Chapter 42 Character Mission Completed
Killing monsters is a boring yet fun thing.
Especially after the player has been a follower NPC for so many levels, he finally adapted to the pixel style and began to observe his two teammates.
Although at first glance, the three pixelated figures with three heads and black hair look like three identical black balls, with only a little white in the closer exposed skin such as their cheeks and necks, a look reveals that the three people's clothes are actually very different.
For some reason, the player's character did not follow the local customs and was still wearing a black sweater and black overalls. Although it was weird and not out of place, he was the darkest among the three from head to toe.
It can be seen that Kenji Hagihara has a slightly longer hair style, and the pixels of his eyes are made up of black and purple.
He was not dressed like a common wizard in a magic robe, but a simple, close-fitting black outfit with several pieces of brown leather armor at key locations. He looked very agile, like an assassin.
The magic wand in his hand is a bent branch with two gems embedded on it. When using attack magic or healing magic, different gems will light up and release skill special effects.
Jinpei Matsuda is the most prominent in appearance.
It's not that his eyes are made up of black and blue pixels, nor that he has curly hair.
Because at first glance he was dressed in black, in fact, it was a black armor. He didn't look like an adventurer, but like a fully armed knight guarding the king, and he also exuded the aura of money.
After all, not everyone can get a set of armor engraved with magic circles.
Players don't realize how valuable this equipment is, but since Jinpei Matsuda is wearing armor and holding a large sword, it's obvious that he's going for the high-defense, low-attack speed route.
But his attack speed is quite high, even flexible, which is amazing.
[Kenji Hagiwara]: "It's magic! He learned magic!"
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "No one says that people who use big swords can't learn magic, right? It's just more difficult, but it doesn't bother me."
The three-headed figure wielded a sword that was almost as tall as its height, blocking the branches of the tall wooden monster that was about to block the passage. The collision made a crisp sound like iron hitting stone, and two pixel sparks popped out.
The wood monster slapped the ground with its roots and launched a group attack.
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "Can you guys stop chatting during battles?!"
Matsuda Jinpei quickly approached the wooden monster by walking on the broken ground and cut off some of its roots.
A fireball launched as a special attack against the wood monster also flew over and hit the ferocious face on the tree trunk.
But faster than their attack was the black figure that had unnoticed the wood monster as the gunshots sounded. Under a series of attacks, the wood monster had only let out half of its howl before it completely turned into a ball of ashes and disappeared.
[Kenji Hagiwara]: "Ojono, you are the one with the longest attack range in our team, why do you always have to fight me so closely!"
[Jono Hisashi]: "..."
The armored man came back with a big sword, and viciously grabbed the player character's cheek with his cute pixel-style strip hands, and a number sign popped up on his head.
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "You speak when you shouldn't, and answer with silence when you should. You do it on purpose!"
[Hagiwara Kenji]: "Don't bully Kojono! Unless you ask me to join you!"
The little man holding the magic wand also rushed up, and the three pixel men on the screen squeezed into a black ball.
Players who were forced to interact and did not reject the option: "..."
As he continues to move forward, he will drag the two NPCs along with him, and they will look like a new type of black and white monster formed by the fusion of three people.
They were not so enthusiastic at first.
Although you can avoid most monsters on each level, there are always some that cannot be avoided, and the further you go down, the harder it is to defeat the monsters guarding the level.
For the player, this boring monster-killing mini-game has become time-saving and much more interesting because of the presence of two powerful NPC teammates. The short time he has played so far is nothing compared to the previous dungeon, and he does not feel tired at all.
But this is not the case for Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda.
Even if they know some magic, they are still two humans after all. Modern magic is far inferior to ancient magic and is not enough to turn them into magicians who can remain energetic even without food, water or sleep for ten days.
With teammates, you can avoid the loneliness and fear of fighting monsters alone in the dark, and the experience of adventurers can avoid fighting a large number of monsters on each level.
Even if you only fight a small number of monsters and gatekeeper monsters, the energy spent on planning routes and avoiding monsters cannot be replenished by the little rest, not to mention the discomfort brought by the dungeon environment itself.
They will get tired and will not be able to understand why Jyouno Hisaji is like a person who never gets tired and always moves forward with full of energy.
