by Sakon Kaidou
It couldn’t see anything. The dark purple smoke had spread all the way up to the base of its throat, and not even the use of the eyes on the faces all over its body could help it make sense of the surroundings.
This smokescreen was exactly what the man had intended. Even though the miasma was dangerous to him, he’d used it regardless just to hinder Gouz-Maise’s vision.
“ＤａａＤＦｄＺｆａａＡＳｓａＤＡＳａｓＡａＡａａＡＡ!” Gouz-Maise roared and began rampaging wildly. Its ground-shattering, indiscriminate movements were meant to crush the man, who was surely still around. Gouz-Maise kept stomping for a while — not minding the damage it was doing to both the surface and the faces on its legs — yet it didn’t feel anything living under its feet.
It couldn’t hit the man. Nor did it know where he was. That situation made it both angry and uneasy, but within its chaotic grudge, there was a composed part that came to a certain conclusion.
The man is aiming for the head. However, he’s both puny and cannot fly. To attack the head, he will try to cut the legs. At that moment, we must cast the ultimate spell and kill him along with the limb he attacks.
The plan involved sacrificing a part of itself. However, due to Gouz-Maise possessing Automatic Restoration, it wasn’t a heavy price. Even if the man had hidden himself, there was still only one way for him to emerge victorious. As long as Gouz-Maise didn’t let him do that, its victory was assured. The man could still use the flames, but they only gave it pain and never came close to being fatal.
Next moment... The next moment we feel pain, we will launch the spell towards it, thought Gouz-Maise. The cost of using it a second time is heavy. However, it’s a small price to pay to kill him.
With those thoughts, it focused its attention on its legs and gave the body’s control to the grudge that could use the spell.
Then, it exposed the core in its head and readied itself to cast the magic.
Suddenly, Gouz-Maise’s back left leg was touched, causing its semi-rotten neural system to send it a signal.
“Ｄ Ｅ ｅ ｅ Ｅ ａ Ａ Ｄ ｄ Ｌ ｙ ｙ Ｙ ｙ Ｍ ｉ ｘ ｅ Ｅ Ｅ ｅ ｅ Ｒ ｒ ｒ Ｒ Ｒ Ｒ ｒ Ｒ!!”
A moment later, it launched the spell with the intention to disintegrate both the man and its own leg.
The speed at which it had turned its head to do that caused the rotten skin on its neck to rip and shred apart, but it didn’t care. Though its aim was extremely forced, the power of the attack was great enough to make its back left leg disappear. Gouz-Maise lost its footing and screamed due to the searing pain it felt, but the damage wasn’t something that couldn’t be handled by its restorative ability.
What’s important is that we killed hi—
The second that thought went through its head, the man that was supposed to be disintegrated jumped up on Gouz-Maise’s back.
It couldn’t understand what had happened. Countless grudges within it became astir and caused it to momentarily stiffen.
Then, it noticed the man’s state.
His right hand was covered in blood and held a familiar piece of flesh. It was a part of Gouz-Maise’s body, and — by looking at his mouth — it was easy to tell that he’d taken a bite of it. Lastly, he held a halberd with a black flag flying behind its ax blade.
Just now, with abnormal swiftness, he’d jumped on Gouz-Maise’s back, and he was now getting ready to charge towards its head. His speed was far greater than it had been a few moments ago, or even when he’d been completely unhurt. It was hard to believe that he was heavily hurt. In fact, his wounds were disappearing right before its eyes.
Suddenly, the grudge that controlled Gouz-Maise shuddered with fear. After all — it was reminiscent of the chase back in the dungeon.
“Looks like... it worked,” said the man through his ragged breath. The deathly faces all over its body heard the man’s mutter. “If you get a debuff by eating a part of a debuffed opponent’s body... Reversal recognizes it as a negative effect caused by the enemy. That was proven by the Grapevine I fought this morning.”
Gouz-Maise didn’t understand what the man was saying.
“I didn’t know if Hellish Miasma had any effect on undead, and there was a chance that the thing with the Grapevine only happened because it was caused by its attack,” the man said. “If that was the case, I’d have ended up dying from my own attack... but it worked.”
