Preparations Should Always Be Thorough

 

• • Crunch!

The sound of muscle and bone separating echoes through the alley.

In the midst of a scene of carnage vibrating with the smell of blood, a pretty girl is humming a pleasant tune.

“Hmm hmm hmm~”

• • Crunch!

Several black tentacles erupting from the girl mercilessly devour the corpses scattered on the ground.

Large tentacles swallow corpses whole, while multiple smaller tentacles tear corpses into tiny pieces and consume them.

“Whew, I’m full. But… it still doesn’t taste good.”

The girl looked back.

A horrific street covered in dark red color.

But there is no trace of guilt in the girl’s expression.

Only regret for not having eaten something more delicious lingers.

“Sigh…. I miss my brother.”

Just then, the sound of someone’s shoes echoed through the blood-soaked alley.

“Eve, I told you to eat neatly. What are we going to do with this mess you’ve made?”

“Mother~!”

The girl, that is, Eve, spotted a woman and immediately widened her eyes, then ran toward her with a bright smile.

“Mother! Where did you go today?”

The woman, who picked Eve up and stroked her head, answered kindly.

“I brought a gift for our Eve~”

“A gift? What kind of gift?”

“Ta-da~ Take a look at this.”

The woman entered the blood-soaked alley.

Then she took out a bottle containing a transparent liquid from her bosom and dropped a single drop of the potion into the alley.

At that moment, the blood, flesh, and broken bone fragments scattered throughout the alley gathered in one place, then compressed and were reborn in the form of a small red bead.

“It’s called Angel’s Tear, and with this, Eve will be able to eat on her own without mom’s help.”

The woman placed the Angel’s Tear in Eve’s hand and said while stroking her.

“Eve, we’ll have to stay apart for a while.”

“What…? Why, why?! I, I want to stay with mother….”

“Instead, you’ll get to meet your brother. It’s just that mom can’t go to where your brother is freely, so only Eve will go.”

“My brother…..”

Eve’s eyes, which had become gloomy, gradually began to regain vitality.

“It’s your first time meeting your brother, right? Do you want to see him?”

“Yes! I want to talk with my brother….. play together…. and…..”

Eve said with a bright smile.

“I want to eat… Oh, I shouldn’t eat my brother.”

Looking at that peculiar sight, the woman chuckled and stroked Eve’s head again.

“However, there are many things to be careful about to live where your brother is. As much as there is delicious food, there are also many dangerous people. So, mom will set rules. If you follow those rules well, our Eve will be safe.”

“Yes! I can’t wait to see my brother!”

A nightmare is approaching.

---

Time passed, and the day of the mock occupation war arrived.

“Whew, I hope everything goes as planned.”

My goal is to repel all other teams targeting my territory alone. Since each team usually forms a group of 10, I simply need to stop 30 people by myself.

1 against 30. It’s a rather abstract number, but with my old game tricks, nothing is impossible. If things go as planned, there won’t be any problems.

That’s what I’ve been training for until now. I can definitely do it. Let’s trust myself.

• • The mock occupation war will begin in 10 seconds.

“Little brother. Aren’t you too tense? Loosen up your shoulders.”

Ten seconds before the occupation war started, Pascal approached me as I stood quietly waiting for the Matrix’s warp. He looked quite carefree with a smile on his face.

“Tense? Not at all. It’s because the team members Lord Pascal assigned me are so reliable.”

“Right? I knew you’d like it.”

He gives a rotten smile. Ha, if it weren’t for that petty personality, he would have been much more appealing as a person. Such a pity, such a pity.

“Haha, either way, I plan to do my moderate best so as not to hold back my team members.”

• • The mock occupation war will begin in 5 seconds.

“So Lord Pascal should also try not to hold the team back.”

I patted Pascal’s seemingly carefree shoulder.

“Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if you put on all that bravado and then get completely crushed?”

“…This bastard.”

Yes. That face suits you best.

Warp initiation.

• • Flash!

As the mock occupation war began, Pascal’s distorted face disappeared from in front of me.

Everyone had been warped to their respective territories.

