Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 141

Goddess and Queen

An orc with scary face was looking down on Ponsuke――no, Akito.

It was facing Akito who was lying down.

『Release it……your wildness……you are lord……king. You’ve the right to obtain everything.』

The orc was saying orc-like thing with such scary face. Akito looked at it absentmindedly.

(……What is this guy saying?)

The orc’s hand reached toward him, but the necklace hanging on his neck was protecting him.

『Irritating. Even thouh you’re the orc Selector……even though you’re chosen by the goddess』

The orc’s hand kept reaching out. Then a large hand reached out from behind Akito.

It was a familiar hand――the hand of his avatar. It protected Akito and pulled him back.

He felt the sensation of falling on the ground and opened his eyes. Akito――was inside the body of his Ponsuke avatar.

「……Aa, I lost huh.」

He woke up in Arcadia――at the small temple inside the base.

His level went down and his money also decreased.

Ponsuke checked his status that went down because of the death penalty. Then he got up from the stone bed and shook his head.

「Why is hardcore players joining this kinda thing? Also, what do they  mean by goddess’s guild item……do they want the goddess status?」

The decoration goddess statue was a guild item. It was giving the  guild large blessing. After all it was a reward from conquering the  World of Lust.

Unique item……an item that was the only one in the whole Pandora.

「Do they want to get the goddess’s guild item?」

Ponsuke didn’t really get it but, he told himself that they must have information that was known only by them.

He started walking while thinking.

「They have prepared countermeasures. How should we fight them?」

The hardcore players wouldn’t even make movement that should be  natural for human to do――like when someone reflexively moved their hand  to block when a fist approached their face.

But, those players who were specialized for clearing the game……to Ponsuke they looked like,

「They feels like NPC for some reason.」

He thought.

They had sacrificed too much just for clearing the game.

How should he fight that kind of opponent?

Ponsuke contacted his comrades while running.

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The battle’s stage was moving into Arcadia.

Mariela infiltrated one of three remaining guilds――three floating  islands and destroyed the inside. She was feeling how the island was  slowly sinking.

「Only two left with this!」

A call came in while she was rejoicing.

「Ponsuke!」

She picked up the call happily.

『Mariela, sorry. They got me. The hardcores are also here.』

「……Eh?」

『The harcores came here because they want the guild item. I already  told Lighter-san too and asked him to tell everyone, but looks like they  already boarded us.』

The players that had boarded them didn’t disappear, unlike the players that sank together with their base.

Ponsuke asked her to quickly destroy all the enemy’s bases.

『That’s why, hurry and sink the floating islands. And if possible meet up with me after that.』

Their guild members were hanging in there, but perhaps they were in a pinch right now.

Ponsuke was speaking like that, but Mariela was slightly shaking.

「……Who was it?」

『Eh?』

「Who was the one that killed Ponsuke?」

『Hmm~……that person was called Cathy or something I think? She’s an  elf. She’s using the default look so it’s easy to identify her.』

「I see……so it’s her.」

『Ah, everyone has gathered. Take care of the rest! I’ll do my best too over here!』

The call ended. Mariela broke into a run in order to escape from the sinking island.

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Arcadia.

Lighter and others were already taking position on the path to the base in order to fight the intruders.

Even craftsman players were hiding behind cover while equipping gun and other weapons.

They were taking down the intruders one after another but――.

「What’s with that hooded group?」

That group didn’t falter even when bullet or magic rained down on them.

To be more precise, it was like that group had decided which one of  them would be in charge of which damage. When magic approached a  different player would come forward to block it.

Sierra and Guruguru were firing magic and arrow from behind cover, but their attacks were also gotten dealt like that.

「What’s with those people!?」

「They’re too creepy!」

People would make movement whether big or small when an attack  approached, but this group wasn’t showing that kind of movement at all.

Everyone was bewildered from facing hardcore players for the first time.

Lighter who was near an NPC who was using machine gun bought paid items.

