Carefully, he poured prana into his eyeballs. They were holographic marbles of vitreous jelly, without nerves or structures; even the iris and cornea was just a color texture applied to the surface of the eyeball without any real function. Compared to the difficulty of Human Reinforcement in real life, here in the game it was as easy as Reinforcing a glass marble. Of course, a failure would simply result in a stab of pain like a spike driven into his head and darkness as the function was lost, but since Ilya had some healing magic, that was completely reversible.
He breathed out, opening his newly Reinforced eyes, and cast his gaze out across the plains. He was on a mountain to the south of [Urbus], using the peak as a vantage point to look out across approximately a third of the Second Floor. From here, he could see hundreds of players.
None of them were in trouble. He couldn't make out individual HP bars as anything but a tiny smudge of color, but his enhanced eyesight was enough to compare their ant-sized motions to the equally ant-sized motions of the floor monsters and estimate the flow of battle. Everyone was doing just fine. Even as he watched a party of six players fighting a [Plains Taurus], one of their front rank players lost enough HP that the smudge of color that floated over their head like a bobbing fishing sinker turned yellow. However, a rear line player cast a healing spell, so that problem was fixed as soon as he noticed it.
That was the situation. Compared to the wild days of charging back and forth at top speed to save people when their fights spiraled out of control, now the [Sixth Ranger] just stood on a mountain like a gargoyle, watching everything without moving. There were only occasional problems on the Second Floor. As a rule, only players that had become confident in their abilities rose from the First Floor to challenge this one.
In general, there were now three kinds of players in Shirou's opinion as the [Sixth Ranger]. Certainly there were many other ways to divide them, but from his perspective, these were the important ones.
Those that remained safe in the [Starting City], or now that the [Transit Gate] between cities was open, [Urbus]. These players didn't require his protection, so he wasn't concerned with them.
Those that fought to accumulate XP and Col and increase their power. Call them, the [Hunters]. These players had constituted the vast majority of people that he had saved during the first month: those that started fights without the ability to win. Although these kinds were still the vast majority of players that left the [Cities], he had much less to do with them. The safety margin of higher levels, of the character having more XP, while the player had more battle experience, had increased enough that he only rarely determined the need to interfere in battles anymore.
The third category… in the past, that had been [Suicidal Players]. Most of them didn't go out and pick fights that they intended to lose, although he did encounter some that had fought recklessly. No, the vast majority of these players had gone to the edge of the Floor and thrown themselves off. Shirou had the hardest time saving these Players because they didn't always cooperate. Moreover, their thinking was completely alien to him, so he had absolutely no idea how to speak with them. In the end, the only thing he could do was push them onto others.
Maybe they weren't truly rehabilitated, but since the fight against [Illfang], he hadn't encountered even one [Suicidal Player]. The atmosphere had changed completely since the [First Floor] was cleared.
So in exchange for [Suicidal Players], a new category was introduced, the [Gatherers]. Like the [Suicidal Players], they were players that left the [Starting City] with no intention of accumulating battle spoils. However, other than that one similarity they were completely different. As a rule, they were Players who, inspired by the [Front Line], had decided to become supporting Players focused on crafting skills. They left the [Cities] to accumulate ingredients and raw materials.
By now, most [Hunters] knew what they were doing, and as a general principle, new ones were happily integrated into existing parties. But [Gatherers] were usually both under-leveled compared to other Characters in the area and, further, had less [Battle Experience] than other Players.
They were the reason that Shirou had decided to patrol the [Second Floor]. It was slightly counter-intuitive, but compared to the XP and Col that steadily increased by enemy level so that there was no reason to move to the [Second Floor] until you had finished leveling on the [First Floor], there was a big jump in the quality of materials available on the [Second Floor] compared to the [First]. The reason for that was completely unrelated to the monsters, but instead, was rooted in the geography. The [Second Floor] possessed many mountains and hills with easily accessed goods.
Therefore, for [Players] who disregarded the enemies who inhabited them and considered only the [Floors] themselves, the [Second Floor] was clearly a superior resource. With only the minimum level they felt necessary with uniformed judgment, many [Gathers] entered the [Second Floor].
Shirou completed his survey of the surrounding terrain. He jumped, leaping out to confidently spring from position to position as he descended like a mountain goat, the route already mapped in his mind as he cleared the maximum amount of distance in the minimum time. When he reached the bottom of the mountain, landing in a crouch in the scrub land, he took off at a run. Rather than the top-speed sprint of the first month, this was a steady jog that yielded the maximum amount of distance per unit of stamina. He was moving approximately to the [Northwest] to conduct another high-altitude survey.
I I I
Liz stepped back to dodge the blow, and then when had passed her, dashed forward to smash her mace into the enemy. The [Plains Taurus] made a long and angry sound like "moo!" that somehow conveyed anger and frustration.
"Switch!" She shouted.
While the [Plains Taurus] was still in the cooldown of its axe swing, she called out to her party members to press the attack.
"Right!" Takachan shouted, stepping forward to lunge with his spear.
"Gotchya!" At the same time, Shemeki-san, no, Doumeki-san in this game, also dashed forward, sword held out behind him as he rushed with his shield.
But, since they both responded, they got in each other's way. Takachan managed to attack, but he had to make an awkward step sideways. It meant that rather than using a [Skill], he had to just poke the enemy with his weapon. The damage was much lower than it should have been.
Meanwhile, Doumeki-san attacked at a bad angle. He still pulled off a [Reaver] Skill, but since he wasn't able to use it correctly, it was only a [Nick] that did even less damage than Takachan's spear jab.
