kscans

Chapter 373 - An Angel Who Doesn't Betray is Second-Rate

The next battlefield was decided, the "Abaddon Area."

In this Another Frontier Online, there are four dungeons that, despite their existence being confirmed, are said to have never been fully explored.

One of them, Necropolis, was conquered by Ivan and his party, but the remaining "Dark Cave," "Dimensional Corridor Thousand," and the battlefield for this battle, the "Insect Poison Cave Abaddon," remain unconquered.

The Insect Poison Cave Abaddon has multiple entrances, all of which are connected inside. It's a complex cave system that stretches out like an ant's nest, but that's not the reason it's unconquered.

There are a massive number of insect-type monsters here. Furthermore, the monster respawn interval is short, creating a situation where the monsters continuously fight each other and grow stronger. It could be said that this is a place that repels players with both the appearance and strength of its monsters.

"Yeah, I really don't want to go there again."

The leader of Bandit, Jolt, said with his eyebrows furrowed into a figure eight, as if he didn't even want to remember it.

"I think it's a great place for farming materials, but there are a lot of monsters that look the same but have different strengths. I thought it was just a Giant Mantis, but it was as strong as its rare monster counterpart, Jack the Ripper…"

"Monsters that have a human-specific special attack with a one-hit kill, even if it's a low probability, are scary, aren't they?"

"I don't think Hayato is on a level you can call 'scary' since he's a guaranteed one-hit kill on those kinds of monsters. How can you even go outside?"

"We agreed not to talk about that. Anyway, I'll give you this bracelet, so put it on if any mantis-type monsters show up."

"...Isn't nullifying a special attack way too rare? I think this is the first time I've ever seen it."

"When your Crafting skill gets to 200, there are a lot of things you can do. But I don't have many, so it's just for the leading members-- wait, isn't it kind of noisy?"

The place where Hayato and the others were was near their own side's Area Stone.

He expected Lunaria to make a fuss saying "I hate centipedes," but the noise was coming from around where the players were waiting.

Hayato headed towards the noisy area with Jolt.

The leader of the clan Imperial, Rauxal, noticed Hayato and the others approaching.

"We have a bit of a problem."

Rauxal, clad in flashy golden armor, spoke to Hayato and the others with his helmet off. His face was quite grim, suggesting a considerable problem had occurred.

"It's rare to see the emperor flustered, isn't it? What happened?"

Jolt asked, as if to calm Rauxal down.

Rauxal let out a deep sigh.

"A problem has occurred with our weapons, armor, and food. The status abnormality 'Decay' has been applied to them. We're checking everyone's items right now."

"What's that?"

"I don't know. I've never seen it before. And you can't see the information unless your production skill or the relevant knowledge skill is 100. You guys should check too."

Hayato and Jolt exchanged glances, then immediately moved towards their own clan.

After some investigation, they found out the following about the decay.

Weapons and armor constantly lost durability, and eating the food would inflict some kind of bad status. And upon investigation, they found that some medicines also had the bad status of decay, and drinking them would cause damage.

The problem had occurred in three major clans, Imperial, Over the Top, and Bandit.

There was no damage to another major clan, Starkest. Also, Lunaria's Demon Lord's Army's Black Rose and Black Knights, as well as Ney and her group, were fine.

"My equipment is in deep trouble!"

Among them, Keith of Over the Top was wearing quite a lot of rare equipment for the sake of firepower. The bright red Apollo Series equipment was exceptionally rare, and it was said that it took an unknown amount of time to collect the full set.

Medicine and food aside, the decreasing durability of equipment was quite severe. With the exception of some special weapons and armor, equipment that lost all its durability would break and be lost. No matter how rare the item, that mechanism didn't change.

The decrease was gradual, but it was steadily eating away at the durability, and if the decay continued at this rate, it wouldn't last until tonight.

"Hayato. Help me. My rare equipment, which is more important than my life, is…"

Normally, Hayato didn't talk much with Keith, but Keith was clearly more flustered than usual. He wanted to entrust a sliver of hope to Hayato as a production player.

