CHAPTER 8: ALMISHR’S BURIAL GROUND
We immediately embarked for the continent of Mishr and made our way to Almishr’s Burial Ground. When the competitive event ended, we were given more options for airship routes to take. The Mishr route was one of those.
The location itself was a hilly viridian area with several open entrances to the burial ground. There were monsters above ground as well, but they were passive monsters, not attacking unless provoked. Furthermore, they were all in the level 10 range, so they posed no threat either way.
“All right! How about we just pick an entrance at random?”
We formed up and entered the tomb. Our party: level 25 symbologist, level 25 sword dancer, level 27 scholar, level 30 sky pirate.
The first entrance had no special signage or markings to speak of; it was just a featureless, cavern-like hole that led to the ruins. The inside was deep darkness, but the walls of the tomb had some strange engravings—magic runes, or perhaps ancient inscriptions? They radiated bright light, allowing us to navigate the interior without issue.
“Oooh, it’s like an ancient civilization.” Akira’s first rule of MMOs was to take screenshots every time she went to a new place, and this time was certainly no different.
“Enemy ahead!”
We discovered a monster in the middle of our sole path. It seemed to be some sort of doll-type enemy, puppeteered by magic. It held a two-handed staff with a deadly looking iron ball attached to the end.
Keeper’s Doll: Level 28
Maybe it was some sort of tomb guardian?
“Guess we ought to kill it, huh?” Everyone nodded to Akira’s suggestion.
On our signal, she began unleashing Skyfall shockwaves at the edge of the enemy’s aggro range.
“Take that!”
The shockwaves were a direct hit, causing the enemy to panic and run toward her. But the shockwave assault was bringing its HP down fast, in addition to the shots fired from Yano’s rifle of old European aesthetic. Meanwhile, Maeda unleashed Fireball spells. All of these attacks landed at once, taking down the foe before it could even fight back.
“Cool. Looks like we’ll be able to progress smoothly,” Akira said, continuing the investigation at the vanguard of our party.
There were heaps of enemies along the way, but none posed much of a threat against the girls’ combined ranged attacks.
Mm... That doesn’t leave much for me to do.
Not much point in throwing out an ultimate for the heck of it. There wasn’t much I could do about it, but it really felt like I was just standing around and watching. Maybe I should have picked up a talent that would come in handy for times like this. After all, I could just unequip it when I didn’t need it. The freedom allowed by the talent system was definitely one of this game’s best features.
“Man, it sucks to use consumable-based weapons on everyday mobs.” Yano groaned.
“All of sky pirate’s weapons are long-ranged, after all.”
“Yeah, Kotomi. Every time I shoot something, that’s money out of my wallet.”
“If only you had a close-range weapon talent,” Akira said.
“But I’m all out of MEP. Oh well, no point crying over spilt milk.”
“Even if you hadn’t spent your MEP, you can’t get Master’s Scroll talents with just 100 or so points. Remember to study hard!”
“Ugh... Kinda lame for a game to demand that you study. Dumb people like me already suffer enough in real life, y’know? This school should throw us a bone.”
“You think so? Honestly, I’m not normally interested in pointless studying, so I’m glad the game is here to motivate me.” I’m definitely learning more than I used to when it comes to classes I couldn’t care less about.
“As it turns out, most people see better results when they enroll at this school.”
“Right. If the school wasn’t known for that, I never would have been able to enroll.”
“Me too.”
“That’s not the case for me. My parents just told me to do what I want.”
“Same here! They just wanted me to be in school, so I chose this one for fun.”
“I’m envious of your freedom.” Maeda replied with a sigh.
“Your parents do seem strict, Kotomi. How’d you convince them to let you enroll in a school that’s half-game?” Despite the school’s reputation for academic results, Yano was right; to a lot of people, it seemed like it was all play.
“We did argue about it a little, but... I think they got tired of being so rigid. Eventually, they said that if I really was interested in it, they’d think about it. But they also said that if my grades fall, they’ll pull me right out of school.”
“That sounds a little controlling. But I guess it’s not our place to say that, as the ones being taken care of.” My parents would probably never say something like that. I should thank them some time.
“I think I’m safe, Ren. I’m focusing on class more than ever, so I’m sure my grades won’t drop. This school is just so fun.” Maeda smiled, full of confidence.
We continued our investigation, eventually stumbling upon a treasure chest.
“Ooh! Treasure, treasure!” Maeda jumped for the chest as fast as she could.
“Make sure you check for traps, Yuuna!”
“Got it!”
By default, both rogues and sky pirates can unlock chests. They can also find and disarm any traps. If other classes want to unlock chests, they have to unlock the talent for it first. None of us had access to that talent yet, so it was nice to have a sky pirate with us.
“Yep, there’s a trap here. It’s one of those, uh... academic ones?”
“A quiz, then?”
Academic traps essentially quizzed your knowledge. I’d never seen one, but they were mentioned in the guidebook. There was no way to disarm them; if you didn’t pass the quiz, the contents of the chest would disappear. It was no surprise that a school would use a trap like that.
