"So the second day is over, now it was quite energetic, to say the least."
"Meh, I remember these bulettes being scarier."
Nomom and Phenia were currently standing on a small mountain of dire bulette corpses.
They were told that these variants were superior to regular bulettes, but to these two, dire bulettes were the same type of ants that regular bulettes from the day before were.
"The one who has the lead as of the end of this day is the yuan-ti team! Followed closely by the dark dwarves and kir-lanans, and the orcs aren't far behind! Tomorrow the official winner will be decided!"
Barakazmith just announced that - to the surprise of most participants - the dark dwarves were surpassed by another team. Despite being nearly 20 participants shorter, the yuan-ti team was able to not only kill more dire bulettes than the dark dwarf team today but also killed enough to surpass the kill count of the day before as well, since kills are counted overall, rather than divided by day.
" [ With today being as chaotic as it was, I should've known that we wouldn't have much luck finding Rhemurus. ] "
" [ Tomorrow is the final day, what if we can't find him? Did we come here for nothing? ] "
" [ It's alright Keno, I did predict this possibility after all. I'm sure more opportunities will present themselves in the near future. ] "
And he wouldn't give up either way, not after the very end. Besides, from what he heard about the third day of the hunting games, Ainz has a feeling that tomorrow may be the day when Rhemurus finally reveals himself for everyone to see.
[The human team]
"Now today was awesome."
"I was so scared, I thought I was gonna die!"
"What a scarycat you are, we came out alive, no?"
"I'm hungry."
"I think my bow's string is gonna break, anyone has a spare?"
"I just want to go into my tent and drop to sleep."
"Can I keep the health crystals I didn't use?"
"Yeah sure, they're all yours."
Despite everyone being so exhausted, lively chatter was still heard throughout the tent areas.
Rhemurus noticed and mentioned how amazed he was at everyone's high spirits.
"You guys are all amazing. Even though tomorrow will likely be even more brutal than today, you're all cheery."
"Oh right, we keep forgetting that you aren't from around here and these are your first games."
The player himself, likewise, keeps forgetting that he's an outsider that still knows next to nothing about this country, let alone this world.
In either case, the best ranger of the human team, Solangus, was quite glad to fill the refugee in.
"The reason why we aren't scared shitless is that the Shield Dragon Lord is here. Surely, you've heard about this country's high marshal?"
"Yes. From what I've been told, he's an ancient and powerful dragon that has protected this country ever since it was founded."
"And he has actually grown more powerful over time, thanks to his draconic nature. Should a monster outside of our league appear, he will watch our back. We have no actual reason to fear for our lives, even if our opponents tomorrow will be bulette lords."
"Bulette lords...now my homeland didn't have those."
Unless, of course, bulette lords were added to Yggdrasil during the year he was absent, in which case Tanaka would be none the wiser.
"We will have to update our strategy if you learned new spells, however. Seeing how fast you progressed yesterday, I think I'm not wrong in assuming you did learn new spells today?"
"You're not wrong. I did reach the 2nd-tier, I believe."
"From knowing just three 1st-tier spells to reaching the 2nd-tier in just two days...was that the norm back where you came from? Or, are you some sort of anomaly?"
"Well, the answer may surprise you, if I'm honest."
"Regardless, you can tell us about that later, when we're having supper."
While waiting for the food to be ready, Rhemurus had some time to start thinking about the nearby future, about what to do after these games are over.
Even if these bulette lords carry enough EXP to make him reach 3rd-tier arcane spells and finally qualify to become an arcane hierophant, that doesn't change the fact that he will have to wait an entire year to participate in these games and obtain EXP in sizable quantities again, assuming he's willing to stay in Breizen that long in the first place.
And even then, the higher-level he becomes, the more will be his body's need for EXP will be, and in a few years the hunting games just won't be enough to progress anymore.
- If I were to play it safe, I could stay a couple of years in Breizen to participate in these games a few more times, that way I make myself 100% certain that I take my first level in [Arcane Hierophant] to become able cast all my spells while wearing armor and...shield...
Of course, he will also have to get himself a new shield.
He knew since the beginning that he would've had to get himself a better shield eventually, but even so, that shield was a memento from Yggdrasil, a memento that was now gone forever.
Rhemurus eventually reached his tent, left his scimitar on the floor nearby, took off his armor, then his helmet, laid his body down on the pallet, and closed his eyes to sadly remember the golden days of Yggdrasil.
[The final day of the hunting games]
Unlike the first two days of the games, the human player was actually the first one on the human team who woke up. The first thing that caught his attention after exiting his tent was the sight of a new dragon he never saw before in the distance, a dragon a bit smaller than the high marshal, but was still very big nonetheless.
In any case, everyone else on his team was still sound asleep, so he looked for the leftovers of last night to fill his growling stomach.
It had been a while since he had a melancholy-induced dream, and he had forgotten about how peaceful - if not somewhat painful - crying yourself to sleep could be.
- A dreamless sleep, is it the closest feeling a living being can have to death?
Regardless, Tanaka still isn't the delusional type that believes he will live happily ever after. Even in a magical world like this one, the most he can ever hope to achieve is to be strong enough to defend himself and have economical stability in order to avoid living in an environment where he feels such sorrow again. He doesn't need any more than that.
For him, 'happiness' and 'absence of sadness' are the exact same thing.
He eventually found the pot where the leftovers were stored. Touching the pot, he noticed how cold it was, so he moved the lid aside and saw how stale the food was as well. It was nothing that a good reheating couldn't fix, however.
