An Abyss, a space encroached upon by the Void, would appear when the mana density went above a certain point. The Abyss would have a Beast that served as its core, and as long as that Beast was not killed, the Abyss would continue to encroach onto the surrounding lands.
The danger level of the Abyss, or what Seekers referred to as depth, had 13 levels in all. The bigger the number, the stronger the Beast that had crossed over.
Beasts that were classified as depth 12 or more were threats equivalent to cataclysmic disasters. Thus, an entity like that was referred to as a Lord. It basically had to be challenged with an alliance of many clans in order to deal with it.
In contrast, it was very easy to deal with Abysses with shallow depths, and even a small party of three to five people could clear them. However, by no means was it because the Beasts that crossed over were weak. It was merely because the strategy to clear them had already been well-established, thanks to the noble sacrifice of many predecessors.
Depth one. In other words, the shallowest depth. Only one type of Beast crossed over here: Goblins, the general populace of the Void.
They were short and green-skinned. These Beasts had a low-level but independent civilization and were characterized by their ability to use human-like tactics and equipment
This saying was passed down among Seekers: Those who laughed at Goblins, were eaten by Goblins.
The Goblins' fighting abilities were certainly weaker compared to other Beasts. However, they could use equipment and tactics. If you underestimated them, the ones getting hunted would be the Seekers instead. Those who were somewhat skilled but had no understanding of group battles would end up killed without being able to do anything against them.
The reason why the death rate of the Seekers that hadn't gone to a training school was so high was because they did not have this knowledge.
There were four types of Goblin combatants.
The type with the lowest rank but the largest numbers were the Goblin Soldiers, which were Goblins equipped with clubs and wooden shields or bows.
Goblins that could use fire or thunder magic Skills, the Goblin Mages.
Goblins that had mutated and obtained strong bodies over two meters tall, the Hob-Goblins. And finally, the heavily armed Goblin Champions that had metal equipment.
Among the Hob-Goblins were also Hob-Goblin Generals, which were individuals with more developed brains and bodies.
These four types made up groups of a few dozen to more than a hundred Goblins.
The outsourced request that Blue Beyond, our party of three, had subcontracted this time was to subjugate these Goblins.
The place where the Abyss had occurred was a fort on a small hill overlooking the countryside below. The fort, which had been long abandoned and was now in ruins, was now home to the Goblins that had crossed over.
The group of Goblins we encountered and were facing off against were roughly 200 in number.
Despite their numbers being nearly twice that of the largest group ever recorded, the scale of the battle would be just right for our new party's debut Abyss.
「Order! Alma, kill the archers and Goblin Mages on the ramparts!」
「Understood!」
Obeying the instructions that also granted the Deploy Tactics buff, Alma threw numerous iron needles all at once.
Due to the effect of Scout Skill: Perfect Throw, all of the needles flew in trajectories that defied the laws of physics, and shot and killed all the archers and Goblin Mages encamped on the ramparts.
Alright, now we won't be shot at from above.
「Kouga, charge the enemy formation! Alma and I will create an opening!」
「Yes!」
Kouga sprinted forward at lightning speed. Standing in his way were two Goblin Champions. With thick iron shields in their hands, they stood at the ready to block Kouga's path.
「Alma, Armor Piercing!」
Countless iron needles were thrown again.
Scout Skill: Armor Piercing
With the effect of my buff, the power of the iron needles, combined with the Throwing Skill that halved the effect of the target's defense, caused the iron needles to easily penetrate the thick iron shields and kill the Goblin Champions.
The other Goblin Champions rushed in to close the hole in their ranks, but I yelled at them before they could do so.
「STOP!!!」
Talker Skill: Stun Howl
The movements of the Goblins stopped and I pointed the muzzle of Silver Flame--Silver-chan at them.
「Kouga, lower your head!」
The magic bullet that I fired passed above the head of Kouga, who had lowered his posture while running. The moment it hit the enemy formation, an intense electric shock burst out with a loud roar. The magic bullet--Thunder Bullet had burnt the nearby Goblins to a cinder and blew them away.
Their ranks were totally broken. And right ahead was the Abyss' core--the Boss, a Hob-Goblin General.
「Kouga, kill the General!」
「Leave it to me!」
Kouga stomped his feet strongly and further raised his speed as he approached the Hob-Goblin General. The Hob-Goblin General that boasted a huge, nearly three meter tall body, swung his large sword down at Kouga.
「You're too slow!」
Kouga lightly sidestepped the Hob-Goblin General's blow and using his god-speed draw--Bladesman Skill: Iai Slash, he severed both of the Hob-Goblin General's wrists.
「I've got you now!」
Kouga aimed for the Hob-Goblin General's head with his follow-up slash. The moment his blade was about to connect--
The Hob-Goblin General's head was decapitated by Alma's knife instead, which she had thrown before anyone realized.