“We were born for this. Let’s do it, Aoyagi!”
“Yeah! I’m ready.”
It sure was heartening to have the 90%-average duo with us. Once again, there wasn’t much for me to do.
“Okay, I’m opening it. The rest is up to you, Kotomi and Akki!” Yano opened the chest.
Fanfare and an announcement played from within.
“It’s time for a pop quiz! Answer three out of five questions correctly to get the treasure! Score more than three correctly to increase its rarity! Now, your first question—”
I’ll spare you the details and cut to the chase: their combined knowledge resulted in a 100%. I gotta to admit, they’re amazing.
“Chirp! Chirp chirp!” Draco woke from his slumber in the hood of my robe and offered his applause.
Up to this point, all he did was eat when he wanted and sleep when he wanted. He wasn’t ready to help in battle, but I let it slide because he was so darn cute. For now, all I could do was make sure he was growing well.
As for the contents of the chest—
“Woohoo! Perfect score! What’s inside?!”
“Hmmm... Oh? ‘Special Crafting Guide: Bayonet.’ Maybe Yuuna could use this?” Akira answered after opening the chest.
“Huh? Kotomi, what’s a bayonet?”
“It’s a blade you can attach to the end of a gun. With it, you can essentially use it as a lance.”
“Wow! Then I could fight close-range?”
“I’d assume so. But wow, I didn’t even know this game had bayonets.”
“I’ve never even heard of any bayonet arts.”
“All should be made clear once we craft it. Who’s going to do the deed? If you want, I can take it and try it out right now.”
“Right. I haven’t raised my crafting level, so it’s best if you do it.”
“Same. I don’t really care about crafting, so you go ahead, Ren.”
“Neither have I. Go on, make it for me!”
“All right. Here I go, then.”
I took the Crafting Guide and attempted to use it. A message appeared in the Log: “Learned Special Crafting: Bayonet.” I guess items like this were necessary to learn specialized crafting.
I opened the crafting menu to take a look at my recipes. Several bayonet entries had been added. At my current level, the best one available was the Iron Bayonet. It needed... three iron ingots. I had more than enough.
“Let’s see here...”
I began crafting. With my Efficiency talent, it was done in a flash. A bayonet made of iron appeared in my hand.
“There we go, success. Next, let’s combine this and the gun, I guess. Mind if I borrow your gun, Yano?”
“Sure.” She handed over a Musket. It was fitting equipment for her level.
“I’ll just take this and the bayonet—” Crafting started. Now we’re cooking! If I’d had the wrong recipe, it would have thrown an error first. But my hypothesis was correct and once again, I finished crafting immediately.
The Musket was changed to a Musket Gunblade! As for its appearance, the bottom of the barrel was fitted with what was essentially a knife. Yep, that’s a bayonet in a nutshell.
“And we’re done!”
“Oooh! I can definitely fight close-range with this! Nice! Thanks, Ren.” Seeing such a flamboyant character rub a gun against her cheek so affectionately was a strange sight, indeed. But hey, if she’s happy, then I’m happy. “All right, let’s go try it out right now! Go, go!”
We continued searching, defeating enemies along the way. As Yano tested out her new weapon, we learned a few things.
First, the bayonet attacked with a thrusting motion. Naturally, it had a bit less firepower than the gun’s shots. The thrust itself was somewhat dependent on the type and shape of the gun, as well. One might’ve thought that a small gun’s bayonet would be useless, but... it was actually fairly capable. However, there didn’t seem to be any bayonet-specific arts, so in the end, she could still only use gun arts.
Essentially, bayonets are just a stopgap measure to make up for the gun’s poor short-range capability. But shooting an enemy right after stabbing them is cool, so I thought it was pretty sick overall. Against enemies that don’t pose much danger, the bayonet gives the user an opportunity to save bullets. It could be considered an economically efficient weapon. For the sky pirate, king of bleeding money, it’s vital to find ways to win battles with a minimum of ammo.
Our search continued in that fashion, but then we encountered a problem.
“Huh? Hey, Ren. This is just a dead end, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I didn’t see any keyholes, either. Is this a bust, then?”
“I don’t really mind either way, since I got to upgrade my weapon.”
“At the very least, this wasn’t a waste of time.”
Akira and I had leveled up, as well. I was 26, Akira 26, Maeda 27, Yano 30.
“How about we leave and try a different entrance?”
No objections, so we left the cave.
We entered another cave and tried again... but this one didn’t even have a treasure chest like the last one. We repeated this two, three more times, until morale began to run low.
“Aww. Another bust?”
“I’m beat, and this is boring me to sleep. I think I’m done.”
OffIine, it was almost 7 PM. We were all starting to get hungry. Needless to say, in-game food couldn’t fill an empty stomach.
“How about we take a little break and meet up after?”
“Mm... I guess, but—” I suddenly noticed something.
We were just exiting another dead-end bust. In the middle of this hilly country, you could survey a wide area of land. Far away, at the top of a different peak, I spotted another group entering a cave. About ten people, maybe? Two parties worth, give or take.
“Oh, there are entrances over there too. I see a bunch of people.”
