Evil Avalon - Volume 1 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Meanwhile, at the Front Line

I arrived home a little after eight.

Somehow, I felt hungrier after I’d leveled up. So, I went to the living room to search for snacks, where I found my family with their eyes glued to the television screen.

“We have just arrived at the boss room on the thirty-second floor,” a man announced on the TV. “The temperature here is—”

The broadcast was coming from the dungeon. I asked what this program was, and Kano told me it was a news broadcast of a raid. Apparently, adventurers might break the record for the deepest raid into the Japanese dungeon, meaning everyone in the country was watching.

So, the current record for the deepest successful raid in Japan is the thirty-first floor? I thought.

The thirty-first floor was the start of a series of floors that had arctic conditions. On the TV, the party’s male leader spoke to the audience, his breath rising in white clouds. He explained that anticold equipment and anticold spells cast by their priests allowed most of the combat role adventurers in the party to wear metal armor. This armor would usually be useless at that temperature because the wearer’s skin would get stuck.

“It’s the Colors Clan, bro!” exclaimed Kano. “That’s Kotarou on the TV!”

Kano was a big fan of theirs. Her eyes sparkled as she launched into an excited spiel about them and showed me their trademark flag, which had five vertical stripes of white, red, blue, yellow, and green. She even told me they were one of Japan’s foremost raiding clans.

Raiding clans were those that specialized in taking the front lines of the dungeon. They were larger than ordinary clans, usually having more than a hundred members, because they needed to assemble talented adventurers with various skill sets to thrive. They also had multiple sponsors thanks to their deep ties to big business and the government. Around ten large, well-known raiding clans existed in Japan and were competing relentlessly with each other.

“The boss fight will begin in thirty minutes,” proclaimed a reporter in a thick coat. He then pointed to a whiteboard filled with information. “Before they get going, let’s explore Colors’ accomplishments and their current lineup for this raiding party.”

The clan leader, Kotarou Tasato, was a devilishly handsome man often featured in fashion magazines and TV shows. The state had recently granted him the title of baron. His popularity was most noticeable with young women. He was one of about a dozen adventurers in Japan to hold the advanced job of Samurai. Moreover, his main weapon was a meter-and-a-half longsword called an odachi, whose blade glowed a dark red, possibly due to fire magic.

Tasato was not just Colors’ leader but also its founder. He had graduated from the twenty-ninth class of Adventurers’ High, becoming an adventurer immediately instead of attending university and forming the Colors Clan with four other founding members. The fledgling clan gained a reputation for their aggressive dungeon raids, and their ranks rose to a hundred and twenty-eight members. Of all the current raiding clans, Colors had the most momentum.

The Colors Clan had picked seventy members to participate in today’s raid. They also had five subsidiary clans, each representing one of their constituent flag colors and with people vying for promotion into Colors. Including these clans amounted to more than one thousand members, which staggered me.

On a different note, it surprised me how many of this world’s TV programs were about the dungeon. Every day, one channel or another would broadcast a special on the dungeon, and famous adventurers would act in television dramas regardless of the genre. Other forms of media followed the same trend. Bookshops dedicated a lot of floor space to the dungeon, and specialist magazines about the dungeon and adventurer clans got published. The most popular ones produced top ten lists of adventurers and exposés on clans with many pictures of the Colors Clan frequently adorning these magazine covers.

“Sanada’s my fave,” said my mother, sighing.

Yukikage Sanada was the Priest who was second-in-command of Colors, leading the raiding party’s support roles and deciding when to retreat. He was intelligent and could heal or cure dozens of people simultaneously. And he was attractive, even when wearing glasses and his signature blue robe. His fan base skewed toward older women like my mother, who was an avid fan. One of her favorite stories was the day she’d served Sanada and his comrades at her part-time job at the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Yeah, he’s a looker,” Kano agreed. “But, I don’t know, I think the wild guys are the best...”

“Hmm, I prefer the cool types,” replied my mother.

