Gamers of the Underworld

Sherlock walked into the spacious room that was very dim.

Behind the coffee-colored table, a soft leather executive chair turned around slowly, revealing a Sludge Monster wearing a dark blue checkered western suit.

“It has been a long time since we last met, Lord Sherlock.”

The Sludge Monster was the creature that Sherlock had looked for previously.

“Didn’t you intend to leave Winterfell?”

Sherlock casually sat down opposite the Sludge Monster, looking as though he was back at home.

The Sludge Monster stood up and moved to get a cup, then spat a red sticky liquid from his body into it. After, he swallowed a water bottle into his body, and soon, hot water flowed out from his body into the teacup.

“This is your favorite bloody chrysanthemum tea. Don’t be formal, treat this place like your home.”

The Sludge Monster placed the sticky cup in front of Sherlock and then dragged his body to the executive chair, leaving a trail of sticky liquid on the ground.

Sherlock looked at the strange tea and pushed the cup away with his pinkie.

“I left. However, after seeing Winterfell encounter such a serious setback, I felt that it was a good opportunity for our group, so we came back.” The Sludge Monster slumped in his chair and asked, “Are you here because of the jailbreak of the plague bearer Polio?”

“Hmm, do you have any news?” Sherlock nodded and asked.

“Nothing much. Bankazia’s guards are looking for Polio, and the Merchant Alliance is sending out an arrest warrant. I did, however, hear a rumor that you may be interested in.”

The Sludge Monster took out a metal stick and lit it with Mana.

“The mastermind of the jailbreak may have been Alexandria.”

The Sludge Monster placed the hot metal stick into his mouth, and it sizzled.

“Alexandria? The Baron’s son who came to Winterfell? Is he related to the Ancient Gods believers?”

Sherlock stroked his chin and pondered.

“From the current situation, he isn’t related to them. He was the one who suggested that you defend Winterfell. From my intelligence, he doesn’t seem related to the Ancient Gods believers. Samael seems related to the Ancient Gods, but it pertains to the Seven Devil Kings, of which Samael is a lone ranger. The rest of the Devil Kings won’t allow the Ancient Gods to return, so we don’t have to worry.”

The Sludge Monster gave a muffled sound and took out the metal stick, which had extinguished.

“Tsk, have you drank too much water recently?” the Sludge Monster muttered to himself.

“Please keep an eye on Alexandria and Polio. Contact me using our old method.”

Sherlock stood up and positioned his hat properly as he said, “I’m making a move.”

“Keep in contact, Lord Sherlock.”

The Sludge Monster smiled, and the metal stick began to heat up again.

…

NotWearingPants walked out of the Teleport Portal and scolded fiercely, “Gosh! I only stayed in the kitchen for a while, so how did they discover my spy status?”

Behind NotWearingPants were other gamers.

Some gamers smiled as they talked.

“I feel that the Ogres were just hungry.”

“My equipment! It won’t be easy for me to steal it from the Ogres!”

“Gosh, you silly dude, didn’t you bury the equipment at a hidden location? Shouldn’t you hide the stolen equipment?”

“I didn’t manage to steal any equipment. It’s frustrating.”

These gamers were from the Ogre Stronghold, and the equipment they were talking about was from the Ogres inside it.

They had been taking screenshots and collecting intelligence in the Ogre Stronghold for the past few days, while the rest of the time was spent thinking about how to obtain equipment. Initially, they went to the Chiefs of the Ogre tribes to ask for equipment. After all, they had defected and couldn’t possibly fight against their enemies with their bare hands. They also claimed to be loyal to the Ogres!

The gamers obtained intelligence and equipment, but they had to pay a price. First of all, they had to gain the trust of the Ogre Chiefs by providing valuable information.

The gamers were careful about their immersive roles, not forgetting that their faction was the righteous Underworld. They only divulged the number of citizens in Eternal Kingdom and the Surface World’s Victoria City, as well as the information about the Winterfell intelligence agents stationed outside the Stronghold—including that the leader of the agents was Bond.

