The Regressor Deceives (3)
The Regressor Deceives (3)
Wrecking the dwarves' warehouse—yeah, I did it. But pulling it off wasn't exactly easy.
"I didn't think the place would be so riddled with traps..."
At first, I figured I could just rush in and smash it. But as a critical facility of the fortress, the warehouse's security was anything but lax. Guards were posted around the clock, and all sorts of traps were laid out.
Still, nothing in this world is perfect. After I devoted an entire regression cycle to mapping the guards' patrol routes, I found a sliver of an opening.
"What's this? Why'd you come alone for the shift change?"
"Well... because of that grim business lately... you know how it is. The replacement should be here soon, but they said they'd come after finishing their tanning work, so..."
"...Tsk. Fine. Hang in there."
Up to this point, the dwarves had come across as stubborn and single-minded. But dwarves, by nature, are a hearty and affectionate people.
"Their family died... you gotta give them time..."
The dwarves weren't so heartless as to slap guard duty on someone who'd just lost their family. The poor soul's already a wreck—making them stand guard on top of that would be too much, wouldn't it?
"When's Greg gonna get here..."
But when someone takes time off, someone else has to fill the gap. That's exactly why black companies make it so hard to use your vacation days—though the dwarves, being nothing like scummy capitalists, didn't give anyone grief for taking leave.
Another dwarf simply covered the post.
And when duties overlap, the timing inevitably shifts a little here and there. Work has a way of stretching out or shrinking down as you go.
"Well, they'll be here soon."
In reality, the dwarf who'd taken over the tanning would arrive in five minutes. But for a superhuman, five minutes is more than enough.
"Think they'll bring snacks or someth—urk!"
"Sleep tight."
Taking down one person versus two is a whole different level of difficulty. Even more so when the guards carry whistles around their necks.
Once I subdued the lone guard, I could finally get inside the warehouse. But the real trouble started there.
"Why the hell are there so many traps..."
The dwarves' warehouse was stuffed with bizarre traps.
You had to enter with your left foot first, no exceptions. Passing between the shelves, you couldn't be taller than a dwarf. Certain floorboards were forbidden. Traps upon traps—the kind you'd never dodge unless you already knew about them.
I used regression to uncover every single trap, infiltrated the warehouse, and smashed everything to pieces.
How exactly did I use regression to find all the traps, you ask?
"..."
What do you think I did? Don't ask.
Anyway, this meant the dwarves couldn't hole up like turtles anymore.
"Almost there..."
Now it was time to watch the dwarves' reaction.
**
Late at night. Inside the usual assembly hall.
So many dwarves were packed in that the spacious building was nearly full. And the key point—every last one of them looked absolutely grim.
"We must reinforce the walls. Now that it's been confirmed someone can scale them, we can't go on like this."
"With the warehouse destroyed, we need food and water. As of tomorrow morning, we'll have nothing to eat."
"We should increase the guards too... aren't the young craftsmen idle lately?"
"The beer... my beer..."
A crisis. A genuine crisis.
Dwarves may be a race that would sooner die than compromise their pride, but they're not so enlightened that they can accept death without a care.
"The culprit... is most likely that 'Skeleton Murderer' who's been threatening the climbers."
The meat was caked in dirt, and the barrels holding beer and water had been smashed to splinters. The one who demolished the warehouse took nothing. They simply severed the dwarves' food supply.
If they'd at least stolen the meat, the dwarves might have suspected the other players... but since nothing was taken, there were no grounds to point fingers at them either.
"...Allow me to summarize the situation."
The shopkeeper calmly read from the lines he'd written on a strip of bark.
"First, we must secure drinking water. That is the most urgent matter."
Food... if we're being generous, they could shake the dirt off the trampled meat and make do as a stopgap.
But the real problem was water. No living creature can survive without it. And right now, every water container inside the fortress was destroyed.
"We all know there's a river twenty minutes from here, but..."
There was a river near the fortress. Unless you're building a pipeline, settling near a water source is common sense. Getting drinking water was never difficult.
"The issue is that simply leaving the fortress is a burden..."
If there weren't a mad murderer prowling around outside.
"And that's not all. The walls need to be raised higher, we need more guards, we need people to hunt for food..."
