Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 142

Guild Item

Ponsuke was swallowed by the explosion that the hardcore players  caused. His shield and armor went past their endurance limit and broke.  Even so he stood up.

Many of his comrades turned into red light and vanished, but the  hardcore players who were in the center of the explosion were still  alright.

「――You blew up the building」

Ponsuke was silently holding back his anger.

He was made to notice that without knowing it he was also getting attached to this guild base.

The hardcore players caused not just a single explosion, but multiple explosions that blew away the surrounding.

They recovered their HP with items before assaulting ponsuke and co.

The hardcore players too had lost several of their number.

Ponsuke deflected Cathy’s attack with his bare hand and stepped forward.

「Ponsuke!」

Mariela threw an item that hit his back. It broke and recovered Ponsuke’s HP and status.

Cathy and her friends were also the same but, both sides had used up their equipments.

What they were using now was the spare of the spare――.

The hardcore players had used up all the weapons that they had prepared to conquer Ponsuke’s guild.

While Ponsuke’s guild didn’t have that many spare weapon in the first place.

Now both sides were fighting on their last leg.

「Youuuu!」

Ponsuke landed a counter on Cathy, but then another hardcore player interrupted and took on Ponsuke.

Meanwhile Cathy recovered using her item.

Both sides were beating each other until their items ran out.

The hardcore players were struggling unsightly.

The match was practically decided already after things came this far.

Cathy and her friends had lost their base, while Ponsuke’s guild still had their base――this floating island.

They could revive while Cathy’s group couldn’t.

「Just give up already!」

Ponsuke’s attack produced critical hit. A hardcore player who was at the front burst into red light and vanished.

Cathy was gritting her teeth.

「There’s――ain’t no way we gonna give up here!」

Cathy’s short sword grazed Ponsuke’s cheek.

(That spear wielding draconia had better move than her. I can do this!)

Ponsuke took a large step forward and turned the player who covered Cathy into red light.

The remaining vanguards were few that the rear guard players had to step forward.

They were fighting back with excellent player skill, but they were still rear guard fighting at the forefront.

When Naia swung her battle axe powerfully and defeated a player, Cathy and the rest were already surrounded.

They didn’t even have any space to fire magic. Attacks were raining down on them and defeating them one by one.

At the end only Ponsuke and Cathy remained on the mountain of rubbles.

「Surrender. It’s over.」

「Over? It ain’t over. We don’t have any other place than here. No  other……and yet, we’re losing against casual players like you guys. Who  gonna accept that!」

In their case, it wasn’t game for the sake of their life, but their life for the sake of the game.

The hardcore player Cathy was genuinely a no-lifer.

Ponsuke got kicked by Cathy’s stretching white leg and he was blown away slightly.

「I was recognized for the first time here! I made friends for the  first time here! I’m recognized……here in Pandora. And yet we’re losing  against a bunch like you guys. I won’t accept it!」

For Cathy, seeing Ponsuke’s guild whose members were playing this game moderately was giving them conflicted emotion.

Ponsuke also felt the same.

(……If Pandora is gone, this person)

What would happen to her?

That thought crossed his mind. Because of that he got punched by Cathy and fell down.

That Cathy was being surrounded by eight people――who were  coincidentally the eight who were married with Ponsuke. They rushed her  and turned her into red particles.

Cathy was crying while vanishing.

「Everyone……sorry. We gonna need to restart from zero.」

They had bet everything in this guild battle.

And when it was over, Ponsuke couldn’t feel refreshed.

He sat down on the ground. Then Alfie hugged him from behind.

「Ponsuke, we did it! We won!」

The winner’s name floated at the sky field surrounding Ponsuke’s guild.

From the guild’s scale, Ponsuke’s guild had won against enemies that  outnumbered them by almost ten times――there was a notification that the  [Goddess’s Box] was sent to them from the goddess as the reward.

The revived guild members looked up to the sky and cheered.

There were also some who were cheering at the appearance of guild  item that they obtained due to fulfilling the secret requirement but――.

(……How should I think about this?)

――Ponsuke’s feeling was cold.

He felt like everything had been planned from the start.

