Infinite Dendrogram_Volume 2

by Sakon Kaidou

  “A separate unit?” asked Cheshire.

  “No.” The UBM control AI shook his head. “It’s better to look at it this way: the ‘mother’ was only a cover, and the child that was supposed to be born was the true Gardranda. Sadly, it didn’t get a chance to reveal itself.”

  Power left unused — a life and mind that had failed to be birthed. That was exact same thing that the silhouette in Ray’s dream — the non-mother Gardranda — had told him.

  So that’s why the demon’s weak point was the stomaach, Cheshire thought and nodded to itself. “By the way, what kind of creature would it have been born aas?”

  “If I recall correctly, the mother fought and ate primarily humans,” said Jabberwock. “Thus, it’s fair to assume that it would’ve been humanoid.”

  “It’s also fair to assume that it won’t get another chance at being born, riight?” Cheshire asked.

  “Yes, indeed.”

  However, Jabberwock thought to himself, that might change depending on the final skill it received when it became an item.

  There was a chance that the effect of the skill Ray had yet to unlock could give another chance to the creature that’d failed to be birthed. However, due to there not being any similar cases, Jabberwock concluded that it was highly unlikely.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to return to,” he said.

  “Sure, I have some tasks to do, tooo.”

  Jabberwock ended the conversation and faced a window displaying a stream of information.

  Cheshire left his colleague’s work area and went to do his own work.

  ◇◇◇

  Paladin Ray Starling

  [UBM, “Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise” was defeated]

  [Selecting MVP]

  [Ray Starling was selected as MVP]

  [Ray Starling is presented with an MVP special reward — “Grudge-soaked Greaves, Gouz-Maise”]

  “So that’s done, huh...?” I murmured.

  With Gouz-Maise’s body disintegrating into particles of light and me receiving a message window similar to the one I’d gotten after defeating Gardranda, I could finally be relieved that I’d killed the abomination. However, my situation didn’t allow it. After all, since Gouz-Maise was about forty meters tall, defeating it from the head had left me to fall the entire way down.

  Not to mention that I couldn’t move my body, either.

  To win this fight, I’d used a downright insane method of activating Like a Flag Flying the Reversal. Thanks to the debuffs I’d received getting turned into buffs, I had become more powerful than I was at my best, and had been able to emerge victorious against the abomination. However, just like it had been with Gardranda, the switching of weapons or the defeat of the enemy, Gouz-Maise, had caused the skill to get canceled. Thus, I was left burdened with a number of debuffs. My status window displayed Poison, Weakness, and Intoxication — the three effects of Hellish Miasma — along with Curse and Food Poisoning, which I’d most likely gotten for ingesting Gouz-Maise’s flesh.

  Well, I ate a part of a goddamn undead’s body, so I can’t really be surprised, I thought.

  Moments after I canceled the Reversal by switching Nemesis to her sword form, I was able to move my body long enough to activate Vengeance is Mine, but the debuffs had gotten worse since then. I could no longer move so much as a muscle.

  As things were, I was seconds away from crashing to the ground, and I would be able to do nothing to break my fall. With my current HP and the general state of my body, it was highly questionable if I could survive the hit.

  “Better say my prayers, then...” I murmured.

  A moment after I closed my eyes and braced myself for impact, I felt the touch of something unnaturally light.

  The sensation repeated a couple of times. After the gentle swaying, I felt my body land on the ground.

  I was thoroughly confused.

  Fearfully, I opened my eyes and saw a shining artificial horse, Silver, standing at my side. Just like the first time I’d fallen off of him, he was looking down at me, seemingly worried.

  It was apparent that Silver had gently caught me as I’d fallen and softly dropped me to the ground. I had no idea how he’d done it with his equestrian frame, but there was no other explanation.

  “Ha ha,” I laughed. “Thanks, Silver.”