Liz grit her teeth, to prevent herself from scolding them. She couldn't exactly blame adults for wanting to protect a child. She was mature enough to understand that. Doumeki, in particular, would have to answer to her parents when they got out of the game, and she knew that even if they weren't very close, the man did consider her father a friend. Compared to that, Takachan was the Party Leader, so he felt the responsibility of all their lives, especially for girl that wasn't even an adult.
Of course, the result was that they both tried to protect her as fast as possible. Because they didn't trust her abilities, it meant that the effectiveness of the party went down, and everyone was exposed to more danger.
While the three of them retreated in an ungainly manner, it was Hard-san that stepped forward, using his Two-handed Sword to parry the axe skill the monster used. Completely separate from his [Player Skills] he handled the sword like he knew what he was doing. Combined with his slicked-back, well-oiled hair over his naturally cold expression and the Hiroshima dialect he spoke with, on top of his [Name], she kind of wondered what exactly he did in the real world.
"Go around and attack from the left flank!" Takachan shouted at Doumeki-san, pointing with his right hand while he held his spear with his left hand and adjusted his grip.
But, because his eyes were focused on the enemy, Doumeki-san didn't see the gesture, even as he shouted "Right!" and charged diagonally behind Hard-san to attack from the left side, rather than the left flank of the monster facing towards them.
Liz took the initiative and charged the way Doumeki was supposed to, using her mace to smash the minotaur monster in the side while it raised its axe again. The [Horizontal] of her two-handed mace did the most damage of everyone in the party, so like that, the [HP bar] of the monster went down past three-quarters full.
She jumped back, stumbling, as the [Plains Taurus] made a long bellowing sound, turning to face her. She had probably maxed out the aggro, so it would be coming after her. She grimaced in fear, looking up at it, even as Hard-san grimly raised his sword one more time.
But a white figure blurred past them.
With a one-handed straight sword like Doumeki-san, but without a shield like him, that guy entered into the monster's space faster than Liz could follow. Even though he didn't use any sword skills and simply swung his blade, the sharp and tight slashes across the throat and into the left thigh followed by the thrust into the right side under the ribs before the quick disengage, just that much was enough for this person to push the HP bar deep into the red.
Without pausing, the figure stepped around and past the enemy mob, so that it was pincered between them. Like that, the monster completely forgot about Liz and focused on this new, much greater threat. It bellowed, swinging its axe again.
That guy, who was even taller than Hard-san, was wearing an all-white jump suit with a red scarf wrapped around his neck like a muffler, and a mask that covered his whole head with only an opening to expose his eyes; and on his forehead was a three-point triangular red star emblem. Without even stepping, he simply leaned to the side and the axe swished past him, missing by inches that might as well have been meters.
The [Sixth Ranger] had appeared before them.
They watched with something between amazement and envy as he easily dodged the attacks that had been pressing them so hard. Without even raising his sword from a casual grip at his side, he took the minimum steps needed for the attacks to barely miss.
It was Takachan who reacted first, stepping past the wary guard of Hard-san to use a spear skill, stabbing the minotaur in the back. With the sneak attack bonus, it was enough to reduce the HP to zero, and the [Plains Taurus] burst into pixels and evaporated.
[Congratulations!] was announced. Because the mob had been a higher level than the party average, the reward of XP and Col was quite substantial, especially for Takachan who had made the Last Attack.
"Thanks for your help." Takachan said, wiping his face. He had a complicated expression, like he really was thankful, but also like he wanted to complain about the interference.
"It wasn't a problem." The Sixth Ranger said, his golden eyes darting across them in an assessing manner. Liz felt a frown forming as he so casually dismissed what had just happened. Even if it was nothing to him, the way he said it was still a little annoying, like he was accidentally rubbing their faces in it. Rather than being sarcastic or condescending, he had simply given an honest opinion without any malice. For him, it really hadn't been a problem at all.
Before anyone could figure out how to rebut his words, he spoke again. "If you're running the [Gold Nuggets Quest], then the riverbed to the north of Urbus is more productive than the stream to the west of here. Even adding the travel time it would be faster to go there. And there are less enemies."
Although Takachan stepped forward to speak, he was cut off when Doumeki-san opened his mouth. "We're not running a Quest." He said, challenging the assumptions of the man before them.
The Sixth Ranger didn't say anything, but eventually he nodded in acceptance, and then spoke again. "If you're grinding XP, there's a lake to the east of the Starting City. The monsters on the shore of that lake are appropriate for your level."
Liz huffed, frowning. "And how do you even know what level we are, huh?"
He glanced at her, slightly surprised. "You're all level six." His gaze darted to Takachan, before he amended his statement. "Well, with the XP from that battle, you're level seven, now." He said to the Party Leader.
Takachan blinked, before looking down at his menu. "Hey… you're right!" He said, smiling at the good news.
"Congratulations, boss." Hard-san said, smoothly cutting in. Liz could appreciate that he was trying to prevent this situation from turning into a fight, even though she didn't really feel guilty about contributing to that herself.
Doumeki smiled himself. "Well… I say we're not running a Quest, but it's that we haven't been given a formal Quest by an NPC." He glanced around at the party, like he was asking permission, but he kept speaking regardless, turning his attention back to the Sixth Ranger. "What we're doing is chasing a rumor."
"A rumor?" The Sixth Ranger asked.
Doumeki nodded. "Like your first guessed, we're not people that grind levels, but instead we're crafting players. All of us are focused on having the best [Blacksmith] skills we possibly can."
"Really." The Sixth Ranger said. Liz blinked. Someone responding to a statement like that with 'really' as a one-word response, she would have thought that he was being dismissive or looking down on them with skepticism. But, rather than that, his tone was warm with excitement, like they had said something nice.
