Vol 3 Chapter 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5: Attack

1

shi+roe turned in his bed

It was almost dawn, and the dark empty room was silent

The curtains were drawn, so even the starlight could not shi+ne through The roo or closing the eyes

shi+roe reviewed his day in the dark

As predicted, the nobles of the League of Freedom Cities Eastal contacted members of the Round Table Council individually with a variety of requests Most of they, or wanted to sign trade treaties They were ined

If the Adventurers sent out an army, they could easily disrupt the balance of power between the cities The nobles understood they could not lose this balance, and quite a number of them knew about Oceanic Syste their resources to ine shi+p prototype shi+roe was surprised by this, and he could tell from Akatsuki's report that the nobles had a lot of spies in Akiba

This means they were the center of attention

Akiba did not classify any of the inforather intelligence from they of building a steah level Blacksmith and Mechanic subclasses Even if they leaked the infor, the other countries wouldn't be able to emulate them any time soon

shi+roe, Michitaka, and Krusty held aand communicated with the other members of the Round Table Council via telepathy to discuss about working with the League Signing a free trade agreement for food should not have any cons

Akiba could not provide enough food for the in rice, wheat, potatoes, taro, and all types of beans Signing a contract to open a trade route was advantageous to Akiba On the other hand, Akiba would be exporting seasonings in the food category

Salt, sugar, and all types of spices were the specialty of Akiba, but the processed seasoning products like soy sauce and other sauces could be e of the old world by the subclass brewers

Some of the requests of the nobles could only be accepted with additional conditions, or they would be kept in mind for further discussion The number of rejections was several times that of the accepted requests This was a necessary process for Akiba to draw the line on where they stood on the numerous requests and issues

Coue, the conversation with ReGan had much more impact on shi+roe

(I can't calm down)

shi+roe flipped again and thought

ReGan was not an annoying ht of hieable and witty, but as for trust he ht not be trustworthy, but shi+roe didn't think he was lying

But the history of the world he mentioned made shi+roe's emotions unstable

World Fraction

Spirit Theory

As a global-level ic researcher, ReGan seemed to only be concerned with these 2 parts

ReGan mentioned the spirit problem which related to the spirit theory shi+roe was not an expert, he was unable to understand the technical details, but the summary was as followed

Nory were known as spirits The spirit was not one individual piece, it was ies, 'Soul' and 'Essence'

According to ReGan-

'Soul' was the energy that powered the er the Soul was, the stronger and more determined the heart would be This would also affect the power of ic, MP was the manifestation of Soul

'Essence' was the energy that drove the body The strength of the body lay in Essence The stronger the Essence was, the stronger the body and its spiritual capacity would be Fighters who specialized in weapons could utilize this energy in battle HP was part of the manifestation of Essence, but most of it was 'Ki'

When huht, they would not be able to move At this point, the psyche was still present, but the body was separated fro the five senses that was linked to the outside world would stop trans the psyche in darkness

As the Essence started to disperse, as described before, the Essence was the source of energy for the body Ki Stronger and higher level bodies would take longer for the Essence to disperse Lower levels or frail Essence would disperse in aEssence would take up to half a day to disperse This process was called 'Failing Essence'

When healers casted Resurrection, it was used on a body in such a condition The athered the Essence that had dispersed around the area, reconstructed it, and sent it back into the body

If there was not enough Ki during the reconstructing process, the healer would top off with her own Ki The infor was taken fro If there were any mistake in the calculations, it would result in the resurrected player losing EXP, this was an unavoidable data corruption

If resurrection was not used and the Essence dispersed completely, the body would not be able to maintain its form In physical terms the body would start to decompose, People of the Land in this condition were dead Yes, resurrection unexpectedly worked on the People of the Land But the condition was casting it immediately after death

On the other hand, when Adventures went all the way through the Failing Essence process, or the Adventurer willed for it hiht particles, and be sent to the cathedral using the power of the Soul The body would then be automatically reconstructed, the cathedral would provide Ki power to repair the Essence After finishi+ng repairing the body, the Soul would e with the body and resurrection was complete

Thisboth the Essence and Soul energies, which resulted in data corruption and the lost of EXP But adventurers would co body

According to ReGan's research, these were the death mechanics in this world, and the mechanics of how Adventurers came back to life

”This is very similar to the reincarnation system of the demihumans”

