Day two of the event, I log in and suddenly it's Info. It looks like Aranea is leveling up again. Apparently the wire traps were active during the night.

As I'm checking it out, Ruin-san is upset about something.

'It sucks!　Those guys!

'I'm sorry!　Because we couldn't stop it.

We couldn't stop it either, and I'm sorry.

Would it be another production player? Why are you apologizing to Mr. Lewin?

You are not responsible for this. They are the ones who did this to me.

'You're completely f*cked... what are you going to do?　Lewin.

They don't listen to me when I tell them to give it to me. These people.

It's obvious we've got a problem.

'What's wrong?'

Oh, I didn't know you and Mel were here.

'We're in the middle of an event. So what's going on?

'The guys in yesterday's attack group took all the ingredients from the base area during the night, and they almost didn't drop them anymore.

Wow. Are you hungry for yesterday?

Wait, what? I feel like it's not much of a difference since I'm also accumulating a lot of tampons.

'It's going to be hard to explore if I'm still low on satiety... at this rate, the other players won't be able to go exploring.

Was that the point? No, I feel like I just wanted to harass you. Now, I'm hoarding foodstuffs, but what to do... then I look at the lake.

'...Ruin-san, do the people on the attack team have any fishing skills or something?

'What?　I shouldn't have those skills... oh.

Luin-san seems to have noticed it too. They could have wiped out all the food in the forest, but if it was from the lake, it was more likely to be untouched. Because they wouldn't have the fishing skills or equipment to do so.

"I'll give you some of the food I've been hoarding.

Is it okay?　That's what Tact-kun collected for the quest, right?

We'll make do with fishing and a few more ions.

So I summon Aeon, Chess, Seguro and Puyosuke. Puyosuke snaps at Chess. Apparently, he likes Chess.

It's just my imagination that Aeon is relieved.

'I see. I see. I'm pretty sure there are a couple of fishermen out there. Let's have a chat. It would be impossible for Tact alone to catch enough fish for all the players on this server.

You certainly can't do that. This kind of thing is the domain of full-time people.

'Leave the cooking to me.'
"Please summon little loco moco and others.

Oh, yeah. You're producing loco moco. And I'll give you some fish.

So we'll have some fun fishing. Aeon, Chess, Seguro, and Puyosuke collect fish in the lake. We're saving the black iron for the worst case scenario.

We gather the foodstuffs smoothly and share them with Ruin and his friends.

And as I'm thinking about logging out at lunch, Aeon appears in front of me.

''Ta, Tact-san!　There's something in the lake!

Calm down, Aeon. What's the what?

'Well. There was some writing on the stone!

Letters on stone? Is it a stone slab? I'm curious... something about it sounds like a hint of a strategy. But Aeon can't seem to decipher it. Maybe that's because he can't read.

Which means I'm going to have to go undercover. ...Anyway, let's eat lunch first.


I'll finish my lunch and log in. Now, let's get your swimming skills.

You have acquired swimming skills.

Spending skill points was 1 pt. My remaining skill points are now 21.

Well, I would have had to take it eventually. Then Ion is pleased.

'Now Tact-san can go underwater too!

Uh...maybe I've been lonely, I don't know. This is a reminder. But now that I've taken up swimming skills, I'll probably be in underwater combat too.

So, let's go read the mystery letters. It feels like swimming, but it's no different than normal.

I'm sure it won't be a problem with the robe on. It's a relief...I was prepared to become one of the loincloths.

Now we're diving with Aeon and the others!

The water was a beautiful sight. All kinds of fish swimming around. I haven't caught that many different kinds of fish! It was all about the magpies! Shit, I feel defeated...

But I can't go in there just to savor it. As you start to struggle to breathe, your life force starts to diminish. Seriously!

Once we're on the water.

'Are you okay?　Mr. Takut.

Oh... oh. I'm... fine... I'm just... struggling... with the pain, that's all.

When you get out on the water, your life force is diminishing. And when I look at Chess, his life force is diminishing, though not as much as mine. I hadn't noticed before, but Chess has been fighting like this for a long time.

