Chapter 806: December 15th: Shining Individually, Ergo Pioneers
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The path leading from Secondil to Thirdrema splits into three routes from there.
The subterranean sea of trees,the fallen Iron ruins, and the extinct volcano where the Flame Butterfly sits. The route they took was from the sea of trees.
"An assault from the Forest Grotto! It's the enemy army led by Payabusa!!"
"Did Fourfolkshire fall!?"
"No! They broke through without suppressing them!!"
"Tch, is our defense thin because everyone flocked to the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings...!!"
Charging straight from the enemy camp—breaking through non-stop past the towns siding with Thirdrema, which was the enemy camp from their perspective—the Streamer Frontline assault group led by Payabusa was right on the verge of reaching Thirdrema's outer walls.
"Oh, oh, I can see them perfectly even from here."
"Comrade! What do we do?! The magical defenses are destroyed, you know!?"
"By the way, how long until they're restored?"
"I asked! They said half a day!!"
"We just have to pray the Great Crimson Wings' cooldown time is a full day. Now then..."
Although she had considered it as one possibility, Pencilgon narrowed her eyes slightly at the prospect of a decisive battle at the main camp occurring this early. Even players would show a willingness to intercept when enemy players were bearing down right in front of them, but......... Thirdrema's magical defensive barrier had currently been destroyed by the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings. Meaning, there was no means to block magical attacks against the city walls.
But to begin with.
"I'd never be stupidly honest enough to actually fight a siege battle."
"What are you planning?"
When OiKatzo asked, pulling back slightly as Pencilgon flashed a predatory grin, the answer she returned was exceedingly simple.
"What am I planning, you ask... I've already made my move."
The moment the man at the front of the charging group—clad in flashy red armor, perhaps to make himself easily recognizable—raised his sword while shouting something aloud.
"You draw a Magic Conduction Thread—where imbuing it with mana transmits that mana to whatever items the string is touching—straight across the ground like this... Then you load it up with explosion-type Disposable Magic Mediums and bury it in the dirt to create a second city wall. If I had to name it, I'd probably just call it a 'Firewall', literally?"
Below, as seen from Thirdrema's outer walls, players hidden on both sides of the road leading from the Prismatic Forest Grotto to Thirdrema simultaneously triggered explosions forming a wall of fire that scorched the vanguard, including the person running at the front who appeared to be the streamer.
It seemed that even the New King faction players weren't so consumed by frenzy that they'd charge into a roaring, burning wall of fire purely on hype.
"That was probably the streamer, wasn't it?"
"Ahahahahahah! I'll destroy every single camera that isn't pointing at me!!"
"Well, that's certainly the type of high-pitched laugh you can't broadcast into living rooms. A banned smile?"
Pencilgon gently shoved OiKatzo's back and, watching him lose his balance and tumble down off the outer wall with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, turned with a 'now then' and a proper smile this time, issuing instructions to the players waiting behind her.
Whether it was just her imagination or not, their gazes seemed tinged with a hint of fear, Pencilgon—fully aware that what was necessary for leadership was unity and terror—paid it no mind, pointing the tip of her spear toward the enemy players who were likely searching for a way to break through beyond the flames.
"There is no Chemical Weapons Convention in a game! You lot! Blast them away!!"
"Synthesized Poison," gathered in bulk by commissioning pharmacist players aiming to become alchemists who had come to Thirdrema.
It was an essential item from the perspective of players who focused on DoT, capable of inflicting abnormal statuses determined on a separate scale from standard abnormal states. However, it was ultimately made by fledgling pharmacists who hadn't even reached the Top-Tier Class.
As long as a player was around level 50 and didn't have exceptionally low VIT, it could be resisted without any need for an antidote.
But this game is Shangri-La Frontier. In a world where even in reality pharmacology is boundless if one seeks to master it, it is far too foolish to trust only what is written in the flavor text.
"Poison gas!?"
"No, it's not a strong poison! The fire wall vanished too, charge!!"
"Payabusa-san died though!?"
"If you show your back and run, you're just going to get shot!!"
"Wait, isn't this 'Poison Lizard Liver Paste Powder'... Ah crap, this is flammab—"
In front of Thirdrema's city gates. With the leading figurehead burned to ash in the explosive flames, the chain of command had vanished. Although confusion almost arose for a moment, deciding that what they needed to do wouldn't change whether they had a leader or not, the New King faction players began to push through the green dust—which was not a strong poison. Then, they saw the figure of a woman with long black hair flowing in the wind—standing at the edge of the city wall, looking down at them—a figure everyone remembered seeing somewhere.
"Ignite!!"
High-tier flame magic was unleashed one after another onto the area below, which was filled with the synthesized poison "Poison Lizard Liver Paste Powder." With the players who had been hiding to construct the initial Firewall joining in, the flames showered from three directions—left, right, and above—igniting the dust, chaining together......... and a massive explosive conflagration swallowed the players.
"It would be easy if this wiped them all out, but........."
Pencilgon looked down at the massive sea of combustion that would burn normal people to death before they could even let out a dying scream, yet her smile was mixed with a wry chuckle.
This game is Shangri-La Frontier, and some Pioneers simply do not die just from being engulfed in flames. Amidst the explosive fire, the gleam of protective magic mingled, and tanks who had seemingly endured using some sort of heat-resistance skill began to advance forward, treading on the path heated by the blasts. Although some players appeared to have been finished off by the fire double-combo, it seemed dealing with them was fundamentally different from dealing with NPCs.
"Then next! Come on, drop the boiling hot oil, pots and all!!"
The third wave of heat assaulted the New King faction players. It wouldn't take long for those who had launched the blitzkrieg to be entirely wiped out, but the battle was still merely in its absolute opening stages.
".........She's really going all out right from the start, Pencilgon. Anyway, I won't forgive her."
OiKatzo, who had grabbed onto the edge of an observation slit opened in the city wall to watch the spectacle, deflected a flying arrow with one hand and activated a climbing-type skill to dash up the wall, intending to exact revenge for being pushed off.
Author's Afterword
・Poison Lizard Liver Paste Powder
A toxic powder made by drying and crushing the liver extracted from a Poison Lizard.
Inhaling it inflicts a poison status that reduces HP for a set period, but it can be resisted by high-level players or monsters.
Although it is not written anywhere in the flavor text, it is highly flammable—or rather, applying heat causes it to violently ignite. Thus, it is currently utilized almost exclusively as a "dust explosive that is thrown and then ignited to detonate."
Q. Why don't you write something that important in the flavor text?
A. Please ask your questions after carefully reading the flavor text for the Poison Lizard's scales. It clearly states: "The scales of the Poison Lizard possess high moisture-retention properties, which serve to protect organs that react hypersensitively to heat." Furthermore, considering that the liver contains a lot of water when dropped, it shouldn't be hard to understand that the Poison Lizard ecologically views heat as a danger and avoids ignition by containing high moisture. So perhaps you simply haven't read deeply enough????
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