Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 59

Prologue

Thw World of Discernment.

It was the world of human that was developed using steam machine.

Trains and tramcars ran through the capital. The humans were dressed  in suits or dress. The buildings were made from bricks. Pipes were laid  out on the buildings and steams gushed out from there.

There were a lot of workshops here. The upper limit of player level was set to be at 100.

It was a world that was created to be the base of players at the  middle stage where they could experience new interesting things.

It was in such world, the player Ponsuke was hiding behind a crumbling building.

(It’s really troublesome.)

A robot with size more than twice of orc was walking around. It was  so big that other had to look up to it and its size blocked the  sunlight.

The ground shook each time it stepped. The building was shaking and dust crumbled down.

The problem was the new type of monster that appeared in the Capital of Discernment, the robot.

Not only its appearance was impactful, it was made from machine, and  there were pipes and cogwheels that were visible over its body.

Its background story was that it was the guard for the capital that existed in the past.

It was a weapon that was left behind by a destroyed country.

Its hand was holding a large axe, while its left hand was lost. One  of its round eyes was also not shining. But, its figure that was still  moving even with all those damages was eerie.

(It looks too scary even though it really set up the atmosphere.)

The guild [Ponsuke and the Merry Bunch] had to fight and win against four robots so they could progress to the next world.

But, as expected from the world that was the gateway to the middle stage of the game, the difficulty level had become harsher.

Ponsuke signaled with his hands at his friends who were hiding at the  surrounding. Some players who were at slight distance away came out  while making conversation within the party.

『This way mister giant.』

『No, that’s a robot right?』

The robot’s head was turning toward them with creaking sound because they were intentionally communicating with each other.

The robot stepped out from its determined course and started moving  with a large stride toward where the communication was being carried  out. It was then the guild members who were in hiding stood up with  their weapons at the ready.

「Chargeee!」

With the signal from Ponsuke, the players who could attack from distance started attacking simultaneously.

The mercenary NPCs that they were bringing with them also started attacking with magic.

The attacks hit the robot’s back one after another. Some of them were  showing the word Critical. It was only a small amount, but the robot’s  HP was definitely getting reduced.

The attack caused the Hate――the monster’s attention to be directed toward the player who was dealing a lot of damage.

The half-fairy Sierra who was wearing a new equipment set raised her  staff and activated magic that made the robot to be blown backward.

Sierra made a guts pose. Then the robot crouched and let out steam to the surrounding.

Ponsuke immediately gave an instruction.

「Vanguards to the front! Rear guards get back!」

The vanguards who were on standby entered into the steam. The  surrounding was filled with white smoke. It felt a bit hot and dealt a  small damage to them.

The vision was bad. The robot was hiding inside such steam.

It was stupid to charge into there in such situation.

But, Ponsuke and others also hadn’t taken that action without thinking.

Inside that place with bad vision, the robot was swinging down its axe on a nearby player.

「Auh!」

It was the same orc like Ponsuke……one of the orcs from the perverted  orc group. One of them was hit by the robot’s powerful attack and his HP  was shaved down by a lot.

Even though it should feel really hurt, the orc let out a voice that sounded like he felt really good. Ponsuke ignored it.

Ponsuke too couldn’t react to every single little thing. The  perverted orc who was saying 「G-give me moreee」 would just rejoice even  if he got kicked.

「There you are!」

Ponsuke’s body was muscular with arms and legs that were thick like  log. He jumped while lifting up his sword before swinging it down with  all his strength.

Ponsuke’s sword was swung down on the robot’s shoulder. Even though  it left a deep gash there, the robot smashed Ponsuke in the air with its  broken arm and sent him flying.

Ponsuke couldn’t endure the fierce impact while he was midair. He was  smashed on the ground, but the pain wasn’t much because the physical  body of orc was tough.

Rather, he performed ukemi at the moment of the impact so he could immediately roll and get back on his feet.

Inside the steam, the players who were skilled with close quarter combat were attacking the robot one after another.

The light effects could be seen from inside the white steam.

Meanwhile Ponsuke narrowed his eyes.

There was the figure of an elf――no, a high elf drawing a bow. Light  lit up at the arrowhead, while below the robot there was a silhouette  who seemed to be a human lighting up effects from her sword.

「I gotta match with them.」

Ponsuke grinned and activated a different skill than before.

His large shield radiated light. Then he took a stance where he  pointed his left shoulder forward and kicked on the ground to rush  forward.

As though to match Ponsuke’s movement, Mariela who was drawing her bow fired her arrow.

Alfie who was wearing paid items as her equipments displayed her sword skill the moment Ponsuke crashed on the robot.

