[Ding! Gamer Naoto has created the Party. Current Members: 1/12.]
[Ding! Colonel Richard has joined the Party. Current Members: 2/12.]
[Ding! Cassius Bright has joined the Party. Current Members: 3/12.]
[Ding! Aurelia Le Guin has joined the Party. Current Members: 4/12.]
[Ding! Emma Millstein has joined the Party. Current Members: 5/12.]
[Ding! Traveling Musician Olivier has joined the Party. Current Members: 6/12.]
[Ding! Mueller Vander has joined the Party. Current Members: 7/12.]
[Ding! Zin Vathek has joined the Party. Current Members: 8/12.]
[Ding! Scherazard Harvey has joined the Party. Current Members: 9/12.]
[Ding! Kevin Graham has joined the party. Current Members: 10/12.]
[Ding! Ries Argent has joined the Party. Current Members: 11/12.]
[Ding! Phillip Runall has joined the Party. Current Members: 12/12.]
[Ding! All Party Slots have been filled. Preparation Period for Instance Dungeon - Grancel City is now over. The first monster wave will soon be approaching the city...]
"I wish you all the best of luck. For some reason, this Instance Dungeon repaired our building, so we will head to the rooftop to relay any new changes.", Elnan said to us before looking at Kloe's group. Kloe now had Julia, Estelle, Joshua, Princess Alfin, Celine and Tamamo beside her.
"That will only be temporary. Once the Instance Dungeon is over, the reality will return to normal as if nothing happened.", I explained.
"So that's how this works. We'll still need to deal with the aftermath when this exercise is over.", Elnan mused.
"Yeah. Just tab everything up and wire it to the Royal Army. I'll personally cough up some Mira to cover the costs. After all, I was the one who caused this entire mess. On behalf of the Royal Family, I do apologize, Elnan. The same goes for the rest of you here in the Bracer Guild.", I said, showing an apologetic look in my eyes.
"You needn't apologize for this, Your Highness. If we do receive benefits in the long run, we'll be the ones to owe you a favor. Having some Mira tossed around won't be enough to reciprocate that.", Elnan said, and smiled at me. "Leave your friends to me. We'll watch the battle unfold from the roof."
"Thank you, Elnan. I'll leave them in your care.", I said, nodding my head.
"Then let us be off, Your Highness. You've all got your assignments. To battle!", Colonel Richard said, and drew out his rapier. Only temporarily of course. You see, Richard is also part of the Eight Leaves One Blade School, just indirectly. He learned a certain style of it under Cassius, the one where the moment one draw's their blade out of their sheath, the attack is already over. The Fifth Form, Morning Moon. Its formal name is called sword drawing, I think?
Still, it was enough to feel some vigor empower us. We all yelled out at once.
""Yeah!""
Right after, several shadows swiftly left the Bracer Guild, and headed to their assigned areas.
The raid was about to begin!
A couple moments later.
Grancel Castle.
Two figures could be seen resting atop the garden terrace, which gave a complete view of Grancel City. All four Blocks were visible from here. It was all one main street, which allowed Queen Alicia to view everything. Even South Block where the Bracer Guild was held. Seeing several figures quickly leave the Bracer Guild, only to split off into four groups, Queen Alicia smiled. At the same time, she looked upward at the blue screen.
[Ding! The Preparation Period is now over. The False Reverie has begun mobilizing its troops. Grancel City will soon be under siege!]
"It looks like battle is about to begin. Colonel Richard is leading the group. It is as expected.", Queen Alicia said, seeing twelve people split off into four groups. She saw Colonel Richard leading them. Even Phillip was at the tail end. "It was the right decision to send them to the Bracer Guild. Such an interesting cast, isn't it, General?"
"It's almost as if the war is being replayed before our very eyes. But this time, it isn't soldiers. I have no idea what this "False Reverie" business entails, but what lies before us is real. I have not assessed the Colonel in a while. Seeing as we have front row seats to this battle, this will give me a good opportunity to do so. Even Cassius decided to join. I will have to send my regards to His Highness after this is over.", General Morgan responded. It looks like he too was interested in the battle that was about to begin.
"Haha, you needn't wait till after the Instance Dungeon is over, General. The cavalry has arrived.", A familiar voice spoke to General Morgan. He saw two blue magic circles appear on the terrace nearby. Not three, just two. One was smaller than the other. As for Colonel Richard, he swiftly arrived in front of Grancel Castle thanks to his quick movement. Plus the North Block was in a direct line to the South Block. It was the nearest one. Only three groups headed in Grancel Castle's direction while those assigned to South Block went the opposite way.
