Chapter 37: Status Shift

I see, it looks like leaders of Ashura-kai really wanted their message to sink in properly.

「There…… No, four people?」

「With this many people, we can kill you over and over again however many times we want.」

「I don’t particularly enjoy killing small fries, since it makes my karma points go to hell, but orders are orders.」

「If you want to blame someone, then blame the top brass. We are only carrying out their will.」

All four of them direct their weapons towards me, and the red font in which their name tags were written was the proof that they were indeed Player Killers. Just like the instruction manual said. For now, let’s just summarize my current situation.

Our initial goal was to reach Thirdrema and then go to Rabbitz from there, since reaching Thirdrema was a sort of a high wall that a new player must overcome. Our current position: right outside the city’s gate, Emul and myself, surrounded by four seasoned PKs, and with Pencilgton and Animalia right behind our backs.

I was curious about those karma points, since it was an unfamiliar term for me. Was it something that PKs didn’t want to accumulate? I thought about it for a moment, and even if under normal circumstances getting killed by them a few times would not be that big of a deal, with Emul around the situation was different. For now, let’s see…… It seems that none of them held any kind of long-distance weapon. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t able to use magic or long-range skills. How should we get to resolve that situation……?

I could feel Emul trembling on my back at the sight of the bloodthirsty players. I knew just how he felt, because I’ve been through something like that in the past a few times. Being killed over and over by the PKs. Back in the “United Rounds” it was a common occurrence for seasoned players to just camp at spawn points and kill both the new players and NPCs alike.

By the way, their reason for doing that was because in “United Rounds” there was a title of “Fallen Knight” awarded to people who killed a certain number of players whose levels were lower than that of the player who did all the killing. But it was just that, a title. With nothing else to it, not even a slight boost in stats. I would like to know why was such a title ever in a cooperative game, but as with everything in “United Rounds”, it seems that something which was supposed to be a mark of shame became something completely opposite, and people were wearing the title as a badge of honor of sorts.

And if you’re going to implement such a title, at least add some sort of demerit to it! Like, for example, the NPCs won’t talk to you anymore! Otherwise what’s the point of having such a title in the first place!? Small wonder everyone would go full-on murder hobo in this game!

Okay, now that I got all of that off my chest I felt somewhat calmer, and I was ready to tackle the challenge that was waiting right in front of me. A soft smile creeped on my lips……

When Saiga-0 finally managed to get across all of the NPCs that were in her way at the checkpoint leading to Thirdrema, she saw something truly mortifying: there they were, Arthur Pencilgton of the Ashura-kai and Animalia of SF-Zoo, the most powerful players of the most powerful guilds in the game, currently duking it out with each other so hard that there were sparks flying all around them. There was also Sanraku, but currently he was surrounded by four other PKs while a Vorpal Bunny was sitting right atop his back.

(I just averted my gaze for but a moment, what happened!?)

For a moment Saiga-0 thought that it was all her fault for losing sight of Sanraku, but then again she thought that this might in fact be her chance to shine.

If she can save him from the perilous situation of being killed by evil PKs, she would make a much better first impression than if she is to just approach him and talk to him. And it just so happened that the last update a few months ago changed the rules of the game a little bit, so that PKK was no longer ruining your reputation with the NPCs, so she was all in the green!

(Chance! This is my chance! Now I can appeal to him and get acquainted inside of the game! And then in real life! And then…… And then……! Huehuehie……)

A few hundred options? A few thousand options? Saiga-0 had so many options when it comes to dealing with PKs that the sheer amount of them started to gradually overwhelm her.

「…… “Battle Skill: Crushing Slash”!!」

Being level ninety nine herself, Saiga-0 was often fighting as a vanguard on the frontline and during various raids and events together with her colleagues from the guild “Shwarz Wolves” one of the best guilds in the game…… And the skill she just used was usually employed against heavily armored monsters.

