Chapter 199: Sharing the Same Heaven - Part 5

Author's Preface

This Christmas, I'll be spending a passionate night with Xeno Diablo-kun. Ora! Drop the katana!! [*1]
Xeno Diablo-kun, who lets me grind comfortably even with my trash-tier Light party, is good civilization. Xeno Vohu-chan, who showed me actual hell, is bad civilization.

"With this type of boss, it's pretty common for some sort of item to reveal their true form, isn't it?"

During the Special Strategy Meeting for Operation Defeat Ctarrnid—a conference where experts from various fields have gathered to brainstorm solutions to the problem we currently face—I nodded in agreement at Mold's words.

"Yeah. Among the games I've played, that kind of thing was actually pretty common. Sometimes it wasn't an item, but a specific weapon or spell acting as the trigger, too."

"Then we just have to find that item, right!?"

"Akitsu Akane, stay."

I'm gradually starting to figure out how to handle her. Well, setting that aside, Akitsu Akane has a hidden job class originating from the Thief line, so she probably has the highest aptitude for exploration out of anyone here.
Because of that, I need to send her to the location with the highest priority for exploration.

"Even though we don't have concrete proof, we can't win if we challenge Ctarrnid as we are now. We're holding this strategy meeting right here, right now, precisely because we made that judgment. Just throw out whatever information you have, no matter what it is, and we'll find a clue to the strategy."

The Unique Monster "Ctarrnid of the Abyss." Let's start by summarizing the basic information.

"Well, in all likelihood it's probably hiding its true form or something, but... basically, it's an octopus. It seems to be making a living acting as the landlord of this giant octopus trap known as Ruluiath."

"It most likely... possesses an ability that 'inverts' the providence of objects and phenomena... at a system level."

Even the very state of life and death is within the palm of its... well, the tip of its tentacles. By its hands, a collapsed cityscape becomes a brand-new construction in the blink of an eye, and fresh fish is cooked into rotten fishballs. Though somewhere along that process, something went terribly wrong and resulted in Homo Fish-iens.
The core of that power is exactly what Rei described as its "Inversion" ability—an anomalous power capable of sinking an entire island to the bottom of the ocean.

Among the Unique Monsters, it's likely a boss with performance leaning heavily toward magic. But considering that thing could easily turn humans into mincemeat by the hundreds just by rolling over with that massive body, it's completely unreasonable to assume it's weak in physical combat.

"...At the very least, based on the information we currently have, there are no weaknesses we can exploit to deal direct, massive damage to Ctarrnid."

"If I had to guess, wouldn't it be the Sealed Generals, Rust? Four of Ctarrnid's tentacles were pinned to the ground with chains, so maybe defeating the Sealed Generals reduces the number of tentacles Ctarrnid can use... maybe?"

Mold formulated a hypothesis regarding the purpose of the Sealed Generals as a question to Rust, who had pointed out the lack of known weaknesses. And the one who provided the answer as to why he framed it as a question was Akitsu Akane.

"Ctarrnid-san tied himself up, didn't he~"

"Exactly. That's exactly it."

The four towers located at the four corners of Ruluiath, and the four monsters residing within them. Magic, Physical, Long-Range, Close-Range. They were troublesome monsters that imposed different restrictions on the players, but until now, it was a mystery as to what exactly defeating them accomplished.

And after encountering Ctarrnid, we visually confirmed the fact that defeating them sealed away its tentacles. But that's where the "why" that Akitsu Akane mentioned comes into play.
I mean, think about it: this inverted city of Ruluiath is practically under Ctarrnid's direct jurisdiction in its entirety. It begs the question: why would a boss intentionally set up gimmicks that weaken itself?

"Is it not because Ctarrnid finds amusement in watching the struggles of those who wander into its domain to relieve its boredom?"

"If that's the case, then it's good news. It means that while Ctarrnid-kun set up all these annoying, trashy traps, it also placed the key to solving them somewhere within this city."

The hubris of the strong. I have no intention of calling it carelessness. Or rather, if they aren't hubristic, the weak literally cannot win.
If defeating the Sealed Generals isn't a mid-battle gimmick but merely a minimum requirement for challenging it—something that simply induces the weakening of Ctarrnid's main body—then there must be a separate, specific flag required to face Ctarrnid in the proper sense of the word.

"The greatest strength and the greatest weakness of this game is the fact that game progression is entirely synonymous with worldbuilding deduction. We have to unravel the 'Why' in order to figure out the 'How' we're going to challenge it."

There is far too little information on Ctarrnid to properly deduce anything about it. In that case, we need to shift our focus.
We need to deduce the nature of its throne... in other words, Ruluiath itself, rather than Ctarrnid's main body.

"Ruluiath is broadly divided into four areas. The shipwreck debris, the towers, the city, and the castle."

Ruluiath is an "Inverted" city. That means there was a period when it was in its correct, upright position. The lore probably dictates that the castle and the city existed before the inversion, while the towers and the shipwreck debris were formed after the inversion.

"I investigated the shipwreck debris, but there weren't any items connected to the lore or worldbuilding. I checked it out when I went to recover something I dropped, so I can guarantee it."

There was an absurd amount of gold and silver treasure, but that was basically just expensive flavor items with no real value beyond that.

"Did the towers have anything that could act as a clue?"