As a production player himself, Hayato wanted to do something to help, so he nodded forcefully.

"I can't promise I can fix it for sure, but I'll do my best. Alright, first, let's gather information. Everyone, share all the information you have at this point."

He could find out immediately if he asked Diite, but that same Diite was already on her way to fight Hypnos. His voice chat couldn't get through, so he couldn't ask her at this point.

(Would it be faster to just end the fight quickly and ask Diite-chan...? No, the battle here requires going through the inside of Abaddon to get to the other side, so it probably won't end that quickly.)

The battlefield "Abaddon Area" was designed so that you couldn't reach the enemy's Area Stone without passing through the "Insect Poison Cave Abaddon."

Both sides' Area Stones were on the surface, but the battlefield area on the surface was limited to that vicinity, so you couldn't walk to the other side on the surface. Similarly, there was a restriction that prevented you from flying through the air.

The only way to get to the other side was through the complex maze of the "Insect Poison Cave Abaddon." However, it wasn't a matter of going to the deepest part, you could reach the other side by passing through relatively shallow floors.

The battles would take place in narrow passages and huge caverns, so inside Abaddon it would be a battle of small elite groups, but once they got out onto the surface, it would be a large-scale battle again.

It was a place where you had to think about attack and defense using multiple entrances, but for that very reason, it would take time.

(And our firepower has dropped. Randa-san must be at her wit's end…)

Since the battles in narrow passages would increase, a showdown of close-quarters firepower was unavoidable, Randa had said, but a part of that fighting force was now in a tight spot. In particular, this time they had planned to thin out their defense to thicken their offense. They had been counting on the firepower of the major clans, so it could be said that a problem had suddenly arisen in their strategy. Even the Maid Chief and Gil of the Black Knights, who usually protected the Area Stone, were scheduled to join the attack this time, but in this state, they couldn't generate firepower at some of the entrances, and the final strategy of a "surprise attack with maximum firepower from all exits" was now impossible.

It was a strategy everyone had decided on in order to disperse the enemy, since the most dangerous situation would be when they came out of Abaddon.

In order to make that succeed, Hayato and the production players present discussed what to do about the decaying equipment while creating new food and medicine.

Around the time Hayato and the others were panicking, a problem was also occurring on the side of the enemy, the New Demon Lord's Army.

(I never thought my betrayal would be exposed…)

Parsha of the clan Despair Angel had betrayed the New Demon Lord's Army after her fateful encounter with Noat. However, even if she betrayed them, she couldn't change her affiliated faction. Her plan was to feed them false information and move to give the old Demon Lord's army an advantage, but the Demon Lord Amanda, who had come to the battlefield, had suddenly exposed Parsha's betrayal.

A public accusation in front of many players. Even if she feigned ignorance, a sense of distrust would remain. Even if she provided information, she would no longer be trusted.

"Don't you have any excuse? I'll listen, you know?"

Amanda pointed the tip of her sword at Parsha, looking amused. Behind her were a samurai-style NPC and the leaders of the major clans, Ox and Nestor. And one more person, a player in all black.

(Is that someone from Raven? Could it be that the information about the betrayal came from them...?)

Parsha thought that far, then switched her train of thought. It was more important to think about what to do now than to think about how she was found out.

Behind Parsha, Blanc and Noir were on standby. And from a distance, players had surrounded them. It was more of a gathering of onlookers than an attempt to prevent her from escaping. There were probably members of Despair Angel among them, but only Blanc and Noir knew about the betrayal in the first place.

(What would be the most effective thing to do...? To think that even though I'm a blood relative of the Foundation in reality, I'm thinking so hard my head feels like it's on fire. Life is full of surprises.)

As a blood relative of the Foundation, Parsha was a winner from the moment she was born, and those around her did everything for her. Of course, she was drilled with knowledge and skills, but that was it. She hardly ever used them. But now, in this place, she was trying to make full use of that knowledge. Just thinking about such a situation made a smile creep onto her face.

And the result she came up with was this.

"Because I am a first-rate angel."

What she had to do in this place was buy time. And gather information.

