Chapter 424

Merry Christmas

Defense Specialization and Tryouts

At around the same time when “Maple Tree” joined the fray at the fortress, the “Congregation of Holy Swords”, which was marching a little ahead from there, continued to march towards the enemy’s castle while defeating every player they encountered.

"Heey~ Isn't anyone actually gonna come and try to stop us~?

"Isn't that a good thing? We get to continue to press forward pretty much for free?”

"Someone will definitely come at us before we reach the castle."

At this moment, the “Congregation of Holy Swords” was in a rocky area at a much higher altitude than the forest they had just come out of. The special effect of the area was “increased damage taken”, which no one wasn’t very excited about, but still wasn’t something that they had to be particularly careful about.

“Are they now, really~? …!”

Frederica, who had been fiddling with her staff as a way to combat her boredom, quickly found herself looking at several white lights blinking like stars in front of her eyes, and her expression instantly changed to a serious one.

"Look out, everyone!"

At Payne’s call, everyone hid behind a rock to cut the line of fire coming from the front.

“‘Anti-arrow Wind Barrier’!”

Frederica prepared for the enemy's follow-up attack by deploying a wind barrier that could nullify the same type of projectiles that had shown to be so effective earlier. The “Gathering of Holy Swords” had access to skills that could deal with that kind of preemptive long-range attacks.

“Knots, ‘Sonar’! …Just ahead of us, on top of that stone pillar. Hm? There’s two people there?”

Frederica grasped the positions and numbers of the attacking players thanks to Knots’ Skill.

After using “Sonar” for a quick survey of the surroundings, Frederica was convinced that there were no enemy players within range other than the two people she had just detected.

“Haha, they think that just two players are enough!?”

“Is it safe to assume that they’re Lily and Wilbert from ‘Rapid Shot’?”

"Yes. There are no monster companions in the area, nor any monster that can be tamed with items during this event.”

Hearing that, the rest of the guild members showed their uneasiness. They clearly outnumbered the enemy ahead of them by a large margin. And more than trying to drive Payne and the others back, the fact that there were only two of them made them think that this was some kind of trap.

"They must think they have a chance of winning like that… or at the very least, that they can retreat safely."

Not only Payne and the others, but a large number of allied forces were on the move, and since all of them were stepping into enemy territory, it was only natural to think the enemy would have some kind of retreat route.

"Let's show them where our confidence comes from. And if they show us any kind of opening, we’ll cut them down on the spot.”

"Okay, I'll pave the way. Let’s do this the way we planned it…”

Dred promptly summoned Shadow, as he was the easiest way to gauge the enemy's ability to respond.

"Time to fight, Shadow! ‘Shadow World’!”

This skill, which allows party members to crawl under the ground and move freely, could target all players from the same faction within range during this event.

One by one, all members of “Congregation of Holy Swords” quickly ran through the shadows, safely moving to the next large rock that would serve them as shelter.

Wilbert could be a great archer, but not even he would be able to shoot through the ground. The party arranged their formation so that it would be difficult for an archer to take aim at them without having to be constantly moving from their position, and the moment they would return to the surface behind the safety of a rock, they instantly casted their spells.

“‘Multi-Smokescreen’!”

After producing a white smoke that would obstruct only the enemy's vision, completely covering the ground, Frederica stuck her head out from behind the rock to check the situation above.

"Whoa!?"

At that moment, a white light burst in front of her face, indicating that her “Anti-Arrow Wind Barrier” had just been triggered, and Frederica hurriedly went back to hiding her entire body behind the rock.

"He can still see us~? That's strange…"

"I knew it, his eyes are special. I don't know what kind of Skill it is, but it looks like he knows our position at all times.”

"But it's not perfect, huh~"

Although Wilbert’s arrows were as deadly as they come, they can only come in a straight line from the position where he is shooting them. With the current formation of “Gathering of Holy Swords”, if he wanted to launch simultaneous attacks, he would literally have to be in more than one place at the same time.

"Knots, ‘Carrier Pigeon’! Here, give them this, please~!”

With a chirp, Knots went out to deliver the buff of Frederica’s choice to her allies, who had otherwise been out of range. Although it takes time depending on the distance, this will allow everyone to enjoy the benefits of “Anti-Arrow Wind Barrier”.

"Let's go!"

Once their setup was complete, everyone jumped out from behind the rock and, encouraged by Dred’s warcry, quickly ran forward to close the distance with their attacker.

Their advance was met by a rain of arrows that indiscriminately fell upon the entire area from the sky.

It was a really strong attack. However, the “Congregation of Holy Swords” would naturally have an answer for any ranged attack that they knew was coming from above.

“‘Large Magic Barrier’!”

"Shadow, ‘Shadow Dive’!”

"Earth! ‘Rock Dome’!"

