イベント開始の翌日。
俺とユーミルは砂漠の街に居る、帝国から派遣されたという魔導士の前に居た。
黒いフード付きのコートを身に纏い、顔は見えない。
「予選会場までお願いします」
「......二人パーティは組んでいるな?」
声もやけに無機質だ。
不気味だが、そういう演出だろうし別に攻撃してくる訳でもないしな。
「私とコイツとで組んであるぞ」
「......宜しい、移送を開始する。その場を動かないように」
確認を終えると、聞き取れないほど速く怪しげな呪文をブツブツと唱え始める。
するとその魔導士の足元から黒い塊が満ち、俺達を飲み込む。
周囲の状況が一変する。音が消え、平衡感覚が狂いそうに視界が回り......。
先程までの砂漠の景色はなく、屋内にある小さな闘技場の上に立っていた。
ここは帝国のとある闘技場。
本戦を行う会場とは別で、予選は対戦者たち以外に誰にも見られていない状態で行うとのこと。
リプレイは録画可能だが、最新10戦までは録画しなくても再生可能とのこと。
チート等の違反者はそこから通報を――と、そんなことを考えている横で、ふらふらとユーミルがよろけている。
「......ちょっと酔いそうだったぞ」
「ぐにゃっと景色が歪んだからな。次から目を閉じたら良いんじゃないのか?」
「そうする。エレベーターみたいな浮遊感は消えないが、仕方ない......」
この様にして各街から参加者は帝国まで一瞬で送り込まれ......それが終わると、一戦ごとに元居た街へ送り返されることになる。
簡単に言えば、対象をワープさせる呪文だそうで。
この呪文は条約で厳しく取り締まられ、大陸全ての国の同意を得ることで初めて使用が可能になる『禁呪』に指定されているとのこと。
故に、今回の闘技大会では特別に使用され――という設定になっているそうだ。
自由に使えたら、好きな国を奇襲し放題になるもんなぁ......。
ちなみにこの呪文をプレイヤーが使えるようになることはないと、公式で明言されている。
今回の様な特殊な期間以外は、あくまでも乗り物で移動させたい方針のようだ。
「対戦相手が来たようだぞ、ハインド」
「お?」
緊張した面持ちの対戦相手が、光の中から出現する。
職業は重戦士と魔導士......まあ、オーソドックスな前衛後衛の組み合わせだな。
どちらも男で、見た感じは同世代くらいに思える。
特に挨拶などを交わす間も無く、視界に大きく「READY......」という文字が出現して全員が武器を構えた。
決闘はアイテム使用不可、ダメージ関係はモンスターを相手にする時より補正が掛かり、全体的に低くなる。
しかし、大技を受ければ即死するのは変わらず......。
決闘が始まって約一分、魔導士の土魔法『ストーンブラスト』を足元に受けてユーミルが綺麗にすっ転ぶ。
「んぎゃ! なんじゃあ!?」
「隙ありぃ!」
間髪入れずに重戦士による『バーサーカーエッジ』からの『アサルトスラッシュ』をまともに浴びたユーミルのHPは0になった。
「へぶんっ!?」
「やったぞ! 後は神官だけ――」
昇天。事前に予想した通りの光景。
相手側の見事な連携攻撃だな。これは避けきれなくても仕方ない。
直後、ユーミルが土魔法を受ける少し前から詠唱を開始していた『リヴァイブ』が完成・発動。
油断してこちらを向いた重戦士の背後で、潰れたカエルのようになっていたユーミルがむくりと起き上がる。
「う、後ろ! 後ろぉ!」
「フハハハハハ! もらったぁ!」
戦闘不能になるとMPが0になるゲームもあるが、TBではそのままMPが保持される。
決闘スタート時点は0だったユーミルのMPも、度重なる被弾によって今はフルに。
悪役の様な哄笑と共にユーミルが強烈な突きを放ち、『バーストエッジ』を発動。
激しくスパークするオーラと共に魔力の奔流が重戦士を貫く。
バーストエッジは物理魔法混合の技だが、物理防御が0になっている重戦士は両方のダメージを余さず受けることに。
結果、ユーミルは全てのHPを一撃で抉り取った。
そして、突然の逆転劇に茫然としている魔導士を二人で囲んだ。
いかん、思惑通りの流れに俺も笑いを抑えきれない。フハハハハ!
