Chapter 454 - As the Night Wears On
As I continued to casually fend off the attacks of the [Stardust Beasts (Lim)], which appeared sporadically—or rather, in waves—I noticed a few things.
First, for this raid event at least, it seemed they weren't necessarily targeting us.
Sure, the relatively aggressive wolves would actively attack any player who got close, but the others, the monkeys and boars, would charge toward a specific point unless their path was blocked. From that, I could get a sense of their “objective.”
In the path of the creatures that were ignoring us was the log house Nia and the others had built… though it was probably more accurate to say their target was the central common building.
The nasty thought that they might be targeting the non-combatants on the roof came to mind, but the evidence refuting that theory was lying all over the place.
Second, there was something strange about the new [Stardust Relics (Lapis)] they were dropping.
They were glowing. Like, really glowing. If we just left them lying around, we’d risk tripping on a sea of rocks, and the giant boars were smashing them with their reckless charges, so everyone was tossing or kicking them inside our defensive perimeter to secure them… and now, the inside of our circle was sparkling.
The [Stardust Relics (Lapis)] piled up with every [Stardust Beast (Lim)] we defeated, and they had now formed a small mountain, serving as a light source far brighter than our bonfires.
And as they became a “mountain,” I noticed one more thing.
Or rather, it was a more detailed answer to my first observation—it seemed the [Stardust Beasts (Lim)] weren't aiming for the building itself, but for the massive pile of [Stardust Relics (Lapis)] collected in its storage space. The basis for this guess was none other than the fact that once the newly dropped relics exceeded a certain amount, the creatures' movements changed.
In other words, they began charging toward the ‘mementos’ of their fallen kin. The reason was unclear… but that seemed to be the gist of it.
Triggered by time, a large accumulation of [Stardust Relics (Lapis)] would attract the [Stardust Beasts (Lim)]—that was likely the core mechanic of this ‘raid event.’
Ah, and one last thing.
This wasn't so much a realization as a personal learning point—
“Haah…! Th-This is… touuugh…!”
“An hour is too long…!”
“Gah! cough, wheeze… Ugh.”
“Exhausting… so painful…”
“Is this going to happen tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that…?”
“Death…”
And so on.
It seemed this was about the level of stamina for your average Arcadia player. The raid density had been fairly moderate, but a full hour of combat had apparently taken its toll… enough for some to collapse to the ground, unable to move.
It wasn't just my imagination that the scale of the attacking horde grew as our “spoils of war”—the very things the beasts were after—piled up. It wasn't on the level of that ‘Crimson’ incident, but the final phase was a pretty lively festival.
The fact that they held the defensive line until the very end felt less like a matter of skill and more one of pure “guts.” With two lovely ladies watching, I can understand the sentiment, gentlemen.
—And so, the current time is just past VM11:00.
The [Stardust Relics (Lapis)], which had been shining like literal ‘stars,’ were gradually losing their light. It was as if to signal the end of the festival…
Actually, it probably was a signal that the show was over.
The rustling from the forest, which had stopped dead after we weathered the final wave, showed no signs of returning. This meant that—
“I guess that’s all for the first day’s events…? Aight, good work everyone!”
“““Good work…”””
From a gaming perspective, it was natural to see this as a case closed—mission clear.
My own stamina, forged by exceptional players on countless battlefields and in training, didn't even flinch from an endurance battle of this level. Taking the lead in declaring the end of the battle on behalf of the downed players, I received a chorus of replies from the fallen warriors who could no longer move a muscle.
Come on, boys, get up. You should sleep in a proper bed.
Not that we have anything so luxurious yet. Everyone's just sleeping on the floor.
◇◆◇◆◇
“———Mmm, mmmyaaawn…!”
“That’s one heck of a yawn. Seriously, you can go ahead and sleep.”
“I’m gonna sleep here~…”
“Nope. I’m sleeping here.”
And so, things were back to how they were.
Perhaps because it was only the first day, the raid event had ended cleanly. Sometime after everyone had gone back to sleep, I found myself back on watch, just as originally planned.
It wasn't that I was planning another multi-hour vigil; I intended to get some sleep myself once the date changed.
From a meta-gaming perspective, considering that everyone got the Sleepiness debuff at the same time, and that the raid ended precisely between VM10:00 and VM11:00, I figured a night watch was probably unnecessary.
Arcadia occasionally shows a brutally malicious side to its design, but that's mostly reserved for its high-difficulty content.
In other areas, this game is thoroughly stress-free. It’s not that it lacks restrictions or anything, but they all fall within a reasonable, understandable range.
In that case, this Sleepiness debuff could also be interpreted as a message from the system telling us to ‘just go to sleep.’—Even if this prediction turned out to be wrong, if the actual raid was only at that level, we could probably handle it even if we got jolted awake.
If the creatures’ behavior was as I suspected, they would target this common building first, not the dorms. And if a boar’s charge shook the place, being up on the roof, I'd wake up in an instant.
—Which is why it would be a problem if this indigo-haired girl, who had once again occupied my lap, fell asleep right here.
While it would give me the perfect excuse to carry a sleeping lady to her bed, I was hesitant to waltz into the women's dorm where Nonomi-chan-san was resting. On the other hand, I couldn't just casually sleep with her in my arms, either.
Even now, I was pretty much at my limit.
A little over two hours had passed since the debuff appeared. Thanks in part to the light exercise, my own eyelids were growing heavy, and a fog was creeping over my consciousness.
And… surely, probably, it was because I was seeing through that filter.
“Come on, Nia-chan. Go be a good girl and have a sleepover with Nonomi-chan-san.”
“Mmmph~…”
“None of that ‘mmmph.’ Please have some ladylike modesty, Miss Liliania Vrewberi.”
“Don’t use my full name~…”
“And you, stop nuzzling your face against my lap. The friction is really hot.”
Using her drowsiness as a shield to be so forwardly affectionate, she was so cute it was maddening—
Because I, for one, was completely parched.
This has all been a tutorial.
Also, on X, I've shared some character designs and other things that will also be in the book releasing on June 20th. You can even see the face of the self-proclaimed maid who seems to have quietly gained some fans recently, so if you're interested, please check out the author's X account.