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Log Horizon (Light Novel) - Volume 7 — Chapter 3 — The Changing Battlefield
Volume 7: Chapter 3: The Changing Battlefield
1
"This is irritating."
Naotsugu complained.
He grabbed a rag from his bag to clean the stains on his Armor of Silver Oath and Gaze of Lionheart Shield. He had already cleaned his equipment with the waters conjured by the Summoners with their Undines. The filth from some monsters was harmful to equipment, so cleaning up was important in the aftermath of battles.
"What irritates you, Mr. Naotsugu?"
Tetora who was cleaning her flashy wand asked.
As members of the 2nd party, the duo spent a lot of their time together. Demiqas was moody and moved alone, while Vuorinen and Federico spent their time working with the other members of Silver Sword. Filling in as the strategist of this raid, Shiroe worked closely with William and was often summoned by him.
This meant Naotsugu and Tetora spent a lot of time together.
"Maybe the stain will never come off. It might be a curse."
"What a creepy thing for an idol wannabe to say."
"For a super charismatic girl like me, it is my natural speech and actions that made me popular. Because I am cute."
"Yeah right."
The expedition for the day hadn't ended. It was now noon, so they were taking a break and preparing for lunch. They were doing simple maintenance on their equipment by cleaning them by hand, but part of the reason was because Naotsugu had nothing else to do.
"I am not talking about the equipment."
"Okay. So you are thinking about me?"
"No way."
Naotsugu denied without hesitation.
If you forced him to decide between like or dislike, Naotsugu would categorize Tetora under the like column.
Chatting with her was fun and not a bother. She was a good partner when they talked about nonsense. Speaking your mind without thinking was very refreshing. It was silly but healing for the soul. He didn't talk about panties all day because of his fetish.
"You look so down. Want to look at panties?"
"As if I'd do that."
"I think miniskirts are better than hot pants."
"Let's drop this topic."
"No I want to stick with this. Fufufu."
Tetora seemed to be plotting something as she stuck onto Naotsugu with a smug face. Naotsugu then said 'Hey, back off, that's irritating' and peeled her off of him. Being toyed around like that was troubling. Tetora was small and nimble, crawling onto Naotsugu when he let his guard down. Naotsugu couldn't attack her seriously so he could only react passively.
Tetora knew Naotsugu couldn't do anything to her so she didn't let up on disturbing him. She was just teasing him. How mean of her. And she knew she was cute, which made it even more terrible.
"I say, doesn't seeing panties make you happy?"
"Ah, what?"
She said it so naturally that it caught Naotsugu off guard and he didn't give a proper reply.
"It's like a 'Wow'! That sort of feeling? When you see the panties of a cute girl like me, you will be energized to work the whole day, like a high five with God! Don't you feel that way?"
Tetora was not joking with Naotsugu, she was expressing her heartfelt thoughts. Naotsugu had to agree with her words, but he refused to express this with his attitude.
"Even if that's true, that's too arrogant."
"I understand this feeling more than anyone! I really am a natural idol! You are allowed to let your heart race for me, okay?"
Tetora who was snorting her nose smugly was very impressive. Naotsugu had to admit it. Not minding the other details, this Cleric was smiling all the time.
This was an important Moe point. Naotsugu strongly believed that a smile was the greatest gift girls could give to the people around them.
And Naotsugu would think about Maryele when he was with Tetora.
Her smile reminded him of Maryele.
The frequency was high, even when Tetora was not around.
He was not after the wonderful soft pressure. But even so, it was really troubling.
Life back on earth was much simpler. Naotsugu landed a job and his life was getting stable. He hadn't had a girlfriend for a while, so it wouldn't affect his future dating life. Although there were great aspects in the life of Adventurers, it seemed more unstable when he thought about things like that. Running amok. The feelings of Maryele were also important. On the flip side, it was not good to drag it too long, Naotsugu thought as he scratched his face.
"Ahh, that's not how it is!"
"Wah!? Why are you yelling?"
Tetora who had sneaked to Naotsugu's side was shocked, falling to the stone cold dungeon floor on her butt. Naotsugu waved his hands to play it down. "Nothing, my bad, sorry." He pulled Tetora up with his hand.
Naotsugu's train of thought was disrupted and he lamented, "Well, such things do happen in life."
"Mr. Naotsugu, you are like a grade-schooler who wrote a love letter to the beautiful teacher on a test and was found out by your classmates."
"What is with this awfully specific comment?"
"Fufufu. So, what is the thing that is bothering you?"
Tetora's face told Naotsugu that she wouldn't let him run away. But it was a good chance if Tetora wanted to talk about this. Naotsugu wanted to take advantage of this misunderstanding.
"Ah, it's about Shiroe." Naotsugu said as he faked a troubled expression.
Tetora's smug expression shone bright. This equated to Tetora saying 'Way to go! How brilliant of me to ask the crucial question!' or something like that. Tetora puffed out her chest like a hopeless idiot.
Naotsugu couldn't depend on Tetora's healing all the time.
The trouble was real, but Naotsugu pondered on how to put his thoughts into words.
"Hey, lunch is ready."
Federico approached with a box-like container. It was filled with asparagus and meat stew. Although Naotsugu was slow to react, Tetora received the box with a smile and said, "Thank you, Mr. Federico."
As expected of a self-proclaimed idol, Tetora was really popular. The raid group accepted her as one of them in no time and treated her well. She probably had fans, too.
Naotsugu could tell from the smile on Federico's mustached face as he said, "It's my pleasure." He seemed friendlier than he looked from the way he delivered the food. Demiqas and Vuorinen had probably received their share. They were getting used to the duo from Silver Sword taking care of the menial chores. Naotsugu didn't think that this would have happened.
"Eat up, Mr. Naotsugu. Remember to tell me what's up after this."
"Okay."
Naotsugu answered directly as he searched for a suitable place to sit.
This was one of the many small rooms in the Abyss Shaft zone. Small was a relative term in this dungeon, the room was actually 15m by 15m big, about the size of a mini sports complex. The giant pillar might not be grandiose, but was still decorated by carvings. In terms of atmosphere, it had a religious feel to it with the glowing light coming from the high ceiling.
There were lots of empty rooms like this around this area. The morning was spent clearing all the monsters in the area.
A granite pillar stump of just the right size was used by them as a bench.
