Chapter 50
It’s exactly 1:00 PM.
As the start time arrives, each guild is transported to their respective event-specific maps.
Shuka and her guild [Happinesstrong] start in the middle of a forest.
「Ah, it’s started!」
「Yeah! Let’s start looking for dropped medals right away!」
「Yeah! Everyone, let’s do our best!」
All the members respond with an enthusiastic 「Yeah!」 to Shuka’s words.
Afterwards, the group splits into four smaller teams. They start walking through the forest, maintaining a certain distance from each other without straying too far apart.
Along the way――
「Hey, the little miss seems even more fired up than usual.」
Says Gaia, a well-built man in his mid-20s, addressing Nana as he watches Shuka eagerly leading the way.
「Oh, yeah. Shuka’s dad is watching today’s event livestream. So earlier, Shuka told everyone she ‘wants to show him her best.’」
「Oh, I see. They were talking about that before I logged in. I should’ve joined earlier.」
「You had things to do, right? It can’t be helped. Oh, and she also said she ‘wants to win and be praised by the Tutorial Guy.’ And also… she wants to give good news to her mom in heaven.」
「…I see. Then we’ve got to win no matter what!」
「That’s right! …Oh, look! Over there!」
Nana stops abruptly and points at the base of a tree.
There sits a small box resembling a music box, similar to the ones they saw many times during the preliminaries.
「Oh, it’s a treasure chest! Hey, little miss!」
Gaia calls out loudly. Shuka trots over to them.
「Hm? What is it?」
「Shuka, look over there!」
「Wow, it’s a treasure chest! Did Nana find it?」
「Yeah, by chance! Come on, Shuka, let’s open it!」
Shuka nods happily and picks up the chest.
She opens it slowly to find a single gold medal inscribed with ‘DF’ inside.
「Yay! We got one right away!」
「This is a good start!」
「It sure is! As promised, Shuka, you keep this one!」
「Okay, got it!」
As Shuka reaches for the medal, it vanishes the moment she touches it.
In its place, the [Guild Total Medals Collected] displayed on the right side of each player’s view increases from 0 to 1.
This proves that the item has been properly collected.
「Alright! Let’s keep collecting them at this pace!」
「Yeah, Shuka will work hard to find more too!」
「Oh! We’re counting on you, little miss!」
「Leave it to me! Let’s go!」
☆
Kaito’s guild [Agreable] is transported to a grassy plain.
「Oh, it’s started!」
「Indeed! Shall we start looking for large monsters right away?」
In this second event, monsters of various sizes specially prepared for the event will appear.
Among them, the large monsters are extremely powerful, but defeating them yields many medals.
Kaito and his team understood this during the preliminaries.
They actually defeated three large monsters, obtaining many medals, and passed the third preliminary round in first place.
Based on that experience, Kaito and his team plan to focus on defeating large monsters in the main event to efficiently collect medals.
「Hey, everyone! Of course, we’ll have fun, but since we’re here, let’s aim for the win!」
「「「「Yeah! 」」」」
Emi, Leon, and the other members respond with enthusiastic shouts.
「Alright, shall we go?」
☆
Elena, Cocono, and Mew’s guild [Strawberry Montblanc] starts on an ice field.
「Wow, we warped suddenly!」
「It’s finally started! Oh! Elena, is that the camera?」
Cocono, a beautiful older sister figure, points to a camera floating in the sky.
「That’s right! When that starts spinning around, it means we’re being broadcasted, so keep that in mind!」
Elena advises, passing on a tip from a senior streamer. The two juniors nod seriously at this advice.
「Alright! Then, let’s form a circle!」
「Okay!」
The three form a circle and put their hands together in the center.
After confirming that the camera isn’t moving, Elena speaks up.
「Mew! Cocono! Today, let’s do our best to leave our mark! Go, go!」
Elena rallies herself and her two juniors, aiming to generate interest in [Strawberry Montblanc] through the event’s livestream and attract viewers to their own streams.
「Yeah!」
The three voices blend as they respond in unison.
Afterwards, the trio begins walking, searching for dropped treasure chests.
☆
Lucifer and his guild [Dark Faith] appear in a different dense forest from Shuka’s group.
