“What the heck are you doing, Alicia?”

In the white room full of screens, all of them displaying scenes inside the DMA game, on which players are in the middle of matches or preparing for the next fights, Alicia is comfortably sitting in front of one screen.

Because of the long working hours during the tournament, the workers are allowed to wear whatever they want, but Alicia brought it to the next level. Hidden under a blanket, only her head and arms can be seen, and who knows what’s she wearing underneath. She looks almost like a worm about to start the metamorphosis; as if she was going to spend the day watching the TV at home.

If this was all, Jordi wouldn’t have asked her. But he can’t stop his eyebrows from twitching after noticing what she’s holding in her hands.

“Hm…?” She reacts to Jordi’s words and turns to look at him. “What do you think? I’m doing my job, waiting for the match to start.”

“The match…? What match? Also, what the hell are you doing with this? Where did you get it from?”

“Of course, the match between the Mad Rat’s team and the other Flesh Monstrosities team. I’m sure it’s going to be an interesting one!”

She proudly sticks out her chest at the same time Jordi’s eyebrows twitch again.

“And are you asking about this?” She points with her head to the popcorn cup in one of her hands, and the drink in the other. “I brought them from home. What did you expect? It’s a must-have when you’re going to watch a film! Hahaha!”

*Sigh* Jordi sighs at her words. Doesn’t she know that this behavior can lead her to trouble?

“Don’t you know this can put you, and also me, into trouble!? Why aren’t you doing your job!?”

“Oh, but I’m doing it! I’m supervising The League of Evil matches! I already asked everybody and they agreed to it!”

*Sigh* “I just hope it isn’t an alcoholic drink because I’ll have to report you if it is...”

“No, no, don’t worry! It’s just iced tea! Hahaha! Do you think I’m crazy?”

Jordi thinks ‘Maybe a little’, but doesn’t dare to say it out loud.

“Well, ok. Just don’t cause any more trouble… I’ll go, then.”

“Wait!” She holds Jordi’s sleeve before he can leave. “Weren’t you a Flesh Monstrosity fan? Then this is a match you must see!”

Jordi bites his lips. He knows he shouldn’t do it, but it sure is a tempting offer.

“...Alicia, you know I have other stuff to do. I can’t just sit here and watch the match.”

“Don’t worry! If you stay only for a few moments, it will be ok! Do you think anybody will notice? Just take a seat next to me! I’ll share some popcorn with you!”

For the umpteenth time, Jordi sights.

“...ok. I’ll stay, but only for five minutes…”

He sits next to Alicia, waiting for the match to start. They don’t have to wait for long.

“It’s starting! It’s starting!”

“I can see it, Alicia. Stop pulling at my sleeve, please…”

He didn’t know at that moment, but those ‘five minutes’ would turn out to last until the end of the match. Also, the number of people watching that screen would increase over time, and Alicia ended up tearing up because she had to share her popcorn with the others.

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

“Are you ready? Because the match is going to start.”

Everybody nods at my question. This time we have a decent plan, and I’m sure it’s going to go smoother than the first match.

Laura, Ricard, and Clara walk to the dungeon portal and get ready to invade the other team’s dungeon.

“Then, I’ll wait for your good news!” I say. “And don’t worry, I’ll make sure nobody reaches our dungeon core! Good luck with the invasion!”

“Good luck to you too, brother!” Clara waves at me as she walks away. “Hmph! I’m going to show them what true despair is! How do they dare use this word in their name, when they aren’t from the Abyss faction!? Gununu… it makes me want to give them nightmares for the rest of their lives...”

I shudder, imagining myself in their position. Right now, I feel incredibly lucky to be on this team and not have to fight against her.

I’m not exactly sure why, but after learning about the other team, she’s been extremely aggressive, looking for ways to humiliate them as much as possible. It could be related to the fact they ‘worship’ me and sees them as the competition… or simply because they are giving me headaches and she wants to have the exclusivity.

But if I’m sure of one thing is this one: I don’t want to understand the reason why she’s like this. There are some things that are better left unknown.

“Mad Rat, I’m leaving. If you miss me, send a warning and I’ll come as soon as possible, ok? Fufufu!”

