Log Horizon Book 3 chapter 5

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Chapter 5: Attack

Shiroe turns in his bed.

It is almost dawn, and the dark empty room is silent.

The curtains are drawn, so even the star lights cannot shine through. The room is in darkness, there is no difference in opening or closing your eyes.

Shiroe reviews his day in the dark.

As predicted, the nobles of the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' contacted members of the round table council individually with a variety of requests. Most of them hopes for military aid, the loan of technology or wants to sign trade treaties. They are more cunning and smart and the Shiroe's group imagined.

If the adventurers send out an army, they can easily disrupt the balance of power between the city. The nobles understand they cannot lose this balance, and quite a number of them knew about Oceanic systems, The rodrick firm and 8th district shopping center are pooling their resources to make a steam engine ship prototype. Shiroe was surprised by this, and he can tell from Akatsuki's report that the nobles have a lot of spies in Akiba.

This mean they are the center of attention.

Akiba did not classify any of the information from the public's eyes, so it is easy to gather intelligence from them. There are no real secrets in this phase, but the technology of building a steam engine and the related technical expertise requires high levels blacksmiths and mechanic subclass. Even if they leak the information they are creating something, the other countries won't be able to emulate them any time soon.

Shiroe, Michitaka and Crusty held a meeting and communicate with the other members of the round table council via telepathy to discuss about the working with the league. Signing a free trade agreement for food should not have any cons.

Akiba cannot provide enough food for themselves, and they are lacking in rice, wheat, potatoes, taro, and all types of beans. Signing a contract to open a trade route is advantageous to Akiba. On the other hand, Akiba will be exporting seasoning in the food category.

Salt, sugar and all types of spices are the specialty of Akiba, but the processed seasoning product like soy sauce and other sauces can be made using knowledge of the old world by the subclass brewers.

Some of the request of the noble can only be accepted with additional conditions, or the be keep in view for further discussion. The number of rejection is several times that of the accepted request. This is a necessary process for Akiba to draw the line on where they stand on the numerous request and issues.

Compared to the meetings with the nobles of the league, the conversation with Re-Gun has much more impact on Shiroe.

(I can't calm down...)

Shiroe flips again and thinks.

Re-Gun is not an annoying man, Shiroe thinks of him an admirable researcher, knowledgeable and witty, but as for trust...he might not be trustworthy, but Shiroe don't think he was lying.

But the history of the world he mention makes Shiroe's emotion unstable.

World Fraction.

Spirit theory.

As a global level magic researcher, Re-Gun seems to only be concerned with these 2 parts.

Re-Gun mentioned the spirit problem which relates to the spirit theory. Shiroe is not an expert, he is unable to understand the technical details, but the summary is as follows.

Normally, humans and demihuman spiritual energy are known as spirits. The spirit is not one individual piece, it is made up of two related energy, 'soul' and 'essence'.

'Soul' is the energy that powers the mind, the psyche of the human lies in 'soul'. The stronger the soul is, the stronger and more determined the heart will be. This will also affect the power of magic, MP is the manifestation of 'soul'.

'Essence' is the energy that drives the body. The strength of the body lies in 'essence'. The stronger the 'essence' is, the stronger the body and its essence capacity will be. Fighters who specialize in weapons can utilize this energy in battle. HP is part of the manifestation of 'essence', but most of it is 'Qi'.

When human lose the ability to fight, they will not be able to move. At this point, the psyche is still present, but the body is separated from the psyche. The 'soul' and the body controlling the five senses that is linked to the outside world will stop transmitting information to the 'soul' and the psyche, trapping the psyche in darkness.

As the 'essence' starts to disperse, as described before, the 'essence' is the source of energy for the body...Qi. Stronger and higher level body will take longer for the 'essence' to disperse. Lower level or frail 'essence' will disperse in a matter of minutes, but strong 'essence' will take up to a half a day to disperse. This process is called 'failing essence'.

When healers cast 'Resurrection', they are used on a body in such a condition. The method is gathering the 'essence' that has disperse around the area, reconstruct it and send it back into the body.

If there are not enough 'Qi' during the reconstructing process, the healer will top up with her own Qi. The information needed for reconstructing are taken from the body in front and calculated by reverse engineering. If there is any mistake in the calculations, it will result in the resurrected player losing EXP, this is an unavoidable data corruption.

If resurrection was not used and the 'essence' disperse completely, the body would not be able to maintain its form. In physical terms the body will start to decompose, people of the land in this condition is dead... Yes, resurrection unexpectedly works on the people of the land. But the condition is casting it immediately after death.

On the other hand, when adventures go all the way through the 'failing essence' process, or the adventurer will it himself, the body and equipment will disassemble into light particles, and is sent to the cathedral using the power of the 'soul'. The body will then be automatically reconstructed, the cathedral will provide 'Qi' power to repair the 'essence'. After finish repairing the body and 'soul' will merge with the body and resurrection is complete.

This miraculous ability requires exhausting both the 'essence' and 'soul' energy, which results in data corruption and the lost of EXP... But adventurers will come back to life if they dies and have an undying body.

According to Re-Gun's research, this is the death mechanics in this world, and the mechanics of how adventurers come back to life.

"This is very similar to the reincarnation system of the demihuman."

Re-Gun said.

"When Demihuman dies... Eh, in this case when it goes into 'failing essence', their body will decompose just like the people of the land, their corpse and equipment will be left behind. But their 'soul' will immediately be reborn in another body, even if it has a 10 years growing period, it will still be an undying reincarnating body."

It is terrifying in a certain way.

But this is Re-Gun and his masters hypothesis, most people of the land do not know of this theory. If the theory is true, demihuman will be a harder to deal with then previously imagined.

So, do demihuman have memories of their previous lives? Shiroe asked back then.

"I am unable to answer, there are 2 factors involved."

Re-Gun find this hard to answer, and choose his words with discretion.

"Firstly, the human psyche is based on 'soul', demihumans and adventurers have 'soul' that last forever. The psyche, personality, ambition, characters and such information must be stored in the 'soul', along with memories, or at least most of it is kept in the 'soul', this has already been proven. On the other hand, we also have proof that memories are store in the body organ brain. The body is the domain of 'essence', so in other words, memories are stored in both the 'essence' and the 'soul' as a whole. Since that is the case, when a body falls into 'failing essence' or when reconstructing the 'essence', I deduce there are damages to the memory. And the fact confirms this, as memories are imperfect or lost after death.

