By pivoting the cash shop dungeon item into a player-versus-play tool, the new developers had to also design a way for it to be countered other than an impenetrable defense. Because even if they actually did make it like event dungeons, where it lasted until whatever timer imposed on it ran out, the fact you could send monster tides against a target indefinitely during would've turned it from just griefing to straight up harassment. There had to be a hard counter, a way for somebody to break the cycle...and lure the user into buying another.

  And of course, they did it in the cheapest way possible. They made it so that a dungeon clear would, instead of just briefly pausing the spawns, instead destroy the item.

  I think that there actually could've been some interesting things if they designed it right. Maybe something where players could build around protecting the dungeon instead and become like an evil adventurer, sending minions out to conquer the world. But after that last patch to turn it into a PvP item, it was never updated again to do anything like ignoring their own owner's possessions. Some had even claimed that was another part to balance it, that you couldn't really encircle defend it to keep forever sending tides against others.

  The intended mechanics didn't matter to me now. It was a blight upon the world in more ways than one, and personally offensive to me as well. So I was going to destroy it with a dungeon clear.

  Callous as it may sound, observing how the defenders of the city fought and fell against the tide gave me the information I had needed to confidently send my dolls out. Knowing that they were weaker than the monsters invading meant I could confidently go all-in without worrying about my own defenses, especially when it's been proven that my walls repelled the tide. I had naught to fear from an attack- thus, it was time to flip the board around. I would be the attacker!

  The trail left by the tide was rapidly vanishing in the thick snow in the deep forest. If I had waited any longer, I likely would be unable to find its source. Maybe that was why the empire to my west had never been able to launch an assault themselves, unable to find the thing. They were likely far too weak after fending off an assault on their walls to launch a counter-attack and, by the time they were, the tracks were gone. Ironically, that had been the same reason used by the NPC settlements back in the day, which was why they had to turn to adventurers to save the day for them.

  In this age though, mercenaries didn't impress me. Mainly because I had seen them equally overwhelmed and killed in the defense of the city just like the rest. They were just extra numbers to bolster an effort, it would seem, with just a few more flashy skills. Nothing that even resembled the power of an average player character.

  So it fell entirely to the last retainer of a player to carry out this duty then.

  ...They found it. A cave entrance that abruptly rose out from the ground, sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the thick foliage that surrounded it. It lead downwards, with the sides far too entirely smooth to be natural formation. This was the dungeon.

  Kurch and Frie shifted, perhaps readying themselves. I readied myself too, allowing my mind to merge with theirs for even greater control. I needed to, because I was going to need every advantage I could get. While each of them were respectively more powerful than any individual monster likely in there, they were likely heavily outnumbered by whatever laid within. That was noted, then dismissed as an old consideration.

  Because Lighthouse almost always had been in such cases.

  If you two make it, consider yourselves members too, I told my dolls. And grinned because again, I was speaking to myself. Maybe my brain had gone a little insane from the isolation or the human brain got a little funky when fully transitioning into a puppet crystal core. That's fine, it probably had been cooked already the moment I'd put on a Virtual Dive kit back in my old life. But just like then, I'd felt the thrill of excitement when I entered the first dungeon of the world.

  It was good to be an adventurer again, in one way or another.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------?

  Petula finished tying the bandage up and then pulled a bit tighter, making sure it was secured. The soldier she was treating let out a pained yelp in response, completely forgetting etiquette with a curse. "Watch it, that stings like my husband's ladle!" They blanched a moment later when remembering the caretaker before them was a noble.

  She grinned and patted their shoulder. "Guess you'll be able to them again at least, huh?" She told, hoping to help to break the tension. Anything to distract from the chorus of moans and whimpers coming from the wounded piling up in the chapel.

  "...Assuming we live through this, sure," they told with a faint smile.

  She counted that as a victory and rose up to move onto others. The faint cheer faded away when she took in just how many couldn't even muster the energy to make the same joke. Too many had injuries so severe that a jest couldn't help.

  Too many also laid so still that laughter was beyond them now.

  It was getting overwhelming and she needed a break. She quietly requested somebody take over for her, and one of the servants happily obliged. The senior healers gave their thanks anyways for helping, something Petula barely acknowledged in passing as she strode through the now-mostly empty castle. It was unsurprising, given how all able bodies were likely at the walls, trying to prevent Gabion from being razed. Only those who could not fight or those who had fought too much were here now.

  And, despite loathing it so, the young woman knew she belonged to the former than the latter.

  She hastened her steps, trying her best to escape those thoughts. Her feet carried her highest tower in the keep, the best place in the entire castle that overlooked the entire city. A lovely view that many shared, meaning that the vampire daughter was not the only one to find herself up there. Another had already setup a chair, calmly taking notes with her kill. "Lady Vio. You look much better now."

  "Don't tell me my brother's trying to push that on me again," the older woman half-groaned, half-laughed. There was more color in her cheeks in now, something that Petula was relieved in. They had been previously bone white when the acolyte had collapsed after using [Heal] too many times earlier. "I'm sorry for having worried you. But as you can, I'm alright now."

  "You still need time to recover," Petula insisted, spying the small dark bottle on the ground next to the chair. It still looked a bit over half full. "Please, drink your mana potion."

  A sour look like a child being told to eat their vegetables emerged on the woman's face, but she dutifully heeded the advice and took a pull. "Bleh. I can't wait for whenever Magia would finally let me advance in rank. Supposedly, they offer far superior portions to those of higher standing."

  Despite the distant cries of battle, Petula found herself eased by the casual and loose way her aunt spoke. She had apparently picked it up from living with her husband's family, who had hailed from one of the more rural and agrarian provinces in the empire. Even after he died and Vio returned, she never did lose the manner of speech. "I wouldn't know. I don't think I possess the aptitude for the arcane or divine."

  "Neither did I until I decided to try. And I apparently qualified enough, so you never know."

  Some time passed before Petula spoke next, conflict evident in her voice. "I...I know that might be your way of trying to cheer me up, but you know I am firm on this. I want to be out there like all the others, fighting at the front. Like my mother had."

  "With that stubbornness she had too, no less," muttered Vio while she jotted down the line into the parchment. "I am not saying you are untalented, my dear niece. I am simply saying your efforts could yield better results elsewhere-"

  "What, by citing prayer to gods I don't believe in? Or casting spells from the back, unwilling to dirty myself-!" She choked and exhaled loudly, angrily. "Forgive me. I speak out of turn."

  Vio glanced Petula's way. "And passionately, from the heart. Your frankness does House Cordis proud."

  "...I only wished that I could contribute in other ways too. And...if it means offering my body to another province so that we could gain the support needed-"

  "Oh, don't go writing yourself off so quickly. Here, you can help me now." The senior noble showed off the writing she was working on. "As a favor to your brother, I am making an account of the tide. Something that he hopes to deliver across the empire, to stress the importance of our duty to the safety of her peoples."

  "He wishes to try and raise support to actually come aid our efforts." It was a passionate argument that Teodor swore by, insisting that by raising the standing of House Cordis within the imperial courts, they could acquire much-needed breathing room from their troubled circumstances. It also stood in direct opposite to their father's own argument. "I suppose you didn't ask the duke for permission."

  "I hadn't when I applied to join Magia, and I shan't now." Only Vio could get away with such cheekiness, but Petula supposed she earned it. Being a widow acolyte who had already experienced much of life gave her much leeway. "Come now, tell me what those young eyes of yours see. Mine are getting a bit musty, I would like to include further detail in my account."

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Very well. There are multiple breaches in the wall now, but our house troops are bravely moving to counter and contain all attempted incursions. The top remains in a chaotic flux, but my brother's flag still flies high, so he fights on still..."

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  I was slow.

  Had I been faster, Kuch would have taken that leaping goblin's head in a single swing. As it was, they just cut them in half at the chest instead. The two halves hit the ground and began to crumble into dust as my dolls advanced into the dungeon. As I had expected, when each of them individually possessed capabilities in triple digits where these monsters didn't, I didn't properly fight these creatures.

  I slaughtered them.

  It wasn't anything special, come to think of it. I think if Mikel were here, he could probably already be done and asking Cordelia for a teatime snack. My greatest hindrance was the speed at which my bodies moved. They were large and unwieldy, completely unlike my very own. It was like trying to dice an onion with a sword: I could do it.

  I just was going to be overdoing it by a lot.

  Case in point, when Frie punched a skeleton, I couldn't control my fist all too well. So instead of a single snap punch to send the pile of bones flying, I ended up flattening it against a wall with a heavy smack. I don't think there was anything left to dissolve by itself after having just ground it to dust myself.

  Despite the successful performance, I found myself growing more dissatisfied the longer I took control over both. This just wasn't acceptable in so many ways. Brutal and effective, yes, but absolutely without any of the flair or spirit that Lighthouse was known for. None of that perfect control and precision that would be needed to solo a raid boss with an undersized party. All because these bodies were not what I was used to. What I preferred.

  My creation was flawed.

  And I was not happy.

  So when I reached the final floor of this cash shop dungeon, I was thoroughly fed up and done with this. I wanted to shout out challenge, telling the boss to already show itself and end this quickly because I was sick of it all. I wanted to be back in my perfect cute body. Thankfully, it seemed that if the gods still existed in Shin, they granted my request when the final opponents stepped forward.

  A skeleton mage, and an ogre bodyguard to match. Hm. This one now actually might require a smidgen of effort.

  An amber glow enveloped the small scepter the skeleton was carrying and, with chattering teeth, it hurled the magical fire at my dolls. Frie stood in front of Kuch and absorbed the blow without any damage. But before they could rush forward, the ogre charged first and pulled Frie into a slugging match, leaving Kuch to handle the wizard.

  Not great, because that fire could actually burn its body. I had to be mindful of that and made sure to use only the iron greatsword to take the incoming spells while I moved up. Frustratingly, the skeleton seemed to outpace my advance and kept flinging annoying fireballs my way.

  I was going to need support. So I hurled my wooden greatsword twin into the side of the distracted ogre and focused solely on the defense, giving up the advance. The monster howled when it sank deeply its side and I didn't hesitate. My terracotta arms pulled back and, similar to how a hammer would come down on a nail, they pounded on the protruding weapon to drive it deeper. Somehow the wooden weapon managed to hold itself together under my blows and pieced into the ogre's heart.

  It slumped down, dead. Good, one down. But then a lucky fireball managed to splash over and ignite some of the arrows that some skeletons had earlier peppered me with. Not good. I retreated and hastily broke the shafts to get the flames away before they could catch onto my body. Gave up ground against the skeleton, but that was fine, it was still a two-on-one as I regrouped.

  Then its scepter flashed and the slain ogre rose back to their feet with a roar. Ah, I suppose I should have been wary when it didn't dissolve instantly. Of course that would be this boss' little gimmick. If only I had a spellcaster doll that could have destroyed the body, or just even a third party member to back me up. And the ability to use skills, while at that.

  Whatever. Changing tactics, tagging out, swapping targets.

  Despite how it weighed, I actually felt lighter with the clay armor than the wooden one. Perhaps it had to do with how the earthen material resonated with my crystal. I advanced on the skeleton who realized things were bad and started to scurry, tossing far fewer spells my way. Those ones, I could handle by just making sure my head and chest were protected with these thick gauntlets.

  Meanwhile that ogre came swinging with its club and I used my greatsword to ward it off. Its movements, I noticed, slowed since turning undead. That meant I had the time now to match the attacks despite my own slow speed too. I finally managed to catch a perfect parry and push it off-balance, giving me the chance for my other hand to reach out and grab the still embedded wooden sword.

  I ripped it out and then chopped downwards with both swords. Both the ogre's arms were cut away and it fell to its knees from the impact, at the perfect height for me to use my twin blades to decapitate the monster. It wouldn't be coming back from that.

  The skeleton mage finally was close enough for me to try something. I stomped powerfully against the ground and it shook slightly, just enough for the monster to slip and lose its footing. Another stomp crushed its skull to finish it off. I turned to myself and both heads nodded in satisfaction at the fight's conclusion.

  Yeah, that wasn't never going to be weird for when I slipped into my constructs like that.

  Anyhow, that should be it now- dungeon boss defeated. All that was left was to formalize the clear via looting the treasure room, a single last door in which the core of this all laid. I just had to destroy that and this mess was all over.

  I entered and froze. Not because the treasure room was, predictably, barren of any riches. That was expected as a cash shop dungeon. But because there was something else in here other than the pulsing, glowing core.

  There was a puppet here too, laid out on the ground next to the source of this woe.

  Once the shock faded, I hurried over and examined it. It was definitely a puppet, the first I'd seen in Shin other than myself since I awoke. And they were dead, with blank glass eyes with no light in either them or their shattered crystal brain. They looked like they'd been smashed and my mind flashed to the club wielded by the ogre bodyguard I just fought.

  Then I noticed in their hands, they still clasped something. I pried it from their fingers and was greeted with a small crystal shard, one whose insides seemed to lead an endless corridor. Instantly, I know what this was: Another cash shop item, though one that didn't offend me as much. Maybe because it had actually been a service offered by the original developers.

  This was a party crystal, a consumable teleportation item. It allowed the user to open a timed portal to a party member anywhere in the world for immediate fast travel. FLOW had very little in automatic fast travel, insisting that the journey was part of the adventure, and given the variety of ways you could get around, it wasn't as tedious as one might think. But for those who needed to travel somewhere quickly to help a friend, these crystals were available for purchase in the cash shop.

  These had been one of the few items that Lighthouse used, mostly to summon each other if one of us ran into an immediate issue somebody could actually help with, but was someplace far off. The timed portal only lasted for about five minutes, and it also radiated so much magic that any form of [Detect] would pick up on it while casting and active. So it wasn't a very good PvP item to allow for surprise attacks, hence why it was quietly tolerated unlike later additions.

  I stared at it blankly for a moment, then looked at the doll in suspicion. Had they been the one who put this dungeon down here and then set the empire to the west as its target? It wasn't impossible, and I could only guess their plan was to use this party crystal to escape. It seemed like they'd forgotten to get away to a safe distance first while trying to use the party crystal, as it did take time to cast. So they had been destroyed- no, killed before making their clean escape.

  Any other clue or method of identification was gone, likely consumed by the dungeon they had summoned. So there was nothing else for me to gleam from this. I took the party crystal they definitely didn't need anymore. I guess clearing this dungeon gave me something, at least, and turned to face the dungeon core.

  A single blow from my swords shattered the orb and the dungeon began to shudder, a familiar sight that confirmed my success. It was going to fall apart soon.

  I left before I could get caught in it, leaving behind the body of the puppet who had set this all in motion. They would be buried in what they had created.

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