The Enchanted Forest Dungeon
They walked for, who knows how long until a bright light suddenly illuminated them. Passing through dark passages seemed to be the basic setting in the game. But each time the bright light illuminated her character and revealed the incredible place hidden within, Della never failed to be amazed as the beautifully colored forest greeted her once they emerged from the darkness.
[Zee: Do you know any dungeons of this type?]
Della looked around her carefully, before hesitantly answering her teammate's question.
[Athena: This ... Enchanted Forest?]
Another reply quickly came in after that.
[Zee: Yes. It seems that we got the part to complete the Enchanted Forest Dungeon this time. Wow, our luck isn't that bad.]
Since there were so many dungeons in the Tales of Dungeon game, the game developers ended up providing the same dungeon model for several difficulty levels. For old players like her, of course, Della was no stranger to this Enchanted Forest Dungeon.
Known as an S-class dungeon, the Enchanted Forest Dungeon is actually not too difficult to complete as long as the players follow the game's directions well. This dungeon prioritizes the player's brainpower over strength. This dungeon was suitable for Della, who had a low level but had a lot of experience in this game.
Zee led them deeper into the colorful forest. The mist that had previously blocked their vision slowly dissipated, as their path was suddenly blocked by an enormous stone troll.
The stone troll was the guardian of the outer dungeon that would be the duo's first opponent. The monster's life was enormous and impossible for two players like them to fight. Fortunately, the troll offered another option besides fighting it with force. They could play riddles with the troll. And be allowed to pass, if they answered the questions correctly.
[System: The dungeon keeper offered two choices for the player. Play/Fight].
Della deliberately waited for Zee to answer to see what he thought. But unexpectedly, Zee instead gave her the freedom for Della to choose whichever path was much easier for the girl. Zee promised she would follow whatever Della wanted.
Della should have memorized all the answers to the monster's riddles, so she unhesitatingly chose to play. Since Della wanted her to be at least a little useful, the girl personally proposed that she should be the one to answer the questions. Zee again quickly agreed. Della was silent for some reason. As long as she was playing ... This was the first time she had met a player as relaxed as Zee.
[Zee: You can answer from now on. Remember, I'll be here to support you!]
Whether it was because of Zee's good manners, or because the man was just naturally too friendly and kind, Della began to let down her guard as she replied to Zee's message sincerely.
[Athena: Thank you. I'll fight well!]
She replied while adding an encouraging emoji. Della was filled with confidence to answer all the questions posed by the new troll. However, reality soon hit her, as the game notification gave her a very cruel reality.
[System: Your answer is incorrect.]
Della took a nervous breath. She answered the second answer carefully, only to get the same answer again.
[System: Your answer is incorrect.]
Della scratched her head in frustration. She ... Never thought that the game would replace all the questions that the troll usually asked at times like this. All the puzzles given were completely new, and Della didn't understand those kinds of puzzles at all.
Della tried to calm down. She had always been top of her class since she was in elementary school. She should ... She should be able to solve the rest of the puzzles. Della even bothered to go online, only to find a string of expletives containing the frustrations of players who had equally failed to guess the strange puzzle.
There was a pause of silence after Della looked at the question again. The stone troll usually gave five questions. Della couldn't answer two questions so far. If she couldn't answer the third question ... It was certain that they would have to fight the troll using brute force if they wanted to conquer the dungeon.
Other guilds might not mind too much since they were attending this event with their other members. But for her guild ... Della was only working on it with one other person at the moment.
For a moment, Della began to regret her decision to be the one to challenge the troll.
Ding!
When Della was looking for an excuse to apologize to Zee, another message notification immediately entered her personal chat column. Della quickly opened it. The message was sent by Zee when she was busy thinking alone.
[Zee: It's okay even if you can't answer the riddle. I promised you that we would win. You can have as much fun as you want while being with me #happy.]
"She wants to fight this powerful troll alone?" whispered Della to herself. Now, Della didn't know anymore whether this character named Zee was really strong, or he was participating in this event just to kill himself.
[Athena: ... Alright. I'm sorry I messed up this time. The questions were different from the usual ones. Other players also complained a lot because they couldn't answer this new puzzle.]
In the end, Della could only reply thus. She didn't know the answer to the strange riddle asked by the troll. Della pressed the original answer while continuing to hope that she guessed correctly. But again Della had to be disappointed, as another notification appeared on her game screen.
[System: Your answer is incorrect. The Stone Troll is disappointed that you couldn't answer a single question correctly. Stone Troll attack increased by 5%.]
"There's even this kind of annoying new effect?!" screamed Della in annoyance. The girl completely panicked as the stone troll started roaring in rage and attacked them blindly. Just one attack had taken half of Della's life. Della felt like crying without tears. This game was too cruel. She had just felt she could do anything with her new character. But now, the cruel reality again slapped her hard.
Her graceful-looking character could only spin around like a desperate mouse as the trolls attacked them without the slightest pause. Della was really desperate right now. Let's not talk about whether she could finish this dungeon or not. Just being able to get out of this situation without dying multiple times was already amazing enough for Della.
When Della's character was running around like a miserable person, Zee finally canceled the status of following Della's character. His character majestically advanced then took out a large staff that immediately cast a high-level spell. The spell gave the effect of a lightning explosion when launched by Zee. The spell, which was the appearance of thousands of glowing knives, really looked majestic and terrifying. The thousands of knives quickly shot toward the stone troll, slashing it into pieces and exploding until there was nothing left.
In an instant, the monster that had made Della's character run around like a little mouse died without being able to leave any ashes behind.
At the same time, Della's screen also flickered rapidly after that amazing performance.
[System: Your team successfully killed the Stone Troll. You get 10,000 experience points.]
[System: You leveled up successfully.]
[System: You leveled up successfully.]
[System: You leveled up successfully.]
....
[System: Congratulations, you reached level 30. Some special skill features are unlocked at this level. Please check your profile for more details.]
It took Della up to a week to get to level 25. Yet, just by running around with Zee, she suddenly got five levels and some nice rewards without even trying.
For a while, Della didn't know whether she should laugh or cry at this point. She was indeed happy to be able to level up that fast without any effort. However, Della suddenly thought this strange player she was teammates with seemed ... Too extraordinary?
As Della recalled, even her old guild leader needed three attacks before successfully killing the stone troll. But this guy in front of her ... He actually killed the monster with a single attack.