Infinite Dendrogram [Volume 4]

by Sakon Kaidou

I heard someone whisper things like “Oh, it’s that costume guy,” “So kid mountain also came to watch the fight,” and “The bear wasn’t an NPC?” My brother seemed to be strangely famous.

  However, none of that mattered right now. What mattered was that, despite him wearing the suit, I could tell that he was looking directly at me.

  “What’s your total level?” he asked.

  “Total level?” Puzzled, I repeated those words before answering. “It’s 41.” My answer made the Masters in the lobby realize something and talk amongst themselves. Meanwhile, my brother...

  “Khah... HAHAHAH!”

  ...laughed out loud.

  “Of course!” he cried. “This is an arena’s barrier, after all! Of course you can pass it!”

  “Bro, I’m completely lost here.”

  “Oh, it’s really simple. Arena barriers prevent people going in and out of them. Otherwise, they’d be completely meaningless and make spectating duels into a life-threatening activity. However, that means absolutely nothing to people with a total level of 50 or below, who can’t participate in duels because they pass through the barriers.”

  “...Oh!”

  Yeah, well, I looked it up and found out that you can only participate when your total level is 51 or above.

  Those were my own words from yesterday. People with a total level of 50 or below couldn’t participate in duels because they could freely pass through the barriers.

  “I see. That means that...!” Rook, me, and the other few low-level Masters here could leave the arena and go help the people outside.

  “Search the arena and get the help of all the Masters level 50 or below!” my brother called.

  “Supporters with levels 51 and above, hit the newbies with buffs and autoheals! The rest of you, go take care of the monsters messing up the arena!”

  “All right! We now have a way to indirectly slap that shitty lab coat!”

  Once aware of this opportunity, the veteran Masters were quick to react, becoming battle-ready in but a moment.

  “You are aware of what this means, yes?” Rook asked Shu.

  “Yeah,” Shu nodded. “As one who can control the barrier, Franklin is surely aware of this loophole. However, he didn’t say anything along the lines of ‘I’ll release the monsters if you leave the arena,’ meaning that he left this loophole on purpose.”

  It was pretty obvious that Franklin was a huge bastard and had a high degree of thoroughness in his plans, meaning that this loophole was here for a reason.

  Even so...

  “Ray.”

  “...Bro.”

  Before I’d realized it, he was standing right next to me. He was looking at me with seriousness that was obvious even though he wore a bear suit.

  “We have a loophole. However, it’s extremely likely that it’s one of his traps, and even if it isn’t, the things awaiting you are skilled players, an army of monsters, and he himself — a Superior.”

  “Mh...”

  Franklin was a Superior — the same tier as Figaro and Xunyu, both of which had displayed immense power in their duel. That meant that I was about to get into a predicament that would surpass my deadly battles against UBMs, and even the time when the Superior Killer had given me the death penalty. I might be heading straight to my second death penalty. In fact, that would be the natural outcome.

  But still, I...

  “There’s no doubt that you’re gonna die... Will you still go?” my brother asked.

  “Let me ask you something, instead, bro. Right before my eyes, a girl was kidnapped and a town is being destroyed. Letting it happen would give me the worst aftertaste in my mouth. Do you think I’m a sensible enough individual to give up and do nothing?”

  I happened to be someone who didn’t know when to quit. I’d keep reaching for the light for as long as I could.

  “I knew you’d say that.” Shu chuckled and gave me something. It was an item reminiscent of another time — a Dragonscale Ward. “I’m out of Brooches. This is all I can give you... Take it.”

  “Sure. Thanks.”

  “I’ll join you when the barrier’s dealt with,” he said. “You can overdo stuff all you want, but make sure you’re alive by the time I come. And I will come — you can count on that.”

  “Yeah. I’ll be relying on you... Shu.”

  Not too long after that, the preparations were done. Rook and I were surrounded by other Masters who’d yet to hit level 51. They amounted to a total of twenty-two. Though relatively powerless and aware of it, all of them were Masters who’d volunteered to help end Franklin’s plans. That display of will alone made them seem reliable.

