Chapter 769: December 13th: Participation Requirement: All-Nighters Welcome
◆
"So anyway, I've gathered a lineup that personally should be totally fine pulling one or two all-nighters."
"Sunraku? I'm a working adult, you know."
"You're just gonna casually take off from work anyway, right? It's written all over your face."
"That's a problem...... I wonder if it'll wash off?"
"Since when do facial expressions come in oil-based or water-based?"
The New Continent, "Serpent's Apple". The usual clamor was nowhere to be found, and inside the empty tavern with only five players including myself, we were having a strategy meeting...... or rather, we were gathered around the table in a format where I, taking the lead, was announcing the plan.
"Ah...... Should we introduce ourselves first?"
"Isn't it way too late for that?"
Well, honestly, if it was just the Lolicon, the Trigger-Happy Maniac, and the Perverted Yakiniku that I invited, I would have moved straight to the main topic, but......
A quick glance, and the gazes of four people were directed at the other person present......... the additional personnel Yashirobird brought along saying, "He says he can fight until the end of the year," PT Overwerke.
"I've heard the details from Yashirobird-san. I won't drag you down, and besides......"
"And besides?"
"───In a Full-Dive state, I can pull five all-nighters. It's much easier than taping my eyelids open with duct tape in real life for three all-nighters."
An incredibly tragic line just flew out of him with an incredibly smug face. Eh......? If this is the standard image of a Japanese working adult, I might just want to flee the country......
The Clan Leader of the working-adults-only clan that Yashirobird also belonged to, Team 10PM, who couldn't even log in until after 10 PM. I had met him a few times before, but...... how to put it, there shouldn't be any changes to his avatar, but the freshness of his insides had been revived.
"Leave the grinding to me, I can fight 24 hours a day."
"The corporate slave mentality is leaking out......"
"Overwerke-san is actually really strong and convenient, I guarantee it."
The Mystic Sword. From what I've heard, I got the impression it was deadly ill-suited for everyday use...... but considering it's a magic class capable of front-line physical combat without power degradation thanks to default chant abandonment, someone who can perfectly wield the Ritual Spirit Sword wouldn't fall short even against a Sword Saint.
"And sooo? I'd really like you to tell us what exactly you plan to do after gathering us all up...... Sunraku-kun?"
"Right......... To put it simply, we're going to absolutely crush Goldunine, so we're clearing out all the sub-quests for that purpose."
"This guy seriously only spoke the main points......"
That being said, it wasn't something to drag on and on about. Building an anti-Goldunine the Inexhaustible frontline was necessary either way. As we learned from fighting her, that snake woman is an ultra-shitty boss of a composite type—acting as a swarm-type, a giant-type, and a powerful boss-type with the Goldunine main body—and she isn't something that can be handled by ten or twenty people.
"It's not Ctarrnid; it's a thousand-man scale decisive raid battle type just like Siegwurm......... Having too many people or logistics will never be a problem, and above all, we can't win if we stay capped at Lv.150."
For that reason, I ran all over the place, even overworking Deep Slaughter whose reactions are annoying every single time, to get to this point.
Somehow, I get the uneasy feeling that owing this bastard a favor is raising some gauge that definitely shouldn't go up, but if you're going to eat poison, you might as well lick the plate. If I'm going to die anyway, pour me another glass of poison in my drink. Sometimes you get titles related to poison damage, so I can't let my guard down.
In this world, there are also games that completely negate their own concepts—like games that are supposed to be Musou-style hack-and-slash games but are inexplicably packed with NBC weapons. "Musou" means "Even if a thousand enemies come, I'll defeat them all by myself!" It doesn't mean "Heh heh heh, with just the push of this button, a thousand lives are easily erased......!"
It's highly inappropriate if you look at it as a mass destruction weapon development game, but the fact that it was actually somewhat fun was just an indescribable flavor of a Kusoge.
As a side note, in our circles, watching the aftermath of a game developer going up in flames is called a "Fireworks Display". Treating the ruin of others as entertainment just goes to show that our circle are truly the most beyond saving!!
"So with that said, we'll be doing self-enhancements, clearing all the uncleared Unique Scenarios and such, and leveling up."
"Hm? Did you level down?"
"Just a bit."
I'm currently Level 140. After dropping it, I realized that Reached Skills stop functioning once you drop below Level 150...... Since they are passives, I tried fighting in the Sea of Trees just to test it out, but I felt quite a bit of discomfort in my movements, so I need to quickly get back up to 150......
"Dropping exactly 10 levels isn't possible with the existing level-down mechanics, right? Bahamut-related?"
"Yeah, I dropped it at the Behemoth."
Right, at the Behemoth......... Ugh, my head.........
..................
............
......
◆
"E-Eta-Zero...... What in the world happened to...... you!?"
Eta-Zero. The completely transformed appearance of the player who reached the deepest part of the Behemoth with me, displaying actions during the Behemoth capture that made me feel he was truly an extremist in a sense...... left even someone like me completely speechless.
"Hehehe...... I have no regrets. I don't regret it, Sunraku...... I wanted this to happen."
"You wanted it, but...... you look like......"
Madness. Ah yes, Eta-Zero was undoubtedly consumed by madness. And yet...... his gaze was so clear.
"The fact that you're here means...... you came for a hit too, right? We're acquaintances...... so I'll teach you all sorts of things, alright?"
That heavily muscled Eta-Zero...... was dead. What stood here was his ultimate fate.........
"Eta-Zero...... Are you really sure you don't regret it...... right?"
"Yeah...... My life has never been more fulfilling than it is right now."
When I looked down, there was an avatar shrunk down to the size of a five-year-old, and a man who had sacrificed his levels to relentlessly frequent the test tubes...... a place that could be called the "womb" of the Behemoth without exaggeration......
He had a very, very happy expression on his face.
Author's Afterword
Eta-Zero went so overboard with character customization and body modifications that his level dropped all the way to 15, but in exchange, his "base" stats have become monstrous.
Comments
Post a Comment