As Neve stepped through the portal, the first thing she did was look around to get a read on what type of dungeon this would be.
It was something she'd been conditioned to do by now, given how many dungeons followed specific patterns depending on the environment they featured. Even if sometimes they broke away from those patterns. Being able to guess what kind of enemy you would be facing was a skill every player needed to develop over time.
As she scanned the area, what she found was that she'd ended up in another world entirely.
"Holy shit," a player next to her muttered. Neve nearly said the same.
A vast expanse of grassland greeted them. Tall mountains, hills that rolled up and down along the horizon, to the northwest, dense forests to the northeast, a fog-covered area where Neve could faintly hear thunder cracking to the distant east, and far, far ahead, she could faintly make out the shape of a castle.
They had ended up atop an elevated piece of land from which they could see miles in every direction, and no matter where Neve's eyes fell, she felt like she had walked inside a painting.
"H-Huh!? What is that!?"
Before Neve could look at whatever the other person had shouted about, a different player quickly pulled out their bow, nocked an arrow, and shot it at something hovering above them.
Neve tilted her head up just in time to watch the arrow bounce off the scales of a giant, white, flying snake.
The other adventurers quickly took their own weapons out, but the snake merely laughed at them.
"Good, you are all keeping your guard up. That is commendable, humans. You will need to be alert if you wish to have any chance at succeeding."
"Whoa," a girl said. "Did that snake just talk?"
Indeed, it had. The snake possessed a feminine, sultry voice as it spoke without moving its mouth. It almost felt like Neve could hear the snake in her mind.
"Hey, stay focused! Fundamentals!" Carson called out. It was impressive just how far his voice could reach. "You over there, stop walking up! Mages stay at the back, tanks at the front!"
"Hm? You're moving to your ideal spots on the battlefield now? Seems like you had not expected there to be a potential enemy at the start. That lack of preparation may cost you later, but, well, it is of no consequence at the moment. Anyway, greetings humans. Welcome to the Final Challenge. I am Tamira, and I will be serving as your personal humble assistant throughout this journey. Needless to say, I am not an enemy. With how arrogantly you all came in, if I was, I would have just killed you already."
[That's... depressing to hear.]
"Assistant?" One of the players asked.
"What does that mean?" Another muttered.
This was new. Up until now, none of the dungeons Neve had cleared had featured an "assistant". Judging by their reactions, the others could likely say the same.
[What the hell is this about?]
"Greetings!" Carson, taking charge of the situation, stepped forward. The snake descended somewhat, hovering closer to the 100 humans gathered there today. That motion made many of them reach for their weapons, though they did not pull them out. "Might I ask what exactly we need an assistant for?"
"You certainly can!" Tamira responded with an excited, girlier tone. The snake began moving in circles over the group as she explained her role here. "First things first, you should know that your objective within the Final Challenge is one specific dungeon in this area, but there are a great many dungeons, boss fights, and locations surrounding it. These surrounding places are meant to help you prepare for the main dungeon that will ultimately determine whether you succeed in the Final Challenge or not. You can, however, should you wish, tackle that main dungeon at any time! Oh, but no freeloading! If you go in there and you aren't pulling your weight, we'll throw you out!"
The way the snake said that was strange. It sounded like she thought she was helping the group of players, but understandably, they all had the same reaction.
"We'll pass on that. Assistant, can you tell us if there's any hub area here? Safe zones?" Carson asked.
The snake giggled, stopping its motions in the air to look down at Carson.
"Are you absolutely certain that you want to pass on that~?"
That question made the players pause.
Carson remained silent for a moment, his muscular arms crossed over his chest as he looked up at the snake with a contemplative expression.
"Why do you ask that?"
"Ah, only because there is one thing that makes the main dungeon different from the other dungeons in the Final Challenge's world. One thing that makes the offer of tackling the main dungeon right now something to consider."
Perhaps knowing that her words were marinating within the minds of the players below her, she gave a brief pause for dramatic effect. Then, she moved down even closer. So great was her size that the sun behind her was blocked.
Whispering, as though she was telling the players a secret, Tamira said:
"The enemies in the main dungeon scale with you. The enemies in every other dungeon, however, do not scale with you and have fixed levels. That is why you should consider tackling the dungeon as soon as possible."
If her intended effect was to cause a commotion, she succeeded. All one hundred players began muttering to each other, talking under their breaths.
An older woman beside Neve, dressed like a mage wearing brown robes and a witch's hat, asked:
"Um… What does that mean?"
Neve answered the question. Mainly, so she could voice what was going through her mind right now. She hoped it might help her think about this more clearly.
"It means that the levels of the enemies in the main dungeon are going to match our own."
"Indeed!" The snake yelled out, catching the players by surprise. Some of them flinched. Most of them probably didn't hear Neve, so they had no clue what the snake was responding to. "The average level of your group is 21. I just checked," she clarified. "That means that the enemies within the main dungeon will be modified to be an adequate challenge for your group. However," she said, tilting her snake head, "every single other enemy and dungeon outside of the main one does not scale with you. That means you may end up running inside a level 50 dungeon that wipes you all out or a level 1 dungeon that provides nothing of value. Do you understand why this is something to consider now? There is but one simple question here. How much do you value your own lives? That should be what you think of as you decide what you will do now, and as you make every single individual decision moving forward."