  And to the right of me, I had the companion I relied on more than anyone else.

  “Let’s go, Ray,” said Nemesis.

  “Yeah,” I replied as I took her hand, after which she transformed into the familiar black greatsword.

  “Time for a retaliation!”

  Then the twenty-four of us newbies all charged towards the board of the game set up by that foul Superior.

  Let the quest begin!

  Chapter Two: Irregular Newbies

  The central arena’s lobby, ten minutes before the newbies went out to battle

  In the central arena, the veteran Masters were gathering and preparing the newbies that would leave the barrier and go to battle. At the same time, they were using their Embryos and skills to gather information regarding the forces they’d face.

  Rook, being one of those who would head to battle, made his own preparations.

  “So we’re about to fight other players...” he muttered.

  “Yep,” said Babi.

  The battle he was about to partake in wasn’t just a sparring match under the protection of the arena barriers.

  Failure would mean getting the death penalty and being removed from the ranks of those struggling against the chaos in the city.

  If that happened, Rook would be unable to help Ray, which was something he couldn’t tolerate.

  “At least we have some experience in this,” he muttered.

  Fighting the player killers outside the arena wouldn’t be Rook’s first PvP experience. He was fortunate enough to have a sparring match just before this incident began.

  Closing his eyes, Rook ran his mind over how it had gone.

  ◇◇◇

  It happened at noon, on the same day that Rook realized Marie’s true identity.

  “This ‘Superior Killer’ that Ray often talks about... It’s you, isn’t it?” he whispered into Marie’s ear right after they and Ray went separate ways.

  “H-How did you know...?! I-I mean, no no no no! I’m not!” she burst out, the bewilderment in her voice all too apparent. Normally, she would have been able to hide it relatively well, but the surprise factor had made her blurt out the equivalent of “Yes, that’s true,” making Rook turn absolutely certain of his conjecture.

  “O-Oh, come now, I-I’m definitely not the man known as the Superior Killer.” Marie still tried to salvage it.

  “Then allow me to present you with the circumstantial evidence I’ve gathered,” said Rook.

  “Eh?”

  Thus, he began listing the reasons why he had come to this conclusion.

  First: despite the Superior Killer’s age and gender being unknown, Marie often referred to him as a man. To Rook, it seemed like an attempt to give the entity a different image than her own.

  Second: her behavior when talking to Ray about the Superior Killer’s thoughts tended to be different from usual.

  Third: during the battle against Gardranda, Rook had been high above the ground, but still hadn’t been able to see a thing of what was happening within the dense miasma below. Yet Marie, who had also been outside it, had stated with absolute certainty that “The Superior Killer shot Gardranda’s left shoulder.”

  Fourth: despite Marie having played for a year in real life, which was three years in here, she had a total level lower than newbies such as Rook and Ray, which le
d him to believe that she was concealing her true powers.

  Fifth: there was a comic with a journalist/professional killer protagonist bearing a great deal of resemblance to Marie, and from what he’d read of it, even their mannerisms were highly alike.

  That was when Marie raised her hands, looking absolutely defeated.

  “Heh. Heh heh heh,” she chuckled in self-derision. “I give up. This is the first time someone has realized it before I revealed it myself.”

  “You’re not exactly the best at concealing your identity, so I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who connected the dots,” said Rook.

  “Ghh!” Marie’s face contorted with pain. She’d had confidence that she was doing a decent job of hiding what she really was, so Rook’s words did a good amount of emotional damage to her.

  “Also, you use an avatar that has both the name and appearance of a character that’s both a journalist and a professional killer, so it’s completely obvious to anyone who has read the work,” added Rook.

  “I’m fully aware of that, but it’s part of my identity,” she replied. Marie was basing her Infinite Dendrogram character on Marie from her manga, so it was a given for her to be a “Marie Adler” that acted as both a Journalist and a professional killer.

  “Anyway, we know your identity now,” said Rook. “However, it doesn’t look like Ray and Nemesis are aware of it.”

  “I’d probably feel like dying if they found out,” Marie said.

