The next day, we went to the Damavand-Mine, the Territory that used to be Flint’s bamboo forest-type Dungeon and is now a place filled with Mine-type floors. Though, we were surprised by the Territory’s current state.
Damavand-Mine is, as its na suggests, a gigantic mine made of so dark rock. The sights I would recomnd here are the many mining points that are placed all around the mine, and maybe the crystal lights that illuminate the tunnels. Then there are the huge chunks of crystals that are used to decorate the tunnels. They are naturally pretty to look at. Maybe I should ask for one for my room as decoration?
But that is not what’s getting my clock ticking.
"What’s up with this stupid huge hole!?" - Garami
A gigantic hole has been made in the middle of the Dungeon. Large bridges were made over it, so there are no worries about not getting deeper into the Dungeon, but that’s not my problem.
The problem is that the huge hole is going through several Dungeon floors. What’s the aning of this!? There’s no aning with the stairways and traps and monsters and EVERYTHING else!!
"Master Garami! How are you doing today?" - Malpherus
"You’re... Phire? Why’re you here? Weren’t you supposed to be Dungeon-hunting?" - Mira
"Yes, lady Mira. I have successfully taken down a Dungeon to act as a teleport point in the Invidia Marshland and have returned." - Phire
Ah, she’s back. Phire is the first Malpherus I summoned, plus the veteran leader of the Damavand hunting party. I had her be one of the mbers to take down Dungeons in the areas close to the towers related to the Coronation Quest. To think the girl who had the longest distance to travel would be the first one to clear her quota.
"Welco back. Have Jing, Garn, or Lunatic returned?" - Garami
"No, master. As far as I know, I am the only one who has finished their task. Though, I ca back just one hour ago. Master Onyx prepared a teleport terminal for ." - Phire
That explains it. Also, I had muted my Dungeon terminal notifications, so I didn’t notice. Guess she doesn’t bla for that, so I’m good.
"That was fast. Did you take down a 1-floor place or sothing?" - Mira
"No, it was two floors, yet they did not pose any difficulty. As much as it pains , the mbers of that organization can be more formidable than we are..." - Phire
Babel is filled with pri adventurers handpicked by Aella, the head bancho of the Adventurers’ Union. It’s no wonder they are better than our months-old monsters.
"The Dungeon itself was a cave-type Dungeon despite being placed so close to the marshland. And it was filled with goblins and led by a Troll out of everything. I left so of our soldiers behind, but may I ask that Master begin the construction of the defense for this new Territory as soon as possible?" - Phira
I agreed with her on that, but I threw the responsibility onto Onyx by giving him so CP to work with.
Still, Goblins? Must be the Dungeon Goblins. The type that only spawns in Dungeons, compared to the humanoid Goblins sans Dungeon, or the monster-type Fiend Goblins. But Trolls...those are the guys that participated in the Velantas Civil War, right? Even a Lesser Troll is worthy of a solid D-rank and the real deal may be tougher than your average C-rank Demi-Monster.
Phira said that they defeated the troll by ganging up on him, but why was a troll there in the first place? Wait a sec, was it the Dungeon Master? I asked Phira and she confird my suspicions. The Dungeon fell into our hands after the troll died, so it was the Dungeon Master... A normally brain-dead troll who normally only got stamina, vitality, and regeneration to their na built a Dungeon? That’s weird...
"Anyway, you know what’s going on here?" asked Mira as she directed our conversation toward the huge hole in the Dungeon.
"Yes, I received a note from master Onyx regarding this," replied Phira as she took out so docunts from her bag.
Since Phira was so successful as a leader of the hunting party, I allowed her to reign over this Territory as a reward. The problem is that she always goes out with the party anyway, so Zali the Clean Sli is the de facto leader with Topaz the Grotto Scorpion as the "muscles" to guard this place.
I could see the handwriting and trails of cleaning agents from Zali on the papers, so it must have been reports written by him. Onyx must have handed them over to Phira when she returned.
"Ehm, the floors of Damavand-Mine are separated into groups made of 5 floors each, except the 21st and 22nd floors, and each group has large Mine Shafts that allow access to all five floors without the need of a stairway. However, to compensate, each fifth floor has a huge gate that the invaders have to find 5 keys spread around the five floors." - Phira
That’s wicked. 1 floor is around 5 kiloters, aning the invaders have to search a space 25 kiloters big to find those five keys. Not bad.
"And here is a list of "spawnable" monsters...?" - Phira
Wasn’t she told about the spawning facilities? And the list is...
Hmm, not that different from before, yet with so new faces. Like the Demonia Gororantis, for example, which looks like a walking huge chunk of golden crystals. Or the Demonia Centaur Construct, a Mobility-based evolution of the Demonia Golem. I was thinking of adding it to the Core but decided to save so space for the other C-ranks there.
But that Rororo-line...first, it started as an Earth-demon, then it turned into tal, then Crystal, for now ending (at the mont) in a race that’s Crystal/Gold? Who’s next in line?
