by Sakon Kaidou
“Really? You have about a 1% chance to meet them at the boss rush in the later stages of the Tomb Labyrinth.”
“...Eh? You’ve beEN there more than 100 tiMEs?” Xunyu asked.
“Isn’t that normal? And it’s 214 times. It hasn’t been long since I started reaching that point.”
“That’s a lot, mAn. But now it makEs sense why you hAve all those items.”
“All that stuff can be troublesome, though,” Figaro said. “Even when it comes to inventories, I have so much that I don’t know what to do with it all. Anyway, convertible equipment is interesting, but their abilities can be really weird. Shu’s is a UBM special reward, so it seems to be adjusted for him.”
“Oh?”
“As a Suit, it was focused on stealth, so I think that applies to the true form, too,” Figaro said. “From the way he entered the battle, I assume it has some skill that ‘Hides your appearance and presence until you enter the battle.’ It might have some other conditions, though.”
“...He cAN pull off a surprise attAck with that kind of damage? That’s just unfAir.”
“Your ultimate skill isn’t too different, though.”
“GheaHahAhahaH! You gOt me therE!” Xunyu guffawed.
Their exchange was friendly, and they talked like true gamers. However, to the audience in the arena, it looked like the two Superiors were consulting about how to handle the chaos threatening Gideon. Due to this, the overall sentiment in the audience was tenseness and excitement at what was happening on the broadcast mixed with hope for the two champions on the stage.
But alas, the two they so believed in were just having a simple chat.
“By the wAY,” Xunyu said.
“What?”
...Or so it seemed.
“When will thAt shitty labcOat dude use the thing undER us?”
“It’s probably a tactical self-destruction monster, so he’ll probably do it after his Plan C falls apart,” Figaro said. “It shouldn’t be long now.”
Not all of it was just idle chatter after all.
“Then I’ll get riD of the thing wiTH my ultimate sKill. You shoUld—”
“I’ll stop the two ‘strongests’ if they go on the offensive. I’m interested in the thing below, but sadly, I’m a pure solo player.”
“GhehAh! But those two arE way more tROublesome!” cried Xunyu.
“Dealing with them sounds like fun, though, doesn’t it?”
“AgreEd.”
Watching the fight of their fellow Superior, the two readied their fangs.
◆◆◆
Central arena, audience seats
At the eastern side of the arena, there was a woman with a porcupine on her knees. Just like everyone else, she was watching the broadcast.
While doing so, she noticed something. Not about the scene displayed, but about Behemot — her porcupine partner.
She could easily tell that the sight of the King of Destruction filled the creature with much excitement and joy.
They’d been in Infinite Dendrogram for over four years now, so it was easy for her to notice such changes in the porcupine’s mood.
“That’s clearly the same bear that you were so fond of,” she said. Upon remembering how Behemot had climbed on the bear suit’s head, she formed a faint smile.
At the same time, a thought came to her mind. It was a sentiment shared by many of the audience members watching the broadcast.
He’s strong.
Just like most, she saw Shu Starling as powerful. However, what that strength made her feel was quite unlike what the rest of the audience felt.
To most, his struggle was their last hope, while what she felt was very different.
He’s using tricks, too, but most of it is just pure power, the woman thought. I like that. It makes my heart flutter. I want him to hit me, and I would love to crush him, too. He’d be a much better opponent than the two on the stage.
She was the only one watching him who wanted to face him as an enemy.
Her gaze was that of a bloodthirsty beast, and the meager amount of bloodlust she exuded was enough to make the surrounding tians shake in fear, unaware as to why. But she was quick to hide that lust for battle, for Behemot sent her a certain thought.
“He’s like a hero.”
In the broadcast, Shu scattered a number of monsters with but a single kick. Despite facing countless of the disgusting creatures, he stood strong and continued felling them, hit by hit.
The sight made her nod. “Yes, he truly is a hero. Especially when you consider he’s fighting the Giga Professor, who’s quite the villain.”
Shu was a true hero facing a horde of disgusting monsters all by himself, while Franklin, the leader of the horde, looked like nothing but a vile madman.
“Well, I certainly won’t call it pathetic,” she added, giving her opinions on the situation while telepathically talking to Behemot.
“Hey,” said the porcupine.
“Yes, what is it?” asked the woman.
“Which is stronger — the queen of beasts or the hero?”
“Well...”
She knew the hidden meaning behind the question and put her response into spoken word.
“We should see for ourselves.”
It was a promise for a not-so-distant future.
“Anyway, it’s good that we came here,” she added telepathically. “I’m happy we found someone who meets our desires.”
With that, she focused entirely on the broadcast.
Thus, she and Behemot — the two representing the joker card that wouldn’t help Franklin in his game — decided to just silently watch the battle.
◇◆◇
Jeand Grasslands
The King of Destruction’s bare fists had already destroyed more than 1,000 monsters. Not only that, but his feats allowed the ten-odd Masters nearby to regroup and take on any monsters that slipped through the Superior’s devastation.
