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While Sety and Shibaid started their rampage, Shin was going all out as well.
A rainbow of magic elements shone in the land dominated by monsters. The magic power changed color according to the caster’s will and turned into physical phenomena that attacked the monsters.
The red light turned into flames that burned everything to cinders.
The blue light turned into chilling air that froze solid anything they touched.
The brown light turned into massive rocks that crushed everything in their path.
The green light turned into blades of wind that ripped through everything.
The yellow light turned into thunderbolts that pierced everything.
The white light flashed in the blink of an eye, melting anything it touched.
The black light spread instantly and silently, corrupting everything it came in contact with.
To use seven elements of magic at the same time was the complete form of a secret technique for users specialized in offensive magic.
Shin was not a magic focused player, but his stats and skills allowed him to perform the same techniques.
He basically looked like a human magic-casting cannon, casting spells to exterminate monsters all around. Many of the players that saw him in action protested that he looked like he was in a category all of his own.
Behind Shin, Yuzuha used her nearly complete Element Tail powers to cast the magic of all elements in a similar way to Shin. Any monsters lucky enough to escape the double magic barrage were sliced in two by Filma.
The trio had settled on a fighting strategy based on the fact that the monsters kept targeting only Shin.
Their strategy had overwhelming offensive power, but there was still one issue it could not solve: their natural MP recovery could not catch up with their MP consumption.
Even though there were skills and abilities that allowed the user to absorb MP from defeated foes, if their attacks were too effective, the user would still be unable to cast spells or use skill endlessly.
In such a situation, having enough tanks meant being able to defeat more monsters.
The effects of such MP absorption skills were thus severely limited, to prevent the defeat enemy -> absorb MP -> defeat enemy endless loop.
The limit was only on the amount of MP that could be absorbed from a single enemy, however.
In the game, a situation like the present one — a very small party against monsters as far as the eyes could see — never happened. No matter how bad the MP absorption ratio was, if a single skill could defeat several monsters at the same time, the MP recovery ratio became quite high.
Additionally , Shin had a wide collection of MP recovery items at his disposal.
He was regularly using such items now, so his actual MP consumption ratio was about ten percent of what a typical “human magic cannon” style user would consume.
His maximum MP had broken the upper limit in the first place, so he was in no danger of running out.
“The last time you and the other Rokuten members did this, they laughed at you guys and said you were playing a different game, right? Haha!”
They had used this strategy during a town invasion event, only for other players to say “We’re playing a MMORPG, but those guys are playing a bullet hell game!!”
They endlessly consumed items and annihilated any monster that came close, causing other players to look at them speechlessly. In the end, they used up so many items that they were completely in the red, but for them, it was a very fun strategy.
“(Looks like we’re about done with the animal types. Are you tired, you two?)”
“(Nah, I’m fine, I still have plenty of items left too.)”
“(This much is nothing.)”
Shin used Mind Chat, since the explosions and the monsters’ growls would make it hard to speak normally. Even while talking, they continued moving to take down as many monsters as possible.
Magic users that acted as human magic cannons did not move around normally.
They were fully focused on using healing items, checking the cooldown time of their spells, and choosing which spell to cast next and when, so normally they couldn’t afford moving too.
In this world, however, there was little to no cooldown for casting spells.
Shin only experienced something like that for large scale spells such as 【Blue Judgement】, but most other spells could be fired in rapid succession.
Thanks to that he didn’t have to think about how to combine various spells and could take advantage of his innately high mobility.
Shin unleashed a barrage of magic spells while moving because he realized that among all monsters that gathered towards him, a small number of them went in the opposite direction sometimes.
If he continued moving while attracting their attention, he could be less worried about monsters straying from the pack.
For added safety, Shin contacted Milt and told her to continue setting the walls that could be activated independently.
It would help fill the gap in the wall, in case the monsters changed their target. At present, all monsters that strayed from the pack were dealt with by Schnee.
“If only I could figure out the conditions for using large scale magic again…”
Shin mumbled to himself while picking the spell with a wider range among the list of magic he had become able to use again. At the moment, he could use one large scale spell every 30 minutes.
Two hours had passed since he had started going all out.
Shin asked about Yuzuha and Filma’s condition at this time because he finally saw an end to the horde of monsters, previously stretching beyond the horizon.
The other reason was that Gelganger’s pack of shapeshifting monsters was drawing closer.
Shibaid and Sety were decimating the insect monster pack, so it would still take time to reach Shin’s position.
