Chapter 16 - Star Quality (1)
Chapter 16 - Star Quality (1)
"Th-they keep coming!"
The Exploration Team followed Leon's words and hurriedly took up positions where there were fewer dungeon passages branching out like twigs in all directions.
Furthermore, there was enough space to move and secure lines of sight, meaning they could all project their firepower at once—in other words, a spot where they only had to hold out against the enemies swarming from the front.
"---!"
"Don't panic and shoot at things close by; shoot where they're gathering!"
Leon, who had blocked the path against dozens of vampires alongside Rosaria, shouted commands to the Exploration Team.
'This is doable. If the number of these bastards is as expected.'
Leon continued to swing his sword while imbuing it with magic against the enemies rushing in without a break.
Every time his flame-imbued sword flashed, parts of the vampires' bodies flew through the air. The vampires extended their claws, but in their weakened state, forcibly awakened from their slumber, they were no match for a combat unit equipped with four traits.
Besides, the vampires rushing in now were 'mongrels' belonging to the lowest rank.
No matter how ferocious and wild they were, they couldn't withstand his sword, which carved their bodies to pieces while they were still alive.
"Keep your wits about you. If we get breached, our allies will be wiped out."
"O-okay."
Rosaria, who was swinging her sword instead of her spear due to the cramped space, nodded at Leon's words.
'Just how long do we have to fight? If we keep fighting like this, we'll definitely be exhausted in just a few minutes.'
Her sword, too, held its own against the vampires.
Seeing an enemy that had lunged and was biting her sword with its teeth, she grimaced, pushed the vampire away with force, and then kicked it flying.
However, she couldn't deny the anxiety and fear building up in her heart alongside the increasing physical burden.
It was proof that her mental strength was being whittled away in real-time.
"It won't take that long."
Leon, standing back-to-back with her, said as she gasped for air.
Even if it was Leon, there was no way to know how many enemies were in a place he was visiting for the first time.
"Yeah."
However, for some reason, Rosaria felt her waning will surging back.
From the moment they first met until now. He had proven it, after all.
"Doesn't it feel like there are fewer of them?!"
"They've decreased. There aren't even thirty left now!"
While Leon and Rosaria, the two vanguards, held the line in front.
Seira and Hermann were faithful in their role of covering them.
The magic and precise accuracy of arrows trained at Eisenblut struck the enemies at the necessary moments, protecting the vanguard.
"Now. Move the golems to the right passage!"
And the other Exploration Team members who weren't specialized for combat were doing everything they could beside Seira and Hermann.
"...Understood!"
Vivian, who had been waiting with an anxious face, finally moved the golems she had been waiting with alongside the other elves upon Leon's command.
These slow, strong lumps of stone, used for construction and carrying luggage in the pioneer settlements, blocked one of the passages where the vampires were pouring out with their bodies, which were over 2 meters tall and bulky.
"They're trying to push through. Let's use Forced Collapse and Emergency Restoration to merge them into one and block it."
"If we do that, we won't be able to use the golems anymore...!"
"Shut up, you idiot! We need to survive right now, don't we!"
Vivian gave urgent instructions after seeing the golems being pushed back.
She meant to dismantle the golems' bodies once and then restore them, turning multiple golems into one massive pile of rocks.
This would render the golems unusable, but Vivian judged it a sacrifice that had to be made.
"Ugh, can't you throw them further!"
"A-alright, I got it!"
Meanwhile, the Alchemy Association members, including Adrian—the production and research units—added to the firepower by throwing the poison bottles and fire potion bottles they had prepared in advance.
Leon shouted as he watched the miasma and flames erupt from the bottles they threw, shattering nearby.
'Helping the vanguard clumsily with terrible aim is worse than not helping at all. There's nothing more annoying than friendly fire.'
Even in the midst of the intense battle, Leon kept paying attention to the allies behind him.
One of the controls required of a Player is precise manipulation so that allies aren't hurt by area-of-effect attacks.
Especially since combat units acting as the vanguard can easily end up taking more attacks from allies than from enemies and die.
Once he confirmed that the Alchemy Association personnel had brought a bunch of bottles imbued with poison and alchemy, claiming they were for combat, Leon instructed them to throw them as far as possible, as they didn't need to help him, in order to avoid friendly fire.
