As a matter of fact, even Frederica and Eliza were getting thrown off by the buffs because of how much those buffs affected their already incredible abilities, and it was making it hard for them to fight at their best. Fully understanding one’s gear and limits was one of the basics of being an adventurer, but they wouldn’t get there by mindlessly squashing monsters and dulling the fear they felt facing them. The crux of fighting monsters was to evade their attacks and use positioning to keep resource expenditure down—to move in a “cool” way, as Rosalind put it.
Sol was thankful to the young queen for having reminded him of all this. Getting complacent after becoming the ruler of monsters could lead to disastrous consequences. After all, he knew for a fact that there was a being who could manipulate his monsters at will.
“All right, go for it!” Now that his head was back in the game, Sol announced the start of battle the way he used to with Black Tiger.
One thing that was different now was that Sol no longer had to stay close to Reen and Julia due to his inability to give himself an HP barrier. Now, he had his monsters around him for protection. Although they were initially disappointed about being sidelined, they were gradually infected with their liege’s high spirits. Even on the off chance that Reen’s group encountered a monster that could wipe them out, not a single hair on their heads would be harmed, and that was even truer for Sol. They could focus on their practice with full reassurance that their party’s shot caller was in safe hands.
“Intimidate! Rah!” Reen immediately charged straight into the middle of the open space and unleashed an area-of-effect skill that forced all the monsters in view to target her.
As long as Intimidate remained active, the monsters would be unable to direct their attention elsewhere even when they were getting pounded by attacks from behind while their own attacks proved entirely ineffective against her large shield. This was Reen’s job as a tank: to be a wall that blocked all attacks aimed at her party—to protect her party. Additionally, Intimidate lowered the speed of those it affected. If any of the monsters could speak, they would have protested, yelling, “That’s cheap!” Then again, some monsters possessed the same ability as Reen, so Sol’s side had shouted that exact sentiment in the past.
“And...Forbidden Domain’s up.” With the whole room concentrated on Reen, Julia used Forbidden Domain to create a space that no monster could enter.
This was a standard support spell for those who needed time to wind up for a powerful ranged physical attack or cast a spell with a long incantation. Some thought of it as a crutch for parties with an unreliable tank, but sneak attacks could easily lead to a party’s collapse, even by simply interrupting a long incantation and thereby throwing off the group’s rhythm. Therefore, casting this at the very start demonstrated vigilance.
“Frederica, first take out the reinforcements! Eliza, help her!”
Now that the monsters were all focused on Reen and everyone else had space to prepare any large attacks they wanted, the next order of business was to prepare for reinforcements. When the party was facing just one opponent, the standard tactic was to lure it to a place that would not draw attention from other monsters and to take it down swiftly. Against a room filled to the maximum spawn limit, however, there were bound to be a few running to summon others. Normally, humans would approach with several parties to set up a proper front so as to avoid being mobbed and simply ride out the waves.
In this specific case, however, Sol’s party was alone and only had six members, including him. Their strategy, therefore, was to assign a mobile unit dedicated to paring down reinforcements group by group before they could join the main force. Sol chose Frederica, who, being a pugilist, possessed high mobility and one-on-one fighting strength, with Eliza, who was specced for debuffing magic, as support.
“Understood, my lord!”
“Got it!”
The two swiftly set off toward the three passages leading to the room, choosing them based on the intel that Sol was gathering through Player. Needless to say, they didn’t head into the same passage at the same time. While Frederica cleared one out, Eliza filled the other two with her magic threads. Furthermore, while taking turns dealing with the passages, the two of them kept an eye out and eliminated monsters who were unaffected by Intimidate and making a beeline for Julia or Sol.
“Now Sacred Domain’s up too,” said Julia.
While Reen blocked the monster horde’s attacks and cut them down using Butter Knife, and Frederica and Eliza kept reinforcements away, Julia had been setting up an area where all her allies’ HP barriers would be continuously healed by a fixed amount for a fixed duration. Thanks to that, Reen and the mobile unit could take a little more risk in carrying out their roles. As long as their HP remained up, nothing could stop them other than attacks specifically imbued with movement-hampering effects. They would not suffer actual physical harm either, thus no pain, which meant that as long as Sacred Domain was up, they could shrug off all attacks under a certain threshold and focus entirely on offense.
