kscans

Chapter 383 - The Modification Feature and the Battle Outside the Battlefield

The day after Hayato created Excalibur, the event's battlefield was decided to be the "Necropolis Area."

The Necropolis was a dungeon also known as the City of the Dead. Mist had once gone missing there, and Damian had cleared it with Ivan and the others. Hayato had also dealt with Doppelgängers there, taking advantage of their weakness in battle.

Such was the place, but for this battle, the Necropolis itself was largely irrelevant. Its entrance was merely at the center of the battlefield. The main stage was the swampy region surrounding the entrance. To call it a swamp was the closest approximation, but in reality, it was much worse. It was a dangerous place with bogs and mud containing toxins, roamed by native plant-type monsters like Alraune and Treants, as well as Lizardmen who specialized in poison.

Particularly troublesome were the female-shaped Alraune-type rare monster, Alphardelos, and the slow-moving but heavy-hitting Treant-type rare monster, Yggdrasil Fake, as they scattered multiple powerful bad statuses. Furthermore, the buffalo-like rare monster Catoblepas, with its instant-death evil eye, and its superior version, Grim Reaper, were also present, making it not uncommon for players to find themselves defeated without knowing what happened.

Battles here could also be called a constant struggle against the ever-present bad statuses. Poison was a constant, and a gas that caused status ailments like paralysis, petrification, confusion, blindness, hallucination, and curses with a high probability hung in the air. It was said that the major difference between a normal game and a realistic virtual reality lay in these status ailments. A drop in stats wasn't a big deal, but blindness, which robbed you of your sight, or hallucinations, which altered what you saw, were extremely harsh in a realistic virtual reality. Moreover, being unable to move due to paralysis or petrification was a source of considerable fear for some, and many players would never remove their countermeasure equipment.

Thus, many people did not want to fight here, and the previous battle, when Hayato was a hostage, had dragged on for quite some time before a conclusion was reached. But that was for ground battles. Now, with Hayato's airship, it wasn't as bad. The strategy was to destroy the Area Stone with the airship, just like around Deep Impact. The area around the Area Stone was a place where status ailments did not occur, so the choice was between defending there or attacking with the airship. There was also the option of walking through the swamp to the opponent's Area Stone, but it was unlikely anyone would want to do that.

The problem was the number of enemy airships. They had destroyed about five of the enemy's airships in the Ruined City Clear. According to Randa, the enemy wasn't as prepared as they were, but even so, there was no telling what they might do. And the one racking her brain the most was Randa.

"I have no idea what they're thinkin'!" she said, holding her head.

If she knew, there would be no trouble, but she said she had no clue what the enemy wanted to do, let alone what their strategy was. She said there were many things that couldn't be explained in the previous battle, and she was quite worked up. Her fellow actor Suien said things like, "Just leave it be," but Hayato was concerned. There was still time before the battle began.

He approached Randa, who was tilting her head near the Area Stone.

"Um, you seem worked up, are you okay?"

She didn't seem to notice him and was muttering while writing various things on a piece of paper.

"Randa-san?"

"Huh? Oh, Hayato-san, what is it?"

"...You're not using your usual speech pattern."

"Ah, whoops. I'm fine now, what's up?"

Wondering if that was an act, Hayato asked again, "Are you okay?"

"I think so... but the enemy's actions are so illogical, it's really getting to me."

"That much? Like what, for example?"

"There's a lot, but it's really about them sending Last One to our Area Stone. I think it's an effective move. They dropped the airship to coincide with it. If they involved Last One, they could get command rights, so it's two birds with one stone."

Dropping an airship where Last One was rampaging would certainly cause immense damage. If they could destroy the Clan Stone, they could settle the match right there, and by defeating Last One, they could gain command of the golems. Even if that failed, they could reduce the strength of the forces around the Area Stone. However, in the end, all of it ended in failure. Not only did Lunaria gain command of the golems, but Last One, Lee Sladra, ended up joining Hayato's side. She was already out gathering materials with Relic and the others.

"Then isn't that fine? Doesn't it just mean we were lucky in the end?"

"It might be luck, but I think they're underestimating our forces way too much. They should know we have Esha-san and us Genesis Dragons. Hypnos should've known what we can do, too. But they forced it anyway. For all the information they have, I thought their strategy was way too aggressive."

"You said something similar during the battle. But isn't that just how it is?"

They may be called strategists, but there aren't that many military masterminds or tacticians who leave their names in history. There are no strategies that can overturn an overwhelming difference in strength, and most are basically rehashes of the past. The normal approach would be to choose the method with the highest probability from many options. That was Hayato's thought, but Randa shook her head.

"Normally, that's right. But they have the AI Hypnos and the genetically enhanced human Amanda, you know? To be honest, it doesn't seem like a strategy that a person of my level couldn't have come up with."