The chattering picked up, as did the contemplation going on in Neve's mind.
"I see…" Carson said, quietly. Though, with his voice, he still sounded louder than anyone else there.
"I will leave that choice up to you. Setting that aside, in terms of safe zones, there are two. The one you are all currently in and one near the main dungeon. You can check your statuses right now to check. If you are not in one of these places, you should assume a monster could attack at any moment."
Following her directions, the players did just that. Neve checked her own status and found that on the top right of her status was a little prompt with a green checkmark that said "safe zone".
[… Wait, what?]
Having her status open showed her something else that the snake hadn't mentioned. Neve had been the first to see it, but the confused noises the other players soon began making told her they saw the same thing.
Her Activity Points were at 0.
"Noticed, have you~?" Tamira teased. "That's right. Your Activity Points were reset the moment you entered this dimension."
"W-Wait, why!?" A player asked, alarmed.
He, and everyone else who was pissed to learn about this, had good reason to be angry.
Most of them had probably gone out of their way to meet the AP quota before coming in here, not wanting to be debuffed before what would be the most important dungeon run of their lives. The fact that they'd been reset was, to put it simply, unfair.
Neve caught onto something else, though, that the others might not have.
Raising a timid hand, like she was in a classroom, Neve tried to get the snake's attention. Tamira was looking at her before her arm had even moved, though.
"Yes?" The snake asked.
"So, that's… um, n-never mind. I'll ask later."
Neve swore she saw the snake smiling.
"Very well. You will have the opportunity to speak with me throughout your time here, so if you want to hold off on anything, feel free to wait till you're comfortable."
Neve nodded and took a step back, ignoring the looks she received.
"As I was saying," Tamira continued, "the quota is still 500 but punishments work somewhat differently here. You see, in the Outside World, if you failed to meet your Activity Points quota, you would receive debuffs. Here, that is not the case."
[What?]
All of the players were shocked, once again, but this time, they remained silent.
"Instead, one of two things may happen."
Tamira began making spirals in the air as she spoke. Neve figured that maybe she liked to move around like that when she was having fun, or when she was saying things she knew the players wouldn't like.
"Punishment number one: you will be sent to a random dungeon within this world along with everyone else who failed to meet the quota."
"A dungeon within the Final Challenge?" Carson asked.
"Indeed. As I said, there are dungeons outside the main one that are quite high-level. If you fail to meet the quota, you may be sent to one of these against your will."
"… That's a death sentence. So, you basically get killed if you don't meet the quota," a player said, expressing some disbelief. Neve had to agree. She doubted the Forces That Be would be so kind as to send them to a level 1 dungeon as "punishment".
"Shit."
"Oh, wait till you hear the other one~" Tamira said and her midair spinning picked up in speed. Neve felt like her theory was being proven right. "The other punishment is far simpler. You and everyone who failed to meet the quota will be sent to an arena. You will have to fight each other to the death."
Instantly, the players began protesting. Tamira showed no reaction to that.
"When half of the players die, the half that survived are allowed to leave. That is the second punishment."
"WHAT!?"
It was this statement that sent the crowd into true chaos. Some of the players tried to argue with the snake, but Tamira ignored them completely. The sudden desperation on their faces showed how awful of a punishment that was.
Neve took this information in quietly, shaking her head.
[So, either way, there's a high chance you'll die if you fail to meet the quota. Got it.]
They hadn't even spent 10 minutes in this place and already it was beginning to make a lot of sense why none of the other nine groups that had been sent here managed to survive.
"W-Wait, everyone, how do we know she's telling the truth?" A mage asked. "What if this is a test?"
"Oh?" Tamira paused. "If you feel as though I am lying to you, feel free to leave your Activity Points where they are and wait for midnight. Then, you will receive your answer."
The mage had nothing to say in response.
"Ah, shit. I guessed that would be the case," a man murmured as he looked behind them. Neve, wondering what he was talking about, turned as well.
The portal that had taken them here was gone.
"Yep!" Tamira noticed the two of them looking over there. "You may not leave until the main dungeon is cleared. Which, as I am sure you understand by now, you probably want to happen sooner rather than later."
[... Because if we don't do it soon, people will start missing the quota and those punishments will come into play. Is that it?]
"Well, that's about it!" She suddenly stated. "If you have any questions, call me with your mind. I will appear before you in secret and we can have a private conversation. There is no time limit to the Final Challenge, so take as much time as you can to choose what you want to do. Oh! And, one last thing~"
She started spinning in the air again. Neve readied herself to hear something fucked up.
"There is one method of attaining Activity Points here that is not present in the Outside World… As I said before, your quota is still the same. 500 points. Guess what, players?"
She lowered herself and, with a sickeningly sweet tone, said:
"Killing another player gives you 500 Activity Points instantly. Have fun!"
And just like that, she left, disappearing into the wind, leaving the players to internalize that awful, but important, piece of information.