But it must be said that having such a teammate can make them cheer up, keep moving forward without admitting defeat, and express their increasingly tense emotions more freely.
In simple terms, the mental state gradually deteriorated and began to crawl in a distorted and cheerful manner.
[Hagiwara Kenji]: "...If you dare to describe us like that, I will really drag you down with me, right?"
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "I refuse."
[Jiono Hisaji]: "I can't crawl."
Two pixel men immediately pressed forward with text bubbles saying "I'll help you!"
But the player's character does not have the ability to crawl.
In the end, he carried two pixel men, and the three of them found the guarding monster in a rather twisted posture.
Coincidentally, the monster guarding the level is a mountain of flesh that looks like melted slime, with two claws, one holding a sword and the other holding a magic wand.
The player looks at the monster and then at his own team.
[Jiono Hisaji]: “Exactly the same.”
The two pixel men left him at the speed of light, at least three steps away from him.
[Kenji Hagiwara]: "It's over. I will never forget this monster for the rest of my life."
Matsuda Jinpei silently rushed forward to attack the monster, exuding an exceptionally deep murderous aura.
The meat mountain is not easy to defeat.
It is the monster guarding the 49th floor. Its difficulty is at least ten times that of the monster guarding the 48th floor. It is enough to drive the adventurers who have gone through hardships and exhaustion to this floor into despair.
It can launch forced taunts, physical group attacks, and magic attacks at short intervals. It will also cast healing magic to restore health every once in a while. Even when the health bar drops by 10%, it will release a furious attack that can almost reduce the character's health bar to the bottom.
Kenji Hagiwara's healing magic is indeed only half-baked, and it was completely sufficient when he was not needed for emergency treatment in the past.
But once you get in front of this kind of BOSS, his healing magic can't keep the health bar in a healthy state, and you have to pay attention to the mana bar. He himself is a very fragile person and will be killed instantly if you are not careful.
Fortunately, they have developed some tacit understanding through their strange running-in, and players can even cooperate with Matsuda Jinpei to perform some operations.
For example, when Kenji Hagiwara was forced to taunt, he first used high damage to remove some of the monsters' taunts, and then Jinpei Matsuda used his taunts to completely eliminate the monsters' taunts of Kenji Hagiwara.
After all, his defense is high and his health bar is thick. If he can withstand an attack, Hagiwara Kenji's health bar will be emptied.
For players, this monster is currently the most difficult one. It is the kind that will take a while to defeat even in the big world.
But the result was expected.
After an unknown number of times of his health bar jumping and an unknown number of times of his skills being used, the last bit of his health was completely wiped out by the swords, bullets, and fireballs that arrived at the same time. Only a golden key and a door at the end of the passage remained.
After opening the door with the key, you will be directly teleported to the 50th floor.
The player picked up the key, but was pulled back by his teammates.
[Kenji Hagiwara]: "It will take some time for the automatic teleportation after we clear the level, and we are not sure if there will be a rest room on the 50th floor. Let's take a break first, otherwise we won't be able to defeat another meat mountain."
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "You should also take a break. If you don't want to take a break, think about how to spend the bonus you got."
The dialogue appears with two options.
[I don't think there will be any monsters on the 50th floor.]
[Are you afraid of the Pandora's box that is about to be opened? ]
Players feel that this is still a sentence.
He chose the second one.
The expressions of the two pixel men were surprisingly detailed, at least he could see it now. Hagiwara Kenji was stunned for a moment and then smiled bitterly, while Matsuda Jinpei turned his face away in annoyance.
[Kenji Hagiwara]: "Don't be so blunt. Ever since I had that dream, I've always been a little scared of this dungeon, but at the same time, I feel like I have to go there."
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "I think something important is going to happen here. But it's not shameful to be afraid of the unknown. Do you want to go back?"
[Hagihara Kenji]: "Will you accompany me?"
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "Of course. I don't know if the 50th floor will send people directly back to the ground. If you want to go back, we will wait for you here for half an hour, no, an hour. If you don't show up after that, we will go back on our own."
[Hagiwara Kenji]: "Wow! If I climb back to the 48th floor in this state, I'll die! Don't try to sway me with your corny words, little Zhenping!"
