Nightmare Fantasy Online - Chapter 18

Greydra

Don’t forget to take a look at the Glossary for more info about the characters and (eventually) locations and other stuff.

Ooh! This is almost a better view than from my apartment!

After placing the medallion keys into the “keyholes” I discovered yesterday, the walls moved aside and revealed an elevator that’s taking me up to the fifth floor…, if we can call it that. Because this thing’s gone past several floors’ worth of height by now. It’s almost like a skyscraper.

The elevator is the kind with glass walls and points toward the outside. Too bad I can’t see anything!! Damnit, I wanna EVOOOOLVE!! But I’ll wait. If I get the hang of stuff already as an Unstable Djinn, it’ll be a child’s play with the power-boost from the evolution.

*Ding*

Ah, we’re finally there? About damn time.

After exiting the elevator, I found myself in a HUGE room. Big enough to make it impossible to see everything…, yet, I am seeing something.

First, it’s [Detect Monster]. It’s going off like crazy for “something” that would be a few tens of meters below me. Most likely that the long elevator ride was because this specific floor is so stupid-high.

And this is the first time my inborn “Karmavision” kicks in. It lets me see the owner of a “great karma”, meaning those with high Karma Value. According to the manual, good Karma makes the “soul” of the observation target gain a white color, while those with bad Karma have their “soul” painted in darker colors.

The normal spiders didn’t have much Karma at all. Probably due to being spawnable monsters or something, or they haven’t “lived” long enough to develop one?

The creature down below, however, has a pitch-black Karma that has a hint of wine red. Just how bad is this thing…?

The other thing I can “see” must be the “pipelines” that connect the Big Bad to those power sources the Quest talked about. My inborn Manavision lets me see it clearly from here, four large rivers of what I assume is “mana” or whatever. One green, one red, one black, and one white “pipe” connected to the Big Bad from each cardinal direction…

Wait a sec. This position…, black is placed in the “northern”-parts of the floor, white is “west”, red is “south”…, am I facing the Four Gods or something here!? No, it may just be a coincidence. But if not…

Currently, I’m in the northwest part of the 5th floor. I’m standing on a reeling like those on oil platforms or energy plants. The walls and the decoration are still old-castle-themed, but I can see that the walls change colors the closer to their cardinal “pipeline”. Meaning I’m in the white/black area right now. Oh, and there’s another Player Room door. Excuse me~.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

You have discovered the “Throne Room – Upper Floor” in the Dungeon: Arcechnia Castle.

It is now possible to travel to the “Throne Room – Upper Floor” from your Player Room.

Now I can skip that damn-long elevator ride~.

Back to thinking time. What should I do now? If the idea that these energy sources are connected to the Four Gods, as red, green, black, and white isn’t used together that often, should I assume that there is a “god” protecting each place? The purple nest did have that mini-boss, so it would be strange for there not to be something like that at the most important parts of the Dungeon.

If that’s true, then the bosses would, for the black, white, red, and green areas respectively, be …, a tortoise, a tiger, a bird, and a dragon? And wasn’t the Four Gods connect to elements? Water, Metal, Fire, and…, Wood? Thinking about it, some guy posted that they’d discovered Wood element enemies, and we got the other three as primary elements, so it may be just that.

Then the boss is the central dragon? Let your Karma be yellow-colored then! Not black+wine red!! Not to mention that this place is filled with spiders! Not dragons and whatever!!

Damn, I swear I can hear my deductions falling apart here. But the part about each area being related to an element sounds like a thing. I’ll act based on that idea, especially considering that I’ve yet to encounter monsters with attributes yet.

In that case…, let’s go after the black power source first. White being metal means it’s likely too sturdy for my threads. And if red = Fire,  then I’m toast. Pun not intended. Green being Wood sounds like the safest bet, but if the boss is a dragon…*gulp*.

Water may turn my threads too soggy to be used, but if I only use the skill strictly as a magic attack, it should work. Plus, if the enemy’s a tortoise, I can just stare at it with my Evil Eye, that slowpoke~.

And with that, I started to make my way to the source of the black “pipeline”.

Like before, it’s not easy moving around while half-blind, but I’m managing. The pathway is not that different from the rest of the castle, and there are no monsters within the range of [Detect Monster]. Good, good-

*Splash!*

Wha-!? Who threw water at me! Come out and get threaded!!

