Chapter 5: Our First Grand Mission (Part 2)

「You have done well making it here! You newborn Dragon Hunters!」

A man with a crew-cut, clad in silver plate armor, was vigorously shouting at Andou.

「For you lot who haven’t even gotten past『Potty Training』 the most ideal quest has come! Let’s chase out those Rotten Orcs! How about it! Are you ready to show everyone what you’re made of!?」
「Aah~…… This guy… do we really have to go along with him?」
「yea, probably」

To the plate-mail man who had an annoyingly high amount of tension, Andou and Yamabuki looked to be a bit fed up.
Being a VRMMO game, unlike other games up until now, Dragon’s Krone possessed a high level of player immersion.「Role-playing」, a.s.suming a ‘character’ and acting out the story, was one of the established ways to enjoy yourself in this game. There were also a large number of players who didn’t role-play and simply enjoyed the game as it was suppose to be played.
And Andou and the others belonged to the group that only wanted to enjoy the game as it was.

「……L-Leave it to us~……」
「GAHAHA, A Great Answer Andou! The thing I request of you is… Help us drive back the orcs who are attacking from the East at the Mist Witch Lookout. I want you to quickly head on over there and annihilate them!」

It appears that the Grand Mission’s story this time goes something like that.
In the world of Dragon’s Krone, there are a great number of fiendish Mobs who are not from the Dragon race.
Among them were the Mob that even relatively low level players could handle, the Orc race.
Since Orcs had a low level of intelligence they didn’t use magic, but they were a Mob who used single attack「Two-Handed Weapons」 and had a high attack power. If you get surrounded by a number of them, then orcs became the natural enemy for beginners who would end up panicking.

「A bunch of orcs are coming… that’s a bit scary huh~. They have, like, super hideous faces right? Those guys」
「Nn~, they’re really scary…… But it will be all right if we fight them as a Party, Megu」

Watching Andou and Yamabuki deal with the procedures from afar, Megu was showing signs of unease as Suzu answered her with a smile.

「Ah, Megu, about the strategy… Yamabuki-kun and Andou-kun will pull in the enemies, and Edgar-kun and Megu will finish them off, something like that sound okay?」
「I guess so~. Will Suzu be on healing duty?」
「Yup, leave it to me」

“That’s my job after all,” Suzu continued.
When he heard that conversation, Edgar was thinking about suggesting that the Cleric, Suzu, focus on support magic instead, but he stopped himself just before saying it.
If I was the Party Leader instead, then I should voice my opinion and tell Ninomiya-san and the others how to act, But this time it’s different. Also it seems like Ninomiya-san and the others aren’t focused on efficiency, so it would be better to stay silent unless we find ourselves in a pinch.

「Edgar-kun, does that plan sound good to you?」
「eh? oh……sure」

Suddenly being addressed by Suzu, Edgar gave a rushed response.

「Ah, maybe~, is Edgar all scared of the orcs?」

Megu whispered while grinning ear to ear.
The Grand Mission this time will be charging into a group of orcs, in addition, waiting for them behind the ma.s.ses of orcs will be the Boss Mob 「Orc King」.
For lower level players, it wouldn’t be strange to be somewhat scared by them.
I am completely fine with them though.

「……Well, orcs have scary faces that probably came straight out of some nightmare after all. Megu-san’s feelings, I can’t say that I don’t see where you’re coming from」
「If things get bad come save me okay~, Edgar」
「eh?」

So far, Edgar had never experienced someone relying on him for something, so he just stared back in bewilderment.

「It’s not『eh?』! You and I are the main attackers right! If you just abandon me and run away by yourself then things will get scary afterwards you know!」
「……ッ!」

Glancing at him with a scowl, Megu was obviously showing her blood l.u.s.t.
If we end up in a pinch, first things first, I have to save Megu-san at all costs. In order to preserve my tranquil high-school life, right now and in the future.

「No, I don’t plan on doing that but…… If Megu-san gets angry then I feel sorry for the orcs instead. I definitely won’t abandon you」
「Y-You just casually said something so rude! Edgar, were you always that type of character!?」
「a ha ha, Edgar-kun is so interesting」

As Suzu’s light laughter mixed in together with Megu’s retort, the surroundings seemed to spread out.
Covering her mouth with both hands, seeing the corners of Suzu’s eyes narrow like that, Edgar suddenly found himself swallowing his breath.
What a charming smile. Just getting to see that smile makes me think that it was a good idea to accept their invitation.

「Heeey~, We finished with our registration」
「OOH! LET’S GO!」

As Andou’s voice reached them, Megu let out a cry filled with fighting spirit.
At last, together with his cla.s.smates, it was finally time to challenge the Grand Mission──

At the edge of their view floated the words「Confirming Partic.i.p.ation In The Grand Mission」.
And then, after a short while, Edgar and the others were forcibly sent into the Field were the Grand Mission would take place, The「Mist Witch Lookout」.

The Mist Witch Lookout, set a little to the East of Crescendo, it was the abandoned ruins of a fort.
According to it’s background story, in the days of old the Crescendo region was constantly under attack by Orcs. During those times, humans apparently built the Mist Witch Fortress using their own bare hands.
After a long hard fought battle, the war against the Orcs ended in the Human’s victory and they ruled over Crescendo. The Mist Witch Fortress has since then been used as an observatory to watch out for the Orc’s movements, a 「Lookout」.

