Dungeon Core Online 74 Chapter 74

From the moment Z's group entered the second floor, James could sense the mood around them change. Sure, the world boss fight had required them to be serious for a moment, but still on the first floor they had been at ease, relaxed. Now that they were on the second floor though, the raid had begun. Of course, even if they were being more serious, gamers were still gamers.

"Hey Gno-more, can you go scout out that burned out truck?" Troll'd was chuckling as he pointed his long bony finger towards a rusted truck, buried in waist high grass. Of course, the gnome, and the dwarf, couldn't see past the tall grass.

"You know I'm at the perfect height to make Olivia sad, right?" The gnome assassin grinned as the cleric and ranger's faces flashed with confusion for a brief moment.

"She means she's gonna hit ya where it hurts." Manly chuckled as he socked Troll'd in the gut, just above the waist, making the Troll gasp. "A little lower than here."

The rest of the party started chuckling, and James saw Z and the Knight's grinning as well, though their eyes were also scanning the wasteland, taking note of possible threats.

According to Z, his game plan was to enter the abandoned city, search for B.L.U., and once the miniboss was taken down, move on to the Terminus. He even had a set formation planned out for his party, to keep them protected from roaming Velocity raptor packs, and Spy's. The raid party was also going to dispatch any threats they saw near the city, that could potentially roam inside of its limits, aka triceracogs, and steamosaurusus.

A solid plan, really, and with 10 players, all above level 20, it was bound to work. Of course, the only flaw in the plan, was that James, aka the dungeon, knew the plan. That meant, he had changed up a few things.

"Is that movement?" Z's fist raised up as his elven eyes scanned the expanse of overgrown grass. Sure enough, it seemed like some of the stalks of grass were moving in the windless wasteland. Definitely not a good sign. Of course, even if Z hadn't spotted the grass, the growling honey badger at his side noticed something was up.

"Do you think it's a new mob?" Elm was glancing in the general direction of the moving stalks, trying to discern what the disturbance could possibly be. Even though they could notice the grass moving, the only way to see what was actually within it, would be to get right up on it. That was the danger of the savannah like grass, the perfect grass for a predator hunting its prey. And right now, Z's group was the prey.

"We haven't seen a floor develop a brand-new mob since its start, just upgrade them." Z's bow as drawn, and his party was taking up a formation. Oak, Manly, and Skar were grouped up, staring into the grass, preparing to tank whatever enemy may be emerging. Gno-more stood still, daggers drawn, and the assassin's form began to slightly fade away. A passive cloaking ability assassins had if they remained stationary for a few seconds. Their next attack out of stealth within 5 seconds would do guaranteed critical damage.

"Well, we need to be careful. This dungeon has definitely thrown quite a few surprises at us since we started. And if good 'ol Clucky Chucky was any indicator, the dungeon has changed a lot since our last dive.

"Clucky Chucky?" James shook his head. As cool as Z was, that was a terrible play on the World Boss's name. The pun gods had to be shaking their heads in shame for Z and his party. If not, well the entire chat was.

"Whatever it is-" Faust started to speak but was cut off as a trio of grenades came flying at the group. A moment later, another trio of grenades launched out, from another patch of grass about 10 meters away from the first. Then, as if on que, four more sets of three grenades launched towards Z's group.

"Get to the city!" Z called out as grenades began raining down upon the group. James watched, grinning, as the party moved towards the city. There was movement in the grass as figures raced to keep up with the party, lobbing grenades as they went. These were just one of the new surprises for Z's group. These were Philoso-raptors.

As the raid party made its way into the city, James pulled up the information on his new mob for the stream's chat, giving them a brief look at what this new evolution was, and what had just happened. Because, while the adventurers had managed to make it to the city, their health bars all showed a decent chunk of health removed. And by decent, most, other than the tank, had lost almost 50% of their hp in the barrage.