ReGan said

”When a de Essence, their body will decompose just like the People of the Land, their corpse and equipment will be left behind But their Soul will immediately be reborn in another body, even if it has a 10 years growing period, it will still be an undying reincarnating body”

It was terrifying in a certain way

But this was ReGan's and his master's hypothesis, most People of the Land did not know of this theory If the theory was true, deined

So, did demihumans have memories of their previous lives? shi+roe asked back then

”I am unable to answer, there are 2 factors involved”

ReGan found this hard to answer, and chose his words with discretion

”Firstly, the psyche resides in the Soul, demihumans and Adventurers have Souls that last forever The psyche, personality, ambition, character, and such infor with memories, or at least most of it is kept in the Soul, this has already been proven On the other hand, we also have proof that memories are stored in the body's brain The body is the domain of Essence, so in other words, memories are stored in both the Essence and the Soul as a whole Since that is the case, when a body falls into Falling Essence or when reconstructing the Essence, I deduce there is dae to the memory And the facts confirm this, as memories are imperfect or lost after death”

”Soul is also where the e body will have poison in the form of fear, despair, and laziness The demihumans probably are cursed by the first World Fraction, resulting in their spirits being twisted A psyche under this condition ht be able to retain memories, but they also lose the ability to recall nize who they were This is like schizophrenia, or viewing your own memory like a history event”

If that was so, death meant

In this alternate world, death was not a risk-free event

This was a terrifying fact

No, everything was just a hypothesis

But shi+roe accepted this as a fact to cal voices in his ical deduction, he knew through instinct Death ca as unlimited life in the world

(ReGan says the memory is stored in both the brain and the spirit)

shi+roe didn't believe every part of the ht about so

He recalled the develop and structure of all online games Players like shi+roe sat in front of the coed in to Elder Tales' world to play, online games were basically structured like this for entertainment

If that were so, wasn't the real world's introvert graduate student 'shi+rogane Kei' playing the role of 'Soul'?

Even if the character died, the player 'shi+rogane Kei' would not die, he just needed to choose the game option to resurrect and shi+roe would be able to adventure again

Borrowing ReGan's theory, all the ane Kei', shi+roe was just a body

But this hen Elder Tales was just a game

Because of the effect of so the identity of shi+roe to exist in this alternate world

Put simply, shi+roe's Soul existed in this world, not stored safely in front of the computer in the old world The continuity of uarantee, death would mercilessly harm shi+roe's Soul

shi+roe called out his status screen

The screen displayed the number of times he had died

The nu experience

But shi+roe had not died yet since the Catastrophe He thought death was a frightening thing, even if he could respawn, it still gave hi of fear ItHorizon

He was not sure of the extent of memory loss that came with death

He could only hope it was not too much

If death resulted in serious memory loss, Akiba would already be in chaos The sy once would not have ht be lost selectively from unimportant memories so that the subject himself didn't even notice

The lossabsent-minded

(Even so, I am unable to tell them about this)

He had not told Michitaka and Krusty about this

shi+roe also asked Akatsuki to keep it a secret for now

They would need to say it one day, this was a problem that affected all players

shi+roe turned again in the darkness

The darkness washim very depressed

2

”The patrols are approaching, let me see 5 of them? In about 10 beats”Isuzu as poking her head out of the arch reported

(Hmm, 10 beats is 20 seconds?)

This was the first toranda Forest The spacious tunnel dropped doards, and led to a room It was about 5the room to the corridor

Tohya's group hid their presence and hid in this tomb room with several stone coffins

There were 5 skeletons patrolling along the corridor This was the report of the best scout in the party Isuzu From their experience so far, there should be one of theed weapon

”Let'sto plan”

Tohya said in a soft voice, the other 4 nodded their heads and spread out in the roo their equipment on hand

(No problem, just like we discussed beforehand, we can definitely do this We cannot keepthe sa end)

Tohya thought in his heart

(No, we cannot fight like we used to!)