  Not being an animal, he had no mouth and thus couldn’t make any natural sounds, so he responded to my gratitude by simply rubbing the end of his “nose” on my cheek. That action made him seem much like a real horse.

  With how he’d helped me chase down the Lich, it was safe to say that Silver had been an invaluable asset in this event. And if I hadn’t had the Miasmaflame Bracers and hadn’t seen that dream, there would have been a large chance of me losing this fight. However, there was someone who’d done more to help me than anyone else.

  “Thanks, Nemesis,” I said. “If you hadn’t persisted like you did, it would’ve all been over for us.”

  If I hadn’t had Nemesis and she hadn’t bought the time I’d needed to regain my consciousness, I’d have been given the death penalty, and that pile of corpses would’ve been free to attack someone else. Nemesis was the sole reason why that hadn’t happened, so I expressed my thanks.

  However, all I got in response was peaceful, systematic breathing. Before I knew it, she’d disappeared from my weapon equipment slot, returned to her humanoid form, and had fallen fast asleep. It reminded me of a similar moment back in the dragon carriage after the battle with Gardranda.

  The peace in her expression felt like the ultimate proof of the hard work she’d done today.

  “Well done... Nemesis.” I touched her with my left hand, causing her to instantly return to the crest.

  Left alone and unable to move, I kept my HP up by casting healing magic on myself, and looked through my items to find a way how to neutralize the status effects. The misadventure from today’s morning had made me learn my lesson, so I’d prepared for the three Hellish Miasma debuffs by buying the appropriate items when shopping.

  After taking those, I lessened the effects of Food Poisoning by vomiting a few times, and made it go away completely by following that up with a swig of the right medicine.

  The last status effect — Curse — went away by itself as I was busy taking care of the others.

  Since I hadn’t gotten attacked at all while doing any of that, I assumed that Gouz-Maise’s rampage had probably caused all the local monsters to scatter, letting me completely heal myself and remove the debuffs completely unbothered.

  Even though my status screen now said that I was in perfect shape, I certainly didn’t feel like it. The entire time interval from the moment I’d infiltrated the fortress until I’d ended the battle with Gouz-Maise had been a great drain on my mental and physical energy. My HP might’ve been at 100%, but I wasn’t confident if I could wring up even 60% of my usual performance. Not to mention that Nemesis was in no state to fight, either.

  Anyway, it was as good a time as any to check out the MVP special reward I’d gotten from Gouz-Maise.

  As it said in the name, the “Grudge-soaked Greaves” were a pair of boots made of a malicious-looking purple metal and some leather — hopefully not human leather — and its description in the window went like so:

  [Grudge-soaked Greaves, Gouz-Maise]

  [Epic Item]

  An epic item embodying the concepts surrounding the ox-headed horse-man clad in grudge.

  In addition to converting surrounding negative emotions into pure power, it grants the wearer an understanding of the unity between man and horse.

  [This item cannot be transferred or traded.]

  “‘Epic Item’?” Those were the first words that escaped my lips once I saw the status screen.

  Given that the Miasmaflame Bracers, Gardranda was a “Legendary Item,” I was now curious about what kind of difference those descriptions referred to.

  I looked through the help window and found a section on “MVP
special reward ranks.” I couldn’t recall it being there the last time I checked over this general area of help sections, so I could only assume that it had appeared there only recently. If I had to guess, it had probably appeared there after I’d acquired the Miasmaflame Bracers.

  As for the content of the help section, it said that UBMs and the MVP special rewards received upon defeating them had several ranks. Those ranks were primarily decided based on the UBM’s strength and threat level, and from lowest to highest, they went like so: Epic, Legendary, Ancient Legendary, Mythical, and Superior.

  Though I’d gotten stronger since my battle with the demon, I still felt that Gouz-Maise had been more challenging than Gardranda. However, the rank on the Miasmaflame Bracers was above that of the new special reward.