Hayato wondered if that was self-deprecation, but now that she mentioned it, it did feel strange. It seemed Nanagi had participated in the strategy to send Last One, and given the circumstances up to now, that was unthinkable. Was it a strategy they were that confident in? There was no follow-up strategy to cover for its failure, and they were able to win easily after that.

"Not only that, but it seems they've made Ronios an ally."

"What? Ronios, you mean that Ronios-san?"

"It's the Ronios-san you know, Hayato-san. According to Parsha-san, she's an extremely troublesome person who just stirs up trouble wherever she goes."

He thought it was a harsh assessment, but Hayato had to agree that it was true. Not just Ney, but looking at Ronios and Parsha made him think that the blood relatives of the foundations had a lot of strange people. Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking it. Jolth was on the more decent side, but the fact that he was leaving the foundation made him an oddball in Hayato's assessment.

"Even though they made her an ally, she hasn't entered the event, so it seems she can't come to the battlefield."

"Ah, come to think of it, I haven't seen her on the battlefield. So what is she doing?"

"That's what we don't know, so I've asked Parsha-san to investigate."

"I see. Well, Parsha-san has made a name for herself as a traitor to the New Demon Lord's Army, so she said she wouldn't participate in the battle."

Parsha of the clan Despair Angel had betrayed the New Demon Lord's Army, but her affiliation remained unchanged. If she participated in the event, she would be sent to the battlefield on the New Demon Lord's Army's side, but would be surrounded by enemies. Rather than just being surrounded and defeated, she said she would gather materials from the start, and she was doing that for them now.

"That's right. And given her position, we have no choice but to ask Parsha-san to deal with Ronios-san. Oh, by the way, did you hear from Ney-san?"

"No, I haven't heard anything."

"I can't say this too loudly, but apparently Ronios-san went to Prison yesterday."

"What?"

"She apparently cornered someone at Prison, but was dodged noncommittally. And officially, there's no record of it, but Relic-san apparently hacked in and confirmed it."

That's a dangerous thing to do, Hayato thought, but he urged her to continue.

"It seems she was there at about the same time Lee-san's memory returned."

"...No way, is she involved in that?"

"The possibility that Ronios-san asked Scorpion to restore Lee-san's memory is high. In fact, I think that's the only possibility."

Scorpion, of course, meant the Foundation Scorpion. The Foundation Scorpion had a way to restore Relic and the others' memories. Since Lee had also been sent from Prison in the past, they had a way to restore her memory as well. Ney couldn't directly question Scorpion about it, so she had talked around the issue, but in the end, she had returned without obtaining any confirmation. That was the story.

"If she restored her memory, whose side is she on? I kind of feel like she's on our side, though."

"I don't know. I don't even know if she knows the secret of the NPCs in the first place. But she wouldn't go to Prison if she didn't know, so it's better to assume she knows. And if someone told her, it would be Hypnos or Amanda... From this point on, I have no idea what they want to do!"

"She told another troublesome person... I mean, what are those two doing? Isn't this going too far? Is their strategy to leak the secrets of virtual reality to the real world and get a lot of people involved?"

"We should probably consider that as well. But if the secret gets out, the secret of the spaceship Aphrodite will probably get out too, and you could say it would make Amanda's world conquest more difficult. I think she probably only told a few people, though."

Hayato could now understand why Randa was racking her brain so much. He had no idea what Hypnos or Amanda were doing. Hayato and Randa both crossed their arms and groaned.

"Ah, changing the subject, but you made Excalibur, right? There was an announcement yesterday."

Randa's voice was bright. Hayato thought she was offering a bright topic to dispel the strange atmosphere, and he replied with a smile.

"I did. The probability was low, so I was worried, but I managed to make it and gave it to Lunaria-san. She said she was going to test it out today."

"That's great. But the durability issue..."

"There was nothing I could do about that. And my blacksmithing reached 200, but it just unlocked a feature called 'Modification,' and it doesn't seem like I can make things without durability."

"That's the only worrying factor. We've been doing well so far, but it's meaningless if we lose at the very end."

"Well, that's true, but Lunaria-san will manage somehow. I modified Lunaria-san's weapons and armor."

The "Modification" feature was unlocked at Blacksmithing Skill 200. By performing further blacksmithing on weapons and armor, you could increase their base damage and add effects. It required the same amount of materials as the initial creation, but there was no doubt it was a considerable feature. You could perform modifications up to eight times on a single piece of equipment, but the success rate decreased with each modification, and if you failed, the original equipment would be destroyed. It was a high-risk, high-return feature, but you could say it had a certain appeal.

