The Past Events of the [Ghost Rat] Gang and the Sea Dungeon
The [Ghost Rat] gang initially started as a small group of petty thugs with just a handful of members.
Lacking a proper gathering place, they took over an old sewer, driving out elderly beggars and homeless individuals without families.
While scouring every nook and cranny in hopes of finding spare coins or food, the gang' s leader stumbled upon the entrance to a dungeon.
Inside the dungeon, there were initially only 30 sharp-toothed fish monsters with two legs, resembling humans in their movement.
Greed instantly consumed him. He believed this was a divine blessing from the Goddess bestowed upon his group.
Determined to keep this treasure for himself, he decided to conceal the dungeon' s existence from the authorities.
However, venturing into the Sea Dungeon was no easy feat for slum-dwellers like them. A single fish monster could wipe out their entire group.
After much deliberation, they devised a plan to kidnap children and sell them to slave traders from other cities.
Their infamy grew, and they became known as the [Ghost Rat] child-abducting gang.
With the influx of wealth, their next move was to purchase cheap slaves and shoddy weapons, sending them into the dungeon with a focus on sheer numbers.
Due to their lack of education and knowledge, no one in the gang realized that the next level of the Sea Dungeon was hidden beneath a rock.
They reveled in their greed, quickly contacting foreign merchants to buy their loot after each hunt.
Even though the merchants lowballed them, the prices were still shockingly high, transforming them from paupers to the wealthiest figures in the slums.
Their gang expanded, and the original members lived in luxury within their secret hideout, with abundant food and slaves to serve them.
Their method of smuggling involved chopping the dungeon spoils into small pieces, stuffing them into the carcasses of large animals, and masking the fishy smell with pungent spices before transporting them out at night.
They bribed every city gate guard to perform only cursory inspections.
When inspected, the guards found only spices and assumed the gang was merely smuggling them.
Unbeknownst to them, the Sea Dungeon had 10 floors from the start and should have been eradicated immediately.
Sending hordes of unskilled slaves with inadequate weapons to their deaths provided the Sea Dungeon with a steady supply of nourishment.
*****
Events Before the Emergency Declaration: The Old Sewer Ruins in the Slums, After Laswin' s Destruction
Ever since Laswin and Calika left, the tremors began.
What started as a faint vibration, dislodging just a few grains of sand, gradually escalated into a quake that shook the entire sewer system.
Debris began to fall and roll away in increasing amounts until a human arm emerged.
The arm flailed in all directions. Finding nothing to grasp, it retreated back into the hole.
In its place, the dark void revealed the eyes of a fish.
Upon encountering light and the unfamiliar sight of snow, the creatures frantically broke through the obstructions and poured out like ants from a shattered nest.
At that moment, a black whirlwind struck, scattering their limbs and body parts in all directions.
The survivors, driven by bloodlust, sought to kill anything that wasn' t one of their own.
*****
Nona, a Harpy Adventurer
Affiliated with the Adventurer Management Office' s Surveillance and Reporting Division, Nona takes orders directly from Rosen or higher authorities.
Thanks to Laswin' s black wind boosting my speed, I barely needed to flap my wings—just spreading them allowed me to glide swiftly forward.
Upon entering the slum district, I saw chaos among the adventurers. Some were beating up thugs, while others were questioning children.
I scanned the slums for anything unusual. If the dungeon had truly broken, I should' ve seen monsters by now, but there wasn' t a single one in sight.
After circling for a while, I heard explosions. At first, they were loud but then faded, only to grow frequent and intense.
Following the sound, I spotted a black orb unleashing a whirlwind drill attack on an endless swarm of fish monsters pouring out.
I immediately squeezed the lover' s doll to signal for help.
The monster horde charged fearlessly at the black orb. Those that slipped through were sucked in and shredded into mincemeat.
This caused the black wind orb to shrink faster than expected.
I planned to let the orb hold them off until it dissipated, then step in to buy more time for preparations.
But after repeated assaults from the monsters sacrificing themselves, the black wind orb weakened, firing only a few more shots before vanishing.
How long can I hold them off now?
I swooped down, took a deep breath, and exhaled a fiery breath.
I set houses ablaze in a long line to create a wall of fire to trap the monsters.
Fortunately, the city wall was behind their emergence point, so I didn' t need to circle around.
The tightly packed slum houses fueled the fire' s spread, but the cold wood, worsened by the relentless snowfall, meant some houses took longer to ignite, causing the fire wall to waver.
Water-dwelling monsters like these were weak to fire, yet they charged through the flames without hesitation.
I quickly opened my dimensional storage and used my talons to retrieve a weapon.
It was a massive glaive, its handle longer than my own body.
I dove into the fire wall I' d created, dipping the glaive' s blade into the flames.
Once the blade was ablaze, I spun and slashed horizontally, unleashing a wave of fire that incinerated nearly 30 of them.
The stench of burnt fish filled the air.
I flew in, swinging the glaive to cleave through stragglers, slicing them in half one after another.
Upon spotting another living being, the monsters shifted their focus from breaching the fire wall to attacking me.
I unleashed another fiery breath while sweeping the glaive, dragging a spiral of flames around me.
