by Sakon Kaidou
“All right, let’s start with 5,000 of my Suicide Series,” Franklin said in a casual tone, causing a slope to go down the dragon’s mouth.
5,000 monsters grouped up and began marching, all for the purpose of annihilating Gideon.
◇◆
■■■ ■■■■■, ■■■■■■
Superior Embryos were the apotheosis of Embryos.
Though that was true for all of them, the path they took to get to that point and what they became upon reaching it differed on a person-to-person basis.
For example, there was the one belonging to Over Gladiator, Figaro: the heart-shaped Superior Embryo with a name still unknown to me. It and its Master were literally one, and its unique ability was a very simple thing — the enhancement of the items he had equipped.
Basic as it was, however, thanks to the enhancement proportional to battle time, the enhancement inversely proportional to the number of equipped items, and a third type of enhancement — the ace up his sleeve — he was theoretically able to improve his equipment without limit. And that was enough for this Superior Embryo to be considered an apex among Embryos.
Then there was Tenaga Ashinaga — the prosthetic limbs Superior Embryo belonging to Xunyu, the Master Jiangshi. They could stretch at the speed of sound and had durability matching that of Ancient Legendary-tier special rewards. Though Xunyu had an END-focused caster job, this Embryo gave her the potential to match AGI-focused Superior Jobs in terms of close-quarter fighting ability.
Then there was her Embryo’s ultimate skill — the space-bending attack capable of destroying the organs of and killing targets far in the distant horizon, even if they weren’t in battle.
Thus this Superior Embryo was, without a doubt, another apex among Embryos.
Then there was the Superior Embryo belonging to the Giga Professor, Mr. Franklin.
It was a Plant Fortress: a Type derived from the basic category of Type Castle, and the only one of its kind so far. It had two main unique abilities: monster production and storage.
Monster production was again split into two types: mass production and the creation of specially-made monsters using the ultimate skill.
The former was the one relevant to this situation, and the skill it used was simply called “Monster Mass Production.”
As far as I was aware, it was a skill that empowered the researcher grouping’s Monster Creation skill and allowed the production of multiple monsters at the same time. Of course, Franklin needed materials for this, but I’d been informed that it was entirely possible for it to produce 1,000 monsters per day.
The skill also came with the effect of lowering the costs the more monsters he produced at once, making it more than deserving of the name “Monster Mass Production.”
Instead of being instantly moved to the Jewel, the monsters created by this could then be stored inside Pandemonium using its “Storage” skill. Even though taking them out just once would make it impossible for them to be Stored again, until then, they could be kept inside semi-permanently.
Pandemonium was a gigantic fortress factory capable of producing as many monsters as resources allowed, then storing and unleashing them, making it more than worthy of being considered another apex among Embryos, a Superior Embryo.
Now, what if these three were to fight in a defensive battle?
Specifically, what if Franklin had attacked Gideon and the other two had protected it?
The expected result was obvious — Franklin would win a hundred times out of a hundred.
It wasn’t a matter of who was better than the other. It all boiled down to the difference in the vectors of their abilities.
As made obvious by its equipment enhancement ability, Figaro’s Superior Embryo was an “individual battle type,” focused on the power of one, and the same applied to Xunyu, as well.
Franklin, on the other hand, could summon countless monsters. He commanded armies that could overwhelm the earth, skies, and seas. In player terms, that made Franklin a “wide-scale suppression type.”
When that type was on the offensive side of a defensive battle, it was considered to have an absolute advantage. Those focused on individual power were staggeringly incompatible with those who had numbers on their side.
Sure, they would never actually be defeated. In fact, they could probably break through the overwhelming ranks and take down their leader. However, when defending an area, they would lack the numbers to keep the enemies at bay, and the place would be destroyed by those that leaked through.
Perhaps they could have been able to defeat the head of the enemy — Franklin, in this case — before his monsters reached the city. However, due to a trick by Franklin, it was evident that the monsters would continue attacking even if he was defeated. The battles — or, rather, their aftermaths — here in the city made that all too obvious.
Due to that, Figaro and Xunyu would have been able to do little against him.
Even my individual battle type comrades would have a hard time in these situations.
◇◇◇
Jeand Grasslands
“Hell yeah, baby. Man, it feels good to just... let it all out.” As Franklin expressed his pleasure, Pandemonium continued unleashing the numerous monsters. The way they swarmed out of the dragon’s mouth was highly reminiscent of a scene from an old anime.
Due to that, the sight might’ve been somewhat comical. But the fact that they were all heading to destroy Gideon, which was only a few kilometels ahead, made it no laughing matter.
“Get the Embryo!” shouted Sir Lindos. “Kill Franklin! We can still make it!”
A number of knights followed his order.
His decision was sound. Though they couldn’t stop the numerous monsters, they could prevent any harm to the city by defeating Franklin and making them all disappear. The knights would give their all to that possibility.
“‘Make it’? Sorry, not happening,” said Franklin, making the knights halt. “With respect to the fact that you ruined two of my plans, let me reveal something to you, dear people of the kingdom.”
He was talking not only to the knights before him, but also to all the Masters trying to stop the tragedy.
