Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 33

Everyone Amateur

Mariela was running inside the round shaped cavern.

Sololy was running side-by-side with her. Sometimes he would throw  knife or item at the fire dragon above to gather the hate to themselves.

「How did thing turn out like this!」

She was running while nocking arrow and firing it, but the fire dragon’s flame burned the arrow.

A hunter from different party waved his hand from another spot. Mariela and Sololy immediately moved away from downstream.

They were running around from the fire dragon’s flame that was fired from the sky while buying time.

「Originally we’re going to defeat it while it’s still on the ground,  but it’s impossible to do that now so that’s why we’re running around  like this to buy time for the others to have a strategy meeting.」

Sololy was saying that while using item on himself to recover his HP.

Mariela was worried.

「Are you alright using so many items like that?」

Sololy was also healing himself using his own magic. There was no merit with him using item.

However Sololy shook his head.

「It’s healing items that I had been stocking for a long time. They  only heal a small amount. I’m thinking of using them up here to sort out  my item box too.」

Mariela thought.

(This guy is really my pace.)

As expected from a solo player. Mariela felt that he was slightly off the rocker.

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Fire dragon subjugation.

It was a quest that couldn’t be avoided in order to go to the next world.

The common point that many players shared when challenging this quest was getting the experience of forming a large scale raid.

Forming a raid could also be experienced in other game, but there  were a lot of differences when doing it in VR game like Pandora.

The fire dragon changing target just because a player was complaining loudly could only happen because this was a VR game.

Even though they were aware of it, their habits from past games could still sneak up on them. Such case wasn’t rare.

……In other words, most of the time the players challenging this quest were “a gathering of amateurs”.

Seventeen players gathered near the closed entrance for talking. But the talk wasn’t progressing.

That was because the other players were protesting against Blaze’s suggestion.

A craftsman player kept his voice low while arguing against Blaze.

「That’s bullshit. Don’t speak so easily about getting wiped out and redoing it.」

Blaze was bewildered by that player’s response.

「But even if we fail here we will be able to revive right away. There  shouldn’t be any problem because it only lower our level by two right?」

Only lowering level by two.

Those words were interrupted by Blaze’s friend.

「You don’t get it Blaze. It’s troublesome for craftsman player to  increase their level. They need perseverance for that, and their  leveling up method takes more time than fighting. For them it’s not just  two. It’s as high as two. They’ll need to spend a lot of time to regain  those two levels.」

One craftsman player raised his hand a little.

「Umm, we already supplied this raid with all the items that seemed  necessary. All of those items had been used up and if we failed this  time, all the time and money we spent to gather them all as well as the  materials will be wasted.」

Blaze was bewildered.

Ponsuke got a thought when he saw him like that.

(Ah, he doesn’t get it at all.)

From the perspective of P2W player, the materials that the craftsmen  spent a lot of time to gather were something that could be obtained  immediately.

In some cases P2W player could even gather items with quality that was twice as good.

……Real money was powerful.

However not all player could spend money like that. Even just the monthly fee was already 10,000 yen, which was expensive.

Even players who used real money weren’t all the same. Depending on  the person, the amount that they used per month could go from just  several hundred yen to tens of thousands yen.

Blaze’s friend who was using spear stood up after seeing that the talk wasn’t progressing.

「Aa~, then I’m going to redo this quest after dying once. No matter  how hard we fight, there isn’t any way to defeat the boss once it went  up to the sky anyway.」

A player with female avatar from another party was enraged by those words.

The player grabbed the spear user’s collar.

「Asshole, are you even aware that everyone here is troubled because you screamed like a brat?」

The player’s voice deep and heavy――it seemed that inside the female avatar was a male.

She, no……he was the player who invited Ponsuke into this raid group.

(……I want you to give me back my flustered feeling but, I guess right now the fire dragon is more important.)

He thought that while looking at the fire dragon. Sololy was launching his attack during that timing.

However the fire dragon breathed fire toward Sololy――.

「……Wait a second.」

Ponsuke told everyone to look at Sololy.

Sololy……climbed the wall to dodge the flame and thew a knife.

「He’s skilled, but what about it?」

Blaze asked Ponsuke, so Ponsuke looked up to the wall.

