Vol 7 Chapter 2 (2/2)
”You lost, right?”
”Eh!”
”You lost Just walk away”
”But”
”I will kick your ass again, Demiqas”
William warned Demiqas in an icy tone
shi+roe adjusted his glasses and thought He understood the situation in Susukino froo, chaos continued to reign after shi+roe left Susukino After for the Round Table Council, several expeditions were sent to Susukino to evacuate anyone anted to leave After Silver Sword rated to the north, there was still bloodlust in the air, but it was relatively stable for a player city in the border areas
In this city ruled by several battle guilds, a high ranking guild within the server like Silver Sword brought stability to the region Williahts and DDD Although they did not actively patrol the streets, they did not tolerate Adventurers that disturbed the peace From their perspective, Adventurers who bullied the powerless People of the Land were despicable weaklings They would not allow such people to throw their weight around in Elder Tales
An exaht before shi+roe's eyes
There were 6 ears sticking out from behind the kitchen counter The werecat People of the Land revealing just their eyes were observing the situation They seemed to think this was troublesome, but there was no fear in their eyes
Silver Sword earned the trust of the People of the Land in Susukino When Elder Tales was just a gaainst titans, a pioneer city built froht have positive implications, too
Instead of Brigandia which ruled the city with an iron fist, Silver Sword playing the role of the guardians of the city with no ulterior intentions was a rade
Delared at shi+roe
”You can't beat shi+roe anyway”
”I have upgraded h difficult raids!”
On closer inspection, Demiqas' Wyvern shi+n Guard seemed to have been , it was clear that Demiqas took part in many raids in these 6 's Coat was a loot from the level 90 raid quest 'Ruler of the Tenvuikutori Plains', an admirable achievement
”Thinking that you can win because of your gear is the reason you will lose”
”!!”
Williaer of Demiqas shi+roe didn't knohat kind of relationshi+p these two had, but he got the general gist They had probably had a duel which Willia Demiqas to play second fiddle
”Like I said, Brigandia has lost half its members Mah, it can't be helped They were defeated by a werecat swordsuild It's obvious that no one would want to stay And the poopy Londark was headhunted by people from Kansai”
”Hey, idol wannabe Is it okay for you to say poop?”
”Don't say poop, your popularity will plummet”
”Hah! I, I didn't say that okay? Idols don't say things like poop That would tarnish e”
”So you are going for the comedy route”
”I aer will rush into space without wearing shoes for me!”
”Just like a grade schooler So what about Demiqas?”
”I arade schooler! Demiqas is like the little brother of Silver Sword, or rather the whole guild is falling into that role Anyway, peace carade schooler, okay? We have Deet, I aht”
The loud obnoxious voice traveled to the tense table where shi+roe, Willia this way as the sound was getting louder They were talking without sparing a thought for others
”Really!? Wife!? What the hell!!”
”Marriage huh Hoonderful”
”Although he still denies the e stubbornly, my sources from the People of the Land network tell me he cleans the sheets daily and provides 3that his aristocratic People of the Land bride has Demidemi under her thumb”
”Eh”
”The People of the Land he kidnapped to be a servant is being treated so delicately Like the opening to a hentai gau Want to serve ed, I am an idol after all”
”Enough, get down you fake idol!”
shi+roe heard the cute voice giggling while uttering uncute contents
There were 2trouble, and they sounded so familiar
”That's why in this period of time, Demidemi has become a more rounded person, just like a ball Ah, it's Demidemi”
De start Wyvern Kick Gliding 5 h the air with a powerful kick, the renowned attack skill of Monks He probably did it with his body ao
The attack with no preparatory rabbed his shi+eld in an instant The clear clashi+ng sound showed that Deht, the Guards operated by the Kunie should be rushi+ng into this no-coht He was just taking the bloith the shi+eld on his shoulder to avoid sounding off the alarm
But the attack still reached the target The slender girl hanging off Naotsugu's neck was being squashed by the pressure Her u like a koala bear
The ones at the doorere Naotsugu, ReGan, and a Cleric Naotsugu knew that there was a high chance Demiqas would attack shi+roe, so he came here to ossiping about Demiqas when they showed up
Although they ered by their talk Well, shi+roe didn't blas in public and in such a tense situation, no wonder Dery The kick was a bit too otten used to Akatsuki's kicks The leading expert in being kneed and kicked in Akiba was definitely Naotsugu the Guardian With his 50 success rate when defending against Akatsuki, Naotsugu
”A flying kick?”
