CHAPTER 5: A CLASS QUEST AND A FOUR-MAN PARTY RESTRICTION
CHAPTER 5: A CLASS QUEST AND A FOUR-MAN PARTY RESTRICTION
Four days pass...
We had grinded at the Iron Gemini Training Ground for three days and spent the remaining one day on the ninth floor. We had finally caught up to the vanguard of the expedition.
With my ample supply of ingots, I had replaced my Canesword materials with their new upgrades. Weapons have to be upgraded eventually, so being able to do so while grinding levels was a big deal for us.
Though I must admit, it was a little terrifying to see Akira slaying Iron Gemini after Iron Gemini in stone-faced silence as she had grown bored of the grind. But she made up a month-long absence in only ten days, so good job to her. Her Skyfall and my burst damage were instrumental in our being able to take down powerful enemies as a duo.
As for the tenth floor, according to Maeda and Yano, there’s a barrier in the center of the map that houses the final boss of Trinisty Island. To challenge the boss, a party must hunt the monsters outside the barrier in order to acquire the materials necessary for the Bell of Light, which will dispel the barrier.
According to the vanguard party, they would soon have the necessary items to challenge the boss. The entire class gains access with just one bell, so we’d be able to assist the vanguard party as well.
Akira and I were excited to join them today, but... when I logged in, the class’s morale had taken a nosedive. They always seemed to be having fun. I wonder what happened?
“Oh, good morning, Ren.”
“Morning, Akira. The mood seems a little different today. I wonder what’s going on.”
“I dunno either, but I noticed it when I logged in too.”
“Really?”
When I looked over the classroom, I realized that everyone had the debilitated debuff, a condition that reduces all stats by a large amount. Specifically, all stats are reduced to 20%, even including HP and MP. Most often, people will receive this status after they’ve died and been revived with magic. Some of the highest level resurrection magic will leave the target with no negative side effects... but that clearly wasn’t the case here.
“Everyone’s debilitated. I wonder how they all got that condition at the same time?”
While Akira was looking around the room, Yano logged in. She wasn’t affected by that status, so her stats were fine. Like us, she looked confused before asking me about it.
“Uhhh? Hey, Takashiro? What’s going on here? Everyone’s debilitated.”
“No idea. Sorry.”
“Aww. Oh hey, there’s Kotomi! Kotomiiii!”
Maeda had the status effect as well. “Oh, good morning, Yuuna.”
“Hey, Kotomi, why is everyone debilitated? Did something bad happen?”
“You could say that. We were gathering materials for the Bell of Light, when suddenly, some sort of artillery flew at us. It exploded, leaving everyone in the blast radius debilitated.”
“Yesterday? Oops, I was out running errands. So it still hasn’t worn off, then?”
“That is correct. We summoned the teacher with the Call GM function, and she told us that it was the doing of an item called the Gem of Emaciation. It has a very long duration.”
“Huh. Maybe another class used it to mess with us. How long does it last, exactly?”
“Its natural duration is about 48 hours.”
“48 hours?! That’s ridiculous!”
I gasped in surprise as well. Only the most annoying griefers would stoop to using something like that.
“She even said that you can’t acquire that item until after Trinisty Island. There are faster ways to heal its effect in later areas, but for now, we can only wait for it to end.”
“Whaaaat?! What kind of low-life would do something so filthy?!”
“I can’t say for sure, but class B was nearby. So maybe...”
“But they shouldn’t be able to obtain it either, right?”
“Aoyagi is correct in that regard, but they very well could have received it from upperclassmen as well. GMs can dispel the effect if they find evidence of cheating, but for now, we can only wait for the investigation... which will take a long time too.”
“But Kotomi, if we just sit around, won’t the other classes beat the boss before us and win the quest? What should we do?”
“There’s no way for us to beat the boss while we’re debilitated. I believe the only thing we can do is wait.”
Everyone must have been so down because they realized this too. It must have been a real punch to the gut for this to happen when the summit was within view.
“Everyone’s given up at this point, so the class feels like a funeral right now. Makes sense. But honestly, it makes me really mad! We were doing so well too! Grr!”
“It really is a crying shame. As expedition leader, I wish I could have led everyone to a proper conclusion. I’m sorry, Yuuna.”
“It’s not your fault, Kotomi! I know how hard you’ve been working. Good girl, good girl.” Yano started to pat Maeda’s head.
“Heehee. What a surprise that we ended up at the same high school, and that you’d end up consoling me like this.”
“Oh? Did you two know each other before coming to this school?” Akira was always excited to gossip.
“Yep! We knew each other from middle school.”
“We couldn’t claim that connection when we actually were in middle school, though.”
Quite a surprise that a class rep and a gaudy gal would be friends, even if they were classmates.
Putting all that aside... I did agree that Maeda was doing her best to be a good expedition leader. She worried about me when my level fell behind, and she even gave us a strategy guide to help. I was still thankful for all that, so I wanted to find some way to reciprocate. This was the best possible time to reveal my power as one of the chosen gamer elite!
“‘There’s no time to give up!’“ Akira and I declared, at the same time. Our faces met, and Akira let me speak.
“Myself, Akira, and Yano are still unaffected. Let’s see if the three of us can clutch it out!”
“What?! Just the three of you?!” said Maeda.
“Consider it a party size restriction. Me and Akira are specced for skirmishes, so if the stars align, we might have a chance! I think it’s at least worth trying.”
“I think Ren’s the only one built for skirmishes, but I agree with the rest of it! We can’t let everyone’s effort go to waste without at least trying!” said Akira.
“Specs aside, I’m willing to give it at least one try just to see whether it’s really doable or not,” I added.
“I agree with that too! Do we have the Bell of Light yet?”
“We should have a few of them ready, right, Kotomi?”
“Yes. We have three of them, as of yesterday.”
“How about you let us have one, then? Call it recon!” Ooh, looks like Yano is on board. “A party size restriction with the Emperor of Underpowered sounds like a heck of a lotta fun! I’m getting psyched!”
Her motivation seemed to be infecting Maeda, even. “You’re right. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, you should—no, we should go. Even if I can’t help much with this debuff, I’m coming too.”
With that settled, we decided to venture to the tenth floor boss after school for reconnaissance.
◆◇◆
Here we are, after school. With the rest of the class powerless thanks to the debilitation effect, they logged out. They really had given up hope.
The four of us gathered in the warp room before heading to the tenth floor boss. I guess they were afk for a bathroom break, because I was left waiting for them alone in the warp room. While I waited, I noticed Kataoka from class B, the guy I had bet Skyfall on a duel against.
When he noticed me, he spoke. “Yo. I’m guessing you guys are suffering from the debilitation bomb too.”
Did he just say “too”? Does that mean he too was on the receiving end of that legendary debuff item? Was Maeda wrong to suspect class B? If not them, then who could it have been?
“What the heck? Don’t try to ignore me, buddy!”
“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t ignoring you.”
“Anyway, my bad for all that stuff before! I got a little ticked off because that item was so rare. Now that I look back on it, I was picking a fight for nothing. Sorry.” He put his hands together and lowered his head in apology.
Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad after all. I was a little happy about this, since I wanted to believe all gamers were good at heart.
“Aww, c’mon. I’m not mad at you, anyway. So does that mean your class got hit with the bomb too?”
“Yeah. Eight of us can hardly even move. It’s a serious blow since we’re looking to fight the final boss.”
“It hit almost all of us, so our final boss plans were interrupted too. Everyone’s down in the dumps.”
“That’s a real shame. We were gonna try to fight it with our remaining members, but—” Someone spoke from across the room, interrupting Kataoka.
“Come along now, Kataoka. I shall not suffer dullards.”
Nozomi Akabane (1-B)
Level 28 Sword Dancer; no status icons.
Whoa. This girl was really something. To call her beautiful would be an understatement. She had slim, long legs like a model, and... well, I digress.
She played the same class as Akira, but she wore it even more boldly, equipped with the nearly-naked sword dancer gear in a very public place as if it were no big deal. People nearby glanced at her here and there, but she gave no sign of caring. She seemed to be a person of high culture, which was reflected in her manner of speech.
“Oh! No prob, Lady Nozomi! I’ll be right with you! I hope you don’t mind the wait!” Kataoka plastered a cordial smile on his face.
When she heard his response, so-called “Lady Nozomi“ sighed and turned her attention to someone else.
“...”
As I watched the scene before me, a thought crossed my mind: why did Kataoka want Skyfall that much in the first place? He’s a rogue. He can’t even equip it himself. That fact combined with his practically begging to be the dirt beneath Lady Nozomi’s boots...
“Hey. By any chance, did you want Skyfall so you could offer it up to her?”
“How’d you guess?” He just nodded at me! Do these guys really exist?!
In gamer terms, people like these two would be called Hime-chan and her follower. Hime-chan basically means “my dear, sweet princess,” and refers to a gamer girl that other players will pamper and spoil, as if she were a princess or something. They’ll help her with anything she wants, offer rare items to her, and stick to her like glue forever. That’s why they’re called followers. Thanks to them, the Hime-chan gets to play the game on easy mode. She’ll start to think that’s the normal state of things, so she’ll never get better at the game.
If you can’t tell, I’m not a big fan of people like that. I just can’t imagine enjoying the game like that. Honestly, I wish they’d go be weird somewhere else. Not that I can speak for how much fun Akabane is having, I guess.
But wow, Kataoka... I didn’t know you were that kind of guy. My opinion of you has changed yet again, and definitely not for the better.
“But I guess you’d catch on quick, since me and you are doing the same thing. Sorry for getting your ‘friend’ caught up in the whole mess.”
“Huh?! What do you mean, ‘the same thing’?!”
Kataoka was obviously confused.
“Aren’t you a follower for that sword dancer girl? See, we’re the same.”
Oh God, no! I didn’t even realize! Did Akira and I really look like that?
“After the duel, I was talking to Ms. Nakada. She said that even if I’m a loser, as long as I can make just one Hime-chan happy, that’s all that truly matters. You were so right, teach! I never realized how narrow-minded I was!”
“...”
What in the world is he going on about?! All I want to do is be the cool, aloof guy who redefines metas! Do I actually look like a drooling follower in the eyes of others?!
“What was her name... Aoyagi? She’s pretty cute, yeah. But I like the bossy princess types, so Lady Nozomi is the only one for me.”
“Whoa, whoa, stop. You’ve totally got the wrong idea!”
“Heh. That’s what they all say at first. But when you get used to it, being twisted around a Hime-chan’s little finger and making her offerings is kinda nice, y’know? And then, suddenly, you start seeking out more Hime-chans!”
“I don’t care! Please, don’t lump me in with guys who destroy video games for their real-life fantasies!”
“Those nice guys who try to get in her pants IRL aren’t real followers! Honestly, as long as I have a good Hime-chan, I don’t even care if it’s actually a guy behind the screen! I’ll still bring her offerings! A real follower isn’t looking for acknowledgement! A real follower just wants to be wrapped around his Hime-chan’s little finger! Do you feel me, man?!”
I definitely do not feel you, man. You’re a moron, and you’re way too passionate about your depravity.
“Uhh... I get that you have weird interests, but don’t go bringing me into them.”
“I wouldn’t mind having you as a follower, Ren.”
I suddenly realized that Akira had been standing behind me.
“Hey there, Akira.”
“Yo, Aoyagi. Sorry about that stuff before. I really regret it.”
“Oh, no. You’re fine. I don’t really care anymore.”
Then, Akabane once again accosted Kataoka. “Kataoka! Did I not just tell you to hurry it up?! Or do you enjoy making ladies wait?!” She was getting pretty mad.
Upon seeing her, Akira let out a little “Eep!” and hid behind me. I wonder why?
“Oh! I’m coming! I beg your forgiveness! All right, later. Good luck out there.” Kataoka said his goodbyes and left.
“Why are you hiding, Akira?”
“Oh, um... I might know that girl in real life.”
“You mean Akabane?”
“Whooooa. Yeah, that’s her.”
“Why didn’t you say hi, then?”
“Look, she’s not my friend or anything... I don’t want to be friendly with her, anyway.”
Did they know each other in school or something? But Akabane seemed more princessy and prissy to me, so I doubt they’d have gone to the same school, right? Or maybe... Akira’s a princess too? I think she said she lived in Yokohama. Maybe she lives in one of those huge mansions there.
...While we’re on the subject, I live in Tokyo.
We’d always gamed together, but we never really talked at length about school. Other than the fact that it was always boring, anyway. But she didn’t seem all that eager to talk about it, so I decided not to pry.
Changing the subject, I summarized the new information I had heard from Kataoka.
“By the way, it looks like it wasn’t class B that used the debilitation bomb. According to Kataoka, their class was affected by it too.”
“Really? I wonder who did it, then. But hey, instead of pointing fingers, we ought to focus on the four-player expedition.”
“Right. He said class B is going to fight the boss despite their decreased firepower, and that we also have to think about the other classes.”
“Sorry to keep ya both waiting!”
“All four of us are here, then. We should depart immediately.”
Yano and Maeda approached us. Now that everyone was present, we were ready to go. A lot of people were using the warp room, so we had to wait in line. We used this delay to organize our party setup.
Our class composition was as follows: me as symbologist, Akira as sword dancer, Yano as paladin, and Maeda as scholar. Our levels were 23, 23, 29, and 25, Yano being the strongest of all of us.
“Good job catching up so much, though. You two are crazy.”
“Crazy lucky, maybe. I had a month to prepare too.”
“Hey, Maeda. Why did you choose scholar, anyway?”
“I was wondering about that myself.”
Yano’s choice, paladin, was the best tank out there. No surprise on her end. But scholar was one of the weaker classes; a Bummer. I had to wonder why she went for that one. Maybe she enjoyed weak classes like me. Was she one of the chosen few?
“Both of my parents are academics, so I wanted to be like them.” Her response was surprisingly innocent.
“Wow. I get it, though.”
“I know it’s not the greatest class, but even the teachers told us to choose what we liked the most, so...”
“If I did the same, I guess I would choose merchant? Nah, it sucks.”
“Oh? Do your parents sell things?”
“Yep! They run a little beauty salon.”
“Ooh, cool! Do they do your hair?”
“Nah. We don’t really see eye to eye on fashion, so I go to other salons. They think teenagers should go natural, or something.”
“I’m guessing your parents don’t exactly approve of your gaudy style, Yano?”
“Yup, not in the slightest. Oh, but Aoyagi, you can just call me Yuuna. Mind if I call you Akki?”
“Sure! I’m fine with that.”
The two of them smiled at each other.
“Hmm. I can’t think of any classes that would fit that criteria for me.” My dad worked in game development, while my mom was an author.
“Same for me, Ren.”
On that note, we reached the front of the line and proceeded to the final floor. The tenth floor had no cities; instead, the warp point was just outside of the central barrier. The last boss is in here, huh? I wondered what it was like.
“If we use the Bell of Light here, we should be able to enter and fight the boss. Takashiro, Aoyagi, what should we watch out for?”
“We should be able to tell at a glance whether we’re able to do it with just the four of us. If we think we can, we’re free to challenge it again; if not, then all we can do is give up and wait for the rest of the class to heal up.”
“It looks like it’s all up to your ultimate, Ren. Whether we can win or not depends on if you can kill it in a few hits.”
“Right. If I can kill it in one or two hits, we can probably win on the first try.”
“Is your ultimate really that powerful?”
“Yup, he’s not kidding! But it only works for one attack. It also takes an annoying amount of prep, and it’s a big cash drain, since it breaks his weapon in the process.” Akira spoke for me. She definitely understood the drawbacks.
“Yano, you start off by aggroing the boss. I’ll attack with Dead End, and we’ll judge based on how much of his HP bar is lost. That’s the most important thing here.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “I doubt one hit alone will finish him, so we’ll keep going for as long as we can. Once Akira pops Sword Samba, I can attack again. Since Samba costs 200 AP, she’ll have to get AP as fast as possible.”
When we enter boss battlefields, all support effects end, making her start with 0 AP. We could only assume this would remain true for the final boss.
“Then the basic plan is to start the battle with Yuuna and Aoyagi fighting the boss alone and building up AP, right?”
“If it attacks us without provocation, that’s the only thing we can do. But if it doesn’t attack first, then there won’t be any problems with us waiting. Then, Akira can gather AP with Breath of Ares.”
“For real?! Lucky! That’s like, the best starting talent! I just got Master’s Scroll (Shield), and I don’t even need it!”
Ouch. Poor Yano. It’s not a bad talent, but it’s wasted on paladins, considering they can already equip shields.
“That’s one of the highest ranking talents, right? I must admit, I’m a bit envious.”
“Heheh. What was your starting talent, Maeda?”
“Oh, me? I started with Tactical Magic.”
“That’s pretty good too, yeah? When you use magic, your AP increases based on MP consumption.”
“That’s right. It’s certainly not a bad talent.”
“Anyway, when Akira has enough AP, she’ll Samba so I can attack again.”
“How about using your Remedy of Murgleis? You still have it, right?”
“Depends on the situation. If it looks like we can win, I’ll use it. The main problem is whether I survive or not after using Dead End; it’s possible that I’ll die before I can get a second hit in.”
“Ohh, right. When you do a ton of damage, you get a ton of aggro. That’s no good for someone at 1 HP. I’ll try healing you as soon as you attack, like last time.”
Yano and Maeda’s classes both had recovery magic as well. With everyone but me wielding recovery magic, we had quite the hospitable party. But if the boss normally required the coordinated effort of an entire class to defeat, it probably had a ton of attack power too.
“Oho! I really am vital to the operation, then. You’re counting on me to pull the aggro and keep Ren safe.”
“That’s exactly what we need. Try to hold aggro for as long as you can, please.”
“All righty! I’ll do what I can.”
“So, let’s outline our final strat.”
I began to organize all of our information thus far: If the boss doesn’t attack us right off the bat, we’ll wait for Akira to gain AP. But if it does, Yano and Akira will fight him off while she does. Once Akira has ample AP, I’ll hit him with Dead End. Then, we check how much HP the boss has left. After that, Akira will Samba for me so I can use Dead End again. All the while, she’ll continue to fight the boss, using Samba on me as soon as she hits 200 AP again.
I should note: If I generated too much aggro and the boss stuck to me, it was likely that I’d die. All we could do about that is hope that Yano could out-aggro me.
Maeda was debilitated, so she’d just have to sit back and watch the battle, occasionally tossing out recovery and buffing magic.
“And that about covers it. This is our first try, so there’s no point in making a calculated, airtight plan.”
I wasn’t normally one to wing strats, but ah well.
“All right, then. Onward!”
“Ooh, I’m so excited!”
“I’m going to use the Bell of Light now.”
Maeda activated the bell, creating a hole in the barrier. Our party was sucked into the hole it made, bringing us inside. Suddenly, all around me was darkness. After the warp was completed, I saw a single, black-scaled dragon lingering in the middle of the circular arena.
I observed the dragon. Its name was Shadow Dragon Diablo. That’s a punchy name. I felt like I had seen it in some giant monster movie before.
Then it struck me: wow, I’m standing in front of a giant monster! It stood about three stories tall. The dragon’s body was massive, with long, sharp, sword-like claws on each of its four legs. Deadly-looking barbs covered the entirety of its tree trunk-sized tail. With each breath, flames erupted from the dragon’s great maw.
Hoo boy, this is a little too scary. I couldn’t even imagine how strong it would be.
“Wowwww... VRMMO dragons are so awe-inspiring!”
“This is so cool! I gotta take some screenshots!” Akira started an impromptu photo-op with the boss, grinning all the while.
“It doesn’t look like it’ll attack without provocation.” So it would just let us buff and prepare for battle, then.
“All right, let’s wait for Akki’s AP gauge to fill.”
“Yep. I’ll go ahead and change my gear too.”
Even now, Akira was in her school uniform. Akira had only just then changed into her (intensely revealing) sword dancer battle gear.
“Whoa. That’s a little too sexy, don’t you think?”
“I-It is rather bold for a school-based game. Is this supposed to be educational?”
Both of them seemed as though they wouldn’t be willing to wear it themselves.
“Yeah. Now I see why nobody wants to play sword dancer.”
“Right... They say a picture’s worth a thousand words.”
“Aww, I don’t like it either, y’know, but this one is the best in battle. If there was gear that’s up to par and didn’t show as much skin, I’d be using it.”
“Sorry to hear that, Akki. But I think you rock it well, girl! I think your boobs look really good when they’re emphasized like that.”
“Yes, I must agree. It doesn’t look bad on you at all. But...”
“But you wouldn’t wear it.”
“Correct.”
“Uggggh! Ren made me do it!” Akira glared at me with regret in her eyes.
“Ren’s the one who told you to be a sword dancer? Jeez, what a horndog!”
“And here I thought he was more of an honest boy.”
“I was just thinking of her potential combat synergy, okay?! It was necessary! Necessary for us to win, I mean!”
We talked among ourselves, waiting for Akira’s AP to fill up to 300. In the meantime, Maeda cast Protection on us one by one, increasing our defenses.
Scholar is a class that combines wizard’s offensive magic and cleric’s healing magic. Of course, she couldn’t learn all of either class’s magic, and her spells were limited to a single target. This was a major bottleneck, making her unable to hit multiple enemies at a time. And with no area-of-effect healing, she would fall behind in healing per second too. She also doesn’t have the MP preservation skills of wizard and cleric, and her physical attacks are just as weak as mine.
The scholar’s most unique feature is its access to draconic magic. Draconic magic can’t be obtained from scrolls in shops; instead, it has to be looted from dragon bosses. As such, it’s rather difficult to obtain. To top it all off, all of scholar’s most important stats are rather low. If the player has yet to reach the class’s main selling point, they can only act as an inferior wizard or cleric.
Thus, it is a weak job. A Bummer. But hey, at least it can use more recovery magic than symbologist.
“Ready! I’m at 300 AP.”
“Woo! All right, let’s do it. We’re counting on you, Yano!”
“Okay! I’m gonna tank my butt off!”
Paladin’s basic playstyle involves a shield and a one-handed sword. The class can also learn taunt skills and recovery magic. Compared to other shield classes, paladin’s recovery magic makes it the most durable by far. The stability of the paladin makes it one of the best classes all around. It even has respectable attack power.
Yano moved to the front of our party, approaching Diablo. The boss noticed Yano and roared, attempting to intimidate her. The air began to reverberate with his roar. Yikes! He just gets scarier and scarier! It was too late to turn back now, but personally, I was pumped and ready.
“VRMMO dragons are insane! All right, I am ready to rumble!” Like me, Akira seemed to be swelling with anticipation for the battle ahead. “Let the battle begin!”
As soon as Yano was within skill range, she immediately activated her taunt. For now, she’d be his sole target.
Akira approached the dragon’s forelegs at his flanks and began her Skyfall assault. Maeda moved away, careful not to carelessly enter his attack range.
Meanwhile, I moved between Yano, who stood in front of the dragon, and Akira, who stood to his side. First, I activated Enervating Circle at the maximum possible radius. As usual, my MP gauge was emptied. And then it was go time!
“Let’s skip the introductions and give him a one-shot wonder! Everyone ready?!”
“We’re ready, Ren! Do it!”
“All set!”
“I’ll watch over you!”
Here I go!
“Ultimate move: Dead End!” The malicious purple glow enveloped my blade and then struck Diablo.
The dragon roared in anguish as it was knocked backward. How effective was it? I did 2,148 damage. How much did his HP bar fall?
“About 25%! That was incredible damage! I can hardly believe it!” Maeda yelled from far behind me, confirming what I saw.
This meant we could win, if only I could use Dead End four times. There was hope yet! On top of Akira’s Sword Samba, we also had two Remedy of Murgleis. That meant two more activations: a total of four. If I could get all four off, victory would be ours!
“I’m healing you now, Ren!”
With my HP reduced to 1, Akira immediately cast Healing Dance. At the same time, Maeda and Yano cast Exheal on me. Suddenly, I was at full health again.
With the dragon recoiling from the shock of how much damage it took, we had a brief moment of respite. In that moment, I put as much distance as possible between myself and the dragon. So far, so good. But the real trouble was yet to come.
The dragon, no longer stunned, turned toward me with a fiery glare. Yep, he’s targeting me now. It was hardly a surprise, considering how much damage I dealt.
Groooaaaar!
Diablo roared, even louder this time, and twisted his body. As he turned such that his back faced me, he brandished his supermassive barbed tail like a flail.
This attack has a long wind-up! I can trick him!
When his tail reached its maximum height, I began evasive maneuvers.
Craaaash!
I dove to the side and rolled away. At that very moment, there was an incredible impact where I was just standing. I had just barely timed it right. Despite the wind-up time, his speed was no joke!
As I stood up and tried to make more distance between us, the dragon howled thunderously.
Roooooar!
His booming roar generated a gust of wind so strong that I could hardly keep my footing. In that moment, the dragon approached with ferocity.
He brought the claws of his foreleg down on me. Despite his size, he was too fast! There was no way I’d be able to dodge this!
Still without a Canesword, I was forced to try to guard with my bare hands. But symbologist was nowhere near suited for hand-to-hand combat, so my guard was about as useful as holding up a sheet of paper. Despite putting all of my points into VIT, his guardbreak still brought my HP down to half in a single swipe.
“Ngh... I’ve been hit!”
If I hadn’t guarded, I might have been one-shot. But these tense sorts of situations were what I lived for. This got the blood pumping!
Akira restored my lost HP almost instantly. She always had great reaction time.
“Sword Samba!”
Then, she used her cooldown-resetting dance as well. I could attack again—but I was still the dragon’s favored target. I wouldn’t be able to open the item window like this! I badly needed to make another Canesword.
The next swipe forced me to guard with my bare hands again. With the crushing weight behind the impact of his claws, my HP bar was brought down to half yet again.
“Takashiro, stand back!” Yano stepped between me and Diablo.
“Guardian Force!”
This skill lets the user take attacks in place of the player behind them, allowing us to keep the situation under control. Yano was tanking each of the attacks that came toward me.
A paladin with plate armor and a shield was no laughing matter—she hadn’t even taken a third of the damage I took. Even as she withstood the boss’s attacks, she continued to heal me between hits.
Enemy aggro can also be built up by healing; fittingly, it’s referred to as healing aggro. Paladins aren’t just about direct provocation; they also need to heal their allies to maintain maximum aggro. As long as she could keep the boss from targeting me...
I opened the item window and began crafting. Iron staff and iron sword combined to make a Canesword. All right, it was done. I wasted no time in equipping it. Instantly, a staff reinforced with metal appeared in my hand.
“Guardian Force’s effect just wore off!”
“Got it!”
The boss went for another melee attack against me, but I guarded it with my staff. It didn’t hurt as much as before.
“Get over here and fight me, you stupid dragon!” Yano activated her taunt skill again, followed by another healing spell, but the boss continued to attack me.
“Flashing Spear!”
That was one of Yano’s one-handed sword arts. It was a light-speed thrust with a sword enveloped in light.
176 damage. But even with the added damage aggro, I was still his target. That just goes to show how important damage aggro is, I guess. That’s the biggest drawback of my burst damage. Yano was trying as hard as she could, but I had already pulled more aggro than she ever could.
But I couldn’t stop now! I’d just have to attack faster. With only four people, we wouldn’t have enough MP for a prolonged battle. Our chance of victory would only go down over time.
“Yano! How long until your next Guardian Force?!”
“Two minutes!” She yelled back, panicking. Could we hold out that long?
“I’m going to hit him again now!” I yelled to my allies as I took more and more of his attacks. Between two of the boss’s blows, I activated Dead End!
Gggaaaaaah!
Once again, the boss was stunned for an instant. Amidst the shower of healing that brought me to full health again, I saw Diablo’s HP was at 50%. But with ever more damage aggro on my end, he continued to target me and me alone.
While he was hitting me, I couldn’t open the item window. Until Yano was ready for another Guardian Force, I could only guard and try to bear it. But even if I guarded, I sustained immense damage.
With Maeda debilitated, she was running dangerously low on MP. Yano didn’t have much left, either. Akira used AP instead of MP, but she had only a sliver left herself. I just had to survive until the next Guardian Force—and somehow, I did.
“The cooldown ended!” She activated the skill immediately and stood between me and the dragon. This gaudy paladin really was reliable. While she’s taking the hits, I’d better get to crafting!
But then—
Shadow Dragon Diablo is preparing to unleash Dark Breath!
That was the boss’s special skill, in which he breathed a wave of fire from left to right. It was an area-of-effect skill, instead of the usual single-target. The two of us took the full brunt of the attack.
“Whoa! Ugh, it hit me...” Yano, with full-body plate armor and a shield to protect her, lost 60% of her health bar.
Meanwhile, I, with only light robes to protect me—
Pop! Yep, I was one-shot. When you die, you can’t even move your body... so I fell to the ground with a thud. Alas...
After an instakill like that, even Akira’s catlike reflexes failed to heal me in time.
“Uh, guys?! Our ace just died!”
“Aww man! This sucks!”
“I-Is this the end for us?” Maeda was right. One by one, the party was slaughtered by Diablo.
Well, that was that. The time had come for me to put my secret plan to work. When I respawned, I’d talk to everyone about it.
Four days pass...
We had grinded at the Iron Gemini Training Ground for three days and spent the remaining one day on the ninth floor. We had finally caught up to the vanguard of the expedition.
With my ample supply of ingots, I had replaced my Canesword materials with their new upgrades. Weapons have to be upgraded eventually, so being able to do so while grinding levels was a big deal for us.
Though I must admit, it was a little terrifying to see Akira slaying Iron Gemini after Iron Gemini in stone-faced silence as she had grown bored of the grind. But she made up a month-long absence in only ten days, so good job to her. Her Skyfall and my burst damage were instrumental in our being able to take down powerful enemies as a duo.
As for the tenth floor, according to Maeda and Yano, there’s a barrier in the center of the map that houses the final boss of Trinisty Island. To challenge the boss, a party must hunt the monsters outside the barrier in order to acquire the materials necessary for the Bell of Light, which will dispel the barrier.
According to the vanguard party, they would soon have the necessary items to challenge the boss. The entire class gains access with just one bell, so we’d be able to assist the vanguard party as well.
Akira and I were excited to join them today, but... when I logged in, the class’s morale had taken a nosedive. They always seemed to be having fun. I wonder what happened?
“Oh, good morning, Ren.”
“Morning, Akira. The mood seems a little different today. I wonder what’s going on.”
“I dunno either, but I noticed it when I logged in too.”
“Really?”
When I looked over the classroom, I realized that everyone had the debilitated debuff, a condition that reduces all stats by a large amount. Specifically, all stats are reduced to 20%, even including HP and MP. Most often, people will receive this status after they’ve died and been revived with magic. Some of the highest level resurrection magic will leave the target with no negative side effects... but that clearly wasn’t the case here.
“Everyone’s debilitated. I wonder how they all got that condition at the same time?”
While Akira was looking around the room, Yano logged in. She wasn’t affected by that status, so her stats were fine. Like us, she looked confused before asking me about it.
“Uhhh? Hey, Takashiro? What’s going on here? Everyone’s debilitated.”
“No idea. Sorry.”
“Aww. Oh hey, there’s Kotomi! Kotomiiii!”
Maeda had the status effect as well. “Oh, good morning, Yuuna.”
“Hey, Kotomi, why is everyone debilitated? Did something bad happen?”
“You could say that. We were gathering materials for the Bell of Light, when suddenly, some sort of artillery flew at us. It exploded, leaving everyone in the blast radius debilitated.”
“Yesterday? Oops, I was out running errands. So it still hasn’t worn off, then?”
“That is correct. We summoned the teacher with the Call GM function, and she told us that it was the doing of an item called the Gem of Emaciation. It has a very long duration.”
“Huh. Maybe another class used it to mess with us. How long does it last, exactly?”
“Its natural duration is about 48 hours.”
“48 hours?! That’s ridiculous!”
I gasped in surprise as well. Only the most annoying griefers would stoop to using something like that.
“She even said that you can’t acquire that item until after Trinisty Island. There are faster ways to heal its effect in later areas, but for now, we can only wait for it to end.”
“Whaaaat?! What kind of low-life would do something so filthy?!”
“I can’t say for sure, but class B was nearby. So maybe...”
“But they shouldn’t be able to obtain it either, right?”
“Aoyagi is correct in that regard, but they very well could have received it from upperclassmen as well. GMs can dispel the effect if they find evidence of cheating, but for now, we can only wait for the investigation... which will take a long time too.”
“But Kotomi, if we just sit around, won’t the other classes beat the boss before us and win the quest? What should we do?”
“There’s no way for us to beat the boss while we’re debilitated. I believe the only thing we can do is wait.”
Everyone must have been so down because they realized this too. It must have been a real punch to the gut for this to happen when the summit was within view.
“Everyone’s given up at this point, so the class feels like a funeral right now. Makes sense. But honestly, it makes me really mad! We were doing so well too! Grr!”
“It really is a crying shame. As expedition leader, I wish I could have led everyone to a proper conclusion. I’m sorry, Yuuna.”
“It’s not your fault, Kotomi! I know how hard you’ve been working. Good girl, good girl.” Yano started to pat Maeda’s head.
“Heehee. What a surprise that we ended up at the same high school, and that you’d end up consoling me like this.”
“Oh? Did you two know each other before coming to this school?” Akira was always excited to gossip.
“Yep! We knew each other from middle school.”
“We couldn’t claim that connection when we actually were in middle school, though.”
Quite a surprise that a class rep and a gaudy gal would be friends, even if they were classmates.
Putting all that aside... I did agree that Maeda was doing her best to be a good expedition leader. She worried about me when my level fell behind, and she even gave us a strategy guide to help. I was still thankful for all that, so I wanted to find some way to reciprocate. This was the best possible time to reveal my power as one of the chosen gamer elite!
“‘There’s no time to give up!’“ Akira and I declared, at the same time. Our faces met, and Akira let me speak.
“Myself, Akira, and Yano are still unaffected. Let’s see if the three of us can clutch it out!”
“What?! Just the three of you?!” said Maeda.
“Consider it a party size restriction. Me and Akira are specced for skirmishes, so if the stars align, we might have a chance! I think it’s at least worth trying.”
“I think Ren’s the only one built for skirmishes, but I agree with the rest of it! We can’t let everyone’s effort go to waste without at least trying!” said Akira.
“Specs aside, I’m willing to give it at least one try just to see whether it’s really doable or not,” I added.
“I agree with that too! Do we have the Bell of Light yet?”
“We should have a few of them ready, right, Kotomi?”
“Yes. We have three of them, as of yesterday.”
“How about you let us have one, then? Call it recon!” Ooh, looks like Yano is on board. “A party size restriction with the Emperor of Underpowered sounds like a heck of a lotta fun! I’m getting psyched!”
Her motivation seemed to be infecting Maeda, even. “You’re right. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, you should—no, we should go. Even if I can’t help much with this debuff, I’m coming too.”
With that settled, we decided to venture to the tenth floor boss after school for reconnaissance.
◆◇◆
Here we are, after school. With the rest of the class powerless thanks to the debilitation effect, they logged out. They really had given up hope.
The four of us gathered in the warp room before heading to the tenth floor boss. I guess they were afk for a bathroom break, because I was left waiting for them alone in the warp room. While I waited, I noticed Kataoka from class B, the guy I had bet Skyfall on a duel against.
When he noticed me, he spoke. “Yo. I’m guessing you guys are suffering from the debilitation bomb too.”
Did he just say “too”? Does that mean he too was on the receiving end of that legendary debuff item? Was Maeda wrong to suspect class B? If not them, then who could it have been?
“What the heck? Don’t try to ignore me, buddy!”
“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t ignoring you.”
“Anyway, my bad for all that stuff before! I got a little ticked off because that item was so rare. Now that I look back on it, I was picking a fight for nothing. Sorry.” He put his hands together and lowered his head in apology.
Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad after all. I was a little happy about this, since I wanted to believe all gamers were good at heart.
“Aww, c’mon. I’m not mad at you, anyway. So does that mean your class got hit with the bomb too?”
“Yeah. Eight of us can hardly even move. It’s a serious blow since we’re looking to fight the final boss.”
“It hit almost all of us, so our final boss plans were interrupted too. Everyone’s down in the dumps.”
