Chapter 1-16 : To The Battle (Part 2)
「Khh…! Does anyone know how many wolves we’ve killed so far?」(warrior)
「A few dozen, I think.」(magician)
「There’s no end of it…」(archer)
「There are still more to come. Dammit!」(healer)
「Perhaps we need a few more people.」(bard)
The enemies we are fighting are not elite monsters or something. They’re just normal enemies. However, there were tons of them.
A powerful wide-ranged offensive skill would be very effective in this fight, but unfortunately, none of us have it.
There are many skills of that type players can learn, but they cost a lot of Skill Points.
This game was just released a few days ago. In other words, we’re still in the early stage.
Not many players have farmed enough Skill Points to learn a powerful wide-ranged offensive skill.
Of course, there are weaker versions of wide-ranged skills, but they’re not very effective, especially against high-level enemies like these wolves.
Therefore, it’s difficult to kill a large group of enemies at once in this battle.
However…
「We have no choice but to keep fighting…」(Alice)
When I muttered to myself, the other squad members reacted.
「Hahaha! You heard her. There’s no point in counting the enemies we kill. Just focus on decreasing their numbers.」(third squad captain)
「Kaah! Even a cute girl like her is doing her best! As men, we need to show a girl what we’re capable of, not the other way around!」(warrior)
「Uwaahh… He’s trying to act cool in front of her…」(archer)
「Honestly, I don’t really care about acting cool in front of girls, but she’s right. We have to keep fighting.」(magician)
「That’s right! I’ll do my best to keep you alive! You guys can go wild!」(healer)
「M, me too! I’ll provide support as best as I can!」(bard)
「That’s the spirit! We can’t face our leader if we fail here! Let’s show them some guts!」(third squad captain)
「「OOOOOOOUUU!!」」(third squad members)
I was just muttering, trying to encourage myself, but it seemed that I ended up encouraging everyone.
Such an unexpectedly great result.
「I’ll lure more of them! Be ready!」(third squad captain)
「Okay!」(warrior)
「I, I’m ready!」(Alice)
Just like we have done so far, the captain would lure two to three wolves at a time, and then we killed them.
The warrior guy and I attacked the wolves while they were distracted by the captain’s aggro skill, the archer and the magician protected us from the back, the bard buffed us, improving our stats while debuffing the enemies at the same time, and lastly, the healer would heal us when we got hurt, keeping us alive.
It was a simple strategy, but it worked. Moreover, now that our squad’s morale had risen, we were able to reduce the enemies’ number slightly quicker than before.
We kept fighting for about an hour and killed most of the enemies in this area.
There were only five wolves left, but of course, we couldn’t let our guard down. It would be our last attack.
However, realizing that they couldn’t win, the wolves tried to flee.
「They’re running away! Don’t let them escape!」(third squad captain)
「「Aye, Sir!」」(third squad members)
They were out of the range of the captain’s aggro skill, but the archer and the magician quickly shot their arrows and spells at them, stopping them from going any further. Immediately, the warrior guy and I dashed forward and finished them off.
「Phew… I think they’re the last.」(Alice)
「Looks like we’ve cleared this area.」(warrior)
It took a while, but we managed to defeat all the monsters in this area.
「Good job, guys! And, Alice, you did fantastic! You killed most of them.」(third squad captain)
「Uhh… But I wouldn’t be able to do it without everyone’s support.」(Alice)
These wolf monsters were fast, even faster than the ones in the western forest.
I was able to hit the red lines on their necks and instantly kill them thanks to the captain who distracted them, the archer and the magician who slowed them down, and the bard who boosted my AGI, allowing me to move faster than usual.
If it weren’t for them, I would have had a hard time hitting those small red lines.
「So, Captain, what are we gonna do now?」(warrior)
「Thanks to Alice, we were able to finish quickly. We still have time until the sun sets, so let’s join the other squad and help them.」(third squad captain)
「Alright.」(warrior)
We left the area and followed the captain heading toward the center of the battlefield.
After running for a minute, we could see the boss of the swarm from the distance. The first squad led by the leader is currently fighting against it.
