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Thanks to Suzaku and the two girls’ efforts, the players’ army was able to regroup and fight for a few hours. The merchant and crafter players had set up a camp a distance away from the frontline. Suzaku retreated there to replenish his supplies and heal.

By now, the fight with Fafnir had stabilized, and everyone was so used to its patterns that it felt almost like routine, without any danger involved. That also meant that those in the frontline would periodically retreat to recover while others took their place.

Suzaku also made use of that, sitting back and watching his HP bar gradually regenerate thanks to the Health Restoration Skill. But then someone approached him.

“Here, for you.”

At the same time, three bottles with a green liquid came into view from the side. Looking up, he saw it was a woman, likely in her twenties and somewhat older than Suzaku. She was a Warbeast with blue hair.

“Are these healing potions?”
“Yeah, though I made these. You can have them if you want.”

Not really feeling like he deserved that, he cautiously used Appraise on the bottles held by that cat Warbeast with alchemist attire. And surely enough, they were healing potions, and of a quite high rank.

Feeling like he had no right to take such expensive items for free, he looked at her unsure, but she just chuckled and pushed the bottles onto him.

“Take them, as a token of my gratitude. I watched all you did to protect my fellow guild members.”
“Ah…you mean those two girls?”
“Yup, my fellow guild members. I’m just a crafter, so this is all I can do to say thanks.”
“Well…thank you then.”

Suzaku had already used up all the potions he had. So he accepted the three bottles, and quickly drank from one of them. They tasted like energy drinks without the fizziness, so his face constricted a little, but he felt relieved seeing his HP bar growing back really quickly.

He would keep the remaining two in reserve, in case things turned ugly. So he opened his bag to put them in, when she spoke to him again.

“By the way, your armor was also designed and sold by other players, wasn’t it?” She asked him that all of a sudden.

And she was right. Suzaku had bought all of his armor from the shop of another player. But that was when he noticed something had changed about them.

“Y-Yeah… Though actually, why are they all dyed red now?”

It was not just his clothes, but even his hair was red. Seeing that, he focused all his will, trying to get it to turn back to normal, but only his hair regained its original green hue.

“I guess it won’t be so easy with my clothes…”
“That’s weird… Usually blood can be washed away with water or it disappears with time. Can I take a closer look?”
“Sure, go ahead.”

Suzaku knew that a crafter like her would be more proficient at using the Appraise Skill, so maybe she would be able to see something he could not.

“Interesting…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Well, it’s probably better if you see it for yourself. Here.”

Saying that, she turned around the window showing the result of the item’s Appraisal.

“Oh right, I did get a lot of blood on me when I pierced the eye… This almost feels like my armor got cursed.”
“Mm, I don’t see anything suggesting a negative effect, so don’t worry. But this information sounds like it could be valuable.”
“Do what you want with it. I’m not really interested in profiting off information myself.”

That was something useful to know in case there was another fight against the dragon, but the idea of monopolizing the knowledge did not really sit well with him, and he had no real attachment to it either.

“But why did your hair change color too?”
“Ah… Actually, I might have an idea.”

Suzaku recalled that he had been given a Skill just before being eaten. So he opened his Skill list and looked through it.

“Ugh…” Suzaku covered his mouth as he groaned in displeasure.

Jade also had a strained look as she read that with him.

“Ahahah…those are some pretty extreme downsides.”
“Yeah…but I can see how it would be useful.”

It was more of a last-ditch effort type of usage, but it would allow him to become an impenetrable meat shield for some time.

“I’d also like to know more about this sword… But I really should go back to the frontline by now.” Saying that, Suzaku noted that his HP bar was almost completely refilled, so he stood up.

“Umm, one last thing…” Jade, however, called to stop him.

Turning around, Suzaku saw her, her eyes slightly cast down.

“Everyone here were watching you fight, all three of you, but we couldn’t do anything.” Jade and the others in the camp had seen how Suzaku and the two girls were fighting, and they wanted to go help too, but they knew they would only become hindrances to them.

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to weigh down on you, Hinagiku, and Lycoris. So we just watched.”
“Well… We all have something different we’re good at.”

‘And we’re from a different generation.’

He kept the last part to himself.

This was something kept as top secret, as it could have heavy implications in how society would change, but everyone was faintly aware of it. Essentially, around the time Suzaku was born, VR technology became an integral part of daily life and those born into it were able to adapt better.

A common theory was that the new generation had grown up wearing NLDs, meaning they were halfway inside the VR world the entire time, so their brains adjusted to both environments at the same time, while those from older generations could not adapt quite as well, and were unable to exploit all the advantages of VR.

The effect of that could already be seen in esports tournaments, where all professional gamers from older generations had been phased out, and all competitors were young. That was why many thought it was normal for the younger generation like Hinagiku and Lycoris to be far more talented at full dive VR games.

But there were also some who took things to the extreme, claiming the younger generation were an evolved breed of humans, and Suzaku did not want to sound like he shared those ideas at all.

“Umm… are you listening?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. What were you saying?”
“Like I was saying, thank you so much for helping my fellow guild member! I won’t forget what you did for a while!”
“…Aren’t you supposed to say you’ll never forget?”
“Sorry, I just don’t think I have the best memory!”
“Hahah, well, that’s understandable.”

Suzaku found himself agreeing with that straightforward comment from the lady.

“Anyway, sorry for stopping you. Good luck.”
“Yeah, I’ll get going…wait, what’s that?”
“Woah…I don’t know but it looks cool…”

Suzaku and Jade stared with mouths agape, seeing the change in the frontline. The night sky in front of them, which had been black earlier, was starting to turn red. Crimson glowing lines appeared all over Fafnir’s body, its blood set ablaze and spreading flames all around.

Such a drastic change could mean only one thing, a second phase.

The raid battle was reaching a turning point, and things would only get more violent from then on…