Harassment with Gusto

Hmm, what a fierce battle. Magic and arrows, along with stones and javelins, continue to fly back and forth. The monsters fight with their eyes fixed straight ahead, raising war cries as they go. Their morale has an almost terrifying intensity.

The human side is holding its own, however. They calmly defend the walls by focusing their attacks on monsters trying to climb or destroy them. I doubt they can keep fighting at this pace forever, but it is certain that the city will not fall so easily.

That is precisely why, if the surprise attack by the players lying in wait before us succeeds, the tide of battle should turn. I doubt that alone will win the war, but the outcome of the first day should be decided. If we can inflict serious damage at the outset, we should be able to fight from a more advantageous position afterward as well.

And if the battle drags on, reinforcements from other cities will arrive in time. That is the event's time limit. In other words, a war of attrition is exactly what the players' side wants.

"Still, I can't believe they've sent players out... Did my half-baked plan to drive a wedge between them fail? No, I suppose I can't say that for sure..."

The plan had been to give the enemy lies that were close to the truth and drive a wedge between the players and the NPCs. Yet considering that they had entrusted the players with the crucial mission of launching a surprise attack, perhaps the plan had failed after all.

On the other hand, when I considered the nature of that ambush force, it seemed premature to conclude that my plan had fizzled out. Attacking from behind and causing chaos by rampaging was one thing. But retreating after that should not be easy.

There were two ways they could have gotten here. One was to lie in ambush before the monsters arrived. The other was to circle around behind them using some sort of escape route from the city to the outside.

And of those two, I believe the former is the case. I can't imagine the city revealing an escape route—surely one of its most important secrets—to the players. If the players tried to flee through it and were somehow followed by the monsters... things would become extremely troublesome.

In WSS, one's relationship of trust with NPCs is a very important factor. The NPC with whom I likely have the highest affinity is Iifa-sama, the 'Goddess of Death and Chaos,' followed by Gravekeeper-dono, who was in the underground area beneath Fars.

There is no way to confirm it directly, but it is easy to imagine that earning as much affinity with these NPCs as we have would require extraordinary effort. These NPCs may be unusual, but even with other NPCs, one would need to work hard to build up affinity in the same way. Even if the players fought alongside them at the fortress, earning their absolute trust would surely be difficult. My misinformation would only make that harder. Besides...

"I can't imagine that 'Persona' has been sitting idle, either."

I can't imagine that the cunning and shrewd Usuba has been doing nothing in the city. They must have taken some action to drive a wedge between the players and the NPCs. I hear it is difficult to commit crimes in the city... but that group will find a way.

"So what are we going to do? The ambush could begin at any moment now."

"Well, worrying won't get us anywhere, I suppose. All right. Shichikou, I've got a favor to ask."

"What, are you planning another nasty trick?"

"Don't want to?"

"I've stuck with you this far, haven't I? Like I'd refuse. Come on and tell me—I'll do anything for you!"

For now, our priority should be making the ambush fail. Preventing the monsters from suffering too many losses was one of our goals, but if we made the operation fail, we might be able to drive an even deeper wedge between the players and the NPCs. There wasn't a single reason not to interfere, was there!?

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The players who had accepted the quest to launch a surprise attack on the monsters waited patiently, if nervously, for a signal from the city. The signal was exceptionally easy to understand: three signal flares being fired into the sky. It was so simple that there was no chance of mistaking it.

"How much longer are we supposed to wait? It's been quite a while already."

"You've been saying that over and over. It should only be a little longer, so sit tight."

However, the people waiting endlessly for the signal were growing extremely impatient. For one thing, they were players participating in an event, not soldiers. Having to crouch in silence and wait while watching the people in front of them enjoy the flashy event was incredibly stressful.

"Damn it! If I hadn't survived that fortress, I'd be fighting my guts out over there by now!"

"Now, now, don't get so worked up. If we succeed in the operation, we'll probably get a special reward, too. Just look forward to that, and the wait won't be so bad, will it?"

This surprise attack was a special quest called an 'In-Event Quest,' which could only be taken once during the event. It had two requirements: 'Being level 20 or higher' and 'Being a player who survived the battle at the fortress.'

More people met the first requirement. Even the second-wave players were around level fifteen if they played normally, and many of them had exceeded that threshold during the battle at the fortress.