"...No. They were essentially just giant traffic cones, completely hollow inside... Mold, I'm trying to have a serious conversation here."

"Traffic cones... pfft... s-sorry."

"Then that means the places we need to search are this castle and the city!"

The city comes later. We could literally search until the sun came up and still not be done.

"Ultimately, that means we have no choice but to... search this castle, right?"

"Well, going full circle, yeah, that's what it comes down to."

A brief silence fell over the group for a few seconds.

They say 'the meeting dances but does not advance', but honestly, there was practically no need for us to talk this much just to reach such a simple conclusion.

"Alright, let's pull ourselves together and get exploring! Avoid the underground since that thing is down there, and let's search this castle from top to bottom, every last inch of it!"

"...That being said."

This castle is fairly huge. To put it in perspective, it's huge enough that you can get genuinely lost in a way that isn't really funny.
As expected, aside from the fact that it's painted entirely in a single shade of blue—a color scheme so monotonous it looks like a painting error—the interior of the room hasn't deviated from what you'd expect a standard castle room to look like. Throwing firewood that was solid blue straight to the core into an unlit fireplace, I called out to Rei.

"Did you find anything, Rei-shi?"

"Nothing in particular... If we're talking about swords that were likely made purely for decoration..."

Rei lightly swung the decorative sword that had been mounted on the wall. For a fantasy setting where people fight with swords and magic, it looked far too unreliable. Just as Rei deduced, it probably wasn't an object programmed as an actual weapon.

"Usually in these situations, you find clues around the throne or places like that..."

"Shall we head to the throne room then!?"

"No need to rush, Ctarrnid isn't going anywhere, so stay, stay."

"Yes, sir!"

If you're going to call me that, please call me Colonel Sunraku. I think Colonel or Commodore sounds the coolest. Admiral just wraps all the way back around to feeling too presumptuous to call myself.

"You'd think there'd be a diary or something in this kind of exploration game."

Currently, Team "Cannot Share the Same Heaven" has split into two groups and is continuing the exploration. Since Rust and Mold naturally paired up, for the sake of convenience, "Team A" consists of me, Rei, Akitsu Akane, and Emul.
The other team consists of Ceecrue, Araba & Nereid, and Stude tagging along.
So far, we haven't found any notable clues, but my deduction-focused brain is still spinning at full throttle.

What is the relationship between Ctarrnid and Ruluiath? That is the key to opening the door; the flag required to break through the perception gimmick Ctarrnid has set up.
To begin with, this inverted city must have originally been an island nation roughly the size of a single city located above the ocean. I seriously doubt anyone would build a full-fledged circular city of this scale on just a random plot of territory.

And then something happened to this city. The completely desolate, uninhabited streets prove that.
A lockdown, a collapse... The first thing that comes to mind is a pandemic like a plague, but honestly, it doesn't matter what it was. Ctarrnid arrived at this city where something had happened, and did something to it.

"...From what I've seen, it doesn't look like it was destroyed by a giant monster rampaging through it."

It's a thoroughly devastated ruined city. But if Ctarrnid had invaded this city... wouldn't it be destroyed in a much more horrific way?
Even if that wasn't the case, Ctarrnid could probably easily turn the entire city into a brand-new, pristine state. So what reason does it have to leave the city in such a half-destroyed state, exactly like this? If it's just a hobby, then that's the end of it, but...

"There were definitely traces of life in this city. Traces that people used to be here. But the way it looks is, how do I put it..."

"A slow, gradual ruin..."

"Exactly, that's it, Rei-shi."

Oh wait, did I say all that out loud? Oh well, it doesn't matter. It's way more fun to throw your personal theories like punches into someone else's gloves than to just deduce things alone anyway.

"This city wasn't destroyed instantaneously by some inevitable disaster. Doesn't it feel like it went through a much slower, gradual ruin?"

Despite Ctarrnid arriving, no fatal panic occurred? It's almost as if the previous residents and the current resident just swapped places through a normal moving process.

"No point worrying over it. Let's check the next room."

"Understood! Leave the unlocking to me!"

Thief classes are so convenient at times like this. If Akitsu Akane wasn't here, I'd have to open all these doors using the master key (violence).

At that moment, my attention was suddenly drawn to the fox mask equipped on Akitsu Akane's face. As she turned and prepared to dash toward the next room, I caught a glimpse of the scar-like pattern etched onto her bare skin... The curse (Marking) carved into her by Siegwurm the Heavenly Sovereign.

"...That's it."

The devil summoned does not use violence. If that's the case, then the act exchanged between Ruluiath and Ctarrnid was...

"A contract."

What the people who used to live here offered was the rights to this land. So what exactly did Ctarrnid offer in return?

I'm certain the answer lies at the very end of this castle.

Author's Afterword
I imagine some of you have probably started to notice the "dissonance" emanating from Ctarrnid throughout this arc by now.

Translator's Notes

• *[1] Xeno Diablo-kun: The author is mashing up two popular mobile gacha games here. "Xeno Diablo" and "Xeno Vohu Manah" are boss events in Granblue Fantasy. Meanwhile, referring to things as "good civilization" (いい文明) or "bad civilization" (悪い文明) is a massive internet meme originating from the character Altera in Fate/Grand Order. The author is joking that the easy boss grind was "good civilization," while the previous difficult boss was "bad civilization."