Chapter 319: The Before and After of the Great Rampage

Prophecy, precognition, future sight... call it whatever you want. Since ancient times, humans have harbored an almost religious yearning to observe the future.
Throughout history, people claiming to be prophets have appeared in droves, and honestly, if I could get the ability to see the future, I'd absolutely take it.

However, that kind of precognition is usually what you'd call Active future sight.
I mean, if precognition was an always-on Passive skill, the information you perceive and the actual flow of time would constantly be out of sync. Getting distracted by a cliff five seconds in the future only to fall into a hole one second in the future is just straight-up comedy. In short, what humans truly want is future sight that can be activated at their own convenience.

I've been going on a rather long internal monologue, but what exactly am I trying to say...?

"........................Eh?"

The Saint, who up until now had been radiating an overwhelming strong-character aura, currently had her cheeks twitching uncontrollably. It seems her future sight is indeed an Active skill, and it apparently doesn't let her see absolutely everything... But even so, there probably aren't many people who could maintain a straight face after being shown This. Even Josette's roleplay mask was starting to peel off.
That—which the player guiding the Saint was pointing at with absolute confidence—was... How should I describe it? The phrase "beyond salvation" feels the most appropriate.

"Here we are. This is the 'Bone-Clad Keep, Skull Azuchi,' constructed by our President (Master Carpenter) Emi-Lia specifically for you, Lady Saint..."

It was a castle. And clearly, a fortress built with the primary objective of intercepting external threats.
True to its name containing the word "Skull," the outer walls of the fortress were completely packed and plastered with bones, bones, and more bones... Whoever built this was definitely not completely Sober. The unnaturally gaping empty space right at the top of the keep was incredibly unsettling. What the hell are they planning to display up there? Are they planning to crucify the Saint or something?

"Th-This is............ well, how should I put it... incredibly unique..."

A single drop of sweat trailed down the Saint's cheek with a tsu... No, you really can't blame her. The entire concept of human settlements between the Old Continent and the New Continent is just way too different.
According to the rumors flying around, this frontline base had been half-destroyed by a Raid Enemy attack quite recently. But instead of just doing simple repairs, they completely remodeled the place into some kind of Demon Lord's castle architecture.

And it wasn't just the white-bone demon castle known as Skull Azuchi. The barricades set up to protect the frontline base were also constructed entirely from bones, and the bottom of the moat was lined with a death trap of spears that looked suspiciously like ribs. Is that... a catapult? There's a chair attached exactly where the rock is supposed to go. Are you telling me that's what it's for? Is that what it's for!? (I'll keep it a secret that I kinda want to try it out).

"How do I put this... it looks like an avant-garde artist was given the prompt 'Murderous Intent' and built a theme park out of bones..."

I know right, someone muttered softly from the side... I think it was Techi? A player belonging to the Saint Fanclub. Since she uses a Pint-sized (Chinchikurin) young girl avatar and falls into the faction that doesn't really roleplay, she looks incredibly out of place in knight armor. However, her actual movements are clearly those of a highly experienced gamer. Is it a tactic to bait the enemy into lowering their guard based on her appearance...? Not bad.

"In the past, our frontline base suffered near-annihilating damage from the abominable Black Dragon Noirlind... However! Under the command of our Master Carpenter, the frontline base has been reborn!!"

Reborn? It feels more like the evil kind of rebirth where some terrifying monster gets necromanced back from a corpse...
I don't know, aren't newly unlocked maps usually supposed to be filled with hopes and dreams? What's with this pitch-black, cheerful atmosphere that screams, "Alright, the funeral's over, let's get our revenge!"?

"Realistically, how much defense power does this thing actually have?"

"......... (Smiles)"

Eww, that's scary... Why are you giving me a massive grin right now...

............

.........

......

"Emul, here's a question."

"Gotcha."

"If a forest that had previously only been inhabited by roughly a thousand people suddenly gets an influx of several thousand new people, what happens to the ecosystem in that area?"

"Hmm... it gets completely messed up, desu wa!"

"Smart girl. Have a carrot."

"Waai."

Well, obviously. It was essentially a simulated reenactment of a game's launch day. There is absolutely zero chance that the players—who up until now had been stuck salivating over the information and rumors brought back by the pioneer group—would arrive at the New Continent and just decide to go to sleep. It's not like they actually spent seven real-time days getting rocked back and forth on a ship. The only ones actually exhausted from the journey are the NPCs.

