Chapter 194: The Meaning of the Apex

Author's Preface

It's not like I got completely absorbed in grabbing clams and going for touchdowns or anything. (Feigns ignorance) [*1]
While that's true, I've finally cleared up some personal matters that had been acting as a massive wall standing in my way... So now all that's left is to write while resisting the temptation of games!

An evasion tank refers to a tank class that deals with enemy attacks by evading them rather than defending against them.
The merit is that as long as you have the legs to dodge, you can also contribute to the offense to a certain extent; the demerit is that taking even a single hit can easily become a fatal wound.

"Hey hey hey heeey!"

If I had known about it when I first started ShanFro, I might have tried the "Ninja" class, which sounds like it has high aptitude for an evasion tank role. But right now, since I've already assembled a variety of skills highly suited for an evasion tank, I don't feel all that drawn to the "Ninja" job.

"What's wrong, what's wrong! You aren't fresh enough, hey hey heeey!"

Changing the subject entirely, this game has "Fishing," and it's actually quite elaborate... No, I should probably say "as expected, it's quite elaborate."
Surprisingly, it seems there's an actual "Angler" job class, and even if you don't dedicate your entire class to fishing, the fishing rods you can use are still quite authentic.
Even in their base state, they possess the potential to reel in salmon, sea snakes, and absurdly strong lobsters, but apparently, changing the hook and bait alters the kinds of fish and monsters you can catch.

And barnacles can be used as fishing bait... Hey, "Barnacle," you wouldn't happen to be usable as fishing bait, would you?

"Whoa, amazing, water is shooting out of the barnacles on your back like jets!"

"Byaaaaaah! Don't come over here desu wa!!?"

"Alright, watch your step!!"

Explosively multiplying barnacles to completely absorb the kinetic energy of the attack used against it. A seriously potent ability to be sure, but there's one glaring weakness to it.
Even if you reduce the kinetic energy to zero, the object itself doesn't disappear. Just like how nullifying the energy of a car crashing into you doesn't change the fact that there's a car right in front of you, you cannot nullify a simple foot sweep.

Having taken a spectacular tumble thanks to the interference of me, Araba, and Ceecrue, the "Barnacle" is ruthlessly bombarded with every long-range attack we have.
Apparently, you can catch fish that have MP recovery effects, so Akitsu Akane—who seems to have solved her MP issues—shooting beams out of her mouth is as surreal a sight as ever... Are we really playing the same game?

Ah, she grazed Ceecrue.

"Hoaaaaaaaah!?!"

"B-Big brooo!!"

"I'm soooo sooooorryyyy!!"

Let's call it... the Apology Cannon, or maybe the Apology Breath?

"When it comes down to it, large-scale parties really don't struggle much."

"Well, seeing as he tumbled over with an absolute zero level of stagger resistance..."

"Ahaha... By the second half he just kept falling over so much it was actually kind of funny..."

As expected, the Ammo-Knight dropping a cutlass was an event flag, because the Barnacle only dropped material items.
Well, since it's a large-scale party, the amount of materials a single person gets isn't exactly high, but... Wait, could it be? But still, hmmm.

"What's wrong?"

"Nah, just thinking."

Well, it's not like there's anything I can do about it right now, so I'll leave it for later. Stop hitting my head, Emul.
With this, we've defeated three Sealed Generals. One more, and we'll have taken down all of them. Just what exactly are they sealing, and what will happen once we defeat them...? Honestly, I'm fighting the urge to just go subjugate the fourth one right this second to see what happens, but patience, patience. Stop hitting my head, Emul.
If it forcibly transitions to the Ctarrnid fight right after, it won't be a laughing matter. Emul, stop hitting my...

"What is it, Emul."

"Aboveeee!"

Above? Just like always, marine snow drifts down from the seabed-sky in this inverted world, and the gigantic body of Arctus Regalecus, its face completely battered and bruised, is currently plummeting in accordance with gravity, and judging by the shadow, it's aiming directly at the exact spot where me and Emul are standing—

"Evasive action!!"

"Piiiiiieeeeee!?"

Hollywood jump, Hollywood jump. [*2] Are you watching, world? From a third-person perspective, that was a flawless Hollywood jump worthy of an Academy Award.
A thunderous crash echoes out. If I broke my fall normally Emul would get crushed, so I have no choice but to dive face-first into the ground and accept the humiliation of eating dirt. This is an honorable dirt-eating...! But wait, what the hell is going on? Did we stumble into another food chain scene? But if so, why was its face specifically beaten to a pulp?

