Chapitre 188: Spectators
The sudden disappearance of Stargaze's dungeon did not go unnoticed. He did not warn any of his friends his deal with Five but as his dungeon core was taken out of the dungeon, Stargaze's character was deleted. It resulted in the Storm Alliance's group chat losing one member and with hundreds of members, it did not take long before somebody noticed it.
With a quick check at the list and a roll call, the players easily identified the missing member. They informed their mentors who in turn notified the elders of the alliance. Stargaze's mentor was enraged.
The Storm Alliance was already aware of Stargaze's predicament and had been looking for ways to help him. Unfortunately, before they could make a move, Stargaze's dungeon was destroyed.
"This does not make sense! The barbarians have no reasons to destroy the dungeon. They were earning a lot from it based on Stargaze's report," said Stargaze's mentor.
"Maybe something happened? It is definitely not the third trial. There were still three days before the end of the quest. I suggest sending a few men to investigate the Swift Gazelle Tribe. The youngsters have a few dungeons near that region. It should just take a few days."
"A few days? We cannot wait that long. Stargaze was a key component of our plan for the seeded member to take over that dungeon. Without Stargaze first weakening the dungeon, the chances of success will decrease significantly!"
"You are just being overcautious! With my monster, how is he going to lose? Ivan is strong enough to deal with the entire dungeon alone," said Lord Amon with a smile.
Seeing the discussion going nowhere, Monika, the leader of Storm Alliance intervene. "Enough. Even though we need to investigate what happened to our members to maintain their trust, our actions won't change anything. What is important right now is to look at the seeded members. First elder, we agreed that your student shall be first to benefit from our help. With the disappearance of Stargaze, there is no need to wait anymore."
"We don't know the reason behind Stargaze's death but one possibility is that that dungeon attacked and managed to avoid the barbarians of the Swift Gazelle Tribe. If that's the case, he should already be weaker than usual. If not, then we will be disturbing him right in the middle of the quest. It is better than nothing."
"Leader. I think we should take a more conservative approach. The dungeon master managed to take down two other dungeons alone. Even though he took advantage of our students' absence, we must not underestimate him," said the First elder.
"You are just wasting time! If you don't want it for your student, give the Challenger Gauntlet to mine. She will make good use of it," said the second elder.
Monika sighed. "Let's just vote. No matter what the result is, we will go forward with what the majority agreed on."
The old dungeon masters went through the voting process and in the end, it was decided that Farsight would attack at once.
...
Once the meeting was over, the first elder immediately contacted his student. "Farsight. We have voted. You will be using the Challenger Gauntlet right now. But be careful and take your time to prepare! Once activated, the Challenger Gauntlet will lock all the options of the dungeon core. This will give you an edge over your competitor. Purchase all the monsters you need. Don't be too stingy, we never know what can happen."
Farsight clicked his tongue with an annoyed expression. His mentor's decision did not affect his mood. Instead, it was the environment at his dungeon. Since he arrived at the dungeon, Ivan never once listened to his master. Instead, he spent all his time mating with the various female monsters that were being summoned daily.
Quickly, this bad habit spread to other the other monsters who became more and more rebellious. The monsters did not want to cooperate anymore; they were consumed by their lust, thinking only about how to obtain more and more monsters of the opposite sex. Furthermore, this behavior was not limited only to the societal monsters, even ordinary monsters would laze around instead of fighting the visitors. It was only if they were interrupted in the middle of their play that the monsters would then fight back.
'This Core of Lust... I must resist it. The succubi have been acting more and more daring with me lately. God, please keep these sinful thoughts away from me! Out of all the cores, why did I have to end up with the Core of Lust...'
"Alright. I will do so right away. Ivan will finally be of some use. He spends all day corrupting the other monsters. My dungeon will soon just be a place for debauchery."
The first elder sighed. "Be patient, Farsight. Your dungeon core is one of the most powerful ones. Naturally, it has a more significant impact on the monsters than the others. It represents one of the seven deadly sins. Once you master it, you will be strong enough to even take my place. Why do you think we chose you as a seeded member?"
"But how? Are you saying that I should just join my monsters in their debauchery?"