In short, what I'm trying to say is.

The massive wave of new players charging forward all at once completely Slaughtered the monsters around the frontline base. And because the condition of "A specific area's monsters being hunted to extinction within a short timeframe" was fulfilled, the stage for Its descent was perfectly prepared.

"Eh, wha—"

With a spaan, an unknown player's head went flying. They were probably a wall tank, meaning their defense power was likely incomparably higher than a tissue-paper build like mine. Yet they died instantly. That thing really is as unreasonable as ever.

"What the hell is this thing!?"

"Kokutou got one-shot!?"

Although shocked by the completely unreactable instakill attack, the fact that they made it this far means they all possess a certain level of skill. The party members immediately launched an assault on That which had just buried their tank, Kokutou? However, unfortunately for them, that thing nullifies absolutely all attacks... Even knowing the mechanic, that resistance is still complete bullshit.

A player who seemed to be a thief-type got sliced cleanly down the middle. A player who appeared to be a magic caster was inflicted with some kind of status ailment, and the moment I backed away just to be safe, they scattered a pitch-black damage effect from their entire body and died instantly. And then, a cleric player standing near them—despite not taking a direct hit—was afflicted with the exact same debuff and...

"Why isn't status recovery working............ Ah."

They died with a gushari.

"How should I put this... since Akitsu Akane already thoroughly demonstrated all the different death patterns earlier, I don't really have any particular reaction to this."

"To be completely honest, the Fox person who kept charging back in with a smile despite dying over and over again was much scarier, desu wa."

Well, from an NPC's perspective, players are basically a different breed of madmen... I do think Akitsu Akane maintaining her smile despite dying that many times is pretty extreme, but trial and error is the absolute best part of any entertainment medium, not just games.
Now then, I have some good news and some bad news regarding that guy......... True Quiet. Let's start with the bad news.

The bad news is that even though I just charged into the forest yelling, "Let's just run as far as we can!" and Emul replied, "Sounds good, desu wa!"—meaning I had absolutely no part in the slaughter—to True Quiet, who exterminates every single player in the slaughtered area, I was apparently still included on its hit list regardless.

The good news is simple and straightforward. Mostly thanks to playing along with Akitsu Akane's body-sacrificing verification tests, both Emul and I now possess an abundance of information regarding True Quiet. Because she died in literally every way imaginable, we have completely grasped the action patterns of this penalty monster, and we've already figured out the strategy to defeat it.

"Emul, do you have the potions ready?"

"Gotcha! I'll throw them with everything I've got, desu wa!"

True Quiet-kuuun......... I'll have you know... I've been trembling with desire just wanting to meet you for quite a while now, you know...?
I already know you drop an incredibly cool-looking scythe, you know...? Well, anyway.

"Drop your loot, oraaaaa!!!"

"I'm not a weak little rabbit who'd get scared by a mere incarnation of death at this point, desu waaaaa!!"

The incarnation of death, grudges, and despair is clearly shaken... At least, that's how it looked to my eyes. I see, you really are a monster designed to punish players who commit a mass slaughter. But you know what? The moment it was discovered that you drop an incredibly cool scythe......... it meant the developers fully intended for you to be hunted!!

Author's Afterword

• Bone-Clad Fortress "Skull Azuchi"
  Since all the pioneer players were too busy charging into the forest to help fortify the base, this was the frontline base they had been slowly and steadily building.
  To be completely honest, it was rather shabby, but it was still a frontline base they worked hard to build. And yet, it was tragically annihilated by the Stampede caused by Noirlind and the monsters he incited.
  What was the cause? Player negligence? Wrong. No individual can dictate or restrict the playstyles of other gamers.
  Was it the monster horde? Strictly speaking, no. At the end of the day, it was just an event, and the monsters weren't explicitly trying to destroy the base. Then whose fault is it? Obviously, it's Noirlind's!

Changing her hobby-tier sub-job "Carpenter" into her main job, she promoted to the advanced job "Master Carpenter." With the full cooperation of players who harbored a similar seething hatred for Noirlind, they continuously reinforced and remodeled the fortress. They fortified it by using the bones of hunted monsters as reactive armor and heavily stocked it with anti-Noirlind defensive armaments.
That gaping empty space in the incomplete keep—what is going to be placed there? The answer is obvious.

Emi-Lia: "Your head would look perfectly fitting strung up on the keep." (Papapapapau wa dodon) [*1]

Translator's Note

• [1] Hellsing BGM?