  The stat bonuses reflected that, as well. While the Grudge-soaked Greaves increased my AGI by 30%, Miasmaflame Bracers increased my STR by 100%. Clearly, Gardranda had been above Gouz-Maise.

  I felt that she herself might know something about this. After all, she’d called herself “a power left unused” and “the life and mind that the demon failed to birth.”

  With that in mind, I tried talking to the Miasmaflame Bracers on my hands, but I didn’t get any sort of response.

  That dream had been more than enough for me to confirm that her mind was still intact, but apparently, she had no means of talking to me in reality.

  Suddenly, I was hit with the terrifying idea that Gouz-Maise, too, still had its mind. However, after a moment of consideration, I concluded that the greaves were completely devoid of any sort of consciousness. Though the assumption was based entirely on intuition alone, for one reason or another, I didn’t feel that it was the least bit wrong.

  If I had to add reasoning to this, I’d simply say that the boots simply lacked the grudge that had permeated every inch of everything relating to the creature known as Gouz-Maise.

  With that settled, I began examining the two skills on the Greaves of Grudge.

  The first was Grudge Conversion, which was a downgraded version of the grudge power that had fueled Gouz-Maise. It absorbed the grudge from the surroundings, stored it, and turned it into either SP or MP. Though I assumed it had been part of the monster’s functionality, the skill didn’t come with the Automatic Restoration ability.

  ...Upon further thought, I realized that having my lost limbs regrow would be downright freaky, so I was kinda glad it wasn’t there.

  The second skill — Rider and Horse, As One — was clearly based on the fact that Gouz-Maise had been a horse-man. It increased the Horse Riding skill level by one.

  Wait...

  Increased the Horse Riding skill level by one.

  “I can finally ride Silver!” Overcome with emotion, I shouted out my joy.

  This is great, I thought.

  It was exactly what I needed to no longer have to ride Silver like I was performing some circus act.

  The skill also increased AGI while riding a horse by 10% for every Horse Riding skill level. That was pretty good, too... in fact, that was probably the primary effect of the skill. However, since I hadn’t even been able to begin to ride, I appreciated the bonus effect far more.

  With that, I got on Silver and began following the road which Hugo and Cyco had used to get to Gideon. I rode the mechanical horse as its hooves rhythmically hit the ground, and I couldn’t help but be moved by the fact that I wasn’t falling off.

  Feeling exceedingly comfortable, I relaxed and head towards Gideon as I let Silver canter as he pleased.

  I hope I can run into Hugo along the way, I thought.

  More than an hour after equipping the Grudge-soaked Greaves, Silver and I were still on a mountain road.

  “Are we there yet...?” I asked no one in particular.

  During this time, my Horse Riding skill had already increased by one, and I’d gotten a message saying that the quest “Rescue Roddie Lancarse” was complete. It seemed safe to believe that Hugo had arrived at Gideon and handed the children over to the quest giver girl and the parents. I, too, wished I was in Gideon with them.

  “I honestly think we should be close by now,” I said. The uncertainty in my tone was due to the fact that I wasn’t sure if the road I was following was the correct one.

  When going from Gideon to the Gouz-Maise hideout, we had used a Magingear, and — to avoid getting spotted — traversed a path where we wouldn’t meet any people. Now, however, I was following a mountain road that was well-maintained enough to not have a single blade of grass growing out of it. When taking my and Silver’s comfort into consideration, this path was far better than the former, but it wasn’t without its problems, either.

  The Cruella Mountain Belt was a net of many roads of various sizes. According to the area’s description in the help window, while some of them had been made on the kingdom’s or Gideon’s orders, many had been randomly created by the local gangs.

  With all the magic in this fantasy world, road-related public works weren’t a hard task. There were even spells that allowed the caster to make vegetation simply move away, so it might’ve even been easier than using heavy machinery.

  Due to that, there were countless roads, which made it difficult for me — a person with no knowledge of the lay of the land — to find my way back. Since I hadn’t gotten to the hideout by taking these mountain paths, my map didn’t display which one led to Gideon, and thus didn’t help with the pathfinding all that much.

