Perradat was lounging on the steps, observing the battle.
Initially, the neighbors who went into battle were a bit nervous, but gradually, everyone got into their stride. The first batch of neighbors who fought even piled up bedding and took naps right there.
The dog-headed beastmen and succubi treated it as some sort of game, squeezing in front of the screen with snacks in hand, occasionally letting out exclamations of awe.
Magic flew across the screen as the Players clashed with the neighbors. The Players' onslaught wasn't like it was their first encounter with the Lost Tower. Star Stealer Sol had definitely used reversion already.
However, there wasn't the slightest sign of decline from the neighbors' side—they weren't the only ones with a hidden commander. Lynn and Rosen kept a close eye on the battle, sending suggestions to the neighbors now and then.
They weren't afraid of Star Stealer Sol, nor did they need his power.
Perradat couldn't help but recall those not-so-distant past days. The battles with Star Stealer Sol then felt more like a struggle for faith among native beings. And these beings, from foreign lands, were the most steadfast followers of the God of Creation.
The God of Creation had also made generous arrangements for them. More than 90% of these fragile creatures hiding in the Tower had evolved into boss-level monsters. This meant they possessed various anti-instant kill resistances granted by the system, undoubtedly forming a terrifying army.
How enviable.
Perradat turned to Lynn and Mentor and let out a long sigh. "How did you know this approach would work against reversion?"
"No, we didn't know," Mentor answered lightly. "I only knew Star Stealer Sol's 'priority' isn't as high as the system's, so I used a system skill to create a random calculation magical device—this way, it's a contest between 'reversion' and 'system rules'."
Perradat bit her nails in confusion. "So what then?"
"If the system's random rules cannot be shaken, each time Star Stealer Sol activates reversion, it will trigger different random outcomes, making it impossible for that ragtag bunch to defeat us."
Lynn crossed her arms, still looking at the screen. "And if we assume Star Stealer Sol's 'reversion' is stronger, even able to fix the random outcomes, then changing teams every so often and rethinking strategies will also give him a hard time."
The Lost Tower naturally possessed various terrains. Once Star Stealer Sol attempted to take advantage of the terrain, they would shift the battlefield. Thanks to Rosen, the neighbors didn't have a fixed team. For safety reasons, the teams that went out to grind were always different, so everyone meshed well together.
Indeed, they managed to maintain control of the situation smoothly. The problem was finding a way to break the stalemate, as Star Stealer Sol wouldn't keep losing forever.
Lynn pursed her lips when suddenly she felt a cold, damp touch on her heel. Startled, she looked down to see Ben's snout poking out.
"Ben?!" She exclaimed in surprise and delight.
The miniaturized Ben jumped out of her shadow, dropping a virus program ball from Nol, which shattered on the ground, instantly turning into thousands of shimmering light particles.
Thinking it had broken an important item, Ben was scared stiff, its fur standing on end. It incredulously lowered its head, its front paws futilely scratching the ground, its nose sniffing around.
Perradat narrowed her eyes—something in the air had changed, and she could feel it. The system's tight constraints loosened slightly, not enough to let Kando break through the space but sufficient to set up a communication channel.
She touched the frightened shadow wolf, pointing a finger into the void. A blurry blue flame appeared mid-air.
"…can…" A vague voice came from the flame, like whispers in a strong wind. After a few seconds, the voice became clearer.
"…we can communicate now." Kando's voice came through, still somewhat muffled, as if through a layer of water film.
"Lynn, can you hear me speaking?" Nol's voice quickly approached.
Lynn, holding Ben, relaxed her expression slightly. "I can hear you. The Tower is temporarily safe. Star Stealer Sol's avatar has arrived, and we've trapped it at the bottom of the tower."
"Anakin and the others have received the quest invitation, and I will read the quest details to you next."
Before Nol could ask, Lynn preemptively answered. She quickly explained the quest restrictions and briefly described the current strategies.
Unlike the puzzled Perradat, as soon as Lynn started, Nol guessed the gist. "Roguelike*? A neat response."
*The term used here is meat pigeon [rouge] (肉鸽), but it's the pinyin pronunciation referring to rogue (roguelike games). These are dungeon crawl games that have randomly generated maps/levels and monsters, which is basically what the Lost Tower is currently doing right now.
