“The City Of Neuschloss”

In normal circumstances, if Rare were to go out alone, her noisy familiars would accompany her, but they wouldn't make a fuss unless it was Rare's own body.

Even if she were to die in this state, it would be Mare's body dying, and Rare herself wouldn't actually die. However, depending on the MND values of the spellcaster and subordinates, there might be back damage. This was verified by Riley, who had many combat-oriented ones under her.

Rare's basic policy was to maximize the MND and INT of her direct familiars. The closer the MND values of the familiar and the spellcaster, the more damage they would take. However, Rare's own MND was so high that back damage was not a concern.

There was another risk if she died in this state – the respawn time. Rare would only have her spirit returned to her original body, but Mare wouldn't be able to respawn for an hour. It would be troublesome if players found out. Even if she pretended to be a player, it would be best to avoid acting with other players considering what happens when she dies.

Heading from the Rifure Mercenary Union to Neuschloss, they encountered other players along the way, but Mare's beauty was not exceptional among players. Carrying a long object on her back was a bit noticeable, but there were players who didn't stow their weapons in the inventory. NPC mercenaries couldn't do such a thing, and those players might be not using their inventory for role-playing reasons. Rare intended to pass it off that way if asked.

As for armor, she preferred light equipment that didn't hinder her movements. However, the fabric was a special creation by Queen Arachnea, and the metallic parts were made of adamantite. It provided much better defense than ordinary armor. There was a hood with some metal embellishments around the collar, which she wasn't wearing in the city. However, in combat, she could cover her head with it for protection.

The nearest safety area to Neuschloss was a grassy field. There was only a rock that seemed to serve as a landmark.

Tents were lined up around the area, presumably the sleeping places for players. It was much fewer than the tunnels she had seen before. Neuschloss had a difficulty level of four stars, so it seemed only a few top players had attempted it. The lack of crowding was a good thing.

"Oops. I didn't bring camping equipment. For now, let's just observe today. Worst case, I can respawn… right?"

No, that would be a bad move. It wasn't about feeling sorry for Mare.

If she was pretending to be a player, she had to be cautious not only about the inventory and respawn but also the loss of experience points upon death. Players who lost experience points due to death penalties wouldn't choose the easy way of respawning. They would approach the game with the consciousness that they must absolutely return alive if they wanted to earn. Dying casually would draw unnecessary attention.

If a player-like corpse was left untouched for an hour, it might raise suspicions.

"I didn't plan on saying I'm okay with dying, but I thought I could play more relaxed than the main body… Well, it seems I can't die easily either."

In terms of not wanting to be seen, it might be riskier than intentionally respawning, but Rare considered sending her spirit back and [Summoning] Mare at the Lord of Rifure's mansion. Hide somewhere in the dungeon and do it from there. For now, she decided to stop worrying about it and started walking towards Neuschloss.

The city of Neuschloss was about a fifteen-minute walk from the safety area.

The safety area in the royal capital that Kerry and others investigated was roughly the same distance, so it was likely similar here.

The appearance of the city was quite dilapidated. The outer walls were crumbling, and entry was possible from anywhere. The forest visible beyond the city was probably the original territory of monsters. Since that forest was not listed, it was likely integrated with the city of Neuschloss, similar to how Erfahren and Lourdes's cities were integrated into Liebe and Teur.

Although the forest retained its name, the city retained the name based on the degree of destruction. The cities of Erfahren and Lourdes no longer resembled their original forms. In comparison, Neuschloss, though in ruins, still maintained the form of a city.

She entered the city.

The dilapidation inside was probably worse than the exterior, maybe even worse than the outer walls.

If the goal was to kill the residents, it made sense.

The monsters that attacked during the event clearly invaded with the intention of targeting the residents. Whether out of extreme hunger or with the sole purpose of killing, it was unclear.

If the goal was killing, there was a high possibility that the dungeon's boss was a player. Reframing it as the goal being experience points made more sense.

While walking cautiously, something jumped out from the shadow of a collapsed house.

It was a goblin. No, was it truly a goblin?

It certainly looked like a goblin, but it was considerably larger than those in the Liebe Grand Forest. In fact, it was larger than an average human.

She quickly drew her short knife and dodged the goblin's charge, slashing its knee as they passed each other. There was hardly any resistance, but she was confident that she had indeed slashed it. It was probably already incapacitated.

The large goblin fell with a dirty scream, trying to get up but unable to move its legs.

She swiftly stepped back to avoid the blood, and then, with a quick motion, she drew her naginata from the back and prepared it.

It turned out the large goblin was not alone.

One after another, they attacked Rare.

"Huah!"

While swinging the naginata with one hand, she sheathed the short knife. Whether adamantite rusted with blood was unknown, but she would have liked to wipe it clean before sheathing it. It couldn't be helped. She would clean it later, and reluctantly, she discarded the sheath. It was also a product of the World Tree, but it was made of steel and wood.

Once the short knife was put away, she could swing the naginata freely.

She demonstrated the results of repeated training by swinging the blade, sometimes with the right hand, sometimes with the left, performing moves like windmills, water wheels, thrusts, and lifts.

