Dungeon Core Online 127 Chapter 127

True to form, Z successfully led the knights from roaming group of mobs, to roaming group of mobs. With the map from the shrine, he expertly led the raid party past all of the traps and managed to hit all of James's chests and hidden treasures along the way. Of course, the hidden treasures weren't something James had control over currently. It was an option he had unlocked when his loot and even research had reached level 6 but hadn't had much time to play with it. What with the whole dungeon wars and threat to existence on the line.

However, he had found that he was no able to add in map pieces as drops for his mobs, and items that could be found in his treasure chest. These map pieces, when combined, would randomly generate a location on the map, that would have a little hidden cache within it. Frustratingly, James wasn't able to modify the treasure they got from those just yet, meaning what adventurers found in those cache's was currently dependent on DCO's predetermined loot table.

It seemed, that with the platinum level donation to the Shrine of Yarx, the need for those treasure chests was eliminated. In its stead, Z apparently was able to spot where the caches were and led the group to a few. To James and Rue's amusement, none of the hidden treasures the groups had found were in desirable places, with two being hidden in the middle of the swamp, requiring the adventurers to leave the wooden path, and wade through gaseous swamp water. The third, was actually under one of the massive trees, in its root system. That one had required Gno-more to actually swim underneath the swampy water, into what appeared suddenly to be a hollowed-out hovel of sorts. Within, was the treasure the party had sought.

The hidden loot system definitely seemed like a good incentive for players, especially if they didn't have the ability from Yarx eliminating the need for the map pieces. Without that buff, players would have to kill off dozens if not hundreds of mobs, in order to collect all the treasure pieces and find the loot. This meant it wouldn't be something they could farm on ever dive into the dungeon, but something that would build up over time.

James could also already see that mechanic being used by groups, to form treasure raiding parties, that just consisted of a lot of people with completed maps, running around to find all of their respective treasures on the map. Treasure trains, these were called, and James knew a lot of people who had hopped on those in past games. Mainly because, those were the events that often led to unique and epic leveled items.

Of course, currently James was only a tier 3 dungeon, so he wasn't quite sure what the highest rarity of these items could be. He knew that as he unlocked more loot options in research, he was able to modify and create even better loot options. James also knew, from talking with Rue, that he was potentially able to create unique, legendary leveled loot, at lower levels. Of course, players would out level such loot in a short amount of time, which was why he hadn't decided to create any just yet.

However, he was sure once his players growth started to slow down, he would start dropping more powerful gear, that they could utilize for a longer time within immersion. After all, one of his biggest pet peeves in games, had been finding extremely powerful low-level gear, that he wanted to use for a long time as he leveled. The result was usually leaving on the gear, even though it dropped his stats and actually may have slightly hurt him while he leveled, just because the bonus or skill it offered was too unique or cool to pass up.

So far though, there was a single thing that James was grateful for about the Shrine of Yarx's buff. It only lasted for 30 minutes, meaning Z and the party couldn't spend their entire three hours running around and abusing the extremely useful map reveal from the buff. Z seemed to have realized this fact as well, as the guild leader had been slowly and steadily moving the party deeper into the swamp, drawing ever closer to the home of the third floor's mysterious, and awesome, boss.

"How much time do they have left?" James asked Rue as he watched the party engage another group of mobs in battle. This time, the group was his 4-mob pack of snuggle woofs. It was actually the first time they had come across a full pack of snuggle woofs, and James could tell right away, the party wasn't as prepared for those mobs as they thought they had been.

"Hmmm, about 4 minutes left." Rue had started a timer the moment Z had begun dropping coins into the Shrine of Yarx, as they both knew the duration of the buff. This way, they would be able to tell when the buff dropped, and when the party would once again be roaming blind. After all, the moment their all-seeing buff was dropped, James could start sending mobs towards the group without drawing suspicion. Currently, he hadn't been, because he figured Z would find it a bit odd if all of a sudden, all the mobs on the map began moving towards him and his friends.

