kscans

Chapter 76 - Arrival in a New Land

A bell tolls.

It was a great bell tower, a relic of a divine age that once slumbered deep within a forest.

Its majestic tone signifies the birth-cry of a new light being born into the world, a voice speaking on its behalf.

"Oh, for real?"

"It's been a month, right? We're lucky to be here for the festival!"

"Who are you betting on?"

"A guy." "A dude." "A man." "A man." "There's a chance... nah, it's a guy."

"The odds are so skewed it's not even a bet, lol."

This land, home to the great bell tower, had been covered by a sea of ancient trees until three years ago.

From the day the bell first rang, countless new lights—that is, players—were born. Through their efforts, the former forest was cleared and transformed into a vast plain.

It's been a long time since this place was bustling with crude tents and mats. Now, with the landmark bell tower at its center, paths have been laid, and various organized buildings line the streets, a scene worthy of being called a city.

It covers an area roughly the size of the entire Tokyo metropolis. Who measured it and when is anyone's guess, but it's said that this city—no, this megalopolis—is home to a permanent population of several hundred thousand players, and that's no metaphor or joke.

And now, those countless players erupted all at once. Their attention was, of course, fixed on the news of a newcomer arriving for the first time in what some called a month.

The “festival” held when a new player arrives in this land after breaking through the tutorial, the [Trial Spheres of Partition], has become a customary event.

It is a kindness from the seniors to the juniors who will be thrown into this excessively vast world.

At the same time, for an Arcadia where new players are becoming a rarity, it is also a form of collective coddling of precious newcomers.

Furthermore, it is a fierce, almost brutal, battle to recruit said newcomers, a competition to quickly assess their future potential and draw them into one's own circle.

In other words, it’s pretty much hell in more ways than one.

And into this hell, a pair of rookies were unceremoniously delivered.

"What is this?"

"Eek...!"

A roar so loud I couldn't even distinguish voices or words. The sheer pressure was enough to blow my bangs back, and I instantly froze my heart and put on a blank expression.

And then there was Sora, clinging to me with a pure terror that was clearly on a different vector from her earlier “space is scary” moment.

Amazing. What surprised me more than anything wasn't that a real person could actually let out a shriek like “Eek!”, but that even such a sound could be undeniably cute coming from a beautiful girl.

But this is no time for that.

"Sora, is this—ah, I get it, it’s okay, just hide. There, there."

I was about to ask Sora, with her extensive knowledge of Arcadia trivia, if she knew what this commotion was about, but I gave up the moment I turned to her.

She’s more genuinely terrified than I’ve ever seen her.

Well, I can’t blame her. Just how many people are gathered here? Is this the legendary Comiket I've heard about? There's no merchandise here, so scatter! My dear Sora is scared, damn it!

There must be thousands of people here, easily. With such a massive crowd all talking at once, it's less of a din and more of a simple, deafening roar.

Because of that, the people in the front row of the circle surrounding us were practically screaming at me, but there's no way I can hear them. Are they kidding me?

It's a level of noise that would make Prince Shotoku snap. If I were him, I'd be brandishing my scepter with murderous intent.

...No, yeah, this is impossible.

For now, I shot a glare at the most conspicuous person in the front row, the one closest to us and likely the main source of Sora's terror: a bald, muscular heavy warrior nearly two meters tall, wearing ridiculously ornate leg armor and, for some reason, nothing on his upper body. Don't you get any closer, you bald freak, I projected with my eyes, and then... realizing a whisper would be drowned out, I quickly opened a message window.

'Let's run. I'll give the signal, so be ready to move.'

My hastily typed words reached Sora, and she nodded frantically while still clinging to me.

...You know, am I becoming overprotective? I’m getting genuinely pissed off at this weird mob for scaring Sora so much.

Alright, I need to swallow my righteous anger for now and focus. The plan is to put on a little show and then make a break for it, but these guys are obviously veterans. I can’t even imagine how many of them there are.

A clumsy opening might not be enough to shake them. Even though Kagura-san vouched for my speed, I’m still a rookie who knows nothing of this world.

I need to fool them well enough, even if it’s just through sheer force—so first, a smile.

I swept Sora up into my arms and leaped back to create some distance. But I wasn't escaping just yet. For now, I just jumped onto the pedestal of a ridiculously large bell, striking a pose to deliberately draw attention to myself.

I set down a wide-eyed Sora behind me, shielding her, and in one fluid motion, activated 《Quick Change》—or rather, 《Blink Switch》.

A light effect, a little flashier than before, accompanied the appearance of a unique weapon in my hand: my pride and joy, a gift from my exclusive artisan, the misshapen form of [Prologue: Wedge Fragment Singing of Eternity (An=Re Galta)].

Even in its initial stage, [An=Re Galta]'s presence as a Terror Armament, combined with the instant weapon-summoning that even veteran players had deemed abnormal, was a powerful one-two punch.

I had hoped it would be enough to silence their damn chorus for even a second—and bingo. Time to overwhelm them. You’re all pumpkins!

"LADIIIIIIIIES ANNND, GENTLEMEEEEEENNNN!!!"