Today's battle would be different fro at everyone's faces that they had the determination to make it work

5th day of the dungeon challenge

In the end, the group did not enter the dungeon that rainy day

Tohya's group discussed until noon, everyone raising questions and explaining their skills Soested they needed to look at the skills in action to understand it, so they entered the forest to deeon, but they would encounter the enemies frequently inside and wouldn't have the time to clear any queries on the spot

In the Elder Tales world, there were many oblins, orcs, and lizardmen were a force to reckon with in the ruins of this world, and they were big in number as well

Even though there were many monsters, the open world they were active in was also very vast Elder Tales used the Half Gaia project, scaling down the world by half, ames or home console RPGs

Unless you raided the nest of theyou in combat, the encounter rate of ht, there would be aht

But the density of the eons was different, since it was their base and fortress Compared to the open world, in the ht be up to a few hundred nore this possibility

So there would be continuous battles in the dungeons, the tihts was ht repeatedly with little time to rest, MP would drain faster Most of the Sa recast time, and they were unable to wait for the skill to refresh before facing another battle

There was also the probleeons, and restrictions due to limited space

Battle in the open world usually started when you were 10 roups could see each other from further away

But in the dungeons, you ht encounter the enemy when you turned a corner or entered a room

All these eleeonsan eneeon requiredthe same enemy in the open world

Tohya's party had confireon was

And because of that, they needed to carefully ascertain the abilities of everyone

Not only the unique features of every skill, but the sequence and combinations also had many varieties There would be e does Har?

What was the range of the sword attack that knocked down the surrounding enee did it cause? Each question seenificant, but there wereresults

In the evening, the explanation of the skills ended, and the next question was how to make use of each skill

At thisas the patrol file, formation, operator, and field monitor

The sounds of friction and footsteps approached

The skeleton was about 5 naled to the rest with his hand, and they nodded to acknowledge with a tense expression

Tohya looked around hied into the corridor without hesitation As Isuzu reported, there was a 5 skeleton patrol group in front of hiroup The deep red shock wave shot out and bent in the air, slightly wounding the arm of a skeleton

After confir the hit, Tohya i into the deepest corner The clear sound of bones hitting bones was chaotic and shrill The footsteps of the patrol were in rhythe at him in just a few seconds

The skeletons rushi+ng into the to off the aura of death Their dark eye-sockets burned with a greenish white flame

The 5 skeletons went through the arch, 4 of them went after Tohya in the depths of the room, while 1 archer remained at the entrance

But everything was going just as they planned

”I leave that side to you guys!”

As if she was acting on cue from Tohya, Isuzu stabbed her 2 handed spear at the skeleton archer and Minori waved her knife wildly

The attacks froe to the archer skeleton, but they were unable to stop it fro These undead types would not flinch from any attack unless it was defeated

” Since it is just you alone, I have so ant Sorcerer! Lightning Chamber!”

A feeling similar to a spasm made Isuzu and Minori retreat

The electricity n of a 5 point star for an instant and the skeleton archer was i cast by the Sorcerer bounced between the ceiling and the ground, and the skeleton archer disintegrated from the attack

”Great!”

Tohya grinned as he saw this scene, he battled the 4 skeletons with his back to the wall, refusing to back down fro him

”HP at 84, he can continue to endure it!”

Heartbeat Healing was a heal over time spell Combined with the occasional Heal spell, Tohya was able to stand up to the 4 skeletons' attacks with his HP over 80

But it was painful

The axe strike of the skeleton was dangerous, if there were no healing support, he was not sure if he could lastTohya in this fight

”Minori please confirm, Isuzu-neechan, Rudy-nii, please prepare to attack!”

The party ot into their positions Minori headed to the entrance, Rundelhous and Isuzu moved behind the skeletons that were focused on Tohya

”They are totally infuriated?”

Rundelhous looked haughtily at the skeletons

”Yes, there was enough tie twice on each of theo with Rudy so easily”

”Good, now I can attack without fear!”

Rundelhous started to chant his attack spell immediately

And so did Isuzu She started casting her ic later but finished before Rundelhous She stuck her spear into the ground and the bells on her spearhead started to ring, the sound wave piercing through the skeleton group

”I have confirmed the situation in the pathway, no visual of any follow-up patrols, there is no problem Rundelhous-san, please do it!”

”Leave it to me, Miss Minori! Orb of Lava!”

Rundelhous cast his spell as instructed by Minori, a coertip

Tohya used Saain

Rundelhous' attack was very high, Tohya had to taunt the ain to draw all their attention to him

He had already used taunt skills ain to play it safe Tohya was a Sau's back appeared in his mind

' Tohya, the duty of the vanguard is to tank all the attacks of the eneht? This is an oath between men, okay?'

