*Dong, dong, dong!*

The repeated sound of something empty slamming into a solid object fills the laboratory.

It's the sound of me smashing my head on a random wall. Well, not a random one. It's the 'head smashing wall', a wall I've modified so it makes that sound when I hit it. If I hadn't modified the sound, it would have made a dull impact sound.

Why did I change it? Because I find it funny.

Matching the sound, I shout. "How, could, I, forget, again!? Aaaagh! And now I don't have time to fix it!" For the last slam, I bring my head back before using the extra distance to build up speed.

*Dooong!*

"Uuh… My head is spinning…"

It's all because of Marta's excessive training! If it weren't for her, I would now have time to do it properly.

Thankfully or unluckily, there weren't many invasions last night. That's why I quickly got bored and went to sleep early. Thanks to this, I didn't have too much of a hard time waking up when Marta suddenly slammed my room's door open this morning.

But then, when I entered the game to prepare for the training, it hit me like lightning.

Of course, nobody went to the Waste Disposal Unit! There was no reason to go there! Being outside of the shortest path to the dungeon core, somewhat hidden, and a newly added area on top of that, I'm sure most players didn't even realize it was added!

…And those who did, avoided it like the plague. I wonder why.

I already expected something like this to happen, and that's why I had planned how to solve this: with a third access card!

"If it worked the first time, and the second time worked too, why shouldn't it work the third time? Hahaha!"

Since the objective of all this is to break my dungeon's linearity and give options to the invaders, I won't force them to go to the three optional zones. When I add the third card, I'll make it so they require two of the three, whichever two they prefer, to open the path to the dungeon core.

Or a single one to reach the puzzle area.

But the time I have is very limited, so I do the bare minimum. I create the key, throw it somewhere in the meat mountain, and modify the locked doors as I just explained. Then, I save the changes and get ready to leave.

For now, I don't put any symbols on the access card. I'll choose one later, one that matches the tree and prohibited symbols from the other two.

It'll probably be a skull drawn with residual liquids and emanating toxic gases to symbolize both parts of the Waste Disposal Unit, although one half is empty right now. But I might change my mind…

"Sigh… Training, here I go. Yippie yi yay…!"

"What do you think will happen if I press this?"

*Bip!*

"Hmm… And if I pull this?"

*Plunk!*

"Woo… Why does nothing happen? Shouldn't these things do something?"

I shake my head at my companion's enthusiasm. "What did you expect, Hequ? Most things are just decorative elements. Now, stop touching them. What if there's a trap?"

*Bip! Bip! Plunk!*

As expected, Hequ ignores my warning and continues pressing every button she sees and pulling every lever that catches her eye.

"That's why I'm doing this! It's a lot more interesting when you don't know what will happen next! Also, some players in the forums said there were new traps that would drop you to a new area most players haven't seen yet…! I want to find it!"

"Sigh…"

There's no use arguing with her when she's like that.

I keep an eye on our surroundings while Hequ keeps doing whatever she pleases. "Just be quick about it."

Behind me, I hear the constant sound produced by the electronics and manual devices being used. As she keeps trying, the initial enthusiasm slowly turns into frustration. Hequ's voice and the sounds start getting more and more aggressive.

"Come on… something, work…! Bunch of garbage! Give the beautiful Hequ what she wants…"

She continues doing whatever she pleases until, after the sound of a pulled lever, there's the metal clanking of something opening, produced by thin metal plates.

*Plunk! Clang!*

I quickly turn around and find Hequ making a surprised face. She's flying right over a large hole in the ground, her hand still on the lever. That lever must have triggered the platform under her feet to open. But luckily, she can fly and didn't fall inside. That's the advantage of playing with a pixie Champion.

Hequ and I lock our gazes. She smiles at me.

"Haha. See ya!" Hequ waves goodbye at me and plunges into the opening with a shout. "Yaaay!"

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The two metal halves close with a loud clonk, leaving me and our support mobs alone in the now-silent room.

I gasp. "Hiss… This little piece of shit! She went in alone!"

How many times have I told her to stop doing that!? Does she have a death wish? She's too squishy, I can't protect her if I'm not there!

Are all pixie players like this? Do they choose that champion because of their personality, or do they turn like that after a while? This isn't naughty, this is flat-out stupid!

At times like this, she makes me want to strangle her. It should be pretty easy thanks to her small frame…

As fast as I can, I gather half our support mobs on top of the platform and pull the lever to send them after Hequ. For this to work, I have to order all of Hequ's pixies and fairies to stop flying for a while. Then, I repeat the process with the rest of our support mobs, but this time I stand on the platform too.

"Sigh. Here I go… I hope she hasn't died yet."

*Plunk! Clang!*

The ground opens below me, and I immediately feel gravity pulling me down. I and the support minions fall into the dark hole.

Darkness engulfs me. Then, I land on a hard surface and start sliding down, bumping into the walls and our minions.

"This place…" I feel a slimy substance covering the slide's surface when I touch it with my hand. "What could it be…? It must be… right?"

I'd better stop thinking about it, just in case.

After a few sharp turns and a considerable height difference, I suddenly see light and start free-falling once more.

