Chapter 1498 December 15th: Burning Flames

Inactive Volcanic Crater Lake. Or the place that is simply known as the Crater Lake for short..

The awakening of the Raid Monster that evaporates every single drop of water in the crater lake, and the volcano reactivated by a large-scale energy explosion is also suppressed by that energy, it’s a phenomenon that seems to be inconsistent at first glance. The crater was now about to overflow, but as a result it was filled with cold and solidified magma, forming a steady foothold.

「Vorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyy ……」

「There it is! The Great Red Wing!」

「Could it be that it is still recovering from that previous discharge?」

「Isn’t this like, our chance?」

「Stupid, if that was all that it takes to beat it, then it wouldn’t be called a Raid Monster! For the time being, let’s try to surround it and hit it from different directions. If you have a Tank here, let them go ahead!」

「A chance is a chance! You gotta use it!」

「Ahh! What an idiot.」

Many Players started to flood there. They are more or less alert, but they are so quiet that it seems unlikely that they were shining as much light as they could be seen from Thirdrema, but they were all intending to have their shot at the Great Red Wing, even if the heat radiating off of it alone was more than enough to burn some of the weaker Players on the spot. But they all surrounded it and took out their weapons.

Thirdrema has just been invaded by the wandering Great Epidemic, and it is new to many Players that it has the ability to slaughter a large number of Players effortlessly, even if it looks weak at first glance……

However, there are also Players who hold their weapons in the upper row and charge as if they didn’t know that such a thing existed in this world.

「Buuuuurrrnn……… !!」

「Ahh!」

The Player who swung his sword and was assaulting at the burning Great Red Wing that was floating at the right height for humans to hit it with their swords, and in response it just flapped its burning wings…… and then it happened. Once the heat wave touched the Player’s sword it melted it away, and cut the Player’s HP to zero in an instant, causing that Player to disappear…… No, he was simply burned to a crisp.

「Huh, is that an instant death technique?」

「No, it’s just that his equipment had its durability reduced to a level that doesn’t even offer any kind of protection…… I don’t want to think too much, but he must have suffered combustion-related slip damage at a speed that seems to be an instant death……」

「Ahh, ahh, by all means, it looks like we need to deploy some disposable pieces of equipment here if we don’t want to lose our top gear……」

「“Yuusha-sama”, it’s too brave even for you to challenge Raid Monsters with apt equipment when we know that it can respond with an attack quite like that……」

The Players were staring at the merciful gaze that the equipment, which was obviously time-consuming to obtain, was burned down by the “residual heat”, which means that they are pretty much defenseless in here. Recognizing that the burning Great Red Wing is still a Raid Monster with the power to genocide the Players by the doozens, even though they were far from being called organized, but thy managed to divide themselves into avant-garde, middle-guard, and rearguard to form a siege formation.

「The buffers should strengthen the Tanks for the time being!」

「We don’t know if it’s the debuff, or how exactly it’s being applied!」

「It looks like the heat can be resisted, but it’s really weird……」

「Oh shit! The Poison potion evaporated just now!」

「I wonder if I’ll get a sunburn if I get naked here.」

「Isn’t that thanks to the ultraviolet light? No, don’t try it!」

The Players here were still uncoordinated as ever, however, they had a shift from a sloppy mess to a near-cohesive state, united by the common of subduing the Raid Monster. Some Tanks were given heat resistance and increased defense, and the tanks naturally come to the front line to protect the firepower ones and the rearguards.

「The rearguard will release the water-based magic first! If you don’t want to eat it face–first, don’t go out there!!」

「That’s fine and all, but don’t hit us to the back by accident!」

Even if you are a red stranger, if you look at the same enemy on the same battlefield, you will have a sense of companionship. Perhaps because the Player who was ahead was turned to ash by the Burning Great Red Wing, the Players who came with irreplaceable apt equipment by mistakenly misunderstanding the nature of this event have already begun to withdraw as far away from here as they possibly could, so this place was now filled with only the Players who are knowledgeable about risk management, dressed in replaceable equipment. Only such veterans were left in the game from now on.

The Magicians start chanting, the Tanks hold their shield so that they can deal with the first strike by the Burning Great Red Wing, and the firepower workers can put it out now if there is a slight gap. And then they walk forward so that they could hit the maximum firepower.

「“Splash Force”!!」

「“Water Press”!!」

「Desperate times, desperate measures! “Tidal Triton Trident”!!」

「“Aquatic Burst”!!」

「Eat this!! “Oceanus Grand Wave”!!」

「Here I go! “Akeron Spiral”!!」

The wizards in this place, who have mastered the great skills related to water, shoot all their best skills that they are so proud of. Not only that, the earth rises, lightning strikes, and the blades of the wind cuts through the void. This is where the rearguard shines, and a lot of magic rushes towards the Burning Great Red Wing.

「Svooooooaaaaaaaaarrrrmmmm …… !!」

The red demonic butterfly, which was hit directly by lightning, chopped by the wind, struck with the ground, and exposed to a large amount of water…… Started to release something by touching the water’s surface.

「What ………!?」

「A wind!?」

「No, this is … a steam explosion!!」

「Wowahahahah!!!」

A huge amount of hot steam swells at once and sweeps away the Players. There were some Tanks that accidentally activated their skills to step on and stayed there, but most Players were literally pushed out by explosive steam and blown away. Furthermore, this water vapor is also too hot for human skin to withstand, and many of the Players would suffer slip damage and their lives will be destroyed in an instant.

Certainly the Players here are not amateurs. Some Players have a level at ninety nine, or even a three-digit level that goes beyond that. However, the large red-winged Raid Monster, which burns so much that it can be laid down with just its strength, is not a wall that can be easily overcome.

Because this is Shangri-La Frontier. The road to victory is always ahead of you, but you can only reach it with an understanding of the setting.