.1 – I Was in a Hero's Party Until That Point
On that day, I became unemployed. You could say I was fired, pushed to retire, chased out, exiled, dismissed, or whatever, any of those expressions could fit the mark. However, I want to say that I voluntarily retired, for the sake of my own pride at least.
Now then, how about I tell you exactly what led me to leave the party?
Let's turn back time by a few hours.
I'm not sure if I should be proud of this at this point, but the hero's party I belonged to was among the top 5 strongest in the world.
To be more specific, we were ranked 4th strongest. Parties are limited to 5 members as of currently.
My party consisted of…
「Don't get ahead of yourselves…!」
Let's start off with the Warrior Alba. He had ruffled hair and a sharp look in his eyes. He was also quite skilled in manipulating his body.
Alba's main weapon of choice was a special magic sword with a bellows-type blade. It was able to stretch and shrink into whatever length the user wished. Such a trait meant that it put the ability of the user into question.
Alba defeated the herd of werewolves that was approaching us with a single swipe. The magic sword cut the werewolves to pieces as if an enormous wave swallowed them.
「Whoa! There it is! Look at the strength of Alba's magic sword! 1, 2, 3… no, all 10 of the werewolves were taken out by that attack! That sword's power is as incredible as always! But preparing that attack causes the user to be vulnerable for a few moments, so it can be difficult to utilize. They need the cover of their comrades, essentially. And this party is well aware of that!」
The people in the dungeon wouldn't be able to hear any commentary, but there was no doubt that something like that was being said right then.
The next member to be praised is the Paladin Lark. He had a tall and well-trained body. In stark contrast to Alba, his hair was neatly combed and covering his eyes. He didn't talk much, but he was a reliable tank that always got the job done when it came to it. Whenever he had the chance, he'd crush the enemy with a single swing of his greatsword that fully utilized the strength of his build.
While Alba was charging his attack earlier, Lark was repelling the oncoming werewolves with his Shield Bash.
「They're all incredibly strong in their own right, but when it comes to maximizing one's abilities, teamwork is an absolute must! Lark has attack power on the same level of a Warrior's, but he's always looking out to cover his teammates whenever necessary! And the reason why Lark is able to concentrate on his role as tank is none other than…」
Among the dungeons spread all across the world, there remains a single one where no party has ever managed to reach the final area, the legendary Demon King Castle.
Thanks to the Recording Stone, all challengers are able to resume their progress from wherever they previously left off from.
Even so, there has been no party that has managed to defeat the Demon King in the final area.
But he had the potential to end that legend.
The Flame Hero Fenix.
「I'll take him down, think you can clear the way for me?」
Alba shouted out 「I guess we got no choice!」 Even if the rest of us didn't say anything, we were thinking the exact same thing.
We were in a place that resembled a dance hall. The enemies with serious injuries were already retreating from the area.
But there were still werewolves crawling about, along with a giant creature that was by no doubt their leader.
「We'll make sure you take the shortest route there.」
The Hunter Lily was a markswoman elf with blonde hair and blue eyes.
No one has ever seen her actually shoot an arrow. By the time you see her readying an arrow, it's already flown into the enemy. Multiple arrows at that, oftentimes.
「T-There it is!!! Her Godspeed technique! She's once again displayed the legendary ability that only 3 people in the world have been recognized to be capable of! Not that we were actually able to see it, though! But the power of her arrows is clear just by looking at the enemies who've been taken down! 8 of them were defeated in but an instance!」
The Flame Hero Fenix wielded a holy sword that contained a spirit of fire within it.
He then simply headed straight towards the Floor Boss that was defending the door to the next level with an air of complete composure.
Not a single werewolf among the dozens of them were able to approach him.
Alba, Lark, and Lily were defeating any enemy that headed his way.
With that being said, I was in a situation where I had no idea what to do.
Abilities that involve buffing others are called White Magic. Healing, enhancement, cleansing, and so on.
On the other hand, debuffing abilities are called Black Magic. Lowering attack, lowering defense, lowering speed, poison-type effects that deal damage over a set period of time, confusion status effects that disrupt the ability to think properly, blinding status effects that diminish vision capability, and so on. Along with Attack Magic and Defense Magic, these fields make up the Great Four Magics.