”Where are you putting your hands at a tiht on me!”
”da your mouth off!”
Their conversation was going nowhere as the scene descended into chaos
Seeu's neck was Tetora A rather cute nauild Naotsugu was probably recruiting ether with hiu, they should barely be able to forh of relief, Williahed and announced
”Great, with the healer and Dey, save that kick for the actual raid, Haha”
shi+roe's sense of relief disappeared when he heard the hter
The raid beyond the depths of Pal up no matter where he went
4
The preparations proceeded smoothly
Adventurers kept uild house, the bank, in a warehouse, or brought it along in their bags Veteran Adventurers owned several weight reduction containers known asperishables and equipe
It was evenin raids like Silver Sword The eliteThey were ready before evening after Williaave the word
The world of Elder Tales after the Catastrophe s rendered useless, the areat distances was depressingly long You had to go through the straits of Lightport in order to reach the depths of Palu, and ReGan flew past the straits on Griffons, it was not feasible for a group of 24 to travel that way
Silver Sas one of thethe best in raids, so quite a nuh they could make it by air if they squeezed, Williareed with this means of travel
Silver Sas Williauild, so he was most suited for command
shi+roe and Naotsugu understood this and had no qual were Demiqas, and Tetora Demiqas threw a tantrum without a word because of his pride, while Tetora disturbed Naotsugu in a Tetora way, saying stuff like 'I want to be a flying idol'
shi+roe felt that there was more than meets the eye
For Naotsugu, spring had come
There was only one way if they traveled by land That was through the tunnel under the straits of Lightport As expected, this tunnel also doubled as a dungeon in the world of Elder Tales, but was no threat to the Full Raid group with an average level of 93 This dungeon could be traversed alone for Adventurers above level 40 anyway
The raid group led by Williaeon underneath the straits
The basics of group battle in Elder Tales was the party made of 6 The 24 men Full Raid was comprised of four parties; each party of six was then numbered from 1st to 4th
Raid battles differed widely, so there was no such thing as the correct composition But it was common to see the 1st party focus on defense and the 2nd party be well balanced for guerrilla missions The 3rd and 4th parties concentrated on attack and were responsible for bringing down the enemy
The first proble members to parties
If you thought about the roles each member played, it would be based on their job class For example, the tanks in the 1st party formed the defense line for the whole raid, as it was impossible for all the players to withstand the attacks of the raid boss indefinitely The hest defense and health bar, and use the best taunting skills to focus the enemies' hate on hih Samurai were a viable choice, Guardians were still better with their ability to equip shi+elds
But that was only in normal situations
If the Saher level than the Guardian or had better equipment, the Samurai would be the better choice And more important than the level and equipment was the character of the Adventurer In raid battles, spending long periods of ti the enemies' attacks was a heavy burden Skills were ihness and the teamith others were crucial as well There were some Guardians out there who preferred to concentrate on attacks and hated taunting ene them to the front lines, they would be more suited for co
Thisthe members was not limited to classes and levels, but also the character of the players, a co into account the weaknesses and movements of the enemy monsters, there were plenty of perued commanders for the past 20 years
shi+roe understood that the reason why William chose to travel by land lay here He wanted to understand the nature and strength of the new members as reference for the team roster when the time came
(But, I don't think you can use this as reference)
shi+roe was assigned as the leader of the 2nd party
The members were Enchanter shi+roe
Guardian Naotsugu
Cleric Tetora
Druid Vuorinen
Swashbuckler Federico
Monk Demiqas
Vuorinen and Federico were veterans of Silver Sword, and they welcomed shi+roe more warmly than he expected
The proble out when the battle started to hunt down monsters The monsters were between level 30 and 40 For the level 93 Deh paper s It was hard to tell his character and teamwork from this
Although shi+roe tried talking to him several times, De replies
”No need to rush”
The kind and warm Vuorinen told him
”It will be great if we complete this by year's end”
There was a reason why Vuorinen thought this way
Things like raid battles were not challenges you could coame, a raid zone had countless normal monsters and 5 to 10 raid bosses They could be wiped out by a normal monster if they were careless You would need to be wiped out dozens of times in order to understand the raid boss' capabilities and look for the way to victory, that's what raiding was all about
