The Mad Rat’s Lab

“Hah… I hate it when my knowledge fails me. Will I ever be able to come to this dungeon without any surprises?”

There were two. Two!

That monster, which inflicts terror upon the players, turns out wasn’t alone. There are two The Tunnels’ Nightmare. Who could have expected it? I swear there was only one before. I hate it so much when the dungeon changes in unexpected ways.

“Ah, well… I defeated one. It’s a victory.” I flex to forget about the humiliation following the encounter with the first. “Huh, huh, huh. I’ll never get tired of this. My muscles are so amazing! …I guess I should start looking for the rest of the Green Gang now.”

A victory is a victory. Defeating a monster I always had to run away from is a victory for me, regardless of what happened after. It doesn’t matter that there’s a second one, nor that I had to run away from it.

I’m going to boast so much in the forums! It isn’t every day that someone manages to kill The Tunnels’ Nightmare, huh, huh, huh!

When I start to look for the rest of the party, the first orcs I find are Diq’s two bodyguards. They were about to enter one of the Eternal Resting Areas, but when I got close enough, they turned around, coming in my direction.

By default, the AI makes all support mobs follow their owner when invading a dungeon. If for some reason the owner isn’t near, or it’s dead, then they follow the closest allied player or the closest allied AI-controlled monster.

This is why it’s common to find a group of your support mobs clumped together after being split up by some effect, like what happens with The Tunnels’ Nightmare fear.

There’s another way this can work. If the owner gives the support mobs to follow another player, then that player becomes the one who they follow, and he can give them orders. But this is rarely used, because any order given by the original owner will take precedence; something that can cause unexpected situations in the middle of combat.

“Mhah, Krut, and Diq. Where are you…?”

It’s hard to find anyone in the tunnels. It’s worse if they decide to move around instead of standing in the same place. Though, if I had to guess, I’d say at least one of them is dead by now.

 

---

 

The current tunnel intersects with another at a different height. I look below, and to my surprise, I see a green-skinned humanoid hiding behind a stalagmite.

“Isn’t that Krut…? Oi, Krut, what are you doing!” I shout to get his attention.

He’s still alive. What a surprise. Of the three kids, he’s the greenest one. I expected him to be the first to kick the bucket.

Krut looks around, startled. When he spots me, he puts a finger on his mouth, telling me to shut up. He then switches between pointing at his ear and the closest tunnel entrance. When I pay attention, I hear the unmistakable thundering rumble caused by the Monster Train.

“The Monster Train… Hiding like that won’t work, Krut.”

Ignoring his warning, I jump to the lower tunnel with Diq’s orcs. We take fall damage, but it’s negligible when the height is so low. Jumping down is easy, the problem is climbing.

“When it comes to the Monster Train you must run away… or accept death. It’s hard to hide when they fill the whole tunnel, you’ll be very lucky if they don’t spot you. It never worked when I tried it…”

Images of all the times I’ve died to the Monster Train come back to me. I swore one day I’d bring them down, but I need someone who can handle area attacks, and Diq isn’t here right now.

“They’re coming in this direction. Do we run away? I’ve read in the forums there’s no way to survive an encounter with them!”

“Let’s see…” Now that I’m closer, I’m sure of it. He’s right, the Monster Train is coming this way. I get excited at the prospect of defeating them, but given our situation, I quickly return to normal.  “I don’t think we can deal with them… Shit! Do I have to run away again? If only Diq was here…”

My thoughts come to an abrupt end when I hear someone’s shout, intermixed with the increasing rumbling coming from the Monster Train.

“... help… sir Orc… die…”

This must be Diq’s voice. If I still had it, I’d bet my orc pride on it, but I can’t because I lost it.

“Let’s go, Krut. We’re going to save our brother.” And hopefully, achieve one of my goals, but he doesn’t need to know that part.

“But we’re going to die!”

I glare at him. “And abandon our brother? If you don’t want to come, I’m leaving you here.”

“Fine, I’ll follow you…”

Huh, huh, huh! My muscles twitch in excitement. This is going to be awesome!

