— Kakuei —
There was something therapeutic about raiding the bases of some of Yggdrasil's strongest guilds and taking all they had within. World Items were pillaged in droves, and I lost count of how many we managed to find after we picked up the twelfth.
Adding the fact that the raid on Nazarick was coming to a close, I'd say we have a day worthy of celebrating!
I watched as Buku and Momonga walked out of one of the guilds, giggling all the while, and I had to admit-
I'd miss this.
With this war near its completion and many of the guilds losing all they had worked for over the years, people would likely start quitting.
And when they did, the game would die.
We didn't have long before some of the people I'd grown to care about, as close friends and even siblings in some cases, disappeared from my life… forever.
"Is something wrong, Master?" I let out a quiet sigh, internally glad to have one of my closest friends beside me at this moment.
"Nothing, Nishi. Nothing at all."
Nishikienrai grunted in response. It was clear he didn't believe me but knew me well enough to know I wouldn't tell him, no matter how hard he pressed.
"How isgoes the the looting going? Any signs of reinforcements?" I questioned.
"Well, we pretty much have the entirety of Asgard to ourselves. The occasional player has resurrected and rejoined the fight, but their forces have been crushed, for the most part. As for the looting, it will take a lot more time. Looting all the bodies and the guilds will take time, and by then, the forces may return."
"I see." I kissed my teeth. That wasn't good, though this was far from expected. "Keep a watchful eye and make sure to tell the others when the forces return."
"As you command." Nishi bowed and disappeared into the shadows.
I let out another deep sigh as I stared at the vast realm. It would suck not being able to loot everything, but we didn't need everything.
The last thing I wanted was to get greedy and end up being overwhelmed by the revived players.
More than that, I could use a World Item to lock those players out of Asgard, but doing so would be a waste of the World Item. Sure, it likely won't see any more use within Yggdrasil, but I'd rather keep it for the New World than waste it now.
… Though, that does raise a good question. How would Ouroborous work in the New World? There are no Developers to contact there, so would it basically be omnipotence?
That is definitely a question I'llneed answered later.
"Kakuei, come search with us," BukuBukuChagama invited me. I smiled internally at the happiness in her voice; it was good to see she was enjoying herself.
"Alright."
I stepped toward the two girls, and we entered another guild hall.
'[Kakuei.]'
I paused in my step for a moment before regaining my stride.
'Talk to me, Ulbert.'
'[We're just about wrapping up over here.]'
'Good, let me know if you need any help.'
'[Doubtful, but i'll keep in touch.]'
With that, the voice comms ended.
I had to admit, I was damn curious to see how the raid went, even if I could imagine it.
I had to wonder, though… did they make it to my masterpiece?
Honestly, I doubt it, considering Rubedo and Victim are running interference.
— AngelBright —
"What the hell is this NPC made out of?" One of the raiders shouted in shock and fear as the red-haired NPC tanked his attack and countered with one of her own, thoroughly killing him as she targeted another.
They had started on the 8th floor with around 100 people. They hadn't been fighting for more than three minutes, and the monster had already managed to kill half of them!
"Boss, take some of the forces and go!" SilverDust, another of the raiding members, shouted while blocking one of the monster's attacks.
AngelBright didn't need to be told twice. They needed to push their way through this floor and hopefully find a better place to fight this thing.
"EhT dNe sI rAeN, WoB eRoFeB eHt EmErPuS sEnO!"
A purple light erupted from deeper within the floor, and AngelBright immediately knew that whatever that light was… it wasn't good for them!
"Half of you with me, now!"
At AngelBright's order, almost everyone tried to follow, leaving Rubedo uncontested. She took the moment of confusion to cut through another two players, dwindling their forces even more.
AngelBright barely considered it as he pushed through the floor towards that light. He had to end whatever the hell that was now before Rubedo killed their numbers.
As he and some of the other raiders ran through the fog, not even concerning themselves with clearing it, they slowed as they saw a small, floating purple monster.
[Victim (Lvl. 28)]
[Guild - Hells' Paradise (Rank: Floor Guardian of The Eighth Floor) (NPC)]
This… This was the Floor Guardian?!
A level 28 shouldn't even be able to hurt them-
But then again, this was Hell's Paradise they were dealing with!
They couldn't be too careful, so AngelBright stepped forward and raised his blade before bringing it down with a slash of golden light.
With that one slash, Victim's body began to shimmer in golden light. AngelBright internally smirked at how easy it was, but he wasn't stupid. He knew something would likely come of killing the Floor Guardian, like a trigger that unleashed a group of monsters, or maybe some other monster that was considered the true Floor Guardian would spawn. There was also one more thing-
AngelBright's heart dropped as Victim's body, which was once shimmering away in golden light, exploded in a blast of purple energy and lightning!
[The Floor Guardian: Victim has been slain!]
The entire floor started to shake as the purple energy that had erupted from Victim's body rose into the air with the lightning shaking violently. Some of the lightning shot out and hit some of the forces, but it did no damage.
Eventually, the purple light shot downward and spread throughout the entirety of the floor.
[Floor-wide debuff has been activated! (-30% melee/spell damage, regeneration, and movement speed! +3 second cast time to all spells!]
"That's fucking bullshit!" One of the raiders shouted in pure exasperation, and his words were something AngelBright could agree with.
