Beast rider Shadyna is making her debut!

On a beetle, no less. It's pretty cool to tell the truth…

Even though the two made no taming attempt on the beetles, they gained [Domesticated] effect and obediently followed after we left with the boss.

The difference between them and true tamed beast? You can't control them. They stick around and murder everything that tries to attack the tamer.

Un, there's no doubt. These two girls have become bosses.

I don't know if summoned beasts from loots would have minions like this. Endless summon horde doesn't seem to be the meta among summoners, so maybe minions are really rare or even disadvantageous to use?

They don't have [Summon Stone], but the boss itself has [Summon Minion] skill to replenish the lost ones. It can maintain up to six beetles by the way.

_ Fensen: …[Firefly Corpse]. Welp.

That's what she gets after catching a firefly, barehanded. Why am I not surprised?!

_ Poltea: Leave them alone, . They are harmless.

_ Fensen: Okay~ I was hoping to bring one home alive though…

_ Shadyna: …That sounds like a good idea, actually. Can I have the corpse?

_ Fensen: I don't think it's lit anymore…

I would be surprised if it was. But then again, Sateri's common sense is kind of whacky, unlike the normal cute tree girl that is me.

_ Shadyna: Being alive is optional. [Creation]!

Using the corpse and some metal covered in moss that I got from the boxes, I create the [Construction] item of legend!

A lantern.

Yes, a lantern. What else would you make from a dead firefly?

[Received Firefly Lantern (Dead) x1]

Totally did not see that coming. I mean, we couldn't even get a firefly to use as material without receiving the corpse item!!!

_ Shadyna: [Resurrect]!

[Received Firefly Lantern (Lit) x1]

As expected of Sateri, so much useless immersion~ It's still immersion though, so it's appreciated.

_ Fensen: Oh~ It's flying in the lantern~

Well, I resurrected it, and since Sateri wasted so much time on such little details, it obviously has to be a live firefly roaming inside the lantern.

_ Shadyna: I wonder if we can catch one without killing them…

_ Poltea: M-maybe a net?

_ Shadyna: …Sure. [Creation]!

[Received Refinery Bug-catching net x1]

…That sounds kind of wrong…

After that, each of us have a lantern on our beast mount. It may come in handy in raids when everything is way too dark for my liking.

Still have a bit of time left before the alarm, so we wander around enjoying the scenery. This really reminds me of the forest, where the light is also dim due to the trees. The main difference being the overgrown moss, and fireflies.

Kind of romantic, I think. An ideal location for dates, as well as murder mysteries where couples literally explode~

On a rather unrelated note, I wonder if any of my acquaintances is going to attempt taming now that I told them an easier way to do it…

____________

At the newly formed sandy beach, a certain elf is looking at the ocean. The swimming creatures in the ocean, to be exact.

_ Cinrald: Don't worry, we don't need to take care of the bones in this game.

_ Fuelri: I am not thinking about eating them! And why are you still following me anyway?!

_ Cinrald: The answer is not gonna change. Knowing your enemy is half the battle, so I am here to observe.

_ Fuelri: Sateri-chan-dammit why do I always have to be stuck with maniacs!!!

_ Cinrald: And we have a higher chance of triggering "getting hit on by random dudes on the beach" cliché. Don't mind don't mind~

_ Fuelri: That's not the kind of fame I want! Ugh, whatever. I'm going to dive. Stay away if you don't want to get caught up.

_ Cinrald: Roger~

The elf was looking for a boss. A gigantic stingray that spawns an absurd amount of little minions. She had killed it yesterday, but as new information arrived, she had to find it again.

This time, to tame it.

_ Fuelri: This should be enough potions…

Not to heal herself, but to throw at the boss.

_ Fuelri: Okay, Ren, [Leap]!

The dark drake launches itself into the air, then dives straight down with a big splash.

_ Cinrald: Really, she can't even enter the water like a normal person…

Watching the elf decimating all monsters in range in one strike, the leader of can't help but lick her lips as if looking at a delicious feast. After all, this person loves fighting seemingly hopeless battles.