This created an expanding wave of fire that attacked in all directions with me at the center, then I quickly ascended to evade those still charging.
Their screams mingled with the sound of their bodies roasting, nearly deafening me.
I glanced at their emergence point. Seeing no more two-armed, two-legged fish monsters emerging, I swooped down to finish off the stragglers, slashing them from above.
Some tried leaping to grab my glaive and drag me down, but challenging a harpy' s strength midair? They' d better rethink that in the next life.
I yanked the glaive upward, flinging one into the sky, then spun and sliced it in half midair.
As I prepared to clean up the rest, the third-floor monsters surged out.
These were fish with limbs like the second floor' s, but they wore armor and wielded swords and shields.
Deeper dungeon floors meant fiercer, more numerous monsters. In a broken dungeon where no one had culled their numbers, they' d overcrowded each floor' s capacity.
Roughly estimating, the third floor had nearly a hundred.
They scattered in every direction except toward the city wall, using shields to protect their fronts as they charged through the fire.
I had to reinforce the weakening fire wall with another fiery breath to keep it blazing.
But while strengthening the wall, I was forced to dodge swords thrown at me, flying higher.
Realizing they couldn' t break through, they began grouping in one spot, stepping over their dead comrades' bodies.
They' d escape at this rate.
I dove in front of the fire wall and slashed upward vertically.
A flaming glaive-shaped wave surged forward, burning a straight line through them.
The move was powerful but extinguished part of the fire wall where I struck. Seeing the gap, the survivors rushed toward it.
I quickly exhaled a fiery breath to seal the path.
"Third-floor trash like you can' t break through my fire!"
But I was wrong.
This time, they gathered before the fire wall, stacking atop each other into a massive mound taller than the flames. I had to flee upward.
Then, they threw themselves onto the fire wall, extinguishing it almost instantly.
"When are they going to make the announcement?! I can' t hold them much longer!"
I created another layer of fire wall, but they prepared to repeat the tactic.
I ignited my glaive with fiery breath and slashed from behind. This time, they coordinated, throwing shields to weaken the flame wave' s impact.
"What the hell?!"
How are they this smart?
I switched to direct attacks, swooping down to strike with the glaive.
In water, their armor might' ve held due to reduced attack force, but on land, it was like paper to me.
My strikes sent several flying, and those hit directly by the blade were torn apart.
With repeated hit-and-run tactics, their formation collapsed.
"Bring it on! No matter how many times you regroup, I' ll cut you down!"
As I prepared another dive, I somersaulted midair to dodge a barrage of water bullets.
The fourth-floor monsters had emerged—fat, round fish the size of desks. From my studies, I knew they had small fins, making them slow swimmers but capable of long-range attacks.
On land, though, they rolled, moving insanely fast.
"What the hell?!"
They spread out, firing at me from multiple angles, forcing me to weave and dodge continuously.
A single hit would hurt badly—each water bullet could destroy three to four houses.
The fire wall was quickly extinguished by their water balls. They even consumed snow to generate more water, firing limitlessly.
I could only climb higher to escape their range.
I can' t hold them anymore. Time to fly back and warn the adventurers.
As they couldn' t hit me, they turned to dousing the fire wall and began spreading into the slums.
*****
*****
"Finally!"
In my excitement, I glanced down and noticed the fat fish stopped rolling, and the third-floor monsters dropped their swords, holding only shields as they grouped together.
What' s going on? Normally, monsters from a broken dungeon would mindlessly kill everything.
But now, the fat fish were spewing seawater onto the ground, while the third-floor ones gathered, raising shields as if protecting something.
"They' re insane! They' re creating advantageous terrain!"
They couldn' t be doing this on their own. There had to be a commander.
I scanned for a fat fish that looked different, hoping to take it out.
But no matter where I looked, there was none. I grew suspicious of the shields the third-floor monsters were guarding.
It had to be under there. But it' s odd for monsters from different floors to cooperate.
I' d think about it later—first, I needed to stop them.
I flew straight at them. At the right distance, I exhaled fiery breath and swung the glaive, unleashing a flaming glaive strike.
The fire wasn' t as strong without wooden fuel, but it was enough to injure or scare the commander.
That would disrupt its orders—a parting gift. This is all I can do, Rosen.
The moment the flaming glaive hit the shields, flames spread everywhere. The shields melted, fusing with their hands and arms, severing them.
Some had their faces or necks blown off.
But the fat fish kept spewing water, and under the shields where I expected the commander, there was nothing.
What were they doing, raising shields for fun…?!
"Or… they tricked me into attacking!"
It finally clicked. Why didn' t I realize sooner? It was strange from the moment monsters commanded others across floors.
Normally, minor bosses could only control monsters on their own floor.
But commanding across floors? Only one explanation: the final boss guarding the dungeon' s core was giving orders.
And only a boss from floor 30 or deeper could do that.
This dungeon is too deep. I need to report to Rosen now.
Because I lowered my altitude to attack and was distracted by my thoughts, I didn' t notice my surroundings. Plus, they were transparent.
Now, around me—even above my head—countless bubbles floated. And the creatures releasing them slowly crawled up from the snowy water below.
I' m screwed! These are fifth-floor monsters—explosive bubble shrimp!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!