The Mad Rat’s Lab

Loud music starts to play, followed by the sound of fireworks and their visual effects. It’s the end of the tournament’s first phase.

We’re in the middle of our fifth dungeon when the timer for the tournament’s first phase ends.

“Haa… it finished… if only we could get our special resources, this would have been so much better…”

“So this is the end, huh?”

“Good job, everyone!” I say. “We did the best we could, so even if we don’t make it, we should be proud of ourselves!”

“Hey, hey! We’ll do it, right!? Please tell me we got enough points, brother!”

“If we take into account how many dungeons we cleared and the deaths we had, plus how good we did during the dungeon invasions… I think we’ll pass to the second phase. This is assuming we get a few extra points from deaths in our dungeon; because, otherwise, I’m uncertain about it.”

“You think so? Yaay!”

She hugs Ricard. It is a very unexpected reaction, but not a pleasant one. You must remember he’s almost as disgusted by the Abyss units as I am. And Clara’s Champion… well, it isn’t exactly pleasant to the eyes. Or to the touch.

Ricard looks at me, asking for help. But I feign I haven’t seen his plead and turn my head away.

Hey, Ricard. I remember you saying you wanted to play with my ‘cute little sister’ some time ago, right? Then, you should enjoy these kinds of situations! Hahaha!

When the music stops playing, a game window pops into my view. In it, I can see the points our team got in our first phase. I’m sure everyone’s seeing the same screen as me right now.

The point system goes like this. Every team gets 100 points for clearing a dungeon, and up to 25 extra points depending on how much of the dungeon the team cleared.

They give extra points to those teams who fought and overcame all the enemies and traps instead of just rushing ahead to clear one more dungeon. If each team clears, on average, four dungeons - looking at previous DMA tournament’s statistics - it’s possible to obtain the same points by steadily fighting everything in the path as the points obtained by clearing one more dungeon. So rushing ahead isn’t necessarily the best tactic.

Also, rushing ahead has drawbacks too, like increasing the chances to have party deaths. This is very important because 20 points are deducted for every party member that dies during the dungeon invasion.

The total for each dungeon can’t be negative, though. So the points the party gets when everybody dies are 0 and not -80. With this, good teams aren’t disqualified by a single failure. Though it does make it harder to accumulate enough points to pass to the second phase.

Finally, 20 points are also awarded for each enemy player that dies inside the team’s dungeon. And if the whole team gets wiped out, you get 100 points instead. This is why it is so important to design a dungeon that can kill invaders, instead of stalling for time.

“Six hundred points… it’s quite a lot more than what I expected… Hahaha! One team got wiped out in our dungeon! That’s why we got so many extra points…”

“Hmm… it looks like our dungeon was good enough. Still, for the next battles, we’ll need to improve a few things… maybe we can do this…”

Ricard and Laura mutter to themselves after watching the screen, and Clara is looking at me. Is she… expecting me to say something? I’m not sure.

If I’m not wrong, in the previous year, teams close to six hundred points made it to the second phase. We have more, so we should make it, right?

“So… Ricard, do you think we made it or… uh, ok. Nevermind.”

I get interrupted in the middle of speaking by another window that pops in front of us, followed by fanfare music and confetti.

Everything happens inside the game, so they can give the results as soon as the first phase ends. A smile spreads through everyone’s faces.

“Yeeeey! We did it!” After reading we got enough points, Clara jumps at me. “Andreu! We did it! Hehehehe!”

“Yes! We reached the Main Tournament!” I pat her head before turning to Ricard and Laura. “Everyone! Good job! 

I think it’s the first time I don’t care about her sticking to me with that horrendous champion… Hmm… I reconsidered. I do care, but I’ll keep quiet because I don’t want to ruin the good mood.

With a smug look on his face and a finger under his nose, Ricard looks at me, currently entangled in my sister’s embrace, and says.

“Of course we did it! How could we be eliminated after so many hours of practicing together!? And let’s not forget about my expertise and knowledge, which helped us reach new heights as a team! Hahaha! Now, let’s move forward and show the world my greatness… uh, I mean, our greatness! The League of Evil is going to reach the top! And I already know how we can improve. You just need to follow my…”

“Yaaay! We did it! Hahaha! I knew we could make it if we all worked together! Yaay!  …uh… I mean. Good job, everyone! We have to celebrate it! Fufufu!”

Laura jumps around in happiness for a moment, but when she notices I’m looking in her direction, she quickly stops and feigns indifference. Then, leaving Ricard talking alone, Laura joins our ‘hug’.

As much as you want to feign indifference now, I’ve already seen your initial reaction… And you know it.

Then Laura and Clara start to squirm around. The first one is trying to tickle the latter, but the latter doesn’t want to let go of me.

Ooooh! What’s this suppleness!? And this fleshy and bouncy feeling? This sensation as if a tongue was sliding over my naked skin!? Oh, yeah. It’s my little sister’s champion. …disgusting.

But why does it feel like a normal hand…? No way…!

I glare at Laura for a moment, thinking it was her for a moment, but she doesn’t react in any way. Maybe it was my imagination?

“A group hug? Let me join it! Hahaha!”

It’s now that Ricard finally snaps out of his monologue and joins the group hug. …if you can call this mess a group hug, that is.

