All the water in the world? How can someone steal all that? Or even keep it without being busted?
In the supposed lair of the dinosaur monster, was a Dungeon Commandment Console. The Console is an item that allows you to control specific parts of the dungeon, just like with the Dungeon Core. The Consoles can only be used on limited sections of the Dungeon, therefore they are considered useless by Dungeon Masters. Another
Eh, okay, go back to the part about the water.
While we did defeat the sub-boss, the Console was guarded by hordes of the smaller dinosaur monsters that resembled the Jungle Raptor. Their numbers were overwhelming, so we left the Console alone and continued with our dungeon dive.
After searching around the dungeon, we found two more Consoles. Like the first one, they were guarded by the dungeon's monsters. One of them was protected by a huge spider queen and her army of children. The second guardian was alone, but more than enough to stop us.
Like how the dinosaur that attacked us was the ruler of the Jungle Raptor counterfeits and the queen spider was the ruler over its children, this guardian was also a ruler.
Among the monsters that were born from this dungeon, one of them was a hybrid between a snake and a turtle. And their ruler was the third guardian. With a shell that rivaled a mountain and heads like a Hydra, the third guardian was a force unparalleled when compared to the former two rulers.
EEEEEHH?! There are boss variants of the spiders and turtle snakes as well?! And what's this about a Hydra?! Isn't that too OP?!
Since we could not access the Consoles, our leader decided to continue the dive into the Dungeon to obtain more information about it.
After traveling through a new set of tunnels, we arrived at the second field of the dungeon. There we found out just how dangerous this dungeon really is.
In the pillar area? What could they find there?
By analyzing the water that was flowing from the dungeon ceiling with my special skill [Analyse], we found out that the water in the dungeon was stolen from the outside world. Not only that, the water was enhanced with aether stolen not only from the outside but from various monsters that have migrated into the dungeon, as well as ourselves.
We found out that the dungeon has six important functions for creating this water. Three of them are being controlled by the three guardians through the Consoles while the remaining three are under the Dungeon Masters control. The three functions controlled by the guardians are:
First, the function that steals water from the surrounding land.
Second, the function that purifies the water with aether to remove impurities in it and also increases the water's properties.
Third, the function that compresses the water to further increase its properties. This third function will also prevent the water from overflowing the dungeon. All of the water will be compressed, despite the amount. Even if all the world's water was taken by the dungeon, the compression would still keep it under control.
Th-that's too broken. Didn't Skvalv tell me that this world was five times the size of Earth? Even if this place doesn't have the same amount of water, with that size, the amount will still be ridiculous.
At first, I thought I could do something about the troubles the dungeon made, but this is way over the top for a little demon like me. Maybe I should just leave the dungeon and ask someone stronger to take care of it. Forgetfulness is a heretic attribute condition, so my memories should stay safe.
The fourth function is to drain the aether of any living being in the dungeon. The amount is not lethal, but it will decrease the amount of aether released by creatures not born in the dungeon.
The fifth function is to erase the information about the dungeon when one leaves it. This extends to written information and memories. Any information that can become a threat to the dungeon will be deleted.
Deleting the memories?! That's the heretic-attribute, right? It's the heretic-attribute, right!?
Maybe I should go grinding big time for some teleportation skill and escape the dungeon without the entrance? Just to be safe?
The sixth and final function is the linchpin of the dungeon. It is based around the skill [Absolute Stealth (Information)] and will turn more difficult to find the more you know about it. Unless one knows nothing about the dungeon, they will not be able to find it. Even if you just have a vague idea about the dungeon, you need to have an enormous amount of talent and an equal amount of luck to find it. Even the great gods will have difficulties while this function is working.
Then, if I leave this place, there is close to no chance I will find the place again? Even with my memories intact? Wait, if I'm not wrong, having more accurate memories about this place will just backfire at me. Then there is no way to leave then?!
And by 'great gods', does he mean the Ultimate Gods? Just how OP is this place stealth abilities? It's making me lose face.
It's the same as my [Stealth] skill, just way more powerful and limited to how much you know about it. So. it's a stealth bug? Guess they didn't see that one coming. The bandits must have no clue that they were in a dungeon then. Wasn't there some Adventurers as well? How did they manage to get here? Luck? Probably.
If the Ultimate Gods should try to remove this mistake of the stealth dungeon function, the forceful reconstruction of the System would affect the lives of virtually everyone using it. At worst case, countless living beings would be lost as their soul gets crushed by the massive change.
Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi!! Isn't that like not being able to update the software since the parts that shall be repaired isn't turned off somewhere, so they force an update that can destroy parts of the whole system?
Oi, Skvalv! Tell your bosses to upgrade the system so that it won't take the lives off us mortals with it!
The only way to stop the dungeon from stealing more water is to take control of all the Dungeon Commandment Consoles. However, they are all heavily guarded, and if the control of even one Console changes owner to someone not related to the dungeon for a too long time, the Dungeon Master notice it and takes over the control that was left to that Console.
In that case, there is no other choice than to take care of the Dungeon Master itself. That was our conclusion. But also our mistake.
The true identity of the Dungeon Master was one of the twelve prophesied Ultimate Disasters.