'Soul' is also where the emotions lie. Even a undying body will have poison in the form of fear, despair and laziness. The demihuman probably are cursed by the first world fraction, resulting in their soul being twisted. A psyche under this condition might be able to retain memories, but they also lose the ability to recall memories freely and recognizing who they were. This is like schizophrenia, or viewing your own memory like a history event."

If that is so, death means...

In this alternate world, death is not a risk free event.

This is a terrifying fact.

No, everything is just a hypothesis.

But Shiroe accepts this as facts to calm the doubting voice in his mind. There is no need to use logical deduction, he knows through instinct. Death comes with a risk, there are no such thing as unlimited life in the world.

(Re-Gun says the memory is stored in both the brain and the soul...)

Shiroe doesn't believe every part of the magical theories of the sage, but he still thought about something.

He recall the development of the Elder Tale game, no, it should be the making and structure of all online games. Players like Shiroe sit in front of the computer at home, log in to Elder Tale's world to play, online game is basically structured like this for entertainment.

If that is so, isn't the real world's introvert graduate student 'Shiro Kurogane' playing the role of Kon?

Even if the character dying, the player 'Shiro Kurogane' will not die, he just need to choose the game options to resurrect and Shiroe will be able to adventure again.

Borrowing Re-Gun's theory, all the memories is with 'Shiro Kurogane', Shiroe is just a body.

But this is when Elder Tale was just a game.

Because of the effect of some unknown magic, the Shiroe now is using the identity of Shiroe to exist in this alternate world.

Put simply, Shiroe's Kon exist in this world, not stored safely in front of the computer in the old world. The continuity of memories is no longer a guarantee, death will mercilessly harm Shiroe's Kon.

Shiroe call out his status screen.

The screen displays the number of times he have died.

The number is quite high, reflecting Shiroe's long gaming experience.

But Shiroe has not died yet since the Apocalypse. He think death is a frightening thing, even if he can respawn, it still give him a feeling of fear... It must be the same for the other members of Log Horizon.

He is not sure of the extend of memory lost that comes with death.

He can only hope it is not too much.

If death results in serious memory lost, Akiba will already be in chaos. The symptoms are probably so mild that dying once will not have much effect, or it might be lost selectively from unimportant memories so that the subject himself doesn't even notice.

The lost might be so minute that it is no different from being absent minded.

(Even so, I am unable to tell them about this.)

He have not told Michitaka and Crusty about this.

Shiroe also asked Akatsuki to keep it a secret for now.

They will need to say it one day, this is a problem that affects all players.

Shiroe turns again in the darkness.

The darkness is making him very depressed.


2

"The patrols are approaching, let me see... 5 of them? They will reach about 10 beats. <TL: music term?>

Isuzu who is poking her head out of the arch reports.

(Hmm, 10 beats is... 20 seconds?)

This is the first tomb on the right route of Ragranda forest. The spacious tunnel drops downwards, and leads to a room. It is about 5 meters in diameter, with no doors, only a arch linking the room to the corridor.

Tohyas's group hide their presence and hide in this tomb room with several stone coffins.

There are 5 skeletons patrolling along the corridor. This is the report of the best scout in the party Isuzu. From their experience so far, there should be one of them with a ranged weapon.

"Let's move according to plan."

Tohya says in a soft voice, the other 4 nods their head and spread out in the room as they planned, everyone checking their equipment on hand.

(No problem, just like we discussed before hand, we can definitely do this. We cannot keep making the same mistake... we can continue to be at the losing end.)

Tohya thinks in his heart.

(No, we cannot fight like we used to!)

Today's battle will be different from yesterday. You can tell just by looking at everyone's faces that they have the determination to make it work.

5th day of the dungeon challenge.

In the end, the group did not enter the dungeon that rainy day.

Tohya's group discuss until noon, everyone raising questions and explaining their skills. Someone suggested they need to look at the skill in action to understand it, so they entered the forest to demonstrate. They can also do that in the dungeon, but they will encounter the enemies frequently inside and won't have the time to clear any queries on the spot.

In the Elder Tale world, there are many monsters and wild animals in nature. Goblins, orcs and sciopionmen such demihuman tribes is a force to reckon with in the ruins of this world, and they are big in numbers as well.

Even though there are many monsters, the open world they are active in is also very vast. Elder Tale uses the half gaia project, scaling down the world by half, much more vast and wide then normal MMO games or home console RPGs.

Unless you raid the nest of the monsters or you are hunted by the monsters who keep engaging you in combat, the encounter rate of monster is quite low. Normally after finishing a fight, there will be ample time to rest and recover before the next fight.

But the density of the monster in dungeons are different, since it is their base and fortress. Compare to the open world, in the much smaller and narrow space, there might be up to a few hundred monster stalking in the dark. Players cannot ignore this possibility.








So there will be continuous battles in the dungeons, the time between fights is much shorter then the open world. If they fight repeatedly with little time to rest, MP will drain faster. Most of the Samurai's skill has a long cool down time, and they are unable to wait for the skill to refresh before facing another battle.

There is also the problem of lighting unique to dungeons, and restrictions due to limited space.

Battle in the open world usually starts when you are 10 meters or further away from the enemy. The reason is the group can see each other from further away.

But in the dungeons, you might encounter the enemy when you turn a corner or enters a room.

All these elements made battles in the dungeons much more difficult then open world fighting. Defeating an enemy of a certain level in the dungeon requires much more skills then defeating the same enemy in the open world.

Tohya's party has confirmed over the past few days how hard a fight in the dungeon is.

And because of that, they need to carefully ascertain the abilities of everyone.

Not only the unique features of every skill, but also the sequence and combinations has many varieties too. There will be many questions, like how much additional damage does 'Harmony Carol' cause? What is the probability of it activating?

'What is the range of the sword attack that knocks down the surrounding enemies? How much damage does it cause? Each question seems simple and insignificant, but there are many sequence and combinations which will yield surprising results.

In the evening, the explanation of the skills ended, and the next question is how to make use of each skill.

At this moment, Minori is acting as the sentry, battle formation, information control and battlefield surveillance.

The sounds of friction and footsteps approaches.

The skeleton is about 5 meters away, Tohya signal to the rest with his hand, and they nod to acknowledge with a tense expression.

Tohya look around him, and charged into the corridor without hesitation. As Isuzu reported, there is a 5 skeletons patrol group in front of him. Tohya draw his blade and used 'Vacuum Slash' at the group. The deep red shock wave shot out and bends in the air, slightly wounding the arm of a skeleton.