“Wow, yeah. Maybe that one’s connected to the treasure?”
“Maybe! Hey, let’s go.”
“If this one’s a bust, we’d better get our break!”
With that, we moved to where the other group was. The entrance was empty; they were probably already well inside. We followed behind.
“This one seems a little different from the others.”
“Yeah. It’s kinda scary...” Akira continued to snap screenshots, regardless.
This one seemed much more decayed than the others, and quite a bit darker to boot. It was like a plaza, but even with the destruction around us, it seemed as though danger could befall us at any moment. Occasionally, pale silhouettes would appear and fade instantly. Some sort of apparition visual effect, perhaps? In the walls, mummy-like bodies were laid to rest, giving off an even more eerie vibe.
“If you think about it, a burial ground is basically a grave. I don’t like haunted houses...” I didn’t expect it, but Yano seemed the most spooked among us.
“D-Don’t worry. It’s just a game...” Maeda seemed to be getting cold feet too.
Even if you’re complete aware it’s just a game, the sense of presence in VR makes it feel like you’re actually there. This was essentially a super-realistic haunted house for us.
I almost enjoyed seeing everyone so scared; this really was a group of girly girls. Myself, meanwhile, well, I was a horror veteran. In fact, I got the urge to prank them while the pranking was good.
And so—
“Aaaaaaaah!” One yell was all it took for the desired effect.
“Eeeeeeep!”
They all clung to me in terror. As a healthy human man, I couldn’t help but relish the moment. But amidst that commotion, we all toppled over.
“Whoa?!”
The floor below us had opened up. A trapdoor?! We all fell straight down.
After a rather long descent, I felt a sudden impact. Oof... It was a good thing this pain was only in-game.
“Ugh... Oww. Ren, don’t scare us like that!”
“Your yell combined with that fall about gave me a heart attack. That was in poor taste, Takashiro.”
“Ouch... Sorry! I just kinda felt like... Wuh?!”
Whoa! I’m seeing something I should totally not be seeing!
After my face’s close encounter with the underground floor, I looked upward... and from this low angle, I could see Akira’s rear pressed against the floor, along with the interior of Maeda’s skirt...
“Takashiro? Peeping under Kotomi and Akki’s skirts, were you?” Yano smirked and ratted me out. Gee, thanks a lot!
“Ren! Don’t be such a perv in public, please!” Akira puffed her cheeks in anger—
“N-No, I swear, I wasn’t...”
Maeda seemed flustered. “A-A friend of mine said... that since I’m so reserved, I should be more liberal with my choice of underwear, so...”
So like, Akira’s undies were all pink, matching her in-game hair. That’s cute, and it totally fits her style. Maeda’s, meanwhile, were like, all black. Super sexy, y’know? It was kind of a surprise, knowing her personality and demure manner.
“S-So it’s not like... I’m wearing this for fun, or...”
“I get that, I was just... kinda surprised.”
“R-Really?”
“Ohh? Is Kotomi wearing somethin’ steamy? C’mon, gimme a peek.” In came Yano, right on cue.
“N-No! Why would you even...?”
“Ooh. I wanna see too. I need to know for future reference.”
“Sweet! Okay then, Akki, hold her down.”
“On it!”
“Wha?! No, stop!”
“C-Come on, you two. Maeda’s obviously not into this. Cut it out.”
“Whaaaa? Says the one who was perving out in the first place. Don’t act all innocent now.”
“Yeah, exactly! This is all your fault, so you’d better give us a hand!”
“I can’t and I won’t! My bad. I’m sorry. Anyway, we need to find a way back up there.” Thus, I apologized to everyone before they took things one too many steps too far.
From there, we scoped out the floor we were dropped on.
“Hmm? There’s a weirdly conspicuous door over here.”
A colossal door, covered in complex symbols, stood before us.
“Ren, I see a hole that’s just begging to be filled here.”
“Maybe the key will work?”
“Ooh, give it a shot!”
I took out the Ancient Imperial Key. It certainly did look similar to the hole before us. I inserted the key into the cavity in the door. Ooh, perfect.
“It fits!”
The key began to glow, eventually enveloping the entire door in light. We heard a deep noise as the door slowly opened.
“We must be on the right track! Nice job, Takashiro!”
“You were calling me a pervert just a bit ago...” Ah well, what can ya do.
We cheerfully stepped through the door, but then... we were greeted with an entirely new kind of horror.
“Ugh... urgh...”
“We’re screwed...”
“Were we too low level?”
Corpses littered the area. It was probably the group we saw before. All of them were reduced to 0 HP; a complete and utter wipe.
A look at the status screen revealed that they were second-years. Among the ten of them, the average level was 60. Was this place really dangerous enough to annihilate such a large and powerful group? I could only suppose that the path ahead contained those high-level enemies Takaoka mentioned.
“H-Hey, guys. You wouldn’t happen to be able to rez us, huh?” The fallen leader, a paladin, asked.
“Oh, sorry. None of us know any.”
Sword dancers have no resurrection dances, and scholar can learn healing magic, but not rez spells. Being just out of reach of a major itch was what the Bummers were all about. Only paladins, clerics, and minstrels can rez allies. Honestly, it kinda peeved me off that minstrels could do that. Minstrels and symbologists cover the same supportive role, but minstrels are far more versatile.
“Okay, thanks anyway. We’ll just respawn, then. You kids better be careful up ahead.” The party of upperclassmen crumbled to dust, leaving only us in the room.
“Now what? The path ahead looks really tough.” I asked their opinions, but of course, I wasn’t ready to turn back. With my undodgeable, defense-ignoring firebomb of an ultimate, I was the ideal candidate for the job of killing high-level enemies. It’s time for the drama cannon to make some real drama!
If nobody else wanted to go, I was willing to go it alone, even.
“You’re not gonna leave, huh, Ren?”
“Aha, you know me well.”
“I’ll go with you. We’ll never know unless we try, after all.”
“Right. With Dead End on our side, I’m sure we have a chance of defeating even some of the strongest enemies.”
“You haven’t had a chance to do anything since we got here, so I’m definitely not leaving until you do. We’re puttin’ you to work, buddy.”
Everyone understood my style, so they faced forward with optimism. We were all thinking the same thing: Maybe this will actually work out.
“Let’s get to it, then.”
We made our way deeper into the tomb. Within a small room, a single monster lay in wait. I looked at its status from outside aggro range.
Deadly General: Level 81
An undead monster, he was a skeleton clad in full plate armor and wielded a two-handed axe. He was large and imposing, with a level almost three times mine. But putting aside his attack and defense stats, he probably didn’t have as much HP as Shadow Dragon Diablo. That was a final boss; this was just a regular monster. He didn’t even have the rare monster icon.
“My AP is full. Are we going with the usual strategy?” Akira readied Skyfall.
“Yup. Chip away at him with the shockwaves, and I’ll use my ultimate when he approaches.”
In preparation, I deliberately cast Enfeebling Circle in the wrong direction, bringing my MP to 0. “Best to avoid taking aggro for now.”
Yano put her gun on her back, readying her shield instead.
“I’ll Sword Samba so you can attack twice, right?”
“Right. I’m counting on you, Akira.”
“And I’ll heal you along with Yuuna, then.”
“If you get the chance, could you try healing the enemy? Since he’s undead, it should actually do damage. I’m curious how potent it is.”
If Maeda used regular offensive magic, it probably wouldn’t deal much damage. Since the level difference here was so dramatic, regular damage would be heavily reduced. But using healing magic to damage undead enemies was pretty much common sense. In many games, they were extremely weak to it. Following that logic, even in the face of that level difference, maybe she could still do meaningful damage. Only one way to find out.
“Okay. I’ll give it a try, then.”
“Here we go. Everyone ready?”
“Let’s go!”
On our mark, Akira began unleashing shockwaves from Skyfall. They hit the Deadly General, dealing only 12 damage each. With such a huge level difference, of course she wouldn’t do much damage.
The general began his ferocious charge toward Akira, but I stood between them, and Maeda began casting a healing spell.
All right, let’s see if we can do this in one try!
“Hello, and good-die!”
“Wow! Which one of you is the bad guy, again?!”
Ignoring Yano’s heckling, I prepared to use my ultimate. Just before I did, Maeda’s recovery magic tore into the general, unleashing damage unaffected by the level difference.
Kotomi cast Exheal. 253 damage dealt to Deadly General!
Then, I fired off my ultimate!
Ren activated Dead End. 2,401 damage dealt to Deadly General!
As the message appeared in the backlog, the Deadly General’s HP bar flashed to empty. His HP depleted, he groaned thunderously before falling to the ground and fading away. Woohoo! We killed him before he could get a single hit in. It was like pitching a perfect game in baseball.
“Chirp chirp chirp!” Draco expressed his excitement too.
That went a lot more smoothly than I had expected. Maybe we really could make it through. Or so I thought—
Groooooooooan...
Like the previous floor, this area also had mummies buried in the walls. Suddenly, they all started moving at once!
“Ah?!”
“Eeeeeeek!”
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp?!”
We’d figured they were just scenery, so this came as an awful surprise. It was like when people grabbed you through the walls in a haunted house. The girls screamed in terror, and even Draco began to panic.
Crimson Mummy Army: Level 78
The mummies were all covered in blood-soaked red bandages, their faces frenzied and terrifying. They began to charge at me simultaneously. Is this how idols feel when they’re surrounded by fans?
Akira and co. were paralyzed with fear. If these things, nearly three times my level, managed to trap me with a mere 1 HP—
“Hoo boy.”
Well, I’d freaking die, of course. I was at one hitpoint.
With only my bare-handed guard between me and death, their guardbreak would kill me immediately. Thus, I resigned myself to the same fate as the upperclassmen who came before me.
After they finished me off, the mummy army turned to the girls and attacked them as well. Yep, we were toast. I felt like that was a recurring theme lately. But let’s not forget that this dungeon did obliterate a group of ten second-years.
