＜ 3. Enter the Dungeon (5) ＞
‘[Normal] Top of an inexperienced challenger (equipment card): Top for a challenger who has just entered the dungeon. Resistance + 1’
It’s been a week since Andrea came to the world of ‘Dungeon of Infinity’. He had his shirt off the whole time. Because all the slaves were given was a pair of loosely woven trousers.
The air in the dungeon wasn’t cold, but it was damp and humid, so I was just thinking that I should have at least a pair of jackets. When mucus splashed, there was also a case where it stuck to the skin because there was no clothes.
‘I don’t know if I have a good body like Marco.’
There was also the advantage of being able to cover up the bony body. It would have been quite embarrassing if I had to show this clumsy upper body even when I met other NPCs other than Arpan.
The top was just a shabby cloth, but it was better than nothing. I also raised the resistance like a real thing.
Andrea put on her jacket and sat on the floor for a while. Before going down to the second floor, I was thinking of checking my plans for the future.
‘First of all, the most urgent need is a map. I can’t make any plans without it.’
So far, all you have to do is follow one passageway, but if you go down about the third or fourth floor, you will start to see a fork in the road. Without a map, it was purely up to chance what would come along the way.
‘Since I know how to deal with it, other events don’t matter much. There is only one reason you need a map. Only encountering elite monsters should be avoided.’
In the 25th stage of the trial, even normal monsters are tough opponents, but once you face an elite monster, that thought disappears. When faced with a pattern that is difficult to avoid even knowingly and an attack that could lead to death just by brushing, I wanted to immediately press Esc and turn off the game.
Of course, elite monsters give rewards appropriate to their level of difficulty. Enormous experience points, artifacts, or even high-ranking cards. So, in order to reach the upper level of the dungeon with a normal character, I was forced to break the elite monsters in the lower level in order to snowball.
‘But as Andrea, he’s never defeated an elite monster on the lower floors.’
Although it was difficult to curse out, I was able to catch elite monsters somehow with other characters. However, for Andrea to meet an elite monster on the lower floors was tantamount to a death sentence.
It was not a problem that could be overcome with effort or control. That’s how the design itself came about in the first place. Andrea realized again the importance of maps.
‘It’s like avoiding landmines. First of all, let’s collect gold without spending it. If there is a shop within 5 floors, everything else is done and I have to buy a map first.’
After thinking that far, Andrea compiled information on key artifacts, equipment, and cards that could make a decent deck.
There was no need for writing utensils and paper. Because I’ve already saved it all in my head while playing the game countless times. I was just reminding myself not to panic when I had to make a decision in a hurry.
After some tidying up, Andrea looked at the stairs going down to the second floor. The stairs were structured so that the ceiling gradually increased as you went down. Then there was a monster that came to mind.
‘The monsters on the second floor are like that, after all.’
It was fortunate that an elite monster didn’t suddenly appear, but… Andrea let out a deep sigh. I felt tired already thinking about running around sweaty on the soles of my feet.
‘It’s really important to summon Marco quickly here.’
I desperately wanted to open the deck and adjust the order in which the cards were arranged. It’s obvious, but absolutely impossible. No matter how well they are arranged, the cards in the deck are automatically shuffled when entering a dungeon.
Andrea went downstairs, praying for good draw luck.
*
“Dog-like imp pups.”
As soon as I entered the room on the 2nd floor, a curse came out without my knowledge. Andrea let out a sigh as she gazed at the ceiling twice as high as a normal room.
Little demons with bright red skin and tiny horns were giggling. As if it worked well when I was bored. It was a low-level demon that couldn’t speak properly, let alone use magic, but its sharp claws were menacing enough.
A total of 3 objects. The room was in the shape of a triangle, with a seat at each vertex. They’re so quick to match their small size that they’re hard to catch, but the real problem was the stuff in the hands of the imps.
If you look at it without knowing anything, it is just an ordinary yellow marble the size of a fist. Its true performance could only be known by beating an imp.
‘Ha, do you mean the invincibility pattern comes out from the second floor, or fart?’
As long as he held that marble in his hand, the imp did not take any damage from any attack.
It would have been impossible to break if all the imps had held them all in their hands. Fortunately, there are only two imps holding marbles in their hands.
The strategy was simple. Every time you catch 1 imp, 1 orb disappears as well. It was a room that could only be broken if the imps were not holding marbles in their hands in order.
‘The problem is…’
Turn 1 has started. The drawn cards are Strike, Strike, and Defense. Marco’s summons were not chosen.
Andrea let out a low sigh and used the blow. Then, he rushed towards the imp without marbles.
“Kikik, kikk, kikk!”
The imp provoked Andrea as if to try to catch it by hopping until it was right in front of her nose. He gritted his teeth and swung the stick, but the imp easily avoided the stick by lightly jumping.
Andrea swung the stick upward again. This time, the attack hit the imp. But I didn’t feel any hit at all.
Ting!
An imp with a triumphant look on his face, shaking a marble in his hand. It was thrown by the imp behind him.
