And so, the party was formed, and it was unanimously decided that I would assume the role of the party leader. The reason was simple: I had the highest level among us. The party’s name was “Event Party”. It might not have been particularly creative, but it was straightforward and easy to understand.
“Now that we’ve formed this party, let’s go over everyone’s specialties. Starting with me, I’m specialized in magic, to put it simply. I can use almost all existing magic skills. While I’m not completely without close combat skills, it’s not my strong suit. On the flip side, I take pride in the firepower of my spells.”
I wasn’t lying. However, I didn’t plan to reveal everything about myself, like the fact that I had four arms or the presence of my tail. I intended to disclose everything when the time was right, and I felt strongly about inviting them to join our guild.
“Alright, next is me. As you can see, I’m a tank. I may not be the fastest due to my race, but I make up for it with toughness and strength. If things get dangerous, just hide behind me.”
Eiji raised his huge shield and patted his bulging belly while grinning. When I thought about the battle from earlier, I was reminded of Eiji’s “Fortress” appearance, and it seemed he would stand as an impenetrable wall to protect his teammates.
“Next up is me. My style is mobility-focused, wielding dual swords for slashing attacks. My defense is paper-thin, so please, no friendly fire.”
Usaji, who was teamed up with Eiji—apparently pronounced Usaji rather than Usagi—had a fighting style that was the complete opposite of his. She wore what seemed like no armor, dressed in alluring, exotic cloth attire. You could describe it as something akin to a belly dancer’s outfit in terms of design. Regardless, it was clear that she would be the star of the physical attacks in this party.
“It’s my turn now. I’m an alchemist, and most of my skills are focused on production, so I’m not particularly strong. However, I can create plenty of healing potions and poison poisons, so I think I can contribute in that way.”
In contrast to Usagi, Shiitake seemed to have a strong inclination toward skills that were heavily geared toward production. While she appeared to have learned a few spells, they didn’t seem to match up in terms of power with mine.
However, using the unique traits of the Poisonous Mushroom race she said that she could secrete various types of poison from her body. She could even launch these toxins as attacks, so she wouldn’t be a dead weight.
“Next is me. I specialize in [Summoning Magic]. I summon fellow crows and overwhelm our foes with sheer numbers. When it comes to escaping, leave it to me.”
It seemed that Seventh Armor excelled at crushing his enemies with the minions he summoned using [Summoning Magic]. According to him, the enemies ended up resembling corpses buried by crows. I certainly didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that.
Additionally, his job as a Summoner reduced the penalties when using [Summoning Magic]. Due to the level difference, I could probably still summon stronger minions for now, but I might already be at a disadvantage when it came to the number of creatures I could summon simultaneously.
“Lastly, it’s my turn. I specialize in inducing a bleeding state with the fangs and wing claws of a bat. Especially when I attack with my fangs, I can recover, so my health in prolonged battles is relatively high. I can also serve as a makeshift shield with my fur and wing membranes, and, being a bat, I can use echolocation for detection.”
“It’s a bit of a jack-of-all-trades situation,” Moth-san summed up. Though he said that himself, in this party, where there were few people capable of reconnaissance, he held quite a vital role. He and I should put our efforts into scouting then.
“Now that we know what each of us is good at, I’d like to hear from everyone. Do you have anything in mind that you’d like to do at this event?” I asked.
“Something we’d like to do? Ah, you mean what the angel mentioned?”
I nodded in agreement with Shiitake. In an event where we could do anything, setting goals for the party was a top priority. It was a luxurious choice because of the high degree of freedom.
“Hmm, I don’t particularly have something I want to do. If I had to say, I’d like to fight and level up.”
“I’m the same, huh… Oh, I know. In that case, I’ll make my goal finding a weapon I can use.”
“In that case, I’d like a practical and visually appealing accessory.”
“I wouldn’t mind a weapon or some accessory myself. Being almost naked makes me look poor.”
Hmm, I see. You want to level up and improve your equipment, right? In that case, wouldn’t it be more efficient to join the ranks of the monster forces? You can battle players to level up and loot to gear up.
“Ugh, seriously? I was thinking of gathering materials for alchemy…huh? Oh, in the city, there might be high-quality alchemical references and tools, right?” Shiitake mused.
Oh? Shiitake didn’t seem too enthusiastic, but she started pondering the benefits of attacking the city.
Ho-Ho. It seemed like they had no qualms about killing human players. It’s no wonder, considering they’ve designed their avatars as non-humans, not to mention monsters.
“I see. Well then, I have a proposal. It’s a rather ambitious plan to fulfill everyone’s… yes, everyone’s wishes. That is…”
◆◇◆◇◆◇
Once we had settled on our strategy, we wasted no time and immediately set our plan into motion. My plan was quite ambitious, but to my pleasant surprise, all five of them were surprised but they agreed to it in the end. It was reassuring to be in the company of individuals who were all keen on thoroughly enjoying the event.
However, to make our ambitious plan a success, we needed preparations that matched its scale. So, for starters, we decided to explore this coniferous forest while also checking if there were any other players around. Additionally, if we happened to encounter regular monsters, we thought it would be a good idea to assess everyone’s combat capabilities.
“Hee? So, does that mean that Eiji-san and Usaji-san were from the same village, and that was how you two got together?”
“In a sense, they are the complete opposite of us.”
As we explored, we engaged in lively conversations about how we had first met and the challenges we had faced. Eiji and Usaji, for instance, said their starting point was a small goblin village southeast of Firth. This led them to team up, and they moved down south; their current base was in a city-state of orcs centered on an oasis at the end of the wilderness.
By the way, the Orcs in FSW were known for their warrior spirit and were described as a noble and gentlemanly bunch. The city-state, primarily inhabited by orcs, was a melting pot of various races, including higher-tier races like the boar-orcs, ghouls, and Kobolds, as well as the Lizardmen adapted to the dry region. It sounded like a place worth visiting.
Next came the encounter between Seventh Armor and Moth-san, and it appears that theirs was a deadly meeting. Seventh Armor’s starting point was the western forest, while Moth-san had started in the cave that our party had conquered. It was inevitable that the two of them, who had spawned in close proximity, would eventually cross paths. At first, they both went hunting with all their might without considering each other as players.
However, when they finally engaged in combat, one of them constantly summoned crows to attack in numbers, while the other swooped in, striking with their wings. Their peculiar fighting styles made it apparent to both that they were players. Upon striking up a conversation, they found themselves getting along well and started focusing their activities in the depths of the western forest.
They claimed to have ambushed players who ventured out for late-night hunting, hidden in the cover of darkness, multiple times. They seemed to excel at PK even more than I did.
“Your situation is better than mine because you could interact with other players, at least.”
Shitake said with a hint of self-deprecation. It seems her starting location was a swamp near the boundary between the northern mountains and the lake. Unfortunately, she never came across players from her own race and, due to the presence of lizardman players who had their starting point nearby, she had been afraid of being hunted, leading her to be holed up in the mountains alone.
From then on, she had been tirelessly collecting medicinal herbs, poisonous plants, and even her own poison to produce items through [Alchemy] and experiment with their effectiveness, particularly against the goblins. She mentioned studying the optimal blending ratios for poisons, taking into account individual variations…This kind of seemed a bit like a mad scientist’s work.
Hearing these stories, it became clear that each one of us had faced and overcome our own unique adventures. It seems that, with the challenging start we had, monster players might indeed enjoy a more tumultuous journey.
“I understand that too, but it seems like everyone here has acquired the [Linguistics] skill as a matter of course. Being able to converse with more than just our own kind is quite handy.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I read the bulletin board for information before I started playing, and that’s how I acquired it. I’m really grateful to the player who shared that information with me.”
“I’d like to thank monster big bro too.”
Bulletin board…? Oh, now that I think about it, I remember posting advice for the second batch of players, encouraging them to acquire the [Linguistics] skill. It seems they took it to heart and found it useful. It wasn’t in vain after all.
