Chapitre 81: Swamp (1)
I lie back down on the bed and Navi moves me to the dungeon. I am now on a grassy plain surrounded by... Are those goblin?
<They are kobaloi. Well, they are supposed to be.>
And what's that supposed to mean?
<Monsters spawned in a dungeon are severely affected by the dungeon master's perception. Emperor Vespasian knew that goblins had originated from the kobaloi and so he imagined them as some kind of ancient goblins.>
Is that the reason why they are all wearing skulls on their heads?
<Yes, ancient means bones. Emperor Vespasian is so innovative that it almost makes me think he actually went to school once before.>
Should you make such sarcastic remarks concerning one of the leaders of the great dungeon alliance? Won't he get mad at you?
<I can get away with a lot of things so don't you worry about me. Just go on and complete your mission.>
All these skull goblins, I'm not going to call them by that obnoxious name, are inspecting me. They look dumb.
<They are dumb. Their ability to speak and think is worse than that of a goblin and they rely heavily on their nimble movements and numbers.>
And I'm stuck with commanding those idiots.
"Who is your leader? Step forward!"
They shuffle about nervously but not one of them steps forward. Either they are cowards or they don't have a leader. Whatever is the case I must assert dominance.
"If none of you step forward then I will become your new leader for the time being. We will conquer the swamp ahead and kill all enemies!"
They honestly look confused.
"Lee-dah? Kill En-mi?"
"I fear you are overestimating them. They are more the type where you run ahead while yelling and they will follow while yelling. Expecting anything more would be wishful thinking."
A humanoid monster covered with eyes approaches and critiques my work. How was I supposed to know that they are that dumb? Even the lowest goblins reacted to words like kill and enemy. Who was the guy anyway?
"May I know who you are?"
"Ah yes, how rude of me to not introduce myself before. I am Argus, legate of the auxiliary unit."
"I'm Guy from VR dungeons. Are you the commander of this whole operation?"
"I'm afraid not. I am merely in charge of clearing the next floor. The overall offense is commanded by the Imperator himself."
As I'm speaking to Argus I notice a familiar form approach from behind him. A dark red snake is grumpily slithering towards us but has yet to spot me.
"Jade? We're you sent here to clear the swamp too?"
"Guy? Figures that they would assign the wannabe goblins to you."
"Right, both of you are from the same organization. No wonder you know each other. If I had thought of this sooner I would have made some time for you to catch up."
Argus seems to be genuinely remorseful and yet I don't quite see what for. Jade looks equally confused but quickly gets over it so I decide to just ignore it.
"Seeing that you know each other I will leave you to it. Jade, please bring your colleague up to speed regarding the plan. I'll have Navi alert you when its go time."
Argus is clearly trying to avoid his responsibilities by pushing my briefing onto Jade. That's fine though, we are probably going to get a briefing from Navi anyway.
<That is indeed the case. I'll keep it brief since you aren't the main force in this. Your mission is to lead the kobaloi through the 17th floor and cause as much trouble as you can. Try to pull the fighting to either side of the floor to avoid the middle. If you see a lion beast with a scorpion tale then keep away from it or you may get caught in the crossfire.>
That's all? Go there and fight?
<Well, fighting isn't your main goal. Try to draw as much of the enemy's attention away from the middle so the main forces can clear a path straight from one gate to the next gate. Killing is secondary and please be aware that the enemies around here will have higher levels than you.>
So we are dealing with seasoned adventurers and veterans here. Will they really fall for this kind of ploy?
<This dungeon is unique. You won't find many common adventurers here. Since they need to fight in groups here the surrounding kingdoms and empires have deployed soldiers and there should also be demi-human species like elves here. Many demi-human species have a harder time breeding but level up faster in comparison.>
I see, so from a soldier's point of view, we might be seen as a bigger threat due to our numbers. How many skull goblins are there here?
<There should be around 200 give or take. Oh, the word just came. You are to move out immediately and head to the left side of the colosseum.>
And so it begins. I walk towards the big iron gate that is already open and enter the swampy forest area. The skull goblins might not have understood my words but seeing someone similar to them walk ahead they begin to follow.
As soon as we are out of the gate I see a small torn-down camp. It looks to have been evacuated in a hurry and is now the temporary command center of the auxiliary unit.
Argus is sitting behind a massive oak wood desk while furiously scribbling notes or reports. The lighting on this floor is rather dim as if it were dusk and the dense foliage ahead will doubtlessly provide an awful lot of cover for our enemies.
We leave the remains of the camp and follow the left wall of the colosseum into the forest. The muddy ground makes for an unsteady footing and forces us to move slower than I'd like. I also have to dedicate more attention to watching the ground since I don't want to end up getting stuck in a particularly deep part of the bog.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone