Chapter 55
At the same moment Happinesstrong and Agreable begin their battle…
<[Announcement] 15 minutes remaining until the end of the event>
A system message appears before Kaiser and the Liberaltia Empire as they walk across the plains.
「Oh, looks like we’ve got 15 minutes left!」
「Already? Time sure flies.」
「You’re right. Okay, 15 minutes to go! Let’s stay focused and give it our all for this final push!」
「「「「Yeah! 」」」」
Kaiser’s words inspire renewed determination in his team members.
As they press on, trying to collect as many medals as possible, Renji, one of the members, suddenly calls out:
「Look over there!」
He points to a group of masked players running towards them.
It’s the guild Numbers, born from anonymous message board posts.
They had split into even and odd teams earlier.
Six was defeated by Elena, while Nine was taken down by Lucifer and his group. Only eight remain now.
「Ugh, they look creepy.」
「Eight of them. Same as us.」
Meanwhile, the Liberaltia Empire hasn’t lost a single member yet.
With their full roster of eight still intact, it’s shaping up to be an even match.
「That’s right. Now, let’s see their lineup…」
Kaiser squints at the approaching group.
「Four mages. One archer. The rest are melee. Our current archer team is… Lisalisa and Renji. Think you two can handle those four mages?」
「「Yes! 」」
「Great! Then let’s stick with this plan. Everyone ready?」
The whole team nods in response to Kaiser’s words.
「Alright! Let’s go!」
「「「「Yeah! 」」」」
They all start running at once.
As both sides close the distance and enter spell and arrow range, the enemy’s four casters stop and extend their hands simultaneously.
Massive magic circles begin to form at their fingertips.
「Take this!」
「Here we go!」
But the four magic circles vanish instantly.
Lisalisa and Renji’s arrows hit their marks.
At the same time, the vanguards of both guilds clash.
Kaiser’s opponent is a man wielding a greatsword – Zero, the leader of Numbers.
「Blade Dance!」
Zero makes the first move.
He swings his greatsword wildly left and right in a dance-like motion.
Kaiser desperately tries to dodge by crouching and backstepping, but can’t avoid everything and takes damage.
It’s a significant amount, but Kaiser shows no sign of panic.
Because—
「Gentle winds, come forth and heal us! Heal Wind!」
He knows the healer, Usapyon, will cast a recovery spell.
「Impale!」
「Gentle winds, gather and blow!」
Almost fully healed, Kaiser steps forward and thrusts his spear.
The attack lands perfectly, his golden spear piercing through Zero.
「Whirlwind!」
Furthermore, Meno, their sole rear attacker, casts a wind spell that engulfs Zero in a tornado.
Meanwhile, no spells are fired at Kaiser’s group, nor is the enemy’s vanguard healed.
That’s because the archer team of Lisalisa and Renji are still preventing the enemy from casting.
The enemy archer is likewise trying to disrupt our casters by firing arrows, but those arrows never reach the rear guard.
「Rocks, rise up and become a shield to protect us! Stone Wall!」
The supporter, Roy, constantly creates rock walls to protect himself and one other person.
Depending on the skill composition of the members, the enemy might already be in checkmate.
However, befitting those who have survived until the late stages, they’re not such simple opponents.
Realizing their rear guard is ineffective, two of the casters and the archer operate their menu windows, switching their staves and bow for melee weapons and advancing.
If ranged attacks don’t work, they probably figured they’d beat our rear guard directly.
But Kaiser won’t allow that.
「Renji! Roy! Both of you, to the front!」
While fending off Zero, Kaiser notices the enemy’s movements from the corner of his eye and instructs Roy, who was protecting the two in the rear, and the archer Renji.
「Yes!」
「Yeah!」
The two quickly operate their menu windows just like the enemy did, equipping melee weapons and moving to the front.
They hold off the three who switched from rear to vanguard.
Meanwhile, the healer Usapyon casts an area healing spell to recover all the frontliners simultaneously, and the rear attacker Meno attacks the enemy with magic.
Lisalisa continues to fire arrows, stopping the casters’ movements.
The situation has changed, but Liberaltia Empire’s advantage remains.
Just as Kaiser thinks they can win at this rate—
「Kaiser! I’m almost out of MP!」
「Same here!」
Usapyon and Meno report some unwelcome news.
However, Kaiser remains unfazed.
He had anticipated running out of MP from the start.
「Understood! First, Usapyon, switch with Lisalisa!」
At Kaiser’s command, the healer Usapyon and the archer Lisalisa simultaneously open their menu windows.
Moving their fingers quickly, Usapyon switches from staff to bow, while Lisalisa switches from bow to staff.
Then Usapyon starts disrupting the enemy casters as an archer, while Lisalisa begins healing the vanguard as a healer.
Confirming this, Kaiser continues while dodging Zero’s attacks.
「Meno, switch with Crejou!」
Following the instructions, Meno switches from staff to axe and moves forward, attacking the opponent Crejou was fighting.
