Chapter 111
Thus, the party was formed, and by unanimous agreement, I became its leader. The reason was simple: I was the highest-level member. Our party name was 'Event Party.' It lacked any originality, but it was easy to understand, which was good enough.
"Now that we've formed a party, let's go over everyone's specialties. To start with, I'm specialized in magic, simply put. I can use almost every existing spell. It's not that I have no means of close-quarters attack, but I'm not very good at it. In exchange, I pride myself on having fairly high magical firepower."
I wasn't lying. However, I wanted to keep my abilities hidden, so for now I had no intention of revealing that I had four arms or a tail. I planned to tell them everything if I ever decided that I truly wanted to invite them to my clan.
"Next is me, then. As you can see, I'm a tank. I don't have much speed, given my Race, but I'm tough and powerful to make up for it. If things get dangerous, just run behind me for now."
Eiji raised his enormous shield and laughed while patting his plump belly. Having seen his performance in the previous battle, I was reminded of a 'fortress' when I looked at him. He would surely stand as an impenetrable wall protecting his allies.
"I'm next. In contrast, I use my mobility to slash away with my twin blades. My defense is paper-thin, so please don't hit me with friendly fire."
Usaji—apparently, that was how her name was pronounced—had been Eiji's partner, but her fighting style seemed to be his exact opposite. She wore nothing that could be called armor, only a provocative cloth outfit. In terms of design, it resembled a belly dancer's costume, if that makes it easier to picture. In any case, it was certain that she would be the main physical attacker in this party.
"It's my turn. I'm an alchemist, and most of my Skills are production-related, so I'm not very strong. But I can make as much medicine and poison as we need, so I think I can contribute a little~"
Unlike Usaji, most of Shiitake's Skills seemed to be focused on production. She had apparently learned a few spells as well, but their power did not seem to match mine.
However, she said that by making use of her own body as a Poison Walk Mushroom, she could secrete all sorts of poisons. She could apparently fire them as attacks, too, so she wouldn't be dead weight.
"Next is me. I've specialized in 【Summoning】. My basic strategy is to summon my companions—crows—and crush our enemies through sheer numbers. Leave the escapes to me."
Nanako seemed to excel at crushing enemies with the minions he summoned through 【Summoning】. According to him, his enemies ended up buried beneath a storm of birds. I had no desire to become one of his victims.
Furthermore, the Summoner Job reduced the penalty incurred when using 【Summoning】. Since there was a level difference between us, I could probably still summon stronger minions for now, but he might already surpass me in the number he could summon at once.
"Am I last? I specialize in inflicting Bleeding with a bat's fangs and wing claws. In particular, I can recover when I attack with my fangs, so I have fairly good endurance. I can also use my body hair and wing membranes to serve as a temporary tank, and like a bat, I can use ultrasonic waves for detection."
"In other words, I'm a jack of all trades and master of none," Moss-san concluded. Despite what he said, this party had few members capable of detecting enemies, making his position quite important. I would work hard on detection alongside him.
"Now that we know what everyone is good at, I have something to ask you all. Is there anything you want to do during this event?"
"Something we want to do? Oh, you mean what that angel was talking about?"
I nodded at Shiitake in affirmation. If this was an event where we could do anything we wanted, deciding on a party objective came first. It was a luxury made possible by the event's high degree of freedom.
"Hmm, I don't have anything in particular that I want to do. If I had to name something, I'd say I want to fight and level up."
"Same here... Oh, wait. In that case, I'll make finding a weapon I can use my goal."
"Then I want some practical but pretty accessories."
"I'd like a weapon or some decorations, too. Being completely naked is a little too pathetic."
Hmm. They wanted to level up and improve their equipment. Perhaps joining up with the monster army would be the most efficient approach. We could level up by fighting players while also raiding them to outfit ourselves.
"Ugh, seriously? I wanted to gather materials for alchemy... Hmm? Oh, right. If we raided a city, there might be high-performance alchemy texts and equipment there, huh...?"
Oh? Shiitake had not seemed very enthusiastic, but she began to waver once she considered the benefits of attacking a city.
I see. They seemed to have less aversion to killing players than I had expected. No wonder, considering they were players who had set their avatars—their own alter egos—to be inhuman creatures, and monsters at that.
"I see. Then I have a proposal. A greedy plan that will fulfill everyone's... yes, every single person's wishes. It is..."
◆◇◆◇◆◇
Having decided on our course of action, we immediately began to move. My plan was extremely ambitious, but the five of them agreed despite their surprise. I was grateful that they all seemed to enjoy having a good time at festivals.
However, accomplishing such an ambitious plan required preparation on a scale to match it. For the time being, we decided to explore this coniferous forest while searching to see whether any other players were around. If we encountered ordinary monsters along the way, we would also use the opportunity to assess everyone's strength.
"Oh? So Eiji-san and Usaji-san were from the same settlement, and that was what led you to form a duo?"
"In a way, we're the exact opposite of them."
As we explored, we grew lively discussing how we had met and the hardships we had endured. To begin with, Eiji and Usaji said that their initial spawn point had been a Goblin settlement southeast of Fars. That connection led them to form a partnership, and after traveling south, they had made their base in an Orc city-state centered around an oasis beyond the wasteland.
Incidentally, the Orcs of FSW apparently had a warrior's temperament and were all noble gentlemen. Orcs made up the majority of that city-state, but various Races had gathered there as well, including the higher-rank Boar Orcs, Ghouls, Kobolds, and Lizardmen adapted to the arid region. I would like to visit it someday.
