[The Evil Dragon Roars]
[Allow me to tell you as a souvenir to hell. Moving the Goddess’ Spirit Tree to the Beginning Town was Pendragon’s plan.] Alice spoke as the rain of death poured down on us.
[On BSO’s official website, the rule only says the damage area will gradually expand, right?]
“Yeah. I only learned it will expand to the center of the world, which is the Beginning Town, not that long ago from Demon King Azathoth.”
It was nothing strange. In battle royal games, it was common that you wouldn’t know where the center of the safe zone would be until the match started.
If I had known about it, I would have moved to the Beginning Town from the start, too.
“…Wait, are you telling me that Pendragon knew about it from the beginning?”
[No. As genius as she is, she isn’t all-knowing. She simply figured, to quote her, “Let’s move to a place where we can meet the enemy the fastest no matter where they march.” And that place is the center of the world.]
So it was just a coincidence? That meant…
[She was very lucky—while you, on the other hand, were very unlucky.]
Along with her words, the magicians’ attacks became even more intense. Players on our side fell one after another.
“Haha… unlucky, eh?”
Of all the words that existed in the world, that was the one I hated the most.
I hated it so much I escaped into this VR world. I didn’t expect it would follow me this far.
[Please don’t lose heart and die peacefully, Yuri-san.] The merciless Queen declared. It isn’t your fault your whole army will be annihilated here. You didn’t know that we have occupied the Beginning Town, after all—she added.
[Eleven minutes before the war started… The players who have already logged in were allowed a one-minute grace period before being teleported to their respective bases, and that was when Pendragon suddenly blurted out the plan and executed it.]
“I see.”
Maybe for showing the event production of the Demon King’s and the Goddess’s descent, who had kicked off the start of the war? I did see on the BSO website, it had been stated ‘Players will be forcibly summoned to their respective home bases 10 minutes before the event time. Changing home base after that isn’t permitted’.
For Pendragon to have come up with that plan and decisively execute it in that short period—she truly was a fearsome foe.
[I suppose that’s enough chit-chat. …But I must say, Yuri-san. You are quite calm, aren’t you?] Alice furrowed her brows. Seemed like she felt something off seeing me listen to her story calmly despite the precarious situation I was in.
[You wouldn’t tell me you have already accepted defeat, would you…?]
“—It’s about time.”
Right then. As Alice looked suspiciously at me, I sensed the momentum of the magic bombardment reducing slightly.
No wonder. The general range of magic was around 10 meters. To attack a target further away, you’d have to use advanced magic, which consumed a huge amount of MP and had a rather long cooldown.
Even so, the distance it could reach was limited. To further extend the range, you needed buff from support magicians.
[Oh… were you perhaps waiting for our attacks to stop? Too bad, do you really think we’d make such a careless mistake? We have several units of magicians spellcasting in rotation; the attacks will never stop.]
“But their momentum can’t be the same, can they?”
[……]
My words made Alice shut up her mouth.
Even if the attacks continued, no way they could maintain the maximum firepower all the time.
Players’ power varied depending on their level, skills, equipment, etc.
On the first strike, they must have had their strongest magicians use their strongest magic to deal the most damage.
From there, their momentum had been falling and raising like the tide.
“When you said I was ‘unlucky’, I felt the attack become more intense. That must be when your first attack unit switched in. After that, the momentum has and is still decreased slightly.”
Which meant their most powerful attack unit was on break at the moment.
[…So what?] Alice murmured in response, [It is as you say. However, even if the power of each player is slightly lower, magic bombardment from 1,000 players is nothing to scoff at.
[Wait, don’t tell me you’re going to forcefully rush the town through the bombardment?!]
“No way, that’s suicide.”
Even I would be reduced to dust in no time.
Well, I might be able to pull it off if I used my familiars as meatshield with the special art ‘Frenzied Destructive Summon’ and the art ‘Shield of Gluttony’ which absorbed magic attacks.
However, the former had a one-hour cooldown while the latter couldn’t be kept active forever. So I had to use them only when I really needed to—and now wasn’t that time.
“We don’t need to rush you forcefully. I’ve already had someone reliable over there to deal with you, anyway!”
[Huh–?]
At that moment, a madness-filled cry erupted. The ground shook as it echoed.
[W-what is that?!] Alice paled. The rest of the enemy forces also fell into confusion, looking in the direction of the cry, which was behind them.
Yup, you guessed it. The anomaly was occurring in the middle of the ‘Beginning Town’ they were occupying.
Now was the time…!
“The prey has already served themselves up on your plate! Now time to dig in! ‘Forbidden Evil Dragon Cthulhu ・Replica’———!!!”
[Gggiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!]
The demonic cry shook the heavens. With her back to the Goddess’ Spirit Tree, the grotesque dragon stretched out her tentacles and emerged from the ground.
‘Forbidden Evil Dragon Cthulhu ・Replica’, an earth veins-possessing boss monster.
My most crazy familiar had descended in front of the enemy army.
