262 Cat Dad’s Enemies at the Doorstep
Chapter 262 – Cat Dad’s Enemies at the Doorstep
= Same Day, Odin Alliance Fort, East of Gnoll Island =
It had been one day since 50,000 players and Joan had been occupying the island. They built a thousand tents and a hundred wooden houses and used them as the residents of their troops.
At the center of the fort, a 2-story wooden house was the private quarter of Joan and Battlefield Warlord. Today, at 8 AM, Joan received a report from one of her scouts.
“What? Are you serious?”
Joan looked at an Einherjar with a deep frown while the scout continued her reports.
“Most mermen have retreated and gathered around the largest island. There’s no sign of resistance from the Mermaid Kingdom, ma’am!”
“What about the suspicious island on the west of us? Aren’t there so many patrol units around that island with a tall mountain?”
Joan referred to the Gnoll Island, where Butter Tank had visited and informed her about the Gnoll Dungeon. She still believed that Xiaomao and Cernun were using them as their hideout.
“We spotted about a thousand mermaids retreating into the forest, ma’am.”
“And?”
“… That’s the current intel we have. We’ve lost contact with the other scouts that flew over the mountain.”
Joan and Battlefield Warlord looked at each other. Then, the former smirked, “Good job. You may rest.”
“Thank you, ma’am!” The Einherjar withdrew from the house.
After the scout had left, Joan took a deep breath, “What do you think?”
The shadow of Wei Zhi giggled, “Easy. They’re preparing for the dungeon siege warfare. I believe they have already discovered the dungeon management feature and how they can use the dungeon buffs on their allies.”
“Aren’t they stupid? We can just block off the dungeon entrance, and they will starve to death!”
“Traditional warfare doesn’t work on them. They have many immortals and gods on their side. I believe they can still teleport out of the dungeon and procure supplies for their people. Also, the Mermaid Kingdom are sea folks. The dungeon might connect to the sea which we haven’t explored.”
“I see. So they are quite smart. They have a fortress that is hard to attack, but easy to defend. They can’t be surrounded and starved since they have already secured their retreat routes and supply routes.”
“Correct, senior. It might be difficult for the PLAYERS.”
“But not us.”
Battlefield Warlord laughed, “Exactly! Solomon has just changed the universe’s laws. We have guild sponsor buffs and the assistance of our deities. How many gods think highly of Mao Miaomiao’s family and the Cathulhus? I bet there are fewer than our fingers. How many gods are supporting Pangu and Lord Odin? At least a hundred! They’re outnumbered!”
Joan proudly nodded, “Good insight, Warlord. I’m glad I split you from Wei Zhi.”
Battlefield Warlord knelt and kissed Joan’s hand, “Everything is for the sake of my saintess.”
Joan leaned toward her subordinate and kissed her. They passionately exchanged their love in the middle of the house.
Meanwhile, Cardachion was tasked to stand at the front door as a guard. She clearly heard what they did inside. She clicked her tongue.
“Disgusting.”
.
.
At 9 AM, Joan sent her order to mobilize all troops on the island to attack Gnoll Island at the west. The 50,000 players assembled and brought their vessels to the sea and sailed toward the destination.
At noon, the vanguard force consisting of 1,000 top players from Claymore Guild, reached there first. Butter Tank, who was the discoverer of this place, led the unit to the dungeon entrance while other players used their runes to mark the teleportation location.
Before 13:00, the vanguard force arrived in front of the Gnoll Dungeon Cave. However, no gnoll or mermen hindered them from approaching this place.
Butter Tank gnashed his teeth. He still remembered the humiliating defeat when he first raided the Gnoll Dungeon with his teammates. At that time, the monsters were so smart that they wiped out his team.
Unfortunately, Butter Tank could no longer avenge that incident as the gnolls no longer existed in this place.
“Is it here, Butter?” One of the guild members looked at the cave in suspicion. Everything around here smelled like rotten fish, and the muddy ground annoyed them.
“Yes, here.”
“Do we have to go inside first, or should we wait for the exploration team?”
“Send two teams of thieves to scout and disarm traps. As for the rest, cut down the trees around here. The forest is too thick, and we’re vulnerable to ambushes. Clear the path for the main troops and keep the lumber for craftsmen.”
“Yes, sir!”
.
Two teams of 20 scouts entered the dungeon first. All of them were dark elves, who could see in the dark. As soon as they entered, they received a notification message.
