Chapter 103: That Obsession is Craving

I don't have an instruction manual for the Golden Scorpion, nor have I seen a wiki with its settings written on it. But there is still information you can understand just by looking.

Yes, for example, that the Golden Scorpion itself is in a hostile relationship with normal Crystal Scorpions, or something similar.

I don't know what the Crystal Scorpions think, but at least the Golden Scorpion is capable of killing its kin.

"Hahahaha! The noisy alarm clock announces the sunrise!!"

While paying attention not to get run over by the Golden Scorpion approaching from behind, I sprint through Crystal Nest Cliff screaming loudly.

These guys react even to stealthy footsteps; if I run around shouting as if trying to reach the players in the canyon below, naturally the Crystal Scorpions will transition to an active state.

And the moment I confirm three Crystal Scorpions activated, I reverse my running direction 180 degrees. I also close the distance to the approaching Golden Scorpion.

"Same as jumping over a car... Timing feels early... Here!!"

Leaping just before colliding with the Golden Scorpion, I jump over the massive Golden Scorpion using the aerial maneuver enabled by Skywalker.

However, the Golden Scorpion's tail, which hasn't completely lost its role as an attack method even without the stinger, strikes my right arm as we pass each other. My right arm's sensation shut out, I drop [Waxing].

"Gu, u... But is it okay to only pay attention to me?"

What I was doing just before, my current position, the Golden Scorpion's position... combining everything naturally leads to the answer.

Stowing [Waning] into my inventory, I retrieve the blown-away [Waxing] with my left hand while letting my numb, powerless right arm dangle by inertia. And beyond the horizon, I confirm the success of the operation in the surging waves of glittering crystals beginning to reveal themselves.

With the fading moonlight at my back, I point my index finger at the Golden Scorpion and declare.

"The calamity that will crush you has come, lured by the beacon called Me... Now, what will you do?"

The Crystal Scorpions' target is me alone, but will their crushing charge, heedless even of themselves, consider the Golden Scorpion?

It seems it has enough Intelligence (AI) to understand the situation; showing a slight hesitation, the Golden Scorpion apparently reached a conclusion. Readying the sword-pincers clad in brilliant golden crystals, turning its back to me... in other words, the answer it chose was not flight, but interception.

If it faces me, it will be swallowed by the tsunami of Crystal Scorpions from behind. Even if it chooses to flee, I will cling to it endlessly. Whichever option it chooses forces it to deal with the Crystal Scorpions; it fell hook, line, and sinker into the insect cage I set up at the last moment.

"Whew, cool. Then I'll let you protect me without reservation."

Approaching waves vs Gold and Half-Naked. The kicked-up crystal shards replacing the disappearing stars in the night sky, where the balance between dawn light and moonlight is crumbling... truly a morning starry sky. I quietly approach the Golden Scorpion and pon tap its tail.

"Good Luck."

Like hell I'd double suicide with you, idiot!

"Thinking about it carefully, even if the Golden Scorpion falls, the opponent just changes to Crystal Scorpions... No, in that case, I can just drop them off the cliff."

I was lying down resting in the storage space, but I get up to check the situation.

"[Transfer: Reality Space (Exit Travel)]"

A moment of whiteout. The hard flat surface becomes rugged crystal tatami, and the mysterious space becomes the normal dawn sky.

Returning to Crystal Nest Cliff, I move my gaze to find the Golden Scorpion, and am lost for words.

"............Seriously?"

Covered in wounds—truly embodying the phrase, the Golden Scorpion is in a miserable state.

Repeated collisions, the desperate resistance of pitiful victims accumulating into severe injuries.

Fatal cracks run through the crystals all over its body, and as for the sword-pincers, the right one has been torn off from the root.

The tail, with the stinger severed from the base, hangs limply with half of it on the verge of tearing off, vividly exposing how desperate the Golden Scorpion's situation was. Several other legs are lost too; the murderous squeeze play by the Crystal Scorpions likely showed no mercy.

But it is alive.

Spewing magic power that looks like both fire and lightning from the cracks all over its body, scattering it like blood spray, its spirit is sky-high. Without the slightest decline, it is brimming with fighting spirit despite being covered in wounds.

Unbelievably, trampling on the corpses of dozens of Crystal Scorpions, the Golden Scorpion survived that massive quantity and mass with extremely muscle-brained means.

Are the few Crystal Scorpions I glimpsed leaving actually running away? Those Crystal Scorpions? Without finishing off the intruder (me), forgetting even the newly learned ambush, running for their lives?

"How much, just how much are you specialized for combat..."

Converting all its resources into attack, the fighting spirit visualized as magic power spewing from its body is like a mirage distorting the air.

Although the original form remains, the Golden Scorpion threatens me by thrusting the crack-covered left sword-pincer toward me.

That is fundamentally different from a monster... an enemy mob systematically attacking a player. It comes from a more emotional impulse.

"How much AI did this game pack into a single Rare Enemy..."

The shiver running down my spine is by no means negative. The passion put into the game Shangri-La Frontier is conveyed to me through the wounded Golden Scorpion.

"Bring it on... If that's how you want it, I'll settle this. Using everything I have; I won't accept complaints about being cowardly!"

I unlock Overheat, which I had saved until now... or rather, couldn't use in this situation because its demerit is fatal. Furthermore, layering all skills whose cooldowns have finished, with readiness exceeding perfection, I ready the Marsh Dagger [Mod. II] in my left hand only.

The numbness in my right arm hasn't faded yet. In that case, rather than forcing myself to hold a sword with my right hand, I'll focus solely on my left hand and endure until the numbness in my right hand disappears.

"Come at me!"

Crushing the head of a Crystal Scorpion corpse, dragging its nearly severed tail, the Golden Scorpion executes a charge.

I dodge sideways with three steps and try to slash, but magic power randomly spewing from the crystals prevents me from getting close.

Moving its missing legs furiously, the Golden Scorpion spins on the spot, its nearly severed tail sweeping in an irregular trajectory.

The tail passes right in front of my nose as I bend my knees and lean back as parallel to the ground as possible.

Immediately after performing a jump like falling backward by extending my bent legs, the cracked sword-pincer slams into where I was.

Shaking off the sensation of crystal fragments digging into my back, retreating with backflips and somersaults without braking, the sword-pincer slams down continuously as if saying "just break already," chasing me. Each impact causes an explosion that further shatters the crystal pavement.

Overwhelming disadvantage. Still, buying time, searching for a way out while pressed for time, bundling scattered thin straws to make a rope, aiming for a full sprint on a tightrope, searching for a starting point.

And the time came.

"Chance!!!"

The crystals on its back reached their durability limit and shattered as if exploding. Magic power, substituting for blood spray, bursts out, and the Golden Scorpion's body shakes violently gakun.

Everyone and their mother fights while hurting themselves; is it a trend? No, thinking about it, I was the same. Thinking such things, I close the distance.

The target is the other eye. Stance is the thrusting stance I used mainly in Unite Rounds.

Closing the distance using Seven-Boat Leap as a movement skill, I thrust the dagger slidingly into the eye located in a position that makes me want to ask "Can you see forward with that?"

A sensation different from the carapace zoburi is transmitted from the thrusting dagger, and when the blade is mostly buried in the Golden Scorpion's eyeball, the Golden Scorpion, having lost its light, starts rampaging blindly.

"Now, let's settle this!"

I want to sleep already!!

Author's Afterword
Being able to rest in a safe zone via Inventoria, even for a short time, has significant meaning. If he had fought truly continuously, the protagonist would probably have respawned at a much earlier stage.