They sounded like girls discussing pop idols, but I could see why. Men as powerful and attractive as that had a guarantee of building a fervent fan base. Plus, their yearly earnings would be huge if they were raiding the front lines. Ugh. I wasn’t jealous, though. I promise!

“I like The Red Ninjettes the best,” chimed in my father.

The Red Ninjettes was an all-female Thief clan that oozed sex appeal as their uniform was a revealing red ninja costume. Their leader, Haruka Mikami, was a woman shrouded in mystery. Some claimed she was a daughter from a noble family; others claimed she was the holder of the legendary Ninja job. All I knew was that she had large breasts.

On the other hand, the Ninja job was an expert level job one could attain by clearing a trial after maxing out the job level of either the Assassin or Shadow Walker advanced jobs. I would be very interested in getting the Ninja job if it gave me an in with The Red Ninjettes.

“Don’t even compare that trash to Colors,” spat Kano.

“Honestly,” added my mother. “No clan should be so indecent.”

The Red Ninjettes weren’t winning any popularity contests with the women of the house. So, I stopped listening to my family’s meaningless conversation and continued watching TV.

“The floor boss is a lich, the strongest variety of undead monster. On the previous raid attempt, four adventurers lost their lives. How will today’s raid fare? All of Japan, no, the entire world will be watching closely...”

A lich, eh? I thought. Lichs were troublesome monsters that had mastery over distinct varieties of magic and possessed a summoning skill, like the orc lord, that could summon undead servants. Their magic resistance was immense, and their HP regenerated at lightning speed. In the game, the best strategy had been to overwhelm them in one short, powerful burst of physical attacks. I was interested to see how Colors would handle it.

The room the lich was in was a hundred square meters in area with a fifty-meter high ceiling—spacious enough to fit the whole seventy-person raiding expedition inside with plenty of room to spare. The cameraman filming the event was a news station employee whom I could distinguish from how a few adventurers guarded him.

Colors’ raiding party was well prepared to fight a lich because it mainly had adventurers skilled in physical attacks, like Warriors and Archers. There weren’t many Wizards, likely from lichs having significant magic resistance. Each adventurer had equipped three magic rings to resist fire, ice, and lightning.

Several priests began casting Antimagic I, which raised magic resistance, and Strength I, which raised the strength stat, on the combat roles that would lead the attack, making the entire party stir. Buffs only lasted for a limited time, Priests commonly cast them at the last moment before combat began. In other words, it was time.

“The Archers will begin the attack,” the reporter said. “There they go!”

“Archers, get in there!” shouted a Colors member.

Oddly, the Archers struck first. When they entered the lich’s room, the dozen or so Archers launched a coordinated attack using the Triple Shot skill, which fired three simultaneous arrows with increased penetrative capabilities. A cacophony of thunderous booms spread across the lich room, louder than I ever thought arrows could make.

Seconds later, a twenty-person assault team of Warriors wielding massive swords rushed in, consecutively unleashing their Delay Slash skill. The lich tried to defend against the blows with its large staff as sword attacks came from every direction, successfully hitting their target.

The adventurers had gotten off to a good start. If they’d chosen to start with close-range physical attacks, the lich would’ve had time to react before they got near and prevent most of the damage.

Sanada kept the rest of the party up to date about the lich’s condition by using an appraisal item. He said the initial attack had reduced the lich to thirty percent of its original HP.

The lich hissed a wordless incantation and a magic circle formed of a hexagram inscribed within two concentric circles—a pattern used for summoning magic. It was likely trying to raise its undead servants, chaos soldiers. Four black clouds materialized, and spectral forms of skeletons clad in heavy armor emerged.

Archers launched another barrage of arrows to erode the HP of the monster to a vulnerable state.

The tower shields the chaos soldiers carried gave them a similar amount of magic resistance to the lich, and they could use the Sonic Slash skill, which had an effective range of twenty meters. These monsters would be dangerous if they got near the support roles.

The Warriors split into groups and surrounded one of the four chaos soldiers to prevent that. A Priest joined each group to support them.

