Quest Failure

"I am really surprised. The barbarians must really trust us. They did not send a single guard to look at the dungeon's entrance or the forest. Even the meteor is not guarded," commented Five as he observed the fight taking place on the fifth floor.

"Five. Was it really a good idea? With the Defacers and the Haunting Ghosts, they do not stand a chance. You are killing all these adventurers. Didn't you say that to keep them coming, we need to put enough wealth in their eyes and allow them to survive? To aim for small but consistent profits rather than short and large ones?" asked Harriet.

"It's different this time. They are the new type of adventurers, the one that can revive after their death. It is fine to kill them. Even if they come out empty-handed, they will come back. The context is different. They are here for a quest and they came here at night. Clearly, they should realize that the difficulty of the dungeon was much higher than normal. We also sent quite a few monsters to their death. They should have obtained a few exp and items."

Five watched the battle taking place from the comfort of the meeting room. It did not take long for all the players to die. They were facing level 30 monsters and there was an endless stream of monsters rushing from outside. Even as they used their items, they took out a few monsters but they were unable to escape their fate.

'Killing people is really the fastest way to obtain DP.' During the few minutes, the fight lasted for, Five earned more DP than he would have in an entire day. Thirty players all above level 20 came to the dungeon. After the update, an enemy would now generate 500 DP per level on their death. Just for dying, the players generated 370 thousand DP. Adding in the DP generated by the health they lost, the time spent in the dungeon, and the refund from the monsters' death, Five earned a total of 530 thousand DP.

When taking into consideration the cost of respawning the monsters and resources, Five made a profit of 420 thousand DP.

Unfortunately, killing groups of players like this could not be done too often. Although players could respawn, they would not want to farm at a dungeon that was too hard for them. If they died too often, they were likely to move on and look for other hunting areas.

In this scenario, because of the quest, it was safe to assume that the players would come back at least once. When this would happen, Five would be lenient toward them and treat them as regular visitors.

"It's over. Can you go and bring back the two Harpy's Bloods?" asked Five. The main reason Five was confident that the players would return was not the quest. It was because he also placed additional baits in the secret rooms. The Harpy's Blood was a Grade 3 equipment! They were meant for players ranging from level 30 to level 40. Considering how most players were under level 30, how could they not be attracted by these weapons?

Naturally, Five never planned on giving these weapons to the players; they were just for show. Now that all the players were dead, he would simply give them to the harpies. Although Angela and Alice were not involved in fights yet, they would be delighted to have a tailored weapon at hand.

"Sure. I'll pick all the items dropped by these adventurers along the way. They should be at least Grade 2 equipment," answered Harriet.

She quickly exited the meeting room, leaving Five alone. The latter blankly stared at the screen. Lumen was rather simple-minded. Her suggestion had been to use the fireflies as baits again to attract people. It was simple, yet effective. Using her suggestion as a foundation, Five requested Lyra to guide the players toward the dungeon. He was not sure whether his monsters could issue quests but it turned out that they could! It was a piece of valuable information that could come in handy later on.

Five was very satisfied with the night. He earned a decent amount of DP and also showed the location of his dungeon to some players. It would be good if he could lure other players but he also needed to focus on the incoming battle.

He currently had over 1.2 million DP but he did not know how much to invest and how much to keep for the battle. The wrong choice could lead to his fall.

"Sigh... What about you? When are you going to hatch?" He turned his attention to the corner of the room where the Nerubian Egg was standing in the middle of the shards of the meteor.

It was Harriet's idea to keep the egg in a similar environment to its origins. As they could not leave the egg in the crater, they decided to bring back a few shards of the meteor and build a small nest. Fortunately, the shards would continuously reappear after being picked; there was an endless supply of them. The only task now was to find a way to use it. The crafting team was already looking into it but research took time.

Nerubians were spider-like creatures who came from space! Compared to other insects, Nerubians were light attribute monsters like all other monsters that roamed space. They could actually be bought via the dungeon shop. One Nerubian cost 100 thousand DP!

