DCO- Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 9

“Tell me I’m not the only one that hears that?” Oak spoke as he paused, the group having finished their dicken and begun to dive the dungeon once more. They were nearing a bend in the labyrinth, and from around the corner, their vision of what lay before them hidden by the curve and darkness.

“You mean the oddly pop-like music?” Elm asked, tilting an ear towards the corner. “Nope, definitely don’t hear a thing.”

“Oop oop oop.” Z chuckled as he put his hands in front of him, acting like he was riding a horse? A splash in the hot spring pulled James’s attention away from the weird display to Steve, who was imitating swinging a lasso around his head, a grin wide on his face.

“Uh,” James raised an eyebrow, and Steve sighed, and set back into the hot spring, muttering “so young,” under his voice as he did. James disregarded that, and turned back to the adventuring party.

“So, I’m not having a stroke.” Oak flipped Elm off, and looked at the rest of the group. “Everyone can hear it.”

“Think they’re music-based mobs like Funky Monkeys?” Faust offered up from his position towards the back of the group.

“If they are,” Med Ic began, “I’ve got a silence I can cast, and will be on the lookout for any debuffs they may try to apply to us.”

“Sounds good,” Z said, finally stopping his dance, “though, if they start playing anything by Babymetal, can you hold off?”

His party simply shook their heads, and without another word, Oak began walking forward. With the party in consensus that there was definitely some sort of enemy ahead, their mood took on a cautious air. They’d let the Chem-Era take them by surprise. This time, they were going to be prepared.

On likely a mental command, Hornz was sent to walk besides Oak, though James noted the tank’s nose wrinkled immediately at the smell of the massive tanky companion of Z. Above them, Turk the Golden Eagle kept pace, while Badgy sat atop its back, the badgerker holding the eagle’s feathers with one paw, a sword in another, and his other blade held between his teeth. James had noticed that each time Z hit a benchmark level and his class evolved, the companions gained more intelligence and personality. Badgy, being the oldest of his pets, had progressed the most.

The music continued to get louder as the group approached the bend, and James panned his view over, taking note of what awaited the adventurers. A group of five J-Kappa were indeed performing, randomly, in the dark dungeon. James looked over the three-foot tall creatures, pulling up their skill information to skim as he did to remember just what these creatures were like.

J-Kappas, being the cheapest mob of the floor, had the lowest stats. They had less HP, ATK, and DEF when compared to every other mob on the floor, though their MP stat was higher. That was because their ‘performances’ were more a toggled skill, that had a constant MP drain, rather than skills to be activated.

They did still have a few musical attacks they could do, but their strength lay in their ability to buff each other, and to debuff players. The unique aspect of that, of course, was that their buffs and debuffs changed depending on the type of ‘persona’ the J-Kappa’s had. Which was randomly generated each time one was summoned.

Looking over the five mobs, James noted four unique personas, with one duplicate. The first J-Kappa he looked over, had the ‘Bad-boy’ persona. The little humanoid-imp was wearing a leather jacket, and leather pants covered in various spikes and chains. He had blue-black hair, and the ornate Japanese bowl atop his head was covered in ornate dragons, and of course, filled with coins. That persona’s buff would apply a damage increase, while it’s debuff would decrease the physical defense of the players.

Next, dressed in a stylish suit, with black hair slicked back, glasses, and pristine white gloves, was the ‘Businessman’ persona. The buff from its song would decrease the MP cost of their skills, while it’s debuff for enemies would make their skills cost more.

The third unique persona of the group of five was the ‘Idol’ persona. This persona was one of the female-presenting persona’s the J-Kappa’s had. It had long, light blue hair, and was dressed in a very anime inspired outfit. A headset on its ear brought a heart shaped microphone to its mouth, and the bowl on top of its head was decorated in moons and stars. The Idol persona buffed the agility of its allies and applied a slow debuff to enemies.

Finally, there was the persona that actually duplicated this time around. The fourth and fifth members of the current… J-Kappa band, had ended up with the ‘Shy’ persona. Another of the female persona’s, of which there were four in total, these J-Kappa’s looked like twins, albeit with different color schemes.

Both were wearing hoodies with long sleeves that fell past their hands, obscuring their little clawed fingers. They held onto stuffed bears, and their hair covered one of their eyes. The one had a soft pink color scheme, while the other had a soft blue color scheme. Shy personas had a buff which could increase the dodge chance of their allies, while their debuff was a hit to their opponents’ accuracy. Atop their heads, their bowls were partially covered by the floppy hoods of their hoodies, which had long bunny ears on them. The bowls themselves were faintly colored, as if the object itself wished to be hidden away.

James found himself grinning as the adventurers made their way around the corner. The mobs were still far enough down the hallway that the players couldn’t see them. However, the music picked up, the mobs harmonizing in a very elegant manner as they sang in a language James didn’t understand. It was all performative for now, he knew, but the players didn’t.

Their pace slowed, and James saw Med Ic preparing his silence. They weren’t strangers to music-based mobs. And honestly, even though the creatures would be throwing around a powerful array of buffs and debuffs, James didn’t think on their own, they’d pose that much of a threat to the players. They were support mobs through and through.

Luckily for the mobs, and not so luckily for Z and the others… the musical mobs, drawing the full attention of Z and his gang, weren’t the only ones in that hallway. The shadows further down hid the J-Kappa’s from them, but past that, within the shadows themselves, something else lurked. Or, more appropriately… some things.

James smiled in anticipation, and the chat from the other dungeons watching the stream brimmed with excitement. The Knights Who Go Ni had survived the first battle on the Sixth Floor. But could they survive the second?