Holland and Kokuten were showing each other their drops and discussing what type of equipment could be made with them. Clearly, these materials could be used to make some really powerful equipment, even for players of their rank.
Once everyone was finished checking their drops, we started walking towards the back of the room. It didn’t take long to figure out where we were meant to go.
“This must be the exit.”
“It’s just a regular set of doors.”
“Yeah, but we have no idea what could lie beyond it.”
The doors looked more or less the same as the doors of the entrance. Most likely, this exit would bring us to Zone Eleven.
“I’m kind of worried, since we lost so much of our fighting power. But we can’t not go,” Sekisho muttered, and he was right. We couldn’t turn back now. After all, even though we were the only group to defeat the boss as of now, who knew when other players would arrive here next.
We couldn’t discount the possibility that while we hesitated and retreated, other players would get the jump on us and be the first to enter Zone Eleven. In fact, that sort of thing had happened in previous zone-unlocking battles. With that in mind, the best course of action was to keep going until we made it through the cave and registered a safety zone.
Unfortunately, with so many of our party having died in battle, our fighting power was shaky at best. The members of our party who had survived were myself, Eine, Drimo, Rick, the Demonic Ghost, Kokuten, Sekisho, Akari, Kurumi, KTK, Holland, Huey, and Sawyer.
“Our first step is leaving this room. After you, Silver-Haired.”
“Huh? Me?”
For some reason, Holland nominated me for the honor of going through the doors first. I would have had no complaints if he wanted to be the one to open the door. He had been pivotal in the fight, and he was the most hero-like of the group. Heroes always led the way in grand adventures.
But everyone else was staring at me. Well, I guess it caused the least conflict to have the player who had initiated the raid be the first to open the door. I felt like Akari was a good choice too, but even she was gesturing at me to go ahead.
“All right...I’ll open the door.”
The doors automatically opened outwards as soon as I touched them. They led into more cave, but I could clearly see light streaming in from up ahead. That must be the exit.
Ding-dong.
“Players have cleared the trade route to the hidden beast hybrid village. The players who are first to arrive in Zone Eleven will be awarded the title, ‘New World.’”
“You have arrived in Zone Eleven. You will be granted the title ‘Groundbreaker.’”
I figured I would receive a title, but it was still cool! I checked their details, and they didn’t look too shabby. They were largely cosmetic titles.
Title: New World
Effect: Receive four bonus points and increased favorability from certain NPCs. Proof that you were among the first to open the doors to a new world.
Title: Groundbreaker
Effect: Receive two bonus points and a slight increase in favorability from certain NPCs.
New World was a unique title that only our raid party would receive. I heard everyone cheer as they checked out their new titles. I thought that by this point, titles weren’t that rare anymore... Were they happy about the increased favorability from NPCs? Other titles also had that same effect, but I never really felt like it made that much of an impact. Though I guess since it was difficult to target increasing favorability, it made sense that a lot of people would be happy about that effect.
While I was at it, I went ahead and checked my stats too and saw that all my monsters had leveled up. Sadly though, no one was ready to evolve or had learned a new skill.
As we walked through the cave, Kokuten came up with a plan to reassemble our parties. Once we had left the boss room, our raid party was disbanded, so Kokuten wanted us to remake our team for the purpose of exploring Zone Eleven.
Currently, we had nine players. One party was made up of Holland, Huey, Kurumi, Kokuten, Sekisho, and Sawyer. They were a well-balanced group.
The other party was me, Akari, and KTK. It might have seemed like a weak party at first, but KTK’s detection abilities combined with Akari’s combat ability were enough to keep us afloat. I sent back the Demonic Ghost, leaving Drimo, Eine, and Rick with me. It might not have been the ideal lineup in terms of balance, but it would do for now.
With our party formations remade, we continued walking through the cave. Once we made it to the end and out of the darkness, we were welcomed with a view of a vast, verdant stretch of land. It looked like we had come out halfway up a small mountain. Below us was a forest with countless streams weaving through the greenery.
I looked over my shoulder to see a tall, snowcapped mountain range behind us, which must have been the mountain range that blocked players from getting to this side. Even if someone tried to climb to the summit, avalanches or other obstacles would keep them from going any further. We had been able to cut through the mountain range by going through the cave.