If you died in a raid zone, you would not be sent to the cathedral in the player's city You would respawn right at the entrance of the zone This meant the entrance to the zone had the same capability as a cathedral
Since they could challenge the zone from the entrance if they iped out, it was the nor to spend a month on this was reasonable
William's instruction to purchase a month's worth of perishables reinforced Vuorinen's words shi+roe was already prepared for this and squeezed all sorts of h to last him 2 months
This was great for evading spies, shi+roe thought Although Susukino was a border city with sparse population, it was still a player city There was a high chance people were already watching hiion shi+roe didn't kno true this was
But even so, he didn't want this to drag too long
Even if he stayed still, the chance of inforer he took And if shi+roe was right, this was not a surveillance he could evade by switching zones Although Nyanta and Akatsuki were creating an alibi for hi he could keep this up So he wanted to wrap this up as soon as possible
As shi+roe thought about this, he startedhis old friends
How strange, shi+roe thought as he scratched his cheek
It had been less than half a year, but he rant wooden floors of the living room made by Michitaka, he missed the cheerful sound of everyone He wanted to watch the sun rise fro tea In order to protect all this, he had to couild ht
”Wahh!”
shi+roe looked towards the source of the screa at him
”What happened?”
”Mr shi+roe was s by himself!”
”He does smile every now and then”
”Really!? This wasit”
Barging in with this rude conversation were the duo Naotsugu and Tetora
”Keep a distance from shi+roe He is a closet pervert”
”Ahh I see Mr shi+roe is so pitiful Want to see some panties?”
”You clai it to anyone?”
”I' Just curious If I really wanted to show it, I will pretend it's an accident And then report that guy to the police”
”That's being a trap, not an idol”
”Mr Naotsugu you meanie Even if you are char to any one person”
Although shi+roe didn't show it on his face, he was shocked by their unhesitant conversations Naotsugu grunted 'I'ed Naotsugu, saying 'The words of a true tsundere I' up okay?'
They had good affinity with each other
shi+roe forgot to bethe subject of a rude discussion, but felt happy for so It was only natural that she had never seen shi+roe s of each other
Tetora so behind shi+roe didn't feel the need to stop theeon easily, and De out all the enemies nearby anyway
shi+roe still waved and shouted 'Be careful okay' anyway A hand patted his back and said to hi it easy'
Williaiant bow on his back He looked straight ahead with his sharp expression and walked to shi+roe's side
”Instead of taking it easy, I feel that I a myself”
shi+roe replied
Willia this response
shi+roe only learned in these few days that Williauarded expression was his default face; he was not actually unhappy about anything He did not show his thoughts through his face and hisThis was the norm for William
A good corasp the direction and character of his members This would maximize the effectiveness of command and execution
On the other hand, the members would also learn the perks of the coless Only when you understood the intent and purpose would you be able to react in tioal
Appointed as the leader of the 2nd party, shi+roe tried spendingWilliam From the unhappy expression Williauild issues William worried about all the time
But this was to be expected Without this level of ability, it would be iuild like Silver Sword to the top of the battle guild rankings
”But he's not”
The ue words could be understood by following Williaaway from the 2nd party's formation
”He is an unstable factor”
shi+roe said apologetically with a hint of guilt But William simply smiled and nodded William used his left hand to stroke his chin and looked into the distance with a bitter smile
”But he also needs this chance Whether he will fight on or give up, ill knohen the raid begins Demi understands too If he doesn't, then this will be his limit”
Willias with cryptic words, but shi+roe didn't understand it at this point in time
5
Three weeks later, the group was still raiding on
The 1 et they set was shattered easily, the way ahead see more unpredictable They only took down 2 raid bosses after 3 weeks, and only had a vague idea of the whole raid zone
The atued and serious
”damn it!!”
The roaring Dee from poison, Vuorinen cursed in hison hiradually over a 20 second period Green and orange pulsing light effects surrounded the burly warrior
De to charge at the yellow slime creature
Lightning Fist He leaned forward and struck with all his hed, knowing it wouldn't work
The Orcus Jelly splattered slient smell from the pieces filled the air as they started to dissolve The attacking De Orcus Jelly used its acidic body to attack enee anybody who cae slime ball didn't seem to be hurt
”I told you so!”