「Kuh! If it’s like this then with the power of money――」

He was going to throw a bomb, but a player who advanced through a rain of bullet pierced Lighter with a spear.

「You’ve a lot of wasted movement.」

Lighter was enveloped in red light and vanished. Then the dragonia who was using a spear leaped toward Nanako.

Nanako who had close combat type job launched a kick, but the  opponent evaded it and wielded his spear with minimum movement to block  Nanako’s attack.

Nanko was shocked.

「He saw through everythi――kyah!」

The enemy had seen through all of Nanako’s skill and job assisted  movements. He kicked Nanako away and slashed her with his spear.

Nanako got the notification of bad status afflicting her. Her movement became limited.

She stood up unsteadily. The opponent laughed.

「Nice movement but that’s all. I’m familiar with the assisted movement. It’s pointless even if you attack me with that.」

Sierra fired her magic, but another half-elf just like Sierra moved in front of the spear wielding enemy.

The magic was blocked, and then a robed elf closed the distance toward Sierra――.

「――no」

Sierra was stabbed with a knife and vanished as light.

「Sierra! You! ――ah」

Guruguru slashed with a short sword, but Cathy easily parried it and  counterattacked with a consecutive attack. Guruguru quickly turned into  light and vanished.

Nanako reached out her hand toward her vanishing friends――a spear pierced that hand.

She glared at the one who pierced her hand.

「Y-you guys――!」

Nanako was enveloped in red light when the player pulled out the spear.

「Don’t be angry. This is game. We’re already being kind here by avoiding your head and torso.」

HP would decrease even if it was just the hand that got hit.

That kind of damage wouldn’t be fatal in real life, but it was  different in game. They were players who understood Pandora really well.

Nanako vanished. Cathy looked at her short sword and clicked her tongue.

「This is also no good. I’m changing it.」

Cathy switched her equipment and looked at her comrades’ condition.  She was a little surprised. Not only their number had decreased, her  comrades were also changing their equipments.

(……They’re really tough. Did we look down on them too much because they’re just casual players?)

They had removed the NPCs and players who were stationed inside the base, but they had also taken casualty in the process.

Cathy climbed up on a building’s rooftop and looked at Arcadia’s surrounding.

「……We can’t expect any reinforcement huh.」

There were only three floating islands surrounding Arcadia and all three were on fire and sinking.

There was no more base for Cathy and others to revive in. They  wouldn’t win unless they annihilate the enemies and sink this base.

「We can’t let all these time and effort to go to waste.」

Cathy jumped down from the rooftop and led her comrades deeper into the base.

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At a hall inside the base.

Cathy and others stopped their feet in front of the multiple guild items decorating that place.

The spear wielding player whistled.

「Now this is amazing.」

His other comrades were also raptly watching in agreement.

「It’s astonishing that they managed to gather this many.」

「The effect will be jaw-dropping if we get all of these.」

「Are these guys really just casual players?」

Even guild items were varied, from those that were easy to get to those that required clearing high difficulty quest to obtain.

The sight of all those guild items in line could only be described as stunning.

This was a sight that Cathy and her guildmates didn’t possess because  they wouldn’t spend money for this kind of decoration to their base.  They used up every single bit solely for clearing.

Amidst those, there was the goddess statue that was their objective. Cathy approached it.

「There it is. If this become ours then in the next clearing we――」

There she noticed.

Cathy saw the status of the guild items before her and her hand stopped moving. She was shaking.

【Goddess’s Statue】

【Queen’s Staff】

【Queen’s Shield】

They were precious guild items that were restricted from being traded.

Certainly there was no mistake to the wording but, the shield and  staff didn’t belong to the goddess. They were from a different series.

This was different from what they heard.

Ponsuke’s guild only lined up these items together even though they were from different series.

「……What’s the meaning of this?」

She immediately tried to contact the player who gave them the information but,

『……The ID isn’t recognized.』

Such words floated before her eyes.

The player who brought them the information was treated as already leaving the game and couldn’t be contacted.

Cathy’s expression warped.