  “You’re the one who gave them their only death penalty, right? Normally, I’d have a thing or two to say about that, but it doesn’t seem like you have any malice towards them right now, so I’m content with being silent about that.”

  “Thank you.”

  “That aside, can I make a little request?”

  Marie said nothing as she made a mental note of the fact that the flow of the conversation made his question seem much like blackmail.

  Rook might actually have a sadistic side to him, she thought.

  “A request, you say?” she muttered. “A-Are you about to have me do something inappropriate and—”

  “Nothing about that would remotely interest me.”

  “Okay, kid... No need to cut me that deep... But what do you want of me, then?”

  “I want you to have a mock battle against me.”

  “A mock battle?” she asked.

  “As I said before, I want to learn more about battles against people. And I figured that facing a hardened player killer such as yourself would be a good initiation.”

  “Well, I don’t really mind, but why the interest in such battles?” Marie asked.

  “That’s a secret,” he answered with a smile on his face.

  His expression was so beautiful it was angelic, but once she considered the conversation so far, Marie found it a bit scary.

  And so, the two made their way towards the sixth arena, located in the duel city’s sixth district. Though such places were normally bustling due to various events and betting matches, all the standard arenas were nearly barren today.

  During low activity times such as these, it was possible to rent the arenas for barrier-protected mock battles. Unlike in normal matches, it was also possible to make the barriers opaque, and Marie was truly thankful that she wouldn’t have to fight while minding any potential observers.

  “You’re still below level 51, right, Rook?” she asked.

  “Yes, I’m level 48,” he answered.

  “Then don’t go near the barrier. You’ll slip right through.”

  The barrier system allowed those of level 50 or below to pass through freely. Though those players benefited from the barrier’s restorative qualities, it didn’t wall them off inside. That was the reason why they couldn’t partake in official arena battles.

  “The preparations are done,” said Marie as she set the block they’d rented into opaque mode.

  With Babi at his side and Liz taking the form of his equipment, Rook summoned Marilyn and Audrey, making him fully ready for battle.

  “We have plans for the evening, so let’s not go above ten matches,” she added. “Also, we might be sparring, but the gap in our power is still an issue, so I won’t be using my special rewards.”

  To her mind, fighting while using special rewards like the Palsy Stingblade would cause Rook to lose the ten matches without giving him a chance to learn anything. Marie would use her Embryo, but she would avoid using its ultimate skill for exactly the same reason.

  “Compared to many, my Embryo isn’t particularly tricky, so I’m confident it’s good for such practice,” she said. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes!” Rook answered with vigor.

  “Then let’s begin... Arc-en-Ciel.” Marie summoned a revolver-shaped Embryo into her left hand, and held a blackened dagger in her right. The Embryo was Arc-en-Ciel, Type Legion, while the dagger was named Night Pain.

  In response to Marie readying her weapons, Rook sent Marilyn and Audrey after her while Babi vigilantly eyed her for an opportunity to use a skill. Rook himself stood at the rear, protected by Liz, and used the Charm skill.

  This was the battle style they’d used many times during the hunting they’d done after Liz had joined.

  He was clearly planning to avoid using trickery and go all out on the very first match.

  “Very well, then I won’t do any tricks, either,” said Marie as she swung her right hand, causing the break-action revolver to unload its chambers.

  That action made Rook look puzzled. And not without reason, for she had emptied a gun that had yet to shoot a single bullet. However, even though it had the shape of a revolver, Arc-en-Ciel was more Embryo than gun, and what it shot weren’t bullets.

  “Black Homing, Red Burst, Blue Spread.” Marie’s words made three types of bullets — no, transparent containers filled with paint — enter the revolving chambers of her Embryo. Once again, she swung her hand again to give it the shape of a gun...

  “Fire.”

  ...and pulled the trigger.

  “GYAGYAGYAGYAGYAH!”

  A moment later, several dozens of bullet creatures escaped Arc-en-Ciel’s muzzle. Bending their expected trajectory, all of them rushed to overwhelm Audrey. She flew in an attempt to evade them, but all the creatures followed after her.

