Volume 5 Chapter 5 - The old man runs on the snow (2/2)

[That’s impossible. The general-class monsters can’t be defeated by a single party. It’s stamina and physical strength is too much and even it’s natural recovery rate is too high for a single party to deal enough damage. With our current power, we won’t be able to keep up with its recovery if we tried to reserve our resources. And even if we fought at full power and managed to inflict any significant damage past its recovery, that was only the first step to defeating it. We need at least two other parties.] (Yuuya)

[Yuuya, is it impossible even if Luna assassinates?] (Luna)

[It is impossible even if you do. It also has absolute firepower.] (Yuuya)

That was another terrifying aspect of the general-class.

[We’re in a horrible situation. The other adventurers seem to have taken a holiday until the Grand Ice General dissappears next month, making it suicide for us to enter the dungeon until then.] (Phil)

[If we head to the guild there will most likely be an Ice Grand General subjugation quest for us. This town relies on selling winter clothing using Snow Caribou fur and the Torotoro Cheese for its signature dishes. Although there were still several other specialities in Kritarus, it is highly unlikely that the town is in a good economic state after two months.] (Yuuya)

Either they have already failed to subjugate the Ice Grand General, or they simply weren’t able to muster the forces to subjugate it. Regardless, it might be possible to defeat the monster if we participated in a subjugation quest.

[In that case, our answer is simple. We eat for the day, train at night in the snow and head over to the guild tomorrow!] (Til)

[We have no other choice. If we don’t take that chance then we might never be able to change the situation. We won’t be able to enter the dungeon for another month.] (Phil)

It stings a little that I won’t be able to quickly get the blacksmithing skill and the blacksmithing tools but it wouldn’t be ideal for us to wait an entire month here, similarly it would be impossible for us to explore the dungeon and risk annihilation if we came across the Ice Grand General.

[Looks like our food is here.] (Yuuya)

[Uhn. It looks delicious. Other than cheese pot, there are many other things!] (Luna)

[I’ll endure with just this for now. Let’s hurry up and beat the Ice Grand General and enjoy the cheese pot to celebrate!] (Til)

In colder areas, sweet foods and rich dishes were the go-to dishes. The food that we’re being served was a prime example as we were served a large lump of reindeer meat covered in a thick sauce. It was a shame that we couldn’t eat the cheese pot, but this looked good as well.

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After a good night’s rest, we began to make our way towards the guild building.

The moment we entered through the building’s front door, the receptionist lady immediately dashed over to us.

[We’ve been waiting for your arrival! The party that managed to defeat a dragon, Twilight House! Everyone, the guild has been waiting for a strong party such as you to arrive!] (Receptionist)

Without even a chance to breathe, we were immediately directed to the guild’s meeting room as the staff seemed extremely desperate. SItting in the meeting room was an executive from the guild as well as the guild leader himself as he greeted us personally.

[Welcome to Kritarus. After receiving notice of your arrival, we’ve received and reviewed your party’s amazing achievements ever since your formation. And there are even two celebrities, Phil who was one of the key members of Leonard’s party as well as Yuuya who overwhelmed his competition in the Laluzulu Kingdom, earning himself the title of the strongest knight with ease! The fact that you’ve arrived in Kritarus at this timing must have been fate.] (Guild Leader)

[You don’t have to force yourself to raise your spirit for us… Looking at your behaviour I guess you desperately want us to defeat the Ice Grand General. If there is a hefty reward for it, then I will most definitely participate. However, there must be at least two other high-level parties for us to defeat it.] (Yuuya)

The guild must be hard pressed to defeat the Ice Grand General as fast as possible due to the pressure from the city. After all, it was a critical economic issue for the city if the monster continued to exist.

[Yuuya-dono, your worries are not unwarranted, but they are unnecessary since we already have two veteran parties reserved for the mission.] (Guild Leader)

[In that case why would you go so far just to recruit us as the third party?] (Yuuya)

[That was indeed one of the reasons. However we still decided to greet you personally since we knew Yuuya-dono and Phil-sama extremely well.] Guild Leader)

He knew us extremely well?

What did that mean?

Our conversation was interrupted as the door to the meeting room was opened abruptly.

What appeared was..