The Masters that had been closed in the central arena were now pouring through the western gate and aiding the war effort, too.
The Masters outside had been able to buy enough time, and the situation was shifting in favor of the Masters guarding the city of Gideon.
Despite all that, Franklin still had a wide grin on his face.
“Well, I have his skills and stats now, and it sure is something...” he murmured.
The King of Destruction’s stats and battle prowess were astonishing, indeed. Each of his punches was on par with a high-rank Embryo ultimate skill, and the fact that they were paired with excellent combat ability made them nothing short of frightening.
It didn’t end there. The Analyzing Eye of Wisdom allowed Franklin to see the King of Destruction’s unique skill, and it was definitely something to be feared.
Its name was “Right of Destruction,” and its description was, “Allows you to destroy indestructible targets with endurance lower than your attack power.”
Franklin believed the skill let the King of Destruction destroy creatures that nullified physical attacks, such as Slimes and Spirits. After all, the skill had flashed up on his Eye of Wisdom when the King of Destruction had destroyed a King-Size Oxygen Slime in just one hit.
Considering the attack power his ridiculous STR gave him, Right of Destruction likely allowed him to negate any and all Destruction Negation skills.
“Well, he sure surprised me,” said Franklin. “But he won’t be a problem.”
No matter how strong and combat proficient, the King of Destruction’s strength was still merely the strength of one. He was the same as the other two Superiors Franklin had deemed to be of little concern; he wasn’t anything Franklin couldn’t deal with.
The many other monsters gathered here weren’t a big problem, either. Pandemonium would soon finish unleashing the remaining monsters.
Though they were also part of the Suicide Series, they were of a different version than the 5,000 that had been released first.
About a third of them were
on par with Pure-Dragons, but that certainly wasn’t all. When Pandemonium released Franklin’s monsters into the wild, he could make slight modifications to them, which included the addition of simple orders.
The reason he’d released the 5,000 first was to make the kingdom believe that all Suicide Series monsters only charged forward. The new order he added to the 50,000 monsters was simple: “After all the Suicide Series monsters are released, surround Gideon and invade it.”
That meant the city was about to be attacked by 50,000 monsters coming from every direction.
The kingdom’s Masters would be able to handle it if Franklin released them gradually. If they banded together and focused all their powers into sweeping up the monsters, they could likely protect the city with little trouble.
However, if the 50,000 monsters all split up and attacked simultaneously from every direction, the side with the smaller numbers wasn’t going to stand a chance.
Even if they had the King of Destruction and his exceptional STR, and even with the 1,000 Masters from the arena, a significant portion of the monsters would surely break into the city. And with that, Franklin would be victorious.
As Pandemonium released the last of the monsters, Franklin spoke up.
“All right, now they’ll advance to the city and—”
But before he could finish his sentence, the world before his eyes underwent a drastic change.
Parts of the ground were ejected upwards, and its pieces and dust began covering the sky.
Violent ear and flesh-rending explosive sounds overwhelmed his surroundings.
The stench of gunpowder and blood assaulted his nose.
And between the explosions, he could hear the dying wails of countless monsters.
He realized that the monsters he was releasing were quickly being exterminated by countless cannon shots from places unknown.
“Artillery?! What the...?!”
At that moment, he remembered the two most reliable rumors concerning King of Destruction, the mysterious Superior.
One was the idea that he was a Superior Job from the crasher grouping. The other was...
“A battleship!” Franklin shouted.
The surrounding explosions abated, and the battlefield was caressed by a speedy gale. It blew away the cloud of dirt shrouding the ground beneath, revealing that not a single one of the Suicide Series had survived the onslaught unscathed. And beyond the wretched creatures, there was something that hadn’t been there before.
Just like Franklin’s Pandemonium, it had once been hidden by Optic Camouflage, but now it was concealed no longer.
It was larger than Gideon’s walls.
It was a weapon.
It was a vehicle.
It was a Superior Embryo.
It was a land battleship, crushing the ground beneath with its gigantic caterpillar tracks.
It very much confirmed the second most reliable piece of information about the King of Destruction: “His Embryo is a battleship.”
This was the War God Ship, Baldr.
“Twin Quintuple Cannons, firebombs loaded... Barrage.” The Superior Embryo spoke in a robotic voice as it fired the quintuple cannons on both its sides towards the surviving monsters.
The incendiary shots leaked fuel as they rent the air and slammed into the monsters, either turning them into burning effigies or simply reducing them to ash.
“Stardust Genocider,” the Embryo said.
It wasn’t just artillery that it had. The extremely masculine, tank-like, ship-like Embryo suddenly exposed countless aircraft catapults on one of part of its deck.
They all momentarily lit up and released strange projectiles that left trails of smoke behind them.
Like ravenous hawks, the flying objects relentlessly went after the monsters, exploding upon impact and reducing them to dust.
“Bloody Laser Storm.”
Certain parts of the ship’s hull slid open, revealing a number of sentry guns. They all started autonomously releasing crimson lasers towards the monsters within range, neatly slicing them up.