'That guy, he's too calm. As if he's been through something like this many times...'
'Is this what it means for a young master of a great noble family to be different?'
The Alchemy Association personnel, including Adrian, were inwardly impressed by Leon as they desperately threw the bottles they had prepared.
They were all people experiencing this kind of battle for the first time.
Yet, no one could deny that the reason they were able to continue attacking in an orderly fashion without their spirits breaking was ultimately thanks to Leon's directions.
"D-did we get them?"
"Um..."
The battle wasn't that long, but these few minutes felt like hours to them, as all their senses and nerves were heightened to the extreme.
The moment the last remaining vampire was split in half by Leon's sword.
Mateo, a pioneer from the Technology Bureau, lowered the bolt-action rifle he was holding and muttered.
Leon, catching his breath, glared at him upon hearing that, but in a situation like this, he couldn't curse him for the sin of "flag-raising."
'In the end, the Player didn't try to control me until the very end. Did I act too arrogantly? Should I have at least pretended to follow along?'
Leon wore a complicated expression as he looked at the blood-dripping blade.
That wasn't all.
Rosaria, Seira, and Hermann too.
Even the other units assisting from behind weren't being controlled by the Player.
Wondering if the Player had really left, Leon's expression, unlike the others, was not very bright.
"It's not over yet. We have to check the center where the coffins, in which all these countless bastards were sleeping, are located. Only then can we secure the loot and return."
"That person hasn't given any particular instructions yet... Huh?"
And then.
As soon as Leon, who spoke as if he were used to it, finished speaking, light imbued their bodies.
"That way!"
The Player had intervened again.
Guided by that pull, which told them where to go among the many passages around them, Leon and the entire Exploration Team moved their feet.
[Post: Look at this. I seriously didn't move the mouse once. But they did everything on their own. Especially Leon.]
L: For real? Seriously didn't do anything, full auto.
L: Wait a second, that's full auto movement? Don't talk bullshit.
L: If you put it on full auto, all they do is just brawl and fight. They don't set up kill zones and move like that.
L: They fight really fucking well, are they a Martial God? They do have the Martial God trait.
L: No, look at that. I've never seen anything like that. 'This unit is inspired by Leon and follows his instructions.' What does this mean?
It was then that the Player's post went up.
Surprisingly, from the moment the battle started at the Underworld fortress, the Player hadn't moved the mouse even once, leaving the units to their own devices while recording the entire process as a video.
In the 2D world within the video, the dot-art units moved very quickly and precisely.
They quickly occupied advantageous positions, and Leon and Rosaria scurried over to block the narrowest entrance.
The ranged units Seira and Hermann supported them, and the support units sniped only the enemies as far away as possible from a safe place to avoid friendly fire.
L: Is it that amazing?
L: It's not just amazing, I've never seen it before!
L: Is there some hidden trait like command or instruction? Did they add it in this patch?
L: The AI performance has been consistently criticized for being all over the place and seeming clueless, but this is cleaner than most players.
L: If Leon's ability is that good, maybe they could minimize losses even while operating two squads at once.
All of that was achieved through the command of Leon, a unit.
More than the Player, who was a beginner, the community users were greatly agitated by something that defied common sense.
This went beyond the level of a unit with simply good specs.
Expectations and excitement that this might be part of a hidden patch secretly added by the developer caused user interest and attention to focus even more.
L: Then I'll just leave it to Leon and watch. That alone is fun. It's cute seeing them wiggling around on their own.
The veteran users thought about operating two squads at once the moment they realized Leon's command ability, but the Player declared that since things were going well, they would just watch comfortably from now on.
'This is better, actually.'
It was a carefree statement that would make someone playing strictly frown, but Leon, the person watching it, actually chuckled.
At the same time, he looked around.
His peers looking around nervously, and the units following behind them, showing interest in the heritage of the Underworld they were seeing for the first time.
What they needed right now wasn't a veteran player who was as greedy and cold-blooded as they were competent.
Even if they were a bit eccentric, they needed a being who could watch over them while maintaining their own affection for these mere game existences, like a true god.
'Because we'll do it.'
That was enough.