"Uaaaah! I'm gonna dieeeee!" I knew it was a bad idea! I knew we shouldn't have used that floor trap!

Falling isn't a joke in this game. One of the easiest and fastest ways to die is to fall from a height of a few tens of meters, which will guarantee your death regardless of your level.

"Uaaah– oumph!"

My shout is interrupted when my body hits something squishy and viscous. I then start rolling down a hill, slowly absorbing the force until I come to a full stop.

When I stand up, my head is still spinning. The first thing I do is check my current HP to assess how serious a situation I'm in.

"...I'm surprisingly okay?"

Even though I fell from such a height, the slope absorbed most of the impact, and I only lost 10% of my maximum HP. It must have helped that I landed on something soft.

Slowly recovering from the dizziness, I start to look around. I'm standing on a literal mountain of meat. That's why the ground was squishy. "Disgusting…" The ground is like a funnel, ending near the largest machine I've ever seen. It has an enormous mouth continuously spewing fire, and a chimney the size of a small house. The bright light coming from it is enough to fully illuminate its surroundings, as well as this side of the meat mountain.

I wonder how hot it is, or what that thing's purpose is.

Although the rest of this place is poorly illuminated, there are long pipe-like things that glow in multiple colors everywhere.

"Whooah! What a large and disgusting monster! Haha, this is funny! It's like David versus Goliath… Come at me, ugly giant!"

Hequ's enthusiastic voice reaches me from the other side of the hill. I can't see her from my current position, but from what she's saying, she seems to be in danger.

When I pay closer attention, I hear the constant shouts of several creatures. They alternate between sounding defiant and pathetic, but it's clear they're made by the same monsters. She must be surrounded.

"Hequ! Don't you dare die on me!"

She's the first friend I made in DMA, and I don't want to lose her, even if she's like that…

I start running towards her, forgetting about everything else. But just after a few steps, a monster jumps out of the hill, throwing meat chunks everywhere, and attacks me. After dodging the attack, I realize two things. One, the monster has no head. Two, it's formed by meat, as if it were created from the meat chunks I'm standing on, and it stinks!

I grip my greatsword and slash at the monster, ready to split it in half. But right then, it makes a pathetic yelp, and I feel my sword slowing down, reducing the damage dealt.

"How…?" How is this thing making those sounds!?

Not allowed to be surprised, I hear a roar behind me before something slams into my leg, almost throwing me off balance. It's another one of those meaty and headless monsters.

"Don't interrupt!"

The snakes around my head hiss at my order, petrifying the newcomer while I finish the first monster with three more sword slashes. Watching its HP bar, I realize that the last strike dealt almost twice as much damage as the previous ones.

I don't understand why my damage isn't constant and fluctuates, but I don't have time to ponder as several more monsters rush my way.

I raise my head, astonished, and see Hequ's pixies aimlessly shooting their spells everywhere near my position.

Since all our support monsters are scattered, the enemies shouldn't be targeting me alone. But for some reason, those pixies remained together, possibly because they can fly, and thanks to their It Wasn't Me innate, the aggro they generate falls on the nearest ally, which just happens to be me.

I look around, searching for any other of my support monsters. Mino, Siren, Basil… none of my monsters fell near me. Only Hequ's pixies, the cause of the problem, are visible.

"Why is my luck so bad? Sigh…"

It's possible some of my teammate's fairies fell nearby too, but they must have used their invisibility skill to run away.

Surrounded by the headless, four-headed meat beasts, I swing my greatsword to open a bloody path forward. I can't fight properly with the reduced speed and irregular damage of my attacks, so it takes way longer than I would like.

By the time I reach the other side of the meat hill, most of the monster cries are gone. There, I find Mino's corpse, Siren hanging by a thread, and Hequ entangled in a fight against the largest chunk of meat and muscle I've ever seen.

Hequ waves at me as soon as she sees me. "Oh, hello, Gumiyu! Have you seen this guy? He's enormous!"

When comparing the two of them, Hequ looks like a fly. A single hit with the giant's enormous hands should be enough to send her to the other side of the room, turning her into a stain on the wall.

"Hequ, I'll help you! Don't take any risks!" I say, running towards her.

"Haha, don't worry. I can do this. Look! Pixieeeee~ Punch!"

Avoiding the giant's fist, Hequ suddenly accelerates forward, her fist ready to strike. She punches the monster with all her strength. It feels like the battle pauses for a second before the golem strikes back, completely unharmed.

"...huh?"

Hequ tilts her head in confusion while I shake mine. "Did you forget to activate your skill again?"

"Ah! I did!"

"Sigh…" Such an unreliable partner…

"You should try the Ancient Calamities faction at least once. They have some of the most famous and coolest monsters from all the mythologies, like the minotaurs or centaurs. You can play a sacred knight riding a unicorn, or a flying one on top of a pegasus. You can also ride a cyclops' shoulder into battle, charm your enemies with the sirens, or even turn them into stone with the basilisks, cockatrices, and gorgons.

There can't be anyone who didn't like any of those monsters when they were kids! You should try it too!"

- Recommendation from a random DMA player to newer players. There was no doubt which faction was his favourite.

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