"Chow time!"
"Time to eat!"
(There is an amazingly large piece of meat in the stew,) Naotsugu thought as he chewed on a mouthful. It was a pain to explain. The core of the problem lay with Shiroe, but things not going smoothly was just a gut feel.
Simply put, Naotsugu didn't understand why Shiroe was so troubled, that was it.
But this human known as Shiroe worried too much and burdened himself with too much work and responsibility. That's why people other than Naotsugu thought Shiroe wore a bitter expression full of worry all the time.
Naotsugu didn't think so.
Shiroe might have a sour face, but there were interesting things about him too. There were times when Shiroe lazed around and broke bottles because of clumsiness as well. He had seen him sleeping on the table with an 'I don't care anymore' expression on his face multiple times.
But for those who were unfamiliar with Shiroe, he always seemed to be thinking about complicated issues. He sometimes mumbled to himself but always solved the issues in the end. Naotsugu found it hard to tell what Shiroe's limit was and it was hard for him to explain to those around him.
Because his normal serious face was no different from his expression in a crisis, Naotsugu couldn't explain how to differentiate between them. Naotsugu understood, but it was more of a gut feel.
Shiroe right now looked more troubled than normal.
But that was just a gut feel.
And it was hard to explain.
"Shiroe," Naotsugu said slowly, "How should I put it, seems to be in a crisis."
"Seems?"
"Yeah."
"Let's help him then."
Tetora skewered her asparagus and decided.
"Don't take this so lightly, it's hard to execute." Naotsugu answered.
"The world calls him Black Heart Glasses, but he actually has a delicate ego. Is it okay to involve others? Will it be fine to work on this alone? That's what he is thinking about."
"Is that so? He is mentally a shut-in."
"I can't deny that."
"He needs an idol!"
"That won't be necessary."
"So why are we in this super rural cave?"
(Because we need money,) Naotsugu thought, but knew that this was not really an answer. Shiroe had no interest in piling up gold and watching it. Money was a means to achieve something. That was the case with Crescent Burger. This time, the purpose of getting the money remained unclear, so Naotsugu was unable to answer.
He wanted to buy the bank zone for the formation of the Round Table. His purpose was not in owning the bank. It was a negotiation chip used to converse with the Adventurers of Akiba, a means to an end.
What did he want to do with the money? What was the meaning behind it? Thinking back, Naotsugu did not hear of the plan from Shiroe. A man he could trust without knowing everything, that's his friend Shiroe. But it was hard to explain this to the third party Tetora.
(Reason, the reason…)
Naotsugu tilted his head as he thought. Inspiration struck.
"Just a guess, but it is to protect our home."
"Home?"
"I'm not talking about a physical building. I mean a place you reside in or something like that."
"You mean a guild?"
"Not just a guild. I don't really understand either."
Naotsugu chewed on the bread he dipped in the stew as he thought about what to say.
"In order to survive, we will need things to eat and have a roof over our heads. And also, comrades. A place to live with them is necessary no matter what. That means a family in the old world, but a guild in this one."
Naotsugu had been watching Maryele and the Crescent Moon Alliance for the past 6 months.
A place for everyone to relax. Get up from bed, work, have dinner, play and sleep after a hard day's work.
Most importantly, the warm and gentle smile that held all this together.
"But even a guild needs a home."
"Huh?"
Naotsugu tried explaining to the confused Tetora. Even Naotsugu was unsure about this, digging this up from the depths of his own heart.
"Speaking of home that will mean Akiba too. Having a guild in an empty world won't do. Because all sorts of things are interconnected. Even a guild needs a home as well. Be it an organization that provides convenient services or a guild of a friend. The places where we are interconnected with others need to be treated with care too."
That should be it.
This was the reason that Shiroe was fighting so passionately for when forming the Round Table.
"The city is a gigantic place belonging to everyone. If the city is suffering, all the homes will suffer. In order to protect his home, Shiroe is willing to take on the city or even more powerful enemies."
"… A home."
Naotsugu was worried about Tetora not getting what he was saying, but he saw an unexpected expression. That was a smug, gentle and strong smile.
"It is important to protect our home. It is important for us wolves. Mr Shiroe must be quite a guy to command such expectations from Mr Naotsugu… I really mean it, he is more than what the rumors made him out to be. It's the same for my guild, we are not sure what to do."
"Is Light Indigo not doing too good? I don't know much about the guild, but did your numbers fall drastically after the Catastrophe?"
"Not really. In summary of our conversation, Light Indigo is not a guild or a home. It is more like a holding place."
"What is that, an idol training center?"
Naotsugu asked in confusion. Tetora clapped her hands and declared "I am full", then proceeded to poke at Naotsugu's face and continued.
"That's probably it. We are idols who exist to protect the homes in everyone's heart. Following along is the right call! My charm radar is beeping here. I will follow this raid to the end even if I have to leave Light Indigo!"
Naotsugu was not sure why Tetora was smiling so smugly, so he just replied "I'm counting on you."
2
"Haachoo!"
"Ara ara, what an unlady like way to sneeze."
"I can't help it, my nose itches."
Henrietta criticized Maryele's etiquette as they sat around a table in the warm hall.
Henrietta surveyed the room looking for the source of the cold air, but the Crescent Moon Alliance dining hall was as peaceful as usual.
The ceiling was high in order to accommodate all the members for meals. Crescent Moon Alliance had over 40 members now, and it was not easy to take in so many members. Nevertheless, they still prepared 2 big tables that could seat 16 each. If they kept the chairs, all the members would be able to squeeze in.
The rowdy hall during meal time was a quiet place for the guild master Maryele and her confidant Henrietta to relax at night. It gave off a cozy atmosphere.
They went through many trials and difficulties in Akiba since the Catastrophe.
There were not just sad times, but also happy times that made you want to dance. After going through all sorts of things, the city seemed to remember the way it should be after the Libra Festival. It is a different kind of happiness compared to the formation of the Round Table Council, but the expressions of the people reflected the prosperity and peace they were enjoying.
Although the winter was harsher than in the original world, life remained stable in Akiba.
Maryele thought so, too.
Maryele had endured much stress as a guild master for the past half year, but she had started to relax recently. It was all because Henrietta said, "If you put on a sour face all day, you will turn into a cranky grandma." During that moment she was lectured, the members of the guild averted their eyes from Maryele. She must not forget to smile, she had been too tense even though she didn't mean to be.