“Uh? Huh? Heh?” Rosalind looked around wildly. Reen and Julia were veterans and therefore knew their respective roles in facing a large mob even without Sol’s instructions. Frederica and Eliza, though newer at this, had built up some experience and could immediately carry out any commands Sol gave. Rosalind, however, was a complete novice and felt a little overwhelmed by how suddenly the fight had begun.
“Calm down,” said Rodem, despite itself being surprised by how different this fight was in comparison to those in its memories.
“Enemies can’t enter Julia’s Forbidden Domain,” Sol explained. “Reen’s Intimidate makes all the monsters focus on her. Frederica and Eliza are going around taking care of their reinforcements. Even if ranged attacks come, we’ll be fine, since Sacred Domain is constantly repairing everyone’s HP barriers.”
Rosalind’s dynamic vision had improved significantly, but the speed at which the other girls were moving was still too fast for her to follow. The monsters, on the other hand, appeared to be standing still thanks to one of the buffs that Julia had cast on the party before the fight: Thought Acceleration. Those under the effect of the buff could communicate vocally with no issues but would otherwise see Reen as a blurry blob in the middle of the room, Frederica and Eliza practically teleporting between the three passages, afterimages in their wake, and Sol, Julia, Rosalind, Rodem, and the three monsters juddering where they stood near the entrance. Furthermore, their voices would sound like supersonic screeches that brought plays of the horror genre to mind. While the world was moving in slow motion from Sol’s point of view, from the world’s point of view, his group was moving at mind-breaking superspeed.
“Sorry! I-I’m fine now!” Rosalind shook herself, recalling that her role as a mage was to cast the biggest, most powerful area-of-effect spell in her arsenal to wipe out all the monsters in this room.
Seeing the way she nodded repeatedly as if shoring up her courage, Sol chose to stay casual, giving her a thumbs-up and a smile. “All right. Off with their heads, Your Highness!”
“Okay!” Rosalind cried cheerily, happy about receiving her own order.
She immediately prepared to cast Multilock Homing Laser. Flitting about like a butterfly, she pointed her staff at each monster to apply a targeting magic circle on it. Normally, those monsters would instinctually sense it and either rush toward her with their fangs bared or choose caution and flee. Now, however, their attention was seized by Reen, and they were forced to continue futilely bombarding her.
Soon enough, every monster in the room was marked, and the same number of light missiles burst into the air from the spherical magic formation surrounding Rosalind, raining down on their respective targets. None of them had HP barriers beefy enough to withstand the shower of shooting stars, and they were therefore erased upon contact. In the blink of an eye, Sol’s party found itself standing alone in the spacious room.
“That... That was so cool!” Rosalind gushed, thrilled that she had pulled off an incredible feat on par with those of characters from myths and legends.
Seeing Frederica and Eliza rejoining the group after having cleared the passages, Sol said, “And that’s a basic rundown of how our party fights. Did I miss anything?”
“Nope, I think that’s it,” replied Julia, brimming with satisfaction from reliving their days back when Black Tiger had been a tight-knit group. Perhaps she, too, had thought the Miracle Children of Ros Village would stay together and remain that way forever.
“It’s been ages since we fought with Sol in command!” Reen gushed. “It’s so fun!”
Despite the overwhelming difference in strength, the standard battle had left her covered in sweat and practically bouncing with delight. Her exclamation wasn’t so much for anyone’s benefit as it was a vocalization of the emotion coursing through her. Like Julia, she also truly enjoyed fighting this way.
“It...definitely was exhilarating,” said Frederica.
She exchanged a flushed and slightly dazed look with Eliza, who replied, “I agree.”
Ever since being granted their strength, those two had been making their own decisions in battle, following strategies laid out by Sol, which involved constantly keeping an eye on the overall situation and adapting on the fly. This was their first time receiving clear commands from him and simply acting on them. And it seemed the experience had been sensually pleasing.
“Oh my god, girls.” Julia made an exasperated noise upon seeing Frederica and Eliza clearly turned on, but she herself was quite excited too. It had indeed been a long time since using their typical approach to battle under Sol’s command, which was something she had once taken for granted.
Victory, seized through perfect cooperation when party members received timely and expedient orders from a commander who could see his team moving exactly how he wanted, gave everyone involved an irreplaceable joy. It was a sensation that only those who had fought with full faith in their companions could experience, an emotion that surpassed all other pleasures. It was a big reason adventurers, even after having obtained fame and wealth, continued their work. There simply was no other experience more fulfilling.