novelA New Intruder
| ← Ch.044 | Ch.046 → |
A few days later, I gathered everyone in our meeting room.
"At last, our long-awaited day has come. Today, we will be welcoming a new set of intruders in our newly improved dungeon - the most crucial step of our plan to unlock the 101st floor. This will be our only chance to wipe the negative image of the tower, so let's give them our best shot"
Our best shot meaning my 'semen shot', of course.
Our tensions were at peak. As we have fully renovated the dungeon, we were still not clear whether our opponents would overcome the obstacles we have prepared, or would be trapped and exposed to their own disgrace inside.
Of course, what I'm really looking forward to was their reaction when they see my dragon.
Since I was reborn as a child in this world, I never expected that I would have this so much fun, even though many others still treated me like shit. Maybe because I was trapped in my inferiority complex with my brothers for so long that I......
I think I should stop there. Dwelling myself into those dark thoughts of the past will never be good. Let's proceed with what's at hand instead.
"Let's have one last sit-rep before we start"
I said as I gazed around the people surrounding the meeting table, then reviewed their delegated tasks in order.
"Belle, Dahlia. How are our traps?"
The two stood up, then reported.
"The preparations, everything, all a-okay. All floors from the first to the fifth were all set-up and ready to go"
"All degrees of difficulty have been considered too and arranged by each floor, from the simple ones that can be avoided as long as one is careful even if they're amateur, to those that are difficult even for skilled thieves to pass through."
Yep, I knew I could count on these two.
"Is that all? By the way, Belle. What kinds of traps did you set?"
I leaned forward to hear what they have done.
"Well, its not really that impressive. There this one unique trap on the second floor, for starters. It was a swamp in the middle of the path that hid tentacles underneath. A any human will get drawn by the tentacles easily if he's too weak, but the interesting part is from here on out. If noticed, the first person who finds the tentacles will stop, right?"
"Well, yeah, as that person would be creeped out"
More especially so if it's a woman.
Of course, there are exceptions. People who would charge without hesitation that are either brave idiots or confident fighters.
"So, I put slimes along the hidden passages, aiming the places our intruders are expected to stop. The movement of the slimes are silent, so they won't notice them approach if they're not careful. Once the opponents notice them and realizes they are caught in a pincer attack, another trap will spring from above and catches them offguard! As for the rest we'll have the slimes toss them towards the tentacles so that they can 'cook' them freely"
"so, it's a two-stage ambush, huh. Certainly, one cannot pay attention to what's above their heads in a situation where they are sandwiched in their front and back"
If you are just listening on how it works like in this situation of ours, you would be able to come up with an escape method immediately, such as breaking through the weak slimes and regrouping. But these combinations utilize the element of surprise here, so without enough experience and mental strength to avoid confusion in the actual battle, it'll be impossible to pass through.
If this is installed on the second floor, then this is likely to be a test to sift out the incompetent ones from the group.
"Dahlia, tell me what kind of trap you've set up"
Dahlia then began her explanation as if she were an expert craftsman who has finished her work or art.
"Mine is not really as flashy as Belle's. I just put needles with powerful aphrodisiac on the doorknobs and the edges of our treasure chests. I also put bags of acid on the slimes' bodies that can dissolve any equipment. They're not the kind that catches the opponent in one shot, but when the effects stacked enough, even skilled bandits would become weak and vulnerable to catch on a simple trap"
As expected of a first-class thief, the traps she built are quite nasty indeed.
By the time they reached the fifth floor, aside from feeling heated all over, they would have to fight in their corroded equipment. I don't know what is crueler than that.
"Thank you, both of you. I can now rest assured now that our traps are in perfect conditions"
It seems that we could drop a lot of intruders with just these traps alone.
"Then next agenda is the renovation of the insides of the dungeon. Carol?"
Carol stood up on my call.
"They are all set, Gilles-san. The scope of the renovation is from first floor up to the fifth floor, as we all have notified of. To break it down, the second floor to third floor has now become a straight path that even amateurs can proceed without hesitation, but from the third floor, that's where it gets complicated. We have built maze-like obstacles on that floor, reducing the success of passing through it to a measly 20%, while the fourth floor only just 10%."
With this, added to Belle's traps, even being able to break through the second floor will be a considerable feat.
