Isekai Online Game Developer

The noisy Illusion Tower from early morning.

We weren’t the noisy ones; it was the people causing a ruckus at the door.

“Ugh… Should I just reveal my identity?”

Ever since the offline quest meeting, Zebit’s popularity has skyrocketed.

Not just reporters, but even Zebit’s die-hard fans began visiting the Illusion Tower.

Most of them wanted to offer help and asked for contact information or to reveal Zebit’s true identity.

We had written on the front door that we didn’t know Zebit’s identity either, but still, the zealous folks insisted on knocking.

“It’s so loud from the morning.”

“Seriously. Why are they so obsessed?”

The personal details of most party members were public.

Most of the members were nobility, except for one commoner.

Yet, Zebit’s exact identity or background remained unexposed.

The reason was that I thought it would be better for her safety if her family was kept secret, and Galleard agreed.

“By the way, what about the Tower Master?”

“In-game. They’re supposedly challenging Zatume this afternoon. Looks like they’re trying it with 24 members.”

“Finally!”

Hina was still deep into the game.

From what Hina relayed, during the strategy meeting, opinions divided into two camps: one to go all-out since Zebit joined, and another to gather the maximum 30 members.

In the end, they concluded to go for the direct approach, and the current 24 members decided to challenge Zatume today.

Thinking back, the party that first successfully conquered Zatume in my previous life had 24 members as well.

Curious about their progress, I visited Hina’s room.

“Tower Master. You’re challenging today, right?”

“Uh, yeah…!”

Hina was doing some sort of gymnastics.

She stretched her short limbs, elongating them as if she was doing a routine.

“Do you think it’ll go well? Even with Zebit, there’s only one bishop.”

“Hmm… I guess we’ll find out.”

One, two. One, two…

Hina muttered a cheer while continuing her exercise.

Usually, Hina would just flail around, but it seemed she was genuinely nervous about the situation.

As the Tower Master, she should be focusing on her duties, yet she was so engrossed in games; it was a bit frustrating.

“Here. Please activate this when you log in next time.”

“Eh?”

I handed Hina the artifact I had prepared.

It was an artifact that linked with ‘Maple Leaf Story’ to store illusions like recordings.

I intended to capture the expedition’s chronicle.

It was still a rough draft, but Hina could manage to use it.

The remaining deficiencies could be completed using Hina’s magic on her own.

By the time the next game was released, I planned to perfect it so that everyone could record their own gameplay.

“The illusion sharing magic saves mana fingerprints…”

“Yes. It’s still unfinished, but I think you could use it, Tower Master. Please record the process of your challenge against Zatume with it.”

“…Okay!”

Hina seemed even more excited.

With this, I could watch it later.

After a bit more time passed, Hina logged into ‘Maple Leaf Story.’

*

Deep within the abandoned mine. The door leading to Zatume.

The expedition members were gathering there to prepare for the quest.

“…24 members. Did everyone log in?”

And finally, the expedition leader, Corruption Power Warrior, appeared.

The members nodded their heads with solemn expressions.

“Did everyone pack plenty of potions, and did the archers and thieves stock up enough arrows and shurikens?”

The members checked their inventories.

The archer-type and shuriken-throwing thieves had plenty of inventory space.

They used consumables like arrows and shurikens.

Among them, there were a few in the party who were archers such as the Sniper and Bowmaster.

However, there were only two thief users.

Among them, the only shuriken user was Night Road.

“He packed a lot of shurikens… and potions too…”

That refers to the Illusion Tower’s master, Hina, the Couch Potato Tower Master.

Thieves had a higher difficulty in leveling compared to other classes, so there were still few who had reached the 4th job advancement.

Thanks to her exceptional talent in the game, she was able to reach the current level in the 140s quickly.

And the remaining thief user.

Another dagger-type rogue. The Shade user, Gaidore Sit.

He was the only commoner user in the expedition.

He was quietly listening to the briefing in a corner of the map.

He was also a crucial member of the party, but since his status was commoner, he often followed the majority opinion of other members.

Having already held offline meetings, it was unavoidable for someone in his position.

“Then let’s get going!”

With a cheery shout from Zebit, the expedition party crossed through the portal.

They appeared on the altar of Zatume amidst a dazzling swirl of light.

Filling the hot and acrid air there, the members swallowed their nerves.

