Chapter 33 - Time to get serious

Currently, I was watching the adventurer party having a picnic in my dungeon.

No, I am not joking they were having a literal picnic.

The swordswoman unsheathed her sword, put it on two about equally sized rocks, activated the rune and balanced a metal pot on the sword. The mage girl made a few ice shards and dumped them in the pot. While the thief class looking dude with a broken leg pulled out a few spice jars, dried meat, and vegetables, and he is now expertly mixing ingredients in the cooking pot using a wooden soup spoon.

The smell is actually pretty nice...

The metal tin can that I'm pretty sure is their tank had his eyes glued to the dark corridor while the priest had closed his eyes and looked like he was sleeping. The ranger was still unconscious, she hasn't moved at all, I'd say she was dead if I couldn't still feel a small amount of mana emanating from her.

I would like to send wave after wave of monsters after them while they're still weak and tired. However...

I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING!!

Well, not that dramatic but there are problems, let me explain.

Currently, all that I have in this second half are five Lesser Dryads, fifteen Lesser Stone Centipedes, and twenty-odd Mushroom People. The ants? Yeah, I lost them under a few tonnes of earth. I could still feel a few ants around the queen, but honestly, the amount is so pathetic I might as well leave them to guard the queen.

As for why I can't fight them right now, its simply because the Lesser Dryads are rooted to the ground. While my centipedes and mushroom people could still move, in the closed confined space of the beginning corridor, they won't be able to fully utilize their numbers advantage, I might as well be handing the adventurers free EXP to farm.

When I saw how easily they were dealing with my first boss, I called all my mobs to the end of my dungeon, right before the dryad boss. Creating a large hall so that I could make the most of my numbers advantage. However, in the process, I moved all my Lesser Dryads using Edit, which is the only way I could move them around since they're rooted to ground until they evolve into dryads.

Now that the adventurers were in the second half of my dungeon, I could no longer use any mana here to do anything.

Move the lesser dryads? Nope can't use mana.

Have the shrooms duplicate? Nope can't use mana.

In fact, the only area which I can still use mana is past the Dryad boss.

Make another section to slow them down? Nope, I'm at the edge of my claimed area and claiming more will take up most my mana. Not only that, stalling for time is no longer an option now.

The cave in had caused me to be blocked off from the outside world, which in case you didn't know, blocked off my expulsion of mana waste.

Mana waste or elemental dust are created when I purify mana to swap for DP. However, since that ability is a passive I can't stop it.

Just as a normal human wouldn't willingly glue his asshole shut, a dungeon won't close his entrance.

Right now I was a human who not only had his asshole glued shut, I was also eating Mexican food while it is shut.

There's stuff going in, but nothing coming out.

And much like a person eating Mexican food with a blocked asshole, the gas will slowly build up in my gut, killing everything inside, until either the glue or my body gives out. No matter what fails first, there's guaranteed to be an explosion.

Make a new passageway? The adventurers are right there I can't do anything, even my saving grace DP cannot be used with these intruders so close to the blockage.

I could attempt to trap them inside me, slowly poisoning the adventurers using the mana waste. However, I don't think I can hold them back for long. The mana waste affects my own monsters after all.

Once they beat the Dryad boss and pass through then I won't be able to make any more changes or add new monsters. Meaning that I'm stuck with what I have.

I don't know or understand the full extent of the damage the mana waste could do but I can guarantee that these guys will last longer than my own monsters.

I could create swarms of monsters and have them pass through the dryad boss room, however, the only creature I could see doing any damage and could move around freely are the centipedes, however, with only a hundred odd DP, I could only make fifteen at best. Combined with the ones I already have, then I'll have thirty centipedes.

I could also bet all my mana on another boss, however, if they could beat my Dryad boss then I don't see much hope in making another Silver Party class boss.

Collapse the tunnel in front of me? I may be safe for a while but I'll end up adding to the Mana Waste problem and those adventurers will be trapped with me. If I end up in a state where I can't use mana then I might as well be dead during that situation.

I don't see any sure-fire way to win here. If I collapse the tunnel then I could buy time for myself, however, I would have trapped the adventurers with me while limiting my own options. I could call another Dungeon to save me, however, given the fact that their race is dungeon probably means I won't get help for a while. The closest Dungeon to me is Grey, however, her avatar seems to be very weak.

I didn't notice it before since I didn't have a lot of references for mana levels. However, I could barely feel mana coming from Grey, Grey radiated less mana than the Ranger girl who's still unconscious.

Also regarding the mana that the adventurers are radiating. Sure its there, however, I can't use it at all. The mana sort of just floats around in the air and I can't collect it unless I use my own mana to suck it up and you should see the problem here.

My remaining options are to create a horde of centipedes using DP or use my remaining mana on another Boss.

The centipedes have a lot of potential uses, I could have them directly swarm the adventurers or have them enter the dryad boss room and act as her meatshields, they are probably the safer pick.

The boss feels more like a gamble, currently, I don't have any creature that could make a strong boss. I can't make another Dryad boss because I have to at least have a Lesser Dryad capable of evolving first, I have none of those since my only one is already a boss. Centipede? Those adventurers easily locked down my other centipede boss, adding a few stats and special abilities might change that but I'm not willing to bet money on it.

As for the mushrooms? One of them literally died from getting lightly tapped, I could see no real threat from what's basically the marshmallow man from GhostB*sters but without the demon and scaled down 100 times.

To make a boss I must have some direction for how they'll power up. However, I have no idea which direction a Mushroom Person could go.

Strength? Nope. Magic? Nope. Defense? Also a nope. They have nothing except for their ability to reproduce quickly, and the ants basically have them trumped in that area.

Obviously, I could do both the boss and swarm option. However, just lasting this long against these adventurers has already cost me more mana and DP then I earn in a week. And I can tell that these guys aren't even trying, for fuck's sake they are literally having a picnic here!

--~=~--

BREATHES IN

I'M BACK BITCHES!!!

And since I'm back here's a little gift.

For completely overthinking things and missing the whole point of what you're supposed to be doing (defending your dungeon) You have gotten the Title:

Overthinker

Effect: Whenever your life is put in mortal danger because you spent too long deciding on your next action, gain 0.1 Intelligence points. Current Bonus: 0.1

What is this? An actual title with possible benefits??? Have I, your system turned over a new leaf and decided to actually @#%^ h#^# he!# fuck I can't say that word.

Well, I was thinking that if you did dumb shit a lot then with this you'll eventually become smarter. Afterall how am I supposed to entertain myself if you just died!? Go get an actual hobby? Go outside and socialize?

pfft As if.

Wait... Isn't that supposed to be wisdom? Shit, I misclicked...

P.S. only whole numbers will take effect.

Also P.S. You might want to check on those adventurers.

--~=~--

If there is a blue box equivalent of getting punched, I think I just got it.

I was thinking why this asshole didn't appear for the last few weeks, but it seems like this guy has been saving up his forces for a single decisive strike!

Wait a second... You might want to check on those adventurers...

"SHIT!"

"Are you okay Victoria?" Jane asked worriedly.

"Yeah... I'm fine." Victoria replied, somewhat distracted.

"Let's do this quickly, Sophia keep the teleportation scroll ready just in case. We might have an easy way out but it should be a last resort." Rayes said seriously.

"Burp Yep, it cost us way too much, we should try to save it and find another exit," Gordan said, putting down his bowl.

Jane looked at her team, they've been through thick and thin together, they'd trust each other with their lives.

"Well then, time to get serious."