The retreat of the tactical unit was a victory, but a hollow one.
Ragnar had gained a few pieces of scrap metal and a tiny sliver of experience, but it had cost him nearly half his goblin forces. It was an inefficient trade.
Professionals were too dangerous and their numbers were limited.
He needed a different kind of customer for his dungeon. He needed the ignorant, the greedy, and the desperate. He needed students.
He lounged on his throne, scrolling through his phone. He opened the browser and navigated to [The Under-Realm], the message board for his fellow Lords of Chaos.
It was, as always, a cesspool of incompetence and bad advice.
**User: LordGorefang**
Subject: My True Core is a lava lamp. Is this normal?
User: xX_ShadowQueen_Xx
Subject: Ugh, another Hero party invaded.
They tracked mud all over my pristine torture chamber. So rude! Any tips for cleaning bloodstains out of white carpet?
User: Baron_Von_Fart
Subject: My kobolds have unionized. They are demanding better dental coverage. HELP.
Ragnar chuckled darkly. These were his rivals. He was going to be fine.
He logged out and switched to the public internet, finding a popular forum used by the newly designated Heroes of Aethelburg.
It was full of bravado, panicked questions, and bad information. Perfect.
He created a new, anonymous account: Adventurer77.
Then, he began to type.
Subject: Weird Dungeon in Sector 7 - Easy Loot?
Post:
Hey everyone, new Hero here. My party and I just tried to raid a dungeon in Sector 7, the one in that old apartment building. It was super weird.
The first floor is just a bunch of slimes and rats. Total pushovers. We got a little roughed up by some green guys after that, had to retreat.
But here's the crazy part: one of my friends SWEARS he saw a treasure chest in the back of the room, and it was glowing. We didn't have a chance to get to it.
Maybe a higher-level party could clear it? Seems like it might be a good spot to farm some early gear if you're careful. Just a heads up.
He hit 'post' and leaned back, a wicked grin on his face. He had baited the hook. He had cast the line. Now, he just had to wait for the fish to bite.
He didn't have to wait long. Within hours, his system chimed again.
[Invaders have entered the Domain. Invader Count: 12.]
This time, the blue dots on his map were not moving in a tight, professional formation. They were a loose cluster, hesitant and excited.
Ragnar zoomed in on the audio feed.
"...you sure this is the place, Kenji?" a nervous voice asked.
"Totally," a confident voice replied. "The post said Sector 7 apartment building.
Easy slimes, then some green guys, then a treasure chest. We can handle this! We need better gear if we're going to be real Heroes."
Ragnar watched as the party of twelve university students, armed with a mishmash of cheap swords, shields, and one guy holding a wooden staff like he knew what to do with it, entered his dungeon.
They were glorious. They were walking, talking experience points.
They encountered the Welcome Mat of slimes.
"Alright guys, formation!" Kenji, the leader, yelled. "Taro, you're the tank, get in front! Mika, stay back and get ready with a light spell!"
The fight was clumsy but effective. Swords swung, a weak light spell sizzled, and the slimes were dispatched with cheers and high-fives.
They moved on, their confidence soaring. They were heroes. They were naturals at this.
Then they entered the Goblin Playground. The remaining fifty goblins turned their beady eyes on the new arrivals and shrieked.
"Whoa, that's a lot of them," Taro, the tank, said, his shield looking very small all of a sudden.
"Don't worry! They're just goblins!" Kenji shouted, brandishing his sword. "Charge!"
It was a mistake. The students charged in a ragged line.
The goblins, while not soldiers, were veterans of a real battle now. They met the charge with a wave of violence.
BOOM!
A rock thrown by a goblin slammed into Taro's shield. The impact was like a physical explosion, a sonic boom cracking the air.
A visible shockwave of force blasted outwards, sending Taro stumbling back three heavy steps, his arm numb.
"They hit way harder than they look!" he yelled in panic.
A student on the flank, a boy with a flimsy-looking spear, tried to jab at a goblin.
The goblin was faster. It ducked under the spear and thrust its own crude, sharpened stick forward.
The wind shrieked as the point moved in a blur.
It punched through the student's leather armor.
He gasped, looked down at the stick protruding from his stomach, and his health bar on Ragnar's screen vanished.
Panic erupted.
"Masaru is down! He's dead!" Mika screamed.
Another student, trying to help, tripped over his own feet and fell. A goblin was on him in an instant, its pointy teeth finding his throat.
A second red bar vanished from Ragnar's screen.
"Get back! Form a line behind me!" Kenji screamed, finally showing some sense.
The remaining ten students rallied behind Taro's shield, fending off the goblin attacks with a new desperation.
It was no longer a game.
Slowly, painfully, they began to push the goblins back.
They were stronger, and once they started working together, they overpowered the chaotic creatures.
Ten minutes later, the last goblin fell. The ten survivors stood panting in a room littered with the bodies of their friends and their enemies.
"We... we did it," Kenji breathed, his confident swagger gone, replaced by the pale shock of someone who had just seen death up close.
Then, one of them pointed. "Look! The chest! It's real!"
In the back of the room, just as Ragnar had designed, sat the treasure chest.
They cautiously approached it. Kenji opened the lid. Inside, resting on a bed of moss, was the D-Rank Black Iron Sword.
Its ugly, slightly off-center form pulsed with a faint, magical light.
A wave of relief and greed washed over the students. Their friends were dead, but this… this made it worth it. This was real treasure.
"I'll take it," Kenji said, his voice firm as he picked up the sword.
"I'm the leader. I'll use it to keep us safe."
As the students celebrated their grim victory and their new prize,
Ragnar watched from his throne. His plan had worked perfectly.
They had been bloodied, but the reward was just enough to make them feel like they had won.
He had lost two dozen goblins, but he had gained a story. A legend.
But the plan wasn't over. He couldn't let them leave with that much confidence.
Or with his sword. He needed to manage their progress. He needed to instill fear.
He focused on his map, selecting a single goblin that had survived the fight, one that had managed to pick up a crude spear.
He gave it a single, direct command. "Ambush. Target the one with the sword."
The students were turning to leave, Kenji holding the Black Iron Sword like a holy relic.
None of them noticed the lone goblin creeping from behind a pile of its dead brethren.
It moved with a terrifying, silent purpose.
The goblin burst from the shadows.
BOOM!
It lunged, its entire body a blur of green motion.
The air shrieked as it thrust the crude spear forward with all its might.
Kenji was still admiring the glow of his new sword when he heard the gasp from his friends.
He turned, his eyes widening. The world slowed down. He saw the goblin, its face a mask of hate. He saw the spear point, a dark blur aimed at his heart.
CRACK!
The spear struck him dead center in the chest. The impact was a visible explosion of force. A white shockwave erupted from the point of contact, blasting the other students back.
A force ran through Kenji's very bones, and the Black Iron Sword flew from his numb fingers.
He looked down at the spear shaft sticking out of his chest, a confused expression on his face, before his health bar turned red and he collapsed.
The remaining nine students stared in horror for one frozen second. Then they screamed. They didn't fight. They didn't try to recover the sword.
They turned and fled, a stampede of pure terror, tripping over each other in their haste to escape the dungeon of certain death that had, only a moment before, seemed like a treasure trove.
Ragnar watched them go, a cold, satisfied smile on his face.
A goblin minion walked over, picked up the D-Rank Black Iron Sword, and began carrying it back towards the deeper levels of the dungeon, ready to be placed in the next treasure chest.
Later that night, Ragnar checked the hero forums again.
The new posts were exactly what he had hoped for.
User: Hero4Life
Subject: SECTOR 7 DUNGEON IS A DEATH TRAP! BUT...
...we found a magic sword!
A real one! It was D-Rank! Our leader Kenji got it, but then we were ambushed and he... he didn't make it.
The place is super dangerous, but the loot is real! High-risk, high-reward, guys! Be careful!
The bait was taken. The story was spreading.
His dungeon was no longer just a dungeon. It was a legend. It was Ragnar Vhagar's High-Risk, High-Reward Farm.
And business, he thought, was about to be booming.