CH 109

Chapter 109 – Before the Inbamunt Defence Battle

There’s no need to wait for the start time, so I log in as soon as I’m ready.

Well…the twins are already here. I invite them to a party via the friend list, apply for participation again and move to the event server.

And Ske-san and Alf-san are there in front of me.

“”Oh, it’s a dress.””

“Good day.”

“”Yahho!””

“It’s a naval battle, but are you going into the sky?”

“We are. We made plans to do so with Fairellen-san…”

“In that case…maybe Mead-san has space?”

“For the time being, let’s ask the usual solo’ers.”

“Right.”

What should we do about other members here? There are two slots available…Abbie and Dorie-san are angels, so they can fly, but…they’ll probably use a ship with Ellie.

…Oh, I have less acquaintances that can fly than I expected.

“The only other person I know that can fly is… Cupid-san.”

“Oh, Princess! Going for the sky?”

And so I invite Cupid-san, who comes over to join us.

“Fairellen-san will also be joining us.”

“Okay. Thanks for having me!”

“”Welcome!””

I also invite Fairellen-san, who returns a little later.

“I’m back again~. Hi hi!”

“Yaho”

“With Cupid and Princess, I can die quickly without worrying!”

“No, because rez has a high MP cost, right?”

“Cherish your life.”

“I’ll charge in with a bang~!”

Cupid-san and I have [Resurrection], so it’s easy to recover, but leaving aside Cupid-san, my MP is directly tied to my firepower. I really don’t want to have to slash at a kraken with a rapier…

Well, it’s about to start…

“That’s an amazing party…”

“No medical officer…but can’t be helped!”

It’s a fully party, made up of Ske-san, Alf-san, Clementia-san, Mead-san, Mutt-san and Mohican-san.

Clementia-san is the captain, Mead-san is the ship’s officer, Alf-san is the supply officer, Mutt-san is the engineer, and Ske-san and Mohican-san are gunners.

This game gives each attribute a heal spell, with holy, a derivative of light, being the best for healing, so there are surprisingly few dedicated healers. Of course, there are people who like supporting, such as Limina-san in Tomo’s party, so there are some specialising in healing. Healing is dependant on spirit rather than intelligence, so the amount healed will differ appropriately. I will heal a lot more than Ske-san, for example.

“Hmm? It’s Ertz.”

“Oh! We came because we heard that our builds will work well for supply or medical officers.”

Oh, my friends from the crafting group have shown up.

It seems that having a crafter take the role of medical officer or supply officer will be the most effective. They will receive a recovery or hull repair action, dependant on the crafting skills they have.

They can fill the vacant slot of an acquaintance’s party, or join a raid.

In Rina’s party, they have changed the leader to Nadia-san, while Rina will be the chief engineer, Helen-san will be the ship’s officer, Noelia-san the gunnery officer and Griselda-san the supply officer.

“Ah, Magillas-san! Won’t you come be our medical officer?”

“I’m afraid I have a prior engagement with Ojou-sama.”

“Gununu…”

“Oohohoho! We have already secured Magillas!”

“That laugh was pretty good…”

“Because I practiced.”

“What are you doing…”

Ellie and Abbie are here.

It seems like there was some progress with the verification while I was doing things on the real side, and they have discovered it’s better to have someone in a role than not, even if the required abilities don’t match.

It’s easy to put two people in the gunnery officer role, but it’s not like having two of them doubles the power, though nor is it ineffective.

For cruisers and battleships, they can have medical officers and flight officers, but the others seem to only have the medical officer role. The significance of of the medical officer is still unknown. Is it possible for the crew to take damage instead of the hull? That’s how it appears.

In other words, we solo players should rest on a nearby cruiser or battleship. Battleships, which require more players, are more likely to have medical and flight officers than a cruiser. Therefore, our priority for an evacuation site is super dreadnought battleship > fast battleship > cruiser. There seems to be a limit to the number of passengers. If there is enough space, you can get on board, but if the number is exceeded then you won’t be able to benefit from the increased recovery speed of the officer.

The performance of the carrier will be a mystery until it starts.

“I was thinking of changing to a cruiser, but I wonder.”

“I’m still undecided~”

“Alright! And let’s take Salute-san!”

I wonder if Salute-san will be the medical officer or flight officer on their cruiser. It looks like we could rest at Rina’s. It seems like the server will be decided according to start time and level range again, so it shouldn’t be too different.

We have also obtained information on the kraken from someone in the navy…

“I thought it was a squid or octopus…”

“Apparently sea monsters that grow larger than a certain size are called kraken.”

“It’s pretty much a sea monster with a variety of forms then.”

“This time it’s a jellyfish…”

Kraken – Jellyfish.

The kraken this time is presumed to be an Atlantic sea nettle, a species found near the undersea city of Atlantis.

The target is an Atlantic sea nettle medusa. It has a humanoid torso, with multiple tentacles in place of arms. From the waist down, like a skirt, it becomes a jellyfish.

It is possible that it has gained new abilities on becoming a medusa, but it will use «Water Magic» and can apply a moderately strong poison through the tentacles.

“Isn’t Medusa that petrifying snakehead thing?”

“According to the board, the adult stage of a jellyfish is called a medusa!”

“It looks like they’re using it for an even higher stage here.”

Sugu and Fairellen-san answered Lapis-san’s question.