She needed to reflect on this, Maryele sighed softly.
The lecturing party Henrietta seemed rather cheerful lately.
Asuka was helping Henrietta with the finances. Although she had to attend to the Round Table Council frequently, Henrietta had found time to relax in the afternoon.
The 2 old friends warmed their hands with the mugs as they took tiny sips of cocoa.
"… ?… ?"
"Ara, Nanami, what is it?"
Henrietta asked the young girl who was peeping in from the doorway. She watched Maryele's side of the table, warily avoiding Henrietta.
The young girl joined the guild very recently and was still shy.
One source of her insecurities was Henrietta, who was trying to sip her cocoa inconspicuously. But Maryele wouldn't miss the corners of Henrietta's mouth which were cramping with a smile.
The day Nanami came to the guild, Henrietta was overjoyed, grinding the young girl like a pay per use dryer. She tirelessly toyed with Nanami like a dress up doll, going through over 30 costumes. When Nanami burst into tears, her protector Hein the Assassin protested Henrietta's action strongly. Henrietta finally restrained her instinct to cuddle cute and small things.
Even though Henrietta was reflecting on her actions, Nanami was still traumatized by the ordeal. She seemed ready to bolt at any moment.
"Want to sit on my lap?"
Maryele grabbed Nanami by her waist and put her gently on her lap.
The young Nanami was finally able to see the objects on the table up close.
The long table that could seat 16 was filled with Maryele's carpentry tools, Henrietta's accounting books, 2 mugs of cocoa and things like bags. Henrietta placed the carving knife into the bag for safety. Maryele was thankful for Henrietta's attention to details.
As Nanami fidgeted on Maryele's lap with her eyes wide open, Maryele could feel her mouth breaking into a smile. She couldn't express it properly in words, but Maryele felt a motherly urge to care for her.
The atmosphere of the hall was warm and peaceful under the gentle glow of magic light. They could see the 2 Chefs preparing dinner in a part of the kitchen visible from the doorway. You could also hear the conversation from the corridor and the greetings of comrades returning home as well as those welcoming them.
Nanami smelled like freshly cleaned clothes. Maryele probably smelled the same. For Maryele, this was like a bond between families.
"Want some cocoa? Or are you looking for Hein?"
Nanami was surprised by Henrietta who offered her mug with her head tilted. Nanami looked up at Maryele, then the cocoa, and then at Henrietta. Henrietta smiled and said "take it" as she passed the mug to the stunned young girl.
Nanami carefully received the mug that was too big for her, and drank from it.
"!"
An impactful sense of sweetness.
Nanami face was frozen in surprise.
Among Adventurers, the girl knew surprisingly little of their old world. Everything was amazing, and she desired to learn about it all. The amused members of Crescent Moon Alliance doted on her and taught Nanami all sorts of knowledge, but Nanami still liked Hein who she knew first the most. She looked unsettled when Hein was not around, searching for the big brother she could rely on.
(We can educate her about such things slowly.)
Maryele thought as she took care not to let Nanami slip off.
Nanami who had been sipping the cocoa slowly suddenly froze.
Concerned about Nanami's troubled look, Maryele looked over and saw that there was only a bit of cocoa left.
'I drank the whole thing, what I should do, this belongs to Henrietta!!'… She was probably thinking something like that. Nanami was acting suspiciously because she felt that she had done something wrong. Maryele smiled as she watched Nanami.
"Don't mind her, Umeko won't get angry over something like this."
"But addressing me as Umeko will make me angry."
The icy retorts made Maryele feign fear. The face Nanami made as she stared at the both of them was so cute that they laughed out loud. This interaction affirmed that both Henrietta and she felt the same warm feeling, making Maryele even happier. (My guild, the Crescent Moon Alliance, is a great home, a place to be proud of.)
'… Hey! It's cold out here!'
These energetic words which didn't really serve as a greeting made Nanami spring up and look around.
"That's probably Hein. He should be at the entrance."
Nanami didn't notice Henrietta's attempt to curry favor with her, so she simply nodded with gratitude and leaped off Maryele's lap. Maryele caught Nanami and let her down gently with a smile. Nanami then ran off with unsteady steps that made them worry.
"Really."
"What is it?"
"I am jealous of how popular Hein is."
"That's because you traumatized her, Umeko."
"Ma. Ry. Ele."
The two of them broke out in laughter.
They had played around like this since old times, but this always filled Maryele with joy.
"… So the sneeze from earlier was because of Naotsugu, right?"
"Woo wah!"
Maryele's only gained the upper hand momentarily.
Her friend who knew her so well approached her with a menacing smile.
"Was it Mr. Naotsugu? Did Mr. Naotsugu talk about you?"
"How would I know?"
Even in this magical world, detecting such things instantly was impossible.
"Alright then, why not ask him through telepathy."
Pushing aside the logic of the fantasy world they were living in, Henrietta forced Maryele to a corner.
It might be a mistake to discuss matters of the heart with this dear friend of hers, Maryele had already regretted this hundreds of times. Henrietta might be working hard and doing a huge amount of work, but her interest in bullying small girls and Maryele was so mean. Just like a scary mother-in-law.
"Boo~ Spare me~"
"Why?"
"Even if you ask, it is not convenient for me to say…" She was at a loss, averting her eyes and becoming defensive. She intertwined the fingers of her hands together.
"It's just that."
"Huh?"
"Telepathy once a day, at 9pm after dinner."
"…"
Maryele's words silenced the room as Henrietta digested the news. Finally, Henrietta's sigh deflated in reply.
"Ha ah!?"
"I… I won't say it again!"
Maryele said as Henrietta made a rare expression with her mouth open wide in the shape of a rectangle.
"Because, he is in a raid right? He is working hard! It is a matter of life and death, he might die, okay? Naotsugu is definitely soldiering on, Shiroe is thinking really hard, so we can't disturb them. So we made a promise to only use telepathy after they made camp at night…"
Henrietta sighed as she used her finger to press against her forehead.
Her dear friend seemed so rude. Henrietta didn't seem to understand Maryele's well-meaning intentions.
"That's not what I am asking, well, maybe I was… So he has contacted you every day?"
"Yes."
Maryele didn't seem to understand the situation and nodded her head.
