Sky World Vol 2 Chapter 1.06

VOLUME 2

Chapter 1: The Raid
Part 6

As Kasumi was new to normal raids, she did not initially show much promise.

Neither Jun nor Eri was by Kasumi’s side now. The two friends who fought together with her were replaced by a new group, with people she had never seen before. They worked as a group for the first time today and their female druid could not match Eri’s ability in healing.

Jun told her not to do anything unnecessary.

“But this is fun.”

When the battle started, Kasumi would have to run around. While heavy warriors were essential for raids, light warriors differed in that they had to think fast and make decisions on a situational basis. She was supposed to do just that. That was what Jun had told her.

“Always keep track of the entire battlefield. No matter where you are, make sure to do your job. Fight with this mindset.”

She thought that would be difficult. Jun always wanted her to improve herself. Sometimes, he would have her do extremely difficult tasks, but even if she had only been able to complete a third or a half of them, he would praise her.

(One day, I will be everything Jun wants me to be.)

She wanted to surprise him. She wanted for him to need her. That’s what she wished for. For this reason, Kasumi overstretched herself. She kept on giving it her all.

“The sub-tank is going over to the left, Kasumi-chan, head on over to the right!”

“Got it! Should I pull some more?”

“Get them to the center! Can you keep them on you? If even the littlest thing happens&h.e.l.lip;”

“I have their movement patterns memorized!”

“Huh, already? &h.e.l.lip; Okay, please go ahead!”

The druid gave out the instructions as the leader of the group. Druids were a different kind of healers from white magicians. While their instant heals couldn’t compare to white magicians’, they had much more cost efficient regeneration over time spells, and their buffs were unrivaled. Kasumi’s always-buffed status made it so that her HP and defense had never before been as high.

Moving away from her group, Kasumi led the Vermillion Bird Guardians into the center of the cave and began stalling for time. This long into the battle, she had been able to remember their attack patterns. Continuing to avoid the centaur type monsters’ violent spear swings, she increased her enmity with taunts and her shortsword.

“Sorry, Kasumi-chan! Can you handle one more?”

“Sure Send it here please!”

Either way, in the grand scheme of things, the battle was taking a turn for the worse for the whole raid group. Jun had told her in advance about a plan B for use in such situations.

“Either way, whether things simply don’t work out or something unpredictable happens, only sixteen Vermillion Bird Guardians can exist in the battlefield at any given time. So no matter what, if it’s going down the drain, the sixteen Vermillion Bird Guardians can be parked [1] without killing them. Then everybody else can rush to the Vermillion Bird and bring it down.”

It seemed that, one way or another, Jun would switch from the slower damage output caused by having two separated groups and to using the parking technique. Though controllers like bards and skullswords could frantically keep the Vermillion Bird Guardians from moving, as they were higher tiered monsters with particularly high magic resistance, they could repel magic quite well. Such monsters were not easily controlled when struggling.

Though her role did not grant her much opportunity to think about unrelated things, she noticed a girl in a dress by Jun’s side. That gunslinger, Yukaria, who was now wearing leather armor and wielding guns in both of her hands, parked three Vermillion Bird Guardians all by herself with her bind, snare, and hatebuster bullets.

” Wow, the effects of gunslingers’ bullets last only a short while. I know they’re hard to resist, but still&h.e.l.lip; she really is something.”

Her teammate, a druid, sighed in wonder.

“I’m getting high on this! Haha, I’m going to splash lots of white sticky stuff all over you!” [2]

When her bullets. .h.i.t the Vermillion Bird Guardians’ feet, thin spiderweb-like strings would cover the point of impact and coil around them. The Vermillion Bird Guardians, unable to get themselves unstuck, would squirm desperately. These were the gunslinger’s snare bullets.

“She’s so good. The bullets would only do a little bit of damage if she shot directly at them. True, this way the monsters charge back in rage, but she has no problem avoiding their attacks, with such small steps nonetheless&h.e.l.lip; And then more snare bullets. Brilliant.”

Stuck in the spider webs, the Vermillion Bird Guardians stopped moving.

“Since they’re so hot, they stick.”

“&h.e.l.lip;That’s a bit weird.”

The druid’s final claim went beyond the range of normal.

“Ah, aaaah.”

“But, wow, Jun-kun really trusts you.”

(Someone Jun-kun trusts&h.e.l.lip;)

For some reason, she felt a huge pain in her chest.

While Kasumi pulled two Vermillion Bird Guardians, she asked herself whether she could do it Biting down on her lips, she nodded firmly. She could do it. She could do it well. So&h.e.l.lip;

“It’s no use, they’re still coming!”

“Over here! I can take one more!”

The puller hesitated after hearing Kasumi.

“Just a little bit more and we’ll win! We’ll hold them back!”

“Got it!”

The Vermillion Bird’s HP was down to 20%. Everybody was holding out. The raid group lifted from their earlier state of confusion.

The third Vermillion Bird Guardian was being pulled. As Kasumi took aggro with a taunt, she led it around by taking steps in a circle.

She could do it. Kasumi believed. Fully buffed, light warriors’ bodies felt as light as feathers. Even if she did not taunt those three monsters as much as she had, continuing to take aggro like this&h.e.l.lip;

“Sorry.”

Turning around to see another group yelling, she saw four more Vermillion Bird Guardians. They approached the other group, which had been running around. Due to that, the Vermillion Bird Guardians kept attacking them.

Kasumi ran away from them immediately. Just avoiding an attack by a very small s.p.a.ce, she rolled onto the hard ground. She avoided everything. Then&h.e.l.lip;

As she got up, she felt the shock of the situation at hand. Up until now, the Vermillion Bird Guardians that she had on her were kicking at her. The druid who was supposed to be healing her did not know what to do. It was bad. If she healed Kasumi now, she would take aggro from all of them.

If that happened&h.e.l.lip; Kasumi bit down on her lip hard and started running towards the entrance to the cave. Four Vermillion Bird Guardians followed in her path.

“Kasumi-chan, it’s no use!”

It was the druid. No, this was fine. She did it on a moment’s judgement. The Vermillion Bird’s HP only had 10% left. When a boss died, the continuously resp.a.w.ning monsters would also disappear.

So, if she took on four of them herself&h.e.l.lip;

Kasumi tumbled around, getting hit hard on her back. The Vermillion Bird Guardians surrounded her at the entrance. Her HP started plummeting&h.e.l.lip;

It became zero.

As she lost consciousness, she witnessed the Vermillion Bird fall to the cave ground with a loud roar.

Translator’s/Editor’s Notes:

[1] – Parking is a technique in which a player keeps a monster or a group of monsters stuck in one spot, something like a stunlock.

[2] – I feel the need to emphasize this – I DO NOT have anything to do with this sentence, Thomas B. Aulis: it’s what it literally said >: