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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 653: The Emperor’s Reign Has Come to an End Part 1

When we entered this place, there was about fifteen of us in total.

Three people were killed by suicide attack of the Swimming Mines, and one person ended up getting skewered by the Dominator Grizzly. So at the current moment we only have about eleven players left in this battle. Even if you voluntarily deduct a player who has decided to permanently reside in a specific layer, it is still a hard situation. Or really hard, for that fact. Though at the current moment this situation resembles more of a slasher horror than anything else, because of how easy you can die. And that is not the only problem that we are facing here.

「Tsuchinoko-san! Please show me your skill composition! I will make it worth your while!」

「Is that really something that can be shown to others?」

「How many types of weapons do you use? You should be a Mercenary by profession, but your range of weapons seem to be pretty diverse, isn’t it? And how do you handle your skill operation?」

「I tend to not use all that much attacks skills to begin with. Their levels tend to rise too rapidly at times, so I prefer mobility ones anyways.」

「No way! Next, I would like to ask you just how many types of buffs you have! That one over there is the Curse Mark form a Unique Monster, is that correct? But it seems as though there was some change to it! What’s up with that!?」

「All of the buffs that would affect my torso and legs are instantly repelled, but there is a certain loophole to that rule that you can abuse: buffs affecting your body from the “inside” are no problem and they work as normal. So when choosing my buffs, I tend to look fo the ones that let you choose “How the buff is generated” rather than the overall “performance” of the buff.

「Next, what’s the deal with that oversized sword you have been using at the end there? It was so big that for a moment out there I thought that even you would be unable to lift it up and swing it around, Tsuchinoko-san!」

「You see, about that…… I have an item that temporarily allows me to swap some of my stats around. So I’m using this item to increase my Strength to an absurd degree. It may have seemed to you like I’m handling it very well and very precisely, but in reality I was just swinging it around because landing Critical Hits against this kind of opponent is really quite hard. Oh, and originally this weapon comes as a set and is meant to be used together with a specific suit of armor…… But if you search around the Old Continent and you succeed in satisfying some of the requirements, you will be able to obtain it as well. So it’s really profitable for any player out there to do so.」

「Seriously now!? That’s actually insane!」

See, here’s a certain fact that I do not really understand: it’s really mysterious how the number of questions being actively thrown at me managed to increase in size by a whooping fifty percent, all the while the number of people pestering me decreased by fifty percent. However, due to the struggle of all the players out there who returned from their respective searches and joined the fray of battle, the quest for the bamboo shoots has been marked as successfully completed and somehow the Professor was holding to a bamboo shoot that was glowing black in an ominous way, but even so he had no trouble with submitting said item to the “Ivory”.

「Huh? Is it really okay for you to be talking about all of this?」

「Yeah it’s fine. I mean, it’s not really worth it to try and hide it all, because…… From here on out the one of the most important factors is the RNG. And you cannot really control the RNG, can you?」

「Ahh, now that you actually mention it……」

「Ever heard about the True Quiet? The monster of Black Death? The only thing that I am going to hint you towards is that there is something really unique about that monster.」

「Huh? Something unique!? About that shitty monster!? Are you fucking kidding me here!?」

「I honestly thought it was a monster that couldn’t be defeated, no matter what kind of strategies you would employ against it.」

「Since it was an undead, we thought about throwing HP Recovery Potions at it like you would do with a grenade, or cast HP Recovery and Resurrecting Magic on it to deal damage to it, but we have been failing one time after another with those kind of strategies.」

「Huh…… Wow, you don’t say……」

They keep on saying that, but in reality getting used to the way in which the True Quiet acts and its attack patterns are pretty easy…… Or let me put it in a different way: it’s easy to just mindlessly shave its HP down. Actually understanding what needs to be done is a way more complex of a task than you might think. But once you are used to it, you just have to be careful about its shadow and the additional abnormal conditions and you are practically golden!

I mean, it may be just that the matters of True Quiet were so easy for me alone, and that others were having one hell of a hard time fighting against it. But it was then that Reiji-san (one of the survivors from the group of five people where three people were killed mostly because they did not have a member of Library with them, as strange as that might sound) approached me and muttered in a lowered voice.

「Oh, by the way, Sanraku…… Did you manage to defeat THAT?」

「That? What do you mean?」

「Oh, come on now! You know what I’m talking about! I’m talking about the denizens of those Crystal Nest Cliffs!」

「…………………… Say what now?」

Something Extraordinary on the Crystal Nest Cliffs? You mean to tell me that there is something more out there? Something that I failed to discover all this time? I mean, that’s certainly a possibility, but have you actually managed to confirm it?

「Huh? What’s this all about? Some sort of a secret story? Want to tell me more about it? In greater detail?」

「Huh? Umm, I wish I could, but…… I’m afraid that I’m not really all that familiar with that subject myself……」

「I’m ready to put out a unique complete chart related to Memento Mori if you happen to remember ant details about it. So? Interested?」

「Wait, seriously?」

「Yeah, seriously. Like, super seriously.」

「Oh, I’ve heard about this story as well! So if you could give me some more details, I would really appreciate it!」

Yeah, maybe it’s better to get involved with people a little more than just with Vorpal Bunnies. Just a thought for later. But before that thought could change into something even more, I gave myself a virtual slap to the head and reprimanded myself. You fool! You are not here to socialize! You are here so that you can fish out more information from people and use them to further your own gains! People may look nice and all, but those are vile and cunning creatures! Never forget that!