_ Cinrald (PM): , I want all of my equipment reforged. State your price.

_ Olkan (PM): What the heck did you see to make that decision so quickly? Actually, don't tell me. I don't want to…

_ Cinrald (PM): And a swimsuit.

_ Olkan (PM): …Just asking, you are with the elf girl right?

_ Cinrald (PM): Yes, I am. Jealous?

_ Olkan (PM): I'll give you the swimsuits for free if you give her one and send me the footage afterwards. And OF COURSE I AM JEALOUS!!!

_ Cinrald (PM): Deal. Also, reported for peeping.

After all, this is a beach. There will be NO exception when it comes to outfits!

____________

*Thud*

A corpse just landed in front of us.

_ Fensen: Ehm…

_ Corpse (?): Uhm…

No, seriously, this one literally dropped from the sky! If there had been NPCs (Non-player characters) and quests in this game, I would have mistaken this for some bizarre quest… Not that I want to get involved in such weird quests, mind you.

And the beetles are not eating him. Is it because he's not aggressive or pets do not eat corpses in general…?

_ Poltea: Should we… leave?

_ Corpse: Wait! So, uh, can you [Resurrect] me? It may take a while for my party to catch up.

No matter how many times I see it, a talking corpse is still weird.

Corpses should stay dead, unless you are already undead like the crazy dark elven sisters with ghoulish heritage.

_ Shadyna: [Resurrection].

_ Corpse: FAST! That casting speed is way too high!

Well duh, that's what MSP is for, and I have lots of that. Let's not complicate things by telling him though.

_ Fensen: Why did you fall from the sky, mister?

_ Poltea: , wait for him to get up first.

_ Former corpse: Oof, thanks for the help. I was fighting a powerful boss. Every once in a while it uses this high-end attack which will send victims flying on direct hits.

Are you some kind of third-rate villain who get blasted off by magical girls every weekend…? Many players took Gelly directly, and they did not pop out on the other side of the virtual planet! And even the weird mask did not deal as much damage as Gelly…

…Am I the bad guy? Nah, can't be. I am just an ordinary pacifist~

_ Fensen: Oh~ Powerful boss! I want to see it too! Let's go~

A~nd there she goes.

_ Poltea: ?! Wait!!! !!!

_ Former corpse: Crap! Don't go there! The guards will…!

Too late. Their pets received my buffs, and some equipment because the flower was way too slow!

…Now it's a flower with the speed of a jet plane. Whoops~

And as expected of bosses, they have way more equipment slots than Gelly! How envious…

Is there a way to be more overpowered by gaining more equipment slots~?

_ Shadyna: Guards? The boss's minions?

_ Former corpse: No, our guild's guards! They shoot intruders on sight!

Did we accidentally walk to a military base or something?!

_ Shadyna: This is bad!

Before I could run after them to prevent a potential carnage, a portal opens up on the ground and the girls jump out along with their beasts.

_ Fensen: ~ There was a wall and some people shot at us while screaming!

_ Former corpse: What the heck?!

_ Fensen: [Deep Tunnel]? It's my pet's skill? It is good for running away.

Making good use of the new skills is commendable, but shouldn't you save secret techniques for last bosses…? And please use it to defeat overlords instead of running away.

_ Poltea: T-this time we didn't do anything… Probably…

_ Former corpse: Uh… Sorry about that. This boss does not respawn so we have to be on guard against KS-ers.

Oh? Non-renewable bosses? In an MMO? Are you sure it's going to be alright, Sateri?

_ Shadyna: Is the boss strong?

_ Former corpse: Of course! Magnus Bestia are the strongest bosses in the game right now! Even more than the Nox!

I understand some of the words~

So, can I assume that if the boss is strong enough to be in a category of their own, it is not going to respawn?

That reminds me, the weird mask got its own system message announcing its spawn, didn't it…? Can it be that it's a one-time boss, and the materials I got are never going to appear again in the market?