“Now, I’ll drop the Eye of Fire.”

The members nodded solemnly in response.

Corruption Power Warrior dropped the Eye of Fire onto the altar and quickly distanced himself from it.

KAANG–

With a clear sound, the Eye of Fire fell onto the altar.

Along with the subsequent burst of light, the ground began to quake.

The members simultaneously activated all their buff skills.

Instantly, their abilities surged.

This time, with the bishop, Empire’s Light, buffing them, the ability increase was even more significant.

“It’s here!”

And Zatume began to reveal itself.

A massive golem awakened from the cursed tree, with eight arms starting its assault.

“Everyone—”

Before Corruption Power Warrior could shout, all the members focused their firepower on the third arm from the right.

Zatume’s eight arms attack in different forms.

And the first one that had to be destroyed was the third arm on the right.

That arm could buff Zatume and heal it massively.

If Zatume keeps healing, there would be no progress in the challenge, so they had to destroy it first.

Information about each arm was mostly gathered through previous attempts.

Following the order established in the strategy meeting, the members began concentrating their firepower on each arm.

KUGUNG—

In just about thirty minutes, Zatume’s third right arm was destroyed.

Shortly after, the fourth right arm that had been receiving damage was also destroyed.

Seeing the pace was much quicker than before, hope bloomed on the members’ faces.

“Don’t stop attacking!”

Galleard shouted, stuffing a potion into his mouth.

Though he said that, he could sense that this challenge felt promising.

KWAJIJIK— KWAANG—

From all directions, lightning and ice pillars fell, while clouds of poison and scorching flames penetrated their skin.

With abnormal state attacks blocking visions and causing loss of direction, they spammed out skills in desperation.

The speed was certainly quicker than before, but Zatume was still not an easy opponent.

In an instant, the members’ HP dwindled, and furiously gulping down potions, they kept repeating the cycle.

“Everyone, hang in there!”

At the point when four of Zatume’s arms were destroyed.

Normally, at this stage, some should have fallen to zero HP, and stone markers should have dropped from the sky.

“Everyone, pull yourselves together!”

“GHAAAAA—!”

PAH PAH PAH PAH PAH—

Numerous arrows and shurikens flew toward Zatume’s arms.

They rained down like a storm, piercing through Zatume’s limbs.

“UAAAGH—”

Couch Potato Tower Master also furiously threw her skills alongside the archers.

Indeed, with the healing from Empire’s Light, she could focus more on dealing damage.

Her heals didn’t cover everyone’s HP, but by saving a member at the brink of death for an extra turn, the expedition remained intact.

“Haah… haah…”

“When will it break?!”

“It’s so tough!”

With the challenge passing two hours,

Only the two uppermost arms of Zatume remained.

As the prolonged battle dragged on, fatigue began to take its toll on the members.

Just like the users recuperating HP with potions and healing,

The uppermost two arms stubbornly absorbed the users’ HP, refusing to budge.

After another thirty minutes passed,

KUGUNG…

The first left arm dropped, and the members began concentrating all their damage on the final arm.

“UUOOOOOOOO—!”

“HAH—!”

“It’s Genesis—!”

“Please…!”

With desperate hearts, they filled Zatume with damage.

Soon after, the last arm fell.

“Ha…!”

“Did it work…!”

“UAAAGH!”

“Is it… over?!”

For a brief moment, the members’ faces showed signs of returning color.

However,

“Did we beat it?”

“Wait! If you say that…!”

With the words of God of Electricity, Zatume’s true body began to rise.

Zatume’s true body formed a massive magic circle as the battle recommenced.

“W-What is that?!”

A magic circle overlapping triangles and circles revealed a hazy eye.

Along with it, hordes of mobs known as Bugis were summoned.

“It’s Genesis!”

Quickly sweeping up the mobs, Empire’s Light unleashed Genesis.

“It’s not over! Everyone, attack!”

As she said, the quest wasn’t completed yet.

Rather, now that Zatume’s true body had revealed itself, the real challenge was just beginning.

GAOOOOOOOO—

A complex magic circle overlapping at all three points of the huge triangle.

As Zatume sketch the magic circle, lightning began to rain down throughout the entire map, unavoidable.

“W-What’s going on?! Skills…!”

“Drink your Elixirs! Everybody!”

