Five Stars, Part 1

Perhaps it was simply that Charlotte, being a mage herself, possessed an exceptional greed for knowledge. Even when the high-ranking mage Antenor pounded on the door of her laboratory, begging and pleading to observe the shaman together, she apparently turned him away cold, citing that the creature had been captured under contract.

The moment we arrived at the safe zone, a guard who recognized our faces flung the door open with the expression of a man who'd found his savior — which told me the old man had been throwing quite the tantrum. After just a single day, both the mages and the guards looked so hollow-eyed it was almost pitiful.

The laboratory door opened, and Han Se-ah was hauled inside looking as mournful as a sacrificial ox being led to the slaughterhouse. Of course, she demonstrated the fortitude of keeping her stream running the whole time, taking her viewers' resentment square on the back.

"Welcome, Miss Hanna! I have so much I want to talk about!"

"Ah… is that so…?"

I averted my eyes from Han Se-ah, who until the last moment was looking my way with tears welling up in a silent plea, and walked on. Charlotte was far easier to deal with than Antenor. In terms of sheer volume of chatter she was maybe 0.2 Antenors, and on top of that, Charlotte was a beauty who was a pleasure to look at.

"So, Roland. You said you had a proposal?"

"Our leader went to make the same offer to old man Antenor. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Royal Knights commissioned us to serve as guides on the 20th ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Floor. We turned them down for now, but there's no way they'd only approach our party."

"The Royal Knights… and that's not all, is it?"

"Afraid the Capital's nobles would get involved, the Adventurers' Guild and the city's nobles hired mercenaries on a massive scale. The Magic Tower hasn't reached out yet, but…"

"The Magic Tower will take an interest soon enough. Word that I've been investigating the mutant shaman will reach them immediately."

Given that Antenor had already thrown a fit in front of Charlotte's laboratory door, the rumor would spread in no time. Charlotte seemed to know as much — she chewed her lip in frustration. Antenor wouldn't use his rank to crush her outright, but he could certainly make a nuisance of himself.

A high-ranking mage on his knees, pounding on a door begging to be let in — how could that not become gossip? The guards would be whispering, and the mage managing the crystal orbs would have an itchy tongue.

"Very well. Dealing with Master Antenor alone is still better than having the entire Magic Tower descend on us… so I suppose there's no choice."

Charlotte nodded as if resigned, and right on cue, a knock sounded at the door. Entering were Han Se-ah, looking exhausted despite how little time had passed, and Antenor, grinning from ear to ear.

I had no idea what the two of them had discussed, but the quest window appeared to have been updated.

Once that conversation got underway, the quest that had been crawling along suddenly surged forward like a river hitting rapids.

Dozens of Rebecca's mercenaries hired by the Adventurers' Guild were combing through the 20th Floor, and adventurers hired by nobles who'd caught wind of the Royal Knights' involvement had also arrived. On top of that, Antenor's assistant mages had started scouring the forest as well.

…Poor bastards. Worked half to death in the lab, only to get shoved into manual labor on top of it.

"Orcs!"

"Shamans! Any shamans?!"

"Damn it, those ones are running off with just the shamans!"

"Leave them! Ordinary shamans — the color's too pale!"

At this rate, it felt like there were more people than orcs on the 20th Floor. Our own party, while exploring, was running into adventurers and orcs at roughly a 3:1 ratio. Familiar faces had already crossed our path dozens of times in the woods.

Still, the sheer number of people didn't worry me. Our party had a player actively progressing the quest.

After the conversation with Antenor, the updated quest window was practically pointing us straight at the forest altar. Han Se-ah, brightening at this, told the party she'd sensed suspicious mana — and without a single person questioning her, everyone trusted her and followed.

They'd seen her raise her staff and track things the same way during the Full Moon Wolf hunt, so they simply believed she'd do it again. Sensing the pressure from the throngs of adventurers and mercenaries, she openly pulled up the quest window and minimap and strode forward with purpose.

The moment the quest warning window updated on Han Se-ah's screen as she led the way with her staff raised, Grace sensed something.

"There's a large-scale battle up ahead. But the numbers are weirdly high…? There seem to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be more of them than that orc settlement we saw last time."

"Damn. Looks like other adventurers found something."

We'd left the safe zone, checked the quest window, and been moving quickly toward the altar — only to find other adventurers had already beaten us there. The sheer speed of it drew a flood of viewer complaints. If Han Se-ah failed the time attack, viewers without a 6★ would find it nearly impossible.