Clearly encouraged by his tone, Doumeki nodded affably. "Yes. So you see, the item [Iron Ore] is the most critical material we need. An item called [Low Quality Iron Ore] can be purchased in town, but for [Medium] or [High Quality] you have to perform resource fetch quests." Doumeki leaned forward, like he was sharing a secret. "But the NPC that sells [Low Quality Iron Ore], since the four of us always send Hard-san to purchase in bulk since his [Appraise] skill is best, we heard the rumor from that vendor first: that there's a place to get [Ultra-High Quality Iron Ore] somewhere to the West of Urbus." Doumeki nodded, still holding that conspiratorial expression on his face. Then, like it had just occurred to him, he cracked an eye open. "Say… would you like to join us while we look for it?"
Liz glanced at Takachan, who had a fixed expression on his face because Doumeki had supplanted his position as party leader to unilaterally invite the Sixth Ranger along.
The Sixth Ranger glanced down, looking slightly torn, before he looked up. "As for that… the [Second Floor Boss Raid] is this afternoon, so I can only join you until lunchtime, then I'll have to go to that, okay?"
Takachan looked considerably heartened by such a conditional agreement, before he stepped forward to actually send the Party Invite.
Liz had something else that concerned her, as she stepped forward. "Hey, Doumeki-san," she whispered in a sharp tone, drawing the man's attention. "What's the big idea?"
Doumeki glanced to where the Sixth Ranger was speaking with Takachan before sighing, crouching slightly to put his head about level with hers, before speaking. "This quest, do you really think we could do it without any protection from strong players?" Seeing her expression, he pushed forward. "And besides, even if his words are a little awkward, rather than defeating the [Plains Taurus] himself he just pushed it down to a few HP and let us finish it so that our party got the XP instead of him." He smiled at her. "It's important to gauge people's actions, and not just get distracted by their words. Don't you think someone like that would be really helpful?"
Liz admitted defeat. "I guess." She muttered. "But what if he wants a cut?"
"Then we let him have one." Doumeki affably remarked. "After all, he would have earned it, right?"
Liz admitted that was also true. She glanced up as a fifth name was added to their Party List: [SHIROU]. She was surprised that it was something that normal, rather than him actually being named [Sixth Ranger].
"Let's go." Takachan said, pushing forwards.
I I I
With the [Sixth Ranger] in the party, the battles had gone from being difficult and scary to almost insultingly easy. They didn't have to actually do anything; he just dashed forward, sliced the enemy down to a fraction of HP, and then kept its aggro while one of the rest of the party dealt the Last Attack and got the XP bonus.
Because he was the one that had actually heard the rumor directly, they let Hard-san lead the way. He was usually pretty quiet, but today he was being surprisingly talkative, since his role of [Party Guide] gave him something to talk about other than himself or other people, which he usually avoided doing.
He was pointing at the cliff they were walking along. "See that striated pattern?" He said, his finger moving sideways. "I'm a little surprised by the fidelity. The horizontal banding is layering as the sedimentary rocks were laid down. The reason the mountain looks flat is because it's actually harder rock that wasn't worn down by erosion like the rest, so rather than being pushed up, they actually resisted getting worn down like the rest of the land. Those distinctive flat-topped mountains are called [mesas] in North America." He paused, before glancing at Takachan and amending, "well, that's how it happens in the real world, so I guess that's what they're reproducing here."
He crouched down, and picked up a single free rock. He brushed it off with his hand, even though that was pointless since there weren't any [dirt] items or whatever caked on it, before holding it up in front of him towards the party. "See? Shale. That mountain is probably igneous, from a lava flow." He shook his head, sighing wistfully. "It's kind of frustrating. Putting so much effort into these details, it's like they're teasing me."
"You sure know a lot about rocks, Hard-san." Liz said, blinking. She wouldn't have thought it at all.
He smiled crookedly. "I didn't tell you?" He said, glancing around, confirming he didn't when the party shook their heads. "I only picked [Hard] because [Rock] was already taken by another player."
"So you're not a yakuza?" Liz asked, frowning, before she realized what an inappropriate question it was. Not just because it was rude to ask a Japanese person so directly, but because it was rude to ask another Player about [Outside].
He shook his head, smiling softly. "I'm… I was a professor of geology." He corrected the beginning of his sentence, setting the rock down and standing up straight. "Well, for now let's keep going." He walked forward, eyes following the cliff in front of him.
"Assuming that it's an accurate simulation, then, you have an idea of what the [Ultra High Quality Iron Ore] might be?" Takachan asked, slightly eagerly.
Hard-san was quiet for a moment before answering. "Well… at first I thought it would be from a meteor. Because of the high nickel content and the high purity compared to mined ores, meteoric iron was the first place we, that is, human civilization, got iron from: ferrous asteroids that wandered into the orbit of Earth and crashed into the surface of the planet."
"The very first sword was made from otherworldly metal, huh." The Sixth Ranger said something that wasn't quite a question. Liz looked at him. Compared to his earlier rough remarks, hearing him say something slightly romantic like that was a surprise.
"Well…" Hard-san considered the comment seriously. "Maybe. I mean, copper was the first metal human civilization really used for tools, but something like a sword couldn't be made until bronze was developed, and alloying bronze would be about as hard as working meteoric iron." He stopped in place, rubbing his chin in his hand. "Actually… yeah, that could really be the case. Tin-copper bronze was invented in Mesopotamia about six thousand years ago, and there are meteoric iron fragments from Egypt about that old, so…" he shook his head. "We can't be sure because the archaeological record is so sparse." He grinned a little self-consciously at the Sixth Ranger. "But, I don't know that much about archaeology, just the parts that touch on geology, so I can't really say for sure."
"I see." The Sixth Ranger said, closing his eyes as if Hard-san said something really profound. Liz decided that he was kinda strange, even if he was like a hero out of a tv show. Actually that probably added to the strange rather than subtracting from it.
"But you don't think that's going to be the case?" Takachan prompted, gently bringing them back on topic.