- Do I need cooking classes to reheat food in this world? That would be ridiculous, but, just to be sure...
Rhemurus looked at his nearby surroundings to verify that nobody else was awake, and since he still wasn't wearing his armor, he took some of the extra wood left at the side of the pot and placed it below said pot before using [Burning Hands] to lit the wood ablaze.
If somebody asks, he can say that he used the flints left at the side of the wood he used to light the fire.
The reheated stew eventually began to smell very good, watering the mouth of the hungry player who was none the wiser that he made a very, very fatal mistake.
Well, two mistakes, to be specific.
His first mistake was to exit his tent before everyone else, making him noticeable to the individuals who have been eyeing the tent area of the human team from a distance since they arrived. The previous day, all the human participants woke up before Rhemurus did which made it extremely hard to make him out among the numerous humans, but today, the pale-skinned white-haired human was standing out like a sore thumb.
The second mistake was being lazy enough to use his arcane spell instead of the flints, since the aforementioned individuals looking at him realized because of it that he wasn't a regular human, at least not a regular one in the council state.
" [ Hey, Ainzy, that guy used [Burning Hands], but he looks nothing like the human chief! ] "
" [ Yeah, it's odd. The human leader himself told me that only he and his immediate family are arcane spellcasters in the sole human settlement in this country. Is that man his son? ] "
" [ If he is, then maybe he got the looks of his mom, or something. ] "
There could've been a myriad of reasons explaining the human's strange appearance and his usage of arcane spells, so Ainz had no grounds for suspicion.
At least, he didn't, until Rhemurus made his third fatal mistake.
- Oh right, I still have some of that crimson forest fruit in my inventory! Because I always had my meals prepared by someone else, I never actually felt the need to try them. But it seems the stew still needs a few minutes to be ready, and I'm quite hungry.
He was so sad last night that he barely ate anything, so after looking at his nearby surroundings again to verify his fellows were still asleep, he reached into his inventory to grab a fruit and immediately took a bite.
- Mmm, a bit spicy, but not so bad! I think I'm going to eat the whole thing.
It was good that he enjoyed the flavor of this fruit from Yggdrasil because Rhemurus was extremely ignorant about the fact that he just revealed his nature to the one actively looking for him without realizing it, something that could've been avoided if he just had a more patient personality, but it was far too late now.
" [ H-hey! Ainzy! You saw that!? That guy, it's that same thing you do! ] "
" [ Yes, he just reached into an inventory system...which can only mean one thing. ] "
Part of him was expecting that Rhemurus would reveal himself in some flashy way or epic fashion, everyone staring in awe at the player from Yggdrasil like those parallel world fantasy stories where everything revolves around the main character just because yes. But Ainz guesses that, in the end, it could be a good thing that he found Rhemurus in a way that doesn't alert the council state citizens.
He imagines that Tsaindorcus, likewise, doesn't wants much attention thrown in the player's way, hence why a second dragon lord was sent to support Barakazmith in supervising the final day of the hunting games.
"So, you spotted something good, honorable guests from the empire?"
At hearing that, both Nomom and Phenia began to act like fools and pretended they were just casually observing the landscape with their telescopes, a device created with divination magic and exported from the Sorcerer Empire to nearby lands.
"Oh, we were just admiring the beautiful landscape, grand councilor. The Manthor Hills are still a picturesque place, all things considered."
"I bet you would think so. After all, I imagine the empire has no shortage of wastelands infected by the undead."
Now that was quite the passive-aggressive remark, not the kindest thing to say to guests about their own country of origin, but Ainz was willing to let it slide considering that the one who said such a thing was the Blue Sky Dragon Lord, the dragon councilor who was the most opposed to both his empire and the way he pursuits magical development because of said dragon lord's nature as a druid.
The dragon councilor Suveria had dramatic frilled ears and a single massive yellow horn emerging from his short snout. Said horn took up most of the top of his head, and was slightly curved and reached well forward. The smell of ozone lingered in the air near him, and his azure-tinged scales glittered in the sun.
Normally, the Shield Dragon Lord would be more than capable of supervising the hunting games by himself, but the reason why the grand councilor was called to support was a reasonable precaution. Because as it turns out, plenty of dangerous things have increased in size and number as of the latest years; the frequency of the doom priests, the frozen invasions from the north, the aberrant sightings, and it wasn't only in the Argland Council State, it was throughout the entire new world.
As the most powerful druid in the country, grand councilor Suveria was the best choice to support the high marshal on this last day of the hunting games.
"Grand councilor, I returned from my arcane scouting."
Barakazmith came back from scanning the Manthor Hills with a modified version of the 4th-tier spell [Arcane Eye] which allowed the dragon to take a good look at how many more bulettes remain underground and the exact location of the bulette lords.
He landed next to the blue dragon, who was notably smaller than the high marshal for the former was gargantuan-sized, a step below the colossal-sized high marshal.
"Is it as bad as we anticipated?"
"Almost. To tell you the truth, if you weren't sent as support, I may have suggested a special request to have you support me."
"Really, now?"
The one who told Suveria that his help may be required this specific day in this specific place was Tsaindorcus, who requested such a thing - among many other strange requests - the day after he came from a place he claims is the first country he ruled over, a place that he has no intentions of speaking about to others.
Just what happened in that place? Suveria and his fellow grand councilors have wondered that ever since Tsaindorcus came back just to disappear again, and it was clear to see that the Platinum Dragon Lord was quite anxious, something that an ancient and powerful dragon lord shouldn't be feeling.
