Chapter 1, Welcome to Live Dungeon  

Live Dungeon, the free MMORPG where players race to reach the lowest floor. Tsutomu Kyoutani, who lives alone in his apartment, is currently trying to create the characters under the same name using his 5 laptops.

He gazed at the 5 screens while simultaneously drinking jello. The first character he selected was a healer. Then came the tank, the attacker, all already having reached the level cap. Lastly, he had created one more character – a magic tank – which would also soon to reach the level cap.

Since this game is a level-based dungeon crawler, as well as an MMORPG, it is only natural that you will make parties with other players. About 2 years ago, I made one myself with a guild, a friend, or even a complete stranger, and explored the dungeon.

However, the trend of the times is cruel. And Live Dungeon, which was launched around 7 years ago, will cease service in January.

This was the game that Tsutomu first played all the way back when he was still in high school when he first got his hands on a computer. For about six years Tsutomu played this very game, and he found it appropriate to decorate its end. He began to think.

Capturing the bottom level by himself – Tsutomu used to dream about it quite frequently. However, Live Dungeon is an MMORPG. It is basically a law that nobody should be able to beat the game solo. So, he bought a second-hand laptop, and borrowed 3 additional ones from university friends and seniors. Point is, for games made 7 years ago, the spec requirements are very low, so there would be no problem with playing on worn out laptops.

[Finished…]

After making sure that the last character’s level has reached the level cap, he threw his empty jello drinks into the trash can. Then, giving it my all, I slapped my hand and pointed my finger upwards, doing a victory dance. From this point, he will begin distributing one of the true joys of Live Dungeon around existing games.

The game has a function that can deliver dungeon clears within the game. The gods who control the dungeon have implemented a feature that allows them to see humans fighting. In addition, the feature has been updated and can be distributed on the internet, and it was a big success on the forums.

However, Tsutomu made an effort to distribute it only within the game. This server usually has a BOT that is always on, but that is fine. Even though it was distributed online, it was still obvious that it will be criticized heavily.

“Well, let’s get started.”

Pulling himself together, Tsutomu tightened his face and connected each of his characters to the server. With a thank you in advance, he put the required forms in the party chat and applied to the party.

The roles in a party is divided into three in this game. First being the Tank (Shield), next being the Attacker (Attack), and the last being the Healer (Recovery). Tsutomu is a physical tank, a magic tank, a physical attacker, and a magic attacker, and has even completed the game under the recovery role.

In the dungeon, the environment changes mainly every 10 levels, with the lowest level being the 100th level. There, the final boss, a lone dragon, appears.

Behind crap specifications there is also a secret dungeon, but it is so hard that one person operating 5 machines can’t clear it, as one would expect. So, his efforts were aimed at clearing all the dungeons on the list.

The dungeon clearing plan was being worked on during all the grinding, but this is the first time for the actual battle. Well, if he fully utilizes his summer vacation, he should be able to do it, he thought as he pressed the Enter key.

Floors 1 to 10 are the Grasslands. 11 to 20 the Forests. 21 to 30 is the Swamps. From 31 to 40 is the Wilderness. The poison effect in these floors are quite awkward, but it will be manageable by pushing the level’s GORI. The problem are the beaches from the 41st floor to the 50th. In order to defeat the shell club, the boss here, it is necessary to take measures to prevent it from diving into the ground.

He theorized that cutting it off before it dived would work, but it was difficult to do so by himself, so it was necessary to be a few steps ahead of its movement. There are 3 movement patterns that change according to the physical strength ratio, and if you knew it, it won’t be fully recovered yet, so you would be able to bring it down easily.

If you fall from the ravine in floors 51 to 60, you will die immediately. That’s why it’s full of traps and enemy mobs. However, if you give the party the magic of the wind, you can disable them. Tsutomu also made efforts to avoid being noticed by the dragon flying high above the level.

The boss of the valley is a fire dragon. If you don’t have any flying items, it will just continuously fly above you and breathe fire. But, if you have long range attacks, you can weaken its wings and bring it down closer to the ground, where the battle will be easily won.

From the 61st floor to the 70th, the terrain is volcanic. A lot of instant death occur on this level, and anti-heat measures are a necessity. It is important to prepare the heat protection equipment. While swimming in lava, the bosses sprinkle lava, instantly killing you, but they have no problem since they are immune to fire.

Floors 71 to 80 are the snowy fields. It is not too scary here if you have antifreeze measures, however, there’s a place called Onimon that has an infinite amount of fish enemies known as the “Setsurou”. It is very hard to handle this amount of enemies with only one player controlling 5 units. It is also the place where Tsutomu is most in danger.

