“Nameless Elf-san”

"If I were to say it's a bit noisy, it is indeed noisy… But it's a more ordinary forest than I expected."

Nameless Elf surveyed the forest and murmured.

This is a massive forest that emerged in the ruins of the city of La Colinne in the former Hiers Kingdom, officially called the "La Colinne Forest" according to the management.

She had been active in Portree before, but that country only had ☆1, ☆4, and ☆5 dungeons. Being a player occasionally referred to as a top player, Nameless Elf hesitated to disrupt beginners in ☆1 dungeons. However, charging headfirst into ☆4 or ☆5 dungeons seemed a bit reckless. Although she occasionally peeked into Portree's dungeon strategy threads, parties with at least moderate strength struggled and got wiped out without significant results.

While the party of Nameless Elf might perform better, it was judged that attacking a ☆3 dungeon with known characteristics would be more profitable than venturing into dungeons with only basic information about low-level monsters.

"Spider-type monsters don't appear much in the local areas of Portree. They seem to be in the ☆4 and ☆5 forests, but just hunting small fry in the shallows and retreating is not a bad idea."

It was the first day of dungeon implementation, and such playstyles were possible, but it didn't seem like the approach of top-tier players.

"No, it might be best to wait until enough information about ☆3 is available."

Haruka, a member of the party, spoke up.

Haruka fought as a sword user in the vanguard.

This party consisted of three vanguard members and one rear guard, a team of four with Haruka, Kurumi, and Lamp as the vanguard, and Nameless Elf as the rear guard. All of them were female elves, making for a glamorous team.

Although the vanguard didn't have a clear tank role, the three melee physical jobs constantly switched, attacking and managing aggro alternating. It was a rare type of party where all three served as both tank and attacker by taking turns. While it required highly technical maneuvers, in this game with few instant-death level attacks, they consistently achieved results.

During the raid boss battle with the calamity, they focused on transporting Nameless Elf from Portree and did not participate actively. Even if they had participated, due to the specifications of the artifacts, the number of vanguard members would have been limited, so they would have only been able to do support or undead hunting in the capital.

"Like the calamity, if all attacks are at an insta-death level or there are broken enemies, we won't be able to handle it. We need to gather some information."

"Well, we're paper armor after all."

Kurumi and Lamp had a point. While they didn't doubt their defense and evasion abilities, compared to dedicated tanks, they might fall short.

"Well, that's true."

With Haruka's agreement, they decided to start the conquest in earnest.

From what they gathered on social media, it seemed that parties of about intermediate strength could fight reasonably well. The forest might be a relatively easy field for them.

They hadn't found a clear strategy for conquering the ever-changing dungeon. However, the parties that managed to escape had carefully managed their directions, always advancing in the direction they came from even if they got lost. Many parties had members die in the process, but compared to them, Nameless Elf's party had much higher capabilities. With luck, they might be able to escape without casualties.

To better understand the directions, they had purchased a compass in Portree in advance. Although it was bulky since only a navigation compass was available, it could be taken out of the inventory when needed. It cost a considerable amount, but selling materials like spider silk from this forest would more than cover the expense.

Originally, they had come to this forest to obtain materials from those spiders. The equipment of the three vanguard members was made of a combination of leather and metal materials, resembling a coat of plates. Since magical beasts with fur were found in various difficulty levels, they could easily choose leather materials that matched their abilities. Metal materials were also obtainable with sufficient funds.

However, materials to create high-defense fabrics, such as robes worn by Nameless Elf, were not readily available unless they were high-quality items. The spiders discovered in this forest were considered lower-tier variants of spider-type monsters that were said to inhabit the deep forests of Portree. Although their rank was not particularly high, their limited circulation made the materials highly valued and traded at a high price.

Moreover, the presence of higher-tier spiders in this forest was confirmed. The monster that killed the first party to spread information about the dangers of this forest on social media was one such creature. It was larger and had a darker color. Its silk strength and resistance to the necessary value for poison needles were also high.

By hunting a few of these higher-tier spiders and retreating at that point, they should be able to survive. According to the posts of the player called White Seaweed, the party led by Nameless Elf had fewer members but far superior strength.