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "...Don't make such a disgusting face. It gives me goosebumps."
[Jinpei Matsuda]: "Tiaoye, I've always wanted to ask you, do you have any spare weapons?"
[Kenji Hagiwara]: "We have entered the stage of realizing this once-in-a-lifetime wish!"
[Kenji Hagiwara]: "I want to ask you something too! Kojono, your weapon is called a gun? How cool! And so powerful! Much more powerful than magic!"
[Jinpei Matsuda/Kenji Hagiwara]: “I want to tear it down!”
The player inexplicably thought of an emoticon package he saw in the remnants of the Blue Star Era online forum.
The magician carried a rocket launcher and said it was much more useful than magic.
He didn't know whether he could hand over the weapon to others, so he replaced it with a sniper rifle that he rarely used, and motioned for the two men to take it themselves.
But no matter how hard Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei tried, they couldn't take the gun away from him, nor could they open it.
In the end, they had to give up with regret.
After this wave of commotion, they opened the door to the 50th floor.
The screen went black, and then a white light came on. It was not a floating light, but a white light coming from the end of the passage where the three pixel men were.
When the player controls the character's actions but there is no response, he knows that he has entered the plot mode.
The adventurer team walked out of the passage cautiously. In an instant, the world turned white. What appeared before their eyes was a huge white light flashing with countless magic spells.
It is totally out of place in this dark and dangerous dungeon, and is more suitable to be placed on a lighthouse, a giant statue of the Magician's Guild, or a throne of the king where people look up to it.
But it is here, shining brightly.
The golden pocket watch with its lid opened and floating in the center is so eye-catching that you can even hear the sound of the second hand moving, and through the light you can miraculously see the long and short hands about to complete a circle and return to zero.
The player heard a strange yet pleasant young male voice, with a mixture of pain and understanding.
“…I see.”
"This is the eighth time we've been here and nothing has changed. Nothing can change."
That was the voice of Kenji Hagiwara.
The plot naturally cuts into the cutscenes, showing scenes of Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda.
This is the eighth time.
They are the most powerful team of adventurers in the world. Even though this is the most dangerous dungeon and it is not easy for them, they still become the first team of adventurers to reach the 50th floor after failing again and again.
But they did not become victors.
Because the 50th floor does not have the rumored treasure, nor does it have an endless supply of food and water, nor does it have any inheritance left by the ancient magician.
There is only one Dungeon Core.
All the monsters created by the magic circles above are used to protect the core of this dungeon.
And they also learned the horrifying truth through everything recorded in the dungeon core.
From the dungeons built by ancient magicians after learning the prophecy of the destruction of the world, to the fact that natural magicians later stole and destroyed the cores of the other ninety-nine dungeons, only this core that can connect all the dungeons is the most hidden and survived.
As for why the magicians who built the dungeons did not fight against these natural magicians who escaped and forgot magic?
Most of them spent all their energy in building the dungeon, and after casting the magic of forgetfulness, many magicians have reached the end of their lives. So they came to the core of this last dungeon, let their pre-death selves become one of the energy sources for the core, and sealed the dungeon.
Until modern times, as the living environment became increasingly harsh, people dug into dungeons and were able to obtain resources equivalent to food and water from them. As a result, a large number of adventurers and villages that lived in pursuit of dungeons were born.
If those ninety-nine cores were still there, perhaps this crisis of destruction could really be overcome until humans developed enough to survive in the harsh environment.
But that's just a fantasy.
The current one hundred dungeons all rely on the energy from this core, so it cannot last that long, and there is no way for humans to survive for long by relying on dungeons.
Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda discovered the truth.
But they couldn't think of any solution.
They couldn't take the dungeon core away; the ancient magic was too powerful.
There is no way to bring people down in large numbers. So far, most of the powerful adventurers have stopped at the 30th floor, and the upper limit of the number of people in a team is five. If there are three teammates in the team who are too weak compared to them, they may not be able to come down.
Without a solution, bringing this truth to the public will only cause people to panic.
But disaster is about to strike.
The core energy of the dungeon is about to run out.