"So the last day will still start as scheduled?"
"Yes, as long as the bulette lords remain asleep before I forcefully wake them up, there should be no issues."
While the high marshal and the grand councilor were aware of the presence of the empire guests nearby, they still didn't hush their tones nor spoke in their standard military code, for they knew that there was no need to hide their current conversation from foreigners.
As the hours passed by the rest of the teams all woke up and began to prepare themselves, each and every single participant was likewise amazed at the sight of grand councilor Suveria=Myronsilk appearing in person, as well.
Roughly five or eight members of each team - the highest-level ones - were planning to face the bulette lords head-on while the rest acted as support. And thus, the final day of the hunting games officially began.
Everyone was a bit tense, not just because they were going to be against monsters almost on par with those of legend. It was a feeling that was hard to put into words, some would call it a bad premonition.
"Everyone is here?"
Barakazmith was double-checking to verify if everyone was having second thoughts, but nobody was flinching, so it meant that it was go time.
"Alright, steel your resolve. The final day of the hunting games begins!"
The Shield Dragon Lord turned his back against the participants, looked downwards where corpses of the dire bulettes were scattered the night before, and used the 4th-tier arcane spell [Shout] that - coming from the maw of a colossal-sized dragon - was potent enough to reverberate through the entire hills.
Miles below the surface, the bulette lords that were fast asleep were suddenly awakened by the [Shout] spell. Instead of trying to just fall asleep again, the bulette lords - being the strongest native variant of that mean and aggressive beast - were quite infuriated by the fact that someone or something had the audacity of waking them up, so they dug upward at fast as they could.
Barakazmith flew upwards, ready and willing to step in should things get ugly followed closely by Suveria.
And so the bulette lords arrived, not with a thunderous trembling of the ground, but with a silent and swift eruption of five notoriously large bulettes. Their eyes, however, weren't only mad with rage, but also seething a rudimentary form of intelligence.
Their yellow-colored scales were as hard as orichalcum, yet they were still incredibly fast, strong, and were even imbued with special abilities by the Demon God of Beasts who created the first batch of bulette lords centuries ago to serve as generals of its monster army.
"FrEeEeEeEsSh MeEeEeAaAaT." A noise came from the mouth of one of the beasts.
- These bulette lords, they can speak!?
They could do much more than just speak, Rhemurus will eventually find out.
"So, they're five?"
"This is good, more for everyone!"
"Even so, let's remain alert."
The veteran participants were slightly surprised by the number of bulette lords since the most that had appeared in previous years as far as they can remember were three at most. But even so, they weren't discouraged at all.
The humans led by Lord Erodel.
The orcs led by Lord Tsadok.
The bugbears led by Lord Khulgran.
The yuan-ti led by Venerable Zura'sne.
The dark dwarves led by Lord Durzagon.
The kobolds led by Marshal Kurtulmak.
The aarakocras led by Lord Wuorlah.
The abeil led by Queen Xendrika.
The kir-lanan led by Grandmaster Dul-ghin.
And the two guests from the empire, Nomom and Phenia.
Everyone braced themselves, the final day was on.
"[Animalistic Power], [Barkskin], [Embrace the Wild], [Beastland Ferocity], [Omen of Peril], [Hawkeye], [Longstrider], [Flame Weapon]."
Rhemurus for his part used all the buffing spells he had on himself and his weapon, except for [Hide from Animals] since that particular spell was only useful against creatures close or below the druid's level, and [Omen of Peril] just revealed to him that these bulette lords were a much higher level than him, so that spell would've been a waste of MP.
"LoOoOoOtSsSs OoOf VeEeEeErRmIiIiInNn."
"SsSsSoOoOofFtTtTeEeEnNn ThEeEeEeE mMeEeEeAaAaT."
After a couple of bulette lords sprouted those words, all five of them began to screech while their eyes flared up a scarlet glow.
Several tier circles manifested on the ground around the bulette lords, and several lesser bulettes came forth.
"Huh!? A summoning skill!?"
"So your homeland had monsters like these too, should've figured."
These are actually the first monsters he had seen in this world that had proper magical abilities, and while he shouldn't be that surprised, he couldn't help but feel that something was odd.
- That is boss-like behavior, summoning weaker monsters to serve as fodder and buffer in order to avoid getting ganked by superior numbers and end the fight in just a few seconds.
And that's precisely what felt wrong.
- I'm 100% sure, this world is no game, this world is as real as my original one. So why are monsters acting like MMO bosses here!?
He will eventually get the answers to his questions, but that will be down the line. For now, he should just focus on marking as many bulettes as possible, including the bulette lords themselves if his puny spells will even scratch them in the first place, that is.
The participants all ran forward, the base strategy he was told before was that the six strongest members of the team; Erodel, his son Othollo, his daughter Iaome, his younger son Arioch, his son's fiancée Ommarra, and his grandson - Othollo's own firstborn - Alexite, will be the ones to face the bulette lords head on, the rest will act as support which for the time being will be dealing with the weaker bulettes that were summoned, a similar strategy that the other racial teams were using as well.
- Just two days ago, I would've been totally terrified.
However, now he was more powerful than that measly level 2 human. He's got this!
The summoned bulettes were actually a step below even the baseline bulettes of the first day, so Rhemurus was actually capable of killing some of them himself. It couldn't be helped that the EXP this summons gave was meager in comparison, but every drop counts.