However these days they're often referred to as the Great Three Magics, or even the Great Two Magics.
The field that's dropped when being referred to as the Great Three Magics is Black Magic, with White Magic being dropped as well when referred to as the Great Two Magics.
Putting aside the reason why White Magic gets dropped, the reason why Black Magic gets ignored might be quite obvious.
It's because it's hard to actually see their effects.
Even to one's comrades it can be hard to really tell if they're receiving any benefit from it.
Even right at that moment I was lowering the magic/physical attack power, speed, and thinking ability of all the enemies in the area, as well as limiting their vision, but it's likely that not a single person was noticing those effects.
It's quite possible that something like this was being said right about now.
「Hmm, this really brings into question what the Black Sorcerer Lem is doing right now, though. While he does belong to a support job, it's hard to say whether such an individual would actually contribute to the party in the current system. I doubt anything would actually change even if he were to be taken out. If anything, replacing him with a White Sorcerer would likely be more beneficial, since they'd be able to further increase their party's already destructive power.」
That'd sound about right. This isn't just some kind of delusion I made up out of paranoia, I've legitimately heard similar things said when watching recordings of past recordings of clears I've participated in.
Black Magic is just plain. There's nothing flashy about it. To an observer, it'd be as if the user didn't do anything at all. They might tell their comrades what magic they just cast, but the viewers get no entertainment out of it. Since there's no visual effect, it just turns out to be boring.
They don't fight. In other words, they have no punch.
That's why Black Magic isn't popular.
When making a party, a member that has the aptitude of a Hero is necessary. Absolutely necessary.
And the maximum limit for a party is 5 members.
Nearly every party out there changes their roster numerous times in order to find the best combination.
Out of the several thousand official parties out there, we were ranked #4. This rating is updated once per year by the Adventurer Union in accordance with factors such as achievements and popularity.
「Sorry big guy, but we're going to need you to let us through.」
In the end, Fenix wasn't attacked by a single werewolf when he arrived in front of the Floor Boss.
The Floor Boss was about half the size of a giant. Being about 3 times as large as a normal person, his appearance almost felt like an optical illusion.
Fenix readied his sword with no signs of fear.
The Floor Boss let out a roar and swung his sharp claws at the Hero.
However, they were stopped by Fenix's sword.
A high-pitched clang rang out along with sparks.
The very next moment, the Floor Boss's body burst into flames. It looked as if a building or tree had caught on fire. As the Floor Boss writhed in pain, its HP dropped in no time, leading its body to vanish.
It was time to leave.
「Our battles only know victory.」
「He nailed it! The power of a holy sword changes depending on the spirit that resides within it, but it's said that the spirit he commands is the Fire Spirit that serves as the source of all heat in the entire world! It's no doubt a spirit of the highest rank! Of course, that means it's all the harder to be chosen by it, but he's truly shown that he's worthy of being the first person to enter a contract with it within the past 130 years! He defeated that Floor Boss with but just one attack!」
The people watching the television were probably roaring it up.
This was kind of like our style. At first we did it so we could leave at least some kind of impression on the viewers.
The Floor Boss had to be defeated in one hit by the Hero.
Fenix was easy on the eyes, and his flame-aspected holy sword was extremely flashy. His comrades were to clear open the path, allowing him to take down the Boss in one blow.
Since this style became a big hit, our renown shot up through the roof.
「They've brilliantly cleared the 4th stratum! They truly aren't the Flame Hero Fenix's party for nothing! It looks like they're entering the Safe Room now… They're registering their progress with the Recording Stone… and it looks like they're done for now! It's going to be unbearable to wait to see their clear of the 5th stratum, wouldn't you say?!」
「All right, let's head back.」
Along with Fenix's voice, the small thumb-sized tags we held out shone with a faint gold light. They were our registration cards. They displayed information such as our names, gender, position, and identification number. By touching a Recording Stone with it, you could either save your progress or teleport to the location of another Recording Stone.
In a blink of an eye, we had returned to the entrance of the dungeon.
It was what happened after this course of events that led me to leave the party.