The Most Difficult Dungeon

Hearing the two of them talk her down, even Bukubukuchagama found it hard to keep raging. She sighed, then spoke to Momonga in the sweetest, gentlest voice she could manage.

"Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. My idiot little brother got on my nerves again. I've caused everyone trouble."

Then she turned back to the two of them and spoke sternly.

"My foolish little brother, no matter how close you are, you still need to mind your manners. Remember that, especially when it comes to those dirty jokes."

"And Mu Fengyu, I know you get excited and carried away when you're with friends and talking about these kinds of topics, but you still need to pay attention to where you are. Understood?"

Peroroncino and Mu Fengyu lowered their heads and dejectedly answered with nothing more than, "Yeah." Bukubukuchagama continued.

"And properly thank Momonga and Ulbert."

"Yeah, thank you both. And sorry, too. We really got carried away and caused everyone trouble." ×2

The two most energetic members now behaved as obediently as well-trained pets.

After hearing their sincere apologies, Bukubukuchagama walked straight to the front of the party to fulfill her duty as the vanguard. Once she was gone, Mu Fengyu quietly poked Peroroncino and spoke through a private channel.

"Does your sister really have a thing for Momonga? The second he talked her down, she let us off the hook."

"How would I know? Ask her yourself later."

"Forget it. I'm afraid she'll beat me to death."

Ulbert walked over, helped the two of them up, and said with lingering fear, "Man, your sister is terrifying. She's even scarier than the president of our company. That change in her voice before and after was something else."

Momonga nodded and added, "Yeah, but she's not a bad person. Maybe it's because she's a voice actress, but her voice was so immersive. And with a slime's unmoving facial expression, it felt even better."

All three of them leaned back in unison. Clutching his chest in terror, Mu Fengyu said, "Big Brother Momonga, you're a real man."

"It's not that dramatic. Still, Bukubukuchagama's voice change really does make it feel like you're standing in front of a terrifying boss."

The group let out a few quiet laughs.

"All right, all right. We're already at the end. Let's catch up."

The guild members cautiously climbed the stairs, pushed open the old doors, and entered the mausoleum. To everyone's surprise, the interior was unexpectedly magnificent, forming a stark contrast with the ruined surroundings outside.

Five enormous statues stood within, each with a stone tablet embedded with different gemstones at its feet. However, the aged tablets were too worn for anything on them to be seen clearly.

Of course, they could use magic to read the inscriptions, but no one was in the mood for that right now. They all had an ominous feeling. They had encountered dungeons built in this style several times before.

Everyone turned to Momonga. Emerald Tablet used magic to read the inscriptions and was the first to speak.

"Momonga, this is a highest-difficulty dungeon that can only be cleared by five parties working through it at the same time."

"Ah, at least it's not one of those dungeons that requires two guilds to cooperate to clear it."

After hearing Emerald Tablet's words, everyone understood the source of their unease, and the area around them grew noisy.

Simultaneous-clear dungeons were also known as orphan killers, a type hated by quite a few players. These dungeons required several parties to act at once.

In one sense, tackling a dungeon alongside companions and working toward the same goal was perfect.

But being forced to split up during a raid was still infuriating, especially since no one had ever cleared this dungeon before.

No information about it had leaked out. Everything before them was unknown, and because no one knew anything, the developers were branded trash developers.

After all, death in World Tree came with severe penalties, such as losing levels and dropping equipment and items—utterly brutal mechanics.

For a dungeon like this, it was hard to succeed without information. But to get information, they had to risk their lives clearing it. Those were the most infuriating dungeons of all.

Besides, the best part of a raid was sharing the joy of success together. Once they were split apart, it felt as if half the fun would be gone.

Moreover, this was Ainz Ooal Gown's first group event. Running into a dungeon like this right away made it even more unpleasant.

But now that they had come this far, they could not simply give up and go back. Everyone had agreed to raid this dungeon, and that stronghold was no longer suitable for the guild as it was now.

By then, Bukubukuchagama had already begun calmly preparing to assign the parties.

"So, everyone, Momonga, what should we do? This is far too different from our original plan. We have to split into five parties now."

"Yeah, I suppose so. Let's discuss it together. It won't be easy to assign the teams under these circumstances."

After all, their group included crafting-type classes. In World Tree, the most popular party composition consisted of one tank, two damage dealers, one healer, one scout, and a sixth member who could adapt to changing situations.

They needed to distribute their current twenty-nine members evenly. That was right—so that Ainz Ooal Gown could show its friendliness, Mu Fengyu had even brought along the NPC Vier.

But evenly dividing them was an extremely taxing task. Without knowing every skill their companions possessed or the areas they were weak in, it would be difficult to clear this place.

If they simply threw people together haphazardly, there was no way they could clear this dungeon. After all, this was a highest-level dungeon.

The key was figuring out how to clear a dungeon of this format. The most common pattern for this kind of dungeon was for each party to independently defeat a boss, then regroup to challenge the hidden boss.

If that was truly the case, then balanced parties were extremely important. For example, even if the two strongest parties reached the final boss, clearing it would still be very difficult. Usually, four parties had to make it to the final chamber before they even qualified to challenge the final boss.

After all, numbers were overwhelming power. Take Takemikazuchi, the strongest member of Ainz Ooal Gown in terms of stats. If two players of the same level but weaker than him attacked him together, there was still a high chance that he would lose.

Of course, that excluded whales. Paying players had plenty of special items that could turn the tables and let them kill their attackers instead.

Therefore, the key to clearing this dungeon was for every single person to reach the final destination.

Bukubukuchagama stood before everyone, discussing party assignments, while the mascot guild leader said nothing. After all, Bukubukuchagama was the guild's strategist.

For some companions who were not good at thinking, everyone was a comrade. Rather than waste effort figuring out how to arrange the parties themselves, they might as well toss their brains aside and link up with Bukubukuchagama's shared brain.

Some people were changing equipment, some were offline to use the bathroom, and a small number were engaged in a heated discussion with Bukubukuchagama.

Before long, everyone had been divided into groups according to magical attack, physical attack, defense, recovery, scouting, and other roles.

Mu Fengyu and Momonga belonged to the other-role group. Other roles were not unnecessary, though quite a few people did think of them that way.

But Ainz Ooal Gown was different. The other-role category emphasized versatility and encompassed difficult classes capable of adapting in many ways.

People like Mu Fengyu and Momonga fit into this category. Mu Fengyu simply possessed all sorts of items that could fill the gaps left by various roles.

Momonga had learned a wide range of spells from the corpses of PK players. That was also why he was often assigned this role in dungeons.

Of course, Momonga was not given this role merely because he could use many spells, but because he could choose different spells according to the situation.

At last, the strategist Bukubukuchagama announced the assignments for the five groups.