Medusa refers to the adult stage of a jellyfish. However, they are still commonly known as ‘jellyfish’, so I wonder if they gave the name medusa to the next step after being a normal adult. It’s a monster.

Incidentally, the one Lapis-san was referring to was the youngest of the three Gorgon sisters in Greek mythology. Μέδουσα in ancient Greek. Medusa in English.

Medusa was Poseidon’s mistress, but after they had intercourse in the temple of Athena, an unrelated virgin deity, Athena lost her temper and turned her into a monster. Her two sisters who protested against it were also turned into monsters, but as they were immortal only Medusa was killed.

Perseus hunted her with the help of Athena, and Pegasus and Chrysaor were born from her blood.

Well, it’s just a myth.

“Ladies and gentlemen! I didn’t think this outfit would get its chance to shine, but we’ve been craving this moment! Let’s make the most of it!”

“Ohhh!”

I turn my attention to the voice I just heard and see…sailors. There is a group of people wearing white and blue sailor outfits. Their trousers and skirts might differ, but they are overall the same. They look like they will be boarding a battleship with that number.

Anyway, it’s about time to start…

“Okay, safe!”

“Oh, there’s Cecil.”

“I came back in a hurry. I’m glad I made it in time.”

I haven’t met with Musasabi-san and the others, but they’re showing as online in my friend list, so it seems that all my friends are here.

“Oh, hasn’t the impression of being a princess increased? Appearance is important after all.”

“I was told to continue as a Nemeseia, so it must have adapted to it.”

<<There is no sign of the kraken changing course. Sortie all ships.>>

“『Here it comes!』”

“I’ll use the Gundam!”

“It’s a ship!”

“…Isn’t the White Base okay?”

“I’ll take the White Glint, please. With VOB, of course.”

“That’s against regulations!”

“”Oh no!””

“Shut up and sortie already!”

It’s lively.

Well, we’re flying out as individuals, but let’s sortie too. We’ll fly towards the harbour.

“Hyahha! This is the best!”

“No! Disgraceful!

“You guys should go ride in a tank.”

…It’s lively.

“Main power, online. Magic furnace, no abnormalities. Output rising, all clear.”

“Unlock.”

“Unlocked, powering up.”

“Power check. Main turret, all clear. Secondary turret, all clear. Guns, all clear.”

“Convergent magic cannon and defence systems, no abnormalities.”

“Super dreadnought battleship, launching!”

“Engines at maximum capacity, starting propulsion.”

“Commencing charging of all cannons.”

The sailors…sound like they’re having fun.

“…The ships look fun.”

“That’s right. But there’s also something romantic about flying along with a moving ship.”

“…I get that~.”

“It looks interesting, so let’s accompany the sailor ship.”

“Sounds good~.”

With the approval of the twins and Cupid-san, we’ll be accompanying the lively battleship full of sailors. It will be convenient for a flight group to be near a super dreadnought battleship.

Oh, Nadia’s ship… it looks black and shiny. And they’re fast ships. It’s a grouping including Ellie’s, Tomo’s and Ske-san’s parties. Cecil-san, Ruzebarm-san, Kotatsu-san, and Musasabi-san are also aboard fast ships in a raid.

“Nadia-san, why does it look like that?”

“It seems to be because of Alf-san’s influence as a supply officer?”

I see, it’s the colour of Alf-san’s armour.

Some of the inhuman abilities are being applied to the hull.

“What is the effect?”

“It seems to increase the defence of critical areas and the hull while decreasing the repair speed.”

“That’s a tricky trade-off, isn’t it~? The strongest hull might be the slime armour…”

“Slime armour?”

“That blue ship~.”

Fairellen-san, I can’t see anything out of my range of vision. …No, I can see… I can see! Eye-chan’s, it’s you! Excellent. It’s a small UI window, but it’s much better than not being able to see at all. Just one seems to be best, otherwise the windows get in the way. They’re usually satellites, but I can move the Eye-chan’s freely within my reach.

There is indeed a ship that is entirely blue in the direction Fairellen-san pointed.

“Complete physical immunity. A little weak against magic, but super-regenerated by the surrounding seawater. It’s virtually invincible. And the walls and floor seem to be low resilience, so it will probably protect the crew.”

“They came up with an event where you can get addicted to how strong the abilities are.”

“Halloween was a pattern of instant death from weak points~…”

Physical immunity, weakness to magic and super-regeneration in water are abilities of the slime itself. The underside of a ship can be considered its weak point, but they look to have almost no weak points.

Slime’s can go underwater, so I think they could go solo, but it’s obviously stronger to be a supply officer on a ship.

I’m curious to see what would happen if I became one…but it’s probably going to be something indescribable, so I won’t try it.

Now, it’s time to go out to sea. If there’s a problem…it’s the extraordinary number of ships. How many ships are there going to be?

“They’re likely to hit each other if they don’t look around properly.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near torpedo ships or destroyers…”

They will need to pay attention to the direction of the guns and position themselves to avoid friendly fire. The movement of the ship seems to be controlled by the captain or chief engineer, so they are important positions.

Torpedoes are powerful and slow, but they are very difficult to avoid because of the limited movement of the ships. In other words, it’s easy to cause friendly fire, so be careful. And so Sugu doesn’t want to be too near the torpedo cruisers or destroyers.