…Let's not think too much about that one, un. did say I could get the materials back by dismantling the crafted gear. Nothing could go wrong with that!

_ Fensen: But I wanna see it~

_ Poltea: , don't be so selfish.

_ Fensen: But…

_ Shadyna: They will shoot you again if you get close.

This kind of fierce competition is what happens when one-time bosses are used. Was Sateri aiming for this…?

_ Fensen: Uuu…

____________

Parting with the curious girls, the revived player returns to camp.

_ Guard #1: Who's there?!

_ Player: It's me.

With the main force moving back to Tyrel to deal with the waitresses (unsuccessfully), the few players garrisoning this fort are a bit on edge. They can handle a few stray monsters no problem, but a pack of high-end aggressive mobs or an organized attack from other guilds are out of their league.

_ Guard #2: Phew… I thought it was another monster attack.

_ Player: Monster attack?

Opening the gate to let his friend in, the guard sighs.

_ Guard #2: Yeah. Monsters came out of nowhere and rammed the gate! Humanoid monsters, even! Sateri-chan must have just added them in recently.

_ Player: …Eh?

_ Guard #1: Just like the ones over there.

The guard on the wall points at the group just popping out of the portal not too far from them.

A girl on top of a flower, a girl on an oversized golem, and another girl on one of the six beetles accompanying them.

Inside the walls.

In other words, right in the middle of the camp.

_ Player: EH?!

_ Guard #2: The heck?! ALERT! ALERT!!!

One thing for sure, that guy on the wall is not going to get guard duty ever again.

____________

The cute little girls are being chased by scary people~

_ Fensen: Whoops, too close to the gate.

_ Shadyna: Did you get the calculations wrong?

_ Fensen: Probably~

_ Poltea: You are getting a supplementary lesson tomorrow, !

_ Fensen: I'm sorry for everything I have done!!!

RIP , it was nice knowing you. There are few things worse than a timid girl's wrath.

Because the guards would not let us pass, we decided to take the normal course of action that is to sneak through the defense.

…That is not normal? There's no way we would turn a blind eye to a one-time boss! Besides, there may be some area with great scenery nearby, which will go away if this boss's death also changes the environment like the weird mask.

Un, going back was never an option. However, I prefer, you know, sneaking in without raising the alarms!

_ Shadyna: [Shared Fate]. , shield our rear!

_ Poltea: G-got it!

Time to put her new shields to the test!

*BOOM*

_ Poltea: Kya!

They are shooting spells at us! Still, 's shields will provide full cover for our characters. The bosses are too big to be shielded however.

_ Fensen: Are you alright?!

_ Poltea: I-I'm fine! Probably… Un, HP is still high…

_ Shadyna: Move some shields to the front. Full speed ahead~!

For some reason we have switched to the starship-simulator genre now.

_ Fensen: Wait, where are you going?!

Eh?

The beetles are not following , but instead turned around towards the screaming guards. The one I am riding on is not an exception.

Not that it's a problem for me in particular, as I jump off and can still keep up with the two girls even on foot.

_ Former corpse: RUN! RUN!!!

_ Guard: Tell my wife I love her! AAAHHHHH!!!

Says the poor guy as he gets mauled to oblivion by the beetles. Welp. We really didn't think it through about the whole "cannot control" aspect of the domesticated pets…

Oh well, sacrifices must be made for the sake of science!

_ Former corpse: She doesn't even exist!!!

While they are distracted (and murdered) by the beetles, we make a run for it~

_ Fensen: I'm sorry! I will revive you later!

In other words, most likely never.

_ Shadyna: Let's hurry. Their friends will come to their rescue soon.

This is a fort from the looks of it, so reinforcements should be expected.

Elri was complaining about me building outside of Tyrel, but isn't this even worse? These guys built a whole encampment above ground! How did they survive raids with so few guards anyway? Do they have more guards during raids or do they have someone like Hessy who eats raids for breakfast?