'Chess, your hard work has worn off. You've been working so hard all this time.

Gow.

That said, it turned out to be impossible to keep this up. I thought I'd be able to recover as I dove and recovered, but as time went on, the pain grew more painful and my vitality diminished greatly.

Now...let's see what we can do.

Ion said the stone slab was at the bottom of the lake. It was quite deep to the bottom. It's a lake, so it's not surprising... or at all... all that nasty stuff. But Aeon had found it. We should think of something to do.

"Wha, how about I... well... how about we hold hands... with Tact-san... and dive?

It's just that... it's just Aeon. It's hard to tell with a reaction like that, right?

I ended up having Aeon haul it in. Shameful...

Now where is the tablet in question? As I searched for it, my eyes met with a being peeking out of a rock crevice. I try to identify it.

Jumbo moray eels?
?　?　?

Um... there are moray eels in a lake?

Anyway, this is a bad one! Pull back! I thought so, but Ion says.

'Mr Tact, over there!'

Huh? Where? I mean, Aeon, you can talk underwater. I've never heard of that before.

I looked in the direction where Aeon was pointing and there was definitely a stone tablet. What...

"They came from the sky.

I don't understand this one. Then Seguro makes a scene.

What is it?

When Aeon and I turned around, there was a 10 meter long moray eel heading our way.

No, it was too big! How the hell were you on that rocky outcrop? You can't!

And my life force begins to diminish. Oh no, oh no! Retreat, retreat!

I give the order to retreat with my synchronized skills, but the opponent is a moray eel. There is no way a normal human swimming in the water would be able to match them with speed.

Have they figured that out?

Chess takes the fight to Eels. He hits the body from the front, and Eels instantly wraps himself around Chess. However, Chess has Puyosuke in his corner. Puyosuke, on the other hand, sticks close to the urchin and does some damage.

Utsubo doesn't mind and tries to bite Chess, but Seguro wraps himself around Utsubo's mouth and prevents him from biting. Seguro then bites and poisons the moray eel.

Then Chess looks at me and nods.

I felt like he was telling me to let us deal with this guy.

'Okay...please. Chess, Puyosuke, Seguro.'

I'll take care of Mr. Tact. I'll make sure to bring you back to the water!

Gah!

Chess screamed, biting and clawing at the moray eels.

Me and Aeon didn't turn around anymore, just aimed at the water and withdrew.


'Huh... huh... I thought I was going to die...'

'I'm sorry...I got carried away with the stones...'

'You've gone out of your way for me, haven't you?　It was a pleasure.

Mr. Tact...

Aeon offers his head to me in a reserved manner. It's a petting appeal. Let's pet them.

'Seguro and Chess, I'll have to thank you and feed Puyosuke a treat too.

'Yes... if it wasn't for you guys, I probably wouldn't have made it...'

By the time they got to the water, Chess's life force was diminishing fast and he couldn't help. After Chess died, Seguro was also killed in an instant. In the end, Puyosuke, with his full life force, also lost his life force in an instant. It was probably a magical attack of some kind.

...If those guys hadn't bought us some time, we would have gone back to death.

I am grateful and want to take a swing at them. But underwater, we have a time limit, and Chess, Seguro, and Puyosuke are the only enemies we can't beat...frustratingly, that's not possible right now.

This battle made it clear that I'm a liability in underwater battles. If we are going to have a proper battle, we'll need the underwater skills that Aeon and the others have, and Lake Horse, which was the evolutionary destination of the hose... or was it above water... some kind of underwater leg is essential.

'Tact-kun, what's going on?'

It's Mr. Lewin. I have to tell you about the tablet.

"Aeon went to look at the tablet he found in the lake and was attacked by a giant moray eel, which sent the chess players back to their deaths. It's been dented to no end.

It's a lot of fun to say, but it's going to take a toll on you, too.

Don't you deserve to be humbled when someone you care about dies for you?

That's true... and did you find that tablet?

'Yes. There was a stone tablet that said, 'Coming from the sky'. Do you know what it means?

Does that mean something's coming from the sky?