He sounded relieved, his background noise mixed with Teest's murmuring. Nol's voice faded a bit, probably explaining the situation to his knight on the fly.
"We've managed to control the situation, but neither of us can break the system's seal."
Perradat poked the flame, raising her voice. "I'm not good at direct combat, and you two can't come in. Once Star Stealer Sol recovers, things won't be so easy."
"This dungeon has completely covered the surrounding area of the Lost Tower."
Nol's voice came closer again. "Forcing an entry would take time. I must bypass the dungeon's anti-tampering programs."
On the other end of the flame, Nol held Kando in his palm, looking at the swaying candle flame. Hearing that the Tower was safe, he almost sat down on the spot. Teest had dragged him under a nearby tree. Nol was in charge of communicating with the inside of the Tower, while Teest checked the surroundings, adding obstacles to the Players coming for the quest.
Nol picked up a stick and began to scribble on the ground.
To prevent instance cheating, the development team designed numerous complex and tricky anti-tampering mechanisms for "Tahe World". It was created to be unbreakable; Nol himself didn't know any backdoors.
Furthermore, both he and Teest's formidable powers clashed with the core rules of the dungeon. If they decided to invade, they'd face the highest level of "security"…
"You don't need to come in for now."
Lynn's voice came through. "We can discuss other strategies."
Nol's scribbling stopped.
"I agree with Miss Lynn's view." Mentor maintained an impartial tone. "Star Stealer Sol is already inside. Do you think you invading the dungeon or him finding a way to harm us will happen faster?"
Indeed.
Nol clenched the stick. His decision at this moment was extremely crucial—
Whether to invade the dungeon with Teest or to discuss other methods. Every second they spent, Star Stealer Sol was further understanding the neighbors' situation and thinking of new strategies.
Should they choose wrongly or act too slowly, casualties within the Tower would be inevitable.
As the creator of this world, Nol preferred to have control in his hands. However…
Nol looked towards the destruction shield protecting the Lost Tower and Teest who was mischievously tormenting the Players. Without Teest's input, he wouldn't have quickly thought of Ben, nor would he have reestablished contact so soon.
"It's not that we don't trust you." Lynn's voice carried a hint of amusement. "We just hope you can trust us a bit more."
"I understand." Nol closed his eyes. "Next, I'll provide support from outside the area. Let's see if there are other methods."
"Ben will stay with you for now." Teest popped his head in. "If necessary, you can throw it down as a combat force. It hasn't been very active lately."
Ben's indignant snort immediately emanated from the flame.
"How did you bring the shadow wolf out originally?" Mentor asked curiously. "It was the boss of 'Night of the Hunt' dungeon, right?"
"I used an item to sever its link with the dungeon. Without the core of the dungeon, the instance would close due to a system error."
Nol looked towards the Lost Tower standing in the night sky, like a crack between heaven and earth.
"This time, the same method can't be used."
Lynn asked, "Why not?"
"Because everyone in the neighborhood has been designated as a target to be killed. Strictly speaking, everyone is part of the dungeon core… Even if I still had my letter opener, I couldn't use it on everyone."
Nol explained bluntly.
Normally, killing the dungeon boss would signify the end of the quest. Star Stealer Sol, not satisfied, set the quest to "kill all monsters inside the Tower".
Meaning, except for Mentor, Anakin, and Solo—the three pure-blood Players—everyone was designated by the system as a "core target".
Lynn was momentarily speechless. She remembered the shocking state of Zhuang Shuhang, with only half a head left after one cut.
Now with hundreds of neighbors inside the Tower, even if Nol could poke each one, without the system connection, the combat power of Paradise would virtually reset to zero.
But Nol couldn't come in now, and the letter opener had been given away, making this path unviable from the start.
They were unable to exploit the same loophole…
Lynn rubbed her knuckles, deep in thought.
"Perradat." Teest joined the conversation. "That mission counts you as a kill target too. What exactly can you do?"
"My powers are 'concealment' and 'prophecy'."
Facing Teest, Perradat's tone turned rigid. "Now that I'm personally involved, I can't make prophecies. My 'concealment' can disrupt the system to some extent, but…"
"But?"
