The battle was fierce. The exchange of magic, arrows, thrown stones, and spears continued. The monsters, roaring loudly, fought without looking back, displaying a daunting level of morale.
However, the humans were also putting up a strong fight. They were calmly defending by focusing on the monsters trying to climb or break the city walls. Although it seemed unlikely they could keep up this pace indefinitely, it was certain they wouldn’t fall easily.
That’s why a surprise attack, planned by the players before us lying in wait, could turn the tide if it went well. Although it wouldn’t guarantee a complete victory, it would certainly set the tide of battle for the first day. And if they could deal a significant blow in the first encounter, it would be advantageous for the subsequent battles.
As the battle dragged on, reinforcements from other cities would arrive. This was the time limit set by the event. In other words, for the human players, a drawn-out battle was exactly what they needed.
“Even so, to think they would send in players… Has my attempt at sowing discord failed? No, maybe not yet…”
The strategy was to feed the enemy information that was close to the truth in order to fracture trust between the players and NPCs. But seeing as how the residents left the important strategy of a surprise attack to the players, it seemed my plan might have failed.
On the other hand, considering the nature of this surprise attack unit, it seemed premature to conclude that my plan had completely misfired. The surprise element and the ensuing chaos were good, but retreating from there wouldn’t be easy.
There were only two possible ways these players could have come here. One was if they had been lying in ambush before the monsters arrived. The other was if they had found some way to escape from the city and circled around to the back.
Then, reflecting on these two possibilities, I believed the former to be more likely. I couldn’t imagine the players being taught about a secret escape route from the city, as it was supposed to be a closely guarded secret of the higher-ranking officials. Moreover, if the players attempted to use this route to escape and were accidentally followed by the monsters… it would lead to serious consequences.
In WSS games, the trust relationship with NPCs was a crucial factor. The NPC with whom I had the highest favorability was probably Lady Yifa, the “Goddess of Death and Chaos”, followed closely by the Gravekeeper in the underground parts of Firth city.
Although this couldn’t be confirmed visibly, I could easily imagine that it would take an enormous effort to gain the higher-up’s favor to the same extent as I did with those two. The higher-ups shouldn’t be typical NPCs, but even with others, it would require a significant effort to earn their favor. Even after fighting alongside them at the fortress, gaining their absolute trust would surely be difficult, especially with the misinformation I had spread. In addition…
“I can’t imagine that the ‘Persona’ guild has been doing nothing…”
I couldn’t believe that cunning and opportunistic Usuba wasn’t up to something in the city. He was probably engaging in actions that would create a rift between the players and NPCs. I had heard that committing crimes in the city was difficult, but those people would surely find a way.
“What will we do? It wouldn’t be strange for the surprise attack to happen at any time, right?”
“…. Giving birth to a baby is easier than worrying about it, huh? Alright. Seventh Armor, I have a request.”
“What now? Are you up to no good again?”
“Is that a problem?”
“We’ve come this far together, haven’t we? Of course not. Hurry up and tell me, I’ll do whatever it takes!”
For now, our priority should be to ensure the failure of the human players’ surprise attack. One of our objectives was to prevent the monsters from losing too much, but causing the attack to fail altogether might deepen the rift between players and NPCs even further. There was absolutely no reason not to interfere!
◆◇◆◇◆◇
Players who had accepted the quest to launch a surprise attack on the monsters were tense and nervous but patiently waiting for the signal from the city. The signal was unmistakably clear: three signal lights shot into the air. It was a simple indication that it was impossible to misinterpret.
“Hey, how long do we have to wait? It’s been quite a while already.”
“Would you relax? You’ve been saying that over and over. It should be just a little longer, so just wait quietly, okay?”
However, those who were waiting for the signal were growing incredibly impatient. After all, they were players participating in an event, not soldiers. Watching others flamboyantly enjoying the event while they had to hide and wait quietly was a source of significant stress.
“Damn it~! If I hadn’t survived at that fortress, I could’ve been there fighting hard right now!”
“Calm down; don’t get so worked up. If we succeed in this mission, we might get a special reward. Just think about that, and waiting won’t seem so bad.”
This surprise attack was a special “Event-Only Quest”, a unique mission available only during the event period. It had two conditions: being “Level 20 or above” and being “a player who survived the battle at one of the fortresses.”
The former condition was met by most. The second batch of players was typically around Level 15 if they played normally, and many had exceeded this level during the fortress battle.