Even though the battle had already begun, everyone was captivated by this development. In that case, her idea was to delay the invasion as much as possible to give the old Demon Lord's army an advantage. And the target for her information gathering was Amanda. If what she heard was true, then Amanda and the samurai-style men were also humans inside, even though they were treated as NPCs. It was important to know not just their strength, but also what they were thinking. For that, she needed to lure the opponent into her territory. A method to lower the opponent's guard by making them think she was a strange person, or rather, humanly immature, and letting them feel superior.

As expected, Amanda tilted her head with a blank look on her face.

"You're not an angel, you're a human, right?"

"Getting serious over a joke, lol so hard."

"Eh? What? A spell?"

"It's ancient internet slang. You're not getting the vibe, or should I say you're slow on the uptake, or to put it more bluntly, you're tactless. It's obvious I'm not an angel, but the fact that you'd state I'm a human so bluntly shows you can't read the room. You should study more."

"You're interesting, but you're annoying. Alright then, angel-san, what do you mean a first-rate angel is your reason for betrayal?"

She took the bait. When faced with something incomprehensible, there are two things a person can do. Ignore it or try to understand it. It's something people do to escape the uncomfortable situation of not being able to understand, but the latter means they are more curious. Just by saying something more complex and incomprehensible, she could buy a lot of time. Thinking that, Parsha decided to answer the question.

"It means that an angel who doesn't betray is second-rate. God is always waiting for an angel's betrayal. He has expectations for the angel who will surpass his imagination."

As she said that, she could hear voices from her clan members in the surrounding area saying "Of course," "We know," and "Betrayal is the mark of an angel."

(As expected of my comrades. They've affirmed my betrayal. It's a difficult decision whether to go on a rampage here or to go out in a blaze of glory, but I'll have to see how the situation unfolds and act accordingly.)

She wondered about Amanda's reaction and looked over at her, to find her with an inscrutable expression. It wasn't expressionless, but she seemed a little shaken.

In this era, words like 'God' and 'angel' are not very common. The situation was similar a hundred years ago. But since they are often used in games, she thought that even if Amanda didn't understand the meaning of the words, she should have understood what she was saying.

Amanda opened her mouth with a nearly expressionless face.

"You see, God has already calculated that betrayal into his plans. If you want to meet God's expectations, you should first escape his control."

Parsha was surprised. She hadn't expected her to play along. What's more, she had replied with quite 'wonderful words.' However, it wasn't just a statement made to read the room, the words had weight. With these kinds of words, it's not just about saying them, but how much truth you can convey is the important part. From Parsha's point of view, Amanda's words had the weight of truth.

"Could it be that you're not a fallen one, but the angel who was erased from existence and is nowhere to be found, 'No-Fair'...?"

"What have you been talking about this whole time? Well, whatever. This isn't the time to be playing around, so the conversation ends here."

(Fast!)

Even though she didn't use the martial arts skill Shukuchi, Amanda closed the distance to Parsha in an instant.

She had closed the distance by leaping forward in a single step, but the shockwave from kicking off the ground must have been considerable, as dust kicked up from where Amanda had been, creating a scene like something out of a manga.

Parsha was surprised, but she blocked the attack with her beloved parasol. And then she flew backwards.

It was just an attack without knockback properties, but fighting with the distance closed was too disadvantageous. And her preparations were not yet complete.

Amanda was not one to overlook that.

At some point, she had taken out three throwing knives in her left hand and threw them at Parsha.

It was clear that they weren't just ordinary throwing knives, but there was no time to analyze them.

Parsha opened her parasol and crouched down, protecting her entire body. Immediately after, three impacts struck Parsha through the parasol.

"Blanc. Noir. Buy me some time."

Parsha called out the names of the two.

Understanding the situation in an instant, the two of them began to attack Amanda together.

"Oh? You're twins? Fine, I don't have much time, but I'll play with you."

Amanda said so and began to fight against the two.

Blanc and Noir were each equipped in solid white and black. Sometimes it was a dress, sometimes a stylish suit, but today it was the latter. The two of them also served as Parsha's bodyguards in the real world, so they had martial arts-based skill compositions. However, Blanc specialized in self-enhancement, while Noir used emission-type magic as well to differentiate herself.

