Guild Ranking Championship Finals ①

(Bersleid: Dog goes woof, cat goes meow, Bersleid goes brrr…. Yeah, my mental age greatly regressed today, you can call me a regressor if you want to.)

The final battle royale between the 8 teams that advanced through the qualifiers has finally begun. Unlike the qualifiers where only the last team standing advanced, in the finals, the teams must determine their rankings. Therefore, in addition to 20 points awarded to the team that survives until the end, 10 and 5 points are respectively added to the second and third place teams. Moreover, for each opposing team member defeated, 2 points are added, making it a battle for points. Thus, anyone walking alone is a tempting prey… Separated from her guild members, Crim wandered alone and coincidentally encountered a guild that chased after her.

“Damn it, I was so focused on searching for that Souleon guy that I ended up running into the wrong guild!!”

If she’s caught, Frey will definitely make fun of her. With these thoughts in mind, Crim frantically ran away… to the park in the southern district, close to the starting point of yesterday’s qualifiers.

“Hey, why are you running around with that shameless skirt fluttering about, are you trying to tempt us?!”

“Don’t you dare call me shameless or accuse me of tempting you, you dirty bastards!!”

Upon hearing the words of the men chasing after him, Crim stopped and turned around, grabbing her skirt and snarling back at them with teary eyes.

“Do you understand how I feel about not being able to decide on the length of my skirt myself?” The pursuers, members of a guild called [Black Wolf Squad] consisting only of vanguard dog-like werewolves, apologize involuntarily under the pressure of Crim’s stern demeanour.

“Oh, come on, I’m tired of running around! Alright, if you want us to pay attention to you that much, I’ll take you on!” Half in desperation, she manifests a weapon with shadow magic.

“…[Shadow Heavy Weapon]…Scythe!”

However, what she summoned this time was a scythe that she had only used in places where there were no other players around. Apparently, the method of obtaining it had not yet been widely spread, and the members of the [Black Wolf Squad] were in an uproar over this weapon type that they had never seen before.

“A scythe!?”

“Wait, I’ve never heard of something like that!”

“…a small girl…with a huge scythe…nice!”

“Wait, didn’t one of you say something strange just now!?”

Although Crim retorted to the strange statement she heard in the midst of the commotion, the Black Wolf Squad had already entered a state of alert, and she gave up on further questioning.

With caution towards the unfamiliar weapon, they slowly closed in on Crim while surrounding him… And after counting to about forty in his mind, Crim lowered his body.

–The first move is essential.

As the advantage in numbers was clearly on the enemy’s side, Crim’s chance of winning depended on how much she could reduce their numbers before they could respond.

“[Nacht]…”

Bending down close to the ground, the person took the motion to activate their combat skill (Art).

“…[Angriph]!!”

They released the energy they had stored up in their legs, like a bowstring being pulled taut, and kicked the ground with all their might.

The loud sound of impact reverberated: “Gaki—n!!”

The combat skill, [Nachtangriff], had a name associated with night raids and had a sudden explosive power that instantly closed the distance between the two combatants to zero. (Bersleid: Thankfully it actually explains the skills name, so I can put it into English-German translator and it goes brrr…)

However, the massive centrifugal force of the strike made a loud noise as it clashed with the shield held by the young man at the front of the Black Wolf unit, who was a master of the scythe skill with a proficiency of 20.

Despite this, it was unfortunate for him that he had never seen a scythe before.

“Idiot, it’s a scythe!” (Bersleid: Duh, Scythe goes swish, head goes fwoosh…)

“Wha…!?”

When the leader scolded him, it was already too late for the young man to realize his mistake. The curved blade veered around the shield that the young man was holding down with a long handle, aiming for the back of his head.

Crim used the momentum to pull the blade hanging on the man’s neck with all the power in her body. The handle of her scythe slid across the shield, producing sparks.

“Gah…!”

The blade that approached from behind like a guillotine cut off the young man’s head with a loud “Zan!” The man whose head was taken was rendered powerless, and his body scattered as remnants of light in the air.

