Episode 6

## Shangri-La Frontier (anime)

**The Writing Tool Knight-Queen** is the 6th episode of Shangri-La Frontier anime series.

## Summary

Sunraku recognizes Arthur Pencilgon as a trash game friend. Unite Rounds is a co-op MMO VR trash game, also known among player as "Post-Apocalyptic Looting Simulator", which was meant to simulate a kingdom in the verge of collapse, with players assuming the roles of knights who protect it from attacking monsters. To be more faithful to its concept, the game had an awful drop rate of items, making hard even obtaining simple rocks. A beginner's quest "Gather Medicinal Herbs", required twelve hours of combing through open fields to complete. As a results, a lot of players decided to just steal what they need from other players or NPC stores. In an environment where everyone was an enemy, Pencil Knight arose and took control of the kingdom. Sunraku and Katsu Tataki, decided to take on Pencil Knight, and after using the rebel army, they managed to slip into her inner chambers, facing her.

Sunraku tells Emul that he and Pencilgon have a long history. In Unite Rounds they ended up in a draw with both of them dying, however there is a big level gap between them in SLF. Pencilgon attacks Sunraku, stating that she took the penalty and came from Fifticia so that she can kill him. Animalia recognizes Pencilgon as the second in command in Ashura Kai clan, also known as Giant Killer. As Sunraku wonders about the nickname, Pencilgon explains that she used to ambush and kill high-level players and earned that nickname. Sunraku mocks her that she was the "giant" in Unite Rounds and ended up killing herself. As the two insult each other, they continue to fight. Pencilgon then explains that she didn't just come in due to personal reasons. Ashura Kai send her to give Sunraku a message: give them info about the unique scenario or he will be their target until he gives them the info. Sunraku figures out that Pencilgon is keeping him from entering the city, guessing it must be quite hard for a player killer to walk around in a city. Pencilgon confirms and states he ain't making it to the gate. Meanwhile, Emul is at her limits of her transformation and is barely holding it. Animalia wants to ask Sunraku about the bunny, but as he is fighting Pencilgon, she can't do it. She decides to ask Emul about it, but as she touches her, Emul ends up transforming back to a bunny, which excited Animalia. Seeing that, Sunraku calls Emul and starts running towards the gate. Animalia asks him to at least let her take a screenshot with the bunny, but Sunraku states he will think about it if they survive. Pencilgon heads after Sunraku, but Animalia stands in her way, noting that she doesn't care about Sunraku, but can't allow Pencilgon to hurt the bunny.

Sunraku gets close to the gate, but then other Ashura Kai members show up. The four Ashura Kai members are not happy to have to kill a low level player, but they have to follow their boss orders and start attacking Sunraku. Pencilgon is also happy to fight Animalia, as usually her clan is not interested in players. Animalia casts five debuffs: poison, paralysis, drain, exhaustion and speed, but Pencilgon reflects them back at Animalia. Afflicted by the ailments, Animalia is on low HP and wonders how Pencilgon managed to reflect back her curses. Pencilgon explains that a player killer shaman kept going after her and knowing how scary curses are, Pencilgon begun to carry a Karmic Straw Doll, a consumable item that when used returns all curses back to the caster. Pencilgon intends to stay watching Animalia die from her own poison debuff.

The Ashura Kai members keep on attacking Sunraku. Suddenly Psyger-0 shows up and kills one of them with a single attack. Seeing her, the other three members recognize her as the "Attack Master". Sunraku wonders if another strong player is after him, however Rei is happy to finally have found Sunraku. Earlier, Rei have been struggling with finding Sunraku. She returns to SLF and sees that she has mail from her sister Psyger-100, which asks her to pause her private player hunt and find a player that was seen near Secondil and had a talking Vorpal Bunny with him. He is likely headed to Thirdrema. He is equipped with Staring Bird Mask and has Lycagon's Mark on his legs and torso. His name is Sunraku. After reading that, Psyger-0 heads towards Thirdrema at her top speed. Psyger-100 also warns her that other clans like Ashura Kai are after him too and he may already be in a PvP battle. Getting close, Rei realizes that if she saves him from the player killers, it would be natural for her to talk with Sunraku.

Pencilgon knows that the four Ashura Kai members won't be able to kill Sunraku. As she fought him now, its become way too clear to her that the skills he built up from playing terrible games are move valuable than items and stats, and are a huge asset in SLF. With Katzo and Sunraku now playing SLF, Pencilgon feels that her project seems much more possible now. Pencilgon then sees Psyger-0 and gets happy that she came to see Sunraku as he attracted both Zookeeper and Attack Master. Pencilgon prepares to go and fight Psyger-0, but Animalia states that the Karmic Straw Doll can only reflect five debuffs, so she wonders if she can counter her final trump card.

## Characters

* Sunraku/Rakuro Hizutome
* Emul
* Animalia
* Towa Amane/Arthur Pencilgon
* Rei Saiga/Psyger-0
* Psyger-100