Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 179 – Cat Dad’s Backrooms Dungeon

Not only the first floor was renovated, but the B1 floor was redesigned as well. The prison cells were removed and replaced with sturdy partition walls, covered with plain yellowish wallpapers.

The place was also expanded, and there were side corridors to other sections. Traces of this place being dug were still around. Mining and excavating tools had been placed near the unfinished digging sites as if this place hadn’t been fully expanded yet.

However, Xiaomao sensed that something was terribly wrong. The previous floor was moderately long but narrow, and the B1 floor’s layout was the same. If someone measured the size of the mountain and compared it to the available space in the dungeon, the B1 floor’s expandable area was limited.

In front of Xiaomao, the length of each of the side corridors was at least 200 to 300 meters long, which was unnatural and odd.

“Did you dig or patch the dungeon floor with another dungeon, munya?”

Nymph laughed and explained, “No. It’s thanks to your new OS. It has become non-Euclidean now.”

“Non-Euclidean, munya?”

“Non-Euclidean effects,” Undine added. “The mountain may look small on the outside, but the dungeon’s space doesn’t follow the laws of physic or geometry. The Chaos Seraphim OS distorts the space in the dungeon and makes it possible to expand infinitely as long as there is enough manpower and mana supply.”

Xiaomao and the crew raised their brows and looked around in astonishment. Peter looked up and noticed that the B1 floor’s main source of lights was long white lamps. As they walked further, the loud buzzing noise of the 90s’ fluorescent got louder and numbed their ears.

Xiaomao noticed the loud buzzing noise when he walked past the area where he had killed a Mama Gnoll. He looked up and found a smooth plaster ceiling, embedded with orderly-lined fluorescent lighting.

He thought to himself. ‘Are these guys turning my freaking dungeon into Backrooms Level 0?!’

“AAAAHHH!!”

Suddenly, Lucky screamed. She jumped away from the opened door that replaced the cell door.

Inside the dark room was a white mannequin with a smooth head without a face or hair. However, there was a creepy smiley face on the face, which was roughly painted with blood. In the mannequin’s hands were two grotesques short spears, made from an unknown creature’s innards.

“BAD!” Uttered the mannequin as it stared at Lucky.

Undine looked back and explained once more, “Ah, please forgive us for using the rooms for experiments. The Mermaid Kingdom transported some of the trash here, and we were in the middle of testing a drone fighter to replace our workers in the dungeon.”

Xiaomao looked at the plastic mannequin to see its description.

Prototype Plastic Mannequin, Level 100

It was weak. At this stage of the game, a good team of players could easily destroy it.

“What are you going to do with them other than replacing the workers, munya? Are they for combat?”

Undine didn’t hide anything, “We built it with the dungeon combat in mind. Unfortunately, the materials were all useless trash. We need better body parts to make them useful in combat. For now, we can only use them as non-combatant workers.”

“It’s weak, though. Can they even lift heavy objects, munya?”

“That’s also a problem. Their physique is made from non-recyclable plastic. Well, at least, we can turn them into suicide bombers or expendable scouts in the sea. They are actually good swimmers, by the way.”

Xiaomao pursed his lips. He turned away from the mannequin, but he recalled something and looked at it again.

Indeed, it had the S curve and the parts of a woman. Even though it was creepy, it looked sexy.

Xiaomao didn’t know if it was imagination, but the drawn eyes of the mannequin winked at him.

“…”

.

Upon reaching the B2 floor, the nostalgic bridge with the wide road was before Xiaomao. The cables were now decorated with colorful neon lighting, which resembled the neon lights from retro night theme parks.

At the side of the bridges, two new roads and staircases were built, which led to the lake in front of Chang’e Sanctuary. Next to the cliff were five makeshift elevators, which continuously transported mermaids with carts of materials from below to the B2 floor.

Looking down from above, Xiaomao saw the aqueduct that Nymph had built. It connected the lake below with the water source from the ceiling of this level.

Looking at the civilization, Xiaomao and his party members were in awe. Nymph puffed her chest in elation while Undine remained expressionless.

The group crossed the bridge to the boss’s room. However, the doors were already open.

“The security is quite lax, munya. What if someone manages to break into the dungeon core room?”

Nymph giggled, “You haven’t seen everything, Xiaomao.”

“???”

Undine and Nymph guided the group to the boss room. In the wide room, the pillars were all removed and replaced with a metal ceiling frame and unknown illuminating plates, which were the primary source of lighting in the boss room.

At the center of the room were ten statues of a mermaid with tridents.

Looking at the statue, Xiaomao narrowed his eyes as he remembered the face of the model of this piece.

“Is this Chang’e, munya?”

Undine revealed a rare grin, “Yes. Lady Chang’e has bestowed us ten golems with her looks as a gift. We are using it as the guardians of this dungeon while you were away.”

Xiaomao looked up and saw the bright green name of a guardian.

Mermaid Golem, Guardian of Slave Dungeon, Level 1,000

Xiaomao had the urge to praise Chang’e out loud. This gift was amazing. As long as this thing was still alive, no players under level 1,000 could break into his dungeon core room!

Still, Xiaomao had worries.

“How’s the upkeep, munya? Won’t it consume a lot of mana?”

Undine slightly shook her head, “You don’t need to worry about it. Golems don’t consume mana when it’s in a dormant state. Only when it enters a combat mode, it will start consuming mana.”

“How much mana is required, then?”

Undine and Nymph froze. They glanced at each other, and Nymph dryly laughed.

“It depends on the level. A level-1000 golem consumes 1,000 mana per second during combat, excluding skills and magic. Also, activating the golem costs one million mana.”

“What if it uses skills and magic, munya? Which mana pool will it consume, munya?”

“The dungeon.”

“…”

Xiaomao finally understood why the girls seemed reluctant.

The dungeon’s mana capacity was 10 million. It looked plenty at a glance, but it was not enough to maintain 10 golems at once upon the activation. Moreover, level-1000 spells and skills might consume a lot of mana per usage, which made things difficult to upkeep.

Since mana was the issue, Xiaomao decided to solve the problem by upgrading the dungeon core. However, without the right game patch, he lacked the materials.

Xiaomao deemed that it was impossible to overcome this dilemma. He gave up the thoughts for the time being. He entered the dungeon core room, aka the treasure room behind the boss hall.

Nymph swiped the key card and returned the item to Xiaomao. Undine and Nymph followed the party into the treasure room.

Upon entering the room, both mermaids smiled while Xiaomao and his crew widened their eyes in shock.

“Wow.”