Infinite Dendrogram_Volume 1

by Sakon Kaidou

  With that, it was now established who was on whose side. Of course, since the only enemies were goblins and their mounts, simply telling them about Marilyn was more than enough. However, we were still seriously outnumbered.

  Surrounded by goblins, Marilyn couldn’t get enough speed to kill them as quickly as she had at the start. The carriage escorts were doing their best, but it still wasn’t enough to make up for the difference in numbers.

  Suddenly, I realized something. Rook and Babi weren’t with us.

  I looked around and found them both standing in one place.

  That was all they were doing. Despite all the chaos around them, they were just standing there, back-to-back.

  However, they soon began to move.

  “Male...”

  “Lilim...”

  Rook extended his right hand... while Babi — her left...

  “...Temptation!”

  ...and — while simultaneously saying that word — they motioned their hands as if beckoning something.

  The next moment, a particularly fierce female Goblin Warrior decapitated the goblin next to her.

  Another one — a Goblin Archer who seemed to have a commanding role — suddenly crushed the head of the mount he was riding on.

  “Ghgheee?! Sis! W-What did you dooo?!”

  “Captaain?!”

  Screams, confusion, and — most important of all — chaos began to spread throughout the goblin army. The number of victims was increasing by the second. One after the other, goblins lost their minds and began attacking their own.

  The Charmed goblins were attacking those who weren’t, while those who weren’t Charmed were hesitant about fighting back and could only get Charmed themselves or simply die.

  The damage done to the horde increased exponentially, and when all the goblins were either dead or Charmed...

  “Lilim Draaain!”

  ...Babi started draining the life out of every single Charmed goblin.

  The process made some of them come back to their senses, but just like before, they either got killed by the Charmed goblins or simply got Charmed again.

  “Thank you for the meeaal!”

  Considering just how hellish the situation was for the victims, the nonchalance in her voice was quite inappropriate. Nonetheless, those words were what marked the end of the battle.

  The throng of goblins had been completely annihilated. Excluding those that had been defeated by me or the carriage escorts, all the goblin corpses had been either killed by their own or sucked dry to the point of making them look like mummies.

  “In contrast to our counterattacks — which are effective against single bosses like those damn centipedes — their abilities are frighteningly good at exterminating large groups of vermin,” commented Nemesis.

  She was right. Our strengths and theirs were strikingly different in nature. By using Charm, Rook and Babi had created scattered allies within the enemy ranks. That had rendered the enemies unable to focus their attacks, and had destroyed any semblance of cooperation they had.

  As they had been trying to recover from that, the effects of Charm had spread and gotten even more of them on Rook’s side. Cue repeating downwards spiral. It was a nightmare scenario in any group-based battle.

  “I’m glad he is not our enemy,” said Nemesis.

  I couldn’t agree more.

  The tian escorts and even peddlers in the carriages were shocked stiff at what Rook and Babi had just done. That was only natural.

  We were fully aware that they weren’t bad guys, but there was no arguing that what they had just done had been downright villainous.

  Charm was scary — end of discussion. It reminded me of why I was afraid of Rocbouquet.

  “This was the first time I’ve used it in battle, and I’m very glad it was useful,” said Rook.

  “It wasn’t very tasty, but I’m sooo stuffed right now!” declared Babi.

  The fact that they are a Master with a low-rank job and his first form Embryo makes me dread imagining how they’ll be in the future, I thought.

  “Ah! Rook, Rook! I have a new skill! I reached my second form!” Babi squealed.

  “Really?!” he exclaimed.

  And that was exactly when I heard them say that.

  Although her appearance didn’t change, this battle — or rather, “extermination”— had caused Babi to evolve. That wasn’t unexpected, considering just how many goblins there had been.

  I looked at Rook’s basic stats and saw that he, too, was quite a bit over level 30 now. I, however, was level 20.

  “Congratulations,” I said to Rook.

  “Thank you!” he replied. “So, Babi, what kind of skill did you get?”

