New Earth- The Dungeon Of Madness

"What are you trying to say? Venetia is not hiring you. You are the one who accepted the publicly issued quest. As long as you kill a monster and bring back one of the drops to the adventurer guild, you will be rewarded and the more you submit, the better the reward will be. The amount you earn will be based on your performance. Naturally, if you registered yourself for the sole purpose of barring access to other players, then you will have to pay a penalty." Iris sharply replied.

Excel frowned lightly and quickly changed her att.i.tude. On the surface, it appeared like Venetia was on its last legs, but it was still possible for it to have a trump card. Excel needed to be cautious. "You understand very well what I mean. The danger we will face greatly outweighs the rewards we might obtain. Furthermore, you should have realised by now that you need us to survive this crisis. Together, we have almost seven thousand players. Our levels might be lower than the NPCs, but the fact remain that we have the numerical advantage. In this battle of attrition, we are the best possible troops to have."

"Go straight to the point. I don"t have time to waste."

"Very well. I don"t like beating around the bush. Without us, Venetia would be destroyed any way. What we want is a portion of Venetia. No matter how you look at it, you are just wasting precious resources as a solo player. You refused to join any guilds, even the small ones but only a guild can properly develop a town! If you want us to help, then give us control of Venetia. You can remain as the mayor and live comfortably."

"What?" The monsters hearing her words were enraged but upon watching Iris, they all could only suppress their anger. Excel was not only insulting Iris by saying she was unable to grow a dungeon properly but also all the monsters for failing at their job of protecting and developing the dungeon.

"You only have 7000 people. Do you think it will be enough to hold off the incoming waves of Undead? You should have noticed their pattern too. There is a high chance that a level 60 monster will appear during the last phase. Can you defeat it?" Iris said calmly.

"As long as you do not order the NPCs to retreat, we can hold our grounds against the Undead. Even the level 60 boss monster will not be a problem. We have our special items to deal with it. We might not be able to defeat it, but we only need to delay it."

The two women stared at each other, trying to read each other"s thoughts. Finally, Iris spoke. "And how much of Venetia do you want for your services?"

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"Only 60%. Considering that nine guilds banded together for this, we need at least that much. You can keep 40% of the town which should allow you to receive a substantial income. You will also have a say in the development of the town."

"Tsssk." Iris was amused by the players" att.i.tude. Did they really think she was stupid? "It is true that with 7000 players, it will be much easier to survive this hurdle. Many will die but the town will survive. You will also have to use precious items. But is Venetia really worth that much? Based on the price the land plots sold at, it does not seem like it. Why are the guilds so obsessed with obtaining my town?"

Excel paused for a moment. She glanced at the other guild representatives to signal them not to intervene. Iris was starting to give in or at least, she acknowledged that the value of Venetia was not that high in her hands. "Simple. Venetia does not have much resources nearby. Obtaining just one plot of land can at best allow us to set up a base. But why would we set a base in a resourceless area? However, it is a different story if we control the entire town. With our contacts, we can easily develop the town in different direction. This is how society has always been. Living alone won"t get you very far. Networking is key to success."

"I see. Unfortunately, I do not feel like accepting your request. Venetia"s guards are more than enough to deal with the Undead."

Looking up at Iris, Excel frowned. She already did not like the fact that she needed to speak from below but unexpected, Iris directly refused her. She did not even try to negotiate. "That woman must have many more trump cards left. There is no point in wasting time here."

"Boom!"

Suddenly, in the distance, a loud rumble sounded. From their position, the players were unable to see what was happening, but Iris and her monsters could. On the East Side, the Flesh Tyrant had fallen, crashing into the ground. The combined effort of Mars, Karyn and the Templar Knights and Priests were more than enough to deal with it. However, the Flesh Tyrant still dealt a significant amount of damage to the town by throwing its shipwreck at the town, destroying several buildings.

"This… You are not even willing to negotiate? Fine. Let"s go. We will return later, during the final phase. As long as you agree to our request, our players will immediately engage into battle." Without further ado, Excel turned around and walked down the stairs. For the guards to be able to deal with the level 50 Boss Monster so easily, it proved that they still had a lot of fighting power left.

