The Trolls’ Dwelling and the Dolls’ Cradle
トルールの住処と人形の揺籠
After the cave-like structure of the Dark Forest Dungeon’s first Area, the twins and me were met with the view of a dry desert. Thinking back, some of my worst experience in the Nameless Dungeon involved the Dry Plain.
“Try locating the closest mountain.” While giving out water bottles to the twins, I gave them instruction to find the closest mountain they could find.
Since it has the same vibe, I’m familiar with, I was hoping that it would be the same system here as well. If we locate the next mountain first and head for that direction, water should be available, but was disappointed with the first report.
“Master I can’t see any mountains”
“Ah!” I thought we would be in a pickle if we don’t find something that would alleviate our thirst. Fortunately, this dungeon had something better. Maybe Dungeons have their own tastes in creating their structure. “Look, there Master, an oasis.”
“Okay, make sure to mark that direction well.”
“Okay!”
The dry fields of the 11th floor had assorted Insect type monsters such as [ARACHNID], [SCORPIAZ] and the nostalgic [ANTARES]. All of these monsters ranged from Monster Threat Rank F to C. Since we really don’t need to map the area, we only took note of the monsters that we encounter on the succeeding floors to supplement our report to the guild and with that done we unanimously decided to speed run on to the next floors.
After threading the dry fields for some hours and almost emptying our water bottles we finally arrived at the oasis, it was a place to behold, it had a different impact compared to the water springs in the mountain caves I was familiar with on the Nameless Dungeon’s 2nd Area (11th to 20th Floors).
While the mountain caves in the Nameless Dungeon did offer protection, here we are pretty much exposed. Thankfully, the water seems to be a safe zone akin to the Sacred Trees in the Forest Ruins in the Nameless Dungeon and do not attract the Dungeon Monsters.
Either way, we are just glad that we have some way to replenish our waters.
“Make sure to drink ample water and replenish our canteens… looks like this will be a long journey.” I was speaking with experience here.
“Yeah, let’s bail out of these areas, I hate this place… my hair is now so dry…” Ran seems to be combing her hair with her fingers after wetting them a little.
“….” Len was silently gobbling water as if to agree with his sister.
With our water canteens replenished, cooled ourselves by dipping in the water, and took a few fruits in the surrounding trees, we then searched for the next oasis and headed for that direction.
After repeating this cycle for a while…
“This is our 5th oasis, and we still can’t find the entrance to the next floor” upon our endless search for the oasis, Ran got a bit irritated looking for that very opening.
“Ran, there is no need to get too irritated…” Len tried to pacify his twin sister as he offered her a water canteen. “I mean the book did say that dungeons had a natural tendency to hide their entrances.”
I had to agree, when traversing the Nameless Dungeon, aside from the obvious cave-like openings, which had their entrance and exit in obvious cave openings, the second area had its entrance hidden on mountain caves, and in the Forest Ruins it had entrances in one of the cellars hidden in the ruined houses. There must be a place where the entrance hidden in plain sight.
“Ran why not cool your head and have a dip in the lake, I have already filled in our water supply.” Len told his sister.
“Ah!” there it was a flash of inspiration-like sensation. “That’s it! It’s deep in the water.”
Of course, while hidden it should have been too obvious. Well, it could also be in the sands but that would be too easy to spot when you accidentally step on it. Maybe Dungeons share something in common: they are definitely sadistic types, tormenting not only our physical stamina but our mental state as well.
To verify this hypothesis and preserve the twins’ sanity, I then took a deep breath then swam deeper at the lake, and as if prove our point just right on the mark, there it was a hidden deep in the oasis the entrance.
By then it was just a repetition until we got to the 15th floor where the Mid-boss was waiting for us. A Monster Threat ‘Rank C’ [TROLL], with a registered name [TROLL COMMANDER].
“Okay you two, do not kill off the Commander just yet.” I needed to have them get the ‘TROLL KILLER’ Title. “Fight off as many lower ranked [TROLLS] as you can, maybe 100 will do. Right make 100 [TROLLS] your goal.”
And so, the three of us started to torment the endless horde of [TROLLS] until we each had 100 kills and took the [TROLL KILLER] Title, although unable to see their Statuses, I was really hoping they really did get the title. Because we are expecting a stronger monster of the same ORIGIN.
After loitering in the 16th to the 19th floors battling [TROLLS], we proceeded to the 2nd Area Boss on the 20th floor, it should be a stronger [TROLL]. Now, which will it be a [TROLL CHAMPION] or its magical counterpart [SHAMANIC TROLL CHAMPION]?
When we surfaced out of the oasis at the 20th floor, we were met with two Monster Threat ‘Rank B’ [TROLLS] -one is a warrior and another a caster type. I guess defeating them would need a better strategy.
“Okay I will take the [TROLL CHAMPION], while you two cooperate to take down the [SHAMANIC TROLL CHAMPION].” While their levels are indeed low for this type of combat, confidence brimmed in me that the two with their unique ability to heal each other should be able to win against the monster.
The twins are using the tactics the two monsters were supposed to use against us. One would tank and the other would heal, and when the Tank gets too damaged for the caster to heal, it will exchange places with the caster and heal itself and the caster will attack us.
