Frontiers ~Chronicles of Bucket-san’s Detailed Pioneering~

Chapter 78 – For real!?

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“Ah… They definitely read my budget.” I muttered.

“That’s impossible, isn’t it!?” Mika asked.

“Unfortunate.” Hime commented.

It seems like one of the other people who wanted the Lich’s Skull was quite used to auctions, and was able to carefully pay attention to how much the other people were betting and got a general gist of how much money we were willing to pay.

And then, eventually, when it was just me and that person betting, the number was slowly raised until it went over my budget… This is the first time I’m participating, but how does someone even read others’ budge like that? Auctions are scary…

In the end, I couldn’t get the Lich’s Skull… I’m a bit disappointed.

I mean, I only wanted to get it if I could afford it, so it’s fine!

Yeah… It’s fine…

The auction kept on going while Mika and Hime comforted me.

Well, there are still more items that will be put for sale, so let’s stop moping about it and enjoy myself!

“Then, this is the next material!

“And what more, this is a newly discovered material!

“It may have a slightly lower rank than the rest, but for all of you who love new things, this is the material for you!

“Its name is ‘Shadow Crystal’! A mysterious crystal with trapped shadows constantly swirling inside it!

“Since it was recently discovered, its intended use is still unknown!

“Then, let’s start with the price of 500,000 Nil… Guah!?” As soon as the auctioneer finished their speech, something wild happened.

“What!?” One person shouted.

“Enemy attack!” Another yelled.

“Eh!?” A third one exclaimed.

I had just changed my mindset to simply have fun at the auction, but suddenly, a large number of mobs spawned from the newly discovered material.
They also blew the auctioneer away when they appeared.

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The mood of the venue changed completely once the enemies appeared.
A single moment of silence, followed by angered and panicked screams.

The exception were, of course, the player Pioneers, who were able to keep their calm in this messy situation.

Both Mika and Hime immediately equipped their weapons from their inventory.

However, because of the formal wear, they were unable to equip their armor, so they have almost no defensive capabilities right now…

Nonetheless, they seem eager to fight.

Contrary to the people rushing to the exist, Mika and the others rushed forward and surrounded the mobs before they could spread any further.

“I’m Mikan, from Mist Knights!

“Everyone, team up with the people near you and apply for a Raid Party for further collaboration.

“Don’t let any of the monsters escape!

“Hime! I’ll count on you to accept the raid party requests!” Mika quickly ordered.

“Roger.” Hime replied.

“Yuri, how many Magical Formations you have?” Mika asked me.

“Some!” I replied.

“Alright, then give them to Hime!” Mika told me.

“O-okay!” I complied.

Mika took the initiative to stop the panic from spreading and quickly started working on putting the situation under control.

I couldn’t quite do the same, as I was hiding behind Hime.

Nobody seemed to disagree with Mika’s instructions though, so they quickly started making parties of their own, then applying to join Hime’s raid party.

Mika and Hime were already on a party, so it didn’t take long for them to organize their own end on this.

And as instructed, I started giving support Magical Formations from my inventory to Hime.

Meanwhile, Hime was quickly using the Magical Formations received while also processing all party applications that she was receiving… Hime is truly amazing.

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The siege was at a stalemate for a small while, but as soon as Hime had finished accepting the raid party applications, things started to move.

Hime hadn’t applying all the necessary support Magical Formations, but the enemies were not going to wait any longer and started trying to charge through the siege.

However, in their attempts, the mobs often ended up attacking empty places, or leaving wide openings to be attacked, letting the surrounding Pioneers quickly take care of them.

“Amazing, Hime.” I commented.

“Thanks.” She replied.

“Nice, Hime!” Mika also said.

After all, the enemies were behaving strangely because of Hime’s interference… It’s really amazing that she can keep on doing that kind of crowd control while still activating one Magical Formation after another.

However, she can’t limit the movements of all enemies.

And just like Hime and Mika, the other Pioneers are also fighting with only weapons and no real protection… This is particularly troublesome for Pioneers who were used to fighting with large shields, as they don’t know how to properly dodge the incoming attacks.

That said, Hime seems to be prioritizing using the defensive Magical Formations on those Pioneers, so it seems no one has taken major damage so far.

Hime is really amazing… To think she is being able to quickly notice who are the people who need the shield magic the most and quickly give the necessary buff to them even though they probably never fought together before…

Of course, the raid party is using a call to better communicate with one another, but it’s still hard to discern who needs what in the middle of this confusion.

Especially because most of the people who needed shields ended up getting them even before they needed to request for it by call, so… Hime is really impressive.

And at the same time, she keeps on sabotaging the movements of the mobs… Really amazing, Hime! I’ll keep on supporting you by giving more and more Magical Formations as you burn through them!

It is a bit of a pity to spend this many Magical Formations, but in a situation where we face large amounts of enemies without any sort of armor, it just can’t be helped that we need to use lots of Magical Formations.

We’d probably get quite a few deaths without the extra protection provided by the defensive Magical Formations, after all.