DING
<You have discovered a new dungeon – Slave Dungeon!>
<You have entered the first floor of the Slave Dungeon – The Cave!>
The dark elves looked at the notification messages and grinned. Although they didn’t get any bonus from the discovery, they got another intel to report to their boss.
One of them returned to Butter Tank and informed of the new name of the dungeon.
“Slave Dungeon?”
Butter Tank was perplexed by the name. He didn’t understand Xiaomao’s naming sense.
“It doesn’t matter! Go back to your team and return when you find something else!”
The scout was dejected and returned to his duty.
.
The team followed the natural path and marked the walls whenever they found an intersection. They took their time, proceeding with caution.
Two hours later, they completely explored the cave and found the stairs to the underground floor.
DING
<You have discovered the entrance to a B1 Floor of the Slave Dungeon!>
<Warning! This floor is suitable for players with a level range of 50 to 4000!>
“Huh?”
This type of information was a part of the new update. Whenever a player entered a monster den or a dungeon, they would always receive an evaluation message. Weak players could now avoid strong dungeons with this feature while the stronger players might find it easier to choose the right place for thier adventure.
However, this suspicious dungeon’s level range’s gap was too wide. The scouts were confused.
Since they couldn’t decide, one of them returned to the entrance and informed Butter Tank again. It was the same person as the last time.
When Butter Tank saw the same scout return, he frowned. The dark elf reported what he had discovered.
“Sir, we’ve cleared the first floor. There is no monster, trap, or treasure chest. We’ve also discovered the stairs to the next level, but…”
“But what?”
“The next floor might be infested with monsters. The system warning said that the monster level range is between 50 and 4,000.”
“Four freaking thousand?! Are you sure?!”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
“What the hell?”
Butter Tank couldn’t believe the scout. He entered the dungeon himself and found the stairs to the B1 floor.
When Butter Tank took a step down the stair, the same warning appeared in front of him.
DING
<You have discovered the entrance to a B1 Floor of the Slave Dungeon!>
<Warning! This floor is suitable for players with a level range of 50 to 4000!>
“…”
Seeing is believing. Butter Tank’s face was ashen. Without hesitation, he turned around and dragged his team members away from the cave.
“Tsk! Seal the passage to the underground floor. We’ll claim the credits that we cleared the first floor of the dungeon, and we’ll let the other units explore the lower floor!”
Dog Eater and Cherry Popper, who had been with Butter Tank since his early days, disagreed with this plan. The latter had another idea.
“Butter, shouldn’t we explore a bit further? If we run into trouble, we can retreat later.”
“No. We contributed enough. We ain’t going to jump into the den of level 4000 monsters!”
Cherry Popper and Dog Eater frowned. They entered the cave to see why Butter Tank behave this way.
A few minutes later, they, too, returned. Their faces were as white as sheet.
“You’re right, boss. It’s stupid to go down there. This is not a place we should investigate!” Cherry Popper agreed.
Dog Eater, the rogue master, also agreed. However, he suddenly had a second thoughts when the second vanguard unit of 3,000 men arrived in front of the cave.
The group belonged to the renowned beta testers, the Spartan Guild. They brought their entire main forces and their affiliated guild members here to claim the bounty.
Not wanting the Spartan Guild to steal their credits, Dog Eater purposely spoke out loud so that Marcus, Master Yeet, and others could hear them.
“Boss, the next floor might be infested with strong monsters, but it’s not like there might be a bunch of them. I think we’ll run into low-level ones near the stairs, but we’ll eventually run into the crazy ones when we go deeper. How about we scout the shallow area first before we make the decision?”
Butter Tank stared at Dog Eater. He wanted to rebuke, but the former hushed him.
‘Boss. Let’s bait Spartan Guild into the dungeon. We’ll follow after them and reevaluate the situation first. Global Events in every game are like a cold war. We use the others while we’re reaping the best benefits from the event.’
Butter Tank stared at the hooded man. He shook his head, ‘How about we send the main team in there and bait them to compete with us. We’ll stop exploring once we secure a safe zone or a place for our people to camp. That way, they can’t simply block the dungeon entrance on the floor below.’
‘Yes, sir!’
Butter Tank turned around and shouted, purposely letting the Spartan Guild hear them.
“Our main team will investigate the next level! Clear the area around the stairs to make the checkpoint and a relay camp for our guild!”
Hearing the order from their boss, 500 players smiled and rushed in.
.
Meanwhile, Marcus and Master Yeet overheard them. The two whispered among themselves.
“Yeet, bring a team of 500 elites and enter the cave. We also need to secure a safe zone for our guild in that dungeon. I’ll talk to that pushover to open a way for us.”