“Hey, how dare you go after Freddie like that!”

A Warbeast man brandishes his sword and raises his voice. The Black Wolf Squadron leader is at the centre, surrounded by three enemy guild members who have surrounded Crim.

But Crim couldn’t help but feel that their expressions showed a certain amount of composure, despite having lost one of their own.

It was almost as if they were convinced of their victory.

Crim had realized something over the past month, during which he had remained logged in.

He thought there were only four stats: VIT, MND, STR, and MAG, and probably most players believed the same.

But in reality, there was a hidden stat that Crim called “INT”.

It wasn’t about intelligence or anything like that. It was about the experience points for using the body in the virtual space, reaction speed, or aptitude for the system assist – in other words, the degree of synchronization with the VR world.

And the higher it increased, the more finely tuned Crim’s senses became – her ability to sense subtle changes in the air, or to pick up on slight information. It sharpened her intuition, her sixth sense, her spatial recognition, and so on. (Bersleid: Just call it intuition then, no need to coat it this much.)

Behind him was an assassin lurking in the shadows.

Crim sensed it instinctively before she could even comprehend it logically. Something prickled at the nape of her neck. In that moment, the assassin lunged at her with a short sword. But Crim’s white hair was only just grazed by the eerie light of the Assassination skill, [Darkness], which can cause massive damage when used in stealth mode.

“…Wha…t!?”

The assassin from the Black Wolf Squad froze in shock as their lethal blade, aimed to strike at the perfect moment, was clearly dodged with a decisive intention by their target.

It was only for a moment.

But against someone like Crim, it was a fatal moment.

In the next moment, Crim’s body spun and lifted up from a low stance. As she spun like a top and unleashed her great scythe, his body was split in half and his HP was reduced to zero, becoming fragments of light that danced in the air.

The Black Wolf Squad had tried to lure Crim into a trap by leaving only her retreat path open and aiming to assassinate her, but the key person in their plan had fallen, creating a gap in their encirclement.

“However, even in that stance, how could you be able to-!”

Slipping into the gap, Crim was dragged back by the centrifugal force of her blade as she struck down the assassin, but the leader of the Black Wolf Squad reacted immediately and tried to close the distance.

…But he soon realized his mistake.

Crim’s eyes were fixed straight on him as he closed the distance.

“—[Azurill Ring] of the Announcing Angel of Death!!”

Despite being in the air, the scythe was thrown from Crim’s hand with the momentum of her rotation.

Great Scythe Skill Level 70, [Azurill Ring] of the Announcing Angel of Death.

The blade, which approached rapidly while rotating at high speed with its large mass, knocked away the leader of the Black Wolf squad, who barely managed to guard against it, without leaving a trace… Then it made an arc and attacked the two behind them, blowing them away as well.

But even so, the surprised leader managed to endure it. He tried to back off and regain his posture, but…

“—!?”

… Crim, who had already prepared her sword at her waist, jumped into the gap.

“… [Rin]!”

“Guu!?”

Crim’s lightning-fast hilt strike pierced the leader’s coccyx. The heavy impact that could not be expected from her small body caused the leader, who had bent his body into a “ku” shape and squatted down, to twist his neck…

“… ‘Mono’ah!!”

In succession, Crim’s Iai strike finally severed the leader’s neck, and the third mass of light danced in the air of the battlefield.

“Jed!?”

One of the remaining members of the Black Wolf Squad shouts the name of the leader who had already left the field.

…They couldn’t win.

The remaining two members of the Black Wolf Squad gulp nervously as they realize the situation.

Crim has already stopped moving, as if she’s absorbing all the light into her pitch-black sword and pointing it towards the two of them… They couldn’t find a single opening.

Something they shouldn’t let happen is about to happen.

They have a premonition that they, who have advanced through the preliminaries, will lose to a single girl with five people.

“… Demon Lord.”