Of course, some chat argued that the adventurers' appearance was a scripted story event, like a forced defeat sequence. But what mattered was that someone had gotten there before us.

The commotion was getting close enough that even I could feel it, so I pushed past Han Se-ah and Grace and sprinted ahead. The endless forest suddenly gave way to an open view. The woods had darkened, as if to prove something was amiss.

And there, right before our eyes, stood a pyramid.

…A pyramid?

"What the hell is that…?"

"That altar is enormous!"

It wasn't an Egyptian pyramid — it was a massive stone structure resembling a Mayan pyramid. An altar, they'd said. I hadn't expected one like this. A Mayan pyramid sitting smack in the middle of a dark forest, with orcs pouring out from its peak.

The party members who didn't know about Mayan pyramids were stunned by its sheer size and the number of orcs; Han Se-ah and I were stunned by how blatantly the design had been ripped off. Tattoo-covered orc warriors charging down stone steps from a giant pyramid — who would even imagine something like that?

"Hey! Help us out! We won't be greedy about the rewards, just please!"

Just as we'd been startled discovering the pyramid, the adventurer party fighting orcs in the clearing in front of it spotted us bursting out of the forest.

Two tanks, one spearman, and one archer. A fairly competent party — holding out against the endless flood of orcs with just four people, no mage and no priest. Holding out was all they were doing, though; they were gradually being pushed back and surrounded, looking increasingly precarious.

Faced with that endless sea of orc heads, the viewers were half-transcendent as they typed. One orc settlement had openly fielded dozens of orc warriors; now at the altar, the numbers were past the hundreds and possibly into the thousands.

Still, the game company hadn't designed this purely to screw over players — other adventurers and mercenaries began pouring out of the surrounding forest one by one. With this many orcs screeching and bellowing, even without a scout you could hear the racket from hundreds of meters away and come running.

And it wasn't only the 20th Floor's adventurers who'd heard the noise.

"Bwahahahaha! Orcs gushing out of an altar of a structure I've never seen before?! Now this is interesting!"

A 5★ mage, and the Magic Tower's highest-ranking wizard — one who'd reached the 43rd Floor even before receiving the star buff. He might come off as a chatty old man, but as someone who actually lived in the Tower, his practical combat ability was second to none among the Magic Tower's old monsters. And now he'd arrived.

The moment I heard Antenor's voice booming through the air, I knew.

Ah. This is basically an event cutscene.

The player doesn't need to kill all these orcs themselves.

Excited by the anomaly on the 20th Floor that he was witnessing with his own eyes, Antenor drew up his mana with manic intensity, and the darkness of the forest grew even deeper. Black clouds gathered over the pyramid as if some evil Demon King were descending.

"Get down! Or hide behind a tree!"

"Is that crazy old man for real?!"

As the dark, lightning-laden storm clouds blanketed the pyramid, the adventurers went pale and immediately turned to put distance between themselves and the altar. Being here for money and commissions, most of them had no priests to protect them.

We, on the other hand, had Han Se-ah who could cast shield magic and Irene who specialized in protective holy arts. Catching on without a word, they immediately clustered together and unleashed their magic and holy power.

A vivid blue mana shield wrapped around the party, and a pure white Holy Power barrier expanded beyond us to cover even the unknown adventurer party that had been holding the orcs at bay. The holy art ballooned outward, shoving the orcs back and sending them tumbling.

"Th-thank you, Sister."

"Po—pour—doooown—!"

Before Irene could even answer the spearman's gratitude from where he sat on the ground, the world suddenly turned pure white. Lightning poured down all at once from the pyramid-sized storm cloud, frying the orcs and melting the pyramid's stone steps to a glossy sheen.

BEEEEEEP—

As I checked on my party members reeling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the skull-rattling roar, something suddenly started rattling against the barrier — tap-tap-tap. Mana Stones, kicked up by the aftershock of the lightning that had struck from the heavens, were flying at us like bullets.

The countless orcs hadn't just melted — they left no intact byproducts at all. The adventurers who'd been fleeing at the sight of the storm clouds were sent tumbling through the forest like bowling pins by the aftershock.

"Ugh — I'm going first!"

"Roland?"

And I charged straight toward the sizzling pyramid.

Because through the flashing lightning, I'd seen something bright red dash into the pyramid on all fours.