Regardless, I know that thing isn't friendly, so I hurriedly ready my weapons and turn around...

Gooosssh!!

"Hieek."

This game has regulations on gore, which is why no matter how much you slice up a human, there's no blood, and cross-sections are subtly hidden by visual effects so you never see bone or flesh.
But my eyes most definitely witnessed Arctus Regalecus's head getting completely flattened and crushed by a massive impact from directly above, and I ended up staring straight at a Humanoid Annihilation Weapon (Psyger-0) wielding a sledgehammer, sporting an expression like a fierce demon god that looked ready to spew steam from her mouth...

"I found you...!!"

"Kyuu..."

For Emul—who has acted as the designated reaction comic even against the likes of Wethermon and Lycaon—to actually faint, isn't that a Class 1 Danger Alert?
No honestly, this is way more startling than a cheap horror game. But perhaps because I was literally just about to suggest, "Well, we have nothing to do today, so let's go do some Rei-shi creation (finding her)!" the emotion of "Oh, there she is" took priority over my fear.

"H-Hello, Rei-shi..."

"............"

Why the silence, Rei-shi? Combined with the explosion effect of Arctus Regalecus behind you, this looks exactly like a boss character's entrance cutscene, Rei-shi!

Amidst the overwhelming visual information of truly shocking, absolute power that left almost everyone present utterly speechless, Rei-shi—standing with her back to the polygons of Arctus Regalecus scattering into the air—stored the dark red hammer in her inventory, took a step back, and then.

"I am so, soooo... incredibly sorry!!"

She bowed her head deeply.

And so, this and that happened.

"Ah, so things really were chaotic IRL."

"I am truly sorry... To not contact you for five whole days..."

As expected, things had been incredibly busy for Rei IRL after we last spoke. The fact that she couldn't even log in at night spoke volumes about how busy she was, to the point that even we as outsiders could feel it.
Having Rei raise her head after she repeatedly bowed deeply in apology, we asked her once again if she could participate on the seventh day.

"Yes, I'm fine! There are no problems!"

"I-I see."

"Yes. I've completely... cleaned up... all the obstacles."

Chills. Even though she's intentionally speaking in a slightly lower voice for her character, it should still be a gentle woman's voice, yet for some reason, a shiver ran down my spine.

"...Sunraku, I have a proposal."

"Hmm?"

"All the players are gathered here right now."

"That's true."

"In that case, how about we challenge the fourth one right now?"

"...Seriously?"

No, wait, that might actually be a good idea. Even if it is Ctarrnid, it's not like the system would force us into a battle that wastes half a day; if we stayed logged in for that long, we'd probably get slapped with a forced logout from the system itself anyway.
If that's the case, since everyone is gathered right here, right now, defeating the fourth one and heading straight to Ctarrnid is a perfectly valid option.

Looking at the faces of all the players and pondering it over, I—having become the de facto leader out of convenience—hand down a decision.

"...It's true that I'd like to go in under perfect conditions, but heading straight there right now is definitely an option. So for now, we'll go defeat the fourth Sealed General. If we immediately transition to the Ctarrnid fight we'll fight, but if not, our plan for the decisive battle on the seventh day remains unchanged... How does that sound?"

There were no objections. And so, our completed large-scale party—now featuring the ultimate weapon known as Rei-shi—set out toward the final tower where the fourth Sealed General... the paired Fishman "Married Duo" awaited.

What exactly is a hardcore gamer?
A hardcore gamer is a term that refers to someone who spends even the absolute bare minimum amount of time required to function as a human being on games instead.
What exactly is a hardcore gamer?
A hardcore gamer is a term that refers to someone who strives to reach, or has already reached, the absolute upper limits permitted by the system.
What exactly is a hardcore gamer?
A hardcore gamer is the person who, the moment a new blind-run boss drops, bears the full brunt of the expectations of the "Wait for the strategy guide" crowd, who collectively think, "If we just leave it to that person, they'll post the strategy soon enough."

Then what exactly does a hardcore gamer possess? That's obvious: Power.

"So physical attacks won't work... Right."

In ShanFro, there are three methods for activating magic.
The first is activation through incantation. This allows the magic to exert its effects up to the maximum limit permitted by the player's stats. However, since there aren't many players who can smoothly recite long spells entirely from memory, the mainstream method is to use a Grimoire that opens during combat... effectively acting as a cheat sheet, just like Mold does.

