Last time, we’d really enjoyed the nighttime scenery, but it gave off an entirely new vibe during the day. It wasn’t bad at all! Though it was still early morning, the place was full of vigor. And by full, I mean literally full; the lines were super long. The people waiting in line were mad as heck, and the air was just tense.
Hey, what in the world? This place is packed!
My dad had once shown me a photo of a gaming store on the release day for a DQ game—and even that couldn’t compare to this! It was kind of like an attraction at a super popular theme park.
“Whoa, check it out!”
“That line is huuuge!” Akira shouted. “I wonder what’s going on?”
There could only be one reason for all this hustle and bustle so early in the morning.
“I get it. Runs are halted because of the Hadean Rose, so people are stocking up on Special Warp Stones in the meantime.”
Special Warp Stones were obtainable as exchanges from the counter at Aswarth’s, but they were guaranteed rewards here as long as you won the game.
She frowned. “That makes sense, but how is anyone supposed to play like this? Waiting in that line is gonna take forever. I can’t believe everyone’s actually doing it.”
“Y’know, the enthusiasm here is like what we encountered during the last guild mission.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take a look.”
I pointed at the booth where Yano had played the zombie-shooting game. At that very moment, a player beat the goal and got a Special Warp Stone.
“Wow, he got a Special Warp Stone! Good job.”
“Watch what happens after that,” I said.
After receiving the stone, the player went back to the very back of the line.
“Huh? He’s in line again! I thought you couldn’t get a second Special Warp Stone from the same game.”
“Yeah. Can you guess why he’s in line again?”
“He just... really likes the game, doesn’t he?”
“Nope. He’s adding to the wait time intentionally to keep other players from playing.”
“Oooh. You might be right. Those guilds were blocking farming spots during the last mission.”
“They’re merciless. Throw enough people in line for the game, and other guilds get fewer chances to win.”
The other guilds were willing to use any methods at their disposal. This was a special group tactic available to the guilds with the most people. We were a small guild, so we physically couldn’t perform such large-scale interference. The idea had never even occurred to us.
“Ugh, we can’t get in line now. It’d be heartbreaking if we stood there for hours and failed to get anything.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I doubt a few Special Warp Stones will make a big difference in the end, anyway.”
Normal Warp Stones would force you out of the dungeon after a thirty-minute trip, but that was just about perfect for progressing five floors. After B51F, however, save points were every ten floors instead of five. Once you reached that point, you were really pressured to use Special Warp Stones for their hour-long duration.
The Special Warp Stone would give you the necessary time to proceed, but it wouldn’t necessarily give you enough time to fight off the Hadean Rose. For example, we could choose to ignore the Hadean Rose in an attempt to hack away at its Black Roses. With enough time, we might reach a breakthrough that way, but it didn’t seem likely. If that kind of time limit weren’t a problem down in Aswarth’s, people would’ve already tried the prolonged-battle strategy by now.
That made the Hadean Rose even more difficult to conquer. The only thing that would give you enough time for a prolonged battle would be the Super Special Warp Stone. With that, your time limit was two hours. Even if you used a full hour on progression, you would have another hour to play around with the Hadean Rose.
“Are you saying we need more time?” Akira asked me.
“That we do. One hour won’t let us test anything.”
“So we’ve gotta get the Super Special Warp Stone.”
“Correct. With that, we’ll have plenty of room to experiment.”
As luck would have it, we had one. Shizuku had given us the one she’d won a while back. We hadn’t brought it into the equation yet, though, as using it without certainty of success would have been silly. We were still aiming for quick wins, so we wanted to save it.
Our comp wasn’t exactly meant for prolonged battles. Rather, I wasn’t meant for them! Going even further, my wallet wasn’t meant for them!
Sorry, but I just can’t throw away money for an entire hour straight!
If we couldn’t do that, then we were weak. After all, the composition was based on my drama cannon.
Hunting down tons of Black Roses was a daunting task, especially since we couldn’t gather all enemies in one spot at will like Emily’s armor knight class could. This party was simply a poor match for long-term battles against weak mobs.
“It doesn’t feel right for us to use it, does it? We don’t do well in long, drawn-out fights.”
“Yeah. I’m scared to just waste it outright. But hey, at least Shizuku didn’t give the SSWS to any other guilds. She was so uninterested in it that it wouldn’t have surprised me.”
“True! But if the Special Warp Stone section is this crazy, imagine the robot fighting game corner where you can get the Super Special one.”
