Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Glery———

<10: 09 am>

“I still don’t get it though. Why does everyone make it sound like those guys from the Perfect Class are untouchable even if we’re only counting students? There are a few notable ones that’s super duper strong, right?” Trener asked as the conversation shifted to them complaining about that group of people again.

“Does it even really need to be said? Are you an idiot?” Histon said without hesitation.

“Wha- It’s just a simple question, dude!” He protested, clearly not liking the fact that he has been belittled for forgetting that common knowledge.

“You have seen the battle records in the simulators, right? At least the ones that are public. The leaderboard showed all of them taking up the eighteen top spots. That alone should be enough to tell you everything.” Histon pointed out. “The amount of people who have more than a single win on any of them could be counted on one hand. They basically only ever lose to each other. That’s how formidable they are in a fight.”

“Where do you even find that?” He asked.

“It’s on the site, dude! As long as you’re associated with the place you can look at it all you want.” Histon said without clarifying further. He’s certainly quite frustrated with Trener’s lack of info. It’s not something you could easily find outside of certain areas and sites, but they have been discussing this topic multiple times by now, so the lack of info on one side is certainly baffling. “The fact that all of them hogged the top spot should be enough. Mind you, some of them don’t even fight that much!”

“They basically sponge up most of the points for themselves. That is obviously not to say that the other people in the top fifty aren't remarkable in and of themselves, but there is a clear line between them and the rest of us.” Kroin chimed in. “I want to remind you that even a meek looking girl like Seni can fold you instantly if she wanted to, even if she’s seemingly a simple healer, not even specialized in a combat role.”

“...I’m confused though. I’m pretty sure some of them are stronger than people in that class, right? You can’t convince me that giant wolf woman is weaker than that little shrimp.” He’s still being deceived by appearance? There is also something he forgot when it comes to an important factor in a battle.

“I… So what if Thansa is stronger than her? One. She is still lower in the ranking. Two. What makes those Perfect Class folks so dangerous isn’t just raw power. Their techniques are also on a different tier than the rest of us. It’s an equivalent of having stronger gear or higher tier spells in a game. The damage multiplier is simply higher.” Histon became so baffled by what he heard that he tried to sound extra smart in his explanation. “Trener. Did you get in the head the past couple of days? Did you get addicted to it?. Do we need to talk about it? You can come out as a freak if you want. We won’t judge.”

“H-Hey what the hell are you insinuating! I’ve been going through a few things these past couple of days alright!?” I just forgot a few things, that's all!” Trener quickly protested before some weird ideas could spread out to the others listening in.

“You ought to at least look it up before you say anything foolish. It’s not as if you can’t check either our group chat or the school’s site before running your mouth.” Luik chimed in.

“Okay! Okay! I get it…” Trener said while gritting his teeth. “...Where is Lynda anyway?”

“Don’t bring her into this when you’re the one who’s causing the current commotion.” Kroin reprimanded him for trying to change the subject.

She seems to be wandering around to see all the attractions this place has to offer. She went into the direction of a bar, so she might be drunk at the moment. I just hope she’s not accompanying someone while she does so. That’d be…

…I should go check up on her just in case. I really don’t want to hear that she caused a scene because she’s drunk. I have never seen her at a higher stage than tipsy, so I’m kinda afraid of how she’ll act once she’s fully intoxicated.

No one else seems to bat an eye at me since they’re all occupied with their own group and the food and drinks. It’s nice that I’m not seeing anyone staring back at my smaller heads.

“Now that I think… Wait. What were we talking about again?” Oh, thank goodness. It looks like she hadn’t quite reached that point just yet, and that woman next to her… “Huh? Hey, Glery…”

“I was wondering where your girl was.” The fox woman said as Lynda tried to keep her eyes fully opened and not look drowsy. “You should probably get her to the detox station before she does anything weird. That woman gave her quite a strong drink.”

“So… I wasn’t imagining… things.” Lynda said as she got off the chair and wobbled her way towards the detox station. I can see the bartender in the corner of my vision, and she is certainly not someone from around here. Suspicious, but this place should be the safest place on Earth, so I won’t think too much about it.

I accompany her to make sure she doesn’t trip and make a fool of herself.

“*Gulp* Haaah…” She drank the potion meant to help sober her up and sit on a nearby chair, slowly regaining composure.

“You’re alright?” I asked, seeing her lean heavily on the chair, trying to relax as the colder atmosphere surrounding this detox area kept us extremely chilled.

“Yeah. I’ll live.” She said while closing her eyes, trying to relax.

“What in the world did you drink?” I asked, not really sure how it got to that point.

“All I did was ask for a ‘surprise me’ option… It was certainly quite a surprise.” She answered. I guess she never really cared to look into the specifics of alcohol, and whoever the bartender was clearly doesn’t care about how strong it was either.

“...What were you talking to her about?” I know it’s probably not the case anyway, but I hope it’s not something weird.

“Just reminiscing a bit about what happened so far. Very brief recap.” Is that so? That’s good to hear. Or perhaps not. She had been just talking about either the past or the fighting. Neither feels particularly healthy even if everyone else also does it, if only because it’s a ‘fad’ at the moment.

It’s only natural for people to think of the past before magic and all the incidents that brought in. It was a much simpler time. It’s certainly mundane, and the future is definitely very bleak, but there is definitely a desire to go back because it feels like the world has become a lot more unpredictable.

