Log Horizon - Volume 10 - Chapter 4.2

2 
As Minori had imagined, Shiroe and the other core members of the Round Table Council hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep that night. It had been the second such night in a row. On the night of Minori’s group’s expedition to the Metropol Circular Overpass, the monsters attacked again. 
It was an even bigger shock to the Adventurers than the previous night’s attack. 
Akiba spent a noisy night with many messengers racing back and forth, and in the gray predawn light, there was only a slight break before they began moving again. At the guild center, in the hall that was now called the Round Table Room, the same members who’d been there half a day previously were all assembled. 
“So they’ve finally struck Adventurers, too?” 
“According to eyewitness statements, it appears to be the work of mothlike monsters with shining wings.” 
The mysterious flying insectoid monsters that had attacked Yamato two nights ago had used unidentified bad status attacks to trigger comas. The damage wasn’t immediately life-threatening, but it also wasn’t a threat they could overlook. 
Two nights previously, the hostile monsters had attacked many People of the Earth. There had been well over a hundred victims, and that was just the ones the Round Table Council was aware of. At that point, they’d assumed that this unknown phenomenon affected only them. 
Apparently, that wasn’t the case, though. 
The faces of the Round Table Council guild masters who’d gathered in the conference hall were gloomy. 
They had nearly limitless physical strength, but even for them, mental stress was different. As he looked around at them, Shiroe suppressed a sigh. Under the circumstances, anxiety was something that should probably be kept hidden. 
“So these are moth spirits or somethin’, right?” 
“They’re called Eternal Moths. Their level range is wide, from the eighties to around ninety. When this was a game, to the best of my knowledge, no such monsters existed.” 
Riezé supplemented Marielle’s question with information that had been reported. All the members had been given reports that Shiroe had copied, but they were a mere two pages thick. They knew far too little. In the end, the sparseness of the reports seemed like a visible representation of the members’ psychological unease. 
“It happened just as the moon rose, didn’t it? At six twenty-two PM, to be exact. We believe there will be a third wave of attacks tonight.” 
“The first attacks put People of the Earth into comas, and the second affected Adventurers as well.” 
“There were more moths, too. Even some of the monsters are asleep and foaming at the mouth.” 
Roderick, Akaneya, and Michitaka—the heavyweights that formed the nucleus of the Round Table Council—spoke as if confirming the content of the report. This was shared information, already stated in a report that had been drafted in very little time that morning, but it was important to actually say it aloud. Staying silent was the worst possible option. On that thought, Shiroe nodded and added his own opinion: “There will probably be even more during the third wave… There’s a possibility their mysterious abilities will keep growing stronger as well.” 
“What the heck are those things?” Akaneya complained with a groan. 
“Currently, all we can say is that they’re a new type of monster,” Roderick responded in scholarly tones. 
Additionally, there was new information: 
“According to the Grandale members, they came from above. From the moon.” 
That answer had come from Woodstock, who rode a wyvern, a flying mount. Grandale, the midsized guild he led, was a support guild that specialized in transport. Most of its members had tamed mounts, and a fair number of them had rare flying types. 
“From the moon up in the sky, y’mean?” 
In response to Marielle, Woodstock nodded, his whiskered face set in a grimace. If you went into a coma on the ground, you just fell down, went to sleep, and stayed there. Of course there was a danger that you’d be physically attacked while you were like that, but there was no direct, immediate peril. However, if you lost consciousness while you were on an airborne mount, you’d plunge straight to the ground, headfirst. Since it wasn’t clear how tough Adventurer bodies were or how much defensive power they had, they weren’t sure what the results would be, but it was a crisis that was pressing enough. To Grandale, these monsters were probably more of an urgent, troublesome danger than most Adventurers thought. 
“Hey, hold up. What was that stuff you said about a community of Fools on the moon? I thought that was a pretty epic-sounding idea; is it true? And there were monsters called Geniuses, too…” 
“Are those Eternal Moths a type of Genius, then? But why are they takin’ everybody’s MP? Are they eatin’ it?” 
