laulau20

Chapter 121: Strategy

Added 2025-10-04 02:37:08 +0000 UTC

“Dungeons are dangerous. It is your obligation to tend to weaker survivors so they can get stronger,” the mercenary said.

“No. I would rather dive into the dungeon by myself in that case. Begone!” James spat at the incredulous statement these assholes had made.

“James… Please wait a minute, everyone. Ahem. Let us discuss this more thoroughly. I do not think that would be preferable, Captain Xiaoming. That would be unfair. We higher-leveled survivors need gear and coins too—more so than others. You should know that skills are more expensive at greater levels of mastery.”

“That’s why we should focus on lower-leveled soldiers. I know about weapon skills. Every weapon skill is fatal, right? There is no need to upgrade them. Why should we focus on high-level survivors? We should focus on lower-leveled survivors.”

Andrew was tongue-tied. In fact, that’s pretty much why he had chosen this dungeon instead of others. He knew quantity was a quality in itself. But if all resources were hoarded by these mercenaries, his group could not grow. Dehlia, for example, needed coins to buy weapons.

“That’s wrong,” James said. “You get better weapon skills the higher your level and mastery. It’s a matter of life and death.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“If your levels are higher, you can win skill clashes. If your weapon mastery is higher, you can slip your skill’s second hit in after the skill clash. Higher weapon skills have multiple hits.”

“I am not convinced. To get a weapon skill, you need mastery level 5. Increasing weapon mastery from level 1 to level 5 takes 500 coins. But you need 1,000 coins to get to level 10—double the amount,” Xiaoming said. “If you face an orc, two people with one weapon skill each are better than one person with two weapon skills.”

“...” James was silent. Numbers here could be misleading. What Xiaoming said made sense. James recalled his experience in the trial dungeon, where he had fought an orc with a weapon skill. He had been beaten within an inch of his life. What if there had been two of him at that time? Surely the battle would have been easier. No, that was a big mistake. Only someone with great leadership like Andrew could pull that off. And Andrew’s approach had already shown cracks in higher-difficulty dungeons.

“No. In that case, you would have one dead man and one live man. If the man was higher level, he had a higher chance of surviving, depending on his actual skill and situational awareness,” James said. His voice faltered as he did not fully believe his words. Kouki was excellent, but he had almost died multiple times in that novice dungeon. “Ah, and then there is magic.”

“... Hm…”

“That is correct, Xiaoming. I learned from my experience in a medium dungeon that we should have two or three vanguard people like James, who can tank monsters up close and survive while others chip in from the side. If everyone is low-leveled, we would all just die instead. Weapon skills are important but not absolute. There is shop level, unique skills, and magic!”

“Hm… but we can’t let you have all the coins. We can’t improve that way. In that case, how about we split everything evenly? For weapons or scrolls, we shall discuss it further. Each faction will own weapons earned on a rotating basis.”

“That is more acceptable.” Andrew nodded. He then turned toward James. “James, will that be okay for you?”

“Yes, yes. Let’s go diving.” James sighed. He wondered whether he should push the negotiation harder. He wondered whether he should do this dungeon diving all by himself instead of cooperating. Even after all this time, he still found it hard to refuse them. This sucked.

[Dungeon name: AU 52
Dungeon level: Medium
Survivor: 0/70
Would you like to enter? y/n]

The screen flashed before him. Seventy survivors as a limit. James pondered the meaning. Why seventy? Seventy people was a lot. What if they needed people with at least level twenty or thirty for all of them? Would bringing these people be any good? Most of them were greenhorns—survivors, yes, but their levels were in single digits. Would they help him, or would they drag his feet?

James nodded at the screen. The group was transferred into the waiting room. James examined his weapons, replenishing arrows and so forth while waiting. As the loading screen reached 100%, the world flashed white and James was transported to a plain with nothing on it. As he looked around, he found a group knelt before him.

“We are at your service. Please defend us from the approaching daemons of chaos.” A villager dressed in rags knelt before James. Behind him, 44 other villagers followed suit. Looking around, feeling confused, James then asked the man what was going on. The system answered for him.

[Survive for 5 days with less than 10 casualties at maximum.]

“There is nothing here. Survive against what?” James pondered. As he said, there was nothing—no monsters, no traps, or whatever. Just an endless plain and a forest in the distance. Again, the system answered him.

[Time until the first wave: 4 hours. Standard supply of 500 logs, 500 nails, 50 meters of rope, 5 types of tools including 5 hammers, 5 saws, 5 hoes, 5 pickaxes, and 5 shovels will be provided. Shops are currently unavailable.]

The supplies teleported beside James with a flash of light. Numerous logs of the same size, nails neatly lined in a box, and the tools tied up with a cord all arrived as if a modern moving company had put them there.

“Alright, let’s get to work, men! We shall make walls and bottleneck the approaching enemy forces. Square walls to the north, east, west, and south!” Andrew, who was not as clueless as James, ordered his men to make structures.

Andrew realized when he got the tools, he was supposed to build something. A horde was coming, and without defensive structures, the low-leveled ones would die.

“Andrew, do you know how to do construction work?”

“No, but all soldiers here could do some engineering work. They knew how to build a barrier or a palisade at least,” Andrew said.

“Are you sure they could do it with just a shovel? Don’t they need something like an excavator for that?”

“We can do it, boss. Leave it to us! Modern armies usually use Hesco barriers, but we were also trained to make trenches and barriers using sandbags,” Sanders said.

James was never too proud to follow orders. Using his strength, he lifted ten logs and lined them at the place Sanders pointed. With a thud, James jammed the wooden logs into the ground, and Sanders buried them.

“Not too tight. Give it some space, about 3 or 4 inches. We can jab a spear or sword at the encroaching enemies from inside later,” Sanders said.

“Ah, please be careful not to damage the logs. We might need to repurpose them later. The shop is locked, so we can’t buy health potions or ammunition,” Andrew warned as the group carried out their task.

Thanks to their enhanced stats, work that was supposed to take weeks could be finished in hours. The wall they made was not impressive by any means—just a wall spanning 10 meters in length and width—but it was enough to huddle the noncombatants at the center, away from danger. A 1-meter gap on four sides of the settlement acted as an impromptu gate.

The clock ticked to zero. A tremor rocked the earth as a portal nearly 3 meters in height rose on the distant horizon, its surface crawling with intricate engravings that glowed faintly with ethereal light. At its heart swirled a luminous blue light, liquid and endless, as though the sky itself had been torn open and poured inside.

Then, monsters began pouring out. Orcs—no, they had the same muscular body, but their heads were those of bulls, horns curved upward as if trying to pierce the sky. Minotaurs were a more fitting name for the beasts that poured out from the portal. Cleavers, axes, and hatchets gleamed as the army poured from the gate toward the survivors.

Along with them, little purple goblins—or imps—poured out in droves. They marched with a single purpose: to destroy and kill the survivors.

James was not the type to wait until the enemy came to him. He took the offensive. Brandishing his axe, he charged toward the rampaging bullmen.

“Parallel Thought!” James chanted, he let his parallel thoughts managed the spell. Blue motes of light emanated from his axe. He then lobbed it, activating his Boomerang skill. The axe drew a parabolic arc across the field and slammed into a minotaur’s weapon, freezing it solid. The axe lodged in the minotaur’s freezing body.

“Tch. Only one.” James spat. He expected the axe to cleave several low-level mobs and return to him, but the axe’s enchantment worked against his favor. He then drew his sword. “Ice magic then.”

But his other personality didn’t agree with him. James didn’t feel the chill that came out of ice magic. Instead, purple magic shot out, hitting the approaching monsters. The effect was immediate: some dropped to the floor crying out in pain, some became lost as their vision was robbed and their senses altered, and some went berserk as darkness painted their eyes.

Chaos ensued. James had always thought mind magic was subpar compared to offensive magic like water or fire, but it finally proved its worth. The raging wave slowed to a crawl as the beasts fought each other. They panicked, flailing their axes toward their comrades when James robbed them of their vision. Those who were not hit by the magic were forced to fight their allies. It was no longer an army, but bodies for James to decapitate and plunder for biomass, EXP, and coins.