「Is that the boss?」(Alice)
「It’s freaking huge!」(warrior)
It seemed that the first squad had killed all the surrounding minions. We didn’t see monsters other than the boss.
Just like its minions, the boss of the swarm was also a wolf-type monster. However, it was about five times bigger than the minions and had a slightly different appearance.
「Now that’s what you call a boss monster. Anyway, let’s get behind it. We have to block its escape route.」(third squad captain)
The first squad had been fighting the boss for a while, so it would be over soon.
However, since the monsters in this game also had their own minds just like NPCs, the boss might think to run away before the first squad could kill it.
If it escaped, there would be a huge possibility it would form another swarm of monsters.
It would be troublesome if the boss escapes, so we must kill it here no matter what.
We went around the battlefield and got behind the boss about fifty meters away from it. We then hid in bushes and watched the fight from there.
The leader seemed to be a knight/paladin type. He was using a shield and a sword just like the captain. However, his shield was much smaller than the captain’s.
Unlike the captain who focused on defense, it seemed that the leader had balanced stats between offensive and defensive.
「【Shield Stun】! 」(Leader)
First, he stun the boss with a skill, preventing it from moving for a few seconds. During that time, he and the other DPSs would attack the boss, and then they moved away before the duration ended.
「They’re playing it safe, huh?」(warrior)
「It’s not so different from us, right? One hit from the boss can be fatal. They would have been wiped out if they attacked it recklessly without thinking.」(third squad captain)
「I see. But, I wonder if there are no other players who have stun skills in their squad.」(warrior)
「What do you mean?」(third squad captain)
「Normally, you have to wait for a skill to cool down before you can use it again, but if there are two or three more players who have stun skills, they can just take turns and ‘perma-stun’ the boss, right?」(warrior)
*stun permanently
「No, that’s not possible. First of all, boss monsters are mostly immune to stun. Leader can stun it because he uses some kind of unique skill.」(third squad captain)
「I see. That’s the leader for you.」(warrior)
I silently listened to their conversation. I didn’t know there was a unique skill like that. Seems like the mechanic in this game is much deeper than I thought.
「Shouldn’t we go there and help them instead of hiding here?」(warrior)
「No. Our job is to ambush the boss if it’s trying to escape. We should keep our heads down for now. It won’t run this way if it knows our position, right? Well, let’s hope it won’t happen.」(third squad captain)
「Right.」(warrior)
It seems that we don’t have much to do except hide in these bushes for now.
After watching the fight for a while, I noticed another squad coming from the west.
It was the second squad led by Eclair. I could see her running at the front. Seems like they managed to clear the right wing as well.
「It’s Eclair. I’ll let her know our position.」(third squad captain)
Saying that, the captain sent a message to Eclair.
Noticing us already standing by behind the boss, ready to block its escape route, Eclair immediately led her squad to join the first squad and help them fight the boss.
「Oh, I got a reply from Eclair.」(third squad captain)
「What did she say?」(warrior)
「”We’re going to commence an all-out attack on the boss.”, she said. Looks like the boss will run out of HP pretty soon. Let’s hope they will kill it before it runs away.」(third squad captain)
Looks like it’s going to be the last attack.
All the members of the first and the second squad looked somewhat nervous. They readied their weapons while waiting for the leader to stun the boss.
「【Shield Stun】! ーNOW!!」(Leader)
「「UOOOOOOOOOOOO!!」」(players)
They attacked the boss simultaneously as soon as it got stunned.
Receiving the attacks from all directions, the giant wolf was in agony. It was obvious that it would die pretty soon.
Everything was going smoothly, or so we thought. Turns out, it wasn’t that easy.
ーAWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Suddenly, the boss howled loudly, releasing a shockwave that blew the melee attackers away.
「Gaaaahh!!」
「What the hell!?」
「I thought we almost had it!」(players)
Soon after, the giant wolf turned around and started running this way. As we feared, it seemed to try to escape.
「Oi, oi, oi! It’s coming this way!」(warrior)
「Dammit! We have to stop it! Get ready, folks!」(third squad captain)
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