That voice was of course me. With Emma's help, we arrived directly on the garden terrace. Zin's advice on gaining a vantage point using Grancel Castle itself echoed in my mind while we made our way to North Block. I offered Colonel Richard an invitation as well, but he stood firm, saying to leave the frontline to him. I do feel a little guilt leaving him down there all by himself, but he knows how to handle it. Cassius Bright is his teacher after all, haha! He's quite powerful!
Instead, Emma and I casted a movement incantation, allowing us to warp directly onto the garden terrace. General Morgan greeted us with raised eyebrows.
"Your Highness. Please don't tell me you plan to enter battle yourself?", General Morgan asked. His voice was as stern as ever. Even something as mystical as an Instance Dungeon appearing before him, he's already adapted to the situation. I like that.
"Everyone wouldn't even be able to obtain experience like this if I wasn't placed here. My presence is required whether you like it or not, General. That's why I have Emma beside me.", I said, looking at Emma. Hearing that, she smiled. Her previous appearance changed entirely. A big orbal rifle hoisted on her back. She was dressed more like a Jaeger now compared to her Witch counterpart. Seeing Emma's new appearance.
"...Aren't you a little young to be a soldier?", General Morgan asked, looking at Emma. I will be turning twelve soon, and Emma's a year younger than I am.
"I am grateful for your concern, General. But I've received practical combat experience in the last year or so, thanks to Naoto's guidance. I may not look the part, but you may consider me a hired hand. I am with Zephyr.", Emma replied, and smiled.
"...What?", General Morgan asked. His eyes turned serious. He saw how easily Emma was carrying that large orbal rifle on her back.
"Haha, I was surprised to learn that myself once you first arrived inside our castle. You've been supporting Naoto from the sidelines ever since he returned, haven't you? I am grateful for keeping him safe. You were on that airship.", Queen Alicia said, and smiled.
"Now that you mention it, you do seem familiar. You've been moving inside the castle alongside His Highness so I just assumed you were one of his confidants. I did not think you would be a hired mercenary.", General Morgan replied.
Hearing that, Emma smiled again, and pulled out her orbal rifle, swinging it around with ease. "You can leave the vantage point to us, General. I hope you are ready for a good show."
"Haha, I couldn't have said it better myself.", I smiled. Now you might question why I'm here with Emma. I primarily use a rapier as my weapon of choice. But McBurn just so happened to grace me with an exceedingly powerful bow created by means beyond our current understanding. A Divergent Weapon!
The same category the weapon both McBurn and Loewe uses. The Gnomes are known to have multiple S-Weapon factories they keep in secrecy and sell to high ranked Jaeger corps to fund their experiment. Rutger's gunglaive is one such case. But these are known as S-Weapons. I am not sure how, but the Grandmaster can create even more powerful weapons than that. Through laws that exist outside of Zemuria. That was the concept behind Divergent Laws. They're something that exist, but it is beyond our understanding. I am not sure if it's appropriate to even give Divergent Weapons a rank. But if I had to, they'd be SS-Weapons.
And well, after receiving Verbrannteis from McBurn, it triggered an unexpected Instance Dungeon. The last one was back on Nemeth Island, which required us to route a thousand monsters. While this one is a full on monster siege. What better excuse do I have to try it out? I want to see how powerful this bow is. My stats are already inflated enough to be near the level cap of 250, and now that I have a ranged weapon, I'm expecting many monsters to get obliterated. The only question remains is whether the monsters in this raid will drop experience points individually, or at the end of the raid. Time will tell.
The wave commencement notice hasn't arrived yet, so I took this moment to view the new Skills of my bow. And sure enough, I was thoroughly shocked.
[Soul Piercer]
Rank: S
Craft Range: Single Target
EP Requirement: 5000
Bonus Effect 1: Ignores the target's Defense.
Bonus Effect 2: Triggers Steal effect, allowing Gamer Naoto to fully recover HP and EP proportionate to damage dealt upon landing a blow.
Bonus Effect 3: If a killshot is triggered, regains instant cooldown effect. This is only applicable against monsters, as humans have much higher aspects of the soul and cannot be easily pierced. Likewise, certain Bosses are also immune to this effect.
[FrostFire Burst]
Rank: SS
Craft Range: Medium AOE
EP Requirement: 10,000
Bonus Effect 1: Verbrannteis's base empowering effect to FrostFire Reversal is further doubled, increasing the ceiling limit to 1200% Efficacy.
Bonus Effect 2: Pierces Reflect, dealing true damage.
'...1200% Efficacy and a steal effect with instant cooldown!?', I thought, remaining shocked while reviewing these two Crafts. I know there's Transform as well, I don't even want to know what that one does, even though it already gave me a description of what it can do.
But I guess I should say the thing, shouldn't I?
As expected of a Divergent Weapon, haha!