From the posts on social media, it was clear that landmarks and route memories were meaningless. There didn't seem to be traps either. The only thing to be cautious about was ambushes, which actually worked to the advantage of Nameless Elf's party, as they didn't have a dedicated scout or tank. All members of the party, being elves, had acquired [Enhanced Hearing] as part of role-playing, but unfortunately, it didn't seem very useful in this forest. As mentioned in the previous posts, the constant rustling of trees made it difficult to perceive their surroundings.

However, with this much commotion, there was no need for them to be overly concerned about a bit of noise. While clearing away obstructive branches and bushes, they carefully advanced, avoiding the roots of the trees underfoot.

Their pace was quite fast for walking in the forest. The low-level monsters that appeared in the shallows were generally known, and there was no need to be conscious of anything other than those monsters.

"Oh, there's something."

"If the information is correct, it's either ants or spiders."

Ants had been somewhat in demand in the market due to beginners bringing in materials from the large forest's beginner dungeon that existed before. Although the Hiers Kingdom, which was the largest player in the market, no longer existed, some powerful merchants had brought in some to other countries. While other countries had similar wilderness with ants, the demand was not high. However, that area did not overlap much with ants and human living areas, and they were traded at a reasonably fair price.

"Spiders would be more welcome, but well, ants are fine too. They won't be hard to sell."

A spider emerged from the thickets, launching its bristles as soon as it appeared.

"[Gust]."

However, dealing with it was easy with prior knowledge. They scattered it with a low-level wind magic spell called [Gust]. While this attack had minimal power, it was effective against small flying objects like the current spider. Additionally, it could be used to blow away sand at their feet or create a distraction. For dedicated magic users, it proved to be a versatile and efficient spell with minimal MP consumption and almost instant recast time.

"Ha! Ei!"

Haruka and Lamp attacked from both sides, and the spider met its demise. Kurumi remained vigilant for any additional enemies, but it seemed to be a solitary encounter.

"…Feels like overkill. One hit might have been enough."

"Yeah, for something like this, a single strike should be sufficient."

Although their personalities differed, the three frontliners were generally obedient. They had decided that, for precaution, they would always attack new enemies with at least two people.

"If the extermination speed is faster than planned, it's not a problem. Let's move forward after storing the corpse."

Enemies, whether ants or spiders, were not an issue. From the first encounter onwards, they hadn't faced single enemies; it was always multiple foes, sometimes a mix of ants and spiders.

The number of enemies gradually increased, and the group they had just annihilated had appeared continuously, seemingly pouring out between the trees, making it seem endless.

"…A bit troublesome, but well, it might be efficient for hunting."

"Are ants and spiders coexisting? Are they teaming up to target humans infiltrating the forest as prey? Or is it just because it's a dungeon? I wonder if it has nothing to do with that."

"Come on, Nacchan. Do you have to worry about that every time you play a game?"

"Don't call me Nacchan…"

Certainly, there were creatures with fantastical, almost illogical ecologies in the game. However, many were modeled after real-life animals like beasts and insects, creating a sort of ecosystem. Analyzing such aspects wasn't entirely foolish.

"Rather than that, isn't the difficulty higher than what was mentioned on SNS? Encounter rates with groups of enemies like this weren't that high in my impression. Strangely, there are too many of them."

That was indeed true. White Seaweed's party had been surrounded as they began their retreat at this point.

Logically, they had always been followed by a group of monsters, blending in with the rustling of the trees. So, after turning back, they were immediately surrounded from the front, and had they proceeded, they likely would have encountered the group that had besieged them.

"…Just as I expected! [Cyclone]!"

And as anticipated, they were ambushed from behind. Something was also approaching from the front. For now, they first cast a range magic spell to the rear. It should disperse the threads and bristles from behind. While Gust might have worked, the spiders surrounding White Seaweed and his party were mentioned to be a higher rank. They didn't want to risk action hindrance or status abnormalities from dealing with them using the low-level Gust.

Their calculations were correct, and the projectiles from behind were neutralized. Attacks from the front seemed to have been deftly blocked by the three frontliners using their shields and swords.

Soon after, spiders appeared. As expected, they were of a larger size with a darker color, likely an upper-ranked species.

"The first hurdle is whether we can break free from this encirclement."

T/N: Nacchan is directed to Nameless Elf-san. In Japanese, her name starts with the word 'namae' which means 'name', so it's shortened using the starting 'na' syllable to an endearing 'Nacchan'.