「He tricked us」

The player inside Cathy was male. A male tone came out from her mouth.

Her comrades had already come to the same realization. But the spear wielding player calmed Cathy down.

「But, there’s really the goddess’s statue here. It’s not all bad. The  queen’s staff and shield are also really good from what we can see  here.」

「……You’re right. Perhaps the series’ll be completed with the tiara  and necklace in our possession. Then, the guild duel this time won’t be  pointle――」

――Won’t be pointless.

Everyone raised their weapon before she could finish speaking.

The door was smashed open. Appearing from there was Ponsuke wearing  full-bodied armor. That was his figure returning to his original role as  tank. His hands were holding a large shield each.

His eyes behind his full face helmet shined red.

「……Found you guys.」

Cathy and others looked irritated seeing Ponsuke’s appearance.

「Another annoying equipments――」

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For now Ponsuke decided to wear equipments that specialized for  defense. He raised his shields when he found Cathy and others in the  hall.

Blaze and others were following behind him. They spread out when they entered inside the hall and surrounded Cathy’s group.

「Don’t fight one-on-one! Fight them three on one or even four on one so you can defeat them for sure!」

They were surrounding the enemies to make use of their number advantage.

The hardcore players looked annoyed seeing Ponsuke’s group choosing frontal attack to deal with them.

Cathy gave her instruction.

「……Break through here no matter what. It’ll be our win as long as even one of us reach this island’s reactor!」

Ponsuke who was clad in full armor narrowed his eyes.

He calmly……observed that Cathy’s group lacked number. Perhaps their  number had been whittled down on the way here but……it was suspicious.

「Send some people to the reactor. It looks like there’s a separate detachment.」

Blaze immediately nodded and gave out instruction.

「Ain, Zwei, bring everyone to the reactor after you revived. Hardcore players are getting in. Deal with them really carefully.」

Cathy clicked her tongue. Ponsuke guessed that his observation wasn’t wrong seeing that.

(I thought it was suspicious because she intentionally spoke loudly. These people, they’re really efficient with everything.)

The spear wielding player attacked Ponsuke.

Ponsuke deflected the spear attack and tried to counter…….

「――Tsk!」

「Seriously? You’re the first one who can dodge this even though it’s your first time seeing it!」

The opponent also aimed for a counter. He deflected Ponsuke’s attack and attacked back.

(This person is strong.)

Ponsuke and others started fighting inside the hall that was decorated with treasures.

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At the reactor room.

The guild members there looked battered. They were sitting on the floor while leaning on the wall.

They were running out of breath.

「I-it’s over……」

「Hardcore players are monster. We outnumbered them by twenty you know?」

「Just three people reduced us into this.」

They ran into just three enemies in front of the reactor and fought.

And then eighteen of them were defeated by just three people.

Only these three who had been completely exhausted and SOLOLY remained.

SOLOLY plopped down and stared at the vanishing hardcore players.

「SOLOLY-san, is something wrong?」

One of the players asked. SOLOLY scratched his head.

「……No. I’m curious why they attacked us. Well, I have a guess of why. Even so, was Ponsuke-kun also liked by the queen?」

The others tilted their head.

「Guild master? Ah, now that you mentioned it I heard that guild master cleared the elf queen’s event.」

「I know about that because I was already a member at that time.」

「Seriously!? Tell us about it after this is over.」

They were chatting happily while healing themselves and setting up to protect the place.

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「Nuooooo!」

「Dieeeeeee!」

Ponsuke punched. The dragonia player was attacking consecutively with his spear.

Ponsuke was holding back the offensive player by himself, but his surrounding was also filled with intense battles.

His comrades were dying even though they were facing the hardcore players three on one. Even Blaze was in a fight for his life.

Around ten from Ponsuke’s side fell in exchange of several hardcore players.

But, it could also be said that they were lucky they only needed to pay that much price.

The reason was Ponsuke.

The dragonia player was breathing hard.

「You……why the hell are you just casual player?」

The opponent was surprised by Ponsuke’s player skill.

