Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Birds of a Feather Flock Together

With the addition of two powerful allies, they managed to defeat all the giant serpents in the area. Shio decided to speak with the Wind Spirit soldiers.

“…So, we’re going to take a 30-minute break now. Is that okay?”

“Yes, Shio-sama. The adventurers have been protecting us at great personal risk. We have no objections.”

With their approval, Shio immediately ordered all the soldiers to rest.

Fatigue had already accumulated to 20% across the entire force. If they didn’t take time to recover, pushing forward four more times to reach the goal would be suicidal. The battle had already been raging for two hours.

The mental strain was clearly wearing on everyone.

As soon as the rest order was given, most people collapsed onto the ground, utterly exhausted.

The only ones left here were the members of the ?Hunters of the Twilight? clan, and their reinforcements, Shin and Rou. When they started, there had been dozens of other novice adventurers, but now, not a single one remained.

It seemed they had all fallen to the ?Leviathan Army? and dropped out of the event.

Given the limited number of ?lives? they had, it made sense that they would think it wasn’t worth dying for nothing.

“Hmmp, cowards!”

Mana muttered angrily, irritated by the novice adventurers who had retired on the first day. Shio shook her head.

“You’re as blunt as ever. Honestly, expecting too much from novice adventurers in an online game is a mistake in itself.”

“But aren’t there exceptions among them?” Mana glanced at the tall boy with black hair and the cheerful boy with brown hair who were walking toward them.

If you use them as a standard, most adventurers would seem weak, wouldn’t they?

After all, these two had once fought alongside her brother against ‘Satan’, one of the most difficult bosses in the VR game. “The Annihilator” Shin and “The Knight King” Rou. These titles were as famous as “Black Flash”, known to every player in the online gaming world.

Even if Mana were to have a one-on-one duel, I think they would lose to those people due to the difference in play skill.

“Those guys are the exception.”

Shio stood up and told Mana, “I’ll be right back,” then walked over to the two boys.

Come to think of it, this was the first time they’d met in the game. Shin spoke up first.

“That was a close call, Shio-chan.”

“Looks like you’re doing well with the event. We got here just in time, it seems.”

“Thanks, you really saved us.”

When Shio expressed her gratitude, Shin looked around and asked one thing.

“What happened to the leader of the ?Hunters of the Twilight?? If he were here, it wouldn’t have been this tough, right?”

“Yoru-san seemed to vanish somewhere after entering the forest.”

“Ah, I see,” both of them said in unison, their faces showing understanding.

Yoru was the adventurer’s player name for the leader of the ?Hunters of the Twilight?, a level 18 Summoner. The two, who had known him well for a long time, exchanged glances and smiled wryly, each sharing their thoughts about Yoru.

“His habit of wandering around new maps, even at the expense of events, hasn’t changed.”

“He’s the type who likes to explore every nook and cranny. Since it’s a forest, it might take him a while, so there’s a good chance he won’t be back until this event is over.”

“Y-yeah, I figured it would turn out like that…”

Although Shio had somewhat prepared herself, it seemed they would have to fight without their leader this time. When she looked troubled, unsure of what to do, Shin and Rou exchanged glances and nodded deeply.

“That means Shio-chan’s group is going to have a pretty tough time. Wouldn’t it be better if we stayed with them until the event is over?” Shin suggested.

“Yeah, it looks like we can join the clan as mercenaries just for the duration of the event,” Rou added.

“R-really? That’s okay?” Shio asked, surprised.

If these two joined as reinforcements, there couldn’t be any better support. The mercenary system could only be used when a clan directly requested it from an individual or when there was a recruitment post in the guild.

Shio’s eyes sparkled, and before applying for their mercenary status, she sent them friend requests, thinking about the future as well.

Shin and Rou gladly accepted.

Then, as Shio was about to send the clan’s mercenary application from her friends list, she saw their levels and widened her eyes.

“L-Level 16…!?”

She had to do a double-take.

The level was so high, she thought it might be a display bug.

Seeing Shio’s reaction, Shin puffed out his chest and said, “Yeah, we’ve been working really hard since then. We’re pretty close to reaching the top tier now.”

“We’ve been doing repetitive side-to-side movements right at the edge of our fatigue limit,” Rou added.

“Y-you both reached level 16 just by duo-leveling…!?”

It didn’t make sense.

No, it was beyond strange.

They had only started this game yesterday, yet they were already just two levels behind her—this was unheard of.

In ?Astral Online?, leveling up in a party splits the experience points, so unless you can defeat monsters at more than double the speed of solo play, your efficiency drops dramatically. And even when leveling solo, you still need to take breaks due to fatigue.

Rou mentioned that they had been constantly doing side-to-side movements right at the edge of their fatigue limit.

In other words, whenever their fatigue levels approached halfway, they would take a short break, then resume hunting enemies as their fatigue decreased, repeating this process tirelessly between the two of them.

The logic was sound, and it wasn’t an impossible way to level up. However…

“What exactly were you two hunting?” Shio asked.

“?Metal Slimes?,” Shin and Rou answered succinctly.

Upon hearing that, she was left speechless. ?Metal Slimes?—those fast-escaping creatures that are notoriously difficult to defeat unless you have at least three people.

And they managed to do it with just the two of them?

“M-Metal Slimes…?”

“Yeah, it’s simple: first, I’d use ?Thunder Lance? to stun them, then the two of us would finish them off with ?Sonic Sword?,” Shin explained.

“Shin’s accuracy is as incredible as ever. He can hit a ?Metal Slimes? perfectly, even from over 50 meters away,” Rou added.

“F-fifty meters…!?”

Wait a minute. If she recalled correctly, ?Metal Slimes? were only about 50 centimeters in size. Was it really possible to target and hit a moving ?Metal Slimes? with a magical spear from over 50 meters away?

Even with some assistance from the game’s system, at that distance, the aid would be minimal at best.

Among all the adventurers she knew, not one could pull off such a miraculous feat. Maybe Rino, the vice-captain, could manage it from 20 meters away, but what Shin was doing was more than double that distance.

“And you, Rou, you were constantly scoring critical hits by slicing through the Metal Slimes’ cores with an 80% success rate. To me, that’s even more baffling.”

“Once you can discern which parts of the body your enemy is protecting, pinpointing the location of their vital organs becomes a simple task,” Rou replied.

“I see… I don’t get it,” Shin said.

Yeah, Shio didn’t understand either.

Sure, the game was intricately designed, with details like subtle chest movements corresponding to breathing. But being able to detect the precise movements that reveal such a weak spot, as Rou mentioned? That was beyond her comprehension.

And this was about ?Metal Slimes?.

The cores of slime-type enemies are notoriously hard to target because they constantly move around. Being able to cut them with such precision was far beyond just a difficult task.

While her brother was a monster within the game thanks to a boost in overall experience points, these two were monsters outside of it, displaying real-world skills that were exceptional.

Realizing that there was no point in trying to understand it any further, Shio sent them the mercenary application.