勝利への方策
トビを除く四人で、ギルドホームの談話室で昨日の戦闘のリプレイを見る。
リプレイはゲーム内のメニュー画面で再生でき、空中投影も可。
画面のサイズも伸縮可能であり、まずは勝った戦闘で狙い通りの型に嵌ったものを幾つか再生。
テーブルで紅いお茶――残念ながら紅茶ではない、ハーブティーを飲みながら昨日の戦いぶりを眺めた。
このお茶は市場で買ったハイビスカスティーで、試しに飲んでみたら酸味が強い。すっぱい。
そのまま飲むよりは他の何かとブレンドしたい感じのお茶だ。
「うん......ここのエリアヒールの範囲指定、上手いね。相手からしたら無限にHPがあるように感じるかも。ユーミルさんも、相手の前衛を完璧に抑え込んでる」
「貴様の今の顔の方がよっぽど恐ろしいぞ。自覚はないのか?」
「ま、まあこれが良かった方の戦いだな。理想としては毎試合これが出来ることなんだけど」
全員、話しながらカップを傾けた後に「うっ」という顔をした。
俺がインベントリから蜂蜜を取り出してテーブルに置くと、女性陣は先を争うようにしてカップに注いだ。
美容には良いらしいんだけどな......って、ゲームだから関係ないか。
酸っぱいから疲労回復にも効きそう。HPも回復するかな?
リプレイに関してだが、ユーミルが俺を狙う敵を遮断しつつ、回復を活かして大胆に斬り込む。
俺はWT毎に『シャイニング』で敵の後衛なり前衛の片側なりを妨害しつつ補助と回復。
この形に持ち込むことができれば大体は勝ちに繋がる。
シャイニングは低威力だが、相応にWTも短い。
相手が両前衛だと必然的に逃げ回る時間が増えるが、俺が回避を重視すれば何とかなる。
詠唱は移動しながらでも可能なので、相打ちでもユーミルが片方を倒した時点で勝利が確定。
ただし、両前衛は俺達が二番目に苦手とするパターンだ。
勝利にはかなりの忍耐を強いられるし、基本的に俺が捕まったら負ける。
次に、主な負け試合を再生。
試合を流しながら、今度は敗因について話し合う。
「......この試合もだけど、大体は負けパターンが一緒だね。ユーミルさんは最後まで諦めずに粘っているけど」
「ええ。ユーミルよりも先に俺が戦闘不能にされるっていう、ただそれだけなんですよね」
「特にこの、連射型の弓術士を相手にした時が良くない気がします」
「あいつら嫌いだ! 攻めがチマチマネチネチしてて! 狙うなら私を狙え!」
「ハインド君は相手の前衛なりユーミルさんを挟むなりして、上手く射線を切ってるんだけど......」
「ハインドさんを狙う曲射系のスキルが問題ですね。アローレインに代表される系統の」
二人の分析通りだと思う。
避けきれないんだよなぁ......数百本の矢が一度に広範囲に降り注ぐ訳だから。
一本でも受けるとヒットストップで動けなくなり、追撃で更にダメージが加速する。
掲示板の重戦士のように、俺の場合は魔法ではなく前衛の後ろに弓術士が居ると悲しみに包まれることになる。
これが一番苦手な相手だ。
物理遠距離職である弓術士は、神官にとって非常に相性が悪い。
神官は魔法抵抗は全職中トップだが、前衛神官以外の2タイプの物理耐久は魔導士と並んでワーストタイだ。
「それで、今のレートはいくつなの? ハインド君」
「1628ですね。あまり良い状態とは言えない感じで」
「勝率7割をキープ可能なら、期限までに2000に達すると思いますが」
「しかし、後半10戦だけ見れば4割だからな......このままだとランキング入りは夢のまた夢だ。このまま戦い続けても、今のレートの少し下あたりで停滞してしまう気がする。1600前後か?」
「むう......」
レート1700に乗っているようなプレイヤーには全て負けているので、その辺りが俺達の現在の壁となっている。
昨日の戦いを踏まえ、期間の前半は自分達の戦力強化に集中した方が良いという結論になった。
そこからは具体的な改善案の検討に入ることに。
「考えられる方策は幾つかある。といっても、前回のイベントと大体は一緒だ。まずは――」
「武器と防具の強化だね? 私に任せて」
「ありがとうございます!」
「ありがとう、セッちゃん!」
「ただ、作る前にちょっと素材の採取を手伝って欲しいの。人数は多い方が助かるんだけど......お願いできるかな?」
「勿論ですよ。こちらが装備をお願いしているんですから、どこでも行きますよ」
「うん、行くぞ!」
今後の決闘に挑むにあたり、武器と防具の強化は急務である。
掲示板でも書き込みがあったように、レート1600後半から先のプレイヤーは既にタートル装備を使っていなかった。
ユーミルが互角以上に敵前衛と打ち合っていてもあっさり負けることがあり、現在の装備では些か無理のある状態だと言える。