Hard-san shook his head. "If that was the case we'd be looking for impact craters, but there's nothing like that at all." He waved his hand at the mountain cliff beside them. "But if there's supposed to be a lot of volcanism in the geologic past of the floor then it might be telluric iron, stuff that was carried up from deep in the earth by lava. That's much rarer."
"Are you sure that we can rely on that?" Doumeki asked. He hurried to add, "Not that I'm questioning your expertise of course, but it's just that I wonder if it might be unlikely considering that Aincrad has the [Floor System] as the basic structure as a floating castle."
Hard-san shrugged. "Well, it fits if it's supposed to be a puzzle for players to figure out, right?"
Takachan nodded in agreement. "Even if the reasoning ends up being completely wrong, it might lead us to the right path by coincidence. Without a more concrete lead, I think we should follow it."
Hard-san stopped in place, glancing back and forth along the cliff face in front of him, his hands on his hips as he considered. "Maybe we should climb up here." He said.
"It looks a little steep." Liz said nervously.
Hard-san nodded slowly. "That makes me worried too, but climbing is easier and safer in Aincrad. And the rocks here look firm without any rubble, so we shouldn't trip any trap-type events." Hard-san nodded to himself and then pointed, his finger zig-zagging as it followed a few ridges that crossed each other. "And with the logic of a game, that might even be a path to follow."
Takachan stepped forward to consider it as well. "Why don't you lead, and we'll follow after you so that we know where to put our hands and feet?" He offered. "I mean, if that's not a problem."
Hard-san agreed, slapping his hands together and shaking them slightly. "I'd be a lot more comfortable if we had climbing harnesses and gear, but all I have is rope, not pitons, so for safety just remember that fall damage is really low compared to real life."
"That wasn't actually comforting." Liz muttered, following second after Hard-san.
"It wasn't supposed to be." Hard-san primly replied, without looking over his shoulder as he scaled the cliff.
Liz grunted, following after him.
It took a little getting used to, but she was surprised to find that climbing was actually pretty fun. It was like a puzzle to find the best place to put her hands and feet, and since she didn't get tired or exhausted, she wasn't pressured by the creeping soreness of her fingers or the lactic pain in her arms. Compared to just doing pull-ups in gym class, rock-climbing in Aincrad was fun.
At least, until she glanced down to see how Doumeki and the rest of the party was doing, and froze in place as vertigo swept over her, forcing herself to calm down as she only looked at the rocks right above her. She understood why Hard-san's head was fixed in place, and he only glanced down to check on them when he was firmly supported with all four limbs.
So, when she cleared the cliff after him, she was relieved, stepping forward with an exhausted and exaggerated sigh as she rolled the imagined soreness out of her shoulders.
She blinked as she felt Hard-san's hand grip her shoulder, but the protest died on her lips as she glanced at his face. Following the worried look in his eye, she saw that there was a group of monsters approaching. Casually walking towards them, was a sickly minotaur like an emaciated [Plains Taurus] as well as more traditional cow-like monster, although for some reason it had something like a beehive on the hump of its shoulders.
Hard-san grimly equipped his two-handed sword, glancing down at the cliff.
That's right, the rest of the party was still climbing up. So, the only thing to do was to also equip her mace and stand beside Hard-san.
"I'll attack." Hard-san grunted. "You stay here and protect the rest of the party, okay?"
Liz glanced at him, and swallowed her complains with a scowl. Once again, being the only child in that was otherwise adults was affecting the way she was treated. "You can't do it yourself." She retorted. "If we do it carefully together we can hold them off until everyone joins us."
Hard-san glanced aside, studying her face for a long moment with an expression she couldn't read, before he finally nodded, turning to face towards the approaching enemies. "Fine." He said.
She stepped into a fighting stance, holding her mace up beside her. Now that they were closer, she could see what they were called: the gangly minotaur, which even had a filmy eye with a cataract, was an [Infected Taurus], while the more normal-looking cow despite the papery, hive-like structure on its back was called a [Hosting Cattle].
"Prioritize the minotaur." Hard-san ordered, stepping forward and preparing himself. As soon as it was close enough, he used a [Sword Skill], and his [Wide Horizontal] was the first attack to connect. "Switch!" He shouted, as the [Infected Taurus] prepared its axe.
"Right!" Liz shouted, dashing forwards. She used a [Fierce Bash], the mace equivalent of the [Reaver], to strike the minotaur. It had a long cooldown, but importantly, it could both interrupt someone else's Sword Skill and also inflict the Knockback condition.
"Good!" Hard-san shouted, stepping forward to use his own skill.
Rather than attack, the [Hosting Cattle] simply stood in place, away from them. A strange orange bar was over it. It wasn't centered over the body like an HP bar, but rather it floated over the mob's head, and the outline was thicker. When the bar filled, it disappeared.
Three evil-looking [Hosted Wasps] popped into existence around the [Hosting Cattle]. Liz understood.
"It's a spawning type!" She shouted, gesturing at the [Hosting Cattle].
Hard-san frowned, looking back and forth. He growled, shaking his head. "We've already drawn aggro on the minotaur, so we should finish it first."
Liz also glanced between the two, biting her lip. "If you say so." Indecision would be worse than doing the wrong thing, so she ran forward to use another [Fierce Bash] to interrupt the axe attack.
They quickly settled into a rhythm, attacking one after the other. They simply grit their teeth and ignored the stings of the [Host Wasps]. Even if they were under-leveled for the floor, the Wasp attacks weren't all that dangerous, just really distressing because of the pain, although even that was more like an ant bite than something you'd expect from those dagger-like stingers.
