Infinite Dendrogram_Volume 1

by Sakon Kaidou

  “All right, time’s up,” I said.

  “Ah!” the newbie gasped. As he continued his fruitless struggle, I held my large shield in both hands and swung it down on him.

  My shield — which was one meter in diameter — became a giant stamp and left a mark on the ground. The ink was the player. Of course, since he’d died, what was left of the newbie quickly disappeared.

  Good thing I’d set my visuals to CG. The sight would’ve been pretty damn grotesque if I’d set it to realistic.

  There’s something seriously wrong with those who pick realistic visuals, I thought. Battles with undead monsters get really grim from that perspective.

  “Eheehee! You sure are a scumbag, boss! You even made me feel bad for the kid!” laughed one of my clan members.

  “Khahah! Holy shit, I sure won’t be eating any tomatoes today,” another joined in.

  “What do you say to cheeseburgers for dinner, then?” I grinned. “As you can see, I can get the mincemeat as if it’s no big deal.”

  “I think I’ll pass, LOL.” The clan members working with me began their usual banter, and I joined in, making sure to sound as scummy as possible.

  Roleplaying as a bad guy sure is fun, I thought. Probably has something to do with being able to show off a side of you that you can’t show anywhere else.

  For example, in reality, Ban-blu — the one grinning at my side — was a public service worker with a husband and kids, but that couldn’t have mattered less here.

  Mad Castle’s motto was thus: “Forget reality, get hyped up, and kill some players.”

  It wasn’t the least bit enjoyable to the ones getting killed, mind you. However, in this game — where everyone was competing for more power — it was the weaklings’ own fault for being weak.

  “I’ve heard of people who got so traumatized by player killers that they stopped playing,” said one of my people.

  “Like I care,” I said. Seriously, I couldn’t have cared less if I’d tried. “Killing” and “getting killed” were both part of the game.

  “So, boss, including this brat, how many have we killed by now?” asked a clan member.

  “Well, I stopped counting the ones I’d killed when I hit fifty,” I replied.

  My Mad Castle clan was occupying the Sauda Mountain Pass south of the capital, and had been killing any players who happened to pass by. We only went for those we were able to handle, but so far, everyone had been weak enough for me to do it solo.

  There had been a group that had come here to stop us, but me and my clan had had no problem taking care of them, too.

  “But man, this is a good deal we’ve got,” said one of my people. “All we do is kill some players, and the money comes a-flowing like a fountain.”

  “Yeah, it’s great,” I replied.

  Deal. That’s the word for it, I thought. We were player killing here because we had a deal going on. For every death penalty we gave, we received a flat 10,000 lir reward. And this deal would last for a whole month, game time.

  We couldn’t ask for better conditions. And that was without mentioning that — being a newbie hunting ground — this place was full of scrubs we could crush like insects.

  The first day we’d started had been so damn good that it’d gotten us more than 1,000,000 lir. It’d been hilarious.

  What was just as funny was the fact that it had become big news.

  Unlike the clan in the north, we didn’t hide our identities. That led people to find out who we were, but to us villain roleplayers, that was only a blessing.

  “Though, man, we sure don’t get as many players now as we did at the start,” one of my people said. “Guess they’re all scared shitless now. Oh, yeah. Last night, at the tavern, I heard that the guys in the east don’t have much to do, either.”

  The other three hunting grounds surrounding the capital were occupied by other player killers. Just like our clan, the ones in the east and west were full of delinquents who didn’t give a damn about what people thought and just wanted to kill some players.

  “Though I’ve heard that Goblin Street — the guys in the west — are getting some serious extra cash,” another one added.

  “Well, that’s because they go after NPCs, too,” I said.

  “Ain’t that just scary?” he said.

  “Maybe,” I said.

  Player killing wasn’t a crime. Dendro’s laws ignored all conflicts between Masters. However, killing NPCs was a serious offense.

  Ending an NPC’s life without a valid reason — such as self-defense, them being criminals, or taking part in a war event — would cause them to recognize the offending player as a criminal and put them on a wanted list.

  Getting on a country’s wanted list made the player unable to use the country’s save points.

  If that had been all there was to it, simply switching to another country’s save points would solve the problem, but overdoing it with the killing would get the player on the wanted list of every country. When on all the seven lists, the player would be simply done. They wouldn’t be able to use any countries’ save points.

  Considering that getting the death penalty in such a situation would send you to that place, the risks were way too high.

  The guys at Goblin Street probably had save points at Caldina or something, but we had no intention of going through those lengths just so we could kill NPCs.

  In fact, killing NPCs didn’t make me feel good.

  Once, I’d killed a criminal NPC, and it’d made me feel like crap — as if I’d broken an expensive vase. That was why we chose to not touch any NPCs trying to pass through this hunting ground.

  Well, we’re too scared to try, anyway, I thought.

  “Yeah, I’ll stick to player killing. It’s both comfortable and fun,” one of my clan members spoke up again.

  “True,” another replied. “Something’s seriously wrong with the guys in the west. Even if we’re all player killers, I wouldn’t want to get involved with that lot.”

