Chapter 192: [Arc 5] Chapter 1-4: The Infiltration and Leadership

5 days before the release of the Invidia Overlord.

Zaria's PoV:

From the top of the trees, I was grasping one of the branches with my feet while in my half-beast form. From there, I could "hear" the drama play out down on the ground.

A pair of ruffians clad in black kimonos and armed with katanas were patrolling through the brush close to the suspicious building that was spewing out Demonic Seawater. The men are using a lantern, probably to cast some light on their situation, but it only made them an easier-to-spot target for the guys downstairs. 

One of the men could hear a branch snap in the bushes and impulsively walked over to see what it was.

His comrade was calmer and tried to stop him, but before the calmer ruffian could let out a voice, a black-dressed, small-sized short stuff emerged from the shadows and knocked him unconscious before dragging his body into the shadows while leaving the lantern behind in the air through a Shadow-type spell.

The assault didn't take more than a few seconds, so fast and unnoticeable that the impulsive ruffian did not notice that his partner was in a pinch. He was too preoccupied with finding the source of the noise he had heard, only to get clobbered by a pair of dark-clothed Dark Elves.

Are they still alive...good. I can still hear them breathing. We have to defeat them, not kill them.

"Okay, gobs and folks. Good job there. Dino, you're up. Carnival time." - Zaria

I fell while returning to my all-human form and instructed Dino, a black-skinned, white-haired Dark Elf recently named so he could participate in these battles outside the Dungeon, to take the clothes of the KO-ed thugs and disguise himself and his Dark Elf partner as the unfortunate duo lying on the ground.

"...sorry Zaria, but I do not understand what you are trying to say." - Dino

"...strip these guys, disguise yourself and your partner to look like these chumps, go inside their HQ, and do some work that would make a virus proud of you." - Zaria

"You're still unclear on some parts, suu~," said Rald the goblin. It was him who knocked out the first ruffian...I think. I can't see the difference between these green guys.

"As fellow victims to that assassin-combi, we should have an understanding of each other's thoughts and ideas. It's the two of you who's at fault here, not me." - Zaria

"Just warning you, but I'll tell master Garami and Boss Chiyome, ssu~." - Rald

"Please! Anything but that!!" - Zaria

Garami alone is bad enough, but Chiyome-sensei is on a whole different dimension!!

Chiyome-sensei, otherwise known as Chiyome Damavand, is one of the "five new bosses" that Garami ordered to protect the five "territories" that we're using as transfer points to reach the areas with Treasure Towers easier. And she ended up calling on something that was practically born to be a "ninja".

To clarify, her race is a "Zetsuei Tsuchigumo", a special breed of the original Tsuchigumo that is made for stealth while retaining the Tsuchigumo's original power, she has the Shinobi class that comes from the Genin class and has lots of stealth-moves, and she has even Assassin as a sub. Plus she is damn good at teaching stuff, so all of us present took classes from her.

Even Garami joined the classes..., and because of that, I'm fearing for the poor chumps that have to face her in Avalar...

"Well then, my brothers and sisters of shared pains, I will be going now," said Dino jokingly as he had finished disguising his face with Shadow-based magic..., he's damn good at this, isn't he? I could swear it's the same guy being knocked out over there in the bushes.

"Good luck, ssu~. If things get hairy, forget this idiot's plans and just get outta there." - Rald

Who're you calling an idiot!?

"True. I will take that to heart." - Dino

Dino, why're you agreeing with this goblin bully!?

"Squeak *nod*." - Tinkletop

Tinkletop!? You betraying rat!! Is the first thing you have to do after a long nap? Stabbing your master in the heart like that!?

"I will be off then," said Dino as he acted his role as the thug from before with his subordinates, leaving us to wait..., and wait..., and wait...

"This takes too long!!" - Zaria

"What'd you expect, ssu~? Didn't you say that you were a self-proclaimed master in espionage, ssu~?" - Rald

"Yes, I am, and I know that it takes lots of time to infiltrate a group, but still, we're part of a Dungeon's attack forces! Shouldn't we be more impressive and charge at them with all our forces or something? And what do you mean by "self-proclaimed"!?" - Zaria

"Blame the new rules, ssu~. Also, you're acting "self-proclaimed" right now, ssu~." - Rald

Grr... Well, fine. I know I'm not the smartest person once I get riled up, but what can I say? It's my charm point. But the "new rules" do suck, no matter what anyone else says.

What I and Rald are talking about is the new rules regarding certain Leadership skills. Before the most recent World System update, the one that happened after the festival was finished for good, the Leadership skills were just stuff that lets you work better with others, allow you to make parties with other people, or some taming-type skills. 

Now, however, a new function has been added to the Leadership skills. Leader Points, or for short, LP. These points determine how many people you can add to your "group" of whatever kind. Be it members through the [Party] skill or a monster tamed with the [Taming] skill. 