Gouz-Maise couldn’t make sense of the man’s current state.
“Ha ha... What a disgusting gamble,” the man laughed.
Gouz-Maise just barely had enough mind to understand that the man had created this situation by consuming its rotten flesh.
“ＧｇｉｉＩｉｉｅＥｅ!? ＤｄＧｇＡａａＡＡａＡｑＱａＡａ!?” it screamed through its head and all the mouths all over its body.
“You scared?” the man asked.
Indeed — Gouz-Maise was afraid. All as one, the consensus of the Gouz-Maise Gang — the group of scoundrels that had taken many lives and consumed great amounts of human flesh — feared the man before them.
“Guess it’s the first time you’ve gotten eaten, huh,” the man said. This was the man who, as if to give it payback for its sins, had consumed Gouz-Maise’s flesh and drawn ever closer to end its deathless life.
Naturally, the amalgam of undead was afraid of the way the man functioned.
He was truly a God of Death.
His hands — one blood crimson, other a deathly black — held a dark flag. On his head, there were wolf-like ears. He didn’t hesitate to consume the flesh of man-eaters. If he wasn’t the reaper sent himself to end them — no one was.
“Ｋ Ａ ｄ ｓ Ｆ ａ ! ? Ａ ｓ ａ Ｓ Ａ Ｄ ａ ａ Ａ ｑ Ａ Ｓ Ｑ ａ!”
Gouz-Maise began wildly swinging its arms down at him, but the man was able to evade it all, making it seem as though the amalgam of corpses had become pitifully sluggish. Not only that — he jumped on the left arm it swung down and began running up towards its head.
Little by little, the god of death... the Grim Reaper... the ultimate end... approached Gouz-Maise.
Overwhelmed by despair, it used its final card.
“Ｄ ｅ Ｅ ｅ Ａ Ａ — Ｄ ｅ Ｅ ａ ａ Ｄ Ａ ａ ａ — Ｄ ｄ ｄ Ｄ Ｌ Ｙ ｙ ｙ Ｍ ｉ Ｘ ｅ Ｅ ｅ ｅ Ｅ Ｅ ｒ ｒ Ｒ Ｒ ｒ Ｒ !?!?”
That was the third time it cast the ultimate spell.
It didn’t care about what would happen because of that. Since the spell consumed great amounts of grudge — which was the core of Gouz-Maise’s being — there was a chance that using it thrice in such a short period of time could made itself self-destruct. However, its fear of the man running up its arm was just too great for it to hold back.
The burst of destructive magic made the god of death and everything below the elbow completely vanish. Though Gouz-Maise’s arm was thicker than a large tree, the spell disintegrated even its bones.
The pain signals were abnormally powerful, and due to the loss of its grudge, its Automatic Restoration didn’t work at full capacity. The grudge flowing through its corpus was reduced to just that of the one who could cast Deadly Mixer and a few others. Despite that, however, the faces covering its body and the few remaining grudges all smiled in relief.
One leg, one arm, and approximately 80% of the grudge composing it.
The losses were great, but they had been enough to make their bane — the reaper himself — disappear. The battle was over. Now, it simply had to wait for the Automatic Restoration to complete, head to town to stock up on new grudge and...
“ＡａＨｈＨｈ?” All of a sudden, a shadow came over it from above its head.
Gouz-Maise looked upwards.
Before the sunset, bathed in the light of the sinking sun, there was the source of the shadow.
The black silhouette held a black sword in the hand behind him. And, with great speed, he closed in towards Gouz-Maise’s head.
“You beasts, wallowing in undeath...” a feminine voi
ce began.
“...go to sleep... forever!” the Reaper finished.
The tip of the black greatsword pierced through Gouz-Maise’s forehead and touched its core.
“VENGEANCE IS MINE!”
Thus, a strike worth all the damage Gouz-Maise had ever given the man... no — a retributive attack avenging all the people that had suffered because of those composing the amalgam of death...
...completely destroyed its core and ended its very existence.