「LISTEN UP! THE MIST WITCH LOOKOUT HAS ALREADY FALLEN TO THE ORCS! OUR GOAL IS TO STORM THE LOOKOUT FROM ALL DIRECTIONS! WE’RE TAKING BACK THIS LOOKOUT!」

Gathered along the rampart walls of the Mist Witch Lookout, there were a number of NPCs clad in silver armor, and a man yelling at the top of his lungs who seemed like he was the leader of this Lookout Recapture Squad.
Since he was wearing the same kind of armor as that silver guy at the Hunter’s Guild, I suppose he must be under the direct command of the ruler of this Mist Witch domain.

「W-What intense heat」
「T-This is…… amazing」

Raising their voices in astonishment, were Megu and Yamabuki.
Among the NPCs stood Edgar’s party.

Off in the distance, the sound of metal clas.h.i.+ng could be heard.
The earthly tremors of explosive magic.
The roaring cries of Orcs.
From beyond the rampart walls, screams could be heard.
Here in this pseudo-constructed world, an unbelievable amount of tension and exhilaration dominated the atmosphere.

「UOOOH, I’M GETTING PUMPED!」
「Yamabuki-kun, Andou-kun, the strategy, make sure not to forget it」
「I won’t forget. Me and Yamabuki will gather the targets, then Megu and Edgar will finish them off, right」

Suzu tried to get their attention, but being swallowed by the excitement Yamabuki and Andou answered somewhat absentmindedly.

Seeing them act like that, Edgar was feeling a sense of nostalgia.
When I first started out I was just like them, this kind of atmosphere always got me excited. That is the true pleasure of VR games; it’s something that you couldn’t taste if you played some other sort of game.
But, if you become too excited then it might prove fatal.
If you are overexcited then you won’t be able to make calm decisions, in a dangerous situation those feelings of excitement can turn into「Poison」.

「……Suzu-san, do you have a moment?」
「Eh?」

Even though it was her character name, being apprehensive about calling her just「Suzu」, Edgar called out to one of his party members, to Suzu who didn’t seem like she was being swept away by the mood. He wanted to confirm the situation.

「Andou and Yamabuki, is this their first Grand Mission?」
「Yea, and I think it’s the same for Megu. I have some experience though」
「I see. In that case, there’s the possibility that those two will dive in headfirst while forgetting the strategy. Healing magic raises Aggro, so if the orcs start targeting you then just call out to me」

“Aggro[1]” was something that applied to Mobs, it was「Hatred towards the Player」.
Once a player gathers a certain level of Aggro, Mobs will then target that player and start attacking them. But, there was a certain technique to control this Aggro known as 「Aggro Management」. This Aggro Management was an extremely important component of Party Combat.

Since the main thing that generates the most Aggro was「The Severity of Damage Dealt」, if you had a large number of Attackers, and if players other than yourself continue to attack in a similar fas.h.i.+on, then the Mobs would target everyone separately and you might not be able to heal them in time.
In order to counteract that, cla.s.ses like Knights and Fighters were a.s.signed 「Tank Duty」. Since they were cla.s.ses that possessed 「Aggro Generating Skills」, they can make themselves the target of enemy attacks. As such, it was important to have at least one person in your party who could be on tank duty, or at least that was the theory behind it.

However, “making the enemies target you”, this was a rather difficult technique for beginner players.
This was because「Healing a low HP Player’s Health」also generated a large amount of Aggro.
In other words, if the Tank is negligent in his duty of Aggro-Control, then every time he gets healed there is the possibility that the Mob might rush into the rear guard and attack the Cleric. For beginner parties, this was a common incident that occurred and often lead to a complete party wipe-out.

「……Understood. Or rather, Edgar-kun is really calm huh」
「Eh? That so?」
「Yea. It’s like, “as expected of a restarting player”」

Those words made Edgar’s heart jump.
c.r.a.p. Even though I told myself that I wouldn’t offer any advice, I ended up saying something by accident. If I’m not careful and stand out too much then they might start questioning things later.

「Well then, Strengthening Magic, I’m going to cast some, okay」
「o-okay」

Suzu took up her staff, and she activated【Scutum I[2]】 which enhanced the defensive power of all party members.
A number of light orbs swirled around each party member, and their bodies started to lightly s.h.i.+ne.

「Thanks」
「Let’s do our best, Edgar-kun」

From underneath her hood, a smile could be seen on Suzu’s face.
And so, the Leader-esque NPC of the Recapture Squad brandis.h.i.+ng his sword in the air. As if inspired by him, the surrounding NPCs all held up their swords and s.h.i.+elds.
A dreadful, feverish enthusiasm.
The excitement in the air continued to escalate, the signal for battle was approaching.
The NPC’s immense war cry paralyzed Edgar and other’s sense of hearing.

And then, a single ray of light.
The door to the Mist Witch Lookout soundlessly opened.
That was the signal for the Start of the Grand Mission.

Footnotes:

1.

TL note: The original word used here is “Hate”. Since it’s pretty much the same, I converted it into the English equivalent of “Aggro”

2.

TL note: As I mentioned in chapter 1, a Scutum is a type of s.h.i.+eld used by roman centurions.