Chapter 110: [Arc 3] Chapter 23: Nightmare Voyagers

Five days after the selection of the Personal Dungeon:

*KA-BOOOOM!!!!*

*Cough, cough, COUGH!* Did I misjudge the amount of gunpowder?

I escaped the smoke-filled room after failing to make one of my new bombs. Good thing I didn't insert the poison already. Then we would get a different kinda mess.

Time for a break, I guess? I've been mass-producing bombs all this time to make use of the materials I created with Alchemy. Though... maybe I should get a professional to make the gunpowder from now on? Yeah, let's try to find someone like that.

As for why I'm busy doing this, is to level up my Alchemist class. Specifically, the [Alchemy]-, [Synthesis Circle]-, and [Conversion Circle] skills. Maxing out these three is the key to evolving the class, a trait shared among many Artisan classes. Weaver and Cook, just to name a few examples.

And just now, I've finished that nasty task! Damn, I hate grinding. It's worth it in the end. Now I can merge the two classes~... but let's do it later. My hearing's still outta it from that last explosion. I've used up all those materials in the end though... one way or another.

I left the mess to the cleaning personnel and went outside for some fresh air... or air that's as fresh as can be on the sixth floor of an underground Dungeon. From the balcony, I peered down on the Dungeon, my Personal Dungeon, if I may be bold enough to add.

Lamp posts with occultic purple- and blue lights lighten the area, revealing a city made up of old ruins from a lost civilization. A labyrinth that's created in three dimensions by the many buildings that made up the floor. Some had toppled, creating artificial bridges that allow one to cross rivers filled with miasma-like water, remnants of old homes and stores that could only exist in the modern era...

That's right~. I chose the Forgotten Realm in the Abyss! A type of Dungeon that's a mix of urban- and dark fantasy themes!

All four Dungeons had their charm, but I had to cut down the other three for the problems they had/could create.

The Venomous Ruins is excellent for the undead, but I couldn't rely solely on the undead. And having such a bad Dungeon could inspire so-called "heroes" to shut down our operation. If I could limit it to simple floors or rooms, then it would be awesome, but as I was in the need of a strong "main theme", the Ruins had to go for now.

As for the Desert of the Survivor, it's cool and impressive, excellent in tiring out the invaders, but it's risky, and I wanna live in the Dungeon as well, so I said no to that.

And for the Flooded Lake... I seriously wavered between it and the Forgotten Realm. Its powers are amazing, the odds of a Water attributed invader crossing the desert is close to zilch, and I could give the Knockers a good environment to live in. Plus, our water costs would turn to nothing if I chose it.

There are five reasons why I didn't do so :

1. One, the Dungeon may turn a little too challenging for the weaker invaders, or as I like to call them, the cannon fodders. Simply the automatic Water-attack could be too much for our dear EXP-donors.
2. Two, while not completely, I would have limited myself to only Water attribute monsters. And they can't explore the desert, so there would be a strange power gap between them and the explorer-groups.
3. Three, the Forgotten Realm weakens the invaders' Perception skills, meaning that it's easier to lure them with traps. And invaders killed with traps give 100% EXP, so it's gonna make the Dungeon level-up faster as well.
4. Four, the "Horror-monsters" are essentially any monsters you could make a horror story outta. Spiders, demons, ghosts, you name it. Meaning all my subordinates, excluding a few recruited ones, are gonna get a power boost from the Forgotten Realm.
5. The fifth and final reason, since this Dungeon explicitly mentioned a castle, I'm thinking it might be possible to get Royal monsters here in the future~.

If I get the chance again in the future, I'll take the Flooded Lake Dungeon then. 

*Waaank!*

Ah, there goes one of the advantages with the Forgotten Realm. The Ghost Train. 

It's a D-rank undead that also has the Metal- and Smoke attributes. They look like black steam locomotives with an eye on the front. Besides that, and the fact that they can create their rails with mana through the [Phantom Rail] skill, they're pretty much regular old trains... that can use magic, drain HP and MP from passengers without a ticket, and can operate without a conductor.

Creation cost: 85 CP. We've created a railway network between the Dungeons' 4th floors, except for Volcano - Damavand. The tunnels are too cruel for the invaders, so I'm not worried that they will use them. If they do... hehehehe.

