“To the eastern field?” the twins ask.
“Yes, we’ll gather there for now,” I reply.
The winds seem to have died down. I cast Waterproofing Force Field, say goodbye to the earl and his wife, and exit their home.
The rain continues to come down as thunder roars from above. The campfire in the town square is still burning with its faint green light despite the weather, however. I give it a passing glance as I head down the main road and out the eastern gate.
The field outside the forest is full of well-equipped outsiders making their final preparations.
“Princess! Lovely weather today, isn’t it?” Ms. Clementia greets me.
“Yes, the ground is soaking wet and lovely.”
Ms. Clementia, a plant race, probably does see thunderstorms as lovely. As rare as they are, sun showers must be her favorite weather of all.
“Hmm, is my cloak gonna cause a problem?” my sister mutters. “I don’t want it to get soaked and cling to my body, or it’ll be too heavy to move. It will also make me weaker against any status ailments involving ice.”
“It’s probably better to have a cloak than to go without. You can always use spells to keep it dry.”
My own cloak is quite helpful, but I also have Waterproofing Force Field from Space Magic, so the rain never soaks through it as long as the spell is active. I think I’ll keep my cloak for as long as my priority is role-playing as an adventurer. That way, I can also add depth to my magic-using character by protecting my cloak with Waterproofing Force Field. The thing about role-playing is that it’s all up to you to do what you enjoy.
“Welcome!”
“I don’t know about skeletons…”
“True, I don’t see why a skeleton would care about the rain at all.”
Mr. Skelly wears a single robe over his bones, Mr. Alf is already a suit of armor, and the twins don’t seem bothered by the rain.
“It seems I’m the only one in our party who has to prepare if it’s raining.”
“So I should think of you as the nonconformist in this case, Sis?”
“I don’t think I’d mind the rain either if I was in sphere form. But I can’t do moves like parrying with that body.”
Indeed, in a party of inhuman races, it’s me who breaks all the norms. A mere ball of flesh can’t hold a sword. I could extend my tentacles out to quickly knock away enemies, but of course, that’s pointless when I take damage from it.
“Now that I think of it, can races like slimes and foxes take the form of humans?” I ask.
“They all hope it’s possible, but right now, no one’s reported that ability,” says Rina.
“Maybe they have to wait until they’re at a very high level. Or there’s some sort of condition they have to meet.”
It doesn’t seem like the kind of skill that will randomly unlock through a typical person’s play style, so it must have requirements to unlock it—be it a rare skill, art, or spell. It could also be an Ex skill, but I feel those are all quite vague.
For me personally, my character is an avatar due to my race’s unique backstory. This avatar was built for interacting with other people, which is why I look like a normal human on the outside. Being a monk of the Medium makes me clergy, which is also a very human occupation. I don’t think I would call someone like the Pup Lord a clergy member, for example. I think he’s more like a worshipper, while “clergy” feels like a title for people with human forms.
All right, I think I’ll gather the leaders from my union and pass out some revival medicine. I definitely think it will be useful if we end up in a battle.
I’d also like to work on strategies while the leaders are all here, but frankly, there’s no way of knowing how this situation will work out until we actually get there.
“Focus on healing.”
“It looks at you like it wants your salvation!”
“Show no mercy!”
“Reminds me of a certain ‘Kitakita’ person.”
“Hey, you got what I was going for.”
“But in the end, ‘follow orders’ is the only real option.”
“Exactly!” the group agrees.
Yes, that’s true outside of times when you’re just farming an area to level up. You always find yourself wondering, “Why did you use that attack on an enemy who was almost dead?!” The enemy just needs one more hit, but instead your party wastes buffs and debuffs before taking them down. It’s a very common thing that happens in video games.
I’m going to go ahead and ignore the group using the stormy winds to act like they’re dancing for a music video. They even have accompanying pop songs playing, and it’s hard not to laugh at how they change poses in time with the beat.
“There’s about an hour left. Should we get moving?” asks Mr. Alf.
“Yes, and I believe the obstructions in our way should be gone now too.”
“The impatient players already went that way, but they said there’s still enemies around.”