「My, my, I must say I had quite a bit of fun, Miss Zoo Director. You would normally see that many debuffs only on high level monster slaying quests, yup.」

「Kuh, ghh……」

Arthur Pencilgton praises Animalia, who was currently brought to her knees when her HP bar started to reach dangerously low levels.

She thought that his nickname of Giant Slayer was just for show, but as truth would have it, he was indeed so powerful that even the strongest players in Fiftsia had to respect his power. It is also no wonder that he had won every single duel he took part in.

So one might say that being praised by him was an honor of the highest caliber. Pencilgton looks at the status icons that were afflicting him and laughs.

「With so many debuffs on, even the strongest of monsters would be nothing more but a paper dolls.」

「I stunned and poisoned you so many times, so why……」

「Hm? You want to know? The secret to that lies in…… Tadah! It is thanks to this little unique item that I have here, “Ori the Singing Doll”! It gives me the highest levels of protection from debuffs and magic attacks, so it’s really useful against magic casters. Better safe than sorry, right?」

One of the reasons that Animalia lost to Pencilgton was because he possessed an item that was the ultimate shield against magic casters when it comes to PVP. …… But aside from that, it was foolish of her to try to take on Pencilgton while he was in his peak condition, without any traps laid or secret weapons up her sleeve.

「I, see……」

「Well, that being said…… Those curses of yours are something that one needs to watch out for.」

When it comes to Magic Casters, ShangriLa Frontier was truly unique in that aspect. It was somewhat complicated, but long story short, casting magic was not consuming MP only, but was additionally using various catalysts to do so. Thanks to that the spells effects were powerful and effective, and having two or three Magic Casters on the battlefield would always make the battle that much easier.

And it so happens that Animalia, guild master of SF-ZOO, and the lover of every single monster in the game, has filled all of her magic slots with high-level restraint-type magic.

So it could be said that in terms of literally stopping Sanraku in his tracks, there was no other player better suited for the job than Animalia.

「Now then……」

Pencilgton was wondering. The guildmaster handpicked those four other players for this job, but would they really be able to kill Sanraku? There was a part of him that was still hesitant to believe that. Incidentally, he had no intention of helping them out in any way.

(Sanraku-kun, I know that you are one tough cookie, but the difference in your levels is over fifty, so struggle as hard as you can because even you might not be able to get out of it alive……)

But Pencilgton knew. All the knowledge Sanraku accumulated over all those sh*tty games was not to be underestimated. If anything, that knowledge alone was like a unique item the highest grade.

Those who challenge only the weaker ones or the ones of the same skill level will never grow strong. In the past, Pencilgton was once like that, and the price he came to pay for his arrogance was high. But it was at the same time priceless experience.

(That idiot is so crazy in his actions that any normal player out there seems boring in comparison…… The times sure are about to change. I hear that Katsu also started playing ShanFro, so our plans…… can finally move forward……)

Pencilgton recalls that level ninety nine…… That is the highest level in this game for the moment and there were quite a few players who, like Pencilgton, managed to obtain it. Each and every one of those players was a formidable warrior and a deadly opponent, capable of exterminating other players with ease, or even crushing full, fifteen-people parties.

And it so happens that the most powerful members of Ashura-kai were all former underlings of Pencilgton. So if they time everything correctly, their plans and ambitions could be…… Just then, Pencilgton turns towards Animalia, who finally dropped to the ground.

「Fumu, by the way, Miss Zoo Director? I do seem to recall you using some strange item that allowed you to cast a spell with a catalyst of “Activates when your HP falls to a single digit”. Pray tell what that spell is……?」

「………………」

Animalia smiles, and the way she did that was so charming and beautiful that even Pencilgton felt entranced by that expression of hers. But there was also something strange to it, something dangerous that made shivers run down his spine.

「You’ll understand soon enough.」

There are some items in this game that give very specific and unique effects, but for the very specific and unique catalysts. They could be used only once and then they would be gone forever.

「No question, no answer. “Fellow Traveller!!”」

A spell of the highest caliber triggered by self-destruction of the caster goes towards Pencilgton……

And then everything began to change.