Incidentally, we also have a waterway network. It's something that Alf came up with while we were on vacation. It works the same way as the railway network, but we're using the Dungeons' 3rd floors for this, and we use boats and Knocker-escorts to move around. The Knockers are also guards to prevent cheaters from escaping to another Dungeon.

Back to the Train. It's one of the three new monsters I can summon thanks to the new Dungeon-type. The other two are the Lesser Demonia Golem, and the Demonia Golem. Only making the E-ranked Lesser for now, as it evolves into the normal D-ranked Golem. Creation costs: 30 CP and 75 CP. They're Earth/Darkness attributed. 

Visually, they're a huge, 2-meters high stone-doll, made of ink-black rocks, and they have a single blood-red ruby for an eye. They're slow and can't use standard magic, but they're solid. Along with the Cave Scorpions and the Living Armor, I dub them the "Unholy trinity of defense"~. 

And it's not only the Dungeon-type that's given me new members for the crew. The bonus for getting [Dungeon Ruler]~! The Light Sub-Attribute! I mean, if I'm supposed to be a demon that requires Black-Light to evolve, then I should have both Darkness and Light in my Dungeon. 

Speaking about that, it seems that the Forgotten Realm gets special bonuses from the Sub-Attributes. The cost for lights on the different floors got a huge discount after I got the Light attribute, but for this dungeon, it's free. It's the same with the lakes and rivers I can place, albeit they're limited in number...

As for the monsters of the Light attribute, we have the Lightroad Spider and the wolf-shaped Wildlight Wolf demon! They both need 35 CP to be summoned, but I'm training some Glow Imps that were also available with the new attribute in the hope of getting Wildlight Wolves with higher stats and skills.

The Lightroad Spider is around the size of the Reha series. They have a white body with yellow markings and black legs. Their strategy for survival is to make balls of their self-illuminating threads, use them as a distraction and lure, then strike the unfortunate victim in the back. I love their style~. 

From what I can see of the few Wildlight Wolves I've already summoned, they have dark golden fur and use their Light-abilities to search for their prey instead of trapping them like the Lightroad Spider. I wanna see what they become when they evolve, as they're already great mounts for the goblins. A future wolf-rider corps... 

"Master, the cleaning is finished."

The Succubus-maids notified me that the room was made livable and left. Mhm, those maid uniforms are a sight for sore eyes~...

Why there are maids here? Because we're in a castle, that's why. All the Dungeons have their last floor turned into Forgotten Realms for the security bonus that's the castle, and why would the Dungeon Ruler live anywhere else than the fortress protecting their main Dungeon Core? And yes, I moved them. The former #1 Dungeon's Core is now the Core for Dungeon #2 and vice versa. It's the Core I spent the nights polishing till I could use it and all~. I got attached to it before I knew it~. 

Now, back to bomb-making... All the materials were destroyed in the explosion...

Maybe I should think about moving? For the safety of the Dungeon Core.

Guess I'm finished with the crafting grind? Now, to the library!

---

"And why're you here?" I asked the person I least expected to be in this place.

"Reading~." - Mira

"I can see that, but don't read books that tell about ancient ruins. You're sending shivers down my spine." - Garami

I found Mira reading books that seemed like archeological works describing ruins and Dungeons of that type. 

"Because the Trophy Rack looks lonely," she said while looking at the item in question.

The Trophy Rack is a special furniture item you can place in your Guild Home. Certain Guild Rewards, special items that improve the stats of everyone in the guild, can be placed here to activate their effects. Some Rewards can be placed without the Rack, but that's a different story.

As for why I'm suddenly talking about Guilds, well... we're officially one now. And we made the Dungeon our Guild Home. 

We did name ourselves a "Guild" before, but we missed the crucial "Guild Permit" item, so we were one in name only. Now, however...

"We can't show Filyn an empty Rack when she comes to visit~." - Mira

It's not empty. The six "Medallion of Velantas" that we won from the war is displayed there.

And they affect even the subordinates of the Dungeon! Too bad the same item doesn't stack their effects with each other... But yeah...

"Considering she sponsored the Guild, then yes." - Garami

The one who had managed to obtain the extremely rare Permit was Filyn! She had Blot find one with his network of business partners and gave it to me as an apology for ruining our vacation. Even so...