  However, since I knew the approximate location of the city, I could make good use of the map window’s cardinal directions. With that as my compass, I was able to make my way to where I thought Gideon was.

  Considering our speed and the amount of time that had passed, the city should’ve — at very least — been in sight by now...

  “Oh.” Just as I thought that, I noticed Gideon’s outline peeking through the spaces between the trees.

  Since we were still on the mountain, I got to look down at it from a particularly high point. Though it was already turning dark, the city was emitting lots of light, making it obvious that its people were still full of energy.

  “Hm?” I murmured.

  A certain sound reached my ears. It was the sound of hooves hitting the ground beneath — something I’d grown familiar with throughout today. Except this time, there were many such sounds, and their sources all seemed to be in one group. Not only that — they seemed to be getting closer to me.

  “What?”

  As I imagined the unlikely and, frankly, silly scenario in which I was being chased by a group of horse-men Liches, the sound suddenly mixed with the sound of metal armor fittings scraping against each other. Soon enough, I saw a group of horses being ridden by people in full plate armor.

  It was a highly familiar group — Liliana’s Knights of the Royal Guard.

  “Hello, Liliana,” I said. “We sure see each other a lot to—”

  “Ray!” she exclaimed before I could finish. “Are you all right?!”

  “...day?” Okay now, why is she looking at me so intensely? I thought. And why are her knights turning all alert and battle-ready? Might I get an explanation?

  “Where is the giant undead?!” she continued. “Were you able to escape it?! Or is it still nearby?!”

  ...Oh, okay, I get it now.

  I first explained Liliana that there was no need to worry, and went on to have an exchange of information with her. She gave me a detailed explanation of what had happened on her end.

  After we’d split up at the sweets café, Liliana had gone on to continue her search for the second princess, but come evening, she had received a grim piece of information. One of her people had told her that “The second princess seems to have been kidnapped by a suspicious individual.”

  Liliana had been aware of the vile deeds committed by the Gouz-Maise Gang, and had concluded that it was entirely possible that the second princess had become another one of their victims.

  However, Gouz-Maise Gang’s hideout
had been in the mountain belt that acted as the border between the kingdom and Caldina. Moving out with larger groups of soldiers could’ve been seen as an act of war.

  That was why Liliana had formed a party comprised only of the best of the best of the Royal Guard, and planned a raid rescue mission to the Gouz-Maise Gang’s hideout.

  The moment they had prepared themselves and began heading out, two carriages had entered Gideon.

  Due to it being late, the speed at which they’d entered had made them stand out. Once Liliana had asked them to state their identity and business, the coachman, a Master, had told them something that was nothing short of surprising.

  He had said, “I am a Master who accepted the request of one of this city’s citizens to rescue a kidnapped boy. We exterminated the gang and brought back all the children that were still alive. However, as we did that, some strange sorcery made the corpses of the gang merge into a giant undead UBM. We were able to escape using the carriages, but my fellow Master is still holding the beast off somewhere in the mountain belt.”

  The story had been so absurd that some knights simply hadn’t believed it. However, a knight with the Truth Discernment skill had concluded that the Master wasn’t lying. Not to mention that the requester — who’d been waiting for them by the gates — had confirmed that it was all true.

  The shift from a kidnapping event to a UBM assault had made their situation turn quite chaotic. Also, Liliana had gone on to ask for the name of the Master holding back the UBM, causing her to find out that it was someone she was highly familiar with — me.

  She had hastily departed the moment she’d found that out. The knights that had been supposed to join her in the rescue operation had gone after her. Some time after that, they’d run into me, still on edge and ready to face the UBM.

  “I see,” I said. “So Hugo safely got the children to the city. What a relief.”

  I’d known it from the message I’d received, but now that I’d been told the circumstances surrounding it, I could be certain that there was no need for worry.