Epilogue: A Morning of Smiles
Undisclosed Location
[“Maw of the Desert, Azmore” was defeated]
[Final level: 56]
[MVP: “The Earth” Fatoum, level 1,157 (total level: 1,657)]
[Embryo: “Overflowing Divine Vessel, The Grail”]
[MVP special reward: Legendary item, “Bag of the Desert, Azmore”]
■
[“The Crimson Armor, Exademon” was defeated]
[Final level: 63]
[MVP: “King of Termination” Albert Schwartzkaiser, level 620 (total level: 1,120)]
[Embryo: “Seven Star Turnover, Septentrion”]
[MVP special reward: Ancient Legendary item, “Crimson Armor-Piercer, Exademon”]
■
[“Four-Dimensional Kaiju, Todoghilas”]
[Final level: 51]
[MVP: “Commander-in-Chief” Gray α Centauri, level 490 (total level: 990)]
[Embryo: “Unidentified Flying Stronghold, Laputa”]
[MVP special reward: Ancient Legendary item, “Ultimate Suit Series, Todoghilas”]
■
[“Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise”]
[Final level: 34]
[MVP: “Paladin” Ray Starling, level 35 (total level: 35)]
[Embryo: “Maiden of Vengeance, Nemesis”]
[MVP special reward: Epic item, “Grudge-soaked Greaves, Gouz-Maise”]
“...Hm?”
In a space enlightened by countless data windows, it sounded a voice of confusion.
At first glance, it appeared to be an adult male human, but upon further inspection, one would notice that the skin covering its body had patches of draconic scales and beastly leather, while its head was decorated by devilish horns. Overall, it certainly looked more like a “humanoid monster” than a person, but the glasses it sported successfully moved the impression it gave off into the “human” territory — if only barely.
It was doing one of the jobs it was assigned to — the checking of the data concerning the defeat of UBMs over a set period of time. In Infinite Dendrogram, its role was the acknowledgement of UBMs.
Though UBMs were abnormally powerful and had abilities just as strong, their primary unique feature was their transformation into special rewards upon defeat.
Many non-UBM boss monsters also had great strength and unique abilities. When defeated — either by people or other monsters — they dropped Treasure Coffers or items they possessed before death.
However, the special rewards left by UBMs were completely unlike any basic boss monster drops. They were the materializations of the image — the concepts — surrounding the abilities of the defeated UBM, adjusted to best suit the most valuable person in the battle.
Indeed, it wasn’t their strength or abilities. That very transformation was the prime feature of UBMs.
No standard monster possessed it. But if the control AI responsible for UBMs acknowledged a unit as a UBM, it would become exactly that — a monster with the function to transform into a special reward upon death.
The creature working in this space was Jabberwock — the very same control AI responsible for acknowledging, giving features to, and sometimes even designing UBMs.
“‘Ray Starling,’” it murmured. “Going by Earth time, I saw this player name yesterday.”
It was the very same player that had, at an unreasonably low level, defeated the Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda — a UBM of Jabberwock’s design. Naturally, Jabberwock was slightly surprised to see the same person become an MVP in a UBM fight two days in a row.
In this world, the UBMs Jabberwock had either designed or acknowledged were many. However, the same couldn’t be said for MVPs.
Many people couldn’t defeat them. Others couldn’t even encounter them. Others just plain couldn’t become MVPs.
Not to mention that the strongest of the strong — Superiors — were actively hunting UBMs. As a result, only the few lucky enough to encounter and successfully defeat them could become MVPs.
Thus, Jabberwock was quite intrigued by an entity that had faced UBMs two days in a row and — through hard struggles — emerged victorious both times.
“Fascinating,” it said. “If only most defeated UBMs like he did. I’m quite dissatisfied by how Superiors hunt them as if it’s a chore. Truly, treasure is best when earned through harsh struggles and intense drama. No good saga or epic is complete without those things, after all.” Jabberwock continuously nodded to his own words before beginning to ponder. “I believe I should make my designs even more tenacious.”
Saying that, he closed his eyes in thought...
“Let’s start by giving it atomic breath. Like Godzilla.”