We look at the sky. It's a beautiful day. No! Anyway, I have no idea what this is all about. But we agreed that it was a hint. And that there are probably others in the base area.

So, shall we go look for them?

The members are Aeon, Ricule, Byakuya, Himari, and Lex, with Aeon and Ricule on board.

''Let me have the exclusive today.

If you ask me to do that, I can't say no.

Name Tact Intermediate Summoner Lv 8

Vitality 42
Magic power 84
Strength 30
Defensive Strength 21
Agility 27
Dexterity value 59

skill

Fighting Lv 7 Kicking Lv 12 -> Lv 13 Staff Lv 18 One-handed sword Lv 8 Throwing Lv 3 High speed chanting Lv 8 Summoning magic Lv 20　
Sealing magic Lv 2 Alchemy Lv 9 Mining Lv 14 Logging Lv 11 Dismantling Lv 21 Appraisal Lv 10 Identification Lv 17 -> Lv 18　
Wind magic Lv 20 Fire magic Lv 20 Earth magic Lv 21 Water magic Lv 20 Water magic Lv 20 Dark magic Lv 20　
Light magic Lv 26 light magic Lv 18 lightning magic Lv 18 explosive magic Lv 17 wood magic Lv 18 ice magic Lv 16 space-time magic Lv 16　
Swimming Lv1 -> Lv5 Reading Lv8 Cooking Lv25 Feeding Lv6 Fishing Lv8 -> Lv10 Synchro Lv4

Name Aeon Dragon Newt Lv 25

Vitality 38
Magical power 52
Strength 30
Defensive Strength 20
Agility 74
Dexterity value 64

skill

Two swords Lv 19 Throwing Lv 6 Underwater action Lv 7 -> Lv 9 Water blade Lv 10 Pseudo dragonization Lv 3

Name Chess Polar Bear Lv8

Vitality 36
Magical power 28
Strength 40
Defensive Strength 33
Agility 19
Dexterity value 19

skill

Biting Lv8 -> Lv10 Bare-handed Lv9 -> Lv10 Assault Lv8 -> Lv10 Swimming Lv3 -> Lv6 Ice claw Lv8 -> Lv10

Name Aranea Large Spider Lv8 -> Lv10

Life force 30 to 31.
Magical power 22 to 24.
Strength 20 to 21.
Defensive value 13 to 14.
Agility 16 to 17
Dexterity value 54 to 56.

skill

Biting Lv 3 Viscosity Lv 7 Soft thread Lv 3 Hard thread Lv 9 -> Lv 11 Trap setting Lv 10 -> Lv 12 Thread detection Lv 5

Name Locomoco Cloud Sheep Lv2

Vitality 52
Magical power 20
Strength 5
Defensive Strength 32
Agility 20
Dexterity value 6

skill

Physical contact Lv3 Danger perception Lv2 Runaway Lv1 Hair growth Lv3→Lv4 Breastfeeding Lv3→Lv4 Cold resistance Lv1

Name Airy Ibex Lv 5

Vitality 43
Magical power 19
Strength 25
Defensive Strength 17
Agility 33
Dexterity value 18

skill

Angular Artillery Lv2 Climbing Lv1 Danger Detection Lv3 Leap Lv1 Gale Lv2 Light Magic Lv6 Breastfeeding Lv3 to Lv4

Name Puyosuke Blue Slime Lv2

Vitality 31
Magic power 0
Strength 0
Defensive Strength 41
Agility 20
Dexterity value 20

skill

Predation lv7 -> lv9 Defense lv3 Physical disablement lv5 Transformation lv7 -> lv9 Shock absorption lv3 Splitting lv3　
Regeneration lv3 Underwater action lv3 -> lv5 Extreme cold body lv5 -> lv7

Name: Seguro Seasnake Lv 1

Vitality 35
Magical power 12
Strength 23
Defensive Strength 12
Agility 18
Dexterity value 18

skill

Biting Lv1 -> Lv4 Coiling Lv1 -> Lv4 Poison Lv1 -> Lv4 Heat detection Lv1 -> Lv2 Underwater action Lv1 -> Lv4