Shiroe had already reported an outline of Roe2’s letter to the Round Table Council. In fact, this trouble had come up just after he’d made that report. The crisis had been so exquisitely timed that they were practically bound to doubt him. 
Even if that’s not right, it may not be far from the truth, Shiroe thought. In her letter, Roe2 had said they were collecting Empathiom. Of course there was no conclusive proof, but when he combined the contents of the letter, the sequence of events up till now, his experience on the moon, and Li Gan’s story, he could imagine something. 
These Geniuses probably weren’t ordinary monsters. 
From what he could see when he looked through the reports, they were intelligent. They could anticipate the Adventurers’ movements and lay plots. In fact, that was the monsters’ distinguishing feature. 
If he believed Roe2, these were beings that were “using” monster bodies. They could probably think of them as creatures that were making use of the shapes and capabilities of Elder Tales monsters but were more problematic. 
“Geniuses, huh? I’d heard stories about ’em, but…” 
“No, we don’t yet know for sure whether these are the Geniuses themselves or not. It’s strange that such a huge horde should appear so suddenly.” 
“They take MP from your physical body, don’t they? Should we call it ‘the soul-stealing disease’?” 
Beside Shiroe, who was deep in contemplation, Roderick spoke, tracing letters in the air as he did so. The soul-stealing disease. According to the Spirit Theory, MP was the vehicle of the soul. If that MP was being taken, then yes, you could say the soul had left the body. 
If the theory was correct, this attack had unintentionally proven that People of the Earth and Adventurers were the same. Although there had been a day’s difference, both had sustained damage. That meant that both had MP and souls. Shiroe sensed a warped humor in the idea, and he smiled wryly. It wasn’t as though that evidence would resolve the current situation. 
“Yes, but some folks are just fine, y’know? Our Henrietta got attacked, but she only got a li’l bit dizzy.” 
“Isn’t that due to the level difference?” 
“No, we can’t say that. Damage occurred even among high-level Adventurers.” 
“So this is about the difference between those who fall asleep and those who don’t, you mean…?” 
Besides, if the Spirit Theory and the presence or absence of souls were connected to this incident, that raised new questions. The difference between those who fell asleep after being attacked and those who did not… Shiroe thought there had to be some sort of secret there. 
However, as he ignored his doubts, the conference moved on. 

“So nobody’s dying, right?” 
“That’s correct.” 
“If we die, we can resurrect at the Temple. However, it doesn’t work that way with sleep. We don’t know if we can break free of this slumber by dying and resurrecting, either.” 
“That’s worrisome.” 
In a way, Riezé’s words spoke for everyone present—worrisome was an apt way to put it. It didn’t seem like a catastrophic crisis, but they couldn’t find a way to combat it. 
“Where are Calasin and Isaac, and Soujirou of the West Wind?” 
“We’re having the first two continue to guard Maihama. Souji’s out scouting.” 
“Maihama had it awful, didn’t they?” 
“They were holding a social debut, and lots of lords were gathered there, after all.” 
“Duke Sergiad, too?” 
“How are the other cities doing?” 
“Plant Hwyaden seems to be protecting Minami. We’ve received reports that there is no great confusion there. Silver Sword is guarding Susukino. The city’s population is small in any case.” 
As Shiroe answered, he visualized the strategy terrain map in his office. Plant Hwyaden’s defense was tight in Minami, the Kansai-area player town. It had more frontline personnel than Akiba did, and it probably wouldn’t fall easily. Susukino had been a fortified city to begin with. With the city’s outstanding defense and its small People of the Earth population, Silver Sword was probably more than capable of routing their enemies. 
Shiroe was more concerned about small territories and settlements where only People of the Earth lived than he was about those central cities, but at this point, he wasn’t all that worried. The Eternal Moths seemed predisposed to attack major cities. In East Yamato, the reported attacks seemed to have been concentrated on Akiba, Maihama, Susukino, and Yokohama. 
