Nightmare Fantasy Online

After returning to my Player Room, I wasted no time activating the Dungeon Terminal, the very one that had been ringing aloud to get me to return not too long ago.

I sent Nyx back to the Followers' Hotel through her special entrance in the Room and started sneaking a peek at the invaders.

That's right. The intruder alarm had been triggered. And the first EXP, I mean, the first rude bastards to enter the Darkland Fort is...

A bunch of teenagers? No, they must be faking their age. Anyway, a bunch of teenager-looking kids were wandering around the entrance part of the Fort's first floor. Two girls and four guys. There are no monsters at the entrance, as our regular intruders (like the toads that come once every blue moon) would simply flee if the monsters attacked them that close to the exit. 

This is a good time to test out the second special effect after the Alarm. The "Intruder Spy-Eye"~! With it, I can see the intruders' names, races, levels, and main classes~. Perfect to formulate a strategy with, and get some inspiration for new classes. People aren't posting much info about their skills or classes...

Wait a minute. Then isn't this "owning a Dungeon"-deal pretty sweet regarding collecting info? It probably is. Let's see if these guys are worth taking a peek at:

• Soso (male)
  • Race: Human
  • Level: 35
  • Class: Dual Swordsman
• Giren (male)
  • Race: Human
  • Level: 23
  • Class: Shield Warrior
• Filina (female)
  • Race: Elf
  • Level: 19
  • Class: Cleric
• Blue Paw (male)
  • Race: Beastkin (Dog)
  • Level: 28
  • Class: Beast Brawler
• Horoko (female)
  • Race: Wind Fairy
  • Level: 31
  • Class: Wind Mage
• Lurubu (male)
  • Race: Human
  • Level: 25
  • Class: Spear Warrior

Three attacking warriors, one tank, one magic caster, and one healer. A typical party, but..., where are the Scouts?

Whatever. And the most common race is human, and with the rest being humanoids as well, I'd guess they would be from that Seira Chaos place. Wow, news travels fast. Did they register a nearby town for their Player Rooms or something?

Hmm, they seem to be discussing something with each other. I can't hear what they're saying...

If they're leaving, it would be good, but..., I wanna see how well the current Fort can hold out against invaders. Just toads aren't what I'd call "practice".

Therefore..., I ordered some Flying Eyeballs, the G-rank demon that can evolve into the Dark Gazer, the also G-ranked Lesser Demonic Elementals, who can evolve into a Dark Phantom, and some G-ranked Imps, who could evolve into either the Stygian Clown or the Gloom Boogey, to go to the entrance and attack the invaders. 

The Flying Eyeballs arrived first. They look like eyeballs floating with the help of small wings. They tried to fire some sorta of magic skill on the intruders, but the Shield Warrior and the Dual Swordsman blocked the attacks with their weapons. The Beast Brawler, who looked like a humanoid blue dog, and the Spear Warrior rushed at the Eyeballs and either punched them to the ground or swept them away with the spear.

But then came the Lesser Demonic Elementals! They looked like dark-colored clouds that enveloped the blue dog and the spear dude and started to drain their life and mana. The dog and the spear dude tried desperately to shake off the Elementals, but sorry to tell you, but those guys are immune to physical attacks! Take that!

But the fairy's wind magic struck them and resulted in an OHKO. Tch. An absolute weakness of magic is what kills those guys' worth.

Then came the Imps. Furry small bodies with large ears and teeth, but..., they didn't last 10 seconds. 

The intruders confirmed that no other monsters were coming at them and started to cheer for their first victory. 

At this rate..., they'll try to breeze through the Dungeon as I hoped for. Sacrificing the weaklings to increase those guys' motivation seems to have worked. They're just as immature as their appearance is. Wait, maybe they're teenagers for real?

On the other hand, the G-ranks are horrible in combat. The F-rank monsters aren't much different from the G-rankers outside their higher stats, but..., even they are no better than bait for proper adventurers. 

Returning to them, the intruders walked deeper into the Dungeon. The blue dog took the lead, followed by the dual swordsman and the spear due, then the shield guy, and finally the two girls were making up the rear.

...are they relying on the dog's nose as a Scout replacement? Sorry, but let me teach you guys something: some dangers in this world don't leave a scent behind. And some scents may be dangerous on their own.

And I can see the perfect teachers that can teach them lurking around the corners. 

The blue dog seemed to catch the whiff of something, but right as he was turning around to tell his comrades, a red ball was thrown at him. It exploded in a puff of smoke, and the dog fell to the ground, holding his nose while tears and snot fell as if his eyes and nose had been turned into waterfalls.

The red ball just now was something thrown by a Stygian Clown. It's made of a powder similar to chili pepper and would leave the sharp-nosed dog guy down for the rest of the day. 

The other intruders moved over to the dog to see if he was alright, but right there, the second assailant struck. 

From the shadows, a Dark Phantom snuck out and attacked the Cleric. It stabbed her throat with its sharp claws, depleting the Cleric's low HP, which is probably guarded by an equally low VIT as well. 

The thing is, in NFO, if you strike a living creature's weakness, like the neck or the brain, it's possible for the attack to instantly kill the victim. Like the Cleric just now.

Seeing another one of their allies go down for the count, this time permanently, the intruder party got distressed and started to panic. They tried to attack the Dark Phantom, but it had escaped into the shadows again. The fairy tried to blast it with magic, but unlike the Lesser Demonic Elemental, you need more specific types of magic if you wanna strike the Phantom on its home turf. 

And as they started to retreat, the fairy stopped in mid-air. She was hit by the Dark Gazer's [Stunning Evil Eye]. After that, a Gloom Boogey that had been hiding in the shadows lept out and struck the grounded fairy with its heavy arms. 

