An endless forest, eternally covered in thick fog that limits our sight to a few meters, stretches in front of us. Intermittent child-like laughter and other, unusual cries reach us, but the dense fog muffles all sounds, making it impossible to know where they come from.

  I look around. Everything looks the same. From within the fog, the only visible thing is the dark, dead-like trunks of the trees.

  Don’t misunderstand, they do have leaves. It’s just that with the dense cover they provide, and the fact that the only source of light is the magical-like fog, which emits a very tenue white light, the canopy looks like a black veil, and makes the trunks look as if the trees they belong to had died long ago.

  Not even the dungeon portal is visible. As soon as the teleport finished, the ground shifted, burying it inside a large hole.

  Although we can still find it if we actively search for it, it’s now hard to see the portal from more than a meter away, because the dense fog completely hides its presence. If anything, I’m more worried I’ll forget the hole is there and miserably fall into it by accident, smashing my head into the portal and making a fool of myself.

  With all the viewers watching us, I certainly hope it doesn’t happen. It’d make me want to die out of shame.

  Other than this, the only visible things are Ricard and Laura.

  We didn’t bring any support monsters today with us because of this dungeon’s nature. They’d be useless here. At least they can be used as sacrificial pawns back in our dungeon, but not here.

  “Be careful where you step. And don’t waste your spells and skills. Killing the enemies won’t achieve anything.”

  I roll my eyes. “We know. There’s no need to repeat it every five seconds.”

  “I repeat it so you don’t forget.”

  “It’s impossible to forget it because you don’t stop reminding us.”

  I ignore Ricard’s glare and think about our dungeon defense. This is my first time invading a dungeon in the tournament, so someone had to take my place.

  That someone is Clara, who knows the most about our dungeon except for me, because she helped me design it. The plan for the two remaining matches, as we agreed beforehand, is for Ricard and Laura to take turns defending our dungeon. This way, when we reach the bracket eliminations, everyone would have defended our dungeon at least once, and we can more easily adapt our tactics around the enemy team.

  So… yeah. It’s finally time to show my skills when invading dungeons!

  “Now that you’ve seen it in person, did you get any ideas how to break it?” Laura asks Ricard, our personal ‘knowledge-obsessed freak’. Our ‘nerd grandmaster’, our ‘lore encyclopedia’, our…

  …okay, I should stop here, or I’ll keep going at it forever.

  “Not yet…” Ricard shakes his head, “Every arena must have a clear condition, but this one’s well hidden. We know it isn’t killing monsters, as demonstrated by the first team that came here.”

  “The second one didn’t find anything either, and destroying the trees doesn’t help, as they regrow shortly after… This is a very well-thought-out dungeon.”

  “I disagree. This is but a gimmick dungeon. It’s just that nobody has yet found a way to overcome it. Just give me more time. I’ll figure it out, and we’ll be victorious! Hahaha!”

  Laura and Ricard are right. Our opponents easily won the first two matches, and it’s all thanks to this fog-filled forest.

  Do you remember every time I say something like ‘This shouldn’t work, but thanks to X or Y…’, or ‘Nobody uses this because it’s too situational, but what if…’ when I create gimmicks for my dungeon that shouldn’t work, but they do only because of certain innate skills I can give to my monsters? You do? Then, this forest is the same.

  This forest is a huge Monster Arena.

  Nobody knows for sure, but it might encompass the whole dungeon. Like all arenas, it has a clear condition and a series of monster fights, the nature of which can wildly change depending on how its creators designed it.

  The thing is that a Monster Arena shouldn’t work in this tournament, because once it’s set up, you can’t change anything. Once the opponents learn how to clear it, they’re bound to fail and be eliminated. But somehow, they’ve kept the clear condition hidden and crushed the first two opponents.

  There are just three things we know for sure about this fog-infested forest.

  First, the minimap is disabled while inside, which means nobody knows how big this is, and makes it impossible to know where we stand.

  Two, the dungeon feels infinite, as it allows you to move in a straight line forever. But it’s impossible to make an infinite dungeon, so there are two options here: either the dungeon shifts, making you think you’re going in a straight line when you’re going in circles, or there’s a boundary that teleports you to the other side when you cross it.

  The fact that the second team found the dungeon portal several times while on the move confirms it isn’t infinite.

  And third, the monsters respawn infinitely, regardless of how many you kill. Fighting them is useless, but not fighting isn’t an option either. All monsters are weak, but EP and MP aren’t infinite. It’s an attrition battle you’re bound to lose, and that’s only if the enemy team doesn’t destroy your dungeon core first.

  If you put the three together and add how the fog and trees look, it’s no surprise that both players and the audience have started to call this place the Cursed Forest.

  The problem is that no one has found out how to clear this fog-filled monster arena… At least, not yet.

  But the biggest problem is that our opponents trust their Monster Arena so much that they haven’t defended their dungeon a single time, going all-out in the offense, and it worked; they crushed both teams they fought.

  I’m slightly worried about Clara, knowing she’ll have to face four enemies at once. Oh, well. I’m sure she’ll manage. She has my ultimate monster at her disposal.

  …Just the thought of her Champion riding my monster gives me the shivers. I kind of pity our opponents.

  “We can’t wait for Lemon to kill them. The monsters will come anyway, and nobody guarantees she will win one against four.”

  “I agree. Just give me more time, and I’ll find a way to break the curse. It’s impossible to trick my expert eyes!”

  “What ‘expert eyes’? You might as well be blind!” I counter Ricard’s argument. “But don’t worry. The only reason the first two teams failed was that I wasn’t there. Believe in me. I’ll shatter their dungeon as if it were a joke! Hahaha!”

  Ricard and Laura send me awkward glances. Guys, don’t look at me like that…

  I’m not kidding. I don’t know if I should be proud of it or not, but my plans are usually anything but ‘common’. As long as our opponents designed this Monster Arena with common tactics in mind, I should be able to find a way to end this.

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  “You think you can beat me at my own game?” Ricard mocks me. “Sure. Let’s see who discovers the gimmick first. If I do, you’ll have to call me Teacher from now on. How about it, hahaha!”

  “Then… what will you do if I win? Will you call me Teacher too? Admit defeat and kneel, saying I’ll forever be better than you?”

  “T-that’s…!” Ricard freezes at my question.

  “Sigh… Guys, stop arguing and let’s move. It doesn’t matter who finds the way to clear this arena as long as one of us does.”

  With Laura’s admonishment, we finally start moving.

  “Instead of punishment, how about a reward? The first to find a clue will receive my kiss. How about this? You like it? Fufufu!”

  Ricard immediately perks up and stops talking. But, seriously. Who would want this ‘reward’?

  Ricard runs towards me, chased by several skeletons. “Mad Rat, do it now!”

  “Alright. Chain Lightning!”

  The lightning accurately lands on the first skeleton and spreads to the others, reducing the group to ashes (stunned). Well, not the whole group, because a few of them are still doing fine.

  Ricard turns around and engages the weakened group. After he finishes, he approaches us.

  “Did you find anything?” Asks Laura.

  “Not yet…” Answers Ricard, shaking his head. “There are no altars or marks on the ground. I didn’t find anything, just trees, trees, and more trees.”

  What he says isn’t exactly right. “You’re wrong. You did find something: a bunch of skeletons! Hahaha!”

  Ricard looks like he wants to retort, but right then, an explosion sound comes from nearby. Fire spreads, and something child-sized drops to the ground. It must have been another Goblin using Goblin Magic, the casting of which didn’t go… Didn’t go that well.

  “Tsk. Goblin Magic without consequences shouldn’t be allowed,” complains Ricard.

  He has been grumbling about this for a while now. He found it clever and kind of funny when watching the replays, but now that he’s the one suffering from it, he doesn’t enjoy it at all.

  This is because the goblins don’t care if the Goblin Magic backfires, and they kill themselves. They’ll just respawn after a while.

  Do you know what’s scarier than a goblin with explosives and double damage? Yes, you’re right. It’s the same goblin, respawning indefinitely.

  I shrug my shoulders. “What can you do? Our opponents did a great job with this dungeon.”

  We do a status check to make sure nobody is low on EP or MP before continuing.

  I’m doing pretty fine because I’ve been slacking off. As a burst mage, I’m not suited for attrition battles, so I’ve been staying behind and only using my spells when needed. Ricard and Laura are the ones doing the heavy lifting.

  And no, I’m not complaining. I rather like it this way. Work for me, my minions! So I can relax and enjoy the spectacle, hahaha!

  In just the next two or three minutes, we are constantly harassed by the enemy.

  Some, but not all, of the bones littering the ground rise as we come close, transforming into battle-ready skeletons. The ground crumbles under our feet, creating large holes at the most inopportune moments. Roots suddenly twist and change, making us trip, or come alive, grabbing our feet and trying to drag us away.

  There’s also the kamikaze goblins, who use extremely powerful magic (when they don’t blow themselves up).

  And the worst, most persistent of all: the fey. Hidden, tricky.

  Every time we hear laughter, we have to run away from the paralysis spores or the barrage of spells. Fighting isn’t an option. Not against pixies, fairies, and myconids, all experts in hide-and-seek, when the visibility is so low and the terrain this treacherous. Fighting them, knowing they will respawn shortly after, would be stupid.

  “It makes no sense,” I say, repeatedly closing and opening my hand.

  “Of course it makes no sense!” Ricard bursts out after a while of silence. “Where are the clues!? There must be a way to disable this god-forsaken arena! But there’s nothing! Nothing!”

  “Well, that too, but… I’m not talking about this.”

  Laura, noticing my hesitation and confusion, is the one who asks. “What are you talking about?”

  Having just used Chain Lightning in our last fight, and having it happen a few times, I am now sure of it. Something is wrong with my damage output. For a reason I can’t understand, it sometimes works as it always does, but other times the damage is lower. Almost as if it was absorbed or resisted.

  But they’re the same monsters all the time. If they resist the damage, it should always happen. It should be consistent, either for good or for bad.

  I explain this to Ricard and Laura, and wait for their opinions.

  Laura thinks for a while before asking a question of her own. “You’re right, it makes no sense… Is it the location? Maybe the monsters?”

  I shake my head. “Not the monsters, it happened regardless of their numbers and composition–”

  “Isn’t it just your imagination?” Interrupts Ricard. “Your skills are too unpredictable. You might think it’s not working, when it does, and vice versa.”

  “I’ve been using Chain Lighting since the time I created my Champion. I know how it works.” I say, glaring at him.

  “Okay, okay… I was just saying. There could be monsters you don’t see that are absorbing the damage…”

  “The fog sure is thick, but I’m not blind–” I suddenly freeze. “Wait a moment! Hidden enemies, you say!?”

  How foolish I’ve been! No, how foolish everyone, including our predecessors, has been! Why did anyone think of hidden enemies!?

  No, wait. It makes no sense. The first team went berserk after finding out the monsters infinitely respawned and blew the whole area with spells. This is how we learned that the trees would restore themselves if destroyed.

  If there were hidden enemies, they should have killed them right then.

  And as if this weren’t enough, the second team, having watched the first’s futile attempts, relied on careful exploration and detection to proceed, avoiding as many dangers and fights as possible. With their skills, they should have found any hidden or invisible enemy…

  …Unless the hidden monster has a skill that prevents detection, that is.

  But both are incompatible, aren’t they? Monster size usually dictates how strong they are. A large monster wouldn’t have escaped the second team’s search, and a small one wouldn’t have survived the first team’s assault.

  Again, it makes no sense…

  I look around, searching for an answer. Or maybe, divine inspiration. My sight is once again filled with the sight of dark trunks and slightly glowing white fog.

  “Skeletons, fairies, and goblins…” As I talk to myself, I open my eyes wide. A smile starts growing, suddenly coming up with a crazy idea. “That can’t be. It’d be too funny…! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

  “There he goes again, talking to himself and laughing…” Ricard shakes his head.

  “Shht!” Laura makes him shut up. “Don’t interrupt him when he’s like that.”

  “I know, I know…”

  From the start, everyone knew that our opponents were a team consisting of a fairy, a death knight, an orc, and an elf. There are undeniable signs of the Secret Grove, Eternals, and the Savage Horde around us, and everyone believed that the main contribution of the Sylvan player was the dungeon itself, as well as the traps and roots.

  But, what if… What if the Sylvans contributed something else? Something… something crucial and indispensable?

  I suddenly turn towards Ricard. “Baldy!”

  “...Yes?” He asks, raising an eyebrow at my sudden attitude change.

  “Go there and use Whirlwind.”

  “Why should I do it? There’s nothing there. Why should I waste–”

  “Just do it. What about this, I’ll buy you a drink after this match is over if nothing happens. Easy, right?”

  He hates wasting EP and MP, so this is the fastest way to get him to agree.

  “Ugh… fine.” Grumbling, Ricard moves towards the group of trees I was pointing to. This is where I aimed my last Chain Lightning. “Here is fine?”

  “Yes, do it. Quickly. Just for a second or two… Oh, and make sure to move around as you do.”

  “Don’t put pressure on me… I’m doing it.”

  Ricard’s Champion starts spinning. The sword reflects the fog’s tenue light, which, paired with his shiny armor and glowing blue eyes, makes it look magical even though it’s a physical attack.

  As he spins, Ricard’s sword cuts down all the surrounding trees as expected. As we’ve seen in the replays, new trees will soon grow to replace them.

  Ricard has cut down all the trees… All the trees, except for one.

  “We’ve found it,” I proclaim, grinning. “We’ve found the missing piece of this puzzle.”