kscans

Chapter 483 - Afterglow

The army of Stardust Beasts, their commander crushed, was nothing more than a disorderly mob of animals.

With the tight coordination of a player raid, a slight numerical disadvantage shouldn't be a major issue—or so I thought. In truth, I was just an idiot with no leadership aptitude, drunk on the excitement of the moment.

In the end, my bet that the Rat was the enemy 'leader' was correct. When I rushed back to the base, the movements of the rampaging Stardust Beasts had clearly become lackluster, confirming my guess.

However, things got hairy after that.

Additional swarms periodically poured out from the Horse Gate, which showed no signs of closing. And a tsunami of stars constantly overflowed from the forest, having abandoned any semblance of squad formation.

Isn't this taking too long?

When is it going to end?

It's about to end, right?

Hey, wait... And so it went.

My decision to go full throttle at the start, assuming that there was a limit like on the third night, backfired spectacularly. Less than twenty minutes into the battle, I ran out of MP, which locked out most of my skills, Sapphire's summoning, and my star sword's autonomous movement, leaving me severely weakened.

My trump card, Desperate Crimson, had been deactivated the moment I handed Nia my hair ornament to retrieve her Anima's power, and my right arm, of course, was still dangling uselessly.

At the end of a grueling, solid one hour of fighting in such a desperate condition that I couldn't possibly call myself a 'ranker'—

◇The World Event [Starry Paradise] has now fully concluded◇

◇Time until closure of 'Alvniclo, the Mirror Sky Realm': 00:00:59:59 ◇

◇Players, please log out in an orderly fashion◇

◇Login will be restricted for a period of time after logging out◇

◇The World Event [Starry Paradise] has now fully concluded◇

◇Time until closure of 'Alvniclo, the Mirror Sky Realm': 00:00:59:34 ◇

◇Players, please log out in an orderly fashion—◇

—————............

———............

—............

◇Title Acquired◇
・'One Who Touches the Star Ocean'
・'Master of Starlight'

◇Skill Acquired◇
・[Starlight Magic Aptitude]

◇Skill Evolved◇
・[Floating Leaf] ⇒ [Shadow Leaf]

"—The announcement is making my head throb... ugh..."

"A-Are you okay...?"

"I don't think he looks okay from any angle, does he?"

Lying face down on the ground, a concerned voice from Nia and a thoroughly amused one from Nono rained down on the back of my head.

It hasn't been that long, but the non-stop action I forced myself through has filled my brain with a severe case of sensory fatigue. Even if they poked my head or used me as a chair, I wouldn't be able to retaliate right now.

"...Should I help him up?"

"Please."

I wouldn't mind continuing my dirt-tasting performance to show how pathetic I am, but it's embarrassing, so I should probably get up soon... but my avatar won't move.

So, I decided to accept the kind offer from the next voice that came down.

Tetsu-san grabbed my limp body and hoisted me onto a tree stump. I tried to brace myself for a moment, but my strength failed me, and just as I was about to fall backward, my partner hurriedly supported my back.

I can never pull myself together at the end... I guess my strategic sense is weak. I was once again forced to recognize that I'm not cut out to be a leader giving orders.

Anyway—

"Haha, a field of corpses."

"You're the biggest one, you know..."

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I wasn't the only one knocked out. Lying face down, face up, and in various other acrobatic poses, all thirty-three members of the raid were immobilized, trapped by intense sensory fatigue.

It truly was a scene that could only be described as a field of corpses—but we had successfully survived, with everyone intact. Well fought, brave warriors.

"We still have about an hour left, but I don't think anyone's in the mood for a victory party, are they?"

"Impossible. That's when we might break our perfect survival record."

"Haha."

"Hey, your brain isn't working at all, is it?"

When I let out a dry, reflexive laugh, Nia, who was acting as my backrest, poked my cheek. But her touch was unusually gentle, almost hesitant.

I guess this is the first time she's seen me truly unable to move. I wonder if I worried her.

"The boss is like that, too... I know it's a shame to leave, but for today, let's just quietly disband, shall we?"

She was probably addressing everyone, not just us.

As her usual cheerful voice echoed across the graveyard-like scene, groans of agreement rose from the half-dead warriors.

I agree too—in that case, I should make the announcement, however sloppily.

"Ah... you can stay down, but all hands, listen up, my friends. I'll be planning something and calling you all together again in the not-too-distant future. So, if you're free, please join us. That's all. Dismissed. You all did great, it was fun, you bastards!"

"Are you inviting us to that, too?"

"Of course, if we're not a bother. We could just have a picnic with no combat elements or something."

"Hooray! Tetsu-kun, you'll make the bentos, right? A thirty-six-layer stack!"

"What's the point in stacking them?"

My declaration was so weak from exhaustion that it lacked any exclamation points, but the reactions I got from what I assume were over thirty people were all positive, so all's well that ends well.

I'm not cut out to be a leader. But being admired like this... well, you know. It doesn't feel bad at all, not in the slightest—

"Well then, now that we've decided to disband for now... let's talk about something practical. What should we do about this mountain of messy loot—"

"No."

"Don't make me."

"The little stars are sparkly and pretty."

"I'm too tired..."

"I can't move at all..."

"Whoever wants it can pick it up and take it home."

"This is the one thing I'm genuinely unhappy about...!!"

"Why doesn't the inventory work here...?"

A one-hour deathmatch against what seemed like an infinite spawn of Stardust Beasts. The result was, naturally, a starry sky spread across the ground.

A sea of [Stardust Relics] so numerous I couldn't even be bothered to count them. We only began the task of collecting them... after another dozen or so minutes of playing dead.