The New Gate (LN)

“We just had to keep going.”

For now, the door to the next area was at the end of the main street.

At present, it was difficult to explore areas that could not be seen with the naked eye, so they first proceeded down the main street, hoping that the pattern would be the same as it had been up to now.

However, within a few minutes, a roaring sound suddenly echoed through the area.

When looking in the direction of the sound, they saw fireballs over 1 mel in diameter falling from the sky like rain. The first sound seemed to be from when the first fireball landed.

“…illusions?”

“Probably. There’s a sound, but there’s no vibration from explosions or the smell of burning things. I think it’s a scene from a battle in the past.”

Shin asked to confirm, and Schnee answered.

As she said, despite the fact that several huge fireballs had landed on the ground, he didn’t feel any shaking or impact at all.

Nor did he smell anything burning, even though he could see the fire burning.

“A fireball with substance… No, it wasn’t.”

One of the fireballs raining down fell near Shin and the others.

At first, Shin thought it was a flare-up spewed by a monster. But he refuted his thought when he saw something like a rock in the flames start to move.

“In the blink of an eye, the town is on fire. Did this really happen in the past?”

When asked by Tiera, who saw the city lose its shape, Shin answered with a frown on his face.

“Yes, I remember it very well.”

He didn’t notice it at first, but after a while he remembered this scene.

“Hey, Shin. Could this be?”

While everyone was speechless, only Milt, a former player, seemed to notice.

“I think it’s probably what you are trying to say.”

“This place is definitely Kaganka.”

“I guess so.”

Burning stores, shattered and crumbling exterior walls, players being obliterated. A storm of destruction and slaughter on a level that would remain in history if it weren’t for the game era.

But the real challenge was yet to come.

“Shin, do you know anything?”

“Schnee and the others were at the Moon Shrine, so it’s not surprising that they didn’t know about it. This is an event called the ‘Angry Earth,’ which was meant to be a warning to the players… well something like that.”

Shin said as he looked at the burning cityscape.

The mountains were filled with pits to collect materials. The forest was covered with stumps. Monsters were overhunted.

The event was about nature’s anger at the players who were doing things that would cause environmental problems in real life.

Among them, there was one in which a huge mountain-like golem attacked a city by firing small golems as flame bombs.

What was unfolding now was exactly how the attack happened back then.

“This small golem is troublesome. It has the ability to convert unused materials into scrap materials, making it a natural enemy of production workers.”

Countless production workers have broken down in tears when their unused materials were trashed in this event.

“According to the system, the trees will regrow in a few days, and the caves will be restored to normal. And the monsters will be repopulated naturally. Therefore, the purpose of the event is different.”

“Another purpose?”

“There were some guilds that occupied good hunting grounds and gathering places. They used various methods to evade warnings from the management.”

Everywhere in the world, there were people who tried to sneak through the web of rules and commit fraud.

They always act just in time to avoid account suspensions and other punishments.

There were a few players who tried to cause trouble to other players or gain unfair advantage in ways that they did not disclose.

There were many players who had their materials ruined in this event, but the ones who suffered the most were the players and guilds who had profited from these rules.

There were rumors among players after the event that they had apparently put a lot of effort into investigating the event, and at the time of the attack, golems from the Raid Boss class were swarming around and attacking.

The players’ impression was that it was some kind of purge in the name of the event.

Shin, by the way, was not harmed at all. He was attacked by a golem, but it was only as strong as a low-level monster.

“So, they were under the wrath of God?”

“Yes, I guess you can say that.”

Shin thought it would be hard for Tiera to understand his explanation about accounts and operations, so he changed the names to something that sounded more like “account” and “operation,” but she seemed to take it with a great deal of panache.

“Shin. Look at that. The one you just said.”

Where Milt pointed, large golems were crowding around a building that looked like a warehouse.

Although the players were resisting, they were quickly overrun by the golem’s strength, which was clearly different from other golems.

“For now, let’s move on.”

The wild situation was so different from before that they stopped in their tracks, but this was just another scene from the past.

All Shin and his party could do was just watch.

They could not stand still forever, so they continued onward.

After opening a door, they step into the third arena.

“Don’t let your guard down from here.”

Shibaid tightened his grip on his weapon.

“Yeah, it seems like the real thing starts from here.”

Once again, seven humanoid figures appeared. However, the weapons they possess have been upgraded to the point where they could be seen as advanced weapons at a glance.

From Shin’s perspective, they were definitely above the middle of the Mythology grade.

“Is the formation unchanged?”

It was the same as before, with the halberd wielder leading the way and closing the distance.

