Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 332 (Patreon)

Chapter 332 – Darkness

“It is just as bad as you said,” Bargulg said, frowning under his helmet. Not that he expected his pets to lie to him, or exaggerate things, but still. There was hearing something, and then seeing it for yourself.

As had been reported, the room had several ‘tiers’ as it descended towards the far end, where the boss was. The Cursed Slimes were arranged on the tiers, just far enough apart that a cautious person could walk between the two lines of immobile slimes without getting caught by their attacks. Against a single pair of slimes, that was doable. However, there were twenty slimes on the lowest, narrowest tier, and five tiers in total that they had to wind past.

Worse, to stay out of the range of the Cursed Slimes’ attacks on the bottom tier, they would be forced to go well within the range of the boss monster. It was too far away for Bargulg to [Analyze], but he knew for certain that it was no ‘mere’ Black Pudding Lord. The way its body seemed to drink in the light, becoming blacker than black, spoke volumes about its new power. The thing was definitely in Tier 3.

Dungeon Law

Ranged attacks and spells from creatures situated more than 2’ above the level of the target are blocked from doing damage to slimes until all enemies at or above that level are slain. All damage from area effects disabled while slimes outnumber the sapient creatures in this room.

As if that weren’t bad enough, there was a dungeon law in effect. You couldn’t simply launch area spells to clear the way, because until you had fewer slimes than people in your party, they simply wouldn’t do damage. And it neatly prevented people from using ranged attacks to snipe the boss from afar, or using flying to attack it from above. If you wanted to use anything but melee weapons on the thing, you needed to either be close enough that it could hit you anyways, or spend the time and effort to clear out ALL the Cursed Slimes, one by one. Either way, there was no taking the easy route with this fight.

Ashera looked down at the room from his side. “From what the Adventurer’s Guild has been able to figure, this fight is designed to wear people down, making the waves of fights in the Arena floor after it even worse. Taking down all the slimes before getting to the boss will drain mana and stamina. The Black Pudding Lord, which is a named boss called Khanix, has pseudopod attacks that are incredibly fast, and deals a great deal of damage. Anyone who gets caught by one of its projections is usually dead before they are even brought into the main body for digestion. But that also destroys not just their body, but their armor and any gear they have on them.”

“Which makes bringing the person back something that only a powerful Tier 2 or 3 healer can do,” he nodded. “I agree. This fight is not designed to slaughter foes. It is meant to force them to expend energy and resources, tiring the casters and ranged combatants, so that the monsters in the Arena, who are supposed to be more melee fighters, are better able to handle the group.”

“Fortunately,” Tanila said, “Everyone here has ranged weapons that we’re trained on, so we can work together to wipe out the slimes. That will, at least, get us to the point where we can figure out what the boss has turned into, so we can decide how to kill it. And everyone working together means that we’ll be able to pace ourselves.”

Bargulg nodded, and said, “That’s fine for groups like ours, yes. But I wonder what the Lord has planned for groups that are truly trying to kill him? On that Nightmare difficulty that they mentioned.”

Lyrei froze momentarily, and then shuddered, as though she’d seen a ghost. Looking over at him, she said, “The Lord says that, on Nightmare mode, the Cursed Slimes are immune to all damage except unarmed combat. Only what natural weapons you have can hurt them.”

Ena whistled softly. “That would basically mean that the only people who could fight the Cursed Slimes on that difficulty would be monks, and those like them. But touching the Cursed Slime, even with a punch, would cause you to suffer one of their curses. Even if you had a full party of monks, you would still have everyone with too many curses to possibly be healthy. And the chance that they are permanent curses is high. Even if they survived the encounter with the boss, cursed as they would be, they would be in terrible shape for the Arena.”

Tanila nodded. “Which means that any group with an iota of sense would either try and make it through the gaps without getting touched, or give up and make a deal with the Lord to get out of things. It is putting them in a no-win scenario, and still making them think that they have options, even while those are perhaps a fraction of a percent for the success rate.”

Bargulg nodded, once. “Well, then it is good that we are here with the Lord’s blessing, rather than being fools seeking to end his reign here.” He held up his sword, and pointed it at the closest of the Cursed Slimes. “[Frost Lance].”

With the invocation of that spell, a beam of icy light shot from the tip of his blade, and struck the Cursed Slime. The beam punctured through the slime, having hit its core, and passed on to strike the one behind it. However, that second hit did nothing, not even putting a bit of frost on the slime’s body.

“As expected, a spell that overpenetrates does nothing to the next creature it hits. Still, this is good to know.” He took a breath, and then looked at his ladies. “Well, let’s get to work. We’ll clear the tiers one by one, until we can get a better idea of what we’re working with.”