Philoso-Raptor (7) lvl 19

Velocity Raptor subspecies

Type: Clockwork Raptor,

HP: 202* (101+101)

MP: 202* (101+101)

Atk: 202* (101+101)

Def: 82* (41+41)

Unique Traits

Steam Powered Pack: Velocity raptors gain 100% increase to their stats as long as they are in a pack of 3 or more.

∆D/∆T: Velocity Raptors have 125% increased movement and attack speed while above 50% health.

Knowledge Bombs- Philoso-raptors launch multiple grenades (up to 3) at their target, dealing 50 + lvl damage per grenade in a 1-yard radius, and 20 + lvl damage in a 3 yard radius. Ignores 10% of defense, uses 20 mp per grenade.

Spect-acular aiming- Philoso-raptors gain enhanced accuracy through the use of a modified spectacle, which allows them to see thermal signatures. Allows them to target enemies without needing a clear line of sight.

Unique Passive

Philososuar- The boss on this floor has gained enhanced intelligence, and through SCIENCE, has spread this increased knowledge and cognitive ability to its minions. This dinosaur has been changed by this upgrade, increasing both its intelligence, and capabilities.

Upgrades monster from Velocity Raptor to Philoso-Raptor.

Philoso-Raptors retain all Velocity Raptor skills

Philoso-Raptors gain access to the Philoso-dino skill tree

Know Thy Enemy-Philosoraptors will stalk any targets they identify with their thermal imaging at a distance of 100 meters. Upon locating any enemy, the pack will summon additional packs, waiting for the perfect chance to strike

Alright, maybe his Philoso-raptors were a little unfair. The moment James had begun looking over the philoso-dino options for his mobs, he couldn't resist. Of course, he knew better than to turn all of his velocity raptors into Philoso-raptors. He wanted instead a nice mix of close range and distance attacks, as it would better allow his mobs to engage adventurers. He also, knew he needed to enhance his pack sizes, so that simply defeating a single unit wouldn't negate their buff.

The end results, therefore, was James spending his extra mob points to increase the size of his raptor packs. As a Tier 2 Rank 5 dungeon, James had a total of 480 mob points for his second floor. When he had initially created the floor, he had used all 400 points, and created 7 velocity raptor packs of three apiece.

Now, normally he hadn't planned on upping the mob count until after the boss was defeated. But with the raid party coming, he couldn't resist. He didn't want this floor to be a walk in the park for them, he wanted the veteran players to feel a challenge, because he knew, as a gamer, that is what he would want too. He also just secretly wanted some easy experience.

So, with his 80 points, James had first added a fourth raptor to each pack. That cost him 49 points and left him with 31 points for additional mobs. At first, James had wanted to just make another pack of raptors, which would give him 8 raptor packs of 4 raptors a piece and leave him with 3 points. However, James felt that would first be a bit unimaginative, and second, he didn't like having left over points.

In the end, James had gone and added another Spy into his main city, a Steamer that could roam, and two more Repairers, for the total cost of 31 points. His second floor was now utilizing all 480 points, and James couldn't be more pleased. His floor consisted of, in total, of 12 archeao-repairers, 28 velocity/philoso-rapotrs, 6 triceracogs, 6 Steamosaurus, 5 break-i-asarus, and 6 Spy-nosaurus. His raptor packs consisted of 2 velocity raptors and 2 Philoso-raptors, giving each pack an even spread.

As such, when the raid party had been on their way into town, they had been ambushed by three raptor packs, of the seven that roamed the floor. The velocity raptors had stayed close, resisting the urge to launch themselves at the adventurers, while the Philoso-raptors had launched their barrage. With the pack buff and the splash damage, they had managed to chew through a good bit of Z's party's hp without even being spotted. They were cold, calculating, and extremely efficient. Honestly, now that James thought about it, they may be a little too OP for right now. But he couldn't change the floor while Z's group was in it, so he just decided to sit back and enjoy the show.

Chapter end