Up above there was a hole opened at the summit.

A cylinder shaped space…….

「……Is it possible to climb the wall and jump on the fire dragon?」

The spear user player shrugged when he heard those words. He looked at Ponsuke scornfully.

「Is the thing inside your head also pig brain? There’s no way  something like that can be done. Even that solo bastard can only climb a  little bit.」

Certainly Sololy wasn’t climbing the wall to stick on the fire dragon.

But Ponsuke had a hunch that it was possible.

The spear user player looked at his surrounding with exasperation.

「It’ll be faster to just get wiped out and redo it.」

That fanned up the craftsmen’s irritation.

「This is because of your blunder. How can you be so shameless!」

The spear user then spoke with a faint smile to provoke those irritated players.

「Really sorry~, all of you poor people can only enjoy this game by spending so much time.」

Everyone scowled at that.

Even Ponsuke could feel the anger toward Blaze’s group rising.

The spear user player and one other friend of Blaze then moved toward the fire dragon.

「Then, we’re going ahead. You too Blaze. Come after us quickly. We’ll reach max level again in one day anyway using paid item.」

After that the two broke into a run and the fire dragon burned them to death.

The two of them turned into red light and vanished. After that  everyone’s gaze moved back toward Blaze and his other friend who seemed  kind.

Blaze spoke apologetically.

「I’m sorry. I’ll compensate everyone later――」

A craftsman player grabbed at Blaze.

「That’s not we are asking. Don’t keep making us repeating ourselves.  Listen, what we want to ask here is――are you guys taking this seriously  or not, that’s it.」

The craftsmen players spoke.

「You can say let’s work hard next time after you’ve really given it  your all and it’s still no good. But what about now? You keep saying  that we can just redo the quest, it’s fine even if we lose, if it’s  money then I’ll pay it. In that case just do this quest on your own.  Don’t drag us into it.」

Blaze’s mouth opened, but he immediately closed it back.

Behind him, his remaining friend grabbed Blaze’s arm and shook his head.

「Our attitude had been bad. Besides those two also had bad manner. They weren’t like that before, and yet……」

Everyone looked down. One person grieved that all the preparations he  had done until now were wasted, while another person was getting  angrier.

And then, Blaze thought about his two friends and gritted his teeth.

Alfie who had been staying quiet was also looking down. Perhaps she wasn’t fully apathetic toward this matter.

As for Ponsuke――.

「Everyone, can you help me? I think this part is climbable.」

――He was looking at the wall seriously while nodding several times.

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Mariela yelled.

「What’s with those two just now! They suddenly ran here and then gone――someone explain it to me!」

Mariela and Sololy were busy running around from the dragon’s flame to buy time.

But even in such situation, the solo Sololy wasn’t panicking.

「This extreme predicament……yes, this is the best. The feeling of  despair from seeing all the fighting tactics that I had designed until  now not working. If only I’m alone here then surely it’ll become  something worth for a novel!」

He was getting excited while looking like he was having a lot of fun.

(This guy is definitely the same type of person like those orcs.)

Mariela was looking at him coldly while reaching toward an arrow.  Then she saw something going up the wall behind the fire dragon.

「……Haa!?」

Sololy followed Mariela’s surprised gaze and snapped his fingers.

「I see! Is he perhaps going to――」

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Ponsuke’s arms and legs were wearing new protectors that had claws attached.

He was carrying his large shield on his back with his one-handed  sword dangling from his waist……there were also two great swords attached  on his back.

「Thinking carefully, I think I’m not that good with high place.」

He made the suggestion thinking that it was possible. The craftsmen then made the improvised equipments for him.

Thanks to Blaze offering the materials in his possession, he also got his hands on two great swords with high attack power.

Ponsuke’s thick arms and legs were grabbing the wall to support and lift his large body.

「Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look down……」

He kept muttering those words to himself. He was also praying so the fire dragon wouldn’t find him while climbing up the wall.

And then he felt a presence behind him and looked back. He did his  best to not look down and found the fire dragon looking at him.

The fire dragon’s eyes and Ponsuke’s eyes――their gazes crossed each other.

