kscans

Chapter 63 - The Battle Begins

On the day of the Clan War, the members were in the base's dining hall.

There was a sense of good tension about facing the number one ranked team, but only Lunaria was overly fired up. For a while now, her behavior had been erratic, sitting down, standing up, and when he thought she had settled, she'd start doing practice swings.

It was probably also due to the Clan War not starting on time. It was past five in the afternoon, and it was getting dark outside.

With Mist the vampire being here, it was a welcome situation, but the wait was making Lunaria overly tense.

"Um, Lunaria-san, it's not my place to say since I don't fight, but please calm down a little."

At those words, Lunaria, still wearing her helm, turned to Hayato.

"I-I-I'm calm. I-I'm not thinking that I might be useless. P-please stop making false accusations."

"I think that's the real false accusation. Don't worry, I can't fight at all. Just being able to swing a sword makes you more useful than me. Besides, you're the Demon Lord, aren't you?"

He was seriously wondering who could be useful if the Demon Lord wasn't useful in a fight.

(I don't really get it, but is she not confident? I want to cheer her up somehow... I know, I'll mention that time.)

"You beat the Hero before, right? If you can unleash that same strength, there won't be any problem."

When Hayato said that, Lunaria looked down, sheepishly tapping her index fingers together.

"Y-you're making me blush."

(What kind of character is this Demon Lord supposed to be?)

From what he saw of her fight with the Hero, he knew she was extremely strong, but her personality was strange. Not strange in a weird way, but clearly not like a Demon Lord. That kind of off-kilter character setting was common, but this felt less like a character trait and more like it was calculatedly cute, or maybe a miscast. If anything, she seemed better suited to running a flower shop.

Just as he was thinking that, his vision changed. He had been teleported to the Clan War battlefield.

Hayato psyched himself up with a "Right," and led everyone to the roof. First, to check the field. But he soon tilted his head. For a battle between the number one and number two ranked clans, the field was a simple grassland with no gimmicks at all.

"What's with this?"

"Is it not easy to fight in?"

It was Diite who answered Hayato's question. She was looking at the grassland with a cheerful expression.

"The number one and number two ranked teams are fighting. This means they've removed any uncertain elements from the outcome for a pure contest of strength. Is it not better to just unleash our power without having to think about unnecessary things?"

What Diite was saying made sense, but could the field, which was supposed to be decided randomly, be influenced by the rankings of the opposing teams?

In the first place, the probability of the number one and number two ranked teams fighting each other was low. On top of that, for the field to be one that would result in a pure contest of strength, he wondered what the probability of that was.

(Does this mean the admins are intervening? No, that has to be it.)

"Is something the matter, Hayato-kun? I will get embarrassed if you stare at me like that."

Though she was smiling, Diite didn't seem embarrassed at all as she replied to Hayato.

"Oh, no, it's nothing. I was just thinking you're right. A pure contest of strength. It would be more exciting for the number one and number two teams that way."

"It would, wouldn't it? If it gets picked up for a video, it would be quite exciting, I imagine."

Hayato had said something he didn't mean, but Diite nodded with satisfaction.

(If anything, Diite-chan's way of thinking is like that of an admin. Maybe she's a character connected to the admins after all. Is a person controlling her, or is she an AI like that...?)

Hayato's thoughts went that far before he cut them off, realizing he had more important things to worry about.

Their opponent was the number one ranked team, "Bandit."

All the members of the clan "Daedalus" were strong, but Hayato couldn't fight at all. That could definitely be called a handicap. Of course, the members were stronger than the handicap, but he didn't know how well they would do against the number one ranked team.

"Hayato, we're getting into position. As usual, you'll leave the fighting to me, right?"

"Yeah, I'm counting on you. Everyone else, basically follow Ash's lead."

Everyone nodded. Then, everyone except Hayato and Esha left the roof.

"We're all alone now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh? I was just stating a fact. Did you misunderstand something?"

Lately, Esha had been teasing him like that a lot. While he found it a little annoying, he couldn't help but forgive her when he saw how much fun she was having. That was the sad part.

"Yeah, yeah. Now for a serious question, what do you think our chances of winning are?"

