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.
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.
"...? ...?" "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.
'... 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.
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.
"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.
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. 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.
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.
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.'
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.
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.