When Doumeki joined them, they finished off the [Infected Taurus] quickly. Doumeki had the Fire Element, so he focused on roasting the [Hosted Wasps] with jets of flame. But his skill was still low, so after finishing off the nine that had spawned while they were fighting, he shook his head. "I'm already out of prana. I can gather more, but I'll start to take damage from over-reach."
Hard-san dragged Takachan over the edge. He had a worried look on his face because he'd heard them fighting, but seeing that everyone was still green, he sighed in profound relief.
"We just have to take down that cow thing before it spawns more." Liz charged forward, brandishing her mace. "Even if it uses melee, then that's better than it spawning these wasps!"
Although it watched them approach, the [Hosting Cattle] didn't make any moves, simply slowly filling up that orange bar that was floating over its head.
"She's right!" Takachan said, gripping his spear. "Let's finish it quickly!"
Liz struck first, using the [Fierce Bash], and retreating afterwards. "Switch!" She shouted.
The orange bar disappeared, simply dropping out. Instead, a red bar with the same over-heavy border appeared over the head of the monster. It filled much more quickly.
Hard-san stepped forward, swinging his sword in the [Broad Horizontal]. Just like before, the two of them fell into a rhythm of trading attacks, while Doumeki and Takachan held back, uncertain.
The red bar filled up, and the [Hosting Cattle] threw its head back.
"MOOOO!" Although it was a loud and slightly ridiculous roar, Liz blinked, surprised, as she collapsed to the ground with the [stun] condition.
"Get it!" Takachan shouted, dashing forward.
Liz could only watch, helplessly sprawled on the ground, as the two unparalyzed party members attacked the [Hosting Cow]. Fortunately, it didn't do anything like a trample attack on her or Hard-san, simply going back to filling up that unprecedented Orange Bar.
"Okay!" Doumeki shouted, as his [Horizontal] connected. Again, the [Orange Bar] was dropped and the [Red Bar] appeared. "We'll just retreat outside the [stun] range when it uses the special again!"
"Right!" Takachan agreed, using his own spear skill, retreating afterwards, smiling that they had gotten the [Hosting Cattle] almost to the yellow.
She was laying helpless on her back. She was really glad that they had a reliable plan and relieved that it seemed to be ignoring the two of them that were on the ground, but it was really scary not being able to move, just watching from the side with her face pressed to the ground.
But a white blur smashed into the [Hosting Cattle] like a cannonball. Spinning in place, Shirou cut the throat [Hosting Cattle] for a single [Critical Hit] that removed over half its HP just like that, before ruthlessly twisting his sword, whipping it around into a reverse grip to stab it into the brainpan from behind, entering right underneath where the spine would have been.
As soon as he verified the HP crossed zero, he turned, glancing at the two paralyzed party members with a tight expression on his face. "That was a mistake." He said with a tense voice. "They run out after spawning fifteen wasps, but if you attack them they use a rage skill that spawns more of those cows."
He stepped forward, and lifted Liz, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatos. She protested, but all he did was shift his grip so that she was hanging from both his shoulders in a fireman's carry rather than folded over only one of his shoulders. "We need to run." He said.
And then he ran.
"Whaaaa!" Liz screamed as he seemed to take off. She had known he was a speed-type character, but this was way beyond what she would have thought was possible even if his Agility was two or three times higher than hers. Even encumbered with her, the acceleration was more like something she'd expect from a car than a bicycle, let alone a running person. Maybe he had the [Run] Skill and some kind of magic?
He spun in place, and she felt a twisting sensation in her stomach as he smoothly landed facing the way he came, looking back.
She heard him click his teeth in annoyance, and her eyes darted around even though she was disoriented, finally latching on Doumeki, had only travelled a third of the distance they had. With Hard-san thrown over his shoulder, Takachan hadn't even gotten a fourth of the distance Shirou had.
They lauched again, and Liz screamed as they rushed back the way they came, the world blurring. Because she wasn't in control, it seemed impossibly fast.
"Here." Shirou ordered, throwing her off his shoulder and pushing her onto Doumeki.
"I'm not a sack of potatos!" Liz protested, but both of them ignored her.
At least Doumeki held her piggy-back style, although her arms were just uselessly draped over his shoulders. She couldn't actually hold on, so it was all up to Doumeki.
Well, she could see straight forward, so when Shirou grabbed Doumeki's head between his hands, she blinked. "What's that gonna do?" She asked.
"Trace on." Shirou muttered, closing his eyes while he ignored her. "Reinforcement."
"Gah." Doumeki grunted. He was shivering, but the hands on his head were like a vice. Finally, with one last great shudder, he stumbled forward as Shirou let him go, before meeting his eye. "Try running now."
"Right." Doumeki said, and then he took off.
"Whoooaaa!" Liz cried, as her hands were completely whipped off his shoulders and dangled straight behind them like streamers, as Doumeki charged forward with her thighs gripped under his arms. She could only see the sky directly, but based on the crazy bouncing landscape in her peripheral vision, she guessed that Doumeki was running almost as fast as Shirou had been when he was carrying her. Even as she screamed, she imagined that meant it was mostly enhancement magic rather than a [Running Skill], then.
When he skidded to a halt, she folded up, flying forwards so that the back of his head slammed into her diaphragm as he buried himself in a crouch. "Ooof!" She gasped, sliding down so that she was at least back to a normal piggyback carry. "Why did you stop?" She complained.
But, she could see for herself as soon as her eyes uncrossed. "Oh." She muttered. It hadn't been at all visible, but the gentle, barely-there slope of the flat top of this mountain abruptly ended in an even steeper cliff than the one they had climbed. She could see the far side of the rim, and it wasn't as deep as before, with a pool of water in one corner and a hut next to a tree and a boulder sitting all by itself, but most importantly, they would have to walk around the edge.
That was what she was thinking when Takachan stopped even more desperately than Doumeki, sliding to a halt at the absolute edge, standing up straight to keep his feet from skidding the last few centimeters that would pitch them over.