It was an abnormal state attack sealing their skills.

Having reached the true body was unprecedented, so this unexpected attack pattern caught them off guard.

However, they had come prepared with all kinds of potions, which became beneficial.

Next, Zatume unleashed various abnormalities, like physical and magical attack nullification, while continuing its attacks.

Now that the true body had revealed itself, the unpredictable, deadly attack patterns drastically slowed their progress.

“Ugh, seriously, this is annoying—!”

The endless stream of mobs was also quite bothersome.

While the mobs quickly fell to AoE attacks, their numbers were overwhelming.

As the mobs dropped, the meso and junk items filled the ground, but no one had the luxury to pick them up.

WHUUU—

“A new form of magic circle! Everyone, be careful!”

The shout from Elf World.

A vortex-shaped magic circle began swaying.

“Eh—”

KUUUNG— KUUUNG— KUUUNG—

In an instant, all users’ HP and mana dropped to 1.

And with that attack, three members died instantly and stone markers dropped from the sky.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

“What the…!”

“Power Elixirs! When that magic circle appears, everyone prepare your Power Elixirs!”

Fortunately, thanks to Elf World’s prior warning, most of them survived that absurd attack.

Though it was a ridiculous attack pattern, if they quickly downed their Power Elixirs, they could hang on for a while.

“It’s coming again!”

“N-”

KUUUNG—

However, the loss of three members weighed heavily on the expedition.

With some of their major buffs gone, their power dwindled.

As the damage decreased, so did their progress in the challenge.

Even those who had been holding strong began to drop one by one from the attack that brought their HP and mana down to 1.

“Why didn’t we bring more Power Elixirs and Panaceas!”

Members low on Power Elixirs and Panaceas found the battle even more grueling.

Of course, they thought they had packed plenty when they first entered.

But that was only under the assumption they would be facing Zatume’s arms.

To withstand the absurd attacking patterns of Zatume’s true body, they should have brought double the amount of Power Elixirs and Panaceas.

“This won’t work—!!”

Empire’s Light poured out Genesis.

That she had the luxury to deal damage wasn’t good news.

It meant there were fewer healers available.

Only a bit over ten members remained.

They had chipped a good amount of Zatume’s true body HP, but with this number, they could hardly expect to finish it off.

“What kind of HP is this…! It’s endless!”

“Still, the black bar is becoming visible… even that…”

In the last phase of Zatume’s true body.

But that seemed to be their limit.

Everyone who remained, as well as the members watching from above, felt the same limitation.

‘…Is this it? But since we’ve figured out the true body’s pattern, we can clear it next time. Such a shame…’

The leader, Corruption Power Warrior, felt the same way.

Yet, he still fervently thrust his spear.

But unless they could instantly reduce that HP, victory seemed impossible.

Having not anticipated the true body’s attack patterns resulted in a shortage of Power Elixirs and Panaceas.

‘Next time, we’ll bring enough Power Elixirs and Panaceas. Then surely…’

In fact, a few were already contemplating the next strategy.

Still, having comprehended most patterns, they felt they could tackle it next time.

As almost everyone finally let go of their mounting anxiety,

“…?”

DING DING DING DING—

One user began an inexplicable action.

– What are you doing, Gaidore Sit!
– Has Zatume driven him insane?

He started throwing his mesos on the ground.

Dead users began commenting on his bizarre actions.

He had stopped attacking Zatume, tossing away their money instead.

Even in a seemingly hopeless situation, this was ludicrous.

It was a bizarre act that one would not attempt unless they were truly out of their mind.

“Phew…”

After taking a while to disperse his money, Gaidore Sit suddenly stopped and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Adding the mesos he tossed to the ground, alongside the mesos dropped by mobs, an enormous pile of mesos completely covered the floor.

During that time, four more of his comrades perished.

– Guess he’s run out of money now.
– No matter how hopeless it seems, this is absurd.

Their observations were spot on.

Gaidore Sit’s reason for stopping his meso-dumping was that he had run out of them.

To be precise, he ceased when he had exactly 10,000 mesos left.

And in Gaidore Sit’s hand was a single coin.

– Wait a minute. No way…!

When someone noticed his intentions, it was already after he had flicked the coin.

Ting—

“Meso Explosion—”

As the single coin flew and landed on the mound of mesos, the mound exploded dramatically.