At the very least, I actually have plenty of Magical Formations in my inventory… I answered ‘some’ to Mika when she asked, but I think it’s unlikely that we’ll run out of them.

“Damn! The attacks aren’t doing much damage!” One of the Pioneers exclaimed.

“We still deal about half as much damage as usual! Focus your attacks on one enemy at a time!” Another Pioneer replied.

“The attacks of the Great Bunny Swordsman seem to be doing full damage!” A Pioneer commented.

“Use attacks with attributes in them! These enemies seem resistant to attacks without attributes!” Mika ordered, “Be careful with not getting too much aggro though! Especially those with attribute magic! Don’t be overconfident on the protective capabilities of the shield magic!”

“Roger!” “Understood!” “Let’s go!” The Pioneers replied.

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The number of enemies wasn’t decreasing easily because of their resistance to attacks without attributes.

But the ‘Great Bunny Swordswoman’… As in, Mika, seemed to have been able to notice that her attacks were dealing full damage because one of her swords already has an attribute in it.

As for this nickname, she ended up gaining it because of her great rabbit-like hopping that happens while she fights without using the system-assist.

She herself is embarrassed about this nickname, but it’s still something she is well-known for.

In any case, thanks to people focusing on using attribute magic, the monsters started dying more often… This did make the aggro of the monsters turn towards the mages, but the vanguard Pioneers promptly reacted to that and started blocking the path of the enemies.

They truly have a great coordination.
I could never do anything like that… You’re all amazing, everyone!

“I’ll destroy the Shadow Crystal!” Mika exclaimed.

“Got it! Rearguard! Open the path for her!” A Pioneer replied.

Now that some of the enemies were cleared, Mika tried to move forward and destroy the Shadow Crystal that seems to have spawned the mobs.

However, the monsters tightened the guard around the crystal once they saw her movement, so the Armorless Mika couldn’t simply braze through them.

But, with the help of the mages bombarding the area in front of Mika with attribute magic, they were able to open a small path for her.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Mika rushed through the narrow corridor surrounded by monsters ahead of her, and cut the Shadow Crystal in half with a single swing of her sword.

The two shards of the Shadow Crystal shattered into light particles.
Immediately after, the remaining mobs also became light particles and disappeared.

“Did we do it…?” A Pioneer muttered.

“Check the surroundings! There might still be some leftovers!

“Hime, how is the auctioneer!?” Mika exclaimed.

“Under recovery.
Mildly injured.” Hime replied.

“As expected of you!” Mika exclaimed.

Even though the mobs seemed to have all disappeared, everyone didn’t relax and decided to check the surroundings to be sure.

As expected of the top combat-focused player Pioneers.
They didn’t risk getting a surprise attack on them after getting rid of the immediate danger.

I was quite relieved once the mobs disappeared, so I could have totally ended up being caught in an ambush if things had turned for the worse.

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And well, Hime was really amazing, wasn’t she? Even before the battle ended, she had already rescued the auctioneer and put them on a safe location so as to not get them in any further danger… I didn’t even notice she doing that.

Moreover, the auctioneer is already being treated even.
Hime was not only using support Magical Formations on the Pioneers, but was also sabotaging the enemy movements and treating the auctioneer… Hime’s performance is just incredible.

Mika may have been flashier, but Hime had the biggest contribution this time around, didn’t she?

Well, maybe not… Mika surely was the one who defeated the largest number of mobs.
Not only because of her skill, but also because she had a weapon with an attribute since the start.

“Breaking news! The monsters apparently appeared on other venues too!

“Quite a few seem to have died on those…” One Pioneer said.

“Probably because they had no armor… It’s actually surprising that we got no deaths ourselves.

“This was probably because of your support, thank you.” Another Pioneer thanked Hime.

“Hime surely did a lot, but we were only able to fight this smoothly because of the Magical Formations provided by Yuri… By Bucket.” Mika intervened.

“Oh, as expected of Bucket! Thank you!” One Pioneer exclaimed.

“Thank you, Bucket! Oh, and I love this Steel Longsword!” Another Pioneer pointed to their sword.

“I haven’t bought one yet, but I’ll get it next time!” A third Pioneer said.

“By the way, didn’t you end up using quite a few Magical Formations?” Mika asked me.

“Twenty-five sheets.” I replied.

“For real!?” Many Pioneers exclaimed in unison.

In any case, it seems like information on this incident was quickly spreading through the forums.

Mobs appeared on the other venues too, and considerable damage has been caused… It can’t be helped when everyone was fighting without armor.

There were no deaths in the Aquamarine Palace only because of Hime’s excellent support… And even then, twenty-five sheets of Magical Formations were spent.

Each one of them costs a lot, so it can’t be helped that everyone was surprised by it.

But well, everyone ended up being safe because of it, so that’s fine.

It was a raid party made on the spot, and it was my first time participating on this kind of thing… It’s just sad that on my first raid experience, I had to hear that the other venues ended up taking considerable damage.