A guild with goddess’s guild item attacked Ponsuke’s guild that had  another goddess’s item……and then the reward from winning was the  goddess――”Pandora’s Box”.

Ponsuke sat down listlessly. It made the people around him worried for him.

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The Capital of Discernment.

Rook was in a call with Ponsuke.

「I see. You got it hard too.」

『……Yeah, I’m a bit tired.』

Rook consoled his depressed friend. He looked at Mira who was nearby.

It seemed she had finished capturing some players who were rampaging and Shinsengumi was coming to take them in.

「We’ve also defeated the idiots who barged in here. Though as  expected, I felt a chill when seeing so many of them coming like this.」

『Same with me.』

「Don’t feel down. You guys won against a guild alliance that even  included some hardcore players. You’re going to become famous in Pandora  from tomorrow.」

Being famous among some group of players limited to just that time  slot――it wouldn’t be such small fame. Ponsuke was going to become a  representative player in Pandora.

Rook was consoling the depressed Ponsuke while reading a forum post at the same time.

(Someone instigated this. Is it the information broker?)

Rook checked with Ponsuke.

「Also. You got your hand on “Pandora’s Box” huh?」

『Yeah, it’s a guild item so it belongs to everyone though.』

(……Ponsuke, that’s incorrect. You’re chosen. Pandora chose you.)

「I see. Well, the other worlds are fine. We also have our own  clearers, and the hardcore players also joined in to drive them away.  You can expect interesting news from the internet news “outside” with  this.」

The bunch from the time slot that was usually throwing their weight around lost against the players that they thought inferior.

There would be no news more pleasant than this.

But, Ponsuke’s voice sounded gloomy.

『I don’t want to expect too much. Because, the news about me is usually dicey.』

「You aren’t wrong about that.」

Rook laughed and ended the call.

◇

Akito woke up and looked at the ceiling in a daze.

He stayed unmoving without even removing his headset.

After a while, he moved only his face and turned on the monitor.

『Dear me~, it was really a big commotion in the time slot before this.』

『After all there were players logging into a different time slot than usual to fight the other players there.』

『This just came in. Unbelievably, there’s information that a top guild was defeated.』

『We have this image of their full force using floating islands.』

The news site immediately streamed the recording of that battle.

Even though the video hadn’t even been uploaded for an hour, the view count was continuing to increase with terrific momentum.

Akito was watching the video as though it was something unrelated to his guild.

『What an amazing intensity!』

『Is this perhaps actually a movie recording!?』

『News flash! It seems that almost all the invading guilds had  withdrawn. What an unexpected development. To think that the guilds that  were active in the time slot with the most number of player were  defeated――』

The commentator was talking in elation without any basis.

『They must have it hard because they were always busy with conflict  between players, unlike the time slot that have leeway. This result is  obvious from the start.』

The other costars were looking a bit put off hearing that opinion.

This guy is running off his mouth without thinking again, their faces seemed to say that.

But, only Akito felt like his chest was stabbed by those words.

「……It was a fixed game no matter how I thought about it.」

He was being favored because he was a Selector.

That was painful for Akito.

◇

When he logged in at the next day, Lighter was crying in front of the battered floating island.

「……My castle」

Alfie’s palm slapped the back of Lighter’s head. It made a nice sound.

「It’s “our” castle. Even so, those hardcore players had also really  done it. Just how much time would be needed to rebuild this?」

Lighter grinned.

「Actually there are left over materials from whe we were using real money before this.」

「Lighter, don’t tell me you――」

「Because, it couldn’t be helped with the way Ponsuke-kun restricted  the usage of real money. Who knows when will the next time we can use  money as we please like that come again if we let go of that chance.」

Alfie also looked exasperated but, she accepted it because their quota also would be reduced if there were leftover materials.

However――.

「Even so our floating island……isn’t it getting a bit larger?」

Lighter explained to Alfie.

「Aa, about that. Didn’t we get the floating islands from the guilds we defeated?」

After that they got a call asking for them to be returned, but Lighter refused them with a smile.

He was merciless against those who picked a fight with them.