‘···The point is that these imp cubs use beads around them…’
Annoyed, Andrea slammed the imp’s wrist with a stick. I felt nothing but shock as if I had hit a rock. The imp laughed and waved the marble around.
It was something I had already done in the game, but there was no way I would miss the marbles. Damage immunity and invincibility were distinctly different. It was impossible to shock or push the invincible monster.
I had no choice but to play around with the imps’ pranks. If you run to an imp that isn’t holding a marble, lightly dodge the attack. When the attack hits, he has a marble in his hand before he knows it.
Andrea frantically ran around the triangular room. Towards the imp on the left, then towards the imp behind it. Following Andrea’s movements, marbles flew back and forth in the air and on the floor.
It didn’t take long to wear out. Because of his weak body, he quickly ran out of breath. Due to the high ceiling, it was not easy to snatch the thrown marbles. It was hard to notice with a ghostly eye that he made me throw a marble wrong just by pretending to run into it.
When Jeong-hyeon first encountered this pattern, he was convinced that the developer had created it based on the trauma of being the stalker of Eoreumdang. Otherwise, there was no way I could have made a pattern that was so pissed off, dog-like, irritable, uninteresting, and unmoving.
In fact, it is a pattern with a very large variation in difficulty depending on the character. When a character capable of long-range attacks met an imp, that layer was no different from being eaten raw. An imp that doesn’t hold a marble is a glass body, so if the attack hits, you can catch it right away.
However, the close-range chasing character could only hope that the imp would make a mistake while continuing this goddamn chase.
“Kerreuk, Kiki Kick!”
As I was breathing, I looked and saw an imp licking a marble with its tongue. Andrea felt a deep rage rising from within.
It’s already turn 4. From now on, a pattern of imps not only dodging but also claw attacks is added. The sharp claws of the imps were enough to tear Andrea to shreds.
In the meantime, the only cards drawn were strike and defense. It would be a very tough fight if he couldn’t pull out that card this time as well. Andrea prayed earnestly with a tired body and drew a card from the deck.
Strike, strike, and summon Marco.
‘It came out.’
Andrea smiled in repentance. Imps didn’t know what to do and provoked them with grotesque screams as before.
“Kiki Kick! Kyririk! Kirik!”
Read from noble mtl dot com
Now there was no need to give in to provocation. Andrea sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. The imps were taken aback by the sudden change of attitude.
“Kiririk? Kiek! Kiek!”
A confrontation that lasted for a while. The imps slapped their buttocks with their tails, provoking them more violently than before. Andrea still didn’t budge.
The imps were not very patient. It seemed that they were determined to attack if it did not come from the other side. While the imp that was not holding a marble waited in the back, two imps holding a marble approached Andrea.
‘Caught.’
Andrea jumped up from her seat at that moment. Then he threw the card at the imp without marbles.
Even if you use a summon card, there is a short period before it is activated. Summons are usually summoned at the location where the card is located. At the same time as the summoning circle was drawn on the floor, Marco was summoned right behind the imp without marbles.
Marco had a puzzled expression. I was in the blue brick room with the goat-headed man just before, but now in front of me were short dwarf demons.
“Miss Marco! Hold on to that imp in front of you so he can’t move!”
Andrea shouted in a voice almost screaming. Marco was startled and, without realizing it, grabbed the little devil in front of him with both arms. The Imp, who had been attacked out of nowhere, screamed and struggled.
“Kieeek, kirrurrureuk!”
The other imps froze, unable to accept the momentary change in circumstances. It was the moment when the pattern was twisted, the reason why summon cards were so valuable on the lower floors.
Andrea easily avoided the other imps and ran towards the bound imp. Then, using the momentum that came running, he slammed the stick into the gaping imp’s mouth.
“Keck!”
With a shriek, the bound Imp died as it was.
“Rather than human nature, you bastard.”
It wasn’t difficult to organize the rest of the imps. With only one marble left, the imps scrambled to steal one from each other. Andrea easily subdued the imp who had been stripped of the beads and was nailing her nails, and then beat the rest of the imps with a stick herself.
“Aww, these beggar-footed bastards. I feel relieved.”
Andrea suddenly wanted to repay her personality as it was. So I turned the imp’s corpse over and hit it on the cheek with a stick.
It was a cheek that was very worth humiliating. Once I started hitting, I couldn’t stop.
slap. slap.
However, Andrea should not have forgotten that he has eyes that see.
Marco did not know how to deal with the situation when he met the goat-headed demon, the scenery changed quickly, and the slave he had escaped from the galley with had fun slapping the red goblin with a stick.
“That, you… uh… Damn it, stop hitting that f*cking ass.”
Andrea finally stopped threshing his butt and looked at Marco. Marco brushed off all his stuffy feelings without filtering them.
“Can you please explain to me now? Where are you? Could it be that he died and came to the afterlife when he was swept away by that typhoon? No, more than that, who are you? Why do you take it for granted that you came here and act like you’ve been used to it?”
Andrea scratched her head instead of answering. In fact, he wasn’t sure where to start explaining to convince the bearded corpse-eater.
＜ 3. Enter the Dungeon (5) ＞ End