Chapter 229: “To stand next to” |
As soon as we left the instance field that was the past world, our group moved to a place where we could settle down.
The destination was the city of Rifure, where we all had subordinates stationed.
“Well then, good work.”
“But Rare-chan, you looked so cool! That powerful character vibe was amazing! <I haven’t taken a single hit, and I won’t from now on>, she said! Kyaaa!”
“…Um, could you please stop praising me like that?”
“Well, but it was really cool. It could be used in a demo movie or something.”
“Shut up, be quiet.”
Anyway, we were able to gather various information about the background of the Archangel. However, these were contents that resonated with me and my acquaintance, the Count, so it might not strike a chord with other players who battled the Archangel.
Similar discussions were found in the forum analysis thread. It was speculated that more details would gradually become clear as they progressed through various events.
“Is it okay to look ahead? It could be a pattern where we understand what the Archangel meant back then.”
“But can we defeat that? I mean, it’s absolutely impossible for me alone.”
“Don’t worry; it’s an event raid boss, so it’s not meant to be fought solo in the first place.”
“I fought it alone though?”
“…You’re basically an event raid boss yourself, Rare-chan.”
Even Lyra, in the eyes of the players, would undoubtedly be an event boss. It seemed more fateful to have a boss like, “The true identity of the lord who ruled the ancient city is actually…!” than my sudden appearance.
“Well, I think I understand the behavior of the skills a bit better now. I can probably go solo next time.”
“Yeah… what’s with these sisters…”
Solo subjugation of high-difficulty bosses in a party-oriented game was a classic challenge.
Anyway, there were no posts about defeats of the past Archangel in the official forum other than ours. Considering that there were also no posts about us achieving it, the overall number of subjugations would probably only be known after the event ended. If the event ended without defeating it multiple times, the modern Archangel would weaken, leading to a nonsensical scenario of being defeated with just one subjugation.
“More importantly, Lyra, did you Appraise the Archangel? Have you found anything about [Resurrectio]?”
“Oh, right. First about that ‘resurrection’ thing, I initially thought it was a [Healing Magic] and looked for it, but it wasn’t there. So, reluctantly, I checked through all the skills, and it was in the Holy Magic tree.”
When it came to Holy Magic, I only had an image of attack magic effective against undead or characters with an evil atmosphere.
“…It’s not in my Holy Magic skill tree. But if it’s really there, the available races must be quite limited.”
For example, if characters like for example Sieg obtained [Resurrectio] and annoyingly revived their underlings infinitely, it would surely make Hiers Capital quite an exciting place. However, they couldn’t acquire it because it was in the Holy Magic tree, which undead like them couldn’t access.
“By the way, it’s not in my skill tree. I’ve checked all the other skills just in case, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that Rare-chan wouldn’t have. Like the ‘combo’ I mentioned earlier, and skills related to bows, I probably don’t have them, but they’re likely irrelevant. So–“
“Whether the Archangel had it as a racial trait from the beginning, or some action triggered a flag, or maybe both, I wonder.”
“An action triggering a flag…?”
Blanc was not following.
“Well, for example, with humans, the races you can choose at character creation, they have multiple reincarnation options. Like, for Elves, there are High Elves and Dark Elves.”
“I see! So, depending on how they’ve acted so far, their reincarnation options branch out?”
“Yeah, maybe there are also reincarnation items that forcefully determine the branching. So, the basic race’s reincarnation branching condition is probably based on the kill count of the same type of character, something like that.”
“So, if I’ve killed a lot of characters of a race other than my own, it might unlock?”
“That’s quite a violent Holy Magic! Well, I don’t think that’s the case. If it were, I would have fulfilled it a long time ago.”
“That’s true.”
“Well, not really ‘that’s true’. It’s more likely the opposite; unlocking by healing a lot of other characters. No–“
Thinking about Mare, who was currently on a business trip to Wells, she was publicly active as a “Saint” and regularly held events where she healed the city’s residents. Although it might not happen again in the future, every time angels invaded, events were held to heal numerous wounded NPCs and players. If Mare still hadn’t unlocked it, the condition wasn’t likely related.
“–Healing others might not be it. Or maybe it’s not enough alone.”
“Maybe it’s a hybrid condition. But what other actions could be relevant?”
“What about resurrecting someone? If that’s the case, it hasn’t been done before, so it wouldn’t be in anyone’s tree.”
“No, no, even if that were the case, it wouldn’t become impossible to unlock, or not–“
“I see. Zagreus’ Heart.”
If that were the case, it made sense that no one had unlocked it so far, as Blanc had said. Considering that the crucial item was a drop from the Archangel, it was reasonable to assume that only the Archangels had [Resurrectio] from the beginning. Requiring one’s own heart to acquire [Resurrectio] seemed a bit too harsh.
The Archangels probably belonged to a race with a strong affinity for resurrection, including the drop items.
“You occasionally make really sharp comments, Blanc.”
“Hehehe~”
“Blanc-chan, you look like a dog with a satisfied face after being petted so much…”
It might not be accurate, but it was worth a try.
“For now, if resurrection is the key, let’s try using an item to resurrect someone.”
“To resurrect, someone has to die, right? Who are you going to kill? Someone from this city?”
“No, that’s not good. What should we do?”
While it was possible to experiment with a familiar, it would be preferable to do it in as natural a situation as possible. Whether that was being checked or not, if it was treated as a non-count, it would be a waste of the item.
Killing characters unrelated to us, or other main characters, and using Zagreus’ Heart on their corpses would be the plan.
However, this city was under my control. Killing unrelated NPCs suddenly would be inappropriate. If it were a city with no connection to them, like Pearl, it would have been no hesitation, but it was a strange feeling.
In that case, going to a city with no connection to them, perhaps to Pearl, and killing characters there for the experiment would be a good idea.
