Chapter 95
95. Raid Preparation
Faction quests that begin on the 7th Floor continue into the twenties, depending on how you proceed.
However, the floors where faction quests are central only go up to the 9th Floor. After that, only related quests appear sporadically.
To compare it to a game, elf- or human-faction content appears at about the level of an epilogue or fan service.
The consensus among challengers on the community was that the so-called ‘worldbuilding’ did not continue in a strictly connected manner.
But you could tell just by looking at that mess.
A gigantic snake that had devoured the World Tree and gave off the atmosphere of literally destroying the world.
And the desolate background of a floor where only a tiny number of elf NPCs appeared.
Perhaps the worldbuilding of this 9th Floor continued onto the other floors—a setting in which the world had been destroyed once because of that snake.
“Good heavens……how could this happen.”
After using shadow magic several times to get far away from the snake, we stared blankly at the collapsing castle.
Neither Eleanor nor I could find the words for the sudden catastrophe, but the one who was most shaken was, naturally, Mercedes.
The prince Mercedes cherished had lost control of his body, and Mercedes’s homeland was collapsing in real time beneath a gigantic monster.
“Wh-why, why is this happening, why.”
The most heartbreaking part was that Mercedes had had a chance to stop this catastrophe.
Mercedes had remained at the High Elf King’s side until being exiled, and knew his changes well.
If Mercedes had possessed even a little deeper knowledge of the World Tree, the situation might have been resolved before it reached this point.
But Mercedes had struggled helplessly on their own, unable to do anything, until finally being exiled and robbed of that chance.
“……”
Mercedes had been watching the castle being destroyed in a daze, but then picked up their sword and stood with a resolute expression.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
Since Mercedes clearly wasn’t in their right mind, I immediately grabbed them.
“I may be exiled now, but I am the High Elves’ First Knight. I can’t just stand by and watch our city collapse.”
“And what are you going to do by not standing by? Even you can see that place is already doomed, can’t you?”
“Even so……it is something I must do. I have a duty I cannot abandon. I won’t ask you to help.”
Normally, I wouldn’t have cared, but this time I couldn’t let Mercedes go.
The labyrinth region had disappeared, and I could no longer advance to the next floor unless I completed the Epic Quest.
And unless the Epic Quest had a separate destruction ending, I had to defeat that snake to complete the quest.
[Form a raid. Current challengers available on this server: 1]
The problem was that the snake was a World Boss that had to be fought by a raid party, while I was the only one in this damn Tower.
I far surpassed the average 9th-Floor challenger in terms of stats, but I couldn’t defeat something like that alone.
It was an enemy that required a raid party of at least fifty people. To defeat it alone, I would have to be about a hundred times stronger than an ordinary challenger.
I wasn’t that strong. If I lost a powerful ally like Mercedes, it would be over.
“Is your duty to run over there and die alone?”
I said that to Mercedes. I wasn’t sure whether it was all right to say something like that myself.
“If you’re going there because you want to save your people, I won’t stop you—what am I saying? I can help.”
“……Looking like that?”
“It’s not like I’ve lost an arm or a leg. Even if my guts are a little mangled, chugging potions will take care of it. I’ll be fine soon.”
The war wouldn’t continue any longer anyway. From now on, regardless of faction, we were in a situation where we needed to increase our allies by even one.
Being able to add NPCs with an affinity of 80 or higher to the party was probably a setting designed for exactly this kind of situation.
“Eleanor, can you help?”
Since adding just me wouldn’t be enough, I asked Eleanor as well. Eleanor would surely-
“……Yes, if that is what you wish.”
-help, I thought, but Eleanor nodded with a somewhat sour expression. There was still no starlight in her eyes.
No, the expression didn’t matter.
Wasn’t this exactly what Eleanor wanted—to bring the war to an end?
**
I scraped together every bit of information about World Bosses that I could from the community.
A large-scale raid requiring a party of at least 50; difficulty varies according to the floor where it appears but is generally extremely high.
Upon completion, it is guaranteed to drop an Epic-grade reward, such as an item or an Epic-grade class advancement book.
Apparently, the Epic class [Dragon Knight], held by a famous S-rank hunter from the United Kingdom, was obtained through a World Boss raid.
And most importantly, once the initial pattern that occurs immediately after a World Boss appears ends, it enters a brief dormant state.
Right before my eyes, a countdown was showing the time remaining until the snake became active again.
This was probably time the system had provided for us to form a raid. If so, I naturally had to use it effectively.
-Shhk!
I cut down a thorn-vine monster crawling around near the coiled giant snake and headed toward the ruins of a building.
Using my strength, I pushed aside a massive chunk of stone, lifted the elf trapped underneath, and gave them a potion.
I sent each rescued elf straight to the shadow warp point Eleanor had set up, then escorted them to the village.
I had already been repeating this for several hours.
I felt like a firefighter dispatched to a disaster site. The only difference was that I was using weapons.
“This is great. It never ends.”
I kept cutting down the continuously spawning thorn-vine monsters and roaming through the destroyed city.
The mobs keeping anyone from approaching the dormant World Boss served as excellent potions for me.
Normally, these creatures boasted formidable combat power as well, but against my stats, they were nothing more than ordinary mobs.
And thanks to the options on my various skills and weapons, I could recover HP and MP whenever I killed mobs.
“This side is almost done.”
Mercedes joined me after carrying out rescue work elsewhere and spoke.
“The damage was severe because this area was next to the royal castle. Very few survived……How was it here?”
“About the same.”
“I thought so. I expected it, but……should I be glad that we were at least able to save those who remained?”
As someone poor at expressing myself, I had no proper answer for them. I simply handed them a bottle of potion.
I alone could recover HP and MP without limit; Mercedes would eventually tire.
“……Thank you. If it weren’t for you, we couldn’t have saved this many.”
Mercedes accepted the potion I gave them and bowed their head. Well, it was true that I had played a major part in the rescue effort.
But Eleanor and the Dark Elves were the ones who had taken in the rescued people, so my contribution was minor by comparison.
Still, Mercedes probably saw it differently. After all, this had only been possible because I had brought it up.
For me, it had only been about increasing the number of allies who could participate in the raid by even one.
“Truly, thank you.”
It seemed that was enough to change the attitude of this overbearing elf.
**
The High Elf faction had completely collapsed following the sudden appearance of the World Boss, leaving only a small number of refugees.
But the High Elves weren’t the only ones who had suffered damage. The Kingdom faction, which had been preparing to attack the city, had also taken heavy losses.
The only faction that hadn’t suffered any damage was the Dark Elf faction, but it was obvious where the snake that had declared it would devour the world would go next.
Having wiped out the High Elves, it would target the Dark Elves next. After that, it would wipe out the remaining human forces.
Even so, the Dark Elf faction, the only one that hadn’t suffered damage, had now become a refugee camp.
“What a mess.”
Like the rescued High Elves, the small number of rescued kingdom soldiers had gathered together in terrible condition.
The High Elves at least belonged to the same race as the Dark Elves, so there wasn’t much suspicion between them.
But the kingdom soldiers had been swept up and rescued without knowing what was happening, so they were particularly wary.
And the Dark Elves, who were fond of humans, were showing tremendous interest in the human refugees they had suddenly been forced to take in.
They no longer treated humans with unconditional friendliness because of the memories of the war, but their basic nature remained unchanged.
To the Dark Elves, it was like rescuing a litter of filthy kittens from a fire, so they were showing remarkable restraint.
But I hadn’t rescued these people to create such an uncomfortable standoff.
The World Boss’s dormant period wasn’t very long. We had to somehow rally these people and turn them into fighting strength while time remained.
“Eleanor had better pull this off.”
I had already sent a messenger to the Kingdom army’s main camp to request their cooperation. A summit meeting of the three major powers would soon be held here.
Winning them over and making them our allies was impossible for someone like me, who had not a shred of eloquence.
The stage was set, so all I could do now was place my hopes in Eleanor and focus on what I could do.
[Urgent) Seeking World Boss Raid Tips]
From now on, I would borrow the power of collective intelligence to devise a raid strategy.