“Hmmm… interesting.”

“M-mon… I-I mean, Celmin! Can’t we go any f-faster? I want to spend as little time as possible in here.”

My companion asks. He has spent all the time since we entered the cave anxiously looking around.

“Calm down, Corp. You’re with me, nothing will happen to you…” I try to tranquilize him.

“N-no. Don’t call me like that. P-please… It brings me back to that day…” His eyes glaze over for a moment. “I know it’s my nickname, but… I’d rather you call me Slave instead.”

What the hell happened to him? He doesn’t want to tell me, but I’m so curious!

“Hmm… it’s a little… how to say it…” I can’t call him Slave, can I? He’s my boyfriend, calling him that is too much for me, even if it’s a nickname. I’m not into that kind of stuff… “Can’t we agree on something else…? I’m not comfortable with it. How about… Ave?”

“As long as it isn’t C-c-corp…”

He isn’t convinced about it, but it’s the best I can come up with quickly. I’m not great at creating stuff but at evaluating it. This is why I’m so good at my job.

Having resolved this problem, I return to what I was doing previously: inspect and record everything I see.

“And answering to your previous question…” I say. “No, we can’t go faster. This requires some time.”

When we look out for dungeons, the first thing we want is realism.

Dungeon Masters Arena allows the players to create extremely realistic dungeons. Sometimes, they’re so good that it’s difficult to differentiate them from the real world.

It hasn’t been long since DMA started, but I’ve been in all kinds of dungeons, ranging from those that consist of empty square rooms with only monsters, to those where so many creatures and details coexist that make you feel as if you were transported to another world.

From what I’ve seen so far, this dungeon would be on the detailed side, though it’d need a lot more work to be one of the best I’ve seen.

But this doesn’t mean I’m not interested in this dungeon. Realism by itself isn’t enough, we also want something new and exciting. Something unique, something… with character.

The viewers of Mystical & Dangerous Monsters & Dungeons, or M&Dx2 for short, are quite exigent, after all.

I’ll never forget the dreamy experience in that dungeon with the swarm of glowing fireflies, beautifully dancing around like stars in the sky. A dungeon where bright flowers showed the path, while sleek and slender shadows were ready to pounce at you as soon as you lowered the guard.

Or the dread I felt in that other dungeon. An eternal battlefield without death. Mountains of corpses everywhere. They rose, fought, died, and rose again in an infinite macabre dance; waiting for the day you’ll join them in their eternal suffering.

I remember Corp having nightmares for a whole month after that one… Hahaha!

Ah, no, wait. He doesn’t want to be called like that anymore.

But the game is filled with both beautiful and dreadful dungeons, and we’ve covered a lot of them. This is why we’re here today, we’re looking for something different.

For example…

Right now, there’s the corpse of a giant turtle in front of me. It has a mushroom on its back and different colored spots on its skin and shell. At first, I thought the mushroom was parasitizing the turtle somehow, but it turns out it isn’t: it’s a single creature.

“Can you feel it?” I ask Corp.

“...feel… feel what? I don’t understand what you mean–”

“The madness!” I interrupt, exasperated at his reaction. Or lack of. “Can’t you feel the madness in this dungeon? Everything we’ve seen so far is screaming at us there’s something absolutely mad creating the monsters that we’ve seen everywhere!”

He shudders. “I, huh, well… I-I… I already knew…?”

Then why didn’t you answer when I asked you!?

No, no, no… Calm down, me. It’s a waste of time to argue with him right now, he’s too scared to act like a proper person.

I inhale and exhale a few times before asking him another question.

“What level did you say the player who owns this dungeon is?”

He thinks for a while before answering. “...hmmm. Was it six or seven?”

“Really? So low?”

It’s hard to believe a player with such a low level will have enough free cp to spend on non-gameplay-related stuff like critters and decorations, but you never know.

We’ll have to see the rest of the dungeon first, it might be too soon for this one.

But this doesn’t make this dungeon any less impressive.

Since we’ve started looking out for new kinds of dungeons, I’ve seen a few ones with the ‘mad scientist’ theme, but all of them were bad.

Those that weren’t shabby, or simply horrible, were too focussed on one of two things: either they were obsessed with believability, creating monsters and were realistic but forgetting about everything else; or focussing too much on the ‘mad’ part, creating completely random stuff that made no sense at all.

This dungeon is the first I’ve seen where everything makes sense so far.

We’ve seen harmless but very weird critters, as well as some dangerous ones; a monster with two heads, one from a Goblin and one from an Imp; and the turtles.

The monsters are ingenious while keeping an equilibrium between their power, madness, and the surprise they create when you see them for the first time….

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

…as well as their good match with the environment.

For example. This area is hard to traverse because of the different elevations and the rocks and other stuff blocking our way. But it’s possible to see most of the caves from everywhere thanks to the openings, and the stalactites and stalagmites that prevent movement but not vision.

I can imagine the disaster it can be if several turtles set their sights on you at the same time, shooting at you from everywhere.

It’s something that can happen but isn’t assured. It can also be that only one of them attacks, like it happened to us.

This creates a sense of uneasiness, a sense of uncertainty. You expect the worst to happen, but if it doesn’t, your anxiety grows instead of dissipating. It makes you think you were lucky and the worst is yet to come.

It’s almost as if a crazy, evil mastermind observed your every move.

“Let’s go, Ave! There’s a lot more to see! Hahaha!”

----------------------------------------

“First Apostle, situation report! Make it short this time!”

“Yes, Leader.” A wereshark player genuflects in front of another player, a chicken-headed player. “I just received a mess–”

But right after starting his report, the Leader stops him.

“Stand up, you fool. Don’t you know we don’t have time for this? We must keep going on and on, never stopping, until we destroy the dungeon core! We can’t waste time with formalities!”

