Nightmare Fantasy Online

"Okay, what WAS that yesterday!?" - Black Bone

"What 'what'?" - Garami

"You know what we're talking about! That ridiculous power you showed during the race!" - Aino

As Rolf did the final checks on preparing the Albino Arachnid before the 4th race, two of the three who got left out yesterday decided this was the perfect time to grill me about my secrets. 

"It's a secret ace exactly because it stays a 'secret'. All I can tell is that I found a nice little treasure spot after recruiting Luna to my demonic menagerie." - Garami

"Did that spot require something that starts on 'M' and ends in 'edal'?" asked Rolf after peeking out from the car. 

"You got it~." - Garami

"Damn, now I'm behind not only Palug but the big boss as well!" - Black Bone

 Bones started sulking over the fact that he was missing out on the Extra Skill train. Hey, I was just lucky that I found a Trial Ground in the Coeurl Labyrinth along with the folks from the Blackmarket, and that I had 1 Medal left on me. 

"Bones, if you find it so frustrating, how about you join us in our battle today?" - Palug

"Damn right, I will! Come at me, Guardian!!" - Black Bone

"That's the spirit! And we'll need it with this competition we're facing." - Rolf-Prix

No joke. Today, other than the mobs I couldn't bother to remember the names of, we're facing the "Magic Calamity" group led by NFO's strongest spellcaster, the "Valkyrie Sky" guild whose leader is, according to Bones, "goddamn horrifying in battle", and worst of all..., the "True Eden's Maidens" led by a "nun" I unfortunately recognize. Let's hope no children are watching this race.

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"And GO!" - Announcer

With the start signal from the announcer, the Albino Arachnid rocketed out from the start line, leaving the others to eat our dust. 

"WHO-HOOO!! That's what I'm talking about!!" - Black Bone

"Incredible acceleration!" - Palug

"It was worth it to use the special gasoline I had invented! We're not gonna be seeing this kinda speed often, so hold on to your hats!" - Rolf-Prix

The boys were getting pushed into their seats while the acceleration tickled their funny bones. Not that I'm any different. 

"And I got more tricks than just that! [Oil Spill]!" - Rolf-Prix

Rolf activated a skill that created tracks of slippery oil to appear from behind the Albino Arachnid. Some of our competitors got caught by the slippery trap and were sent flying into the walls. 

"One down!" - Black Bone

"And there's going to be more, but that's not our objective today." - Garami

"No need to worry. I'm keeping our goal in my sight." - Rolf-Prix

Since we cleared our first objective of "coming in 1st place in a race" already, the gang decided over the chat last night that we should try to clear some extra conditions other than just racing through the Dungeon. Such as trying to defeat one of the Season Guardians. 

And we're on a good way to do that! We're the first team out of the tunnel leading from the Dungeon! ...Where's the road?

"A-, a sudden pitfaaaaaaall-!?" - Black Bone

And we're falling. Rather, we're high up in the skies?! There are clouds everywhere around-*boing*-, guh!?

"Wh-what is going on...?" - Palug

"I-I think we're in some sky Dungeon...?" - Rolf-Prix

"Is anything possible nowadays?" - Garami

This time's Dungeon seems to be made out of solid clouds high up in the air. I looked back and saw that the course started with a sudden fall that ended in a nasty landing on some super-soft clouds. Wow, these are soft. I kinda want a pillow made outta this stuff. 

"A-anyway, full speed ahead! We need to get moving if we want to beat the Guardian before anyone else!" - Garami

"I doubt that's a big concern." - Black Bone

"Whatever! Full speed ahead!" - Garami

"Roger!" - Rolf-Prix

A few minutes into the race after that, we finally encountered some of the first monsters in this bouncy heaven. A bunch of bubbles formed a vaguely humanoid silhouette and tried to attack us with a spear, while a bunch of clouds tried to chew us with a bunch of sharp teeth. The latter must be a Mimic-type demon, but I have no idea how to explain the former. 

Bones took care of the "bubble soldiers" by summoning his skeleton fishies and had them pop the soldiers using their sharp fishbones. The cloudy Mimic was more difficult, but Rolf fixed it by throwing a bomb into its big mouth. KA-BOOM!

"When did you start making bombs, sir Rolf?" - Palug

"Just recently! I have plans to create rocket boosters using-" - Rolf-Prix

"If you ever get the stupid idea about adding literal explosives to your engine, then forget about taking me with you on a drive!" - Garami

"Agree!!" - Black Bone & Palug

"Tch. There goes my plans about searching for the Gunpowder Keystone..." - Rolf-Prix

There's an element like that in this game?! I hope I never encounter it.

Other than those monsters, everything is going smoothly. This Dungeon's design consists of several roads to reach the goal, aka the stairway to the next floor. Which, by the way, must be that big and obvious large tower made out of clouds in the middle of the floor. It goes all the way to the next cloud banks above us. 

I summoned Echo and had her go bat-cam on the other routes. This no-wall Dungeon is the perfect environment for spying on our competitors~. Most of them have already retired, but I can see three groups that have strong odds of reaching the next floor. 

That horny nun Maria is standing on her parade float of various torture items, throwing dark-purple magic blasts at the monsters that try to attack her team. ...Wait just a ****ing minute! Is she brainwashing those monsters to act as her bodyguards!? That's one nasty ability...

