10階の休憩所を出ると一気に敵の強さが増した。
一戦ごとの時間が徐々に延び、そこからは進む速度も格段に落ちる。
しかし、戦闘を重ねることで徐々に互いの連携も向上。
バフのタイミング、デバフの対象、矢による敵攻撃の遅延、そして前衛二人による圧倒的な殲滅。
落ちる攻略速度とは裏腹に、戦闘における安定感は増していく。
「お前達と一緒なら、どこまでも進めそうな気分になるな」
「快適......」
にこちらの三人も忙しくなってきたわけだが、アルベルト親子は俺達の後方支援がお気に召した様子。
現在の階層は20階、道中の敵のレベルはいよいよ50以上にまで到達。
ここまでの成果は等級の低い宝石類に布素材がいくつか、毒状態を防ぐ首飾りに小さな金塊が少々といったところで......。
「ちょっと寂しい成果だな。首飾りはレアっぽいけど」
「これじゃ来た意味があまり......破壊可能オブジェクトが無いか、壁や床のあちこちを探ってはいるんだけど」
「結果ここまで隠し部屋のようなものは無し。どこまで登るか、判断が難しいところですね」
情報不明な場所を探索するという都合上、念のため所持金を預けて全滅対策はしてきた。
だが、出来るなら死に戻るような事態は避けたいところである。
更なる成果を狙いつつも安全に配慮するという、落とし所を探りつつの慎重な進行となる。
そんな俺達の様子を見たアルベルトが、考えるようにしながら口を挟む。
「ふむ......こういったダンジョンは大陸各地に存在してはいるが」
「あ、何かご存じですか? 何でも良いので、少しでも判断材料が欲しいのですけど」
「攻略に意欲的なプレイヤーの中には無論、先んじて入った者も居るそうだ」
アルベルト親子は既に馬を購入し、依頼を受けてはあちこち駆け巡っているそうだ。
その分だけ俺達よりも様々な情報に通じている。
実質的に多方面のプレイヤー達から生の声を聞いて回っているわけだから、物によっては掲示板よりも早く高精度な情報を保有している可能性が高い。
彼が言いたいのは早解き......つまり、誰よりも早く攻略を目指すプレイヤー達の話のようだが。
「そういうプレイヤーからは、共同攻略の依頼とかされないんですか?」
「得てしてそういう連中は、自分達だけの手で攻略をしたがるものだ。何かにつけてトップ攻略を狙っているから、情報も独占を狙って他人に教えたがらない。仮に俺達に依頼しに来るとしたら、最終手段としてだろうな」
「ああ、まあ体面を気にするのであれば格好つかないですよね。傭兵込みで攻略した、なんて」
「だから俺が知っているのは、20階にボスクラスのモンスターが居るということくらいか。これも本人達に直接聞いたわけではなく、又聞きということになるが」
「てことは、この階にボスが......?」
それが中ボスなのかダンジョン全体のボスなのかは不明だそうだが。
したがる者が多いそうなので、恐らくは......。
「まだ誰も20階を攻略していない......ってことだよね? 多分」
セレーネさんも俺と同じ推論を持ったようだった。
詳しい情報が上がっていないということはそういうことになる。
考えられる例外としては......。
「淡々とトップを走る、知られざる強プレイヤーなんてもんが居ない限りはそうでしょうね」
「そもそも攻略者はゲーム側にアナウンスされてしまうのではないでしょうか? 例えばフィールドボスの初討伐者のように」
そういえば『ヴェノムスコーピオン』を倒した際には、俺達の名前をアナウンスされたんだっけ......。
フィールドボス・エリアボスなんてものは門番として大陸中のあちこちに居るから、これに関しての一つ一つは大した話題にならないのだけれど。
その中で頻繁に名前を見るプレイヤーというと、闘技大会準決勝で戦ったリヒトパーティくらいのものだ。
「言われてみれば、確かにダンジョン攻略ってアナウンスは一度も見ていない気がするなぁ」
「ずっとログインしているわけじゃないから、見逃している可能性も充分あるけど......」
「ですが掲示板で一切話題に上がらないなら、そういうことで間違いないのでは? 人の少ない日中であっても、誰にも見られないというのは不可能でしょうし」
「......お前達はそういった議論が好きなのか? つい止め所を見失ったぞ」
アルベルトの声に俺達は我に返った。
「ユーミル、トビが居ない時の後衛三人だとこんな風になることが多いですね。普段なら――」
「ええ。ユーミルさんが、話は分からんが先に進んでも良いか? とか言い出して一人で先に進んでしまうので。ですよね? セッちゃん」
「あ、ああー。確かに言いそうかも、うん。トビ君も似たような感じだし」
「なるほどな」
「でも......バランス、取れてる?」
フィリアちゃんが小首を傾げつつそう呟いた直後のことだった。
不意に通路が途切れ、今度は薄暗い広間のような空間に出る。
そこに入ってまず気が付いたのは、異様なまでに高い室温と息苦しさで......。
「全員止まれ。奥に何かが居る......!」
片手を上げてのアルベルトの制止の声に、俺達はその場で立ち止まる。
闇の中から現れたそいつは、遠く離れた距離でも一目で分かる存在感を放っていた。
何故なら、そいつの体は――
「体が、燃えている......?」
「と言うよりも、炎が人の形を成していると言うべきか。どうやらこいつがここのボスのようだ!」
俺の呟きにアルベルトが答え、大剣を抜いて炎の化身に向けて構える。
それに対してモンスターの炎が激しく燃え盛り、敵意があることを存分に示してくる。
表示されたレベルは55、モンスター名は『ナール王の残滓』......。
遅れて俺達も武器を構え、ボスモンスターに斬りかかるアルベルトの後に続いた。
Once we left the resting area on the tenth floor, the enemies' strength immediately went up.
The time each fight took gradually increased and the speed at which we proceeded also slowed down.
However, as we kept fighting, our teamwork improved.
Timing of the buffs, who to target with debuffs, delaying the enemies with bolts, and the two people in the front exterminating everything.
Even if our clearing speed decreased, the way we fought improved.