は決したぞ。どうする? 降伏か死か、選ぶがいい!」
「君と同じ後衛としては、前衛無しで戦うのはオススメしないなあ。わざわざ痛い思いをする必要があるのかね? うん?」
「あ、う......こ、降参します......笑い方、こええ......」
視界内に大きくWINNER! の文字が踊り、空間が歪む。
何度も連続で戦うプレイヤーの都合を考慮してか、戦闘開始と終了の処理は非常に速い。
勝ったら直ぐに会場外へ追い出されるようだ。
「リヴァイブって詠唱長くなかったっけ......? おかしいなぁ......どうしてあのタイミングで死ぬって分かったんだ......?」
そんな対戦相手の魔導士の呟きを最後に、足元の接地感が消失。
隣で嫌な顔になっているユーミルほどではないが、確かに少し気持ち悪い。
凝った演出ではあるが、害になりそうなので運営に改善要望を送っておこう。
そして気が付くと、俺達は再び『王都ワーハ』の帝国魔導士の前に立っていた。
戦闘が終わり、互いに顔を見合わせて一息。
緊張からか、短い戦闘だったが疲れはそれなりだ。
「はー、無事に勝てたな。今の相手がどの程度の強さかは分からないが」
「フッ、私とお前のコンビなのだ。勝てて当然だ!」
「おお、相変わらず凄い自信だな。だがな、もし負けても泣くなよ? 連戦すれば必ずどこかでは負けるからな?」
「泣かんわ! 私を子供扱いするなぁ!」
今のが俺達のPvP初戦だった。
PvPの評価に関してはレート制で、初期値は1500。
そしてこのレート上位256組が本戦トーナメントに出場、ということになる。
通常のレートとは別に大会レートというものが設定され、イベント毎にレートはリセット。
イベント中、先程の会場で行った予選での決闘は通常の決闘レートには影響しない。
当然だが、今回の大会レートは個人ではなくコンビで共通の数字となる。
そして今イベントは期間が長く、来週の土曜夜に本戦が開始される。
決勝は翌、日曜日に行われるとのこと。
「よく分からん!」
というユーミルの為に要約したら、
「金曜日が終わるまでに何度も予選会場に戦いに行って、勝ちまくればOK」
という雑な説明になった。
極論、細かなルールを考えなければそれだけのことである。
それでレートは上がる。
他に補足すると、レート以外にもイベントポイントというものが設定されており、これに関しては戦えば戦うほど取得できる商品が増えていく。
勝った方が得られるイベントポイントは多いが、負けてもそれなりのポイントを入手可能とのこと。
これにより、終盤でランキングがある程度固まっても、対戦相手が居なくなるということは起こりにくくなるのではないだろうか?
対人戦が下手な人間でも楽しめるような設定なので、個人的には好印象な仕様となっている。
イベント概要はこんな感じか。
俺が思いを巡らせていると、隣でユーミルが体を解すように大きく伸びをした。
砂漠の女王に負けていないスタイル抜群の体が無防備に晒される。
はしたねえなぁ......鎧を着ている分だけ、強調される部位が少なくてマシだけど。
「さて、どうするハインド? 続けて戦いに行くか?」
「おう。レート制な以上、予選で大事なのは負けないことじゃなく最終的な勝率だから......終盤で連勝出来れば、追い上げも充分に可能だろう。弱点の洗い出しの為にも、このまま連戦しよう」
「うむ。今の時間ならプレイヤーも多いし、直ぐに対戦相手は捕まるからな」
「一戦あたりの所要時間も大したことなさそうだしな。どんどん行こうぜ」
早めに数をこなして、来週までに装備やらスキル構成やらを煮詰めておきたい。
場数を踏むことも大事なので、まずは何も考えずにぶつかることも大事。
「よーし、気合が乗ってきた! 魔導士よ、もう一回頼む!」
「......承知した。移送を開始する」
この日の俺達は、10連勝の後に負けが増え始め......。
最終的には20戦14勝と、勝率7割の戦績に落ち着いた。
The next day after the event started.
