Chapter 6
TRYDE HAD CLEARED this place over a hundred times, so the strategy meeting went smoothly. His answers to most questions were quick, clear, and concise.
Ten parties, ranging from four to six people each, were participating in this clear. The fact that most of them had User’s Bangles meant that they would have plenty of firepower. It also helped that Tryde was an A-rank adventurer.
The strategy was simple. In order to open the top-level door that stood between them and the crystal ball, they first had to light fires beyond two other doors. Those doors would be opened via interacting with torches, as with the previous two palaces.
The problem was the sheer number of torches. A hundred were set throughout the enormous palace. Lighting all of them would open the first door. Then, the torches behind that door needed to be lit. Closing the first door would be impossible until every single one of those first hundred torches had been put out. Once that was done, the second door would open. Five guards were behind this door, and their five Vessel Cores needed to be placed in the cauldron. This would open the door on the top floor, allowing the group to obtain the third crystal ball’s symbol.
Without sheer numbers, it was indeed a tedious puzzle. Mira did specialize in the power of numbers, but the torches still posed a problem. The size of the place meant the fastest way to complete the puzzle was to split up, but she wouldn’t be able to perform the fine control needed to have her dark knights light torches—and even then, dark knights had no way to start fires. Mira had bought an item for making fires from Dinoire Trading. However, she only had one, and it was anyone’s guess whether a dark knight would be able to use it well. Normally, she wouldn’t need such a thing, thanks to her Ethereal Arts. The best she could do was order the dark knights to defeat enemies.
Summoning the Valkyrie Sisters was an option. They didn’t have ways to light fires either, but she could at least trust them to use the item, which would double her efficiency. Perhaps Alfina could even swing her sword fast enough to start fires. That would triple her efficiency. The fire spirit Salamander was rather smart, too, and a Valkyrie could potentially supervise it. As a wise owl who could wield magic, Wise Popot could do the job as well.
The list went on. Summoning hadn’t been this flexible back in the game, but now that everything had a mind of its own, Mira’s power in numbers might just work. That had been her initial strategy for clearing the palace. With so many adventurers present, however, it would be faster to just leave it to them.
Mira looked to the adventurers participating in the mission and reminisced upon the dungeon raids she’d once joined.
Tryde explained the most efficient routes for lighting torches, where skeletons appeared and their types, critical dangers, and the like. Once his detailed explanation was over, he began telling each party their position and role. He assigned members skillfully, taking into account several factors: above-ground and below-ground portions, as well as the kinds of skeletons that appeared on the optimal route, along with which parties could defeat them most easily. Long-range parties were formed to tackle magic skeletons, and so on. To Mira, who had some vague memories of this place, it sounded reasonable enough.
“As for Mira, could you join my group in fighting the guards?” Tryde asked. “It’d be nice to have another A-rank with us.”
Each group had shared their fighting capabilities during the strategy meeting, for the sake of optimal placement. Mira had introduced herself as an A-rank summoner, attracting a lot of attention and surprise, but that had since died down.
“Hrmm, of course. I am more than enough on my own!” Mira replied with total confidence. The fourth level was merely a D-rank dungeon, so this would be child’s play for her.
“That’s a big help.” Tryde laughed and replied, half-jokingly, “I’d love to leave it all to you, but you can’t be careless when up against those guards. I may not be on your level, but I’ll do my best to help.”
The guards were the final boss of the fourth level and equal to C-rank adventurers. And there were five of them. Tryde was right in saying that even veteran adventurers should be wary of them, but Mira hadn’t been joking when she’d boasted that she could handle them by herself.
Hrmm… I think this is the perfect opportunity to show them the greatness of summoning!
Tryde’s party included himself and three B-rank adventurers. They were a formidable party, to be sure. While people around them laughed at Tryde’s joke, Mira smirked at this advertising opportunity.
***
As soon as they entered the northern palace, the parties proceeded to their designated areas. Mira and Tryde’s party saw them off, then began walking from the entrance to the special door just below the top floor.