“That’s a real shame. We were gonna try to fight it with our remaining members, but—” Someone spoke from across the room, interrupting Kataoka.
“Come along now, Kataoka. I shall not suffer dullards.”
Nozomi Akabane (1-B)
Level 28 Sword Dancer; no status icons.
Whoa. This girl was really something. To call her beautiful would be an understatement. She had slim, long legs like a model, and... well, I digress.
She played the same class as Akira, but she wore it even more boldly, equipped with the nearly-naked sword dancer gear in a very public place as if it were no big deal. People nearby glanced at her here and there, but she gave no sign of caring. She seemed to be a person of high culture, which was reflected in her manner of speech.
“Oh! No prob, Lady Nozomi! I’ll be right with you! I hope you don’t mind the wait!” Kataoka plastered a cordial smile on his face.
When she heard his response, so-called “Lady Nozomi“ sighed and turned her attention to someone else.
“...”
As I watched the scene before me, a thought crossed my mind: why did Kataoka want Skyfall that much in the first place? He’s a rogue. He can’t even equip it himself. That fact combined with his practically begging to be the dirt beneath Lady Nozomi’s boots...
“Hey. By any chance, did you want Skyfall so you could offer it up to her?”
“How’d you guess?” He just nodded at me! Do these guys really exist?!
In gamer terms, people like these two would be called Hime-chan and her follower. Hime-chan basically means “my dear, sweet princess,” and refers to a gamer girl that other players will pamper and spoil, as if she were a princess or something. They’ll help her with anything she wants, offer rare items to her, and stick to her like glue forever. That’s why they’re called followers. Thanks to them, the Hime-chan gets to play the game on easy mode. She’ll start to think that’s the normal state of things, so she’ll never get better at the game.
If you can’t tell, I’m not a big fan of people like that. I just can’t imagine enjoying the game like that. Honestly, I wish they’d go be weird somewhere else. Not that I can speak for how much fun Akabane is having, I guess.
But wow, Kataoka... I didn’t know you were that kind of guy. My opinion of you has changed yet again, and definitely not for the better.
“But I guess you’d catch on quick, since me and you are doing the same thing. Sorry for getting your ‘friend’ caught up in the whole mess.”
“Huh?! What do you mean, ‘the same thing’?!”
Kataoka was obviously confused.
“Aren’t you a follower for that sword dancer girl? See, we’re the same.”
Oh God, no! I didn’t even realize! Did Akira and I really look like that?
“After the duel, I was talking to Ms. Nakada. She said that even if I’m a loser, as long as I can make just one Hime-chan happy, that’s all that truly matters. You were so right, teach! I never realized how narrow-minded I was!”
“...”
What in the world is he going on about?! All I want to do is be the cool, aloof guy who redefines metas! Do I actually look like a drooling follower in the eyes of others?!
“What was her name... Aoyagi? She’s pretty cute, yeah. But I like the bossy princess types, so Lady Nozomi is the only one for me.”
“Whoa, whoa, stop. You’ve totally got the wrong idea!”
“Heh. That’s what they all say at first. But when you get used to it, being twisted around a Hime-chan’s little finger and making her offerings is kinda nice, y’know? And then, suddenly, you start seeking out more Hime-chans!”
“I don’t care! Please, don’t lump me in with guys who destroy video games for their real-life fantasies!”
“Those nice guys who try to get in her pants IRL aren’t real followers! Honestly, as long as I have a good Hime-chan, I don’t even care if it’s actually a guy behind the screen! I’ll still bring her offerings! A real follower isn’t looking for acknowledgement! A real follower just wants to be wrapped around his Hime-chan’s little finger! Do you feel me, man?!”
I definitely do not feel you, man. You’re a moron, and you’re way too passionate about your depravity.
“Uhh... I get that you have weird interests, but don’t go bringing me into them.”
“I wouldn’t mind having you as a follower, Ren.”
I suddenly realized that Akira had been standing behind me.
“Hey there, Akira.”
“Yo, Aoyagi. Sorry about that stuff before. I really regret it.”
“Oh, no. You’re fine. I don’t really care anymore.”
Then, Akabane once again accosted Kataoka. “Kataoka! Did I not just tell you to hurry it up?! Or do you enjoy making ladies wait?!” She was getting pretty mad.
Upon seeing her, Akira let out a little “Eep!” and hid behind me. I wonder why?
“Oh! I’m coming! I beg your forgiveness! All right, later. Good luck out there.” Kataoka said his goodbyes and left.
“Why are you hiding, Akira?”
“Oh, um... I might know that girl in real life.”
“You mean Akabane?”
“Whooooa. Yeah, that’s her.”
“Why didn’t you say hi, then?”
“Look, she’s not my friend or anything... I don’t want to be friendly with her, anyway.”
Did they know each other in school or something? But Akabane seemed more princessy and prissy to me, so I doubt they’d have gone to the same school, right? Or maybe... Akira’s a princess too? I think she said she lived in Yokohama. Maybe she lives in one of those huge mansions there.
...While we’re on the subject, I live in Tokyo.
We’d always gamed together, but we never really talked at length about school. Other than the fact that it was always boring, anyway. But she didn’t seem all that eager to talk about it, so I decided not to pry.
Changing the subject, I summarized the new information I had heard from Kataoka.
“By the way, it looks like it wasn’t class B that used the debilitation bomb. According to Kataoka, their class was affected by it too.”
“Really? I wonder who did it, then. But hey, instead of pointing fingers, we ought to focus on the four-player expedition.”
“Right. He said class B is going to fight the boss despite their decreased firepower, and that we also have to think about the other classes.”
“Sorry to keep ya both waiting!”
“All four of us are here, then. We should depart immediately.”
Yano and Maeda approached us. Now that everyone was present, we were ready to go. A lot of people were using the warp room, so we had to wait in line. We used this delay to organize our party setup.
Our class composition was as follows: me as symbologist, Akira as sword dancer, Yano as paladin, and Maeda as scholar. Our levels were 23, 23, 29, and 25, Yano being the strongest of all of us.
“Good job catching up so much, though. You two are crazy.”
“Crazy lucky, maybe. I had a month to prepare too.”
“Hey, Maeda. Why did you choose scholar, anyway?”
“I was wondering about that myself.”
Yano’s choice, paladin, was the best tank out there. No surprise on her end. But scholar was one of the weaker classes; a Bummer. I had to wonder why she went for that one. Maybe she enjoyed weak classes like me. Was she one of the chosen few?
“Both of my parents are academics, so I wanted to be like them.” Her response was surprisingly innocent.
“Wow. I get it, though.”
“I know it’s not the greatest class, but even the teachers told us to choose what we liked the most, so...”
“If I did the same, I guess I would choose merchant? Nah, it sucks.”
“Oh? Do your parents sell things?”
“Yep! They run a little beauty salon.”
“Ooh, cool! Do they do your hair?”
“Nah. We don’t really see eye to eye on fashion, so I go to other salons. They think teenagers should go natural, or something.”
“I’m guessing your parents don’t exactly approve of your gaudy style, Yano?”
“Yup, not in the slightest. Oh, but Aoyagi, you can just call me Yuuna. Mind if I call you Akki?”
“Sure! I’m fine with that.”
The two of them smiled at each other.
“Hmm. I can’t think of any classes that would fit that criteria for me.” My dad worked in game development, while my mom was an author.
“Same for me, Ren.”
On that note, we reached the front of the line and proceeded to the final floor. The tenth floor had no cities; instead, the warp point was just outside of the central barrier. The last boss is in here, huh? I wondered what it was like.
“If we use the Bell of Light here, we should be able to enter and fight the boss. Takashiro, Aoyagi, what should we watch out for?”
“We should be able to tell at a glance whether we’re able to do it with just the four of us. If we think we can, we’re free to challenge it again; if not, then all we can do is give up and wait for the rest of the class to heal up.”
“It looks like it’s all up to your ultimate, Ren. Whether we can win or not depends on if you can kill it in a few hits.”
“Right. If I can kill it in one or two hits, we can probably win on the first try.”
“Is your ultimate really that powerful?”
“Yup, he’s not kidding! But it only works for one attack. It also takes an annoying amount of prep, and it’s a big cash drain, since it breaks his weapon in the process.” Akira spoke for me. She definitely understood the drawbacks.
“Yano, you start off by aggroing the boss. I’ll attack with Dead End, and we’ll judge based on how much of his HP bar is lost. That’s the most important thing here.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “I doubt one hit alone will finish him, so we’ll keep going for as long as we can. Once Akira pops Sword Samba, I can attack again. Since Samba costs 200 AP, she’ll have to get AP as fast as possible.”
When we enter boss battlefields, all support effects end, making her start with 0 AP. We could only assume this would remain true for the final boss.
“Then the basic plan is to start the battle with Yuuna and Aoyagi fighting the boss alone and building up AP, right?”
“If it attacks us without provocation, that’s the only thing we can do. But if it doesn’t attack first, then there won’t be any problems with us waiting. Then, Akira can gather AP with Breath of Ares.”
“For real?! Lucky! That’s like, the best starting talent! I just got Master’s Scroll (Shield), and I don’t even need it!”
Ouch. Poor Yano. It’s not a bad talent, but it’s wasted on paladins, considering they can already equip shields.
“That’s one of the highest ranking talents, right? I must admit, I’m a bit envious.”
“Heheh. What was your starting talent, Maeda?”
“Oh, me? I started with Tactical Magic.”
“That’s pretty good too, yeah? When you use magic, your AP increases based on MP consumption.”
“That’s right. It’s certainly not a bad talent.”
“Anyway, when Akira has enough AP, she’ll Samba so I can attack again.”
“How about using your Remedy of Murgleis? You still have it, right?”
“Depends on the situation. If it looks like we can win, I’ll use it. The main problem is whether I survive or not after using Dead End; it’s possible that I’ll die before I can get a second hit in.”
“Ohh, right. When you do a ton of damage, you get a ton of aggro. That’s no good for someone at 1 HP. I’ll try healing you as soon as you attack, like last time.”
Yano and Maeda’s classes both had recovery magic as well. With everyone but me wielding recovery magic, we had quite the hospitable party. But if the boss normally required the coordinated effort of an entire class to defeat, it probably had a ton of attack power too.
“Oho! I really am vital to the operation, then. You’re counting on me to pull the aggro and keep Ren safe.”
“That’s exactly what we need. Try to hold aggro for as long as you can, please.”
“All righty! I’ll do what I can.”
“So, let’s outline our final strat.”
I began to organize all of our information thus far: If the boss doesn’t attack us right off the bat, we’ll wait for Akira to gain AP. But if it does, Yano and Akira will fight him off while she does. Once Akira has ample AP, I’ll hit him with Dead End. Then, we check how much HP the boss has left. After that, Akira will Samba for me so I can use Dead End again. All the while, she’ll continue to fight the boss, using Samba on me as soon as she hits 200 AP again.
I should note: If I generated too much aggro and the boss stuck to me, it was likely that I’d die. All we could do about that is hope that Yano could out-aggro me.
Maeda was debilitated, so she’d just have to sit back and watch the battle, occasionally tossing out recovery and buffing magic.
“And that about covers it. This is our first try, so there’s no point in making a calculated, airtight plan.”
I wasn’t normally one to wing strats, but ah well.
“All right, then. Onward!”
“Ooh, I’m so excited!”
“I’m going to use the Bell of Light now.”
Maeda activated the bell, creating a hole in the barrier. Our party was sucked into the hole it made, bringing us inside. Suddenly, all around me was darkness. After the warp was completed, I saw a single, black-scaled dragon lingering in the middle of the circular arena.
I observed the dragon. Its name was Shadow Dragon Diablo. That’s a punchy name. I felt like I had seen it in some giant monster movie before.
Then it struck me: wow, I’m standing in front of a giant monster! It stood about three stories tall. The dragon’s body was massive, with long, sharp, sword-like claws on each of its four legs. Deadly-looking barbs covered the entirety of its tree trunk-sized tail. With each breath, flames erupted from the dragon’s great maw.
Hoo boy, this is a little too scary. I couldn’t even imagine how strong it would be.
“Wowwww... VRMMO dragons are so awe-inspiring!”
“This is so cool! I gotta take some screenshots!” Akira started an impromptu photo-op with the boss, grinning all the while.
“It doesn’t look like it’ll attack without provocation.” So it would just let us buff and prepare for battle, then.
“All right, let’s wait for Akki’s AP gauge to fill.”
“Yep. I’ll go ahead and change my gear too.”
Even now, Akira was in her school uniform. Akira had only just then changed into her (intensely revealing) sword dancer battle gear.
“Whoa. That’s a little too sexy, don’t you think?”
“I-It is rather bold for a school-based game. Is this supposed to be educational?”
Both of them seemed as though they wouldn’t be willing to wear it themselves.
“Yeah. Now I see why nobody wants to play sword dancer.”
“Right... They say a picture’s worth a thousand words.”
“Aww, I don’t like it either, y’know, but this one is the best in battle. If there was gear that’s up to par and didn’t show as much skin, I’d be using it.”
“Sorry to hear that, Akki. But I think you rock it well, girl! I think your boobs look really good when they’re emphasized like that.”
“Yes, I must agree. It doesn’t look bad on you at all. But...”
“But you wouldn’t wear it.”
“Correct.”
“Uggggh! Ren made me do it!” Akira glared at me with regret in her eyes.
“Ren’s the one who told you to be a sword dancer? Jeez, what a horndog!”
“And here I thought he was more of an honest boy.”
“I was just thinking of her potential combat synergy, okay?! It was necessary! Necessary for us to win, I mean!”
We talked among ourselves, waiting for Akira’s AP to fill up to 300. In the meantime, Maeda cast Protection on us one by one, increasing our defenses.
Scholar is a class that combines wizard’s offensive magic and cleric’s healing magic. Of course, she couldn’t learn all of either class’s magic, and her spells were limited to a single target. This was a major bottleneck, making her unable to hit multiple enemies at a time. And with no area-of-effect healing, she would fall behind in healing per second too. She also doesn’t have the MP preservation skills of wizard and cleric, and her physical attacks are just as weak as mine.
The scholar’s most unique feature is its access to draconic magic. Draconic magic can’t be obtained from scrolls in shops; instead, it has to be looted from dragon bosses. As such, it’s rather difficult to obtain. To top it all off, all of scholar’s most important stats are rather low. If the player has yet to reach the class’s main selling point, they can only act as an inferior wizard or cleric.
Thus, it is a weak job. A Bummer. But hey, at least it can use more recovery magic than symbologist.
“Ready! I’m at 300 AP.”
“Woo! All right, let’s do it. We’re counting on you, Yano!”
“Okay! I’m gonna tank my butt off!”
Paladin’s basic playstyle involves a shield and a one-handed sword. The class can also learn taunt skills and recovery magic. Compared to other shield classes, paladin’s recovery magic makes it the most durable by far. The stability of the paladin makes it one of the best classes all around. It even has respectable attack power.
Yano moved to the front of our party, approaching Diablo. The boss noticed Yano and roared, attempting to intimidate her. The air began to reverberate with his roar. Yikes! He just gets scarier and scarier! It was too late to turn back now, but personally, I was pumped and ready.
“VRMMO dragons are insane! All right, I am ready to rumble!” Like me, Akira seemed to be swelling with anticipation for the battle ahead. “Let the battle begin!”
As soon as Yano was within skill range, she immediately activated her taunt. For now, she’d be his sole target.
Akira approached the dragon’s forelegs at his flanks and began her Skyfall assault. Maeda moved away, careful not to carelessly enter his attack range.
Meanwhile, I moved between Yano, who stood in front of the dragon, and Akira, who stood to his side. First, I activated Enervating Circle at the maximum possible radius. As usual, my MP gauge was emptied. And then it was go time!
“Let’s skip the introductions and give him a one-shot wonder! Everyone ready?!”
“We’re ready, Ren! Do it!”
“All set!”
“I’ll watch over you!”
Here I go!
“Ultimate move: Dead End!” The malicious purple glow enveloped my blade and then struck Diablo.
The dragon roared in anguish as it was knocked backward. How effective was it? I did 2,148 damage. How much did his HP bar fall?
“About 25%! That was incredible damage! I can hardly believe it!” Maeda yelled from far behind me, confirming what I saw.
This meant we could win, if only I could use Dead End four times. There was hope yet! On top of Akira’s Sword Samba, we also had two Remedy of Murgleis. That meant two more activations: a total of four. If I could get all four off, victory would be ours!
“I’m healing you now, Ren!”
With my HP reduced to 1, Akira immediately cast Healing Dance. At the same time, Maeda and Yano cast Exheal on me. Suddenly, I was at full health again.
With the dragon recoiling from the shock of how much damage it took, we had a brief moment of respite. In that moment, I put as much distance as possible between myself and the dragon. So far, so good. But the real trouble was yet to come.
The dragon, no longer stunned, turned toward me with a fiery glare. Yep, he’s targeting me now. It was hardly a surprise, considering how much damage I dealt.
Groooaaaar!
Diablo roared, even louder this time, and twisted his body. As he turned such that his back faced me, he brandished his supermassive barbed tail like a flail.
This attack has a long wind-up! I can trick him!
When his tail reached its maximum height, I began evasive maneuvers.
Craaaash!
I dove to the side and rolled away. At that very moment, there was an incredible impact where I was just standing. I had just barely timed it right. Despite the wind-up time, his speed was no joke!
As I stood up and tried to make more distance between us, the dragon howled thunderously.
Roooooar!
His booming roar generated a gust of wind so strong that I could hardly keep my footing. In that moment, the dragon approached with ferocity.
He brought the claws of his foreleg down on me. Despite his size, he was too fast! There was no way I’d be able to dodge this!
Still without a Canesword, I was forced to try to guard with my bare hands. But symbologist was nowhere near suited for hand-to-hand combat, so my guard was about as useful as holding up a sheet of paper. Despite putting all of my points into VIT, his guardbreak still brought my HP down to half in a single swipe.
“Ngh... I’ve been hit!”
If I hadn’t guarded, I might have been one-shot. But these tense sorts of situations were what I lived for. This got the blood pumping!
Akira restored my lost HP almost instantly. She always had great reaction time.
“Sword Samba!”
Then, she used her cooldown-resetting dance as well. I could attack again—but I was still the dragon’s favored target. I wouldn’t be able to open the item window like this! I badly needed to make another Canesword.
The next swipe forced me to guard with my bare hands again. With the crushing weight behind the impact of his claws, my HP bar was brought down to half yet again.
“Takashiro, stand back!” Yano stepped between me and Diablo.
“Guardian Force!”
This skill lets the user take attacks in place of the player behind them, allowing us to keep the situation under control. Yano was tanking each of the attacks that came toward me.
A paladin with plate armor and a shield was no laughing matter—she hadn’t even taken a third of the damage I took. Even as she withstood the boss’s attacks, she continued to heal me between hits.
Enemy aggro can also be built up by healing; fittingly, it’s referred to as healing aggro. Paladins aren’t just about direct provocation; they also need to heal their allies to maintain maximum aggro. As long as she could keep the boss from targeting me...
I opened the item window and began crafting. Iron staff and iron sword combined to make a Canesword. All right, it was done. I wasted no time in equipping it. Instantly, a staff reinforced with metal appeared in my hand.
“Guardian Force’s effect just wore off!”
“Got it!”
The boss went for another melee attack against me, but I guarded it with my staff. It didn’t hurt as much as before.
“Get over here and fight me, you stupid dragon!” Yano activated her taunt skill again, followed by another healing spell, but the boss continued to attack me.
“Flashing Spear!”
That was one of Yano’s one-handed sword arts. It was a light-speed thrust with a sword enveloped in light.
176 damage. But even with the added damage aggro, I was still his target. That just goes to show how important damage aggro is, I guess. That’s the biggest drawback of my burst damage. Yano was trying as hard as she could, but I had already pulled more aggro than she ever could.
But I couldn’t stop now! I’d just have to attack faster. With only four people, we wouldn’t have enough MP for a prolonged battle. Our chance of victory would only go down over time.
“Yano! How long until your next Guardian Force?!”
“Two minutes!” She yelled back, panicking. Could we hold out that long?
“I’m going to hit him again now!” I yelled to my allies as I took more and more of his attacks. Between two of the boss’s blows, I activated Dead End!
Gggaaaaaah!
Once again, the boss was stunned for an instant. Amidst the shower of healing that brought me to full health again, I saw Diablo’s HP was at 50%. But with ever more damage aggro on my end, he continued to target me and me alone.
While he was hitting me, I couldn’t open the item window. Until Yano was ready for another Guardian Force, I could only guard and try to bear it. But even if I guarded, I sustained immense damage.
With Maeda debilitated, she was running dangerously low on MP. Yano didn’t have much left, either. Akira used AP instead of MP, but she had only a sliver left herself. I just had to survive until the next Guardian Force—and somehow, I did.
“The cooldown ended!” She activated the skill immediately and stood between me and the dragon. This gaudy paladin really was reliable. While she’s taking the hits, I’d better get to crafting!
But then—
Shadow Dragon Diablo is preparing to unleash Dark Breath!
That was the boss’s special skill, in which he breathed a wave of fire from left to right. It was an area-of-effect skill, instead of the usual single-target. The two of us took the full brunt of the attack.
“Whoa! Ugh, it hit me...” Yano, with full-body plate armor and a shield to protect her, lost 60% of her health bar.
Meanwhile, I, with only light robes to protect me—
Pop! Yep, I was one-shot. When you die, you can’t even move your body... so I fell to the ground with a thud. Alas...
After an instakill like that, even Akira’s catlike reflexes failed to heal me in time.
“Uh, guys?! Our ace just died!”
“Aww man! This sucks!”
“I-Is this the end for us?” Maeda was right. One by one, the party was slaughtered by Diablo.
Well, that was that. The time had come for me to put my secret plan to work. When I respawned, I’d talk to everyone about it.
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