“I’m glad that that post seemed to be helpful.”
“…Wait, monster big bro is actually Isam?”
“That’s right… Well, being called monster big bro is a bit embarrassing, but there you have it.”
While we were chatting like this, I finally succeeded in sensing some sort of reaction.
“I sense with Magic Echo… There are five responses over there. Moth-san, what about your end?”
“I’ve checked. There are five of them, and it looks like they’re fighting in a three-versus-two situation. Two of them are smaller, and the three larger shadows are quite big. Especially the largest one is even bigger than Eiji-kun.”
“Shall we go take a look?”
We hurried cautiously in the direction of the detected reactions. Even though we were in a hurry, we had to accommodate Eiji, the bulky and not-so-agile orc. So, we weren’t exactly fast.
“Well, it seems we made it in time.”
Nonetheless, our haste appeared to have paid off. When we arrived, the individuals responsible for the magic echo reaction were still in the midst of their battle. Alright, before we intervene, let’s use [Appraisal] to assess the situation.
――――――――――
Name: Shishu
Race: Big Spider Lv9
Job: Apprentice Warrior Lv9
Name: Wool
Race: Sheep Lv9
Job: Apprentice Mage Lv9
Race: Troll Lv33
Job: Beast Warrior Lv3
Skills:
- [Robust Digestion]
- [Sharp Claw]
- [Sharp Fang]
- [Axe Mastery]
- [Health Enhancement]
- [Strength Enhancement]
- [Defense Enhancement]
- [Intimidation]
- [Herculean Strength]
- [Rapid Healing]
- [Physical attack Resistance]
- [Fire Weakness]
――――――――――
“Gyaaah! Reinforcements?”
“Ah~, it’s over for us, huh?”
The two non-human players, upon noticing our presence, instinctively exclaimed. One seemed to express despair, while the other appeared resigned. Well, we came to lend a hand, so they could relax.
“Giga?”
“Gugigo?”
Meanwhile, the monsters attacking them appeared bewildered. By the way, the two who made the noise were hobgoblins. I’ll spare the details of their stats and skills.
“Gugaa!”
“Gi, gyagya!”
“Gegyaa!”
The hobgoblins were snapped out of their daze by a commanding scoff from the Troll, and they quickly turned their attention to Shishu and Wool. It appeared that the Troll held a supervisory role, leaving the two hobgoblins to handle the battle. Without this arrangement, they would likely have been swiftly defeated due to the level difference.
“Seventh Armor and Moth-san, take care of the Hobgoblins. The rest of us will handle the big one.” I said.
“Sure thing, leave it to us!”
“Shall we go?”
The two individuals perched on Eiji’s shoulders soared into the sky with vigor and wasted no time making their first move.
“Summon Magic Crows! Show ’em a real feast!”
Summoned by Seventh Armor, five crows swooped down towards one of the hobgoblins and began a concentrated assault on its head. These crows must have been quite irritating, as the hobgoblin who was attacked went half-mad, wildly swinging the club in its hands.
“Gaburincho!”
“Gyaaah!?”
Moth-san approached with quick movements as he lunged at the other Hobgoblin, sinking his teeth into it. Moth-san promptly disengaged, but a status ailment marker indicating bleeding was displayed above the hobgoblin’s head. Impressive agility, to say the least.
Leaving that battle to the two of them shouldn’t pose any issues. While there was a bit of a level difference, it seemed they were quite experienced in battle. They were unlikely to make any mistakes.
“Goaaaah!!!”
“Nggh!”
Clearly frustrated by the way his henchmen were being beaten, the Troll, hefting an axe slung over its waist, charged towards them. Eiji intercepted the monster head-on. The dull thud of the collision between two heavy bodies reverberated, and Eiji was pushed backward.
Well, this one was a strong opponent with a higher level than all three of them (Eiji, Usaji, and Shiitake), but it was weaker than me. With teamwork and my support, we should be able to win this. Now, it’s time to provide solid support!
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