Reincarnated in the game world ~ A gamer's beginning to [Dungeon job hunting recommendation]
Vol. 11 - Ch. 577 - Preparation for skirmish. Class-1 vs Alliance Party!

"Y-You gotta be kidding me! There's no way muscles are lost?!"

An expression of incredulousness spread on the faces of Alan and remaining Machos when they affirmed the scene.

It was to be expected. Lamda's unique skill was an absurdly strong one; first, because the damage was independent of Lamda himself's STR stats, and the damage dealt was calculated based on the opponent's low VIT or RES (whichever happened to be the lowest), and furthermore, the attack was imbued with light attribute, and had AoE. 

It was impossible for even the buff from Machos's unique skill «All Hail the Muscle. Why Bother With Others», or Lana's buff to cover the stark difference. And the last nail was struck with the fact that they also were unable to use any equipment to raise their RES. 

And at the end of the clash—only Lamda of Class-5 could be seen standing. 

The confrontation to horrifying reality was so sudden that Machos lost themselves into daze on their feet. 

Lamda saw their state and raised his sword, the earlier golden splendour diminishing to nothing, 

and declared.

"—Focus Assault! Besiege them!"

" " "Let's gooooooo!!" " "

The next scene for alliance played out like a breath of vitality had been injected at them as their diminishing momentum skyrocketed like a sleeping volcano at the verge of eruption.

"Tsk!"

"This... healing might not be able to overpower the damage if this continues!"

A groan escaped from Machos as they assess the situation, clear that the onslaught of revived alliance would demolish their fort easily.

"Alan-san."

"I know, time to pull back for now."

"Rgh, it really come down to it..."

"If only I had more muscles......"

Celestine called out to Machos, and realising the futility of the situation, they immediately turned to escape.

"Do not let them escape! Try to cut even one of them!"

"You Mad there! It's your time to step up!"

With Lamda's voice echoing throughout the battlefield, Riyana also brainstormed and immediately had one of their members act. 

And, just as it seemed Machos were about to escape, the «Mad Scientist» displayed his full potential.

"Sha-sha-sha-sha!! Come on, we know we can continue the game, Macho-kun. —«Abduction Beam»!!"

"Geh!? W—my body is... floating? Aaaah!?"

"Save him!"

*Pi-Pi-Pi*

The «Mad Scientist» released some sort of suspicious radio wave beam which struck one of the Machos. The said Macho immediately lost control of his body and was carried into the sky as if grasped by an invisible hand. 

To be precise, he was captured, and kidnapped by «Mad Scientist». 

"Uooooo!"

"Muscles!?"

"They captured one of us, Celestine!?"

"...We can't turn back, the distance is too much. We may not be able to tank their onslaught if we try to save him. We can only escape for now!"

"Kuh, sorry buddy!"

"Your muscles will not be forgotten!"

Alan and other Macho, the last remaining member of «Machos», grit their teeth as Celestin made his judgement, and ultimately followed the command.

◇◇◇

Meanwhile, the kidnapped Macho was—

"Uwoooo! I am not going lose! I'm not going to go down lying! At Least, let me flaunt my muscles before going down!"

He shouted some incomprehensible words while taking a muscle builder's pose, trying to intimidate the members of the fortress, and just like that, he was eliminated.

◇◇◇

On the other hand, the situation of the Class-1 a while back—

Lana continued to send support to Machos, while also delivering a super long-range attack at the fortress when a new twist took place in the situation.

"My 'search' skill is tingling, its enemy attack from northeast-desu! They're coming here-desu!"

"So they're finally here, huh! Lana, change of target. Prepare your treasure sword, the next target is enemies from the northeast!"

"It should be available in 20 seconds!"

It was just within my calculation—I mean, there's no way Rina wouldn't have kept some card to play when fortresses are under attack—but I was surprised at their quick deployment. 

Then again, she had «Dragon's Miniature Garden», and the area must have already been encompassed. 

Of course, we also didn't come here with mere one plan in mind. Aside from assaulting the fortress, it was also to draw out Rina's force. 

It appeared the fortress had also gained new reinforcement. Despite the support and recovery buffs with which we sent forth Machos with, this should turn out to be a precarious situation for them, but Celestine should be able to make good decisions. Or well, as long as Machos don't go out in rampage. 