“Yeah…”

Laura sends me a flying kiss before turning around and following Clara.

“Don’t worry about us, ok? I’ll make sure we win this match, you just have to focus on defense! And if the enemies are too dangerous, just ask for help. We already talked about this, but we…”

“Sure, Ricard… Just leave already or you’ll be late.”

I interrupt him before he starts with his explanations again. It isn’t only to make him shut up and leave me alone because it’s actually true: the timer for the match start is already about to end. Though I won’t deny the most important aspect for me is the former.

“... whoops! You’re right! Hahaha…! I’m leaving! Good luck!” He turns around another time before adding. “And don’t feel too much ‘despair’, ok!? Hahaha!”

“Hahaha…”

I scratch my head and awkwardly follow his laugh. I think the one who should be worried about it is you, Ricard. After all, I’m in charge of defending, so I shouldn’t suffer too much from the enemies compared to what you can encounter.

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Now that they finally left, I can go to my position and get ready to defend the dungeon.

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“10, 9, 8…”

The countdown to the start of the match has started.

I turn my head and see my little sister waving from far away, so I wave back. Pfft, how childish…

You might be asking how can this be; after all, we said goodbye and everyone moved to their respective positions: they went to the dungeon portals, and I moved to the first line of defense.

And the answer is veeeery easy: because we’re still in the same room. Yeah, that’s why. Easy, right!?

For this dungeon battle, we squeezed our brains and planned the best strategy possible. In fact, not a single team has used a similar tactic in the first phase, and I don’t think anybody else is going to use this tactic in this second round either.

At first, we thought it was a crazy idea, and the game wouldn’t allow it. But when we tried it… it worked! Hahaha! It turns out this isn’t a new strategy: Ricard, the one who proposed it, was talking about the ‘something-something’ classical tactic, which means lots of teams have already done something similar in the past.

What we do is exploit the ‘there must be a different path from each dungeon portal to the core’ rule. Because, you see, there’s no rule against the paths overlapping one another. Well, I must admit I say ‘overlap’, but the paths don’t actually overlap, it’s just… let me explain it properly.

We put all three portals one right next to the other and created a layered defense layout to allow a single person - in this case, me - to defend the attacks from all three portals at the same time.

In the first room, we have all three portals and the first defense layer. From here, there are several paths, well, tunnels, that split up and connect from one another. We designed it in a way that’s possible to trace a path from each portal to the core without it crossing another path.

But they aren’t fixed. If you choose one wrong turn, you can then return to this first room, or end up on the path assigned to the other portal.

In the next room, for example, there’s an elevated walkway over a cliff; which passes right next to a river, the second path; and the third path that comes and goes underground and waves between the other two without ever overlapping with either.

The paths ‘overlap’ without actually overlapping. This means it’s possible to defend one path from another, making this dungeon layout not only valid but also very easy to defend.

And yes, basically, it’s similar to the Tunnels in my dungeon… but a lot more complex. And with lots of secret passages to allow me and our dungeon mobs to change from one path to another and defend everything at the same time. In the normal dungeons it’s difficult to use secret passages because if they are discovered, they can hurt the dungeon owner. But in this match… it doesn’t matter if they discover them because they only allow movement between the three paths, hahaha!

Just imagine their despair when having to fight against me, who’s a specialist in ranged combat, and who can appear from anywhere! Hahaha!

You wanted to show us despair!? We’ll show you what actual despair means! Fufufu! Hahaha!

If you can remember, we were talking about ignoring all random stuff, traps, etc. Basically, everything coming from my dungeon. But we decided to go the opposite way in the end: design something completely new but so stupidly crazy that the other team’s going to regret trying to teach us what true despair means.

To achieve it, we have several surprises for them.

But this time we also have other plans. We split our resources into two groups: me and my support mobs; and Ricard’s, Laura’s, and Clara’s champions plus a few support mobs.

As you already know, I’m in charge of defending the dungeon. This is because I’m the only one who actually understands the enemy team’s way of thinking, and also because I’m the best suited for ranged combat and guerrilla tactics.

Ricard, Laura, and Clara are in charge of entering the enemy dungeon and destroying their core. They’re now currently hiding… wait a moment.