"I will tell him about Akiba's condition and things about Akatsuki. Well, I told him about Nanami last night. Didn't we make new boots for Nanami? I told him about it. I also told him how we bought the rubber boots together and about Nanami and Hein dancing at the entrance. That's right, I mentioned about the tandoori chicken too. Naotsugu said that he wants to taste some too. Naotsugu is so big and strong he can eat 3, right? It is spicy so he can take 4! We also chat about how great milkshakes are, so we should grab lunch together some time. The time is up before I realized. Na Na, don't you think the tandoori chicken is delicious, too, Henrietta?"
"Hah."
Henrietta stood up as if she were suffering from heartburn.
"What is it?"
"I, I need to send something to the Production Guild Liaison Committee before dinner."
"Is that so?"
"Even if I am starving, I won't be able to eat dinner if this keeps up. Maryele you, really… how should I put this…"
Maryele bid farewell to her depressed dear friend walking out of the hall. This was another normal day for Crescent Moon Alliance.
Maryele had unknowingly gained another point in the scoreboard inside Henrietta's mind.
The fight here was as intense as a raid battle.
3
According to the scouting reports, a set of dark purple armor was sitting motionlessly in the middle of the giant basin-like arena. A Cannoneer used the skill Lock on Sight to scan it from 100m away. The enemy was about 16m in height, probably a golem or a giant.
The detection radius of a raid boss was special and wide. The arena would probably turn into a battlefield the moment William's group entered.
The enemy was '7th of the garden' Ruseato.
This enemy looked similar to '7th of the prison' Ruseato he fought countless times in the raid 9 Great
Great Prisons of Heroes. The stats and tactics had probably been strengthened while retaining its specialty. According to the reconnaissance report of the scouting team, '7th of the garden' Ruseato probably had dual modes of black knight and white knight. The memory of the 2 modes interchanging as they attacked was still fresh on his mind, a difficult boss.
William raised his hand above shoulder level.
He knew the eyes of the raid group were on him.
They had convened a meeting before this. The scouting team attacked several times, using their deaths in exchange for valuable data. The strategy built on the information had been acknowledged by Shiroe of Log Horizon to have a '50/50 chance of success. ' This number wasn't too bad for the first try.
With the preparations done, he felt a heat wave rise from his back.
William seized this moment and threw his hand down.
The troops burst ahead like water from the dam with the signal. The 1st party led the way, leaping down from the audience seats which surrounded the arena.
They slid down the crumbling wall moving onwards, onwards.
The attack range of a monster was normally proportional to its size.
For Goblins which were less than 140cm in height, their range was several dozen centimeters barehanded. Their reach could go up to 1 meter when using kicks or equipped with spears. But for trolls which were 2m high, you had to give 3m allowance for the reach of their clubs. The humongous raid boss in front of them definitely had an absurd attack range.
Silver Sword took Shiroe's advice and used 10m, 15m and 20m as a benchmark to train their formation. They learned to gauge the distance through their sight and feel, cutting down on error when estimating the range of the attack.
But that would be after they launched their attack. They needed to move into the attack range of the enemy stealthily, with the tanks in the front and the vulnerable mages and ranged attackers at a safe distance. They would need to shift their distance, moving back and forth to stay out of the boss' range while being close enough to attack. If they did not make use of the raid boss' blind spot in their strategy, the rear guards would not be able to survive the raid boss level attack.
That's how damaging a hit from the enemy was.
Dinkuron led from the front and charged into the 20m range like a whirlwind. '7th of the garden' Ruseato came alive and stood up. Light from the red luminous fluid flowing within the mechanical armor could be seen through gaps as it lifted its oversized halberd up high. Dinkuron grit his teeth and raised his shield to shoulder the strike. His effort paid off as the heavily armored Guardian from Silver Sword endured the first attack of the raid boss.
The damage was slight, about 10 percent of his total hit points.
But that didn't mean the attack power of the enemy was weak. Dinkuron was buffed by a protection barrier before the battle started. A high level Kannagi could cast a shield which negated 4500 points of damage. This meant the attack broke through the barrier completely and hurt Dinkuron. Without the protection barrier, this attack would take out more than 30 percent of Dinkuron's health bar.
What a powerful attack.
But this was within their expectations. The dispelled barrier was recast.
The vanguard of the 1st party, Dinkuron the Guardian, was the toughest steel at the tip of the arrow. Supported by multiple healing spells, the iron warrior made his way to the feet of '7th of the garden' Ruseato and cast Anchor Howl and Taunting Shout multiple times.
The fight started here.
"Begin the attack!"
William commanded from the 3rd party.
With the support song of Bards buffing them, all sorts of physical and magical attacks rained onto the raid boss. It was hard to check the status screen in raids, but there was definitely a stupendous number of debuffs cast on Ruseato. This was the reason behind gathering all 12 classes for Full Raids. The same debuff could not stack, but this could be overcome by using a variety of spells instead, which worked wonderfully when fighting powerful enemies.
The consecutive attacks lit the sky; the earth trembled from the explosions.
Reuseato swung his humongous steel weapon in a 10m circle, attempting to end all life within this range. This strike caused 2 deaths and brought several melee fighters to the brink of death.
Even Dinkuron lost half of his health bar to this cruel attack.
But Silver Sword held the line.
Kannagi had the resuscitation spell 'Soul Call Prayer', which teleported dead comrades to their sides before reviving them. A convenient spell which extracted allies to a safe distance in order to heal them. Recovery was supported by the Carbuncle conjured by a Summoner. The magic-attack classes had health recovery spells too. They might be weaker than their healer class counterpart, but it helped to relieve the burden of the healing specialists.
The healers other than the Kannagi prioritized healing the wounded. Dinkuron did not back down as he went head to head against Ruseato.
The powerful strike that swept one round was probably the special attack of the raid boss.
The members of Silver Sword would etch this blow into their memory. The Summoner beside William squeezed a cute and fluffy Carbuncle and started counting time. The sound reached the ears of all their allies.
Without exception, all special attacks of raid bosses had conditions.
The main condition was their recast time. Powerful attacks would not be launched in rapid succession. Each skill had its own cool down time. It might be 10 seconds or 30 seconds, but it definitely existed.
As planned, the Summoner started counting to gauge the cool down time. But he didn't neglect his attacking duties and kept his damage per second up.