“But if you don’t have an escort, you’ll get stuck, right?”

“The enemy will be in the tens of thousands, so I guess so, if you don’t stick together to some extent.”

“If there’s a concern, it’s how many aquatic players we have in place of submarines.”

“I don’t see any at all.”

“They have different bases, so it’s not surprising if we can’t see them.”

They can come out of the water by raising their skill levels, taking new skills or evolving, but they are generally based where there’s a body of water.

As I recall, they can learn to swim underwater, on land and in the air, in that order. It’s nothing new at this point, but it’s very fantasy. There were fish swimming in the sky during the sports day. I suppose that if they are limited to water, their behaviour would be restricted too much.

If you’re trapped in common sense, it’s not ‘fantasy’.

“There’s an amazing amount of enemies in front of us, but can’t we just wait a while for the number to drop~?”

So says Fairellen-san, and when I look ahead through an Eye-chan, I can see that the flying and aquatic monsters are fighting each other. The aquatic monsters are fleeing from the kraken and the flying ones are trying to eat the aquatic ones. They are shooting magic at each other in the air and sea, and jumping into the sea in groups.

“Nature can be harsh…”

“What’s that?”

“Fate is sometimes tough…”

“Ah, that’s…Tales!”

“Umu.”

Alf-san and Mutt-san are talking while looking like they’re seeing something depressing, so let’s just leave them alone.

Even though I’m wearing something underneath I’m still in a dress, so I’ll call out #1 so I can sit down.

<Certain skills are missing, the summon will be created with replacements.>

Eh? No!

Umm…«Mass of Flesh» has been replaced with «Overflowing Flesh». Right, the flesh mass came from my main body.

«Mass of Flesh»

The constantly renewed body reduces damage and nullifies abnormal conditions.

«Overflowing Flesh»

The fluid body is strong against magic, but weak to physical impact.

Abnormal conditions are nullified and it has excellent resilience.

Has #1…become defective as a tank? I imagine there is demand for anti-magic tanks too, so…I suppose it’s okay.

For the time being, I’ll update the template and summon it, but… I can’t see any particular change. Let’s sit down.

“As usual, Princess has an amazing presence.”

“Hihihi, she stands out more than the ships!”

Oh, this is….the same feeling as from the «Eye-chan’s». …Your level as a chair has risen, #1!

The super dreadnought battleship operated by the sailor group is in the centre, escorted by the high-speed ships of Cecil-san’s raid and Rina’s raid. There are also other cruisers and destroyers nearby. And there’s the group of us travelling without ships, too.

There are fleets being formed all around. I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of battle it will be.

『Starboard!』

『Turning right, please be careful.』

『Don’t act like trucks? You’ll kill the atmosphere.』

Fufu, it was a bit like the announcement you would hear from a rubbish truck.

The surrounding ships also steer to the right to match. Otherwise, there will be an accident… It seems that each ship is equipped with a radio and speaker to communicate over a certain range. I don’t know what’s going on with the technology of these ships.

『Return!』

『Centring the rudder!』

They are heading towards the enemy, angled slightly to the right. The guns on the stern can be used by angling the hull.

“That’s a wonderful welcome. A great selection of seafood.”

“『Hah, they’re already being seen as ingredients.』”

“Why….did people in the past consider eating mushrooms and sea cucumbers.”

“『Really.』”

The fleet rushing through the waves in fine weather, accompanied by the flying and aquatic groups…it’s a nice sight. A screenshot of this scene would look great.

…If you avert your eyes from the gathering birds and roiling surface of the sea.

『Everyone, let’s have fun with it!』

As the sailors say, let’s have fun.

I float up from #1, call Athame to my hand and activate it with the space-time attribute. At the same time, the Book of Elder Records rises up from my waist.

“”Is there something like a mid-boss?””

“I can see a few big ones here and there.”

As Cupid-san says, there are a few enemies that look like they will be reasonably durable. Well, they are probably intended to be the targets of the main cannons.

『Anti-air fire to the left!』

『Loading Type 3 shells!』

『Port side anti-air cannons, commence firing!』

Now, let’s begin!

We engage with the enemies that make it through anti-air fire in a dogfight.

The area we are in is the sea south of Inbamunt, so the enemies are in the 30-40 level range. They might be inferior in level, but it won’t be that simple.

“I figured it would turn out like this! This is way too much for a fight in the sky!”

Fairellen-san seems to be having trouble.

Although she’s very comfortable in the air, a one-on-one situation is best. There is too much going on in a battle like this, so the difficulty shoots up. And because there are no obstructions, there are stray bullets too.

Perhaps the situation in the water is similar.

“Whoa! I’m dying! Why are you aiming at me! There’s a big one there!”

“Fairellen-san is a strangely popular target, huh?”

“…Those guys have come here for a meal, so isn’t she just the right size?”

“Yamamotoooooo!”

It’s easy to imagine Yamamoto-san’s smile.

Certainly, fairies are bite-sized to these birds. The fairies that are likely to die from a single hit make nice bait for the enemies here for food. …Leaving aside whether or not an Éclasídhe sparking with electricity is tasty, is it possible that they are like those crackling sweets?

Gloomhawks flying in zigzags and Acidhawks with their acid attacks. Birds of each attribute, like Firebirds…there are many different flying creatures here.

“Someone! Please help! Windbirds are not good!”

