Nightmare Fantasy Online

I entered the web mansion with murder on my mind. That stupid Arachne-woman, she's gonna regret ever messing with me!

Not caring about manners, I kicked the door and entered the building. It looks like a Japanese mansion from the warring stage period but with more spiderwebs. Lots of them. It's a bargain sale on webbing! And no floor. Huh? No floor!?

...yup. No floor. There are only walls, the ceiling, and a doorway leading to a different room..., plus the one I came from, of course. How am I supposed to move forward? 

Just then, I got a notice from the system itself. It's sorta like the message board for quests but without any proper window. Just text. 

>Tip: to pass this stage, forget your mystical powers and think like a crafty spider.

Now I get it~. It's so obvious now~. NOT!

But after thinking over the tip for a while, I came up with a solution. Maybe you're supposed to swing to the other side by using something like a rope? There are various hooks attached to the ceiling, so I think I'm right here. 

In that case, go! [Mystical Threads]! ...it isn't going. What now?

A few experiments later and I found the problem. It's not just [Mystical Threads], all my skills that consume MP are unusable. This must be what the "no mystical power"-part of the trip was referring to. I should have noticed it right away, but I must have been too "berserk" to do so.

After brooding over the matter, I decided to take a new skill. One that could be a good match with my current thread-related skills. And what I got was the skill [Spider's Thread]. It's the same as [Mystical Threads], except it's SP-based and normally limited to spider races. And it doesn't have the magic-damage effect of the [Mystical Threads]. I can take it thanks to my Arachnid Assailant class.

...thinking about it, isn't it [Mystical Threads] that takes after [Spider's Thread]? Or more precisely, the former skill is something made to allow any race to produce threads?

Shoving away the unrelated thoughts, I started to test out my new web-based skill. I can now produce threads from my fingertips with more ease than with the [Mystical Threads]. The webbing isn't as durable though, but it should hold..., I hope. I'm not that heavy after all. Even if I'm "top-heavy".

One Tarzan swing later, and I reached the next room. THANK GOD that the thread held! But it was kinda fun...

The next room is...full of electric fences. And at the other side of the room is a button-like thing that's moving at high-speed thanks to special rails on the wall. Is there another tip here, or...

>Tip: to escape the fate of having your skeleton shown, throw a sticky object to force the switch to stop.

No, I know that visible skeletons are a cliché in comics..., but since this is inside a game, that may happen...

Okay, back to the zappy fence blocking my path. Sticking the button seems to be the way past it, but..., yeah. The [Mystical Threads] aren't sticky enough. Or more precisely, it's not sticky enough. The skill only produce threads for attack purpose after all, and I can't go and touch the threads so I can use [Create Trap] on them. The threads are conductive and it's touching the lightning fence...

Alright, FINE! One more skill! Is there anything here..., got it!

I'm going all spidey today. But why's this an Attack Skill and not a Crafting Skill? Eh, whatever. 

I purchased the skill right away. Even if I wasn't in the current situation, I would have taken it way before if I knew it existed. 

Since [Mystical Threads] didn't provide the stickiness I wished for, I made the first [Web Bomb] outta [Spider's Threads] instead. It formed a fine sphere, sorta like those black-colored bombs in cartoons. That may be where the designers got their idea from. 

After finishing the appraisal of the new skill's effect, I threw the web bomb at the rails on the wall and waited until the switch..., yes! It got stuck! Another room cleared~. Even considering I've been forced to take on new skills, these challenges aren't as difficult as you would have believed. 

---

I stand corrected. This place's hell.

This was..., the 20th room? The 21st? In any case, I've solved more puzzle rooms than I can care to count. One of them even required me to use [Thread Control]! Good thing I already owned it. How else was I supposed to get the thread through the stupid eye of that ridiculous mini-needle!?

In any case, it seems...I have to spend my last AP for today. Because I'm now standing in front of a bottomless floor with an electrified ceiling.

The entrance to the next room is one floor below, but there's no bridge or stuff I can use to jump across either. And don't even suggest that I should just jump. It's too far from here. And the Tarzan swing is impossible due to the zaps on the ceiling. Meaning I need a new trick in my book...

Wow. This looks cool. But it's limited to gliding..., but that's just what I need right now. And it sounds so damn awesome! Why haven't I discovered all these cool skills before today?

Ignoring my grief of being so late to the party, I purchased the wing skill and tried it out. When activated, the threads I'd prepared turned into something like a jacket glider. Like flying squirrels or bats, I guess. But with webs instead of membranes or whatever. 

Okay, time to jump..., any second now..., it's just a game..., oh my gosh. That's a deep hole..., breathe, breathe...GERONIMO!!

Wha-wha-wha-! Falling, I'm falling!! ...I'm flying! 

*Snap*

Nope. I'm falling. HELP! [Spider's Thread], help me!! ...phew. I did it.

Honestly, that was scary. The wings started to come apart somewhere two-thirds over the hole. Luckily, it was just the distance I needed for my [Spider's Thread] to reach. I crashed hard into the wall, but I survived! Yay! And I'm SO gonna evolve this wing skill. So it becomes safer and more reliable to use. Otherwise, I'll never use that thing in the field ever again...

