Two days later, in the afternoon.
The second guild defense battle began anew.
“Minotaurs appearing up ahead. Everyone, maintain formation and attack calmly.”
Ian’s guild had been assigned to defend the southeastern sector in this defense battle.
And the Minotaur approaching with earth-shaking steps was signaling the end of the battle.
“Gaeun, stop its movement from the front.”
“Yes!”
At Adrian’s orders, the leader of the defense battle, the guild members moved as one.
“Fire ranged attacks!”
While Gaeun held back the Minotaur, arrows and spells embroidered the sky and exploded against the beast.
And then.
“Focus on its ankles! If we stop its movement, it’ll be easier to take down.”
The melee damage dealers who charged in after that relentlessly slashed and pierced at the Minotaur’s ankles.
In the end.
—Boom!
The Minotaur collapsed, kicking up a cloud of rough dust.
“Haaap!”
As the beast thrashed after losing its legs, Adrian’s axe rose high and fell toward its neck like the blade of a guillotine.
—Crack!
With a spray of blood, the Minotaur’s head was severed from its body.
The monsters, having lost their focal point, began to flee.
And the players who still had strength remaining swung their weapons and poured out magic to bring down even one more.
Thus, Ian’s guild members successfully brought the second defense battle to a close as well.
Just then, Ian also returned from another sector and showed herself before the others.
“Everyone worked hard. Looks like one of them is easy for us now, after all.”
“That’s thanks to our guild master running around busily. So, did you get anything this time?”
Ian smiled confidently.
“I got two Orthros.”
“Oh-ho! But didn’t those guys keep you in check this time?”
“Of course they did. I just sliced them up before they could.”
“As expected of our guild master. Truly amazing.”
At that moment, the defense battle clear window appeared before everyone’s eyes.
[Objective achieved.]
[You have succeeded in the defense battle.]
Then another window appeared.
[Guild level has increased.]
[Lv 1 → Lv 2]
[Guild member limit: 20 → 22]
The guild level had increased.
At the reward for successfully leading two defense battles, the guild members rejoiced as if it were their own achievement.
“Oh! Level 2.”
“The member limit went up too! That’s awesome, isn’t it?”
“If this keeps increasing, later on we might be able to do boss fights with just our guild.”
Ian, however, looked at the window and gave a bitter smile.
“They could’ve given us some good buffs instead.”
After all, her original purpose in forming a guild had been to obtain meaningful buffs.
Ian smacked her lips in disappointment.
Still, now that she had another reason to participate in defense battles, Ian looked around at the guild members and said,
“Now then, let’s start heading back. We have to receive the loot too.”
“So who are you giving the materials to this time?”
“I’m not giving them to Adrian.”
“That’s discrimination, discrimination!”
The loot distribution process was not much different from before.
Of course, Ian once again received Alessandro’s piercing glare in the middle of it, but she paid it no mind and carefully collected her own spoils.
And the next morning.
“Oh! Those clothes are pretty nice.”
The inn had, all of a sudden, become the guild members’ gathering place.
Ian, Adrian, and the others let out sounds of admiration as they saw Priya’s group arrive in their new clothes.
“Maybe it’s because the materials were good, but they look great.”
“They do look like rare items at a glance.”
It was because all the materials Ian had obtained from the Minotaur and Orthros had been provided to make armor for Priya’s group.
“Haha… Th-thank you.”
Having finished crafting them in Tedumaya and returned, the women flushed slightly, seemingly embarrassed.
However, the equipment’s performance was so outstanding that it completely overwhelmed that embarrassment.
“I never imagined we’d be able to get equipment like this.”
“I know. I think we joined a better guild than expected.”
“But didn’t she say she wouldn’t support us originally?”
“Ahem! How dare you slander our guild master, who is like the heavens above!”
“S-stop saying things like that…”
The place where embarrassment had existed was soon replaced with excitement and anticipation.
At the sudden change in atmosphere, Ian’s face instead turned red.
But the mood of teasing Ian did not change.
And just as she could no longer endure it and was about to flee outside.
—Clack!
The inn door opened, and Emily came inside, gasping for breath.
“I-Ian. S-something terrible has happened.”
“What happened all of a sudden?”
Under everyone’s gaze, Emily barely managed to swallow her breath and continued.
“Alessandro and Shaura have started the boss raid!”
***
Ever since the world of Arcadia had been revealed, Alessandro had had a dream.
A dream of leading people from the front lines and clearing the game.
After learning that this place was a death game, it was a dream he had set aside for a while, but once he grew accustomed to it, he began to dream again.
