kscans

Chapter 190 - Raid Battle

"...This is a battle of mental attrition."

So said Nakajima, one of the society members who, while not talented enough to break into the top ranks, had earned a degree of respect from the more powerful players. This was the first stage. He spoke because he had seen through the true nature of the skeletal army swarming from the graves in a matter of minutes. He used a voice amplification art to ensure everyone could hear him, then began his explanation.

"To put it in terms the younger ones will understand... you know those action games where you mow down hordes of small fry?"

His expression was truly bitter as he spoke, all while kicking away the swarming skeletons.

"They are a simple genre of game, but one guaranteed a certain level of success. The key to those kinds of games is the feeling of exhilaration. You have to be able to mow down everything but the boss without any stress. If you do not get that part right, the game bombs. And our current situation is a perfect example of that failure."

To be blunt, the skeletons were small fry. But they moved in an exquisitely annoying way. If one hit kills were impossible, we could have just shifted our mindset, but that was not the case.

"They are designed so that one hit kills are possible. A little less than sixty percent of the time, I would say."

Because of that, our rhythm was thrown completely off. If it was simply a matter of us not playing well, we would never fully get into gear.

"A trivial hassle. But when it piles up, it turns into irritation and robs you of your composure."

These mobs were designed with that philosophy in mind. Satou had no intention of making participants drop out here. This was only the first volley. He was trying to amplify the effects of his second and third volleys by letting an invisible debuff, a mental burden, accumulate.

"So what? You are saying the right answer is to blast them with high firepower?"

"I wonder about that. Forcing us to exhaust ourselves physically might also be part of his plan."

We did not know what awaited us in the stages ahead. Should we choose mental exhaustion, or physical exhaustion? There was no way to say which was correct.

"Hey!"

"Making us hesitate like this is exactly what the Demon King wants."

Therefore, there was only one right answer for this situation.

"Let's take a vote! We will decide by majority whether to crush them bit by bit or all at once!!"

If we did not know which form of exhaustion was the correct choice, then we would discard one with our own will. As long as we felt we had chosen, not that we had been forced to choose, the damage could be minimized. Whichever was decided, we would accept it without complaint once the choice was made. He made everyone agree to that promise, and under his leadership, the vote began. Crushing them all at once was chosen.

"Looks like we made the right call."

"Contribution points."

"I see, so they are not just a simple barometer of how much money you have earned."

After clearing out the swarm of skeletons, they checked their contribution points. After realizing what was happening, Nakajima had intentionally reduced the number of enemies he defeated. He did this to check the contribution points after getting through this stage. Even though he had cut back his kill count, his contribution points had increased the most.

"A proposal, leadership, even if it is the wrong choice, as long as it helps with cooperation you will probably get a bonus."

"You mean the size of the increase?"

"Yeah. Looking at the size of the increase compared to the others, it seems we at least chose the correct answer from their perspective."

The children who were listening to the veterans’ conversation thought,

"...Amazing."

"...Yeah."

"Is this what you call the gravitas of a veteran?"

"How should I put it, he has a different kind of reliability from the Old Man."

It was not that Satou lacked that sort of gravitas. He excelled at insight, decision making, and psychological bargaining. In fact, those were his true strengths. Everyone who knew Satou before he became so overpowered understood just how troublesome he was. But the children's eyes were inevitably drawn to his overwhelming power. For that reason, the existence of a superior warrior who lacked innate talent was a very fresh and powerful inspiration to them.

"We should learn from this. While we have the chance."

...But despite this pure-hearted resolution, the mean spirited stages continued.

"What is this thing!? It is melting just our clothes!!"

"It is a pervert monster!!"

A monster that one could only assume was a product of someone's personal desires.

"Damn, it is actually strong! After all those curveballs, he throws a fastball!!"

"...My apologies. I cannot defy the boss's orders."

"Satou-chan is truly pathologically skilled at messing with people's heads just for fun, isn't he."

An enemy that was just plain strong.

"We are neither Takahashi nor Suzuki. We are Takagi!!"

"They fused!?"

"And it looks just like Baron Ash●ra!"

"Isn't the fusion supposed to take the best parts of both!?"

An enemy that was not only strong, but also equipped with a gimmick designed to fluster them. Overcoming numerous trials, the heroes finally reached the Demon King's throne.

"You have done well to make it this far. For mere lower life forms, I shall praise your efforts."

Satou, seated on the throne, clapped his hands with an arrogant attitude.

≪...≫

"Hey, say something."

"Oh, no... I was just thinking this must be the next gimmick."

"You will just turn younger after we shave off a certain amount of your HP, right?"

It was Satou, but he had the appearance of an old man. Well, even for an old man, he was the defiant type you sometimes see and think, "This guy isn't going to die anytime soon."

"There's a rumor that the form the Demon King usually shows is a false one."

"We don't need that advice! Just look at him and you can tell!!"

"This helper character is exquisitely useless!!"

"I hear that attacks don't work on the Demon King. Apparently an invisible barrier blocks everything."

"We figured that out too! The Four Heavenly Kings dropped items that were obvious hints!"

"And before that, the stage was set up so we could avoid fighting the Four Heavenly Kings in the first place!"

"That was obviously a trap! If we had skipped them, we would have paid for it later!"

Watching their reactions, Satou shrugged his shoulders with an annoyed look, as if thinking they were a bunch with no sense of fun.

"Oh? You are starting already? Once you use that thing to get rid of my invincibility barrier, the fight begins, you know."

But his eyes went wide when Nakajima, now the group's leader, took out an item.

"...You truly are a nasty piece of work. If we do not use it, the battle will not start, allowing us to rest."

And by doing so, he "tries to make us rest," Nakajima said.

"We are certainly exhausted. But mentally, we are in a good 'hyped up' state. If we rest now, that feeling will definitely fade. That is your aim, is it not? And while I am at it, about the helper character, Saionji-san. Is she not one of the gimmicks as well?"

A grin spread across Satou's lips.

"A helper character. I never specified who she was a helper character for, did I? Saionji-san's advice was not worthless. Oh, there were times when it was useful. But proportionally speaking, forty or fifty percent of it was the kind of stuff you would get from a game NPC that does you no good in a real situation."

Everyone must have thought the same thing. She gave the bare minimum of advice needed for a fight, but her role was fundamentally one prepared for Satou's amusement.

"After instilling in us that she was that kind of character, she made that last comment. Even if she suddenly starts talking about false forms and what not, it just seems like another one of your pranks. It was all a setup to create a flow that would relax the atmosphere and naturally lead to a suggestion that we should rest, was it not?"

A stir spread through the other members at Nakajima's deduction. To think that Satou had laid a trap where even his clownish behavior was part of the calculation.

"Bravo, great detective. You are absolutely right. But when it comes to being nasty, you are not half bad yourself, are you? If resting would kill our motivation, then what do you call this little deduction time? You explained my intentions with a tense narrative to keep everyone's spirits from flagging, all while letting them get as much rest as possible."

The reader being read. This must be the true pleasure of such bargaining. There was nothing more to say. Satou and Nakajima declared at the same time.

""Now, let the final battle begin!!""