Dungeon Core Online 73 Chapter 73

"You cheated." Rue was glaring at James as Z and his party made their way to the second-floor portal. She was, of course, referring to the fact he had placed a bet with her regarding who would be the first party to defeat Charles, a bet which he had won.

"How would I have cheated?" He looked at her, shrugging his tentacles innocently. As a floating eye with tentacles, that was really the best he could do to express himself.

Rue raised a finger, as if to speak, before setting it down again. Of course, she could point out he triggered the boss to summon for Z's group, but that wasn't technically cheating. No other groups were strong enough to take down Charles, and James had only given Z's raid party the opportunity. For all he knew, they could have wiped.

The pixie glanced from James to the party, before sighing and waving her hand. James grinned as 200 resources flooded into his resource pool. Nothing wrong with making some quick resources, especially since he was planning on stockpiling a few more resource storage units, if he could, before his third floor came into existence. He had a feeling he was going to want to have a lot on hand for his customization. After all, he had gamers to impress.

"Besides Rue, it's not like that hurt you." James chuckled at the pixie, motioning down towards the first floor. While it was empty save for Z's group, considering the other adventurers had all wiped from Charles, Rue's eyes drifted exactly where James had intended.

The shrine to Rue, the Shrine to the Goddess of luck, was glowing radiantly, something that had never happened before. That was because Z and the raid party, in preparation of their battle against the Terminus, had all donated 1 gold coin to the statue. That meant Rue had just gained 10 gold, meaning the pixie had made 100 resources right there. So technically, she had only lost 100 resources on the bet, and James knew she wasn't hurting for coin, thanks to dicken racing and the shrine. Hell, he was pretty sure she was generating more resources than he was currently, something he needed to find out how to mimic.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The pixie huffed at him, and nodded towards the group, who was now near the portal. For a second, they paused, and James could see they were all eying a chest that was sitting nestled in the corner.

"Mimic?" Rue and Troll'd both asked the same question, though of course Troll'd couldn't hear James's response.

"Yup." He was grinning. There still weren't many chances a mimic was actually slain. They were, after all, level 20. That meant it was rare to see what they dropped. So far, only a few groups, including the two standing there as a raid party, had purposefully sought them out and killed them.

"Dark souls it?" Elm had an arrow nocked, and Faust's hands were already glowing. Skar's party stared at the two and glanced at Z, who was grinning.

"But of course. Luckily, the game went with Dark Souls 1 logic, and not 2. I always hated losing loot from attacking chests." Z grinned and knocked an arrow as well. The moment Faust's spell, a simple lightning bolt, struck the mimic, Z and Elm both unleashed their attacks. By the time the massive tongue and limbs broke free of the faux wooden shell, Oak was already blocking its path, and the other 9 members were all unleashing a deadly barrage on it. The poor mimic fell without getting a single taste of adventurer.

"Did anyone else just earn an achievement?" Z's bow was back at his side, and he had his trademark smirk on his face. The rest of the party all glanced at their screens, forcing James to once again pull their information up, to share with the world.

Not Tasty- Defeat a Mimic in under 5 seconds. Reward: Title- Not Tasty, 500xp.

That wasn't good. James had purposefully thrown Charles at the group, which had netted them each an achievement worth 750xp. Now the mimic had given them another 500. That was 1250 without even including the experience they gained from the mobs. Which, thankfully, was being split 10 ways. But still, James was curious now just how much experience he would get from the party upon their death. If they leveled before they reached the Terminus, well that was a lot less beneficial for James. He had to beat Blank, after all.

Of course, there was a chance the raid party was going to bring down the Terminus, mainly because James wasn't that much of a dick. Sure, he knew Z's plans, and if he was, say, someone like X-Ray, he would have done everything he could to stop the party and reap all the rewards. However, James just couldn't bring himself to do that. For one, Z seemed like a great guy, and that would be a dick move. For two, if James did something like that, it would potentially push players away from his dungeon, and he didn't want that.

At the very least though, James was certain a few of the players were going to wipe. Statistically, it probably meant Skar's group was going to wipe, and they were the ones James was most worried about. Because they were lower level, they had to gain less experience to reach the next level. The world boss achievement had been a necessary evil. The mimic achievement had been unexpected and was going to bring them dangerously close to likely leveling before the Terminus, damnit. Especially because James knew of at least one likely achievement they were going to get, before they reached the Terminus.

"Wanna place a bet they track down B.L.U first?" James hated the words as he said them. Z's group had defeated B.L.U. before, and already got the dual achievements for beating both B.L.U., titled Blasted Raptor, as well as for beating a mini boss, titled This Isn't the Boss you Were Looking For. James had done the math, those achievements combined would grant Skar's group another 750 experience per player. Netting their experience gain this dive to over 2,000, without counting in creature xp.

The required experience from level 21 to reach 22 was 3600. The only saving grace currently was that Skar's group had just barely reached 21 before the end of the last immersion, meaning they hadn't made much ground towards their next level. But still, James had a feeling it was going to be close. Oh well, nothing he could do except wait and watch. He had done all the preparation he could, and even though he was nervous, he was grinning. Sure, he hadn't pulled and X-Ray and gone full on dick, but he had of course, made some preparations.

"I'm sure they will, but why not, I'll bite. 50 resources." Rue flashed James a smile and turned back to the instance. 50 resources was nothing to her, but of course, the bet was kind of a no brainer. Z's group knew what happened if you didn't kill B.L.U. before facing the Terminus. There was no way they would engage the Terminus without slaying B.L.U.

"Think they're ready for the second floor?" The raid party was stepping, one by one, through the portal. As the did, the new instance was created, and their party began appearing within it. This was not going to be the same 2nd level they were used to. Oh no. This was no longer the age of mindless steampunk dinos. The world and mobs had evolved, they were stronger, they were faster, but more importantly, they were smarter.

Chapter end