After confirming the hit, Tohya immediately dash into the tomb without looking back, running into the deepest corner. The clear sound of bones hitting bones is chaotic and shrill. The foor steps of the patrol was in rhythm, but after discovering a hostile, they will charge him in just a few seconds.

The skeleton rushing into the tomb is black all over, giving off the aura of death. Their dark eye sockets burns with a greenish white flame.

The 5 skeleton goes through the arch, 4 of them goes after Tohya in the depths of the room, while 1 archer remains at the entrance.

But everything is going just as they planned.

"I will leave that side to you guys!"

As if she is acting on cue from Tohya, Isuzu stab her 2 handed spear at the skeleton archer and Minori waves her knife wildly.

The attack from the 2 ladies cause some damage to the archer skeleton, but they are unable to stop it from moving. These undead type will not flinch from any attack unless it is defeated.

"...Since it is just you alone, I have something more suitable then lava ball... taste the power of the elegant sorcerer! 'lightning cage'!"

A feeling similar to spasm made Isuzu and Minori retreats.



The electricity make the sign of a 5 point star for an instant and the skeleton archer was imprisoned in a cage of purple lightning. The lightning cast by the sorcerer bounce between the ceiling and the ground, and the skeleton archer disintegrated from the attack.

"Great!"

Tohya grins as he saw this scene, he battled the 4 skeletons with his back to the wall, refusing to back down from the fight. Serara is in charged of healing him.

"HP at 84%, he can continue to endure it!"

'Heartbeat healing' is a heal over time spell. Combine with the occasional 'heal' spell, Tohya is able to stand up to the 4 skeletons attack with his HP over 80%.

But it is painful.

The axe strike of the skeleton is dangerous, if there is no healing support, he is not sure if he can last more than a minute. But Serara's healing is supporting Tohya in this fight.

"Minori please confirm, Isuzu, Rudie, please prepare to attack!"

The party mates sound out to acknowledge Tohya and get into their position. Minori head to the entrance, Rundelhaus and Isuzumove behind the skeletons that are focused on Tohya.

"They are totally infuriated?"

Rundelhaus looks haughtily at the skeletons.

"Yes, there was enough time so I used Samurai challenge twice on each of them, they won't find trouble with Rudie so easily."

"Good, now I can attack without fear!"

Rundelhaus starts to chant his attack spells immediately.

And so did Isuzu. She started casting her magic later but finish before Rundelhaus. She stick her spear into the ground and the bells on her spearhead starts to ring, the sound wave piercing through the skeleton group.

"I have confirmed the situation in the pathway, no visual of any follow up patrols, there is no problem. Mr Rundelhaus, please do it!"

"Leave it to me Miss Minori! Lava ball!"

Rundelhaus cast his spell as instructed by Minori, a compress stone glowing like molten magma appears at his fingertip.

Tohya used samurai challenge again.

Rundelhaus' attack is very high, Tohya has to taunt the monsters again to draw all their attention to him.

He has already used taunt skills multiple times, but he cast it again to play it safe. Tohya is a samurai and the image of Naotsugu's back appears on his mind.

...Tohya, the duty of the vanguard is to tank all the attacks of the enemies and to trust your allies right? This is a oath between men okay?

Tohya stares at the skeleton group with unwavering eyes. Rundelhaus who is standing behind the group is chanting his spell to turn his magic into destructive power.

The boiling lava ball cast an orange flow in the room that is full of heat and causes the their vision to sway mysteriously. The ball shoots out from his hands and pierce through the extreme left skeleton, rebounds off the thin air and pierce the 2nd monsters body.

The small bouncing ball of death repeatedly pierce and smash the skeletons body with its destructive power. Rundelhaus follow up with his wide area spell 'Blizzard'.

"And so it ends. All of you, return to the dark world that befits you!"

The chilling wind made the skeleton struggling in the heat fall to the ground in a heap.

The sounds of the battle is gone abruptly, and the tomb is filled with the gasping breath of the group.

Tohya holds his sword on guard, Rudie hold his staff that is still channeling magic and Serara cast heal on reflex to prepare for the next battle.

Everyone looks at Minori at the entrance.

Minori carefully scans the tunnel again before turning to face her party mates.

"There are no reinforcement, the battle this round has ended."

These words put them at ease.

"Hmmp, this should be the way."

"That was a pretty way to handle it!"

"Yes, thank you everyone for your hard work!"

Minori and Tohya looks at the smiles of their comrades, and bump their fist.



3

Every one work so hard.

Minori face relax with a smile when she thinks of that.

Minori's party explored the dungeon for 7 hours for their 5th day dungeon challenge, battling 22 times, only fighting 2 enemy patrols at the same time once. She thinks that their way of handling the battle is several times sharper then 2 days ago.

There is a short rest after every fight.

The short break is to cure their HP and debuffs, as well as recovering their MP fully. But there is another meaning for this.

The group will do an after action review, agree on the smooth parts and finding ways to improve it. This is a time to discuss the next battle location and plan, make the preparation for the next battle.

The first is to confirm the battle formation.

Tohya is a solid samurai vanguard, so they need to focus the enemies attack on him, this is the most basic tactics, but this obvious move needs the cooperation of the whole party.

How do you set it up so the party mates other then Tohya can move? If you never consider this before making your move, Tohya would not be able to draw the enemies' attention.

The next is information control, that is the job of monitoring the HP of all party members. In the present Elder World, it is hard to confirm each other's status in the heat of the battle, even more so for melee fighters.

This is now a common sense in the alternate world.

This time, there are 2 healers in the party.

This means they will have the benefit of rapid HP recovery, but it has a weak point.

If both healers work on the same target together, they can recover the HP rapidly. But it could also result in over healing the target, a waste of mana and time.

If there are any other casualties, Minori and Serara's main healing spell could be stuck in cool down, resulting in a gap in healing...This might do more harm then good.

After Minori and Serara discussed about it, it is decided that Serara will be solely responsible for managing Tohya's HP. If she needs help, Serara will ask Minori for aid.

Minori who is free from healing duties volunteer to act as a sentry for the battle field. The duty includes acting as a reserve for healing or attacking as well as to watch the surrounding zones for any enemy reinforcement.

With this assigned post, the chance of the battle becoming a free for all drops to the minimum. If they can discover the reinforcement before hand, they will be able to increase the healing spells or change the support magics to prepare.