Realistically speaking, the Eclipse actually pulled us out of a very dangerous possibility. With wars happening in multiple places and the environmental nightmare, it’s pretty clear someone is going to be desperate.

With the soft reset that happened, we all choose to forget that those stupid wars ever happened and just went about our own businesses. There have been a lot of terrifying incidents popping up, but at least it doesn’t feel like humanity as a whole will hit a bad end.

…But with the benefit of hindsight, it seems like that was never going to be an issue. People like Rico and Wana are still extremely powerful forces working behind the scenes, and there are more of them coming out of the woodworks and acting like they weren’t always that way. It’s clear someone was going to step in before most of Earth turned into a wasteland.

Now does that mean that the one who caused the Eclipse is one of those? Most likely. There are people who think it might be some sort of real-deal god, capital G or not. There’s really no evidence of that sort of divine hierarchy existing aside from the whole soul thing…

“How long are you going to stay there for?” I asked, seeing that she’s not responding further.

“A few minutes. You can go back to the group. I’ll join later.” She said, clearly feeling quite comfortable in the patient seat.

“Alright. See you.” I said that before walking back to the group. I can hear some rather concerned murmur. If I were to guess, some sort of bad news was forecasted and now they’re talking about it. There are enough people reacting in similar ways to surmise that they are reacting to something that would be commonly spread around.

“I mean. It’s not gonna reach us, at least.” Trener said something as I came back.

“That might be the case, but it is still quite harrowing that there is a possibility of a neighboring town biting the dust. They’re not in our protective bubble, after all.” Kroin said as I sat down and looked at any news coming in the past few minutes.

…The town to the east of ours isn’t doing so hot. Not the one that was occupied not too long ago, that one is doing fine, but the one next to that is being invaded. It’s an actual invasion.

“Today of all days?” Histon can’t help but say as he looked at the articles. “What even is the plan anyway? What are they gonna do with another city? Also, last I checked, didn’t those guys only overtake their town so they can govern it themselves? What is happening?”

“If I were to guess, they might be paranoid thanks to the neighboring city still operating under the ‘old rule’ as some would call it.” Kroin theorized. What an absurd reason to do so when there had been no precedent for such a thing even being a possibility.

“So who do we think would intervene?” Luik suddenly asked.

“Ah. That is a possibility, right.” Histon said, sounding a bit calmer. “Probably one of those Perfect Class people, or maybe Wiina if she’s around.”

“A bit too broad of a guess, ain’t it? I think Wiina makes the most sense. I mean, the Perfect Class folks are still here, right?” Trener said while looking around. We can’t really see their group from here, it seems.

“If this party didn’t last into the next day, perhaps that’ll be true.” Kroin pointed out. “Kenni and Emmie are likely candidates.”

“Considering the distance, it could be any of them that could intercept the invasion.” Luik pointed out. “...Glery, what do you think?”

“M-Me?” Why ask me?

“Yeah. You’re pretty knowledgeable, right? Got some intuition going?” Just who does she think I am, some sort of seer?

“Ugh… Maybe this time, it’s someone we won’t expect.” That’s all I can really say. I don’t have encyclopedic knowledge on everyone. I don’t think I’m even as smart or as knowledgeable as Kroin.

———Yos———

<10: 14 am>

*Strike*

“Agh!” He recoiled back as my spear struck him dead-on. That was simply a warning shot. I don’t want to kill them, but I need to repel and dissuade them.

“So that’s what a hero fights like. I like it.” This cheerful guy accompanying me said. Now is really not the time to compliment. “Glad you came all the way out here.”

“Focus! We can’t let them go past here!” I yelled at him as more fighters rushed towards us.

*Strike* *Block* *Swing*

Why are there so many of them! This place doesn’t have a lot of active fighters either. This is looking bad just from the statistics alone.

If this keeps up, we might need to evacuate and let them do what they want with this town, but I-

*ZAP* *CRACKLE*

Before I could finish my thoughts and the enemy could resume their assaults, suddenly the town seemed to be struck by multiple lightning strikes causing the whole area to be flashbanged.

A chill was sent down my spine as I felt an immense pressure coming from behind me. I turned around to see… something that doesn’t look human.

*Clink* *Clang* *Cling* *Clang*

The sounds of metal chains swinging rang throughout the area as two silhouettes came into view.

“How unsightly. How barbaric.” A voice of a sweet young woman rang out, her body covered in a gray robe that is slightly translucent, her expression confident and giving off an air of authority, and her words are harsh yet almost casual in its tone. “To see that once you attain something, you feel like it simply isn’t enough. Greed in its purest, ugly form.”

It’s not her figure that incite fear into everyone. It’s what’s next to her.

The pressure that exuded out of that thing is immense. The massive bulky frame with minimal amount of clothing, body completely covered in grey and white fur, and a head of a wolf that looks vicious with the two piercing orange eyes staring straight ahead.

Completely silent, as if waiting for a response. Is that a wolfkin that has grown to a massive size, or perhaps even a monster in the shape of one?

The blonde girl beside that thing held the giant by the metal collar like she’s taking her pet out for a walk, acting as if this is even remotely normal...

Her mouth curved into a smile as she savored our reactions…