Chapter 33
A few hours after arriving in Red Jungle…
「We did it!」
「Yay!」
「Great job, everyone!」
「Alright!」
Isamu and his party have successfully defeated their second Golden Almirage.
This causes them to level up, with Isamu reaching level 23.
Immediately after, as Isamu goes to allocate his newly acquired skill points in the menu window, he notices it’s almost 9 PM.
「Ah, it’s gotten so late! Sorry, I need to get going soon…」
Isamu has plans to meet up with Kaito and the others at 9.
So he has to leave Shuka’s guild now.
「Ah, you’re right, it is about time for your meeting. Now Shuka, don’t you have something to say?」
「…Yes! Thanks for today, uncle!」
Hearing those words, Isamu smiles as he operates the menu window and withdraws from the guild 「Happinesstrong」.
「I should be thanking you! Sorry it was so short today. I’d be happy if you invited me again sometime.」
「Yep! I’ll invite you again, so make sure to join us then!」
「Of course! …Well then, I’m off! See you!」
「Bye bye!」
「Thank you for today! Good night!」
「Yeah, see ya!」
After that, Isamu bids farewell to each of the 「Happinesstrong」 members who had gone off separately, then departs from Red Jungle.
(Alright, let me contact Kaito… There.)
Upon returning to Starting Town, Isamu sends a chat message to Kaito. A reply comes back immediately.
(Let’s see… 『Yo! Let’s meet up in front of the fountain then!』 Okay, I better hurry over.)
Isamu sends back an 『Understood』 and starts making his way to the meeting spot.
☆
Isamu arrives at the fountain in the center of Starting Town.
However, Kaito is nowhere to be seen yet.
「Oof, there we go.」
Isamu decides to sit and wait, plopping down on a nearby bench with a very middle-aged man sort of grunt.
After a few minutes pass…
「–Oh, there he is! Hey, old maaaan!」
A familiar voice reaches Isamu’s ears.
Isamu closes the menu window he was operating and turns toward the direction of the voice.
(W-Wow, what an interesting group…)
In his line of sight is a crowd consisting of flashy-looking young men and women mixed with some very ordinary-looking high school students.
This collection of vastly different types of youths approaches while chatting amiably with each other.
「Yo, sorry for the wait!」
「Long time no see!」
「Good evening, Sieg!」
「Hi you three, it’s been a while! Thanks for inviting me today!」
「Nah, thank YOU, man!」
「Thanks from me too!」
「Let’s have fun today!」
「Yeah! So, the people behind you are friends of Kaito, Emi and Leon?」
After exchanging brief greetings with Kaito, Emi and Leon, Isamu shifts his gaze to the group standing behind the three of them.
「Yep! These dumb-looking guys are my and Emi’s crew, and those high schoolers over there are Leon’s buddies!」
As Kaito says this, they step forward and begin introducing themselves one by one.
Once the round of introductions for the new faces finishes up, Kaito steps forward and opens his mouth to speak.
「Alright! So, we’re gonna invite the old man to join our guild now!」
Kaito opens the menu window and moves his finger a few times.
<You have been invited to join the guild 「Agreable」 by Kaito. Do you wish to join?>
Without hesitation, Isamu presses the 「Yes」 button on the system message that appears.
With that, Isamu becomes a member of Kaito’s guild.
「Thank you! So your guild is called ‘Agreable’, huh.」
「That’s right! Emi, Kaito and I came up with it together, and Leon said it sounded good too!」
「I see! It has a stylish ring to it. Does the name have any special meaning?」
「Ah, ‘Agreable’ means stuff like ‘pleasant’ or ‘comfortable’ in French. Our guild’s motto is to just take it easy and have fun, so we figured that fit well for the name!」
Rather than playing Dream Fantasy to seriously enjoy the game itself, Kaito and his friends play it with the goal of having a lively, merry time together as a group.
So upon hearing that explanation, Isamu is impressed at how perfectly the guild name expresses Kaito and company’s style.
「Makes sense! It’s a great guild name! But wow, I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about French, Kaito.」
「Hm? Well, Emi and I are majoring in French at university. Did I never mention that?」
(Huh, so Kaito and Emi are foreign language university students. How unexpected.)
