The duo raided as usual every day, and the day Akira had anticipated finally arrived. This would be a big opportunity to increase his influence enough to attract players to join his organization.
"Fresh news just came in. A large monster appeared in Katagami. It seems to be made up of soil. It has an upper body with two huge hands and its head is directly connected to the body without a neck.
Although its body is only above its waist, it can move using soil. It is devastating everything in its path. It is throwing blades made up of hard soil at any flying objects, so the player association didn't allow any planes to go near it."
The monster in the video looked like it was made up of soil with a clear-cut design like armor. Akira and Haruka had just reached home to rest for the night when they saw the news on their mobile phones.
"Aki, that thing is huge. It must be 15 meters tall. Can anyone kill it?"
The whole incident of monsters appearing on Earth was devastating, but humans were able to take control of it. However, this monster spelled despair.
Not just this, in a few parts of the world, large monsters appeared, which could destroy cities. Watching it destroy a whole town, many people lost faith in living just by looking at it from the screen.
"Yes, there is someone, and he is going to kill it too," said Akira, as if that monster was as good as dead and only wondering what he should do after that.
"Really, if anyone, you would be him right?" She tapped him with her elbow, trying to make him fluster for referring to himself in the third person.
"No, I won't even participate."
That made her feel awkward and also a little surprised. "Then who?"
"White Rabbit."
"What? Me?" She got flustered. "Aki, did I do something wrong?"
"No, why did you ask?" He didn't understand her meaning.
"Look at me, I am just level 35 and a small human. How can I kill that thing, many times bigger than me?"
"You are only 3 inches smaller than me. You will level up to 60, and I will also give you tips, don't worry. There is a title for the solo first-ever boss raid, and this will also show how powerful we are to the world. This way, we can successfully build our organization."
"That..." She was scared, but when he said that, she gained some confidence. But still, she asked, "Aki, can't you do it?"
That took Akira by surprise. He had never seen her swallow her pride and admit defeat. He felt something was off. She was not acting like herself. It became clear that she was not herself after remembering the last few days and how she behaved.
'Something is on her mind,' he thought and said, "No, you have to do it, Ruka. The title will allow you to teleport to any boss monster in the world along with your party and your stats will increase by 10% after you teleport for one hour. Don't worry; it will be possible if you try hard like you always do."
She already knew if he asked her to do it, she would do it. So, instead of wasting any time, she decided to take all the advice she could get. "OK, fine. You better be close by while I fight."
"Of course."
A few hours later, somewhere in the country, a random civilian was watching live news on his mobile.
"Two organizations already failed to kill the big earth monster that appeared 13 hours back. Now, the Niwa Guild organized many high-ranking players around the country, including several players from famous guilds.
Most of them are above level 50, and there are three level 60 players, who are guild masters of their respective guilds participating in this raid. The raid will start in 1 hour. Viewers, you must witness this grand raid, as this will go down in the history of Japan..."
Haruka was watching it outside a tower dungeon. "White, stop watching that. We need to get in."
"Aren't you worried that they might defeat it?" Haruka asked.
"No, the boss monster is level 80 and its defense and size are buffed. They need at least ten level 60 players with S-rank skills, artifacts, and weapons, which are suitable to defeat it."
Akira's mobile phone rang.
"Hello, Mr. Yamamura, I am busy, can you make it quick?" said Akira.
"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Black Bear. Mr. Niwa, the guild master of Niwa guild would like to speak to you."
"Ok."
"Hello, Mr. Black Bear. I would like to invite you to raid the level 80 monster that appeared in Katagami, near Akita. We will offer..."
Akira interrupted. "Sorry, Mr. Niwa, we have other plans."
"But this matter is huge; it took out many homes of civilians..."
"Sorry, but I can't. I saw the news; the player association created safe zones around it so that its movements are restricted. So there is no trouble for a lot of people, so I won't interfere in this matter."
Akira cut the call as soon as he said it.
"Didn't you say I have to raid it?" Haruka asked.
"This is a simple word tactic. We can't let them know that we are planning to raid it. When they fail more and more, they will meet our demands to solo it without any interference."