セレーネさんにはしっかりとした強化プランがあるようなので、ここはお任せすることにしよう。
続けてリィズが控えめに手を挙げる。
「私がお手伝い出来そうなのは......レベル上げでしょうか。この周辺で、経験値効率が良さそうなモンスターを探しておきます」
「ありがとう、リィズ。レベルが上がればスキルも増やせる」
「まだまだ取りたいスキルも沢山あるしな。貴様にしては気が利くではないか!」
「......貴様にしては、というのは一言余計だとは思いませんかぁ? ねえ? ユーミルさん......」
「いだだだだだ! 今のは私が悪かった! 謝るから足を踏むなぁ!」
昨日の時点でレベル40のカンストプレイヤーはゴロゴロしていたからな。
リィズの申し出は非常にありがたい。
後は、そうだな......真っ当な手段ばかりだが、最後に一つ。
「残る手段はスキル構成を良く練ること。それと立ち回りに関してか」
「そこは我々の領分だな!」
「うん。レベルを上げでも、装備を整えても、そこを詰めていかないと全て台無しになるからな。二人で練習あるのみだ」
「分かった! やるぞぉ!」
「......ユーミルさん、いつになく楽しそうだなぁ......いいなぁ」
確かにセレーネさんの言う通り、ユーミルはいつになく浮かれてるな。
TBのサービス開始初日に近いはしゃぎようである。
セレーネさんが何を羨ましがっているのかは謎だが。
「ところで、トビ君はどうしてるの? 今夜は姿を見せないけど......」
「あいつはまだ組む相手が捕まらないそうで。本人が言った通り、スタートで出遅れたのが痛かったのかと」
「嫌われているのではないか?」
ユーミルとリィズの暴言に何故かセレーネさんがプルプルと震えた。
眼鏡の向こうの目が死んでいる......。
「やめて! 二人組を作れって言われるだけで、胸が苦しくなる人だって居るんだよ!?」
「せ、セレーネさん......?」
「――ハッ!? な、何でもないよ! 大丈夫だよ!?」
大丈夫そうには見えなかったが......まあ、触れない方が良さそうなので。
予選への出場にはパーティを組む必要があり、パーティは互いに遠隔地に居る場合は当然ながら組むことが出来ない。
なので砂漠まで来れるプレイヤーを探すか、トビ自身が相手の居る場所まで行く必要がある。
その点が特に組むのを難しくしていると、あいつは学校で愚痴っていた。
途中まで乗り気だったのに、砂漠に居ると聞いた瞬間に「それは無理」と返事が来るそうな。
TBは移動に結構な時間が掛かる。
トビのフレンド達の中には、砂漠に来ている者がほとんどおらず......結果、今のところ誰からも色良い返事を貰えていないとのこと。
と、そこで談話室のドアが勢いよく開かれた。
全員がそちらに視線を送ると――
「皆の衆、こんばんは! で、ござる!」
「噂をすれば。組む相手は見つかったか? トビ」
トビが、今日は普通に扉から入ってきた。
元気な様子からして、パートナーが決まったのかと思ったのだが......。
トビの次の言葉は予想外のものだった。
「突然でござるが。拙者、イベントの間だけ旅に出るでござるよ!」
「ぬ?」
「何を言っているんです、あなたは?」
「ええと......? どういうこと?」
あ、そうか。
俺以外のメンバーはトビが相手選びに苦労している経緯を詳しく知らないんだった。
簡単に補足しておくとしよう。
「つまり、お前がパートナー候補のプレイヤーの近くまで行けば組んでくれる――そういう相手なら居るってことだろう? だから、砂漠を一時的に離れると。そう言いたいんだよな?」
「イエース! その通りでござるよ。本当は砂漠から移動するのは面倒でござるが......これ以上相手選びに時間を掛けると、レート上げが間に合わんでござるよ!」
その会話でようやくメンバーに理解の色が広がる。
それをよそにトビはハイビスカスティーを空いていたカップに注いで一気に煽ると、梅干しを食べた時のような物凄い顔になった。
止める暇もねえ。
「なるほど、そういうことでしたか」
「それじゃあ仕方ないね」
「イベントが終わったら、直ぐに戻ってくるのだぞ?」
「了解でござる、ギルド長!」
そういう訳で、トビは一時的にパーティから離脱。
ラクダに乗って街からいずこかへと旅立って行った。行き先は秘密だそうな。
それを見送った俺達は、最初に装備品の更新から手をつけることにした。
Chapter 64 - Plan Towards Victory
Excluding Tobi, the four of us were in the guild home's lounge watching the replays of yesterday's fights.