"Ugh...why did she add Raflias?" - Mira
"Raflia? This Wood demon?" - Garami
"...that’s an infamous wild demon that takes the shape of weeds. It has no need for nutrients except what it gets from the dirt and sunlight, but it will wrap itself around people who try to trample it and release an odor close up to their faces that slls worse than anything else I’ve ever experienced..." - Mira
"...you got caught, didn’t you?" - Garami
Mira only nodded to my question. So, it slls worse than anything she’s experienced even in the Solomar slums...let’s not summon too many of these. Or it’s big brother, the Demonia Slingfilia. Heck, they both got the Stench attribute along with Wood! Damn...
"Where is Lily!? I’m going to give that girl a lesson in touching stuff that should never be brought to day’s light! No one deserves to be exposed to those green devils!" - Mira
"Yes, there are!"
All three of us got startled by the sudden voice that ca from one of the tunnels. And there stood...Lily. Dressed no different than before, except for a gothic-looking, spiked choker around her neck...
"Liiiiilyyyy! You better have a f*cking damn good excuse for this..." - Mira
What happened in Mira’s past? I’m scared of asking her.
"Y-y-y-you see-[Shut up, you walking bad-luck magnet!]-!?" - Lily
...what?
All of us stopped as we saw Lily trying to hide around the corner as...sothing that looks like a...ghost copy(?) of her threw out insults like there was no tomorrow. At least, I think I could call it that. It looks like a carbon copy of Lily, except that it’s see-through-ish and floating in the air. And it has a nasty expression on its face. One that Lily would never show, except maybe if she was to be denied five als a day.
"N-n-n-n-no-[The big-boobed bimbo has sothing to say, ah? You who can’t keep 1 sol to your na for more than ten seconds when there’s a casino in town?]-!" - Lily
"...huh...?" - Mira
The sudden and unpredictable, not to say fowl, speech from Lily made Mira freeze on the spot. Luckily for Lily, it’s from sheer surprise instead of anger.
Lily was panicking and looked like she wanted to apologize but her "ghostly" partner just kept its mouth going.
"Wait! That isn’t-[Ahh, it’s just a f*cking pain to be with such a sleazy pervert like you? Are you even aware that you’re a woman? Going around like a bitch in the heat, begging to gamble away your own and everyone’s hard-earned money, and getting NOTHING in return! Pathetic! A waste of flesh! Even giving you a grave would be too much to be called charity!]-...*sniff*..." - Lily
Geez, now Lily started to cry. And from how Mira’s shoulders are shaking...things are gonna go bad no matter the result from here, won’t they?
Phire is too stupefied to react, Mira is getting a mudsling-treatnt by the "black Lily", and the original seems to be unable to do anything about it. As for the culprit of this ss...yeah, I figured that thing wasn’t Lily’s style.
It’s the choker. It’s draining MP from Lily without her consent to project the "black Lily". What is that thing anyway? Identification~...
Na:Chaos Cult Choker
Item Type: AccessoryRarity: ExQuality: E-Durability: ---
Equipnt Placent:Neck
Effects:Black TalkCreates a doppelganger that insults anyone nearby.Actions done by the doppelganger will affect the original’s Karma Value.Forcefully drains MP from the wearer.Cannot be unequipped after being attached to the user unless they reach -200 Karma Value.
Description:
An annoying choker created by the Chaos Cult. In their fanatic "mission" to spread "true chaos" all over the world, they attach chokers like this onto people with a high Karma Value in the hope of it furthering their "holy mission". Once it is locked onto soone’s neck, it cannot be unlocked before the wearer has reached -200 Karma.
Annoying indeed. Who ca up with such a stupid idea for an item? It’s only that it can’t be detached from the user and not be destroyed because it’s an Ex-item, right? Then the answer is simple.
"Steal." - Garami
Remove it without de-equipping...hey! I got it on my first try! Not bad for a skill with a random chance to succeed.
"*sniff*...*sniff*...B-b-bwoooosssh!!!" - Lily
After seeing her bad side disappear, Lily ca running up to and-hey! Don’t grab my legs like that! And don’t get snot all over my pants!
*Grab*
...Okay, we got another mber of the pants-grabbing-crying-face club.
"Lily, take Mira with you to the Ghost Train leaving for Damavand-City." - Garami
Better to have the two of them crying themselves dry over there than inside these dark mines.
Lily nodded and helped Mira, who had been reduced to an emotional wreck, up on her feet and led her to the stairway for the fifth floor where the Ghost Trains are located. I’m right behind them, but first-
"Phira, stop acting like you’re a statue and bring this to Onyx for analysis," I said as I snapped the demoness out of her stupor and had her return to Onyx with that nasty choker.
If there is anyone in Damavand that can track down the creator of that shitty item it’s our genius lich/Necromancer/Alchemist. But who to send after the culprit...Lunatic? Or should I try to summon sothing real bad from the new C-rank recruits...or maybe pray to the goddess of luck-, no, the god of justice for a decent punisher from the gacha?
I SO want to do it myself, but with the coronation and all that, plus I have to keep an eye out on one of those towers myself even...
...but first, sweets. Let’s empty the CP for the girls when we reach Damavand-City...are those Lily’s birds? Why weren’t they...now they joined the crying group. Figures.
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