…If there was indeed someone as strong as Hessy post-upgrade, I will need to craft her new gears using my newly upgraded attributes huh. Let's do that tomorrow just to be safe.

That aside, the fort does have the whole militaristic feeling in it. Over there are the tents where players rest up, probably. A big tent stands in front of multiple wooden buildings, probably the command tent and supply storages. On the ground, various labor tools can be seen, which are the ones used to build this whole site in the first place I assume.

With so much infrastructure in this area, can it be that they intend to stay for some time? I can't imagine this simply being roleplaying.

Let's screenshot this. Some civilization can still make a good scenery~

_ Former corpse: GUAH!

_ Guard on the wall: ARGH! But I had the high ground…!

I'll make sure to avoid the gory bits in my screenshots~

_ Fensen: Now I've done it…

_ Shadyna: Aim at the tents. Destroy all of them, starting from that biggest one.

_ Fensen: Roger~

_ Poltea: You are not repenting at all!

If the enemies are far away, their fastest route to us would be [Recall]. And considering how the tents are built, their [Recall] coordinates are most likely the big command tent that screams "I am an important target". Even if they have other locations to use, it will take a while to find one that has not been destroyed.

Too bad setting fire to stuff is not a thing in the game huh~

_ Fensen: Here goes~ Maximum firepower~

With several loud booms, only a smoking crater remains at what was once a very big tent.

Scary! That combined firepower of seven cannons shooting at the same time is too scary!

_ Fensen: Hmm… Some of them landed too late… Shooting while moving sure is hard~

I invoke my right to remain silent. This cheeky girl~

_ Poltea: , there are people in front of us!

Un, I can see that.

Or rather, shouldn't you be more concerned about that "thing" which is as big as a two-story building and the small hill behind it?! Did you fail a spot check somewhere?!

Yes, we have arrived at the boss, and the confused raiding parties.

A gigantic beast that dwarfs even the golem is riding. Its antlers remind me of the elks and moose in real life, except that those animals are not the size of a house, and their antlers are not made shiny diamond-like crystals!

Are you sure this boss belongs here instead of the crystal-filled valley, Sateri?

Well, its skin has a light gray rocky texture similar to that of the golem, so it's not all crystalline. Rather than calling it skin, it is more like… scales. Rock-scaled giant elk huh. If that thing does not have higher defense than the weird mask, I may have to file a complaint.

_ Shadyna: Full shield to front!

_ Poltea: Understood!

Yes, yes, obligatory [Inspect] too.

[Protector Beast Schennul: The great beast guarding the grove since primordial time. Once a weak and blind creature, it asked the fireflies to lend it light. The fireflies agreed, asking for the beast's protection in return. Both sides have been keeping their promises against many adversaries ever since.]

So uh, is this beast making a protection racket? Because that's what it sounds like to me~

If it weren't for the wedding ring on my finger, I would be very tempted to make eyes out of the weird mask's stones and ask the beast if it would want them instead. At least this boss's description is not filled with eye jokes…

That also explains its glowing eyes, which is nice. The light is kind of dim and greenish though, which is different from the yellowish-white light our lanterns emit.

…Still, wouldn't it aim at us with maximum aggression because of the captive fireflies?

_ Player #1: Enemy attack!!!

_ Player #2: In case you are streaming, we have been expecting you thanks to the brave sacrifices of the guards!

No, you don't need to explain whether we were streaming or not… And some of you didn't get the memo it seems, considering their current expressions.

_ Player #1: [Nature Bolt]!

It's the scary needle again!!!

…Which flies magnificently at 's shield and gets deflected with a sharp "Clang".

_ Poltea: …Did something hit us?

_ Shadyna: It may be scary but don't cover your eyes with shields.

Driving blind makes a truck coming your way less terrifying, but you are sure as heck to get transferred to another world that way. Not that I have any experience with the latter mind you~

_ Fensen: Do I need to shoot anything?

_ Shadyna: Un, no need to. Just try to avoid incoming attacks.

We are just peaceful young girls in the neighborhood after all~ That, and six buffed up beetles acquiring their newest targets.