He then grabs the wereshark by his clothes and pulls him up, not before giving him an intense glare.

The chicken-headed player looks around for a moment.

Dim light, walls coated with a greenish, sticky substance, and a thin film of water covering the uneven floor… This is a scene he’s used to, but this time is different. He has a purpose other than enjoyment today.

A mix of weird monstrosities, werebeasts, and, unexpectedly, humans, are standing behind him. Corpses of human-headed beasts litter the ground.

“Let’s go, Bil. Tell me as we go.”

“So, as I was saying, I just received a mess–”

The two players start walking. Again, right after starting his report, the Leader interrupts him.

“Al! How are you doing? Did you find the key yet?”

The Leader shouts, his voice echoing through the decayed passages. Not long after, another male voice replies. Similar to his own, this player’s voice too echoes in in the empty passages.

“Not yet, Bro.”

“What a shame… We can’t only keep searching. Aaaah, so close but yet so far…” The Leader shouts again. “Keep searching, Al. And remember to check it’s the real one, we can’t waste time coming back! And don’t fight the Boss if you find it!”

“Sure, I’ll check it, Bro. And I’ll avoid the Boss.”

“Where are you right now?”

“Hmm… sector C. I just killed the Bombers so there are no remaining obstacles, other than the Boss.”

“Good job, Al. Continue on your own. You’re our best player, show your worth! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

“Sure thing, Bro!”

The Leader stops shouting and the voice from the other player can’t be heard anymore.

“Everything’s going according to plan, Bil! Fufufu! Hahaha! We’ll be the first ones to beat the dungeon and get His wish! Aaah, I can’t wait to ask for what we’ve always wanted… Soon, our Mad Rat’s Cult will be acknowledged by no other than our God! Aaah, haaaah….”

The chicken-headed player hugs himself and starts twisting around, moaning.

“Yes… it’ll be amazing to meet my teacher again.” Bil makes a happy face. “I’ll ask him to teach me so many things…”

“Your teacher…? Ah, right. I almost forgot… If only it were me instead of this blockheaded idiot…” The Leader makes a sour face. Then, in spite, he punches Bil on his shoulder, saying. “We’ll go to sector D, where the Boss spawns. Divided like this we can cover twice as much terrain. Aren’t I a genius? Fufufu! Hahaha!”

“But Leader, it’s only because we have Al with us. Nobody else can go alone like that…”

“Shut up, you fool!”

The Leader gets angry at his follower who dare contradict him.

“And why aren’t you going on with the report!? Didn’t I tell you twice already!?”

“But you were talking with Al…”

“No excuses!” The wereshark tries to defend himself, but the Leader unreasonably pushes the blame onto him. “Explain as we go.” Noticing Bill stays quiet, he adds. “Come on! We don’t have all day!”

The wereshark, who’s not sure how to react because his respect towards the Leader clashes with his need to retort, starts his explanation for the third time.

“I just received a report saying that groups 7 and 24 have failed. They’ll start again from the start, but we can’t count on them anymore…”

The Leader crosses his arms at this information and grinds his teeth. “Those fools! Make sure to write down their names. They’ll be punished after this ends!”

“All right…” He gulps, thinking how glad he is to be on this team. The Leader and Al are here, so he won’t be punished even if they fail. “Groups 2 and 3 have reached the Sealed Area and are looking for the key; groups 4 and 19 are struggling against the Minitaur Queen…”

The dark passage splits several times, but the two players don’t hesitate a single time about where to go. It’s as if they knew every single corner of this place.

When they see a prison cell or a containment room, they don’t forget to check if there’s a key inside.

Unfortunately for them, they only found one so far. It was a fake one.

“...The only team that didn’t die and has reached the laboratory area is team 44…”

They divided the whole Mad Rat’s Cult into groups of three to increase their chances of clearing the dungeon. More players means more support mobs and a higher survivability rate.

Each team was carefully crafted to create a balanced party, raising their chances…

… or that’s what they believed. Because they went with the ‘infallible’ rule of ‘I’m more important, so I go first’.

This is why group 1 has the Leader, Al, their best player, and Bil, the First Apostole. Then, group 2 had the Second, Third, and Fourth Apostoles… and so on.

As the report progresses, the Leader grows anxious, stomping his feet occasionally and punching a few walls.

“Slow. They’re too slow!” He complains, interrupting Bil’s report for the umpteenth time. “Doesn’t this mean we’re the group that’s closest to the end!?”

“It depends on how lucky they are to find the key, but in general, that’s right…”

“Aaargh! And to think I mobilized everyone for this! Punishment for everyone…! No, training! Once we finish, there will be intensive training for everyone! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

Bil shudders at the word ‘punishment’, imagining what’s about to come. But then, when he hears the word ‘training’, he almost falls to his butt.

“I-isn’t that too much…?”

The Leader ignores his complaint and continues with his ramblings. “I’ll force everyone into a hundred drills, everyone will have to…”

*Blip!, Blip!*

Two simultaneous blip sounds interrupt him. The echo makes it difficult to know where they come from exactly, but one comes from behind and the other from the left, so they come from different locations

Immediately, the Leader’s expression switched to one of glee.

“Aaaah, finally, something good! Rejoice, Bil! We’re going to have some fun now! Fufufu! Hahaha!” He starts running ahead, in the direction of the first blip.

“But, the report… I didn’t finish it yet…”

Without any other choice, Bil shrugs and starts following him.

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

“Mystical & Dangerous Monsters & Dungeons, or M&Dx2 for short, was a very popular TV show. In it, they explored fantasy worlds and filmed players diving into them. The audience loved the amazing worlds that appeared in the show, but they loved even more the reactions of the players.

This was the show Andreu watched a few times before he decided to start playing DMA.”