Yelloy Barrier Fortress (3)
"Everyone's looking for a party."
From here on, the monsters come in packs, so going solo gets rough.
"But why are they all looking for three people specifically? Not two, not four."
Think of it simply—it's a matter of efficiency.
"Efficiency?"
At Yeon's question, I gave a little snort through my nose.
Al Fantasia's party system is fair. No matter who lands the kill, experience gets split evenly by headcount. Even if you never lift a finger in the fight—as long as you're in the area, you get a share.
"Then Choco can hunt for my share too."
D-Don't talk nonsense.
"Tsk. You were about to say something mean, weren't you?"
And whose fault would that be? When Yeon lightly bonked me on the head, I clamped my teeth down on the hand holding me and kept going.
Anyway, that's why people had to find an efficient party setup—and that setup is the three-person party.
Of course, the absolute best was a two-person party. But a typical duo was usually a highly skilled pair, and more often than not it included a mage.
Building that kind of skill, though, meant either grinding your level fairly high or dying hundreds of times until the feel of combat sank into your bones. Or being born with it.
On top of that, mages couldn't get a magic book at low levels without someone sponsoring them, so for beginners it was essentially an impossible composition.
By contrast, three people could lock into stable positions even with slightly lower skill. Generally that meant one shield-bearing tank to hold aggro and two damage dealers.
Four was far more stable than three, and the extra body made hunting faster—but it didn't feel like the right size for ordinary grinding. To put it plainly, it was overkill.
Sure, it handled unexpected variables more easily, but if you were walking into a hunting ground where variables were likely, you wouldn't bring a mere four people anyway.
So parties of four or more were mostly put together for things like bosses.
I condensed that rough overview for Yeon, and she made a small sound of realization.
"Then we don't really need to find anyone, do we? Choco's already in the mage position."
Right. We're just heading into the forest.
Not looking for a party had something to do with my identity, but it was also simply unnecessary.
I could use magic—no, Daoist arts. What did tanking or stable positioning matter? Besides, I was a former ranker. If proficiency could be measured in numbers, I would have shattered the ceiling long ago.
Yeon had said it as a joke, but if I truly put my mind to it, I could carry her to level 150 without her swinging a sword even once.
That would kill her interest in the game overnight, though, so I had absolutely no intention of doing it. Who finds a game fun when you grow strong just by dumping time into it?
"You there—the one carrying a fox!"
While I was thinking that, a voice called out from somewhere. The only human around here walking around with a fox was Yeon, so my head turned that way on its own.
Yeon had already turned the moment she heard it. She seemed to have simply reacted to the loud voice.
The speaker was a man looking for a party. Judging by the sturdy shield planted in the ground, he was on the tank side.
"Who, me?"
"Is there anyone else around here walking around with a fox?"
"Well, that's true."
"Anyway, you look like a beginner who just arrived at the fortress. Want to party up? We can practice party hunting while we're at it."
Yeon's breezy agreement threw the man for a second, but he quickly recovered and stated his business. Looking at the signboard, it was one of the posts that had caught my eye first earlier.
"I'm fine, thanks. I already planned to hunt with a friend."
"If your friend is okay with it, maybe I could join too…"
"I'm sorry."
Yeon dipped her head in a quick bow and walked past. The man only clicked his tongue shut and said nothing more.
I glanced at the tank scratching his head and spoke to Yeon.
If I weren't here, joining that guy's party wouldn't have been a bad idea.
"Why?"
For one thing, people who tank are basically decent human beings.
Call it prejudice if you want—I still thought so.
No flashy skills, just a shield the size of your whole body, locking down the enemy's attention. Sometimes saving allies, always standing on the front line and eating the hits.
While everyone else poured out dazzling swordplay and magic, the ones who quietly did their job tended to be good people. At the very least, they weren't rotten at heart.
Besides, that guy wrote "beginners only," but he isn't a beginner himself.
His level and gear were probably about the same as Yeon's—not higher. In terms of skill, though, he was on a completely different tier.
It's an alt account.
"An alt?"
Al Fantasia lets each person create up to two accounts. Most people can barely manage raising one properly, so almost nobody bothers—but if that guy is who I think he is, it wouldn't matter.
"Someone you know? A friend?"
Not enough to call him a friend.
More than that—he'd gone pretty wild with the hair color. I muttered that to myself.
Even on an alt, you couldn't completely change your appearance, so if you wanted to hide your identity you were stuck swapping hair color or style. Still, pure red? Of course, I'd nearly walked right past without recognizing him, so I supposed he'd achieved the original goal.
Once you're up in the top ranks, you get familiar with each other's faces. You run into each other constantly while doing quests.
"Heeh—what kind of person was he?"
I already told you. People who tank are basically good-natured.