Vuorinen rushed in Demiqas' direction The muscle head warrior's strike had put hih he cast Heartbeat Healing on hih If Vuorinen didn't cast Instant Cures and Minor Heals, Deain
Vuorinen felt frustrated with Deain
The dull thud fronaled the arrival of more Orcus Jellies
A chaotic fight
The raiding group of 24 was led by Vuorinen's guild master William, made up of 4 parties But only the 1st and 2nd parties had acceptable levels of defense The 1st party specialized in defense and was tanking the bulk of the Orcus Jellies from the front
The 3rd and 4th parties were in charge of dishi+ng out firepower to destroy the enehtened to kill their foes, but their defense was lacking They were to dispose of theThe 2nd party Vuorinen was assigned to have the task of guerrilla missions
They had to intercept the ot past the 1st party When the eneainst the weakly armored 3rd or 4th party, the 2nd party would need to protect them
The 1st party was in the spotlight as they held off the biggest enemies and attracted their hate, the 2nd party on the other hand needed quick reactions to danger and was very important from a tactical standpoint All of the members needed to knohat the task at hand was in order to coordinate efficiently
Thefrom the sides launched their attack
The 1st party was holding the defense line ahead and couldn't pull back Deed down to a staleerous ti at the flanks of the 3rd and 4th parties, the rear of the fores responsible for long range attacks were especially vulnerable It would be over if they were to fall
(This is not the time to worry about others!)
Vuorinen chased after Deed on ahead
He watched his steps andwall approaching until it was too late
(This is bad,) Vuorinen thought as silvery ht
”Anchor Howl!”
The ear splitting shout of the Guardian attracted the wrath of the Orcus Jelly It was his teau was frouild, and was impressed with his smooth movements in the raid battle
The u Naotsugu raised his shi+eld in defense, understanding that reckless strikes would invite counterattacks in the form of acid He skillfully used his taunts and wielded his shi+eld to ht be even better than that of the Guardian dinkuron, the defensive specialist of Silver Sword
The Orcus Jelly fro up like bread dough and suddenly freezing
Without even hearing it, Vuorinen could tell this was the tih it was only for 20 seconds, monsters hit by the spell would cease all ht hit was enough to dispel the condition But the ability to reduce the nu help Since this was a raid zone, the monsters here were all buffed up to raid zone level The effectiveness of hypnosis spells was reduced to about 4 seconds Just 4 seconds was enough to slip past the enemy and head for the front lines
”Ene support! 8 o' clock, Orcus Jelly!!”
shi+roe shouted as he cast Astral Hypnos
In response to the voice, the 3rd and 4th parties switched their attack target The first blow came from the commander Willia holes through the stomach of the Orcus Jelly the size of fists This was followed by fire, frost and lightning spells raining down in rapid succession
All raid e amounts of health Even the combined attack of dozens could not take them down in a short period of time The Orcus Jelly crippled by shi+roe had broken free, but the 4 seconds was enough for their Guardian to accuh hate
Vuorinen watched the nimble Cleric bounce around the battlefield
The lightly armored Cleric was uild called Light Indigo but was no stranger to raid battles Her lightly armored build contradicted directly with the orthodox build of a fully ar and ood sense and understanding of the situation
Tetora moved back and forth repeatedly as she distributed her Reactive Heal au when the Orcus Jelly co the powerful defense of the Guardian to block the dangerous area attacks of the raid monsters, a move veterans used
”Doing okay, Mr Naotsugu?”
”The slime festival is really swell!”
”Wonderful! Mr Naotsugu is so cool!”
”You are totally using me as a shi+eld!”
”I healed you several tiht?”
Vuorinen smiled when he saw the two of the were impressively tenacious Vuorinen was impressed
Mysterious light shone fro within the zone It was either illuhts kept the dungeons bright and the surroundings visible When exploring the place, it was still advisable to use Bug Light though
This place was several hundred h the depths of Paler battle zone 'Abyss Shaft'; a conservative estimate of the amount of soil above their heads would be several million tons For Adventurers ereThe cos around the premises meantthe pressure The raid was hard They were not holding back either The difficulty of this zone was tougher than Vuorinen expected
They had to spend 8 to 10 hours battling dozens of rounds with ing, and they needed time to recover too Their exploration area was still very limited
Contrary to expectations, the trio was not discouraged at all
Even the elites of Silver Sere feeling the heat Compared to noror This didn't seem to be the effect of skills and equipment, but rather because of their nature
”I' to do it okay Anytiht?”