This is a tricky situation. I’ll have to think up a breakthrough solution for this. Heheheh, that’s just the reality of things when you face a level restriction! Now I’m really getting psyched!
The location itself was a hilly viridian area with several open entrances to the burial ground. There were monsters above ground as well, but they were passive monsters, not attacking unless provoked. Furthermore, they were all in the level 10 range, so they posed no threat either way.
“All right! How about we just pick an entrance at random?”
We formed up and entered the tomb. Our party: level 25 symbologist, level 25 sword dancer, level 27 scholar, level 30 sky pirate.
The first entrance had no special signage or markings to speak of; it was just a featureless, cavern-like hole that led to the ruins. The inside was deep darkness, but the walls of the tomb had some strange engravings—magic runes, or perhaps ancient inscriptions? They radiated bright light, allowing us to navigate the interior without issue.
“Oooh, it’s like an ancient civilization.” Akira’s first rule of MMOs was to take screenshots every time she went to a new place, and this time was certainly no different.
“Enemy ahead!”
We discovered a monster in the middle of our sole path. It seemed to be some sort of doll-type enemy, puppeteered by magic. It held a two-handed staff with a deadly looking iron ball attached to the end.
Keeper’s Doll: Level 28
Maybe it was some sort of tomb guardian?
“Guess we ought to kill it, huh?” Everyone nodded to Akira’s suggestion.
On our signal, she began unleashing Skyfall shockwaves at the edge of the enemy’s aggro range.
“Take that!”
The shockwaves were a direct hit, causing the enemy to panic and run toward her. But the shockwave assault was bringing its HP down fast, in addition to the shots fired from Yano’s rifle of old European aesthetic. Meanwhile, Maeda unleashed Fireball spells. All of these attacks landed at once, taking down the foe before it could even fight back.
“Cool. Looks like we’ll be able to progress smoothly,” Akira said, continuing the investigation at the vanguard of our party.
There were heaps of enemies along the way, but none posed much of a threat against the girls’ combined ranged attacks.
Mm... That doesn’t leave much for me to do.
Not much point in throwing out an ultimate for the heck of it. There wasn’t much I could do about it, but it really felt like I was just standing around and watching. Maybe I should have picked up a talent that would come in handy for times like this. After all, I could just unequip it when I didn’t need it. The freedom allowed by the talent system was definitely one of this game’s best features.
“Man, it sucks to use consumable-based weapons on everyday mobs.” Yano groaned.
“All of sky pirate’s weapons are long-ranged, after all.”
“Yeah, Kotomi. Every time I shoot something, that’s money out of my wallet.”
“If only you had a close-range weapon talent,” Akira said.
“But I’m all out of MEP. Oh well, no point crying over spilt milk.”
“Even if you hadn’t spent your MEP, you can’t get Master’s Scroll talents with just 100 or so points. Remember to study hard!”
“Ugh... Kinda lame for a game to demand that you study. Dumb people like me already suffer enough in real life, y’know? This school should throw us a bone.”
“You think so? Honestly, I’m not normally interested in pointless studying, so I’m glad the game is here to motivate me.” I’m definitely learning more than I used to when it comes to classes I couldn’t care less about.
“As it turns out, most people see better results when they enroll at this school.”
“Right. If the school wasn’t known for that, I never would have been able to enroll.”
“Me too.”
“That’s not the case for me. My parents just told me to do what I want.”
“Same here! They just wanted me to be in school, so I chose this one for fun.”
“I’m envious of your freedom.” Maeda replied with a sigh.
“Your parents do seem strict, Kotomi. How’d you convince them to let you enroll in a school that’s half-game?” Despite the school’s reputation for academic results, Yano was right; to a lot of people, it seemed like it was all play.
“We did argue about it a little, but... I think they got tired of being so rigid. Eventually, they said that if I really was interested in it, they’d think about it. But they also said that if my grades fall, they’ll pull me right out of school.”
“That sounds a little controlling. But I guess it’s not our place to say that, as the ones being taken care of.” My parents would probably never say something like that. I should thank them some time.
“I think I’m safe, Ren. I’m focusing on class more than ever, so I’m sure my grades won’t drop. This school is just so fun.” Maeda smiled, full of confidence.
We continued our investigation, eventually stumbling upon a treasure chest.
“Ooh! Treasure, treasure!” Maeda jumped for the chest as fast as she could.
“Make sure you check for traps, Yuuna!”
“Got it!”
By default, both rogues and sky pirates can unlock chests. They can also find and disarm any traps. If other classes want to unlock chests, they have to unlock the talent for it first. None of us had access to that talent yet, so it was nice to have a sky pirate with us.
“Yep, there’s a trap here. It’s one of those, uh... academic ones?”
“A quiz, then?”
Academic traps essentially quizzed your knowledge. I’d never seen one, but they were mentioned in the guidebook. There was no way to disarm them; if you didn’t pass the quiz, the contents of the chest would disappear. It was no surprise that a school would use a trap like that.
“We were born for this. Let’s do it, Aoyagi!”
“Yeah! I’m ready.”