That applied to this guy too. The fact that he'd gone so far as to make an alt just to help newbies hunt said enough.
Just a decent person, that's all.
Unlike me. I muttered that while watching the tank strike up a conversation with another beginner.
Gezina's Forest was noisy. With three parties alone fighting packs of kobolds here and there, it was bound to be packed.
The occasional shouted orders and the kobolds' battle cries turned the forest entrance into something like a construction site. That thinned out once we pushed a little deeper, though. The space Yeon and I occupied was quiet enough that it was hard to believe how loud it had been moments before.
"Nnngh—a human body really is more comfortable than a beast's."
"Your way of speaking went back to normal, though."
"That cannot be helped."
I stretched my arms out wide as I muttered. Even stuck with this bizarre manner of speech, being in human form was better. Only after stretching my tails out fully did I transform again and hide my ears and tails. The forced, wrapped-in-a-cloth discomfort returned, but there was nothing for it.
Unlike with Lucifer, this forest was full of users. Running into someone wouldn't end at mere inconvenience.
"But can't you make yourself a little taller? I think you're cute like this, but… wouldn't a little kid wandering around casting magic feel plenty weird too?"
"It is not as though Yeo has not tried. But what is one to do when it simply will not work?"
What Yeon was thinking, I had thought as well. As everyone knew, Al Fantasia only allowed players aged sixteen and up. No matter how generously you looked at it, an appearance around upper elementary school left no room for excuses.
So I had tried again and again to at least grow taller, and no matter what I did, it was impossible—as if this were simply the form allotted to me.
That didn't mean there was no method at all.
"One simply bluffs through it."
"Bluffs…?"
"Indeed. Call it stunted growth and be done with it. What are the likes of them going to do if they suspect Yeo is an elementary schooler? Al Fantasia is an invincible game that has never once been cracked by cheats. If Yeo insists on being a high schooler, there is no way to prove otherwise."
"Would that even work…?"
"It most certainly will."
I clenched a fist as I muttered.
Truthfully, this wasn't the best solution either. It would draw less attention than a fox beastman, sure, but a stunted high schooler tossing around something like magic was bound to attract interest one way or another—especially from people with certain… tastes.
Just imagining it set my teeth on edge, but it was still several times better than having my real identity exposed.
At worst, a few shady photos would make the rounds and die out. If my true identity got out, the whole of Al Fantasia would turn upside down.
A user trapped in the game who also turned into a girl—wasn't that the kind of premise you'd only find in some Japanese light novel?
I let out a long breath and spoke to Yeon.
"So set such worries aside and let us hunt."
"Ehh—I don't wanna hunt~"
"There you go again with that useless talk."
"Ababa…"
I was just about to pinch Yeon's cheek and scold her for whining again when—
Rustle—
"Hm?"
Yeon and I turned our heads toward the sound at the same time. And the creature that stepped out of the brush also tilted its head and muttered.
Lv. 19 Kobold Scout
"Kwehng?"
"…"
"…"
For a moment, none of us processed the situation. We just stared blankly at each other.
"…Yeon!"
I was the first to snap out of it. The instant I barked her name, Yeon wiped the pout off her face as if it had never been there and drew her sword in a flash.
She was about to charge the scout, which was still standing there dazed—when I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.
"Wait!"
"Ghk—! Weren't you calling me so I could kill it?"
"A kobold scout, upon discovering an enemy, blows a whistle to summon its warriors."
"Then shouldn't we kill it faster? If more come…"
"If more come—is that not a good thing?"
"Ah."
At the same moment Yeon made that dim-witted sound of belated understanding, the scout came to its senses, jammed the whistle hanging around its neck between its lips, and blew hard. At the thin, high fweee— ringing through the air, I let go of Yeon.
Yeon's level was 18. One step below the scout, but it wasn't a boss—against a normal monster, the gap meant little. The scout that had blown the whistle drew the sword at its hip, but Yeon was already right on top of it.
"Kweeeek!"
The startled scout let out a scream disguised as a battle cry and swung, but a panicked slash with no stance behind it was never going to land. Yeon ducked low, slipped the blow with ease, and carved a long vertical cut straight through.
Slash—! The scout's hide split open along the path of her blade. It was a wound that should have spilled guts everywhere, yet only a great gash showed. Still, the thing shuddered and tried to swing again, as if it weren't dead yet.
Yeon's sword moved first, cleanly grazing past the scout's neck. Head separated from body, the scout dissolved into gray light and vanished.
But following the signal it had left behind, something was already closing in from not far off—letting out those bizarre kwek-kwek cries as it came.
"So what do we do now?"
"What else?"
I smirked at Yeon's question and kindled a flame. Fire Dao, one of the mysteries of Five Elements Daoism.
I had decided to call this Foxfire.
"A slaughter."