Blanc specialized in low-power consecutive attacks and could attack more than ten times per second. Her attacks weren't limited to her fists, but also included her feet, knees, elbows, shoulders, and even headbutts, and it was said that no matter how much you devoted yourself to defense, you would inevitably be hit a few times. But Amanda blocked all of those attacks with her sword. She had kept up with Blanc's magically enhanced speed in her normal state. And she did it while also taking attacks from Noir.

The gallery was surprised, but the one who was most surprised was probably Blanc.

"That's not enough to hit me."

Amanda kicked Blanc in the stomach as if in return. In the meantime, she pulled off the feat of taking an attack from Noir, and on top of that, she threw a knife at Blanc, who had been put at a distance. Normally, she should have dodged it, but her posture was so broken that she couldn't, so Blanc crossed her arms and took a defensive stance. The moment the knife hit, an impact from an explosion occurred. Furthermore, the bad statuses of poison and paralysis were inflicted. Once paralyzed, she couldn't move for a while. Blanc knelt on one knee on the spot.

"Now it's your turn. Interesting, you're putting magic on your attacks. A fire fist or something like that?"

Noir was also dealing magic damage at the moment of impact. From a skill composition perspective, specializing would increase the damage, but having both physical and magic attacks was effective in localized situations. Since the magic was emission-type, it could reach a certain distance. And in player versus player battles, being flashy was also a merit, and the magic that occurred in front of her served as a blind.

Amanda blocked Noir's attacks with her sword, but she also needed to dodge the fire magic that was generated from it. A normal person would probably have times when they couldn't dodge well, but as expected of a genetically enhanced human. Amanda calmly took the attacks, dodged, and didn't flinch at the flashy magic effects, no matter the situation.

She continued like that for a while, but then Amanda took advantage of an opening in Noir's defense and attacked her stomach with her sword as if to thrust it through. Noir was sent flying backwards, but her HP just barely held on. And from the spot where she was blown away, she made a motion of punching Amanda over and over again. Of course, her fist attacks didn't reach, but a large number of fireballs were generated from her fists. The speed and quantity were different, but it could be said to be a gatling gun of fireballs.

Without flinching, Amanda cut through the fireballs over and over with her sword. She only cut the fireballs that would hit her, and dodged the others with the bare minimum of movement. She continued to approach Noir in this way. In the meantime, fireballs stopped coming from Noir. She had run out of MP.

"Looks like you're out. Well then, goodbye--"

Just as Amanda said that and raised her sword, a cheer went up from the surroundings.

"Thank you for waiting."

Parsha, who had been hiding with her parasol open, stood up.

"Oh, so that's your combat form?"

"I didn't want to show this form, which is a mark of a second-rate, but this time is special."

Parsha was no longer in her usual black and white dress, but in a solid white dress, with angel wings growing from her back. Of course, it was equipment, but the combination of her appearance was that of an angel. However, her weapon, the parasol, was the same black and white as usual. Perhaps it stood out, as Amanda was staring at the parasol.

"That parasol... is it a no-attribute piece of equipment that isn't affected by skills? You have a rare item."

Weapons have their respective attributes. They are categorized as sword attribute, axe attribute, and so on, and that becomes the condition for them to be affected by swordsmanship or axemanship skills to increase damage or to use weapon skills, but there are weapons that are not categorized anywhere. One of them is Parsha's parasol, "Twilight." That parasol, which means twilight, doesn't belong to any attribute, so its damage is low and it can't use any general-purpose weapon skills at all. However, its attack methods are diverse, and it is said to be a weapon that is greatly influenced by the user's real-life abilities.

"This child is Twilight. The weapon that will defeat you."

"Oh, thank you for the introduction. Then my sword's name is Durandal. Remember it as a souvenir for the afterlife."

"There is no one left to take souvenirs to that place. It has already finished its role and has become a mere void, you know?"

After saying that, Parsha pointed the tip of her closed parasol at Amanda.