  “Umm... It’s called ‘Drain Learning!’”

  Rook took a look at his Embryo window and examined the new skill. He let me have a gander, too, so I read its description.

  It said “Gives a low (1%) chance to learn a random skill from the monster being drained.”

  “...Learning, eh?” I said to myself. It was much like the blue magic from that famous RPG series. Basically, it allowed the user to learn and utilize the skills of enemy monsters.

  In Babi’s case, the chance of that happening was a mere 1%. However, if my calculations were correct, that meant that she had a greater than 60% chance to get a new skill after draining a hundred times. Since there was no limit to the amount of skills one could have, it had the potential to be an extremely useful ability.

  ...I have a feeling she’s gonna be really formidable in the future, I thought.

  Suddenly, Nemesis sounded a groan that seemed really troubled. “Mmrgh...”

  “What’s wrong, Nemesis?” I asked.

  “I feel like you and I didn’t do much compared to them, and I find that a bit troubling,” she answered.

  “...Come on, now. No one cares about that,” I said.

  Well, it was true that we hadn’t gotten to be particularly valuable players since we’d defeated that one Demi-Dragon Worm. We’d even died once. Then again, if all we ever faced were beasts such as the Superior Killer or Figaro, we would be dying all the time.

  That’s why it’s all too bad when we don’t get to show off, I thought.

  And so, though it was likely unrelated to Nemesis’ worries and my sentiments...

  “GOOOAAAAAHHHHH!”

  ...something screamed and landed on the goblin corpse-littered battlefield.

  No — the word “landed” wasn’t appropriate, for it made the action seem soft. Something large — a demon — crashed down on the battlefield.

  The demon’s feet cracked open the ground — making it tremble — and yet the monster itself was unharmed.

  In awe, I looked up at its daunting appearance.

  It was monstrous in every sense of the word. I lacked the words to describe it. Most of it was brown and black in color. The horn on its head — combined with a stature that surpassed five meters in height — made it appear exactly the way I expected a demon to look. However, it had a feature that was wholly unnatural and nothing short of discomforting.

  It had large mouths on its head and both of its shoulders. All of them were leaking a dark purple smoke, the very sight of which made a cold chill go down my spine.

  Last but not least, the words “Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda” were hanging above it.

  The intimidating presence of this “Gardranda” was enough to affect our reaction speed. Before we could even realize, it raised its right leg, crushed one of the escorts... and followed it up with a punch from its huge fist — directed straight at me.

  “Counter... Absorption!”

  Nemesis spawned the barrier of light just in time to stop Gardranda’s fist from hitting me directly, which greatly lowered its damage.

  Since she’d had experience in suddenly activating that skill, Nemesis was quick to react. That was about the only good thing about the current situation.

  “This one has more power than those centipedes...
!” she exclaimed.

  “So it’s actually above the Demi-Dragon Worms, huh?” I asked.

  “Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda.” This monster had both a title and a name.

  I’ve never seen a monster with this kind of presentation before... I thought. Wait, wasn’t his name on the bounty list Nemesis was reading yesterday?

  “Ray! Rook! Be careful!” Marie — who was standing outside the battle — suddenly shouted to us. “That’s a Unique Boss Monster!”

  Her warning made me remember a certain bit of information I’d seen on the wiki.

  UBM.

  Just as it said in the name, it was a term that referred to boss monsters who were unique — unlike any other creatures in this world.

  Standard boss monsters, such as the Demi-Dragon Worms, often came in groups. But UBMs were different. There was only one of each UBM in the entire world. No current UBMs have ever existed before, and no past UBMs would ever come again. All of them — without exception — were really powerful and even came equipped with their own unique abilities. In a way, they were like the “Masters” of the monster faction.

  Thus, they were several tiers stronger than any bosses of the same level.

  “Why would such a monster appear here...?” I couldn’t help but ask. Considering the power of the goblins surrounding us, Gardranda was simply far too powerful to be here.