Since the entire party was B-rank or higher, they quickly dispatched any monsters along the way, giving Mira no opportunities to show off. However, she knew that her time to shine would be when they went up against the guards. She decided that they could have fun for now, as she’d get the bosses all to herself. The strategy had already designated Tryde and Mira’s Pegasus as the assault force, while the others would focus on buying them time.
“How delightful it is that people form these joint parties,” Mira mused to herself.
Left with nothing to do, she played with two box-like items Tryde had given out to each party during the strategy meeting. These allowed the parties to maintain rudimentary communication, even from afar.
“It’s essential for large-scale expeditions and places where you need to split up and solve puzzles,” Tryde replied to Mira’s murmuring. He used his pointer finger to operate one of the tools Mira held. The other vibrated in response and displayed red, blue, and yellow dots on its surface.
The ones Mira was playing with were backups; they weren’t involved in the current operation. One was a sender, and the other was a receiver. Signals sent by the sender would go to all receivers, while signals from the receiver would only go to the sender.
“This output reads ‘northern palace,’” Tryde explained. “Though other adventuring groups have their own code systems.”
“Fascinating. I suppose such a thing would be necessary.”
Conveying information through arrangements of just three colors—it could be used similarly to Morse code. Messages were simple for this operation, though.
Once each party was done lighting the torches, the first door would open. Mira and Tryde’s party would be waiting in front of the door, so they would go straight in and light the torches. That was when the communication devices came into play. Tryde would send a signal from his sender device stating that they’d made it through the first door, and each party would begin extinguishing the flames. When they were all extinguished, the boss battle would begin. While Mira’s group fought, the other parties would make their way to the door on the top floor. This strategy put great focus on reducing the time necessary to clear the palace.
In the event of an emergency, the parties were to send a message via their receiver. Tryde had given them unique color patterns to use ahead of time. This would allow him to know which group was in trouble the moment contact was made. Groups had also been assigned to specific areas, which would make it easy to find them. Based on how prepared he was, it was clear that he had done this before.
They’ve certainly figured this out. Perhaps this is normal in reality, though. Looking back, the chat feature was essentially cheating.
The two boxes could only send simple signals, but adventurers could perform complex communication from afar by using them creatively. Mira gazed at the boxes as she recalled her old gaming days.
When this world was still a game, the chat system allowed people to converse from any distance. Timing, small talk, puzzle solving—they could discuss anything without any time lag whatsoever. If that still existed now, then she could chat idly with Solomon even as she cleared the northern palace.
Mira pondered the matter, then chuckled at the thought of all the demands Solomon would make if he could chat with her at any time.
***
The group made small talk as they traveled to the door.
“Whoa. Again?” Tryde stopped in place and moved to protect his comrades and Mira.
Just then, a slight creaking noise sounded all around them. It was another earthquake. And it felt even stronger than the one Mira had experienced at Dinoire Trading.
“I hear these earthquakes have become more common over the past year,” Mira said, taking his actions as worry.
Tryde replied that there was no need to be concerned because nobody had been injured by the earthquakes yet. “But it gets stronger the lower you go, so if you’re eating soup, you’d better be careful,” he added. Then he joked that scalds didn’t count as injuries. “Man, it sure feels like an injury, though.”
Now Mira knew the earthquakes grew stronger as one descended. There were rumors among the adventurers that something on the seventh level was the cause. Nobody was crazy enough to go that far down, though, so it remained a mystery.
***
They arrived at the first door a while later and discussed the coming battle as they waited for it to open.
“So, can we leave one of them to you, Mira?”
Five guards would appear, and Tryde’s group plus Mira happened to equal five. Tryde’s strategy was for them to each take on one enemy. The two A-ranks would deal with theirs swiftly so that they could aid the B-ranks. All five of the guards would be steadily defeated. Tryde would normally take on two himself, so he seemed glad to have a fellow A-rank on board.
