Dungeon Core Online 182 Chapter 182

The siege snake made the trip towards BLANK's spawn zone extremely quick, and efficient. Mainly because its massive size and health pool was able to soak up all the traps BLANK had left behind. The going got even easier as they made their way onto the trail left by Charles the Dicken and the dicken brigade, as a lot of those traps had already been triggered, and hadn't had time yet to be repaired. Furthermore, it seemed that BLANK's players had all headed back to the spawn area, likely to spend the essence they had earned. Meaning the guarded positions that BLANK had built, the choke points, were not manned as they made their advance.

That wasn't to say they didn't stumble across players here and there. However, any player, even small bands of players, that they came across was quickly silenced. James was riding atop a 100foot snake, that even armed and armored as it was, could move quite swiftly. Likewise, the forces flanking the sides of his massive siege snake were all rather…mobile. Which meant that as they broke out of the clearing in the woods, chasing the fog of war away, they were able to see all of BLANK's players, all jumbled together, going to work summoning mobs, or taking a breather from the battle.

In the middle, James could see BLANK's two avatars, giving orders to players and working to arrange mobs. Just as he had guessed, the duo was doing all they could to bring their mobs to bear against James and his players. They didn't care about their players, BLANK just was using them for their essence. With that being the case, James decided he should at least free BLANK's players of their tyranny. And the only way he could see of doing that, was to kill them, which would return them to their dungeon, free from the fields of battle, and essentially from the dungeon war, until day 4 started.

"Cannons on the starboard side, prepare to fire." James yelled at the top of his lungs, even as he mentally directed Monty Python to hug the edge of the forest as it broke free of the trees. The snake banked hard to the left, and made itself run parallel to the trees. It also made its right side's cannons line up nicely with the massive array of enemy players before them. "Fire."

The sound of 30 cannons echoed through the air, launching masses of deadly metal flying directly towards BLANKs forces. There were so many targets, that not a single one missed. As the cannons completed firing, Monty Python turned upon itself, almost like the little worm from an old arcade style game James had once played. It raced along its own length, completely reversing the direction it was going, and in doing so, freeing up the guns on its left, or port, side. The moment its own body was free of the line of sight on the cannons, James gave the order once again. "Fire."

More metal rained down on the players, and James siege snake continued its maneuver, twisting, endlessly upon itself to continue ensuring the sides with the readied cannons would be able to fire.

At the same time, the funky monkeys began letting out their obnoxious, terrifying screams, as mounted aerial players began launching attack after attack onto BLANK's surprised players. Even the two Avatars stared, their faces a mask of disbelief and confusion, at the forest. Then, their eyes narrowed in rage, even as Voltron, piloted by the Knights Who Go Ni, rushed forth, leading the army of mobile suit adventurers.

"Summon the Jolly Roger." The Candied King called out, motioning towards the World Boss Summon Totem. Players rushed left and right at his feet, scrambling to do as he ordered. Even as they moved to act, he was speaking again. "Use your essence to summon Da Breakers for defense, and Skittlers for offensive attacks. Once you've used your essence, if you're above level 20, go take on the enemy. Those of you under 20, shall be my weapons."

More players moved about, as the mass number of mobs that had already been summoned by BLANKs forces, predominately the extremely tough, tanky Da Breakers, moved forward to make a defensive line. Already players were beginning to prepare their own spells, and James watched lighting and fireballs fly towards his mobile suit forces. Of course, the mech suits not only increased player's speed and strength stats, but they also had their own armor, resistances, and health pools. Meaning the players that had used essence on those suits had made quite the good investment.

"My Queen, if you would." James heard The Candied King say. The Candied Queen turned and made eye contact with James, flashing a deadly smile. Then, her focus turned towards James's mech force, particularly, The Knights Who Go NI, aka, Voltron. With blinding speed, The Candied Queen drew back her hand, her candy spear appearing in it. The weapon glowed brightly, before she released it, like a lightning bolt, directly towards BLANK. A move that James was more than a little familiar with.

This time though, the weapon did not find its mark. The Voltron, piloted by the most skilled, in James's opinion, players of his dungeon stopped dead in its tracks, before doing a barrel roll to the left side. The spear impacted into the ground where they had been a split second before, creating a shockwave that rolled out in all directions.