In fact, swatting away the summons alongside the majority of his teammates wasn't exactly easy, but it wasn't that hard either; just need to coordinate with the team and time the [Snake's Swiftness] strikes properly for the summons to go down. He even believed - for the moment at least - that he could afford to take occasional peaks at the real event, which was the strongest elites teaming up against the bulette lords.
The first one that caught his eye was the yuan-ti leader who fought with the power of a shifter; a druid that specialized in a mechanic called [Wild Shape] which banked on increasing the druid's base abilities by channeling the form of a particular animal, relying on natural weapons over manufactured ones. The yuan-ti leader - Venerable Zura'sne - in particular looked like an amalgamation of several arthropods mashed into one, the most noteworthy feature being his head which looked like the head of a rhinoceros beetle.
With his already great ophidian strength enhanced by that of insects, Zura'sne and the other elite yuan-ti were capable of holding their own against one of the bulette lords. Something that was quite impressive considering that the other four each had to be taken on by at least two teams simultaneously.
He saw Lord Erodel and his kin teaming up with Lord Tsadok and his own orc elites, and the one that made the most noise - literally - was Tsadok's general, an orc called Ausk that Rhemurus was 100% certain was a berserker judging by the red bloodshot eyes and foam coming out of his mouth. Yet despite that, Ausk seemed to somehow be able to tell friend from foe in his frenzied state as all his strikes were aimed at the bulette lord and only against it, consciously avoiding striking an ally.
Nearby he saw the dark dwarves fighting the same bulette lord that the bugbears were fighting against. But it didn't seem like they were truly cooperating with each other, rather, it appeared as if they were trying to steal each other's kill. The bugbear leader Khulgran was a ranger who specialized in two-weapon combat rather than ranged combat and had a few divine nature spells akin to those of druids to complement his already impressive abilities, thus he and his bugbear elites were quite the match against Durzagon Blackhammer and the dark dwarf elites.
A bit far in the distance he saw the kobolds and the abeil working in tandem. The kobold elites led by Marshal Kurtulmak were thrusting their spears and slashing their swords against the scales of the bulette lords while Queen Xendrika supported her own abeil stormwings with a form of divine magic that didn't exist in Yggdrasil, a magic that was used by those natives who had the [Domain Druid] job class which allowed Xendrika to add clerical-only abilities to her druidic magic.
Rhemurus was a bit dumbfounded by those two teams, not only about seeing an abeil somehow combining the power of clerics and druids but also about how it seemed relatively easy for the kobolds to break the bulette lords' scales in contrast to the elites of most teams who were having a harder time in comparison. He assumed that the kobold elites somehow got their hands on weapons of otherworldly quality and enchantments, an assumption born of the fact that - as of now - the player had no idea about the existence of the new world power known as Martial Arts.
It wasn't his fault, however. Since the Argland Council State is a country that nourishes magic above all else, martial development never advanced as fast as those of nearby countries. Only in the standing army, the watch of large and important cities, and other secluded pockets of the country is where one would frequently see martial art users, and Breizen wasn't one of those pockets.
Not a single human in the council state knew how to use martial arts, in fact. But the kobolds of Darastri definitely knew about martial arts, alright, martial arts they used to enhance their already enchanted weapons to slowly but surely tear the bulette lord apart.
Meanwhile, outside of Rhemurus' field of view, there was the fifth bulette lord getting ganked by the aarakocra and kir-lanan elites. In contrast to the divine power of the aarakocra leader - Lord Wuorlah - the leader of the kir-lanans - Grandmaster Dul-ghin - was combining arcane songs with battle techniques as a bard-fighter hybrid known as [Warsinger]. These two teams were less cooperating and more ferociously trying to outdo each other since the kir-lanans of Ungorth have quite a misotheistic culture in contrast to the religious aarakocra of Dokanis, hence why Dul-ghin also doubled as the best healer of his team, so much his people disdain divine power that their best healer available is a bard hybrid.
In contrast, the guests from the empire - Nomom and Phenia - were instead helping to cull the horde of summoned bulettes, most likely because they saw that the elite participants could handle themselves and didn't want to interfere.
- This is odd...why do I feel like the guests are looking in this direction in particular?
During the previous two days, Rhemurus always took occasional peeks at the empire guests, and he always took note of how those two were always looking at how all teams performed.
However, ever since this final day began, the guests have been continuously looking at the human team, ignoring the rest of the teams.
If he was paranoid, he could swear that those two were staring at him, specifically.
- Is it my strange appearance? I reckon the humans of the sorcerer empire most likely look quite different from myself, just like it's the case here.
He really should've found himself a mask to cover his face, but it couldn't be helped, and he shouldn't distract himself too much with that anyhow.
The fight continued for quite a while, even after all the summoned bulettes were almost all defeated, the participants that weren't elite members could only support the battle against the bulette lords from a distance with ranged weapons and spells since those who at least aren't close to level 20 would just get in the way, and Rhemurus was still trying to not stand out too much.
"[Penetrate Magic - Produce Flame]!"
Rhemurus threw an enhanced flaming attack toward the bulette lord the human and orc elites were fighting against. He knew that he could only scratch a monster who was at a much higher level than he was even with metamagic, but scratching was all he needed to do.
And while he was at it-
"[Penetrate Magic - Produce Flame]!"
He hurled yet another flame, this time toward the bulette lord that the yuan-ti elites were fighting against.
"Hey, you! Stay out of it! Your team has your own bulette lord right there!"
A nearby yuan-ti participant angrily berated Rhemurus for meddling in the fight of his team's elites. It's true that this was a competition, but everyone knew that trying to shamelessly kill-steal was an extremely rude and anti-camaraderie thing to do.
