kscans

Chapter 338 - Those Who Bear a Color

"Now that introductions are complete, let's get right down to business."

As soon as the Northern Faction's top-ranked player had taken her seat, Helena-san, standing beside Ashe, spoke up. "I'm sure some of you are pressed for time," she added.

Aside from Sora, she was the only one here without a rank… but as expected of a former ranker, she possessed an air that was anything but that of a mere lady-in-waiting.

Her commanding presence—one that made the moniker "Queen" feel entirely appropriate—was strangely juxtaposed with the faint aura of an attendant. She was truly a peculiar individual.

"First, a question for Haru-sama and Sora-sama."

Her sharp gaze, tinged with an intelligent light, made me sit up straighter. The sudden use of "-sama" was a little embarrassing, but her choice of words carried such conviction that I accepted it in a heartbeat.

"I hear it has not been long since you two came to this virtual world. Before we begin our conference on the Colored Monster Annihilation Battle, I would like to ascertain your current level of understanding."

Ah, I see… That's very considerate of her.

"I've done my homework, at least on whatever information I could find online."

"I have also done as much as I could…"

I was confident I'd crammed in all the knowledge an ordinary person could possibly find. And since I had, I was sure the ever-studious Sora had done the same.

After we both replied, Helena-san nodded once. "Understood."

"In that case, I will forgo any special explanations. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to interrupt. I imagine there is some information regarding the Colored Monsters that is not publicly known in the real world."

"Oh… Roger that."

"Understood."

With words that piqued my curiosity, Helena-san concluded her consideration for us newcomers… and her dark eyes shifted from us to the room at large.

"Then let us begin—the conference on the White Throne Annihilation Battle will now come to order."

Colored Monsters—they are Arcadia's largest-scale content, a series of raid battles boasting a level of difficulty that the word "unconquerable" fails to capture.

These raids are fundamentally different from those in other games, built upon an extremely peculiar design.

First, each raid can only be cleared once per world. This means that if someone defeats a Colored Monster, no other player can even attempt the challenge again.

What? Is this some next-level garbage game design?—any objections to such an unheard-of specification for an online game are typically met with a "hold on" for two reasons.

First, Colored Monster raids have no individual rewards. No materials, no items, absolutely nothing for personal gain.

Well, there are rewards, but they pertain to the expansion of Arcadia's game systems, and they are things that all players will eventually obtain.

In other words, it's the right to get a sneak peek at a new system.

For example, when "the Red"—Riertahelia of the Red Circle—was defeated, the Clan System and the Marriage System were implemented. Of the two, the marriage feature was apparently not officially added until six months after the victory announcement.

Essentially, the heroes who conquered "the Red" were granted early access to the new system.

Some might find it enviable, but considering the absurd difficulty of the raid and their achievement in bringing about a system expansion, the vast majority would likely concede that it's a fair reward.

Second, the developers have officially stated that once all Colored Monsters have been vanquished, a Reminiscence Battle feature will be implemented, allowing players to re-challenge them or try for the first time.

What's more, it's not just a straightforward challenge. As the name implies, you can apparently piggyback on the records of the first-clear party.

Simply put, you can experience an "if" scenario where you were part of the original heroes' party—at least, that was my immediate thought when I learned about it.

Holy crap, that sounds awesome.

You can charge in shoulder-to-shoulder with the mighty champions, or if you lack confidence, you can stick to the sidelines and play the role of a background character… The ways to enjoy it are truly endless.

And the recreated players won't just be mindless dolls; the developers, with their freakish level of technology, have promised to install AI that makes them act "in character."

If you can experience pseudo-communication with the top players without any pressure, the demand would be immense—

As for any mischief one might consider with soulless lookalikes, in the world of Arcadia, where a mysterious public order mechanism is at work, such worries are pointless.

To be blunt, I'm talking about things like sexual harassment.

Apparently, whether against a player or an NPC, the harassment prevention system will predict the act before it happens and restrain you.

I really have no idea what kind of technology makes that possible. A peaceful world free of needless trouble is wonderful, of course, but it's as terrifying as it is welcome.

In any case… for the reasons above, the specification that the "right to conquer" a Colored Monster exists only once is, for now, accepted by the community.

In fact, among the player base, there might be more people wishing, "I don't care who does it, just beat them all already."

The general players hope for future enjoyment, while the top-tier players strive for the glory of a first clear, constantly strengthening themselves… Overall, a general consensus has been reached.

—Well, not that it matters. They were all treated as impossible games and left alone anyway.

At least, that was the case until the Red Circle was defeated two years ago.

"As you know, Colored Monsters grant a 'special effectiveness' to the current rankers of a specific faction. Therefore, for this annihilation battle against the White Throne—"

"You bet. We'll fill as many of those 'slots' as we can from our side."

Although she said she would forgo explanations, Helena-san's way of speaking was exceedingly polite and easy to understand, a clear sign of her consideration for us.

Feeling grateful, I decided to remain quiet and listen until a question arose.

The first topic on the agenda was the members who would participate in the annihilation battle—specifically, who would fill the ten ranker "slots."

If we could bring in the full might of the three factions, excluding the West, things would be much easier… but it seems those things are picky about their challengers.

What's more, their screening is even stricter than in the Four Pillar War, where former rankers don't count towards the quota. Here, it seems that both former and current rankers fill up a "slot."

So inflexible—but whether out of mercy or something else, this restriction is apparently waived for the faction corresponding to each color, like "White Throne = Istia."

That means people like Lotta can join without taking up a slot. That's honestly reassuring.

"That said… it's gonna be six of us. A little over half."

"Heeey. We'll be holding down the fort over here."

Following Goldow, who was stroking his chin with a grim look, Mi-na, who was clinging to Sora with her partner, raised her hand and casually offered to "decline."

Why?

"Eh?"

Sora, who was right beside her, let out a sound before I could voice my own question. Taking it as a query, Ri-na, next to her, spoke up.

"Mi-na and I basically can't use our powers if we move. That thing uses 'Boundaries'—it controls space and spams forced teleports, which is fatally incompatible with us."

"We set up our canvas… our territory, and then we get teleported away and have to start all over! It's like that the whole time. We get totally crushed, we really can't do a thing."

"Wow…"

"Seriously…"

Forced teleports, huh… So that thing uses them in battle, too.

"Have you learned about the White Throne's abilities yet?"

"Ah, sorry. Not the details. I've just brushed up on the ABCs of the Colored Monster raids."

It wasn't that I was slacking; there was just too much ambiguous information out there, and I had trouble discerning what to believe.

When I answered Helena-san's question honestly, she shook her head and said, "That's not a problem," before adjusting her monocle with a fingertip.

"To be honest, we only have a superficial understanding of the White Throne's capabilities ourselves. When it comes to the finer details of the strategy, everyone here, not just you, Haru-sama, is largely in the dark."

Her response snagged on one of the bits of knowledge I'd gathered in my ignorance. I see, if she's saying that, then it must mean—

"It's been three years since its discovery, and even the veteran players are calling themselves ignorant… Does that mean that ridiculous rumor is actually true?"

Ignorant, meaning they haven't been able to gather information.

And if they can't gather information, it means they haven't been able to conduct countless attempts—trial and error—to obtain it.

"That is correct. The more you challenge them, the stronger they become."

There was only one reason why.

"The Colored Monsters learn from us, the players, and carry those memories into the next battle."

Faced with this, all one could do was throw up their hands and call it a "garbage game"—

This was because of a massive, game-breaking bug-like feature that had no place in an online game.