Chapter 219: Interlude: Those Who Wish for the Golden Falls Conquer the Heavens Part 2

Since Black Shine belonged to the guild “10 P.M. Army”, a guild that consisted mostly of working adults who could log in only after 10 p.m. every day, he already had some experience as a party commander. Therefore everyone agreed with his instructions and the party started to trek through the thick jungle where even the path blazed my monsters were pretty much non-existent.

「Ah, wait a moment! I would like to pick up an item!」

「Umm…… Ahh, Wild Jurassic Herb. It’s a material used to synthesize the “Great Recovery Potion”, right?」

「Ahaha…… You see, base defense consume way more items and resources than one might think. Sounds kinda lame, huh?」

「In the first place, with no real shops being available here for the time being, it is really important to procure the material on the field. Critical even.」

「And even in towns or villages, if you don’t know a friendly Herbalist or Alchemist, you might get scammed on the prizes of ingredients and products. Would be nice if there was a fine for scammers, like maybe, five thousand mani per person that got scammed? Man, that would be swell.」

Maybe it was a good thing that it was so dark already and only Vigilance who specialized in detection and stealth could see properly, because upon hearing that his eyes grew as wide as saucers and Reiji even mumbled a silent “Really, now!?” under his nose. Apparently the existence of scammers was not so common of a knowledge.

The four went on through the jungle. Thanks to Vigilance’s guidance they were able to avoid the large and troublesome monsters, and quickly dispose of the smaller ones that would net them the even so precious materials. Even if you did not needed some of the materials from smaller monsters, it was a good idea to collect them still, since lots of NPCs would but those materials off of you for a reasonably high price.

「Reiji-san, Raider sub-class is a derivative of a Ranger, right? So does that mean you can see some things that we are unable to see? Something that could help us track the monster down?」

「Ah, yes, that is correct. Since Raider is a sub-class of a Ranger, I can use a skill called “Trace Chase” that might be of use here.」

「Ohh, lucky us! Then please, by all means! If memory serves me correctly, one of the Drakarus Dinoul’s characteristics was that its passing leaves broken branches on the tall trees……」

「You sure know a whole lot about that monster, Black Shine……」

「Not really. You see, my work requires me to be able to recognize a whole bunch of different patterns on the spot, that is why I’m able to project that onto the game. But the motivation here is much higher than in the real world.」

The skill “Trace Chase” that can be acquired by Ranger class and its sub-classes is a skill that allows the active tracking of a certain monster or person via using a specific object as a catalyst. And although it is not a skill that is as accurate as Vigilance’s detection, its range can span to even a few hundred meters’ radius, allowing the tracker to pinpoint a rough location of the monster they were looking for.

「It seems to be pretty close, even though we were unable to spot it just yet. I’m sure that Dinoul can search for enemies as well, right?」

「Apparently so. You can get a jump at it if you have a Sniper with you, so you can attack it before it manages to spot you, but basically it is a mini-game with it: whoever manages to spot the other side first gets the advantage.」

「Sniper…… you can do such a thing here?」

「My Guild…… There was one Crusader there that was capable of doing such a thing, and honestly it was a little scary. He was really good in player versus player kind of fights, but he also possessed the skills and knowledge that would make him really shine in here. After all, in this continent it feels like a completely different game, the one with the element of hunting and survival mixed into it……」

Although Black Shine said that he was good at pattern recognition, there was often times where he would confuse the patterns that appeared in this game. And although it was surely a flaw on his part, it was also a fact that he was a part of the group that was exploring the new continent as one of the first in the entire server. It is thanks to that fact that his Guild, the commonly known “Afternoon Crusaders” is even ahead of the guild “Black Wolves”. However, once the main forces of “Black Wolves” were to arrive in here, that status quo was surely about to change.

「…… Everyone, I got a reaction close-by.」

「So it means more or less that we have been spotted…… Let’s give it a warm welcome!」

「Alright…… Just leave it to your trusty EmiRia to beat it to death in a few strikes!」

Being here in the new continent means pioneering in the world of ShangriLa Frontier. Not every player out there had level ninety nine, but since it was the minimum requirement if one wanted to get to Fifthsia, it pretty much guaranteed that everyone who would come here would theoretically possess the skills and abilities necessary to handle whatever this new world would throw their way.

Without saying anything, the party spreads about and assumes combat ready positions. Black Shine would expect no less from the players he handpicked himself.

Silence. Despite being of considerable size and being covered in scales, the monster was capable of flying in complete silence. They could only draw their weapons and wait for it to strike, being ready to receive it.

Attacker…… Perhaps Drakarus Dinoul understood that its prey was already aware that it was approaching, and so it changed the scaly feathers across its whole body to something else in response. Its green—colored feathers moved and changed positions, indicating that the monster itself has switched from the “hunt” mode into “fight” mode.

Its beak clearly hide rows of sharp teeth inside of it, and assuming that it was really a beak in the first place, it was capable to movements that no beak would ever do. Then it appeared on the night sky, as to assert its dominance over its pray…… As the name suggested, it was a hybrid of both dinosaur and a dragon. Just its sight alone was enough to assure you that the inhabitants of this new continent are not going to be pushovers.

「Are you really a bird, huh!? If that thing ain’t a jaw, then I don’t know what is…… Alright!」

The scales of the monsters around these parts were not as hard as one might think, but instead each and every single one of them was like a razor blade. Useful both in attack and defense, just brushing against them was enough to rip open your skin and cause some bleeding damage.

If so, the best way to deal with monsters like that was as follows: either use force so strong to crush the vast majority of the scales in one blow, or use piercing attacks that penetrate the flesh in between the scales.

「Fuuuooohhh!!!」

The straight sword was swung down towards the claws of Drakarus Dinoul, striking its claws and the part of its right wing in the process. And because both of them were on the move at the time, the amount of force created by their collision was way higher than what would the Strength of Black Shine normally be.

「GUGYAAAAH!?」

Drakarus Dinoul lets out a scream of pain that was fir from any cry a bird would be capable of and slides to the ground.

「……!!!」

Black shine raised his hand and gave the signal to his party members. Next, EmiRia who was hiding in the shadows jumped high in the air, brandishing her mace and about ready to bring it down in one fell swoop towards her enemy.

「Heave…… HO!」