Ultimate Disaster? What a cringy naming sense. 'Ultimate'? W-wait, d-don't tell me...
The Ultimate Disasters are prophesied monsters made from the mistakes made in the System. There will be twelve of them, one for each of the elements representing the Ultimate Gods, and if all of them are on the Dungeon Masters level, they are truly living up to that name.
I knew it! It's named after the Ultimate Gods! And it lives up to it as well?! Don't joke with me!
The Dungeon Master is a water serpent with a special skill that gives it more strength when it lives in pure water and weakens it when living in polluted water. The serpent evolved this skill, bringing its pure water strengthening powers even higher despite the risk that pollution will bring.
Then, by gaining power as a Dungeon Master, the water serpent started to build the perfect habitat for itself. This dungeon's only goal is to provide the Dungeon Master with water of the highest purity. It will not stop until all the world's water has been absorbed.
Knowing this, the six of us went down to the bottom level of the dungeon. Only to be completely defeated.
Just like that?! Come on, show some backbone B-ranker!
The serpent was not so strong on its own, but with the strengthening as a Dungeon Master and through the water it lived in, its strength easily surpassed normal A-rank monsters. Maybe it was reached the S-rank in terms of battle prowess.
The fight only lasted a few minutes. Our High Paladin was killed after several blasts of water. Our Arch Priestess was killed while trying to recover our wounds. The Necromancer died while trying to summon more undeads to be used as a living wall while we tried to retreat.
The Master Swashbuckler jumped at the serpent in a fit of rage to kill the monstrosity, but with just a smack of its tail, the serpent sent the Master Swashbuckler into the wall and his death.
I was dealt a fatal blow but managed to escape thanks to our Maestro Bard who used the Traveler Shoot skill to transport me back to the tunnels leading to the lake. I do not know what happened to her, but right before I was sent away, the damn snake was closing in on her and...
... heavy. Just way to heavy. Both the snake's power and this story. Skelly's writing has started to turn deteriorating at this point. Due to losing his strength? Or because of the death of his party? Maybe he had feelings for that bard? Guess I'll never know. And that bard, was she an archer or something? Archers in games tend to become bards when they specialize in their class. Whatever, what's next?
I managed to come back to the first set of tunnels after the entrance, where you have probably found my remains. Please, I beseech you:
Kill that Ultimate Disaster. Stop its plan from draining this world of its life. I've used my last powers to sacrifices the equipment that was sent to my [Dimension Storage] after my comrades' death, as well as the rest of its contents as a reward for a quest. The contents of the quest are to stop the dungeon and kill that monster that controls it.
Please, stop that thing. Please, avenge my comrades. Please, please, save our world. please
... The last line was barely readable. Skelly must have added it after the other, probably in half-desperation.
=====================================================================
SYSTEM MESSAGE.
The Quest [Stop the Drought Maker] is available.
Do you accept the Quest?
Y/N
=====================================================================
Ghmh, grrrr, AAARRRGHH!! Okay, I'll do it!
=====================================================================
Quest, [Stop the Drought Maker] has been accepted.
The Quest is added to the individual [Reha Zera]'s Quest Log.
=====================================================================
---
And just like that, I'm currently on my way to the bottom lake. Who are you calling crazy?! I'm NOT gonna fight that monster snake, but I can't kill that thing without knowing its stats.
The good thing for me is that the snake doesn't have any anti-stealth abilities despite beefing up its dungeon with all the stealth skills it could get its hands on. The reason why I know that is because it couldn't see me back when I was first, ah. Accel Leap.
*Zooomm!* *Slash*
And in you go. Where was I? Ah, yes. The snake couldn't see me back when I was first born and it blew away the corpse of my (apparent) parent spider. That Moonlight Melody party that Skelly was in didn't have any Thief-classes with them, so they must not have had the opportunity to scout the enemies' power before they challenged it. Ah, another frog. Cutting thread, Ultima version!
*Slash*
I'll take you with me as well. Hmm? What I'm doing? Killing frogs that are in my way. Where I am right now? In the lower-layer tunnels.
After accepting the quest from Skelly, I went straight for the river area through the way I found back when I went lost. After some Tarzan swings from a broken pillar to another, and I was in the middle-tunnels.
After that, between some power naps in quick-made camps, I reached the pillar area quite fast. It went faster than the search for the entrance, since this time I just needed to take the paths going downwards without fearing they led to dead-ends like in the upper-layers.
And the frog? They are some idiots that thought that they would have a safe hiding place here. If just they knew what was lurking just below them.
Oh yeah, the reason for knowing that Moonlight Melody is the name of the party Skelly was part of, is thanks to the Quest Log.
=====================================================================
QUEST LOG
Active Quests: 1
- Stop the Drought Maker
Completed Quests
=====================================================================
The active quests are the quests I'm currently working on. The completed quests are a list over all the quests I've completed. It's empty at the moment.
And this is the quest I'm working on:
=====================================================================
Quest: Stop the Drought Maker
Objective:
- Kill the Dungeon Master of the [Water-Knot of Glavras], 0/1
- Return all the water stolen by the Dungeon [Water-Knot of Glavras], 0/1
Rewards:
- The legacy of Moonlight Melody.
