Even though I’ve decided the next skill I want to give to the Minitaur Queen, my finger hesitates to press the button.

“Hmm… am I sure about this?”

The reason why I hesitate is simple: I don’t like giving my monsters the same skills I have. Unless it’s something like my failed clones, in this case, they obviously must have the same skills, I don’t like giving my monster the skills I have because then they’ll clash with my identity, and I don’t want any player to relate them to me except for the fact that I’m their creator.

So… Is Chaotic Beam, the skill I thought of, worth it?

If it were any other monster, it’d be quite simple to change the skills at any point. I just have to open the Template, remove those skills I don’t want, and select the new ones…

But this doesn’t work for Bosses.

If you remember, once a Boss is created, it can’t be modified. Well, it can be leveled up and given new skills, but that’s all. This is to prevent players from freely changing their Bosses, such an important and keystone element of any dungeon, on a whim, messing up all the invading player’s plans.

It also forces players to carefully craft them, giving them a different kind of attachment to all the other mobs.

And even if they don’t, the cp cost – and bodies, in my case – of having to create the Boss from scratch isn’t something to scoff at, as players usually use the strongest – and thus, the most expensive – units they have available when creating a Boss.

The reason I like Chaotic Beam is because I want to give the Minitaur Queen a spell that inflicts status effects while dealing damage.

My monster already has two basic spells that do that, Acid Bubble and Light Arrow, applying a damage-over-time effect and short stun. But they’re both basic spells, and as such, their damage is low.

Since the Minitaur Queen engages in short skirmishes before running away, I wanted to give it a way to deal more damage and torment the invaders with more status effects in that short amount of time.

But as I said before, I don’t like the idea of giving it the same skill as my Champion.

“If only there was a way to use more than one skill at the same ti–” I stop in the middle of talking, suddenly remembering something. “Wait! There is, isn’t there!?”

I quickly input a name on the skill search and the skill I thought of appears in front of me.

“I knew I was right! Hahaha!”

As you know, skills require an activation time, and it’s impossible to activate them without any delay. Can you imagine if there was no limit to how fast you could use them? The game, instead of simulating real life, would play completely differently.

Instead of strategy, timing, and teamwork, the game would revolve around a single thing: who can activate skills the fastest and kill the enemies first?

It’d be pretty lame, so I’m glad it isn’t like that.

“Multicast… I can’t believe I almost forgot about it.”

Well, in fact, I can. There was a time I thought it would be cool if I could shoot two Chain Lightings simultaneously, but I quickly dismissed the idea when I saw the drawback. That’s why I almost forgot about it.

Multicast is one of those skills most players consider bad. The extra cost isn’t worth the double cast in most situations.

But since the Minitaur Queen only has basic spells so far, which are pretty cheap, and the fights won’t last long anyway, having plenty of time to recover in between, being able to cast two spells at a time will double the pain inflicted on the invaders.

“I also like the idea of my first Boss casting spells as if it were a machine gun… Hahaha.”

Alright, you got me… that’s the real reason.

Having decided on Multicast, I select the skill and then choose another basic spell to complement my monster’s kit and give it an option it can use when running away. It’s called Water Drop, a spell that slows when landing a hit.

“Haha, almost there…! Just two more to go!”

Relieved by the fact that the Minitaur Queen’s skills won’t overlap with mine, I search the skill list for the two remaining skills.

I have an idea of what I want for the last two.

The Minitaur Queen is a monster based on disruption. Disrupt the team by tossing members into the water canals; disrupt their vision and movement with the charge, invisibility, and spells; and disrupt the enemy formations by forcing them to come close with ranged attacks, engaging in melee to damage the back lines if they lower their guards.

Taking this into account, I’ll give it two skills that will help with everything.

The first is Fog. I don’t need to explain what Fog does, do I…?

With Fog active, the invaders will have a hard time locating the Minitaur Queen or preventing it from running away. Also, my favorite. They won’t be able to see far away, so they might fall into the water canals on their own, or get lost.

The second is Push, the non-innate, less powerful version of the Minotaur’s Fierce Charge.

Since Fierce Charge can only activate under specific circumstances, I wanted to give the Minitaur Queen a reliable way to push players into the water. It’s also the first melee skill I’ve given to my Boss, so there’s that too.

There’s no need to make any significant changes to the AI, just the minimum so that it uses the new skills properly. In total, it takes me less than five extra minutes to have everything ready.

I press the save button, admiring how strong my first Boss is. This is how the Minitaur Queen’s stats end up looking after the level-ups and new skills.

“And to think those stats are without the Boss’ buff…” I shiver, realizing that the Minitaur Queen more than doubles my average stats. “Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s not my problem. Fufufu! Hahaha!”

Now, there’s just one thing left. And that thing is…

“Where did I leave my popcorn again?”

…to watch some invaders suffer.

