Estimated reading time: 7–9 minutes
Chapter 11: Adventurer’s Guild
「So, this is the Adventurer’s Guild.」
「The name sounds fantasy-esque but the contents are definitely sci-fi. Services for purchasing Machine Beasts, special loans for weapon purchases, they do all sorts of things~」
「Doesn’t seem like there’s much connection for me here though…… Are there any AP control lessons or something?」
「We do have AP destruction lectures.」
「Don’t destroy them!」
「We also have lectures on AP disassembly and explaining which parts sell for more.」
「Are APs not liked very much here…?」
Well, for the time being, yes. But I will be sure to demonstrate the AP’s usefulness in combat. Thinking that, I follow Reina. The Adventurer’s Guild was located deep within the underground passages beneath the city, laid out like a maze. Clearly not the original route, but utilizing cracks and fissures. We descended three floors underground and entered the Adventurer’s Guild.
I breathed a sigh of relief that we weren’t blacklisted and kicked out… Looking around the Adventurer’s Guild, it seemed to occupy what was once an entire underground floor of the building. Using about half the floor space that hadn’t yet collapsed, Machine Beast disposal work was being carried out here and there.
Machine Beasts. I had seen them described in the setting materials as this game’s enemies. Most appeared to be a fusion of two types of beasts and some kind of armaments or equipment. For example, the one being dismantled diagonally to the right of the entrance we just used was a mix of dog, centipede, and about two meters worth of barbed wire fencing. The rear half was dog-like, while everything forward of that resembled a mechanical centipede, all of it covered in a barbed wire-like material. Though its entirely mechanical composition made it look sturdy, the staff worked deftly to remove the armor plating and extract the muscle-like cabling from within.
Yes, these Machine Beasts have muscles. Well, there’s no way a two meter tall machine could move without any mechanisms. The components consist of metallic muscle fibers made of some unknown material, and steel organs whose purpose is unclear. The documents didn’t explain what they consume as fuel or what their energy source is, but there must be some external energy source they rely on.
「Come over here, you two.」
Reina waves us over. Around us, about 20 players who caught wind of this quest have gathered, each collecting and exchanging information. These players are probably quite skilled, since they’ve managed to defeat Machine Beasts at this stage. Though yeah, I have no idea how strong the Machine Beasts actually are since I haven’t fought one yet.
As I pass by, the surrounding players murmur things like 「It’s Orange…」, 「His skills must be top notch too…」, 「How did he take down Machine Beasts with that skill setup…」 Hey, I didn’t beat any! I’m just an escort.
「This is the monitoring system. As a gold-rank, I can’t utilize all its features, but I think I have the best out of the current players.」
「What’s with that confidence? You say gold, so are there higher ranks?」
「Yeah, the artificial metals like adamantite and mithril. I’m still on normal metals so my rank is lower. It goes copper, silver, gold.」
「Adamantite?」
「Carbon-12 plus 2i atoms crystallize into a slightly different structure than diamond.」
「Speak Japanese, would you?」
「Ooh, that was too complicated huh! Don’t worry, once you enter university you’ll learn all this!」
「You’re pissing me off!」
「Don’t worry, I’ll make you the strongest Orange you can be. You might even get a test score of 3 Reina!」
「No matter how hard I try, I can’t see any future where I scores below 33 points. Did you just convert Reina into a unit of measurement?」
「Momiji, even if you fall below 1 Reina, don’t blame yourself. The difference is just too vast.」
「It takes a while to realize you got turned into a unit, huh.」
「Stop it!!!」
I can’t tell if these two get along well or badly. Grateful to Momiji for using my player name instead of real name, I look at the panel Reina is holding, which displays a map of the area surrounding the town. The circular area represents the town, with forest extending out around it. Though humanity has yet to fully explore what lies beyond the crystal trees, we can detect several kilometers around the perimeter. Red icons indicate reactions from Machine Beasts. And to the east, there is a large red circle right at the edge of the map.
「The distance is unknown. We can only determine the direction since sightings are visual confirmations. But judging by its rate of approach, it doesn’t seem like it will attack today or tomorrow.」
「Looks like we’ll make it in time with the APs, that’s a relief.」
「Its physical traits are… an insectoid body with a lizard head, and tentacles extending from all over. Looks like it doesn’t have any Tool attributes.」
「Just because it doesn’t appear externally doesn’t mean there are no Tool aspects. Strains with an exceptionally strong UYK influence often don’t exhibit Tool attributes. Though that’s a different story if it has absorbed some outrageous abilities, of course.」
「So how strong is this thing?」
When I ask, Reina operates the touch panel and pulls up some video data. A 30 second clip which, as soon as it starts playing, reveals all hell breaking loose.
It’s footage of some Strain battling players. A mechanical body so large it doesn’t even fit in the camera frame, with beastkin charging straight at it. Missiles rain down from the sky, with artillery shells pounding every gap. But the Strain is unharmed. It bats aside half the missiles with its tentacles, sending the debris crashing into the beastkin and blowing them to pieces. Though the shells score direct hits, they only put slight dents in the Strain’s armor which quickly regenerate. Beastkin who have crossed the death line attempt to pry open the armor with devices they carry, only to be transformed into meat shreds by tentacles from behind before the camera feed cuts out.
Hmm, R-18G doesn’t mess around. Uncensored, graphic footage here. This Strain seems way too strong – its regenerative armor can nullify heavy artillery, and its tentacles can unleash freakish firepower.
「So… how did you guys beat these things before?」
「We used to smash through the armor along with fused special armaments. For example, drill through the armor with a pile bunker then fire missiles into the gap.」
「But you don’t have those now, right?」
「Nope. We’re basically trying to take down a tank with our bare hands at this point. No way we can win like this.」
Yeah, impossible. Even with a ton of players, victory seems unlikely here. Maybe we should abandon this city and head to one of the two that popped up after the update… But leaving would frustrate me since it feels like losing.
Which means the thing to do now is gather intel again – time to check what’s going on over at the message boards. Please, give us a breakthrough…!
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