「……GYAAAAAAA!!」

「GUOAAAAAA!!」

Even the fire dragon also roared, but from the perspective outside of  these two, the scene of the two of them acting shocked like that might  be comical.

The fire dragon hurriedly breathed out its flame. Ponsuke started climbing up the wall in great hurry to escape from the flame.

The place where he was hanging to just now was swallowed by flame.

「NUOOOOOO, I’M NOT GONNA GET ROASTED ALIVE HEREEEEEE!!」

The situation wouldn’t change for the better even if he yelled like  that, even so Ponsuke kept screaming while climbing up the wall with all  his strength.

And then the fire dragon started gathering flame in its mouth again. But magic and arrows attacked it from below.

The fire dragon looked down because of those attacks. It then lowered its altitude.

Ponsuke took a deep breath seeing that.

「So high……painful……but……I GOTTA DO THISSSSS!!」

He kicked on the wall and jumped. And then Ponsuke grabbed his two-handed swords, one in each hand. It was two-sword style.

He took an attack stance while falling and landed on the fire dragon’s back.

He stabbed the two great swords deeply on the fire dragon’s back.

The fire dragon bent backward in the air from the attack. And then it descended down while trying to press its back on the wall.

「It’s trying to crush me on the wall!」

Ponsuke had a shield attached on his back. He kept the two great  swords deeply stabbed while clinging on the fire dragon’s back with a  bracing posture.

Ponsuke didn’t get crushed even when the dragon’s back hit the wall. The fire dragon kept losing altitude.

The fire dragon unsteadily writhed in the air. Arrows and magic were attacking it from below.

Ponsuke then started using the two great swords like walking pole to advance toward the dragon’s head while stabbing its back.

He almost got thrown off when the fire dragon twisted its body in the air, but he held on.

He also used the claws on his feet so he wouldn’t get thrown off. He  kept advancing while looking only toward the fire dragon’s head.

「……Perhaps I’m looking really cool right now from riding on dragon’s back like this?」

He was saying a joke while his face was turning pale as he advanced  toward the dragon’s neck. As expected he couldn’t use the great swords  as walking pole anymore when he arrived at the base of its long neck.

He deeply stabbed one of the great swords to use it as a foothold,  then he stabbed the other one in front of him so he could advance by  crawling.

The fire dragon opened its mouth and writhed, and then it fell toward  the ground. Ponsuke reached the fire dragon’s head at that time.

He pulled out his one-handed sword from his waist and then stabbed it into the fire dragon’s head.

The fire dragon’s neck swung around wildly. As expected Ponsuke got thrown away from that.

Someone caught him in the air after he was thrown off.

It was Sololy.

「Magnificent.」

Sololy said that. Although his mouth couldn’t be seen, his eyes looked like he was smiling.

Ponsuke safely landed on the ground and then he touched the ground with his hands.

「The ground. I’m finally on the ground.」

Ponsuke was out of breath. Mariela and Alfie ran toward him.

「Ponsuke!」

「As expected from you Ponsuke! You were like the giant ape that I saw in movie!」

The two of them hugged him but, the battle was still not over. The fire dragon hadn’t vanished into red light.

「S-stupid! It’s still not o――」

However even Sololy had lowered his stance.

「No, it’s over. It’s thanks to you, Ponsuke-kun.」

Right after that magic rained down on the fire dragon. And then  Blaze’s shining sword unleashed a powerful strike toward the fire  dragon’s neck as the finishing blow.

「With this, IT’S OVERRRRR!」

Blaze’s pose after he landed the final attack coupled with his good look and silver armor was really picturesque.

Red light spread through the cave and when it vanished, red light particles rained down from the sky.

Ponsuke stood up with the help of Alfie and Mariella. Words that were  praising the players floated up at the place where the fire dragon  vanished.

The craftsmen cheered from behind. The players who were fighting at  the front were also doing high five and hugging each other jubilantly.

Blaze approached.

「……Umm, sorry. We had been troubling you.」

Blaze apologized. Ponsuke returned the two hastily made great swords  back to him because they were made from the materials that Blaze  brought.