"So, just this pack, and then they will probably move towards the boss?" Knowing how skilled Z and his friends were, James guessed the leader of the Knights Who Go Ni had already marked Grandma Jenkin's location on his map, so that even when the buff dropped, he would still know where to go. That was the benefit of having a stationary boss location, after all. You didn't have to worry about it moving.

James was curious what Z had thought, when he saw the location of the boss, and noticed there wasn't a roaming mini boss on the level. This was, after all, the first floor James had that didn't have a roaming boss of some sort. Variety was the spice of life, and James's dungeon had plenty of that.

"If they make it." Rue motioned back towards the party, a smirk on her face. Sure enough, it seemed the party had finally met their match in mobs. The snuggle-woofs weren't the strongest mobs on the floor, but they were the self-buffing mobs for the third floor. That meant, in a pack, they instantly became the most dangerous of his mobs. Not only that, but the snuggle-woofs, were much more agile than the party seemed to expect.

Snuggle-Woof Lvl 33

Type: Furry

HP: 2550 (1700+950) (690 (460+230)) out of 690 fluff)

MP: 1725 (1150+575)
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Atk: 368(245+123)

Def: 270 (180+90)Unique Abilities

Alpha and Omeg A pack needs a leader. When snuggle-woofs are in a pack of 4 or more, one of them becomes an Alpha Snuggle-Woof. The stats of the Alpha get doubled and increase by an additional 5% every time one of the other pack members is slain. The final snuggle-woof is the Omega. This snuggle-woof gets a sharp spike in its defense and will attempt to flee. If it is able to escape from its foes, it will heal, and take on the mantle of Alpha. At which point, it will return, to try and avenge its fallen pack.

Call of the Wild- Snuggle-Woofs can let out a piercing howl, which has a 30% chance to decrease an enemy's defense by 25% for 30 seconds. This debuff has an increased chance to hit, as more snuggle-woofs join in. If 4 or more snuggle-woofs utilize Call of the Wild, all enemies within 50 feet will have their defense decreased by 30% for 1 minute.

Packtics- Snuggle-woofs in a pack are stronger than when they are alone. As a pack, regular snuggle-woofs gain a 50% increase to all of their stats. If the snuggle-woofs started in a pack, and they lose a member, this increase is decreased by 10%, per woof eliminated.

Unique Traits

Stuffed With Fluff- Stuffed animals are made out of, well stuffing. As such, they receive:

40% less damage from magical attacks

30% less damage from blunt attacks

20% more damage from piercing attacks

10% more damage from slashing attacks

Cutting a stuffed animal open will result in it losing additional stuffing, decreasing the effects of Stuffed with Fluff based on the amount of fluff that has been lost. Loss fluff will reduce maximum HP of mobs by 5% per 10% of maximum fluff lost.

"I mean…" James trailed off as the Alpha of the pack cocked its head back to let out a howl. The alpha, was easily discernable from the others, as not only was it larger than the rest of the pack, but it had a glowing, almost flamelike aura round itself. James was reminded of animes in which the main characters had so much power it appeared as a visible aura around it. That was exactly what the alpha snuggle woof seemed to be doing. It also had a horn on its head, which James was slightly confused about, but figured it was a design option the developers had put in, so he wasn't going to question it. He figured it would play into the snuggle-woofs later abilities, any ways, as he had noticed there were some, unique, upgrade options for those mobs further down their skill tree.

As one, the other three snuggle-woofs leaned back on their haunches and let out an eerie, mournful howl. Visible waves of energy rolled off of the beasts and onto the raid party. The adventurers looked around, their faces showing uncertainty, and a few of the party members actually stepped further away from the woofs. Even as Med Ic began to glow, preparing a mass debuff removal spell, the snuggle-woofs turned, and the nearest one leapt towards him.

Swamp water and mud flew through the air as the snuggle-woof's body freed itself from the swamp, and the massive beast crashed down on the poor cleric. With the increased attack ability, and the debuff applied to Med Ic, he didn't stand a chance.

One down, 9 more to go. "Maybe they won't make it."

Chapter end