[If we are with you guys, it feels as if we could go anywhere.] (Albert)
[It's comfortable...] (Philia)
The three of us suddenly became busy, but it seems like the parent child duo took a liking to our support.
We were currently on the twentieth floor and the monsters we met were finally above level fifty.
As for the spoils we earned until now: there were some low grade gems, some cloth materials, a necklace with resistance to poison and a few small gold ingots...
[These results are quite sad. The necklace does seem rare though.] (Hind)
[This makes coming here not worth it...isn't there some kind of destructible object around here? There are some walls here and there that we can investigate though.] (Selene)
[In the end, there was no secret chamber so far. How much further should we climb? That would be hard to judge right now.] (Hind)
Since we were going to explore a place we had no information about, we had deposited all our money in case we wiped.
However, I would want to avoid a situation where we wiped if possible.
Aiming for results while making sure we played it safe, we carefully moved forward while taking those into consideration.
Albert looked at us and placed his fingers on his mouth while being pensive.
[Fumu...there are dungeons like this all over the place in the continent.] (Albert)
[Ah, do you know anything about them? Anything's fine, I would like to have some information.] (Hind)
[There are obviously some players that were motivated to clear them and they entered them prematurely.] (Albert)
The parent and child duo had already bought horses and had gone to a lot of places to take requests.
Due to that fact, they had obtained more information than us.
Since they had collected what they had heard from a high amount of real players, the chances that they obtain credible information faster than the forum people can, is high.
What he meant by prematurely is...in other words, those that wanted to clear the dungeons before anyone else.
[Didn't those players ask you to cooperate with them to clear the dungeons?] (Hind)
[Those types of players usually want to clear the dungeons with their own efforts. Since they are aiming to be the first ones, they monopolize the information and won't tell other players. Even if they were to request our help, that would be as a last resort.] (Albert)
[Ah, it's the type of situation you would only arrive at if you cared about appearances. They wouldn't want to clear by borrowing the strength of a mercenary, or something like that.] (Hind)
[That's why I only know that on the twentieth floor there will be a boss class monster. This is something that I didn't hear from the players themselves but you could say it was from hearsay.] (Albert)
[So you mean that, there will be a boss monster here...?] (Hind)
Though it is unknown if this boss will be a mid-boss or the real boss of the dungeon.