 

---

 

“Uaaaaah!” I shout, falling down the slide.

The dark hole on the cave’s wall looks intimidating when you approach it, but the slide, if you aren’t scared of dark spaces, is fun.

“Yahooou!”

“Aaah! Don’t let go of my haaaaand!”

I hear my teammate’s screams coming from above and below, a signal that they’re taking the same route.

We’ll soon rejoin at the bottom of the slide, at the cave’s entrance. It’s a good thing you can skip unnecessary parts of the dungeon, doubly so when they’re just there to set the mood. The Mad Rat’s Lab is one such dungeon, and I appreciate it.

The dark slide is about to end when a purple magic circle appears in front of me, slightly below my current position.

“W-what is thi– Huh…!?”

As I inevitably cross the magic circle, I feel the slide disappear. Keeping the original speed, my body starts plummeting towards the ground.

*Bam!*

My body crashes into the ground at a ridiculous speed. I can do nothing as about a quarter of my HP banishes like that.

“Oouch, that hurts!” I stand up, rubbing my butt. If this was real life, I’d have broken a bone or two, if not worse. “What’s going on…?”

This is the first time something like this has happened. We’ve tried to beat this dungeon, but have failed several times already. We keep coming because we like to challenge ourselves, and the slide is an easy and fast way to start the invasion, saving us precious time…

But something went wrong this time. Instead of landing at the entrance of the giant cave, everything I can see are shelves, shelves, and more shelves. The shelves are so tall they reach the ceiling, and create passages that remind me of a labyrinth.

“Hello? Anyone here?”

I pay attention to any sound I can hear, hoping to hear my teammate’s voices. The only thing I can hear is the sound of water.

“Why would there be a river inside a warehouse?” I curiously look around, still rubbing my butt.

I don’t understand what’s going on. Is this a new dungeon area we’ve never been to? Why did I end up here instead of the entrance? Is it a bug?

“Hello? Domina? Barch? Eucalyptus?” I get no answer. “I don’t understand…”

Knowing that wasting time won’t achieve anything, I decide to explore this new area. With some luck, I’ll find my teammates. If I don’t… what’s the worst that could happen? That I die? This is a game, it doesn’t matter! We can just try again!

With one hand on the wall, to help solve the labyrinth, I start walking. The shelves are filled with crates, of multiple sizes and shapes, cables and electric appliances, as well as glass containers filled with mysterious liquids.

*Zap!*

“...Uaah!” A sudden lightning discharge surprises me, making me jump.

I didn’t see the trap, the Lightning Rod, because it was hidden within similar things. Not wanting to spend any time or attacks on it, I speed up and quickly get out of range as it sends more lightning my way.

“Haa…” I rest my body on one of the side shelves. “Being alone isn’t good… It puts me on edge.” This is why I overreacted. Yes, this is the reason why…

My hand slips and the rest of my body slams into the shelf. The force makes me bounce back, falling to the ground, followed by several crates and other stuff. There’s a loud crash, created by glass breaking and heavy objects falling.

When everything stops, I find myself under a mountain. “Hah…, I should calm down… I’m making too many mista–”

There’s a green man in front of me, so close that I could kiss it. No, it isn’t a green man, it’s a man’s head submerged in green liquid. I hold my breath, terrified, when the man’s eye suddenly pops out of the eye socket. A gross worm comes out of it, waving around as if saying ‘hello’.

“Hyaaaah!”

My shout breaks the silence. I scramble to get as far away as I can from the head, disregarding everything else. I don’t realize that the head is just a body part inside a container until I turn around the corner to peek back at the mess I created.

“I should stop acting like a wimp.” I admonish myself.

If there’s one good thing about being alone is that nobody can make fun of my scream... though I’d like it if there was someone to laugh at me right now.

After the tenth time, I make sure that the head doesn’t move, I start walking through the labyrinthic shelves once more, a hand on the right wall to make sure I don’t walk in circles. This time, I make sure to watch out for traps and monsters hidden within the shelves.

I turn the next corner. The passage in front of me is filled with dense fog, making me stop. It’s scary…

Instead of walking blindly into the fog, I start looking around, trying to find another path. If nothing else, I could always turn back. I shiver at the mere thought of approaching that head, but it’s still better than whatever I might find inside the fog.

But before I can turn around, something phases through the shelves acting as walls. The figure heavily obscured by the fog, approaches me at an incredibly fast speed, hovering in the air.

 “W-what…? A ghost? What the fuck is going on…!?” A haunted house? Wasn’t this a mad scientist’s lair!? “I don’t like scary things…”

 

“Not everything is what it appears at first glance in this game. With so many skills, dungeon gimmicks, and illusions at the player’s disposal, you’ll never know for sure if what you’re seeing is real or fake. At least, not the first time you face it. So don’t let your imagination run wild and keep a cool head under all circumstances.”

- Tip from a pro player to new players.