"One hundred percent. There is no element of defeat. If things go badly, there is a chance we could win with just Ash-sama's Dragon Breath."

Since there were no field gimmicks, Ash could fight in his dragon form. For the opponent, it would be no exaggeration to say it was like fighting a large-scale battle boss.

When Ash was in his dragon form, his MP gradually decreased, and when it ran out, he would revert to human form, among other restrictions, but there was no way the opponent would know that. It was possible to kill them on the first encounter.

"Besides, we have Lunaria-sama on our side. In a one-on-one PvP battle, she will never lose."

She was strong enough to beat the Hero, so that was probably true.

However, Hayato had a concern. It was the information the Maid Chief had looked up for him.

Relic had been nearby as promised at that time. The Maid Chief had been a little flustered, but the information should be reliable.

According to the Maid Chief, the leader of Bandit was extremely strong. While fighting as a balanced team was "Bandit's" basic strategy, they would rarely fight with their leader as a one-man army.

That video hadn't been picked up, so she couldn't find out what kind of fighting style it was, but by using what's called buffs, a temporary status boost, to the extreme, he displayed a god-like strength. She had confirmed this directly with a clan that had fought them before.

(Buff effects to the extreme, huh? Stats like STR have a maximum value, so I don't think raising them to the extreme would make someone god-like. If anything, it's probably about fighting by increasing movement speed.)

Movement speed was the same for all characters. But it could be increased by using equipment or magic. And unlike stats, movement speed had no upper limit. In other words, you could become infinitely fast.

However, there was a downside to that. For a normal person's senses, the movement was too fast to move properly. Although it felt like their own body, it was a virtual reality character that was moving. Their head, not their body, couldn't keep up with the sudden change.

However, if you could train to use it, it would become a powerful weapon. Like Gardel, the tamer they had fought before, being fast was strong in itself.

Just as Hayato was thinking that, the countdown began.

When the countdown ended, the enemy players became visible in their camp.

A player dressed like a barbarian came into Hayato's view.

(Is that the person who told me about the newbie hunting commotion?)

It was the person Hayato had spoken to to get the details when the players who were newbie hunting were making a fuss at the facility where you could apply for a clan.

(So he belonged to the number one ranked clan... and at that position, is he the leader?)

Three players, who seemed to be their front line, were lined up horizontally, with the barbarian man in the center. That position didn't necessarily mean he was the leader, but it was highly likely.

Just as he was thinking of applying for a chat, the three of them started moving.

As expected, their movement speed was fast. They must be equipped with that kind of gear. But from that position, Ash's Dragon Breath was faster.

"Hayato, I'm unleashing my Dragon Breath."

"Got it. Let 'em have it with a big one."

Mist and Lunaria, who were near Ash, retreated. It was because they would get caught in the Dragon Breath if they stayed there.

Ash transformed into a dragon. He was a bipedal dragon about ten meters tall. Ash placed his front legs on the ground and opened his mouth wide.

An effect like energy gathering appeared in Ash's open mouth. When that was unleashed, it would be able to take out at least the three who were charging in.

Hayato found it strange. The barbarian man charging at them showed no signs of stopping.

(He's not flinching even after seeing that dangerous-looking effect? I thought he'd stop for a moment.)

Even if he didn't stop, Ash's Dragon Breath was faster. He should definitely be able to defeat them, but he felt a little uneasy about the opponent's actions.

The next moment, the axe the barbarian was holding vanished from his hand. He had unequipped it.

(Why would he do that... he vanished?)

"Huh? Where..."

"That's surprising. He used Shukuchi."

"Shukuchi...? This is bad!"

A Hand-to-Hand Combat skill that instantly closed the distance to zero. The opponent had appeared in front of Ash, who was in the middle of his Dragon Breath motion.

By the time Hayato realized it, the barbarian man was already in his attack motion. It was the "Backhand Blow" Relic had used in their last battle.

The attack hit Ash. And that giant body was knocked back slightly. A knockback had occurred.

In other words, Ash's Dragon Breath had fizzled out. Moreover, he seemed to be stunned and unable to move.

And the barbarian had already equipped his axe and was about to attack Ash with it.