As for Nanako and Moss-san's meeting, theirs had apparently begun with a fight to the death. Nanako's starting point had been the western forest, while Moss-san had started in the cave we had also conquered. Since the two of them had spawned in nearby locations, it was inevitable that they would meet. Neither realized the other was a player, and they had gone hunting each other with all their strength.
Yet when they actually fought, one kept summoning crows and attacking through sheer numbers, while the other attacked with his wings. Their fighting styles were so strange that one of them eventually spoke up, and they discovered that both were players. After talking, they hit it off, and from then on they had operated mainly in the depths of the western forest.
They said they had ambushed and killed players hunting in the dead of night while concealed by the darkness on many occasions. They might even be better at PK than I was.
"Aren't you better off, since you got to interact with other players?"
The one who said that self-deprecatingly was Shiitake. Her starting point had apparently been a marsh near the boundary between the northern mountains and the lake. Unfortunately, she had not been able to meet a player of her own species, and she had feared being hunted by Lizardman players whose starting points were in the area, so she had secluded herself in the mountains alone.
After that, she had gathered medicinal herbs, poisonous plants, and even her own poison, producing items through 【Alchemy】 nonstop. She apparently tested their effects on Goblins and experimented with them. She said she had researched the optimal proportions for mixing poisons while taking individual differences into account. ...She sounded like a mad scientist.
Hearing everyone's stories, it seemed that each and every one of them had overcome their own trials. Since monster players were not given an easy start, perhaps they were able to fully enjoy a life of twists and turns.
"I suppose I'm the same, but you all acquired 【Linguistics】 as a matter of course. Being able to talk with people outside your own species really is convenient, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I read the information on the forum before I started playing, so I acquired it. I owe a big thanks to the player who shared that information. Really."
"I want to thank Monster Bro, too."
The forum...? Oh, right. I remembered posting advice for the second wave telling them to acquire 【Linguistics】. Had they read it and used it as a reference? It seemed my efforts had not been wasted.
"I'm glad to hear that post was useful."
"...Were you Monster Bro, Izamu?"
"That's right. Though I have to admit, being called Monster Bro is a little embarrassing."
As we continued forward while chatting about this and that, I finally succeeded in detecting something.
"Magic Echo... There are five signatures over there. Moss-san, what about you?"
"I've confirmed them. There are five, and it looks like three are fighting two. Two are fairly small, while the other three shadows are quite large. The biggest one is even larger than Eiji-kun."
"Shall we go?"
We ran toward the direction where we had detected the response, hurrying but remaining cautious. Even so, we were not moving very quickly, since Eiji the Orc was slow and unable to make quick turns.
"Hmm. It looks like we made it in time."
Our haste had apparently been worthwhile. When we arrived, the ones we had detected were still fighting. Good. Before intervening, let's use 【Appraisal】.
――――――――――
Name: Shifune
Race: Big Spider Lv9
Job: Apprentice Warrior Lv9
Name: Wool
Race: Sheep Lv9
Job: Apprentice Mage Lv9
Race: Troll Lv33
Job: Beast Warrior Lv3
Skill: 【Gluttony】
【Claw】
【Fang】
【Axe Arts】
【Vitality Enhancement】
【Strength Enhancement】
【Defense Enhancement】
【Intimidation】
【Super Strength】
【Rapid Healing】
【Physical Resistance】
【Fire Vulnerability】
――――――――――
"Gyaaa!? New enemies!?"
"Ah, it's over..."
The two nonhuman players noticed our arrival and cried out instinctively. One sounded desperate, while the other seemed resigned. No, we had come to help them, so they could relax.
"Giga?"
"Gugigo?"
The monsters facing us appeared confused. Incidentally, the two who had spoken were Hobgoblins. Their stats were almost identical to the boss of the northern mountain near Fars, so I will omit them.
"Gugaaa!"
"Gi, gigig!"
"Gegyaa!"
When the bewildered Hobgoblins were bellowed at by the Troll, they hurriedly turned back toward Shifune-shi and Wool-shi. Apparently, the Troll was acting as their supervisor and had made the Hobgoblins do all the fighting. Otherwise, the level difference would have allowed it to kill them instantly.
"Nanako and Moss-san, deal with the Hobgoblins. We'll take the big one."
"Sure, leave it to me!"
"Shall we, then?"
The two who had been riding on Eiji's shoulders sprang energetically into the air. They immediately launched their first attacks.
"Summon: Magic Crow! I'm going all out!"
The five crows summoned by Nanako swarmed one of the Hobgoblins. They began concentrating their attacks on its head. That had to be irritating. Indeed, the Hobgoblin went half-mad, wildly swinging the club in its hands.
"Chomp."
"Gyaaaah!?"
The other Hobgoblin was bitten by Moss-san, who had approached with astonishing agility. It apparently tore Moss-san off at once, but a Bleeding status ailment was displayed by the marker above its head. What deft work.
We could leave those two to it without any concern. Their levels weren't far apart, but they seemed very accustomed to fighting. They were unlikely to make any careless mistakes.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
"Nghhh!"
Irritated that his subordinates were being handled so easily, the Troll raised the stone axe hanging at its waist and charged straight at us. Eiji caught it head-on. At the same moment that the dull sound of heavy objects colliding reverberated through the area, Eiji was forced backward.
Right, this was an opponent higher-level than the three of us. However, it was weaker than me, and we should be able to win if we coordinated while I provided support. Now, let's make sure we back them up properly!