“Oh, a Kratesídhe. But I can’t afford to help!”

Kratesídhe. An earth type fairy. It looks like a red-black salamander. It’s a combination of fire and earth, so its weaknesses are water and wind. …It looks like this event will be painful.

“Leave it to me!”

“As expected of a knight!”

Oh, so that’s the fairy tank, Cavalier. It has the same dragonfly wings as a pixie, but is taller and has a more solid physique?

Equipped with armour, a large shield and a spear that is similar to a lance, it is quite bulky. With that equipment, they must have the same «Power Arm» as Alf-san. From the looks of it, the spear is a two-handed weapon.

While twirling myself and my weapon around, I parry and reflect a lot of flying magic.

“This is quite a thick barrage…”

“Is it because it’s designed around the ships?”

“It should still be less difficult underwater…”

“Magic might be useless there, but the numbers are probably higher underwater.”

I can go underwater, but… I would definitely be at a disadvantage. I think I can act underwater using «Coordinate Levitation», but I would likely lose a lot of my speed.

My agility is getting better, but it’s still not receiving much in the way of bonuses from skills or equipment. The current set effect is enhanced reaction time, which ensures speed when defending. I don’t like the idea of having my movement restricted the way it would be underwater.

The reaction speed effect is activated with four pieces of the set, so it would be possible to change to a swimsuit on my torso…

[Libertà] was gained by equipping the ring and dress. Though it doesn’t matter since I almost never use it.

I could take «Swimming» or «Throwing» for this event…but given the choice I won’t take them. In the first place, I don’t know how «Coordinate Levitation» and «Swimming» would interact in the water. As for «Throwing», I can just leave it to Lizzy.

…And I believe the restriction on actions was not relaxed until the secondary skill. It’s a low priority after all.

“Ni~yowa~!”

Ah, Fairellen-san was eaten.

“Fakkin bird!”

She came back out using [Tonitrus Burst].

“…Is it easier like that?”

“But I can’t revive if I get eaten?”

“Will you drop if I kill the enemy?”

“I…really wouldn’t want that.”

Was that some kind of meme? Maybe it’s just my imagination…

Anyway, should I send #1 back? He’s completely being targetted. Magic is flying in from almost every direction… It’s not bad for training «Holy Magic», but it’s not good to spend MP on healing.

The hate priority is also troublesome because of it. It might be more useful to summon Lizzy to Rina’s ship. But it’s treated as an emergency shelter, so…it’s hard to say it wouldn’t be useless.

A large sphere in the air. It seems to be sufficient as a wall for the fairies, and it’s treated as a temporary resting place or a way station on the way to the ship.

“It’s hard on my MP if it’s just me, but it’s not undead, so can you send some heals at it when you can?”

“『I’ll heal it, so keep it out!』”

I got a rather earnest response from the fairies, so I’ll keep #1 as is. This also helps skills grow, so there’s no problem as long as we don’t die.

In that case…I could use a full [Night Sky Array] to strengthen #1. I place it so that it becomes a six-pointed Crowley’s hexagram.

The twins are…working together as a pair. They should be okay.

I’ll return the ones from the front, return the ones from the left and right, and parry the upper left. So, next…is from the lower right, diagonally above from my back, diagonally below from the front, then diagonally below from my back. In the order of upper behind, lower right, lower left behind and lower front… then bring the blade up to my head to return one, and swing it down to send back another while leaning to the side. Turn and parry, then turn and reflect!

“Princess is doing an omni-directional Beat Saber.”

Beat… Ah, it was the rhythm game, where you cut the oncoming cubes.

『Load the main cannon with armour-piercing rounds!』

『Aim well! Main cannon, fire!』

『Reloading armour-piercing!』

『Enemies overhead to starboard!』

『Starboard anti-air firing!』

『Resume anti-air support fire with port secondary gun! Mind the flight team!』

『Aim the main cannon, that turtle creature!』

『Turtle creature!? …That one. Armour-piercing, firing!』

『Oho! Nice damage! Armour-piercing for turtles, then!』

The super dreadnought battleship is still very lively. It moves through magic, so it’s quieter than the real thing, but it’s still very powerful because of its size.

The enemies on the starboard side are… easier for me to kill than for them to whittle down. Then the magic will be…and considering the mirror spell…

“[Ra’zw Lia Persepho Ate]”

Use [Double Chant] with [Nox Explosion]…and it will explode in two places, followed by the mirror spell after a delay. The explosion destroys several flying enemies that are heading towards the battleship.

『Ohh, thanks, Princess.』

『Disrespectful. Jump overboard.』

『Disrespect is a serious offence!』

『Because it’s disrespectful after all. Shall we get involved?』

『Your feelings are enough.』

Eye of Distance is convenient. I can attack with magic as long as I can see, without needing to jump into the anti-air fire. Very useful.

“Princess, isn’t there something odd about your range?”

“It’s an ability of these children.”

“The eyes~.”

“I think fairies should be able to get it after levelling up.”

“Seriously~?”

“In my case, it’s called the Eye of Distance. It changes the range of coordinate specified magic to anywhere in my field of view.”

“Really. Fumu… So only coordinate magic~.”

If I see a group of enemies, I can hit them with a pre-emptive attack as soon as they enter my visible range. It’s pretty effective against swarming enemies. As a mage type, I’m happy that it has become easier to use the more troublesome spells such as walls, pillars and mines.