"The system is too strong. My level of interference is limited." Perradat hummed. "To be precise, my concealment is more 'I'll cover for you if you steal candies', not 'I'll help you dispose of the body if you commit murder'."
"How remarkably useless," Teest exclaimed.
"That's because my kind is quite gentle, preferring communication over conflict." Perradat said sharply, "I am a genteel god, unlike some savages who insult corpses right off the bat—"
Nol quickly cleared his throat. "Sorry, sorry. Just to confirm, your 'concealment' power can't hide my compatriots, deceiving the quest's death detection."
"Too many people. Can't do it." Perradat's voice softened. "In my prime, certainly, but I don't even have an avatar here… Damn, once you're near my core, you'll see how powerful I am…"
Everything returned to square one.
So far, aside from Nol and Teest intervening personally, they couldn't find a better solution.
Lynn summoned the magical records, scanning the lines of text.
[Objective: Kill all monsters inside the tower.]
[Reward: The unique system guild base "Lost Tower"; all treasures and items within the Lost Tower; clues about the Demon King.]
…Huh?
"Nol, wait, let me confirm. According to this quest description, the 'Lost Tower' itself isn't the dungeon core?" Lynn soothingly patted Perradat's head.
"Yes."
Nol affirmed. "Like the shadow wolf, the kill targets are the core. According to this quest setup, the Lost Tower is to be given away as a prize."
Teest clicked his tongue loudly. "Is this quest written by Enbillick personally?"
"Yes, normal quests wouldn't have such a vague requirement. If the system wanted to severely damage the Lost Tower, specifying the kill of Paradise's higher-ups would be more effective."
Mentor analyzed eagerly. "Paradise's security measures are excellent. I only recently found out who the high-ups are. Star Stealer Sol couldn't know, so he designated everyone as the target."
"If only the Lost Tower could hide in the system like before." A few steps away, Rosen interjected.
Nol's eyebrows twitched.
Wait, "The Lost Tower isn't the dungeon core", "Kill all monsters within the Tower".
Normally, in a boss fight, the system directly checked the individual boss' life and death status. But Star Stealer Sol specified "area killing of indeterminate targets", so the system defaulted to another set of judgment criteria.
This was a bottom-level logic only known to the creator.
To prevent Players from gaming the system or monsters summoning more monsters, leading to an endless enemy situation. He remembered, the judgment standard for area kills seemed to be…
"The quest starts with marking all monsters within the Tower."
"Defined by the dungeon's boundary, within and around the specified area, there exists no life reaction from marked monsters." Nol's voice carried a hint of amusement. "…To end this quest, such a result must be achieved."
Teest raised an eyebrow. "Why suddenly mention this?"
"Because Officer Luo just said the Lost Tower usually moves hidden in the system," Nol answered indirectly.
Inside the command room, Lynn paused for two seconds, then burst into laughter. "Oh my. Don't tell me there's such a loophole. Officer Luo, you're the hero of the day."
She slapped Rosen's back, who looked bewildered.
"The Lost Tower isn't originally part of the dungeon space. Forcibly using it will definitely result in various small loopholes." Nol laughed. "Miss Perradat, we're about to steal candies."
Perradat stiffened defensively. "What are you planning to do?"
Nol extended his hands, and countless characters converged between them. Through telepathy, he quickly explained everything to Teest.
Simultaneously, Lynn stood up, whispering in Perradat's ear.
"..."
Listening, Perradat's expression gradually vanished.
After a while, she spat out fiercely. "If you're really going to do this, can I choose the location?"
"It's rare for you to be so cooperative." Teest teased, unable to suppress his smirk after hearing the plan.
"Because I've confirmed you're all mad." Perradat curled her lips. "But only such lunatics are more suited to deal with Star Stealer Sol."
"Now that it's come to this, let me fulfill my promise."
The author has something to say:
The plot is about to start getting devious.
Guess how they'll break the situation?
By the way, the term "roguelike" refers to a category of games characterized by high randomness.
However, since Players resurrect after dying, it doesn't strictly count as a classic roguelike…
Kinky Thoughts:
One of my favorite roguelike games is Hades. Ah, Zagreus, so hot.