"To demand that we named the Guild 'Nightmare Voyagers'..." - Garami

I have nothing against the name personally, but it's kinda embarrassing...

"It's better than having the name exactly like our division in the organization. And if the 'nightmares' out there finds out that the Champion of Alvatria herself is out to 'visit' them, maybe they'll try to stay clear of us?" - Mira

Maybe...

"And what do those books have to do with the Rack again?" - Garami

"Guild Quests normally takes place in ruins or Haunts. I was thinking about getting some knowledge before we try to search for the real deal." - Mira

"So why're there no books about Haunts, eh? Is it related to the mess you did at the Crawler's Den, eh?" - Garami

Don't try to look away, you Treasure Hunter. I know that you've used the "Crawler's Den" (former Dungeon #4) to train your class. The spiders there did get trained in making traps, but just how many items did you "steal" that Alf had to replace afterward?

"I-it's nothing compared to how you and Alf are using your monsters-" - Mira

"That's Necromancer- and Vampire privileges. It's got nothing to say here and now." - Garami

After hearing what Mira did, and how Alf sent out his Shadow Wolves to train his Hunter class, I got the idea to use my Skeletons to train my trap-skills in the Den. It worked wonderfully, but for some reason, I'm not getting more proficiency for some of the skills. Can you only train them to a certain level through outsourcing? 

"Not to change the subject, but why're you here?" - Mira

That's definitely to change the subject, but I gotta agree. Despite this being a library, there are not many books. The castle came pre-made, but I could add or change rooms as I pleased for CP. This library is one of those rooms. Though... it's limited to only rooms. You gotta secure furniture, and in this case, books yourselves. All we got is the stuff I brought from Velantas and what I bought in the auction.

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"Gonna change my classes." - Garami

"Now that's interesting! Let me see!" - Mira

"...Is it that fun to see?" - Garami

"Garami, the girl with the vilest moves, skills, and tactics, is changing her classes? We should sell tickets for this!" - Mira

You're overreacting. I'm not that vile.

We moved to the Class Change Crystal that I had placed in a corner of the library. To think that the Union's secret weapons against monsters and Dungeons can be bought with just 100 CP... why did I waste all that cash in buying one from the Union then!?

In any case, activate the Crystal, choose the Alchemist class, choose the Weaving Alchemist option... what?

"There's two of them?" - Mira

That's unexpected... or maybe not. Carion back in Velantas mentioned that you could find special variants of the evolved Alchemist class if you're lucky with your build. His own golem-based Alchemist class was one of those, and the more experienced Alchemists he knows all have a special variant. If you're plain, you won't go up in the world.

As for Grudge-Weaving Alchemist, according to the Kigal-Note, including the requirements for the normal Weaving Alchemist class, I need the [Master Weaver] title, having killed a certain number of creatures with self-made items, used threads to kill a certain number of creatures as well, negative Karma Value, plus owning two or more classes related to negative stuff like assassination or commanding curses?

"That's some scary and precise requirements there." - Mira

"That's putting it mildly." - Garami

"Then, which one are you going for?" - Mira

"......The Grudge-one. Weaving Alchemist can create thread- and cloth-based items up to rank B in quality. The Grudge-Weaver can do the same, plus it can create 'tools enhanced with a curse', according to the Note at least. And if I create something that uses both fields... then even A+ Quality isn't a dream." - Garami

Still, a cursed weapon may sound cool and all but-*clank*-... that's right. We have a user of a cursed katana right beside me......

And there I stepped into the Grudge-business~. Yay~. Ugh... I'm doomed to get into trouble now...

Wait, wasn't my Evil Eye named after Grudges as well? Hmm, then this may not be that bad. Despite not being so flashy, being able to weaken opponents just by looking at them.....

"What's wrong?" - Mira

"No, I just got an idea. But that's for later." - Garami

"Hmm?" - Mira

"Now that there's a free space-" - Garami

"STOOOP THERE! Didn't you say that we should keep an open slot in case we stumbled over a rare class or two?" - Mira

M-my ears...