High alert formation is a formation they can use while moving that maintains the battle formation as well as scouting in all directions.

The team is led by Tohya and Minori as the rear guard.

The two of them as twins, so they can watch each others blind spot and detect the approaching enemy as well as the sense of battles. The member who is best at hiding her presence and scouting is Isuzu, in charge of keeping an eye on both the twins and look out for signs of danger in all directions. If there is a need, she will scout ahead alone.

By moving in this formation, Serara will be able to monitor the HP of the party, Rundelhaus can focus on recovering his MP. Serara is the main healer, Rundelhaus is the main attacker, Minori's main point of this plan to let the 2 of them concentrate on their job.

These are the 4 basic points Shiroe taught Minori about a party moving in the dungeons. It is not a game's system, it is the ingenuity and thoughts of the adventurers.

But Minoti did not know the meaning behind these basic points in the beginning. Even if you can explain in words, it would be pointless and you would not understand, so Minori didn't talk about that.

What she need to do is very simple.

That is to sound out your intents and have a discussion about it.

If you need help, just say "please help."

If you are healing, just say "I will heal you."

If the enemy is approaching, just say "the enemy is approaching."

"Prioritize the range enemy", "Leave him to me." or "My MP can only last for 2 more spells.", just say whatever you have on your mind.

These are simple things, just doing that lets you defeat the enemy one by one. The struggles they had before all seems to be a lie.

It is not friendship or hypocritical words of concern, it is a technique necessary for survival.

A party that cannot help each other is like sealing your own potential, adventurers like Minori and the others need to help each other in order to defeat the enemy, this is how the alternate world works.

On the other hand, this technique goes beyond friendship and care, it is something warm and holy. In the battle field where seconds means the difference between life and death, if you request for the aid you need directly, or if you can predict the need of your comrades and help them. You will need to know each other well before hand and have the knowledge and understanding of all the skills they have.

To fight in front of the room? Or to pull the battle line further back before engaging? Start the battle with a sneak attack? Or to lure them out into the open? Can you envision the scene of victory? What does it look like? Do you want to let your party mate handle this?

Minori's group focus on all possible questions, and share their own answers. This is a strict test of how well you know your team mates. As Minori's group slowly pass the test, the 5 adventurers are now a real team.

"Ah Ha, Minori, your nose is all black."

Isuzu laugh loudly.

As the leave the dungeon, the last light of the afternoon illuminates the woods. It is already evening, the sky should turn red in 30 minutes. Isuzu points at Minori's nose in the sunlight.

"You got dust on it? Or is it a spiderweb?"

Isuzu laugh heartedly at Minori, but her leather armor and forehead is also drenched in sweat and brown from the mud.

(But her smiling eyes are so clear, so pretty.)

Minori took out a cloth from her bag and pass it to her with a smile :"You too." Isuzu wipe her face in a hurry, and has a disappointed expression when she look at the dirty cloth.

"Wooo, am I black all over?"

"You are not dirty to that extent, but do you want to go to the spring?"

"Alright, ah... Serara let's go together okay?"

Isuzu invites Serara who is walking in front.

"What is it Minori, are you going to the spring too?"

Tohya who is leading the way heard the conversation and turn around. Seems like he is discussing with Rundelhaus about showering there.

"Wooo, but we are all sweaty..."

"Ladies first. Tohya, just bear with it."

Rundelhaus consoles Tohya.

Rundelhaus is also covered in soot, with no signs of his handsome face. His shiny coat has also lost its shine.

Today's exploration was a huge progress.

They even reached the workshop at the deepest corner of the route on the right.

The workshop has stoves burning with magical flames, and the air is thick with smoke. The dead became skeletons and work as they are commanded.

The monster controlling the skeletons is a 'Burning dead'. Different from the normal skeleton, it emits blue flames of the underworld from every joint, he is a strong enemy that can use magic attacks. But Minori's group took care of the patrols one by one, and finish him off with a blitz of attacks to take him out.

But because of the battle in the smoky room, they are now all dirty.

"Why don't we all go together?"

"Is...Isuzu!"

Isuzu says casually and Serara rejects her by waving her hands in a panic. Isuzu realize the reason she is all flustered, and she also starts to panic and explains

"I don't mean showering together! We can wash ourselves at the side of the spring blocked by the trees, Tohya and Rudie can use the pond on the other side, that's what I mean!

Isuzu explains in a panic, Serara replies :"That...That's fine then." and tries to cover it with a smile.

"Minori, how about it?"

"If you guys are okay with it, Tohya."

The twins came to a consensus immediately and took a change of clothes from their tent. The 5 of them chats happily as they walk to the spring.

The topic is about today's battles and tactics.

The burning dead is level 24, probably the strongest enemy on the route to the right. Shiroe mentioned before that enemies that you can take on safety are 5 levels below your party's average. The average level of Minori's party is slightly above 24, so the opponents they can fight without much risk is level 19. This mean they won a fight far above this safety margin.

The team was exuberant when they understand this fact.

Defeating an enemy of the same level with only a party of 5, this is a great result. They were surprised when they received a magical item as a loot.

But the thing that made them most happy is that the normal mob battles is going very smoothly. Either luring the enemy to a corner or taking the initiative to attack, striking when they have the advantage over the terrain and position. The importance of doing this is more crucial then they imagined.

They learned the importance lesson of watching out for one and other.

(We are a real team now.)

Minori smile to herself.

She is so happy that she finally understand the meaning behind Shiroe's words.

Not only levels.

If you want to become stronger, the key is not only levels.

To fight in this world, you need companions.

If you want companions, you need to take the initiative to talk to them, persist in interacting with them. This is a treasure you can't get through strong skills or high levels.

Her days at Hamelin is slowly fading away.

The days she was forced to level could not have brought her to this height, this is something you cannot obtain through leveling up.

"Mi...No...Ri? Fas...ter!"

Isuzu is jumping and waving at the deep end of the forest. Minori replies cheerfully and run towards the spring with her back to the red evening light.



4

(Hooo)

Shiroe keeps the stack of paper into a leather file.

He is sorting out all sorts of documents.

Reports, investigation findings, gathered data... They have all sorts of names, but they are all documents with complicated intelligence in it. It includes memo written by Akatsuki and the other round table council members, Shiroe sorts these information on a daily basis.

Because they need to be ready for any surprises when meeting the people of the land.