When Elder Tales was still a game, the time was tracked by a 3rd party software or just by a physical stopwatch. Every move of the raid boss was recorded for reference and analyzed by the millisecond. With reference to the timer, the attack damage, attribute, area, rate, animation, penetration, critical chance, all these were taken note of.
The challengers would also share their information on the cloud servers and discuss it on the forums. They would then try again with better tactics and strategies.
"18, 19, 20, 21…"
The hoarse but steady count of the male Summoner mixed with the noise of steel on steel, clashes of the sword and the reverberating sound of thunder and fire.
All the members focused on the count and the enemy before them.
Silver Sword continued to challenge raids in this world swallowed by chaos using primitive and awkward tactics.
The strong guild of the past had fallen on hard times.
Covered in dirt and forced to the edge, they concentrated on the count and their will for victory.
When the count hit 26, '7th of the garden' Ruseato's colossal halberd rose. The horrible strike came again.
But William's comrades were fearless.
The Assassins and Swashbucklers leapt into the air.
The Bards and Druids pulled away like a spring.
Clerics buffed the defense of the tanks.
They handled the second strike much better.
The incoming storm after they started counting time was over, there were no casualties.
The hit points of many players fell drastically, but they were on the mend with the support of the healing team.
They made it through the 1st phase, they could handle the attack of the enemy.
William sneered with a violent look.
No. The raid boss covered with blade-like armor definitely had more attacks up his sleeves. And he had not even shifted into alternate modes yet.
(But things aren't too bad,) William thought as he shot his arrows.
Before William realized, the words had escaped from his throat and he roared, "Up the DPS! We can't win this if we hold back, weaken him!"
Huge amounts of arrows flew out.
Swords clashed, threatening to dissolve the formation. Flaming spells danced and surrounded Ruseato.
William understood. All boss monsters had an incredible amount of hit points. Just the number alone was enough to turn players off. For a first class raiding guild like Silver Sword, the level 94 Guardian Dinkuron had base hit points of 18,000. The raid boss had one or ten thousand times that amount of health.
If you viewed the hit points of '7th of the garden' Ruseato in the form of a health bar, you could see how slowly the attacks were grinding his health down. It was hard to even see the damage done when you looked at the health bar. Even so, piling up all this minute damage was the only way to take him down.
"Look out below you!"
The shrill voice came from the bandit Federico.
'7th of the garden' Ruseato suddenly slowed his movements and a black mist and ooze seeped out from his feet. Its wriggling movement covered the entire floor of the arena in a hurry.
"It deals damage, attribute is poison! It hinders action, correction, hinders movement! Attack speed and power are diminished!"
Dinkuron reported his findings. At his feet was the black ooze with weak flickering lightning as it entangled Dinkuron's metal boots.
William hesitated for a moment.
It caused damage, but it was very slight.
The damage hit against the protection barrier causing sparks to fly, but was weak as it didn't break through. Melee members with weaker defense than Dinkuron did not suffer much damage, meaning the damage was low.
The damage was insignificant and hindered movement… As William's sense of danger tingled, '7th of the garden' Ruseato started to move with heavy steps.
Dinkuron used Anchor Howl to stop him, but the effect was nullified. The armor of Ruseato had a new nullify skills effect.
Wide area movement hindering effect with low damage.
When William realized its intent, he roared.
"Mass buff defense! Mass healing!"
This roar was like pressing a button, the team reacted on command.
Translucent hemispherical barriers, the dim glow of defense spell, the orange light of reactive heal, all of that was blown away with one stroke. The metallic armored body of '7th of the garden' Ruseato was like a weapon itself. The towering machine leaped with the agility of a cat. The halberd swung close to the ground, mowing through the members of Silver Sword.
But despite that.
More than half of the group survived.
The fearless sound of counting continued, ignoring the pain.
"Healers of the 1st hold down the front line! 2nd party retreat to recuperate! 3rd and 4th lower output to 70%, prioritize resuscitation!"
William smiled, unable to hold back his joy.
He could smell the blood dripping from his nose.
The taste of iron in the blood that was the raid William was after.
The enemy was strong, beyond his expectations.
But William and his crew were still alive.
The battle was just beginning.
4
Demiqas leapt back 10m, exhaling the burning air from his lungs. He recovered his health slowly through his passive skill Resilience.
The fight had fallen into a stalemate.
He grit his teeth as though he wanted to shatter them as he glared at the enemy.
Facing the '7th of the garden' Ruseato in dull purple armor, they had to endure his abuse and keep on wearing him down. The information on this was correct and the fight was going well. The melee warriors including Demiqas struck at Ruseato's sturdy armor countless times, making deep marks on the armor.
These scars were like branches of a tree, covering Ruseato's whole body. Suddenly, he started to shed, breaking out of his old shell like a hardboiled egg.
A Ruseato as white as a hospital's ceiling emerged from within.
The armor that dropped from his bleached body merged with the shadow at his feet, forming into shadow warriors. These black, slender and featureless monsters wielded giant battle scythes. They seemed 2 dimensional like pieces of paper because of their dark appearance.
Demiqas dodged white Ruseato's beam.
A weak casual attack unlike the fierce strike from before.
Demiqas was ready to strike after recovering his hit points.
Silver Sword members grabbed this chance to move in and attack in waves, but were intercepted by the shadow warriors. Their range and attack power were much weaker when compared with Ruseato's, but they made that up with numbers with numbers. A dozen of them had formed right now.
The group dodged Ruseato's careless attacks while destroying the shadow warriors.
Even the main tank Dinkuron was unable to taunt this number of enemies. Including Naotsugu who he couldn't get along with, they would need 5 tanks to aggravate the enemies and keep them off the rest of the group.
The shadow warriors pushed forward like bugs attracted by the sweet scent of honey.
Demiqas locked on to these monsters with Wyvern Kick.
Demiqas used his special skill Absolute Geheimnis, a gliding kick allowing him to target any enemy in a 150 degree arc before him. By using this skill, he could charge into the midst of the enemy in one move. This was not advisable in normal conditions, as it was difficult to dodge the attacks of a strong raid boss like Ruseato. It also left the healers behind him in a dangerous situation. But the shadows before him were raid monsters, not the raid boss. Enemies with such large and unwieldy weapons were a piece of cake for Monks like Demiqas.