He stood stock upright, and slowly, so slowly that Liz could see the dawning horror in his face, but so quickly that Doumeki couldn't grab him, Takachan teetered forward. If he hadn't been holding the paralyzed Hard-san in a fireman's carry over his shoulders, he would have windmilled his arms.
And then he pitched forward, and fell.
Liz sucked in her breath in weird synchronization with Doumeki as they watched their two party members fall, coming apart and pinwheeling crazily, before they both hit the ground with a dull thud, bouncing slightly.
Holding their breaths, they both watched the HP bar over their party member's heads, and in the corner of their HUD, as they decreased, sliding into yellow, crossing into red, and then coming to a halt. They both breathed out in sincere relief.
Then Doumeki spun around.
Shirou was racing towards them.
"They're okay!" Doumeki shouted. "They're fine!"
Shirou sagged in relief, even as he finished running towards them, coming to a halt and calmly looking over the edge of the cliff, before he glanced the way he came.
A dreadful moo sounded, and was answered in kind.
Shirou walked forward, putting himself between Doumeki and Liz and the monsters approaching them.
"Oh no." Liz muttered, unable to do anything. Because, no less than four [Hosting Cattle] were approaching them, already surrounded by a cloud of those wasps.
Shirou steadily walked towards the monsters.
"Hey!" Doumeki said. "What are you going to do?"
Shirou paused, but without turning to look back, before he answered. "I don't know." He replied.
I I I
Emiya Shirou considered his options.
Fleeing was unacceptable. Even if the three of them could skirt the rim and continue to escape, the two party members trapped in the caldera would draw the aggro, and they would be killed. He didn't want to sacrifice those two just to save these two. If he could imagine any other path, he would take it.
Jumping into the caldera and eating the falling damage was a possibility. There was a hut down there that might be a Safe Zone, and otherwise, there might be a path to exit. However, neither option was certain. It was better than doing nothing, but if neither possibility was true, then he couldn't guarantee any of their lives. The [Hosted Wasps] would reach them and they would probably die. He wouldn't be able to protect them.
Fighting and defeating the enemy was the best, most clear path to victory. But how?
Each of these enemies was individually weak, but their high agility and relatively small size made them a problem because they were hard to strike. If they had a chance to aggregate their damage, then a large number of weak attacks would become dangerous.
His [Sword Skills] couldn't hit. They were too long, too broad, and the cooldown was too slow. They could gather faster than he could cut them down. He considered the [Reinforcement Magic] but even so the gap between his agility and theirs was too high. Even if he maxed out the [Accuracy] or [Quickness] of the sword in his hand and heightened his performance that way, even so that would be insufficient.
But no, fundamentally, Emiya Shirou simply lacked the skill to attack so precisely.
So what if he flipped on the Trigger?
No, because she had never fought such small enemies. Compared to giants and dragons, that had been the opposite scenario, her golden sword had been the burning stinger of the insect that went on to overwhelm them. Other knights had been perfectly neutralized according to an [Instinct] that responded to human hearts and chose the best response. None of that was applicable. Neither sword had even once been required in a scenario such as the one before him.
What about that lead-colored giant? No, that was no good either. The image was simply too far from his existence. Compared to that vast slab of rock, his sword was too small, too thin, and too light. Compared to the natural abilities of the greatest demigod, no matter how much he trained, the natural limits of a human were insufficient compared to that huge half-deific body. And the Class Feature of [Mad Enhancement] interfered with his synchronization. It was too far away. But none of that was relevant. In the first place, even if he could reproduce those movements without ripping himself apart, the resulting functionality wouldn't be any different than reproducing her skills. Against these enemies he needed something other than overwhelming power, something more precise.
What about the Lancer? If he grabbed that spear the other guy was holding could he load in the skills that could be used to enact [Protection from Arrows] and knock away the enemies? No. Compared to using her skills without any practice it would be equally damaging to demand his body move with the same speed as that hero of light. And the image with that weapon, which wasn't a sword, was too vague, too hard to imagine as easily and quickly as he needed. Even as an agility-type [Character] he was still laughably far away from that guy. But that was irrelevant. [Protection from Arrows] read the path of an incoming projectile and perfectly intercepted it. Compared to that, these holographic bugs were erratically adjusting their flight paths while approaching according to their own judgment. Even if they were just virtual programs without a real will, they were still more like [Enemies] rather than [Arrows]. All the added difficulty was too much without even the foundation of that demihuman body.
He searched the database. Was there any hero that could strike down these flying enemies without requiring a superhuman body?
Yes, there was.
Among the countless treasures that were uncolored, scattered among them in the database there were weapons that had been uniquely wielded by the Heroic Spirits he had seen before him. And inside that tiny percentage appropriate for the [Trigger On] there was one that matched his search parameters.
He breathed out. He loaded the image of the sword into his circuits and pulled the Trigger. The image and knowledge fired him up and spread out and soaked into his body. His stance adjusted, his shoulders relaxed, his center of gravity sunk and his mind became placid.
With a presence like a calm pool of water, he raised the sword in both hands with a firm but relaxed grip. It was the wrong shape and far too short, but that wasn't a problem. There were no problems because he was serene.
Once, there had been a swordsman who wanted to be great. But, rather than seeking out battles and fighting many other swordsman, he simply sharpened his own skills while secluded like a hermit. Because of the irrationally long sword he favored, this minor figure was easily conflated with another who had used an equally, absurdly long sword; and that one had sought out a great swordsman, and then lost. But that man was not this man. Even if he was confused with and referred to as Sasaki Koujirou, this man had not been Sasaki Koujirou. This was a nameless man without any legend who had meditated at a temple, and set himself a challenge.
