ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

The information about Sanraku spread like wildfire throughout Thirdrema, circulating from player to player in real time, which caused people to be on the lookout for him.

「Uwah, there he is!」

「No, he’s here! Wha!? He disappeared!?」

「What is this, a rare monster or what!?」

One moment he was rushing through the gap in between the houses, only to pop out on top of the roof the very next moment. And if someone tried to chase him on the roofs, he would appear right in the middle of the main street.

The hood he was wearing was making chasing him down extra complicated, so even if someone would realize that he was indeed Sanraku, they wouldn’t be able to chase him before he already managed to get away.

「Where did he go!?」

「This isn’t what the information dealer told us! Wasn’t he supposed to be half naked or something!?」

「Hey! Check behind the blacksmith’s shop!」

「What the fuck is going on……!? Is he heading towards the ancient ruins after all……!?」

After Pencilgton released the information about Sanraku, the number of people willing to PK in Thirdrema rose dramatically, while everyone was on the lookout for him. Currently, even more people were converging at the Ancient Ruins, since that was supposed to be the place where Sanraku was headed.

Meanwhile, Saiga-0 was running tirelessly. She was running after the hooded individual while ignoring all the buzz that was surrounding her.

(I keep on chasing him but I can’t catch up……!)

Again, she wasn’t certain about this, but she had a hunch. A hunch that the hooded individual was in fact Sanraku. She’s been on the lookout for him for the past two days. However, she wasn’t doing that because her guild told her to do so…… She was chasing him of her own free will.

Saiga-0 had no idea what Sanraku’s next move would be, but she was doing her best to try and think the way he would.

(The road from Thirdrema branches off in three general directions. Now, which one will you choose?)

But since she was unable to come up with anything, she decided that thinking about it too much would just be a waste of her time. So instead, she decided to take that thirty percent chance, go to one location at random and wait for him there.

And since she used to travel these roads very often in the past, her legs started to carry her all on their own.

「………」

「…… Why would you be in the open like that?」

After a while, he appeared right in front of Saiga-0, who was waiting just outside of the city’s northwest gate, the road of which was leading into the Crimson Trees Cave.

While resuming her chase, Saiga-0 started to thank every God and deity that possibly existed in this world, thanking them for their guidance.

I was completely surprised and astonished at the same time. Who would have thought that the route switching strategy would prove to be that much of a success?

After causing some disturbance throughout the city while running in the long cloak I unequipped it and put on my usual item set, heading straight towards the gate that would lead me into the Crimson Trees Cave.

Right now I was so full of myself and the fact that I have outplayed the whole city that I actually forgot about any secrecy and caution.

So why is this player here……? Did she managed to see right through my deception?

One thing was painfully obvious here: this fully armored player called Saiga-0 was a whole lot better than me. The fact that she saw right through me was enough proof for me.

(We’re in seriously deep sh*t now!? What do we do!?)

There is no way I have a chance against her in open combat. I could feel my head pounding and my heart beating like crazy. Was that perhaps how a cornered animal would feel the moment before being devoured by a carnivorous predator?

It is true that I used her to get away from Pencilgton previously, so maybe I should apologize for that…… No, scratch that. She might even demand the disclosure of the information of the unique quest as a form of compensation.

「S, S, S, Sanraku-san!? W, w, w, whatever shall we do now!?」

「You ask me that, but…… There’s no way the same trick will work here again. We have no other option but to fall back for now……」

With our current levels and items there was no way for us to win should a real battle ensue. But following the teachings of Modorokatsu, I try to narrow down the possible options we had in front of us.

That being said, there weren’t all that much of them. The fact that Saiga-0 was not only better than me item-based but also player-based, certainly wasn’t helping our current predicament.

I had three choices before me right now: surrender, escape, or total annihilation. Or maybe I should kill myself before she does it to me? That way I would return to Thirdrema and I wouldn’t be forced to disclose any information about the unique quest that I know.

「!!!???」

The hand of the armored knight moves.

I could feel Emul’s hair standing straight while he was clinging to my back. Seeing that Saiga-0 was a high level player, we should probably expect anything to happen right about now.

I keep my weapons drawn and at the ready. I was ever so vigilant towards even the smallest sign of hostility coming from her. At that moment Saiga0’s hand stops. But it wasn’t as to pause. It was because she completed what she wanted to do.

YOU HAVE RECEIVED A FRIEND REQUEST FROM SAIGA-0-SAN.

「Pleash, coulsh you beshome mai friend!?」

…… There was a whole lot of typos in that sentence, but let’s overlook that for now.