"Won't they step aside if we ask now?"
"No, if we defeat it solo now, they will think it is easy, that they just need to reach level 60. They might even come in the middle of the fight and make some contribution, which will not give us the title.
No matter what, the guilds that came into the public this early all are under some business group, they are profit-driven and lay their hands whenever they want and say they just tried to help. In the end, they will also ask for the monster materials and share the profits for contribution.
The boss monster rewards are huge and there is a guarantee of one skill book with growth type, which is very rare, one weapon that players use in the fight without restriction, one artifact, and one status effect skill book, which is also a growth type.
Generally, 10 players are expected to raid it and the exp and coins are distributed according to contributions. But if only 9 players raid it, the total exp and coins are the same but an additional 10% will be added.
Another 10% will be added for each less party member until the 5-member party, which is a 50% increase. Now if there are four in the party, the 50% will become 100%, so they will get the double amount. For 3 members, they will get triple. For 2 members, it will be 5 times, and for a solo player, it will be 10 times the original total exp and coins."
"What if the government uses army weapons?" Haruka asked, pausing Akira. "Wait, don't tell me you didn't think of that possibility."
"I..." Akira faltered. "I thought they won't waste them when there are players."
"You came up with that just now."
"Ok, I admit I didn't think that. I am not perfect, ok." He walked into the tower with embarrassment.
Haruka chuckled as she followed him in. 'He is so serious in front of other people but he loosens up with me, what can I ask more except for him to get comfortable when I am around.
And he knows how to rope me in, the rewards are so go, how can I let go of such opportunity.'
Three hours later,
"This is bad, this monster is too powerful. Three players died while 37 were heavily injured. The remaining 75 players are injured lightly. This is a huge loss and a big blow to morale.
The monsters took over 45% of the land already in our country, and now it's only expanding as players come here to raid. The government might decide to use army weapons to deal with this monster.
We are with the Akita branch player association team leader Okazaki Kintaro. Okazaki san, will the government use army weapons on this boss monster?"
"No, we still didn't rally up all the top players from the country. The national player association head will issue a guaranteed participation request to all top players to deal with this monster. We might plan this raid in 2 days after everyone is prepared."
"Black, this will not work for us," said Haruka.
"Yeah, we at least need a 1-hour gap to reset the contribution. Now it will be hard for us to do it. They will figure out we are onto something and wouldn't they love to interrupt others' plans."
Akira got a call from Yamamura again.
"Hello."
"Sorry to interrupt you again, but the association has decided to file a mandatory request. You must come to Katagami by tomorrow evening."
"Is that so?" Akira sounded disappointed.
"I know this will take up your time, but we can't help it. Civilians are still living in unsafe zones in many places. If we can't kill this monster, a huge panic will be created. Although I think it already started."
Akira paused for a second, hesitating to ask, but what was the point of hiding it at this point? "Mr. Yamamura, I have a request. I want to do it solo."
"Are you nuts?" Yamamura slammed his desk, alerting all his workers. "Three level 60 players couldn't do it with more than 100 players, how can you do it solo?"
The workers all were shocked and started whispering.
"Who is that on the phone?"
"I think it's Black Bear. Does he want to do it solo? Didn't he see how powerful that monster is?"
"Yeah, each attack pierced the ground for 2 meters. The cost to maintain the safe zone is huge too."
Safe zones had hourly rent per meter square. With coins, any player could make a safe zone, but if a monster attacks it, the system would charge extra if the monster was ranked above the safe zone.
The player association created a safe zone around the monster as a safe zone couldn't be created on a monster area. The safe zone limit was also E-rank, so a powerful monster like the boss monster could break it if not maintained.
The length of the restriction would depend on the level of the monster and as it was a boss, they had to create a safe zone circle at least 10 kilometers radius away.
When Yamamura opposed it, Akira looked at Haruka and said, "White, do it."
Yamamura got confused. "Wait, what did you ask him?"
Akira paused without answering, and a few seconds later, one officer in the room suddenly got up.
"Mr. Yamamura," he called loudly due to urgency.