Nightmare Fantasy Online

"READY? SET...GO!!" - Announcer

And there we go! Our third race in this event started with a bang, straight out from goal! And for once, I'm in the passenger seat alongside the fairy twins. Rolf is still the driver. I don't think anyone of us could match him behind the wheel. 

As to prove that, Rolf had pushed the pedal to the metal to the point where we were in the lead..., scratch that. We ARE the lead! But we're not alone. I can see two cars that have managed to keep up with us.

One of them is that half-assed piece of jungle flora on bikes, the "Wild Wolf Pack". Bones used to play with their leader, Furfang, so I decided not to include him in today's race. I don't have the heart of setting two former friends against each other... Unless they're hot girls. Catfights are always entertaining to watch.

The other party is that strange detective mobile or whatever you can call it. In any case, it's the "Verification Hunters". For some reason, they've added cameras to their ride now, and they're all aimed at me and the girls. Please tell me that at least the driver is watching the road instead...

Behind them again are the other competitors. They're no names, but for once, it seems like we're facing some high-quality nameless mobs for once.

After we drove through some interdimensional tunnel (or whatever you call it) for some time, we finally reached the exit. Ah, Darklands, sweet Darklands. How I've missed ya. It should be around right now...

"WHAAAAAA-!?!?!?" - Wild Wolf Pack

"WHAT'S THIIIIIS?!" - Mob 1

"...This isn't so bad." - Mob 2

"KEEP THE CAMERAS ROLLING!!" - Verification Hunters

"NOOOOOO!!" - Mob 3, 4, and 5

"Hey, why does it sound like Hades himself decided to visit back there?" - Rolf-Prix

"Well~, who knows~." - Garami

"...Guild Master? Is this...?" - Dusk

"Maybe I can bribe the V-Hunters for copies..." - Dawn

Allow me to explain! The Darkland Fort now has an outside area known as a "Dungeon Zone"! It is placed to the east of the Fort, so it's named "Darkland Fort E-1".

The X-1 series can only be placed in the north, south, east, and west, but all the numbers after that, placed on the edge of the innermost zones, can also be placed in the directions northeast and all that, but I digress. 

What's important is that each Zone requires a Facility to act akin to a keystone (which also makes it the only possible Facility to place there), and said Facility will also provide unique effects for each Zone.

In this case, I chose the joke-Facility "Female Only Area I". A little something that allows only females to enter the Zone. In case you're a guy, or even genderless, your gender is forcefully changed into that of a female. 

And boy is the view nice~. Most of our non-female opponents were wearing equipment that didn't cover enough of their bodies as they wished it had before the forced transformation. 

Stage I (as in 1) doesn't provide big changes for characters with gender-neutral bodies, nor their voices, so Rolf hasn't changed at all. I am so gonna upgrade it to stage V (5) one of these days. Guehehehe...

*CRASH!* *BOOM!* *LOUD DESTRUCTION!!*

Wow, the Zone's gimmick was way more productive (for us) than I would have believed it would turn when I first bought it. Almost all the other competitors ended up crashing into walls, flying in the air when their car ran up a ramp, or getting crushed by the Dark Elves that suddenly attacked... WAIT A MINUTE!!

"Rolf, we got monsters. Get busy!" - Garami

"I already am! Girls, take point!" - Rolf-Prix

"Roger!" - Dawn

"Is this...fine?" - Dusk

"Defeating those guys? Sure, I'm not gonna be mad. Unless we lose!" - Garami

I snapped everyone back into the race as I could see female goblins (yuck) riding on monster dogs coming after us with bows and tiny axes aimed at us. Rolf's driving let us lose most of them. We're in the first and only Zone outside the Fort after all, so these guys aren't gonna be that difficult to evade. 

But then came the Dark Elves and their pre-evolutions, the Demonic Elementals. They didn't waste time throwing magic spells at us, but Dusk blocked most of them with a shield made out of dark energy. Prolly something from a class similar to Nala's [Water Protector] class. 

The most difficult thing about these elves is their tanned bodies are dressed in tight-fitting leather outfits. I don't remember that being part of the [Female Only Area] package, but I'm not complaining! Maybe it was those outfits that caused the other dumb dumbs to crash?

Despite the difficulties, we managed to exit the Zone and reach the Fort without any real problems. As for the other contenders, they're almost exterminated at this point. Only the Pack and the V-Hunters are still in the game, outside us, of course. Speaking of which...

"The Pack's gaining onto us!" - Garami

"Got that!" - Rolf-Prix

Hearing my warning, Rolf pushed a button on the control panel, causing oil to spill from the car... Is this one of those things you see in spy movies? Neat!

After leaving our slippery surprise behind for the other teams, we raced through the Fort's 1st floor with ease. Good thing I didn't have the time to add any other troublesome facilities to this place. All it has at the moment are the [Sweets Stand I] and [Festival Stand I] facilities. I mean, it's the first floor. I have to be a little kind to the invaders. 

"Yummy~," said Dawn, grabbing a treat from the stand-HEY!! You have to pay for that! And...

