The online game I used to enjoy before finding Dungeon and Stone was a game with PVP as the main component. In the game, you chose between one of two factions and grew up on a different continent depending on which one you selected, and then went to the other to fight for dominance. I remember the feeling of leading a small army into enemy territory and stealing the level boss right under their noses was very gratifying. Plan passionately, take down the boss in one big hit and listen to all kinds of criticism in the voice chat of the enemy faction players?
It was a very fun game.
If I hadn't come across Dungeon and Stone, maybe I'd still play that game. Of all the games I played, it was the best.
Wait, if I had kept playing that game, they wouldn't have dragged me here...
Aside from those regrets, the reason I had suddenly remembered a game I had almost completely forgotten about was simple. In a way, there were many similarities between him and our current situation. Currently, the Dark Continent was occupied by Noark, and our expedition team had secretly set foot on its territory.
And more importantly... The method I used there also works well here.
I felt the same feeling I felt while playing that game here.
«...E- Ambush!»
«How the hell did they get here?!»
«Take care of the monsters in front first!»
«A-Ahhh!»
Our terrified enemies didn't know how to react.
«Eeek! Cowards...!»
«Taking advantage of a moment like this!»
«I'll take you with me!»
Praise rained down.
[You have defeated a Bone Dragonian. EXP +7]
On top of that, I killed a bunch of rank three monsters like it was a piece of cake. Of course, the icing on the cake was something else.
«An essence!»
Not only did we manage to ambush and kill a lot of people without suffering a single wound, but one of the monsters also dropped an essence: the second rank three essence that we had obtained during this expedition. To be honest, I was more stunned than happy.
What is this?
Rank three essences were not so easily obtained. That was because there were very few rank three monsters on the seventh floor. Considering here and Ice Rock together, the total number of rank three monsters we had hunted didn't even reach twenty.
But there are already two, eh? Is luck on our side? Well, I'm sure this is a net positive.
«Ashed, go pick up the essence».
«Okay.»
I sent our wizard to store the essence in a test tube while I took stock of the battlefield. The essence was not our only loot. As always, PKing's resistance piece was something else.
Asphyxiation...
«A-Help...»
«You know I can't save you.»
Why was this guy talking to a dead body? «Stop babbling and get out of the way». I raised my hammer to press the happiness button on the bastards still clinging to their life preservers.
Crush, crush, crush!
As the flesh was hit, the bodies became inert. After personally confirming the deaths, I had the crew strip away their equipment and store it in the expedition's shared subspace.
«Ugh, considering the equipment they will have in their subspaces, this is no joke».
«Everyone will have a good share when we return».
The crew seemed to have done the math and were now burning with enthusiasm. It made sense. A rank three essence was also valuable, but not as valuable as the team of fifteen people who were active on the seventh floor. More importantly, the effort we had to devote to the battle was minimal.
«We finished collecting the loot», Akurava said.
«Any injuries?»
«None».
«I see». I couldn't hide my pleasure and raised the corners of my lips. The battle had ended cleanly without a single wound.
«...Do you plan to continue fighting like this?»
«Is there a problem?»
«No. But...» Akurava interrupted himself and pursed his lips. Having experienced it for herself, she now knew that this was the best way to ambush an enemy when he was hunting in their territory off guard. Well, that didn't mean there weren't drawbacks.
Thirty minutes, huh?
The battle itself was over in five minutes, but the time it had taken our opponents to encounter a monster for the first time was considerable. Of course, the drawbacks were not worth it compared to the advantages. If someone was injured or killed during combat, it was a much greater loss, right? But it seemed that there was still something to regret.
Kaislan offered cautious advice. «Schuitz, killing everyone was hasty. We should have captured at least one for information».
Ah, that's true too.
«We will do it from the next ambush». Kaislan's expression suddenly lit up, probably because he was considering her advice. «Sorcerers, burn the bodies and erase all traces of us!».
When we finished clearing the surroundings, we snuck back into the darkness and set off. But because our surroundings were so quiet, I could hear a conversation between some crew members that made me laugh to myself.
«Have you seen that before? Your team?»
«If we make ten more of these... how much will it be?».
I don't know, I guess we'll find out soon.
***
Our routine since we arrived at the Dark Continent was as follows:
Step step.
We travel wrapped in darkness.
«The enemy».
We waited for the enemy to fight a monster, giving us the opportunity to attack.
«Now!»
So, we took advantage of their distraction to launch an all-out ambush.
Bang, bang, bang!
Wiiip!
Boom!
Things got even easier once we started bombarding them with long-range firepower from the start and blowing up the entire rear first.
«Come on!»
«End everyone!»
Even as our close-range warriors approached, their front line was not free to offer their support to the rear thanks to the monsters they were dealing with at the front. For that reason, the battle ended quickly this time as well.
There are already ten, right?
Repeating this process as we progressed, the number of ambushes we had carried out reached double digits just as we left the Dragon Pit.
«Wizard! Put a soundproof barrier first!»
«Hey! Be careful when you take off your equipment! It still comes with stuck meat!»
When the battle ended, the squad began to collect the loot and erase our tracks again. While supervising the process, one of our team members dragged a survivor in front of me.
«Commander! Here is the survivor you asked for!»
«Good job.»
«Was nothing.»
Starting with the second battle, we made sure to always keep a person alive to extract information from them. It was never known. Anything could happen in the maze at any time. We could not neglect the regular collection of information. I wasn't the one doing the interrogations, anyway.