You can watch the replays from your menu screen and it's also possible to make a projection in mid-air.
You can also adjust the size of the screen, first off, we watched several replays where we won and things went according to plan.
There was red tea on the table...unfortunately, there's no black tea, we watched yesterday's matches while drinking the herbal tea.
This tea is hibiscus tea that we bought in the market, we tried it out and it was quite sour. Yup, it's sour.
It's tea that you'd rather blend with something else than drinking straight away.
[Yup...the place you set this Area Healing at was really good. It would have felt like you had infinite HP from your opponent's point of view.
[The face you are making right now is far more terrifying. Are you not aware of it?]  (Yumir)
[W-Well, these are the fights that turned out well. If possible I'd like every match to go like this but...]  (Hind)
Everyone took a sip from the cup and made bitter faces.
I took out some honey from my inventory and left it on top of the table, then the girls fought over it and poured some on their tea.
Even though it's apparently good as a beautifying product...wait, I guess that has nothing to do here since it's a game.
Since it's sour, it might also help you recover from fatigue. I wonder if it also recovers HP?
Regarding the replays, while Yumir intercepts the opponents that aim for me, she boldly attacks them while I make the best use of my healing skills.
Each time {Shining}  is up, I use it on the rearguard or the other vanguard to obstruct them while I support and heal her.
If we manage to make it go that way, it would usually lead to a victory.
Shining has low power, but it also has a suitable low CD because of it.
If there are two vanguards, the times where I have to run around the place trying to avoid them will increase, but I'm able to do something about it as long as I focus on dodging.
It is possible to cast spells while moving around, even if they kill off each other at the same time, as long as Yumir defeats one of them it'd end up in our victory.
However, double vanguards are the 2nd type of teams we are weak against.
Whenever we win, we are forced to endure and be patient, usually, if I'm caught we'd lose.
Next, is the replay of our important loss.
While we watched the match, we talked about why we lost this time.
[...This match too, the pattern of the way you lose is mostly the same. Yumir doesn't give up until the end and tries to persevere through.]  (Selene)
[Yes. I die before Yumir does, it's only that.]  (Hind)
[Especially this one, when you face a rapid-fire type archer I get the feeling that it doesn't go well.]  (Riizu)
[I hate those! They just attack and are so sticky! If they are going to aim for someone, they should just aim for me!]  (Yumir)
[Hind-kun puts himself between the opponent's vanguard or Yumir-san and him to cut his line of fire but...]  (Selene)
[The main problem are these high-angle type skills. The skills that are represented by skills like Arrow Rain.]  (Riizu)
I believe it's just as they said.
You can't really avoid them...after all, several hundreds of arrows rain down on you at the same time.
Even if you only get hit by one, you'll enter hit stop and be unable to move, then you'll get hit by the next one and quickly take more damage.
Like that heavy warrior from the BBS, instead of magic, I'm wrapped up in sorrow whenever I face a heavy warrior paired up with an archer.
These are the opponents we hate the most.
The long ranged physical damage job archer is the one that Shinto priest has the worst affinity against.
Shinto priest is in the middle when it comes to magic resistance, but with the exception of the vanguard type Shinto priest, the other 2 types are tied with mages for the worst physical resistance.
[So, what's your current rating, Hind-kun?]  (Selene)
[It's 1628. I can't really say it feels like we are in a good situation.]  (Hind)
[If you can keep up with your 70% win rate, I believe you might be able to reach 2000 rating by the end though.]  (Riizu)
[However, if we only looked at the 10 matches of the 2nd half, it would be a 40% win rate...if we keep going like this, entering the rankings will be just a dream.
[Nuuh...]  (Yumir)
We keep losing to players that pass 1700 rating, that's our current wall.
Based on yesterday's matches, I reached the conclusion that it's better to use this first half to strengthen ourselves.
From there, we started talking about concrete ideas of how to improve.
[I can think of a few plans. Then again, it's about the same as with the last event. First off-]  (Hind)
[Strengthening your weapons and defensive gear right? Leave it to me.]  (Selene)
[Thank you very much!]  (Hind)
[Thanks Secchan!]  (Yumir)
[It's just that I want your help with gathering materials before doing that. It would help me a lot if I had more people...could I ask you that favor?]  (Selene)
[Of course. We are the ones asking you for the gear after all, we'll go anywhere you want.]  (Hind)
[Yup, let's go!]  (Yumir)
In order to contend for the duels from now on, there was an urgent need to strengthen our current weapons and defensive gear.
