Nightmare Fantasy Online - Chapter 93

Okay, I know it was me who asked those magma-people wardens if there were any simple subjugation quests around here, but this is more than I bargained for!

Right now, I’m inside a place that one can easily refer to as the mother of all lost-and-found rooms ever. The place is filled with old items behind locks and chains! This is where they store all the items the criminals arrive with, as long as it’s nothing too dangerous. And boy, they can’t have cleaned up here for at least a decade. Where do I even start?

“You just have to go through the place and check whether any of the chests have been stolen. Write down the numbers on the hills on this terminal in case you find anything stolen. And we have a small monster infestation going on, but no need to take care of them if you can’t. They might not even bother you.” – Warden

It is easy for a quest, but come on! It will take me the whole day to look through this place! And the monster attacks, which I am gunning for, aren’t even guaranteed! Just my luck…

But anyway, I started to look through all the items…oh? There’s something behind that tower of old weapons (read: scrap metal). One [Darkness Briar] whip, coming up!

*Snap!*

“*Grr*!” – Monster

Hey, it worked! This could be the effect of the blindfold. It’s supposed to boost my other “senses” in exchange for losing my eyesight. Nice~.

The discovered monster, some sort of bat/cat hybrid, jumped at me, but I gave it a slash with the Erebus Scythe…and that’s it.

Holy hellhole, that was easy! There were no bonus effects for damage, so I doubt it was the new threads that caused the case of the bisected bat/cat. Maybe it’s just plain weak defensively? Hmm, thinking of how it was geared toward ambushing me just now, I doubt it’s a monster that’s focused on head-on fights, so it must be that.

After trying to dismantle the strange creature for some materials (it didn’t give any, stupid quest rules), I marched on into the junkyard of forgotten items.

While I was walking through the room, more of those strange creatures jumped at me from the shadows, so I created some webby traps to keep them stuck in the air before finishing them off. They could take more hits than the first one, so I must have only gotten lucky with those.

Seeing as more and more of these cat-bats are appearing now, I summoned Nyx and Echo for a search-and-destroy team to cover my back… Not that I needed to.

Despite the difficulty of depending on the 3D map as opposed to my eyes, I’ve gotten quite the hang of it by now. Any sneaky cat-bats that may try to take my back are getting a solid dose of Evil Eye-effects before they can touch me.

“Hmm…you girls, stop!” – Garami

I tried to make Nyx and Echo stop…but the former tripped the trap wire and got sent flying into the air by a springboard that could have been taken out from an old cartoon. Then, while distracted by Nyx getting sent sky-high, Echo flew into a wire stationed in the air, which caused an old fan to pop out and blow the poor bat right out the window.

“…If you want to get around some traps right, you gotta do it yourself.” – Garami

After the notification that said that the two had been sent back to my Player Room due to their HP reaching 0, I started to step over the trap sensors and the pressure panels on the floor. Wow, whoever designed this place sure loved their traps.

After a while, I reached an area with fewer red danger zones on my 3D map. In return, there are more monsters here now. Did I reach the 3rd area of this quest that combines elements from the first two? Unfortunately, there’s a twist here.

First, the traps are upgraded to modern levels. Laser sensors, or maybe mana sensors? And I bet they’re way worse than those comedy reliefs from before.

And the monsters? They’re WAY bigger now. And instead of bat-cat hybrids, they are now replaced with crocodile-bat hybrids! Who even thinks up such strange creatures?  They should take therapy. And BEFORE they super-size the monsters to levels where I doubt I can beat them! A single one of these guys rivals that giant toad that melted my daggers! And there are LOTS of them. Time to go sneaky-sneaky.

………Isn’t this a little too easy? The traps are easy to go around, and there are no sudden noise makers like a left-over horn. Huh, guess this will be easier than…, forget it. There’s a huge door in the way. And no keys in sight…greaaaaat.

So, either I gotta look around this place stuffed with monsters that can tear me apart into tiny, tiny pieces…or I could try to pick this lock. I do have some practice from a thief game I played before… Of course, that was done using a controller, but you never know.

First up, I’ll create some solid-ish demonic webbing and use [Thread Control] to shape them into something that at least looks like lockpicks. Then, we carefully insert them into the key, fickle with them a little, then soon…

—

Later, nowhere near “soon”:

I almost…got it…come on…just a little more…don’t make any sounds…the monster’s breathing is freaking me out…

*Click*

YES!

“*Snore*-!” – Giant croccodile-bat

I mean, NO! Stay quiet, lock! Don’t wake…one of them is waking up! Sleep, SLEEP, you stupid freak of nature! Where’s a lullaby when you need one!?

“……*Loud snoring*.” – Giant crocodile-bat

Phew, that’s a relief.

Silently sneaking past the now-opened doors, I entered what one could call the 4th area of this lost-and-found center of doom. It’s…a ropewalk. What is this place? A circus!?

Despite my growing desire to just cut this quest out, I’ve come too far to just give up on the rewards now. First, I can try to use webs and web wings to cross this gap…or not. The abyss not covered by the ropes is redder than any tomato festival I know of. I bet that something like sensors is placed there. If you don’t try to follow the described rode, BANG! Trap-food.