Did [Detect Monster] bug out? Or did I step on a trap? Hmm, both sounds unlikely. The latter because a trap should do something more deadly than throwing water-

*Splash!*

*Spit*, again!? And no response from my skill. Where’s that little…, there! Something emitting mana is floating above me. Monster or trap, that doesn’t matter. You’re not escaping my Manavision or my WRATH! [Mystical Thread]!

The magic-like thread struck the floating water gun and destroyed it like popping a soap bubble. That was easy. What was that?

*Splash!*

Okay, fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, then what the heck’s going on!? [Identification] on the floating bundles of mana!

Evil Spirit!? That’s a new one! But it’s a weakling, so it should be easy to ignore-

*Splash!*

“THAT’S IT! YOU’RE ALL GOING DOWN!” – Garami

With an angry roar, I started to produce [Mystical Threads] and swung them around like whips at the evil spirits. The mere contact with the still-magical thread was enough to send the spirits back to whatever watery hell they came from, but for each spirit that I popped, another ten new ones were waiting for me deeper in the black area!

I swung my threads at the spirits nonstop to the point that my arm was starting to hurting when that guy appeared.

“Nice swing! Do some more!”

Where did he come from!? Those were my honest thoughts as I turned around toward the voice that had complimented my 10-in-1 swing. And right as I made eye contact with it, a System Message appeared.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

BOSS BATTLE!

Name: [Water Fiend]. | Level: 5/E. | Rank: Solo.

Why’s the boss roaming around outside the boss area!? Or is it a boss? Looks kinda weak.

“What’s the hold-up!? Those nasty critters aren’t waiting for anyone! Every day, splash, splash, SPLASH…, oh.” – Water Fiend

“Sleep!” – Garami

I can sorta guess this guy’s bone with the spirits that want him to root for my extermination of them, but an enemy of an enemy isn’t always a friend. So I rushed to his face and used a skill I thought I’d never get the chance to use: [Sleep Demon’s Touch].

“Hey, what are-, *SNOOOOORE*…” – Water Fiend

Too effective! The blue-skinned fiend that truly lives up to one’s idea of a demon’s appearance fell to the ground while snoring loudly.

Taking a better look at him, I can see that he has some serious bags underneath his eyes. Don’t tell me the reason he hates those spirits is that they kept him awake at night with all the splashing? Did the lack of sleep increase the effectiveness of my skill?

I left the fiend lying on the ground and ran further into the black area, the mana-pipeline as my only clue.

Defeating the guy in his sleep? I got nothing against that idea, but the odds are likely against me. If I wake him before depleting all his HP, I may get killed instead. And this is a super-chance that I can’t let slip past my fingers!

The Evil Spirits flocked towards me, but I swatted them with more [Mystical Threads]. And finally, after the full sprint that had depleted a third of my SP, I reached my goal.

In a large area, a huge ball of yarn had been placed. And it’s from this ball that the mana is coming from, along with it producing several magic circles that spawns water spirits from.

Seeing no need in unraveling the big ball, I knocked off one of the torches from the walls and used it to burn the ball. The water spirits tried to extinguish the fire, but I swatted them away before they could fire their water guns.

After a while, the flames wrapping around the thread ball had grown too big for the spirits to extinguish it, and the various magic circles started to disappear.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Boss battle cleared!

First-time clear bonus: The “Magic Staff of [Water Blast]” item.

No damage clear bonus: 3 AP

You have obtained the title: [Alternative Boss Clear]

Did that count as a win? Or did I escape the battle but won the war? The new title should explain it.

Proof of having bent the rules and tricked a Boss enemy to fail their task.

Oh, okay. Sorta get it. Compared to the [First Boss Kill] title:

Proof of having defeated a Boss enemy for the first time.

Oh, okay. Now I sorta get it. There are multiple ways to get around a boss.

I returned to the “main hub” of the fifth floor after taking the magic staff-like item from the treasure chest that had been placed on the spot where I’d left the Water Fiend before. Guess he also disappeared with the ball of thread.

Now that I think about it, didn’t the Water Fiend lurk around the area instead of staying here with the yarn ball? Does that mean the other bosses will be of the roaming type? Time to act more carefully from now on. I was only damn lucky this time around. And that the boss was so weak. Why was his level that low anyway? What a mystery.