However, the further the area proceeded, the better the humanoid’s performance would be. If the power-ups were kept added to their equipment after each area, they wouldn’t just keep bouncing back and forth forever.

The shield held by the halberd wielder had a long vertical diamond with a diagonal cross drawn on it like an X. When the humanoid started running, the cross began to glow.

“It looks like the weapon is imbued with abilities”

“That’s troublesome.”

Shin agreed with Filma, who grew more wary. Shields have many uses other than simply enhancing defensive capabilities. 

Depending on its size, it may have a built-in weapon or be given attack abilities, making it a weapon that one must be careful of.

In response to the charging humanoid, Shibaid also stepped forward with his 『Great Shell Shield of Collision』.

Like the defensive barrier generated by this shield, the type of ability that moves in accordance with the user becomes a powerful weapon depending on how it was used.

Shibaid’s assault, which deployed a defensive barrier with a range large enough to bounce several people at once, was no different from a large monster rushing in.

The distance between the two narrows, and the shield and barrier collide.

At the moment of the collision, the light that had gathered in the cross burst and disappeared.

“Nu!”

Shibaid groaned.

Shin, who was running beside him, saw that the barrier seemed to shake violently.

“Are you the type to reflect back on the impact you receive?”

Shibaid’s legs, which had never stopped moving forward, even though his speed slowed to a crawl as he recoiled from blasting away his enemies, had come to a complete halt.

However, the opponent’s shield, which had caught Shibaid’s assault from the front, was not safe either. Although it managed to protect the user, it was cracking all over and beginning to crumble into tatters.

“I’ll come forward.”

The halberd-wielding shield had shattered the defensive barrier deployed by Shibaid at the cost of its ability and itself. Perhaps due to a special effect, the barrier other than the part that collided with the shield also shattered. Then arrows and magic came flying from the rear guard.

The first one to arrive was fire magic. It was not the type that explodes like a fireball, but the type that spreads like a breath.

Then, arrows flew in to hide behind them. Each arrow was shining, as if its grade had been raised. They split up in mid-air and came down like a sideways rain.

“Finally, it’s my turn to shine!”

With Sety’s proud voice, arrows and magic flew over Shin and his others’ heads.

The first one to be fired was also magic. The continuous hitting of the giant water balls was a water-based magic skill 【Water Spread】 that was used frequently during the attack on the Sacred Place.

The water sphere, which was as tall as Shibaid, rushed through the waves of flame and swallowed the arrows that were approaching from behind.

And without letting up its momentum, it landed where the rear guard was. The ball of water popped, and a large spray of water splashed up.

Then, two thunderbolts struck.

The water ball was dodged, but the bow and staff wielders of the rear guard, who were exposed to the water spray, were electrocuted. Within seconds, they were scorched black.

The only one of the dagger wielders to escape being electrocuted was shot through by Tiera’s arrow as he jumped.

“Leave the rest to me!”

On the other hand, the four humanoid bodies in the vanguard attacked even though the rear guard had been destroyed.

Shin, Filma, Shibaid, and Milt each engaged their opponents with the same weapons as themselves.

The curved sword in the humanoid hand, which had closed the distance between it and Shin, looked like a full-fledged sword.

The attack from the bottom was sharp enough to set it apart from the humanoid in the previous area, and the speed of the attack was close to that of the movement martial arts skill 【Ground Shrink】.

When these factors were combined, the blow that was delivered is truly like a flash of lightning.

Shin, however, met it head-on.

The blow from a high-speed move was an attack method often used by players with samurai jobs. That was why he was familiar with that move.

Shin drew his weapon from its scabbard. The crimson blade pattern on the lead-colored blade floated like a burning flame; it was a swing of the Ancient-grade 『Burning Sword』.

Although it looked like a flame-attribute sword, it had no attribute attached to it, and unless the conditions were met, it would be nothing more than a sword of the highest quality.

However, the true power of this sword was demonstrated when using skills related to fire attributes.

Shin held the 『Burning Sword』 on his shoulder and swung it down at the right moment.

The trajectory of Shin’s 『Burning Sword』 intersected with the blade of the curved sword, which drew a long line from the right flank to the left shoulder, and sparks flew.

The sparks left a momentary glow in the air as hard objects rubbed and scraped against each other.

As the red slash line remained in the air, there, a humanoid split in two passed by Shin.

The blade of the curved sword that was blown away drew an arc in the air, disappearing before it hit the ground as the humanoid’s body disappeared.

Swordsmanship/Flame art combination skill 【Fire Race】.

The skill, which enhanced and accelerated the slash with flames erupting from the blade of the sword, showed a power several orders of magnitude greater than its original effect due to the ability to amplify the flame attribute of the 『Burning Sword』.

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