"And that's what I wanna look for. Assassin's already reached Lv.30. It's not gonna be soon, but I wanna prepare another class that I can merge with Assassin when that time comes." - Garami

"...Maybe I should look for something like that as well..." - Mira

That convinced her. Now, the class I want... hmm, I wanna have some fighting prowess, but it should be a Scout class. The Alchemist class may not be a one-time occurrence after all. And it needs to be similar to Assassin... rather, to Rogue since we're talking about Intermediate-tier classes, but it must have its own perks that separate it from Rogue... this one!

"What, Slasher? That's got a nasty reputation attached with it." - Mira

"Anything nastier than an Assassin, Necromancer, or a Grudge-using Alchemist?" - Garami

"...Yeah, can't get any worse." - Mira

Yeah, now I'm making myself depressed. Let's change gears. And that is something that can change them.

I've withheld this for too long, with excuses such as naming subordinates so they're able to leave the Dungeon without a "babysitter". Naming may require 100% of my full CP, so I could never spare 1,000 while also taking care of the normal needs of the Dungeon, but after naming four monsters, it's about time I summoned that guy.

The Dungeon Boss of "Lost Realm - Damavand"Former ruins Dungeon.

---

???'s PoV:

......I could feel a tug as I was floating in the darkness. Hmph, is it another idiot who draws the short straw, a fool who summons me while thinking they are someone great for obtaining the blessingcurse of Chaos, or someone competent? It will be shown in a few moments...

As the tug grew in strength, I felt my body being created by the moment. This nostalgic feeling, how long will I experience it?

My [Identification] skill is inherited in this body. It seems that the master this time is somewhat competent...?

105 skills? There has never been an incarnation when that many appeared. And when I looked over the skills, I noticed that [Demon Lord Lv.1] among them...

I should give this master the benefit of the doubt. Coincidence or not, that they could grant this body so much power shows that they are candidates to be a worthy master. Even if they are in such a hurry to call me as a simple Lich. I will give them a plus for having given me a last name from the start, but if they are incompetent, they will become one of my undead hordes, ready to strike the next scoundrel that summons me for no good reason.

My body had been granted the equipment that I would be using in this life. The Robe of Lifeless Souls, the Crown of Clotho, the Amulet of Lachesis, and the Scythe of Atropos. All Legendary- or Godly-rarity items, granted to me for my many millennia of service as a Dungeon Boss by Chaos himself. 

Finally, my empty eyes could see the light of... day? What is this place? A cave?

It seems that this time's Dungeon is placed underground. However, what kind of Dungeon is this? It seems that I am summoned in some castle garden, but the "castle" is made of such strange materials and shapes that it makes me believe it could have originated from a different world. 

Is this a Personal Dungeon? But what kind of Dungeon Master would produce such a weird-

"Wow, a Lich! This is the jackpot for the Undead-line!" - ???

An excited voice talked to someone. It is a blue-haired female dressed in a white outfit lined with gold that didn't try to hide the woman's mature body. If this is the Master I am to serve, then she will do better acting as one of my retainers...

Skill- and Title Lists:

Attack Skills: Magic Skills: Active Skills: Passive Skills: Resistance Skills: Perception Skills: Leadership Skills: Elements: Monster Skills: Extra Skills:

Hunting Titles:

Status Titles:  Attack Skills: Magic Skills: Crafting Skills: Active Skills: Passive Skills: Resistance Skills: Perception Skills: Leadership Skills: Elements: Monster Skills: Extra Skills:

Hunting Titles:

Status Titles:

What a monster. And at such a young age...

"It is an honor to meet you, Ruler of this Dungeon. I am the one granted the name of Onyx Damavand. It is an honor to be of service, Master Garami." - Onyx

"Mhm, nice to meet ya." - Garami

...Really, at such young age...

Description:

The Slasher class is one of the viler and stranger of the Intermediate-tiered Scout classes out there.

The class starts as a strange Warrior-counterfeit, lacking a weapon proficiency skill to allow the usage of [Dagger Arts], combining it with the typical tactics of battling Scout classes by targeting weak points, to becoming a speed-freak, and finally, it takes a Spy-like approach by keeping only their identity hidden while performing misdeeds. 

Essentially, the Slasher class seems to be designed around a street-slasher, or a street-murderer. It relies equally on covert actions and public ones to kill its targets. A class one should think twice about before taking. Bad publicity could be the least of their worries.

Iron's comment: Sounds like a class only a true villain would take.

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