"I'm sorry! These are my first games! Won't happen again! Promise!"
Rhemurus wasn't sorry at all. He knew what he did, and was planning to use his lack of knowledge as an excuse to shield himself from the start.
The only thing he is sorry about is that he was called out the first time he pulled this stunt since he was hoping to get away with marking all five bulette lords.
- Too bad, guess I'll have to settle for the EXP of two bulette lords rather than five.
In any case, Rhemurus himself hunted down and killed the last summoned bulette he could see. Thanks to culling these fodder bulettes he got two more [Mage] levels, which made him a level 19 human.
"So was that the last one?" One participant asked in a loud voice.
"We will soon find out." Replied another.
At that very moment, as if they instinctively knew that their summons were all eliminated, the bulette lords stood still for a while and began to crack lightning around themselves while letting out huge roars that made the entire Manthor Hills tremble.
"Here comes! Everyone brace yourselves!" Warned the high marshal to all participants, the grand councilor flying not so far behind.
This was a [Monster Frenzy Mode], a typical boss move that activates after the summoned fodder was all eliminated.
While that mode is active, the creature has its attack and defense stats multiplied many times over, making it quite difficult to inflict any damage at all. So the basic strategy is to either block or dodge the attacks until the frenzy runs out and the cycle starts anew with another wave of summoned fodder.
"What!? A [Monster Frenzy Mode]!?"
"Is that what your homeland calls that? Your people saw enough monsters that do that to give it a fancy name like that? Damn! You really do come from a savage place!"
Of course, back in Yggdrasil, only proper bosses that required teams of players to defeat would use [Monster Frenzy Mode] and similar movesets, but these bulette lords weren't Yggdrasil bosses at all.
- Why does this world have creatures that mimic bosses like that!? Did someone or something purposely and actively create these bulette creatures to imitate Yggdrasil entities!?
The answer to his question was a rotund 'Yes'. But the only ones that could actually give Rhemurus his answer alongside a proper explanation were either absent or dead.
In either case, the bulette lords were now enshrouded in an aura of electrical fire. All five swiftly burrowed downwards, a clear premonition of the type of attack that they were planning to execute.
- They're going to shoot themselves from the ground at high speeds. But, why isn't Erodel casting [Tremorsense]?
He saw around him in an attempt to spot anyone casting [Tremorsense] or a similar spell, maybe someone could use it as a skill? But the only thing Rhemurus saw was all participants - elite and support alike - looking downwards with expectant eyes.
Thus, he decided to trust the ones that know these lands better and did the same.
When some small red spots appeared on the land, the player immediately realized what these spots were, spots that imploded in less than a second to reveal the gaping maw of a bulette lord attempting to snatch some nearby prey, only to burrow back below the ground once again. A copy-paste of the behavior from burrowing bosses in Yggdrasil.
It was in an indiscriminate fashion, the bulette lords were popping out anywhere from where the elites were to where the support were. But since their swift attacks were heralded by a small recoloration of the ground, all one had to do was pay attention and be fast enough.
- Why do these red spots always appear right before they show up? Wouldn't it be much better for them to not show in any way where they will pop out from, like the baseline bulettes and even the dire bulettes?
It was almost like; whoever decided that the bulette lords should exist in this world was waaaay too concentrated on making them akin to Yggdrasil bosses, even if it meant giving them a disadvantageous trait like that.
The Demon God of Beasts wasn't really thinking it all the way through, that evil deity's reasoning was simply "if bosses from Yggdrasil do that, then the bulette lords should do that as well!"
But if anything, the participants of the hunting games are quite grateful for this quite literally scripted behavior.
- Whatever, I'll just make it to the end of this day and think this through later.
The bulette lords eventually gave up on their Whac-A-Mole tactic, so while their [Monster Frenzy Mode] was still active they began to use another type of attack; drill arrow.
Jumping forward at high speeds while spinning as fast as they could. It was quite simple, but it was an unblockable attack that couldn't be parried nor countered in any way, just dodged.
How could Rhemurus tell? Right before performing their drill arrow jumps, the bulette lords emanated a red light from their heads while positioning themselves in the direction they would jump. Just like a boss from a video game does!
Yes, the drill arrow attacks were incredibly fast, but extremely predictable. If it weren't for the fact that bulette lords were monsters above level 30 while the average participant was level 15, then the current situation would quite be laughable. Almost fun, even.
And eventually, the bulette lords ran out of their frenzy, to which they once again summoned a horde of summoned bulettes to start the cycle again.
"What a waste of time that was!"
"Huh? What is it, Rhemurus? You sound frustrated." Asked a fellow human teammate nearby.
"Their frenzy only starts after all summons are defeated, no? Then why didn't anyone tell me before I killed the last bulette from the first cycle? We could have trapped it, that way the bulette lords don't enter their frenzy."
"That would be because such a thing has already been tried before, in previous years of the games."
"What?"
"Yeah, even if we manage to trap the few remaining summons, after a period of time the summoned bulettes disappear on their own, disappearances that somehow make the bulette lords heal some of their wounds, and that frenzy as you call it always starts either way."
"I...see...forgive me, I should've known beforehand."
He definitely should've known since that is, yet again, a pattern that Yggdrasil bosses who heavily use summons relied on. If you fail to defeat all summons after a fixed period of time, the summons become HP recovery for the boss.
It was so confusing, Tanaka was really struggling to try and comprehend why creatures like these exist here, but he definitely wasn't going to repeat the same mistake that made him lose his shield, so he put that in the back of his mind and kept grinding.