  Wait... the goblins? I thought.

  “I see how it is...” said Nemesis. “This demon is like the ringleader of the goblins. It came out because its subordinates were annihilated.”

  In other words, it had come here because we’d enraged it. However, there was something else on my mind.

  I shifted my gaze and fell silent. My vision was fixed on a single corpse. It belonged to the carriage escort who’d been attacked at the same time I had. It was the same one I’d spoken to not too long ago.

  His corpse — the body flattened by the demon — seemed somewhat inauthentic.

  Obviously, I only felt that way because my experience with destroyed corpses didn’t go beyond fiction. However, the extent of this world’s realism was great enough to replicate the weight...

  ...the gravity of a lost life.

  I had fought undead before and had caught glimpses of players vanishing into the dusk-veiled forestry as they were massacred by the Superior Killer. In fact, some of the escorts here had died at the hands of goblins before we’d joined the battle.

  However, the one that had gotten pulverized by Gardranda was the first person that had died right before my eyes.

  I was at a loss for words. I didn’t know his name, nor was I aware of what kind of person he had been. I even had trouble remembering his face.

  But... I’d been talking to him just a short while ago.

  He was beyond helping now. This world wouldn’t allow him to come back. He was simply dead.

  “This’ll leave a bad taste in my mouth...” I said with a palpable anger in my tone, and looked up at the demon’s sizable frame.

  I saw veins popping out and pulsating on its head. No — it wasn’t just the head. That was happening on the skin around its shoulder-mouths, as well.

  “It’s releasing some sort of breath!” shouted Marie. “Back away from it!” I couldn’t tell if her warning come too late or if it happened too fast.

  With great intensity, Gardranda’s three mouths simultaneously sprayed out a dark purple smoke.

  “...Huh?!” I exclaimed.

  It was somewhat reminiscent of insecticide. The sprays that instantly killed the irritating, buzzing pests we were all so familiar with. I had used such sprays myself, of course. However, I’d never once expected to have someone use something like that on me.

  The poisonous breath was launched in three directions — at me, at Rook and Babi, and at Marilyn and the escorts — and it quickly covered us all.

  The dark purple miasma didn’t do any damage at first. However, it soon made me go dizzy and forced me to drop to my knees.

  I looked at the status window, where I saw that I was under the effects of three debuffs — Poison, Intoxication, and Weakness.

  Poison made my health gradually decrease, Intoxication made it hard for me to even stand up, while Weakness cut my stats to less than half their original value, making it so that even my gear felt heavy to me.

  I shifted my gaze and saw that the escorts and peddlers were on the ground, as well.

  Rook, however, was above us. Babi had raised him up before the miasma could reach him.

  “Mh-mhoooooo...!”

  I heard the familiar roar, but it was far weaker than before. Its source was Marilyn. She, too, was under the effects of the miasma’s debuffs. And yet, she mustered all she had, pushed her feet on the ground, and charged towards Gardranda.

  It was the very same charge that could trample fourteen goblins at once and even instantly pulverize lower level bosses, and yet...

  “GOAAAAAHHHHHH!”

  ...Gardranda stopped it.

  The demon extended its log-like arms and grabbed on to the outer two of Marilyn’s three horns. Though it was pushed a few meters back, Gardranda was able to stop Marilyn’s — a Demi-Dragon’s — charge.

  Then, the demon added a bit more power...

  “GeeeeYYAAAAHHHH!”

  ...and threw Marilyn into the air.

  Drawing an arc through the air, the several-tons beast flew about ten meters before hitting the ground with an unpleasantly strong sound.

  “Marilyn!” Rook seemed slightly panicked.

  “Mh, mhoo, mo...” Marilyn released a weak sound.

  With the damage from the fall and all the debuffs weighing down on her, it was obvious that she was at her limit.

  “Recall!” Rook’s words made her return to the Jewel. Time stopped for the animals within it, so Marilyn was safe for now.