Amanda had a curious look on her face, but in the next moment, she had jumped to the left. Immediately after, something shot out from the tip of the parasol with a 'don' sound, and the place where Amanda had been exploded. It didn't end there, as Parsha pointed her parasol in the direction Amanda had fled, and the ground exploded in pursuit of Amanda.

(Her intuition is good even though she should be seeing this weapon for the first time. Or is it the instinct of a genetically enhanced human? Either way, to treat Blanc and Noir like children, there's no way I can win. Should I fight and fall here, or should I run? Which would be more effective?)

Parsha thinks she can't win even if she's in her serious gear. But even if she loses, she wants to get information, and at the very least, she wants to land a single blow. For Parsha, just like for Hayato and the others, this event is no longer a game. It's not a bad idea to be conquered and live thinking virtual reality is reality, but her dream of producing Noat and the others in the real world is more important. For that, she has to win this event.

As she was thinking that, magic bullets stopped coming out of Twilight. It constantly stores magic power, but there is a limit that it can only fire up to twenty shots at most. Amanda must have seen through that, as she stopped her movement of running to the side and, with that momentum, approached Parsha. Parsha held Twilight in her left hand like a sword scabbard and placed her right hand on the handle. And despite her dress, she spread her legs slightly, lowered her hips, and took a stance like an iai-nuki draw.

Twilight has multiple attack methods, and a concealed blade is one of them. She learned several martial arts as a blood relative of the Foundation, but she never thought she would use them for something like this, Parsha thought with a smile on her lips. Amanda was running and trying to thrust at Parsha with Durandal.

Parsha drew Twilight like a sword and deflected Amanda's sword from below, changing its trajectory. She tried to slash Amanda's stomach further as her posture was broken, but that was blocked by the knife in her left hand. Parsha took another step forward.

"Frenzied Dystopia."

A meaningless skill name made up of wonderful words Parsha came up with on her own, Frenzied Dystopia. It's just a series of slashes, but the high-speed, random slashes can be quite effective. Whether it's the first time you see it or the second time, the attack is different every time. It's effective, but it doesn't work on Amanda. Even though her posture was broken, she blocked the series of attacks with Durandal and her knife.

After that, a super high-speed close-quarters battle began. Amanda's style was to fight with Durandal and a knife. And Parsha fought in a dual-wielding style with Twilight in its blade form and the scabbard part of Twilight. The surrounding players were raising their voices in admiration at the offense and defense, but Parsha was in no state for that. It was a situation where she felt she would be defeated immediately if she let her guard down even a little. Furthermore, Twilight's durability was decreasing rapidly. Not wanting to break this weapon, Parsha made up her mind.

She couldn't get any information, nor could she land a single blow. On top of that, if her equipment was destroyed, it would affect future battles.

Parsha returned the blade and restored Twilight to its original form. At that action, Amanda stopped moving for a moment, but that was exactly Parsha's aim. A gamble to create a momentary opening.

"Be blown away."

When Parsha opened Twilight, a huge shockwave was generated from it. A once-a-day shockwave with knockback. Of course, Amanda, who was closest, was sent flying into the air.

In the meantime, Parsha changed her equipment back to normal, closed Twilight, and thrust it into the ground. She placed both hands on it and struck a pose.

"Unfortunately, I personally admit defeat. But the time has come. My comrades. From this moment on, Despair Angel will side with the old Demon Lord's army. Mow down the surrounding enemies and escape into Abaddon."

At those words, the members of the clan Despair Angel raised a cheer.

Parsha also headed for Abaddon with Blanc and Noir.

"I won't let you."

(Shukuchi? Dammit--)

Amanda, who had been sent flying into the air, returned in front of Parsha with Shukuchi.

Parsha had no time to dodge, was cut by Durandal, and her HP ran out. She fell to her knees, and as she collapsed, she heard Amanda's voice.

"I'm glad you were strong. It seems I'm thought of as weak, so I wanted to defeat a strong person in front of everyone. Thank you for being my foil, angel-san."

(How could I have been used as a stepping stone like this...! I will avenge this humiliation one day...!)