It caused a combo to occur and deal a large damage to the robot.

The robot couldn’t stand up and fall down. The steam it was letting out was gradually clearing up.

「Attack now――」

「Oi, hurry with the healing!」

「Yosh, let’s beat it up all at once!」

The players who specialized in close quarter combat approached the downed robot and began attacking.

The robot still tried to stand up even in the middle of that.

Ponsuke used a healing item, then he checked the remaining HP of everyone while giving instruction.

「Blaze-san’s group should withdraw for now. The rearguards should be finishing with their preparation――」

He turned his gaze to the back. There the magicians at the rear were  using support magic to Ponsuke and co. At the same time they were  preparing attack magic to release a powerful attack.

His fellow guild mates were beating up the robot mercilessly.

The cute beastman Nanako was,

「Nyan nyan, nyan!」

She was speaking her skill’s name while looking embarrassed, perhaps  because she was a cat. No, it was a type of skill with damage that went  up when the user imitated cat’s voice.

The surrounding was saying things like 「I want to get hit」, but the person herself was blushing.

However, in contrast to the cute voice, every single hit of that  attack was heavy and they were landing with smooth flowing motion.

Ponsuke looked at the damage on the robot while calculating it. Then he ordered everyone to back away.

「Retreat!」

The vanguards were retreating just like Ponsuke ordered.

And then after confirming that their friends had run away until the  safe area, Sierra and the other magicians started attacking the robot  one after another.

The robot burst into flame and crumbled down.

It turned into red light inside the explosion and vanished…….

「……How many it has been with this?」

Ponsuke and co were able to defeat the robots smoothly until now was  thanks to the walkthroughs from the players that had fought them until  now.

Using those as reference, they formed a plan to defeat the bosses with their guild members.

At the same time, they had also fought like this several times until now.

The battle was over and everyone started recovering their HP and  taking rest. Meanwhile the craftsmen group saw the items they obtained  and talked among themselves.

There were several groups within Ponsuke’s guild.

From the start this wasn’t a coordinated guild. They simply gathered for the purpose of clearing an event.

But, the guild item that Ponsuke had was powerful, so they decided to continue the guild until now.

One of the groups was the group of Ponsuke the guild master.

His group included Mariela and Alfie.

Next was the elite pervert group that was led by the orc Prey.

And then the craftsmen group under Lighter’s leadership.

Next there was the trio of Nanako, Sierra, and Guruguru who were close with each other.

And then there was the party under Blaze’s leadership.

The guild could be categorized into five groups like this.

They were an inefficient group that wasn’t thinking about clearing  the game or anything, but they were sharing the intent to enjoy the  game.

As for the reason why Ponsuke and co were challenging the robots many times.

It lied with the craftsmen group.

The representative Lighter yelled.

「IT’S HEREEEEE! THE RARE ITEM IS HEREEEEE!」

The craftsmen group became excited.

「Haha~, thank god. We can create a lot of things with this.」

「I’ve been preparing myself to challenge this boss for five more times at least you know.」

「What about the other items?」

The items that the robot dropped.

The craftsmen group was looking for them this time, so they would be the one to get them.

Ponsuke and others could also earn experience point and getting item  and equipment from the craftsmen group, so there were also merits for  them.

Ponsuke looked at Lighter and thought.

(This person is also having fun. Well, it’s fine though.)

Perhaps Lighter had business talent at the real world. He was the one  coordinating the craftsmen, investigating the market, and got into  business of selling equipments that were hot in demand.

It seemed he had also casually spread his wings and started a different business.

The red haired Mariela was approaching. Her long hair was hanging from her shoulder with a large bow hanging on her back.

「We had learned the tricks already from fighting it many times.」

Her voice had sarcasm mixed in there. Ponsuke also wanted to agree with her.

Alfie who was wearing a dress and carrying a sword, with blonde hair  and blue eyes looked toward Lighter and made a conflicted expression.

They knew each other in real life, so she seemed to feel troubled  because Lighter in real world and in here acted really differently.

Lighter was a gnome with an adorable beard on his face.

「Lighter……his eyes are sparkling like that.」

The high elf Guruguru was a boy with an appearance like a girl.

He sat on the spot with exasperation.

Apparently he wanted to become manlier, so he was wearing equipment  set with barbarian tribe style. And yet his stomach was exposed, and a  lot of his skins in other areas were also visible. It made him looked  indecent.

「I’m tired already. Let’s go back and rest.」

Blaze’s group was composed of normal, average players. The leader Blaze was approaching Ponsuke.

「We have challenged this one many times but, there are still three  more of this robot isn’t it? Don’t tell me, we’re going to need to fight  the other three dozens of times too……」

Blaze and his friends were looking tired while watching the heated up craftsmen.