Mr. Lucebarm informs me that there’s still enemies on the path to the fanatics. Considering what we learned from the documents and how Scarlet Circle works, I would assume they’ll retreat on their own eventually.
I predict our quest description will change once the climax phase starts. For now, we’ll just have to keep waiting.
“Capture the remaining fanatics”
Fanatics are on the verge of summoning Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goddess of the Bountiful Harvest.
You don’t want anyone to suffer because of their stupidity. Crush their shortsighted ambitions to smithereens.
“The quest changed!” shouts the group.
“It’s the climax phase!”
“Indeed, it’s changed now. Shall we head out?” I ask everyone.
“Let’s do this!” they reply.
The thunderstorm has weakened a bit too. The crowd of players begins to walk toward the mountain, our visibility not too obstructed by the rain anymore.
Now who, exactly, is performing a rendition of the Nyaruko-san song?
“My SAN is draining! This is bad!”
“What’s waiting for us is a lot worse than bad. We could be wiped out right there on the spot.”
“We know there’s Blessed and a Dark Young. If we’re really unlucky, we’ll run into Mommy Shub-Niggurath too.”
“Woo-hoo! Your mom’s Shub-Niggurath!”
“She could be your big sister instead.”
There are male versions of Shub-Niggurath that exist too…but the same goes for Nyar and his female versions, so perhaps it doesn’t really matter. Gender is a trivial thing to beings like these.
I wonder what Shub-Niggurath will be like in this world? Personally, I have a theory that she used to be human. If that’s true, the longer she’s been an outer one, the stronger she probably is.
“Hmm, I haven’t heard anything from those impatient players.”
“You mean those whose only loyalty is to greed? I can’t imagine anything good will come of playing like that during an official event.”
Judging by Mr. Lucebarm’s conversation with Mr. Cecil, the frontliners have gone quiet. They would probably brag about it if they found something exciting.
“Should we hurry? We don’t want the fanatics preparing for our arrival.”
“Hmm. I don’t really see the need.”
“Nor do I,” I add.
I predict that the frontliners either have their hands full or have already found themselves in checkmate. This is still a horror event, after all. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what will happen to anyone who prioritizes their independence in such a story. This game’s devs are especially merciless too.
“The quest changed after we finished deciphering the documents and had one hour left until the climax phase. The ritual started before we actually finished so that we could attack the fanatics while they were grouped up. Also, there was only one location optimal for the summoning. If we get overly hasty and end up getting stuck until time runs out, people would probably complain that they missed out,” I explain.
“That’s right, the documents even said it might be better to wait until they’ve started,” says Mr. Alf.
“But won’t they run if they know they’ve been spotted?” ask the twins.
“It’s a little meta, but I don’t think the event would be designed in a way that a few parties going ahead of the rest would cause a problem.”
I’m sure Management predicted some players would be impatient or try to hog the whole event to themselves. There would be no hope for the rest of us if they allowed a single party to go forward and clear the climax phase. That’s why we don’t think there’s any need to rush.
“But what do we think it means that they’ve gone silent? They’d probably be wailing about it if they died and that was the end of it.”
“I can sort of imagine what situation they must be in now,” I reply.
“That being?” asks Ms. Kotatsu.
“I’m talking about Scarlet Circle,” I tell her.
“Ah, I see.”
The fanatics have received a supply of Scarlet Circle materials that came of their own free will. What happens next shouldn’t surprise anyone. Right now, they’re probably tied up on the ground next to those other children until it’s time for the summoning.
“They could easily target outsiders if they need a supply of blood,” I say.
“Right, because we just respawn when killed. It might be a good way to get their hands on blood.”
Outsiders can bleed too, since blood loss is one of our status ailments.
We chat among ourselves and press on through the forest in the heavy rain. It doesn’t look like we’ll have to deal with lightning strikes like during the camping event.
“That skeleton looks so cool, Sis.”
“Doesn’t he? Ideally, I’d like him to be twice my size.”
I didn’t want to travel through the woods on a ball of flesh, so Unit One in the tattered robe I gave him before is carrying me around. Since I went to the trouble of making him, it’s nice to get some use out of him now and then.