I was standing in front of the mage that the empire had deployed to the desert town along with Yumir.
It was a standard mage with the hood of his coat covering his face.
[Please take us to the preliminary grounds.]  (Hind)
[...Both of you are forming a party, right?] 
Even his voice was quite robotic.
It was quite eerie, but it's probably what they were going for and it's not like he'll attack us.
[I'm paired with this guy.]  (Yumir)
[...Very well, I'll start the transfer. Stand still right there.] 
After finishing the verification, he started chanting a suspicious spell with an inaudible voice.
When he did, a black mass appeared at the mage's feet and it swallowed us.
Our surroundings completely changed. Sound vanished, our sense of balance crumbled and our field of vision started spinning around...
It wasn't the scenery of the desert we were in a while ago, we were standing on top of a small arena.
This was an arena in the empire.
The main tournament will be held at another one, no one other than the other participants in the preliminaries could see us right now.
It's possible to record the matches, but the latest ten are always available for viewing without having done so.
You can report cheaters that...oh, next to me (who was thinking stuff like that), Yumir was staggering unsteadily.
[...I've got a bit of motion sickness.]  (Yumir)
[The scenery did distort itself after all. Shouldn't it be fine if you just closed your eyes the next time?]  (Hind)
[I'll do just that. That feeling of floating like if you were in an elevator won't go away though, but that can't be helped...]  (Yumir)
Like this, they'll send the participants from each town to the empire in an instant...once this ends, they'll send you back after the battle ends.
In simple terms, it's a spell that warps the target.
The agreement to use this spell was strictly supervised, it was a {Spell}  that had been able to be used for the first time after every country representative agreed to it.
Therefore, they made it an exception to use it for this tournament...or so the setting goes.
If they were able to use it freely, everyone would be able to launch a surprise attack on another country after all...
By the way, there was an official announcement saying that players won't be able to use this spell.
Apart from special occasions like this one, they want us to travel via vehicles.
[It seems like our opponents are here, Hind.]  (Yumir)
[Oh?]  (Hind)
Our opponents appeared from within the light with nervous expressions.
Their jobs were heavy warrior and mage...well, they paired up in an orthodox way with a vanguard and rearguard, huh?
They were both guys, given their looks they appeared about the same age.
We didn't really exchange introductions and when a [READY...]  appeared within our line of sight in big letters, we prepared our weapons.
No items can be used in a duel and the damage is scaled down compared to when you fight monsters, overall it's toned down.
However, it doesn't change the fact that you'll die instantly if you are hit with a powerful skill...
It was about a minute after the duel had started, Yumir beautifully fell down after taking the {Stone Blast}  that the mage had aimed at her feet.
[Gya!! What's this!?]  (Yumir)
[An opening!] 
Without a moment of delay, the heavy warrior used {Berserker Edge}  followed by {Assault Slash}  and Yumir took it upfront leaving her with 0 HP.
[Hebunh!?]  (Yumir)
[We did it! All that's left is the Shinto priest-] 
Death. It was what I thought it would happen at this point.
Our opponents have really nice synergy. That she was unable to avoid it can't be helped.
Immediately after that happened, I completed the cast of {Revive}  that I had started casting a bit before Yumir got hit by the spell of the mage.
The heavy warrior got careless and looked towards me and behind him, Yumir, who had become like a crushed frog, slowly started to stand up.
[B-Behind you! Behind!]  (mage)
[Fuhahaha! Gotcha!]  (Yumir)
There are games where your MP will become 0 once you die, but in TB you'll keep your MP.
Even Yumir, who had started the duel with 0 MP, now had a full bar from getting attacked that many times.
While laughing like a villain, Yumir released the powerful thrust {Burst Edge} .
Together with the violent sparks created by the aura, the stream of magical power penetrated the heavy warrior.
Burst Edge is a skill that deals hybrid damage, but having reduced his physical defense to 0, the heavy warrior was unable to take both types of damage.