Rather than sharpen his skills by cutting down a man, he decided to cut down a sparrow.
Before he could even get the bird inside the reach of his sword, he had to calm his mind and quiet his ego so they wouldn't fly away into the trees. For Shirou, reproducing that absolute lack of judgment and turning his mind into a sword without will was easy. Yes, because when he was born, he put down one thing after another and just kept moving forward without any other goal. Becoming like a wraith that just haunted somewhere without any malice was easy and natural. Frankly speaking, it was uplifting and wonderful to be using it as a positive thing.
He had failed thousands of times. Thousands of times he swung the sword, and all those thousands of times he failed. Below 1% of the time he succeeded, but that was a coincidence where the sparrow had made a tremendous mistake, rather than it being his achievement. So even those rare successes were honestly failures. So, he had to discard frustration and swing his sword for the first time every time, letting all previous failures float away like a straw thrown into a river. Hadn't Shirou done exactly the same thing? Night after night, synchronizing his mind and creating the circuit, and after a long effort, failing time after time to accomplish even the most basic thing? Yes, that was exactly the same.
His mind was serene. His heart was calm. His breathing was deep and placid. He raised the sword, and without expecting even one result, he swung it.
A sparrow could feel the wind parting in front of the sword and dart aside, so that to strike it down with that long sword had required a grand mental state that could bend space by simply imaging and equally accepting multiple possible paths at the same time.
But compared to real sparrows, the agility of these holographic bugs was lower. They had no ability to float on and read the wind, so they possessed no warning that allowed them to dodge.
His sword whipped around like a stick in the rapids, which darted back and forth among the river rocks without ever once striking even one as it was carried bobbing downstream. But each time his sword swung, without any ego, surprise, or satisfaction, his sword passed through one of those enemies. There were exceptions to that rule. By far the most difficult part was continuously adjusting the imagined sword to match the shorter and straighter blade these fake hands actually held. But each miss was because his image slipped and grew too long and curved, not because his aim was too slow.
Space contracted into the reach of his sword even as time expanded into eternity. He neither counted nor remembered. His universe was bounded as what he could cut with his blade.
Even as he emptied his mind, he emptied the universe. It was neither an eternity nor a single breath, but in a meditative state he naturally synchronized with the world and his image of perfect serenity was pushed onto his surroundings. He breathed calmly, his sword held in guard before him as he waited without any unnecessary thoughts in his mind.
I I I
She couldn't believe it, even though she had watched it happen.
Shirou had walked forward, and then stopped, standing calmly with his back to them, without moving. Then he had equipped his sword and held it up, and in so doing, he… changed, somehow.
It was like he turned invisible, even though she could see him just fine.
But then, the instant the first [Hosted Wasp] came inside his range, he swung his sword, and cut it in unerringly cut it in half just like that.
It was completely impossible to tell what he was doing. Each and every motion was surprising like she was seeing it for the first time. It was hypnotizing.
So when he stopped, she blinked, surprised.
"That was all of them." Doumeki said in an awed and amazed voice. "I lost count in the thirties, but that must have been all of them."
It hadn't even occurred to her to count.
"Hey!" Doumeki said, stepping forward, still with her draped over his shoulders. "Shirou! That was incredible!"
Shirou turned calmly to face them, with an indescribably serene expression on his face. "Oh? Who is this?" He asked. Even though it was naturally his voice, it didn't sound like him at all.
"Shirou?" Doumeki said, his hand drooping slightly as he was uncertain. "Are you… is something wrong?"
"Shirou, huh." Shirou said as if he was simply musing about a stranger. "Isn't that… me?" With a shudder like someone poured water over him, he crouched, and when he stood again, his body language was completely gone. Whatever spell had been cast was broken.
"Sorry about that." He apologized, with an embarrassed voice. "I got into the zone so much, that I lost track of where I was."
"It's all right." Doumeki said, slightly confused, before he shook his head, which incidentally took Liz along for the ride. "You were amazing!"
"Thank you." Shirou murmured, but Doumeki was already turned away.
"Takachan!" Doumeki shouted.
Below, the Party Leader looked up from where he was leaning Hard-san against the hut, glancing over his shoulder and then turning around to stand completely and look at the shouting Doumeki.
"Shirou won!" Doumeki shouted, jubilant.
Takachan held out his thumb with his hand up, and then accessed his menu.
A PM popped up in front of them.
[PM
From: Takachan To: Party
That's great! What do we do now?]
After thinking about it, Doumeki paused. "I don't know." He admitted, although only Liz could hear him.
I I I
In the end, they took advantage of the fact that Doumeki had insisted on carrying four hundred meters of rope, and lowered Liz down to the bottom. Doumeki and Shirou had climbed down one after the other, leaving the rope hanging from where they had secured it as an exit.
With the paralyzed Liz and Hard-san propped up against the side of the hut, and with Doumeki, Takachan, and Shirou arranged facing them, they had a party meeting. Even though she hated not being able to move, since they were inside a [Safe Zone] next to a hut, a tension that she hadn't even been worried about released.
Takachan was the first to speak, and what he said was a surprise to all of them. "Shirou-san. It's already almost one o'clock."
Liz realized she was quite hungry, but she didn't know what he was getting at, until she realized. Shirou-san had said that he intended to join the [Second Floor Boss Raid], but there was no way he could do that now, was there?
Indeed, Shirou sat there like a motionless lump of iron. Even though he wasn't moving at all, just from his posture it was clear that he was deeply conflicted.
Finally, he said, "I don't want to leave you here."
"We'll be fine." Doumeki said encouragingly. "After all, when the paralysis wears off, we'll just climb the rope and be out of here."