It sure was heartening to have the 90%-average duo with us. Once again, there wasn’t much for me to do.
“Okay, I’m opening it. The rest is up to you, Kotomi and Akki!” Yano opened the chest.
Fanfare and an announcement played from within.
“It’s time for a pop quiz! Answer three out of five questions correctly to get the treasure! Score more than three correctly to increase its rarity! Now, your first question—”
I’ll spare you the details and cut to the chase: their combined knowledge resulted in a 100%. I gotta to admit, they’re amazing.
“Chirp! Chirp chirp!” Draco woke from his slumber in the hood of my robe and offered his applause.
Up to this point, all he did was eat when he wanted and sleep when he wanted. He wasn’t ready to help in battle, but I let it slide because he was so darn cute. For now, all I could do was make sure he was growing well.
As for the contents of the chest—
“Woohoo! Perfect score! What’s inside?!”
“Hmmm... Oh? ‘Special Crafting Guide: Bayonet.’ Maybe Yuuna could use this?” Akira answered after opening the chest.
“Huh? Kotomi, what’s a bayonet?”
“It’s a blade you can attach to the end of a gun. With it, you can essentially use it as a lance.”
“Wow! Then I could fight close-range?”
“I’d assume so. But wow, I didn’t even know this game had bayonets.”
“I’ve never even heard of any bayonet arts.”
“All should be made clear once we craft it. Who’s going to do the deed? If you want, I can take it and try it out right now.”
“Right. I haven’t raised my crafting level, so it’s best if you do it.”
“Same. I don’t really care about crafting, so you go ahead, Ren.”
“Neither have I. Go on, make it for me!”
“All right. Here I go, then.”
I took the Crafting Guide and attempted to use it. A message appeared in the Log: “Learned Special Crafting: Bayonet.” I guess items like this were necessary to learn specialized crafting.
I opened the crafting menu to take a look at my recipes. Several bayonet entries had been added. At my current level, the best one available was the Iron Bayonet. It needed... three iron ingots. I had more than enough.
“Let’s see here...”
I began crafting. With my Efficiency talent, it was done in a flash. A bayonet made of iron appeared in my hand.
“There we go, success. Next, let’s combine this and the gun, I guess. Mind if I borrow your gun, Yano?”
“Sure.” She handed over a Musket. It was fitting equipment for her level.
“I’ll just take this and the bayonet—” Crafting started. Now we’re cooking! If I’d had the wrong recipe, it would have thrown an error first. But my hypothesis was correct and once again, I finished crafting immediately.
The Musket was changed to a Musket Gunblade! As for its appearance, the bottom of the barrel was fitted with what was essentially a knife. Yep, that’s a bayonet in a nutshell.
“And we’re done!”
“Oooh! I can definitely fight close-range with this! Nice! Thanks, Ren.” Seeing such a flamboyant character rub a gun against her cheek so affectionately was a strange sight, indeed. But hey, if she’s happy, then I’m happy. “All right, let’s go try it out right now! Go, go!”
We continued searching, defeating enemies along the way. As Yano tested out her new weapon, we learned a few things.
First, the bayonet attacked with a thrusting motion. Naturally, it had a bit less firepower than the gun’s shots. The thrust itself was somewhat dependent on the type and shape of the gun, as well. One might’ve thought that a small gun’s bayonet would be useless, but... it was actually fairly capable. However, there didn’t seem to be any bayonet-specific arts, so in the end, she could still only use gun arts.
Essentially, bayonets are just a stopgap measure to make up for the gun’s poor short-range capability. But shooting an enemy right after stabbing them is cool, so I thought it was pretty sick overall. Against enemies that don’t pose much danger, the bayonet gives the user an opportunity to save bullets. It could be considered an economically efficient weapon. For the sky pirate, king of bleeding money, it’s vital to find ways to win battles with a minimum of ammo.
Our search continued in that fashion, but then we encountered a problem.
“Huh? Hey, Ren. This is just a dead end, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I didn’t see any keyholes, either. Is this a bust, then?”
“I don’t really mind either way, since I got to upgrade my weapon.”
“At the very least, this wasn’t a waste of time.”
Akira and I had leveled up, as well. I was 26, Akira 26, Maeda 27, Yano 30.
“How about we leave and try a different entrance?”
No objections, so we left the cave.
We entered another cave and tried again... but this one didn’t even have a treasure chest like the last one. We repeated this two, three more times, until morale began to run low.
“Aww. Another bust?”
“I’m beat, and this is boring me to sleep. I think I’m done.”
OffIine, it was almost 7 PM. We were all starting to get hungry. Needless to say, in-game food couldn’t fill an empty stomach.
“How about we take a little break and meet up after?”
“Mm... I guess, but—” I suddenly noticed something.
We were just exiting another dead-end bust. In the middle of this hilly country, you could survey a wide area of land. Far away, at the top of a different peak, I spotted another group entering a cave. About ten people, maybe? Two parties worth, give or take.
“Oh, there are entrances over there too. I see a bunch of people.”
“Wow, yeah. Maybe that one’s connected to the treasure?”
“Maybe! Hey, let’s go.”
“If this one’s a bust, we’d better get our break!”
With that, we moved to where the other group was. The entrance was empty; they were probably already well inside. We followed behind.
“This one seems a little different from the others.”
“Yeah. It’s kinda scary...” Akira continued to snap screenshots, regardless.
This one seemed much more decayed than the others, and quite a bit darker to boot. It was like a plaza, but even with the destruction around us, it seemed as though danger could befall us at any moment. Occasionally, pale silhouettes would appear and fade instantly. Some sort of apparition visual effect, perhaps? In the walls, mummy-like bodies were laid to rest, giving off an even more eerie vibe.
“If you think about it, a burial ground is basically a grave. I don’t like haunted houses...” I didn’t expect it, but Yano seemed the most spooked among us.
“D-Don’t worry. It’s just a game...” Maeda seemed to be getting cold feet too.
Even if you’re complete aware it’s just a game, the sense of presence in VR makes it feel like you’re actually there. This was essentially a super-realistic haunted house for us.
I almost enjoyed seeing everyone so scared; this really was a group of girly girls. Myself, meanwhile, well, I was a horror veteran. In fact, I got the urge to prank them while the pranking was good.
And so—
“Aaaaaaaah!” One yell was all it took for the desired effect.
“Eeeeeeep!”
They all clung to me in terror. As a healthy human man, I couldn’t help but relish the moment. But amidst that commotion, we all toppled over.
“Whoa?!”
The floor below us had opened up. A trapdoor?! We all fell straight down.
After a rather long descent, I felt a sudden impact. Oof... It was a good thing this pain was only in-game.
“Ugh... Oww. Ren, don’t scare us like that!”
“Your yell combined with that fall about gave me a heart attack. That was in poor taste, Takashiro.”
“Ouch... Sorry! I just kinda felt like... Wuh?!”
Whoa! I’m seeing something I should totally not be seeing!
After my face’s close encounter with the underground floor, I looked upward... and from this low angle, I could see Akira’s rear pressed against the floor, along with the interior of Maeda’s skirt...
“Takashiro? Peeping under Kotomi and Akki’s skirts, were you?” Yano smirked and ratted me out. Gee, thanks a lot!
“Ren! Don’t be such a perv in public, please!” Akira puffed her cheeks in anger—
“N-No, I swear, I wasn’t...”
Maeda seemed flustered. “A-A friend of mine said... that since I’m so reserved, I should be more liberal with my choice of underwear, so...”
So like, Akira’s undies were all pink, matching her in-game hair. That’s cute, and it totally fits her style. Maeda’s, meanwhile, were like, all black. Super sexy, y’know? It was kind of a surprise, knowing her personality and demure manner.
“S-So it’s not like... I’m wearing this for fun, or...”
“I get that, I was just... kinda surprised.”
“R-Really?”
“Ohh? Is Kotomi wearing somethin’ steamy? C’mon, gimme a peek.” In came Yano, right on cue.
“N-No! Why would you even...?”
“Ooh. I wanna see too. I need to know for future reference.”
“Sweet! Okay then, Akki, hold her down.”
“On it!”
“Wha?! No, stop!”
“C-Come on, you two. Maeda’s obviously not into this. Cut it out.”
“Whaaaa? Says the one who was perving out in the first place. Don’t act all innocent now.”
“Yeah, exactly! This is all your fault, so you’d better give us a hand!”
“I can’t and I won’t! My bad. I’m sorry. Anyway, we need to find a way back up there.” Thus, I apologized to everyone before they took things one too many steps too far.
From there, we scoped out the floor we were dropped on.
“Hmm? There’s a weirdly conspicuous door over here.”
A colossal door, covered in complex symbols, stood before us.
“Ren, I see a hole that’s just begging to be filled here.”
“Maybe the key will work?”
“Ooh, give it a shot!”
I took out the Ancient Imperial Key. It certainly did look similar to the hole before us. I inserted the key into the cavity in the door. Ooh, perfect.
“It fits!”
The key began to glow, eventually enveloping the entire door in light. We heard a deep noise as the door slowly opened.
“We must be on the right track! Nice job, Takashiro!”
“You were calling me a pervert just a bit ago...” Ah well, what can ya do.
We cheerfully stepped through the door, but then... we were greeted with an entirely new kind of horror.
“Ugh... urgh...”
“We’re screwed...”
“Were we too low level?”
Corpses littered the area. It was probably the group we saw before. All of them were reduced to 0 HP; a complete and utter wipe.
A look at the status screen revealed that they were second-years. Among the ten of them, the average level was 60. Was this place really dangerous enough to annihilate such a large and powerful group? I could only suppose that the path ahead contained those high-level enemies Takaoka mentioned.
“H-Hey, guys. You wouldn’t happen to be able to rez us, huh?” The fallen leader, a paladin, asked.
“Oh, sorry. None of us know any.”
Sword dancers have no resurrection dances, and scholar can learn healing magic, but not rez spells. Being just out of reach of a major itch was what the Bummers were all about. Only paladins, clerics, and minstrels can rez allies. Honestly, it kinda peeved me off that minstrels could do that. Minstrels and symbologists cover the same supportive role, but minstrels are far more versatile.