All creatures have an initial LP value. It's equal to one's racial rank times 5. A G-rank slime, for example, would have simply 5 LP, but a C-ranked dragon would have 25. Me, who is a D-rank, has 20 LP available from the start. 

As for what people one can add to a group or whatever, it differs between the various skills. To make some examples:

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[Party] lets you add up to 6 people to your party, but only if they're within your LP limit. A person of the same "genus" as yourself will require the same number of LP as their original LP value.

Dino, who is a Dark High Elf and has 20 LP, could take an E-ranked Dark Elf or a normal E-ranked Elf as part of his party, as they both would require 15 LP to do so. However, he cannot add both, but taking a G-ranked demon-type creature, as Dark Elves are also considered part of the demon genus, would be possible. 

But the problem is with creatures from a different genus. Someone like me, a Therianthrope, would cost twice as much as my original LP if Dino wanted to add me to his party, meaning 40 LP. 

It's not like all the different genera take twice as much. Rald, who comes from the goblin genus, would only take 1.5 times his original LP due to the goblins' ability to form herds. But a dragon would take easily five times its original amount if the leader is a non-dragon.

And if the genera are opposing each other, like demons and celestials, then the value will increase again. Then there could be genera that have it easier to cooperate and require less LP compared to other genera.

However, it's not like all the Leadership skills share the same "LP pool". [Taming], for example, could still be used and not deplete the LP for [Party]. 

Speaking of [Taming], it works pretty much the same as before, but you have to match your original LP value with the tamed monster's LP. Evolved taming-type skills are different, as it accepts multiple creatures from the same genus, and it can come with a cost-down function, I think. I don't have such a skill myself. 

As for those who still don't have enough LP, other skills like [Leadership] can increase your total LP or skills that reduce the LP cost for specific targets. Though, [Taming] is still only looking at the original LP, so you can't tame a creature with a higher racial rank than your own. 

I know all this because I had to study it for this stupid "war". That stupid Garami didn't name enough Dungeon monsters!! She thought that the guys from Babel could act as "leaders" for the Dungeon monsters, but there are no such people here! The only guys that Babel could give us were the stupid adventurers who ended up getting killed or lost on the way up the mountains!

"Can't he hurry back up...*grr*..." I mumbled without meaning it just by thinking of the frustration those idiots have given us.

If I knew we would have so little backup, I wouldn't have sent Akai, Takai, and Furu to gather info. Especially Akai, who has way more LP than me. The only skill I have that could help me there is [Leadership], and since it only gives 1 LP every second level, I have only 33 LP in total now! 

"...? Wait, something's wrong here." - Zaria

"What, ssu~?" - Rald

"Why can you have 15 gobs with you when I can only have 1 Dark High Elf with me!? Even Dino couldn't bring that many with him!" - Zaria

"...[Goblin Pack], ssu~. I was given it with the latest update, ssu~. It, and other skills, ssu~." - Rald

"That's unfair! Trade it with me!" - Zaria

"How, ssu~!? And should we be shouting so much, ssu~? Won't the yakuza notice us, ssu~?" - Rald

"...yeah, forgot about that." - Zaria

I should rather forget about my "charm point". It's far from charming to make trouble for people. *Siiiiigh*...

*Whoooosh*

Mhm, what's that noise? Wind, no, a storm? Storm..., a sandstorm!?

"Hey, what's going on over there, ssu~!?" - Rald

"Crap..., the old man was with the grunts." - Zaria

All of us hiding in the shadows of the bushes could only stare with blank amazement as a tornado of sand burst out of the mystery building. You only needed a small amount of knowledge about these yakuza to know who was responsible.

The man with the title [Desert's Drought], Karasuna Yashinezu...

WHY DID HE OUT OF ALL OLD JERKS HAVE TO BE HERE!?!?

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Skill List:

Attack Skills:  Magic Skills:  Crafting Skills:  Active Skills:  Passive Skills:  Resistance Skills:  Perception Skills:  Leadership Skills:  Elements:  Monster Skills: 

Titles:

Hunting Titles: Status Titles:

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Kigal-Note/Leadership Skills: [Goblin Pack]

Description:

[Goblin Pack] is a skill limited that only Goblin Pack Leaders and their evolutions can have. It allows them to create and lead a pack of goblins so they can work together and get the special effects of other Leadership Skills the Goblin Pack Leader (or above) may have or not. It is quite similar to the [Party] skill that is gifted by the Adventurers' Union.

In addition, the higher the skill level becomes, the less the Goblin Pack Leader in possession of this skill has to pay to include other goblins into any types of groups produced by the pack leader's Leadership Skills, be it this one or others. 

This skill is a new addition included to the World System after the introduction of the Leader Points system was included to it, and to signalize the importance of the E-ranked Goblin Leaders, the D-ranked Goblin Pack Leaders, and the C-ranked Goblin Kings, as opposed to the less rare Hobgoblin evolution that most F-ranked goblins can evolve into. 

Rald's comment: It's pretty handy since it means I can focus on letting the other guys do all the hard work, ssu~.

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