But by then, other players had already taken the initiative.
And with their continued achievements, that power had become as solid as concrete.
He had always wanted to break this hardened structure.
That was also why he advocated for the Moderate Conquest Faction.
He had no interest in people’s safety.
It was simply because he wanted to control all resources with his own power and stand at the forefront of the conquest.
But if things continued like this, it was obvious that even the handful of influence he had left would shrink.
“We’ve finally arrived.”
Alessandro decided to make a gamble that would overturn the board.
“Everyone, listen.”
The day after the defense battle, when everyone was resting.
“Our future lies ahead.”
Alessandro and Shaura’s guilds, having left the village early in the morning, had agreed to attack the western and eastern towers respectively.
“We do not know what threats may come.”
He had brought all twenty guild members, but he knew very well that a boss battle was dangerous.
However.
“If we overcome this gateway, we will obtain fruit sweeter than anything else.”
If they succeeded in this raid, they could obtain not only the basic loot, but also influence within the conquest group.
He could take one step closer to the dream he desired.
“I will fight until the end. Everyone, I ask that you trust me and follow me to the end.”
Alessandro lifted the guild banner.
Holding it high, he opened the firmly shut door to the boss room.
The arrogant crimson-skinned Minotaur sitting on the throne rose to its feet.
It picked up the greatsword beside it and pointed it at the players.
A situation on the verge of exploding.
Alessandro shouted,
“We charge!”
The members of the Enoshi Guild advanced into the boss room.
And the crimson king raised its greatsword high above its head.
***
After delivering the news to Ian, Emily immediately ran with her guild members toward the eastern tower, where Shaura had gone.
“Seriously, what the hell were those bastards thinking, going in by themselves?”
“Exactly. They’ve all lost their minds.”
Complaints burst out from all around.
They could not understand how they had started a boss raid on their own without any notice.
Especially because Shaura, more than anyone else, had been someone who cried out for slow and certain conquest, making it even harder to accept.
However, a few quick-witted people realized what the situation was.
“This is that, right?”
“Probably. They seemed cornered, and in the end, they caused trouble.”
Naira looked at Emily, whose expression had been poor the entire time they ran, with a worried gaze.
“Unni…”
“I’m fine. It’s a matter between people. I expected something like this would happen someday.”
It was flustering that the time had come earlier than planned, but now was the time for her to do what she had to do.
Emily’s party, who had run without catching their breath, arrived at the wide-open eastern tower.
“We’ll run straight to the boss room as quickly as possible. Be even more careful of monster ambushes.”
Thanks to having the map data, she knew the way, but if they moved quickly, there could be monsters that attacked those who fell behind.
Emily warned the guild members and rushed into the tower.
Fortunately, perhaps because Shaura’s guild members had taken care of them all, there were no monster attacks inside the tower.
Thus, Emily’s vanguard safely arrived at the boss room.
What they faced was the tightly shut door to the boss room.
Just as she had when she first discovered the boss room, Emily pushed the door with all her strength.
However.
“It won’t budge.”
This was a world inside a game.
It was not a place where the claim that a woman was physically weak held true.
Therefore, the fact that the door would not open meant the raid was still ongoing inside.
Naira clicked her tongue and said,
“Surely they won’t succeed, right?”
“It would be much better if they did.”
“U-unni?”
“Get ahold of yourself. The worst-case scenario is for everyone to be wiped out in there.”
Emily often clashed with Shaura, but her desire for Shaura’s conquest to succeed was sincere.
No matter how successfully she had cleared Area 3, the main force of the conquest had not yet completely shifted over to her side.
But if the main force collapsed in only Area 5, on the fourth raid, it would become a major obstacle for future conquest.
And Emily did not want that.
For her, who wanted to return to reality even a day sooner, the collapse of the conquest group was worse than losing influence.
“Please…”
Emily bit her lip and stared fixedly at the firmly shut door.
At that moment.
—Rumble, rumble!
The boss room door began to open with a heavy sound.
And from inside—
***
Meanwhile, at that time, Ian was watching the boss room of the western tower.
“What’s happening inside?”
Just as Emily had, she was venting her frustration at the door that would not open no matter how she pushed or struck it.
—Rumble, rumble!
Like the one in the eastern tower, the tightly shut door began to open.
Ian widened her eyes and stared into the darkness.
“N-no way…”
There stood the crimson Minotaur.
Beneath its feet, countless player corpses had formed a mountain.
“S-save me…”
Alessandro, the last one left, reached out toward Ian.
—Slice!
“……!”
His head flew through the air.