Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 263 – Cat Dad’s Backrooms’ First Trap

= Slave Dungeon, B1 Floor =

Dog Eater, who had come up with the idea, led the team of 200 level-150 players to explore the underground dungeon. They lighted torches and activated light spells, illuminating the tunnel. Because of the bountiful light sources, the dark cave was as bright as day.

One of the guild members was a survivalist. Before he had arrived here, he had purchased a gadget from the market, which was sold by the game company.

It was the strongest flashlight, which boasted a power of 500,000 lumens! It was a flashbang flashlight that could potentially blind people with night sight instantly!

The player character was a gnome. His short stature walked at the forefront of the group, pointing the blinding light into the darkness. However, because of the light reflections, the teammates covered their eyes with their hands and narrowed their eyes.

The walls and the ceiling of the cave were too bright when this gnome used his item.

“TURN THAT SHIT OFF!”

“STUPID GNOME! TURN IT OFF!”

The gnome clicked his tongue and lowered the power output to 10%, which was a lot milder. The squads stopped complaining and sighed in relief.

Because of the mood, Dog Eater approached the gnome and consoled him.

“It’s good to have you here with us, Alzheimer.”

The gnome, Alzheimer, snickered and stroked his long beard. He carefully looked at the stairs and walked down one step at a time, causing the company’s traveling speed to slow down.

“It’s nothing, Dog. It’s fun going on an adventure like this with you!”

“By the way, how much is that flashlight? I heard you auctioned for it.”

Alzheimer laughed, “Not much. Just 2,000 PACTs.”

“That’s enough to buy a freaking brand-new car!”

“Meh. I bought PACTs since it was ten cents. It’s 200 bucks for me!”

“Don’t lose it, though. Xiaomao has the ability to forcefully eject the items in our inventory if he kills us. If you see Xiaomao, just run.”

“Hahaha! I know. I’m not stupid. Actually, I heard he had a night sight. What if I flashbang him with this?”

“Good idea! I’ll make sure to record the clip!”

The men laughed and kept walking downstairs.

.

At 13:45, Dog Eater and his team reached the B1 floor. However, they no longer needed to use their torches and light source.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The buzzing hum of countless fluorescence lights on the ceiling was so loud that the elves and many races with sensitive hearing senses covered their ears. The yellowish wallpaper reflected the imperfect light, causing the walls to be brighter and more noticeable.

The floor, however, was soft and mushy. They looked like a brown carpet at a glance, but they were crushed rotten seaweed. In addition, the floor was slightly flooded.

DING

pA n,dan0vel.c0m <Warning, you have been inflicted with the Slave Dungeon’s Special Effects!>

<Special Effect: Only when Xiaomao or an authorized person is in the dungeon core’s room, the Slave Dungeon can activate its special house rules.>

<House Rule#1: Intruders will gradually lose their sanity upon entering this dungeon. Consuming the sacred water can recover their sanity, but it has a mild side effect.>

Dog Eater and Alzheimer stopped their feet on their track and stared at the notification messages in shock.

DING

A new white status bar appeared on top of their head. It was under their MP bar, and it was blinking even though the white bar was full.

<When you’re in Slave Dungeon, you can view your sanity status.>

<Warning: If your sanity is low, you will be prone to hallucinations and many abnormal status effects!>

<Warning: If your sanity bar is empty, you will receive a random abnormal status every minute!>

The changes were too sudden. Dog Eater and Alzheimer had a bad feeling about this.

“We have to report this information to others! We have to go back!”

“L-let’s retreat and regroup! We need sanity potions and pills!”

Both men turned around, planning to go up the way they came from and retreat to the cave.

“Huh?”

“What the?!”

When they turned around, the stairs and the passage that they had entered earlier were nowhere to be found. They could only see a yellow wall with the same wallpaper as the other walls.

“Ha! Nice try. I bet it’s an illusion!”

Dog Eater rushed to the wall and punched it. The hard surface hurt his fist, but it confirmed that the wall was not an illusion.

Alzheimer looked around and noticed something unusual. He shouted in panic.

“Dog! Guys! Roll call! Check your friends!”

Dog Eater paused for a moment before he inspected his surroundings. Then, he was horrified.

When they came down, about 500 people were behind them. When both Alzheimer and Dog Eater stopped to read the notification texts, the others kept walking downstairs and entered the B1 floor as well.

Unfortunately, they didn’t notice how many people entered the floor along with them.

Butter Tank, Cherry Popper, and another player were with them.

“One, two, four… five… just the five of us?! But I remember that a dozen people got here with us!” Alzheimer held his head and paced around in shock.

Not only Alzheimer was flabbergasted, but the other four players were also stunned. One of them dropped their jaws and touched the yellow wallpaper next to him.

“Backrooms. We’ve noclipped into backrooms!”

Everybody frowned as they didn’t know what the player was talking about.

“What backrooms, Explorer?”

The player, Explorer, was a fan of an internet horror legend – the Backrooms.

It was a fictional place that random internet authors had created. The story theme was a liminal place, which consisted of bright, dark, and homey factors that often gave a déjà vu feeling to the readers and viewers. Sometimes, it reminded them of their traumas and fear. It later evolved into a horror lore of a foreign place in another dimension, where many people from the 20th century accidentally slipped in and got lost in there forever.

The core of the fictional story was the infamous Backrooms Level 0, aka the Lobby. Coincidentally, this dungeon’s B1 floor looked similar to that internet tale.

Explorer briefly explained what he knew. Then, he took charge of the group.

“Let’s search for almond water. I mean, the sacred water that the dungeon told us about! We might need it! By the way, does anybody have a sanity pill or potion? We might need it soon!”

Dog Eater bit his lower lips. Alzheimer clicked his tongue. As for Butter Tank and Cherry Popper, they moaned, regretting that they gave all their pills and potions to Joan.

“Alright. Don’t give up too easily, guys. Let’s move together and be wary of Bacteria… I mean, monsters or whatever entity they will throw at us. Mister Alz, by chance, if you see an invisible being with a smiley face, turn off the light and slowly walk backward, okay? As for the other things, we might be able to defeat them… if we’re lucky.”

The group had no idea what Explorer was talking about. However, since the guy knew a lot about the place, they allowed him to lead the group.

.

.

= B7 Floor, Treasure Room =

Meowmeow returned to the room and sat in front of the dungeon core, looking at the 3D map and eating popcorn. Undine stood behind him, looking at how the deity managed the dungeon when Xiaomao was away.

“Kekeke! This is fun, munya!”

When Dog Eater and his men entered the B1 floor, Meowmeow used the feature that came with the OS – Trap doors, Wall Switching, and Illusion!

Dungeon Masters and authorized managers could swap doors with walls, blocking or shifting pathways of the labyrinth at will. Just now, Meowmeow split the explorer team into teams of 5 to 10 players and separated them into various places on the B1 floor.

Because of the Chaos Seraphim OS and its Time and Space characteristic, no one outside the dungeon could sense the dungeon’s presence and mechanism. When they descended the stairs earlier, they already entered a sub-dimension of the dungeon, similar to a pocket dantian space.

Now, they really noclipped into backrooms! Even though it was smaller, no one could escape from it without Meowmeow or Xiaomao’s permission!

Still, it was imperfect. Meowmeow was aware that these players could simply teleport out of the dungeon with their scrolls and marked runes. He regretted that the dungeon level was too low to impose the non-teleportation restriction.

Since watching alone was not entertaining enough, Meowmeow explained what he did to Undine.

The mermaid slightly dropped her jaw in astonishment. Then, she covered her mouth with her hand while her eyes glittered.

She was inspired and enlightened. She couldn’t wait to do the same with the Mermaid Dungeon.

“Fun, right, munya?” Meowmeow cackled in elation.

“Yes. Very fun indeed!” Undine revealed a rare faint smile.

“Let’s see if I can export the hologram map to the monitor in the boss room. Fun stuff should be shared with everyone, munya!”

Meowmeow proceeded to share the map and linked his vision to the TV in the boss room. A few moments later, a new live stream appeared. Taotie woke up and looked at the TV with a bright smile.

“A new fun stuff? Oh? What’s that map for?”

Meowmeow coughed and talked to Taotie with a microphone on the console under the dungeon core.

“Call Mimir and others over, munya! Let’s watch how those ants react to our toys on the B1 floor!”

“OH!!”

Taotie sprinted like a cat on crack. He instantly dragged Mimir from the front of the boss room to the TV. Then, he vanished. A minute later, he dragged Ifrit and Cookie from the B6 floor and put them next to Mimir.

The lion went back and forth for a few trips. Within three minutes, Andrew, Peter, John, James, Ifrit, Mimir, Nymph, Mary, Hildegard, Brynhildr, and Fu De were brought here against their will. They stared at Taotie with deep frowns.

“Just watch the show, okay? You’re welcome!”