Demiqas transformed into a green meteor with a crackling sound.
Demiqas looked like he was navigating the air on a skateboard as he burst through the chest of a shadow warrior with his Tiger Echo Fist.
The raid mobs attacked with their scythes in retaliation. Demiqas parried away the strikes with a backhand, pulled his knee to his chest and launched a shadowless kick.
The enemies exploded like a watermelon falling to the ground.
But with every shadow warrior that fell, Ruseato would absorb their darkness and recover a bit of health.
They were going back to square one.
The white Ruseato could heal itself.
The catalyst was the shadow warriors, existing just to buy time. The white Ruseato would be able to recover enough health after some time and start attacking again. Its armor would then be dyed black and it would launch powerful attacks repeatedly.
The group could endure the torrent of attacks if it were just Ruseato alone. If the shadow warriors teamed up with black Ruseato, the tanks would fall under the shadow warriors' scythes after black Ruseato's powerful strikes.
The health of the group was supplied by the healers. Be it the protection barrier of Kannagi or the reactive heal of the Cleric, there was a limit to what they could do.
Fighting '7th of the garden' Ruseato alone had already pushed them to the limit.
They couldn't let the mobs live. But killing them would restore the health of white Ruseato. Before they knew it, there were twenty odd shadow warriors, and the raid had been pushed to the brink of failure.
Shiroe was the one who broke the stalemate. It irked Demiqas.
… The number of people who damaged black Ruseato was equivalent to the number of shadow warriors.
This discovery allowed Silver Sword to pull themselves together.
Leaving the task of attacking to the powerful players, healers and supporting members stopped their damage output. This way, they could limit the number of shadow warriors that would form to a dozen when Ruseato activated white mode.
The coward Shiroe who was directing from behind was an unforgivable target of vengeance for Demiqas. Both Demiqas' pride and his guild Brigandia were shattered by him. If those 3 hadn't come to Susukino, Demiqas would have adapted to this world slowly.
That werecat Swashbuckler could be forgiven. That swordsman had waved his rapier in front of Demiqas. But that coward didn't even look Demiqas in the eye the whole time.
Shiroe acted as if he didn't remember Demiqas' name.
Demiqas still remembered Shiroe's expression back in Susukino. That man showed no signs of worry when he saw Demiqas. Fine. Shiroe was strong, he could tell from this raid. Then at least mock Demiqas a little, even a look of disdain would be fine too.
But that Enchanter only wore the expression of 'don't trouble me'.
Demiqas vented his anger on the shadow warriors.
He punched through a warrior with Lightning Straight.
After dodging with Phantom Step, he used Aerial Rave to launch his foe into the air. He attacked its flank with a Wyvern Kick, and followed up the air combo with another Wyvern Kick.
That was the extent Shiroe cared about Demiqas.
Demiqas would not rest unless he killed Shiroe, his fiery anger burned in his lungs. He swore to torment Shiroe one day and make him regret being born into this world.
But now was not the time.
It was regrettable, but his capability was limited. At this point in time, Demiqas had to acknowledge that Shiroe was very strong. Not just equipment, his skills were better than Demiqas' too.
When Demiqas took part in this raid, he wanted to backstab Shiroe in the beginning. The training substitute for this was the monsters he was massacring. He just wanted to uplift his spirit. His body felt lighter than before. Demiqas' fist decimated the monsters, tearing through all the shadow warriors.
Just when Demiqas thought he had gotten used to the pace of the raid, he noticed a symbol of a dagger circling around his wrist. This unfamiliar dagger was Shiroe's Keen Edge… He realized things were different from what he imagined. He was fighting at such a high level because of the buffing spell of that man. He knew that this would help him by chaining faster and increasing the attack power.
Just like what he was experiencing now.
A shadow warrior drew near and raised its battle scythe high.
There was still half a second of rigidity time left from using Wyvern Kick. Demiqas should have taken the blow directly, but that didn't happen.
He might fail to notice sometimes, but Shiroe had cast spells to assist him ever since they entered the zone. This spell seemed to be called Mind Shock. A magic that used a shock wave to stun the enemy and blur their senses. Leaving normal monsters aside, it would be a great help if it could stun the raid mob for even a second. One second was plenty for Demiqas, leaping out of the monster's attack range with Monkey Step and counterattacking with a Dragon Tail Swing roundhouse kick.
Demiqas going all out to decimate the enemy was within Shiroe's calculations.
Demiqas dropping out of formation and his roundhouse kick, all this valiant effort was done under the watchful eyes of Shiroe.
This man did not have the power and skill of Demiqas.
What he could do was to mislead the enemy and cast buffing spells. Such dependence on deception would not work on powerful foes.
More importantly, Shiroe could preempt what Demiqas wanted to do and provide support without Demiqas even noticing. Shiroe could see right through Demiqas' intentions. In a way, Demiqas had also grown if he managed to understand to this extent.
(I will kill you one day.)
(I will do it before everyone.)
(I will smack you till your face is black and blue, you will regret this and spend the rest of your life in tears.)
(First, I will obtain phantasmal gear in this raid…)
(Grind my level, refine my techniques…)
Demiqas leapt through the battlefield taking out one enemy after another.
His class Monk had short cool down time and had powerful attacks. His attack power couldn't match that of weapon specialist classes, but his hit points and abnormal status resistance were top notch. That's how he managed to roam among the enemies and survive the onslaught of the raid boss, all the while dishing out damage of his own. Demiqas was fired up, using his body to strike, kick, parry and attack with all the skills he had.
The battle was progressing slowly.
Even when the enemy gained the upper hand, William would reorganize the team successfully with his fiery will. Maintain the front lines with tanks and healers, keeping the enemy debuffed. If he could bring out the full potential of this formation, they wouldn't be wiped out so easily. If they could keep this up, fend off the shadow warriors and grind off Ruseato's health, they would be able to pull it off.
But this would take a while with many judgment calls they had to make. The decisions required calm and focus, and needed to be made fast with little room for error. Raids were a combination of all these actions.
Demiqas was heat.
Demiqas was fire.
Concentrating on dodging the attacks in front of him, breakthrough and eliminate them. He moved in on black Ruseato, trying to shatter its armor with thunder-like punches.