The last glimpse of Pascal’s face was quite satisfying. This is a good start.

Looking around, this is the territory I’m supposed to be responsible for.

Seeing the familiar appearance of the training ground gives me a bit of relief.

“No time to rest.”

With the warp initiated, the mock occupation war has essentially begun. If I don’t prepare quickly, other teams could soon invade my territory.

“In the game, there should be a supply box around here… Ah, there it is.”

Looking up at the sky and glancing around, I spotted a brown box slowly descending not far away.

I headed to where the box landed, bent down, and began to examine it carefully.

[The 4-star fire magic Flame Touch is an ‘enchant type’ magic that surrounds one’s body with flames. The conditions needed to change the nature of Flame Touch are….]

The box had a paper attached with what appeared to be complicated problems.

Probably solving the problems would provide the corresponding key, but that’s not my job.

• • Click.

“Heh, without tools, both body and mind suffer.”

I took the master key out of my inventory and easily unlocked the box. It feels so sweet to gain benefits without any effort.

Now let’s check what’s inside.

[Teleport Scroll X 1]

[Water Strike Scroll X 1]

[Puzzling Potion X 1]

“Hmm, two scrolls and one potion.”

One scroll is a high-level magic scroll that attacks enemies by spraying high-pressure water from the ground, and the other teleports me to a random space within the territory. It’s easier to think of it as an escape item.

“This is lucky.”

All of them are useful scrolls for me.

First, Water Strike magic has decent damage. It can be used as a trump card for me, who has no attack skills at all, making it like rain during a drought.

The Teleport Scroll also boasts quite high efficiency in my current position.

I’m in a situation where I need to defend rather than occupy territory. In a situation where I have to face dozens of people simultaneously, a Teleport Scroll will be much more helpful than a mediocre attack.

“And I don’t particularly plan to fight.”

To occupy a territory, you must eliminate all members of the team occupying that territory.

To put it negatively, if I get eliminated, this territory will be taken, but conversely, as long as I’m alive, this territory will never be occupied by another team.

“Of course, the enemies have brains too, so they’ll comb through this territory like lice to catch me.”

But I’ve thought everything through. I’ve come up with several appropriate tactics when I received the scrolls earlier.

I’m not called a veteran Grand Fantasia player for nothing.

“This potion… I have no idea how to use it, but I should try to utilize it somehow.”

The potion from the supply box was quite ambiguous.

A potion that gives a random buff when consumed. It might seem useful at first glance, but in reality, it’s like a chicken that you can’t eat but is useless to keep since it often gives negative effects, making me reluctant to use it.

“I’ve been eliminated right after drinking that before.”

I definitely won’t be drinking it myself.

After putting the supplies into my inventory, I activated Natural Mirror and strode towards the place where the training magic devices were located.

There were various training devices placed there for students, such as devices that randomly fire magic of varying difficulties, and swordsman dummies whose levels change according to settings. It’s exactly like reality.

I approached each one and set them all to the highest difficulty and highest level.

Of course, I didn’t press the training start button. If I pressed it now, an unfortunate incident could occur where I eliminate myself before the enemies even arrive.

I did various other tasks afterward. Minor tasks like drilling holes here and there.

“Lend me the key as promised.”

During work, Charlotte came through a dimensional rift and asked for the key, which I willingly handed over. After receiving the key, she disappeared through the dimensional rift, and then immediately reappeared in front of me to return the key.

Honestly, I thought she would just take it, so this is unexpected.

“…You just had a strange thought, didn’t you?”

“Come on, of course not.”

Charlotte glanced at me accusingly, then snorted and disappeared from in front of me through a dimensional rift.

While I was in the midst of modifying the training ground, a group of people approaching from a distance was detected through Natural Mirror.

There are three groups in total. They’re probably teams from Blue Team, Green Team, and Yellow Team, excluding my Red Team, coming to occupy this place. They’ve arrived as expected.

Stopping my work and straightening my back, I looked in the direction where the enemies were approaching and murmured quietly.

“It’s starting.”

As always, let’s do my moderate best.