The Battle of Loka

The Battle of Loka (ロカの遭遇戦 Roka no Sōgū-sen) is the second episode of Log Horizon anime. It first aired on October 12, 2013.

Synopsis
The episode begins with light emitting from the Cathedral, and a man appears with his hand reaching towards the sky. He was the first victim of death in Akihabara, and proved that revival was possible in this world.



After, the opening, Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki are seen fighting monsters. As Naotsugu is attacked by a Triffid, Shiroe uses Astral Bind to bind it, allowing Akatsuki finish it off with a. Shiroe notes that their bodies seem know the basic combat movements, even without using a command. As long as intend to fight, they can use skills and magics by calling out the skill name. However, they only know how to use it and have yet to master it, so they practice with fighting the monsters.

While walking in a forest, when Akatsuki calls Shiroe "my lord," Shiroe tells her to just call him "Shiroe," to which she responds that he should then just call her "Akatsuki". Naotsugu, smirking at the interaction between the two, interrupts them. After that, Akatsuki tells them that wanted to travel separately for a little bit to practice using her Tracker skills, which was easier to do the dark forest they were in. Shiroe tells her to meet them at South Gate, and he uses Magic Light so Akatsuki can find them. As she disappears into the forest, the two remaining men note how good she was. Shiroe explains to the audience 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 a ninja.

He recollects that Henrietta told him about the lack of security in town, with some guilds losing members. This is due to they treat that people not from their guild is their enemy. Despite that, there were no cases of fighting inside of the city because of the Royal Guard, who would intervene in any fight that breaks out inside the city walls. However, there was still low-level fighting that didn't count as combat. Furthermore, the past few days had proven the rise of Player Killing due to the lack of permanent death in this world.

Shiroe staring at Maryelle and ask if anything wrong then suddenly she acting weirdly and hug Naotsugu. Henrietta also acting weirdly when she told that she forgot to breath due to Akatsuki's cuteness. As they walk through the forest, Rikopin is seen following them. Then, Shiroe and Naotsugu met up with Akatsuki, who had already arrived at the gate. When Naotsugu asks 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 group arrives at the Loka Hospital area when they are suddenly aware of movement. Out of the blue, Naotsugu is bound by a chain to his leg, but Shiroe quickly destroys it. Naotsugu asks him what they should do, since he was their strategist. Shiroe commands Naotsugu to use straight line formation against these Player Killers. To determine their location, Shiroe use Mind Bolt, spying the members of Dread Pack. As the enemies approaches, Naotsugu condemns them for their actions. Shiroe quickly analyzes the situation; they faaced one Samurai, two Assassins, and one Druid. Smash tries "negotiating" with them, promising not to hurt them if they handed his group their items. Shiroe asks Naotsugu for his opinion about what to do, with Naotsugu wanting to kill them and Shiroe agreeing.

First, Shiroe had Naotsugu attract their opponents' attention. As Naotsugu fought, Rikopin tried to attack Shiroe, but he tied her food with Astral Bind. However, it did not last long, and she exchanges places with Smash. As they do so, however, Naotsugu uses Anchor Howl to force them to focus their attention on hiim. Due to this, they decided to attack Naotsugu together. Because, Naotsugu HP wouldn't last long, Shiroe attacks them with Electric Fuzz, although the attack was largely useless. As they mock him for his weak attack, he uses Thorn Bind Hostage on Katsuomaru and explains its effect to the PKeres. With their situation worsening, Smash tells Stroganopp to heal Katsuomaru, but the Samurai dies anyways as Naotsugu attacks him. Shiroe reveals that he had used Astral Hypnos on the Druid at the beginning of the battle, causing him to fall asleep. At this, Rikopin attempts to attack Shiroe, but because Anchor Howl's effect hadn't worn off yet, she was hit by a counterattack from Naotsugu; although she was still alive, she quickly fled the scene. Desperate, Smash calls for his Sorcerer and Summoner to aid him. However, they had already been killed by Akatsuki, who had been searching them out while her two comrades had been distracting the main force. Shiroe reveals 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 his meaning and sought out the two hidden members. Akatsuki then tells Smash that Shiroe used Electric Fuzz to distract them from her presence. Seeing that he was outnumbered, Smash began begging for mercy. Suddenly, however, he grabbed his knife and tried to kill Shiroe, but was intercepted by Akatsuki and killed first, much to her disappointment in him.

Saving Serara
After having killed the PKers, Shiroe discusses it with his two friends. He believes that PKers don't have any goals in this game, which is why they did such a thing. Suddenly, Shiroe got a call from Maryelle. When they arrived at the Crescent Moon Alliance's guild hall, she tells Shiroe that she and a group of their 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 Apocalypse. Because the transport gates were offline and the Fairy Rings too unpredictable, they have to travel by foot. Naotsugu suggested using Call of Home, but the last Adventurer City she visited was Susukino, so it would be useless.

Shiroe asked them why they were trying to send help so late. Maryelle, after failing to answer, blurted out her reason after being stared down by him. She tells them that situation in Susukino was worse than in Akihibara. Serara was attacked by Brigandia, the guild currently ruling Susukino, but she saved by nice player. So, some of the Crescent Moon Alliance's strongest players have been preparing to travel to Susukino to retrieve her. Maryelle begs Shiroe to take care of the rest of the Crescent Moon Alliance. However, Shiroe knew that it would take 21 days by foot to travel to Susukino, and most of the Crescent Moon's members, as high-level as they were, had little-to-no battling experience. Knowing this, Shiroe's group decides to travel to Susukino in their stead.



Next day, they summon horses to ride to Susukino. They notice that they automatically knew how to ride the horses, although it still made their butts sore after riding for too long. Shiroe uses a map he made with his Scribe subclass to show the route they would take to the other city. As they took a break for lunch, Shiroe felt a little regret for agreeing to this trip. As Akatsuki was about to summon her horse, Shiroe told her to wait, and the two older players then summoned Griffins, much to her shock, as only those who completed the high-level Hades Breath raid on the Fields of Death were rewarded. Shiroe told Akatsuki it was long story, giving her his hand so she could hop on, which she does with a blush on her face. In the sky, Akatsuki is amazed by the view as they fly off towards Susukino.



Trivia

 * This episode corresponds with volume 1, chapter 3 of the light novel; they share the same title.
 * Differences between the light novel and the anime:
 * 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, in the light novel, 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. This scene is omitted from the anime.
 * Shiroe is the one to call Maryelle in the light novel; he just notices something is wrong when she answers much more quickly than usual and from her anxious tone.
 * Maryelle mentions that Serara began playing Elder Tale to get experience in running a business.
 * Akatsuki, rather than Shiroe, is the one to ask Maryelle why they were mounting a rescue several days after the Apocalypse.
 * Shiroe gets embarrassed from announcing that his group would go, thinking that his statement sounded too lame and arrogant.
 * The light novel chapter corresponding to this episode mentions PK guilds Tidal Wave, Canossa, and Blue Impact; those three guilds are seen in the West Wind Brigade side-story, where they were respectively killed by Soujiro Seta and Isaac.