He glimpsed the massive mech drawing out a dangerous looking sword, which it raised towards The Candied Queen. The enemy Avatar drew her own candy cane xiphos, though James was amused to note she had not replaced her shield just yet. He was curious how gear destruction worked for Avatars, but so far it seemed however DCO treated it, she was sans a shield for now. Which had to mean, at least in some small way, she was weaker.

The Candied Queen had brought down Rue though, and was a level 30 Avatar. James wasn't about to start placing any bets on the Voltron Mech, even though it was being piloted by 5 level 40 players. At the very least though, he was certain they could hold their own against her for a little time, until more of James's players could converge on her. The plan, that he had given his players, was to overwhelm the enemy forces with their crazy attack, before BLANK had time to regroup. In doing so, they could use their sheer numbers and crazy weapon setups to take out the stronger Avatars. Removing those two from the battlefield would mean a victory for James's side. Of that he was certain.

A green smokey object forming behind The Candied King, in front of the World Boss Summon Totem, had James growing slightly concerned though. He knew it had to be BLANK's first floor World Boss, as he knew from research that the World Boss feature only allowed dungeons to summon World Boss's for floors below their strongest floor. Meaning as a Tier 3 dungeon, both he, and BLANK, could only summon world bosses for their first and second floor. Of course, BLANK was likely dangerously close to Tier 4, and if the enemy reached that level, James was worried BLANK would be able to bring a 3rd floor world boss to bare on day 5 of the dungeon war. That was a worry for a different time though.

As he watched, the smokey green substance seemed to solidify, though even as it did, it remained somewhat translucent. It shone with a glossy, almost glasslike or plastic sheen, and took on the size of a massive, pirate ship. All along its sides, cannons, extremely similar to those that were on Monty Python the Siege Snake, appeared. A moment later, three flags dropped down from its Mast, revealing what appeared to be a candied skull, and two crossed… jolly ranchers?

That was what James's mind was telling him they were at least, which also explained the color and composition of the ship. Jolly Ranchers were a hard candy that came in small, rectangular shapes, with a variety of flavors. Their one common factor, across the candy, was that they were extremely hard, and could also create a rather strong, sticky bond.

It seemed BLANK had somehow landed a giant, candied pirate ship made out of Jolly Ranchers. Atop it, James could see large, human sized figures moving about. They seemed humanoid, but they were all translucent, and again, appeared to be made of jolly rancher. So, not only did BLANK have a giant jolly rancher pirate ship… it was manned by jolly rancher pirates. As silly as Candy seemed to be for a mob type, James had to admit, BLANK had ended up with two awesome world bosses.

"They're definitely whales." Rue commented from above him. The pixie had been extremely quiet, and he had almost forgotten she was there. However, even as he mentally commanded his siege snake to come about once more, yelling a command to his cannoneers to target the enemy pirate ship, her words made him smile. A whale was a term used for people who spent a lot of money, usually in games that were deemed as pay to win. James didn't feel DCO was a pay to win game, however, the coolness factor of BLANKs world bosses definitely meant something. So, Rue's comment definitely had merit.

"Well then, perhaps I should have paid better attention to Moby Dick." Schools still insisted on teaching old literature from 200 years ago in school, and many people, including James, hated it. He noticed more than a few of his adventurers were staring blankly at him. Right…they couldn't hear or see Rue. Ah well, he supposed this just helped make his RP as a crazy mage even more appropriate.

"Well, hopefully unlike Ahab, you actually bring down the whale." Rue mentioned, her eyes sparkling. James stared up at her, trying to remember the rest of the story. He had only skimmed it, just enough to bullshit his way through the test. However, he was pretty sure it didn't end well for 'ol Ahab. He shook his head, uncaring. It wasn't important, and he had bigger fish to fry.

"Let's go Pirate Hunting. After that, we take down the whales." He pointed directly at The Candied King as he said the last part, who in turn shot him a glare. James could only grin as he heard the sound of thirty cannons fire, launching their deadly projectiles towards the Jolly Roger. At the same time, the ship fired its own cannons, sending green orbs flying towards James and his Siege Snake. He knew this battle would be the one to decide the fate of day three on the Fields of Battle, and he was certain they would win.

Chapter end