They only managed to gain limited trust with this insignificant intelligence, so a few impatient gamers betrayed Eternal Kingdom by drawing a distorted map of Eternal Kingdom from the discussion forum and handing it over to the Ogres. They were rewarded with a piece of excellent equipment.

When news of this leaked out, the 100 gamers who faked their defection couldn’t resist the temptation. Despite having scolded the gamers who revealed too much the second before, they rushed out to betray Eternal Kingdom for possible rewards from the Ogres.

They even prepared very detailed maps and a sand table to obtain their rewards.

The locations of the Guilds, Commercial Area, and Forging Area were given away, and they also revealed information about the NPCs. They said that Beast was betrayed by his father-in-law, that Moroes was henpecked, that Simba had a terrible temper and should be killed, and that Sherlie had the habit of walking around the Dungeon in the afternoon!

The gamers received huge amounts of equipment, though those that were slow didn’t get any equipment!

The situation only lasted for a few days. When the gamers ran out of intelligence to divulge, the tolerance of the Ogres dwindled—they were hungry.

Finally, the gamers were gathered in the kitchen, and they all soon revived in Eternal Kingdom.

Though the gamers only spent a short time at the Ogre Stronghold, they had obtained sufficient intelligence. The most important intelligence was—sewers!

Not every Dungeon was as poor as Eternal Kingdom, whose citizens had to go outside the Dungeon and dig a pit for their bowel movements. Though, the pit had become an important source of raw materials for the Bladder Bombs.

There were sewers below the Ogre Stronghold.

The sewers were so dirty that normal creatures wouldn’t be willing to go in, but it was the fastest way into the Ogre Stronghold, and it bypassed the high walls.

The gamers shared their intelligence, including the sewers loophole, on the discussion forum. Within a few days, they had several different invasion plans, with the most popular post being NotWearingPants’ Strategy Guide.

[Ogre Stronghold, the next Battle Campaign Scenario of Eternal Kingdom!]

“Hello everyone, I’m NotWearingPants. (`・ω・’)

Due to my busy schedule, I have been unable to update my Strategy Guides. The 15-member Instance Dungeon is too difficult! After challenging it for more than a month, I feel like I’m going crazy.

It’s fortunate that there is a new Plot, which is specific to Eternal Kingdom.

I was lucky enough to be assigned the surveillance mission involving the Ogres. I followed the Winterfell intelligence agents and their leader Bond to the Ogre Stronghold.

We traveled for three days! Though I have played the game for half a year, this is an illogical design that I have to complain about. Is the game producer a sadist, making us travel in a realistic manner? Is it that difficult for the CoderMonkey to create a black screen flash to indicate the speeding up of time?

There were many accidents during the journey. For instance, the Beetlemons were too small to accommodate 100 of us, so if a gamer wasn’t careful, they would fall to the ground upon going offline. The game isn’t friendly to nocturnal gamers. During the night, nocturnal gamers couldn’t do anything while everyone was resting on the Beetlemon. During the day, we had to hold these nocturnal gamers to prevent mishaps. If there was a bump or when a gamer went offline to perform some errands, an accident like falling from the Beetlemon would occur. The situation is as shown in the pictures:

(Picture) (Picture)

It was fortunate there were no serious casualties.

When we arrived at the Ogre Stronghold, we started our surveillance mission.

Using the “fake defection, future reversal” method, we bypassed the high walls and the fortified city gate and entered the Stronghold. I forgot to show you the pictures:

(Picture) (Picture)

The pictures show the outer walls of the Stronghold, which were very grand. If we try to use brute force, it will be difficult for us to win the battle.

I won’t elaborate on the divulging and obtaining of intelligence. Whatever details we knew about Sherlock, we told the Ogres. Don’t blame us, it was for the equipment!

I will show some pictures of the Ogre Stronghold. I know you have seen a lot, but if I don’t show the pictures, I’ll feel that I’m missing a lot of stuff.

(Picture) (Picture)…

If you pay attention, one of the pictures shows the sewers leading to the Stronghold.

This is the crux to winning the battle!

We discussed a battle plan that is appropriate for the Underworld:

1: Enter the sewers.

2: Kill the Ogres.

3: Occupy the Stronghold and complete the mission.

Perfect.”