With all the damn courage I'd forged through countless part-time jobs as a high schooler, and a full blast from my hidden “Lung Capacity” stat that for some reason is linked to AGI, I summoned [An=Re Galta] above my head and, with a soul-shaking shout, slammed it down at my feet.

"""""........."""""

How’s that? Scared?

Go ahead and think I’m a crazy person. Shut up. You shut up? Good. Now stay quiet while I play the fool with all my might!

The deafening roar, which had made it impossible to hear myself think, subsided to at least a manageable, albeit still noisy, din as the majority of them stared, dumbfounded.

Now, all I needed was to successfully lure away the ones in the front who might directly obstruct our escape.

So listen up, you gaping morons.

"On this occasion! I am overjoyed that you have all gathered for our debut, et cetera, et cetera, I'll spare you the rest! Cut the chatter and behold!"

Using my excessive AGI and DEX, I made a series of flashy, high-speed, though unrefined, gestures to draw their eyes as I used 《Blink Switch》 again, swapping from [An=Re Galta] to my [White-Flawed Straight Sword].

"'Awakening White Eye'—...!"

The visual change of the sword from its unique skill's activation key was a minor detail. Most of them were likely reacting to the second use of 《Blink Switch》.

A murmur rose through the crowd, threatening to turn back into a deafening roar that would drown out my voice, but—I'll just have to manage the rest with body language.

"'—Bind the boundless sky'!!"

At the end of the chant, I made an exaggerated gesture, slowly looking over the crowd staring up at me, then dramatically threw my head back and pointed to the sky with my free hand.

"LET'S GOOO!! —《ÉCLAIR》!!!"

Pointing to the sky and throwing a glowing sword—naturally, one would assume the sword would do something up there. Just as I'd planned, I caught most of them looking up out of the corner of my eye, and...

""...Ngh—!!""

I scooped up Sora beside me into my arms again. Our eyes met, and the signal was sent.

Activation of [Scareless]—thirty levels' worth of stats transferred from Sora piled onto my AGI and DEX, pushing my already excessive agility into the realm of hyper-excessive.

Then I slammed down all my mobility-boosting cards—《Floating Leaf》, 《Idaten》, 《Flying Swallow Dash》, 《Fateless Jumper》, and for good measure, 《Guardian's Cradle》—and kicked off the ground without mercy—

"H-heeeeeeek...!!?"

"HAHA! So long, seniors! Please don't follow us, seriously, stop, I'm begging you, this isn't a joke!"

I’ll be honest. I jumped nearly twice as fast and three times as high as I expected, and it scared the hell out of me.

I mean, yeah, it was the first time I’d ever done a full-power jump with my AGI at its current level, with evolved skills, and with Sora’s support maxed out for agility.

But come on, I didn't think I'd launch myself nearly forty meters into the air when I wasn't even jumping straight up, you know?

"H-Haru, Haru-sa, so high...—!!?"

"Sorry, but you'll bite your tongue, so hang on for a second!"

While firmly holding a teary-eyed Sora who was clinging to me for dear life with one arm, I used my other hand to continuously activate Blink Switch for my trademark mid-air jump maneuvers.

《Quick Change》 had evolved into 《Blink Switch》, and it had gained a god-tier ability to progressively reduce its cooldown when used consecutively without other skills in between.

Combined with the synergistic effect of 《Combo Accelerate》, the evolved form of 《Accel Tempo》 which had a similar effect, I could now activate it repeatedly at a speed incomparable to before.

Thanks to that, I had acquired a mobility that was basically, “Yes, I can fly.” However, when carrying someone else—

"—Ngh!! —Hngh!!"

Being violently jerked around at high altitudes with every jump was not a pleasant experience for Sora... Whether it was a protest or just sheer panic, she wrapped her arms around my neck like she was trying to strangle me and buried her face in my shoulder—or rather, my neck—as if looking down meant certain death.

"—H-hey, wait, Sora-san, your breath—I mean, your mouth is right on my neck...!"

I'm used to her clinging to me—which is a problem in itself—and I can more or less ignore her breathing on me at close range.

But that is out of bounds. No teenage boy can remain calm when a girl is biting his neck.

Well, she wasn't biting me, more like pressing her mouth so hard against me that her lips were wrapped around my skin, but—what do you mean, just that?! There's no way I can stay calm when a girl does that! The warmth, the softness, aghhhhh!!

Alright, let's land. Let's just land now. I've covered kilometers in just a few seconds, and since this game apparently doesn't have mid-air jumps, I probably don't have to worry about being pursued from here.

Crap, this is bad. As I shifted my focus to landing and looked down, I was belatedly stunned. What is this? It's not just a town, it's a full-blown city.

I don't even know where I was teleported to in the first place, but the clusters of buildings clearly had a different flavor from the purely fantastical streets of Istia.

The exterior was definitely fantasy-inspired, but there was something about the architectural direction, a faint concept or goal I could sense, that had a modern touch... or rather, the scent of an efficiency-obsessed expert from a city-builder or factory game.

Wait, no way, could this place be player-made? Oh, sorry, yes, landing now, landing right now, Sora-san, just hang on a little longer!