Alexandro, the guildmaster of the Enosi Guild, did not like the current situation.
A situation in which he had no initiative and could only trail along behind others.
To break out of such a situation, he had tried raising his voice in his own way and had even created a guild, but nothing had changed at all.
Why had nothing changed?
“Right. This is all because of that bitch.”
Ian.
When he had first seen her, she had been nothing more than a player who was just a little skilled.
But she had gradually begun to stand out among the people, and in the previous area, she had defeated Ravana and taken the victor’s seat.
As if that weren’t enough, despite being a solo player, she had gone and formed a guild, and this time she had snatched up the elite monster for herself.
The problem was that even so, there was no proper way to deal with her.
After all, among the two hundred thousand players, she was currently officially the strongest.
It was impossible to attack someone like her.
On top of that, she was on friendly terms with other guildmasters like Emily and Shaura.
If he acted rashly, he might even lose what little say he had.
But he could not simply stand by and watch this situation forever.
And for now, there was still an opportunity left to turn things around.
Finding the boss and subjugating it before anyone else.
If he accomplished such a feat, he was certain no one would be able to ignore him.
That was why, from the morning onward, he gathered all of his guild members and those who agreed with his intentions, then ordered them to search the western and eastern towers.
In order to discover the boss before anyone else and control the entrance.
Alexandro and his people moved busily.
However, when Alexandro arrived at the western tower, he frowned.
“Just which bastard got in first?”
The corpses of three minotaurs and the wide-open entrance to the tower.
It meant that someone had entered the tower before them.
His companion, who had been examining the minotaur corpses beside him, spoke.
“Still, it doesn’t look like they’ve been dead for long, so they can’t have gone far.”
“In other words, if we hurry, we can overtake them.”
Alexandro did not hesitate and ordered the tower to be searched, and the people rushed inside.
Of course, searching the tower was no easy task.
The complicated maze and the monsters that appeared out of nowhere constantly threatened their lives.
But as if proving that they, too, were frontline players in their own right, they pushed forward steadily, difficult though it was.
Before long, they were able to arrive at the boss room where the boss was located.
“But why is the door open?”
“Wait, I think there’s someone up ahead?”
“That person, don’t tell me…?”
They could see it.
“Oh, people.”
Ian, standing in front of the boss room with the door wide open, waving her hand at them.
Alexandro clutched at his hair.
“You, again! It’s you again, you bitch!”
A fistful of torn-out hair scattered through the air.
***
After returning to the village, Ian immediately headed to the tavern where people usually gathered in order to announce that she had discovered the boss.
As expected, countless players were there, soothing themselves after the day’s events, and among them, Ian was able to spot Emily.
And Emily’s group also discovered Ian.
Grabbing her friend Naira by the shoulder, Emily led Ian to their table.
“Wow, how did you know to come here? We were actually going to go find you.”
“I had something to say. But what do you mean you were going to come find me?”
As Ian tilted her head, Emily smiled brightly and said,
“Don’t be shocked when you hear this. We found the boss today.”
At Emily’s words, Ian’s eyes widened.
Seeming pleased with her reaction, Emily continued.
“The boss’s name is the Azure Minotauros Queen. The blue-skinned owner of the eastern tower was the boss of Area 5.”
From how they had gone to the eastern tower in the morning, wandered through the complicated maze, gotten into a war of nerves with the Enosi Guild, and somehow discovered the boss room—
Emily told Ian the entire process of how they had found the boss.
“So since the boss has been found, we’re aiming to clear it before the next defense battle starts. You’ll help us again this time, right?”
But Ian, flustered, could not say anything and only left her mouth slightly open.
Seeing that, Emily’s brow narrowed.
“Miss Ian?”
“Uh… actually, I came here to say that I found the boss too…”
“What?”
“It was… in the western tower. The boss.”
Silence fell.
A situation where they could not understand each other and simply stared blankly into one another’s eyes.
The first to speak was Mugi, who had been listening from the side.
“S-so, does that mean there are t-two bosses in total?”
The Crimson King in the west that Ian had discovered and the Azure King in the east that Emily had discovered.
If the two of them were telling the truth, it meant that the boss of Area 5 existed in each tower.
Ian slowly nodded.
“Does that even make sense? Two bosses? Then how are we supposed to攻略 them?”
“I-I don’t know either…”
While Naira and Mugi, both flustered, went back and forth, Emily struggled to maintain her composure and opened her mouth.
“First, we need to confirm it. I’ll go to the western tower tomorrow, so could you go to the eastern tower, Miss Ian?”
“…I will.”
Ian nodded.
She trusted Emily as a person, but she wanted to confirm with her own eyes whether another boss truly existed.
And so, the next morning.
As soon as Ian woke up, she headed straight for the eastern tower.
