Even after that attack of mine, Alicia still seems determined to keep doing what she's doing. Because even though the rats keep attacking her fiercely, she keeps going in and out with different companions.
It didn't take many brain cells to figure out what she's up to after watching her for so long.
She's building a team! How do I know? Simple. Because she's starting to keep some women, while swapping out others.
The one she's kept is Kaelyra, the one who used the darkness skill.
Plus another woman, with white hair and white eyes, a knight — a real tank — specialized in defense with solid skills, but still super strong physically, unleashing devastating attacks.
Her name's Lyna, I think? Not totally sure, I just heard it from afar using my Puddle skill, just to avoid getting attacked.
But the most surprising thing? Kaelyra and Alicia still show up as half-yellow on my map, instead of going half-red.
Even after attacking me, they don't really seem like they want to kill me. Just attacking to survive.
Anyway, their constant dungeon runs gave me tons of points!
That night, I used the chance to upgrade my dungeon. I started by adding a new floor:
Second underground floor — a labyrinth overrun with thorns, vines, and selected traps. (10,000 Dungeon Points)
For the first monster spawners, I picked:
Multivariant Spider Queen (3,000 points)
Several spider kings of different types (2,000 points)
The queen can mate with the kings of various types, giving birth to offspring. Most are single-type, but some spider guards can be born with mixed elements: like poison-fire, water-lightning, etc.
I placed them in a huge room full of thorns and vines, perfect for hiding.
Their movement zone covers half of the second floor, and they can also creep a bit into the slime zone and the empty part of the first floor where only rats roam.
I also added more rats on the second floor:
Bloodthirsty Rat Queen and King (40 points)
These rats mainly feed on the blood of their victims.
With that, the spiders have plenty of food, and the rats can give birth to pretty powerful and very numerous hybrids!
But I'll save that for later. Their zone spans the entire second floor and half of the first.
All that was done in a single night — well, in just three hours. But I'm not done, because once I have enough points, I've got something else planned! Another surprise. Or rather… a whole bunch of surprises to draw even more people in!
Eventually, after a few months, Alicia seems to have completed her team. In addition to Lyna and Kaelyra, she picked: a monster summoner and a healer — skilled with blessings, shields, and healing.
She's got one hell of a team now!
Aaaand I finally understood what they've been doing these past few months. Why this team?
JUST TO RAID MY DUNGEON!
Those bitches are trying to slow down my growth! But I won't let them!
"System! Expand the dungeon, times ten!"
[Understood...]
[50,000 points have been deducted. Floor size equals… comparison error…]
[Comparison found: size of a football stadium.]
"Add low-rank chests with random weapons, armor, and gemstones. Also place trapped chests in the same locations."
[2,000 points have been spent!]
"OH OH OH OH!"
"There you go, bitches! Let's see if you can still slow me down!"
Before, bandits came in secretly at night. They gave me plenty of points, but slowly. The biggest boost came from Alicia and her group entering over and over, plus a few other adventurers.
But with all this? Bandits are gonna come back even more! And die even more!
I'm not stopping. I'll keep upgrading this dungeon until no team can stop my rise!
More and more bandits entered my dungeon and died. And I took the chance to add more effects to the second floor:
Glowing spores that cause negative effects on contact, coming from the vines and roots. (500 points)
With that, priests and priestesses will have to enter the dungeon to heal adventurers and other explorers!
A few more months passed, and Alicia's team kept coming every day. Not just to level up, but also to try and slow my growth.
But with a dungeon this big, it became impossible. And with the new floor? Even more so.
So mercenaries, more adventurers, and even Church members showed up. Giving me even more points!
They know full well that the more people enter, the stronger my dungeon becomes. But the problem is: if they don't kill the monsters, those monsters will end up pouring out of the dungeon.
They're stuck between two fires:
Either they don't come, I don't gain points, but the monsters eventually break out.
Or they do come, I gain points, but the monsters stay inside the dungeon.
It's a tough dilemma for them, but not for me!
Me? I'm doing everything I can to attract people and turn my monster army into something terrifying!
Not to mention all the deaths thanks to my traps, the trapped chests that can replace treasure ones, and especially the labyrinth that shifts every night at midnight.
Totally impossible to map. Explorers have to rely on instinct and move slowly. Which means even more possible monster.
But Alicia's group is seriously incredible. In just one week, even though they had to start over every time, they managed to reach the second floor!
But once they got there, they had to turn back. Simply because their food ran out after days in the labyrinth.
But they figured out how to stay even when the dungeon reshapes itself.
By sticking close together at midnight, so they don't get separated.