“…Yes.”
“Shouldn’t you be thanking Momonga-san and Flatfoot-san?”
“Mm. Thank you, guys. Sorry about that, I think I got a bit carried away.”
Peroroncino’s words were devoid of energy. His subdued, obedient way of speaking made him sound like a dog which had been hit by a shock baton.
After hearing her brother’s apology, Bukubukuchagama left the bunker.
Of the three people watching her leave, Flatfoot was the first to break the silence.
“…Haaahh, your big sis is scary. Super scary. Scarier than my department chief. She really knows how to change her voice.”
“She’s not a bad person. And I don’t know if it’s because she’s a seiyuu, but she has a really powerful voice. Its impact is even greater in Yggdrasil, since our faces don’t move in the game…”
“You sure are tough, Momonga-san.”
Flatfoot placed his hand over his heart. There was no heartbeat for him to feel, but it had affected him there.
Momonga fully understood what he meant by that.
Games like Yggdrasil — DMMORPGs — were all very realistic. As a result, it was not at all unusual to feel that this was reality.
Of course, the fact that expressions did not change, or because there was no sense of taste and so on were handy indicators that this was still a game world.
“I’m not that tough. Still, I felt like I was standing in front of a scary boss.”
The two of them chuckled quietly.
Momonga smiled — though his face did not move — and then urged the other two onward.
“Alright, let’s move out! We’re the only ones left.”
Part 4
With one eye on their surroundings, the players climbed a run-down flight of stairs into the building. The interior was unexpectedly impressive, with five statues standing tall. Stone slabs were set near the feet of the statues. However, the group was some distance away and could not read what was on them. Of course, there were spells to read the writing, but nobody was in the mood for that.
Momonga had a bad feeling about this.
He had seen this sort of dungeon design several times in the past.
The enthusiasm he had up till here was nowhere to be found.
“Ah, Momonga-san, this looks like a simultaneous attack dungeon. And it looks to be the hardest kind, the sort that needs five parties to progress. Then again, we should probably be glad it’s not one of those dungeons that needs 36-man parties (a legion) and allows two guilds to cooperate on invading them. Those are just crazy.”
Momonga groaned quietly as Tabula Smaragdina’s words vindicated his sense of foreboding. There was muttering from around him as well.
Many people hated simultaneous-attack dungeons, also known as “die-by-yourself dungeons”. Dungeons like these required several parties working in unison along different routes to complete.
Of course, it was only right that everyone should work together toward a common objective. However, it was annoying to be split up.
This was an unknown dungeon which nobody had explored before.
The fact that they knew nothing about it fueled their anger at the shitty developers and honed their excitement at the idea of finding rare data crystals. If they could not stay together and share their joys and sorrow, the fun factor would be halved — no, it would be worse than that.
Although he was not the superstitious sort, he could not help but feel uncomfortable that the guild’s first activity was something like this.
Still, he could not whine about it. After all, it was his idea to delve into this dungeon, and everyone was gathered here because they supported him. Being even more wilful than this was not what a guildmaster should do.
Just then, Punitto Moe began suggesting team assignments, as though ignoring Momonga’s internal shock.
“How shall we proceed then, Tabula-san? This is a deviation from the original plan, and now we’ll need five parties.”
“Indeed. The question now is how to allocate everyone. We should probably discuss this together. Things being as they are, we should have the crafters come in as well, since it would be hard to be pressed from behind anyway.”
The basic 6-man party configuration in Yggdrasil was one tank, two attackers, one healer, one seeker and a wildcard, who was capable of adapting to changing situations.
They had to evenly allocate their manpower into five parties, which was a fairly brainpower-intensive task.
Anyone taking on this task needed to be intimately familiar with everyone’s abilities and preferences. A team that was put together sloppily would not be able to succeed. Therefore, assigning party rosters was one of the greatest challenges of such an endeavour.
The question now was how to clear this dungeon.
Dungeons like these were typically designed so that everyone would meet up at the boss room, whereupon they would face the raid boss together.
If this pattern held true, then the parties had to be balanced.
For instance, even two parties filled with the strongest members would have a hard time successfully clearing the entire dungeon. That being the case, it would probably be better to have four teams reach the boss and defeat him. There was strength in numbers after all. If there was no vast difference in individual abilities, 24 people would always be better than 12 people.
Even if Warrior Takemikazuchi — one of the strongest members of Ainz Ooal Gown — was attacked by two players of equal level, there was a high chance of him being defeated. The fact was that for every one attack he launched, he would be taking two in exchange. Of course, there were some monstrous types who could win when outnumbered two to one, but those were few and far between.
Therefore, the most important thing was to not lose anyone and reach the dungeon’s core.
Punitto Moe stood before everyone and discussed the matter of personnel assignment.
Momonga remained silent. Punitto Moe was the best planner in the group, so it would be fine to let him handle things. Most likely, everyone here would think that too. It would probably be fine even if he began giving orders.
In many games, one could not reorganize a party outside of a safe zone, or certain designated locations. However, in YGGDRASIL, one could freely change one’s party anywhere and anytime. This allowed for very flexible parties, and with a good team, one could overcome any difficulty.
However, the effects of party-wide magic and skills terminated once the party was disbanded. One had to take that drawback into consideration when regrouping. That trick would not work if used in a dire situation.
He looked around at his guildmates. Some of them were changing their gear. Some of them were briefly offline for a bathroom break, and some of them were talking excitedly with Punitto Moe.
Although they all seemed to be doing their own thing, Momonga could feel a strange sense of coordination permeating the scene.
Slowly, the Magical Attackers, Physical Attackers, Tanks, Healers, Seekers and Others were assigned to their parties.
Momonga fell into the “Other” category.
“Others” were not unnecessary. While they were uncommon for the most part, this guild — Ainz Ooal Gown — was different. To them, “Others” were challenging classes who could adapt to many different circumstances.
Momonga used the drops from PKing — the corpses of other players — to learn many different spells. Because of that, he was typically placed in this position during dungeon raids.
Of course, he was not given this position because he could use many different spells, but because he could use suitable spells for the appropriate situation.
Because he had to handle this difficult task, Momonga had priority on the corpses from PKing, as a sign of his comrade’s faith in his abilities.
In return, Momonga gave his all for his comrades, and they all felt that he could do no wrong.
Finally, Punitto Moe announced the party assignments.