If I save Diq from the Monster Train, taking into account they move so fast and that we won’t be able to run away, I’ll have the perfect excuse to fight them. If we do defeat the Monster Train, I’d have achieved two of the impossible kills in a single dungeon invasion!

I can finally see the light at the end of this dark tunnel called The Mad Rat’s Lab.

“Let’s run! We must save our esteemed brother!” …and secure the chance to defeat the Monster Train.

“Sir Orc, save me! I’m going to die like this! They’re too fast, they’re going to catch up with me anytime now!”

Diq’s shouts become clear as we get closer. He’s shouting so loud that we can hear him over the deafening noise created by hundreds of monsters running together. It’s amazing in its way.

“Diq, we’re here! Follow my voice!” I shout back.

“T-thank god! I’m saved!”

Diq appears from one small tunnel on the right. He almost hits the wall in front of him, but he manages to stop on time. He then looks around, and when he sees us, he starts running in our direction.

“I’m saved…!” His crying face is funny. “But… how are we going to survive? Won’t you be killed too?”

“Huh, huh, huh!” I smack his back, laughing. “Calm down. There’s no need to run. We can’t outrun them anyway.”

“But we’re all going to die! There’s no way we three alone can fight so many monsters without a break. You even came to rescue me, but it’s all in vain…”

“I said calm down, there’s no need to panic–”

I try to calm him down, but before I can finish my sentence, the first monster pops out from the same tunnel as Diq did a moment ago. Then, following it, an unending stream of monsters pours into the tunnel. They come in our direction.

If this weren’t a game, I’m sure there would be a dust cloud partially obscuring the horde, except for those in the front; making it impossible to know how many monsters there are.

“Come here. We’re fighting them on our own terms.” I drag everyone to the narrowest point in this tunnel, which, thankfully, isn’t far ahead. “Krut, help me block them so they can’t reach Diq. Diq, order your two orcs to stay close to you and kill any monster that manages to pass through us and use every skill you have to attack them. We’re going to kill them all! Huh, huh, huh!”

The first wave of monsters crashes upon our impromptu formation as if trying to swallow us whole. However, we manage to hold the initial push and I start killing every single one of the monsters that dares to come close.

I swing my axe around. The battle frenzy starts to build up as I release all the accumulated stress upon the unending horde.

“You’re pathetic! Let’s see how many of you it takes to take me down. Huh, huh, huh!”

Trying to hold the Monster Train is a suicide act unless you’re as skilled as I am. As long as I’m not surrounded, I’ll never fall to such pathetic monsters. The only problem is that, regardless of how good I am, my EP and MP will eventually deplete, and then I’ll be done for.

But that’s also the best part.

The Monster Train is an all-you-can-kill buffet! They present themselves for me to end their pathetic lives! A fight to the death, to put endurance to the test! Huh, huh, huh!

“W-whah…! There are too many of them, I can’t hold them back.”

The only problem here is Krut. If he falls, we’ll fall with him. I can’t block the whole tunnel by myself, and once they reach Diq, our chances of surviving will fall to zero.

“Diq, help Krut hold the numbers back. Thin them as much as you can before they reach us. Use Goblin Magic if needed.”

“I’ll help him. But are you sure? If it f-f-fails… I might blow you up instead.”

“Do you think I care? Just use it if required. We’re done for anyway if you don’t, so we might as well try.”

“O-okay…”

There’s no end to the Monster Train. I swing my battleaxe left and right, killing a monster every two or three strikes; and a new, fresh monster immediately fills the empty space.

“Aah… this is glory. I feel like I ascended to heaven. Huh, huh, huh!” I smile.

I generally prefer a fight against a single powerful monster, but fighting such a horde of enemies has a certain appeal to it. It makes me feel invincible.

The fight drags on like this. From time to time, Diq releases a powerful Fireball onto the monster horde, killing at least a dozen of them and severely hurting the rest. Ah, the classic Fireball. I’m not into magic, but I’ll never get bored of watching its visual effects.

It surprises me that after every explosion, there are a few monsters that are completely unharmed and covered by a red fire-like film. It must be a resistance skill.

“I… I can’t anymore! They’re too much.”