Unlike the west-northwestern fortress, which had been hit by 'Persona's' sabotage and Izam's harassment, and the central fortress where the Troll King had run wild, the other three fortresses had been reasonably manageable. In addition, for this event alone, players received experience even from battles in which they died. Thus, although the vast majority of players had died and respawned, they had gained a considerable amount of experience and grown much stronger.

But I digress. These players had survived that hellish battlefield, and they had been chosen for this surprise attack because they could take advantage of their ability to revive and participate in the war again. Though they could only revive once during the event, they still had their revival available. Even if they fought until they died, they would simply revive inside the city anyway, and fighting until death was one of the quest's requirements.

"Still, a quest that ends when you die is pretty unusual."

"Quests normally end when you report that you've completed them."

"So when do you think we get the special reward? When we respawn?"

"No way. That's impossible. We're in the middle of a war."

"Getting it all at once after the event ends is probably the most reasonable answer."

A relaxed atmosphere hung among the players. If they had been NPCs equipped with pseudo-personality AIs, they would have been tense before an operation in which their deaths were certain. In that respect, being able to act normally because they would revive no matter what was without a doubt one of the players' strengths.

The players who had been irked were impatient simply because they wanted to fight already. It was obvious that the danger to their lives was not the cause.

"Either way, the signal should come soon. Those guys are too eager to attack and aren't watching their backs at all. They're the perfect chance for us to attack from behind... Oooooh!?"

It was no wonder that one of the players let out a strange cry of surprise. A huge explosion had suddenly erupted to their right, around where comrades who had accepted the same quest were hiding.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! What the hell is going on!?"

"Someone screwed up, damn it!"

"More importantly, what do we do now!? This isn't an ambush anymore!"

That was the problem. The reason for the trouble mattered less than what they would do next. Even if the operation failed, they had no way to escape back to the city.

Just as Izam had predicted, it was hard to say that the city's authorities trusted them at all. That was why they had hidden in the forest before the monsters arrived and waited to attack them from behind. Consequently, although there was a secret route back to the city, they had not been told about it.

"GROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAH!!!"

"This is bad... They're coming this way!"

As if they had no concern for the confused players, a large number of monsters were approaching from the direction of Ilevs, roaring as they came. There was no way they could have pinpointed the players' hiding places, but it was only a matter of time before the players were discovered.

"Should we run!?"

"Don't be stupid! Run where!?"

"Exactly, damn it! We've got no choice now! We'll cause as much havoc as we can here, kill as many as possible, and take them down with us!"

"That's the only thing we can do!"

"Who the hell screwed this up!?"

The anguished scream raised by one of the players spoke for every person who had taken part in the ambush operation.

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"Ugh... T-that's vicious..."

"AHAHAHAHAHA! If they find out this was our doing, everyone is definitely going to turn on us!"

"Don't worry. Even if they figure it out, we can just flee somewhere the other players aren't."

Our other companions' reactions to the harassment I had planned and had Shichikou carry out split sharply between utter dismay and uproarious laughter.

What I asked him to do was extremely simple. I handed him talismans made using 【Talisman Arts】 that I had brought with me, and had him scatter them directly above the players we found. The talismans I gave him had Lava Bullet and Magic Bomb imbued in them. There were ten of each—in other words, every last one I had.

Since I had used them without holding back, the area where the players had been was erupting spectacularly and billowing thick smoke. Even the monsters, who had been looking only ahead, seemed to notice the noise and smoke, and a considerable number of them were heading in that direction. It was only a matter of time before the two sides collided.

There were surely many other players hiding nearby, but we would leave flushing them out to the monsters. There was only one thing left for us to do.

"I'm back, Boss!"

"Good. Then we're pulling back."

"I see. So we're going to pick off whoever survives?"

"You don't miss a trick."

"...What do you mean?"

"I think Izam-san is expecting some players to try to flee."

As Uru said, I expected that some of them would choose to run, no matter how they had arrived here. Even though this was a game, the sight of numerous enormous monsters charging forward with weapons raised was fairly frightening. There was certainly a good chance they would want to flee.

Moreover, I thought that the more experienced a player was at combat, the more likely they would be to flee rather than accept a pointless death. If it were me, I would retreat and launch a guerrilla attack rather than make a last stand. Of course, if they had come here intending to die, then my prediction would be wrong.

"Besides, if we stay here, the monsters might turn their attention toward us. That would be quite troublesome in its own right."

"Understood. I'll take care of the rear guard."

Thus, we retreated while causing considerable trouble for the players taking part in the main event.