A mountain of work lay ahead. But outside the fortress wasn't safe. Hell, even inside the fortress wasn't entirely safe.
"I didn't want to say this, but..."
In the end, the dwarves had no choice left.
"...We'll cooperate with the climbers."
A crisis situation.
A temporary alliance was formed.
**
Player representative: Choi Ji-won. Dwarf representative: the shopkeeper.
After the two representatives talked through the night, a temporary alliance was forged between dwarves and humans.
The players would provide full assistance with the dwarves' reinforcement work. In return, the dwarves promised full support to the players. Taken as a whole, it was an alliance that benefited both sides.
The dwarves gained manpower. Whether fetching water from the river, hunting in the nearby forest, or directly reinforcing the fortress, the players' presence would be a huge help. Players were naturally suited to labor thanks to their superior physical abilities, and if the mad murderer attacked, they could at least put up some resistance.
Conversely, the players gained a comfortable sanctuary. Instead of sleeping under the open sky, they were given soft beds and warm blankets, and once the food supply stabilized, they were promised delicious meals.
"Whoa, look how sharp this thing is."
"The armor too... it's seriously light."
On top of that, players assigned to escort duty were given dwarf-forged weapons and armor for free, and the quality was so good that players couldn't stop marveling at them.
"...But if we put this on... that means we'll have to fight, huh..."
"...Mm."
The problem was that all of these players had fled here precisely because they were terrified of the murderer. As a result, the number of players volunteering for escort duty—including Choi Ji-won—barely reached five.
In the end, the majority of players were assigned to wall reinforcement work...
"..."
"..."
Anyone who's done manual labor knows this, but construction work requires more communication than you'd think. Everyone's hands and feet have to move in sync under the engineer's direction for the work to progress smoothly.
"...Move those logs you cut over here."
"...Yeah, got it."
But just because an alliance was declared didn't mean the awkwardness between the two races would vanish overnight.
From the dwarves' perspective, humans were disgusting creatures who had killed their kin. From the humans' perspective, the dwarves were crazy bigots who persecuted them for something they didn't even do.
There wasn't a single reason for them to like each other, and since they genuinely didn't get along, the construction site kept grinding to a halt.
The first day of construction. The work wrapped up with the atmosphere still murderous.
But perhaps the old saying is true—time heals all things.
"They say if you move in a group of five, the murderer won't come near you!"
"Water's here! Come get a gourdful each!"
"Caught three forest bulls! Tonight we feast on meat, meat!"
"...What's a forest bull?"
"No clue. Does it matter?"
Thanks to the players' efforts led by Choi Ji-won, the water problem was resolved quickly, and the food situation showed signs of stabilizing soon. The dwarves knew the surrounding terrain like the back of their hands, so finding the necessary resources wasn't terribly difficult.
"Whoa, is Choi Ji-won not scared of anything..."
"She really is different..."
Moreover, Choi Ji-won lived up to her heroic reputation, rushing around in every direction—to the point where voices of acknowledgment began trickling out not just from the players but from among the dwarves as well.
"...Meanwhile, look at those bastards..."
"Ugh, tsk..."
"..."
And just as the neighbor's son excelling in school means your own son catches more flak—that's a universal truth. As Choi Ji-won's conspicuous achievements piled up, the players stuck on wall duty couldn't help growing restless.
"Shit, I'm a pretty damn good player myself..."
"Getting disrespected like this pisses me the hell off..."
The players who'd been looked down on didn't take it lying down.
Sure, they'd hidden inside the fortress because they were scared, but they still had their pride as top-tier players. If they were the type to fall behind like this and keep quiet, they wouldn't have made it this far in the first place.
Thud!
"All the logs are moved!"
"A-already? Then that pile of stones over there..."
"Stones are all moved too! What's next!"
Once the motivated players threw themselves into the reinforcement work for real, things started flowing smoothly. Hadn't it already been proven on Floor 4 that a superhuman putting their back into construction could do the work of five?
And when you're working side by side, sweating together and pouring everything into the job...
"You've got good strength..."
"You're as handy as your beard is bushy."
Camaraderie has a way of welling up from somewhere deep inside.
"Good."
Watching the scene from a distance, I carved a notch into a tree for Choi Ji-won and then slipped away.
It was time to move on to the final phase.