The players were taken by surprise. Was that it? They came here to intimidate here but the mayor did not even glance at them. Were they really going to just retreat like this?

"Excel. Explain yourself! Did you not say that she would agree upon seeing the situation?"

"Shut up. You can go and deal with her by yourself if you want. She must still have some trump cards left. Even the guards engaged on the battlefield have a lot of energy left. The mayor has been very cautious and supplied them with a large number of potions. There are still four hours left. We only came here to probe this time."

"I really don"t get it. With our combined strength, we can easily just take over the town."

"You can try using force I you want but I will advise against it. Your chances of success are less than 0.001%. Unless you decide to use a Tier 6 Scroll which in this case, will probably just end up destroying the town any way. You will just be wasting a Tier 6 item in this case."

"What do you know about it? We won"t know unless we try, right." Endless exclaimed. He was frustrated by his inability to take action. The path they had chosen by joining hands with the other guilds was very narrow.

Excel suddenly stopped in her tracks and faced the guild representatives. "The reason I was chosen by Dystopia to come here is not because of my fighting skills but rather my ability to choose the right moment to attack. I obtained a special skill called [Battle"s odds]. It allows me to estimate the chances I have of winning a battle. I used it earlier on the mayor and the odds are the numbers I mentioned earlier. So, if you feel confident in fighting with a 0.001% chance of winning, then go ahead. As for me, I would rather wait for the odds to improve."

Excel"s words. .h.i.t the guild representatives like a bucket of cold water. They were not aware of the existence of such a skill; they previously believed that Excel"s actions were unreasonable. But thanks to Excel"s skill, they now knew that the mayor indeed had more trump cards left. If they were to fight, it would result in their doom.

Dejected, the guild members could only silently return to their previous position and observe the battle.

…

"I really thought they were going to attack. Did they detect Venus" presence somehow or are they just intimidated by Ceres and Neptune?" Iris muttered as she returned to her original position on the city wall.

"How has the collection of drops gone? We should have gathered quite a bit, right?"

"Not sure about the exact amount. We have a few humans acting as carriers, constantly running across the battlefield to collect the drops from the Undead we killed. But we should have a few tens of thousands of each. They are all being kept in the warehouse. Do you wish to go there?" said Ceres.

"No but you should send someone to look after Mercy. Tell her to come here. We will have a look at the items available for exchange."

"Alright. I"ll do so right away. Are you sure it is alright to let those players leave like that? They wanted to kill you."

"It is fine. I do not want rumors appearing for no reasons. It is impossible to silence them completely. If we are the ones who attack first, they can just spread rumors around which will greatly affect our reputation and will make it hard to attract players. They are players, not NPCs; they will just revive if we kill them and will be able to share their last moments to everyone."

Iris then fell silent and watched the battle taking place. All the fighters involved were exhausted; it included the players still fighting and the NPC mercenary groups she hired to protect the town. There were two main mercenary groups: Black Spire and Redaken. Surprisingly, their casualty rate was absurdly low considering that they had been fighting for several hours straight. It was all thanks to the abundant number of potions they were provided by Venetia.

"Where was I before being rudely interrupted? Right. Looking at what I could purchase from the shop."

"Since it"s night-time, I can directly buy structures and advance the construction of the city wall and watch towers. But, will the members of the church and the temple notice it? I did not use DP to directly build the town because not only is it extremely expensive, it will be abnormal for a large building to appear overnight."

"I should have summoned more monsters. I focused too much of developing the population of the town that I forgot that before all, Venetia is a dungeon. Focusing on nurturing a few elites is not good enough. In a battle of attrition like this one, I am bound to lose. An army must have both elites and cannon fodders."

"But it is too late for that. Right now, to quickly improve the fighting power of my monsters, I have to rely on structures. Even if the church and the temple become suspicious, there"s nothing I can do. I cannot let 3 million DP rot in my inventory. No, it"s 3.2 million now that the Flesh Tyrant died."

Despite the risk, it was the choice Iris made. She wanted to build watch towers around Venetia that could connect to the city wall. While the watch towers alone did not pose any threat to the enemies, they released an aura beneficial to the defenders of Venetia. A watch tower consisted only of a stack of building materials; it had no fighting power unless furnished with energy cannons or other offensive weapons. Still, the cost of a single watch tower was 1 million DP.