Akari, who was standing at the front of our group, suddenly called out, “Hey, isn’t that a village over there?”
I turned towards where she was looking. “Huh? Oh, you’re right!”
Indeed, at the base of the mountain was what clearly looked like a village. It was a straight shot from where we stood, and we would likely be able to replenish our items once there. It also wasn’t too far away. While everyone looked relieved at the sight of it, KTK was focused in a different direction.
“Look over there,” she said.
“Huh? What is it, KTK?”
“Something’s there, in the woods.”
I looked where KTK was pointing, and sure enough, I saw some sort of structure peeking out from a distant part of the forest. I could see what looked like a spire and walls, but the trees grew too densely around it for me to get a clear picture of it. It was also really far away. I had a feeling it was one of this zone’s central areas, like the cities in Zone Ten.
“While I understand everyone would like to admire the scenery, we need to find a safety zone before doing anything else. Let’s follow the path to the village. I’m sure our fallen comrades want to rejoin us as soon as possible as well.”
As ever, Kokuten was our calm and collected leader. And he was right—we could always come back to this spot to survey the area. Our first goal was to register a teleportation circle.
Kokuten had already sent a message to the rest of our raid party to stand by at the Beast Hybrid Village. Their stats had taken a hit from respawning, so it was a good idea for them to hang back for now anyway. Then, once we, the survivors, found a safety zone, we could bring everyone else here.
Our respawned party members had also received the New World title. And based on what the Groundbreaker announcement said, they would probably receive that title too once they stepped foot in Zone Eleven. Since we had already beaten the boss once, we would be able to get through that cave without having to fight it again, so obtaining the title should be a piece of cake for them. I bet that right about then, the rest of our raiders were partying it up. I knew that was what I would be doing in their shoes, at least.
“We don’t know what sort of enemies we might encounter. Let’s move cautiously,” Kokuten said.
“Got it.”
Even the small-fry monsters here were completely new to us. Plus, we were in Zone Eleven, the “New World.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the enemies here were much stronger than anything else we’d seen so far.
Our entire group huddled together and descended the mountain path with eyes peeled in every direction. The path itself offered a firm footing, so even if we did get pulled into battle, fighting wouldn’t be a problem.
In the end, our caution was unwarranted. We made it down the mountain path without incident, and the entrance to the village was right there in front of us.
“Is this the devs’ way of showing us mercy?” Akari wondered.
“Yeah, maybe. We just fought a raid boss, so monsters probably just don’t spawn on the path between the cave exit and the village.”
There was a very real possibility of getting killed before even reaching the village when you were already half dead from fighting a boss, after all. Though perhaps our caution had played a bigger role than I thought.
“I detected monsters not far from the mountain path,” Kokuten remarked.
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah. We probably would have ended up in battle if we’d strayed off the path a little.”
“Oof! Talk about a close one!”
In truth, I had spotted a few gathering nodes just off the path. But since Kokuten had been so insistent about the forest being dangerous, I had just ignored them. Kokuten! Your level head saved the team!
It was also lucky that our remaining players were relatively all the type to follow instructions. I could imagine someone like Murakage or Sukegawa thinking it was safe enough to do a little gathering as we walked. They were the sort of characters who were the first to die in horror movies. And look, I wasn’t saying I was happy they weren’t here, just that that scenario was likely to happen.
There was no gatekeeper in front of the village, so we were able to walk right in. The villagers didn’t seem wary of us either. But after making our way a little farther into the village, someone came running up to us in a panic. He was an NPC, but he was wearing fairly fancy clothing.
“Pardon! Tell me, please, did you make it through the cave?”
The NPC was a bear-human hybrid. He had a towering, powerful physique, but he was also incredibly self-effacing. And for some reason, he wasn’t looking at Kokuten, who was at the front of our group, but at me. Everyone else must have noticed too, because they quickly cleared the way between me and the NPC. The NPC came right up to me and brought his face close to mine.
“Oh, um, yeah. We just defeated the Cerberus Lion,” I told him.
“Huzzah! At last, the beast has fallen! There’s no time to waste! I must tell the others!”
“Huh? Wait!”
He was long gone. Oh well. There was a teleportation circle right in front of us, so at least we could go ahead and register that.