  There was little difference between Audrey’s and the creatures’ speeds...

  “KIEEEEE?!”

  ...so, when she soon reached the top of the barrier, they all caught up with her and exploded upon impact.

  Reduced to smithereens, Audrey’s corpse became particles of light and vanished.

  “VRAAAAAGH!”

  Right after that attack, Marilyn directed her horns at Marie and charged at her with all she had. In real life, this would be the equivalent of a 10 ton truck going at full speed...

  “Too slow.”

  ...but to Marie — whose high AGI allowed her to break the sound barrier — Marilyn was barely even moving.

  She dodged the horns right before the impact and unloaded the chambers yet again before wordlessly filling them with two types: Red Burst and Green Piercing. Then — slowly from her own perspective and immensely quickly from Marilyn’s — Marie put the muzzle against Marilyn’s shell and fired.

  The bullet creature imbued with great piercing ability penetrated the tough material with little effort before exploding within Marilyn’s insides, quickly killing her and making her become particles of light.

  Next up, Babi, Marie thought as she looked around, but she couldn’t see the succubus anywhere. A moment later, without even turning around, Marie swung Night Pain behind her.

  “...Ah.”

  That action caused the slashed space to release a gush of blood before becoming Babi, clearly on the verge of death.

  Since she was able to use Drain Learning to absorb the skills of other monsters, Babi had received the Optic Camouflage skill from a Lesser Chameleon Basilisk, a creature inhabiting a forest area near Nex Plains. However, the hiding abilit
y of that skill meant nothing to the Death Shadow — the apex of stealth.

  Babi disappeared, leaving only Rook and Liz, who was still acting as his equipment.

  With Arc-en-Ciel’s bullet type still set to “penetrating and bursting,” Marie fired at him.

  Marie had intended to end the fight with that one shot, but unexpectedly, the bullet creature shifted its trajectory away from Rook and exploded after hitting the barrier.

  Upon focusing on him, Marie realized that a part of his coat had become curved.

  Rook had already noticed the bullets’ penetrative abilities, and he’d chosen to turn them away instead of stopping them.

  “I see,” she said, astonished that the boy could notice that much from just one shot.

  He also seems to know that I need to do the unloading motion to change modes, she realized. Rook’s observational ability made chills go down Marie’s spine.

  “You won’t protect against this, though,” she said as she unloaded Arc-en-Ciel, loaded it with only Green Piercing, and fired once more.

  The piercing bullet creatures that escaped the muzzle had far greater penetrative power than the ones mixed with bursting, allowing them to easily overcome the curved defense, pierce Rook, and kill him.

  The primary feature of Marie Adler’s Arc-en-Ciel was the creation and firing of bullet creatures. The qualities of the bullet creatures fired depended on the paint used. There were six types of paint, and the ones she’d used in this battle were black for homing, red for bursts, blue for spread, and green for piercing. Besides these, there were also white for paralysis and silver for flash.

  Loading the six chambers with multiple paints gave the bullet creatures more abilities, but lowered the potency of each separate one. That made Arc-en-Ciel an Embryo that had to be used differently depending on the situation.

  “And that’s how it works.” Marie ended her explanation.

  “And how, exactly, is that ‘not tricky’?” asked Rook. By the end of the first fight, he had been shot to death, Babi had vanished, and Marilyn and Audrey had exploded, but they were now just standing there — all alive and well, because even monsters were protected by the barriers.

  “Hey now, I said ‘compared to many,’ and I stand by that,” replied Marie. “As far as sixth form Embryos go, Arc-en-Ciel’s very straightforward. By the time they start getting their ultimate skills, Embryos can become a bit... creative. For example, there’s an Embryo that ‘Turns people within a set boundary into toddlers.’ Then there’s one that ‘Forcibly removes people’s equipment and makes them naked’ and one that ‘Turns people into creatures that they hate.’ Mine’s quite modest in comparison, no? By the way, the ones I just named all belong to Legendaria’s Superiors.”