“Mm!? #1, move!”

Below #1…a magic circle, the precursor to a pillar, has appeared on the surface of the sea, so I move him. He’s big and it’s hard to say he moves fast, so I panicked, but it’s fine.

“Secret technique! Cool pose!”

“『Fuhaa! What are you doing…』”

A Nixie, a water fairy with complete water immunity, must have ridden the enemy’s pillar all the way up. The disappearing pillar leaves it in the air, where it falls back down while posing.

It’s a pretty good performance…

“Now, it looks like…the real show is about to begin.”

“”A huge flock!””

The enemies we were fighting up until now had broken away from the larger herd, so it was more like a prelude.

So far, we have been fighting out ahead, to keep the enemies from the ships, but we’ll need to change how we move.

“You two, you shouldn’t charge in anymore.”

“”Kaay.””

“We’ll die for sure if we rush into those numbers.”

“We’ll have to take out the ones that make it through the fleet’s anti-air fire~.”

Fairellen-san’s method is probably the best. We don’t want to rush in, get surrounded, and then get caught in the flak.

Ah, I could have the eyes using the evil eyes in this situation. I’ve only been able to use my tentacles until now, so the skill levels for my abnormal conditions are low. They should grow nicely.

“Another fleet has joined the battle.”

“Oh~oh~, birds and players are falling…”

“An unprecedented belly flop.”

“Well…you would die from a belly flop from this height, on the real side…”

What we see falling are already corpses. You lose control on dying, so if you die in the air you will naturally fall.

You can somewhat tell by hitting the surface of the water with the palm of your hand in the bath, but hitting the water belly first…a belly flop, will cause some serious damage, even just from a diving board. In other words, if some kind of attack causes you to hit the surface of the sea, even if you’re still alive, there will still be significant fall damage, though it is less than from hitting the ground.

There were probably tests done regarding flying into water at the maximum speed. It is recommended to enter the water in a diving posture, if you are forced to do so for a reason such as evading or being knocked down. With the exception of Nixies, the water fairies, a fairy is likely to die instantly if they hit the water in anything other than a proper diving posture.

『Shells are…probably okay. Let’s go!』

『Firing the cannons!』

The sky is full of explosions from the anti-air fire. And we also have to avoid magic coming from the enemies. This is pretty difficult.

“『The Starting Town defence was too easy! But this is tough!』”

“Is this an aerial battle tutorial~? Harsh…”

“I haven’t heard anything about that… oops…but maybe so.”

The sky was mostly empty when fighting against the goblins, so I only had to worry about the occasional spell that flew my way, making it largely one-sided. There were a lot of them on the ground, meaning you would be surrounded if you moved forward too far…but this time it’s the opposite. The ground team have their ships, but the sky is monstrous.

“Ha! Serves you right! Waa!?”

“That’s what you get! Ah, that was close!”

“”There’s really no leeway!””

A player who was being targetted by multiple enemies fell back just in time, causing them to collide with each other and fall. More enemies attacked when they stopped to point and laugh, followed by another player who laughed at the first also getting attacked…

“Avoiding the anti-air fire is hard….”

“It’s a situation that makes it hard to use an Éclasídhe’s advantages.”

“It’s not impossible, but at worst I’ll run into another player…”

There have already been quite a few collisions. Flying races generally have high agility, so it’s a high speed battle where you have to worry about all directions. That’s tough.

I can see in all directions and mostly just use «Coordinate Levitation», so it’s hard to say that I fit the ‘generally’, but I do find this more fun.

Parry the enemies that rush in, turn around and reflect the magic that comes flying from behind.

“If you fly too low, you get targetted from the sea instead… Paralysed, then you fall!”

Paralysis is the abnormal condition caused by lightning. It has a short effect duration, but is powerful. At level 1, you’re unable to move for 2 seconds. If you become unable to move for two seconds while flying, you will fall a long way. You can assume anyone hit by it while flying will die, be it from fall damage or the aquatic enemies.

“Almost out of MP!

“What happens when MP runs out?”

“You don’t know? Eaten by birds.”

“Go and rest on the boat while you can defend yourself.”

“I’m going~.”

If she doesn’t have MP, she won’t be able to use bursts when she gets eaten, so won’t be able to escape… she’ll be swallowed and die. Fairellen-san is a pure magic attacker, so has no other means of attacking.

Fairellen-san is taking Cupid-san’s advice to go and rest. Should we have the twins go and recover too? Ame-san has a scythe, which is fine, but Thorin-san is pure magic… One of them may die if we separate them though, so it’s probably best to have them act together. Let’s send them to rest as a pair.

“You have a lot of MP, Princess?”

“I have high maximum MP because of my race and being spirit focused.”

“Hoho. That’s quite unusual.”

“Because the way I activate my magic changed to using spirit. You use a bow, so should still be okay, yes, Cupid-san?”

“If I don’t go too crazy, pretty much. Arrows are the problem…”

Now that it’s mentioned, can these consumables be resupplied by the supply ship? It seems like it would be quite troubling if not, so I would think so.

“Ah, it looks like there are arrows in the supplies. Then it’s a waste to use my own.”

“Items limited to this event, then.”

“It looks like there are potions too, so it’s better to go get some.”

