BXBX NOVEL Vol. 8 - Chapter 402 - Joint training
Saying that, Helmios stood up from his seat in the meeting room.
"Right, maybe it's best to discuss the rest as we do it."
Latash's hero Doberg, a man with only one eye, and a Sword King, agreed.
"Are you sure of that? I feel like we haven't spent enough time together yet. We only gathered yesterday!"
"Eh? But it was so fun?"
"Yeah yeah."
Kurena and Merle had a lot of fun during their welcome party the day before.
"That's not what I mean!"
Rosetta, who had become a Thief King, shouted loudly hearing that response, she had not been talking about their welcome party the day before.
"I mean, we'll just go with the flow and see what happens, I don't think it should be bad."
Kiel, the team leader assigned by Allen, told her it should be fine.
"Are you sure?"
"It'll be fine."
Rosetta still sounded unconvinced, but Dogora said it was alright, his first and last words in the meeting. Kiel's team which had split off from Allen's would lead Allen's Army to conduct a joint training with the Hero's Army, in the last floor of the S Rank Dungeon.
The hero Helmios' party, 'Sacred', arrived yesterday, composed of Doberg, Sylvia, Rosetta, Greta, and others.
The S Rank Dungeon was built like a tall tower, so it was hard to land there on a magic ship.
But there was a landing pad not too far away, which was where all adventurers arrived. It was also used to transport all the valuable weapons, armor, and magic devices obtained in the dungeon to sell them outside. The large amount of resources and supplies consumed by the more than ten thousand adventurers in the dungeon also arrived there.
Four enormous magic ships had transported the thousand soldiers chosen for the Hero's Army.
They had all set base near to where Allen's Army was located. Baukis and Giamut had agreed on this during the Five Continents' Alliance Meeting.
Traveling in the magic ship and moving to their new base had probably been exhausting, so Allen's Army threw them a party yesterday.
Today they had gathered in the meeting room of Allen's Army's base early in the morning, the leaders agreeing on heading to hunt Iron Golems before lunch.
"Ohh, walking with Helmios always attracts a lot of attention!"
Kurena noticed the change in the way people saw them on the streets.
"Hahah, thanks."
The adventurers had heard the news last night that Helmios would be in the S Rank Dungeon. Even though ten thousand adventurers were in the S Rank Dungeon, the bars felt fuller.
Helmios was at the front of the group, and soon enough everyone was looking at him.
Allen's party was there too, and they had cleared the S Rank Dungeon, but Helmios was far more popular and well-known. His cyan silky hair and the orichalcum armor peeking through his armor made it easy to identify him.
They entered the temple, where they lined up in front of the cube there.
'There's more than one party in the room. Should I transport you to the same location?'
"Sure. And make the Abandoned Gamers the leading party."
Kiel spoke to the cube, representing the rest.
'Understood.'
The cube replied and transported everyone to the S Rank Dungeon's second floor.
There were four members from the Abandoned Gamers party. Ten from Helmios' party. And 34 from both Allen's and the Hero's Armies. 48 people in total.
Even if they were from different parties, they could travel together. Though the cube would always verify if they desired that or not.
The dungeons near the Academy were on different dimensions, but they all allowed that. Kiel had been able to travel with Allen's party before he was part of it too, back in the Academy. The only restriction was that there could not be more than 48 people.
Their adventurer cards were only checked that first time, and after that they would be treated as a single party.
Everything after the second floor of the S Rank was in the same dimension, making it possible to regroup there as well. But when it came to the last floor's Iron Golems, Gordino, and the Death Zones one would be teleported to, it varied whether a group came together from the entrance or met up halfway through.
They used medals in the second floor, quickly reaching the third and fourth floors.
"So it is true, you have plenty of medals too."
Helmios had noticed Kiel's bag, chock full of medals.
"Yes, obtaining medals is also a crucial part of our training in Allen's Army. You'll be joining us in that as well, as we discussed in our previous meeting."
Hearing Helmios, Kiel answered, sounding far more polite than when talking to the cube.
Reaching the final room was necessary to hunt Iron Golems. Each time they would need medals to accomplish that, so the bosses from the second to fourth room were used to obtain those medals.
Allen's Army numbered 5000, and currently around half of them were in the S Rank Dungeon.
There were groups of 50, from mixed races, constantly going from the second to fourth floor farming medals. The hidden cubes had a chance of sending them to a Death Zone, so they were told to not get close.
They had come here today to hunt Iron Golems as a form of training. Tomorrow the Hero's Army would split into smaller teams, and join Allen's Army in their various operations.
There were various S Rank Monsters and bosses in the dungeon, starting with the second floor's Beebes, so it was a bit soon for the Hero's Army to enter on their own.
"It's been a while since we've been on the fifth floor. Wha-, huh?!"
It had been more than a half a year since both parties had joined hands, and Rosetta had set foot on the last floor, but something shocked her before she could finish reminiscing.