When he finally was able to break through, Tsutomu was able to see a clear shot. He could see the end of the game.

On the 81st to 90th floor, the angels of the gods who created the dungeon, the devil who claims to be an angel, and the angel who fell by the devil and falls to the undead are the main enemy mobs. Countermeasures for confusion and implicit conditions are also essential.

The boss at the end is an Archangel. Implicit from the condition that magic is disabled in the range of the Holy and Dark attributes, it is mainly known for killing healers, and it usually depends on the skill of the healer to avoid or prevent the boss’ attacks.

From the 90th floor is the old castle. The entrance door opens by equipping the boss drops from the previous levels, the armor and weapons. Inside the old castle comes out all the previous enemy mobs that has appeared thus far.

The 100th level is like an arena, and if you defeat the lone dragon in it, you clear the dungeon.

A number of range attack bracelets to cut through the durability of its weapon armor, as weapon armor decreases every time you attack it. The magic resistance is also high and the attacker is killed, but because of the Holy attributes the player has earned it is easy to pass. Because healers can also participate by attacking the boss, there is by no means a shortage of firepower.

[A lot happened]

I dove into the solo dungeon for the first time, and finished admirably. When you die, some events occur in your respawn area as things turn red.

[Huh? There’s not much good here!]

No, no, there is actually some good to come out of this. Healer was quite fun since I still remember how to play the role, and both tank and attacker were fun for a few different reasons. Then, there were people applauding in the center of the square.

[There’s no name tag … NPC? This guy isn’t supposed to come out until the dungeon is beat though]

Thinking that, Tsutomu made some gestures on the 5 characters, opening each of their personal chats.

“Congrats on beating the dungeon solo! Let’s give it to you!”

A hand movement from the NPC accompanied the chat. Tsutomu stopped at the thought. I soon came up with a reason alone.

[Have I found it?]

Even if a person who seldom plays Live Dungeon were to look at his movements, it may be possible for them to guess that it was a single player. However, this person had no name tag, and there was only the word BOT when looking at him.

[Maybe he’s an admin? It’s a rather smart system in that case]

Even though his feats go unnoticed, Tsutomu wrote about it on the forums, and he was probably receiving a prize from the admins.

“I received an invitation from God.”

As soon as he accepted the item, his computers began flashing energetically.

[Huh? Did it crash!?]

At that, Tsutomu’s consciousness was shut down like the turning off of a laptop.

_______________________________________________________________

A castle that has been lost from the memory of the people. Tsutomu woke up in the arena of the forgotten castle.

“Ugh… This is…!?”

When he gazed at his surroundings, he found it very closely resembles the 100th floor of the Live Dungeon.

[Is this a dream?]

Continuing his thoughts, Tsutomu stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes. He looked at himself, only to be surprised to find he was wearing red leather pants. On his upper body was a black robe with a long chain. He even a cane with a black crystal and was in brown boots.

[Wow, my recall rate is so high. I even shoot magic!]

As he raised his cane and assumed various poses, a roar that echoed all the way to the bottom of his belly thundered. Tsutomu fell, and looked up to the cloudy sky to see what it was.

At first, small black objects appeared in the sky far away. It looked like it was getting bigger and faster as it fell to him.

With his ears closed, hearing more roars like the previous one, Tsutomu stood up to avoid whatever was making the sound. He drove his strenuous legs and ran. Then, something massive came down in the middle of the arena, blasting wind in all directions.

A rotten eye. The body of a festering ancient dragon with some holes in it. Tsutomu was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the creature as he lay on the ground shaking.

[Why can’t I move…]

Even as he shook his teeth, he thought it must have been a dream. Tsutomu was often told that to test whether or not you were in a dream, you could grasp the soil and let it fall from your hands. Feeling the soil stream down from his palm he concluded this was likely not a dream.

He was dominated by such thoughts. The festering ancient dragon turned its eyeless sockets. Then, while it brought its body closer to the ground, it exhaled towards the floor. A vomiting breath corroding everything it touches. Tsutomu, still unable to move, took the breath head-on with the force of a tsunami.

As soon as the breath touched him, he began to melt like starch and syrup. In the blink of an eye, his wrist falls down.

[Ahhhhhhh!!!]

Pain covers his whole body as though every part was being bitten by a large group of insects. His body fell like he was in a swamp. His face is also hit from the breath and begins to rot, losing sight, hearing and smell. There is only pain.

That sense of pain began to disappear from Tsutomu.

The body of Tsutomu became a particle of faint light and disappeared from the arena of the old castle.

What was left was only the dragon, and the equipment Tsutomu was wearing.