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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 392 Part 2

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 392: Side Story 10 –Meetings And Passings By – Part 2

「Goodness gracious, it’s never a dull moment when I’m with you…… However! Such crazy battles all part of the training as well! Therefore, let me show you what I’m truly capable of! Be sure to watch me closely!」

「A Vorpal Bunny…… No way!?」

「Yes, umm, that’s right, I have one as well…… And those bunnies are also the key to the blacksmithing world that you were previously not even aware of! …… Now come! To battle!」

「It would be a huge help if you were not saying such distracting things right before the start of the battle!」

And just like that, the combat commenced!

While grabbing the Iron Whip in her hand, Saiga-0 related brief instructions to her teammates. She also decided that they are competent enough to take care of themselves, so there would be no need for having to order them around.

「Firs of all, we will wait and see what this monster is capable of! Once we will know its attack patterns, then we can move on to the offensive!」

「If that’s the case, then I shall whip out my best spear to use! BLITZ FORGE!!!」

The hammer in Imrod’s hand is covered in lightning. She then took out three ingots from her inventory and threw them in the air, striking them with her hammer. Before the ingots managed to fall to the ground, they transformed into a mallet, a kukri sword and a throwing spear.

Just then, the huge desert worm started to rush through the sands, scattering it to the sides. It opened its mouth with the intention of swallowing its enemies whole, the excess sand being discharged through the openings that were located at the sides of its giant body. Imrod managed to jump to the side, dodging the huge mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth, and threw all of the three weapons towards the desert worm.

But what was the point of that action? Even if you were to throw weapons at a monster like that with decent Strength stat, its sheer mass and acceleration would be more than enough to easily deflect anything coming its way.

However, even though her weapons failed to deal any kind of damage, Imrod smiles under her nose as if she was satisfied with an experiment of some sort. Then she readied her hammer once more and declared in a loud voice:

「Slash damage is ineffective! Piercing damage is so-so! Striking damage is the most effective!」

「Good to know! You have my gratitude……!」

「Saiga-0-san! It’s really hard to move around here with those legs of mine!」

There was no reply to this statement. There was no need. Instead, Saiga-0 just silently extended her hand, and Diale jumped up into that hand and then proceeded to climb on top of Saiga-0’s head right away. The whole action took only a second.

When Saiga-0 confirmed that Diale was sitting on top of her head comfortably and started to chant the spell, she could finally focus on her weapon and the enemy at hand. This weapon was named “Murakoumo”, and it was another one of the Vorpal Bunny weapons. This one was forged by the King Weissash himself, reforged from the Vorpal Sledgehammer that was in Saiga-0’s possession. Ready to fight, Saiga-0 put more strength into her grip.

「Its rushing seems to be pretty monotonous…… Yeah, should we just assume that it’s the case of simple tracking here? And if we take into account the way in which it was trying to ambush us from down below……」

「It’s coming here!」

「Diale-san, hold on tight!」

「I was going to do just that without you specifically saying it!」

The sandy earth started to shake violently once more. Right after that, another Desert Worm shot out from below the ground with a drill-like spin, aiming for the place where Saiga-0 stood just a second ago with its agape mouth.

In that moment, the whole body of Saiga-0 was wrapped in the bright light of the skill that was activated just now. With all of her stats being boosted multiple times just now, Saiga-0 took a might swing with her new sledgehammer, and the weapon flew through the air, digging deep into the side of the worm that appeared on the battlefield just now.

At the current moment, Saiga-0’s level was still ninety nine Extend since she was yet to lift her level cap. But thanks to all of the experience as a player and continuous level downs to try different battle strategies, her actual level should be on par with those players who have lifter their level caps.

Due to the characteristics of the weapon “Iron Whip”, the slashing property of the weapon gets shifted to striking damage and the impact of the hit bent the worm’s body even further.

The Desert Worms have no vocal cords, but the cracks and dents displayed on their models were clear indication that the attacks were successful and that the monsters were suffering at the current moment. As a result, the worms tried to burrow themselves into the sand once more.

「However, this is……」

The damage that the single blow managed to inflict. The characteristics of the monsters they were facing right now. Their behavior upon being hit…… Trying to piece all of those things together on the spot, Saiga-0 looked as though she was biting her lip in frustration under the protection of her helmet.

Indeed, if you are a player who is accustomed to VR gaming, you can fight even the toughest of battles for a couple of hours without breaks. Of course, only if you feel like doing that.

However, even if that may indeed be so, if the windows of opportunity for the attacks is limited here and the Desert Worms can disappear and reappear from beneath the sand as they please, this accompanied with the added handicap of fighting on uneven ground may cause your brain to start thinking too hard about possible solutions and ways of action. This in turn might cause the player a severe mental exhaustion. And it that state, it is way too easy for the system to forcefully shut itself down on the players, preventing their health from deteriorating.

That being said, some of the most experienced players have the ability to actually break even the most grueling of battles and tasks into smaller “jobs” or “Things to do”. This allows them to make the mental strain that is being pushed on them a little bit easier to handle and less taxing, which allows to put away in time the moment when the safety features would come into effect.

However, the greater the disadvantages the players need to face and the stronger the mental strain, the shorter it would take for them to approach their limits.

「What should I do here? Even with my Maximum Firepower, the problem here is the sheer size of those monsters. And if they decide to go into hiding or run away, we cannot possibly hope to give chase after them, not in this environment. They have way too great of an advantage here.

「…………」

There is no way in which Saiga-0 would be able to grasp the bigger picture here. She was not her sister, she was unable to make split second decisions like her. And she was not Arthur Pencilgton, who would most probably drive her teammates to the brink of death without the slightest bit of hesitation.

However, even though she was not any of them, Saiga-0 had to make a decision here: to fight? Or to run away?

However, even though Saiga-0 was not any of the two great leaders, there are things in this game that only she was able to do……

「Please, lend me your help……」

There are three kinds of people in this word: those who meet their loved ones, those who pass their loved ones by, and those who support one another from the shadows.