The cycle repeated itself once again, and by the third time a horde of bulettes was summoned, it was clear for everyone to see that the bulette lords were fatally wounded. It appeared as if this cycle will be the last.
Unlike the first wave of summons, the second wave only gave Rhemurus one more level, so he was now a level 20 human.
And with 10 more overall spellcasting levels he could now pick a second metamagic skill to add to his arsenal, so he choose [Reach Magic] which was a skill that allowed his spells to reach a distance step further than they would normally be able to. Like, a spell that is normally limited to touch range can be enhanced with [Reach Magic] to make it close range instead, while close range spells can be enhanced to be long range, and so on and forth.
- These bulette lords better pack some good EXP, normal monsters aren't enough anymore.
He knew that he would reach this point eventually, so no point in complaining about it.
Regardless, Rhemurus kept slaughtering as many summoned bulettes as he could. It didn't become that easier since, predictably, [Mage] levels barely increased his physical stats at all, but he decided to become an arcane hierophant so he decided to bear with it since the final day of the hunting games was almost over.
However, lady luck would once again frown upon the human player.
The defensive [Barkskin] spell he had cast unto himself when the day started to compensate for the loss of his shield eventually ran out, regressing his skin back to its soft and vulnerable state. He had enough MP left to cast the spell again, but as he was about to do so, one of the summoned bulettes managed to sneak and grab a bite from Rhemurus' exposed skin.
He really should've cast [Hide from Animals] before, but it was too late now.
The summoned bulette who took a bite from Rhemurus suddenly stood still, same as all the other bulettes and even the bulette lords.
So unexpected it was that all participants likewise stood still, confused at what was going on. Barakazmith for his part had never once seen the bulettes act like this before.
What was happening?
No native knew this, but the bulette lords had a form of mental connection to their summons, a connection that immediately alerted them of the essence from Rhemurus' blood inside the mouth of the summon who landed a bite on him.
It was hard to put in words, perhaps the word 'essence' could better be described as a 'taste' of sorts.
A taste that echoed the very genetic code of the bulettes of the Manthor Hills, a taste that reminded them of their ultimate enemy, a taste similar to the one the Demon God of Beasts specifically created them to destroy.
The taste of a human player.
Deafening roars began to shake the hills, nobody knew what was going on.
A powerful shockwave emanated from the bulette lords which pushed away the elite participants a considerable distance. Then, the summoned bulettes all began to unsummon themselves so that they could recover some of the bulette lords' HP.
"KiIiIiIiLlLlLlLl EeEnEeEeEeEeMmYyYyYyYyY!"
"DeEeEeEeEaAaAaAaAaTh!"
The bulette lords became rabid, nobody knew what these monsters were about to do, nobody except the only individual around who was in these hills 300 years ago.
" [ A-Ainzy! Ainzy! ] "
" [ Keno? What is it? ] "
" [ This behavior, is the same thing they did back when Riku was about to deliver the killing blow on the Demon God of Beasts! ] "
" [ What!? ] "
" [ Back then Riku was still growing, so when the dozen or so bulette lords all ganged up against him after recovering their HP, he almost died! ] "
" [ So that's what they're going to do? ] "
" [ I don't know how they found out about Rhemurus, but we have to stop these monsters! As he is now- ] "
" [ He could be killed... ] "
No, he would definitely be killed. Five monsters above level 30, even if Rhemurus was close to that level, the possibilities weren't good.
Should the sorcerer emperor reveal himself? What would the long-term repercussions be?
- I came here in good faith, relying on the trust of the majority of the councilors. If I reveal that all this was a charade and I took them as fools, well, there goes any good relationship with the council state.
Leaving Rhemurus to die, however, wasn't an option either. He swore to himself that he would help other players if that didn't compromise the safety of Nazarick.
He could revive him later on, of course. Should the human player be killed, he could take his body to Nazarick and revive him there, showing Rhemurus that he was someone he could trust. But how could he secure his body? Would the council state just let this guest from the empire take the body of a refugee they chose to give asylum?
Thus, if Rhemurus can be protected without revealing his nature, he will do just that.
- A compromise then. [Silent Magic - Perfect Warrior].
Rather than just one-shooting the bulette lords with his current level 100 fighter body, he will look at the events unfold and see which action would be the most appropriate.
"Capitalize on this opportunity! Slay the lords of the beasts!"
Ever so competitive, Lord Durzagon commanded the dark dwarves to snap out of their shock and finish off the bulette lords before everyone else.
However, none of them really understood the sheer unadulterated ferocity that Rhemurus' blood woke up in the bulette lords.
The dark dwarves were the first ones to reinvigorate their attacks and all the other teams followed suit, but the bulette lords didn't even bother to defend themselves from the barrage of attacks, they only had one target in mind now.
Rhemurus for his part felt a horrible chill on his back. He wanted to get out of there, disappear, but he lacked the spells that could take him out of there as fast as he needed to.
All five bulette lords began to run towards the human player at incredible speeds with bloodshot eyes and foam coming out of their maws, but rather than being terrified, the elites only took that behavior as insulting.
"You're ignoring us? We'll make you regret it!"
"Hey, you worthless beast! Your enemy is right here!"
Venerable Zura'sne used a unique variant of the druid entangling spell called [Thousand Legs Vine] which made the vegetation below the target transmute into the legs and maws of myriapods which produces a super sticky substance that solidifies in an instant. The bulette lord was strong, but the yuan-ti's trapping spell was stronger still. At least for the time being, since the venerable could feel his trapping spell slipping.