This was because, unlike the northwest fortress that suffered sabotage from the “Persona” guild and attacks by Isam and his companions and the central fortress where the troll king ran amok, the other three fortresses had been relatively manageable to fight in. Additionally, for this event only, players could gain experience points even from battles where they died. So while the majority of players died and returned to the city from their spawning point, they gained a considerable amount of experience points and grew stronger.
But leaving that aside, the players who had survived the hellish battlefield were chosen for this surprise attack mission because they had the advantage of being able to respawn and participate in the war once again. Although they could only respawn once during the event, they still had their respawn rights intact. Even if you fight to the death, you will be revived inside the city anyway, so fighting to the death was also a condition of the quest.
“It’s unusual for a quest to require us to fight until death, isn’t it?”
“Usually, quests are about completing and reporting success.”
“When do we get the special reward? After we respawn?”
“No way, that’s impossible. We’re in the middle of a war, right?”
“It makes sense that we’d get it all together after the event ends.”
There was a relaxed air among the players. If they had been NPCs equipped with pseudo-personality AI, they would have been tense, facing a mission where their deaths were certain. In this regard, being able to act normally because they knew they could just respawn was certainly a player’s advantage.
Even the irritated players were only annoyed because they “wanted to get into the fight quickly”. It was clear that the cause of their irritation was not a fear for their lives.
“Either way, the signal should come soon. Those monsters are so focused on their attack that they’re not looking behind at all. We’ll strike them when they least expect it… Whoa!?”
It was no surprise that one of the players let out a strange cry in astonishment. Right where they were hiding, on their right side, a massive explosion suddenly occurred where their comrades who had accepted the same quest were located.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey. What the heck is happening!?”
“It means someone screwed up, damn it!”
“But what do we do now? It’s no longer a surprise attack, is it!?”
The problem was right there. Rather than dwelling on why the trouble had started, they needed to focus on what to do next. This was because, even if they failed, there was no way for them to flee back.
As Isam had predicted, they were hardly considered trustworthy by the city’s higher-ups. That’s why, even before the monsters arrived, they had been lurking in the forest, waiting to ambush from behind. Although there was a secret route to flee back to the city, they hadn’t been informed about it.
“”””Guooooooooh!!!””””
“Bad news… they’re coming this way!”
As if indifferent to the players’ confusion, a large number of monstrous roars approached from the direction of Illeves. While the players’ exact hiding spot was likely unknown, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered by the monsters.
“Shall we run?”
“Don’t be stupid! Run where?”
“That’s right, damn it! Now that it’s come to this, there’s no choice! We’ll go down fighting, taking down as many as we can!”
“That’s our only option!”
“Who’s the one who messed this uuuuup?”
A frustrated cry raised by one of the players seemed to speak for everyone involved in the surprise attack operation.
◆◇◆◇◆◇
“Ugh… that’s so vicious…”
“Ahahaha! If they find out it was our doing, we’re definitely going to get the whole lot after us!”
“Don’t worry. If by any chance they do find out, we just need to escape to a place where there are no other players.”
The reaction of my companions to the results of the harassment I had planned and executed with Seventh Armor was split down the middle: some were appalled, others burst into laughter.
What I had asked for was quite simple. I had given him talismans created with the [Talismanry] skill I brought. He scattered them right above the players we had found. The talismans contained the Lava Shot spell and the Magic Bomb spell, ten of each, making it a total of twenty talismans.
Having generously poured the talismans into it, the area where the players were was now exploding magnificently, sending up thick smoke. Even the monsters, who had been focused only on what was ahead, seemed to have noticed the noise and smoke, as a considerable number were heading in that direction. It was only a matter of time before they collided.
There were likely other players lurking around, but we would leave the task of flushing them out to the monsters. And there was just one thing we needed to do.
“I’m back, Boss!”
“Alright, then let’s retreat.”
“I see, hunting down the survivors, huh?”
“Shrewd as always.”
“…What does that mean?”
“I think Isam-san~ is thinking that there will be players~ who run away~.”
As Wool had said, I believed that regardless of how they had come to be here, there would definitely be those who would choose to flee. Even in a game, the sight of numerous gigantic monsters swinging their weapons and charging could be quite terrifying. The possibility of wanting to escape was certainly plausible.
Moreover, I thought that the more battle-hardened a player was, the more likely they were to choose escape over a senseless death. If it were me, I’d rather retreat and wage a guerrilla war than face certain defeat. Of course, if they were here with the expectation of dying, this prediction would be wrong.
“Besides, if we stay here, the monsters might turn their attention towards us. That would be quite troublesome.”
“Understood. Leave the rearguard to me.”
And so, while causing great inconvenience to the players involved in the main event, we began our retreat.
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