The Mad Rat’s Lab

After a short while of talking, both our team and Calaban’s agree to cooperate.

In fact, there was little to discuss as everyone benefits from this exchange. We’ll help them move while avoiding the Calamities and they’ll help us defeat one of them after we finish their quest.

One might say that this is too lopsided in their favor, that they can abandon us after we help them…

…and they would be right.

But it doesn’t matter, because I’m 100%, no, 1.000% sure that if we want to solve the mystery, we will have to defeat at least one of them anyway. Calamities must be related to the pictures in this room. Otherwise, it’d make no sense for them to appear in this Mystery Event.

So, if Calaban’s group wants to solve the mystery, they will have no option but to help us clear our mission. And I’m sure they will.

Who would waste the chance to obtain extra rewards when playing a game? Furthermore, a special event that’s famous for its unpredictability, mysteries, and awesome rewards? Only stupid or noob gamers would, and they don’t look that dumb.

As for the team distribution and how to coordinate, we decided to keep it simple. Every team will work independently while moving together, and we will help each other if danger comes.

The reason is simple: coordinating eight people is extremely complicated compared to coordinating four. It isn’t just twice as hard, it’s way more than twice. Even more so when all members are relatively or completely new to each other. So, taking into account we’re somewhat used to our current members, it’ll be easier to move as two teams, than it would be if we were to form a single one.

And for those who are wondering… No, it doesn’t have anything to do with friendly fire. Friendly fire is always active in DMA.

But there’s one last thing we must talk about.

“Calaban, now that we’ve settled how we will coordinate, it’s time we compare our maps.”

“I think so too.”

We both open our maps, displaying them in a big size in front of us so everyone can see. Curious, Moo, Balmy, and Muribelle, as well as Calaban’s team members, come closer. They want to take a look too.

Each of our maps has less than a tenth revealed, which shows how big this labyrinth is. But as expected, only the area close to this room overlaps. This means that between the two teams, we now know the layout equivalent to a tenth of this place.

On my map, there are several star markers with arrows on their side, indicating the direction they’re moving in. They’re the closest Calamities. It’s the same as always.

In Calaban’s map, though, there are just four star markers, one of which is greyed out, the one that points to this room.

It catches my eye that all their markers are situated in the bottom right region of the map. This can’t be by chance… it makes no sense all the places containing the secret info are in a single part of the labyrinth.

There must be some reason why they’re so close to each other. I’m sure there are more places like this room distributed throughout the whole labyrinth.

Ah… here! Yes, I must be right!

I trace back the path they took, and according to the area revealed, Calaban’s group spawned close to the bottom-right corner of the map. If we had the same mission as them, we might have gotten different objectives because we spawned closer to the center.

“I see… so there is something on those places too…” I mutter to myself. “...I wonder what we’ll find.”

Navigator the orc, the guy who first recognized me, points to one of the markers in their map. “Oh, look this, Calaban. They passed close to that one. We can follow their map to get there easily.”

“You’re right. That’s the advantage of sharing maps.”

What are they talking about? We passed close to one of the mission objectives and didn’t notice it. How can it be? The path to this room was easy to spot, and I’m sure the other places will be easy to find too. How weird…

“Ah!” Balmy exclaims. “I remember! It’s near to that guy on the lava throne!”

Lava throne? I see now. We missed it because we were too busy running away at top speed and didn’t dare come closer again.

Alright, I’ve decided. We’re going there last. The other’s consent? There’s no need for that.

Moo and Muribelle nod, remembering that encounter. In contrast, Calaban’s group has question marks popping on top of their heads.

“What guy are you talking about? And a lava throne? Is it some kind of secret boss?”

Secret, I’m not so sure. I agree with the ‘boss’ part, though.

“No, it’s nothing like that,” I shake my head. “It’s one of the Calamities. One of the top or pro players the DMA staff contacted with for this event.”

“Yes! And he has created a lava waterfall, and a lava sea that fills half the cavern. He sits on a throne in the middle of it, with a few stone slabs that lead to it!”

Balmy breaks into the conversation with enough force to push me aside and starts explaining our encounter, followed by Muribelle.

“And he could use this super cool skill that released multiple fire streams in our direction! They could even turn around corners! They were like fiiiiu woooo, clash, baaaam! It was amazing! I’ll investigate what skill it was, and when I level up I’ll pick it up for me.”

“I had to use my secret skill so we could survive. If not for Balmy’s healing, I would have struggled for a while. That guy was seriously dangerous, moooohahaha!”

And with Moo’s intervention, the set is complete and all the members of my party have contributed to the explanation. Though their views are a little bit distorted from what I remember…

Anyway, what matters is that the important bits are covered, so I nod my head in agreement.

“Yes, they’re right. So I’d suggest going there last. There’s a high chance we’ll encounter that guy if we get close, and you wouldn’t want to miss the chance to complete your mission, would you?”

I whisper sweet, but undeniably true, words to convince them.

“Is that so? But it is the closest one…” Caliban counters my argument.

No, no, no! This won’t do! We must go there last! This way, even if we discover there’s no need to defeat a Calamity to discover the mystery – which would make no sense, by the way – I can trick you into fighting it anyway!

“No, no. It’s best to leave that one for the last. Believe me, you won't regret it.” I continue my persuasion, pointing at his map. “Let’s go this way first. We visit this one, check that one after, and finish close to the one with the Calamity.”