The moment Jabberwock said something truly foreboding, something gave a response. “No radioactive pollution, pleease!” Before he’d realized it, a cat-like mascot was sitting in the space behind him.
It was Cheshire — control AI no. 13. Shaking its head at just how troublesome its colleague was, it began commenting about what Jabberwock was trying to do.
“Leave the unreasonable amounts of power to SUBMs. They create enough calamities as it iis. We don’t need anything that could cause irregular evolutioon. Do you have any idea how much trouble we had with the last two irregularrs? Even Humpty’s favorite and Granvaloa’s Superiors could barely stop the Corpse Stronghold, while the Disaster Bioweapon is still space-sealed in Red King’s ‘gaol,’ you know? The ones who do all the work to take care of your UBMs are the tians, us, and the players, you know?”
“I’m aware,” said Jabberwock. “Now, what is your business here, thirteen?”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” said Cheshire. “The control AI responsible for monsters, Queen, has a message for you.”
“Which is...?”
“‘Explain your previous acknowledgement.’”
“What am I supposed to make of that?” Jabberwock demanded.
“She gave me a letter, but — just as you’d expect from her — it was both overly emotional and too verbose, so I shortened iit,” said Cheshire. “Also, it’s about Gouz-Maise — the last monster you acknowledged as a UBM.”
“I see.” That was enough for Jabberwock to understand Queen’s problem.
“If I had to add a bit more detail to that, it’d be, ‘It wasn’t born naturally, nor was it created or arranged by us. Why are you giving UBM status to an undead born from human sorceryy?’”
“Gouz-Maise had interesting unique abilities,” said Jabberwock. “Its stats and the circumstances behind its birth were more than enough to give it Epic status. Also, by looking at the series of events that led to its creation, it’s safe to say that there will never be another Gouz-Maise.”
Thus, Jabberwock believed that acknowledging it as a UBM had made perfect sense.
“That’s truue,” said Cheshire. “Queen is probably just complaining because she’s upset that not many of the boss monsters she singled out and improved are being acknowledged as UBMs.”
“I’m just doing my job,” replied Jabberwock. “Also, does it actually matter to us whether I acknowledge something as a UBM or not?”
“...I think she’s just being peevish because she doesn’t feel appreciateed,” said Cheshire. “But oh weell.”
While thinking about the relationship between this thickheaded fellow AI and the Queen, Cheshire heaved a sigh.
“Also, no. 3’s designs are unrefined at best, and overly predictable, at worst. Too lacking in both inventiveness and potential,�
� added Jabberwock. “When it comes to those points, this Gouz-Maise creature and some player designs make far better UBMs.”
“Queen is a simple and straightforward girl, after aall... Wait, what?” Cheshire realized that Jabberwock had just said something that simply couldn’t be ignored. “Player designs? What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said,” said Jabberwock. “I’m talking about that Superior from Dryfe.”
“...Ohh.” The mention of that single person was more than enough for Cheshire. The Superior in question was more than capable of creating a monster that could catch Jabberwock’s eye.
“A part of me feels like Ray will get involved in thaat,” said Cheshire.
There was no basis for the cat’s assumption. One could write it off as standard intuition, but with the control AIs all having calculational capabilities that no human could match, it was difficult to call it “standard.”
Jabberwock wondered why Cheshire’s mutter had included the name of the player he’d been intrigued by just a moment ago, but chose not to react to it in any meaningful way.
The cat in question, on the other hand, became curious about something relating to its own murmur and chose to ask about it. “Oh, yeah. Thinking of Ray made me remember. Hey, Jabberwock.”
“Yes?”
“Remember the ‘Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda’ that he defeated recently?” said Cheshire. “What would’ve happened if it had reached completion? It died when it was only in its second form, so I’m kinda curious.”
I know it’s my own fault for telling Ray its weak point, but still, it thought.
In response...
“It would’ve been born.”
...Jabberwock said something far too concise.
“...Sorry, but I don’t get iit,” said Cheshire.
So concise, in fact, that not even an AI with inhuman calculational capabilities could make sense of it.
“Its final form was the creature that was supposed to be born based on the demon’s accumulated fighting experience,” elaborated Jabberwock.