”Enough, just get on with it!”
”Fufu Here I co! 'Aurora Heal'!”
Colorful lights fro the wounds of all allies in range slowly The area attack of the Orcus Jellies did not only target theswords and axes would also take dae A member of the 2nd party, Federico, was already at half health It was the duty of Vuorinen to heal him when he had the time to spare But with the ive the priority to the tanks
In order to cover for Vuorinen who rushed out to support De time to mass heal
”I did it! I am so smart and cute, so perfect!”
”That's the truth, although your attitude disgusts rateful for the fix! Take this!”
”Focus your attacks! Keep your melee area attacks down!”
shi+roe cast support spells for Tetora At the same time, Federico, whose wounds were on the mend, returned to the front lines
While listening to the cheerful voice behind hi spells at Demiqas
Orcus Jellies seehters and tanks Acidic slie, an effective counterattack The acidic s with one was bad, facing 4 or 5 at once was even more of a pain
”Come back, Demiqas!”
”To be held back by these small fries!”
Demiqas roared as he retreated with Phanto from the acid The wear and tear on his weapons seemed rather serious
”damn it, heal me!”
”Don't need to shout, I can hear you”
Vuorinen started to chant De, and would fall if this kept up Demiqas returned because he understood the risk, but his attitude was bad
Delared at hi, 'If you know, then hurry up!'
Vuorinen sighed
Demiqas was troublesome
As a fellow party member, Vuorinen wished Demiqas would tone it down
If he kept up his solitary strikes, his heal ould be coe would cause the formation to crumble
Deroup with dozens of Adventurers, there were sure to beclass, so they could be revived with no issues For Adventurers in raiding guilds like Vuorinen, death was just equivalent to fainting, but it also meant they would not be able to roup would drop with death
NoBut even if he retreated just before he fell, it was still unacceptable in ter, the 1st party had to cover for him
Dee was reinforced by the kindness of the people around hi into ruins
(But)
Vuorinen thought as he cast Healing Wind and Heartbeat Healing, rushi+ng back to the front lines alongside Demiqas
But even so, it was only fair to say that Deood player
They had spent 3 weeks exploring the depths of the underground dungeon There had been h they had never been wiped out co members had been killed more than 10 times
In norer at their surroundings when faced with such pressure For shi+roe and his group fro Horizon to maintain their optimism was abnormal
Vuorinen thought he was an elite in raids
Led by the fah hell
Not only Vuorinen, all other meest guild in the server and they were proud of it
But the guild specializing in raids and striving to be the strongest had its share of troubles The core group has fallen to about 80 percent after the Catastrophe, and about 40even though they still retained guild membershi+p
That was because raid battles in a zone that matched the level of the Adventurers were brutal
The top guild DDD playing around in the Citadel of Seven Falls of about level 50 was evidence of this
In the eyes of Vuorinen and the others, it was a joke A bunch of level 90s running around a level 50 zone? Instead of being a uild
But he could not dismiss Demiqas because of this pride This di of cooperation He was unwilling to listen to others and gave the all the essential ele raids
But Demiqas was no coward
Even DDD was hesitant when fighting level 90 end game content But thisthe torrent of violence and death He did not shy away fro
Vuorinen knew that Demiqas' jealousy for shi+roe and Silver Sere part of the reason But fear was not so you can overcome with jealousy There was no way Demiqas could handle the sli tantrums
Vuorinen had no answers, and could only add protective barriers on Demiqas and himself
The situation was dire
The exploration was not progressing well Even Silver Sas losing self-restraint and was on the verge of exploding The most brutal battles in the whole server were probably here They couldn't just let the vagrant continue to run amok Vuorinen continued to commit to his duty as a healer to keep his party healthy as he rushed around the battlefield
6
Willia
After finishi+ng the battle for the day, in the elaborate te the results of the exploration He stretched his back so far out that he al on
”It's not going well”
”Right”
Sitting beside hi Horizon's shi+roe