"Finish it! I won't deliver the finishing blow which is too bad, but we will win either way!"
All members of the yuan-ti team began to rain down their strongest attacks towards the bulette lord despite the risk, something all teams were doing now.
Tsadok used [Over Magic] to cast the 4th-tier divine spell [Hammer of the Gods] while Erodel blasted the same bulette lord with [Lesser Missile Storm] which succeeded in slowing it down somewhat, but it kept trying to run towards the direction where the human player was nonetheless.
Queen Xendrika used the abilities from her [Community Domain] - which didn't exist in Yggdrasil - to share with her fellow abeil some of her magical abilities at great cost to herself, but nobody could afford to hold nothing back now.
Even so, one particular bulette lord, the one who was clashing against the dark dwarves and bugbears before, managed to slip by the expert hunters and got dangerously close to the human player, triggering the former's suppressed PTSD.
"N-NO! STAY BACK!"
Without thinking, Rhemurus used [Penetrate Magic - Call Lighting] in a vain attempt to stop the bulette lord who was aiming for his throat, a spell that unsurprisingly didn't even make the bulette lord flinch, let alone slow down.
Is this the end now? Will sheer luck save his life once again?
Even though his fellow human teammates wanted to do something, they just couldn't match the speed of a monster above level 30, so there was nothing they could do.
No. Instead, the one that saved Rhemurus' life was none other than the guest from the empire, the one called Nomom who with unbelievable speed fell the bulette lord with a single strike of his massive greatsword, burying said weapon with unimaginable strength and pining the now dead monster lord to the ground.
In less than a second after that, Nomom pulled out his now bloody greatsword from the ground and taunted the remaining bulette lords to come and get him, but his thunder was stolen by an even greater thunder. Literally.
"Enough of this, [Call Lighting Storm]."
The Blue Sky Dragon Lord who had been silently watching the chaos unfold until now spoke his spell's incantation in a quiet yet still powerful tone, using the 5th-tier druid spell to call forth multiple lightning bolts that each made Rhemurus' measly 3rd-tier spell from just a moment before look like a baby's.
With literal lightning speed, the remaining bulette lords were each zapped by five or so bolts of magical lightning, leaving behind roasted carcasses that emanated a stench of burnt meat.
All monsters now dead, the Shield Dragon Lord allowed his body to fall with a loud noise and officially ended this year's hunting games.
"It's over! This hunt concludes now!"
"What!? Just like that!? The grand councilor stole our final kills!"
"I did." Immediately stated the grand councilor, neither making excuses nor apologizing for what he did. "My intuition led by my nature sense was warning me that something wasn't right, these bulette lords were filled with antinatural bloodlust that didn't belong in this world. They had to be eliminated as swiftly as possible."
"Even so, we could've finished them! Like we always do!"
"Would you?" The high marshal stepped into the conversation. "From what I could see, after the strange behavior began, the most everyone could do was restrain or slow down the bulette lords. Had grand councilor Suveria not finished them himself, the monsters would've all been felled by our guest from the empire, rather than by a participant team. Would that have been a better outcome, Lord Durzagon?"
Hearing that, the dark dwarf and his entire team could do nothing but frown, for they knew that the Shield Dragon Lord was telling the truth. What the Blue Sky Dragon Lord did was prevent the guests from the empire to hoard the final glory of the hunt for themselves, so not a single participant of the council state could complain.
And amidst all the murmurs and surprised exclamations of what just occurred, the one that became the epicenter of this catastrophic conclusion to the hunting games, the human player Rhemurus, was still paralyzed in utter shock.
Nomom did his best to try acting in a relaxed way, so he turned back in a casual manner and both his and the other player's eyes met.
"Hey there, are you okay?"
"...I...y-yes...I'm okay now..."
==Author's Note==
First of all, I want to apologize for such a late release of this chapter.
The truth is that this chapter was already completed at the end of the previous day, but the more I reviewed it, the more I realized that I may have been slowly falling into a problem of oversaturation of content. For example, you noticed that even though Rhemurus got more levels, I didn't list them nor gave a detailed explanation of each of them. That was because, on this third and final day of the hunting games, Rhemurus obtained a whooping 12 more levels, making him a level 29 human by the time the next chapter is released.
Eight more [Mage] levels and four new [Evoker] levels would've made a grand total of 36 new spells, and had I kept that detailed list in this release like it did when I originally finished the chapter, then this release would've been incredibly bloated with mechanical info, which I reckon is not something that everyone is exactly THAT interested in.
Likewise, I spent most of this day filtering out the information that I felt wasn't that relevant to the story or didn't help to show how varied is the culture of the Argland Council State, hence the delayed release.
The new spells will still be added to the Google doc, however, so if you're someone that's into mechanics, you can check out the updated doc for reference.
And the level sheets I promised to show today were also thrown into the filter, and instead of showing the level sheets of all nine leaders of the racial teams, I decided to just show the sheets of Erodel, his friend Tsadok, and the sheets of the leaders whose builds I feel were exotic enough to deserve some exposition, so here they are.
Erodel - Human Councilor / Chieftain of Breizen
10 - Wizard
10 - Conjurer
08 - Elementalist: Air
Racial Level:0 / Job Level:28
Total Level:28
[Magic Items]
- Headband of Mental Clarity
- Bracers of Armor
- Ring of Lore
- Ring of Wizardy
- Cloak of Fortification
- Eternal Storm (Staff that enhances spells with the lightning descriptor)
You can see that Erodel specialized as a [Conjurer] near the beginning of his arcane path unlike his son that went straight to [Elementalist: Air], but that is an example of how fundamentally different are wizards and sorcerers from each other.
