CH 285

We once again got aboard the ‹Thunder Javelin› and bolted for the 21th floor after seeing that the teleportation circle was activated without any hiccup.

"It feels like a long time has passed even though it's not that long. We still have 10 hours to go. It's called ‹Vehicle› equipment huh ... That's quite something honestly after trying."

Rika stuck out her face from the window of ‹Thunder Javelin› and said with a sigh while looking towards the gate of 20th floor.

It had slipped out of my mind but it was Rika's first time riding on the ‹Thunder Javelin ›.

Karua had ridden on the ‹Thunder Javelin› during ‹Gold Chest› selector quest, and I was just thinking it would be perfect by also having Rika try it out.

"But not every ‹Vehicle› is as excellent as our ‹Thunder Javelin›. This is a top grade item made from a ‹Gold Chest› recipe."

I explained it just to be sure so that she doesn't have any strange misunderstanding since it was her first time riding on a ‹Vehicle›.

Rika nodded in admiration.

"Geez, that's just really like you. I hadn't even heard about such equipment in my life before. Do you even know what kind of evaluation this ‹Vehicle› is getting currently?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

At my question, I sensed Rika giving a bitter smile as if saying “I know it” from the other side of the window.

"I'm sure I have already told you that my Ane-sama is affiliated to ‹Thousand Sword Freckles› and according to what I have heard from Ane-sama, there's apparently an conflict ongoing between the high ranking guild involving this ‹Vehicle› equipment as of now."

"Conflict is quite a heavy word. Do you mean guild battle?"

"Yeah. I assume you have already heard how there's once again a craze over guild battle."

"Oh, you mean that former C-rank guild who lost against their juniors and dropped one rank lower in April. Though I heard this is something like a special event in May."

"Fufu, that's not wrong. However this time is a bit special. A ‹Dual Battle› is taking place amidst a high-ranking guild involving a recipe."

"‹Dual Battle› huh."

«Dual Battle».

It was different from ‹Rank Battle› which affects one's ranking, and is mainly used to settle the conflict between fellow guilds through guild battle.

‹Rank Battle› affects a guild's guild rank whereas participating guilds put out a reward in the ‹Dual Battle› and the one who wins will receive that reward which is the special part about it and also its selling point.

It's often called ‹Gambling Battle› too in tease.

They took it more seriously than a mock guild battle since both participants wager the thing they cherished.

To sum it up, ‹Dual Battle› is where participants fight with more spirit than ever in contrast to ‹Rank Battle›.

There are also several rules different from ‹Rank Battle›.

First of all, once put as a reward, guilds can't restart another guild battle with the same gambling item, even if any side loses them. Other guilds can challenge for that particular gambling item but there's basically a cooldown period of a month before that.

Second thing, guilds can also challenge the same rank guild in this format, unlike ‹Ranking Battle› where guilds can only challenge a guild one rank above them. They can challenge a guild which is both one rank lower or higher without any problem. However there's also a rule where the ‹Dual Battle› can't be taken place against in the case there's disparity of more than two ranks among guilds. Picking on the weak is forbidden.

"So you're saying that the gambling item on the table is the recipe of a ‹Carriage›..., I mean ‹Vehicle›?"

"It can't be said for sure yet. There is the wind that ‹Beast King Gal-Tiger›, one of the A-rank guilds, is holding one for which another A-rank guild, ‹Temple Saber›, has challenged them for a ‹Dual Battle› with that item on line. Ane-sama was pissed that they beat their guild in initiative."

Hmm, ‹Beast King Gal-Tiger›. That's a name I was hearing after a long while.

It was the guild Karua was originally supposed to belong to.

The situation had quite escalated when Karua instead took the initiative to ask to join‹Eden›, clumsily forgetting the original setup prepared for her. Celestine however had smoothly handled it by paying 5 million Mir as compensation.

The other side was a mercenary guild, and an A-rank to boot. I had wanted to avoid making them out to be enemies for the time being.

"‹Beast King Gal-Tiger› didn't build that recipe equipment?"

"That guild is completely composed of ‹Beastkin› afterall, they didn't have anyone compatible with that so they had left it unchecked until now."

"That's understandable."

They didn't build it since no one among fellow guild members met the requirement and as a result has been left unchecked. Even I have many things stored to which I'm not compatible with but still holding on to them.

The guild should have no idea on what to do with it in the beginning either.

And that's the whole gist huh.

"High-ranking guilds are looking for ‹Vehicle› equipment to say."

"That's right. Majority of the guilds aiming for the recipe are B-rank and above and ‹Eden› isn't qualified to get into ‹Dual Battle› yet, though I think it would be nice to be up-to-date with the situation."

"You're right. Thanks for the information, Rika."

I see, Rika’s information has given me some more insight over the quest.

I was completely sure that a carriage on par with the ‹Thunder Javelin› that had been requested in Dean’s quest was for royalty but this information has given rise to another possible reason.

I guess that’s the pride of male students from the Main Academy for not wanting to use a ‹Vehicle› inferior to the ‹Carriage› used by a low rank E-Rank guild. Image of Saturn-kun taking a cocky stance with his arms crossed flashed in my mind.

No, it's also possible it might be used by ‹Relief Committee›.

Though I can’t rule out the possibility of it being used by royalty either. Oh well.

Either way, we already have ‹Thunder javelin›. So I don’t exactly mind whether anyone is hunting for a recipe.

But I also want to quickly try out ‹Duel Battle› too. I can’t wait to turn the table on our challengers and earn the truck load of rewards. Fuhaha!

Crash

It happened suddenly just as I was laughing out mentally.

The ‹Thunder Javelin› stopped without any prior warning while raising a loud crashing sound. It was as if ‹Thunder Javelin› had rammed into a wall.

“-------Ack!”

“KYAA!”

Screams ring out from the carriage’ cabin.

The inertia was almost offset with the HP but slight feedback had been passed onto there.

That being said, carriage had been running with several tens of km/h speed and this sudden stopping like cashing into a wall must have passed quite an impact even if majority was tanked by HP.

I was worried about Lana and other members but whatever we had crashed into took the priority.

“Are you alright, Ester!? What’s the situation?”

“It’s unclear. I don’t but it happened suddenly when I was trying to run over a monster!”

“Monster–...------Rats.”

I had been so engrossed in the talk with Rika that I had completely overlooked the floor we were in.

We were already at 25th floor.

The mount attack from the ‹Vehicle› equipment category works wonders against small fry monsters.

None of them were capable of avoiding the outcome even if they tried all their to defend.

—---However there were only a handful of monsters against which mount attack was ineffective. And It was,

“Everyone prepare for battle immediately! —We have the wandering boss crashing onto us!”

The monster that looked like your average small fry monster but actually wasn’t slowly showed its appearance from its crouching pose when the carriage rammed into it.

It was a wandering boss resembling an armadillo.

—-It was ‹Spooky Bear-cum-Armadillo›.