Gamers of the Underworld

“Zzzz ya.”

Sherlock opened the door of the Dungeon Lord Main Hall. Behind him were moving figures and chatting noises. Once the door was closed, it became quiet again.

Sherlock took off his outer coat and cloak. After, magical wind and swirling water appeared from the air and circled the clothes, instantly cleaning the dusty apparel.

The room was dark, but Sherlock heard constant breathing sounds. It was Eggface sleeping at the corner. He had a personal nest, but he preferred to sleep here. Was it due to the proximity of his computer?

“Lord Sherlock, your plan was successful. Eggface has reduced his time playing computer games. Before long, he may not even want to touch the computer.” Bru’s voice rang out by Sherlock’s ear.

“I got it.”

Sherlock nodded as Bru said, “The gamers gave many suggestions regarding problems in the game, and they are concerned about Victoria City having too few Plots.”

“Too few Plots? What does that mean?”

Sherlock sat down and accessed the computer.

“It means that the NPCs aren’t enthusiastic, especially Miss Lilo, who seems to be keeping to herself. She is unlike Lord Sherlock, who walks around to check. Miss Lilo is the kind who won’t show her face for a few days. Though the three Hamsters will shout at the gamers to work hard and go for overtime, it becomes dull after some time,” Bru explained.

“The gamers tried to talk to Miss Lilo regarding this problem, but they were injured.”

“They went to talk with Lilo? About what?” Sherlock was taken aback.

Bru said, “There was no discussion, they were injured. Miss Lilo beat up the gamers who accused her. Though their injuries weren’t serious, the chain reactions were severe.”

“What happened? Did the gamers protest and stop working? Did they quit the game?”

Sherlock accessed the discussion forum and searched for the relevant complaint posts.

“No, when the gamers discovered that she would beat them up under certain circumstances, they felt excited and curious. They queued up to harass Miss Lilo, and many of them were injured.”

Sherlock didn’t respond. He searched for the relevant posts and read through them.

[We discovered NPC Lilo’s new gameplay! Under certain conditions, she’ll beat you up!]

[I saw some gamers being thrown out of the forest. It’s so exciting. I brought along my whip. I wonder if Lilo will whip me.]

[It’s cool. The game will lose big time if the gamers are allowed to play it for free!]

[I won’t say anymore. I’m going to the entrance of the Castle to shout at Lilo and see if I can trigger a hidden plot.]

[Are you a masochist? Why are you looking for a beating? Why did you not call for me to join you?]

[You are such fools. Continue with your silly ways. This game is so realistic, so there will definitely be a hidden impression rating. All of you harassed Lilo every day, so the impression rating will be negative. She won’t talk to you anymore!]

…

Though there wasn’t much content, most of the gamers continued to play the game. They were focused on the coming battle with the Ogres.

As both factions would be involved in battling the Ogres, the gamers discussed how they were going to beat the opposing faction.

Many gamers posted their chatting history with the customer service representative, which was Eggface. There were hundreds of posts.

“Eggface chatted with that many customers?”

Sherlock pondered as Bru said, “Yes, the gamers were enthusiastic about Eggface. Before he reports for work, there will be a long queue on the forum waiting for him.”

“I’m relieved to see so many playmates entertaining Eggface. He will have a memorable childhood,” Sherlock said with satisfaction.

“Oh… it can be interpreted that way,” Bru replied awkwardly.

…

“This is a challenge! This is definitely a challenge!”

A strong Ogre who was tattooed from his bald head to the rest of his body held a huge Axe. He stood in a house decorated with bones and said to the other Ogres, “Those weak creatures thought they could fight against us? They even sent 100 clowns to fool us? We’ll not let them off!”

“That’s right! We’ll not let them off!”

“We won’t let them off!”

The surround Ogres started shouting in agitation.

“Besides that, they attacked us secretly. Our guards at the entrance gate were all killed, and three of our Ogre heroes were kidnapped! We’ll never forget this insult!”

“That’s right! We’ll never forget this insult!”

“We’ll never forget!”

The Ogres shouted angrily.

A few Ogres walked out towards the tattooed Ogre and spoke to him in a whisper.

“What? They constructed an outpost? They flew an Airship over?”

The tattooed Ogre screamed, “Prepare to set off!”

An Ogre quickly whispered to the tattooed Ogre, who was in shock as he said, “What? They constructed two outposts?”

…

The gamers of Eternal Kingdom had constructed two outposts that were close by, and Lord Sherlock created a Rune Mana Formation at one of the outposts.

The gamers of Eternal Kingdom were puzzled about why Sherlock created another Rune Mana Formation when there was already one on the Airship. When they saw a Human walk out of the Teleport Portal, they understood.

“D*mn, we have to build a camp for the gamers of Victoria City?”

A Gnome complained as he carried a large rock to create a simple wall around the camp.

“Previously, we had to draw out the boxes for our stalls. This isn’t much,” a gamer smiled and said.

On a hill opposite them were a few Humans carrying rocks to create their wall.

In between the camps were various common Underworld creatures, such as Dire Wolves and Underground Spiders.

The main reason for their appearance were the gamers of Victoria City.

The gamers of Victoria City were fond of the Underworld creatures, thinking that they were monsters in the wild. Bru also assigned the appropriate mission:

[Mission Title: Clearing the Base

Mission Objective: Kill the monsters wandering outside the camp.

Mission Objectives:

Dire Wolves: 0/10

Underground Spiders: 0/10

Mission Reward: 200 bronze coins.]

And other similar missions.

Most of the gamers performed their missions diligently, but some gamers were more concerned about the gamers from the opposing faction.

Arthur, Peasant, NotWearingPants, Sylvanas, and BurningChestHair moved warily towards the opposing faction’s camp.

Though there were many monsters between the two camps, they were no match for the five of them. Moreover, the area was large. As long as they remained hidden, they could evade most of the monsters.

While Arthur and his companions were moving towards the Victoria City base camp, Victoria City gamers were moving towards the Eternal Kingdom base camp.

Both parties met nearer to the Victoria City base camp.

Arthur grasped the hilt of his sword and dipped the blade down as NotWearingPants attempted to communicate with the Human gamers. The rest of the gamers also chatted noisily, but the two factions discovered that they couldn’t communicate with each other.

One side was using the Underworld common language, while the other was using the Surface World common language. They couldn’t communicate with each other.

Though all of them spoke Chinese, they could only speak Chinese during Mana incantations. During normal conversation, they were unable to speak Chinese.

Since they couldn’t communicate with speech, they used words. NotWearingPants started writing on the ground:

“Greetings! I’m NotWearingPants!”

The other party replied, “Greetings, Pants Bro! We give our regards to you on behalf of Victoria City.”

From the look of it, the first contact was rather peaceful.

But there were incidents of disharmony.

In another part of the wilderness, the Gnome called btkangren from Dragon Raja held a Short Bow in his hand. Behind him were a few Dragon Raja gamers, and before them was a group of Human gamers from the Hoodlum Yoga Association. Their leader was a Human called Great Centenarian, who was riding a white horse!

The Gnome, btkangren, was coveting Great Centenarian’s horse. He focused on the horse rider and pulled the bowstring.

With a “swoosh” sound, the arrow flew towards Great Centenarian!