“These monsters won’t stop if I die, and I can’t make them stop even if I try.”
His words confused just about everyone listening. It just didn’t sound like the words of the one who’d unleashed all these monsters unto Gideon.
“What are you saying?” asked Liliana. “These monsters are your doing, aren’t they?”
With that question, she was speaking for just about everyone on the scene.
Franklin simply widened his grin. “Yep. I made them all with my Pandemonium. However, they’re no longer mine.” He paused briefly. “I mean... I let them go.”
Once again, the ones listening had trouble processing what he was saying. And even after they were done, they still had trouble understanding.
“What... What are you saying?” asked Liliana, representing everyone yet again.
“Well, you know minion capacity, right?” said Franklin in response. “Giga Professor might be a Superior Job, but I still don’t have enough of it to take in that many monsters. And a party only has five slots, too.”
Tamed monsters worked using the minion capacity, which allowed the monsters to act as the owner’s own battle potential.
Though it could be increased by taking jobs from the tamer, knight, researcher, pimp or other groupings, the limits were still there. Using monsters too numerous or too strong for the capacity would either cause them to be unusable or greatly lower their power. Thus, Franklin had chosen to not be bound by it.
“If you want to make that many monsters fight to their full potential, letting them go is about the only option,” he explained.
Monsters that were let go were no longer being used by the ex-owner, so they also weren’t bound by the capacity. He’d completely discarded the restrictions.
“Oh, and don’t worry,” Frankl
in continued. “They’re properly programmed, so they won’t attack me. They’ve been set to ‘move forward until death’ and ‘kill everyone besides my clan members and my other monsters.’ That’s why I call them the ‘Suicide Series!’”
Though Franklin proudly puffed his chest, what he had done was nothing short of nauseating. He’d created an army of lives, set to move forward from birth to death while doing nothing but killing everything except a select few.
It was abhorrent enough even to those who saw Infinite Dendrogram as a game, and to those for whom it was another world, this deed was a work of pure madness.
“Why do you think I ran to the west?” he said. “If I’d used this in the north or the south, I could have damaged our dear Dryfe or Legendaria — the third party in this war. This is a deathly army made up of tens of thousands of monsters that are constantly on the move and can easily go through borders as long as they’re alive... And yeah, there’s Caldina in the east, but I don’t care. They’re our enemies too, after all.”
Not to mention that the likes of The Earth and the King of Termination will make short work of them when they get there, he was probably adding silently.
“Anyway, there’s nothing I can do about the monsters I let go, and they’ll keep going even if you somehow kill me. Tu as compris?” Franklin willfully used his real-life mother tongue to taunt his enemies.
Nemesis, Liliana, and the other Royal Guard knights were stunned into silence. They had to defeat every single monster and then their source — Pandemonium and Franklin.
In the best case scenario, they would take care of Pandemonium before it could release the remaining 50,000 monsters. However, they simply didn’t have the required battle potential to do it.
It would be difficult for Liliana, Sir Lindos, and the other knights to defeat Pandemonium by themselves. They would be able to do little to buy time against such an overwhelming number of monsters.
The barrier around the central arena had already been rendered useless, meaning that the Masters there could finally destroy it, and Cocytus’s La Porte de l’Enfer had been canceled, as well. In a few minutes or so, the Masters from both places would come to their aid.
Before that, however, the Suicide Series would ravage the city of Gideon, and Pandemonium would release even more of the wretched creatures. Those “few minutes” were far too long.
Franklin spoke what everyone was thinking. “Heh heh heh, you won’t make it—”
“I’ll buy the time.” A completely unexpected person spoke up, wiping the sneer from Franklin’s face.
No one had thought he’d be in the spotlight again. After all — his battle was over. He’d been sleeping after having sacrificed his left arm and exerted every inch of his being to defeat his natural enemy.
And yet, he still stood up.
Ray Starling still had the power to stand.
His consciousness was in an uncertain state. The battle had completely drained him, and even the mind of the player controlling the avatar was in a sorry state. It was likely that he didn’t even have a proper grasp of the situation.
And yet, he would still face the 5,000-strong monster army charging towards Gideon.
“Ray!”
“Ray?!”
Nemesis and Liliana’s worried shouts weren’t without reason. Ray still had a number of injury-based debuffs, couldn’t move his left arm, and didn’t even have half of his maximum HP.
And despite all this, he still stood up.
“Nemesis, Silver... let’s go,” he said as he called his trusty steed and extended his right arm towards his Embryo.
“...Certainly!” Nemesis said after a moment of hesitation. Then she took his hand and turned herself into the black greatsword.
“Ha ha... ha ha ha ha... Oh man, I think I’m gonna cry,” laughed Franklin. “You’re pretty maimed, my dude. It’s pretty greedy of you to try and struggle in that state. Your battle is over, so why not just, you know, go to sleep?”
“It’s not over.”
“Hm...?”
“It’s not over yet,” Ray said firmly. “It’s too early to stop. I’ll keep going as long as I can stand and swing my blade.”
It was possible he was speaking those words only due to the uncertain state of his mind.