It'd be great if we could bring down the fortress, but it wasn't particularly a problem if we couldn't as well. We would only have a negative result by forcing ourselves. So as they say—play by the ear of the situation. 

And that was the core of this strategy. If not the fortress, then let's wreak havoc on the opponent's force!

"Everyone, make sure to retreat when Lana takes the stage!"

Our current location was sandwiched between the fortress on the northwest and northeast. This gave us a wide field-of-view, but this also left us open to raid from both ends, a vulnerable location, if I may say so. 

Thus, as soon as we'd received Machos, we would fall back to southwest, which was just outside the map covered by «Dragon's Miniature Garden», which would keep Lana's position a secret so that she could continue to support us with ranged firepower. 

"Zephyr, cooldown has finished!"

"Great, then let us begin the show!"

"They better grit their teeth for the impact! —«The Saintess Prays For Healing»! «Four Sacred Shining Sabers»!"

I immediately gave the signal for open fire as soon confirmation from Lana dropped. Lana grabbed the talisman in one hand, while she pointed the other hand toward the enemies and activated her spell. 

The target was the group of 20~30 students marching toward us from the northeast. 

Promptly, four huge golden swords appeared in the sky, their tips pointing in the direction of approaching force. With a flick of Lana's will, the swords slammed at him. 

A few had set up the shield, or assumed defensive stance, but they're blown away in their current state. An impressive result, just as to be expected from 4th order skill.

"I am not done yet! —«Four Shining Sacred Sabers»! —«Rise of the Sacred Tree»!"

Lana continued to chain her attack with successive spells, though this time they're 3rd order spells, the attacks easily destroyed their coordinations as I saw confusion spread out between their command chain. I couldn't deduce if their leader kicked the bucket under the barrage, or they just didn't have any leader to guide them, but this was a golden chance for us. 

It was quite funny though, to see students blowing away after coming under Lana's attack. Albeit, I didn't spell it out.

"Nice, now back down, Lana! And pack up «White Throne»."

"Okay~!"

Now that another node on our strategy was achieved, it was time to retreat. So I immediately had Lana—it wasn't portable—store away the «White Throne». To do that, she would have to unequip it first before storing it in «Item Bag». 

Speaking of «Item Bag», this one had already become her personal item since only she was capable of using the «White Throne». 

I reckon Celestine and Machos should already be on their way to escape. Alright, time to change the battlefield!

"————!"

"———!?"

It appeared some kind of ruckus had occurred in the alliance squad. Nice, they stopped on their track as I was expecting them to.

Meanwhile, we changed our location to another square with a more leveled place to make the confrontation easier. In our retreat, the alliance squad continued to chase after us. So I would have Lana greet them with her spells as soon their cooldown was over, sending them flying.

Since we're locked in a game of chase, our attacks often throw them off balance, pushing them to one-sidedly receive the attacks. Well, do not curse me for it guys. As they say, everything is fair in love and war, eh?

And soon, we arrived at our initially determined spot. The location fell nearby our base, sporting only one entrance for entry and exit, and we prepared our ambush there. (Coordinate E-23)

The spot provided a better view of both north and east. This was exactly the place Ester and I had initially protected from other forces so that Rina couldn't get her chance in covering it for «Dragon's Miniature Garden». 

However it appeared not everything was destined to happen as planned. 

During our retreat toward the south (F-19), I noticed pursuers coming out of the base from the north. 

We did break down the pursuit of people from the northeast, but on the base side, they had probably gained leeway after the retreat of Machos and Celestine. 

I would've said 'the more, the merrier' another time. After all, my intention was to clean out all the pursuers. Well, Bait and Lure was pretty much a basic trap in the «Dungeon Activity» too.

Then again, the end result also depends if the fisherman was capable of handling big fishes or not. 

"Zephyr! They're just a few, if you allow so, <Best of the Best, the Great Star> will gladly deal with them!"

The pursuers from north counted four, so assuming this to be a piece of cake, Saturn asked back with a smug expression. 

Hmm, they must be getting fidgety since Machos get to play the pivotal roles, I guess? And this was just the chance for them to sell their name. 

Each member of <Best of the Best, the Great Star> gazed focused on me as they pointed at them with their thumb. 

I wonder... that full-body silver armor guy seemed quite strong. ......I guess they should be able to slow their advance at least.

"Alright, snip out the pursuers from the path, Saturn! I am counting on you."

"Roger! You can be rest assured we will finish the mission with finesse!"