Chapter : 09
I gathered the ten newly hired monsters on the first floor and held a brief orientation session.
Four skeletons, five lesser goblins, and one slime.
The result of my attempt to recruit as diverse a group as possible, I had deliberately included several monsters of the same species so they could form groups. The only exception was the lone slime.
These are the first-generation employees of our company.
Looking at them all gathered together, they seemed like a disorganized bunch. Still, with so many of them assembled in one place, they gave off a somewhat intimidating presence.
“Hello, I’m Gong Choi, the manager of this dungeon—”
“Chihuahua.”
“…Grrk, Chihuahua. I sincerely welcome all our new employees to the dungeon. I look forward to seeing you grow together with our company in the future.”
After finishing the formal greetings, I went straight into the practical details.
“You have all been hired as field staff, and your designated workspace is the first floor.”
The monsters simply nodded without much reaction. They looked as though they had already expected this.
During one of the interviews, a monster had told me something like this:
It had never ventured beyond the first floor, even in an instance dungeon. Its dream was to visit another floor someday.
“The first floor is the starting point of the dungeon and an extremely important space that serves as the face of the entire dungeon.”
However, I didn’t want the new employees to feel disappointed with their circumstances.
Now that I had decided to hire them as full-time employees, I genuinely wanted every monster to grow alongside the dungeon.
The fact that levels existed in this world meant that growth was possible, didn’t it?
I focused my gaze and raised my voice.
“There is a saying: You have to get the first button right. That’s why you will be the important starting point that determines the flow of the entire dungeon. Do your best to prevent challengers from advancing!”
There wasn’t a single unnecessary position in a company.
The same applied even to something as simple as managing office equipment. If even one copier or printer broke down, it could throw the entire day’s work into chaos.
“It won’t be easy to adjust from your very first day, but you’ll have to get straight to work. Our dungeon’s first challenger is expected to arrive once the sun rises.”
Everyone’s expressions grew tense.
“Um…”
One of the lesser goblins raised its hand.
“When a challenger appears, should we just charge at them like we did in instance dungeons?”
Instance dungeons, or indungeons for short.
I’d heard that they were created by monsters with a certain amount of power who wanted to build their own forces.
In other words, they were similar to companies established by rich kids who wanted to try their hand at running a business.
Compared to the other dungeons operated by Demon Kings, they were regarded as having no real pedigree. However, if one achieved great success, it could attract the attention of the Demon God and even give its owner a chance to compete for the position of Demon King.
Considering how precarious the position of our dungeon’s Owl Demon King had become, perhaps an instance dungeon had recently achieved considerable success.
Nine out of ten employees in our dungeon have experience working part-time at instance dungeons.
When I asked during the interviews how they had worked back then, every single one of them said that the moment a challenger appeared, they simply charged straight at them.
In my opinion, rather than gaining practical combat experience, they had probably accumulated nothing but feelings of defeat and helplessness.
“No. This isn’t that kind of place. Above all else, our dungeon will operate according to a system.”
During the interviews, I had been Gong Choi, the HR manager. But from this moment on, I was Gong Choi, the gamer.
From now on, I had to bring together all the dungeon攻略 knowledge I’d acquired from playing games and use just ten monsters to make this dungeon as difficult as possible to conquer.
In other words, Dungeon Defense!
If monsters gathered in one place, they’d be perfect targets for area-of-effect attacks.
If they kept crowding together like they were now, an adventurer who knew a little magic could simply shout something like “Chain Lightning!” and clear the entire dungeon in one go.
In fact, skilled players often deliberately gathered monsters in one spot and unleashed area-of-effect attacks to finish battles quickly.
I absolutely couldn’t allow our dungeon to become a victim of someone’s attempt to break the speed-clear record!
“Brownie, put up walls on the first floor and divide the space into separate areas.”
The best way to prevent that kind of danger was to make it impossible to gather all the monsters together and defeat them at once.
Brownie, the resident fairy of this dungeon, could freely alter the structure of already established floors without requiring any special payment.
I explained in detail how I wanted the first-floor layout changed, and Brownie immediately set to work according to my instructions.
“That much is easy!”
Brownie flew around energetically, zipping back and forth.
First, we made the path leading to the second floor one-way.
Then we divided various parts of the first floor with walls, separating it into several small sections.
There was one door between each section, and each door was set to open only when a specific condition was met.
The condition was simple.
Every monster assigned to that section had to be defeated.
In other words, challengers would have to break through one section before they could proceed to the next.
Our dungeon didn’t yet have a system that automatically advanced to the next stage once the required conditions were fulfilled.
Fortunately, there was a very convenient alternative.
We could simply give each section’s monsters a key that would open the door to the next section.
“You will serve as the guardians of each gate, protecting the keys that lead to the next gate.”
Brownie could make the keys out of soil!
The monsters seemed impressed.
“Guardians of the gate… That sounds incredibly cool!”
“I feel like I’ve been entrusted with an important mission. Clatter.”
Calling them guardians of the gate was practically the same as giving the new employees official titles within the company.
There was a clear difference in the sense of responsibility one felt when simply being called an employee versus being appointed as the person in charge of a specific area.
I nodded in satisfaction and continued.
“Next, we’ll form teams to guard each gate. Three monsters per team.”
Dividing ten monsters into groups of three would leave one monster without a team.
The skeletons had slightly different levels, but their attack power was uniformly 100, and their defense was 50.
The lesser goblins had 50 attack power and 100 defense.
The only slime had 10 attack power and 200 defense.
I arranged the monsters into suitable teams, mixing the different species together.
An attack-focused team consisting of two skeletons and one goblin.
Conversely, a defense-focused team consisting of two goblins and one skeleton.
If I grouped only monsters of the same species together, their weaknesses would become too obvious.
Skeletons had weak defenses and would be easily overwhelmed, while goblins lacked attack power and would struggle to deliver a decisive blow.
“Um… Manager, I don’t have a team.”
The slime left standing alone bounced its body and called out to me urgently.
Its precise name was Small Slime.
It was about the size of a soccer ball, with a faintly visible, bead-like core inside its translucent body.
It had been the only slime among all the monsters who had come for an interview.
When I decided to hire it, I had paid particular attention to its special ability.
Its signature attack skill was [Digestive Fluid Spray (C)]. It was the only monster among the applicants with a ranged attack skill.
“Brownie, make a small passage inside the walls. Just wide enough for the slime to pass through. Also, make small holes in each wall.”
Brownie immediately created narrow passages inside the walls, connecting the different sections.
“The slime will be a one-monster team, but in exchange, it’ll serve as our hidden card.”
“A solo team! A hidden card!”
The slime hopped up and down in excitement, expressing its overwhelming joy.
“You see these holes in the walls?”
“Yes! I see them!”
“If any of our employees get into danger, your job is to spray digestive fluid through those holes and support them.”
In effect, I’d turned the monsters themselves into a sort of trap mechanism.
If the slime provided support from places where it couldn’t be seen, the flow of battle would become much more difficult for challengers to manage.
“Our combat strategy isn’t about defeating the challenger in one blow. Instead, think of it as gradually wearing down their stamina over time. Even if you fail to stop them at your own gate, you should make them increasingly exhausted as they advance through the next gates.”
“Ooooh…”
I was deeply impressed by the story of a skeleton that had reportedly clung to a challenger’s ankle with its jawbone even after its entire body had been smashed to pieces.
“The team compositions may differ slightly, but the core principle remains the same. The goblins hold the front line while the skeletons attack! We have to fight strategically like this.”
The goblins’ signature attack skill was [Trick Attack (F)].
When I asked one of them to demonstrate it, it suddenly poked me, catching me completely off guard.
Its raw attack power was weak, but its ability to exploit openings seemed pretty decent.
“From now on, imagine that I’m a challenger. Of course, I’m not a real one. I have absolutely no combat power, so don’t attack me in earnest!”
Holding a tree branch and clumsily imitating an adventurer, I demonstrated the combat strategy to the monsters.
“So, when I try to attack like this, you retreat first, and then…”
Of course, this strategy had one fatal weakness. It had been designed on the assumption that the challenger would be alone.
In reality, most dungeons were conquered by parties. However, given our current circumstances, this was the best I could do.
“Now, everyone, practice what I’ve explained with your teammates until you become familiar with it.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Only after assigning the monsters to their respective gates could I finally take a moment to catch my breath.
“Wow, you’re pretty good! You came up with a surprisingly solid plan despite having to work with such weaklings!”
“I still don’t know whether my methods will actually work.”
All I could do was hope things would go smo
