The Battle of Loka

The Battle of Loka (ロカの遭遇戦) is the second episode of Log Horizon anime. It covers The Beginning of Another World chapter 3.

Cold Open
The Cathedral glows with mysterious light, and a man appears on the altar. He is later revealed as the first victim of death in Akihabara, proving that revival was possible in this world. The news spreads quickly, troubling Shiroe.

Practice
Shiroe's Party is fighting monsters again. Naotsugu dodges an attack from a Triffid, allowing Shiroe and Akatsuki to finish it off. Shiroe noted that their bodies seem know the basic combat movements, even without using a command. As long as they intended to fight, they could use their skills and magic by calling out the skill name. However, they've only just grasped the mechanics, so they improve by fighting monsters.

On the trip back home, Akatsuki continues to address Shiroe as her lord. He tells her to just call him "Shiroe", to which she responded that he should then just call her "Akatsuki" instead of including a formal title. Naotsugu awkwardly comments on their interaction, which makes Shiroe tell him to shut up. Akatsuki decides to travel separately from the group for a little while to practice using her Tracker skills, which is most opportune in the dark forest they were in. Shiroe told her to meet them at the South Gate, and he'll use「Magic Light」to inform her of their movement. As she disappeared into the forest, the two remaining men applaud her current finesse at blinking. Shiroe exposes that players in Elder Tale can select one of twelve main Classes and then choose one among hundreds of Subclasses; Akatsuki chose Assassin and Tracker, befitting of someone roleplaying as a ninja. He recollected Henrietta mentioning the lack of security in town, with some guilds losing members due to them treating people outside of their guild as their enemy. Despite that, there were no cases of fighting inside of the city because of the Royal Guard deployment, who would intervene in any fight that breaks out inside the city walls. However, there was still low-level fighting and harassment that didn't count as combat. Furthermore, the past few days had reported the rise of Player Killing due to the lack of permanent death in this world. Shiroe remembered staring at Marielle and asked if something was troubling her, which made her flustered enough to resort to hugging Naotsugu. Henrietta was also acting weirdly when she told them that she forgot to breath due to Akatsuki's cuteness.

As they walked through the forest, Rikopin departed from stalking the two men. Then, Shiroe and Naotsugu met up with Akatsuki, who had already arrived at the gate. When Naotsugu asked if she had spotted any Goblins, she said that she hadn't, and she didn't spy any of the Goblin Shamans, whom she considered to be "cuter."

Entering Combat with the PKers
The party arrived at the Loka Hospital area when they were suddenly aware of movement ahead. Out of the darkness, Naotsugu was rooted by a magical chain, which Shiroe quickly dispelled. Shiroe commanded Naotsugu to use a straight line formation against the suspected Player Killers. To determine their location, Shiroe fired「Mind Bolt」to reveal the members of Dread Pack. As the enemies approached, Naotsugu condemned them for their decision as Shiroe quickly analyzed the situation; they faced one Samurai, two Swashbucklers, and one Druid. The Swashbuckler Smash tries "negotiating" with the two men, promising not to hurt them if they surrendered their items to his group. Shiroe consulted Naotsugu, who decided to stand his ground, making Shiroe concur. First, Shiroe had Naotsugu attract the opponent front line with a focus on the Samurai. The Swashbuckler Rikopin tries to intercept Shiroe, but he roots her feet with「Astral Bind」. She exchanged the role to Smash, but Naotsugu reacts with「Anchor Howl」to force them to focus their attention on him. Due to this, they decided to attack Naotsugu altogether to hasten his demise. Shiroe peppers the enemies with「Electrical Fuzz」, although the attack was largely useless. As they mocked him for his weak attack, he cast「Thorn Bind Hostage」on the Samurai Katsuomaru and explained its damaging effect to the PKers. With their ally in distress, Smash told the Druid Stroganopp to heal Katsuomaru, but Naotsugu triggers a fatal blow to the bound enemy. Shiroe revealed that he had used 「Astral Hypnos」 on the Druid at the beginning of the battle, causing him to fall asleep while his allies never noticed. At this, Rikopin attempted to attack Shiroe again, but because Anchor Howl's effect hadn't worn off yet, she suffered a counterattack from Naotsugu; although she was still alive, she quickly fled the scene. Desperate, Smash called for his hidden Sorcerer and Summoner to aid him. However, to his horror, they had already been subdued by Akatsuki, who had been searching them out while her two comrades dealt with the main force. Shiroe revealed that he realized that Dread Pack must have had some members hiding because when Naotsugu was tied by a spell, no mages were present. When he said he saw four people, Akatsuki understood the meaning and sought out the two hidden members. Akatsuki then told Smash that Shiroe used Electric Fuzz to distract them from her presence, and chastised him over his groups' poor communication. Seeing that he was outnumbered, Smash began begging for mercy. However, he quickly grabbed his knife and tried to kill Shiroe, but was intercepted by a fatal blow from Akatsuki, much to her disappointment.