“Yeah. I bet it’s a bloodbath in there.”
“Wanna check it out?”
“Sure, why not?”
Off we went to the robot-fighting game venue!
“Yeeep. It’s bad.”
“Ahahaha...”
The size of the crowd here was just ridiculous. Ms. Nakada was managing things again today. It was a good thing they had a teacher here.
“Who is our next challenger?! For the first time in a while, we have a five-time winner!”
“Me, me, me, me!”
Dozens of people raised their hands. It must’ve been hell just trying to pick someone.
“Now, now. Anyone who wants to fight, gather up here!”
Ms. Nakada was swarmed almost immediately.
“I don’t think they’ll be done anytime soon,” Akira muttered.
“For real. There are way too many people.”
Maybe that was all according to plan for the big guilds, though. By wasting other people’s time, they could stop Super Special Warp Stones from being distributed.
I wondered if they were keeping track of the current state of the competition and, when someone looked like they’d get ten wins, they’d send their strongest guild members out to try to shut them down. As a result, all of the high-level fighters would crush one another, resulting in no Super Special Warp Stones being given out.
“Well, that’s fine. If they all waste their time dragging one another down, that makes things easy for us.”
We weren’t seriously considering a prolonged battle against the Hadean Rose yet, but maybe that would be the most effective strategy after all. If all the people who would want to try it got stuck here, then that was just what we wanted. In the end, time would pass, and nobody would make it out with the SSWS.
“If we can find our breakthrough here,” I declared, “we can win this.”
“Then does that mean there’s no point staying here? It’s best if we just leave them, right?”
“Yeah. Let’s go somewhere else.”
We didn’t get anything, but it was nice to know what the situation was like. In a way, it was both a waste of time and not. It seemed like we had some short reprieve.
However, I still had some concerns regarding whether Yukino’s team had already obtained a Super Special Warp Stone, or if Emily’s pro gaming team had already devised a strategy. Either way, we had to find something for ourselves.
Just as we turned to leave the venue, someone onstage called out to us.
“Oh! Ren, Akira! Heeey, over here!”
“Hm?”
“Hey, it’s Emily!”
Akira was right; Emily was waving at us from atop the stage. Seeing as it was so packed, we hadn’t seen her before. Was she waiting offstage for them to pick an opponent? I wondered.
“Emily! Were you the one with the winning streak?!”
“Yep, that’s me! But as you can see, it takes time to find an opponent because there are so many people. Who knows when I’ll get my tenth win? It’s kinda annoying, honestly.” She heaved a sigh.
✦ ✦ ✦
“So, y’all decided you needed a Super Special Warp Stone too, huh?” I asked her.
“Honestly, we’re kinda split on it. I went to the dungeon with Lucas and the others once, but we lost. Now we’re stuck thinking up a strategy. And it’s not like having the stone would be a bad thing, so I figured I’d just come get it! Everyone else is off trying to get items too.”
“Uh-huh. So your progress is about the same as ours, eh?”
“Everyone is stuck on the Hadean Rose, then,” Akira surmised.
Emily nodded. “Yeah, I think so. If anyone had won yet, they’d be the talk of the town. So how about you guys? You have a Super Special Warp Stone, right? Did you use it and lose?”
“Nah, we still have it. We’re not exactly built to fight the rose until all its little flowers are gone. But hey, we’ll find another way.”
“Heheheh! I’m not surprised. Your one-shot drama cannon can’t hold up in longer fights, can it? Heck, your party might be better off switching you out for someone else. Are you gonna keep looking for a way to make it a burst fight?”
“Yeah. That’s pretty much our only chance.”
“Well, you do you. It’s important to put on a good show! If it goes well, you’ll be a star. We’ll be sure to celebrate your victory!”
“Thanks! Good luck, Emily. We’ve got places to be, so we’ll catch you later!”
“Good luck to you, Akira. Keep Ren in line!”
“Okay. Bye!”
After saying our goodbyes to Emily, we decided to leave the festival. Akira seemed a little bit off.
“Hey, Ren? You could’ve stayed to watch Emily fight, if you wanted. Are you sure you wanna leave?”
“Wha? No, it’s all good. We know what we need to do now.”
“Huh?! Really? When did you figure that out?”
“That conversation with Emily gave me an idea. First, let’s head back to the cottage and get everyone together. I’m ready to use that Super Special Warp Stone!”