“Why don’t you let me handle all of them?” Mira replied confidently.
Apparently thinking it a joke, Tryde smiled softly. “Yeah, sure. That’d be great. But we’re all here, so you don’t have to do any heavy lifting today.”
He hadn’t said no, Mira noticed. She imagined a future in which the Tower of Evocation teemed with people again, as she smirked to herself.
***
After that discussion ended, they chatted idly until the first door opened. Then, a door as large as a castle gate opened with a rumble. It was imposing, and Mira found herself tensing up, but there were no enemies yet; there were only torches on the walls to the left and right, numbering fifty in total.
“Looks like things are going swimmingly,” Tryde mused. “Okay, let’s split up and get ’em lit.”
He got right to work and ran over to one wall, where he began lighting torches. The other three started as well.
Seeing them, Mira recalled something. “It’s finally time to use this!”
The tools the others used to light the fires were just like the one Mira had brought. She faced a torch on the wall, and with sheer joy on her face, produced the item—a technomancy-powered mini torch she’d bought at Dinoire Trading. It was the same shape as a firearm. Ready to use the tool she’d gone out of her way to buy, Mira pointed the barrel at the torch and pulled the trigger. It created more fire than she’d expected. She was surprised for a moment—the fire was great enough to momentarily intimidate a monster, if needed. Then she laughed. “Oho. This is awesome!”
It had truly been made for adventurers.
From there, Mira lit torch after torch. The job could be done just fine with her Ethereal Arts, but she loved the way the fire just popped out every time she pulled the trigger.
***
After lighting the final torch, she blew on the muzzle of her tool like a wannabe gunslinger. “That ought to be all.”
“Just in time to wait some more,” Tryde said.
He confirmed that every torch was lit before using his box-shaped device to send the signal to all other parties. Then, the strategy worked in reverse; they would begin extinguishing all hundred torches throughout the palace. Once that was done, it was time to fight the bosses of the northern palace: the Guards of the Midnight Sun Vessel.
While everyone prepared for battle, Mira leaned against Pegasus and relaxed. Pegasus fluttered its wings happily. Despite the fact that they were about to fight the bosses, Mira and Pegasus didn’t look tense at all.
“Are you sure you don’t want to prepare, Mira?” Tryde asked as he warmed up, baffled by Mira’s total relaxation in the face of a boss battle. “It’s a D-rank area, but our foes are strong. Don’t let your guard down.”
“Do not worry about me. My guard is up, I assure you,” Mira replied comfortably before adding with a smirk, “Wait and see. You’ll understand.”
Due to their rarity, Tryde didn’t know how summoners fought. But he did see that Pegasus had the bearing of a powerful warrior, so he assented. “All right, I won’t bother you anymore. But if anything goes wrong, don’t hesitate to ask for help.”
Pegasus would be fighting on the front lines, so maybe it was right for the mage to rest.
Tryde had fought with a long sword on the way up, but now, he held a spear. It seemed he was very skilled with the weapon, and even for a warm-up, his handling of the spear was brisk and powerful. Mira could tell that his technique was a cut above the rest, just from watching.
“Incredible,” she mused. “Incidentally, do you happen to have a title?”
“A title? Yeah, sort of. People started calling me the ‘Blazing Rondo,’ out of nowhere,” Tryde said, bashful, without interrupting his work.
“Oho,” Mira replied. “Very cool.”
She smiled even wider. Having a title meant that he was famous. This was an even better chance to show off the power of summoning than she’d first thought.
Mira devised her own mental strategy, occasionally chatting with the others while they waited for the second door to open. Thirty minutes after the first door opened, there was a loud noise, and the door activated.
“All right, everyone. Form up.”
Tryde stood, carefully checked for his emergency potions one last time, and walked toward the door. His comrades followed suit.
“Now, impact is what matters most. Pegasus, the first attack falls to you,” Mira whispered to Pegasus as she trailed after them.
They strode into a room that was home to five large vessels.
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