n

n

n

"Of course, I mean the prize pool is insane. There is no way it won't weigh on your mind.

" Eldrian said just the thing Elizabeth didn't want to hear. She just nodded in response, it was what she was trying to clear her head for.

nThat, and the fact that she had near no combat usefulness as the team leader. Something which also always ate at her, especially when they managed to actually make it so far. She now just felt like dead weight.

n

"Where were you today. We didn't see you, not even during the attack. Do you know what happened?

" Elizabeth asked, hoping to distract herself from her worries.

n

"Some lich attacked and converted those he killed to Flaming Reanimates, and I left the camp.

"

n

"Left? Left for where?

"

n

"Avgi forest...

" Eldrian sighed, hoping that it wasn't going to be a wasted journey.

n

"Where Erik is? Are you going to pull him back with you?

" Elizabeth asked, the question not even making sense to her.

n

"Ah, right... No, there is this little Alicorn. Cephaphyr...

" Eldrian smiled as he recalled the energetic and naive little Alicorn whose strength was simply amazing. Part of him feeling terrible that he was going to try and push him into danger, into combat.

n

"I see,

" Elizabeth paused as she too was uncertain how to feel about what Eldrian had just shared. If he was anyone else and if it was a few weeks ago, she would just say go for it, that it was going to be an awesome increase in strength.

nNow, now she realized it was far more complicated. Especially for Eldrian who was so adamant that the NPCs were real, not just advanced AI. Which was already enough for many players to treat them as more than NPCs. Yet, they saw the NPCs still as lesser.

nComparable to animals or pets in the real world. You cared for them and didn't want them to suffer, but most wouldn't go out of their way to help them. They would do what they could comfortably do.

nNaturally, the analogy wasn't perfect or even close. Pets and animals couldn't talk, yet even so people could become dependent on them. Love them. Naturally, the situation with the NPCs was far more complicated and differed from person to person.

n

"What is your plan if he isn't going to come back with you?

" Elizabeth asked and Eldrian had been thinking about that exact situation for the entire day.

n

"I'll do my best to get stronger. Even if he won't come, Zamia should be able to help me massively increase my strength. I am just one step away from a massive breakthrough, I can feel it.

"

n

"Again?

"

nLooking at her in confusion, Eldrian realized for a moment that over the past week or two he had had a power-up after power-up. 'Right, it isn't like I ever stopped improving. It just isn't fast enough.' Eldrian thought, before smiling instead of explaining.

nElizabeth sighed seeing his smile, shaking her head and asking,

"You know what happened in the camp after the attack?

"

n

"No, I left just as it was ending.

"

n

"I see, then you should be happy to hear this. Whoever is the commander decided to stall out the mission of pushing in. Thanks to having cleared 500 meters from the camp, any attack is now no longer as much of a threat and the corruption is also no longer spreading.

"

n

"They said this is good enough.

"

n

"Wait, what?! Good enough?

"

n

"Yes, good enough. The Thunder Legion is being pulled to the East to support against the fighting going on there. I heard the situation is far worse over there. The players of my guild who were still there are constantly being pushed back. The city is even under siege.

"

n

"What!?

"

nElizabeth simply nodded her head,

"Yeah, unlike the undead, the orcs have no clear weakness.

"

n'Well, this changes... Or does it?' Eldrian thought about it for a bit and realized that this was actually truly a difficult area to be in. It made sense that the king shifted his attention, Eldrian assumed that he was also going to move to that battlefield.

n'Then, is the quest failed or succeeded. Or, is it just going to continue. How am I supposed to stop him from dying, no that was never something I could do.' In the end, Eldrian simply hoped that this meant Vivian would be safer.

n

"Are you guys still going to attempt clearing parts of the forest?

"

nShaking her head, Elizabeth said no.

"The undead are also now on the defensive. The last attack was also one of the only ways they could counter at this point. Their number of weaker undead is no longer overwhelming I heard.

"

nAfter a slight pause, she added,

"We have actually been forbidden from going out towards the corruption.

"

nEldrian wanted to say that wasn't right, but after just a bit of thinking, he realized why. They would just be donating bodies to the undead, increasing their forces. Yet, it felt strange to have a quest he had been part of for nearly a month just suddenly turn into a stalemate.

n'This is for the best though, if they pushed and lost a massive battle. It would spell disaster. It is far easier to keep the defensive, even if the method of creating such a corruption stays a mystery. It is at least a controlled mystery, and the method of its spread is now known.'

n

"We should go back in,

" Elizabeth said after a few minutes of silence, the two had turned their gazes towards the crowd forming at the stadium. The numbers weren't insane, but they were much higher than anyone had expected it would be. Especially considering how good the method of streaming through the headsets were.

n...

nInside Elizabeth's virtual home, the group met and started discussing their battle plan.

n

"Team Agrerian, what do we know about them?

" Elizabeth asked, starting the meeting.

n

"They are a team focused on defensive play and whittling down their opponents. In all their battles they sat back, took the hits thrown out them and returned fire just as strong or even stronger.

" Therdul shared, followed by Nikki.

n

"Yeah, they have two people who are basically the upgrade of Therdul, no offense-

"

n

"Some taken.

"

nThe interruption caused Nikki to laugh for a second before she continued,

"They are focused on defensive, and like Therdul they have massive tower shields with which they can protect everyone behind them. On top of that, besides being Tier 3 in melee, they also are Tier 3 mages.

"

n

"I never saw them using their spells offensively, instead, they would always use spells to protect or heal their teammates. Normally, behind them would be two mages and two archers. The archers always focus on 1 target together, and in matches where they deem one person a danger the mages would join.

"

n

"Got it, so they are going to focus on me or Judith...

" Eldrian paused and turned to the barbarian girl who he had come to learn was actually a normal-ish person IRL.

"Judith, can you please wear some more armor, or at least use a shield.

"

nSurprisingly, she did not fight it this time. Instead, she nodded her head.

"I have some already.

"

nHearing her reply everyone turned to her in shock before their determination grew.

n

"What about their last two players?

" Erik asked, receiving a shrug in reply.

n

"We have no idea,

" Zyviss added,

"As of yet, they have never needed to make a move outside of keeping one or two people busy. And normally they did that without using spells or skills.

"

nHearing this the group frowned, unsure how to go about the fight.

n{AN: It is really nice seeing the novel back in the top 100, a big thanks to everyone who is voting with power stones, and the golden tickets!}

n