Seeing as everyone nods their heads, I proceed with the final argument. “Of course, there’s a chance there’s a Calamity close to the other objectives too, but as you know, it’s better to take the path that might or might not have a big problem than the one guaranteed to have it.”

Calaban and his team members look at each other for a moment, watching the other’s reactions. There doesn’t seem to be anyone who’s against my idea. Calaban, as the team leader, gives me the okay.

“Hmm… I see. Yes, it makes sense. Alright, let’s do it as you proposed. Let’s follow your plan.”

Yes! Yesyesyes! The Mad Rat strikes again! Hahaha!

“Let’s go then, we don’t have time to waste! Muribelle, Moo, Balmy. Get into formation. We’ll take the lead.”

“Wait a moment!”

“Huh…?” With a stupid sound, I turn around. Calaban has his hand raised to signal us to stop. “Why? Don’t you want to investigate the other places too? Why waste more time here?”

He furrows his brows. “But we haven’t investigated this place yet. We’ve been talking with you since we got here.”

“Ah, yeah… that makes sense…” I awkwardly scratch my head. “Yes, sure. Take your time. We’ll take a rest while to look around.”

As Calaban’s team scatters to look at the pictures and writings, I sit on the ground.

Thunder Thighs seems very interested in those writings. Is she trying to decipher them? Because I hope she doesn’t waste time on them. The DMA developers might have put random scribbles that look like writings, but there’s no actual meaning behind them.

The pictures are what’s important, not the writings. I’m sure of it.

 

---

 

Aaah, man. This is boring… How long has it been? Five minutes, maybe?

Watching others work while you laze around is fine and all, but this is only true if you can do something to keep yourself entertained.

You know, like when you did your homework the day before and the teacher just gives you time to do it during the next class. Everyone is doing it while you can only watch, so bored that you could die… but you can’t do anything else because the teacher is watching.

No? You don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, me neither. I’m on the ‘leave it for later’ club too. But I’m sure it’s a similar situation to this one.

“Aaaaaah! This is bad!”

I jump at Balmy’s sudden cry. As usual, she was right next to my ear when she shouted.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop doing tha–”

“Aaaaaah, Koala! This is bad!” She rudely interrupts my scolding and continues to shout. “We must leave this place immediately!”

Oooooh, what a surprise! It turns out she was my ally all along! Nice job, Balmy. I was about to die out of boredom, and you came to solve my problem.

But I must act as if I wasn’t bored.

“Calm down first. What’s going on with you now?” I make sure to emphasize the word ‘now’. For… do I need to explain it?

“Look here! It’s coming our way!”

She opens the map and pushes it on my face, covering my whole field of vision. But it’s so close to my eyes that it’s difficult to see.

“Ugh, not so close. I can’t see anything.”

I’d usually take some distance, but it’s hard to go take distance when you’re cornered between her, the map, the ground, and the wall I’m resting my back on.

“A-ah, yes! Here it is.”

When she pulls the map away, I can finally see what she’s pointing at. It’s a star marker with an arrow. The problem is that it’s pretty close to our current position and that the arrow is pointing in our direction.

“It’s coming this way! We must run before it’s too late!”

Balmy flies around like an annoying fly, shouting and making weird noises.

“Ok, ok. Just shut up for now.” She finally stops shouting after I order her to stop. “How long has it been since the last refresh?”

“It was just now.”

“Then it means it isn’t too late. Calaban, did you hear this?” Haha, there’s no way he didn’t. Balmy is way too noisy. This is what you call a rhetorical question. “We must get away from here. Right now.”

“But we haven’t finished investigating this place! We can’t leave yet!”

It’s Thunder Thighs who answers back. It’s a surprise. It’s the first time she directly talks to me, unlike the other members of Calaban’s group.  She was too busy with the pictures and writings.

“It doesn’t matter. There’s a single entrance to this room. If the Calamity gets here, we won’t be able to run. We’ll be forced to fight, and probably die. Furthermore, I’m sure the other places will be as interesting as this one.”

“But still…” She seems determined to stay here for a while longer.

Calaban intervenes. “He’s right. We must leave before it’s too late.”

“...fine.”

With a lowered head, she reluctantly leaves whatever she is doing. We organize our teams and prepare to leave the room.

“Everyone, remember that our team will take the lead. The Calamity is coming that way, so we’ll move in the opposite direction.” I give orders as we leave the room. “And Balmy, stop shouting right next to my ear. Don’t be so annoying.”

“Don’t call me annoying!” Balmy pouts. “Muuuu. If it weren’t for me, we would have missed it and we might die… So unfair…”

“Sigh… Okay, okay, you win. Good job Balmy.”

“Hehehe… Yeah, that’s it. Praise me more! Praise me!”

Annoying…

I ignore Balmy the best I can and focus on the exploration.

As I’ve explained before, we will move together but each team will operate independently. The reason our team takes the lead when it’s Calaban’s team who knows where the objectives are is simple. We know where the Calamities are, which are the major danger we’re facing.

Avoiding Calamities is our priority. As long as Calaban’s team guides us in the general direction, we’re the best equipped to avoid them. And when we get closer and precise guidance is required, they’ll take the lead.

 

Following the leader, the leader, the leader. Following the leader, wherever he may go.