Next is chantless activation, which cuts the incantation entirely. This is probably the most widely used method. It boasts overwhelming spell speed, but the effects and firepower are reduced accordingly. It's heavily used by players who have other priorities over incantations, like magic swordsmen, or players who are simply bad at reciting spells due to being tongue-tied.

And finally, proxy activation using scrolls. It suffers from an even greater penalty than chantless casting, but its convenience allows even a monkey to use it as long as they have MP. For magic where firepower doesn't matter, like teleportation, this activation method leaves you with nothing but advantages.

"Roar, O Flame, thou art the howl of the savage beast shaking throats with heatwaves. Thou art the fangs of the savage beast tearing through the darkness with brilliance. Roar at the enemies reflected in thine eyes, thy resounding beastly howl shall make them tremble, thy thunderous fierce fangs shall tear out their throats. O Flame, become a beast and roar. 【Beast Doomflare】"

Complete memorization. Absolute, complete memorization. She flawlessly recited a lengthy spell—who even knows how many times the words "roar" and "beast" showed up in it—without stuttering once, with perfectly fluent pronunciation. And she did it right in the middle of being attacked by the husband of the Fishman Duo.

Massive thermal energy erupts from the palm of the Onimusha held up to the Fishman husband's face. The beast of flame, materialized by devouring Rei's magical power, is not satisfied by her magic alone; it devours the very atmosphere itself as it lets out a roar.
The flame beast sinks its fangs into the upper body of the Fishman husband, who instinctively tried to guard with his arms. The slimy mucus... that troublesome mucus that somehow causes all physical attacks to slip off through whatever principle, evaporates in less than a second, and the Fishman husband's agonizing scream echoes throughout the interior of the tower.

"It's great that they're such a loving couple... Emul, aim for her throat."

"【Magic Edge】!!"

At the sound of her husband's scream, the Fishman wife—who was just about to smash Emul, who was currently using my legs for mobility—froze in her tracks. Not missing that opening, Emul's attack traveled straight down the line of fire and gouged the Fishman wife's throat.
Without missing a beat, an arrow fired from Rust's magic bow impaled the Fishman wife, and glancing over, the replicated breath attack of the Golden Dragon Lord (Unique Monster) slammed into the Fishman husband as well.

"Hardcore gamers are truly terrifying."

In the world of MMOs, where an unspecified number of masses constantly jostle against each other, all claiming to be the protagonist, the skill of a player who claims the title of "Maximum Firepower" is the real deal.
Having that raw power vividly displayed right in front of us naturally spurred the rest of us on. Even though we only added a single person, the final Sealed General fell faster than any of the others.

And so, with all four Sealed Generals defeated............

Author's Afterword
Clionea Ctila: "I got skipped over, but I got to decorate the prologue alongside Sylvia-chan!"
Ammon Otuum: "I did hold a key character's flag item, for the record."
Barnacled Mernacle: "I fell over so much my knees hurt."
Slavegiven Dargoon & Hydora: "We got roasted." "We got filleted."

Ctarrnid: "GG lol"

By the way, regarding Giga-Oarfish-kun whose face was split open like a watermelon, here is exactly what happened:

• He tried a charge attack and got intercepted by a hammer; due to positioning, his face was relentlessly bashed in.

• He tried to escape into the sky, but she clung onto him, resulting in a dangerous Nippon Mukashibanashi situation. Go to eternal sleep [*3], good boy.

• Got magic blasted straight into his face.

• Flinched, plummeted, and got drop-smashed from above.
  That's roughly how he got beaten to a pulp.

Translator's Notes

• *[1] Clams and touchdowns: A reference to the "Clam Blitz" mode in Splatoon 2, expanding on the previous chapter's author note.

• *[2] Hollywood jump: In Japanese gaming communities (specifically Monster Hunter), the "Hollywood Dive" or "Superman Dive" is the universal slang for the exaggerated, invincibility-frame-granting dive players do to avoid massive, screen-clearing AoE attacks.

• *[3] Nippon Mukashibanashi / Go to sleep: A reference to the opening animation of the classic Japanese anime Manga Nippon Mukashibanashi (Manga Japanese Fairy Tales), where a child rides on the back of a flying dragon. "Go to sleep, good boy" refers to the show's famous ending song.