Tohya stared at the skeleton group with unwavering eyes Rundelhous as standing behind the group was chanting his spell to turn his ic into destructive power

The boiling lava ball cast an orange light in the room that was full of heat and caused their vision to sway mysteriously The ball shot out froh the extreme left skeleton, rebounded off thin air and pierced a 2nd monster's body

The s ball of death repeatedly pierced and smashed the skeletons' bodies with its destructive power Rundelhous followed up with his wide area spell Frigid Wind

”And so it ends All of you, return to the dark world that befits you!”

The chilling wind round in a heap

The sounds of the battle were gone abruptly, and the toroup

Tohya held his sword on guard, Rundelhous held his staff that was still channeling ic and Serara cast Heal on reflex to prepare for the next battle

Everyone looked at Minori at the entrance

Minori carefully scanned the tunnel again before turning to face her party members

”There are no reinforcements, this battle has ended”

These words put them at ease

”Hmmp, this should be the way”

”That was a pretty crazy way to handle it!”

”Yes, thank you everyone for your hard work!”

Minori and Tohya looked at the smiles of their comrades, and bumped their fists

3

Everyone worked so hard

Minori's face relaxed with a sht of that

Minori's party explored the dungeon for 7 hours for their 5th day dungeon challenge, battling 22 ti 2 eneht that their way of handling the battle was several tio

There was a short rest after every fight

The short break was to cure their HP and debuffs, as well as recovering their MP fully But there was anotherfor this

The group would do an after action review, agree on the smooth parts and find ways to improve it This was a time to discuss the next battle location and plan, make preparations for the next battle

The first was to confirm the battle formation

Tohya was a solid Sauard, so they needed to focus the enemies' attacks on him, this was the most basic tactic, but this obvious move needed the cooperation of the whole party

'How do you set it up so the party members other than Tohya canyour move, Tohya would not be able to draw the enemies' attention

The next was infor the HP of all party members In the present Elder Tales, it was hard to confirm each other's status in the heat of the battle, even hters

This was now common sense in the alternate world

This time, there were 2 healers in the party

This means they would have the benefit of rapid HP recovery, but it had a weak point

If both healers worked on the saether, they could recover the HP rapidly But it could also result in over-healing the target, a waste of mana and time

If there were any other casualties, Minori and Serara'sin a gap in healing This ood

After Minori and Serara discussed about it, it was decided that Serara would be solely responsible forTohya's HP If she needed help, Serara would ask Minori for aid

Minori as free fro duties volunteered to act as a fieldas a reserve for healing or attacking as well as watching the surrounding zones for any enemy reinforcements

With this assigned post, the chance of the battle beco a free for all dropped to the minimum If they could discover the reinforce spells or change the support ics to prepare

High alert patrol file was a for thatin all directions

The teauard

The two of them were twins, so they could watch each others' blind spots and detect the approaching enemy as well as a sense of the battles Thewas Isuzu, in charge of keeping an eye on both the twins and looking out for signs of danger in all directions If there was a need, she would scout ahead alone

Byin this formation, Serara would be able to monitor the HP of the party, Rundelhous could focus on recovering his MP Serara was the main healer, Rundelhous was the main attacker, Minori's main point of this plan was to let the 2 of them concentrate on their jobThese were the 4 basic points shi+roe taught Minori about a party ahts of the Adventurers

But Minori did not know theEven if you could explain it in words, it would be pointless and you would not understand, so Minori didn't talk about that

What she needed to do was very simple

That was to sound out your intent and have a discussion about it

If you needed help, just say ”please help”

If you were healing, just say ”I will heal you”

If the ene, just say ”the enemy is close”

”Prioritize the ranged enemy”, ”Leave him to me,” or ”My MP can only last for 2 more spells”, just say whatever you had on your mind

These were si that would let you defeat the eneles they had before all seemed like a lie

It was not friendshi+p or hypocritical words of concern, it was a technique necessary for survival

A party that could not help each other was like sealing your own potential Adventurers like Minori and the others needed to help each other in order to defeat the enemy, this was how the alternate world worked

On the other hand, this technique went beyond friendshi+p and care, it was so warm and holy In the battlefield where seconds meant the difference between life and death, if you requested for aid you needed to say directly, or if you could predict the need of your comrades then help them You would need to know each other well beforehand and have the knowledge and understanding of all the skills they had

To fight in front of the roo? Start the battle with a sneak attack? Or to lure them out into the open? Could you envision the scene of victory? What did it look like? Do you want to let your party member handle this?