「My policy is to have fun playing game.」

「Hah! You’re saying it’s fun not being the first one to march into  the unknown territory? You could be top ranker even in our place if  you’re that strong!」

They pretended to counter after parrying then feinted――anyway a fierce offense and defense were unfolding between the two.

The opponent was also battered. He had changed spear two times.

Ponsuke’s armor was also battered already.

The hardcore player was regaining momentum.

It was then orcs rushed into the room.

「Yahooooo!」

A merry orc joined in. He immediately activated Berserk to grow large. Ponsuke yelled at him.

「Stupid! Don’t use Berserk!」

Cathy yelled.

「Tamer!」

Three players equipped musical instrument and tamed the enlarged orc to add him into their own force.

As expected Blaze and others were enraged.

「Who’s that idiot?」

「He’s a newcomer. Look, Prey-san and others are special case.」

「Special case huh……」

There was also some number of orc player. There were also some orc  players who weren’t involved with Prey and the others joining the guild.

The merry orc was one of those orcs.

His level was also still low, so he should be standing by in the base.

The berserk orc punched at Ponsuke.

He blocked it which was good, but Ponsuke felt a stabbing pain on his back and fell on his knee.

It was the spear wielding player who was stabbing Ponsuke’s back.

「Sorry. But as long as you’re defeated, I can go wild and finish this battle.」

「……I won’t let youuuu!」

Ponsuke also fought back, but his HP was already low.

It was then.

Someone smashed through the ceiling and descended――.

「Ponsuke’s enemy is my enemyyyyy!」

――It was Mariela.

She was wielding twin swords and swung them down with all her strength toward the spear wielding dragonia.

The twin swords broke. They were paid items.

The dragonia was enveloped in red light and vanished.

「――Seriously?」

Cathy panicked seeing her most reliable ally vanished, but then a  dragon smashed through the wall and she turned her gaze to there.

「――Wha-!」

It was the dragonized Fran.

She snapped at the tamed orc with her mouth, then she dragged him outside.

After that Noin entered inside from the hole that Fran opened.

「Aha! There’s so many to choose from!」

She lifted up her staff and casted magic. Her staff burst after that.  She then took out her next staff and fired the same magic again. It  turned several hardcore players into red light.

As for the enemy with high magic resistance――.

「There you areeee!」

Naia changed that player into red light with her battle axe.

Lighter had jumped down from the ceiling without anyone noticing. He was laughing like someone deranged.

「You see that hardcore players! Our true greatest fighting  strength――it’s not Ponsuke-kun or even us who’re the most atrocious but  these females! Fuck! You bastards wrecked our beloved base! I’ll never  forgive you all! I’ll have you all――get beaten up by these women!」

The three half-fairies who were carrying music instrument were  defeated by Inaho who was sprinting on the ground and Anri who swooped  down from the sky.

Inaho toyed with a knife in her hand.

「There’s no need to fear tamer anymore with this.」

Anri rested her spear on her shoulder.

「There aren’t many left. Won’t this be over if we beat up the people here?」

Cathy gritted her teeth. She immediately signaled with her hand and all of them formed up in one spot.

All of them used paid items.

Then mercenary NPCs bustled inside in droves from behind Ponsuke and co. They surrounded the enemies.

Lily entered after them.

「We’ve defeated all the other intruders too. Ah, all the enemy bases have been sank too.」

Ponsuke felt relieved from the arrival of his comrades.

「Everyone……eh? Where’s Alfie?」

The last one who made her entrance was Alfie.

Her hand was holding a golden sword. She was smiling triumphantly.

「Rejoice Ponsuke. The enemy’s……Kaizer……err, Bob? Yes, Kaizer Bob lie defeated!」

Tom whose name got mistaken was taken down by Alfie.

Ponsuke felt relieved.

However Blaze yelled toward everyone.

「Everyone run!」

Ponsuke raised his large shield and stepped forward in front of his  comrades. Then there was a large explosion with the hardcore players who  were surrounded by NPCs at the center.

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