"Finally, on the fifth floor, in addition to a more complex maze than the previous floors, there is a thin aphrodisiac being generated across the whole floor. If they didn't reach the boss quick enough, their legs will give away and they'll all fall off."
Before I knew it, the fifth floor has become a place where even I don't want to stay too much inside, as I'm afraid that the aphrodisiac will affect me too.
"Fufu"
Is it me, or did Carol's ever smiling eyes showed a creepy glint? She looked like a devil who's about to lead her victim by the nose. Nah, must be an illusion.
"Of course, we didn't forget to place treasure chests on each floor. The ones on the first floor are worth one meal for the common folk, but ones on the fifth floor are worth enough building a house in the city."
Still, are our baits enough?
Making high-performance tools can be back-breaking, but this was also for the sake of managing the dungeon. And most importantly, opening the door to the hidden floor.
Well, it's not like I'm gonna hand it to them that easily.
"Now that the interiors are all good, next is our monsters"
Elsie stood up, even before I called her name.
"Here, here! The placement of our monster was also completed. After deploying the slimes throughout the dungeon, This Elsie deployed my golem on the third floor and senpai's dragon on the fifth floor respectively. In addition, we have released a few freely-standing tentacles that imitate a statue from the third floor and beyond. Just when they thought it's not moving, they'll in a lot of pain altogether. Fufufufu"
"A freely-standing tentacle 'statue'? I never heard of that"
I repeated the unfamiliar words out of curiosity.
"It's a new development of Elsie. Not only they are self-propelled, their regenerative capabilities have been improved, so even if you cut them to small pieces they'll soon revive again"
"Well, as long as it poses no danger to out new 'tenants', it's good, but show them to me later just in case"
It's good that Elsie works hard in various ways, bit sometimes I have to be careful because she goes overboard from time to time.
Thus, I looked at my last partner.
"Last but not the least, Evelyn. Tell us abut the intruders you have prepared this time......"
At that moment, the 'intruder discovered' alarm resounded inside the room.
"What? They reached much faster than planned"
"I have no idea. They may have used some magical artifacts without my knowledge"
I looked at Evelyn who then shook her head. It seems this occurrence is completely out of her expectations.
"Anyway, let's head to the surveillance room first"
I took everyone to the room where my monitor artifacts are displayed.
By the time we arrived, figures of women entering the ground floor were already being projected.
"It looks like they haven't started yet"
"Well, even though I have the intel right here, I have yet to confirm if it's true or not. Let's let them do what they want first"
Evelyn should have reported that the lethality of the dungeon has been removed, but looks like the image of the Tower of Death is still going strong on them.
I took a glance at the intruders again.
They totaled 14 people. They're divided on two teams of seven people.
"Six fighters and one luggage carrier, huh. Pretty authentic to their profession indeed that they have their contracted baggage carrier"
"They are a group of mercenaries specializing in monster extermination after all, and they have been in dungeons several times"
"Basing on what we're seeing here, we have three vanguards one middle guard, and two rearguards in this team. Pretty common eh?"
They even have the typical swords on the vanguard side and staffs on their mages' side.
There's a woman who seem to wear a distinctive set of armor that gave a considerable magic power. She must be the leader of the troops.
"This tall woman in distinctive magic armor is the captain of this mercenary band, Lorraine. And because she's leading the only mercenary group comprised of women, she's quite famous amongst her peers"
And I'm not mistaken by that. Well, considering its appearance alone, even I doubt our golem and dragon could pierce through that layer of armor. Then, what about our traps?
There's also another woman looking around things.
She seems to be the thief of the party, as she was able to detect our simple traps and remove them, but she's not as skilled as our Dahlia.
"Though I only took a brief look at them, I don't think these gals can reach the fifth floor, looking at their state"
"It can't be helped. They have pretty influential members among them, too, so they aren't used to grunt work"
Evelyn said as she shrugged her shoulders.
Well, there's still the unexpected factor of their arrival being earlier than we have scheduled.
If they have prepared this early, then I'm sure they are definitely hiding a trump card.
I who thought it over, tried to recall the report of Evelyn who returned ahead of time, which contained the war potential of these mercenaries for further analysis.
| ← Ch. 044 | Ch. 046 → |