「H, hey, what do you think you're doing!?」
「Hehe, Kouga was being a slow-poke so I was only giving you a helping hand」
「What did you say!?」
Of all things, the two idiots began quarreling in the middle of the destroyed enemy formation.
「What the heck are they doing......」
The Abyss, which had lost its core, started to be cleansed as I stood dumbfounded. All the Goblins had stopped moving and the air was slowly being cleared of the sulfuric smell from the Void.
I heaved a sigh, and then issued my last command.
「Battle, end......」
†
†
「Abysses aren't as scary as I thought they would be」
Kouga said with a smile while we were taking a break after the battle.
Our surroundings were littered with the corpses of the Goblins and a horrible stink was wafting over, but we couldn't leave until the clan that had outsourced this request to us had sent their people to retrieve the materials. The time that had we agreed on was 30 minutes away.
The arrangement was that we would hand over the corpses in exchange for the reward if we succeeded, or we would pay them the penalty if we had failed.
The Goblin's liver was a very good material for alchemy. Although they were Beasts from the shallowest depth, the demand for their materials was very high. Our reward this time was one million Fil.
「Are you an idiot? It's unbelievable that you're getting full of yourself just for beating the weakest Beasts」
Kouga frowned at Alma's biting retort.
「That's true but......」
「Even though you can't even properly kill the Boss」
「That's because you got in my way!」
「Despite the slowness of your sword, you're so quick with excuses」
「Noel, this woman is crazy! She's saying ridiculous things!」
Don't get me involved, was what I wanted to say, but I swallowed it back in time. As I was the leader, it was one of my duties to resolve the differences between party members.
But it was also true that it was a pain......
To begin with, the problem laid with Alma. Her thorny attitude towards Kouga probably stemmed from the ill feelings that had remained after their unfinished fight.
Alma was originally a very sociable person, and could easily have gotten along with Kouga, but it looked impossible now because of that troublesome animosity that she felt.
Having said that, if I let them fight it out to their heart's content, the best case scenario was that they would both be heavily injured, and in the worst case, they would kill each other. There was no reason to allow that to happen.
So I brought the matter to a close forcibly.
「The petty quarreling stops now. Alma, willful actions are prohibited in future battles. Kouga too, don't get cocky. Do the both of you understand?」
「......Yes」「......Got it」
I smiled wryly at the two of them who had nodded obediently.
It was because they were like that, that it made things easy, and I was grateful and thought favorably of them. But it didn't seem like I could entrust the role of sub-leader to either of them. They were both very strong, but their personalities were too incompatible.
It was essential for the sub-leader to have the ability to make calmer and more accurate judgments than the leader. If not, he would only be a yes-man and wouldn't be able to fulfill his role as the leader's substitute when the leader wasn't around. He would also need to have the magnetism to reduce the friction among members.
It was a pity, but these two had none of those qualities. I needed to search for a talented person that I could trust as my number two for when the scale of the clan that I was going to establish became bigger.
「With that said, good work, both of you. This debut battle that we were using to test our strength was very successful. From the bottom of my heart, I feel proud that both of you are my allies」
「Hehehe」「Hehehe」
The two of them looked happy while scratching their heads. Rather than being obedient, these two were just pure-hearted.
「After this battle, I'm convinced. We may only be a newly-formed party but we already have the requisite strength to create a clan. Therefore, I'm going to submit the application to create a clan immediately after we return to the imperial capital. In future, we'll be a clan instead of a party」
「When you say clan, you mean the official Seeker organization?」
I nodded at Kouga's question.
「That's right. Only officially recognized clans can receive Abyss-related requests from the country. Seekers who aren't in a clan can only get Abyss-related requests if they subcontract from other clans. This time's request was also one that was originally accepted from the country by another clan」
I corrected my posture and looked at them in turn.
「Once we become a clan, I have no intention of earning money by hunting small fry. We'll aim only for large prey. Guys, we'll be engaged in life-and-death battles constantly from now on. Make sure that both of you are thoroughly prepared」
「Understood!」「Yes!」
Both of them gave good replies. As they were pure fighters, rather than getting scared, my words stirred their hearts instead. They were truly dependable. If only their personalities were just as good, I would have no complaints, but as the saying went, God does not grant people more than one talent......
「Noel, what's that?」
Kouga suddenly pointed at me--my right hand. When I tilted my head and checked my right hand, I saw that a book-shaped pattern had appeared on my fingernail.
Welcome to a brand new start! Noel is finally back in Abysses and fighting Beasts and it looks like he’s finally going to rank up! Noel is looking for a sub-leader too. Will it be Hugo, or someone else?
Stay tuned! But a word of warning, it’s a long arc again!
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