“We shall go in as well. Sanders, you and I, together with three men, will charge out. Captain Xiamoning, don’t send everyone—send 10 people to charge out! We still need to guard this place,” Andrew said.

It was not a battle, but a massacre. Not even an hour had passed before the first wave was cleared. Bodies piled on the plains.

[Congratulations, you have cleared the first wave. 3 survivors lightly injured, 0 civilian casualties or injuries. The next wave is in 6 hours. You and the rest of the survivors have obtained 500 coins. A new zone has opened: Forest Area.]

James found nothing interesting in their body parts. These were low-level monsters, so he converted them all into biomass.

[You have obtained 1000 biomass.]

A translucent purple wall that had covered a forested area in the distance shattered like broken glass, revealing the new zone. James eyed it, his feet carrying him toward the boundary before Andrew stopped him with a call.

“James, let’s meet up for a bit. Yes, you will go there. But bring some men with you,” Andrew said, knowing james eager to explore the new area.

“Alright.” James nodded. He had gone wild earlier, and it had worked. But a question gnawed at him, a feeling that something was wrong. What if he didn’t complete the mission? What if he let citizens die?

Unfortunately, the system stayed silent at his question. A new kind of dread filled him. He realized this dungeon was no longer about him—it was about everyone.

This was not an exploration-type dungeon.
[Number of survivors: 35
Number of civilians: 45]

[Name: James]
Age: 35
Sex: Male
Level: 59
Coins: 3400
Merit: 20
Biomass: 1300

Stats:

STR: 183 (↑3)
DEX: 179 (↑2)
MAGIC: 143 (↑3)
MANA: 1260 (↑20)

Skills:

Novice Axe Mastery Level 5 (Powerstrike, V-slash, Boomerang)
Intermediate Sword Mastery Level 1 (Hurricane, Vorpal Lunge, Twin Fang, Lunar Counter)
Novice Bow Mastery Level 5 (Quickshot, Homing Shot, Triple Shot)
Beginner Dagger Mastery Level 1

Magic (Mind Magic Tier 3):

Mind Flay
Sense Alteration
Mana Sonar
Parallel Thought
Dispel

Class:

Attacker (Level 42) (↑1)
- 10% bonus when attacking
- +1 STR, +1 DEX per level

Shop (Level 2) (Blocked!):

Health Potion (100 coins)
Hematonic Potion (50 coins)
High Potion (300 coins)
Antidote (50 coins)
Sell Function / Repair Function
Bullets (10 coins/round)
Grenades / Flashbang (50 coins/piece)
Arrow (50 coins/dozen)
Metal Pocket Arrow (100 coins/dozen)
Merit Shop (10 merit/skill)
Poison Dart (10 coins/round)
Body Modding (Human: 100 biomass/part)

Unique Skill — Chimera (Level 3) (3 Extra Slots Open):

Goblin Stomach (Iron Guts) (Stomach Slot)
Eyes of Mana (Mana Sense) (Right Eye Slot)
Golem Arm of Valhalla (STR +30%, Physical Resistance +30%) (Negative Trait: Repairable, Mana -200) (Right Arm Slot)
Flaming Tiger’s Fire Lung (Fire Breathing) (Negative Trait: Mana -100, Magic -10) (Lung Slot)
Golem Core (Poison Resistance) (Negative Trait: Mana -250, Magic -10, Repairable) (Heart Slot)
Orc’s Torso (Torso Slot)
Shadow Snake Fang (Intermediate Life Leeching) (Mouth Slot)
Flaming Tiger Lord’s Firefur (Fire Cloak, Fire Resistance, Physical Resistance +15%) (Negative Trait: Mana -100, Magic -10) (Skin Slot)
Land Shark’s Ear (Echolocation: 10 m) (Ear Slot)
Mana Core (Water Spells: Ice Spear, Water Manipulation, Magic +60, Mana +1000) (Extra Slot)
Quetzalcoatl Horn (Lightning Shot: 20 Mana/Shot) (Extra Slot 3)
Mana Core (Wind Spells: Wind Gust, Wind Wall, Magic +20, Mana +300) (Extra Slot 4)