Chapter 8: Nildea Invasion (after)

When exercising “Area magic” of “Atros Online”, the range of magic effect can arbitrarily expand by increasing the amount of magic power consumed. For example, if a magic has a range effect of “circle with a radius of 1 m” by exercising normally, the effect radius will be expanded to a circle of “2 m” if the magic power is doubled. Of course, if three times the magical power is consumed, the radius will be “3m”, and if consumed five times, the radius will be “5m”.

For those who are familiar with it, they’ll immediately notice that this expansion of the range of effect is a really “profitable” deal from the perspective of magic efficiency. The reason is that doubling the radius is equivalent to quadrupling the effective area.

However, of course, it’s not all good. Expanding the range of effect will increase the amount of magical power consumed by the caster, and at the same time, the casting time when exercising will also increase. While chanting for magic, the caster is completely defenseless. In order to safely digest a long casting time, it is necessary to have a reliable ally protect them.

“…they really are not learning their lesson.”

Right next to Yuri, Hera took a deep sigh. This is the 8th arrow that has aimed straight at Yuri’s forehead. Of course, all of them are “collected” by Hera’s hand, so Yuri has not suffered any damage. …… Well, even if it was hit, it will be about 200 damage at most, so even if she was hit separately, it will not be able to interrupt the chanting.

“I only need one shot, so please let me fight back …!”

While squeezing her teeth, Henruda, the captain of “Yellow Rose (Nilclaise)”, spit out with a tone that she couldn’t finish. “Yellow Rose” is a unit composed of people whose occupation is <Heaven Archer “Crane”>, and specialize in handling bows. If Henruda shoots, it will not be a weak shot like the arrow that is aiming at the Yuri now. Only need one shot to mercilessly kill the opponent.

“Is it fine if Master think you are a stuypid dog who can’t follow her words?”

“No, I don’t like it! I’m Yuri-sama’s faithful dog!”

(… Hmm)

She said it herself, are these children don’t mind being treated as dogs? Well, it would be nice if they wouldn’t go out of control.

“— Expose everything in front of me, [space grasp]!”

After casting time that took 600 seconds, Yuri exercised magic.

Yuri is a profession called <Bond Chain Master (Eterlinker)> and specializes in dealing with “space” and “bond (link)”. Of course, the [space grasp] that she just exercised belongs to the “space” system, and is one of the rudimentary magics for Yuri. The effect is “to grasp the space within a circle with a radius of 10 m”. It takes only “3 seconds” to cast for normal exercise, and consumes only “10” magical power.

Yuri was activating the magic by expanding it to “200 times”. ――― So that the entire area of the city in front of Yuri is within the effective range.

“How is it, Princess?”

“No problem. I can see it everything”

Yuri nodded and immediately answered Hera’s question.

The magic of [space grasp] makes the area within the effective range clearly visible. The caster can obtain all the information on the people and objects existing in the range, and can also display the map.

(— The name of the city is “Nildea, a key city.” The total population is 22,000.)

It’s more than she expected. The major cities in the game of “Atros Online” were about the same size as this city, but only about 10,000 people lived there.

When classifying the people existing in the space, there are about 1400 civilian employees. 400 people each for the guards of the east gate and the west gate, and 400 people for the guards in the city. It seems that 200 people are also assigned to guard the lord’s building in the center of the city.

Yuri marks all of those 1400 people in “red”.

The position where the marked object exists will be visible to guild members other than Yuri. Once marked, the subject can no longer even hide.

(Because they may be used… Aristocrats and their families, as well as civilians and people involved in city management, should be captured rather than killed.)

The targets to be captured were marked in “yellow”, and all the remaining citizens who were not marked in either color were marked in “green”.

Furthermore, Yuri establishes a “bond” with herself for all people in the city. As mentioned earlier, Yuri, who has the profession of <Bond Chain Master (Eterlinker)>, is also good at handling “Bond (link)” in addition to “Space”. It became possible to do various things to the person who established the bond ―――.

“Hello, everyone  who lives in the strategic location of Nirudea. I’m sorry I suddenly gave you a telepathy. My name is Yuri, the Lord of the Yuri Empire. ”

For example, she can send a “telepathy” like this.

Yuri’s voice should reach all the people who are connected with “bond (link)” now. Yuri’s voice can be heard clearly no matter where they are in the city, and conversely, they cannot reject Yuri’s voice even if they block their ears. However, the conversation is one-way, and the other party’s voice cannot be heard by Yuri. It’s possible to have a two-way conversation, but listening to the voices of 22,000 people would be noisy and won’t be a conversation.

“Just now, I was unilaterally attacked by a sniper guarding the eastern gate of the city— well, it seems that the name is “Gordon”. In retaliation, the “Yuri Empire” will make a “declaration of war” against the important city Nildea, and declare here that we will launch an attack 10 minutes later.

Our attack targets are military-registered people and those who interfere with our city conquest. Other than that, as a general rule, we will not attack, so please be assured if you are a civilian living in the city. If possible, it would be helpful if you could evacuate to a safe place such as inside the house with your child so that we would not accidentally attack.”

As long as I decided to conquer, I wouldn’t uselessly hurt people. When the conquest is complete, the people who live in this city will become Yuri’s citizens. Of course, on the contrary, She will never let go of anyone who she already decided as an enemy.

“Everyone can see it properly, right?”

“Yes. Wa can see the mark that Yuri-sama put on. ”

“Kill all objects marked in red. However, avoid polluting the walls and ground with blood so as not to give unnecessary fear to the citizens.

The object marked in yellow seems to have some value, so please capture it without killing it. Civilians are marked in green, so basically don’t touch them. Of course, if the other party interferes with your conquest, you can either eliminate it or kill it at your discretion. ”

“We receive your order”

“Then, Henruda”

“Yes!”

“I’ll leave it to you to signal the start of the war.I’ll allow only one shot at the beginning of the battle action.”

“Thank you very much Yuri-sama!”

It will be the owner’s duty to give forgiveness to the faithful dog who was able to “wait” properly.

No, I don’t know if it’s okay to continue treating them like dogs in the first place. …… It seems that they don’t dislike it, so is it okay?

“If you can completely control it within 30 minutes, I’ll give everyone a reward later.”

“…! We will do our best!”

When Yuri told everyone in the “Yuri Empire” through guild chat, she immediately felt that the morale of the entire army had risen.

“I’m sorry, but everyone in Nadeshiko should remain as my escort.”

“Of course. Nadeshiko will always on the side of their master ”

“Thank you. Then, Henruda, you can shoot in 320 seconds.”

“I understand!”

Henruda shoots the first arrow which is “Kabura-ya”.

To put it simply, a Kabura-ya is an arrow with a turnip-shaped whistle attached to the tip. Since this Kabura has a hollow inside, it makes a unique sound similar to a whistle when it is blown. The fact that there is a whistle at the tip of the arrow means that there is no normal iron arrow head, so of course there’s not much in terms of killing power. However, it’s a different story if the <Crane> who handles it has level 200.

“…… I’m going!”

Henruda easily squeezes a longbow that is about the same size as her. The name of the bow is “Berne Callide”. Arguably the strongest bow in the Atros Online game, just added in last month’s Gacha.

< Crane> is Occupation (class) that is good at shooting arrows with the help of spirits. The arrow with the blessing of the upper spirits of the wind and the earth eliminates all the elements that are disadvantageous when shooting, such as wind, air resistance, and gravity. The arrow shot by Henruda,  supported by the spirit of the wind, steadily increases its speed while flying in the sky, jumps lightly over subsonic speeds, and eventually reaches supersonic speeds.

No matter how the tip was, if the bullet speed exceeds even the rifle bullet, it goes without saying that it is ferocious. As expected, Kabura-ya, who accurately hit the target area, instantly knocked Gordon’s head, which could not even react, from his torso.

“Well done.”

“Thank you, Yuri-sama!”

Yuri, who continues to maintain [space grasp] throughout the city, clearly saw the tragedy like a kind of grotesque image, but still did not think it was surprising. When still living in Japan, she wasn’t good at grotesque, however… She was wondering if the situation around her now changed her heart to become “Yuri”.

With the blow of Henruda as the signal, the entire army of the “Yuri Empire” except Yuri and Nadeshiko begins to invade the important city of Nildea. The goals that Yuri marked “red” and “yellow” are concentrated in the east and west gates of the city, but they are also dispersed throughout the city. “Yuri Empire” is a powerful and unrivaled army, but the number of people is only 360, and there are only 287 people excluding Yuri and Nadeshiko.

The marked targets are about 1400 for “red” and less than 100 for “yellow”. Because there is a difference of 5 times in the number of people, it will take a long time to complete the complete control of the city.

“Sister. The control of the city is complete. ”

There was a time when Yuri thought so.

“… It’s only been 5 minutes since the invasion started?”

“I’m really sorry to have kept My Sister waiting for 5 minutes. If I have the next opportunity someday, we’ll definitely do it faster!”

“Yes, I’m expecting it.”

While slightly upset, Yuri responded to the guild chat from Parfe.

She thought it would be fine if they could conquer the city within 30 minutes, but it wouldn’t be possible to fall in just 5 minutes … From the standpoint of the enemy, it’s pathetic.

(That person who was shooting an arrow at me was the highest at level 62 after all)

Yuri, who was informed by the magic of [Spatial Grasp], knew that the soldiers in the city had only a weak level, about 20 to40. Therefore, she knew that even if the number of soldiers was larger, it would only be possible to earn time.

(I wonder if they could even earn time at all…)

In the end, everyone in the “Yuri Empire” crushed such mob single handedly.