Saving Serara
After having killed the PKers, Shiroe discussed the issue with his two friends. He believed that players don't have any goals in this game now that there is no permanent death, which is why they resorted to killing others. Suddenly, Shiroe was hailed again from Marielle. When they arrived at the Crescent Moon Alliance's guild hall, she told Shiroe that she and a group of the guild's strongest players would be going to Susukino to save Serara, one of their players that had been on a quest in Susukino and was trapped there after the Catastrophe. Because the Intercity Transport Gates were offline and the alternative Fairy Rings too unpredictable, they had to travel by foot. Naotsugu suggested using the Call of Home ability, but realized the last Adventurer City she visited was Susukino, so it would be useless.

Shiroe questioned them to why they were trying to send help so late. Marielle, after failing to answer, blurted out her reason after being stared down by him. She told them that the situation in Susukino was worse than in Akiba. Serara was attacked by Brigandia, the guild currently ruling Susukino, but she was saved by a nice player and is currently under his protection. The Crescent Moon Alliance had begun assembling a rescue party, so Marielle begged Shiroe to watch over the rest of the guild while they're away. However, he knew that it would take 21 days by foot to travel to Susukino, and most of the Crescent Moon Alliance, as high-level as they were, had little-to-no PvP experience. He thinks about using his greater ability to assist, but remains hesitant to get involved. But Naotsugu and Akatsuki had already decided on this, and so Shiroe declares that they will go on the rescue mission in the guild's stead.

The next day, they summoned horses to ride to Susukino. They noticed that they automatically knew how to ride the horses, albeit the effort made them sore after riding for too long. As they took a break for lunch, Shiroe felt a little regret for agreeing to this trip. Akatsuki was about to resummon her horse, but the two older players summoned Griffins instead; much to her shock, as only those who completed a high-level raid were rewarded with this special mount. Shiroe told Akatsuki it was a long story, giving her his hand so she could hop on, which she does with a blush on her face. In the sky, Akatsuki was amazed by the view as they flew off towards Susukino.

Trivia

 * The status screen minimap is disabled outside the city, a function changed from the game.
 * Differences in the light novel:
 * Dread Pack's members were not named, nor were they seen after this chapter.
 * Shiroe reveals that Stroganopp had been asleep for the entire battle after Akatsuki drags the two Mages out, and Naotsugu knocks Smash down with his shield out of annoyance.
 * Naotsugu is rather glad to kill one of the PKers.
 * Instead of Smash trying to attack Shiroe, resulting in his death, Shiroe decides that Akatsuki should kill him off.
 * Rather than kneeing him in the face after Naotsugu mentions panties after the battle, Akatsuki instead backs away from him, causing him to get depressed.
 * Shiroe's group counts up the loot they got from Dread Pack, which to their disappointment, isn't much.
 * Shiroe is the one to call Marielle; he just notices something is wrong when she answers much more quickly than usual and from her anxious tone.
 * Marielle mentions that Serara began playing Elder Tale to get experience in running a business.
 * Akatsuki, rather than Shiroe, is the one to ask Marielle why they were mounting a rescue several days after the Catastrophe.
 * Shiroe gets embarrassed from announcing that his group would go, thinking that his statement sounded too lame and arrogant.