「Finally. Heh, how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.」
「Yes, yes, the usual routine. Well, shall we proceed according to the plan?」
「Yeah! This time we’re gonna win for sure!」
「Indeed. Let us now unleash our power of darkness!」
「Power of darkness, huh… Even though Rayleigh and I have also leveled up our light magic.」
Recently, Destroy and Rayleigh reset their Skill Point Allocation for this event.
They allocated a few points to light magic to learn the healing spell Heal.
During the event, items can’t be used, so the only ways to recover HP are to use magic or wait for natural recovery.
At first, Lucifer strongly opposed this, saying it 「goes against the guild’s concept!」 But after hearing the reason, he quickly understood.
However, he absolutely refused to level up light magic himself, so Lucifer alone remains specialized in dark magic.
「T-That’s a separate matter! Besides, the healing magic you two use isn’t Heal! It’s Dark Heal!」
「…Yeah, yeah, Dark Heal. Got it, got it.」
「Hahaha, you guys are as amusing as ever! …Well then, let’s get fired up and go!」
「Yeah!」
「Yep!」
☆
In a wide open sandy area, five middle-aged men appear.
This is Takashi’s guild — [The Gathering of Old Dudes].
「Oh, it looks like it’s started. Well then, let’s do our best together, everyone!」
「That’s right. For Eiji-papa and Masao who couldn’t participate today too!」
「That’s true! Well, we’ve got Takashi with us, don’t we?」
「Indeed! After all, he’s the winner of the inaugural event!」
「Huh? No, no, stop it! That was just a coincidence!」
Takashi protests, looking genuinely flustered as the other four members turn their gazes on him.
After a moment’s pause, the other members burst into laughter.
「We’re just joking! Well, let’s not push ourselves too hard and take it easy!」
「…Yeah, you’re right! Okay! Let’s enjoy ourselves at our usual pace!」
「Yeah!」 everyone cheers in unison.
☆
Kaiser’s guild [Liberaltia Empire] starts in a grassland blooming with colorful flowers.
「—It’s finally started!」
「Yeah. Everyone, thank you for today!」
「Y-Yes! It’s an honor to be with you, Kaiser!」
「Me too! I’m super lucky to have been chosen!」
「I-I-I’ll do my best!」
「Everyone! Let’s combine our strength and secure victory for Kaiser no matter what!」
「「「「Yeah! 」」」」
The viewers cheer excitedly, surrounding Kaiser.
Seeing them like this, Kaiser feels a twinge of guilt.
Usually, Kaiser chooses viewers to play games with through a random lottery.
However, for this event only, he set conditions for participation and selected the most skilled players.
Having missed out on victory in the previous event, he’s determined to win this time at all costs.
Ideally, he would have liked to give everyone the usual chance to participate.
He feels apologetic again for not being able to do so.
「Well then, Kaiser! Let’s go look for large monsters right away!」
However, it’s too late for regrets now.
The only thing he can do now is to respond to the expectations of the viewers cheering him on in the livestream by winning.
With this thought, Kaiser switches gears and gets fired up.
「That’s right! Okay everyone, let’s go!」
☆
In a gloomy area as dark as night with numerous graves lined up, 10 players wearing [Mask of Anonymity] appear.
This is the guild [Numbers].
「…So, odd numbers go that way. Even numbers this way.」
「Gotcha…」
「…Roger that.」
Without any further conversation, [Numbers] quickly splits into two groups.
This isn’t them trying to act cool.
This is their best attempt at communication.
Usually, they play games solo.
The reason they formed a guild was due to a post on a certain anonymous message board.
The post read, 「Want to form a temporary guild just for the event to win the grand prize?」
While it’s possible to participate in this event alone, considering potential battles, victory would be difficult for a solo player.
Thinking this, one man made the post, and other players who thought the same started to respond. Eventually, the skilled players among them agreed to meet in the game.
However, they didn’t want to reveal their identities as users of the anonymous message board.
The last thing they wanted was for their faces to be known.
If that happened, they would surely be mercilessly criticized by others hiding behind anonymity.
Therefore, they changed their names to alphanumeric characters beforehand and agreed to meet with their faces hidden behind the [Mask of Anonymity].
This is how [Numbers] was born.
In essence, it’s a hastily formed guild of loners gathered for the sake of the prize, but since they’ve invested considerable time in the game, their individual skills are quite high.
「Well, shall we go…」 says Zero, the leader.
Two, Four, Six, and Eight nod by jutting their chins forward.
And with that, they set off.
The second event has begun.
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