These pieces of paper are kept in a bigger and more secured folder, and becomes a document too. Examples are request forms from guilds, lease agreement, contracts, IOU, letter of authorization...

Shiroe is a scribe, his ability is to make copies of documents, books and making curses, technical manuals or maps.

No matter how complicated the literature item is, he can make it in 10 seconds if he knows the production method.

But just like chefs, scribes also have new possibilities. Shiroe wants to do research on this area, but he is caught up with the works of the round table council and has not made much progress.

This is a room provided for Shiroe in the 'Ancient palace of eternal frost', he stretch his back in his desk. The sun has already set, but the rooms in the palace are illuminated with magical light source, it will be quite a while before bedtime.

Shiroe takes the map of the 'League of Freedom Cities Eastal' from another folder. The map is not only well made, but also filled with notes and labels written by Shiroe.

He feels that his subclass scribe has been very helpful, the biggest aid being the ability to make quality paper.

The quality of paper in the alternate world is very poor, you can often see parchments during trips and adventure. Some places even uses paper that looks like tree barks. Shiroe's scribe ability allows him to make magical instruction manuals, maps and documents.

These items are listed as magical items in the game setting and cannot be made with just any paper. High level products requires corresponding levels of materials, which includes paper and ink. Scribes also have the ability to create special paper and ink, which are the ingredients for creating such magical items. Shiroe keeps a variety of items in his inventory.

There is no need to use high quality ingredients to make normal memo papers, just simple ingredients will be enough to create quality paper that is easy to write on.

The importance of the paper is in it's thickness, uniformity and cleanliness, the quality of ink is it's durability against light exposure, uniformity, quick to dry and bright colors.

Shiroe mass produce these easy to use paper and ink which is a great help in office works.

Shiroe studies the hand made map.

His finger trace a line through the mountain ridges or coastline as he thinks. If he frowns at any doubts, he will write it down on a memo.

For a long time there is only the sound of pen moving on paper. But this is cut off when Shiroe hears a ringtone in his ear.


"Yes?"

"Mr Shiroe, it's me, this is Minori."

With the friend list, you will know the callers identity the moment they contact you through telepathy. But Minori always start off the conversation this way, a reflection of her polite nature. A big difference from the cheerful shouts of Tohya 'Big Bro, it's me!'

"Good evening, you have finish your training for the day?"

"Yes!"

Minori sounds so cheerful, she sounds so dishearten the last few days. Shiroe guess that they must have overcome an obstacle.

Minori and the others are participating in a training camp and challenging a dungeon suitable for beginners. But suitable for beginners does not mean it is easy to complete. On the contrary, it is a difficult dungeon that welcomes beginners with its hard battles.

In simple terms, it includes all the elements beginners must overcome in a condensed package.






Pathways that goes over each other in all 3 dimensions, getting a bird eye view of the room from high places, the long climb with ladders, the monsters patrol and the almost endless horde of undead monsters.

These are all sturdy fortress to overcome, stopping the players from clearing them with just the ability of their class. The undead monsters are fuel by the limitless energy of grudges from the underworld, if they try to break through without a battle plan, they will be tormented by the enemies endless reinforcements.

"You made progress in the raid?"

"Yes, let me report, we begin the dungeon raid at 7.30am. After exploring for about 7 hours, we left at around 3pm. During this period, we reached the furthest end on the route to the right and defeated the burning dead in the furnace room!"

"Wow, that is incredible!"

If Shiroe remember correctly, the burning dead follows a floating level system, between level 23-25, about the same as Minori's party average. Defeating an enemy the same level as your party average and with only 5 members, it is quite a feat even for a party of experienced players.

It is also dependent on the compatibility of the enemy, it is still a nice battle. Compared to the failures the past few days, this can only be described as an achievement.

"That's right!"

From Minori's cheerful voice, he can tell this is a fruitful trip.

She was so demoralized just yesterday.

Shiroe feels a sense of warmth in his chest.

Since yesterday, Shiroe feels he mind has been stressed by all sorts of things, including the foreboding spirit theory and a dreadful feeling that he do not understand from knowing the history of the world.

These emotions turn into a heavy burden he cannot put into words, weighing heavily in his heart.

It can also be defined as frustration.

The feeling that he has not accomplished anything, and the unease of not knowing anything. And despite the lack of knowledge, situations keep coming up when he cannot do anything about them, that is the feeling Shiroe is fighting against alone.

But hearing the energetic young voice of a fellow member of Log Horizon, he feels a flash of bright light scattering the dark fog.

Companions are your most precious treasures.

It might sound old fashion, but that is what Shiroe feels.

"How is everyone doing?"

"They are doing great!"

"That's not what I meant."

Shiroe continue asking with a smile. Minori seems to be in a great mood today. Even though her manners are polite as usual, but hearing the perkiness in her replies made Shiroe perplexed and happy.

"?"

The image of Minori's graceful expression of surprise surface in his head.

"How involved is everyone? How did you manage to defeat them?"

"About that, Tohya is responsible for attracting and engaging the enemy, this part is the same as before. But we change our tactics and get into the position from the start, luring the enemy into the room and breaking them into groups!"

...This is the traditional 'pulling' technique used for continuous battles so they can have the advantage in numbers. Put simply, it is better to fight 100 battle against 1 opponent than fighting 1 battle against 100 enemies.

"Taking out enemies with range attack is the priority. Also, I am the backup healer in charge of security looking out for reinforcements. We concentrate our attacks to reduce the enemies fighting power...do you understand what I am talking about?"

"Yes, I understand."

Minori tactics is correct.

She keep to the basic principles Shiroe taught her.

But they are not something you can execute just from hearing about it. Be it healing or attacks, every action in a battle have their own priority, who will be the one to judge the order using which criteria? How do you inform your team mates the conclusion of your decision?

Shiroe can understand the uneasiness of Minori when she ask if he understands.

She should be worried about communicating her thoughts properly.

In summary, it is to be be alert of your surrounding and taking out the enemy one at a time.

It is easy to talk, but to execute this tactic requires detail planning and steps... knowing the surrounding terrain, the range of their support, all team members understand the range of support and attack magic. How to support any members that falls into trouble, they need to understand each other and practice it.

When Minori is in danger, Serara will assist.

If Rundelhaus gets caught in a trap, Minori will use damage intercept spells.