Why the fuck was the debuff so fucking strong?! And across the entire floor as well…
AngelBright's heart dropped as he looked back to where some of his men were fighting against the red-haired menace.
They had to fight her… while debuffed!
They had lost.
This raid was over.
"Push forward!" AngelBright shouted, running in the opposite direction from where Rubedo was cutting down his troops.
The players beside him followed him deeper into the Eighth Floor. He could sense their impending defeat, and he knew what he was doing right now would have no real weight in the long run, but he wanted to keep going anyway.
Seraphim, the guild of light representing all things good in Yggdrasil, and the rest of Asgard, who stood at the top of the Nine Realms… had fallen to a single guild filled with monsters.
There had never been a defeat as bitter as this one.
The group of players running to their demise continued on their path until one of them suddenly stopped.
"My leg?!"
Everyone looked down at the player's leg to see one of their feet was stuck in a clump of spider webs.
AngelBright felt even more dread flow through his mind.
Spider webs. This had to be the doing of KakueiSolos.
Call it petty revenge, but as AngelBright looked at the webs ahead that grew in number the deeper into the floor they went, the Leader of Seraphim swore something to himself: He'd clear this floor and do away with all of KakueiSolo's creations if it was the last fucking thing he did!
"Strength!" AngelBright shouted, holding up his blade.
""No weakness!"" The players with him shouted as they helped the trapped player out of the web and continued their way forward.
As they pressed on, the number of webs increased, but the group of players made sure to watch their step and not get too close to the webs.
*SKITTER* *SKITTER*
The group stopped as the sound of skittering insects rang all around them. At this point, they were deep in what looked to be a cave system, and all the walls were covered in spider webs.
"Fight on!" One of the players shouted, pushing down any fear he felt and rushing forward.
AngelBright smiled internally at the man. Even if this was the end of their legacy in this game, he never regretted his time in Yggdrasil for a moment. At the end of the day, they all were human, and this was a game that helped them express their deepest desires.
As they pushed forward, a clearing came into sight, and seeing this, they didn't slow at all.
When they reached the clearing, all of their hearts dropped.
"...This… How…?
*SKITTER* *SKITTER* *SKITTER*
The group of players looked down into a ravinerevine and they could barely believe their eyes.
Spiders… Everywhere!
There had to be hundreds of them! Spiders of every evolution: Lesser, Greater, and Arch Spiders scurried around below them.
There was no way Nazarick had this many NPC levels!
Which means-
They created and trained these spider NPCs… as disposable NPCs!
Disposable NPCs are NPCs that cannot be revived or resurrected whenever they die. Most people don't even think about making them, and even if they do, they only train them up to a certain level so they can act as minor deterrents for raiders.
This, however… there were at least twenty Arch Spiders down there that were level 80+.
The amount of time it must have taken to train all these NPCs up… Do these people not have lives?!
AngelBright's eyes locked onto the center of the hoard where two humanoid-looking NPCs stood. They were staring up at the raiders with expressionless faces.
[Shiraori (Lvl. 100)]
[Guild - Hell's Paradise (Rank - Spider of White) (NPC)]
[Ariel (Lvl. 100)]
[Guild - Hell's Paradise (Rank - Spider of Black) (NPC)]
The first is a long white-haired woman with piercing red eyes. White clothing is wrapped around her voluptuous body, giving her the full air of a maiden in white.
The second is a short, black-haired woman with similar red eyes. She is wrapped in black clothing, much like the first woman; her appearance gives her rank credit.
As the group of players stared down into the pit of spiders, AngelBright could only utter one word.
"ATTACK!"
""RAAAHHHHHH!""
As the group of players jumped down and began their fight, AngelBright had to admit, even if the ending wasn't as he'd liked it to be, he was proud of his guild and all they had built.
Truly, this game… It wasit was a blast!
— Kakuei —
I teleported back into the Great Tomb of Nazarick with a smile on my face. Beside me were all of the guild members who had aided in looting Asgard.
We had cleared the place out, not completely, but the guilds had lost most of their valuables and, at this point, didn't even come close to measuring up to us!
We all entered the room just before the throne room, the Lemegeton. This room is what we'd consider Nazarick's last line of defense, and honestly, it's arguably as much of a bitch to get through as some of the other floors.
Standing at the door to the throne room was Ulbert Alain Odle. We wasted no time in walking over to him.
"So it's done?" Buku asked with a bubbly voice.
"The last of them perished a few moments ago." Ulbert nodded; no small amount of pride filled his voice.
"Good," I said, stepping past him and opening the door to the throne room.
Within the throne room, several NPCs greeted us. The Pleiades and Sebas Tian stood ready to defend the throne room with their lives. Then, there was Albedo, who stood just below the stairs of the throne.
"Come, my friends." I stepped forward, making my way to my throne with slow, confident strides.
As we reached the throne, I sat down and looked to both my left and right.
Beside me were all of my friends, the people who had helped me conquer this tomb and make it our home. And now, ultimately, here I sit, with my friends beside me, as the strongest guild in Yggdrasil.
"It is over. Throughout the Nine Realms of Yggdrasil and all the realms beyond, we alone are the Supreme Ones."
""RAAAAAAHHHHHHH!""
— Chapter End —
Author's Note: Endgame shit, here we come!