Once it runs out, the magic circle that has kept all the dungeons intact will immediately become invalid, and the 100 dungeons will collapse immediately. On the ground of each of them are some large and small villages, and each dungeon has a different number of adventurers.
Perhaps they ran out of energy while climbing from the fiftieth floor to the first floor and bringing the news back to the ground.
In this desperate situation, there is a piece of news which may or may not be considered good news.
In the core of the dungeon, there is a pocket watch from outer space, which has the power to reverse time.
Whenever the core energy of a dungeon is exhausted and the world is heading for destruction, the watch will reverse time to when the 100th dungeon was discovered.
In the end, Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara chose to let their lives become the energy source of the core of the dungeon and leave their hope to their future selves.
Thus, the cycle began.
They would dream about this dungeon, and the fear of residual death surrounded them, but the mission entrusted by the past to the future also drove them and brought them here.
When they thought it was their first time, they actually reached the 50th floor for the second time, saw the core of the dungeon, and recovered their previous memories.
But they still couldn't do anything, and nothing changed.
The power of two people, two people who knew nothing at all, could not even raise a speck of dust from an era in the face of a world that was about to collapse.
They chose death again and entered reincarnation again.
The third time.
The fourth time.
The fifth time.
Until this time, the eighth time.
There was a new person in their team, a person with strange words and deeds but extremely powerful.
At this time, Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda were not glamorous. They had experienced many battles and did not have the ability like the players to remain calm even when their health bars were completely depleted.
There were bloodstains on their faces, wounds on their bodies, cracks on their leather armor, and dents on their armor. But when they looked over with restrained yet extremely expectant eyes, the road ahead, piled with their own corpses, seemed to appear before the players.
So, it is only natural for players to walk up and take the hand they extend.
When the cutscene ended, the player, who had been holding his breath without realizing it, breathed a sigh of relief.
Perhaps it was because there were only these two NPC teammates in this copy, which attracted his attention and caused him to watch a lot of their conversations, and also observe their appearance, actions, skills and attacks.
The gradually accumulated familiarity turned into a slight emotion for what they did at this moment, and he was no longer just going through the plot but wanted to save the world so that they could stop this hopeless journey.
The pitch-black pixel man walked to the core of the dungeon and touched the golden pocket watch that Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda could never touch.
[Do you want to fuse the special items [Hourglass of Time] and [Pocket Watch of Time]? After fusion, the power of time can be increased, but they cannot be separated.]
【whether】
The player decisively chose yes.
An empty hourglass appeared next to the pocket watch, and it turned into scattered sands of time and merged into the pocket watch.
The player took out his pocket watch and turned it.
The long river of time flows backwards.
On that day, the natural magician who participated in the plot to steal the dungeon core and destroy it suffered terrible revenge.
All dungeon cores are intact.
And that hopeless journey with no results in the future will naturally no longer exist.
【Role Mission Completed】
[Mission rewards: Sands of Time*200, Japanese Yen*200,000, Advanced Experience Books*16, Refined Ore*60]
[You heard the call of the World Tree]
The player appears in a familiar yet unfamiliar space.
It was still the endless dark space, the only bright green tree was still there, and the white mist was still lingering.
But the difference is that this time when the player walks towards the World Tree in the darkness, there are not many dead branches on the ground that can entangle him.
The time that was cut off by the World Tree due to mutation has now recovered and returned to the World Tree, swaying its green leaves as if to express gratitude to him.
[Thank you for making the time of this world gradually return to normal]
Player: “…”
Wait, has time ever been abnormal in this world?
As if understanding his doubts, or realizing that players don't take the game seriously, the game inserted a plot animation.
The missions he had done in the big world and the chaotic times he had never paid attention to were displayed before him with great clarity.
The day before was Valentine's Day, the next day was the summer fireworks festival. Yesterday was autumn, today is spring, and tomorrow is winter. What's more, the day has become extremely long, as if the twenty-four hours have been multiplied tenfold.
They can wear three sets of clothes for completely different seasons in three days, the store can hold four or five festivals in a row, the three-member team from the Maori Detective Agency can handle eight cases in a day when they go out, and Toru Amuro can work for several months without a break.
Or is it a combination of several part-time jobs?
Too bad! Ex-girlfriend Catherine!
All the players are crying for him.
But after the player completes the first dungeon, it is like an important part of the treatment for a serious illness, allowing the body to begin to recover. The more tasks the player completes, the more normal these times become.
They no longer jumped so violently, as if the flying piano keys were pressed back to their proper positions little by little, and gradually played smooth music.
However, players who think everything in the game is normal don't notice these foreshadowings at all.
After the plot animation ended, the only option available to the player appeared.
[Can I leave this world now? ]
[There is one last thing left, but it depends on you. Please accept its gift.]
The World Tree said softly.
The revived branch that was saved by the player floats to the player and gives him a thousand hours of sand.
【Regarding my thank you gift, is there anything you would like? 】
The players' eyes lit up.
When he left the space where the World Tree was, he did not return directly to the big world, but came to the copy after it was freed from the influence of the will and returned to normal.
The 2D pixel-style dungeon mini-game no longer exists, and a city landscape similar to the big world appears before the players.
NPCs with names on their heads came and went, the sun was not too bright, and the wind was comfortable. It was a nice day today.
He was standing on the street when someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder from behind.
The half-long-haired young man came over with a smile on his face and said, "What are you doing here alone, you little idiot?"
The player stared at him and thought for a moment: "Who are you?"
"Kenji Hagiwara!" Hagiwara Kenji's expression fell pitifully, and he pointed at himself in disbelief and said, "No way, can you really forget such a handsome little Kenji?! We relied on each other and fought side by side on that big case!"
Just kidding, players' memories aren't that bad.
Besides, these two are probably the NPCs he is most familiar with in this game.
Even her predecessor, Catherine, had to step back a bit.
"So disgusting." Matsuda Jinpei, who had put his arm around the other shoulder, rolled his eyes at Hagiwara Kenji. "Jouno, you're still the same, relying on that silly face to make your jokes sound real."
The player silently took out his gun.
He was pushed back by Matsuda Jinpei's dead eyes.
"Even if you have a gun certificate, that's not how you can use it! Be careful or I'll handcuff you and send you back to eat pork chop rice!"
Hagiwara Kenji stretched out his arms and embraced both of them. He cleared his throat, pointed to the store across the street, and said in a rhythmic voice full of emotion and pride:
"Today is a good day for me to pick up my car, and I happened to meet you, Kojono. The enthusiastic Hagiwara-sama decided to take you for a drive in the new car and treat you to a meal. What do you think? There is absolutely no reason to refuse, right?"
Players really have no reason to refuse to get free NPC services.
However, players cannot accept the fact that Kenji Hagiwara boasted while driving that he was the best driver in the world.
He drives a mecha!
Even though a mecha is not a car, you can't claim to be the best in the world in front of it!
"Xiao Tiaoye! Don't jump out of the car! Zhenping, catch him quickly!"
Matsuda Jinpei, who failed to catch the suspect, cursed and watched Jyouno Hisaji nimbly get into the car that a driver had just gotten out of on the side of the road and drive away.
The two of them were in the car, stunned and confused in the wind. Hisaji Jyouno skillfully used the air wall to wed himself to the roof of another car. Amid the screams of the car owners, he took off into the air and disappeared into the dust!
Matsuda Jinpei slapped the backrest and said, "What are you standing there for? Chase him!"
Hagiwara Kenji made a bitter face: "... Kojono is so wild, how can he always be beyond my expectations!"
Hisashi Jyouno found a loudspeaker from somewhere and said provocatively, "No one can drive a car faster than me, not even the god of driving in Akina Mountain, Kenji Hagiwara!"
“Hahahahahahaha!”
Hagiwara Kenji: "Hmm?"
As soon as he stepped on the accelerator, the car did a tailspin and flew out. The strong push on Matsuda's back made him fall directly onto the back seat.
"Hold on tight, little formation, my car can't give up, and neither can I!"
"Don't speed!" Matsuda Jinpei said again, "Show him some power! We chose this car together!"
Hagiwara Kenji: "Don't worry, I will let Kojono see how powerful I am today!"
On that day, two unknown bomb disposal police officers were stationed in the Ministry of Transportation and were scolded so badly that they could not even raise their heads.
As for the other culprit, he had already escaped.
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