Chapter 27
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The 702nd Wave (1)
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“Alright, I’m all set.”
I sat on the floor of my one-room apartment and dusted off my hands.
To my right was a Badugi coffee milk, said to have the highest caffeine content.
To my left were a sandwich and a hamburger for a quick meal.
On the bed, I even placed some peppermint gum to ward off any potential drowsiness.
With this, my preparations were now complete.
“Now, let’s get the other preparations started.”
After taking a few sips of the coffee milk, I touched my earlobe.
[Would you like to start playing 「Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters」?]
An information window that only appears when the wave warning alert goes off.
[Connecting to 「Monsters Are Blocked by Monsters」.]
I touched my earlobe again.
Along with the familiar phrase, the status window before me transformed into a pixelated screen, expanding to the size of a 32-inch monitor.
At the same time, a sensation washed over me, as if my joints were being held in place by sticky spiderwebs.
“First, the deployable monsters.”
[Checking current monster forces defending the Dream Lord's Castle.]
Three Goblin Fighters, Gono, Odolph, and Jen Karuk.
Plus a total of twenty Lizardmen captured in the Garden of Grief.
I could deploy a total of 26 monsters.
The situation was much better than during the 701st wave.
“This time, I can probably tackle it with a straightforward approach.”
It looked like I wouldn't have to worry about clearing the wave with sheer grit alone, like last time.
“The system also feels strangely kinder than last time.”
For the 701st wave, the alarm went off right before the invasion.
But now, it was providing information with nearly an hour and a half left until the invasion.
Aren't games usually nice during the tutorial and then merciless afterward?
On top of that, another surprising information window popped up.
[As the sole player, a special privilege is granted.]
“Oh!”
I love privileges!
The privilege from the last wave was one defensive structure and one wearable item.
So this time...
[Temporarily, for this wave, an 'Item Peddler' will appear. You can purchase consumable items from the Item Peddler, and items can be used during the wave.]
“Oho.”
An Item Peddler, huh.
Immediately after, a pixelated, bearded dwarf wearing a turban appeared next to the Lord in the Audience Chamber.
When I tapped the pixelated figure with my finger, the dwarf shouted, “Thank you!” and gave a thumbs-up.
A list of purchasable items appeared.
Most of them were useless junk.
But of course, there was also an item that made my eyes widen.
[Monster Energy Bar Set (25 pieces)]
[An energy bar loved by everyone, from Kobolds to evil spirits. Probably!]
[Slightly recovers the health and mana of hired monsters. ※ Note: You must feed it to them directly!]
“There were no items in MonMonMak that let you heal during a defense.”
The exact numbers weren't shown, but it should be at least over ten percent.
But suddenly, a sense of unease washed over me.
It was too nice. Way too nice.
If this was the ‘MonMonMak’ I knew, there had to be a reason for this.
As if reading my thoughts, an information window popped up.
[Would you like to check the wave information?]
“Check.”
[The 702nd monster wave consists of 1200 monsters.]
“What?”
1200 of them?
That was a whopping twenty times more than the sixty from the 701st wave.
Even with the ridiculously overpowered trio of Gono, Odolph, and Jen Karuk...
It was a number they couldn't block even if each of them took on a hundred.
But the notifications didn't stop there.
[Information for this wave is provided on a limited basis. Instead of specific monster information, the monster's star-rating will be displayed.]
Yep, this is what makes it a legendary piece of crap game.
[The 702nd wave includes one 7-star monster and 1199 2-star monsters.]
“Hmm?”
Out of 1200 monsters, only one is 7-star?
I narrowed my eyes for a moment.
There were waves like this back in the ‘MonMonMak’ days.
An insane number of monsters, and a wave with a similar composition.
Calmly tracing back my memories, I soon broke into a grin.
Yeah, I remember now.
The ones whose specialty was pushing forward with sheer numbers.
“And I had the perfect medicine for them.”
I tapped the pixelated window and checked the two tickets I had saved from before.
[1 Special Space Development Ticket]
[1 Premium Gacha Ticket]
These were the rewards I got for defeating Jen Karuk.
From them, I chose the Special Space Development Ticket.