The four warriors looked with shock at the spectacle, but even as the Dual Swordsman tried to slash at the Boogey, the Dark Phantom that had been hiding the Boogey until just now triggered a trap in the road. Several poisoned arrows flew toward the Dual Swordsman and distracted him enough to let the Boogey punch him in return for the failed attack.

The guy was sent flying into the air. Like, for real. The Boogey may look cuddly, but it conceals some real herculean muscles underneath its fluffy appearance.

As for the Dual Swordsman's allies, they weren't just standing there. The shield guy tried to run to block the arrows when he saw the Dark Phantom triggering the trap, but the Dark Gazer from before stunned the shield guy. Guess his defense against status ailments needs some work.

The spear guy threw a knife from his pocket at the Dark Gazer, but a different knife blocked his in mid-air. A Stygian Clown, different from the first one, had been hiding in the ceiling and given support to the Dark Gazer. It then threw some of the chili bombs that the first Clown had also used and incapacitated the spear guy. Then came the Dark Phantom who'd been assisting the Dark Gazer in hiding from the intruders and stabbed the spear guy's throat. The end.

Only the dog seemed to know that the war was lost. He drenched his face with the contents of a potion bottle and started to run away for his life. ...? Did he remove the effect of the first chili bomb with the potion? That's..., pretty clever. It flushes away the powder and also recovers the damage. A little luxurious usage of a potion, but a smart one.

The only members left in the intruder party are the paralyzed shield guy and the Dual Swordsman whose eyes are still spinning. But that didn't last for long. The two Dark Phantoms and the Stygian Clown cooperated to take out the Dual Swordsman with speed and tricks so fast that he couldn't recover fast enough from his dizziness. Soon later, he turned into white-colored particles in the air. 

In the meanwhile, the shield guy could only curse his durability as the Boogey kept on bashing at him with its fists while the Dark Gazer kept him paralyzed through its Evil Eye. Soon, he followed the Dual Swordsman into the next life..., or where their Player Rooms are located. It's not in the Darklands though, so I won't be seeing them in a while. 

Regardless, I hadn't noticed that players turned into white dust when they died until now. Monsters disintegrate into black dust, while players go into white dust. Is there some hidden meaning behind that?

*Beep*

Something's beeping on the Terminal, but before that, I gotta take care of the dog.

I gave some simple orders to the remaining monsters in the Dungeon:

"Don't kill the dog. Guide him by letting some of you be noticed. Don't encourage him into a fight." 

While following my orders splendidly, the demons let their presence be known for the sharp-sensed Beastkin to notice them and take an alternative route through the castle corridors. It took some finesse, but soon we had him just where we wanted him.

In front of the dog, one of the treasure chests I'd added to the Dungeon recently was placed. The dog looked at the chest with stars in his eyes, but quickly shook the excitement out of his head and tried to listen for the demons. I'd made them take a distance to not get noticed this time around, which calmed the dog down enough for him to turn his attention to the chest. 

Yeah, I feel you. A treasure chest is a real man's romance. You can't resist it. Even I, one of the opposite sex, know exactly how you feel.

The dog looked suspiciously at the chest. He must be trying to decide whether it's worth the risk of opening the chest and possibly triggering a trap or not. But in the end, his curiosity got the better of him. 

When the dog opened the chest, he found..., a bouquet of Crystal Roses. 

Yup. The treasure chests, which only turn active (as in adding extra FP to the Dungeon) when you have a stock of items to place in them, are filled with the produce from the Royal Garden facility~. I'm planning on adding more of them when the Fort's FP limit has grown again.

The dog looked at the flowers with stars in his eyes again, but you've gone past your bonus time now.

I ordered the monsters to lead the dog again, this time to get him out of the Dungeon. Soon after, I saw the dog leave the Fort and venture into the Darkland Plains. Wonder if he can survive the long way home. Eh, he can just log out and return to his Player Room.

Kukuku. Hahahaha. MWA-Hahahahaha! Splendid! This went perfectly! I managed to test the Dungeon's defense AND publish the news that the "mysterious castle-type Dungeon has lots of Crystal Roses to be harvested" thanks to demonkind's best friend: the idiot. 

Still, they didn't even reach the trap-filled area of the Dungeon. Most of the total number of traps in the Fort is placed on the first floor, and the demons there have the most experience of all the monsters in the Dungeon. They've been efficiently training themselves by hunting toads that ventured into here. 

In other words, the first floor of the Fort may be the toughest one. A-hahaha..., I need to develop the other floors before decent adventurers arrive. 

After my excitement over seeing my goals being cleared so perfectly and the small depression over the thought of the trouble I had to go through for upgrading the defense of the upper floors, two things caught my attention.

First, the monsters who were fighting the intruders were carrying something up to the second-floor entrance. It's..., one of the swords the Dual Swordsman used. Wait, why's it here?

Just kidding. It's something I predicted would happen. It's one of the new special effects of the Dungeon, one that was only unlocked due to the Dungeon Ruler, meaning me, having a Scout-line class as my main class. The "Robbing Dungeon" effect.

This effect is helpfully easy. Invaders who die in the Dungeon have a chance of dropping their items or equipment. The probability is based on the item's value, plus the killed intruder's LUC stat. Lower LUC equals a greater chance for them to drop an item. 

This time, it seems only one of the Dual Swordsman's swords. And that's counting all the invaders' deaths. Did I strike a jackpot for getting what appears to be a strong weapon, or did I flop since I only got one item? In any case, I can guess what the Dual Swordsman's worst stat is. 

After sending Nyx down to the first floor to retrieve the sword, as she's the only creature other than me who can move freely in the Dungeon, I looked at  the second thing that caught my attention earlier: a certain line blinking in the corner of the Dungeon Terminal's screen:

The Dungeon: [Darkland Fort]'s level has increased. It has now reached Lv.2.