“Fufufu! Hahaha! Our team did great this time, but this isn’t the end! In the Main Tournament, we’ll keep rising and nobody’s going to stop us! Let’s enjoy this amazing experience as much as we can!”

“Well said, Andreu!”

“If we’re together, we can do anything, brother!”

“Yes! The League of Evil is going to trample everything on its path and reach the top! And then, we’re going to turn everyone into our little mindless undead slaves and rule the world! Hahaha!”

Please stop, Ricard. I don’t want to remember our team’s lame name…

 

---

 

Clara and I are going back home. We went out to celebrate our victory with Ricard and Laura. But tomorrow is Monday and everybody has classes. We can’t go to sleep too late, so we ended our party quite early.

The first thing we see once inside our house is our older sister, sprawled on top of the sofa and watching the TV.

“Hey, hey, Marta! Do you know what!?”

Clara quickly rushes to her and asks in a childish tone.

“Huh…? What are you talking about? I’m watching this now, let’s talk later.”

“This is more important!” Clara adamantly refuses to let go of this chance. “You do know we’re in the DMA tournament, right!?”

“...I do.”

“Well, we… hehe. We got enough points to participate in the second phase, the Main Tournament! Hehehe!”

“I see…” Marta awkwardly scratches her head, thinking about something. “Congratulations, I guess?”

“Hey! Can’t you display a little bit of happiness for us? Your cute little sister came here to explain it to you, but you remain indifferent!”

Oi, oi! Who calls oneself ‘cute’!? Isn’t it too narcissistic? Though I agree with you, Clara. She should at least feel happy for us.

“Well… what do you want me to say? I too reached the next phase with my team, you know? And I don’t expect you to be happy about it.”

“Oh, you’re participating too, Marta?” I ask.

“Yeah, I am. And there was no way my team would get eliminated in this first phase, so there’s no need to be happy about it. It was settled from the moment I decided to participate.”

As much as her attitude irritates us, what she’s saying makes sense. After all, she’s currently in the top 100 players in the Dungeon Battle ranking. It would be very odd for her not to reach the Main Tournament, regardless of who’s she playing with.

“Also… you were in the player level 5 tournament, right?” She stops for a moment and looks at me and then at Clara. We both nod at her words. “Then I’m sorry, but there’s no way you’re going to win the tournament.”

“W-what!? Why do you want us to lose!? Shouldn’t you be cheering for us at least?”

Her words also hurt my pride, though I don’t react as much as Clara.

“Yeah, don’t be like that, Marta. I’m sure you’re participating in the maximum level, the player level 20 tournament. I don’t know if you’re going to win or not, but we’re not going to meet. So… can’t you at least wish us good luck?”

“Sigh… It’s not like that. There’s this team I’ve been training called Dragon Warriors, who’s also participating in the level 5 tournament like you. And I’m sorry to say it, but there’s no way they’re going to lose to your team.”

“W-waaaaa!? You traitor! Y-you are Ughfmf…!”

I forcefully shut up Clara’s mouth. I’m sure she’s going to regret saying what comes next, so better close her mouth before it’s too late.

Clara’s looking at me now, in anger. A few tears can be seen glistening near her eyes. It’s kind of cute and sad at the same time.

Also, I’m crying right now… Why do we have to use ‘The League of Evil’, when other parties have cool names, like ‘Dragon Warriors’!?

“Well… you know… I didn’t do it on purpose, ok? I first didn’t know you were participating in it too!” Marta gives one excuse after the other. But her expression right now is suspicious. Way TOO suspicious. “I-I didn’t have any idea, ok!? And… A-anyway! I’m sorry for you, but as I said, there’s no way for you to win this tournament!”

I’m still not convinced by her words, but I decide it’s best to leave it as it is right now.

“Well… Even if you say this, we’ll still give our best and try to beat the team you trained! Also… I wish you good luck in your matches, Marta.”

“Me too! Good luck with your next fights! You’ll see! We’re going to crush that ‘Dragon Warriors’ team! We’re going to beat them so hard, they’ll never recover! Hehehe! And good night!”

“Yeah, yeah. Good luck to you too…” She waves at us, telling us to leave her alone. “Now let me see the end of this show, please.”

We leave the living room and move to our respective bedrooms. Clara doesn’t forget to hug me one last time before wishing me good night too and closing the door to her bedroom.

But we don’t hear what Marta says after we leave the room.

“Haah… Why didn’t you ask me to play with you…? You’re always asking him instead of me… If only I…”

 

“…The Wicked Legion’s special resource?

I’m sure you already know, but the demons enjoy tormenting their victims. And what’s the best way to represent it in a game? Fufufu! You guessed it! It’s to attack units inflicted by status effects!

We obtain Sadism points by charming our victims, poisoning them, applying stun or paralysis, blinding them… And then hitting them as hard as possible! Fufufu! The more the status effect lasts, and the more damage they receive, the more Sadism points we obtain!

That’s why, when we play together, I like to use the Charming Eyes skill and also want to hit enemies with my whip, which can momentarily immobilize enemies!

So… Andreu, do you want to try it a little? You know, you and me, alone, tonight… Fufufu!”

- This time it was Laura’s turn to torment Andreu with the game’s knowledge. Though she maybe went a little bit overboard with the ‘roleplay’ at the end.