As a result, Yumir blew his whole HP bar in a single blow.
Then, we surrounded the mage that was dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events.
No good, since everything had gone according to my plan, I couldn't contain a laugh. Fuhahaha!
[Well then, the match is decided. What will you do? Do you choose to surrender or do you choose death? Go ahead and choose!]  (Yumir)
[As a rearguard like you, I wouldn't recommend fighting without a vanguard. There's no reason to get painful memories on purpose, right? Right?]  (Hind)
[Ah, uh...I-I'll surrender...the way you laugh is so scary...] 
Within our field of view a "Winner!!" danced in the air and the room started warping.
They probably did this to take into consideration players that wanted to fight many times in a row, the way the fights started and ended was really quick.
Once you win you'll get expelled from the arena right away.
[I thought the casting time for revive was long...? That's weird...how did he know that she would die with that timing...?]  (mage)
After the mage murmured that, the feeling of standing on the ground vanished.
It wasn't to the point where it was like Yumir, who made a very displeased face, but it's true that it's a bit unpleasant.
It does have its artistic value, but since it seems to be going to be harmful, let's send a message to the developers so that they improve it.
When we noticed, we were standing in front of the imperial mage in {Royal Capital Waaha}  again.
The battle ended and we took a breath after exchanging glances.
It might have been because of nervousness, even though it was a short fight, it was quite tiring.
[Hah, we were able to win. Though I don't know how strong they really were.]  (Hind)
[Fuh, we are a duo made of you and me. It's a given that we would win!]  (Yumir)
[Ooh, you sure are confident as always. But hear me out, don't go crying if we somehow end up losing, OK? If we keep fighting, we are bound to lose at some point after all.]  (Hind)
[I won't cry! Don't treat me like a kid!]  (Yumir)
This was our first PvP match.
When it comes to the PvP rating, the initial value is 1500.
Once you get this ranking to the top 256, you will be able to appear in the main tournament.
Unlike usual rankings, this one is set as tournament rankings, it'll reset every event.
During the event, the preliminary duels like the one a while ago don't have any effect on normal duel rankings.
It goes without saying but...this tournament's rankings are not personal but it's a shared numerical value for the duo.
The event is also long, the main tournament will start next Saturday.
The finals will follow, they'll be held on Sunday.
[I don't get it!]  (Yumir)
So, I summarized it like this for Yumir.
[Until it ends on Friday, we'll fight preliminaries over and over, it's fine as long as we keep winning.]  (Hind)
I explained roughly like that.
If we used logic, given the rules it amounted to only that.
Therefore, we had to raise our ranking.
As additional information, apart from the event rankings there are event points, the amount of goods you'll get will increase as you keep fighting.
If you manage to win you'll get a bigger amount of event points, but even if you lose, you'll still get some points.
Taking this into account, even if the rankings for the main event solidifies itself, the difficult situation of there not being people to fight with probably won't happen?
It's made so that even people that are not that good at PvP can have some fun, personally it's a method that I like.
This about sums up the event.
While those thoughts were going around my head, Yumir was stretching close to me to relax her body.
The outstanding body that wouldn't lose to the queen's in style was exposed defencessly.
So immodest...I guess the saving grace is that she was wearing armour and it made it so that less places were emphasized.
[Well then, what are we going to do, Hind? Are we going to keep fighting?]  (Yumir)
[Yeah. In order to raise our rankings, it's not important that you lose, but your win percentage at the end...if we managed to win consecutively in the final phase, it should be enough to catch up.
[Umu. There should be a lot of players logged in at this time, we'll find an opponent right away.]  (Yumir)
[It also doesn't seem to take long for a fight to end after all. Let's just keep going.]  (Hind)
I want to get an early lead and focus on organizing our gear and skills next week.
Getting some experience is important, so first off, it's important to go in without thinking too hard about things.
[Alright, I'm getting fired up! Mage, please one more time!]  (Yumir)
[...Acknowledged. I'll begin the transfer.] 
Today, after winning 10 times in a row, we started to lose...
At the end of the day the score was 20 fights (14 wins), our record ended in a 70% win rate.
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