However, they needed an appropriate environment to be unlocked. They needed an environment where the gravity was less than a tenth of Earth's gravity. It was possible to modify the dungeon's gravity but the cost was enormous. This led Five to believe that the Nerubian Egg would need a similar environment to hatch but he was keeping hope that just like the auctions allowed dungeon masters to bypass these conditions, the egg would also do so.

...

[System prompt: 24 hours have passed, reconstructing your body, death penalties still in effect!]

Iron Shark opened his eyes and found himself in the guest tent of the Musclewood Tribe. It was the respawn point he had set for himself. After the first update, it became possible for players to respawn at other locations aside from the graveyard but they needed special permission to do so. Players would typically set up their respawn point at the inn they were staying at.

Achi and the other chiefs warned him that there might be some trouble on their return journey and offered him to stay at the Musclewood village until the conflict was over. At the same time, the barbarians wanted to make use of the players to get a few additional fighters on their side.

Iron Shark was frustrated. He has lost two levels in this fight. They had been so close to reaching Lyra's chest but in the end, they were completely overrun by Undead Monsters. Now, it was too late. Although he knew of the existence of the dungeon, they failed the quest and according to Espadon, they would need to wait a whole month before attempting it again.

Others might not have noticed it, but Iron Shark did. The Secret room was rather empty; it was different from others which were littered with gold coins but at the end of the room, Iron Shark saw a neat shelf full of potions and next to it, a pair of daggers was hanging on the wall. He was too far to identify the potions but he could clearly see that the daggers were Grade 3 weapons!

Grade 3 weapons were not rare. They could be bought at the different shops in a city but they were expensive! Now that players were reaching level 30, these weapons were in high demand. If he could get his hand on these, the daggers alone would have outclassed all the profits he made from the trip.

'That kid probably respawned back at the Tolden Encampment. He is going to complain again. Well... Let's check the leader's answers.'

Iron Shark did not immediately leave his tent to look at the situation. He started browsing his messages. He could not perform any actions for a whole 24 hours after his death and during that time, he had already received a series of answers after informing the guild of the dungeon.

As it was an unexplored dungeon, the guild quickly wanted to take control of it and monopolize its loot. Not only would it serve as a great source of rare items, but it would also become the foundation of the cities they would build in the next expansion! Cities were built in resourceful locations and what were dungeons? They could provide much more resources than what a few mines could.

The guild leader's message was clear: "Keep an eye on the dungeon and make sure no one else learns about it."

Furthermore, the guild leader also answered Iron Shark's previous inquiry. The barbarians did not simply ask Iron Shark to stay at the village. They also asked him to call his guild to protect them. Although they had the dungeon as their back up plan, they did not want to use it yet.

Iron Shark was puzzled at first and asked for the guild leader for advice. He was very clear about the situation. More than ten tribes were ganging up on three other tribes but he did not know the reason. He naturally did not want to fight on the weaker side. He was curious. Why the barbarians were not anxious?

Even as a force three times larger than theirs was making its way toward their village, none of the barbarians were scared as if this war was already won. Now, Iron Shark finally understood. The Black Iron Village did not mind selling its weapons simply because it had the dungeon as an excellent source of weapons and materials. 'They must have picked decent items and were confident in their ability to defeat the other tribes. Who knows what kind of treasure they found there?'

Iron Shark initially wanted to contact the ten tribes and join them for a piece of the cake. However, he was now considering fighting on the side of the Musclewood Tribe. If he joined the ten tribes, he would at most gain a few experience and items but if he joined the Musclewood Tribe, there was a better chance that he might get a share of the dungeon!

The Musclewood Tribe requested for some help but they did not discuss what would be Iron Shark's compensation. If Blue Lagoon could get permission to hunt at the dungeon, he would not hesitate and accept the barbarians' request.