“Okay, thanks anyway. We’ll just respawn, then. You kids better be careful up ahead.” The party of upperclassmen crumbled to dust, leaving only us in the room.
“Now what? The path ahead looks really tough.” I asked their opinions, but of course, I wasn’t ready to turn back. With my undodgeable, defense-ignoring firebomb of an ultimate, I was the ideal candidate for the job of killing high-level enemies. It’s time for the drama cannon to make some real drama!
If nobody else wanted to go, I was willing to go it alone, even.
“You’re not gonna leave, huh, Ren?”
“Aha, you know me well.”
“I’ll go with you. We’ll never know unless we try, after all.”
“Right. With Dead End on our side, I’m sure we have a chance of defeating even some of the strongest enemies.”
“You haven’t had a chance to do anything since we got here, so I’m definitely not leaving until you do. We’re puttin’ you to work, buddy.”
Everyone understood my style, so they faced forward with optimism. We were all thinking the same thing: Maybe this will actually work out.
“Let’s get to it, then.”
We made our way deeper into the tomb. Within a small room, a single monster lay in wait. I looked at its status from outside aggro range.
Deadly General: Level 81
An undead monster, he was a skeleton clad in full plate armor and wielded a two-handed axe. He was large and imposing, with a level almost three times mine. But putting aside his attack and defense stats, he probably didn’t have as much HP as Shadow Dragon Diablo. That was a final boss; this was just a regular monster. He didn’t even have the rare monster icon.
“My AP is full. Are we going with the usual strategy?” Akira readied Skyfall.
“Yup. Chip away at him with the shockwaves, and I’ll use my ultimate when he approaches.”
In preparation, I deliberately cast Enfeebling Circle in the wrong direction, bringing my MP to 0. “Best to avoid taking aggro for now.”
Yano put her gun on her back, readying her shield instead.
“I’ll Sword Samba so you can attack twice, right?”
“Right. I’m counting on you, Akira.”
“And I’ll heal you along with Yuuna, then.”
“If you get the chance, could you try healing the enemy? Since he’s undead, it should actually do damage. I’m curious how potent it is.”
If Maeda used regular offensive magic, it probably wouldn’t deal much damage. Since the level difference here was so dramatic, regular damage would be heavily reduced. But using healing magic to damage undead enemies was pretty much common sense. In many games, they were extremely weak to it. Following that logic, even in the face of that level difference, maybe she could still do meaningful damage. Only one way to find out.
“Okay. I’ll give it a try, then.”
“Here we go. Everyone ready?”
“Let’s go!”
On our mark, Akira began unleashing shockwaves from Skyfall. They hit the Deadly General, dealing only 12 damage each. With such a huge level difference, of course she wouldn’t do much damage.
The general began his ferocious charge toward Akira, but I stood between them, and Maeda began casting a healing spell.
All right, let’s see if we can do this in one try!
“Hello, and good-die!”
“Wow! Which one of you is the bad guy, again?!”
Ignoring Yano’s heckling, I prepared to use my ultimate. Just before I did, Maeda’s recovery magic tore into the general, unleashing damage unaffected by the level difference.
Kotomi cast Exheal. 253 damage dealt to Deadly General!
Then, I fired off my ultimate!
Ren activated Dead End. 2,401 damage dealt to Deadly General!
As the message appeared in the backlog, the Deadly General’s HP bar flashed to empty. His HP depleted, he groaned thunderously before falling to the ground and fading away. Woohoo! We killed him before he could get a single hit in. It was like pitching a perfect game in baseball.
“Chirp chirp chirp!” Draco expressed his excitement too.
That went a lot more smoothly than I had expected. Maybe we really could make it through. Or so I thought—
Groooooooooan...
Like the previous floor, this area also had mummies buried in the walls. Suddenly, they all started moving at once!
“Ah?!”
“Eeeeeeek!”
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp?!”
We’d figured they were just scenery, so this came as an awful surprise. It was like when people grabbed you through the walls in a haunted house. The girls screamed in terror, and even Draco began to panic.
Crimson Mummy Army: Level 78
The mummies were all covered in blood-soaked red bandages, their faces frenzied and terrifying. They began to charge at me simultaneously. Is this how idols feel when they’re surrounded by fans?
Akira and co. were paralyzed with fear. If these things, nearly three times my level, managed to trap me with a mere 1 HP—
“Hoo boy.”
Well, I’d freaking die, of course. I was at one hitpoint.
With only my bare-handed guard between me and death, their guardbreak would kill me immediately. Thus, I resigned myself to the same fate as the upperclassmen who came before me.
After they finished me off, the mummy army turned to the girls and attacked them as well. Yep, we were toast. I felt like that was a recurring theme lately. But let’s not forget that this dungeon did obliterate a group of ten second-years.
This is a tricky situation. I’ll have to think up a breakthrough solution for this. Heheheh, that’s just the reality of things when you face a level restriction! Now I’m really getting psyched!
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