The strong point of immersive type VR game was how the player could  control their character directly, not just from across the screen. But  it was also a weakness, because player could get bored easily from doing  the same thing over and over.

There was also fatigue from playing like this. There was also pain.

Because of that, player would get mentally exhausted from doing the same thing over and over.

「As expected that’s――」

Ponsuke tried to deny that but, Lighter yelled.

「Aaaaa! We still don’t have just one more drop item!」

Everyone’s expression turned weary.

But, the craftsmen group’s passion……and above all else, Lighter’s  persuasion made Ponsuke and co folded and they challenged the robot once  more.

.

.

.

The playtime inside the game was expanded so four days inside were only two hours outside.

A player could only login from the real world for just two hours, but  that two hours were extended to become four days in the virtual world.

Ponsuke and the other guild members held a party at a bar to celebrate the robot subjugation.

The cratsmen were looking happy because they managed to get their hand on the items that they wanted.

They ate and drank and made merry.

But, they weren’t bothering anyone else even though there were other people around.

That was because they were reserving the bar today.

The staff NPCs were bringing out foods one after another.

「Everyo~ne, make sure to have fun!」

The NPC came bringing food with a smile, but then he frowned openly when he got in front of Ponsuke and clicked his tongue.

Orc was hated by the other races. Because of that the NPCs’ reaction toward orc was horrible like this.

「T-thank you.」

「Tsk」

Normally a player would complain to the management if they got treated so rudely inside a game.

But, the other orcs who also got tsk-ed like that were…….

「The reaction just now is so-so.」

「Isn’t he going to hit us? We should complain to the dev.」

「It’s not good to complain for every single thing. We should send a  demand to persuade them that orc should be treated even more coldly  setting-wise.」

「That’s it! I’ll send a mail to the dev right away.」

The orcs started writing a mail on their table.

If that side of them that was too serious when pursuing their hobby  was excluded, they were all actually gentlemanly and excellent players.

But, the problem was that hobby of their.

They were all hardcore M.

The orc group was truly beyond saving.

Alfie who was sitting beside Ponsuke reached out toward the ordered  pizza, then she hugged his arm. The sensation of soft breast made  Ponsuke keenly felt how far the VR game’s technology had come.

(I wonder if the real thing is also soft like this?)

Alfie brought up an important topic while he was thinking like that.

「Ponsuke. Don’t forget to keep your schedule open for next week okay? The three of us are finally going to meet after all.」

Mariela was drinking from a tankard while bumping Ponsuke’s shoulder with her shoulder.

「It’s because your schedule couldn’t match up with us right? Even  though we would be able to meet right away if it’s just us two.」

Next week. Plan.

Ponsuke, Mariela, and Alfie were going to hold an offline gathering.

Ponsuke felt awkward.

「Y-yeah. It’s Sunday so there’s no problem. Even so, it made me nervous.」

While the three of them were getting excited, Nanako, Sierra, and  Guruguru who were sitting on the same table looked at each other and  discussed.

「Offline gathering huh? I also want to try doing it.」

Guruguru also felt the same.

「How nice. But, it’ll be winter holiday soon. How about we have offline gathering then?」

Sirra warned Guruguru.

「Guruguru, don’t talk about RL like that.」

「Why? Just talking about winter holiday should be fine.」

Alfie spoke to Guruguru.

「In society, there are also adults who don’t have winter holiday. You  should not talk about anything that can make it clear that you’re a  student.」

Guruguru made a face that seemed to say ‘Oops!’. No matter how others looked at him, he looked like a girl instead of a boy.

The season at the real world was winter.

The season inside the virtual world was also getting chilly.

「More importantly Guruguru. Just looking at your exposed stomach also made me feel cold, so how about you change?」

Guruguru puffed up his chest at Ponsuke’s warning.

「Don’t you know, Ponsuke-niichan. This is the style of a man of wilderness you see.」

The guild members were chuckling hearing that.

Surely there was someone among them who told Guruguru a lie.

「No, you just look like an exhibitionist with that appearance. True it’s wild but, you look more like an Amazoness I guess?」

Ponsuke’s honest comment made Guruguru went Eh? and he looked around. The guild members laughed at Guruguru’s reaction. They clapped their hands and whistled.

Guruguru became bright red and covered his face with his hands. Then he sat down on his chair.

「No way. Even though I just want to become manlier」

Sierra was smiling wryly.

「Ahahaha……let’s go look around for equipments together next time.」

It was an uncoordinated guild.

But, Ponsuke thought that it wasn’t bad like that.

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