“As long as you... as long as I’m faced with tragedy.”
However, it might’ve been a glimpse into the very deepest reaches of his heart.
“...Oh, I see.” Franklin nodded, seemingly having realized something. “Though you’re both Maidens’ Masters, you’re completely unlike him. If anything, you’re just like the King of Tartarus.”
Ignoring Franklin’s words, Ray rode Silver towards the front of the 5,000 vile creatures.
“Hellish Miasma!” he shouted, causing his right arm to release the familiar triple debuff of poison gas.
Poison, Intoxication, and Weakness caused the monsters to slow down, but that was about it. The monsters unaffected by the gas either pushed the affected monsters to the side or simply trampled them, continuing their charge towards Gideon. However, a number of them recognized Ray as an enemy and moved to fight him.
There was no hint of cooperation between them. They randomly attacked Ray using their weapons, claws, fangs, organic projectiles, and offensive magic. Ray and Silver failed to evade them, causing him to end up on the ground.
It was uncertain whether it was because he was injured, because the enemies were many, or simply because Ray was a weakling whose level didn’t even break 50. Whatever the case, he was unable to move, and a number of monsters were approaching to finish him off.
Liliana, Sir Lindos, and the other knights tried to help him, but the other monsters were holding them back.
“Ray!” shouted Nemesis as several monstrous claws reached to take his life.
He didn’t have the time to heed her warning and get up.
And so, when Ray was on the verge of experiencing his second death in Infinite Dendrogram...
“GYAGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!”
...it was prevented by his first death.
The monsters that had been about to kill him were pulverized by bullet-like creatures — the very same ones that had once pulverized Ray himself. They came from the Embryo known as “Arc-en-Ciel,” and its Master was...
“AllOw Me to aSsisT.”
...the Superior Killer — a player killer shrouded in mystery... and a black mist preventing people from telling their age or gender.
“TheY haVe tHe nUmbeRs,” the figure said in an unnatural voice, most likely passed through a voice changer. “We shOulD coOperAte foR noW.”
“Gh...”
It was the same Master that had killed Ray back in Noz Forest and later gone on to help him in his battle against Gardranda.
Faced with this person, Ray said:
“Yeah. I’m counting on you... Marie.”
He called her by name, as if it were no big deal.
“WhA?! EeeeEeeeEehHhhH?!” the Superior Killer cried.
“Eeeeehhhhhh?!” Nemesis shrieked.
At that moment, a monster closed in from behind Marie. Ray quickly transformed Nemesis into the flag halberd and thrust her into it. Though Nemesis was still in a state of shock, Ray could still will her to change, and the monster was now thoroughly skewered.
“WhY?! HoW diD You KnoW?!” the Superior Killer cried.
“That’s Marie?!” Nemesis yelled. “What is the meaning of this, Ray?!”
“I couldn’t tell when we first met, but now, I can more or less make her out through the mist.” After saying that, Ray heaved a sigh.
A monster saw that as an opening and tried attacking him, but Marie made short work of it using her spread-piercing bullets.
As she watched the monster disappear, Marie canceled the Voice Change skill and began speaking in her own voice. “Oh man, do I feel stupid for trying to hide it with Voice Change.”
“Eh? Marie is actually the Superior Killer? You’re not joking?” aske
d Nemesis, still flabbergasted.
“This is a bit of an emergency, so I would be thankful if you ignored that for now,” said Marie.
“Sure,” Ray replied as he launched a Vengeance on a monster that had previously attacked him. “But only if you duel me once we’re done here.”
He then brandished Nemesis in his only usable hand.
“Very well. I’ll fight you with all I’ve got,” said Marie as she brandished Arc-en-Ciel and the Palsy Stingblade before standing back-to-back with Ray.
And so, the two faced the monsters charging towards them.
The two had never before fought on the same side.
Marie had helped Ray once during his battle against Gardranda and had killed him back during their fight in Noz Forest, but that was the full of extent of their common battle history. But despite that, they cooperated without any flaws to speak of and killed the encroaching monsters with great efficiency. That was possible because Marie had observed Ray to try and find what she lacked, and because Ray had often thought about the actions taken by the one that’d killed him.
They moved as one, forming a wall that slightly slowed down the 5,000 monsters charging towards Gideon.
“HA!” Franklin shouted. “There’s still just two of you, you know? Do you really think you’re enough to hold against 5,000 monsters? Like hell!”
Franklin’s words were nothing but the truth. Even if one was a newbie with a history of miraculous victories and the other was a player killer that had felled a Superior, two people simply weren’t enough to stop the 5,000 monsters from the first wave, much less the 50,000 Franklin still had in store. Their defeat was all but inevitable.
“Then we will stop them with twenty.”
Thus, they needed someone to link them to the possibility of victory.
The voice had come from behind the western gate, followed by countless attacks that left the monsters overwhelmed.
There were flames from an avian, offensive magic, a giant ball of steel, fire arrows, and the overpowering allure of Charm, among many other skills.
The 50 monsters standing at the forefront of the 5,000 were destroyed in but an instant.
“Ray! M— McBlackJack! I brought reinforcements!”