"Phoebe, the item I'm about to reveal—please keep it a secret from Lena... If you tell her, I'm planning to surprise her by hitting a million subscribers!"
"Eh? O-Okay, I understand…"
Rhea sheathed the sword she had been holding and quickly tapped the system screen to summon her favorite sword. Phoebe gasped in astonishment at its sight.
Wendy began to conjure a swirling mass of water.
"W-What is that sword?!"
"Are you ready to die?" Rhea taunted.
"That's my line! I'll settle the score for defeating Lena!"
"Stop! I don't want to fight!"
Rhea sprinted onward, dodging any foes that came her way. Although they pursued her briefly, they soon lost interest outside their territory. She had no idea how many minutes it would take to reach the spring, but she kept running.
Rhea's HP bar remained steady; she was the type to evade all attacks. The unchanging HP bar gave her hope that she was handling things well.
However, being in a party had come at a cost—her stats were decreasing in exchange for increased event points. The longer the battle dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would become for her. She had to reach the spring quickly. Just then, she spotted another player nearby.
"...Excuse me! If you can use any speed-enhancing magic, please help me!"
"Whoa!? A time-limited quest? If that's the case, runner soul, speed up! You've got this!"
"Thank you!"
As I called out desperately, the male cleric-knight player wielding a mace looked surprised but cast a speed-enhancing spell on me. I expressed my gratitude and rushed towards the spring.
Upon reaching the spring, I found a door leading to Wendy's abode, and I burst through it!
"Are you both safe?!"
"Lena!"
I could hear Phoebe's voice... thank goodness they're unharmed! It seems like some kind of barrier is protecting them—did Rhea summon it? I noticed cracks running through it, suggesting it's barely holding up.
"Quick change! Whoa... Lena, you made it back! I thought once you dropped out of an event, you couldn't return..."
When I looked toward the voice, I was surprised to see Rhea, not in her swimsuit but in the live performance outfit from yesterday, still wielding her slender sword.
"I'm sorry for being late! And thank you for protecting Phoebe!"
"Save the thanks for later! This Kzone will heal itself if given the chance, and my items are running low! We need to work together and keep Kzone from recovering, launching coordinated attacks!"
"Got it! Brace yourself, Kzone!"
"W-wait a second, you..."
Wendy, startled by the sudden reappearance of herself, showed evident distress.
I don't know why Wendy is being called a loser, but Phoebe nearly got killed, and I'm already dead! Let's take him down!
"Phoebe! Picture the lightning!"
"I got it! Power up! Speed up! Fairy wish! Regenerate!"
"Hyper hail! I'll coordinate with you on the attack, Lena!"
With the resonance from Archie, the power of lightning flows through me; water is weak against lightning.
Plus, the support magic from Phoebe and Rhea boosts my own strength.
Seeing that, Kuzne's face twists in fear; it seems lightning truly is his weakness.
"Oh, are you attacking me too? I may have missed my target…."
"Once you make an attack with intent to kill, you're my enemy."
If I hadn't been dead on the spot, there might've been room for negotiation, but no, there wasn't.
"Prepare to feel my full-force attack!"
"Special finale!"
Rhea and I strike simultaneously, our attack piercing Kuzne and sending him flying!
In a follow-up, I throw Archie! Crackling with lightning, Archie collides with Kuzne, dealing lightning damage!
And then, Rhea rushes to the airborne Wendy, retrieves Archie, and combines his power with her slender sword for a flurry of dual-wield attacks.
"Rhea!"
"I'm on it, Lena! Paralysis wink☆"
Rhea stopped Kuzne's movements and tossed the ball to Archie. I dashed to catch it and then, with Archie crackling with lightning, I thrust it hard into Kuzne! A scream echoed as Kuzne fell to the ground.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me..."
"Oh, the hostilities have ended... It's okay now, Lena. In this state, we can't catch anyone off guard anymore."
Kuzne, realizing the battle was over thanks to Rhea's words, took a deep breath to regain composure.
Still, I was amazed at how well Rhea and I had coordinated. I instinctively understood her movements; it felt as though she wasn't just someone I had talked to once today.
"Lena!"
Phoebe burst out from the barrier, clinging to my cheek.
"I'm so sorry! It was my attack on Wendy that caused all this..."
"Honestly, I appreciated that blast. So don't worry about it."
But having her stick to me in her swimsuit was a bit embarrassing... I could feel the softness of her hand against my cheek.
"So, what now? Do we finish this? Since you, Lena, are the main victim here, I leave it up to you."
"P-please forgive me! Uh, um! I will grant power to the fairies, so please spare me!"
Kuzne begged desperately while bowing deeply.
Wait, is she really offering to give power to Phoebe?
"Is there any drawback to that power besides MP?"
"None! You won't die from overuse or anything!"
"Then if you grant that power to Phoebe, I'll let it slide."
With that, Kuzne passed a sphere of water to Phoebe. The sphere vanished into her chest, enveloping her in a beautiful effect.
"I learned a spell called Aqua Shield, Lena! It creates a layer of water that seems to weaken enemy attacks."
Oh, a protective spell! That's quite handy.
"Um, please, enough already... I won't attack you again..."