In fact, when he provided information about modification to the leaders of major clans, Keith from Over the Top, with bloodshot eyes, asked him to perform eight modifications even if it meant breaking his gear. However, while you could add effects, you couldn't make something have no durability. To add an effect, you needed the corresponding materials, but he had confirmed that there were no materials with the effect of removing durability. When he gave Excalibur to Lunaria and told her that no durability was impossible, she declared with a smile, "It's fine, I just have to take them down before they can take me down."

It was a smile that didn't consider defeat at all. Some might be exasperated by her optimism, but to Hayato, that smile looked reliable. And when Lunaria learned of the modification feature, she asked Hayato to modify all her weapons and armor.

Only the first modification could be performed with a 100% success rate. After that, the success rate would drop by 10% with each modification. So, he performed one modification on Lunaria's Arondight and her set of red armor, the Inferno Series. As a result, all of their base stats improved. At the same time, he also added the effects that Lunaria specified. Hayato honestly had his doubts, but he reconsidered and thought that Lunaria could handle it, so he performed the modification.

(Adding a speed improvement effect to all her armor, huh? As it is, she's almost twice as fast as normal. And she'll be even faster using Black Swan and White Lightning. Normally, your senses wouldn't be able to keep up with that speed, but for Lunaria-san...)

As a genetically enhanced human, Lunaria's kinetic vision and thought processing speed were superior to a normal person's. He had judged that if her perception was high, she wouldn't have a problem even if her speed increased. (Even if there is a problem, if she starts getting used to it now, she'll manage somehow. Oh, right, the battle is about to start. I have to distribute the Super Eclairs to everyone.)

The battle around Necropolis was a battle against bad statuses. It would be a battle in a relatively safe zone, but there was no telling what might happen. It was for a limited time, but the food that protected against all bad statuses was the Super Eclair. Just like before, Hayato had asked the Maid Guild to prepare a large amount of materials for processing. And he had produced a large number of Super Eclairs. The women and some of the men were delighted, but it was a little unpopular with the men who disliked sweets. Nevertheless, there was no better countermeasure against status ailments, so Hayato distributed them regardless.

--At the same time, at the entrance to the Dark Cave.

Even though the event battle had started, there were a large number of players around the entrance to the Dark Cave. They were two major clans. One was Despair Angel, led by Parsha, and the other was Shooting Star, led by Ronios. The two clans were facing off around the entrance to the Dark Cave.

In terms of numbers, Despair Angel had about three hundred people. Shooting Star's numbers had decreased due to their previous blunder, and now they had less than a hundred. The difference was more than three to one. But Ronios's side didn't seem to mind at all and was smiling.

"Why, if it isn't Parsha-san. What are you doing in a place like this?"

"I believe those are my lines. This is the very darkness that leads to the abyss, and the dark ballroom where we fight for the Demon Lord's throne. It is only natural for me, a fallen one, to come to investigate, but are not 'The Craving Ones' forbidden from falling there?"

"Hahaha, you're the same as ever. It is true that we do not have permission to fall, but we have become, as you would say, 'One Possessed by Evil.' We are under orders from that evil."

"Orders...?"

"And we have become able to do things like this."

Ronios lunged with the rapier she was holding. Outside of special places like Clan Wars, this event, or the escort guild's underground arena, players could not fight each other. Even if an attack landed, it would not deal damage. However, sensing some kind of danger, Parsha deflected the attack with the "Twilight" she was using as a parasol.

(My durability decreased...!?) When weapons clashed, their durability decreased. It wasn't a value that could be easily destroyed, but even a small decrease meant that they were in a state where players could fight each other.

Contrary to Parsha's surprised expression, Ronios was smiling even more than before.

"As expected of a fallen angel, I suppose. Your intuition is more than human."

"...Why can we fight each other?"

"As I said before. We are possessed by evil. We are now treated the same as NPCs. We can fight to our heart's content in any location."

As she said that, Ronios began to laugh. Behind her, Cremola and Harrington looked somewhat exasperated, but they readied their weapons.

(I came to talk, but Ronios-san is raring to go. Most likely, Hypnos had her settings changed. As Ney-san said, it seems she did go to Prison. In that case, rather than trying to extract information, I should first get in her way.)

Parsha closed Twilight and took a stance.

"Blanc, Noir, and all my comrades. It seems our holy war has begun."

A murmur ran through the crowd. Words like "Finally..." "As I thought..." "Will it be repeated..." were common.

"Now, let us fight. To prove which of us has defied God's will!"

Ronios, who until a moment ago had been the very picture of propriety, now had the corners of her mouth turned up in a vicious smile.

"Ahaha, as expected, Parsha! You're the only one who can inspire those around you with such words!"

And so, in a place different from the event's battlefield, the two clans clashed.