Nightmare Fantasy Online

Terra Sol AS Office:

"Boss, how about this?" 

One of the programmers gave the head of development, Edenweith Ereris, a document on his tablet that showed various statistics regarding a future event planned for Nightmare Fantasy Online. 

"A Dungeon Battle event... Are there enough players that double as Dungeon Rulers?" - Edenweith

"That is-" 

Then, before the programmer could reply, a mechanical voice came from the speakers mounted on the walls.

[A Migrant has obtained an item crafted with a Sin Relic]

All the other workers froze when they heard the announcement. It lasted for 0.6 seconds. 

"Who did that!? Fantasia, who is that player!" 

The programmers started to demand answers from Fantasia, the support AI that assisted the programmers with developing and maintaining "Nightmare Fantasy Online". 

[Player name: Garami. A demon-type Dungeon Ruler]

"Now that's what I call "speaking of the devil"!" shouted Edenweith while laughing out loud. 

"And what type of Sin Relic did she use?" - Edenweith

[The Relic used is: "Branch of Soul-Eating Gluttony"]

"Wow! That's one of the rarer ones!"

"So, it's been made into a magician's staff?"

"That would make it easier to incorporate other Sin Relics. Who's the crafter?" 

"...it's Grus from the Blastfields located in the Umbral region!"

"Wow...a rare item and a rare NPC in the same sitting..."

Edenweith ignored the other programmers and started looking into the player who had managed to be the first to "progress with the game's main story".

(...that is the... the mademoiselle!) - Edenweith

Edenweith remembered back when he first met the "mademoiselle" and had a heart attack. Literally. The similarities between her and the CEO were enough to make Edenweith remember the countless pains the CEO had made him endure.

Despite that, Edenweith had a revelation. That this girl could bring a storm to the world of Nightmare Fantasy Online if she was allowed to participate. Or maybe it was his developed survival instincts telling him that the girl was dangerous due to the similarities between her and the CEO. 

"...guys! Jack up the difficulty of the 4th official event to "Hellish Hard"!" - Edenweith

"Oh! We're bringing in the White Order?" 

"Now we're talking! Mr. Ereris, how about a field boss as well?" 

"I'll allow it! Bring the worst that can be brought out! And make the Dungeon Rulers pick up the pace!" - Edenweith

Without knowing it, the ruler of the Darkland Fort had increased the difficulties she would be facing in the future.

---

Garami's PoV:

*Slash!!*

And the slime's done for~~. 

"Wow! That was awesome!" - Black Bone

"It seems that master Grus is indeed in a league of his own." - Aino

It's the last day we'd put to gathering materials from the Lava Lake, but we decided to reschedule a little. That is because we wanted to test out my sparkling new weapon!

"Garami, there's another one at 3 o'clock!" - Black Bone

That's a "hell dog", I think. It's a huge, red dog with flames emerging from its fur. Now, who's a bad doggy? You are, yes you are!

The dog came charging at me after I caught its aggro with my Evil Eyes, so I went into a stance with my new weapon: a huge, jet-black scythe with a blade that seemed like it was made out of dark energy.

The naming sense is horrible though. I needed to invest 6 AP in [Identification] to get this more precise description of its abilities. What do you mean it's not possible to get exact numerical values unless the skill's at Lv.8? I got other stuff to use my AP on!

Ah, the doggie's coming at me. But its legs got caught by a beartrap right before it could bite me, so I slashed the stationary wolf into pieces. 

"An insta-kill!?" - Black Bone

"Most of it must come from that the dog was pretty weak, but I agree. Garami has efficiently graduated to becoming a front-line fighter." - Aino

"I'm not gonna job-change into a warrior just because my weapon's new. It's only my attack power that's gone up." - Garami

"And there goes the hope of having a tank to our party!" - Black Bone

It's unreasonable for you guys to think that a Scout-based player like me can do that job in the first place.

"What was that beartrap about then? That could be a possible method to hold the defensive lines." - Aino

"That's due to the skill called [Trap Expertise]. It evolved to this thanks to the stones we got after defeating the toad. I'll refrain from saying more, but the skill uses a lot of MP." - Garami

When I first got it, I believed this skill wasn't anything too impressive, but then I got to see it in action. 

This skill has more than just lots of uses. The beartrap from before was something I made using the volcanic rocks on the ground. If I push it, I bet I could use this to destroy rolling boulders or even walls by "using them as materials for traps". I've already tested it. It doesn't work in places like a Dungeon, tested that too, but it's no joke saying that this may be one of my strongest skills at the moment.

"So we do not have anything to defend us in the rearguard. Not that I find it that troublesome. My main occupation is being an artisan." - Aino

"But I need corpses!" - Black Bone

While I was watching the two's bickering, I used the scythe's ability to detach into two new blades, a heavy-looking knife that's better known as a billhook and a dagger with a sharp tip like a spear, and sheathed them. This is way easier than having to drag around the scythe in its normal state~.