«Jun.»
«Leave it to me.»
If he left it to Jun, the expedition's official information extractor, the information would come out of them on its own, and all he had to do was gather it. For example, the people hunting on the eighth floor were Noark's elite fighters. Therefore, its main base was empty. Useful information like that came to light. The problem was that none of the last survivors knew much more than that, so it had been a while since we had received new information.
«Schuitz, please come here for a moment. It's urgent».
Jun hadn't called me during an interrogation in a while. I wondered what was happening, so I quickly headed over and found that the bound survivor was still alive. This meant that some important information had emerged during the interrogation.
«Forward. What have you found out?»
«It would be a bit inaccurate to say that I have found out anything».
»Inaccurate...?»
I tilted my head and Jun's eyes wandered to the side. When I followed his line of sight, I could see a stone glowing and vibrating faintly nearby: an object that any adventurer was bound to recognize.
«A message stone...?»
«It was in his possession».
«That means...»
«Yes, someone is trying to contact this man. What are you going to do?»
The moment the question left Jun's mouth, the message stone vibrated once again.
Jiiiiiing!
I wondered how many more times it would ring before stopping. There was no way to know, so I had to make a decision, quickly.
Slide.
I raised my hand a little to ask for a little time and then I started thinking.
Is it close or distant communication?
The radius of a message stone was limited, although the exact range depended on the quality of the stone. But this was Noark's territory, which meant that this call could come from far away. This was related to the reason why the palace had formed an expeditionary force to attack the main base in the first place: the mana wave emitter.
In modern terms, a mana wave emitter was a structure that functioned similarly to a transmission tower. These guys had used their cheat code to enter directly into the seventh floor and then had improved their strength by bringing with them a huge device that must have been too big to ever fit in a subspace. Thanks to that, Noark was able to communicate freely with troops scattered across the continent and actively hindered the royal army.
Jiiiiiing!
The damn doorbell rang once again. I finished reflecting and asked some questions. «Hey, you, where do you think this call comes from?».
«...It's probably routine communication. To check the status of each troop».
Hmm, I see.
«Jun, what are the chances this guy is screwing us?»
«I think it's very unlikely.» If he was able to sound so confident in a situation where it was difficult to be sure of something, that meant he was very confident.
«...I will! I'll do what you say! So please, m-kill me...!»
As I listened to the guy plead for death instead of life, I passed judgment. Yes, I was willing to trust that. «Alright, take the call. If they ask if something happens, tell them nothing happens». I grabbed the message stone and shoved it in his face.
Click.
The moment I pressed the button to take the call, a man's voice rang out from beyond the shining stone. «Finally I'll find you». It was a deep, deep voice, and as soon as it reached my ears, my heart began to beat violently.
Thump, thump, thump!
I could never forget that voice.
«R-Regal Vagos... Is that you?», our prisoner stammered.
I scream.
So you are also somewhere on the eighth floor.
I had encountered many enemies since I came into this world. I broke most of their minds, but, unfortunately, I lacked the strength to take care of others. Riakis, the Lord of Chaos; Abed Necrapeto, the Corpse Collector; Belbev Ruingenes, the Fallen Scholar. Those names immediately came to mind, but the person I held the most grudges against was that guy: Regal Vagos, the Dragon Slayer. As soon as I heard that voice, my mind went blank and my blood boiled.
Squeeze.
But now was not the time. Clenching my fists even tighter, I cooled my head and focused on the conversation.
«Meiras, where are you right now?».
«I'm hunting with the other members of my team in the Dragon Pit!».
«...Really? So you know something?»
«Know something about...?»
«We cannot locate anyone who has entered the Dragon Well».
«It's true? I'm not sure. We are doing well and we have not encountered any problems. Really».
His tone was exaggerated and he practically begged Vagos to notice. I could let the stutter pass, but wasn't it too much?
Just then, Jun silently picked up a punch next to him, immediately straightened up, and composed himself.
Slide.
«But how strange. Is there no one reachable? Maybe they were attacked by monsters?» His pronunciation was clear, as if he had never stuttered.
«No matter how pathetic they are, there's no way they've killed them all.».
«...That's true. But is there any news from you?». The guy went one step further and even showed interest in asking Vagos for information.
«Not yet».
«I'm glad. I'll take a look and see what happened on this side, so don't worry».
«You? Don't do anything stupid and wait. We have already sent troops there. Join them and do what they tell you».
«Yes, okay.»
«Tsk, you useless bastards.» The asshole made a disapproving gesture and cut off the transmission.
«It's a shame», Jun said. «It would have been nice to know how many troops they sent here».
«Yes, it would have been...»
«...Is something wrong? You don't look good».
«Don't worry. It's nothing.» It was getting harder and harder to contain my anger. As I listened to that voice, the events of that day flashed through my mind in vivid detail.
Just then, I heard a sound behind me. «N-No.»
Whip.
When I turned around, I saw Erwen standing there.
Faucet.
It looked like he had been holding something in his hands, but that object fell to the ground. Normally, if it had been a normal mistake, he would have bent down to pick it up again, but Erwen instead stopped and stared at me.
«Erwen? Why are you here?» As I got closer, I realized something was very wrong. «Wait, you're shaking...»
«That v-voice...»
«Calm down. You're OK?»
«Right now! I-it was... him, right? E-The Dragon Hunter, Regal Vagos...»
He didn't know why, but Erwen was terrified.