"Lena, there's nothing more to do here, let's head back to report the quest."
"You're right... let's get back quickly."
We had already obtained the elixir. We made our way out of Wendy's spring and returned to report our quest.
**Fantasy Freedom Bulletin Board / Summer Event Board 2**
**555 Anonymous**
There was an event earlier; was it fun? The naval battle with cannons over pirate treasure was great, so I want to hear about other happenings.
**558 Anonymous**
Seriously, did you hear about the quest for Wendy's secret treasure? Some might not find it fun, though.
**561 Anonymous**
Wendy's quest? Was it that intense? I thought it was just about rescuing her from slime and getting an elixir, nothing more.
**563 Anonymous**
No, after rescuing her, she suggested we get along, and when I summoned my prideful beast, she reacted with, "So you like that better than mine!?" and attacked me for no reason. I fought back since I had already received the elixir, but what was that all about?
**Group 578**
I gathered various pieces of information about Wendy's quest, and here's the basic flow: You embark on a journey to find Wendy's home in search of her elixir, but her dwelling is contaminated with sludge. To help Wendy, you must defeat the sludge arm that's polluting her home, and as a reward, she will give you the elixir.
Beyond Wendy's place, there are multiple water bodies also tainted by sludge. If you manage to cleanse at least two locations, Wendy may develop feelings for you, and she might invite you into her home, offering not just the elixir but also rare water-related items. However, in return, she will pressure one of your party members to become her lover or spouse.
**Group 581**
Wait, really?! This Wendy is a beautiful girl! That sounds amazing!
**Group 590**
While the Wendy in that quest is indeed attractive, her personality is catastrophically bad. If she has a partner or another protector, she will try to steal them away, threaten to break them up, or overwrite their blessing. If you reject her advances, she will go as far as to sever ties by attacking, leading to a battle.
By the way, even if you're single and without a blessing, becoming her lover doesn't guarantee anything; any disagreement will result in a breakup and a fight. Thus, it's believed to be impossible to recruit that Wendy as a companion. If you end up opposing her, you'll lose your blessing, making her nothing more than a nuisance.
If possible, I recommend heading home with the elixir in hand before getting caught up in any chatter. And let me say this for good measure: Wendy refers to a species name, and while there's an awful Wendy in this quest, there are good Wendys out there too! My partner Wendy is brave and cool!
After doing some shopping with the shop NPC and gathering information, I learned about Wendy's dwelling and heard countless stories of men who fell in love with Wendy and ended up meeting their demise… At first, I thought the journey would be tough, but I wonder if they drowned because they couldn't meet Wendy's standards?
Wow, is she one of those landmine-type Wendys? By the way, how strong is she?
As for strength, she's decent—high attack power and defense penetration make her tough against defense-focused builds. However, she's extremely weak to taunts, and her wide attacks make it easy to dodge. So if someone with a dodge-centric build can taunt her and gather her aggro, they should be fine. But since she heals quickly after being hit, constantly attacking might be a hassle for some. Also, she has a weakness to lightning attacks, which can be quite effective.
By the way, even if you get knocked out and have to restart at the event entrance, you can grab the elixir beforehand, so it won't hinder your quest completion. Personally, I enjoyed it when my partner declared, "I won't let anyone harm my precious partner!"—that made it quite fun!
613 Anonymous
At home, I used to call him "Guzune" because he was such a loser. It was a tough time after one of my dear friends was killed. If he hadn't been a resurrection capable summon, it would have been irreversible… He begged for his life and offered me five Elixirs, but I really don't want to accept requests like that again.
618 Anonymous
Well, that quest was definitely a topic of debate—having to fight someone you helped… I mean, I did get rare rewards and good event points in exchange, though...
625 Anonymous
In my case, Wendy fell for a female party member, and her partner (an NPC) immediately attacked Wendy, which was shocking… Wendy easily defeated her and she begged for mercy, but did the partner really need to finish her off? It might have been fine since a powerful area healing item dropped as a result, but still...
630 A Test Group
I'm not sure what happens when you finish someone off, but there could be consequences later on. If you take the same quest again, it becomes a dream-like replay quest, but you'll earn significantly fewer quest points in exchange.
635 Anonymous
Oh, by the way, did anyone figure out who was singing by the seaside?
638 Anonymous
That was a raid situation. The boss enchanted men with its song, and taking it down was tough. There were a lot of men in the raid, which made it exhausting… If the female ratio had been higher, it probably would have been easier.
"Wait, the raid boss over here was charming women! Maybe the gender it charms varies by channel!"
"Okay, I'll check it out, so just wait a moment!"
The summer just began, and the forum's pace was swift; information was spreading rapidly. As they moved to report a quest...
"Rhea, I just wanted to say again, thank you for helping Phoebe."
During the fight with Wendy, this thank-you had been put off for later.
"Oh, you don't have to thank me... but if you don't mind, I have three requests."
"If they're within reason..."
"Then first, when you call me, please drop the honorifics."
"Got it, Rhea. Phoebe, you're okay with that too, right?"
Phoebe nodded in response, and Rhea cheerfully moved on to her second request.
"Can you tell me how Phoebe ended up in that revealing swimsuit?"