「Well, we won in the end. So it’s fine isn’t it? ……It’s too bad for those two though.」

Ponsuke grinned. Blaze smiled wryly while saying that he wouldn’t accept the great swords.

「We won thanks to you. I want you to have them.」

And then the words “MVP” floated at the place the fire dragon vanished.

Windows opened in front of everyone. And then the reward for defeating the fire dragon was distributed.

Sololy was smirking.

「OOOOO! I got fire dragon’s scale and meat! Should I make the scale  into equipment? No, I can also sell it together with the meat for  money――」

The solo player was being noisy. Ponsuke watched him with a smile when applauses suddenly broke out.

「Eh?」

When he looked around, he saw Blaze and the other players too were looking at him.

「Congratulations Ponsuke-kun. You’re the MVP.」

「……No way!」

When he looked up, Ponsuke’s name was certainly displayed there.

And then the drop item――the rare drop that he obtained from it was  “Fire Dragon’s Horn” and “Fire Dragon’s Reverse Scale”……it wasn’t either  one of them, but both.

There was another rare drop called Fire Dragon’s Claw, but that one didn’t appear.

As promised, the two rare materials were handed to the MVP Ponsuke.

Ponsuke felt embarrassed and scratched his head.

「No, this……ahaha」

He obtained rare materials. But before he worried about what to do with them, Ponsuke recalled the fire dragon that they fought.

(It was, amazing.)

He recalled how he was fighting a battle that would be impossible in  normal game, and also how powerful of an enemy the fire dragon was.

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The fire dragon’s nest.

When the entrance to there was opened, eighteen players came out with a smile on their face.

Two players were watching that with their mouth wide open.

「……Ha? H-how?」

Blaze approached the two.

「We defeated the fire dragon.」

The two of them looked at their item box after Blaze said those  words. They didn’t find any reward from defeating fire dragon in there.

In other words, the two of them couldn’t progress to the next stage.

「Why did you defeat it! Even though we weren’t there!」

Blaze looked at his spear user friend with a slightly sad look.

(I wonder since when it started. I think I didn’t use that much money  at the beginning. Then the amount of money I used gradually  increased……these two also became reliant on me.)

Blaze clenched his hands.

「……I’m disbanding the party. My fault turned you two to become  hopeless like this. I apologize for that but……we can’t continue playing  together anymore.」

Blaze disbanded the party and removed the two from his friend list.

The two of them tried to justify themselves but, Blaze shook his head.

「Thank you for teaching many things to me who didn’t know anything. But, this is it.」

The weapons, armors, and accessories that the two of them were  equipping were given to them by Blaze. They were prepared using Blaze’s  money.

「I’m not going to ask you two to return the equipments. But, it’s for the best that we part way here.」

Blaze walked away. The two were throwing insults at him.

Beside Blaze, there was the last friend who was always cautioning him all this time.

◇

The real world.

A young man opened his eyes inside a room in a high class mansion. He took off his headset and put on his glasses.

Window screen popped out on his glasses’ lenses. The screen displayed the current time and latest news.

Blaze――[Ichijo Naoto] swept back his short black hair with his hand  and took a deep breath. He then walked toward his PC and pulled out his  credit card from the external device that was attached to it.

When he looked at his PC’s screen, his total expense just for this month alone was already reaching seven digits.

「……I’m also hopeless. Can you play seriously rather than just using money, huh.」

He thought back of the words that were said to him while touching his  glasses. With that a machine started preparing coffee automatically.

He took the coffee and sat on a chair where he started checking on the news and the like.

「I guess I’ll try playing without using money for a while. Besides, I need to look for new party members again.」

He was muttering to himself while looking slightly sad……but, he was also looking slightly happy.

「Whoops, I have an important meeting today.」

He checked the displayed time and quickly finished his breakfast before heading toward the washroom.

He tidied up his appearance and wore a high class suits before a call reached him.

『The car is prepared.』

「Got it. I’ll go down immediately.」

Naoto finished his preparation to go to work and walked out of the entrance. There he thought back for a bit.

「Ponsuke huh……perhaps I’ll try inviting him next time.」

Naoto left with a happy mood from being able to make an interesting acquaintance in the game.

He was a true elite, a rich person just like Alfie……Maya.

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