As a result, Shin’s group focused their attention on the shapeshifter monster pack, as it was still unscathed.
“(…looks like they arrived.)”
After a while, the shapeshifter monsters reached the rear end of the animal monsters pack.
They were too far for Shin and the others to see, but the map, which had gradually become transparent after the animal monsters decreased, colored itself red again.
There were too many monster icons to be able to locate Gelganger.
“(Let’s continue the magic barrage for a while. Once the shapeshifting monsters become visible, we’ll leave this place for a while and review the current situation.)”
There was little doubt that Gelganger had also evolved to an advanced or mutated form.
Shin didn’t know what attacks it was going to use, so he sent this message to Filma and Yuzuha.
The scouts reported that Gelganger was advancing ahead of the pack, so Shin thought that it would be easy to spot. Heltoros Garze also marched ahead of the pack and targeted Shin before all the other monsters it led.
Contrary to Shin’s predictions, however, something changed on the map. The icons belonging to the shapeshifter monsters changed from the hostile red to the neutral green.
“ —they’re fighting against the animal monsters?”
The change was not only in the color of the icons.
As the animal monsters gradually decreased, the shapeshifter monsters became visible.
Some pierced the animal monsters with the tentacles stretching from their bodies, others tackled them and absorbed them within their bodies.
“(They’re not on the same side…I guess? Selcikeus’ long-range attack was kind of similar too…)”
“(It damaged the monsters in its own pack too, after all. I don’t know if we can say it’s the same thing.)”
Selcikeus Heim’s beam attack did damage the animal monsters in its path, but it also did the same to any insect monsters in its trajectory too.
According to Shibaid, the insect monster icons were still red, so Shin thought that only the shapeshifter monsters were acting in a different way.
While they talked, the number of animal monsters continued to decrease.
They were essentially pincered between Shin’s group and the shapeshifters.
The shapeshifter monsters could absorb the animal monsters in their bodies, so their corpses were not obstacles in their path.
The animal monsters were overwhelmed just like pebbles sinking among sea waves.
“…they’re not attacking us.”
“The icons are still colored neutral too.”
“I cannot feel any hostility.”
Shin’s group decided to gather to wait for the monsters’ next move.
The shapeshifter monsters stayed out of Shin’s “human magic cannon” spells.
If he shot another 【Full Prominence】, as he previously did against the insect monsters Shibaid and Sety were occupied with, he could reach them, but as the shapeshifters weren’t attacking yet, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to make the first move.
Shin and the others were wondering what to do when Shibaid messaged him. The shapeshifters apparently attacked the insect monsters too.
Once it had been verified that the monsters were targeting just Shin, they had the imperial scouts take shelter behind the wall.
Shin’s party would have been contacted immediately if the monsters showed signs of targeting the hole in the wall again.
No one had continued tracking the shapeshifter monsters’ pack, so they didn’t know that it had split into two.
Because of the large size of the pack, however, even if it was observed from up close it would be difficult to tell what was going on at the other end.
“Gelganger…is there too.”
Its size overshadowed the other shapeshifters. The half-transparent, light-purple jelly-like monster was Gelganger.
Its appearance did not show any particular signs of mutation.
— Gelganger Yvr - Level 876
However, 【Analyze】 could reveal its new identity.
Its appearance might look the same, but it had evolved, just like the other two pack leaders.
Gelganger Yvr probably noticed Shin’s gaze, as it moved forward.
Gelganger Yvr alone approached Shin’s group, alone.
It was already in range of their magic. If Shin wanted, he could attack it anytime.
“(Should we attack?)”
“(No, wait a moment. I’ll go ahead first. It’s acting differently than the others, but based on Heltoros’ howl and all the monsters changing direction, they must have some business with me.)”
Shin walked forward, leaving Filma and Yuzuha behind. After a while, Shin too entered Gelganger Yvr’s attack range.
The monster stopped moving, so Shin did so too.
For a while, the two looked at each other silently.
The first one to move was Gelganger.
The surface of his body trembled and its shape changed. Its massive body became smaller and smaller, eventually assuming a human silhouette.
After a while, Gelganger Yvr was replaced by an old gentleman with a shining monocle, silver hair slicked back, and a black swallow-tailed coat
『Pleased to make your acquaintance. I have come to meet Lord Shin as per my master’s orders.』
The old gentleman formerly-known as Gelganger Yvr then exhibited an impeccable bow.