Shirou looked aside. "The paralysis lasts for two hours, and the [Hosting Cattle] reset their spawns after fifteen minutes." He looked up at the rim they came from. "Since they don't move on their own and only follow the monster they're partied with, with the [Infected Taurus] gone, those four are going to be waiting up there." Then he glanced at the edge of the pool of water, which curved into a cave that hung underneath the lip of the cavern. "And the cave monsters on the Second Floor are three levels higher than the plains monsters on average." In other words, if they tried to escape the way they came, then they would get mobbed, and if they tried to leave through a secret passage, they would get ambushed by an enemy they couldn't handle.
"Oh." Takachan said heavily. "I didn't know that."
"Shirou-san." Liz said, with a low voice. When everyone turned to look at her, she felt a little pressured, so she glanced down even though she couldn't move her head. "You've already helped us so much, so do what you need to. We'll be fine on our own."
Even though he was wearing a mask, she could tell he was smiling at her with a conflicted expression. "Liz… I don't know what to do."
"I'm wondering about that rock over there." Hard-san said. He obviously wanted to jerk his arm up to point over his shoulder with his thumb, but since he was also still paralyzed, that was impossible. "And I'm wondering if there's an NPC in the hut that could give us advice."
For a moment he was frozen in place, and then with a snort Shirou stood up and walked into the hut.
After a little while, Takachan spoke. "You guys… I'm sorry it's turned out like this."
"We chose this too." Hard-san replied simply, and there was nothing more to say. It was quiet, until the door of the hut opened again.
"What a tall NPC." Takachan muttered.
"He's built like a mountain." Doumeki agreed.
After a pause, she heard the pad pad of bare feet, followed by the sound of Shirou's boots after a moment of hesitation. Since she was facing completely the opposite way, she had no idea what was going on beyond that. "What just happened?" Liz complained.
After a beat, Doumeki answered. "An NPC built like a Schwarzenegger in a gi has led Shirou over to beside that large boulder."
A voice Liz didn't recognize shouted something. It went like this. "Shashashasha-shaaa!"
Then the sound of bare feet walking back towards her, followed by the creak of the hut door opening, bare feet walking through, and then the creak of the door closing again.
After a long pause, Shirou walked over as well. Takachan covered his snort better than Doumeki did, but Liz didn't see why until Shirou was kneeling in the circle again. She didn't do such an admirable job of containing her chuckles as they did.
On the heroic white mask, a cartoon of whiskers had been drawn on both his cheeks.
After a pause to let them settle down, Shirou spoke. "So until I break the rock, I can't leave the mountain."
"That answers the question of whether you're going to stay or go, then." Hard-san dryly replied.
Shirou looked down, frowning. "I suppose it does." He clearly didn't like it. Finally, he sighed. "Well, I guess there's nothing for it."
He stood up, and walked back towards the rock.
"Hey." Liz said, demanding the attention of her party members. "It's not the case that either of you forgot how to cast the [Cure Paralysis] spell, is it?"
Frankly speaking, she wasn't sure if it would have been better if that was the case, but since it wasn't, all she could do was sigh in aggravation.
I I I
Shirou walked over to the rock, considering what he was going to do.
First things first. Leaving this place was forbidden until he broke this rock.
[PM
From: Shirou To: Ilya
Ilya, I've gotten caught up in something. I can't make it to the meeting.]
He tapped send, and then focused his attention on the problem before him.
It was a really big rock. Well, it wasn't that being big or small was that much of a concern, but first he had to understand the situation.
He breathed out, flipping on his circuits. Earlier had been strange. His prana was still flowing oddly. But he couldn't worry about that now. Instead he focused on the problem in front of him.
Placing a palm on the rock, he scanned it with Structural Grasp. "Trace… On." He muttered.
The wireframe built up in his mind, and suddenly details leapt out, fleshing it out so to every last line of code, and more. From the instant it had spawned eight days ago until now, every last compositional data and change in state was recorded. If had had been used in any way or had belonged to anyone in that time, Shirou would have been instantly able to tell, but instead this rock had just sat there without anything happening. The reason that such absolute data had been returned to his assessment was simple.
From the beginning, this rock had been created from the concept it would be made into swords.
It had the max durability score for its item type. If it was any higher, it would loop around to return a negative number, which would be interpreted as an [Immortal Object] by the Cardinal System.
But if it was broken, rather than disappearing and shattering into nothingness, instead it would spawn [Rock Fragments]. And if those fragments were inspected by someone with a high enough score in both [Appraise] and [Blacksmith], then they would be automatically renamed as [Telluric Basalt], and their type would change from [Environmental Items] to [Materials].
Shirou chuckled softly. After all this, it turned out that Hard-san was right.
There were no weak-spots. Unlike a real rock, there weren't any shear planes from imperfections in the crystal. It was perfectly homogenous because it was shapeless inside, even if on the outside it had an appearance and a texture. Unlike in real life there was nothing really inside the wireframe of the things he Grasped, it was built up from triangles with images on one side. He couldn't simply split it by striking along a weak plane from those imperfections.
What was it the NPC had said? "Split this rock using only thy palms."
Shirou raised his arms and held them out in front of himself, examining his holographic hands, and flexed his fingers carefully, before extending them straight into what was called the sword-hand in karate. He opened his circuits again, and even if he was still reacting strangely to before, that wasn't a bad thing, it wasn't a problem. He [Reinforced] his [Strength] and [Agility] all the way to the limits. He had never reinforced his hands as weapons before, since even during that time, it was more productive to grab a pipe and use that instead. But that wasn't a problem, either. For Emiya Shirou, using himself as a weapon was the most natural thing in the world.
In a little less than two hours, the paralysis would wear off Hard-san and Liz and he would escort them back to [Urbus]. It would be more efficient if he could be finished by then.
His hand whipped out like a swinging sword. He examined the results and nodded to himself.
Yes, this wouldn't be a problem at all.