Peridot
They move just like humans. Good, I thought, dodging a skeleton's scimitar.
"BAM!" The next instant, I kicked its head clean off its body, depleting its [HP] with a critical hit; the new buffs I'd unlocked were even more effective than I'd expected.
"How are you guys doing?" Those weak enemies hadn't dropped anything useful, so I turned to my party members.
I turned just in time to see Norma reducing three skeletons to dust with a single swing of her flail.
"It's a walk in the park, ah-haha!" the [Nun] laughed.
"Hah!" Anelise finished off her opponent with a blow from a large wrench. "All good for now."
"Right, the graveyard seems under control for the moment, but the crypt still remains," I said, pointing to the dilapidated mausoleum in the very heart of the area. "The monsters seem to be emerging from there."
"Of course, every good dungeon is underground!" Anelise smiled, joining me as we headed toward the crypt.
"Legiano, didn't you say these things were supposed to be hard?" Norma looked around, bored, as she followed us too.
"Don't be fooled; we haven't even entered the dungeon proper yet. The enemies should get many times stronger as we advance," I explained.
"What's the matter, Norminha? Never played an MMORPG before?" Anelise asked with a smile.
"...And you? Vanguard is a game that emphasizes role-playing, right? Maybe you should stay in character more," the [Nun] replied, shrugging.
"Sure, sure," Anelise agreed, her smile unwavering. That wasn't exactly the sort of mission that allowed for long, casual conversations, though: as we descended the stairs to the crypt's first underground level, a series of torches flared to life on their own to the left and right, revealing a corridor that connected to various rooms and other, smaller passageways. Intricate statues of the undead adorned every corner, draped in massive, veil-like shrouds, and the beautiful checkered floor was marred by brown stains of dried blood.
"Don't get distracted now," I warned. "There could be traps, too."
Just then, a door was kicked open, and a skeleton, far larger than the ones we'd defeated on the surface, showed its faces; both of them, in fact, as it was a fusion of two corpses.
"RAAARGH!" the skeleton heads roared; all the other many doors along the corridor flew open in the same way, and just as many dual-bodied skeletons emerged from them.
"Don't let them surround us!" I shouted, charging toward the undead horde while gripping my newest weapon, my mace, with all my might.
I struck first, landing a solid hit on one of a skeleton's skulls; it staggered back but didn't go down immediately.
"Tough," I realized, stepping back just in time to dodge a whirlwind of blades as two four-armed skeletons swung eight swords at me in perfect unison.
"Legiano!" Norma covered me, casually swinging her flail at the attackers and setting them ablaze, just as she had done to that pterodactyl-like monster days earlier.
"Watch your feet!" Anelise warned; a remote-controlled car zoomed right between my legs toward the skeletons, where it exploded like a grenade.
The skeletons caught in the blast were covered in glowing red cracks, yet they kept marching forward.
Not for long! I thought, launching another attack and finishing what Anelise had started with a series of well-placed mace blows.
After the longest battle I'd fought since starting this VRMMORPG, the enemies in the first corridor of the first level of the first dungeon I'd ever explored were finally defeated.
"Anelise, how many floors does this dungeon have?"
"Nine, from what I hear."
"It's going to be tough for just the three of us to clear this place," I realized. "But if we conserve our resources and coordinate well, we might stand a chance. And you said no one has completed this dungeon yet, right?" In that case, at least, we might make it far enough to sell some exclusive information about this place.
"Exactly!" Anelise confirmed. "You seem like the type who catches on quickly, Legiano. In that case, how about we rethink our strategy? It doesn't look like simply following our hearts is going to get us very far, after all."
"Good idea," I agreed.
"So, Legiano, are you a tank? I thought you'd be a DPS, seeing as you seem to have so many points in [Dexterity]."
"Oh, no. I'm not actually putting points into [Dexterity]; that's just down to-uh, my experience in other games. I really am just a tank. My [Class] is [Martyr], actually."
"I see... And what about you, Norma? Your damage seemed incredibly high for what I assumed was a support [Class]!"
"That's because I have this saint with me, so my holy damage against these impure creatures seems to be especially effective," Norma explained proudly.
"Really? That's strange..."
"Oh, is it? And why would that be strange?" The [Nun] narrowed one eye.
"Well, that flail of yours is a holy weapon from the Church of the Dead, right? Since skeletons also belong to the Death element, I expected your weapon to be ineffective against them—thinking it would work better on machines, beasts, or enemies of other elements..." Anelise explained, eyeing the nun's weapon curiously. "But it seems your weapon is even more special than I imagined."
"I-Isn't that a good thing for us?" Norma stepped back, clutching her flail. "It means we'll do better in this dungeon."
"Of course!" Anelise clapped her hands, smiling. Turning to me once more, she said, "As for me, I think I'll stick to a support role. I'll help disarm traps, unlock chests, distract enemies, and do my absolute best to help out."