When Isuzu falls into trouble, Serara will use heal and Isuzu will retreat as well. By accumulating a number of such detailed cooperation, their 'combat operation' gradually comes into shape.

These accumulation of minor cooperation details, can it be explained so easily with words? Shiroe has experienced Minori's uneasiness before.

(Relax, I understand, your thoughts can reach me, this is a delicate and important thing... In order to protect your goals, you have to accumulate plenty of such meticulous thoughts.)

"Relax, I understand what you mean, is everyone taking part actively?"

"Of course! Miss Serara's healing is powerful! HP recovery is several times faster than me, she has a wide array of spells too, I am losing my confidence here."

For pure healing powers, <kannagi/shaman/shrine maiden> cannot compare with druids. The 2 classes have different philosophy regarding the protection of allies HP anyway. Minori's <kannagi/shaman/shrine maiden> class doesn't focus on healing wounds, but focus on their unique damage interception magic, preventing harm from happening in the first place.

In terms of healing wounds after it has happened, druids are better.

"As you level up, your assortment of magic will catch up too."

"Is that so? Miss Isuzu is amazing too. In terms of variety, she has so many skills it is hard for me to remember."

He recalls that Isuzu is a bard, so it is understandable why she has such a wide range of skills. She shouldn't compare with her since the feature of a bard is their variety of skills, Shiroe laugh softly.

"Tohya is working so hard, he can keep the enemies in check, and is holding himself from using his skills... Mr Shiroe? Really, are you laughing at me?"

"Sorry, I am not laughing at you, really."

Shiroe laugh gently in reply, Minori at the other end is also laughing shyly, so there is no problem.

"As for Mr Rundelhaus, everyone calls him Rudie, but sorcerers are so strong."

"He is not in any guild?"

"Yes, he is a handsome man... but it is a pity that he is a bit dumb. But he is always overexerting himself, a shameful and interesting person. He is very close to Miss Isuzu, and can use powerful magic. He will not back down before defeating the enemy, he should be the most serious person among us."

Shameful, interesting, serious, handsome and dumb?

Minori's description is all over the place, but Shiroe feels that he is a guy you can get along well with.

Minori gives all kind of reports, like the battle with the skeletons, defend and follow up attacks.

Tohya's fight, Serara's contribution, Isuzu's determination, Rundelhaus' decisiveness...and a bit of Minori's active participation.

Shiroe nods in reply to her every buoyant words

Tohya's silly jokes made everyone laugh; Isuzu black nose; Serara's crush on Nyanta; Nyanta being unaware of her feelings; Rundelhaus holding the sandwiches with both hands like a well mannered boy... So vivid that Shiroe feels he is there himself.

The happy times pass by in a flash.

Shiroe reminds Minori not to risk their lives and ended the call. Since Naotsugu and Nyanta is there it will be fine, but they shouldn't take too much risk.

After ending the chat, the room seems to still be reverberating with Minori's cheerful voice.

...There are mysterious things in this world. Shiroe is not able to tell everyone that death have its risk, but he will need to do that sooner or later.

He has to live on in such a world. But if he can listen to Minori's happy voice, he feels that he can carry on in this world.



5

The sparks dance in the dark.

This is the central hilly region in Sand Leaf, a plaza in the middle of the forest. This is the camp site for Isuzu's group that is raiding the Ragranda forest dungeon.

Isuzu and Rudie is seated beside the campfire.

There were more people just now, but they have all returned to their tents now.

It has been a week since they started challenging the dungeon, this is their last day of their first raid. They are scheduled to return to the school campus tomorrow afternoon. Hence the group is only planning for a simple trip into the dungeon the next morning.

Isuzu's group has build their team spirit over the days, and have been staying beside the fire until just now, drinking honey black rose tea together. They chat about everything as they maintain their weapon or armor. Serara ask Nyanta to pat her head, Minori was chatting with someone secretly.

As for Isuzu, she took out a lute from her bag to play. Lutes are a middle ages European musical instrument, its shape is similar to a guitar, and its size fits snugly into Isuzu's thin arms.

The lute has less note variation than a guitar, but is has a classical feel to it, bringing a sense of luxury to the campsite. Lute is a common portable instrument in this alternate world. Instead of plucking the strings, you strum them with your fingertips to play the unique sound of this instrument.

(Wah...Lutes are great too...)

Isuzu was chatting and enjoying herself, but she still feels the need for music.

Just strumming the strings like this stirs a sense of nostalgia in her heart.

Isuzu likes music and all instruments.

A normal country high school girl Isuzu likes, but is not that passionate that she wants to make it her future. But on the other hand, this is her pure and unpretentious youth.

To be honest, this is a feeling of 'Ahh, it is so fun to play with instruments, I want to keep playing'. She has been this way since grade school.

"Miss Isuzu is so classy."

"Eh, I am a bard after all."

Isuzu look up with a smile.

With everybody gone, there is only Isuzu and Rundelhaus at the campfire.


Just strumming freely without referring to any scripts.

Isuzu has not played a lute before, she remember this is the europen precursor to the guitar, used by the people in the middle ages... She remember reading about it in music magazines, but the first time she touch one physically is in this world (The basic design is the same as a guitar or violin anyway).

Isuzu has a guitar and a cheap contrabass at home, but no violins.

The thing that bothers her is the 15 strings on the lute.

Even so, she managed to play and strum it after 2 months, playing individual notes is not a problem.

Rundelhaus hold on to his white metal mug and listen silently to these notes that cannot be called a song. His gaze doen't make Isuzu uneasy and Rundelhaus did not interrupt her music.

The music reverberate like the tides of the ocean.

Isuzu did not play any specific song, she just plays a bit from here, another bit from there, editing and playing them at random. The popular songs Isuzu remember from the old world appears and is lost in the sea of melodyl the lullabies and classical pieces rise in her heart and dispersed once again.

Even though there is no need to stop, Isuzu choose a suitable part and plays the ending notes. Rundelhaus claps his hands totally impressed by her.

"Don't act like this, this is nothing really."

"No, that was very beautiful, it is like the music merges into the air after you play it."

Isuzu also feels that is the case. But the soothing sound of the lute should be attributed to the environment and atmosphere, not because of Isuzu's efforts.

The forest in the starry night sky, the campfire and the cool summer breeze. Playing music in such conditions will make anything sound like the melody from the heavens.

Isuzu wants to say this, but Rundelhaus' eyes were full of praise and admiration. She cannot bear to find fault with this feeling of his, so she only says curtly:"Thanks."