Man, I always sucked when it came to balancing training at school. Kinda part of the reason why I turned into the semi-shut-in I am today. Those bullies were ruthless…

Aw, now I’m in a bad mood. I just want some chumps to slash down…why am I holding my scythe again? And why is it…vibrating…uh-oh. I’m starting to get deja vu from when I first got my “lucky branch”…WHOA-!?

Suddenly, the scythe dragged me across the room and over the ropes. In my hurry, I stepped on an old, empty, broken treasure chest, and got my feet stuck in it. Which resulted in me scythe-skiing using the chest as my skis. Greaaaaaat. …STOP! Don’t go for the ropes, you stupid scythe! Don’t……we’re already on the ropes.

Other people only need to look for herbs or defeating slimes to clear their quests, but I have to slide across a ropeway using a scythe and a chest as my tools. Why can’t I have a normal day of gaming like everyone else?

Balancing on this tight ropeway while holding on to my scythe that cost me blood, sweat, tears, money, materials, and luck, which are also the reasons why I didn’t let go, I saw several traps being sprung. They must have been rigged to activate so to make it more difficult to cross.

But this strange transportation method I’m using is so fast that the traps can’t activate in time! Am I playing in easy mode here? A very strange easy mode, but I’ll take what I can-*CRASH!!*

…Ouch. Stupid wall. I’ve already arrived at the other end of the room. Scythe taxi sure is up to speed. I should consider buying some-*Swish!*-…stocks in them…

Hold on, what’s this now?! A sword? One of the items from the shelves on the wall I crashed into fell and landed right in front of me. Those lazy guards. Can’t they keep sharp items locked in place in this place?

…Speaking of which, why didn’t they keep this thing here under locks and chains like the other stuff? And there are no numbers on these hills at all. Can I take it with me?

“If it’s not alright that I’m poaching this stupid sword as a fee for almost cutting me in half, shout out loud!” – Garami

………That’s five seconds, and nobody’s answering. It should be fine. Now, how valuable is this thing…

No results from [Identification]. That deja vu feeling from before is growing STRONGER. I gotta have old man Grus take a look at this later.

Now, onward to the 5th area! Please let it be easier than this hellhole!

Hmm…nothing here. No monsters, no traps…just more old chests. And no path further in. What is it this time? There’s nothing here except…a few chests. Emphasizing the “few”-part here, because there are obvious signs that someone has ransacked this place for…stuff.

I started listing down the numbers. So dusty…oops. That was close. An illusion has been cast on this hill to make it look like it’s been robbed, but the stuff is still here. And here’s another one, but with a false chest to conceal that something has been stolen. Gotta note that down…

Hold on. Why did I suddenly gain the ability to see through this smoke and mirror scheme… Is it the ring? It’s supposedly related to “tricks”. Are illusions part of that?

Whatever the case, let’s just report the stolen items and be done with it. I want to go outside this lame prison and hunt down some monsters to see for real what my new gear can do.

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

You have cleared the Quest: [Volcanic Hellfire Prison: Lost-and-Found of Doom].

You have obtained a total of 3.0 Aether Points.

Your tamed creatures and allies have obtained a total of 2.0 Aether points.

“Solo Clear”: You have obtained the “Abyss Prison Castle” Player Room theme.

“All Sections: No Damage Clear”: You have obtained the “Abyss Prison Decorative Shield” Player Room item.

“Section 1: Annihilation Clear”: You have obtained the [Poison Ball] Skill Scroll.

“Section 3 Stealth-Run Clear”: You have obtained the “Abyss Prison Alarm Bell” Player Room item.

“Section 4: Speedrun Clear”: You have obtained the [Poison Slide] Skill Scroll.

“Section 4: Sin Relic Discovery”: You have obtained the “Broken Blade of Unforgiving Wrath”.

“Section 5: All Items Reported”: You have obtained the “Abyss Prison Treasure Chest” Player Room item.

“First Time, No Fail-Clear”: You have obtained the right to start an Extra Trial.

Do you wish to start the Extra Trial? Y/N

Wow, that’s a lot of bonus stuff. And hold on! Why all the poison? Not that I complain! I wanted something more from that element line! I’ll use them later after researching the skills a little more first.

And it seems I don’t need to worry about hunting for monsters to fight. So even this place can be the arena for an Extra Trial? Okay, sign me up! What Medal to use? Evil, or Demon? …Seeing as we’re in prison, I think Demon. I may get EXTREMELY lucky and find 9 more of the Evil Medals and trade all 10 for an Extra Skill. The Demon Medal I got after evolving can’t do that, lousy cheap medal…

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

Starting Extra Trial: [Volcanic Hellfire Prison – Locked Chamber (Demon)].

Come on and get some! What do I have to do? An escape game Trial? A locked door mystery? Having to sort some chests? I doubt anything this place can throw… They are throwing a giant bat/scorpion hybrid at me.

“*Screech*!!” – Giant Bat-Scorpion

The thing is crawling out from a secret door that had opened when the Trial was starting. It looks like a jet-black scorpion, bigger than a truck, and with 1, 2, 3…, 10 tails!? That’s too much! And how do those small bat wings on its back keep that big body flying!? Oh, I hate game logic…

Well, time to test out my fighting skills. If Bones could do it, it would be the greatest humiliation ever if I failed one of these things.