Tsumugi came to me with a foul proposal. You’d go that far for a laugh, oh sister of mine? Really?
If she actually did that, it’d weaken the helper Pekkles of every player on the field, and then Kanade would get run over by all the mobs she’d pulled.
“Tsumugi...”
“Lady Tsumugi...”
“I just thought it! I never said I was gonna do it!”
“To be honest... I am getting tired of being stuck with this hat.”
Sure, I could change its appearance with the overlay I got from Aultcray, but it was still the Santa Hat underneath. I was at the point where I wanted to try out different equipment. It would be nice if I could wear some sort of hat a fisherman would wear, right? Like a nice fishing cap.
“Oh, the woes of an island lord, I daresay.”
“It’s incredible that it can cover an entire field.”
Pretty much... This was why I lost every option besides wearing what had once been the prized headgear of the artist formerly known as Santa Hat Pekkle (now known as Chris). After all, just wearing it turned my summoned Pekkles into NPCs that were stronger than some low-tier players.
It was no wonder they were calling me Pekkle Master... Whoever coined that term was on to something.
“Anyway,” said Shouko, “let’s shift gears and move to the next tower. Shall we split into two groups this time?”
“How do we pair off?” I asked.
“If we want the best matchup, it’d be me and Shouko, and bro and Yammy.”
Tsumugi’s proposal was actually relatively safe. Shouko could draw and hold a few enemies while parrying their attacks, which made her a good partner for Tsumugi with her plentiful scythe AoEs. Quite a reliable duo.
Their healing options were slim, but Shouko could recover some Energy by killing mobs, letting her sustain herself well in a prolonged battle. And more than that, she’d gotten even stronger after learning to use her fishing line for rope-based binds and attacks.
As for me and Yamikage...I could summon endless Pekkles, use Brave Pekkle as a shield, and command my Pekkle Flock to attack, so we were never short on hands. Add in our highest DPS Yamikage, who could also heal, and it was pretty much an airtight formation.
What’s more, our Cooperation Skill could spread a defense-down debuff and DoT on all monsters in the vicinity.
Sure, my physical prowess didn’t stack up to any of theirs...but maybe that was all right.
“What about milord pairing up with Lady Tsumugi? Blood ties might count for something in battle, I daresay.”
“Well, we could, but I dunno. How about we settle it with rock-paper-scissors?”
Are we really doing this?
“The tower at A-2 has fallen.”
“Wow, that was fast.”
“Well, yeah, we’re not gonna let that Island Lord Party hog all the glory.”
“We got a late start, but we’re still in the race.”
“Keep telling yourself that, but with L’Arc and Therese on your team, it’s pretty much the island lord’s handiwork anyway.”
And just like that, another tower was down. They’re falling a lot faster than I expected, I thought. Way faster than during the first wave, at least.
There was the fact that everyone had gotten quite used to these wave battles, for one, but it seemed L’Arc and Therese were fighting the good fight too.
“That was fast.”
“During the second wave, I daresay, things were going very fast all the way up to when the boss showed up.”
“Yeah, that boss took some time.”
“I guess the towers are just a warm-up, huh? A way to get used to the battlefield.”
“Indeed. Now, shall we head to the last one? We do have our mounts.”
Now that you mention it, we could ride over quickly and get into battle.
“Everyone, focus on the last tower. And watch out for traps!”
Incidentally, while we were moving forward without paying them much attention, the battlefield was littered with traps at regular intervals to slow the players in their tracks.
“Whaaaaaaaah?!”
“You okay?! Hang on, I’ll get a heal ready.”
A nearby player mistakenly stepped on one, triggering a rockslide from out of nowhere and taking damage.
Just in case, we’d disarm them or shoot them with arrows to trip them off safely, but they were popping up so often that they’d become a real pain to deal with.
“Hey, Brave Pekkle? Why’re you going the long way around? This way— Wait, what was that click?”
“Gyaaaaaaah! Bear trap!”
“Finally fell for it! Now here’s all those monsters you wanted! This is what you get for insulting me!”
“We didn’t say anything wrong, Kizzy’s big brother!”
“We’re not going to lose to Brave Pekkle! Not here! A true gentleman never yields! All the guys in Kizzy’s party are the problem. L’Arc is guiiiillltttyyy!”
“I already told you, I’m a woman, for crying out loud! Urgh...you’re tougher than you look!”
“Keep feeding us EXP, why don’t you!”
“Why do you guys hate me that much?! If it bothers you that much, just go talk to that little lady yourselves!”
“A true gentleman admires from afar! I’m team Shouko all the way!”
“Team Yamikage coming through!”
“Ah! It’s just like we covered in the Kizzy Seminar! The traps don’t scare me one bit!”
My sister sure seemed to be having fun. And L’Arc was the target of some deep resentment.
Also, what’s with these random factions asserting themselves?! And don’t call it a Kizzy Seminar!
The battlefield was seemingly sprinkled with players who’d leveled up their trap skills through working in the crab processing industry, and they’d gotten to work disarming traps for the rest of the player base.
Meanwhile, the mastermind behind the whole industry—the Merchant of Death—was still missing.
“Roger that! Moving in on the last tower!”
The other players were on the move.
Come to think of it, we let Sheryl act on her own, but is she okay? My sister is one thing, but lately, it’s like there’s been this wall between us. I’m worried, I thought to myself as I spurred my mount to charge across the battlefield. But... Huh? Why are there so many ballistae all over the place? Were those always there? And there’s those wires stretching along the ground, connecting them all... What’s going on? Did some battlefield gimmick spawn in?