Just as the post in the BBS had said, from 1650 rating onwards, the players have already moved on from turtle type gear.
If Yumir fought with vanguards that are equal or stronger to her she could easily lose, you could say we are in an impossible situation with our current gear.
Since Selene-san seems to have a proper plan to strengthen our gear, let's leave it to her.
Right after, Riizu humbly raised her hand.
[What I can help with is...probably leveling up? I'll search for monsters that are efficient to farm around here.]  (Riizu)
[Thanks, Riizu. If we level up, we'll also get more skills.]  (Hind)
[There are still a lot of skills I want to pick up after all. Isn't it quite the good idea from someone like you!?]  (Yumir)
[...Don't you think that "from someone like you" part was uncalled for? Right, Yumir-san...?]  (Riizu)
[It hurts!! It was my bad! I'll apologize, so please stop stepping on my foot!]  (Yumir)
It was quite common to see players at the current level 40 cap yesterday after all.
I'm quite thankful for Riizu's proposal.
After that, let's see...all that's left is preparing proper measures.
[The remaining measure is to organize our skills well. That's related to the way we fight.]  (Hind)
[That's where we shine right!?]  (Yumir)
[Yup. Even if we level up or prepare our gear, everything will be for naught if we don't work on that. We have to practise together.]  (Hind)
[Got it! Let's do it!]  (Yumir)
[...Yumir-san always looks like she's having fun...that's so nice.]  (Selene)
Just as Selene-san had said, Yumir was always merry.
She had been in high spirits since it was close to TB's launch date.
Though it's an enigma what Selene-san is envious about.
[By the way, what is Tobi-kun doing? We haven't seen him tonight...]  (Selene)
[Seems like he hasn't got anyone to pair up with yet. Like he said, it hurt him to have a late start.]  (Hind)
[[Isn't that just him being disliked?] ]  (Yumir and Riizu)
For some reason, Selene-san shivered when she heard Yumir and Riizu's abusive remark.
Her eyes behind the glasses are dead...
[Stop it! There are people whose heart will get hurt because of your words you know!?]  (Selene)
[S-Selene-san...?]  (Hind)
[-Ah! I-It's nothing! Everything's fine!]  (Selene)
She didn't look fine at all though...but well, it's better to not ask further.
You need to be in a party to participate in the preliminaries, of course, you can't form a party if both of you are far away from each other.
That being the case, instead of searching for players that came to the desert, Tobi went to their places to look for them.
That point is making it harder for him to pair up with someone and he grumbled about that at school.
They were interested in the middle of the talks, but once they heard that he was in the desert they would reply with a [Then it's impossible] .
Travelling takes quite a lot of time in TB.
Among the friends that Tobi has, practically no one has come to the desert...as a result, so far he hasn't been able to get a favorable reply.
At that moment, the door to the lounge opened vigorously.
Everyone looked that way and-
[Everybody, good evening! De-gozaru!]  (Tobi)
[Speaking of the devil. Have you found someone to pair up with, Tobi?]  (Hind)
Tobi came normally through the door today.
Since he looked quite cheerful, I thought he had found a partner but...
Tobi's following words were quite unexpected.
[This might be sudden. However, I'll be going on a journey for the duration of the event!]  (Tobi)
[Nuh?]  (Yumir)
[What are you saying?]  (Riizu)
[Eh...? What do you mean?]  (Selene)
Ah, I see.
The other members weren't aware of Tobi having a hard time finding someone to party up with.
Let's fill them in in a simple manner.
[Basically, you are saying that your duo candidate will pair up with you if you get closer to where he is...you found someone like that right? That's why, you want to leave the desert temporarily. Am I right?]  (Hind)
[Yes! It's just as you said. The truth is, moving away from the desert is a pain but...if I take much longer finding someone, I won't be able to raise up my rating in time!]  (Tobi)
With that conversation, finally everyone started to understand.
Tobi on the other hand, gulped down the entire cup of Hibiscus tea in one go and made an incredible face as if he had eaten some umeboshi.
I didn't even have time to stop him.
[I see, so that was the case.]  (Riizu)
[Guess there's no helping it then.]  (Selene)
[Once the event ends, you have to return immediately, you hear me?]  (Yumir)
[Understood, guild master!]  (Tobi)
With that being said, Tobi will leave the party temporarily.
He got on his camel and left town from the exit starting his journey. Seems like his destination is a secret.
After sending him off, we started by improving our equipment first.
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