“I’m still okay on MP, but….I would like to go get some supply potions…”

…I should go and get some. It seems there is a limit of three slots for supply items, so I should go and get them myself, but I don’t want to reduce the number of people fighting.

Thorin-san will use them herself, so I could ask Ame-san to fetch me some.

The supplies are considered ‘military supplies’.

I receive the military HP and MP potions from Ame-san and return the HP potions to him after using [Magicise]. Now he can use them.

After using [Magicise] on the MP potions, I exchange them for the MP potions that Thorin-san has. Fairellen-san has brought more arrows for Cupid-san.

We’re still fighting through all this, so very busy.

“『Hm?』”

Ah, there’s a health gauge being displayed. It looks like it’s not the main boss though, because the name is different.

“『Huge!』”

“Is it a mid-boss?”

<<It will perform a special attack! I will provide instructions!>>

This voice…is someone from the navy? They’re a Resident, so probably aboard one of the carriers.

The boss is…Marea Baleana. It’s a whale. I can’t see the whole thing, because it’s underwater.

“”Are there any that big for real?””

“There aren’t. I think the largest animal species is the blue whale, which should be around 20 metres at best.”

According to Cupid-san, that’s a lot bigger than a blue whale.

“…Is it about the size of a heavy torpedo ship~?”

“What size was it?”

“From the glimpse of it I got earlier, it’s about 160 metres.”

“Then it’s about five times the size of a blue whale.”

Even though it’s underwater, it’s impossible for it to become that huge without strong bones, right? Since it’s a monster, it probably became so large due to strengthening its body with magic power. It’s level is in the 60’s, so it’s a higher ranking species. It should be very powerful, physically.

『Supplies! Bullets! Bring us bullets, supply ship!』

『Is this where we die?』

The sailors are calling for a supply ship. That line looks like it’s displaying the supply ship’s route. Does it want us to protect it?

『It’s probably gonna dive. Before coming back up.』

『Hey, boss!』

“Is it okay that the sailor’s ship is turning from a warship to a pirate ship?”

“Well…it’s hard to keep up the RP.”

Pirates on a Yamato-class battleship would be unbelievable. I don’t know if it would be possible to be pirates in this world with monsters, but…I doubt they could even maintain the ship in the first place.

『Yeah! Open fire!』

A large number of torpedoes are being fired at the Marea Baleana from a heavy torpedo ship…

[Boeee!]

<<Not good! Focus energy to shields!>>

The whale has dived. All of the torpedoes missed…

After a while, part of the sea’s surface separates into red, orange and yellow. They’re rectangular in shape. The red should be the centre of the attack. The orange and yellow parts will be the aftermath.

<<Incoming! Deploy shields!>>

『High pressure magic shield, deploy!』

『Shield deployed!』

Multiple ships deploy their shields in response to the voice of the navy personnel. It’s like a sphere of water surrounding the ship. It rises up from the surface of the sea to wrap around the ship, but the deployment speed seems to vary from one to another.

Some of the ships haven’t activated it, but will they be okay?

[Boeee!]

“『Eh?』”

“『You’re not a sunfish though!?』”

It jumped out of the sea at quite a high speed. It looks like it’s in slow motion because of its huge size, but it’s far from the case. It must have been swimming at a considerable speed to fly so far from the surface.

Well, that means…there will be a huge splash, washing over the fleet floating on the surface.

“『Dowaaaa』”

“”Uwaaa…””

The twins are amazed, but this is terrible.

“By the way, that behaviour is called breaching.”

“”Ohh.””

“Apparently it’s not known why they do it. …That was definitely an attack though.”

The ships in the outermost yellow zone were separated by the high waves.

The orange zone is where the waves began, and we can see them surfing and bungee jumping. …On board the ship, of course.

The problem is with the ships that were in the red zone… The ones caught by the edge of the huge body were probably ejected to the side because of their shields, skidding across the surface of the sea in motions that should be impossible for ships. It’s like air hockey…

And the ships that were in the centre…ah… There are ships that have been thrown high into the air before falling, and others that are like skipping stones…

The ships that delayed in raising their shields have been broken into pieces.

“Has it become hell onboard?”

“Well… being slammed into a wall is the best situation…”

The players on deck would either fall into the sea or bungee without cords.

Do we need to save the people that have fallen into the sea? …There are ladders, but will they die from being attacked by aquatic monsters? That said, those with heavy equipment won’t float in the first place.

After the whale splashed, it dived again and moved to splash another fleet. I think I can see aquatic players who have been launched by the whale, flying together in the sky, but I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything. I can’t help them.

“If we put mines where it’s going to splash down, it should cause a lot of damage.”

“Maybe we could drop a naval mine where it’s coming up?”

“If I’m about to be eaten by a bird, I could throw in a naval mine!?”

“Oh, isn’t that quite cruel?”

“No mercy for those who come to eat me~!”

When it opens its mouth to eat, it finds there’s a naval mine in its mouth… The problem is that you can only carry one naval mine in the military supply slots at a time.

Maybe it would be possible to put one in the supply slot and carry another. Fairellen-san should have her hand free.

I suppose that would make it a bird mine… Speaking of which…I heard that there were cases of bombs being strapped to dogs backs.

“We should resupply and recover while rescuing…”

“Yes, right. I think it’s time for a break.”