After this, they continue their normal conversation.

Occasionally strumming the lute in her arms playfully.

The particles of music appears visually in the night sky which is so refreshing.

"What do you normally eat Rudie?"

"Warm sandwiches, warm sandwiches or warm sandwiches"

"So you only eat sandwiches, is it Mentaiko sandwich?"

"You are absolutely right miss Isuzu."

This is the product of a guild called 'RP.jr', who sells the food out of their cart. They are a small guild, but they manage to reap a lot of profit from the popular Mentaiko sandwich, the secret of their success lies in the 6 batches of fresh and tasty bread they bake daily.

The ingredients of Mentaiko sandwich is lower then meat products. They have a good eye for running a business, Isuzu likes to eat it too.

"It is nice right?"

"Yes, Mentaiko's chewy texture is top class."

Their favorite beverage is the trending black rose tea.

Adding honey or lemon juice into water, and freezing it with ice elementals to make 'crushed snow smoothies' is nice too. If you want to splurge, 'Appu's Kitchen' fried pork cutlet is the best choice.

Isuzu is talking a lot today.

She sees herself as a plain girl, and has no memory of ever chatting with a guy for so long.

Because it is Rundelhaus?

Reevaluating the young man Rundelhaus, she sees that his eye brows are long and handsome, and has a Anglo-Saxon face of a model, or the looks of a prince. If he comes to the country school Isuzu is studying in, there will be an uproar and school will be cancelled for a week.

But Isuzu doesn't feel any romance looking at his face.

Isuzu thinks deeply.

(That's right! Golden retriever!)

A large dog that is smart and has a noble air about it, Rundelhaus is just like them. Smart, has a calm temperament, even the aloof nature is also alike. Like the drooping corners of the eye, a bit silly if you get to know him, and his friendly demeanors are all the same.

In Isuzu's mind, she has completely equating Rundelhaus with a dog.

(I understand now, that is why I am not afraid of him.)

Isuzu loves dogs, and she think dogs love her too.

The feeling she has with Rundelhaus is the same as taking care of a large dog, so she is not nervous. Isuzu accepts this line of thought.

The topic shifts to where they are staying, Isuzu is living in the guild hall, but Rundelhaus did not join any guild.

"Hmmp, I have a presidential suite on the second floor of Sedan Hotel."

Even though he was speaking arrogantly, Isuzu thinks of it as the feelings of a puppy barking, so she did not mind. Sedan hotel is in the low to mid range level in Akiba, it is popular due to its location, but its price and facility is normal.

(Hold on, this is not something you can say so arrogantly right?)

The presidential suite on the 2nd floor sounds impressive, but it is just a normal room for an adventurer, it doesn't have any deeper meaning.

Itsuzu feels the way she talks so arrogantly is like the nature of a golden retriever.

But there is a cuteness about it.

"Is that so. Speaking of which, why didn't you join any guild Rudie? You don't want to?"

"To bound my shining talent to just one place is a sin, right?"

Rundelhaus replies haughtily, giving her a look casually.

(This is the first time I see someone giving off a look so naturally, Rudie is amazing... although he is an idiot.) <TL: I don't know what look>

Rundelhaus is an idiot, but joining guilds is their own freedom.

She cannot comment on that.

"Is that so."

"But Miss Isuzu is a beautiful and talented lady, this is the first time I have heard such a magnificent performance, you really loves music... And you are reliable in combat, you are the only bard I know of that uses a 2 handed spear."

"Rudie, stop...stop playing around."

Isuzu retorts. She chose a 2 handed spear because it resembles something he saw in his father's collection, 'a rock and roll singer holding his guitar up here after destroying a speaker'.

This weapon is heavy but Isuzu can wield it easily, which made her surprised. The contrabass is also 15kg, so it make sense that she can wield the 2 handed spear. In short, practice makes perfect.

"Hahahahaha! Miss Isuzu you are really charming this way! You are a companion I am comfortable to be around with, since we live in Akiba together, we have plenty of chance to meet after the training camp is over, please take care of me then!"

"You are right."

Isuzu nods without hesitation.

From the looks of things, they won't be leaving this world anytime soon.

And battles are scary, it sometimes reminds her of her time in Hamelin where she almost broke down.

Despite this, Isuzu has music, companions, so she has to make the best of it since she can't return yet. Isuzu learns to take it in stride from Minori, so she is able to accept Rundelhaus' words directly.

"Ah, if that is the case, I will register Rudie in my friend list, if you have any good things to share remember to find me. Let's eat Mentaiko sandwich together someday, hehe, okay, register register."

"Eh..."

Rundelhaus expression sunk.

This is the face of regretting his failure.

And blaming himself for being naive.

In the end, Isuzu is unable to register Rundelhaus on her friend list.


6

The sound of a fierce battle breaks out in the forest.

Sword and shield clashes

Axe and spear collides.

Shoryu closes the distance between him and the <kannagi/shaman/Shinto priest> in an instance. The level 38 young man is trying to create distance while chanting the spell "holy curse of the sword"...

Shoryu uses the basic swashbuckler skill 'sharp edge' to interrupt his spell after closing in on him.

The young player fell with a cough, Shoryu offers him his hand and helped him up.

"I know you are retreating in order to chant your spells, but you will be stopped if the enemy see through your intent. It should be fine if you are just fighting monsters, but you will be facing tougher adversaries in the future. You need to increase your familiarity with combination attacks."

"Was I too slow?"

"You are not slow, just too honest. You need to work on the variation of your movements to keep your foes off guard."

The young man accepts Shoryu advice with a nod.

In Elder Tale, you are considered mid range player upon reaching level 40. You need to experience quite a number of battle to reach this stage. This level is high enough for production players to defend themselves, but for players in specialising in fighting, they need more skills and finesse than that.

In the Elder Tale world that is no longer a game, this is a crucial point.

Even though adventurers won't die, they can still feel pain.

According to players who died before, the pain is not unbearable, about the level of a bone fracture or a traffic accident (that is still very painful). Even if you ignore the painful aspect, there are many disadvantages with dying.

An example is the problem of time.

When Elder Tale was still a game, the time in this world is 12 times faster. When 2 hours passes in the real world, a day goes by here.

This is implemented with the quest of the game in mind. Some mission can only be done at night, so if the time between the real world and Elder Tale is synchronized, when it is night time in the real world, it will be night in the game.