His mind slowly became empty as he immersed himself in the heat of battle. Compared to his days in the corrupted Susukino and his fight with Nyanta, Demiqas was able to focus on the battle without distraction.
But he didn't notice the situation had changed until he heard the scream from behind.
You couldn't blame Demiqas for being caught off guard. Even the veteran raid members were surprised by this attack. The iron gates on the east and west side of the arena were fully open. In the darkness beyond, the bearded frost giant with white pupils, '4th of the garden' Tarutauruga and the fiery serpent, '3rd of the garden' Ibra-Habura loomed.
They entered the arena, bringing a whirlwind of frost and fire with them. Their target was the 4th party that was concentrating on Ruseato. The 4th party was wiped out in a blink of an eye, the splash damage from the attacks severely hurting the other parties.
Demiqas could taste the bile coming from his stomach after watching this ridiculous scene.
This was too much.
Demiqas was fighting '7th of the garden' Ruseato right now.
He thought they should be taking them on one at a time.
They had to take care of Ruseato's minions in this raid battle, making this an even fight. The balance could be destroyed by just adding one or two more monsters to the mix, enough to wipe out Demiqas' group.
They were just getting the hang of it, even though their chance of victory was akin to walking on thin ice.
But now there were two more raid bosses on the same level as '7th of the garden' Ruseato.
Demiqas knew the truth.
They couldn't win this.
The problem was not with tactics or strategy.
There was an overwhelming difference in fighting power, dismissing all their delicate preparation and hard work. If they had to take on 3 raid bosses, they would need a 96 people Legion Raid army instead of a 24 people Full Raid force.
He remembered the emotionless voice speaking from the depth of his ear that said this before.
'… This world is no longer a game. The game has ended. Your time has ended. '
Just like Adventurers adjusting their strategy for the raids, the monsters could also abandon their position and muster their numbers… That's what Demiqas thought.
If Demiqas were the guardian of the dungeon, the first thing he would consider was such a strategy.
Working together to destroy the Adventurers.
This was common sense, and it had happened.
In this arena with cruelty and despair frozen in, Demiqas could hear an inhuman shriek.
A face the size of a billboard you saw in cinemas approached. The frost giant leaned in as if he were falling and slammed his fist into the raid group. With a splatter, a Summoner turned into a stain on the arena floor.
Demiqas could no longer hear the counting that calmed his mind.
Demiqas charged in like a tornado with a roar, knocking the surprised Shiroe flying. After 3 or 4 somersaults, Shiroe was caught by Naotsugu in mid-air, out of the attack range of the frost giant's club.
Look at how pitiful you are, coward. Demiqas mocked Shiroe.
Although his left leg was crushed because of this, it was worth it since he got to see Shiroe's dumbfounded look.
'See if you can kill me, you bunch of cheating raid bosses,' Demiqas spat onto the floor.
But both Demiqas and Shiroe were unable to escape from the hail of fire cast by '3rd of the garden' Ibra-Habura. Not just them, but also Naotsugu, William and Tetora. It was the same with the veteran warriors of Silver Sword who were stronger than Demiqas, who wereDemiqas, who were able to stampede through countless raids as if they were killing bugs.
All the moisture was vaporized in an instant, the flames clearing all sense of pain. The 24 man raid group was wiped out.
5
Krusty exited from the goblin hut that smelled so bad that his nose was bent. Even the renowned strong man of the guild was unable to bear the odor of the goblins.
His lieutenant Takayama started to feel lightheaded when they made it half way through.
Compared to the hut piled with dirty hay and filth, even standing under the freezing winter sky was a hundred times better. Adventurers had strong resistance to changes in temperature anyway.
It was the same with Krusty.
He relaxed his shoulders and left the goblin's lodging, there was nothing for him there.
All the huts were all the same. A shallow pit was dug in the ground, a pillar was erected and the roof and walls were made from branches and grass. There were several such primitive huts arranged in rows for each settlement. This was one such hut in the Silver Rack Mountain. There were countless settlements in the mountains with about 50 huts each housing about 300 goblins.
Most of these settlements were like empty shells.
Krusty's army took out 30% of the goblins.
The 70% balance were probably gathered at the Citadel of Seven Falls ruled by the goblin king.
It had been a month since the campaign began.
While Takayama Misa and the army marched through the area, they would scout out the surrounding zones and verify the locations of the goblin settlements. They would then plan their attack according to the intelligence they gathered, the campaign was progressing slowly.
In the beginning, the consensus of the Round Table was that raiding the Citadel of Seven Falls could be easily done. But the goblins in Eastal had been reproducing and bolstering their numbers with the start of the Catastrophe, growing to a colossal scale. This was a crisis comparable to a nightmare for the People of the Land.
On the other hand, these goblins were not a threat for the Adventurers of Akiba, at least for the level 90 players in battle guilds. There was a raid quest that needed to be completed within the Citadel of Seven Falls, which Krusty was confident of finishing in 2 days with a select group of Adventurers. Takayama agreed with his assessment.
The goal this time was not to defeat the goblin king.
The mission was to ensure the safety of the People of the Land living in the north eastern region. The root of the problem lay with the tens of thousands goblins roaming the area. Even if they could take out the goblin king successfully, they would still fail if the leaderless goblins spilled out from Silver Rack Mountain.
The staff officers of the command unit, Krusty and Takayama, had deliberately slowed their pace while traveling through the region akin to a hunting trip. Dozens of Adventurer groups were patrolling Silver Rack Mountain, doing reconnaissance and small scale battles.
They were herding them like fish into a net, using this battle plan to chase all the goblins in the region into the Citadel of Seven Falls. For the goblins, they were mustering their forces to counterattack. But for Takayama's group, this was just a part of the plan.
Takayama headed into the valley with a ready water source by Krusty's orders.
The other members were investigating the area around the settlement. From the looks of things, it was unlikely to find any goblins left behind. They were relaxed as this was just a routine check.
Krusty and Takayama bashed through the foliage as they followed a trail they had found.
This path was probably used by the goblins to retrieve water. But the goblins were only 140cm in height, so it was hard for the 2 of them who were taller to make their way through.
After making their way to the river, they squinted their eyes because of a gust of wind. The cool wind seemed to sweep away any air of doubt. Takayama liked it, but Krusty seemed to be unmoved.
