggressor releases me and I take some distance. She looks at me with a smiling face.

“Yes, it’s me. But why did you start attacking me? And what do you mean by the ‘real’ me?”

“Hmmm… I’m not sure… How do I know it’s you and not a monster?”

“‘How do I know’?” She imitates me. “Have you ever held a conversation with an AI-controlled monster?”

“All right, all right… I’ll believe you.” I say, still looking at her with distrust, to which she frowns. “So… what brings you here?”

I try to change the topic, but she quickly catches up and stops me.

“Stop asking stupid questions. I was looking for you when I heard a loud woman shout. I thought it was a banshee, and you might be fighting against it, so I followed the cry… but I didn’t hear anything else after it, so I decided to follow the chants instead.”

A loud woman’s cry, like a banshee… It can’t be, can it? Nah, I’m sure it isn’t…

“When I saw you talking to yourself in this dark place, I thought… wasn’t it the perfect time for payback? Fufufu!” She then makes the evilest of smiles. “You know what… Your reaction was so funny… I think I’ll save this replay and share it with everybody... Fufufu!”

“NOOOOOO!”

I release a scream that’s objectively worse than those from the banshies.

My honor! My dignity! I can’t let anybody know I was the one who made that cry! How dare you do this to me!

“Anything but that,” I plead. “If you do, I’m not going to see an end to the mocking from my sisters…”

If I’m lucky, she will think I’m talking about the current scene, but I’m a lot more worried about the one with the ghost.

She puts the index finger on her lips and slightly tilts her head to the side in thought.

“All right,” she agrees, “but only if you agree to one demand.”

…one demand? Why does it sound familiar? This kind of situation makes me feel like I have no choice but to accept the deal…

I don’t know, but I feel like I’ve been in this situation before.

“One demand…? What kind of demand?” I ask.

“I won’t tell you until later. But I promise it won’t be difficult for you.”

If it won’t be difficult, it means it’ll be easy, right? Then, what am I hesitating for? It’s fine to accept it. I’m sure I won’t regret it later. At least, there’s no way I’ll regret it more than I would if everybody saw the replay.

“Fine… I’ll accept the deal.”

Why do I feel like I’ve made a huge mistake?

“Nice choice! Fufufu!”

She laughs with the same evil smile as before, making me shiver for some reason. There’s a dangerous light in her eyes…

“Alright, so now that we’ve reunited, let’s share information.” I change the topic. “So far, I’ve only seen a few zombies, one ghost, and a lot of dark places. Oh, and I’m also almost sure the dungeon core is close to whatever is happening right on top of this place. And you?”

“Only a few? Why are you always so lucky? I’ve been fighting against the zombies and skeletons most of the time. If only you were there, it would have been so easy! I’ve missed you a lot. Fufufu!” She sends me a flying kiss before continuing. “There were so many that one of your Good Followers died–”

“Nooo, my poor baby!” I fall to the ground, my hands raised up high. “He was so young…!” In the middle of my grieving, I notice Laura staring at me with a dead face. I quickly stand up and feign ignorance by coughing. “*Khm, khm!* Soo… did you see any stairs to the upper floor…?”

“I didn’t. But they must be close.”

She answers but keeps staring at me with the same dead expression. Why do I feel like shit…?

“...ahaha… then, I guess we’ll have to search this area until we find them.”

“Sure. While you search, I’ll take a look at the other team and check their progress.”

“But I want to watch them suffer too…” I complain. Is she still angry at me?

“Fine… but stop fooling around. I don’t want to lose you again because of your own stupidity.”

“All right! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

All’s well that ends well, don’t you agree?

[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]

“Did you know? There’s a bug in DMA that allows you to get free cp. Before breaking the dungeon core, if you crouch like this, put your hand behind your head, and then walk like a chicken, you’ll double the amount of cp you’ll receive. Yes, like this. A little bit lower… Put more enthusiasm into it, feel the chicken inside you! All right, keep it like this, this is perfect!”

- False rumors used to troll noob players. The veteran players then shared the videos between themselves and laughed at the poor fools.