'What, so rude…'
Merus had not been transformed into a merman, but his eyes looked like that of a dead fish. Under Allen's orders, Merus had been told to stay on the last floor and make medicine 24 hours a day.
Summons did not get tired, and needed no sleep or food, but Merus still had the consciousness of the First Angel, so he was considerably exhausted.
"S-so it was true that the First Angel Merus was here too."
The members of the Hero's Army began muttering amongst themselves, Merus was known as the First Angel in the entire world.
'Former First Angel.'
"Lord Merus, why are you here…"
Tabatha was teary eyed, seeing Merus so exhausted working to save the world.
Merus felt like it would have been far better if he had let everyone see him yesterday, so they would feel far less surprised now. But Allen insisted that making recovery items was far more important.
'Don't worry about me. Dogora, here's today's quota.'
"Ah, thanks."
Merus essentially pushed the medicine onto Dogora before returning to a corner of the floor. There was some tilled soil there, where Mana Seeds, Aromatic Vegetables, Heaven's Blessings, and Gold Beans were growing. Most of them were the Mana Seeds Allen kept using, and the rest were for Allen's Army to use.
It had been a while since Merus stopped taking part in hunting Iron Golems. He would only help with fighting Gordino once every day, which was the only time he was freed from his medicine-growing curse. That was all just so Allen could reach Summoner Level 9.
Merus constantly mumbled to himself, 'Just a bit more, Allen said he'll let me rest when his Summoner Level goes up, just a bit more…' But there was no one to listen.
"Is that really necessary to fight the Demon King's Army?"
The Hero's Army members felt like they had just witnessed something they were not supposed to see, so Helmios had to find something to say.
"Let's just go to the Iron Room as we agreed."
Kiel did not want to linger in that place any longer, so he marched towards the Iron Room where the Iron Golems spawn.
"I think this is the first we're coming to this area?"
There were two Iron Golems in front of them, towering a hundred meters above them. But Rosetta had the experience of fighting the final boss, so she was unfazed.
"W-woah! Th-they're so big?!"
It was only Helmios' party 'Sacred' that was calm though. Someone from the Hero's Army suddenly spoke up. That sentiment was shared by all his comrades, their faces pale and shuddering.
Even if they were just A Rank monsters, their size was overwhelming. Most large monsters like dragons were between thirty and sixty meters long.
Usually higher rank monsters would be more powerful in this world, so it was commonly believed that larger monsters were more dangerous. Even the fortifications on the northern side of the Central Continent were only fifty meters tall. That was because there were hardly any monsters bigger than that.
Usually seeing such a large monster meant it was not an A Rank one, but an S Rank monsters.
"It's okay. We're just training today."
Kiel reassured them once again.
But most of their levels were still low, given they had only recently Changed Talents. Their Skill Levels were also really low.
The members accompanying them now had been fighting for more than a decade in the Central Continent's northern fronts. It was obvious they would feel afraid, seeing the Iron Golem's size and the fact that their stats had been lowered.
That was another reason why Allen's Army had given Helmios' party and the Hero's Army plenty of rings and necklaces that boosted their stats by 5000 and 3000.
Thanks to that, their stats had been boosted by 13000. They also obtained adamantite equipment on top of that.
More than three months passed since the four cities on Heavy User Island were complete, and Allen gave everyone new equipment. After that, Allen's Army continued obtaining new gear and accessories.
They had plenty of stock to fortify the Hero's Army 1000 soldiers, so that was their first way to strengthen them.
That was an early investment for Allen, since they agreed that the majority of the rewards obtained from defeating Iron Golems would be taken by Allen.
Allen's insistence in never letting someone die while trying figured in that as well, but there were other reasons.
There was another reason why they had to boost their stats by 13000. Kiel spoke to one man from the Hero's Army.
"Lochmet, the vanguard is in your hands."
He was called Lochmet. He possessed a 4 Star Talent, Sorcerer King, and he was placed there to complete Allen's ideal formation.
"O-okay, I'll do it. I just have to change his attribute to Wind, right? My Skill is still pretty poor so I don't know if it'll work though."
"Don't worry, the Iron Golem won't move until it works."
A boost of 13000 to Intelligence should make changing an attribute easy.
Hearing Kiel's orders to Lochmet, the rest realized the fight was about to start and quickly took their positions.
"Alright then, Enchant Wind!"
Lochmet pointed his staff at one of the Iron Golems.
''...''
Shoooomm
The two Iron Golems began to move. Their one hundred meters tall bodies began stepping forth.
"Let's settle it with one hit. Kurena, I'll be your shield. Merle, you take care of the other one."
"Got it. Don't force yourself too much, Dogora!"
"Yeah, I know!"
Dogora spoke to them, and Kurena and Merle responded almost instantly, all of them charging at the two Iron Golems.