With that, they began the process of clearing out the slimes. Given their weapons and skills, shooting once was enough, if they managed to hit the slime’s core. But only Tanila was skilled enough to manage that every time, meaning the rest of them typically needed two or three shots to destroy their slime. With well over a hundred slimes to deal with, the process was never going to be quick, or easy.

Khanix

Level 1 Avatar of Primal Darkness

Titles: Voidtouched

Finally, though, they made it close enough that they could use [Appraise] on the boss. It was both far less impressive than he thought it would be, and far, far more terrifying. The lack of titles, other than Voidtouched, was a blessing. Voidtouched on its own was not terribly useful, since all it did was allow the user to be healed by Void magic, which was rarer even than someone who wasn’t from the Abyss using Hellfire.

Of course, the fact that the slime had clearly gotten a Tier 3 evolution that played into Darkness and Void negated the ‘good’ aspect of that feat. It meant that the boss could, and almost certainly would, heal themselves. Either with single spells, or area effects that hit both it and those damned souls who lingered too close.

Which meant that a fight already slanted against melee attackers was even more rigged than they had first thought. Naturally, this further confirmed the conclusion they’d all come to. This floor was designed to wear down parties. First by eating away at their armor and healing supplies with all the slimes up to this point, and then by forcing ranged damagers and spellcasters to exhaust themselves against the boss.

None of it was especially lethal, on its own. He’d been in dungeons that had far nastier bosses in them, after all. But the specific combination, knowing it was leading up to several waves of enemies in the Arena? It was easy to see this proving a major hurdle for adventurers, possibly one large enough that most of those who survived the Arena decided not to take their chances with the desert floors, and especially the sandworm boss on the fourteenth floor.

Still, that was part of delving into dungeons. No dungeon made things completely fair, and they certainly didn’t make things easy. Having challenges that were tough, but just winnable enough that people kept throwing themselves at it, was how they kept people coming back for more. And the more people who came, the more injuries and deaths there would be, along with the other resources which fed a dungeon’s growth.

They regrouped on the top tier, just inside the doorway they’d come through before. He pulled out his cannon, which he had not been able to use nearly enough this trip, and smiled at the others, as they all grabbed their own weapons. “Ratha, ready an area shield, just in case. Everyone else, ranged attacks. Fire!”

It was lucky that he gave the orders he did. The moment the first attacks hit Khanix, the deep black slime convulsed, and then shot a tendril out at them. It crashed against the shield with enough force that Ratha took a half-step back under the strain.

Ena’s eyes were wide, as she saw the tendril retract. “If Ratha had been a half-second slower, one or more of us would be dead right now. That thing as a reach of almost fifty meters!”

Bargulg nodded, grimly, as the slime retracted the tendril back into its main mass. “Looks as though there is another reason why slimes tend to be destroyed before they ever manage to get into Tier 3. They are too dangerous to be left alone!”

“Orders, Master?” Ratha asked.

“Concentrate on defense. Keep that shield up. Let me know when your mana drops low, or the defenses are weakening, and we can switch. Everyone else, fire at will! Bring that sucker down!”

And, bring it down they did. Eventually. After a battle lasting almost four hours. Four hours of rotating in attackers and defenders, working to ensure that people were able to rest and regenerate their MP, without allowing the slime to heal itself in peace. With that plan, they managed to kill the slime, without too grave a risk.

Of course, the lack of risk came with a distinct lack of reward. Not that their lord gave them nothing but XP for their deed, of course. However, while accessories that increased their maximum MP by 10%, and gave them a 10% greater MP regeneration rate while out of combat, were nice, it couldn’t help but feel underwhelming, to them. But the Lord had been clear with the delvers of this dungeon from the beginning, that taking risks is how you got to the greatest heights, and it was how you earned the greatest rewards.

As they rested by the portal leading to the next level, Bargulg looked around at the level. So far, everything in the last couple floors of the dungeon had been fairly mundane, in terms of dungeons as a whole. ‘Fetch quests’ and ‘forced party splits’ were common dungeon tactics, as were ‘attrition levels’, like this floor. However, it was in the specifics, like causing anyone who wasn’t a follower of Kuronoth or a slave to have to find their gear on the tenth floor, or the teleport trap into dangerous parts of the castle on the eighth floor were all unusual, compared to most dungeons he’d been in.

Unusual, but not unheard of. Demon dungeons tended to have some things like this, especially if there was a succubus in control. Undead dungeons typically revolved around a raised individual that could influence the dungeon’s design by devising some of the most disturbing and wickedest traps that their once-mortal minds could picture. And the list went on. It wasn’t the elements that were present that made the Forbidden Chambers such an intriguing place, but the fact that so many of these elements were all together. It was not something one saw elsewhere in the galaxy.

Bargulg, now rested and recovered, sighed. “Come on, the Arena awaits.”