Chapter 217: Epilogue on the Surface: War Sniffing Beast Part 1

There was the sudden sound of bells ringing.

「WE HAVE AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ALL THOSE WHO PLAY SHANGRILA FRONTIER.」

An announcement from the game’s administrators, and the one that was new and unheard of for the vast majority of the players.

I mean, yeah. I do believe that everyone who is listening to that announcement right about now is going to be shocked beyond all belief. Not that I blame them, since the announcements from the game’s admins is always something one needs to be wary of.

「AS FOR THE CURRENT MOMENT, THE GAME’S ADMINISTRATION HAVE CONFIRMED THE DEFEAT OF THE UNIQUE MONSTER “KUTANID OF THE ABYSS”. THE NAMES OF THE FIVE PLAYERS THAT MANAGED THIS ACCOMPLISHMENT ARE AS FOLLOWS: ‘RUST’, ‘MOLD’, ‘AKITSU AKANE’, ‘SANRAKU’, ‘SAIGA-0’. ADDITIONALLY, WITH THE DEFEAT OF THE UNIQUE MONSTER THE WORLD QUEST ‘SHANGRILA FRONTIER’ HAS BEEN ADVANCED AS WELL.」

On that day, Unique Monster Kutanid of the Abyss…… It was one of the three widely known Unique Monsters. It was sitting alongside Nightprowler Luukan and Siegwurm of the Heavens as the Unique Monster that was possible to appear as a result of a random encounter. It was widely assumed that it was somewhere at the bottom of the ocean between the old and the new continent, but because people had no idea how to get there, it was impossible to subjugate it. Until today.

What’s more, there was one name in particular amongst Kutanid’s subjugators that was not appearing in the announcement for the first time. A name that almost everyone knew about ever since the last announcement.

「Again with that guy, that ‘Sanraku’ bastard……」

「But there was also the name of the Maximum Firepower out there, right?」

「It’s impossible for the same player to be able to defeat two separate Unique Monsters. Not in that short amount of time, no less……」

「Actually, maybe he’s just a team manager or something like that? It’s a possibility, right?」

「Rumors seems to be all over the place nowadays, so it might be true, but I would not count on it. It’s best to take them in with a grain of salt……」

「I know that. Besides, the famous pledge of ShangriLa Frontier, huh? Play and let others play……」

「Or maybe the guy was paid by the others to aid them? There’s also a possibility like that.」

Apparently the fact that the first Unique Monster “Gravekeeper Wezaemon” was beaten by the team of only three people was still fresh in the memory of the people around these parts. And now one of that accursed three managed to take down yet another Unique Monster.

No matter what, the circulation of information is something that once made into motion cannot be stopped. And since rumors travel from one mouth to another, it’s just like that one famous children’s game: the original message tends to be distorted or blown out of proportion faster than you would expect it to do so.

「I have heard that he’s always running half naked and there’s a bunny girl accompanying him……」

「Well, I heard that this guy has a skill that lets him fly in the sky as much as he pleases.」

「Seriously? I heard that he managed to PK the every single member of ‘SF-Zoo’ in one fell swoop in a single moment.」

Eventually, when the rumors got blown so out of proportion that it basically reached the level of “There’s this half-human half-monster guy who goes around with a bunny girl slave wrapped in chains and collar and PKs anyone who he lays his eyes upon”, people will start to realize that the rumors are actually not true. However, it is true that as a result of said rumors circulating around the game’s server, the name “Sanraku” has become something that basically everyone was aware of.

There is an idiom out there that goes as follows: boiling with rage.

It means: to express or feel an emotion, anger for that matter, very intensely. It may be a little bit of a stretch to say this, but this usually describes the state of feeling so much anger that you would be willing to do almost anything to anyone just to give that anger an opportunity to dissipate. The act of “willing to do something” is the key here.

And right about now a certain member of the “Black Wolf” guild was boiling with rage so much that you could easily cook a full course meal around it. Or at the very least, make some delicious hard boiled eggs.

「Um, umm…… Grandmaster?」

「……………………………… What?」

「N-Nothing! It’s nothing!」

On the outside, that person looked to be as calm as ever. However, it was what was on the inside that counted. And on the inside that person was like a steel slate that was heated up to the point where it was pure-white with the heat. It was not the kind of heat that would burn anything that was surrounding it, but it was that kind of heat that would be able to clearly cut something in half it you’d let it to do so. That kind of heat that was pushing the steel to its very limit.

That person who was boiling with rage was none other than “Black Wolves” Grandmaster…… Saiga-100. On the surface she looked as calm as ever, but the rage could be seen in her eyes. And anyone who dare to look in those eyes would instantly back away in sheer terror.

Seeing that it may be better not to approach the boss right now, the other members of the Guild backed away as well, and started to consult one another in hushed whispers.

「Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, NOPE! Not even my real boss at work can be that scary as the Boss is right now!」

「Please, dude! You’re probably the only one in here who can communicate with the boss right about now!」

「Why won’t you do it, then, huh!? You’re the wall-tank for fuck’s sake! Start acting like one!」

「Yes, you see, I may be good at tanking physical attacks, but I cannot do sh*t against mental attacks……」

「…… Hey, stop looking at magic caster like they are the perfect meat shields right about now! Geez! I hate this! I’m scared! I wanna go home!」

There are some rumors circulating amongst the members of the Black Wolf guild, and some of them are believed to be very real.

According to one of them…… Saiga—0 and Saiga-100, who just so happened to be real sisters in real life, recently had a huge quarrel.

Saiga-100 is the founder of the guild “Black Wolves” as well as the element that binds all of its members together. And Saiga-0 joined ShangriLa Frontier and “Black Wolves” on behalf of Saiga-100’s invitation, and now holds the title of the Maximum Firepower. All this time the relationship between the two sisters was perfect, you could even call it exemplary.

From the standpoint of the third party, the relationship between the Boss that can be a little bit pushy at times but not unreasonable and the Saiga-0 who contributes the great deal to the guild’s power and position, is just like the relationship of true sisters.

However, for the past couple of days Saiga-100 was acting strange. She was constantly on edge and would snap ant anyone for no particular reason, and whenever Saiga-0 was mentioned during the conversation, she would almost right away flight off the handle.

There is no relationship out there that can be perfect forever, and it is not all that uncommon for even the closest of sisters to quarrel with one another occasionally…… So for the time being the other members of “Black Wolves” decided to just let the situation unfold and resolve naturally over the course of time. However, there were rumors circulating around the guild at the probable cause of this sisterly quarrel. It is said that the matter that split the sisters apart was the player “Sanraku”, the same one who assisted the walking calamity Arthur Pencilgton in subjugation of the Unique Monster “Gravekeeper Wezaemon”. The same Sanraku that happened to have taken part in subjugation of another Unique Monster, “Kutanid of the Abyss”.

「…… Say, don’t you think it’s kinda bad that this quarrel is taking them so long to resolve?」

「You can say that again…… Hope it’s not anything serious, but that’s exactly what it look like to me……」

Since “Black Wolves” stand at the top of the guilds in ShangriLa Frontier, all of its members are seasoned veterans. There are no amateurs here. Sure, there were people like Saiga-0, for who ShanFro was their very first MMO ever, but the vast majority of people here are players who have seen some action in other MMOs as well. Which also means that they know how badly the worsening relationships can affect the entire guild or the community as a whole.