Let’s make it the super dreadnought battleship… the sailor’s ship that is being resupplied where it was blown away to.

I use my tentacles to fish up the sailors that are floating on the surface of the sea, being attacked by the enemies.

Summoned servants only work within a certain range, so #1 will move a little, but it can’t be helped. Good luck, fairies.

Landing!

“You said this area was safe!!”

“There’s no way it could be, if you think about it.”

“It’s good that I’m not dead!”

“Didn’t die, didn’t die.”

“We would have died if we didn’t have cover from the aquatic and flight teams.”

Falling overboard will usually result in death, so you really shouldn’t… Being blown off like that was terrible.

Cupid-san and I are going to scavenge for military supplies.

HP potions and MP potions, and… maybe a naval mine?

“It’s better than nothing, but one stack of arrows isn’t enough.”

“Should I bring some too?”

“You have a slot free?”

“The only thing I need is MP potions, so no problem.”

“Thanks!”

I’d like to use the explosive at least once, so I’ll swap out the HP potions for arrows.

“Hey! Hold on! Hey! Hey, wait for me!”

Oh, a sailor…there was still someone in the water.

It looks like he was able to climb up one of the ladders on the side of the ship.

“…I thought you left me.”

“No way, we were waiting for you.”

“Uwaaa!!”

…He got pushed and fell again. It’s not as bad as some, but still a deadly place.

“Don’t really push me!!!”

“It had to be done.”

“I’m not expecting that much from you!? Ah, we’re almost finished resupplying. Just in time.”

The countdown for resupplying has finished, so they’ll be heading back to the frontline now.

Rina and co. are…is that them? As expected, Cecil-san’s group also understood what to do.

“Engine at maximum! Guns and torpedoes!”

“Full speed ahead!”

Resupplying is done.

The supply ship is returning towards the carriers and we are heading back to the front.

“Commence fire!”

“Bombs, away!”

Oooh…no matter how subdued the sound is, you can still feel it in your stomach while onboard.

“Now that we’re recovered, let’s fly.”

“Right, we should. Being on the ship seems kinda dangerous.”

“Although it is above too.”

We’ll take off from the rear of the deck. Back into the aerial battle.

Now then, the whale has lost quite a bit of its health.

[Boooeeee!]

Oh, that’s a long, high-pitched voice.

<<Mu! Point the bow or stern towards the Marea Baleana!>>

<<If you can’t make it in time, activate your shield! It’s going to try and capsize us!>>

“『Is it a tidal wave!?』”

A gauge marked as ‘Tidal Wave’ is increasing. We might have a tsunami coming.

It’s safest to be further away from the displayed colours, with the most dangerous area being in the middle. Well, that’s how a tsunami is.

It doesn’t matter much to those of us in the sky… wait.

It’s meant to be a tidal wave, but the whale is swimming in circles. That’s fine and all, but there are a lot of spheres of water appearing above it?

“Doesn’t that just give you a bad feeling~?”

“Is this…going to wipe out the salamanders?”

…A large number of bullets are shot from the spheres towards us in the sky.

“『I knew it!』”

“Right~”

“It was going for us rather than the ships after all.”

There are a lot of them, but they’re not particularly aimed and are scattered out, so the hit rate is low. The birds are also being hit, so those of the fire attribute will be reduced considerably. …Allies included.

Let’s move out in front of #1 and parry what flies this way. #1 is quite a big target, which is not great in a situation like this.

Salamanders and Kratesídhe have escaped behind #1. Yes, that’s the correct way to use it. Just recovering behind #1 will let them survive this attack.

『All hands, escape into the ship!』

『Be washed away! Or be smashed against the wall! Pick which you prefer!』

『I don’t like either!?』

I think it’s unlikely they will be able to completely push through the waves, so anyone still on the deck will be swept away for sure. I doubt they can withstand it even they grab hold of something… But inside the ship is still inside, so they’ll be bashed against the walls instead.

『Haa!』

『Sit down and shut up.』

『Jump in and dive to avoid the waves! Then get back onboard afterwards!? Genius!』

『Oh, that so. Give it a try and prove it works.』

『Of course you’ll die. Are you stupid? Gonna go die?』

『You…』

They seem to get along well, these two. That aside, they would probably attract some aquatic enemies and end up dead.

The sailor ship is still fine.

The magic attack against us has stopped…

The whale that was swimming in circles changes it movements, dives and jumps up, the gauge maxing out while it is in the air.

[Boooeeee!]

A huge tsunami spreads out in all directions, centred on the spot where the whale landed. An attack against the fleet.

“”We’re flying, while spectating!””

“I don’t have time for that, as much as I’d like to~! [Tonitrus Mine] …Eat it!”

“[Eclipsis] …dirty fireworks.”

“Really~”

“I’ll revive some of them over here too…[Resurrection].”

“Thanks!”

Those with attributes near #1 were safe, but there was a fair amount of damage elsewhere. Some of them were unlucky enough to be hit before they could hide.

I’m stronger with magic now, so this event seems relatively easy. It’s nice that I can afford to look around.

Thorin-san is attacking with magic, like me. Ame-san attacks approaching enemies with his scythe. Cupid-san attacks with a bow, while healing those nearby. Fairellen-san performs magic attacks while zipping around in dogfights.

Cupid-san can’t use darkness, so the twins are healing themselves.