From here on out, it would be a war of attrition. Some skills had cooldown timers that hindered repeated activation, so most damage dealt to the enemies would be through regular attacks. The Colors Clan provided a seamless rotation of fresh adventurers to the front line while blending their movements with strikes, a strategy designed to stop the lich from focusing on a single target.

The lich unleashed a burst of lighting in all directions and attempted to get away from the Colors so that it could regain the initiative. A band of Warriors jumped out in front of the lich, blocking its path and closing the distance.

Perhaps the greatest advantage to the attacking side was Tasato, whose Samurai job gave him many skills with short cooldown timers. Skills like Delay Slash and Triple Shot packed a ton of firepower but came with cooldown timers that ranged from three to ten minutes. In contrast, the Samurai skills Iai and Taishin no Tachi were ready to use again after a single minute. As a Samurai, Tasato also had access to the Mikiri skill, which let him predict the path of his enemies’ attacks and evade them. And he could also function as a no-hit tank* for brief intervals. The Samurai job was an upgraded form of the Warrior job, so he also had Delay Slash. His offensive capabilities were unparalleled in the Colors Clan.

*TIPS: Tanks generally use shields with a high defense score to block enemy attacks. No-hit tanks perform the same function as other tanks by dodging enemy attacks instead of blocking them.

“Take this!” Tasato yelled. “Let my foe taste my blade! Taishin no Tachi!”

“Priest team one!” an adventurer shouted. “Bring Tasato’s HP back up! Now!”

Tasato’s odachi was a gigantic sword, and he put all his strength into the Taishin no Tachi skill. The slash was over instantly, and it was clear how much Aura and physical power had gone into it.

The lich imbued its staff with purple lighting and fought back against Tasato. But the Priests in the party backed their leader by chanting their healing spells immediately.

“They’re in with a shot, I think,” remarked my father. “What do you think, Souta?”

The fight appeared to be going well so far, so I could understand why he thought that. However, this boss still had a trick up its sleeve.

“Depends on how they do after its HP drops to twenty percent,” I replied. “This lich has a berserk mode.”

Some bosses would enter a “berserk mode” when their HP dropped low enough, allowing them to use certain powerful skills. In this lich’s case, it would unleash an Area of Effect dark magic skill called Dark Vapor when it reached the HP I told my father. Adventurers hit with this would suffer damage as well as status effects that blinded and paralyzed them. This attack could incapacitate adventurers in active, close-range combat.

For a lich in berserk mode, the best strategy was to stop attacking and prioritize healing and strengthening magic until the party was ready to let out a single, massive assault to slay the monster. But that was easier said than done.

“Remaining HP at twenty-three percent!” Sanada yelled. “Attackers, it’s time to switch your armor to gear with dark resistance!”

Apparently, the previous attempt to slay the lich failed when it entered berserk mode. The raiding party’s cohesion had broken down as several Warriors had lost their lives, forcing the rest to flee. This time, they’d come prepared.

“Here it comes!” Sanada shouted. “All Priest teams, support!”

“Signal for a Priest if the status effects don’t go away!” one Priest yelled.

“Form a defensive line, stat!”

Just as the lich’s HP fell below twenty percent, a gigantic magic circle formed on the ground, and waves of darkness scattered in all directions. It was Dark Vapor.

The adventurers of Colors formed a defensive line against this attack, raising their shields. Two of the Priest teams immediately began chanting their spells, the first team activating the Cure skill to remove status effects and the second team using the Area of Effect Circle Heal skill. Sanada called the remaining Priest teams into action, ordering them to observe everyone’s HP and to cast individual healing spells to the frontline attackers for whom the AoE healing skills weren’t enough.

“As soon as your cooldown is done, hit it with your skills!” bellowed Tasato.

He emitted a war cry as he lunged at the lich and activated his weapon skills. The Warriors changed their attacking line and readied themselves to release a combined volley of Delay Slashes.

On this day, the Colors Clan broke the record for the deepest successful raid on the Japanese dungeon on the thirty-second floor.