*Swish!*
My arrow flies through the air and accurately lands on the black cat. It has been chasing after us for a long time, and I got tired of it. The cat, surprised, glares at me before scurrying away, disappearing to who knows where.
“Spy! Didn’t I tell you to don’t bother the cat!? Half the fun is not knowing when it’ll make its move, if you scare it like that, we might miss something good.”
“Yeah, the great First Apostole is right. Stop making mistakes, Spy!”
Bil, the party leader, admonishes me for taking the necessary action, and Ana nods from right next to him, glaring at me. Even our fourth member, the newcomer Fer, who by all rights should treat me with respect as I’m her senior, snickers at my ‘mistake’.
Why did I come here again…? Why did it have to be today the day that those foolish and crazy maniacs had decided to spend all day long playing and ‘enjoying’ diving into The Mad Rat’s Lab?
And worse, why couldn’t I say ‘no’ when they asked me if I wanted to come…?
I groan “I… I just…” Does it matter what I say? They’ll ignore all reason and push forward with their absurdity anyway. “...I’m sorry. I thought it was a random cat, I won’t do it again.” My eyes spin around and my voice sounds flat. Anyone sane would realize I’m not being honest, but they aren’t capable of that simple feat.
“Alright, alright, don’t worry too much,” Bil pats my shoulder as if to cheer me up. “Everyone makes mistakes.”
I hate his touch, but I remain as still as possible. Endure, me. I can get more details and special tactics from them; don’t surrender to the impulse to run away…
“But I was looking forward to this time’s surprise,” complains Ana. “Would it paralyze me right before a monster devoured me? Or when surrounded by monsters? Would I die, unable to scream and filled with dread? Haaah, haah…! I can almost feel His presence, observing me and grinning while I suffer…!”
Her excited moans and hands groping her own body give me the creeps.
“Stop moaning like that, bitch!” Fer kicks Ana on her stomach and sends her flying. “If he’s watching, I’m sure He’s paying attention to me instead of you!”
Ana, her real nickname being Anaconda, has been obsessed with the owner of this dungeon for a long time. At first, it was okay, but lately, it has escalated to an abnormal degree.
Was it since Fer (FeralGirl) joined our team two weeks ago? Their initial arguing and sharp retorts have turned into physical actions mixed with brutal insults.
I can’t understand why... Wouldn’t you hate somebody if he tormented you, instead of liking him?
Ana, angry at Fer, starts pulling on her bikini-like top, and Fer, not wanting to be any less than her, grabs Ana by her skin-tight leather suit. The succubus and the tigress start fighting as if their life depended on it.
…and I don’t know where to look. It’s good that the game doesn’t allow players to get undressed under any circumstances, because otherwise… who knows what might happen.
Both of them are beautiful. They must have created their Champions with their looks as the most important feature. A red-haired succubus, her eyes glowing in the same color, wearing black clothes; and a humanoid with tiger traits, like ears, claws, and tail, are fighting for the attention of someone they haven’t ever met.
I’m sure the Evil Mastermind doesn’t know about their existence.
“Hahaha,” meanwhile, Bill just laughs at their exchange. Isn’t he supposed to be our mentor and act as an experienced guide? “Look at this, Spy. Don’t you think it’s beautiful? They’re enjoying this so much that they lost track of everything else. Hahaha!”
He points at a group of monsters that popped up from behind Ana and Fer. It isn’t strange we didn’t see them before. They’re the blinking four-legged meat sacks. They can teleport through walls, so it isn’t weird we didn’t see them until now.
This is why I continue to come here with the crazy team, to my regret. My only chance to investigate this place is with them, as none of my friends want to come here ever again…
I would have never imagined it was possible to abuse a skill like that, allowing monsters to teleport through walls.
It shouldn’t be possible because Blink requires line of sight… But it turns out that you just need to give them the Shared Senses skill and prepare the environment to give them places to jump through walls, and you can mimic the Evil Mastermind’s monsters.
“Spy, let’s deal with them while the girls are amicably discussing the greatness of my Teacher.”
I shrug my shoulders. “...sure.”
The Hauntlings rush at us from all sides at the same time. Bil and I focus our efforts on killing them while the two girls keep arguing. They don’t seem to care about the monsters, it’s clear what’s their priority: to win the discussion.
The monster in front of me suddenly disappears. Instead of panicking, I turn around at the same time I use Staggering Shot, aiming behind me. The Hauntling that was about to pounce on me stops in its tracks. I use this to keep attacking. Two Poisonous Shots land on it before it can use Blink to teleport away. The poison will take care of it, even if it’s out of sight.
Hauntlings are certainly annoying, but not that dangerous once you know how to deal with them. They like to appear behind you, stun you, land a few hits while you’re stunned, and then disappear, like ghosts. If you know this, you can easily deal with them.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I learned all this by reading a guide called ‘How to Stay Sane in The Mad Rat’s Lab’.
Meanwhile, I keep an eye on Bil. By doing this, I’ve learned a lot of tricks. It also is the reason I keep coming with the madmen to this dungeon. As much as I ask them for tips, they refuse to tell me any tips on how to avoid this dungeon’s dangers, but I’ve come to learn the best way to learn: just do the opposite of what they do.
Instinctively, they inflict as much suffering upon themselves as possible. That’s why, if you do the opposite, you’ll learn how to avoid it.
By the time I kill the last Hauntling – Bil didn’t help that much, being stun-locked for more than half of the fight on purpose –, I pay attention to the girl’s conversation once again. They’re still going at it.
“That’s what you say now, but when I marry Him, we will have tens, no, hundreds… no, thousands of children together. And then, our mixed tiger and rat children will hunt each other while displaying their superior intelligence in an incredible battle for supremacy while we observe everything. He will be happy that His teachings are so strongly inherited by our offspring, and then he will put a few more babies in my tummy…”
“Grrr, you’re so cheap... This is why he’ll never choose you. Unlike me, you can’t see the big picture. Once we marry, we’ll have a million children. And then, when they start growing up, we’ll set forth to conquer the world with our demonic, half-rat legions. With his superior intellect, our perfect children, and my fervent devotion towards Him, we will be unstoppable!”
I feign ignorance, deciding to pretend I didn’t hear anything. Um… is there any Hauntling still alive…? It seems there isn’t.
“What did you say!? He won’t even look at you after taking a single glance at me.”
“No, he likes me more!”
I’m not surprised anymore. This is more or less the same as usual. You grow used to these kinds of things after so long.
“Don’t fight about this, girls.” Bil decides it’s time to intervene. “He, my Teacher, loves us all equally. You don’t need to compete for his love because I’m sure he loves you both. It’s the same for Spy, and obviously for me, his first and only student. He’s too great for us to fathom, there’s no need to fight.”
Bil strokes the two girl’s heads, calming them down. Listening to him, the two stop arguing, suddenly realizing something. With teary voices, they lower their heads in shame.
“Y-yeah… you’re right, First Apostole. He loves us all.”
“I’m sorry, Fer… We’re still best friends, right?”
“Yeah! Of course, we are!”
“See? This is why I’m here! I, the great First Apostle, am here to guide you towards the correct path! Don’t hesitate to ask me anything, alright? I’m the one who knows Him best! Hahaha!”
Ana and Fer nod at the same time. In contrast, my eyes spin around. I’m so tired of all this bullshit…
“Now, we must continue! Remember today is Penitence Day, so we must repent for the atrocities we committed against my Teacher the last time we got the privilege to see him… We must show how grateful we are to him, and how much we regret our transgressions.”
Like this, we continue our dungeon invasion. It doesn’t take long for Ana and Fer to resume arguing like before, though.
The invasion continues as usual until we come upon something unexpected.
“That’s new, right?” With glittering eyes, Bil observes the bridge in front of us. “How lucky we are!”
The cave widens into a large cavern. A bridge I’ve never seen crosses over the underground river. Before, the river was shallow and a few stones were enough to cross it, but now, there’s a cliff on both sides, making it impossible to cross unless you can fly or teleport to the other side. The only way forward is the bridge. Furthermore, there’s a giant statue in front of it. A troll, rising an enormous club with one hand, and asking for payment with the other.
“Aaah, how lucky we are! We’re going to discover something new! We’ll be the first ones to enjoy my Teacher’s new blessing. Hahaha!”
Without waiting for us, Bil starts running forward.
“W-wait! We must assess the situation first–” I try to stop him. But it’s too late.
*Crunch!*
Suddenly, without any previous warning, the troll’s club meets Bil’s head. His HP bar drops to zero, and he dies. Even though his Champion is dead, it’s wearing the same foolish smile Bil had a second ago.
A gasp escapes my lips. “Ah, crap…” As I expected, it was a trap! And Bil happily fell for it.
The troll lowers his head and looks at us from above. With a thump, it takes a step forward, raising its humongous club once again. It makes an evil grin as it approaches.
“Haaah…! Now I’m wet.” I hear a moan coming from behind.
Why do I feel… why do I feel like I’m excited for what’s to come? Am I looking forward to what comes next…?
It can’t be true.
----------------------------------------
“Brrrrrr…!”
My whole body shivers when a sudden chill runs down my spine. How weird, I was preparing everything for my next monster, so there’s no reason to be like this.
Maybe… Is someone talking about me? Yeah, that must be it.
I shake my head to dispel the bad feeling and resume what I was doing. I uploaded the dungeon changes with the new monsters not too long ago, so I’m sure the first players should have encountered some of them by now. They must be excitedly talking in the forums about my new and amazing monsters.
“But still, that was one hell of a shiver. It must have been them, right…? Yeah, it must be them.”
Those that should not be mentioned: them. They’re the source of most of my headaches, so if someone made me shiver like that, it must have been them.
What could they be doing, though…? I don’t know, nor do I want to know. Ignorance is my best weapon against them.
I shrug my shoulders and open a new Template.
“Hmm… for the next Hunter, I will use…”
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
Under the player’s constant petitions, DMA implemented a new option for werebeasts, exclusive to those that were used as Champions. Instead of having a beast head and heavy animal features that made them easily distinguishable from humans, they allowed the players to choose a more human-like aspect. While keeping the animal’s body features like claws, tails, and fins, the head could be changed to one that looked like a human. They all had small modifications like large canines, split pupils, or animal ears, but nothing compared to the beast heads they had by default.
Lots of players, especially women, liked this change, while others didn’t care. There was an appeal for both options.