"It is debatable… I have the choice of unlocking a powerful monster and summoning them at a high level. But I will have to give up on their growth potential. Considering the price, I might be able to summon a hundred or so? On the other hand, I can build up three watch towers that can buff almost everyone on the battlefield. This will also benefit me more in the long term…"

"I will build three towers; one for each side except the North side since it already has the city wall to help. Each watch tower should boost the stats of the defenders by two points and reduce the stats of the enemies by one point in a radius around them. As for the rest of the DP… I can still place traps around the town. Since it"s night-time, the trap placement should be instantaneous."

However, as she was about to start her purchase spree, Iris once again interrupted. Neptune hurriedly stepped forward and pulled Iris behind her.

"You are?"

Two cloaked figures silently appeared on the city wall. Despite the acute senses of the monsters, they had all been unable to detect their presence before it was too late. Fortunately, the two cloaked figures did not seem to hold hostile intentions.

"Miss Iris. I know you are a very busy person, but we would like to have a few words with you." One of the cloaked figures spoke. They took off their cloaks and as Iris guessed, they were members of the church and the temple.

One of the cloaked figures was an old monk whose name was Balfar. The other was one of the nuns that came with the delegation of the church, Sister Cattleya.

"What is it?" asked Iris. She could roughly guess what they came to say. Like the players, they were also very likely to ask for some benefits. They knew that without them, the defences of Venetia would crumble. They had already been holding two sides of the town by themselves, showing their good will. It was time to reap the rewards.

"Miss, we came here to a.s.sist you in the defence of Venetia, not to defend it alone. After eight hours, our priests and knights are starting to feel tired. Will it be possible to send some help our way?" Balfar said politely. The bald monk had a soft and gently voice that did not match his appearance.

"I suppose you came here to ask the same thing, right?" Iris asked as she turned her attention to Sister Cattleya.

"Yes. We have been doing our best but at the end of the day, we are only a small delegation. We do not have enough people to last for the entire Night of Macabre." The nun replied.

Iris sighed. She had been prepared for this. She knew it was inevitable but tried to delay it for as long as possible. "Speak frankly. You know the situation of Venetia. We do not have enough people. You should have other demands, right?"

"Correct. We would like to ask for the permission to set up our respective G.o.d"s idol here in Venetia. As long as the idol is anch.o.r.ed in the ground, our believers will receive great help from our G.o.ds and will definitely be able to hold their ground until the end of the Night of Macabre." Balfar explained.

"I see. And I suppose that once anch.o.r.ed, the idol cannot be removed. And you would like to set up a chapel and a temple here respectively." Iris had already expected that much. If she wanted to be a normal town, it was unwise to stop the people living at her town from following a religion. Furthermore, if she was to join the Sylvester Empire, by law she would not be allowed to stop the two religious bodies from preaching at Venetia.

"I am glad that we understand each other. What are your thoughts?" Sister Cattleya said with a stern expression.

"Will you be able to last for the rest of the Night of Macabre and to deal with the final bosses if I agree?"

"Of course, as long as you continue to support us with the guards of the town, there should be no issue. We promise to take care of the upcoming Boss Monster." Balfar replied with a dry laugh.

Iris nodded. She purposely delayed her meeting with the representatives of the two religious bodies for this moment. She knew it would be a great opportunity to secure free labour to deal with the Night of Macabre. No matter what, she could not stop the two religions from setting their idols at Venetia. It would happen sooner or later. It was just a matter of when it would happen.

Naturally, the first one to get the permission to build at Venetia had a huge advantage over the other party. This was why the Temple was very persistent in its requests. Since its presence was not very strong in the Sylvester Empire, the appearance of Venetia was an opportunity for them to increase their influence. The church could not stay quiet and let their opponent expand their influence either; they also needed to set up a chapel at Venetia.

An invisible war of influence was taking place since they could not publicly fight each other. They represented peace and justice; they could not fight each other simply because of different beliefs.

"Then, go for it. I will give you two land plots. This battle lasted for too long already. I guess I have no choice but to use my trump card too."

"A trump card?"

"Yes. You will see. Just warn your men to not be surprised when they see a big change taking place."