Her best, huh? I'd love to see that.
"Yeah, that sounds good. As long as we keep them from surrounding us, we can handle these enemies by repeating the strategy we used here," I agreed. "So, let's hurry up and loot the dead, then move on."
▲○X■
The first-floor boss was a giant made up of nearly twenty skeletons; it cost me almost six healing potions and a dozen of Anelise's gadgets, but Norma finished it off with her holy flames. The second-floor boss was also a skeletal chimera, though made of animal and monster bones, and while it took us nearly ten minutes to defeat it, we managed to pull it off. I hadn't thought we'd make it that far, but after the [Nun] set fire to the zombie knight guarding the fifth floor, my hopes began to rise.
"Maybe we can actually clear this dungeon after all," I said.
"As long as little Norma stays on our side, that's a real possibility!" Anelise agreed. "It's amazing, even though our [Levels] are similar, Legiano and I can barely scratch these monsters' health bars, but little Norma just wipes them out so easily!"
"True." Come to think of it, she was right.
If I didn't know it was impossible to hack this game without something as powerful as a mecha's central system, I'd almost suspect that...
"Oh, come on, I'm just doing my duty, guys, haha," the nun laughed.
Duty...
"Right. That's just how these games are; it's not unusual for devs to scatter a few super-rare items or [Classes] early on to spark urban legends among the players. I bet her weapon is something like that, the devs are probably just waiting for someone to post about it online to generate free publicity for Vanguard," I reasoned, explaining my companion's power.
"Hmm, true, true. Say, little Norma, can't you tell me where to find another weapon like yours? I want to be invincible just like you!"
"I certainly can: in the reliquary of any Church of Death cathedral, there are usually remains of saints there." I suppose temples of other religions have similar objects. Feel free to try breaking into one of those!" the nun said, winking. "Besides, I'm not invincible. I'm actually already exhausted! Maybe we should head back; this dungeon is still too hard for us."
"What? No way, come on! Thanks to Norminha, I managed to save quite a few of my consumables. Isn't it the same for you, Legiano?"
"Well, yeah.
"Then we should still be able to take down at least one more boss! Come on, guys, just one more! This floor has already been fully explored by other players, and the loot we've gathered so far isn't enough to cover the cost of your mission, right, Legiano?"
"True, this expedition hasn't exactly proven profitable yet, and I still have plenty of consumables left... Alright, let's keep exploring. But just one more floor."
Game Over ☠
Jade
Undead abominations, multiple decomposing corpses stitched together, were the enemies on that floor; however, they wielded superior gear and stronger [Skills], following the pattern of the deeper levels. Defeating them was an arduous task, especially while maintaining the ruse of being a mere [Engineer], but it would all be worth it once we opened that final door.
"Hah! That was a bit of a hassle. Good thing Legiano is so strong!"
"Yeah. Let's wrap this up and get back to the surface," the nun replied, sounding irritable.
"Let's do it," Legiano agreed, pushing the heavy double stone doors inward to open them.
"Great! This'll be the grand finale for the video I've been recording!"
"V-Video?!" Norma repeated.
"Yeah, a video. What, how did you expect us to sell this intel? With pen and paper? Hahaha, no way! Recording expeditions into unexplored dungeons is standard practice; that way, even if we die, we've still got the footage to sell," I explained.
"B-But that...!"
"We don't have time to argue now," Legiano interrupted the [Nun], who was wearing a delightfully flustered expression. Stepping into the room, he added, "Once the boss room opens, it won't stop hunting us until either we kill it or it kills us."
Left with no other choice, we crossed the threshold and a simple stone bridge, entering a spacious, circular chamber beneath a stone dome adorned with sacred imagery. The round floor was bordered by a ring of dark water, likely deeper than it appeared; it wouldn't surprise me if dozens of corpses lay submerged within it.
The boss stood on the exact opposite side of the arena: a middle-aged man with fingernails so long they curled into waves, knots, and spirals, wearing a black cape and a matching top hat topped with half a dozen burning candles.
"For such a small, disorganized, and weak group, you've done surprisingly well to reach me, the master of this dungeon," said the final boss.
"H-Huh?! Dungeon master?! Not just the floor master?!" The little nun immediately turned her furious gaze toward me. "Didn't you say this place had nine floors?!"
"Hey, hey, hold on a sec! I also said no one had ever cleared it. The info I bought must've been bogus, what can you do?" I explained, barely able to keep the smile off my face. "Besides, we've got other priorities here, don't we?" I pointed at the necromancer, who was raising his arms; the movement caused a grotesque mass of decaying organic matter to surge up from the water.
Oh no! Are you facing an enemy many times more powerful than you without being able to use your hack because you're being filmed, you shitty cheater? What'll we do now?!
Guhuhuhu! That's right, time to execute the plan: "get rid of the third wheel so I can go on amazing adventures alone with my brother!"