  “Mrrgh! It’s not workiiing!” Babi had been trying to use Temptation on Gardranda for a while now, but since the demon’s level, MP, and SP were so high, Charm simply had no effect.

  “Suitability, huh?” I whispered to myself. Rook and Babi weren’t cut out for boss battles.

  If there was anyone here who was, however...

  “Master!” In response to Nemesis’s shout, I shifted my attention back to Gardranda.

  As I knelt there — barely mobile due to all the debuffs — the demon swung its right hand at me as if crushing a fly.

  “Don’t underestimate me!” I forced my heavy body to move, swung Nemesis into Gardranda’s palm...

  “Vengeance is Mine!”

  ...and activated the skill the very moment the sword landed.

  The damage from the nullified Gardranda’s punch mixed with the HP I’d lost to Poison, got doubled, and made the demon’s right hand burst.

  The attack tore the palm apart and made three of the fingers fly straight off.

  “GUUUOOOAAHHHHH?!” Gardranda screamed in agony.

  But the damage I’d done was low. Since the damage I’d accumulated from Gardranda at that point hadn’t been particularly great, Vengeance is Mine hadn’t done that much damage, either. Also, the attack on the palm had used up all the damage I’d accumulated by then. To use another Vengeance is Mine, I’d have to accumulate damage all over again.

  “Ghh!” Following the attack, I swung Nemesis once again and launched a standard attack. However, it was a few tiers weaker than it usually was, and had none of its usual brilliance.

  The reason for that was obvious. The debuffs were still affecting my body.

  The Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda had both the physical power to let it throw something as heavy as Marilyn and the ability to weaken its opponents in three different ways.

  The gradual HP reduction from Poison wasn’t much of a problem as long as I made sure to observe the HP bar. However, Intoxication paralyzed the semicircular canals and thus negatively affected my ability to control my body, while Weakness cut my stats by more than 50% and turned the most basic fighting into a strug
gle.

  “This is bad...” I muttered. Damn it, my chances were low even without these debuffs.

  Suddenly, Marie called to me from behind. “Ray!”

  I turned around, expecting her to warn me about something, and instead got a glass bottle to hit me right on the face and shatter.

  “Khah...!” I exclaimed.

  “Master?!” Nemesis was confused, as well. As the impact made me throw my head backwards, I got showered by the bottle’s shards and contents.

  My pain settings were set to “off,” so it didn’t hurt at all, but I couldn’t help but wonder what had brought this about.

  Marie had the stance of a pitcher who had just thrown a ball, so it was pretty obvious that she had been the one who’d thrown it.

  As I was about to yell at her for messing about during a battle, I noticed something.

  “...I’m healed, and the debuffs are gone,” I muttered. My HP was at 100%, and the three status effects were no longer on my status window.

  What is this? I asked in my head.

  “It’s the Elixir I’d prepared just in case! With this, you should be immune to disease-based debuffs for the next 180 seconds! However, I don’t have a spare, so use it well!” Marie explained.

  Elixir? So that’s what was in the bottle. Apparently, it’s quite a powerful drug. However, with this...

  “Looks like we’re at our best again,” I said.

  “Indeed,” agreed Nemesis. “With no debuffs hindering us, this Gardranda is the equivalent of one of those damn centipedes — except with hair.”

  With my current HP and defense, I could bear the demon’s attacks, and if I could bear them — I had a chance of winning.

  “For the poison, for Marilyn, and for those who died... you’ll get what’s coming to you, you demon bastard!” I brandished Nemesis and charged towards Gardranda.

  The Elixir’s effects would last for another 154 seconds. That was the amount of time I had before I returned to being vulnerable to Gardranda’s miasma and got the three debuffs again. Thus, I had to settle it before that time expired.

  “Rrraaaghhh!” I held the greatsword aloft and swung it at Gardranda’s knees. It cut through his skin and spilt some blood, but the wound wasn’t deep in the slightest. Though it bit through the skin and sunk into the muscle, it wasn’t even close to reaching the bone.