Chapter 219: Interlude: Those Who Wish for the Golden Falls Conquer the Heavens Part 1
Chapter 219: Interlude: Those Who Wish for the Golden Falls Conquer the Heavens Part 1
This story takes place shortly after Kutanid was defeated.
The middle of the gloomy jungle. That particular group consisted of veteran warriors, seekers and survivors.
Even though they grew strong as a result of fighting against the world filled with monsters and magic, nothing could have possibly prepared them for what they encountered here.
「…… Look, I know that things may not look all that bright now, but there’s no real reason for us to panic, okay?」
The name of that person was “Black Shine”. He was a young man, wearing a knight’s armor and carrying a large longsword hanging at his waist, his armor adorned with a beautiful decorative cloth. In the party he was acting as a damage dealer, but if need be he could also switch roles to being a tank. And no matter what role he was currently acting, he was not going to any compromises.
「We have no idea what kind of monsters are going to spawn in this jungle after three o’clock in the morning. I know that you all must be nervous, but until we actually manage to confirm that, we must stay vigilant, okay?」
The man advising the other party members to stay vigilant was called “Vigilance”. He was wearing a full-on black ninja attire and there were two short Japanese swords hanging on his back. Unlike Black Shine, who was always trying to cheer everyone up and maintaining the balance, he was calm and quiet. Also, up until now he was mostly known for playing solo. But lately he’s been accompanying various stray parties that were exploring the new continent, mostly in hopes of encountering and testing his strength against new monsters around these parts.
It was actually a good thing that this party was well-leveled and possessing good abilities and equipment. Thanks to that there was no worry of Vigilance being someone who would seek out profits and gains at the cost of those weaker than him. And because of the specifics of his class, even though he used to play solo all the time his ability to detect nearby monsters was invaluable even to bigger and more experienced parties.
「You’re absolutely right…… Still, good thing that Cerberus Tyrano is not out for now. That thing was insane……」
The name of the woman whose voice matched her appearance, which was a rare occurrence in this game, was EmiRia. Although there was nothing particularly noticeable about her at first glance, she was a Cleric with a side job of “Carpenter”, and amongst the palyers of the New World Group she was regarded as someone who contributed to the party by taking care of the base and strengthening their comrades in battle.
While at base she liked to walk around with a huge hammer equipped, and although she was a Cleric, in the field she was using a huge mace to inflict damage. That is why other party members suspected that she might have a liking to violence and hitting stuff, even though the girl herself seemed to be totally oblivious to that fact.
Some time ago their base had been attacked by a three-headed Tyranosaurus Rex-like monster. They managed to repel it somehow, but that monster, the name of which they did not known since they did not manage to kill it, left the whole group with a strong case of PTSD. It was so severe that they were all sleeping with one eye opened at night, and would shudder at the very sight of shadow that resembled the infernal beast.
「Still, some people claim that a “Tame” skill is effective against it. So does that mean that you could technically make it into a mount and ride it if you’d manage to break it in?」
The name of the last member of this stray party was “Reiji”. Although he kept mostly to himself and was not very talkative, as a Magic Swordsman he was a worthy addition to the party. His balanced use of a magic sword and powerful spells saved the party’s hides on more than one occasion up until this point in time.
In addition to being a Magic Swordsman, Reiji also possessed the sub class of a Rider. So aside from powerful spells and melee capabilities, he could also tame wild beasts and use them as mounts. However, he was yet to aquire his very first mount because as he himself have said: I shall only take the most adorable creature in this game as my trusty stead. Needless to say, he was yet to find such creature.
「…… For the time being, there are no monsters in the vicinity. But still, some of them might be able to use stealth that surpasses my detection skill, so please forgive me if one such monster manages to ambush us.」
「Roger that, for now let’s just review what we know and what our goal is. The quest giver this time around is the transport ship “Scale-Feathered Night Owl”, the one that delivers the Pioneers to the new continent. …… The quest itself involved the hunting and subjugation of “Drakarus Dinoul”. We all have experience with fighting that particular monster, am I right?」
Drakarus Dinoul. Strictly speaking, it was a rather peculiar monster. It was combining the elements of both Dinosaur and an Owl, with an added “Drakarus” to its name for some reason.
「We are talking about that dino-owl hybrid, right……? I got incapacitated during a party battle against it, but ultimately we have won that battle.」
「…… I managed to defeat it on my own on a few occasions, since not until that long ago I was a solo player for the most part.」
「I have fought it as well, but it was not a clear win, because we got ambushed by another monster and the two of them basically ripped each other to shreds.」
Amongst all monsters that appear on this new continent, almost every single one that looked like a Dinosaur had the words “Dino” or “Drakarus” in its name. Was it because the monster belonged to the same species? Or maybe there was something else to it? To each player it was their own theory.
To some players, things like that are the objects of passionate debates that could last for hours or days without end. For other players, those who are less interested or simply do not care, those were just mere words that indicated a group of a very troublesome enemies they would have to deal with.
「Since Drakarus Dinoul is very adept at sneak attacks, can I ask you to be on a supporting role rather than the main attacking group, Vigilance-san?」
「Roger that, do you want me to limit myself to only using tools to support? Or would you like something else?」
「Oh, yeah, since you are a Ninja you can use various tools…… Alright. Then do as you wish, but please try not to use “The Great Tantrum”.」
「I would never think of using that recklessly, not in this environment. Even on the mostly open and seemingly empty spaces, you never know if using that won’t cause monsters to swarm all over you.」
Despite the fact that its feathers were all replaced with hard scales, Drakurus Dinoul was able to fly and move about in complete silence, attacking with its wings and air currents, sharing much similarities with an owl.
Drakurus Dinoul was able to perform sneak attacks like a true assassin, and thanks to its full body “scale” armor it possessed an impregnable defenses akin to that of a heavy armored knight. All that factors made it so that fighting it was usually taking a long time, much longer than any player would desire. Therefore, players with high Agility and detection skills were desirable during fighting that monster.
「Since my Vitality and defenses are the highest in this group, leave the aggro focus to me. Hear that, EmiRia? Don’t hesitate to hit me as hard as you can.」
「Sure thing! EmiRia will show you what a Carpenter-trined mace is capable of doing!」
Thanks to the specifics of the Carpenter side job, the more EmiRia was swinging her mace, the more proficiency points she was receiving to that weapon, so that statement was not entirely wrong.
「That being said, Reiji, please limit yourself to magic that does not use any sort of flashy effects.」
「Okay.」
「Just to be on the save side, we should save all of our big and powerful moves and skills for later. Apparently there is a high probability of getting invaded by other monsters at night, so in case of that happening, we unleash everything we have at them at the right time and aim to finish it in one swift blow.」