651 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Way too big…
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652 Name: Anonymous Archer
So much to do
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653 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Anyone recommend a starting town?
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654 Name: Anonymous Mage
Haven’t checked them all.
But definitely not the eighth stratum town.
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655 Name: Anonymous Archer
Diving every time is rough!
Though I ain’t been…it might actually not be that bad.
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656 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Monsters=tough.
They’re a bit overkill, right?
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657 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
They’re meant to filter us.
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658 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
On the upside, there’s lots of ways to get around.
Not all of us tamed mountable monsters.
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659 Name: Anonymous Mage
Not just horses. You can ride dragons!
They’re pricey for a rental, though.
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660 Name: Anonymous Archer
It’s huge that we can all fly.
And they’re fast.
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661 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
But even so, exploration’s endless.
Tons of quests, hidden events, secret areas…
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662 Name: Anonymous Mage
They said there’d be more.
Are there?
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663 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
If you can’t find a hidden area it might as well not exist.
Far as I’m concerned, NWO has no such thing.
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664 Name: Anonymous Archer
Given the sheer size of the map, your odds of stumbling on a rare event may not be improved much.
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665 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
But they said there were more, so here’s hoping!
I really wanna stumble on one.
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666 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
That’s down to luck and your instincts.
Though I’m sure there are some good skills out there if you’re just tackling hard quests…
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667 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Lots of places on this map have overlap between the themes, which makes everything look like it might have a secret in it. That is exciting.
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668 Name: Anonymous Mage
Gotta get powered up before the event.
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669 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Trust your luck and keep those feet moving.
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670 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Oh, yeah, if you’re mostly getting items from crafters, scope out the shops.
They got some good stuff.
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671 Name: Anonymous Archer
Can confirm!
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672 Name: Anonymous Mage
Shouldn’t just run round the field, then.
There’s a reason there’s so many towns and shops.
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673 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder
There are also traveling merchants out in the field.
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674 Name: Anonymous Mage
Too much to explore!
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675 Name: Anonymous Spear Master
Something somewhere’s gotta lead to a rare event.
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676 Name: Anonymous Mage
Overwhelming!
But in a good way!
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677 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder
Word
Any tears shed were probably happy ones. It was clear they were a long way from running out of places to go.
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Maple and Sally were headed to the field to take care of those quests…
But on the way, they saw a player mounted on an armored dragon, taking to the skies.
“Is that a pet?”
“……Doesn’t look like it. Let’s check it out.”
“Okay!”
They made a detour to the dragon launch site.
There they found a lot of armored dragons and the horses that the players had previously ridden. There were a bunch of mounts, animal and monster alike.
“……Guess you can rent them. The dragons are pretty expensive.”
“Are there limits…?”
“I’m afraid you do still need stats. The numbers would be fine for any normal player who made it this far, but…”
Maple’s build was so extreme she’d struggle—and fail—to ride them.
“Heh-heh, but two can ride these!”
“Oh!”
“If we want to try it, I’ll have to be in front. I’ve got the stats to ride any of these.”
“So Syrup’s gonna take some time out…”
Maple usually kept her turtle aloft with the Psychokinesis skill, and it was quite slow. Not nearly zippy enough to explore a map this big.
“They are just movement options, no combat assists, so we’ll just have to get Syrup to help us in battle.”
“Can do! Um, we’ve done horses, so let’s take a dragon!”
“Cool. They can fly, which should help a lot. And that’s why we came over here anyway.”
“Yup, yup!”
Dragons weren’t cheap, but the girls had played a lot and had plenty of money saved.
Both climbed aboard a smaller dragon. At Sally’s signal, it took to the sky.
“So fast!”
“Fastest mount yet! Don’t fall off! I mean, I’ll come pick you up, but…”
“I know!”
Maple could survive any fall, but it would be bad if she landed on someone.
She kept a firm grip on Sally, who kept the dragon’s head pointed toward their destination.
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They flew for a while but, in time, neared their goal and descended to a landing.
“It’ll fly to our position if we call for it…for the duration of the rental anyway. We just have to leave it somewhere safe.”
“Then we don’t have to worry about it in a fight!”
They had the dragon stay put and headed to the quest marker.
It was a goblin den. They’d cleared their share of these before—the darkness deepening as they went in, monsters awaiting them. The goal was to kill a set number of them—a basic hunt quest. Defeat the demon lord’s minions and secure the safety of the realm.
“Guess we’ve gotta go in.”
“I’ll lead the way!”
To kill monsters, they had to go to them. Maple raised her shield to keep Sally safe and advanced into the gloom.
Not long after, they spied a few goblins.
“All right!”
“……Maple!”
“Yikes?!”
Sally grabbed Maple and yanked her back—just as a jagged spear shot out of the wall. It scraped Maple and damage sparks flew.
The goblins cackled merrily and fled deeper in.
“They’ve set traps.”
“Oww… Thanks, Sally.”
“Damage isn’t that high…but they’re piercing.”
No ordinary trap could get through Maple’s defense. If it could—it would one-shot any other player.
“Even if you do get hit, as long as we stop to heal, you’ll be fine. But there’s no telling how fast these traps will spring.”
If piercing arrows shot at her from all directions, she might go down before she had a chance to react.
Sally told Maple to check the floors and walls as she went, but after a minute’s thought, Maple had a different idea.
“What about this?”
“Hmm? Lay it on me.” Maple explained her idea, and Sally nodded a bunch, thinking it over. “Not bad. No risk to us… Let’s try it!”
“Woo!”
“Start the setup.”
“Okay!”
Maple moved in front of Sally. Unable to tell exactly where the traps were, she aimed her short sword toward the back, tilting it slightly downward.
“Hydra!”
A torrent of poison shot out, purple goo coating the den’s interior.
Maple nodded, pleased with herself, then took some bombs from her inventory.
Iz had made them. They exploded after a brief delay. Naturally, they were plenty powerful.
“Okay!”
“Flash Spout!”
On Maple’s signal, Sally summoned a stream of water, washing the lethal poison and bombs into the depths of the den.
“Hydra!”
“Waterway!”
Maple made poison; Sally washed it away. There was only one way in or out of the den, and they were standing in it.
They didn’t hear screams, but over the whoosh of toxic water, they heard the bombs going off.
“Oh! The quest count went up!”
“That went well.”
A goblin had perished somewhere, whether poisoned, drowned, or blown to bits. The den was now filling with poison diluted in water, all without the duo even taking a step.