CH 117

Data.110 – Old Bowman, the Answer!

The world was turning…!

We shot out from the Serpent Palace and rose higher and higher…!

Wait a minute. They didn’t have a barrier for preventing people from flying too far up?

Or was this charge attack an exception, as it had to go up once before coming back down?

…That was likely it.

Indra’s Arrow was stronger the higher up it went.

So it wouldn’t be fair to limit it with a barrier.

Well, perhaps management hadn’t thought that someone would use it in order to launch themselves into the air like this…!

No, what I really should be concerned with right now, was that this was taking longer than I expected.

Did I’m Arrow or Indra’s Arrow have a hidden effect that increased your range!?

The Serpent Palace was already pretty high up, and so our distance from the ground was incredibly far now.

We were probably closer to being in space…!?

It wasn’t a joke. The horizon looked round!

We were so high that I could see that the world of NSO was realistically shaped like a sphere…

The sky had become a deeper blue. Were we in outer space now?

Was this a bug…!

“…Ah.”

For just one second, our movement seemed to stop.

Between the sky and space, we were free from gravity and rotation. That’s what it felt like.

Like a zone that you could reach when achieving the height of something?

Everything seemed so clear.

I could see the continent that I adventured in.

The south sea where I met Garbow.

Even the foggy mountains that I visited often.

Though, I couldn’t see them clearly.

On the other hand, the Windcloud Mountains were clear and tall.

And though I wasn’t sure, there were other places that looked familiar.

I had traveled a lot during the twelve trials…

I had not adventured nearly enough…

Then I felt my body jolt as I was grabbed by gravity once again.

I started to spin again, this time with my head facing the ground.

Ah…this was bad…

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Where had the quietness gone?

I screamed unabashedly as I fell.

Like stardust captured by gravity…

◆　◆　◆

‘Damn it. I did not expect to be defeated like that-nyon!’

We had won.

In other words, the Stardust Arrow had taken Charin’s HP down to 0.

It had been the most desperate fight I had been in so far.

Though there were five of us, the others were defeated or went into cooldown, so I ended up all alone. But in the end, I had jumped through the explosion and lost a lot of HP.

Well, my equipment was still protecting me, so there was no danger of dying.

On the other hand, my equipment was blackened…but that was like a mark of honor.

Besides, it would look bad if I was untouched, while Necoco and Satomi’s armor was ruined.

I had only been able to defeat her because of how hard those two fought.

In terms of contribution, I hadn’t done all that much.

I just got the flashiest part.

‘And by a party that was just thrown together with no coordination!’

She was now the ordinary Charin, not the origin version or the cosplay versions.

After seeing all the others, I thought she looked best this way.

It was a conclusion that I’m sure that all of her hardcore fans had reached a while ago.

In the end, normal was best…

However, she seemed a little irritated?

Well, maybe not.

She was always supposed to have a tendency of showing her emotions.

‘But… That was probably why I lost. You may be a messy party that ignores common sense and ideas of cooperation and all that, but you were somehow still connected… That’s what it felt like-nyon.’

A miraculous fusion of unique solo players…that was the Ghost Guild.

The reason we had gathered was because we had similar play styles, and that connection during the fight was what had led us to victory.

Including the Unison, the whole party was just moving with the goal of winning, and in the end, a surprising kind of cooperation had been born.

‘For being such wonderful players who overcame the trials and won the final battle, I present to you the ME medal-nyon!’

Three medals came down from the sky and flew towards us.

On the front of the gold medal was a picture of the symbols of the twelve constellations, which was proof that we had finished the entire event.

There were also illustrations based on each trial, so looking at it brought back a lot of memories.

And on the back… What was this?

For some reason, there was a ballista that had nothing to do with the event…?

‘That medal isn’t just a souvenir-nyon! It’s an amazing medal, where just having it allows you to activate a ‘Miracle Effect’ that exceeds skills and charge attacks-nyon! That’s why it’s called a ME medal-nyon!’

“Exceeds skills and charge attacks… Like, in what way? And just having it? So it doesn’t need to be equipped?”

“The difference between it and skills or charge attacks is… Well, it’s stronger but has strict limitations, I suppose. It’s not something that is completely different-nyon. And yes, it does not need to be equipped-nyon. I did consider making it equippable, or having a new equipment slot just for medals, but we settled on this. It’s a collaboration item, so it shouldn’t act too important-nyon.’

I see. This was supposed to be a collaboration event.

I had forgotten, as it wasn’t too different from the usual NSO.

‘Also, I thought that during times like this, when there are limits to how many items that you can bring with you, it will be difficult to decide whether or not to bring the ME medal with you. Well, it’s also difficult to decide how these collaboration items should be handled. They are like limited items, so they can’t be too important, or people who start playing later will get angry-nyon.’

“You can always do another event. A second collaboration.”

I said light-heartedly.

However, I knew full well that it wasn’t as easy to do as a normal event…

But Charin looked pleased by this.

‘Indeed-nyon! As long as there is a demand, we can do it many times over-nyon! I have no problem with that! It can be any time!’

Charin said as she waved her fist.

‘Ah, that’s right! The design and effect of the ME medals are different for each player-nyon! That’s one of the reasons that they are difficult to handle…’

“What!? So Necoco and Satomi’s medals are different from mine?”

I glanced towards them, but they swiftly hid their medals.

While I understood that I was wrong for taking a peek, we were comrades.

They were medals that we had acquired through working together. Surely we could just show them to each other…?

“No, old man. We’ll be enemies during solo events, so we shouldn’t show more than we have to.”

“But, maybe just this one time?”

“I understand how you feel, but no! I want to keep it as a secret trump card. Besides, you should have seen how surprised you were when you saw my Nekomata… Right, Satomi?”

“His reaction to seeing my Auto Battle Mode was also pretty amusing. I’ll never be able to see such an expression again if he knows everything… And so I cannot show it. I’m only half-joking.”

Half…

“I think we are all better off not completely understanding each other. People who want to enjoy online games alone don’t want to have to be considerate of others, but also don’t want others to have to be considerate of them.”

“Ah, I suppose.”

“And so it’s better to not know. If you know everyone’s skills, charge attacks and weaknesses, you’ll start to worry about things other than yourself, and others will worry about you. If we’re going to think and move as a group, that might make sense. But it is not our style.”

Satomi was right.

If I knew about all of their skills, then I would always be thinking about when they were going to use them and how I could cover for their weaknesses.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t have enough trouble thinking about when to use my own trump card.

If I just continued to do what was best for myself, then it would ultimately benefit the rest of the party…

That was fine for us, wasn’t it?

But still, I couldn’t help but be curious about what kind of medal they had acquired…

I would just have to hope that I would find out one day, and wait…

No one likes an old prying man.

‘Cough! Now, I’ll be returning you all to the surface-nyon! The event isn’t over yet, and there are hidden labyrinths-nyon! Well, they are just bonuses, so there are no rules about them being close to each labyrinth-nyon! But you might find them when you’re out adventuring, so hope that you are lucky!’

I had also found one of them after getting lost.

They seemed like the kind of thing that you would never find if you were actually looking for them…

‘Stars that shine! Lead the victors to the future!’

Our bodies were surrounded by light.

Were we going to be moved to the ground now?

…How many times today have I been enveloped by light and turned into a star?

“Well, we won’t see each other for awhile, Mr. Kyuji. But after this trial and battle, I know what I have to do now. I want to be stronger, so I won’t have to rely on you as much the next time that we get together.”

“If anything, I relied on you and Gochu for most of it. I only survived because you were in the front. Otherwise, she would have got to me eventually, no matter how far away I was. That was a painful lesson I learned when fighting against Charin. I also need to get stronger, so you two don’t have to sacrifice yourselves during an attack.”

“I intend to get stronger too! While I may have finished the star trials, my aunt is farther than the stars. I can’t even see her back yet… But one day, I will catch up…and surpass her! We’re going to battle, and I’ll win!”

I had seen the video of her aunt fighting.

She seemed so far away that I didn’t even feel like saying something encouraging, like ‘you will be able to catch up!’

However, I didn’t know enough about Necoco to jump to any conclusions.

She was young, and the possibilities were endless.

And maybe…it was the same for me?

“Well, just continue to play and have fun. And things will work out!”

“What is that? Is that supposed to be encouraging?”

“No, that was for me!”

And then our bodies floated up.

It was time to return to ordinary adventuring.

“Thanks, you two. Until next time!”

“Bye-bye! It was fun!”

“See on the next battlefield.”

And so the Ghosts spread out on the surface, searching for new power.

One fight had ended, and a new one had begun.