[Lyle!? It’s been such a long time.] (Yuuya)

[Ouhh, Yuuya. You look much older than before… But somehow you seem much more refreshed than you look. What did you do? I’m extremely curious.] (Lyle)

Lyle was a huge dragonoid who used to be the Thief that was in our party together with Leonard and Phil and as far as I know, the world’s number one adventurer in that position.

He was the number one person when it came to surviving encounters, a Survival Specialist.

Without him, our party would had been annihilated countless times.

[Many things happened. If you’re here, does that mean the Leonard is here as well?] (Yuuya)

[No, that isn’t the case. Our party was disbanded a long time ago. Right now, I’m the leader of my own party, Dragon Knight. We’ve built a pretty good reputation if I do say so myself.] (Lyle)

Just as he said that, he pointed behind him where three large dragonoids appeared. It was a party that consisted of dragonoids that were decently powerful as I couldn’t see their levels. They must have been at least level forty-two. As far as their equipment and composition was concerned, they were a well-balanced party with one vanguard, one wizard, one healer and one thief.

Behind them, was the second party participating in the subjugation.

[Nice to meet you. I am Kurushatta, the leader of the Wild Tigers. Yuuya-dono, I’ve wanted to meet you at least once in my life.] (Kurushatta)

[Nice to meet you, I’m Yuuya. The leader of the Twilight Home.] (Yuuya)

Wild Tiger was a pretty famous party as I’ve heard about them as well.

[The fact that both Dragon Knights and Wild Tigers arrived at the same time must not be a coincidence. The two of you must have been nominated for the quest.] (Yuuya)

Even though the monster requires a minimum of three parties, there was no reason for them to call over two famous parties when a third party was required. I couldn’t understand the rationale behind that as they must have known that they had to wait for a third party to appear.

[It was a blunder on our part as we informed them about our situation. However the situation had taken a turn for the worse.] (Guild Leader)

Beads of sweat began to appear on the guild leader’s forehead as Lyle let out a sigh.

[Actually, aside from Dragon Knights and WIld Tigers, the Silvermoon Knights were called over as well. However, do you remember their leader, Bogar?] (Lyle)

[Ahh. His strength was the real thing, however, his personality was the worst. I’ve heard rumors about him in the past and his actions were never pleasant whenever we met.] (Yuuya)

The Silvermoon Knight was an extremely old party and they could be among the top five most accomplished parties in the world. However, contrary to their names, their behaviours were that of scum as they stole, killed, harassed and other hateful things that were looked down upon.

[They threw their name away and left us out to dry. When they first arrived at Kritarus, they tried to supplement their strength with the local adventurers around the city and fought against the Ice Grand General before we arrived in the city. I can only guess that they wanted to take the credit for the subjugation quest by themselves.] (Lyle)

[And the result was complete annihilation?] (Yuuya)

[That’s right. Thanks to that, we were forced to wait for this entire time and the guild had lost many of their local adventurers as well as the higher-levelled adventurers in the area. The situation couldn’t have been any worse.] (Lyle)

[I can sympathise with the situation.] (Yuuya)

Adventurers were people with huge egos. I knew countless idiots who wanted to gain the upper hand against their rivals, going way beyond their capabilities trying to accomplish a task and gain popularity for themselves.

[The fact that you arrived here was a huge relief. If it’s a party with both you and Phil, then I’m sure that we can do it. If you hadn’t arrive by now, then I would have pulled out from the request.] (Lyle)

[Likewise, if you’re here, then I’m sure that it is possible. Similarly, if it’s you and the WIld Tigers, then I’m sure that it is possible to defeat the Ice Grand General.] (Yuuya)

It’s been awhile since I’ve had to participate with several parties to defeat a boss. A raid battle after such a long time. However the balance of a raid battle was fragile as the situation could turn sour extremely quickly.

With the two parties here,rather than a misfortune, we might be extremely lucky that we arrived during the period when the Ice General was here. We will definitely defeat it and obtain its exclusive item drops along with the subjugation reward.

…Also, I wouldn’t like to throw our cooperation into disarray but for raid bosses such as the Ice Grand General, the contribution for each party was calculated and special items are given to the party with the most contribution to the battle.

Naturally, not just us but the other two parties were also eyeing that reward.

We proceeded to our strategy meeting as we spent the entire morning planning for the battle.

Everything, was for us to defeat the boss with these three parties.