Four pyers are fighting three humanoid monsters. Each one brings one or more support mobs with them, as it’s custom between the pyers

  One of the features of Dungeon Invasions is the monsters you can bring with you, to make the invasion easier, and the difficulty of most dungeons takes this in mind. Not bringing any support unit with you will certainly make the invasion harder, so in accordance, most pyers always bring some monsters with them.

  When it comes to support mobs, there are two approaches: a flood of weak ones, or a few strong ones. Most pyers go for the tter. Both because they’re easier to control and because this way, a single area of effect attack won’t kill them all; and this group isn’t any different.

  “For fuck’s sake, Jack! Can you stop attacking The Mountain? I can’t waste MP on you all the time!” One of the pyers compins, gring at another pyer while pointing toward one of the three humanoids they’re fighting. A monster that, weirdly enough, hasn’t moved a single millimeter since the combat started.

  “It’s not my fault, my attacks are random. Just heal me and stop compining…”

  The leader, the healer of the group, smacks the other pyer’s head. “Then stop using them, you retard! Use basic attacks instead.”

  Meanwhile, another of the three humanoids rampages through their lines. Constantly moving all the time, it utilizes its superior speed as both offense and defense. Everyone, support mobs included, is targeting it to kill it as soon as possible, but half the attacks are off. It’s too hard to predict its movements and aim properly. Furthermore, they need to kill it before its passive skill builds up and the damage it does grows to an impossible degree.

  Only a single one of the pyers, the tank, is ignoring the speedster and instead keeping the immobile one in check. Otherwise, the constant waves of Magic Missiles would destroy the whole party.

  “What’s up with that one? Why isn’t it doing anything?”

  One of the pyers asks a question that’s on everyone’s minds, pointing at the remaining member of the group of three humanoid monsters, the one that hasn’t done anything since the battle started.

  “I don’t know,” answers the leader. “But we’ll ignore it. We’ll stick to the pn: The River goes first.”

  Without anything to argue against, the remaining pyers nod.

  It’s at this time that an unexpected visitor interferes in the combat. Jack feels a strong strong impact that sends him flying as if an invisible truck crashed into him at full speed.

  “Gufu…!?” He makes a stupid sound as his body flies backward.

  Jack’s teammates observe, mouths agape, as a small winged minotaur, one that’s wearing a crown, appears where Jack stood a second ago. The minotaur’s gaze, although not very tall, makes their blood freeze. They didn’t see it coming because it was invisible.

  The minotaur giggles, as if taunting them.

  When the pull of gravity overcomes the impact force, Jack’s body starts falling, with such bad luck that he ends up inside a water canal.

  The strong water current drags him away, his shouts rapidly fading. “U-uah! What’s this!? Something’s biting me! H-help me…”

  “Jack!” The fourth pyer shouts.

  “Leave him be,” the leader shakes his head, “we don’t have time for him. Let’s forget about getting bonus cp and rush to the core instead.”

  “I know, but…” the pyer hesitates, “...but he has the access cards…”

  The leader’s fists start shaking. “What!? Why!? I gave them to you! Why does the fool have them!?”

  “W-well… because I needed both my hands, and he’s pretty useless against the Hunters. So I thought…”

  They stop arguing when the minotaur starts moving again. They raise their guards, ready for what’s to come, but… nothing comes. Instead of rushing at them, the small minotaur giggles once more and starts flying away, through the densely packed racks, as it casts a few basic spells.

  Their expressions visibly soften at the sight. They’re relieved by the fact that the boss doesn’t want to fight and instead wants to py with them.

  The leader returns his focus to the ongoing combat. Thankfully, the tank and the support mobs have kept their foes occupied.

  “Better this than dead… Let’s finish this quickly!” he orders, “Use your ultimates if necessary.”

  “Alright.”

  “But... what about Jack?”

  “Haaah. We’ll go find Jack, if he’s still alive, and come back here once we deal with the Hunters.”

  After a short exchange, they return their attention to the two humanoids. Just in time to realize that the humanoid monster that didn’t do anything until now is summoning several stars high up in the air.

  “Starfall…?”

  “Don’t worry, a hit from a star isn’t that dangerous. Just avoid as many of them and we’ll be fin–”

  The light released from the fading stars when they make contact with solid objects tints the scene with purple light for a brief moment before the damage takes pce.

  Those words are the st ones the pyer says in the Dungeon Invasion before dying.

  Another group of pyers is fighting off the same group of three humanoids. The four pyers, unlike most other groups, didn’t bring any helpers with them. They’re just four, but even with their low numbers and ck of support, they don’t seem to be suffering too much.

  Two pyers surround one of the humanoids, the one that remains as still as a rock. The monster relentlessly attacks them with everything in its arsenal which, thanks to the roots and the nourishment it gets from the soil, seems to have no end.

  Even through all that, the two pyers remain unfazed. Knees on the ground and hands csped together, they repeatedly sm their heads on the hard humanoid’s legs while shouting incomprehensible things.

  “Purify my sins!”

  “I’ll accept all the pain! Oh, please, harder!”