“It’s fine, you can take a rest. I’ll take over.”

By the time Krut runs out of fuel, there are so many monster corpses that they’re partially blocking the tunnel. I can hold the remaining gap alone.

“Diq, support me now. It won’t take long.” We’ve killed so many already. There can’t be too many remaining, can there?

“S-sure.”

By the time the tunnel is almost clogged with corpses, the last remaining Stitched falls to my axe. “It took so long… But we did it! Huh, huh, huh! We accomplished the impossible! We killed the Monster Train!” I flex and show off my muscles as I laugh. “Diq, Krut, you did a great job. I’m sure everyone will be envious of you.”

“Y-yes! I’ll save the replay and show it to everyone. I’m sure they’ll recognize the Goblin Shamans as a strong champion after this.”

I’m not so sure about that, but I nod at him. Today, he showed me how powerful Goblin Shamans can be if they don’t blow themselves up. But that ‘if’ is so big… A single mistimed Goblin Magic can be the difference between a successful and a failed dungeon invasion.

“I don’t care anymore… I just don’t want to do this ever again…” Krut complains while slumped on the ground. “I spent all my EP, I’ll be useless the rest of the dungeon…”

“Huh, huh, huh! Rest and recover your EP, you deserve it.”

Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it! I achieved it! I finally beat the crap out of the Monster Train! With three out of five achievements completed, only the Minitaur Queen and the Overgorger remain.

I knew today would be a great day, but I never expected to find and have a chance to fight the two most elusive monsters in this damn dungeon. We defeated the secret boss as a nice bonus.

I’m so lucky! I’ve never been this lucky before.

We decide to take a break. Now that the Monster Train is no more and one of The Tunnels’ Nightmares is dead, there shouldn’t be anything we need to worry about.

“What a great day… Aren’t you happy? We’re making history! Huh, huh, huh! Wait, that…!”

Something moves in the dark, catching my attention.

“Fucking Goblimps! They never allow me to enjoy my sweet victory. Do you think you’d be able to hide from me? You’re wrong!” I shot off after the shadow. The poor fool just entered a dead end, huh, huh, huh. “You’re done, for…”

But there’s nothing in front of me. Am I seeing things?

“Well, at least we can rest peacefully…”

I shrug and go back, only to find a green slime-like humanoid in front of me after turning the corner. Almost instinctively, I swing my axe at it. After the first hit, the green humanoid spits at me and runs away, but I’m faster. I use Phantasmal Weapon to kill it before it can leave my range.

“What is a Panicky Spitter doing here…?” I can only think of one reason. “Is Mhah ignoring everything I said and going deeper into the dungeon? Aaah, this is bad. I didn’t want to go through the Freezer if possible…”

If the Panicky Spitters escaped, we won’t have another choice but to go through the Freezer. It’d take too long to find and kill the other three. The thing is there have been rumors about dangerous Stitched appearing there. I wouldn’t mind any other day, but today, when I’m finally on a lucky streak, I don’t want to face the unknown…

I want to achieve a full clear! Kill all bosses and deadly monsters.

The worst thing that can happen is to find something I don’t know about. I know I brought the kids with me because of this reason, but I don’t want to throw all the progress away just to get some information.

Right now, we’re quite close to the laboratory areas. If we’re lucky, Mhah would have killed the other three. But otherwise, there’s a chance the Panicky Spitters haven’t scattered through the dungeon yet.

“We must hurry,” I signal for the two members of the Green Gang to stand up. “we must reach the next area as soon as possible.”

The two look at me with a question mark written on their faces but don’t dare say anything and follow after me. We run through the labyrinthic tunnels until the rocky terrain gives way to wood and metal plaques, intermixed with stone blocks.

But when I enter the first laboratory room, I freeze at what I see. “No way… Krut, Diq. Please. Please tell me I’m seeing things.” I gulp.

 

“Never lower your guard. It’s when you lower it that the worst happens. Every single second is as important as the previous, even if there’s no enemy presence or signs of traps. You don’t believe me? It’s fine. We’ll see how long it takes for you to realize I’m right. I don’t think it’ll take long.”

- Tip from a veteran DMA player to a new player.