In general terms, monsters had intelligence appropriate to their forms. When this was a game, insectoid monsters that looked like moths had spawned in designated spawning zones and had simply prowled the area, attacking victims indiscriminately. The mere fact that they were attacking big cities made it clear that something about this situation was very unlike Elder Tales. 
“What are we going to do about Shibuya?” 
Ains, who had been silent for a while, asked about Shibuya as if he’d made up his mind about something. 
“Shibuya?” Woodstock asked dubiously, but Ains didn’t even look at him. He faced the center of the round table and kept speaking, as if he were squeezing the words out. 
“I hear Li Gan has informed us that the ruined broadcasting station in Shibuya is live. Shouldn’t we hurry to investigate it?” 
“Gimme a break; at a time like this? People are getting hurt over here.” 
Michitaka was the first one to object. His big, solidly muscled body was trembling, clearly betraying emotion. As Ains looked at him, Ains’s own expression turned sorrowful, almost as if asking for forgiveness. But still he kept speaking, resolutely. 
“I know it sounds heartless, but if they’re only sleeping, there is no immediate danger to their lives… Isn’t it our job to attempt to break through this while we still have the manpower to do so?” 
“But—!” 
“We’ve been driven further into a corner than we think. The rogue guard, the flavor text becoming real, the tensions between East and West, and now this incident, plus the new threat of the Geniuses… I don’t think we have the wherewithal to be altruistic at this point, do you? Isn’t that arrogance? We’re at the end of our rope.” 
Shiroe had had a hunch that Ains would say that. 
There were victims among the Adventurers. At this point, there were only about a dozen, but there would probably be another Eternal Moth invasion tonight. Shiroe couldn’t muster the optimism to hope that there would be only two days of attacks, after which the trouble would clear up on its own. 
He understood Ains’s sense of impending danger. Up until now, the Adventurers’ altruistic spirit had been supported by their outstanding combat abilities and wealth, both of which were based in their immortality. 
This crisis shook the foundation of that immortality. If they lost consciousness and became vegetables, neither their immortality nor their combat abilities would have any meaning. Both the People of the Earth and the Adventurers would be nothing more than powerless, perpetually sleeping shells. 
The fact that the situation hadn’t developed into a panic yet was probably because not many Adventurers had registered what that sense of impending danger really was. It was likely that there were still a lot of people who felt, on some level, that it wasn’t their problem. Once they caught on, the desire to escape was bound to plant opinions like Ains’s in them. 
Fists clenched, Shiroe endured the silence that filled the conference room. 
Finding a certain name on his friend list, he lasted through several tense minutes before a cool, bell-like tone notified him of an incoming message. 
He’d issued a quest before this meeting, and apparently, his reliable younger friend, who delivered results no matter what was going on, had accomplished it. 
“Mr. Shiro, we found it. The Eternal Moths’ nest!” 
Shiroe nodded. Soujirou seemed to have sensed this; he reported the results of his scouting expedition in a voice that was tenser than usual. 
“Erm… Please don’t be disappointed, all right? It’s in Shibuya. The entire town of Shibuya is a dungeon. According to the zone settings, I mean. The core is the Shibuya broadcasting station ruins. You know: the low-level dungeon. The area’s turned into a raid zone. Its new name is Fortress of the Call. It looks like it’s going to be tough to clear.” 
In a way, that’s what I was expecting. 
He’d designated Shibuya as the very first area to scout precisely because he’d known. 
He was also certain the fight that awaited them would be harder than anything he’d anticipated. 
The Geniuses were intelligent monsters. They were bound to have picked up on the situation over here as well. If he were a Genius, how would he attack Akiba? How would he shatter the town’s hopes? The answer was clear. 
The Geniuses had created a dungeon in Shibuya. When he murmured that news as an impromptu report, a commotion ran through the Round Table Council. Turning pale, Ains slumped down into his chair. 
“A raid? This is a Raid-rank Genius?” Marielle murmured, stunned. 
Shiroe nodded. 
The enemy had taken the transmission facilities that could communicate with the moon.