  They don’t mind their HP bars falling at an unprecedented speed. The monster’s attacks are part of the cause, but not all of it, as every time they hit the monster with their heads, they take damage too.

  The scene, although surreal, has a certain vibe to it. It’s like watching devoted believers quietly praying in front of their god, an angry demon god that’s slowly devouring them as they pray.

  Meanwhile, another of the three humanoids is snaking at an incredible speed, uncontrolbly crashing into any obstacle in its path. The dizzy movements and flying objects everywhere create a blurry picture, but the most surprising thing is the pyer hanging onto the erratic monster.

  “Wahaha! I’m unstoppable! Ride, little pony! Ride, to the end of the world! Wahaha!”

  How did the pyer grab into such a fast monster, in such a position as if to ride it? Who knows, but he did. Grabbing onto the monster’s clothing as if his life depended on it, which probably does, the pyer looks excited instead of scared.

  This pyer, too, doesn’t seem to be long for this world. The monster, in the middle of its frenzy to get rid of the unwanted passenger, doesn’t forget to use every and all means to inflict damage upon him.

  He doesn’t seem to care, though.

  Standing on another side of the room, the fourth and st pyer is keeping its attention exclusively on the third humanoid. He keeps shifting the weight of his body from one foot to the other and doesn’t dare to blink.

  Is he wary of that monster, or is he making sure the monster doesn’t interfere with the ‘enjoyment’ of his teammates?

  After a bit of waiting, the monster finally makes a move. With its wings wide open, floating in mid-air, red light condenses between his two hands. Once the wind-up animation ends, the monster emits a beam of the same color towards the excited pyer.

  The light, clearly dangerous, approaches the calm pyer. But instead of evading, the pyer opens his arms, welcoming the red light.

  “I’m basking in the light of our god!” He loudly procims. “Oh, great Mad Rat! Please, bless this worthless believer with your unfathomable presence!”

  Of the four pyers, struggling to be the first to reach the afterlife, he’s the first one to die.

  “Gufu! Uh, ah, uaaah!” I fall from my comfy chair. “Ugh… w-what did I just see? I need… bl… I need b-bleach! Bleach for my eyes! A-and… and a drill for my ears!”

  My whole body trembles in shock. I do my best to stabilize on the ground, to no avail. But the nightmare I’ve just seen doesn’t want to disappear.

  “Fuck…! Why did I have to see that? Why couldn’t I stop watching before it was too te?” Is this one of those times when you can say ‘curiosity killed the cat’? Or the rat, in this case?

  It takes a while, but I end up recovering from the initial shock and manage to stand up. When I stand up, I realize that the Octocat, who is usually sitting on the chair’s armrest, is gring at me. My evil-mastermind-style mascot fell to the ground too when I did.

  I know, I know… I’m sorry. It wasn’t on purpose… I carefully lift it, patting its furry head and tentacles.

  “Alright… Let’s forget about the st one and use the previous invasions as research material…” I suddenly tilt my head to the side, “…wait! What ‘st one’? What am I talking about? Was there a ‘st one’ I should be wary of…?” I delude myself, the headache that was about to start, suddenly disappearing as if it was an illusion.

  Aaah, yes. This is more like it. Blessed selective memory loss. What would I do without you?

  Observing the screen in front of me, now pitch-bck, I recall what I’ve seen of The Sun’s performance. It wasn’t just one or two invasions that I’ve watched but about ten, and what I’ve taken from them is the following.

  The performance is good. High power, lots of burst damage. The pyer’s cries were decent, and the despairing shouts were acceptable.

  “It’s good, but… I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’ve just completed a masterpiece.” If I had to rate it, I’d give it a five or six over ten.

  It’s like the feeling I get when I observe one of my ‘normal’ creations, one of those I don’t care that much about. A monster that makes me think ‘Heh, whatever’ after watching it in action.

  It’s like… it’s like it’s missing something. The Sun is… kind of boring.

  “Oh, well, whatever. It isn’t like I’m going to make any changes right now. It’s too te and I’m too zy to make them.” If I had to say, probably the tter would be the real reason. “I’m going to leave it like this and keep watching the results. Maybe I’ll come up with sudden inspiration ter on…”

  While thinking so to myself, I disconnect from the game.

  “When invading a dungeon, regardless of it being PvP or PvE, always take into account the surrounding terrain and decorative elements. It isn’t unusual for pyers to ignore elements that might py an important role in the future.

  For example, tiny holes or cracks in the walls can be a signal that there are traps nearby, or they could be used by small monsters to harass you. It’s also possible they’re warning about an important event you’ll find in the future, or they can be a clue for a puzzle. Simirly, scratch marks on the wall are usually a warning of the presence of strong non-humanoid monsters, and it isn’t unusual for mimics and disguised monsters to hide within a group of simir decorative elements.

  Shelves filled with dangerous substances might explode, causing burns and poisoning; a door, even if impossible to open, can tell there’s a room or passage on the other side; and pictures or murals can be an important clue about the dungeon’s lore.

  The greatest and most famous dungeons are filled with things like those. This is why they’re so life-like: there’s almost nothing in there that’s ‘just a decoration’.”

  - From ‘Stop pying like a noob’, a guide for DMA pyers.