NOVEL NEXT Cycle 11 (2)
Dear Diary,
Ok, yep, something is super weird. People are… hiding? Kinda? Or, more like they’re all trying to sneak attack. Now that I've been through twenty floors I can tell all the people are waiting by the exits to attack. They aren't spread out like they usually are.
But they’re still polite when I give them food, so I guess it's fine?
I think it’s something that is solidly Not My Problem.
So I'm gonna just keep doing what I'm doing, and hope everyone is ok. I mean, I could ask. But that kinda feels like something I shouldn't do. I'm sure whatever people are doing, they’ve got a good reason to do it.
Avi said he’s been getting through ok, but some people have attacked him. They stopped when he politely asked them not to, tho. He’s been sending out illusions of himself for them to attack and “kill” first, then when they’re confused about it being an illusion he talks to them. So he’s ok.
Kimi and Y have asked if I can leave food for them to use here, on Floor 20. So I made a bunch extra food tonight. I gave the catgirl here a list of people to give it to if they ask.
So yeah, I'm kinda tired. And I've got a long day of semi-awkward interactions to get through tomorrow!
Goodnight, Dungeon!
*****
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The Admins were panicking. The mobs were suddenly organized, attacking in new patterns that were near-unbeatable by players. And the NPCs simply weren't around.
It had been two days and over half of the players were still attached to the Floor 1 checkpoint. Only thirteen players had made it beyond Floor 10.
Admin 6 watched a player die, slowly realizing why this situation sounded familiar. He turned away from the screen to look at Admin 3.
Next to him, Admin 5 finished sending a message to her players and sat back. She noticed 6, and followed his gaze to 3. Her eyes widened as she figured it out, glancing momentarily back at 6 before glaring at Admin 3.
Admin 2 looked over to Admin 5, saw her glare, and turned curiously to 3. Suddenly he inhaled sharply, eyes narrowing at 3.
Admin 1 heard the gasp and glanced over. He saw what was happening and moved his chair back to get a better look at Admin 3. His face twitched in realization, and he crossed his arms.
Admin 4 turned to say something to 5, paused, and looked around. He frowned at the screens, then stopped. His chair squeaked as he moved to face Admin 3.
Admin 3 broke into a sweat, pretending to not notice. The room was dead silent as everyone watched him type something, backspacing several times.
Finally he spun around. “What?!” he snapped.
“Which catgirls did you send to the dungeon?” Admin 1 asked.
“Does it matter?” 3 countered.
“Would it happen to be the ones you were constantly complaining about?” Admin 5 asked.
3’s face went red and splotchy. “Well I couldn't leave them in my dungeon, who knows what they would have done!” He turned back to his screen, scooting his chair in closer. “They’re the Director’s problem now!”
“Does she know?” Admin 2 asked.
“Yeah,” 3 said. “Totally. I asked her, joking, to make my catgirls the final boss. Didn't think she’d do it, and she never asked why, but… Her problem now.”
Admin 4 rubbed his chin. “So that’s why she changed her design…”
“Changed?” 6 asked.
4 looked at him. “She asked for 11 Floors total from each of us. She was going to make the size of her dungeon 75 Floors, with some of her own designs in there. Then she changed to only have 60 Floors. Floor 1 originally belonged to 3, too. So she left out six of our suggested Floors and cut the size down to 60, with the final boss being a catgirl. I wondered why, and this explains it. Kinda.”
The Admins were silent for a few seconds, considering the situation. One after the other they shrugged and went back to work.
It was 3’s fault, but he was right. This was up to the Director to fix.