Speaking of which, although it happened a long time ago, there was a player who posted about a legend in Pearl or some village that there was a dragon in the mountains. Even though characters like Ubel, Abigor and Burgundy weren’t lacking as dragon-type monsters, the prospect of a natural one existing made it worth seeing.
“By the way, Blanc, do you not need to continue your war? You’ve only conquered two cities so far.”
“I secretly sent infiltrators to nearby cities. I’m giving experience to the vampires who became familiars locally, turning them into Daywalkers, and having them act as survivors or refugees in the surrounding cities.”
It seemed that Blanc was implementing the guerrilla warfare strategy that I had mentioned before. To execute it effectively, it was better to keep a distance, so those who could naturally travel long distances rather than refugees would be more suitable.
“It might be a good idea to turn traveling merchants into familiars. That way, you can send assassins all over the country, making it easier to move forward no matter what happens.”
“I see! Let’s do that.”
Unlike me, Blanc, in her original state, could easily infiltrate cities. By waiting in a small town and capturing traveling merchants, it would be easy to turn them into familiars.
No, even I could now infiltrate cities relatively easily. Although my white hair and eyelashes were very noticeable, with a hood covering my head, I might not be suspected too much.
The familiars that had been used for undercover work had somehow become capable of performing regular tasks. If there was an opportunity, it might be good for Blanc to engage in covert activities herself.
“Wait, Blanc-chan, are you going now?”
“Yes! I can’t acquire Holy Magic, so I won’t be of much help. Besides…”
Blanc paused for a moment, then continued while looking at me and Lyra.
“I realized something while fighting the Archangel this time. Compared to Rare-chan and Lyra-san, I’m still not ready to fight alongside you. I don’t think I can catch up, but at least I want to grow enough to play together with you. So, I’ll train a bit with Shape!”
With those words, Blanc left to find a hapless traveling merchant.
“…She’s a serious one. Even considering the recent Archangel battle, I don’t think there will be many situations where Rare-chan and I need to fight side by side.”
“…Yeah. So, what about you, Lyra?”
“What about me? From now on? Hmm. Since I appointed a substitute for the lord, I’ve become quite free. Maybe it’s because I raised INT, but she does her job well and reports every day. Also, not that I’ve taken a liking to it, but Portree is [Subordinating] some of the local High Elves, having them assist in the re-education and thought guidance of the new king. So, there isn’t much for me to do. If you’re going to investigate ‘resurrection’, I’ll tag along. Do you have anything else to do, Rare-chan?”
“There was a post a while ago about a dragon in some countryside, maybe in Pearl. I wanted to confirm it during a time when there are no events. Even though it’s an event period now, the event is practically already over anyway.”
Tasks related to events that had to be done included exploring the fallen Sky Castle and accumulating the number of past-world Archangel defeats.
Regarding the exploration of the fallen Sky Castle, it had been handed over to the ants following the security instructions.
Currently, Sugaru was also dispatched, taking command on-site.
All other forces had been eliminated from the vicinity, and approaching was not allowed.
In a sense, it had already become such a dungeon. It was fine to leave it as it was. If the military blockade was working well and no one else was causing trouble, it was virtually a task with no time limit.
Regarding accumulating the number of defeats of past-world Archangels, it was necessary to achieve a certain amount before the event ended, but if there was only one enemy at that level, it could be done without spending much time.
A discreet subordinate was placed in the underground space where the artifact was located to monitor, and by choosing timings when no one was around, they could enter and exit repeatedly.
If an instance field was created for each party activating the artifact, it would be more efficient to divide the work if they were aiming to accumulate numbers.
Lyra also mentioned that she could handle it solo, and with assistance, at least two parties could proceed.
Ideally, I wanted other players to cooperate—without being noticed—but their strength was overwhelmingly insufficient. Lyra and I couldn’t lend a direct hand, and even if we did, challenging it in the same party wouldn’t make sense.
While we could use someone like Kerry, who can pose as a regular player, or Mare without her saint costume and blindfold, it doesn’t change the fact that teleportation can only be done if I’m the one operating it.
“Oh? Speaking of which, wasn’t it mentioned in the system message that characters within the range at the time of activation would be teleported? If that’s the case, NPCs should be able to teleport without any questions as long as they are within the range. I don’t remember seeing any confirmation messages earlier, right?”
“True, now that you mention it. Is that so? If that’s the case, it simplifies things. If needed, I was thinking of helping you with the Archangel defeat count, but if anyone can do it, it doesn’t matter. Oh, by the way, there was something about no player limit mentioned, right? Interesting?”
Lyra has a mischievous look on her face. Reluctantly, I probably wore a similar expression.
It wouldn’t hurt to let the Archangels go through a tough time with a large number of subordinates.
Fortunately, regarding this event, even monsters can participate openly. Therefore, goblin-type monsters or skeleton-type monsters shouldn’t be a significant issue.
“Well, for now, there are still many regular players, so we can consider doing that tomorrow or later.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
In that case, as a priority for the overall task, acquiring [Resurrectio] could be moved up. Checking the dragon as a subquest, and if possible, its Subordination.
Since the second half of the event, the Archangel defeat in the past world, has begun, for many players, the remaining days will focus mainly on that. With players’ attention shifting towards that, foot traffic to mid-difficulty to high-difficulty dungeons, including the capital, should decrease. Lyra may not be very busy during this time.
The rookies at the ★1 Tore Grassland dungeons seem to be disinterested in the Archangel, or feel that the current event is not for them. Regardless, I have no reason to deal with ★1 dungeons.
“So, are you going to meet that dragon? Should I come along?”
“It’s fine, but for now, I plan to approach it peacefully.”
“Why assume it won’t be peaceful? Well, I also love peaceful things!”
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