As a pacifist, I am not going to interfere with their conflict~

_ Player #2: By the power of friendsh… BLERGH!

That ramming looks painful. As in, "performing a world transfer ritual" level of painful. That player flies quite a distance before dropping to the ground like a ragdoll. Scary~

_ Player #1: I will aven… BLARGH!

Talking is not a free action for 's personal bodyguards.

There are even fewer players here than the previous assassination attempt, so it's no surprise that they got dispatched quite quickly. One by one, they suffered the horrible fate of getting crunched by giant insects. Resistance was futile against such overwhelming strength that is the buffed-by-Sateri minions~

I am not responsible for this, un.

Meanwhile, the big boss over there was standing idly, probably laughing at the misery of its enemies. Not that I know about the internal thoughts of bonus bosses to begin with…

_ Fensen: Oh~ So tall~

You don't say.

_ Poltea: It looks really strong…

_ Player #1: Don't think this is over! Our guild will soon come to avenge us!!!

Should I "silence" these corpses so we can have an immersive appreciation of the majestic beast…? Unlike the weird mask, this boss actually has the looks befitting its title.

Why did I not encounter this one first? Sad face~

_ Fensen: Is it not attacking?

_ Poltea: I'm glad… I don't want to fight it…

That peacefulness alone is enough to gain a higher ranking than the weird mask in my mind.

Screenshot~!

_ ???: This isn't over yet!!!

A rogue-looking player suddenly stands up among the dead. Did the beetles somehow miss her?

_ Player #2: In case you are still streaming, that player has [Fake Death] skill, allowing her to trick monsters and oblivious players into thinking that she was dead!

Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Corpse, but could you be a good dead body and remain silent over there? And we are not streaming!

Meanwhile, the rogue sprinted towards… the mega-elk. Why?!

_ Rogue: Please hit! [Pierce]!!!

With a determined expression of someone who has nothing to lose, she flings a dagger at Schennul. Do you really have to say that line? The boss is as big as a building! At that range, it is hard to miss even if you try!!!

Unexpectedly, the dagger hits somewhere at the neck of the beast, creating a loud "Clang" as it gets deflected by the thick stony scales. Because she used [Pierce], there must be at least some damage right?

…Yeah, it turned to her. Mega-elk is not amused.

*WHAM*

As the elk slams its massive right front hoof to the ground, the earth erupts into spiky towers pointing in all directions. More importantly, the area of effect is a straight line to the target!

_ Rogue: Suffer, heretics! BLERGH!!!

She got launched into the sky when the spikes came smashing like a wrecking ball. Thank Sateri it's not -censored imagination-, because those spikes look sharp enough to skewer most meaty stuff in the way!

Still, we got involved with lots of bosses today huh~

…

Is something supposed to happen? We are standing still with all shields in front. The dead players are still dead. The boss is (most likely) snickering at said dead people. There's also the beetles casually crawling back to us.

Un, the boss is not attacking.

_ Player #1: WHY?!

Don't ask me~

____________

_ Cinrald: And so, please wear this swimsuit.

_ Fuelri: Don't "And so" me! You haven't even explained anything!!!

The poor elf girl swam back to the shores just to find the crazy archer wearing a white bikini of unknown origin, next to an overly-muscular orc with only his trunks. It took all of her courage not to scream "PERVERTS!" from the top of her virtual lungs!

Worst of all, this shameless person is offering her a swimsuit as well!

_ Cinrald: *Sighs* Because it's the beach.

_ Muscle-brain: IT'S THE BEACH, BABY!

The muscle-brain starts posing as if he was in a fitness competition!

_ Cinrald: Please wear it.

_ Fuelri: Are you even trying to persuade me?!

_ Cinrald: I am, so please wear it.

_ Muscle-brain: SHOW THEM YOUR FA~BULOUS ABS, BABY!

_ Fuelri: YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!

What have I done to deserve this hellish nightmare, thinks the poor elven girl.

And she doesn't have six-pack!!!