『Thought I was gonna die.』

『Like a lady.』

『Oh dear, I thought I would die!』

『Like an onee-san.』

『Ara~ Oh no~ I think I just avoided dying~』

『Mohican style.』

『Hyahahaha! They almost got me!』

『Thanks for your hard work.』

『…What did you just make me do?』

…The strong impression the onee-san style gave off was dangerous.

“Can’t use gladius because it’s an aerial battle~!”

“I’d like to use it with this many enemies.”

“But that one explodes after sticking into the ground…”

Gladius has the widest range, but can’t be used because of how it works. It’s nothing but a flaw. Even if it’s aimed at an enemy in the sky, it will pierce the surface of the sea and explode down there. It should be similar if used underwater. It would stab into the seabed.

“”What about stabbing it in the enemy?””

“Impossible when they’re the size of a bird~!”

“”I see.””

It would take the bird with it and still explode after hitting the surface of the sea.

“Wait…maybe if we stab it into #1…?”

“Poor servant.”

Because he’s a servant. But it might be tricky, considering the range…

…No, there are so many. One after the other. But still…it’s better than being bored.

I wonder if it’s like this underwater.

“Let’s do it!”

“Do it!”

“[Fire]!”

“[Wind]!”

“[Fierce]!”

“[Tempest]!”

“”[Burn away]! [Fearful Storm]!””

Ohh?

A nearby salamander and fairy have used a huge tornado of fire. It’s swallowing up a lot of enemies…almost our allies, too. There are still some fire attribute enemies left, but it’s a multi-hit attack with good firepower.

“Eh~, so that’s [Resonance Magic]~. It’s my first time seeing it~.”

“Yeah. It’s certainly a good place to use it.”

Fairellen-san and Cupid-san explain to me that this is the [Resonance Magic] that is learned at level 10 of «Super-Class Magic Ability». There are many ways to describe it, such as combining, compounding or synthesising magic, but it basically allows two people to use different attributes of magic at the same time to activate a different spell.

Among the users of this game, compound magic refers to magic derived from multiple attributes, such as «Ice Magic» and «Lightning Magic», so compound is compound, while resonance is resonance.

[Resonance Magic] seem to have a fixed effect depending on the two attributes used. Fire and wind is a tornado of fire, so only [Fearful Storm].

“What about Princess’s [Resonance Magic]?”

“The skill is at 13, so I have learned it…”

“Space…no, was it space-time now? I’m curious.”

I can understand the feelings of Cupid-san. But the problem is…

“The question is which attributes it will resonate with. Would we have to start there?”

“You can’t activate unless you’re in a party together~.”

[Resonance Magic] is a special move, in a sense. To put it in terms of a fighting game, you have to build up your special gauge. You have to be in the same party and have been fighting using magic for a while to activate it. And of course you need to have the appropriate attributes.

“Even though space-time originates with light and dark, I don’t think those two will resonate with space-time…”

“Lightning, too…huh~? I’m at the third tier, «Heavy Lightning Magic», at the moment.”

There’s no information on the attributes that resonate. To begin with, there aren’t many people who raise space magic, and it doesn’t have any attacks, so it’s difficult to raise without a bonus to it.

“Uwaa… this party… is too unbalanced…?”

“That advert is too old. I want to be praised for noticing.”

Fairellen-san said something with her hands covering her mouth, but Cupid-san seems to have understood…

Anyway, this party… Myself, Cupid-san and the twins. The only attributes the four of us have are light and darkness, which is surprisingly unbalanced.

I think Fairellen-san has lightning and storm…so wind, water and earth.

It’s certainly better because Fairellen-san is here, but the usual party is only light and dark.

Mm?

“Oh, I can resonate with Princess…”

“Shall we…give it a try?”

“Do it~.”

“Then, [Time].”

“[Light]!”

“[Stop]”

“[Gather]!”

“”[Shine brightly]! [Starlight–]””

A pillar of light appears from the heavens, at the coordinates specified during [Stop]. It’s a very thick pillar…

But the name means it shouldn’t end with just a pillar, and after a few seconds of the pillar, it converges as a sphere.

“”[–Emission]!””

An extra large burst explosion…right.

“When it starts with ‘starlight’, I want to continue with ‘breaker’!”

“Well, that’s understandable.”

“I guess literally it is the release of starlight.”

Fairellen-san is referring to the White Devil of the Administration Bureau. I prefer Dearche. The king!

But things are gonna get destroyed if the darkness gets involved.

[Boeee!]

<<Energy to your shields!>>

This is…a splash. They’re diverting energy to shields, but I wonder how that works. I’m not on a ship, so I’m not sure.

“Is this whale a mid-boss or…a tutorial?”

“I think that’s how it’s going to turn out.”

“I feel like it’s a tutorial on ship movement and gimmicks~.”

The ships move slowly, so you’ll be too late if you don’t start acting early. It seems like it could be a tutorial for getting used to this and how to use the shield.

“Gyoee!”

“”You killed Fairellen-san! You bastard!””

That was a wonderful tackle. It was super effective…against herself. Cupid-san is going to wake her up, so I’ll keep fighting.

[Bo…boee…]

Farewell, Whale-san. You were a good guy. As a tutorial.

The small fry enemies are scattering…

<<All ships, resupply! The real deal is coming!>>

Is it time for a break?