「Oh, is that so! First I’m hearing of it!」
「Well, we don’t really talk much about IRL stuff! Anyway, now that the old man’s joined up too, let’s get going!」
「Ah, speaking of which, where are we headed?」
「Hm? To take down the raid boss… Oh my bad! Guess I forgot to tell you about that part.」
「Ah, no worries at all! I figured we were probably going to challenge a raid boss!」
「That so! Glad to hear it then! Alright, let’s move out!」
「「「「Ooh!」」」」
Isamu sets off with Kaito’s group towards the newly installed teleportation magic circle.
☆
About ten minutes later, Isamu and the others arrive at the outskirts of town.
In front of the teleportation magic circle, there appears to be around ten players.
Based on the fact that the light from the magic circle has gone out, it seems another guild is currently in the middle of challenging the raid boss, and these players are waiting for their turn to use it.
「Looks like someone beat us to it. Welp, nothing to do but wait.」
「Indeed. Well then, let’s line up behind those people.」
Isamu’s party decides to stand behind that group and wait for their turn to come around.
「Hm? Wait, is that the Tutorial Guy standing over there?」
Just then, one of the men from that group calls out to Isamu.
「Ah, yes. That’s me.」
「Oh, I thought so! I watched the broadcast of the event! Your explanations were really easy to understand!」
「Is that so? Thank you very much!」
「Yeah! Thanks to you, for the sake of studying–」
「Hey, it’s our turn!」
The man’s words are cut off by another man’s loud voice.
It seems the previous guild’s battle has finished, so they can now use the teleporter.
「My bad, gotta run. See ya, old man! We’ll take it down quick, so you guys do your best too!」
Saying that, the man heads over to where his group is standing on top of the magic circle.
After a brief pause, they vanish from sight.
「Alright, we’re up next. Man, you really are a celebrity, old dude!」
「I know, right? Ah, maybe I should get his autograph while I’m at it! I bet it’d sell for a lot!」
「Ooh, then me too! I could use the cash right about now.」
Emi and Leon say that jokingly with impish grins.
In response to their joke, Isamu decides to jokingly turn it back on them.
「Sure, I don’t mind, but… I doubt anyone would buy some plain old man’s autograph. I mean, I’m just a boring middle-aged guy…」
「…H-Hey, it was a joke! A joke! Don’t take it so seriously!」
「S-Sorry! I didn’t think you’d interpret it that earnestly…」
Emi and Leon start frantically backpedaling.
Seeing them like that, Isamu opens his mouth to speak with a smile spreading across his face.
「I know, I know. I was just joking back!」
「Geez… Don’t scare me like that!」
「Phew, that’s a relief. You really had me flustered for a second there!」
「Ahaha. Sorry, sorry!」
(Ah, this is so much fun… Truly.)
In real life, Isamu doesn’t have a single conversation partner he can liven things up with through such casual banter.
And that’s precisely why he can’t get enough of moments like these.
They continue to gab for a little while longer after that.
「–O-Oi! Look…」
All of a sudden, one of the guild members cries out.
Prompted by his outburst, everyone turns their eyes in the direction he’s pointing. The teleportation magic circle is glowing.
This signifies that teleportation is now possible.
「Huh? Isn’t that way too fast…?」
「…It is. Not even three minutes have passed…」
Tension runs through the group in an instant.
The fact that they can teleport now means one of two things – either the guild that went ahead of them defeated the boss, or they got wiped out.
Considering it’s called a raid boss, there’s no doubt it’s an enemy set to have considerable strength.
Defeating such a formidable foe in under three minutes is, from a common sense perspective, impossible.
Based on that premise, everyone present concludes the other party must have been annihilated.
「…Looks like it’s stronger than we thought. Alright everyone! Let’s get pumped up and do this!」
「「「Yeah!」」」
But Kaito’s crew isn’t about to back down now.
They all respond to Kaito’s words with a spirited cheer.
Afterwards, they thoroughly apply buffs with Sharp Edge and such, then step onto the magic circle and teleport to the area where the boss awaits.
