Half of the Guild Masters attending the meeting expressed their intentions.
This means at least half of them want to go on the raid with me.
Whether it’s for the rewards from the raid, their relationship with me, or just thinking it’s safer on my side, it doesn’t matter.
They chose me, and now I need to select who gets to go with us.
First, looking at those who expressed their intentions…
“I don’t see anyone I know.”
The likes of Jeoksa from the Red Moon and Black from the Black Moon, as well as Robus Opher from Magic Engineering, chose to go the other way, and the guilds ranked within the top ten did the same.
It’s definitely more beneficial for them to go somewhere else rather than fight me over contribution degrees.
On the contrary, the guild masters ranked over 20 all raised their hands to join my side.
The only one who would break this rule would be…
“Master of the Magic Tower? You’re saying you’re heading towards Lady Lily?”
“Why? Not allowed?”
Neris, a color mage ranked 9th in the guild and 36th individually, tilted her head and looked at the Knight.
For reference, not all guilds have joined the alliance, and the Magic Tower Neris belongs to was strong enough to rank within the Five Fingers based on the current meeting.
“Participation is free, right?”
“With your skill level, you could excel going elsewhere. It would be inefficient for Lady Lily to invest excessive power in you.”
“I don’t think the Magic Tower is inefficient. And I am the Master of the Magic Tower.”
The Knight tried to say something, but upon realizing he couldn’t bend her stubbornness, he quickly gave up.
It’s only been a day since the alliance was formed.
Gathering the big shots of the guilds is impressive enough; I can’t expect more than that.
“Alright then. But if Lady Lily chooses the Magic Tower, I’m setting a limit to one guild. Is that okay with you?”
“I’m fine with that.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Neris nodded vigorously, and I fell into thought.
[Who are you gonna pick?]
[Magic Tower, let’s go!]
[Neris is cute, though?]
[Let’s pick the Magic Tower.]
[Can’t I just go alone?]
[But if I go with Lily, my contribution will be zero anyway, so what’s the point of going together?]
[Ascension, maybe?]
[Let’s hoard it all, Lily!]
“I will…”
■
Buuuuuuung~
-It’s time to set out!
– Everyone, come over here!
– They say you can board the ship from over there?
– Iron Blood over here! Hurry up!
– Haetae Guild! Come this way! The ship is departing!
– Anyone wishing to board~ Only three spots left!
After the meeting, we immediately informed everyone in the alliance that we would start the first raid.
Preparation for the raid quickly followed, and those holding nameplates above silver-grade boarded the floating ship for the raid.
Typically, users with bronze-grade nameplates can’t board the floating ship, but a guild master with a nameplate above silver can bring up to 20 members.
Individually, up to 5 can accompany, so users with bronze-grade nameplates approached those with silver-grade nameplates to hitch a ride somehow.
Somehow, I managed to board the ship.
The alliance isn’t really paying attention, but secretly, users with silver tickets are taking money to ferry bronze ticket users.
Gold tickets can take all guild members or up to 30 individuals max, but right from the start, those with gold tickets are influential and well-capitalized, so they didn’t really do that.
If the guild master has a gold ticket, they can rent a whole ship.
“Isn’t it strange?”
“What’s strange?”
“Like, if there are 100 ships that can hold 500 people, that’s a maximum of 50,000, but seeing them making such a fuss about no space… you know?”
And on the first floating ship heading west, Neris, who was on board, made a pair of binoculars out of mana and said that.
The guild I chose decided to go to the magic tower and hunt down the Level 4 Boss together.
“There are quite a few ships just sitting idle.”
“They wouldn’t take just anyone, I guess? Just in case they need to prepare backups.”
Of course, it does look like there isn’t enough space, though.
“Hmm. That’s true.”
Neris thought, ‘Well, the knight probably has a plan,’ as she stepped back to check on her guild members.
There are a total of 78 members from the magic tower on the floating ship, with 31 on the same ship as me and Neris, and the remaining 47 on the ship at the back.
So basically, there are only 80 people on a ship that can carry 1000.
“……”
Looks like we might be short on space.
[The ship is so empty, lol]
[No wonder there’s no room, damn]
[Someone let me on the ship, lololol]
[They’re saying it costs 10 gold just to take a ride? Is this for real?]
[Hey, I kinda want to sneak on]
[The market is going crazy?]
[I’m in the alliance, but just take a regular ship—this place is legit hell, lol]
[Lily, please let me on]
[Seriously, space is super tight]
[What a waste of a ship]
[But if anyone can board, it would create chaos, right? Yeah, can’t be helped]
“We’ve arrived~ Okay, let’s set sail! We can just leave at any time since we’re alone in the west.”
“Did all the magic tower folks get on?”
“Yep! There’s way too much space, so we even took a few from the support crew. When else are we going to get to raid like this? Hehe.”
“How many more?”
“Around twenty? In total, we’d have about 100.”
100.
Still, 900 are left behind.
“One of the ships should get passed over there.”
“Huh? Do we have to?”
“We’re not really going to use it much anyway, and the risk of the ships getting damaged is pretty low.”
As long as I’m on the ship, it won’t sink.
“Uh… but wouldn’t it be better to leave a backup just in case? If something happens, splitting the ships could help distribute the risk.”
“Distributing the risk can easily be done differently. One ship is more efficient for protection than two. And besides, we already have backups.”
We’ve already set aside about twenty floating ships for backup purposes in the alliance.
I’m keeping the floating ship reserved for emergencies.
It’s for when the large guilds have problems with their ships, need to switch, or if another boss suddenly appears.
So, even if there are issues with the ship, we can bring it in quickly.
“If anything goes wrong, the ship next to us is likely in danger too.”
“Hm… If Lady Lily thinks so. Alright. I’ll bring all the mages over here.”
Neris instantly teleported to the ship behind us and pulled all the remaining mages along.
I called a member of the alliance managing the floating ship and asked them to move one ship to the east.
As for the passengers…
“I can take exactly 500 of you on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re part of the alliance, you can all join.”
[Oh]
[LOL, Machinist hahaha]
[I knew I could trust Lily!]
[Lily is a goddess! Lily is a goddess! Lily is a goddess!]
[Great Emperor Lily]
[Great Lily]
[Wow]
[Going right now]
[The real angel is considering even the viewers;;]
[Unbelievable]
The viewers, who were anxiously waiting without being able to board, quickly gathered and filled the 500 spots, setting off towards the east.
“Now, let’s get going.”
“Let’s go~”
All the mages from the Magic Tower pumped mana into the power source.
As the mana filled with the energy of each attribute filled the surface of the floating ship with a multicolored aura,
“Oh.”
The ship lifted into the sky.
■
The floating ship is incredibly fast compared to a normal ship.
Since it’s flying in the sky from the start, it’s closer to being an aircraft, but the speed varies greatly depending on the passengers.
It may not be as fast as Leo using the Spirit King’s wind, but the floating ship with the Magic Tower passengers also traveled across the continent at a pretty speedy pace.
In just 15 minutes after boarding, we were almost at our destination.
Considering that the forward base is in the west, it was quite a rapid speed.
[Oh]
[Can already see something?]
[Let’s cut and go catch something else]
[Something’s moving over there]
[Ooooh]
[It’s raining a lot]
Boom…! Boom…!
As we entered the pitch-black sea, the storm raged, causing the floating ship to sway slightly.
Of course, the slight swaying is only possible because I and the mages from the Magic Tower are protecting the ship.
If it were an ordinary ship, it would’ve already been swept away by the rough waves and turned into fish food, and even a typical floating ship would have been wobbling precariously.
That’s how significant the pressure from the level 4 boss was.
‘Even though it’s just a level 4.’
Neris put on a somewhat serious expression and cast an amplification spell.
“We’re about to enter! Everyone, be careful with your eyes.”
“Be careful with your eyes!”
“Be careful!”
“Watch your eyes!”
A round, purple something blinks through the pitch-black clouds.
With each blink, the sea’s strange symptoms worsen.
‘From level 4, there are two “eyes…”‘
The most threatening power of the Kraken, the Focus ability, which makes everything in the sea insignificant except for itself.
It’s not to the level of shaking souls like with the dungeon, but it’s true that even a decent user would be neutralized at first glance.
“Ugh…!”
“T-the eyes…!”
“Kyaaah!!!”
The mages, trying to avert their gazes from the Kraken, fall apart as soon as their eyes start glowing.
Those with weak mental fortitudes vomit and collapse, while others tremble uncontrollably.
“Eek!”
Multicolored mana envelops the mages.
They manage to escape somewhat from the Kraken’s focus, and their complexion improves slightly, but they are still in a state of combat inability.
“Everyone, calm down! Don’t look at the eyes! You all heard, right? Turn your vision away!”
“Master of the Magic Tower…”
“Oh no… damn?!”
Paaah…!
A pure white radiance envelops the entire deck.
In an instant, everyone’s states are restored, and even Neris, who is holding out with her own mana, is bathed in light.
[Wow]
[Just light]
[So cool ㄷㄷ]
“Huh…?”
“It seems the one who needs to calm down is the Master of the Tower. Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Neris appears to be the most normal, but she’s pouring her mana to the limit to resist the focus.
If she stayed like this for just another 10 minutes, she would have collapsed from mana depletion.
Neris, gently touching her heart, lets out a flustered, hollow laugh.
“Did… I go crazy?”
“As everyone heard from the information, we have to be careful of the eyes. The main power of the Kraken isn’t the sea or its huge body, it’s those eyes.”
Once you fall into those eyes, escaping is impossible.
The only methods are to either not ‘acknowledge’ the eyes from the start or have enough strength to resist that gaze.
[Scary]
[Attack?]
[Kraken is so scary]
[No way level 4 is like this?]
[It didn’t seem that strong when it caught Lily…]
“…How do we catch that?”
“There are ways.”
The fragile users, unable even to escape the gaze, have a method to counter the Kraken.
The reason why users are the ‘Challengers’ of disaster.
That method has already been granted to some users.
“That thing…”
“Seal.”
The violet bracelet on her wrist flickered.
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