The sharpness of the adamantite naginata was terrifying, cutting off the limbs of the large goblins one by one. It was almost as if she was performing a solo dance. Though surrounded, at times, she extended the polearm with a stone tip to the rear, but due to the speed and hardness, it had the same power as a thrust attack. In other words, it penetrated the bodies of the enemies, piercing them. In such cases, she would forcefully swing the enemies' corpses.

It was a way of using a naginata that would make her grandmother scold her if she saw it, but even with Rare's excellent strength, she wouldn't do such things with a real naginata made of steel and wood. It was only possible because it was made of adamantite and a fragment of the World Tree.

For a while, I swung my weapon with satisfaction, but eventually, the prey disappeared.

Of course, I didn't make any mistakes that would let them escape. They all turned into corpses, rolling on the ground.

I took out a tissue to wipe off the blood and fat, but it wasn't enough to clean them. On a whim, I acquired the [Cleanse] spell from Mare's skill list under the Water Magic category. Normally, washing a naginata with water would be unthinkable, but it's magic, so it should work somehow.

As expected, instead of washing with water, it seemed to have an effect of making the target clean, making the blood and fat disappear.

I tried activating it on the short sword and its scabbard, and it worked the same way. When I thought about it, even if the game allowed realistic cleaning, it wouldn't benefit anyone. The reason why mercenaries insist on having a magician in their party is probably because of such aspects. Thanks to that, I didn't have to discard the scabbard.

"If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have had to do troublesome maintenance during the closed test."

I didn't strip the large goblins. I didn't even have a dismantling knife. I acquired the [Dismantle] skill, but it was just a stepping stone to acquiring the [Heal] skill. I had no intention of using it.

Since it's someone else's territory, I left the corpses as they were and continued exploring.

"Is this a level 4 trash mob? I think it's definitely weaker than Carknights, but… Which one is stronger overall? I'm not sure. It might be the same, or maybe Carknights are stronger. Maybe because I only use physical attacks."

One aspect of coming here was the investigation of the level 4 difficulty. Although it's determined by the system, there is a range within the same difficulty level. Here, it would probably be a competitive relationship, like a ☆4 dungeon with the old Hiers Kingdom, and an investigation was necessary.

I had only fought once so far, but with this content, anyone would choose the old capital.

To clear it, several magicians are essential, but if you infiltrate the raid, just being a shield would get you experience points and dropped items. Once you get those dropped items, make equipment through processing, and you can compete as a front-line job even if it's less efficient. As long as you have a mindset to return alive, it's guaranteed that you'll earn more than you make as payment to me, the business owner. Players understand that.

As evidence, players attacking the Old Hiers capital have been gradually increasing every day.

I didn't give them bonuses like the first day of the attack, but they were paying a reasonable return, and eventually, they were wiped out. Whether it's experience points or dropped items, they don't seem to care anymore. They seem to attack with the thought of how much they can earn before being wiped out. Such a strategy is often seen in high-difficulty game content, and that seems to be the case for the old capital now. It's truly wonderful.

Considering the scarcity of tents in the safety area of Neuschloss compared to the Teur grassland, at this point, the Old Hiers capital is clearly offering higher-quality service. However, I don't know how the situation will change.

For example, what would happen if a player appeared who conquered Neuschloss?

In the case of an area composed of minions [Subordinated] by a single boss, when that boss is defeated, all the monsters in the area die. At that moment, the force loses control of the area, but it doesn't necessarily lose control rights at that moment. This is evident from the fact that when I died, the Liebe Great Forest and the Teur Forest remained under my control.

The transfer of control rights occurs only when a new single force conquers the area after the boss of that force is defeated.

In other words, control rights will only move to the side of the victor when it's a single force that defeated the boss. At the time when I defeated Sugaru and took control of the cave, that was it. At that moment, only me and my party were alive in the cave.

The same processing will take place when players challenge the dungeon and defeat the boss.

However, as long as multiple players form a party, it cannot become a single force.

In addition, there should be many other parties in the area besides the one that actually defeated the boss. In this case, the transfer of control rights will not occur.

In the Teur Grassland, all players died or fled when I appeared, and no one approached the grassland for a while. Thanks to that, I could claim control over the grassland.

It was accidental, but luck was on my side.

In other words, as long as I perform a normal dungeon attack, even if players defeat the dungeon boss, there should be no significant change. If it follows the same specifications as the area control by players, probably, the boss will respawn three hours later, and an hour later, the mobs will respawn.

In that case, if the boss of Neuschloss is easier to defeat than the boss of the Old Hiers Kingdom dungeon and has a larger benefit when defeated, this place might become more popular.

The benefits of defeating it are unknown, but it can be said for sure that the boss here is easier to defeat. After all, the boss of the Hiers Kingdom is the calamity-level Sieg, and if it comes to a situation where Sieg, Sugaru, and Dias might help, I'm not sure if I, even with all my power, can win against the three of them. In other words, as far as I know, even if all the players join forces, they won't be able to compete.

Before that, if the boss here is a player, the situation would change. There's no need to be cautious if the trash mobs are at this level, and it might be a good idea to go meet the boss of this place.