And please don't tell me there'll be more rooms I require new skills to clear! I don't have the AP for it! ...hmm? There's just a treasure chest in this room and no other doors...

Oh, now I get it. It's the final room. Sorta forgot that this hell-house had an end there for a second. 

Running [Detect Trap] at full power, I cautiously closed in on the treasure chest. Neither it nor [Detect Monster] is showing any response (I still remember the Mimic from back when the Darkland Fort was a spider castle), so I guess it's fine to open...? I honestly wanna open it. Mostly because [Detect Treasure] is more than making up for its two brothers' lack of response here. And the chest's big enough to hide a rhino in it. 

HOWEVER! I'm not an idiot. Even an idiot can see that this thing's a big, elaborate trap. There's no way that it's gonna be so easy getting rich in here. So I softly, silently, and gently, got closer to the treasure chest before trying to..., it opened up without any trouble. How anti-climactic!

The contents of the chest are far from boring though. Because it contains my daggers and my lucky branch! And are those gold bars? Bonafide gold bars!? And these gems..., KEYSTONES!? Those things you can get new Element skills from!? And there are two of them even!

My [Identification] skill can't get all the info behind them, but I do know what composition elements they give. Poison and Swamp. Kinda fitting considering the location. I do find the Poison attribute handy. It's focused on status ailments after all, and it fits my ninja-ish playing style.

As for the Swamp-stone..., let's give it to Bloom. Maybe she'll get skills that make it easier for her to travel to the swamps so she can gather materials for her witch brews. She did do that even before she got into the mess that resulted in her losing her freedom, so it isn't that bad of an idea... Let's ask her when I return.

"You managed to reach so far on the first day. I'm impressed." 

Crap! This voice-!

I turned around and saw the Arachne from before, hanging from the roof. She got past my detection skills AGAIN! I hurriedly got into a stance with my recently re-obtained daggers and prepared for a fight.

"...what are you doing?" - Arachne

Which isn't...coming? Hmm?

"...aren't we gonna fight?" - Garami

"Why would I do that? Do you know how difficult it is to keep this place clean? Not that I want to stay here." - Arachne

"...isn't the bad monster supposed to attack after they have lured the adventurer to their nest?" - Garami

"I'm not doing that! And who are you calling a bad monster?!" - Arachne

I silently pointed at Arachne, who then looked like she wanted to say something, but after noticing her "monstrous" body, she refrained. 

"A-anyway, I just wanted to see you fail all the challenges I created while being stuck here! And how could you even clear them all!? They were designed so that only those with spider-related powers could clear them! I wanted to taunt people who couldn't do something even a young spiderling could do!" - Arachne

"One of my Sub Classes is Arachnid Assailant." - Garami

"...there was something like that... Wait a sec! That class shouldn't be possible for normal, non-arachnid people to earn!" - Arachne

"I learned it in my dojo in my Dungeon." - Garami

"Dojo? Now that's said, I think that Dungeon-related dojos did have it less difficult in teaching rare and specialized... DUNGEON?!" - Arachne

"Yup. I own one. Took it from its previous owner." - Garami

"Now that's impressive..." - Arachne

The spider woman doesn't look like she's lying. And where did the hostile atmosphere go to? Well, this is fine too.

"J-just asking, little missy..." said the Arachne with a way more polite tone compared to before. "How exactly does your Dungeon fare?" 

"...pretty well, I guess. Lots of visitors." - Garami

"Ugh..., I see. Th-then what about your Dungeon itself?" - Arachne

...I think I'm catching on here.

"Pretty sweet. It's a fancy fort after all." - Garami

"A fort!?" - Arachne

"Quite a luxurious one as well. With several floors even, and a fan club." - Garami

"Several floors!? And..., did you just say "a fan club"?" - Arachne

"Yup. They've made it a rule not to go past the third floor. Even when we have six of them." - Garami

"S-six floors?!" - Arachne

"Mhm. And there are free sweets for the monsters thanks to the recently upgraded facilities. Plus the fan club is more dangerous when it comes to protecting the Dungeon and its casino, brothel, and restaurants. So much so that I think the upper-floor monsters wouldn't have anything to do if someone set on clearing the Dungeon appeared. They would be mobbed before they cleared the 4th floor. Probably." - Garami

The Arachne listened to my words with steadily growing breath. Is it just me, or are her eyes almost shining from pure excitement?

"L-little missy-, I mean, your Highness? Are you still looking for outside personnel for your esteemed Dungeon? Like, someone to take the place of a floor boss on the higher floors?" - Arachne

"It's possible to recruit outsiders to the Dungeon?" I asked with an innocent voice. But if I'm right...

"Isn't that obvious?! I mean, why of course you can, your highness." - Arachne

Bingo. Kinda figured that out by the flow of the conversation.

"Weeeeeell..., if there was someone who could teach me stuff like that-," - Garami

"I can!" - Arachne

"And if that someone could assist my training in the spider-related arts-" - Garami

"I am a spider! With a teacher's license!" - Arachne

"But there's still the fact that I need to find out what is bothering these swamps-" - Garami

"I have info on that! Rather, those bugs are pestering me too!" - Arachne

"...how much are you offering?" I asked the Arachne woman while trying to stop my diabolic smirk from coming out.