One of the members of the Black Wolf Squad, who had lost their fighting spirit, murmurs these words in disbelief. In response, Crim smiles as if amused.

…A few minutes later, the Black Wolf Squad was completely wiped out. They became the first team to be eliminated in the finals.

◇

Meanwhile, in the guild [Lua Cheia] without Crim…

“…Is Big Sister okay?”

As they searched the urban area of the northern district, keeping an eye out for other guilds, Licorice suddenly muttered those words.

“She said she could do it. We’ll believe in her,” replied Frey, trying to reassure her.

“Yes…you’re right. I believe in her,” Licorice said, still looking anxious but managing a small smile. Frey lightly patted the head of the mech girl to comfort her, but then suddenly stiffened as an ominous atmosphere seemed to envelop her.

“Besides…it’s not the time to be worrying about Crim.”

Without hesitation, they pulled Licorice’ shoulder and dragged her into a hiding spot.

At the same time, Hinagiku and Freya, who had been watching the opposite side, also hid behind a building on the other side.

In the direction that Frey’s group was heading, several figures appeared from behind the cityscape, moving cautiously as they scanned their surroundings.

There were five people with varying costumes and atmospheres, each sporting an armband with a swallow motif on their arms.

The swallow armband was the guild mark of [Tōkai Shōji], a production guild. According to the information, they had hired skilled solo players as mercenaries to participate in this rank battle.

If we go by the average individual strength, they are said to be a strong contender for the championship, even comparable to [Norther Glacier].

“…It seems like they haven’t noticed us yet.”

“…Yes, it appears so.”

The video sent by Magius Orb, launched by Licorice, showed five people who seemed to be unaware of their presence and continued their exploration of the surroundings.

Two of them were wielding swords and fighting, while two others were magic users scanning the area from a high place. The fifth person was carrying a gun and stationed in a location with a wide field of vision.

They quickly assessed the enemy’s composition and noted the gunner as the main problem, but fortunately, they hadn’t noticed their presence. They signaled the two people in front of them to wait and prepared for a preemptive strike.

“Everyone, use all your strength. We must defeat the mercenaries of [Tokai Trading] right in front of us.”

Frei’s calm words prompted everyone to ready their weapons.

Thus, the first battle without Crim in [Lua Cheia] had begun…

Meanwhile, in the warehouse district of the port, another battle was coming to an end.

“…A monster, you say…?”

White Lily, the guild master of [Lily Garden], lay on the ground, staring up in disbelief at Souleon, the guild master of [Northern Glacier], who stood before her.

Her guildmates were already gone.

At first, he came alone, launching a sudden assault – Souleon.

It was miraculous that she was able to block his first attack, but she was blown away without a moment’s pause, and ended up covered in dirt and rolling on the ground.

To protect her in this state, four members of the [Lily Garden] guild surrounded Souleon alone.

What happened afterward, she couldn’t understand.

All she could do was lie there, stunned, as his dual swords blinked like a storm, and one after another of her companions returned to the light.

And so, in the blink of an eye, everyone was struck down before their eyes, leaving only one person on the battlefield who quickly left.

It took less than a minute for the four of them to be defeated by just one person, despite having come so far as to reach the second block.

This fact had shattered her fighting spirit completely.

“…… I knew that you had been working on various teams.”

A strained voice escaped her lips. But he, with a calm expression, added his sword to her neck as she lay sprawled on the ground.

“So…I’m sorry, but I’ll have to eliminate you first.”

Under the emergency operation of the maximum pain relief function, she felt the cold touch of the blade on her neck for the last time…and White Lily exited the battlefield of the final battle.

“I won’t let anyone get in the way of my fight with her.”

Finally, picking up on his muttering, she listened as she exited.

Eliminated Guilds (points earned)

Black Wolf Team (0pt)
Lily Garden (0pt)

(Bersleid: One chap for today… I feel like I’m going to make a bunch of mistakes, were I to continue on, so yeah. This one actually turned out to be a good chapter after some cosmetics. See you tomorrow.)