However, if those people that aimed to clear dungeons first had already done so, there would be more people talking about it, so most likely...
[There's no player that has cleared the twentieth floor...or something like that? Most likely.] (Selene)
Selene-san seems to have had the same line of thought as me.
If there hasn't been an increase in the amount of information released, it would mean something like that.
The exception to that would be...
[As long as there's not any strong players aiming for the top that don't mind releasing that information, it will be like this.] (Hind)
[To begin with, wouldn't it be announced inside the game if someone cleared them? Like when you first beat the field boss of an area.] (Riizu)
Now that I think about it, when we defeated the {Venom Scorpion} , our names weren't announced...
Field Bosses and Area Bosses are gatekeepers that reside in multiple places throughout the continent, so I guess they are not that of a big deal to be a topic people talked about all the time.
Among the names of players that are mentioned often, are the players we fought in the semifinals of the tournament. The party of Licht.
[Now that you mention it. I haven't seen the completion of a dungeon being announced even a single time.] (Hind)
[It not like we are always logged in, so there's the chance that we might have missed it...] (Selene)
[But since it's a topic that hasn't been talked about in the BBS at all, wouldn't that mean that it hasn't happened yet? Even if it happened during the day when there's fewer players, it would have been impossible for no one to have seen it.] (Riizu)
[...Do you guys like to discuss that sort of thing? I stopped and noticed I had lost sight of you.] (Albert)
After listening to Albert's voice, we went to where he was.
[When Yumir and Tobi are not here and it's only us three rearguards, it tends to become like this quite often. Normally-] (Hind)
[Yes. Yumir-san would say something like, "I don't get it so is it fine if I just go ahead?", she would say something like that and keep going alone. Right, Secchan?] (Riizu)
[Ah, yes. It's true that it would be like that, yup. I feel like Tobi-kun would do something similar.] (Selene)
[I see.] (Albert)
[But...it balances things out?] (Philia)
Muttered Philia-chan as she tilted her head.
The passage suddenly came to an end and we came out to a dimly lit hall.
The first thing we noticed after entering that hall, was that the temperature was far higher and it was sort of hard to breathe...
[Everyone stop, there's something further in the back...!] (Albert)
Albert signaled us to stop by raising one hand and we stopped in place.
The thing that appeared from within the darkness, gave off a sense of presence that we could feel at a single glance even from this distance.
Because that thing's body was...
[Its body is burning...?] (Hind)
[I think it would be more accurate to say that the fire is taking the form of a human. It seems like this is the boss of this area!] (Albert)
Albert replied so to my murmurs, he took out his greatsword and took a stance aimed at the fire avatar.
In reaction to that, the monster's fire burned violently, it was unreservedly showing that it held hostility towards us.
The displayed level was 55, the name of the monster was{Vestiges of King Knurl} ...
We had already taken a stance with our weapons and followed after Albert who slashed at the monster.
VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～
ＶＲＭＭＯの支援職人　～トッププレイヤーの仕掛人～
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/vrmmo-no-shien-shokunin-%ef%bd%9etop-player-no-shikakenin%ef%bd%9e/
Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Harem Slice of Life
Adventurers Beautiful Female Lead Blacksmith Brother Complex Calm Protagonist Childhood Friends Clan Building Cooking Crafting Curious Protagonist Dense Protagonist Elemental Magic Fantasy Creatures Game Ranking System Gamers Hard-Working Protagonist Healers Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Love Rivals Male Protagonist Misunderstandings MMORPG Ninjas Possessive Characters Priests Siblings Siblings Not Related by Blood Sword And Magic Virtual Reality Younger Love Interests Younger Sisters
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4014ds/
二階堂風都