I can also see the members of "Valkyrie Sky". Going by that name and this Dungeon's overall appearance, I'd say there's a good chance for their leader to be the Dungeon Master of this place. They're also plainly strong, easily fending off monsters that try to push them off the roads. Speaking of monsters...

"I can see some horses over there, but what have they to do with a Dungeon made out of clouds?" - Garami

Going by the wide variety of monsters we've seen, I'd suspect we're on a common-line floor. In that case, the monsters should be related to the Dungeon's overall theme itself, which makes it weird for plain horses to be running around...

"Aren't they going to become Pegasi at some point?" - Black Bone

"...Right. That must be it." - Garami

I completely didn't think of that...

Moving on! The final group I'm keeping my eyes on (or at least Echo's eyes) is the "Magic Calamity" team. They're still riding on that flying giant magic book of theirs. Thinking about it now, that, and the "cloud mobile" that the Valkyrie Sky team uses, probably evaded Rolf's oil spill. Damn...

The magicians don't seem too worried about the monsters. The latter can't even get close to the magic nerds. Some of the magicians aren't even bothered to aim their magic toward the monsters. Actually, what are they doing? ...Crap!

"Bones, we got a magic blast incoming!" - Garami

"Huh? R-roger!" - Black Bone

Bones got off at a late start, but he still managed to prepare a water magic shield. Not a second too late, a gigantic blast of fire magic hit our car, almost knocking us out of the race, not to mention destroying our car! Bones' defense and Rolf's driving expertise had just barely saved us from that fate.

Through Echo's eyes, I could see that the mob contenders had suffered the horrifying fate we had escaped from. The Valkyrie Sky and Eden's True Maidens teams didn't seem worse for wear. A multi-attack on all the other teams? The "Magic Calamity" sure lives up to its name. 

"What just happened!?" - Rolf-Prix

"The Magic Calamity. They used some big-ass magic on everyone in the race." - Garami

"Kah! If you think that puny fireball's anything good, just wait until you see this!!" - Black Bone

Declaring his (supposed) superiority when it comes to magic, Bones jumped onto the back of the Albino Arachnid and started to prepare his spell, his magic staff pointing high into the air. 

"Mwa-hahahaha!! Time to show you puny mortals who the real master of the arcane arts are-*ZAP*-APAPAPAPAPAPA!!!" - Black Bone 

Before he had the chance to do anything, Bones was struck by a lightning bolt from the clear sky. This must be the first time in history that you can see someone's skeleton by electrocuting them. Not that we needed the sparky flash in the first place. 

Bones, who had gone from bragging to roasted in 0.1 seconds, fell off the car with smoke coming out of his mouth and empty eyesockets. Please don't tell me this was what he intended to do...

"GM, we got Living Lightning spirits!" - Rolf-Prix

"Living whats? ...Forget I asked. I'm seeing them now." - Garami

Small cartoonish lightning bolts with eyes and mouths were flying above us, looking to do a kamikaze attack on anyone stupid enough to act as a lightning rod. Maybe that makes it easier for them to aim. 

"A sky Dungeon is not complete without having the elements of the weather on its side, it seems." - Palug

"That's not funny and you know it!" - Rolf-Prix

"Yeah. It's only funny when it happens to jerks like those Magic Calamities, not Bones." - Garami

"What she said! ...? Er, GM? Are you saying...?" - Rolf-Prix

"We got one big contender less to worry about." - Garami

Echo, who had fortunately evaded the Living Lightnings' attention, reported to me that the Magic Calamity jerks had been zapped to oblivion. They all were using metal staves as their magic catalysts, so they turned into Living Lightning bait. 

"Now I'm happy for not thinking that insulating the vehicle's hood was a waste. Let's get outta here!!" - Rolf-Prix

And outta there we got. Panic-induced riding works surprisingly well when you're trying to escape from bloodthirsty lightning monsters. If EXP was a part of this event, Rolf must have earned enough to evolve twice thanks to all the non-zappy monsters he ran over.

While rushing through the staircase tunnel, I could see the horny nun and the Valkyrie Sky team a little behind us. They survived as well. This could be problematic. Especially the nun. 

After an eventless uphill trip, we reached the second floor and got to see a big forest with no cloud elements visible... Already!? We're facing the Season Guardian already on the 2nd floor?! Are our luck with these guys that bad, or is this fluffball Dungeon simply shallow on floors? 

"Hey, GM? We've already lost Bones, so shouldn't we reconsider the whole Guardian-slaying idea? I mean, facing the toughest of the bunch in our weakened state is sorta..." - Rolf-Prix

True. This forest is the playground for the "Spring Dragon", the most annoying Season Guardian according to the BBS. 

"Nope. Charge!" - Garami

As I've said before, we've already cleared our main goal of "clearing the Darkland Fort", so now our only goal is to enjoy this event!

"I agree. Stay on your course, brave Rolf! No knight has ever refused the challenge of a dragon! Tonight we will feast on dragon steaks!" - Palug

Someone's working their hardest on the "enjoying" part. Also, won't dragon steaks be too hard to eat? I bet they'd taste terrible anyway.