“Lemon, stop waving and hide already! Or our strategy’s going to be wasted!”

At my shout, she makes a ‘whoops!’ face and quickly hides.

As I was saying, they’re currently hiding right next to one of the dungeon portals, waiting for the match to start, when they’ll look for an opportunity to sneak into the enemy dungeon and make a run for the dungeon core.

They’re going to move together. This way, unless they’re incredibly unlucky, their progress should be faster than if they went alone.

Unless all enemy players go for them at the same time. But I don’t think so. And the reason is… I know the Mad Cultists well enough to understand what they want to achieve in this match. And I’m 99,99% sure they’re going to come for me, regardless of what I do.

…the other 0,01% is the odd chance they are even crazier than I believed and betray everyone's expectations.

Anyway. Regardless of what that group of fanatics do, I’m ready to face them and beat them to a pulp! Hahaha!

“3, 2, 1, Battle Start!”

Here we go!

The match has already started, but there doesn’t seem to be any movement from the enemies. Maybe they’re waiting for us to attack first?

But when I’m about to give Ricard and the others the signal to invade the enemy dungeon, - after all, I’m the only one who can see everything that’s going on from my elevated position - something changes.

“What’s this…? Some kind of music?”

From the three tunnels, I can hear a sinister melody, growing in volume over time. It kind of reminds me of solemn orchestra music, except for the random changes in tune and melody, as if written by a deranged composer.

Not long after the music starts, drums are added to the music, turning the music into some kind of (un)holy procession.

“What the heck’s going on!?”

I alternate between the three portals, trying to see a little further inside them, to no avail. Until, a short while later, I see several hooded figures coming through the three portals at the same time. All of them are holding candles.

In front of each row, there’s one figure wearing special robes. They’re embroidered and look luxurious compared to the others. There’s the Champion mark on top of them, meaning they are in fact the enemy players.

I only see three of them. Is the last one staying to defend the dungeon?

The three players look around. When they see me, they look at each other, nod, and proceed to move in my direction.

“No way, no way, no way…”

I shudder at the spectacle. Please, tell me I’m dreaming! I don’t like how this is going! I have a very bad feeling about it!

The music intensifies as the hooded figures arrange themselves looking in my direction. Then, they separate into two groups and give way for the last and fourth player to walk through their formation.

Wearing similar but even more luxurious clothes than the other three champions, the one who I assume is the leader of this group of lunatics walks to the front of their formation. The rest return to the original rows and columns and all drop to their knees at the same time. The music stops.

“All shall despair!”

“All shall despair!”

The leader shouts, and the rest repeat what he said.

“Oh, venerable and respected Mad Rat! We, as your most devoted followers, have come today to show our respect!”

I can see Clara looking at me in surprise. I told you I have nothing to do with them, why don’t you believe me!?

Also, you should hide! What if the enemies see you!?

I signal for her to hide once again. Luckily, the fanatics are currently on their knees and looking at the ground, so they don’t see anything.

“Great Mad Rat! We’ve learned Your teachings, we’ve followed them and shared them with the masses. Today, we’re here to show our faith! Thanks to Your great generosity, we learned the real meaning of life. And today, we bring You everything we learned. Please, teacher! Accept our feelings! We’ll bring You as much despair as possible, and we ask for you to give us even greater despair! Because all shall despair!”

“All shall despair!”

At the same time, all the players take their hooded cloaks out, revealing what they look like. But I ignore them for now… my brain’s still trying to process what’s going on.

A mix of rage and shame accumulates inside me at everything. Just the thought of other players relating me to this group of fanatics makes me cringe.

I give the signal to Ricard and the others to dive into the enemy dungeon. I don’t want them to see anything more of this… I know, I know… they can see it later, if they watch the replays, but it’s different than watching it in real life.

The fanatics are so focused on me, they don’t see the others passing through the leftmost dungeon portal.

Fuck you! I swear… I’m going to make you pay for this spectacle!

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

"I think I’ve never been as angry as that day. The shame. The fear of other people thinking I was one of them… Or worst, their founder and leader. At that time, my brain could only think of one thing: ‘I’ll make you regret this! You want despair? Then despair you’ll have!’"