☆
The place they teleport to is a semicircular space surrounded by rocky walls.
In the center stands a headless knight straddling a black horse, silently holding a lance in its left hand.
A dullahan – a common enemy in fantasy RPGs.
「So that’s the raid boss? It’s kinda smaller than I imagined.」
「True. It might be unexpectedly manageable!」
「Alright, let’s pummel it!」
「I wonder what kind of loot it drops!」
Based on the title of 「raid boss」, Isamu had envisioned something like a gigantic dragon or minotaur.
It seems the others had similar thoughts, as the tension from moments ago vanishes in an instant upon seeing it’s not much different in size from themselves.
「Okay, let’s do this!」
「Yeah! I’ll start by–」
One of the members charges out solo.
A step behind him, the close-range weapon users like Isamu and Kaito chase after.
Closing the remaining few meter gap, the dullahan that hadn’t so much as twitched until now readies its lance.
「Oh, looks like it’s getting seriou–」
In an instant, the dullahan closes the distance with the man at the front and unleashes a flurry of thrusts with the lance in its left hand.
It’s the second lance skill that Kaiser used in the battle royale of the inaugural event – Quick Tilt.
Taking the full brunt of it, the man disintegrates into particles and disappears in the blink of an eye.
After that, the dullahan stops moving.
Or so it seems, but then it suddenly extends its right hand. A magic circle appears at the same time, and from it, a gigantic fireball is launched.
A fire magic spell – Inferno Blaze.
The three people in its direct path are unable to evade and take a direct hit.
By the time the fireball vanishes, they are nowhere to be seen.
「W-What the hell was that!? …Hey old man, in front of you!」
「Hm? Ah–」
Isamu reacts to Kaito’s voice and turns around.
The dullahan is already right before his eyes. It greatly pulls back its arm, then thrusts it straight forward.
☆
The next moment, Isamu finds himself in front of the fountain in Starting Town.
(No way… That’s way too strong.)
Despite only being hit once by the lance’s first skill – Impale – Isamu got taken out.
It seems the boss was tens of times stronger than he had anticipated.
「Yo! Old man!」
「Ah, Tutorial Guy got wiped out too, huh.」
「I know, right? Isn’t that thing way too OP!?」
Turning towards the voices, Isamu sees four ghost-like player figures.
It’s the guild members who got taken out before him.
「Ah, everyone. Man, that strength really caught me off guard.」
「Same here. I was dead before I knew what hit me.」
「More importantly, that fireball was magic, right? Talk about unfair that it can use it without any incantation!」
「Seriously. I know NPCs get special privileges, but there’s no way to dodge something like that…」
「Hm? So that thing can use magic in addition to a lance?」
「Yeah. It’ll suddenly fire off magic with no warning at all.」
「Damn, that’s rough…」
As Isamu is discussing this with the members present, the rest of the guild members also steadily teleport back one after another.
In less than a few minutes, all of the Agreable members have gathered in the plaza.
That’s right, a total party kill.
「Maaaan! That thing is NUTS!」
「I couldn’t do anything at all!」
「I don’t think we’re a match for it at our current level…」
「Yeah. Ah, sorry I couldn’t be of any help after you invited me along.」
「Nah, no need to sweat that! I mean, we couldn’t do jack either.」
When Isamu apologizes, Kaito responds with the words he expected, as predicted.
As Isamu is feeling relieved about that, Kaito continues.
「More like, how the heck are we supposed to beat that thing?」
「I guess our only option is to raise our levels more.」
「Hmm. Higher levels are definitely necessary too, but we might need to work more on our coordination and teamwork…」
「Coordination, huh. Good point.」
Kaito mutters in a pensive tone in response to Isamu’s words.
Everyone ponders this with a 「Hmmmm」 for a while after that.
「Okay! In that case, why don’t we head back to the guild home now and do some strategizing! Old man, you still good on time?」
「Yep. I don’t have any other plans for today!」
「Great! Then hang out with us for a bit!」
「Of course!」
「Alrighty, let’s go then!」
「「「「Yeah! 」」」」
After that, Isamu imposes on Kaito’s guild home and discusses various topics with the AAgreable crew.
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