Level 1 Fallen

Given our level of power and where we entered the city from, we couldn’t exactly act like newcomers by asking questions everywhere. We had to try to blend in as accurately as possible with little to no preparation or communication. I had heard before that there were skills to monitor private messages, after all. Assuming that nobody had spotted me explaining the situation to Diane, we just had to make sure not to be caught messaging one another in the future.

As I thought about that, the three of us came to an intersection, and I directed the duo to follow me down the left path. Monsters could be seen walking in all directions, but the left path seemed to be more heavily traveled by active monster Players. Along the rooftops, I could see numerous werewolf-like creatures watching the streets below, growling every so often. Just from their numbers and positions, they seemed to be the law enforcers of this city.

While floating along, I listened to the conversations of nearby Players. Some of them talked about kingdoms I had never heard of, or raiding high-ranked Players. One group even talked about wanting to raid the ‘Flame Queen’, Ella. Among this group was a three-headed dog with a flaming mane, a fire spirit, and a crimson serpent.

Another conversation spoke of the Black Scale kingdom, led by my former Player. However, unlike the conversations talking about future raid targets, this one was talking about how it seemed like the kingdom was on the verge of collapse due to their repeatedly failed wars. The support from the dragons was starting to wane, and would likely pull out entirely if they weren’t able to turn things around soon.

If we can just wander around, we should be able to get some inside information on how this city works, then just casually leave through the dungeon platform where we entered. With that thought in mind, I began looking around for other places where we could travel.

However, before I could guide the two behind me, I heard a voice call out. “Hey, dragon girl!”

Turning our heads, we saw what looked like a human walking towards us. However, between the bright red eyes, pointed ears, and the sharp fangs, it seemed like he was a dragon. “Have I seen you around before?” he asked, eyes tracing along Diane’s figure as if trying to recall her appearance.

“Probably not,” Diane answered, shaking her head. “I haven’t logged in for a couple of weeks. Just got back on today to try out the patch.”

The vampire grinned at this, stepping forward to place himself between Bella and Diane. “In that case, why don’t you explore the patch together with me, instead of this garish ghost and the wart-covered troll? Or do I need to roll for persuasion first?” he winked up at Diane, and her body visibly shuddered at the look.

Before I could even say anything, a black spike rose from the floor, impaling the vampire all the way from groin to skull, with barbs spreading out into branches that erupted from his chest and neck. His blood showered over the area as Diane’s eyes narrowed. “Consider that a natural one.”

Our section of the street turned quiet, several eyes turning towards us. I stiffened, preparing to teleport the three out when a round of laughter chorused from the Players that had seen the vampire’s ending. Not far away, the vampire appeared again, shrugging his shoulders with a wry grin as he went to reclaim his body. “Hey, can’t blame a guy for wanting to ride a dragon.”

“I can, and I do,” Diane retorted, clearly resisting the urge to skewer the man once again. She turned, walking down the street with heavy steps, muttering only once we were out of earshot. “Creep.”

Bella smiled bitterly, looking over at Diane. “While I don’t blame you for what you did, like at all… next time, could you maybe aim the gore away from me, Darke?”

It took Diane a moment to remember that this was the temporary alias that she had been assigned. She coughed lightly, giving a small nod. “Sorry about that, Karly. Knee-jerk reaction.”

To my surprise, the Players and other Fallen in this area actually looked pleased with Diane’s display of public retaliation against her would-be suitor. Though, given how I had seen a goblin getting eaten alive for cursing at someone shortly after we arrived, it seemed like they respected strength more than public order.

Seeing that nobody was looking at us suspiciously, I floated over to one female slime Player who was chatting with her friend. “Do you know any good spots to level up for me and my friends?” I asked, gesturing towards Diane and Bella. “Preferably in the level three hundred range.”

The slime Player thought about that, humming in a way that caused bubbles to rise up through her body. “Three hundred? I’d suggest you go to Feycross, then! They’re really high level, but I heard that that whole realm is in chaos thanks to the rune update. None of those winged rats can properly use their powers now, so they’re just free experience.”

“Oh, but you won’t be able to get to a Feycross dungeon from here. Hmm… if you go to the dungeon platform, you should be able to go out through the Shrine of Greed dungeon. You’ll need to be careful, though. That dungeon’s near a big city, so I wouldn’t go there if you don’t have some kind of stealth. But from there, just find the skeleton soldier dungeon, and that’ll take you to Sloth’s city. They have the Feycross connection there.”

I listened to the explanation, nodding along as if to take notes. “Got it. Thanks for the advice,” I said, before turning to leave. As I floated away, I could hear the girl shouting after me, asking to add me to her friends list. However, I pretended as if I hadn’t heard her, guiding the other two back towards the platform. “Let’s go. They said that Feycross is a great hunting ground now.”

Though I said this, the three of us knew that this wasn’t an option. First of all, we had learned from our previous interaction with monster Players that the gates here had a special restriction on them. If you hadn’t completed a certain quest, one that required you to kill a large number of Players, Fallen, or NPCs, you could only leave the dungeon city through the same gate that you entered.

In other words, we could only leave through the ‘Fifty Layers of Shade’ gate. Still, it was better to try to leave naturally in this way than to teleport out. If anyone asked why we were going through the wrong dungeon, we could easily say that Diane would be too hard to hide to use a dungeon near a big city. Better to take our chances with a rift.

As we retraced our steps, I continued to scan as much of the area as I could with my True Sight, going through any conversations, any facilities that I could detect. We hadn’t managed to get very far into the monster city, but we had still entered and roamed enough to get a general feel for how things worked.

It didn’t take long for us to return to the dungeon platform under the watchful eye of the werewolves standing atop the various buildings. We left through the same dungeon gate that we entered, and the entire time I was just waiting for something to go wrong. Maybe a high-ranking monster would intercept us at the last moment, or someone would recognize Diane from the end of the dragon war. I didn’t know, but I felt that this had all ended too easily.

Still, we managed to leave, returning to the shadow maze dungeon. The moment we did, Diane returned to her halfling form, looking at the portal behind us with a glare. “Boom.”

As soon as she said that, the portal shook, collapsing in on itself as Diane’s face went pale. Eyes widening, I grabbed the two of them and immediately teleported far away. I didn’t return to Fallcry right away, since both Bella and I still looked like monsters. Instead, I took us to the vast desert continent that we had flown over during our quest with Marron.

“What just happened?” I asked, looking at Diane while cancelling the various disguise skills I’d put on us. At the same time, Bella transformed back into her normal body, though kept the lit brand on her forehead.

“Something I set up to make sure that we weren’t followed after we left,” Diane answered, still pale. “I set up remote explosive traps along the entire path we walked, including up to the dungeon gate. Even if they had suspicions about us while we were there, they wouldn’t be able to act on them easily if I blew up the gate. Besides, we learned enough with this trip to report to Wisteria.”

I let out a sigh, massaging the bridge of my nose. “That’s… not entirely wrong, I guess. Originally, we thought that the dungeon cities would be inside another dungeon. However, after what we saw just now, I don’t think that’s the case.”

Diane seemed to agree with that. “Right. That slime girl you talked to gave away a surprising amount. The fact that she said the other city was ‘Sloth’s’ city, as if it were just a matter of course, and we’d naturally know about it. Combine that with the fact that one of the dungeons leading into that city is your own Shrine of Greed… I’d be willing to wager that there are seven main monster cities, each modeled after one of the seven deadly sins.”

“I’m not sure about all of that, but I’m at least somewhat positive that the city that we just visited is from Abyssis. Given how big the city was, I couldn’t see any identifying landmarks, but it all makes sense if you think about it. The demons of Abyssis have regularly cooperated with monsters for ages.”

Bella listened to our exchange, thinking about what she had seen herself. “I didn’t see many structures to actually help Players, though. There weren’t any mailboxes or shops. From what I saw, most of those buildings that we passed were just houses, right?”

I nodded towards her at that. “And warehouses. But yeah, I didn’t see a single shop. They might have just been deeper in than we went, but you’d think that they would place the shops around the main dungeon gate plaza for easy access.”

Diane lowered her head in thought, gradually recovering from her Mana Burnout. “It’s possible that monster cities aren’t meant to provide Players the same level of support that normal cities do. Most monsters don’t use equipment the same way that we do. Their main need is a safe place to sleep and hang out when they’re not out being monsters.”

“Of course, there are bound to be other facilities like a dungeon for any infiltrators they capture. Killing spies won’t get you very far in this game. If anything, you’d just be sending them back home. Though, that said, they seemed to have respawn anchors scattered all over the place. That creep I killed respawned less than a hundred meters away from where I killed him.”

“What was with that, by the way?” Bella asked, tilting her head. “Are dragons that popular among Players for romance or something?”

Diane groaned, rolling her eyes. “In specific circles, maybe. I just had no intention of humoring him. Thankfully, the rules in that city seem to allow for such shows of force.”

I shook my head, looking at the other two. “For now, let’s report all of this to Wisteria. We can figure out what we’ll do next later.”

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