"...Tch. The Pack got through." - Garami

"The what-pack?" - Dawn

"The Wild Pack, sis..." - Dusk

"They got through the oil spill. And now so did the V-hunters. Damn..." - Garami

"Huh!? Hey, is that blindfold of yours malfunctioning?" - Rolf-Prix

"It is? And wouldn't that be closer to an upgrade than calling it broken?" - Dawn

"You have a point there. But let's shove that debate for later. Incoming bats!" - Rolf-Prix

"I got it-!" - Dawn

*Bonk!*

"Ow! My brainbox. I use that sometimes!" - Dawn

"Sis...you're not helping...your case." - Dusk

"That's not one of the Fort's Giant Bats. It's my bat cam!" - Garami

"Your what-now?" - Rolf-Prix

"You're not the only one who's spruced up your tool of trade." - Garami

I've been having Bloom go out with the demons to clear quests for AP. I didn't even know that was a thing until I jokingly asked Bloom to take them for a trip one night! TECHNICALLY, I own Bloom, so not only can she have the demons follow her on fetching quests, she can even take those quests in my name!

The downside is, since I'm not physically doing the quests, only she and the demons are getting the point-based rewards, but it works out just fine. I'm not too geared for fetching quests anyway. And I'm gonna keep this secret for myself. Or else everyone will take up taming classes and buy slaves, destroying not only the game balance, but it will also drying up the slave market! Of course, that last bit wouldn't be so bad...

In any case, Echo's a small upgrade since we bested the cat labyrinth where Rolf used to make his home. [Shared Sight (Contract)] is a handy general-tier skill that only tamed monsters can obtain.

As its name suggests, it allows me to see what Echo sees in the form of a HUD-like window in the corner of my blinded sight. Add the [Vampire's Alter-Ego (Crude)] to that, and I have several spy drones keeping an eye out for everything for me.

"I don't know how you did it, but if that bat of yours acts as our eyes in the sky, we got the advantage here!" - Rolf-Prix

"Let's go and win this race! For Echo!" - Dawn

"For Echo!" - Dusk

"Yeah...except that this only works on the first floors. Giant Bats are the only monsters in the 'common monster line' that can fly, but the other floors...aren't that bat friendly." - Garami

"In other words, they'll not mistake them for allies?" - Rolf-Prix

"That's the trick." - Garami

The Giant Bats aren't that hostile to other bat-like creatures. That's been a problem whenever a random bat monster snuck into the Fort, as they're the only flyers on the first floors, but in this situation, it's a loophole I'm glad the Fort has.

We made the gobs and Dark Elves eat our dust as we rushed for the 2nd floor. Like on the 1st, there are no dangerous facilities here to take notice of. The only thing here is [Glutton Kitchen I]. I seriously need to upgrade these places after the control of the Fort is returned to me. 

As per the rule of "higher floors have more freedom with the monsters' racial ranks", we are being attacked by more E-rank monsters now. Too bad for them they're not able to penetrate Dusk's shield of darkness or withstand Dawn's light rays of doom. That magic is simple but ****ing deadly! 

This floor is more of a straight line compared to before. The Zone and 1st floor had more turns than these "speed lines". The Albino Arachnid had supreme handling, and Rolf's driving technique made full use of that. Unfortunately, there is someone better than us at pushing the pedal to the metal.

"We got you now, Demon Queeeeen!!" - Furfang

The Pack's crazy racing had allowed them to catch up to us. And what did he say?

"Guild Master..., did you obtain a new...nickname?" - Dusk

"I'd say it's about time they started to acknowledge it." - Dawn

"Seconded." - Rolf-Prix

"...Do I look that royal?" - Garami

"Nope. It's the demon part." - Dawn + Rolf-Prix

"...the demon part..." - Dusk

Okay, now I'm mad! Let's vent some frustration on these furries and be on our way to the 3rd floor! We can't have them hit us in the back when we encounter that Season Guardian. 

"Echo, do your thing!" - Garami

I had Echo relocate to our position by dismissing and then resummoning her. This straight-line course makes it too difficult for her to catch up to our speedy cars now that she can't bypass the obstacles we have to drive around. 

Despite her lack of speed, she makes it up in numbers. Using her doppelganger-ish skill, Echo literally swarmed the Pack's car, biting every animal she could get her teeth at. 

Alas, a scout/medic such as Echo won't be enough to handle those battle-hungry animals, so I summoned a helper for her: Nyx.

The shadowy demon jumped off the car and landed straight onto the land-based raft of twigs and leaves that was the Pack's "car". Wasting no time, Nyx started to punch and kick the animals with no honor or mercy behind her blow. Seriously. That gorilla character over there doesn't seem to notice that he fell off the raft while holding his neither region, doing his best to keep the tears from coming out. 

Nyx looks more like the beast there than the real animal (players). She recently obtained the [Brawler] class that focuses on mixed martial arts (or rather, plainly punching the daylight outta people), and boy is it a good fit for her. Combined with the techniques from [Monk], she is like a female gang leader rousing up some punks from a different group! 

And not long after the epic (yet honorless) battle of the highway, the raft fell apart. Note to self, do never use skills like [Darkness Claw] in case I ever get into a fight on a lousy raft. Bad move there, Nyx.

All the remaining Pack members got thrown off as their raft vehicle thingy fell apart. Unfortunately, they dragged Nyx and Echo with them. I dismissed them again, but doing this all day will drain my poor MP dry. ...Tch, yeah, right. Hehe...

"You're gonna get it now, Demon Queen!" - Furfang

And great. The wolfie is still in the game, riding on one of the detached motorcycles like a circus dog doing a bicycle trick. 

"I'm on it-" - Dawn

"No, keep your eyes forward for enemies. This joker's mine." - Garami

I jumped onto the back of the Albino Arachnid as I stared down the comedy relief on two wheels.

"You sure? I'm happy with not having to fend off the monsters while I drive, but that guy is a Guild Master for a reason." - Rolf-Prix

"And he has big teeth!!" - Dawn

"So do I! On both fronts!" I replied, preparing to summon one of the new members of team Garami.

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