NOVEL NEXT Chapter 15: The 4th Floor & the World Quest
Heave and...ho!
Phew, this is harsh. Better than having to battle the spider troops, but still.
I'm currently climbing up the half-destroyed staircases that go to the next floor. Why am I climbing upward instead of trying to get out? Because the path that possibly leads to the exit is so guarded that it makes all the other parts of the Dungeon a joke.
To properly explain, I reached the center of the map thanks to the golden combo of [Lurk] and [Detect Monsters]. But then I noticed that there was a path heavily guarded by E-rank spiders. A path that goes from the spider-shaped map's core to its "mouth". That's most likely the exit, but I need to travel past those E-rankers if I wanna confirm that, and it's most likely that I'll be spotted.
Instead, I decided to do some spelunking and extend my map. The staircase to the next floor was in a sorry state, so I needed to climb up using the threads produced by my skill as a climbing rope. It's tough, but not impossible. Is my body lighter than what it appears to be? I am something related to spirits after all...
In any case, I reached the next floooooo-huh? What the heck's this place?
The new floor looks like... someone overlapped the castle theme from the previous floor with an apocalyptic urban theme. There is more broken stuff here than in the purple nest...
Speaking of the devil, there's a purple spider! And it's big! If it follows the same rules as the ones down below, this guy would be an E-rank spider. Yikes.
I'm not gonna fight that guy, so let's go ninja on this floor too.
Under the cover of the [Lurk] skill, I snuck around the purple spider and went deeper into the new floor. But before I left, I saw something shocking. There was a sign by the staircase, on the more urban plots of land. A sign that had a large 4 on it.
Are you telling me that this is the Dungeon's 4th floor? Could be a mistake on my part, but that would mean the floor I've been on all this time was the Dungeon's 3rd floor. Meaning..., I still have to travel two more floors even if I did get past all those guard spiders...
Argh, forget about that! Let's focus on exploring this floor first! Maybe I find some anti-spider item hidden somewhere?
Here and there I could see strange "sparks" on the floor or the walls if that's the correct way to name them. They look like the game's bugged at those places and are flickering between castle/urban appearances. It's safe to touch the sparks, but they're strange indeed.
I saw more of the purple spiders, but I didn't start a fight. That has to wait until I find another place I can connect my Player Room to. It's too much of a drag to walk to the staircase every time I wanna go to this floor...?
A map! On the wall that was more urban than fantasy-ish, someone has put up a modern-looking map over the floor! Or, I think it's about the floor? Can't read this damn thing...
*Thump, thump*
......*sweat*. Crap. I focused too much on trying to figure out the map that I didn't notice before it was too late. A huge spider was standing right behind me, looking at the map over my shoulder.
".........hi?" - Garami
"......*nod*." - Spider
Huh? It only nodded (or tried to) to me before it started to walk away. What was that all about..., BLUE MARKER! It's an NPC!
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After some conformation, it seems that all the purple spiders here are NPCs. Not that I've explored the whole floor yet, but it's still standing at 100%.
And honestly, it's a relief. If I had to fight myself through this floor, then I wouldn't have been able to progress my Dungeon exploration.
I mean, I asked one of the spiders if I could Identify it, which (surprisingly) it easily agreed on, and got to know that they are called "Purple Pride Spiders". This means, that if they're following the same pattern as the spiders on the floor below, they have to be E-ranks or higher. Impossible for me to defeat in a fair fight, and regularly as I proceed through the floor.
Peace is the best. I'll keep my murdering instincts in check, not that I had any.
After confirming the nonhostile behavior of the purple spiders, I started to map the floor while keeping my eyes open for an area that could be connected to my Player Room. Not having to worry about attacks is making this floor a breeze~. Maybe there's something in this room?
Inside, I found a Horror Remnant like the creeps from the chamber Emergency Quest.
The breeze turned into a storm! Flee! Flee..., my legs won't move! Crap, another event!!
The Horror Remnant was sitting in a chair in the room and moved its head to stare at me. Grr, the second I get control over my body again, I'll bombard the thing with [Mythical Threads] the second I can move again! The dried-up mummy opened its mouth, and...
Wander of worlds, Migrant without blood or bone,
With wit and help, take the Vile Queen's throne.
The threads that bind souls, cut it with your might,
And then a new Queen will rise tonight.
After reciting that poem..., or whatever, the Horror Remnant turned into black dust and I could move my body again... Okay, what was that all about??
| World Quest: | Plunder of the Arcechnia Castle | Path of Chaos |
| Quest giver: | Final researcher of the "Outer Energy" project |
| Requirements: |
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| Quest Description: |
The Arcechnia Castle is a Dungeon shrouded in mysteries. And now, the last former resident of this Dungeon before a certain event has entrusted you with his last wish: defeat the Vile Queen. <This route has been opened due to your Karma Value being vastly lower than normal> |
| Quest Content: |
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| Clear Rewards: |
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| Failure Punishments: |
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SYSTEM MESSAGE: You have discovered the "Abandoned Security Room" in the Dungeon: Arcechnia Castle. It is now possible to travel to the "Abandoned Security Room" from your Player Room. |
Quest... Come on. That scared some years of my lifespan. Damn those designers.
I could see the same old Player Room door appear on a wall inside the small room after getting the second System Message. That solves one problem, I guess.
As for the other..., uhu..., right. Deletion..., I'm not surprised. The scale of this thing sounds too big for anything else. Let's read about this stuff here.
| SYSTEM INFO: | |
| Deletion of character data: |
The worst possible end a player can experience. During certain events, Quests, or other conditions, there may be a danger for the character data to be unsalvagably corrupted, destroyed, or exposed to a different situation that would make it impossible for the player to use that character. A warning will be issued to the players that find one of these "fatal events", but it's not for certain that they will be exposed to the character-destroying force, and only acts as a warning. However, these warnings should still be taken to one's heart. If you do not want to risk losing your character, do not proceed with this "fatal event" if you can. If one's current character data is destroyed, the player can create a new character with 10% of the total EXP and AP obtained from the previous character. Do note that items, sols, and other achievements will not be carried over. |
| World Quest: |
A type of Quest that will influence in-game scenarios and future events. Mostly related to the fate of kingdoms, Dungeons, or countries as a whole May also affect natural disasters. |
Oh, so I can just restart if I fail..., or maybe not. There could be a danger of the Dungeon suddenly starting to attack the outside world if I irritate the Dungeon Boss or whatever..., aren't Dungeons a little too dangerous?
Well, it seems that there is no immediate risk of failing. I can try to clear this "phase 1", then figure out what to do in the later phases. Even if I fail, I can just recreate my character in one of the cities instead of a racial start.
That decides my plan regarding what to do on this floor. One method is to complete the map. Not having to deal with hostile spiders helps. As for the second method..., guess I have to get [Linguistics] after all. The biggest clues I got are those papers I found after all...*sigh*.