If this system is in place, Elder Tale players who can only play in the day will not be able to do night missions. The players in the real world tends to have a relatively fixed schedule for their work and play time.

To accommodate such players, the in game time is set to be 12 times faster, 2 hours is equivalent to 1 day.

But for the Elder Tale that has changed into the alternate world, the players is in the game itself, unlike when it was just a game, they need to rest and sleep.

And so the place that usually take an hour to reach in game now takes 12 hour to do so. If you include resting and the time to set up camp, the journey could take 2 days.

With fast travel methods such as fairy rings being restrictive in its use, this change is much more prominent.

Whether you want to raid dungeons or go to a zone with high level monsters, the first troublesome issue is the journey.

This made EXP more important then before. The leveling requirement remains the same, but the amount of EXP you can earn every hour is much lesser than before. If you die and lose EXP and money, you will need much more effort to get them back.

If you think of it this way, the difficulty of battling has increased, since they is no permanent death, the minimum security of all the players are ensured. But adventurers who regularly partake in fights need to understand that and hone their skills.

The young  <kannagi/shaman/Shinto priest> Also understand this point. He his sword and took a stance with a serious expression, repeatedly confirming the moves to activate his skills.

<Kannagi/shaman/Shinto priest> is an eastern style healer, they can equip swords.

It may not be so in other servers, but in the Japanese server, male <kannagi/shaman> are called Shinto priest,  female <kannagi/shaman> are known as shrine maiden. The clothes that fits these title, Suikan for the priest and scarlet Hakama for the maidens, are available to the <kannagi/shaman> at level 40, and many of them set this level as their goal.

New items in Elder Tale can be added by subsidiary companies through expansion packs. For the Japanese server, there are a lot of equipment for <kannagi/shaman> and Samurai, including a 'holy sword' that increases magic powers. <kannagi/shaman> who likes to play solo like this youth likes this type of weapon.

Shoryu grin at him.

He has potential, <kannagi/shaman> are healers, other then a few exceptions, they are unable to learn melee weapons and skills. But there are benefits to learning how to fight up close. If they are able to use range magic and melee weapons, their battle mobility and variety will increase, becoming an advantage for <kannagi/shaman>.

Shoryu is about to teach some practical footwork when he suddenly turn and look behind him.

He has always been right about his foreboding feelings.

A ringtone sound off in his head, Shoryu probably will never forget, but this is not a real sound, but a signal from his game menu.

This ring tone forebodes a telepathy call.

"Shoryu! Come to the beach now!"

"Miss Marielle, what is it?"

"Sahuagin is invading from the sea, the beginners are... Woo, come quick!"

Shoryu end the call, and shouts at the young <kannagi/shaman> :"Gather everyone, quick!"

The situation at the beach is unknown.

Sahuagin's numbers and battle power is unknown.

But the message was urgent, Marielle was out of breath and there were sounds of battle in the background. The beginners are all low level over there, even though there are many higher level adventurers with them, that is also dependent on the number of enemies, he has no idea how the situation is over there.

(What is happening now? Why are the Sahuagin appearing in this place?)

"Gather all the people and contact me via telepathy...keep in contact every 10 minutes!"

Shoryu left this words and ran off. He blew his summoner flute in a hurry, but did not want to waste time waiting for his mount to come and dash off into the forest.

It is important to take care of the beginners here, but the beginners at the coastline is less than level 30.

Sahuagin is a type of monster.

As you can tell from it's name, it is a demihuman race living in the sea or lakes, a fish with 4 limbs growing out of its body. It is grey or dark blue all over, most of them have brown spots.

It is between 160-200cm in height, weighing around 100kg.

At the end of their front limbs are webbed hands, they use their gills to breath underwater, and is able to use their lungs as well when they goes on land occasionally.

Because of either their skin or body structure, they are unable to live away from water, so it is a rare monster to encounter in the plain or dungeons.

Their intelligence is about the level of goblins, most of them prefers to use javelins or tridents, that is the extent of knowledge Shoryu has about them.

He has little experience fighting these monsters.

(Their level... I remember is 23-30...)

A light brown horse rush over, Shoryu runs besides it and jump onto it's back. He then ride straight for the coastline.

He spur the horse on.

Cutting through the green forest and the gooseberry shrubs.

The ridge roads that cut the hills into plots like bricks.

The sky is blue with nimbus clouds in it that is ever present in the summer.

It is a beautiful scene.

Even though it is a moment like this, Shoryu can't help himself from thinking.

Even though the summer is so refreshing and beautiful.

His ear maintains the telepathy call, with sounds of panting, weapons clashing and the shrill noise of magic tearing through the air.

Far in the background is the roar of the loathsome Sahuagin and the chaos of battle.

He can hear a dripping sound, maybe Marielle is bleeding too.


Shoryu hold back his feeling of urgency that is stuck in his throat like a stone.

He rides through the empty school campus, making a beeline for the beach. This wide ramp should be used by farmers in ancient times, with half buried telephone poles and flags that has lost its meaning. Shoryu's horse run across the canola flower fields and the field of vegetables at top speed.

He cross path with the fleeing beginners and reach the beach. At the front lines are the members of 'black sword knights' and 'Jeer', Marielle is also in the fray to protect their comrades.

Shoryu rush into the Sahuagin crowd on his horse, knocking over several monsters with tridents in their hands. War horses exclusive to high level players is working to Shoryu's expectation, showing its power in the battle field.

"Miss Marielle!"

"Shoryu!"

Shoryu put himself between the monster and the pale face Marielle, protecting her. He is the battle group leader in Crescent moon alliance.

Shoryu's duty is to protect Marielle in battle, the enemy is Sahuagin, their level is low, but their numbers is flooding the whole beach.

"Miss Marielle, please stay back! We need to gather the groups scatter all around the camp...now!"

Shoryu draw both his swords, with an elegant move like an opera actor, he charge into the scary looking group of Sahuagin that looks like a cross between a fish and a reptile.

He turns into a whirlwind, and attacks repeatedly without avoiding the mist of black blood around him. He did not have a plan, did not think too deep, just throw himself into the battle field without holding back, concentrating on taking them down one at a time.

At this point Shoryu didn't know.

The Sahuagin tide seems to be never ending, invading the beach one after another. The attack came in like a dark cloud, this is just the beginning of the many crisis happening in the Sand Leaf peninsula.

The young man swing both his swords as he leaps into the air, fighting to protect his comrades with all his heart.


Book 3 end