Minori's group focused on all possible questions, and shared their own answers This was a strict test of hoell you knew your tearoup slowly passed the test, the 5 Adventurers were now a real party

”Ah ha, Minori, your nose is all black”

Isuzu laughed loudly

As they left the dungeon, the last light of the afternoon illu, the sky should turn red in 30 ht

”You got dust on it? Or is it a spiderweb?”

Isuzu laughed heartily at Minori, but her leather armor and forehead were also drenched in sweat and brown from the mud

(But her s eyes are so clear, so pretty)

Minori took out a cloth fro and passed it to her with a smile: ”You too” Isuzu wiped her face in a hurry, and had a disappointed expression when she looked at the dirty cloth

”Wooo, am I black all over?”

”You are not dirty to that extent, but do you want to go to the spring?”

”Alright, ah Serara-chan let's go together, okay?”

Isuzu invited Serara alking in front

”What is it Minori, are you going to the spring too?”

Tohya as leading the way heard the conversation and turned around See there

”Wooo, but we are all sweaty”

”Ladies first Tohya-kun, just bear with it”

Rundelhous consoled Tohya

Rundelhous was also covered in soot, with no sign of his handsome face His shi+ny tunic had also lost its shi+ne

Today's exploration was huge progress

They even reached the workshop at the deepest corner of the route on the right

The workshop had stoves burning with ical flames, and the air was thick with smoke The dead became skeletons and worked as they were commanded

TheDead' Different from the normal skeleton, it emitted blue fla eneroup took care of the patrols one by one, and finished him off with a blitz of attacks to take him out

But because of the battle in the smoky room, they were now all dirty

”Why don't we all go together?”

”Is Isuzu-chan!”

Isuzu said casually and Serara rejected her by waving her hands in a panic Isuzu realized the reason she was all flustered, and she also started to panic and explained,

”I don't ether! We can wash ourselves at the side of the spring blocked by the trees, Tohya-kun and Rudy can use the pond on the other side, that's what I mean!”

Isuzu explained in a panic, Serara replied: ”That That's fine then” and tried to cover it with a smile

”Minori, how about it?”

”If you guys are okay with it, Tohya”

The twins cae of clothes from their tent The 5 of the

The topic was about today's battles and tactics

The burning dead was level 24, probably the strongest eneht shi+roe mentioned before that enemies that you could take on safely were 5 levels below your party's average The average level of Minori's party was slightly above 24, so the opponents they could fight without ht far above this safety in

The team was exuberant when they understood this fact

Defeating an enereat result They were surprised when they received a ical item as loot

But the thing that oing very s the initiative to attack, striking when they had the advantage with the terrain and position The iined

They learned the i out for each other

(We are a real party now)

Minori smiled to herself

She was so happy that she finally understood thebehind shi+roe's words

Not only levels

If you wanted to becoer, the key was not only levels

To fight in this world, you needed companions

If you wanted companions, you needed to take the initiative to talk to the with the skills or high levels

Her days at Ha away

The days she was forced to level could not have brought her to these heights, this was so up

”Mi No Ri? Fas ter!”

Isuzu was ju at the deep end of the forest Minori replied cheerfully and ran towards the spring with her back to the red evening light

4

(Hooo)

shi+roe kept the stack of paper in a leather file

He was sorting out all sorts of documents

Reports, investigation findings, gathered data They had all sorts of naence in it It included memos written by Akatsuki and the other Round Table Council members, shi+roe sorted the information on a daily basis

Because they needed to be ready for any surprises whenthe People of the Land

These pieces of paper were kept in a bigger and more secure folder, and becauilds, lease agreements, contracts, IOUs, letters of authorization

shi+roe was a Scribe, his ability was tocurses, technical manuals, or maps

No matter how complicated the literature item was, he could make it in 10 seconds if he knew the production method

But just like Chefs, Scribes also had new possibilities shi+roe wanted to do research on this area, but he was caught up with the work of the Round Table Council and had not ress

This was a room provided for shi+roe in the Ancient Palace of Eternal Ice, he stretched his back behind his desk The sun had already set, but the rooht sources, it would be quite a while before bedtime

shi+roe took the ue of Freedom Cities Eastal from another folder The map was not only well-made, but also filled with notes and labels written by shi+roe