“Is this the place?”
Based on the map data Emily had given her, she passed through the maze with ease and opened the door to the boss room.
—Drrrrrr…
The door opened with a heavy sound.
A room with the same structure as the western tower appeared before her eyes.
Torches lit one after another.
Beyond them stood a throne.
And.
[Lv 27. Azure Minotauros Queen]
Sitting there, a blue-skinned minotaur was looking down at Ian with arrogant eyes.
“There really are two.”
Ian turned around and left the boss room without looking back.
***
Over the course of a single night, the fact that there were two bosses quickly spread among the players.
Thus, a meeting on the攻略 of Area 5 was held.
With far more people gathered than the appropriate number for a boss raid, Emily conveyed the newly discovered facts to the players.
“Until now, up to forty people could participate in a boss battle, but this time, only up to twenty people can participate for each boss.”
“So in the end, it still adds up to forty, but the members are split.”
“That’s right. We found this out by actually attempting the boss攻略, so you can believe it.”
And one more thing.
Continuing, Emily raised her index finger.
“The boss攻略 has to proceed simultaneously. If the攻略 isn’t underway in the opposite tower, damage won’t go through to the boss at all.”
“That’s pretty troublesome.”
“It is. They probably set it up to prevent the same party from攻略ing it twice.”
If one looked only at defeating the boss, it would be most efficient for the strongest twenty players to攻略 it twice.
The players could only guess that such a pattern had been created in order to prevent that.
At that moment, Alexandro, who had been looking at Emily with a sullen expression, raised his hand.
“So how do you plan to select the people?”
“For now, we’ll take volunteers as usual. If we don’t have enough, we’ll proceed with what we have, and if there are too many, we’ll select them based on level, party circumstances, and so on.”
“What’s the deadline?”
“By tonight. Considering the defense battle the day after tomorrow, it would be best to攻略 it tomorrow.”
“Wh-what?”
The moment Alexandro’s expression twisted, Shaura slammed the table hard and stood up.
“That’s absurd! Tomorrow? Isn’t that far too soon?”
Shaura glared at Emily.
However, Emily did not back down and looked straight at Shaura.
“If you consider the time we spent in Area 4, I think we had quite a lot of leeway.”
“You cannot necessarily say that. Area 4 was not a place where we could focus on leveling. On top of that, the boss is level 27. Considering that the current upper-tier players are around level 24 to 25, do you not realize that with just a little more time, a safer攻略 would be possible?”
“But in the previous raid, we completed the攻略 without casualties despite having insufficient numbers. Isn’t that the safe攻略 you’re talking about?”
Though she said that, in truth, the Area 3 raid had been far from safe.
They had only survived because a series of gambles had succeeded.
However, at Emily’s brazen words, Shaura, who had not seen that攻略 with his own eyes, had no choice but to bite his lip.
“Could we not do it after two defense battles? Just two.”
“Let’s make it one. That should be enough preparation.”
“…Very well.”
Although they had dramatically reached an agreement, Shaura’s expression was not good.
But Emily paid it no mind and clapped her hands, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Now then, after the next defense battle ends, we will select the members for the boss攻略. Does anyone object?”
No one raised a hand.
Even Alexandro merely looked at Emily with an expression that showed he was displeased.
The meeting ended, and the people dispersed.
Some left the tavern feeling positive, some dissatisfied, and some without any particular thoughts at all. Meanwhile, Ian cast her gaze toward Shaura and Alexandro, who were whispering something to each other.
“Is this really going to be okay?”
An indescribable unease circled in her mind.
***
After the meeting ended, Alexandro came out of the tavern and pressed Shaura.
“No, Shaura. What are you thinking, taking such a weak stance?”
Shaura glared at Alexandro with a stiff face.
“Then how was I supposed to oppose it further in that situation? And you were quiet as well.”
“Even so, if things continue like this, your influence will only fall further.”
Among the players currently participating in the攻略, the ones with meaningful influence were Emily and Shaura.
However, due to the results of the previous攻略, the scales were currently tilted toward Emily.
Shaura shook his head at Alexandro’s opinion.
“That does not matter. But if they continue to force攻略s like this, something will go wrong. I am merely worried about that time.”
“Look at you, acting like a real saint.”
Alexandro frowned when he did not receive the answer he wanted, but soon hardened his expression again and continued.
“But if this攻略 succeeds without any deaths too, your position will shrink even further. You’ll have no choice but to keep getting dragged around.”
At him repeating the same thing, Shaura grew angry.
“So what do you want me to do? Are you telling me to give up on the攻略 now?”
“No, that’s not it.”
Alexandro shook his head slowly.
“Instead, we can make your influence much greater.”
A meaningful smile settled on his lips.
“And what that means is…”