[Special Space Development Ticket - Consume gold to instantly construct a special room.]
This was like a combination of an Instant Completion Ticket and a Trap Construction item from ‘MonMonMak’.
If this had appeared in MonMonMak, it would have sold for around fifty bucks a pop.
‘Instant completion’ is just that much of a broken ability.
“Check construction list.”
[Checking list of constructible rooms.]
Spike Trap Room - 200 Gold
Moving Wall - 200 Gold
Tentacle Trap - 300 Gold
Makeshift Infirmary - 300 Gold
Makeshift Spring of Blessing - 550 Gold
...
Full-Power Railgun Charging Room - 360,000 Gold
Lord's Training Hall - 370,000 Gold
Lord's Hobby Room - 1,000,000 Gold
A list of the special rooms I could currently build scrolled up on the pixelated status window.
Most cost over 500 gold, and I had no idea what the ‘Lord's Hobby Room’ was for, but it cost a whopping one million gold.
‘Still, this one isn't too expensive.’
Fortunately, the room I wanted wasn't ridiculously expensive.
I had just over 1000 gold on hand.
I didn't have to worry about being short on funds.
[You have purchased the construction ticket for the Room of Light and Salt for 200 gold.]
I built the ‘Room of Light and Salt’ right behind the main gate of the Lord's Castle.
I built it so that the monster wave would have to pass through this room before the path split into four.
[Constructing the Room of Light and Salt. The installed special space can be changed to another space of the same class after the wave.]
After a pixelated animation of a hammer and saw banging away appeared...
a square, pixelated room shimmering with light was created right behind the northern main gate.
“Next, I'll place a barracks in each passage...”
[Installing one barracks in each passage.]
“Just in case, I should also install a barracks in front of the Audience Chamber.”
As my hands moved busily, the structure of the Lord's Castle changed.
In no time, the interior of the Lord's Castle, which had previously consisted of only empty passages, was now filled with one special room, four barracks, and a defensive line in front of the Audience Chamber.
“That takes care of the 2-star mobs. The problem is the 7-star.”
A 7-star monster is equivalent to a monster that surpasses A-rank and borders on S-rank in real-world terms.
And I already had a good idea of what this monster was.
“If I could see the monster's stats or level, I could make a more objective judgment.”
I muttered with a hint of regret.
This status-window version of ‘MonMonMak’ had quite a few differences from the original.
The biggest difference was that you couldn't see the monsters' stats or levels.
‘It means the ability to judge based on objective numbers is gone.’
I had to rely solely on the experience I'd accumulated and the intuition born from that experience.
And that intuition was telling me.
‘That 7-star monster is too much for the units I have deployed now.’
Even Odolph and Jen Karuk would struggle against it.
“Sage, what should I do?”
Bob!
The Sage, which had been watching the pixelated window with interest, looked at me in surprise.
I looked at it and cooled my heated head.
If this were just a normal game, I wouldn't be agonizing over it this much.
I would've shouted “Go for broke!” while basking in the viewers' cheers.
But this MonMonMak doesn't forgive even a single mistake.
Thump!
“Sage?”
The Sage bumped its body against a corner of the pixelated status window.
I looked where it had bumped and let out a small chuckle.
“I guess this is the only way, huh?”
Right, I had forgotten the fundamental nature of this crappy game.
[Would you like to go to the Premium Gacha window?]
Monster affinities, levels, strategies—they're all just secondary.
This is a world where a 1-star Kobold can beat down a 5-star monster.
“Alright, let's give it a pull.”
The conclusion of this damn crappy game was, in the end, all about being ‘geared’.
* * *
[The 702nd monster wave will now begin!]
The notification blinked.
I chugged the coffee milk I'd set aside.
At the same time, monsters began to pour out from the main road to the north.
When I tapped the pixelated window, the proper information was finally displayed.
[Includes 600 Skeleton Soldiers, 400 Skeleton Archers, 199 Skeleton Knights, and 1 special hero.]
Swarms of skeletons, represented by white pixels.
As expected, the creatures pouring into the Lord's Castle were undead monsters.
“They're as creepy as ever, even after all this time.”
Even for a veteran like me, the sight of them swarming like insects was still sickening.
I think quite a few newbies quit because they couldn't stand the grotesque image of the skeleton horde.
[The monster wave has breached the main gate of the Lord's Castle!]
Soon, the main gate shattered, and the monster wave stormed inside.
Despite their overwhelming presence, I silently took out a piece of peppermint gum and started chewing.
If anything, it was the Sage watching from the side that was clearly tense.
“Don't worry, Sage.”
They're not going to be a problem anyway.
Soon, new information appeared.
It was right after the first Skeleton Soldier reached the ‘Room of Light and Salt’.
[1 Skeleton Soldier has received the blessing of Light and Salt. It is undead. It receives a penalty from the blessing.]
The Room of Light and Salt is originally a ‘buff room’ that grants a blessing to deployed monsters.
At best, it only raises a monster's stats by 2.
Literally a ‘pretty piece of trash’ that countless MonMonMak players never even glanced at.
But a very small number of players knew of this room's special use.
[500 undead monsters have stayed in the Room of Light and Salt. Due to the blessing of Light and Salt, damage taken by undead inside the Lord's Castle increases by 500%!]
When a certain number of undead pass through this room at the same time,
the buff transforms into a debuff with incredible performance.
Of course, being a room constructible in the early game, it has clear limitations.
[1 special hero has resisted the blessing of Light and Salt.]
It doesn't work on 3-star or higher undead monsters, or undead with magic immunity.
But against a wave composed of 1199 2-star undead monsters, there was no more effective trap.
[The monster wave splits into four and heads for the Audience Chamber.]
A barracks had been placed in each of the four passages.
I had deployed Odolph, Jen Karuk, Gono, and the twenty Lizardmen in the barracks, one group per passage.
[In Barracks 1, Odolph casts 「Club of Enlightenment」! 10 Skeleton Soldiers take 3000 damage and are annihilated!]
[In Barracks 2, Jen Karuk casts 「Tear of the Ancient God」!]
[In Barracks 3, Gono casts 「Flap of the Carrion Crow」!]
[In Barracks 4, the Lizardman Legion casts 「Triceon Defensive Formation」!]
In an instant, a flood of information scrolled up the corner of the pixelated window.
The number labeled 「Current Monster Wave - 1200/1200」 was also slowly decreasing.
Bob, thump!
The Sage next to me urgently bumped its body against the pixelated window.
I glanced in that direction and nodded.
“Ah, you don't have to worry about that one right now.”
The single special unit that appeared leading the 1199 undead.
It was still lingering in the ‘Room of Light and Salt’.
I quickly checked its information.
[Undead Lich Iramatus]
That was the identity of the 7-star special unit.
An undead archmage, a Lich.
A skeleton wearing a crown and a robe, brandishing a purple magic staff.
Even represented in pixels, its presence was as imposing as you'd expect from a 7-star.
[Warning! Iramatus is casting Undead Resurrection!]
Suddenly, a purple mist began to swirl inside the Lord's Castle.
At the same time, the monster count, which had dropped to 980, returned to 1200.
The annihilated undead had risen again.
Fortunately, the ‘Light and Salt’ debuff remained on the resurrected undead.
“Yeah, it wouldn't be a Lich if it didn't pull a fast one.”
I immediately tapped the dwarf peddler in the Audience Chamber.
“Purchase consumable item.”
[Purchase consumable item with gold?]
[Purchasing a set of 25 Monster Energy Bars.]
I dragged the pixelated energy bar images that appeared on the side one by one to feed my guys in combat.
They accepted the energy bars, though they seemed somewhat reluctant.
What's this?
Their reaction made it seem like they absolutely wouldn't have eaten them if I hadn't ‘personally’ fed them.
Anyway, regardless of their reaction, the effect was certain.
[Odolph's mana and health are slightly restored.]
[Jen Karuk's mana and health are slightly restored.]
The monster count began to decrease again.
This time, the rate of decrease was even faster.
Alright, at this rate...
Tapping the peddler again, I grinned at the Lich.
“Now, let's see who's more persistent.”
Time for some fun grinding.