「……We connected them.」

「As expected from Lighter! Then let’s immediately recreate the sightseeing area!」

「No, let’s build the workshop first. With that decided, go gather the materials.」

「……Aren’t you a bit too strict? I’m the cute Maya who is like dear uncle’s own daughter at the inside you know?」

Lighter snorted.

「Sorry. I’m going to work you hard from now on. Here, go gather ten  rare items from the Capital of Discernment Alfie. This is the list.」

Alfie pulled out her gun and pondered whether she should shot Lighter when other craftsman players came running toward Lighter.

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「――This is amazing.」

The reason Lighter sounded moved was the two statues that appeared from inside the rubbles.

One was a statue that looked really similar to the elf queen [Shela].  It was also colored, so it looked like it could come to life and move  anytime.

The Queen’s Statue.

The Queen’s Crown.

The Queen’s Shield and Staff.

All of those were gathered in place and radiated a sublime presence there.

It seemed that they were all combined into one when the whole queen series was completed.

「This is the elf queen. But, why is it here?」

Lighter looked at the list and came to an understanding.

「It seems that one of the guilds we defeated had them. They came to us as reward because of that and became completed.」

Alfie and Lighter’s gazes were directed toward the goddess――Pandora’s statue that was shining gold.

The goddess was holding a box with both hands like she would never let it go.

With the guild items completed, their guild obtained a great blessing.

Lighter was drooling.

「This is, amazing. The rare drop’s rate looks like we’re getting special treatment. The experience point and money too――」

Lighter was in great delight after confirming the effect.

Alfie felt slightly irritated.

After all, the statue of the NPC who was involved with Ponsuke appeared in the guild.

「Good grief, what a troublesome story. But, it’s a good thing that  these things are luckily completed. We didn’t go around intentionally  gathering them after all.」

Ponsuke and his guild members wouldn’t do something like challenging  other guild into a guild battle in order to complete the series.

Lighter proclaimed in excitement.

「Yosh! We’re going to do a grand remodeling to make Arcadia  impregnable! Surely this floating island will become an amazing one if  it’s us who have driven away the guild alliance building it!」

The craftsman players were also really motivated.

But, one person noticed.

「Eh? Rather than that where’s guild master?」

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「Hiiiii! Nooooo!」

The newcomer orc who was made to run in the Capital of Discernment  was being chased by a beautiful swordsman with her katana unsheathed. He  was running away with genuine fear.

The chaser was following behind with a ghastly expression.

「It’s you guys againnnn! Even though I felt a bit moved before this, and yet why are you guys always, always!」

Prey and others were laughing while running away.

「Fuhahaha, as I thought Shinsengumi need to be like this!」

The hardcore M orcs were also rejoicing.

「Oi, new guy! Run slower so you can get your back sliced. Listen well, the trick is to run just barely within the speed limit.」

「I don’t like painnnn!」

This was education for the newcomer orc who got carried away in the previous battle.

The orcs marched into the Capital of Discernment for that. They poked at Shinsengumi like usual and then ran around.

Getting slashed and then dragged to jail was the combo set for them here.

This was a familiar sight in the Capital of Discernment now.

Prey was running while looking around.

(Fumu, for some reason there are more players than usual.)

It wasn’t like he was routinely counting the number of player, but  the number was visible increasing. Besides, their eyes looked like they  were looking for orc.

(We might have stepped into the dangerous territory at last.)

Prey was thinking seriously, but his speed dropped because of that――.

「You, damn pervertsssss!」

The beautiful swordswoman’s magnificent attack landed on his back.

「Afuhn!」

Prey gasped like that and collapsed. The beautiful swordswoman grabbed his leg after that and dragged him away.

「I’ll tell your leader. If he want you back then bring a written apology! I won’t let you off like before this anymore!」

Prey looked like he wanted to cry while being dragged by the beautiful swordswoman.

The newcomer orc plopped down on the spot in relief but――.

「……Bastard, even though it’s my turn today」

「Even though I plan to run around the Capital of Discernment more before getting cut」

「Shit! That bastard got dragged away while smiling so happily like that……I’m jealous」

The newcomer orc seriously considered changing his avatar.

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