Chapter 16

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 16

Chapter Title: Dungeon Expansion

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Ta-da.

This was my minion that earned the biggest merits in the last Manticore wave.

If I had to describe its appearance in one word, it'd be a massive slime blob.

I wonder if our squishy Malangi will grow up to be this big someday.

Normally, it snoozes away in the core room, but when a wave starts, it gets right to work.

The Living Maze is an incredibly solid trap too.

But it takes a long time to fully repel intruders, and it's not completely invincible.

Didn't the Manticore try to figure out the maze's secrets this time? It needed at least one buddy.

So I bought the Doppelganger.

Sure, there were plenty of tempting options, but it synergizes perfectly with our maze that drips liquid from the sprinklers.

The more I look at it, the more I think of those Doppelganger ghost stories.

You know the ones?

Where someone encounters an exact copy of themselves, gets all anxious, and decides to kill the doppelganger—only for the doppelganger to have the exact same idea, leading to a mutual murder ending.

"Yo-yo, you cheeky thing."

"Zzz..."

I stroked the Doppelganger.

But what if this guy transforms into me later?

Unlike traps, once you buy a minion, you can't just remove it, which feels a bit scary.

Hmm.

Human nature makes me want to experiment someday, but I've only got one life.

Anyway, since I already know how it works, I won't end up killing or getting killed by the Doppelganger.

For now, I'll buy it right away.

I've gotta be careful not to mess up.

Anyway, I'm thinking it's about time to expand the dungeon.

If the area with the Living Maze & Doppelganger combo is Zone 1, then I'm planning to create a new spot called Zone 2.

The reason is simple.

Diversify your investments—the classic investment wisdom.

Of course, raising a dungeon isn't exactly like dumping money into stocks, but it made sense.

My dungeon's strength has always been its eerie, unsettling vibe from the start.

My specialty is dragging things out as long as possible while keeping intruders from getting their bearings.

If I crammed all the minions and traps into the maze, it'd probably backfire more than synergize.

Zone 1 isn't fully complete yet.

The Doppelganger and maze leave me feeling a bit uneasy, and I plan to reinforce it later.

But after weighing all the pros and cons, the verdict was to prioritize creating Zone 2 right now.

Plus, I've got a whopping 100,000 points this time.

"What should I add to make the vets go 'Holy shit, genius pick' and shower me with upvotes?"

The Dungeon Gallery has these "best posts" that rack up a certain number of recommendations.

★Manticore Wave Live Report Ep. 1: Dungeon Gal Newbie Finally Faces the Clan Bastards!
★Manticore Wave Live Report Ep. 2: Clan Bastards Shed Tears in the Clan Bastard's Maze!
...
★Manticore Wave Live Report Finale: Doppelganger, Manticore, and the Old Mage

Not sure if it's newbie privileges or what.

But my posts get insane recommendations and comments.

Excluding question threads, pretty much all of mine hit best post status.

From what the vets say.

People dig the curiosity around anomaly themes, the newbie struggling to fend off intruders, and defense systems so bizarre and grotesque you've never seen them in any other dungeon. Stuff like that.

Some even say my live reports brighten their boring days—thanks, folks.

If there's ever a Dungeon Master showdown tournament with prizes, starting as a likable anon might give me a huge edge.

Truth be told, no real need to pull this much aggro, but this is way more fun.

I've discovered the joys of trolling.

Just like SkullHam said.

To maximize efficiency, there's a formula for it.

The best combo is minions + traps, but for Zone 1, the maze is the main event.

If the maze is pork belly, the Doppelganger's like doenjang jjigae and rice.

Same plan for Zone 2: traps as the core.

Not everything works that way, but there are plenty of solid main-trap candidates.

There were a few other 3★ traps that got good reactions too.

But this one stood out the most.

If it meant easing Se-cha Ham's suffering at the elves' hands, I'd gift one out of the goodness of my heart.

But no way to do that right now.

Alright.

One thing to note here.

Anomaly theme stuff—minions and traps mostly—once bought, that's it.

No duplicates allowed.

Doppelganger, Living Maze, and this trap I'm eyeing now—all the same.

But there's always an exception.

The one the vets call a "neck-snapping yandere."

If you look away, it snaps your neck—super powerful effect, but as a statue, it can't move and has tons of limitations, so it got pushed back in priority.

Cheaper than most minions too.

And decent synergy with traps.

Let's check it out.