If this wasn’t an overwhelming annihilation, nothing was. Each and every piece of Baldr’s weaponry was focused on wide-area extermination.
In a short while, it had already taken care of more than 10,000 of Franklin’s monsters. The menacing creatures he’d wanted to use to make the kingdom succumb were nothing but lowly insects before the battleship.
“He... What... He kills stuff in a large radius, too?!” For the first time that day, Franklin raised his voice in anger.
He had every reason to do so.
After all, he was looking at his natural enemy.
Franklin’s Pandemonium was a wide-scale suppression type — one that felled a target location through sheer numbers.
The King of Destruction’s Baldr was a wide-scale extermination type — one that killed great numbers through sheer force.
Like skills, items, and jobs, Embryos also had compatibility.
Just like Franklin was certain he could win against Figaro and Xunyu, who both focused on individual power, he was now certain that he couldn’t win against the King of Destruction.
The barrage of attacks had already felled 10,000, and it wouldn’t be too long until there was nothing left. The surviving monsters followed their imprinting and tried to split up, but it was obvious they wouldn’t last against that firepower.
The King of Destruction, true to his name, would destroy them all.
He was the kingdom’s most powerful. He was the country’s strongest Master, bearing the Embryo with the greatest firepower. He could never be stopped by mere numbers with half-baked abilities.
“...I guess this is it,” Franklin muttered as he realized that his Plan C had failed completely.
It would take some time for the Suicide Series to be completely exterminated, but they could never harm Gideon now.
Even if, by some freak miracle, some monsters survived the onslaught, the other Masters on the scene would have no trouble mopping them up.
“I lost Plan A to Ray Starling, Plan B to the Superior Killer, and Plan C — the one that took the longest to prepare — to the King of Destruction...” The fact that he was being cornered made Franklin laugh in self-derision. “Ha ha ha ha... Funny how they just keep getting stronger every time I use a nastier plan...”
At this point, there was simply no way for Franklin to win. The King of Orchestras, Veldorbell was down, Hugo Lesseps had abandoned him, and the traitorous Masters on his side were thoroughly unreliable.
We’d probably be able to turn it all around if those two decide to participate, Franklin thought. But he knew that it wouldn’t happen. The two girls he’d counted as his joker had dropped out of the scene the moment they’d found out that the first princess hadn’t come to Gideon.
Hell, if she were here, we could... No, that’s stupid. What am I even thinking? Franklin even went as far as to remember a certain person who was no longer at his side, and ridiculed himself for it.
“...Enough.”
He looked down at Pandemonium, the battlefield, and Gideon with the coldest of looks on his face.
“All right, I get it. I can’t win this, no matter what.” As though convincing himself, he spoke those words and reached into his lab coat’s pocket. “So I’ll just delete both your victory and my defeat.”
He pressed the button to activate his final pawn.
◇◆◇
Central arena, underground
As the many people in the arena’s audience watched the broadcast with either joy or worry, a certain something 4,000 metels underground was digging through the bedrock and making its way towards the surface.
It was a monster highly reminiscent of a centipede.
Using the spinning, drill-like appendage on its head, it broke through the tough bedrock and charged towards its destination.
The monster’s name was the NDW, short for the Nuclear Dragon Worm, and it was the final piece that Franklin had prepa
red for his plan.
The NDW was a creature that had been developed using a Demi-Dragon Worm as its base, and that gave it a great tunneling ability. However, that certainly wasn’t its main feature.
The NDW was equipped with a single, extremely powerful weapon.
Since it was underground, no one could see the creature, but if they did, they’d notice that its chest was shining red.
It was basically a nuclear bomb.
Franklin had defeated an Ancient Legendary UBM called “Nuke Dragon, Untergang” and used its special reward to create the NDW.
Once activated, it would burn everything in a two kilometel radius in a storm of fire and radiation. Naturally, the NDW would die as well, but it wouldn’t mind that. Right from the start, the monster had been designed to be a self-destruction superweapon.
The NDW was the main component of Plan D for “destroy,” the plan that Franklin had decided to start if the many Suicide Series monsters from Plan C somehow failed.
It was his spade — the final ace up his sleeve — and using it would be the equivalent of flipping the entire game board upside down.
If the NDW reached the surface and blew up, everyone in the arena would die. That would include the tian spectators, Count Gideon himself, and the Masters still there.
Of course, the arena — the symbol of the city — would blow up, as well.
The severe losses would bring great chaos and despair upon the kingdom, and the country would be unable to claim they’d been victorious against Franklin.
He’d prepared the NDW to prevent the kingdom and its people from rebuilding, on the off chance that they might attain victory against him.
Franklin would’ve liked to have kept the central arena and its precious functions for when the imperium gained control over the kingdom, but even that was nothing compared to the possibility of losing.
“DRRRRRRR...”
The NDW drilled through the hard bedrock, making short work of it. At the rate it was going, it would reach the surface within the next few minutes or so. It would fulfill Franklin’s desire and burn his defeat along with Gideon.
When it came close to the surface, its high-quality biological audio sensors began picking up the voices of the people above.