With a few trials and errors in their approach, the twins manage to defeat the [SHAMANIC TROLL CHAMPION], it goes without saying that the [TROLL CHAMPION] had long lost the battle when it cross blades with me.
Okay onward to the next area.
*****
‘This stupid Dungeon is going to get an earful from me when I see him/her. ‘
Why the anger you say? Well after defeating the two Monster Threat ‘Rank B’ [TROLLS] in the largest and most beautiful oasis lake, dived for the next floor via the waterway to get to this next Area… and where does the path lead out? In a freak’n TOILET BOWL!
Well, I do not think the monsters inside this dungeon would be using the toilet so it should relatively be clean, but the image of getting out from one of the stalls like some piece of ‘turd’ will probably linger on the head and the revolting experience will probably be hard to erase from the memory.
Well since there was no helping it, the memory will have to be pushed until the Dungeon Lord smacking will present itself. So, let’s focus on getting out of this level first.
The next Area Floor is an abandoned human dwelling. It had a feel of a ghost town. The monsters lurking about are not ghost types though, but regular beasts that made it feel like a thriller movie rather than horror where the town is infested with beasts.
“Len. Ran. Whenever you find a treasure chest never approach it carelessly.” What I learned from this type of map is that they are riddled with many Treasure Type Monsters. “They are most likely monsters known as MIMICS.”
Thankfully the entrances for the next levels are not through toilets but instead doors in houses. Before leaving for the mid boss, we decided to loot from the MIMICs. Thus, enabling us to replace the initial gears the twins had bought from stores with good STAT Add-ons.
For Ran, we got a Water Blade from a STILL WATER MIMIC and a Stinger Blade from a RUNNING PARALYSIS MIMIC:
.Water Blade {
- A short sword embedded with hardened Water Crystals
- Increase potency of Water Spells
- Item Rank: C
- Market Price: 600~500 Pera
- MANA + 5.00%
- Phys STR +10.00%
- Mag POW +10.00%
…and
.Stinger Blade {
- A short sword embedded with paralysis
- Slightly induces paralysis to target
- Item Rank: B
- Market Price: 500~900 Pera
- MANA + 5.00%
- Phys STR +20.00%
- Mag POW +20.00%
For Len we got a Combat Staff from a STILL EARTH MIMIC and a pair of wind shoes from a STILL WIND MIMIC
.Earth Staff {
- A combat staff embedded with hardened Earth Crystals
- Increase potency of Earth Spells
- Item Rank: C
- Market Price: 600~500 Pera
- MANA + 5.00%
- Phys STR +10.00%
- Mag POW +10.00%
…and
.Wind Shoes {
- A pair of shoes embedded with a hardened Wind Crystal
- Induces light effect on wearer
- Reduce Damage from Wind Magic
- Item Rank: C
- Market Price: 600~500 Pera
- MANA + 5.00%
- Phys DEF +10.00%
- Mag RES +10.00%
We were able to find other loots, but since they were of no use for our dungeon run, we just kept the things that we are able to carry. I touched a few of them so that they will carry over to the Grimoire Atelier.
With this, we are now prepared with the Mid-boss which is a [DOLL], another new Reanimated Type Monster. According to log via Grim-chan’s voice, it is called a [FIRE IRON DOLL] with a Monster Threat ‘Rank B’.
According to the Book Ran was holding, Reanimated Type Monsters are differentiated from SPECTRE Monsters. While they are indeed being possessed, what possess them are not souls of the dead, instead Strong Mana infused with Malice or any other emotion.
Since this is the last Area, then it is probably safe to assume that Dungeon Lord is a [DOLL] Type Monster and judging from the structure of this place I would say that it is probably not possessed by Strong Mana infused with malice but rather something out of playfulness. The Toilet exits and other prank like devices. Hihihi I will definitely get even with this Dungeon Lord.
“Master your face is scare…” Ran voiced out as she noticed my grin.
“Sorry ‘bout that.” I can’t help it. I’ll finally get to smack some senses to the dungeon who made me feel like some turd.
“Anyways, Master what should be our strategy against the mid boss?”
The [FIRE IRON DOLL] was almost the size of the boss [GOLEM] from the 1st Area about 9-Meter-tall genderless puppet like DOLL made of flaming iron.
Dealing with it was too much for the twins so I helped them by becoming their decoy. Using Intimidation on the [DOLL], it sees me greatly as a threat and focused most of its attention on me rather than the two.
The two also learned long ranged attacks by infusing KI or MANA on their attacks. With some slight difficulty, we were able to put the flames on the [DOLL] in no time. If you are asking if we got some Killer Titles from this guy, well unfortunately together with the GOLEM on the first Area, there was none. They did not summon any subordinates like the DEMI-HUMANS do so there was no helping it.
We should be expecting more DOLLS on the next floors so we might get it, however much like the GOLEMS, there is probably a large gap for their respawn time, making it hard to garner the needed title to make boss easier. Well, it can’t be helped, after all the ones possessing these DOLLS are Mana with some emotion on it.
Well, for now let’s go and get the prankster.