=====================================================================
That 'legacy' stuff must be what Skelly offered as a reward. In other words, it's the former possessions of the party Moonlight Melody that Skelly was part of! How do you like them apples? Okay, not that impressive, but give me some slack.
I'm close to the lake now. No more fooling around. Let's see, where is that slippery bastard? Serpent, straight ahead!
It's floating on top of the water, like its half asleep. Not gonna take a chance on attacking it just yet though. [Appraisal] first.
=====================================================================
Name: Glavras | Ultimate Disaster of Water
Race: [Pure Lake Dragon] | Level: 88
Skills: 11
Titles: 2
HP: 3671/3671 + 15212 | MP: 5512/5512 + 15212 | SP: 3419/3419 + 15212
STR: 3112 + 15212 | VIT: 3001 + 15212 | MAG: 4562 + 15212
RES: 557 + 15212 | SPD: 2954 + 15212 | DEX: 2853 + 15212
INT: 44 | LUC: 131
=====================================================================
EEEEEEHHHHHH?!?!?!
Patreon
transform yourself in a tiny creature swim to its brain and poison it to death.. easy kill
Dude.... the hint was huge.... while it benefit from the water purity it will get a huge hit should the purity be polluted... have mc create a poison super nasty that will neutrilize itself in time... then create enough poison to fill a room and throw it in the lake... making the serpent swim in poison. It will dramatically reduce its stats
Kill the 3 sub boss to stop water purification. Then contaminate the water with a obscene amount of poison
Deal final blow to an enemy with negative stats
Just one problem, the T-Rex is the weakest of all the three guardians. And all three of them can withstand even Vengeful Poison to a certain degree with just pure stats.
And negative stats isn't possible, unfortunately.
I had the same idea as everyone here about polluting the water with his poison, the only issue is the aftermath. He'll have return all the water from the dungeon back to the world and he can't return poisoned water now can he?
Luckily the first three consoles can purify the water, even poison likely, the problem is he'll have to defeat the three guardians as well as the dungeon master. Meaning the quest isn't just about defeating the dungeon master, but quite literally he'll have to beat the entire dungeon to complete the quest. Not only that but he'll have to start with the final boss first since poisoning him won't work if he notices that his guardians are gone.
I'm assuming here that contaminating that compressed water will make it extra deadly, because that's just compressed poison all being sucked up by the dungeon master. It should weaken him considerably, the MC should just concentrate on dodging and hiding and letting the poison do the work for him.
How can it have even a ghost of a chance against those beasts? Remember, the Consoles are protected by not only the bosses, but also the whole population of their pre-evolutions. Except the turtle one, and I'll come to that one in a later chapter.
Glad that you noticed that part about the snake noticing that the guardians going down. There is a plan against that.
@Greydra The only one he has to worry about is the dungeon master, the guardian beasts are a small problem afterwards. Poisoning the water near where the latter is soaking it all up should deal massive damage, especially since it's concentrated poisoned water. He only has to worry about remaining hidden or dodging the Dungeon Master's attacks and make sure the latter remains in a position that can let the poison do all the work.
Once he kills him he'll likely become the new dungeon master (assuming that's how it works), he can deal with all the guardians later in a number of ways. First he will likely go up to max level and have another evolution ready, we'll have to see what he gets, but it will massively increase his chances against the guardians. He can also do some dungeon master things to get rid of them. Even if that's not enough, he can deal with the beasts the same way he dealt with the dungeon master, that is poisoning the water.
It doesn't matter if they all die or not, they will not be able to stay there without clean water and will have to leave. He really only needs the consoles to purify the water again and send it back to the world, defeating the beasts is not necessary.
@bladestorm91 The purification powers works even in the lake or any other places in the dungeon. And if it takes to long in killing the snake, the guardians can come to save the snake.
But yeah, the only real opponent is the snake. The problem is how to do it quickly enough so that it won't be noticed by the guardians.
@Greydra it doesnt need to be quickly he first use his ability to sneak in the rooms that have controlers and take control of them not killing or be seen by the bosses then change how they work and then he will start to stop the water gathering and then start to poison the snake, then it will not know who did it and he is also part of the dungeon so he can take control of the parts and they will not return to the dungeon master then kill it and all others with poison.
@vic20 That's not a bad idea, but the bosses will notice the change and revert it back to normal. You are almost in goal though
. Then there is a nasty skill the snake has. Look forward to it in the next chapter
@Greydra too bad
just hope that unlucky demon live
@Greydra He can change the purification machine to do the opposite. Give it a sample of his poison and then start a poisoning instead of purification. And somehow investigate how the console works and try to block access to them somehow. The hydra will lose all her buffs and gets debuffs instead since it was said that the serpent will be serious consequences in contaminated water.... Besides if its much problem, he can just all minions, then the 3 bosses... Then he can freely change the settings on the consoles to fuk up the serpent. Kill the serpent. then purify the water again, before releasing it.... BUT this makes me wonder... wont it cause a tsunami outside lol?
magical poison that only target serpent