A sorcerer like Arioch could, in theory, somewhat lean into the conjuration school of arcane magic by solely learning spells from that school and things like that, but even though new world natives don't necessarily follow all of Yggdrasil's rules, they definitely follow the new world's rules, and the rules of this world clearly state that wizards - and only wizards - are capable of taking job classes that specialize in a single school.
Yggdrasil had neither [Wizard] nor [Sorcerer] job classes, all arcane casters started as [Mage] so players didn't have to worry about that. Hence, particular cases like ogre mages - remember Hakuun - are among the only sorcerers, aka inborn arcane mages, that can specialize in a single arcane school.
Tsadok - Orc Councilor / Chieftain of Vairekhor
06 - Orc - Racial Class
10 - Cleric
04 - Warpriest
05 - Hierophant
Racial Level:6 / Job Level:19
Total Level:25
[Magic Items]
- Divine Defender (Enchanted Platinum Full Plate Armor)
- Belt of Guiding Light (Instant Death Immunity)
- Ring of Divine Power
- Orichalcum Heavy Pick
Despite Rhemurus' best guesses, he was dead wrong about the material the Divine Defender was made out of; it was neither a metal that resembled platinum nor a metal that was modified to look like platinum, it was mundane platinum that was later enchanted for extra durability that surpassed that of any regular armor.
Since the Sovereign Host is basically the state religion, platinum ore holds more religious significance than economic, hence why their greater denomination coins are gold, and why electrum coins are worth one-tenth of gold rather than just half.
Platinum in the council state is used to make holy symbols, decorate temples, craft religious weapons, and - as seen with Tsadok's family - religious armor. The fact that platinum is an objectively bad material to make weapons and armor meant for actual combat doesn't mean anything to the Sovereign Host adherents who simply brush it off with "well we can always enchant them to make them functional, no?" completely ignoring the fact that enchanted platinum armament is still inferior to, say, enchanted bronze or enchanted iron. The base material matters too, no?
By the way, the favored job class of the orcs in the new world is [Berserker], hence why Tsadok didn't unlock his racial advancement. Also, before the players from Yggdrasil modified the laws of magic in the new world, the favored job class of the orcs was [Barbarian], but now it's [Berserker].
Huh? What do you mean they're the same thing? Barbarians and berserkers are quite different from each other, you know? It will eventually be revealed, perhaps sooner rather than later.
Zura'sne - Archdruid of Elesema
07 - Yuan-ti - Racial Class
09 - Druid
04 - Shifter
10 - Animal Lord: Vermin
Racial Level:7 / Job Level:22
Total Level:29
[Magic Items]
- Carapace Breastplate
- Sash of Shimmering (Belt of Spell Resistance)
- Amulet of Fire Resistance
- Bone Ring (Level Drain Immunity)
- Ironskin Ring
Zura'sne was actually the highest-level participant of the hunting games, explaining why his team was the only one capable of holding off against a bulette lord without having to team up with others.
[Shifter] as a job class is pretty self-explanatory, since arcane spellcasters aren't the only ones who can specialize in a single aspect of the tier magic system they use, druids that specialize in [Wild Shape] would naturally lean into this path which basically allows them to cast druid spells while in beast form, something they are normally unable to do.
[Animal Lord] takes that even further, allowing the druid to sacrifice every other type of wild shape in order to make the most of a single group of beasts, gaining even a few bonus spells on top. Like for example, an [Animal Lord: Primate] would get a modified version of the [Bull's Strength] spell that increases physical stats beyond even greater limits and for longer durations.
His racial abilities combined with his power as a druid who masters the strength of insects, you can imagine what a big deal Zura'sne is in the new world. The council state is a Great Power for a reason, eh?
Queen Xendrika VII - Abeil Councilor / Her Hive Majesty
10 - Abeil Queen - Racial Class
10 - Domain Druidess
02 - Charisma - Common Class
Racial Level:10 / Job Level:12
Total Level:22
[Magic Items]
- Cowl of Warding (Mind-affecting Magic Immunity)
- Scarab of Protection
- Elder Oak Gloves
- Ring of Elder Elves
- Ring of Spell Battle
[Abeil Queen] is actually one of the two variants of the [Lord] racial class of the abeil race because of their significant sexual dimorphism, the other being [Abeil King] that her husband who accompanied her to the hunting games has.
Her racial class acts like a substitute druid class, while [Abeil King] instead acts like a substitute ranger class.
The [Domain Druid] job class that didn't exist in Yggdrasil basically gives said druid the Domain ability that is only given to clerics. It may not sound like that big of a deal, but giving such an important ability from one class to another class is actually game-breaking, hence why [Cleric] and [Druid] levels not only didn't stack back in Yggdrasil but also why there was no cleric-druid hybrid of any sort like how mystic theurges were mage-cleric hybrids.
Her overall level isn't that high in comparison to the other leaders, but since the queens of Xen'drik always prioritize teamwork over individual power, her [Community Domain] more than compensates for her own lack of prowess.
These four are the only ones worth showing in detail I think, the other leaders are mostly stuff we already saw before in Overlord canon, but in a different race.
Like I said, I will put in the effort to not oversaturate the chapters too much moving forward, so hopefully, future stuff will be easier to digest.
I guess this is it for now, see ya next time!