The first dagger is what the scythe's blade turned into after I divided the weapon, and the spear-dagger is the bottom half of the shaft, which ended in a spear-like blade.

The staff was somehow retracted into the handle when the scythe goes into its "dagger mode". Got no clue how, but Grus is amazing for being able to make such a thing. It did take some days for him to make it, despite it taking less than an hour for all the other items, but I'm not complaining. Especially since all the transformations can be done in the blink of an eye. 

"Aww, I want something cool like that." - Black Bone

"You have said that so many times now that I've lost count." - Garami

"And I'll continue to!" - Black Bone

What a pain...

"Shall we move on with the conversation? I cannot log in for three days starting tomorrow, so what shall we do?" - Aino

Seems like Aino's not a NEET like me...crap. I'm repeating my inner monologue from yesterday when she first mentioned it.

"That's simple. Garami and I'll annihilate the vampires on our own!" - Black Bone

"Don't get cocky. Let's use those days to scout their territory, then strike when Aino and her Fire magic are available again." - Garami

"Tch. When am I ever going to get the spotlight?" - Black Bone

I don't think it's healthy for a Skeleton to be in any kind of light. The Undead takes passive damage from that. 

"And how are we supposed to "scout" those vampires?" - Black Bone

"That would be..." - Garami

Crap. I just realized that we don't know which vampire to go after. Their area's a ghost town covered with volcanic ashes. Ghouls and various other vampiric monsters live there in addition to the humanoid vampires. 

The problem is that ALL the vampires live there. As in all the different vampire families. I only want to get back at the jerks who messed things up on the train. I'm not planning to start a full war against the whole vampire race (limited to this region). 

Another idea could be to challenge weakling vampires for materials and a chance to get new monster lines/elements, but nothing of that kind appeared from the materials we got from the lava lake. It seems that your everyday drops aren't enough to satisfy a Dungeon. We need to aim higher.

"Sounds troublesome." - Aino

"Really? Can't we just ask the guards about the identity of the vampire that attacked? Or of any other vamps that are fine to hunt? They are practically criminals." - Black Bone

You can ask about that!? 

---

"Yes, we have managed to uncover the identity of the perpetrator of the train-jack incident."

That's the answer the official from the guards' HQ gave us after we returned to the city. Huh? Was it that easy?

"Cool, bro! Can you tell us about them? We were on the train when that jerk attacked, so as prideful adventurers, we want to dish out some payback." - Black Bone

"Very well. But please be cautious that some of the vampire families do not wish for conflict, so try to stay clear of their areas when you are hunting for materials."

The official's words made a sweatdrop appear on Bones' skull. He saw right through you, buddy. 

Regardless of that, the official showed us a map of the ghost town section of the Blastfields, the area where the vampires live. It's divided into five different color groups that represent the area underneath a vampire family's rule. 

The green section belongs to the Fortum family. They're a bunch of vamps who train themselves in the art of espionage. Maybe due to that, their level of arrogance is way lower than compared to ordinary vampires. They even provide inside info about the other families to the town guards. 

The yellow section of the map shows the Indago group. They're originally not vampires, but a bunch of different races who through research evolved into vampires. According to the rumors, some are even aiming to become liches. They have the lowest amount of area, but they'll leave you alone if you do the same. 

The blue section belongs to the Sanguis vampire family which acts more like monsters than any of the others. They kidnap and drain people of their blood just to satisfy the vampires' literal bloodlust. They are so obsessed with tasting blood that they don't care about pride or glory, and act more like rabid wild dogs. 

And finally, the red section. It belongs to the aristocratic Nobilis family. 

"Let me guess, they were involved with the train jack?" - Aino

"Correct. They are the only ones who both have the brains to perform such an operation while also being too dumb to know it's a bad idea."

Ouch. The official's words are so thorny that they can be used as wooden stakes. 

"And these black spots?" - Aino

"Those are untaken areas that are infested with Ghouls and their likes. You can hunt there, but if the wild populace there gets too thinned, one of the four families may take the area and disrupt the power balance, so please refrain from that. We can look through the fingers if it's either the Nobilis family or the Sanguis family who are thinned out."

So said the officer while trying his best to look innocent about the last part. And all the other guards seem to be with him on that, seeing how they're trying to whistle oh so innocently when I looked at them. Eh, whatever. Nobilis seems like a good place to start our vampire hunt anyway. 

"Excuse me for asking, but is it a trend among you Migrants to hunt vampires now?" said the officer.

"Why do you ask?" - Black Bone

"There was someone else asking about them yesterday. She was wearing a nun outfit, but she looked a little...strange. Is she a friend of yours?"

The officer suddenly asked us that, but of all things, a nun outfit? That's a new one. Aino looked like she'd swallowed a bitter bug, while Bones went pale despite being only a skeleton. ...meh. If I can't remember it, it couldn't be something that terrible. 

"More importantly, where do they sell garlic and stakes," I asked the officer, ignoring the two behind me. My Dungeon is hungry for vampire blood~!