"That is one way to do it but you should not just be lustful. You should be able to control yourself; don't keep everything bottled up inside; you should also know when to relieve yourself. The dungeon core will try to trick you; you must know when to accept your lust and when to resist it. You should control it and not be controlled by it. It will become clearer as you grow."
"That did not help at all. I will think about it after I deal with that dungeon master. For now, I'll just use all my DP. He should have quite a bit; once I win, my DP count should rise again."
With his mentor giving him bits of advice, Farsight unlocked and summoned hundreds of Lidercs, Popobawas, and Chuiaels, together with their Boss Monsters. They were powerful monsters buffed by the effects of his dungeon core. He continued his shopping spree by summoning other lower leveled monsters.
"There is no need to warn the others. It's not as if they will listen to me; they'll just ask me to wait for them to finish and the entire process will probably take hours."
He took out the Challenger Gauntlet and activated it.
[System prompt: The Challenger Gauntlet has been activated. Please insert the name of the dungeon master you want to challenge or his/her dungeon location.]
Farsight swiftly typed 'Five' on the interface and pressed the 'confirm' button.
[System prompt: The challenge has been initiated. Awaiting response of the other party.]
...
At the same time, Iris poured herself a glass of wine and passed it to Mercy. "Here. Have a taste. It is our new product! It is made by the Elphames. They are good at brewing. They said it needed to ferment for a few months but I asked for a few bottles in the meanwhile because it was so good."
Mercy jumped out of the couch and picked the glass. "Thanks. I still cannot believe all those things happened to you. It must be great to have so many monsters to look after you."
Iris smiled. "What are you planning to do now? Are you going to stay in the Redaken mercenary group? What about your family and your fiancé?"
"Of course I am staying. Don't look down on me. I am already grateful for your words last time but I don't need your help anymore. I will climb the ranks by myself. The mercenaries are very friendly and by staying with them, I get to spend more time with you. Under my watch, your town will be the most secured one ever!" said Mercy with a chuckle.
Then, her expression changed and became serious. "My family is fine. They are still out there messing around. I won't tell them about you. I don't want them to act like that old witch and try to get their hands on your town. It's yours, girl. As for Fred, don't talk about him. We are no longer together."
"I did not tell you about it but I got pregnant a few months before the game started. When the migration process was announced, all the pregnant women were forced to abort. It was for our own safety; we would be sleeping in cryogenic modules and the specialist suspects that the children will die under such condition and might bring their mother with them."
"It was still fine at that time. I was devastated but Fred was there for me. When we entered the game, I was still weak and could not play properly. Fred fought hard and brought back enough money for me. He was sweet and very supportive. But soon, I found him cheating on me with one of his teammates. Since then, we broke up and I left the city to remake my life."
Mercy grinned and quickly downed her glass. "Not bad. It will be a hit if you sell it now!"
Iris sympathized with her friend. She did not touch the topic again. "If we do, it will only be for the taste. Once it ferments, it should have a few interesting effects."
The two girls chatted and drank wine. It was not their first 'girl talk' session. With Mercy now acting as a guard of Venetia, they got to spend a lot of time together and could catch up on what happened in their life.
Unfortunately, their conversation was cut short. Iris suddenly received a system prompt:
[System prompt: The Challenger Gauntlet has been activated. A duel will be taking place between the player 'Farsight' and the player 'Five'. You are invited to spectate the duel in the separate realm. The cost of the transfer ticket is 100 thousand DP.]
Seeing her friend's expression, Mercy instantly knew that something was wrong. "Kimmy. What is happening?"
"Something is happening in the dungeon master community and Christopher is involved. Someone used an artifact to challenge him to a battle and it is going to take place now," answered Iris with a trembling voice.
Mercy looked at her friend and hugged her. "It is going to be fine. That guy is quite tenacious. You said it yourself, he has good monsters to protect him."
At that moment, somebody knocked at the door and Lord Brann's voice sounded. "Iris!"
"Yes, mentor?" Iris quickly got up and opened the door for Lord Brann. In the meanwhile, Mercy swiftly put the glasses away and roughly cleaned the table.
"You should have received an invitation, right? I believe you should be very interested in watching the battle. Let's go. I will accompany you."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone