* * *
I gathered the ten newly hired monsters on the first floor and held a brief orientation.
Four skeletons, five low-ranking goblins, one slime.
It was the result of hiring as diverse a group as possible, and I had deliberately mixed in many of the same kind so they could form groups. Except for the one slime.
‘These are our company’s first-generation employees.’
Gathered together, they did look like a ragtag bunch, but there was a certain pressure to them when massed in a group.
“Hello, I am Gong Choi, the manager of this dungeon….”
“Chihuahua.”
“…Grr, I am Chihuahua. I sincerely welcome you, new employees, to the dungeon. I truly look forward to growing together with the company from now on.”
After finishing the formal greetings, I moved straight into the practical matters.
“All of you have been hired as field staff, and your area of activity is the first floor.”
The monsters nodded without much reaction. Their faces said they had already expected this.
During the interview, one monster had told me this:
Even at an instant dungeon, it had never made it past the first floor. So its dream was to someday see another floor.
“The first floor is both the starting point of the dungeon and its face—an incredibly important space.”
But I wanted the new employees not to be disappointed by their circumstances.
Having decided to hire them as full-time employees, I truly hoped every monster would grow together with the dungeon.
The fact that ‘levels’ exist in this world means growth is possible, doesn’t it?
I put strength into my eyes and raised my voice.
“There is a saying: you must button the first button correctly. That is why all of you will become the crucial starting point that determines the entire flow of the dungeon from now on. Please do your best to block the challengers’ entry.”
There is no unnecessary position in a company.
Even the simple task of managing office equipment is the same. If just one copier or printer breaks down, the entire day’s work gets tangled.
“It won’t be easy to adjust from your first day, but you’ll need to go straight into practical work. When the sun rises, our dungeon’s first challenger is scheduled to arrive.”
Everyone’s expression turned tense.
“Um…….”
One low-ranking goblin raised a hand.
“Should we just charge at the challenger the way we did at the instant dungeon?”
Instant dungeon, or “indun” for short.
I had heard it was a place created when a monster with some power wants to build up its own forces.
So it was similar to a company founded by a rich family’s child who wants to try running a business.
Compared to the other dungeons run by Demon Kings, they were treated as places with no pedigree, but if they succeeded greatly, they could catch the Demon God’s eye and even aim for a Demon King’s seat.
Considering how precarious our owl Demon King’s position was, there might have been a successful instant dungeon recently.
‘Nine out of ten of our dungeon’s employees have part-time experience at an indun.’
When I asked in the interviews how they had worked back then, every one of them said they had simply charged the moment they saw a challenger.
In my view, rather than gaining real combat experience from that kind of work, it was far more likely they had only accumulated a heap of defeat and helplessness.
“No, this is not that kind of place. Our dungeon will move according to a system above all else.”
If I was HR manager Gong Choi during the interviews, from now on I am gamer Gong Choi.
From this moment on, I must muster every piece of dungeon strategy knowledge I have seen in games to create the most difficult dungeon possible with just ten monsters.
Otherwise known as dungeon defense!
If monsters are clustered in one place, they are perfect fodder for area-of-effect magic.
If they stay bunched up like now, the moment a mage who can use magic shouts “Chain Lightning!” or the like, it’s an instant clear.
In fact, skilled users often deliberately herded monsters into one spot and bombarded them with AoE attacks to finish battles quickly.
I could not let our dungeon become a sacrifice for speed-clear record holders!
“Brownie, build walls on the first floor and divide the space.”
To prevent that danger, I just had to make it impossible to catch all the monsters at once from the start.
Brownie, the household fairy of this dungeon, could freely alter the structure of already-built floors at no cost.
I explained in detail to Brownie how to change the first-floor layout, and Brownie immediately moved according to my instructions.
“That much is easy!”
Brownie flew around energetically.
We first made the path to the second floor a one-way structure.
Then we divided the first floor here and there with walls into multiple small zones.
Between each zone was a single door, and that door was set to open only when certain conditions were met.
The condition was simple.
Defeat all the monsters placed in that zone.
I made it so challengers could only move to the next zone after breaking through one zone.
Our dungeon did not yet have a system where clearing a condition automatically advanced to the next stage.
But instead, there was a very convenient method.
Give each zone’s monsters a single key that could open the next zone’s door.
“All of you will become the guardians of each gate and protect the key to the next gate.”
Brownie could make keys out of dirt easily enough!
The monsters looked impressed.
“Guardian of the gate…. That’s so cool!”
“It feels like I’ve been given an incredible mission. Clatter.”
Guardian of the gate—in company terms, this was no different from giving new employees a title.
The sense of responsibility felt when called simply an employee versus when called the person in charge of a specific zone is definitely different.
I nodded in satisfaction and continued.
“And I’ll form squads to guard each gate. Three per team.”
Dividing ten into groups of three leaves three teams and one extra.
Skeletons differed only slightly in level; their attack power was 100 and defense 50, all identical.
Low-ranking goblins had attack power 50 and defense 100.
The sole slime had attack power 10 and defense 200.
I mixed the monsters appropriately to form the squads.
An attack-specialized team of two skeletons and one goblin.
Conversely, a defense-specialized team of two goblins and one skeleton.
If you group only the same species together, their weaknesses become too obvious.
Skeletons are weak in defense and collapse easily, while goblins lack attack power and struggle to land a decisive blow.
“Um… Manager, I don’t have a squad.”
The slime left alone bounced its body and urgently called out to me.
Its exact name was Small Slime.
About the size of a soccer ball, with a bead-like core faintly visible inside its translucent body.
It was the only slime among the monsters that came for interviews.
When I hired the slime, I had paid attention to its specialty.
Its special attack skill was [Digestive Fluid Spray (C)]. It was the only monster with a ranged attack skill.
“Brownie, make a small passage inside the walls. Just big enough for the slime to pass through. And poke small holes in each wall too.”
Brownie immediately created narrow passages inside the walls connecting each zone.
“The slime is a one-person team, but instead it will serve as a hidden card.”
“A solo team! A hidden card!”
The slime bounced in place as if expressing overwhelming emotion.
“You see the holes in the walls here.”
“Yes! I see them!”
“When the employees are in danger, your role is to spray digestive fluid through those holes to support them.”
I had effectively created a kind of trap gimmick using a monster.
If the slime supported from an unseen place, the flow of battle would become far more difficult.
“Think of our combat style as wearing down the challenger’s stamina over time rather than taking them down all at once. Even if you can’t stop them at your own gate, the goal is to make them more and more exhausted as they advance to the next.”
“Ooooh…….”
I had been deeply impressed by the skeleton’s story of biting down on a challenger’s ankle with its jawbone even after its whole body was smashed.
“The squad compositions are a little different, but the core is the same. While the goblin holds the line in front, the skeleton attacks! We must move strategically like this.”
The goblin’s special attack skill was ‘Feint Attack (F).’
When I asked for a demonstration, it suddenly poked me as if catching me off guard.
The attack power itself was weak, but its ability to target openings seemed fairly decent.
“From now on, think of me as a challenger. Of course, I’m not a real one. I have no combat power at all, so please don’t attack me seriously!”
I picked up a tree branch and clumsily imitated an adventurer as I explained combat methods to the monsters.
“So when I try to attack like this, you fall back, and then…….”
Of course, this strategy had a fatal flaw. It was a strategy built on the premise that the challenger was alone.
Real dungeons are mostly tackled by parties. But in the current situation, this was the best I could do.
“Now then, everyone, please practice what I’ve explained with your squadmates until you’re used to it.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Only after placing the monsters at each gate could I finally catch my breath for a moment.
“Wow, you’re pretty good at this? You came up with a fairly decent plan using those weaklings!”
“I still don’t know if my approach will work.”
I could only hope it would go well.