Although she felt it when the Libra Festival ended, but Krusty seemed to be getting more moody. Rieze might bite her handkerchief and worry about him, but Takayama had been ignoring it. Krusty was a grown man, he would probably feel annoyed if a woman were to worry about him, that's what Takayama thought.
(No, it has nothing to do with being an adult or a child. Boys are delicate no matter their age.)
Takayama used her work experience as a gauge.
Takayama had worked with Krusty for a very long time. She could guess what the things he was worried about were. An approximate idea. Taking the chance while they were out scouting, she chatted with him a bit.
"Milord?"
"Hmm? What's the matter, officer Takayama?"
Krusty reacted slowly as he looked at Takayama with thoughtful eyes.
"You seemed troubled recently. What's on your mind?"
"Hmm."
Krusty hid his mouth behind his fingers, deep in thought. Unlike the heavy gauntlets he normally wore, he had put on leather gloves today. The armor he was wearing matched his muscular body well. A guild master that looked great. There were plenty of people who were fooled by his appearance, but this made operations easy to run. With this in mind, Takayama probed further.
"Are you bored?"
Krusty gave Takayama a shifty look. He considered it for a moment, cleared away his dignified expression and smiled wryly, lifting his arms in surrender.
"That's it. I'm bored."
"Please bear with it."
"I have been enduring it every day."
Takayama sighed.
It was just a wild guess but she was right.
Krusty had an intellectual look and took logical actions. He had the capability to manage people and the charisma to match. Operating the largest battle guild in the Yamato server was a real result he could be proud of. With 1700 members, his guild was beyond the size of a small or medium enterprise in the real world.
But Krusty was not as perfect as he looked.
The young man who oversaw all sort of issues in the Round Table Council was mischievous and bored easily.
This was only known to a few pioneer core members, but the reason why Krusty founded such a large organization was because 'I just want to see what will happen if I succeed in doing it. ' It was not meant to be a guild in the beginning. It was a talent network which happened to be an important element when creating a guild.
Krusty did it on a whim one day.
… This game Elder Tales was fun. But to enjoy the game, he would need to have a large number of comrades he could have fun adventuring with. The game developers knew this and had made similar statements. They included all sorts of systems for the players to find companions to play with. But what if the players come up with a better talent management system and use it to dominate end game contents, wouldn't that be interesting?
That was why D. D. D was founded.
It was fine even if it were not a guild. He used the guild as a template because it was convenient. When Elder Tales was just a game, the guild activities were communicated through voice chat and an official website. This system was proposed by Krusty. Periodical management meetings and the system of assigning manpower for raids were done the same way.
Krusty was interested in delegating command, letting 'each department plan their own activities to achieve results', and was intrigued by such self-sufficient groups. Hence, even though the guild was very large, it remained flexible without bureaucratic red tape.
This continued after the Catastrophe too. With the formation of the Round Table Council, Krusty used the chance to push the departments to be more autonomous. As a result, he fulfilled his curiosity of creating a self-sustaining guild, but his offhand approach meant that Krusty was getting less involved with the guild as well.
Simply said, he had too much free time.
Takayama understood the temper of her friend, this was troubling indeed. Even though Krusty was talented, it was difficult to spend time with him because he was too capable. His excess abilities caused unexpected troubles and chaos around him, for better or for worse.
It was a pain to handle a bored Krusty.
He was not a lawless criminal and in the end, he usually did more good than bad. But the chaos he caused in the process gave headaches to Takayama and the others. Takayama thought that he could restrain his 'boredom' after finding Raynesia, but she seemed to have overestimated that young lady.
(Forcing this issue onto the princess is unreasonable anyway…)
When she thought about it, she felt apologetic towards Raynesia.
(I have to think of a topic,) she thought as she caught up with Krusty who was wandering aimlessly by the river. He bent down and meddled with some pebbles.
"Found something?"
"Not really…"
Krusty adjusted his glasses which moved when he leaned forward, inspecting a pebble before his eyes. This was probably the tip of a broken spear.
The river meandered further downstream, there were stones bigger than the fists of a child in the depths of the water. There was snow around the area, but this might be a great and refreshing place for a BBQ in the summer.
Krusty kicked some pebbles and seemed to be on to something.
"This place appears to be a training area."
"Training. This area seems to be well tended."
Takayama replied.
At a glance, she could see the signs of stones being moved to the edge of the trees. If she looked closer, she could find remnants of weapons between the rocks and trees. This place had been used for quite a period of time.
She had never thought that the goblins would conduct training, but this was normal if they wanted to start a war. But even so, she didn't think this would help them much. The levels of the goblins were much lower than the Adventurers.
As Takayama thought about it, she noticed Krusty's gaze. She thought about it seriously for a moment and got it in an instant.
The goblins were training their strategy and tactics.
They had not considered this possibility before. Just like Takayama's group plotted different approaches to raid the Citadel of Seven Falls, the goblins were also preparing for battle in different ways. This world was not Elder Tales anymore. Takayama cursed her own incompetence for not noticing this earlier.
"Milord, let's head back and break the news to the others."
"We need to send scouts to search the surroundings for training grounds and their effects."
"That's right."
The two of them headed back towards the settlement after a short conversation. They needed to meet up with Kugel and Richou's scout party first. Next would be heading back to headquarters and giving the necessary orders.
It was already too late when Takayama noticed her Scythe vibrating gently. It made a metallic sound in an instant and glowed red hot.
The recent performance of the weapon was strange.
It did not become weaker. Takayama felt that it had become stronger instead, so she didn't send it for repairs. But sometimes it would vibrate during battles, and heat up for no reason.
Takayama looked confused as she drew out her weapon to inspect it. This action was done automatically without much thought
But Takayama felt a truck had run over her hand, so strong that she was certain the bones in her arm were crushed. Takayama's eyes opened wide, seeing a dark red sphere enveloping Krusty who had snatched the weapon away from her.
The weapon emitted a red glow, and a bizarre force field was sucking everything into its twisted core.
The bored D. D. D guild master was in the center of the sphere.
Krusty pushed Takayama away with his other hand, but Takayama didn't remember asking him to do that, reaching out desperately for Krusty. She pushed her right hand into the twisted space.
But with a sharp crack, Takayama was left alone in the silent night.
Takayama's right hand, her old friend Krusty, and the Scythe named 'Calamity' were gone.