  I simply listened to them. In all honesty, I’m more afraid of the one in the north than the ones in the west, I thought.

  The person in Noz Forest was bad news.

  Unlike in the other places, it wasn’t a clan there, but a single player killer. I didn’t know his name. All I knew about him was that he was a trickster good at hiding himself, and that what he was doing was his day job.

  There was no better term for it — day job.

  He’d been playing as a hit man for as long as he’d been known in Dendro.

  Players who were killed by other players or received some sort of harassment would sometimes grow vengeful and develop grudges. Killing players based on the requests of such people was part of his daily life. I’d even heard that he’d once gotten a request to assassinate a Superior that was on wanted lists.

  “Superiors” were players that had made their Embryos evolve to their seventh forms — the elite of the elite. No one in their right mind would even think of fighting someone like that. I was no exception.

  However, though he’d received serious amounts of damage, that player had been able to give the Superior a death penalty and send him to that place. Due to that, he’d gotten the title of “Superior Killer.”

  Though we were business partners right now, I didn’t really want to meet him.

  I didn’t think I’d lose to him, but hit men like him — adhesive as they were — just seemed far worse than both player and NPC killers. Not getting involved with them was the right idea.

  “Boss, we’ve got another one,” one of my clan members called me.

  He was contacting me by using an item that allowed communication between members of the same clan.

  We had six parties consisting of six people each. Every member of every party had split up and formed groups of six with members of other parties before positioning themselves in different places all across the area.

  With this setup, if one group got destroyed in some sort of surprise attack,
the actual party members would be able to tell that something was wrong by looking at their party status. It was a large-scale battle tactic that we were all accustomed to using.

  “Whoa, damn. This sucker has some good-looking gear on him,” he spoke through the long-distance contact item.

  “Well then, if he’s not a newbie, he’s here to hunt us down, huh?” I asked.

  “Seems like it,” he answered. “He’s alone, though.”

  “Alone? Then there’s no problem,” I said. “Just attack, threaten him into taking his gear off, and kill him.”

  “Hee hee hee, sounds good, boss,” he laughed. “Today, we’ll sell that gear and have a wild part—”

  [Party Member “Jordan α” Has Died]

  [Resurrection Period Expired]

  [Due to the Death Penalty, “Jordan α” was Logged Out]

  Huh? was all I could think. “H-Hey! Stop with the jokes! Shit like this freaks me out when it’s so sudde—”

  [Party Member “Lowered Beltmars” Has Died]

  [Resurrection Period Expired]

  [Due to the Death Penalty, “Lowered Beltmars” was Logged Out]

  Another party member I’d been in contact with had died.

  The “resurrection period” was the time in which resurrection items and magic could have an effect. If someone successfully resurrected the player before the period ended, the player would avoid the death penalty. However, the time given was dependent on the state of the corpse.

  The two deaths had been instant and had left basically no resurrection period. I could only assume that they’d been turned into mincemeat in but a single moment.

  Upon looking at the clan members at my side, I noticed that they had all turned pale.

  Once I asked what was up, they said their party members who’d been in the same places as Jordan α and Lowered Beltmars were also dead.

  Basically, the twelve clan members positioned at those two places had all met a nearly simultaneous and swift death.

  Did they all get ganked by a group of players? I thought. There’s no way.

  After all, each place had had a person with a great “Enemy Detect” skill. It should’ve been impossible for a group of players to prepare such an attack without getting noticed.

  But if the one who did it was already spotted... and if it’s really just one, then...

  “I-It’s a player! A player from Altar!” one of my party members from another position contacted me. “I saw a chain! It took Marlo and—”

  [Party Member “Ma-mdoh” Has Died]

  [Resurrection Period Expired]

  [Due to the Death Penalty, “Ma-mdoh” was Logged Out]

  The screams coming from the other side before getting cut out were a sign that the third group had been eliminated.

  However, before dying, the party member had left me some valuable information. He’d mentioned that the player used a chain. There was little doubt that it was the same well-equipped “sucker” they’d seen before dying.

  Well, now this “sucker” is massacring our members as if it’s nothing, I thought. This one clearly isn’t your average Joe.

  The Kingdom of Altar happened to have a famous player who used chains. His name was...

  “I-It’s Figarooooo!” shouted another party member. “Why is the Over Gladiator here?! He—”

  [Party Member “Mohawk X” Has Died]

  [Resurrection Period Expired]

  [Due to the Death Penalty, “Mohawk X” was Logged Out]

  ...Over Gladiator Figaro.

  “The Endless Chain,” “One of Altar’s Big Three,” “The King of Hanging Around the City of Duels,” et cetera... He had many names and was one of the strongest players in not just the Kingdom of Altar, but in the whole game itself.

  He was a Superior, and there were even rumors that that weirdo raided created dungeons solo.

  That lunatic was now with us, on this mountain...

  ...and he clearly had it in for us.

  It wasn’t an unexpected scenario.