Being highly skilled, each of the members of “Congregation of Holy Swords” would quickly have a response for that rain of arrows, with half of the team conjuring up a large defensive barrier, while Dred and Drag relied on the power of their monster companions, which had been trained to that degree of strength in a rather short period of time. In addition, they continued to use Dred’s skill to hide under the ground and even inside the rocks to make the incoming arrows even more useless.

"Earth has come up with a great way to help with the defense, huh~”

"Well, I’m the one giving him instructions! ‘Earthquake’!”

The moment Drag knew his target would be within range, he slammed the ground, causing a big tremor. The shockwave traveled up through the nearby rock pillars, which made them tremble violently.

"Hah! Down you go!”

Any player affected by Drag’s skill will find themselves blown away by its huge knockback effect. This was particularly effective this time as well, since both of his targets were on a tall and narrow surface.

"Payne! You’re up~!”

The smokescreen created by Frederica was cut open, and the white dragon soared into the sky, charging straight at his targets.

"’Quick change’!"

Seeing that, Lily and Wilbert quickly switched their equipment while they were in the middle of falling from the rock pillar.

"’Flying Machine’ ‘Servant's Chair’"

Lily activated her Skills in quick succession, causing a large number of drone-like machines to appear, which then all joined together to form something that resembled a rescue mat in order to catch them and keep them airborne.

“Ray, ‘Total Magic Release’ ‘Torrent of Light’!”

Seeing Payne’s sword had started to emit a tremendous light, Lily also produced a large number of summoned soldiers to prepare the incoming blow.

“‘Holy Dragon’s Sword of Light’!”

“‘Puppet Wall’!”

The light that erupted along the arc drawn by the sword’s swing cracked the wall of lifeless soldiers open at a terrifying speed.

"’Reproduction’ ‘Repair’!"

Still, the speed at which Lily could recreate it was nothing to sneeze at. She quickly created more soldiers, which threw themselves in front of Lily to create another wall.

This wall was also promptly destroyed by the torrent of light emitted by Payne’s sword.

However, it seemed that as long as the two of them were able to keep Payne and the others busy and buy some time for their side would be good enough for them. Once the light subsided, Lily and Wilbert had moved to another nearby pillar, and had set several soldiers in a row, all of them pointing firearms at Payne.

"I see. Formidable.”

"Hahaha, it feels really nice to be complimented like that by someone like you, Payne. Don’t you think, Will?”

"Yeah. Let's start over, Lily."

When Wilbert was about to use a Skill to buff both of them, the ground around the area began to glow red.

"…!"

"This is… Will!"

"Yes, it's coming from above!"

Payne glanced at the sky and found himself looking at a phenomenon that seemed strange even for Lily and Wilbert.

A large number of magic circles were floating in the sky, and a huge black dragon was facing them.

That’s right, the kings of both countries were also participating in this battle. This wasn’t an attack focused on an area that was occupied with players, but rather, a random attack that could happen anywhere in the entire map. The red glow on the ground that they were looking at was a sign of where the dragon’s attack would land.

"The king is about to attack this place! Dred!"

“Shadow, ‘Unleash the Pack’ ‘Shadow World’!”

At Dred’s command, a large number of shadowy wolves started running around Shadow. The effect of this Skill was to completely refresh the cooldown of the next Skill Dred mentioned.

With “Shadow World” active once again, everyone was able to dive into the ground one more time to safely escape the area.

"If only we hadn’t been interrupted by that thing… We’ll get them next time!”

"Yes, that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

By staying here, at this rate, the “Congregation of Holy Swords”, which had rallied a lot of other guild members, would be suffering a lot of damage just to eliminate two players. Moreover, there was no telling when Lily and Wilbert’s reinforcements would arrive.

And Lily and Wilbert had no reason to pursue them if they were to retreat.

As a result, both parties quickly left the scene before the attack from both the magic circles and the dragon’s breath laid waste to it.

Lily and Wilbert used the drones summoned by “Servant’s chair” to escape the area and quickly retreat to their own base.

"Phew, as expected. Payne will jump in without hesitation as soon as he sees that he can defeat his target, huh?”

"I thought he would be a bit more hesitant… Sorry if I was too rash."

"No, it's fine. You did well. Besides…”

A little while after their escape, Lily and WIlbert finally saw the figures of two players running towards them as if they were riding a lightning bolt.

"Huh? Where’s the ‘Congregation of Holy Swords’!?”

"…Besides, our reinforcements were a little late."

The one riding the lightning bolt was Velvet, who had Hinata clinging to her side using her gravity control. Although they were a fighting force that could change the battle situation greatly the moment they arrived, unfortunately for Lily and Wilbert, they were originally too far away for them to get to the battlefield on time.

"We'll do our best next time."

"Ve-Velvet… Can we go a little slower next time…? I’m dizzy…”

"Are you okay?"

"Hop on, you two. It wouldn't be strange if that breath attack came down here as well."

"Let’s stay vigilant. Velvet, if you see the ‘Congregation of Holy Swords’ chasing after us, you know what to do.”

"Got it!”

Thus the four of them returned to their own camp riding Lily's special vehicle.

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