Meanwhile, Crejou backstepped repeatedly, switching from rapier to staff and beginning to chant a spell.
This resolves the MP shortage problem.
Liberaltia Empire’s victory is now unshakeable.
Just as Kaiser becomes certain of this—
「Crimson flames! Descend to earth and consume all creation!」
The chanting of a spell reaches his ears.
Kaiser startles and quickly looks towards the enemy’s rear guard.
He sees a large man grabbing the scruff of a smaller man’s neck among the two remaining mages.
Three arrows are stuck in the smaller man’s abdomen.
It seems the larger man used the smaller one as a shield to protect himself from Usapyon’s attacks, forcibly completing his chant.
「Crimson Bonfire!」
Immediately after, a giant fireball appears from the magic circle deployed in the sky.
The five vanguard members, each engaged with an opponent, can’t turn their backs to run away, and are engulfed in the massive explosion caused by the fireball’s impact with the ground.
Kaiser immediately checks his HP.
It’s fallen below one-third.
As expected of fourth-tier magic, it deals considerable damage.
Assessing the situation, he sees that while no one has died, everyone wears expressions of panic.
「Gentle winds, gather and heal us! Heal Wind!」
Soon, Lisalisa’s healing reaches them.
However, they immediately take hits from enemy attacks, suffering damage that exceeds the amount healed.
「Damn it!」
Perhaps emboldened by the spell’s successful hit, the enemy’s movements are better than before.
Additionally, due to their own panic, they can’t dodge attacks as well as earlier.
The others are in the same situation, taking hits straightforwardly.
Even now, Lisalisa is desperately casting Heal Wind, but their HP is being whittled down as fast as it’s restored.
From overwhelming superiority to a complete reversal, Liberaltia Empire now finds itself in a dire situation.
「Triple Spear!」
But Kaiser isn’t one to give up here.
While swinging his spear around, he racks his brain for a way to break through this situation.
In the end, Kaiser decides to take an all-or-nothing gamble.
「…Hahaha. You guys are good! I didn’t expect you to be this strong! Looks like I might lose at this rate, so I guess it’s time for me to get serious!」
Kaiser shouts loud enough for everyone to hear, then takes a big backstep, seizing an opening.
With a serious expression, he points the tip of his spear at Zero.
「…Let me show you. My fifth-tier special technique.」
At these words, the opponents momentarily freeze.
Fifth-tier special techniques require allocating a considerable amount of points to acquire, and no one has leveled up enough to learn them yet. There’s no information about them even on strategy sites.
The declaration of activating such a mythical fifth-tier special technique.
It’s no wonder they’re surprised.
「…Heh! This is our win!」
「L-Lucky! We get to see Kaiser-sama’s trump card!」
「T-That technique is coming!」
「…You’d better dodge it. You’ll die in one hit!」
The spectators clamor while continuing to fight.
After a moment, Numbers’ vanguard repeatedly backsteps to create distance.
They probably figured that taking a hit from something even more powerful than the already super-strong fourth-tier techniques would certainly result in death, instantly reversing the tide of battle.
Seeing their reaction go exactly as expected, Kaiser grins and opens his mouth.
「Everyone, aim for the three on the left!」
As he says this, everyone except Usapyon, who’s holding a bow, extends their hands towards the enemy vanguard that had retreated.
「Thorns! Gather and intertwine to become a spear that pierces our foes!」
Seven voices overlap in chanting.
「Thorn Pierce!」
They all shout the spell name in unison.
Thorns appear from the magic circles, intertwining into a spear shape and extending towards the enemy vanguard.
Perhaps because they had already worn them down quite a bit, the three enemy vanguard members hit by the magic disappear into particles.
During this time, the two enemy casters try to cast spells, but Usapyon prevents it.
「Alright, now’s our chance!」
「「「「Yeah! 」」」」
Kaiser and his team start running, unleashing special techniques on the remaining three vanguard members.
With the numerical advantage, the enemy can’t deflect the attacks and quickly dissipates.
They then charge at the now defenseless rear guard, showering them with a barrage of attacks.
Needless to say, the opponents soon turn into particles.
—Total annihilation.
It’s Kaiser’s group’s victory.
「…Phew. Good work, everyone!」
「Yes! Man, they were tough!」
「No kidding! That was a bit dicey.」
「Yeah! I was so nervous, thinking we might lose!」
「Huh? Really? I wasn’t worried at all because I knew Kaiser-sama would figure something out!」
As they’re released from the tension, they chat cheerfully for a while.
<Congratulations! Your guild is the winner. We will now conduct an interview, so please wait where you are.>
Suddenly, a system message appears in front of everyone.
Seeing this, the group exchanges surprised looks and then—
「We did it!」
They let out a cheer of joy.
Sub29: My Thoughts on ‘Tutorial Guy’ as the Series Nears Its End
Check out my Patreon for early access to upcoming updates. Patreon Link