  Since we were committing acts of terror against the kingdom’s players, it was only natural for the ones sitting at the top of the kingdom’s rankings to come take care of us.

  However, the rumors had suggested that Figaro wasn’t the type to get involved in such events. I’d heard he spent most of his playing time either raiding the dungeon or dueling in the Colosseum.

  After all, he hadn’t even participated in the war, and yet...

  [Party Member “Goro Mushoku” Has Died]

  [Resurrection Period Expired]

  [Due to the Death Penalty, “Goro Mushoku” was Logged Out]

  Suddenly, I heard some rattling. A frustrated grunt escaped my mouth. Right after I got the message that the members in the fifth position were eliminated — meaning that we were the last — my “Killing Intent Perception” skill went off and warned me about the attack coming my way.

  I didn’t know the direction it was coming from. Still, I only needed to know it was coming to be able to do something about it.

  A moment later, I saw a chain with a pyramid-like tip flying right at me.

  “Astro Guard!” I activated a Full Armor Giant defensive skill. It rendered me unable to move in exchange for multiplying my defense by five.

  With this, my total defense was now over 15,000 — the greatest I could reach.

  The chain hit my shield with a dreadful amount of power behind it.

  “...Whoa!” I exclaimed. My HP had gone down.

  My defense was over 15,000, I had a skill that decreased all damage by 20% and another one that took away another 500, yet he had been able to break through all these walls and deal damage to me. It was only natural that the guys positioned at the other places had gotten slaughtered without even getting time to heal.

  Thus, the chain that I deflected...

  “Gyeeaahhh!”

  ...went towards and pulverized Ban-blu.

  She wasn’t the only one, though — besides me, everyone positioned here was attacked by the chains and scattered into a thousand pieces.

  “...Sorry,” I said. “I can’t move, so I couldn’t protect you.”

  With that, the survivors around me disappeared, and I could no longer contact anyone.

  Looks like they’re all dead and dealing with the death penalty now, I thought. Still immobile, I kept up my Astro Guard stance.

  Besides the chains — which were making metallic sounds as they hit and slightly damaged me — the only thing moving was the Over Gladiator, Figaro. I saw him walking up the mountain road when I tried to trace where the chains were coming from.

  He had a well-proportioned face, so if — unlike me — he hadn’t spent a significant amount of time on character creation and had just gone with the defaults, it was fair to assume that he was handsome in real life, as well.

  His apparel was strange, but by using “Identification” — a skill that allowed me to see item names and values — I discovered that everything he was wearing was highly powerful and extremely rare. In fact, some of them were so rare that my Identification level wasn’t high enough to identify them.

  “The bastard’s even wearing some UBM special rewards as if it’s no big deal...” I grumbled.

  Special rewards for MVPs in UBM battles — Unique Boss Monster — were bound to the MVP and thus couldn’t be transferred or dropped. So, despite being damn strong, they were worthless to us.

  Though Figaro’s face and apparel were deserving of a comment or two, there was something about him that just couldn’t be ignored. It was the red chains — several of them — wrapped around both of his arms.

  This game had a limit to how many weapons you could wield. The standard amount was either one for both hands or one in one hand and another in the other — like me with my shield. Besides that, normal players could use throwing weapons or items like Gems, but that was the extent of the weapons they could utilize.

  However, this Figaro guy was wielding six chains — thr
ee on each arm.

  And yes, I was completely certain that there were six chains — not just two that seemed separate. They all had the same name — Crimson Dead Keeper — but they weren’t connected in any way.

  Though Figaro didn’t seem to be moving them, all the chains automatically extended and went straight towards me.

  Most would think this is a joke, but they’d be wrong, I thought.

  According to the Identification results, Crimson Dead Keepers had the skills “Auto Enemy Detect” and “Range Extend.” You’d be hard pressed to find a more user-friendly weapon.

  From the fact that Identification worked on them, it was obvious that they weren’t his Embryo. Which made it all the more obvious that he was actually wielding a total of six weapons.

  It was way over the standard wield limit, but I had been aware that the Gladiator job grouping had a skill that allowed the player to wield more weapons. The ultimate maximum was supposed to be a mere three, but since Over Gladiator was a Superior job of that grouping, it wouldn’t have been strange for it to have a stronger version of that skill.

  Basically, it meant that he’d eliminated all of my clan without using his Embryo and by relying only on his Over Gladiator skills and weapons in hand.

  “I’m sure getting blocked a lot today.”

  Figaro’s first words didn’t make even a bit of sense to me.

  “You have some good defense, but I guess it’s normal for a Full Armor Giant,” he continued. “Still, it’s rare for anyone to be this tough. Is your Embryo focused on defense or something?”

  I stayed silent. He was stating his impressions, but I had no reason to respond in any capacity. I could try bluffing, but if he had Truth Discernment — a skill that informed the user if another person was lying — he’d see right through me and I’d only end up giving him info...

  ...such as the fact that my Embryo’s power wasn’t defensive at all.

  “...Hm. Looks like I’ve taken care of every player killer besides you,” he said.