Despite being veteran Players, neither Edward nor Marni had encountered incomplete buffs.
Still, they had constantly encountered new and interesting things after becoming Players. Therefore, they were only curious about the incomplete buff for a moment and soon ignored it.
Then, they mobilized the troops before battle
—which actually was having the veterans who would be leading the frontline to encourage the newbies.
And amongst the husky-like newbies who were listening was Gerald, who from a certain perspective was an untamed wolf and looking confused.
“Just half a day ago, I was just a knight of the city watch who escorts nobility. Wasn’t I supposed to be Marni Wilf’s guardsman?’ Why am I culling wildlings in the blink of an eye? (Since most nonhumans lived in the Western Continent, many citizens in the Eastern Content had no idea what nonhumans were and as such held many weird prejudices, and consider anyone with beastlike features to be wildlings.)
And according to them, the enemies weren’t just a handful—but almost three hundred wildlings!
Not to mention that those were wildings that could easily defeat any ordinary guardsman without training!
And wasn’t there a hundred people here at best? And a lot of them seemed to have learned to fight just recently, and the way they held their weapons were simply inexperienced.
Why not pay to hire some mercenaries if they lacked numbers? With such stinginess, they would be wiped out even if they ran into wildlings that they outnumbered three to one in the wild, let alone conquer a wildling stronghold three times their size!
Despite Gerald’s growing respect towards the Church of Games after experiencing their teleportation skills, it mostly faded when he saw that the ragtag bunch of Players who looked ready to crumble at the sight of their enemy.
Gerald’s biased thinking starting from the first impression did not help either. In his perspective, the veteran Players who said things like ‘we are so awesome and it’s fine sparing the women and children of the Tigermen since there’s no EXP to be gained’ were no different from clowns.
Even funnier, the huskies around them really believed them. There was even a husky who raised his hand and asked ‘can I fight back if a woman or child attacked me?’
The former even put on a sincere look before answering. ‘Us sparing them is out of kindness, but if they provoke us or attack us, don’t say a word and kill them. The God of Games watches over you!’
Then, the husky who asked the question looked absolutely thrilled.
Wake up. You’re not even going to win against women or children with the way you’re holding that big lance!
It was not as if Gerald held lances in disdain. Being a knight himself, he knew how to use a lance and would admit that it is formidable, and would pierce the best armor plates made in Lancaster with enough momentum.
But that’s if they had a mount! How could anyone normal carry a three-meter-long lance unassisted into the battlefield! And there’s not even a sharp edge on that conical lance—so are you going to swing it like a stick or fool around without momentum, and use to stab the person in front of you?
***
Regardless of what Gerald was thinking, however, the battle was inevitable.
Being a first-rate Player (and an acknowledged errand-boy), Marni stood at the front, and was a more or less a carry.
“Gerald.” He quietly and seriously spoke to Gerald. “When the fighting starts, you don’t have to do anything. Just keep me safe, got it?”
At Marni’s words, the last of Gerald’s worries faded.
After all, the indescribably powerful Flatfish Swordsman had mentioned that Marni was amongst the stronger Players.
Even if the Flatfish Swordsman exaggerated a little, Marni did motivate the newbies before the battle as well and would definitely be one of the top few Players, even reaching a rank of leadership equal to nobility.
And since Marni had given a look that said ‘no problem, the enemy is very weak and we have a high chance of winning’, for him to now tell Gerald to protect him, it made clear that considering the wildings dangerous was the right idea.
Gerald even felt that Marni had pulled every trick to con him to his side and become his guardsman was so that he could protect the merchant so that he didn’t die in such a dangerous place.
“Relax. I, Gerald McCobley had promised to be your guardsman, and I would see through my duty and escort you away alive! It’s a man’s promise.” He said solemnly.
Be that as it may, the Players who were so obviously waving flags and the like were naturally noticed by the Mountain Tigers.
Green fireballs descended from the skies even before they reached the Mountain Tigers’ stronghold, blowing huge craters on the ground.
Gerald, who had just sworn that he would protect Marni could only watch as one fireball kept growing in size, crashing down on his and Marni’s head!
It was fortunate that Marni came prepared. He whipped out a round buckler marked with a five-pointed star and yelled Weapons Throw while flinging the buckler, hitting the fireball with great precision and blowing it up in the air.
Green sparks licked the earth over the crater, billow bizarre black smoke.
“It’s the Hyena-men Priests’ poison fireballs! Clerics, hurry up with dispel and cleansing!”
Edward shouted before anyone else, and did not hold back.
They were still some distance away from the stronghold and not within effective range for most of their skills. The reason the Hyena-men Priests could launch their skills so far was because they were attacking from a high position and shooting far below.
But Edward was different. His fire-type spells are buffed with the legendary staff Happy Flames, and that includes the range of attack!
“Get blast! Black Dragon Hellfire[1]!” Edward cried, and a violent silhouette of flames immediately rose from Happy Flames, before shooting out and taking the form of a black dragon as it flew towards the stronghold.
The thick gates of the stronghold were immediately blasted apart by the black dragon’s charge.
As Gerald looked on in shock, it turned into sparks all over the air, throwing Hyena-men that couldn’t react in time off the wall.
In just the first clash, the stronghold of the Mountain Tigers tribe was left wide open for the Players, having lost all defensive use.
[1] YuYu Hakusho technique, Jaou Ensatsu Kokuryuuha
