Chapter 203: Sharing the Same Heaven - Part 9

Author's Preface

I wanted a cute Fallen Angel, but the gacha gave me a not-so-cute Fallen Angel instead.

A sensation of floating, followed by the impact of falling. However, it wasn't anything that could be called damage, nor was it a crushing pressure that would flatten Emul.

"Ubeh."

"Fugyuu."

If I had to describe it, it was like the feeling of losing strength in your arms during a push-up and collapsing flat—you instinctively say "Ouch," but you don't actually take any damage.

"I-It looks like the others are safe too desu wa... Uu, my face hurts desu wa..."

"Emul, I'll listen to your whining later... Ready your weapon."

I see, so we really were heading straight into the boss fight this time. Still, going out of his way to make every little event this flashy... What is he, currently terraforming the field or something?

"Th-The castle is!"

The castle of Ruluiath—no, Ruluia—that we had been exploring up until a few moments ago was being reconstructed.
It was almost as if watching a sped-up recording of a castle made of blocks being disassembled and then rebuilt into something completely different... A supernatural feat that could never happen in reality. And there was one more thing I noticed.

"Look at that. The sky."

It wasn't a canopy at the bottom of the sea where marine snow drifted upwards. It was a genuine night sky, where the atmosphere, the stars, and the moon shone brightly.
Within the rapidly disassembling castle, Emul and I (Sunraku) gazed upon the true sky for the first time in exactly seven days.

"Aren't we falling!?"

"...It's an elevator-style fall, so we'll be fine... probably."

"I really wanted you to declare that confidently even if you didn't have proof, Rust!"

Perhaps I should admire her guts for doing a comedy routine even at a time like this, but the reality was that we were standing on the circular floor of the Throne Room that had been left behind, falling downwards at a terrifying speed.
It was as if the castle itself had turned into a tornado; every single piece that made up the castle was dispersing outward, radiating away with us at the center.

Pillars lined up at equal intervals, bricks formed staircases, candlesticks became illumination, and the building materials—retaining the exact same mass as the castle—were constructing a colosseum right inside the whirlwind.

"Umm, it looks exactly like that! The Italian... Kimottama (Guts)!" [*1]

"By any chance... do you mean the Italian Colosseum?"

"That's the one!"

Amazing, you didn't even get a single syllable right except for the little "tsu" double consonant, but I can somehow still understand the nuance. But yeah, this mortar-shaped circular arena definitely evokes the image of a Colosseum... except for the fact that it's as big as a baseball dome, if not bigger.

"Is everyone okay!"

"Yep!"

"There is no need to worry about me!"

"We're fine over here too!"

"I-I'm fine too!"

Alright, the NPCs seem fine. As for the players, life is cheap since we just respawn somewhere anyway.
Now then, Mr. Organizer who went out of his way to build this special ring, are you planning on making your entrance wearing a mask too? Bring it on, we're wearing masks too, so let's have a Mask-Stripping Deathmatch.

『Show me.....』

"Hm."

"Pii!?"

Ah, it seems there's nothing but problems with the NPCs. Emul is shivering so violently on top of my head that my head has started vibrating too. I tried talking to her and pulling her ears, but she's completely lost in a daze. The cause is obvious, but let's grasp the current situation first.
First off, this voice echoing directly inside my head that sounds like it's been processed to hell and back... Like a massive amount of rusty nails mixed with mud being hurled against a chalkboard... To put it bluntly, an incredibly indescribable voice that felt like someone was scraping the back of my molars. It's safe to assume the other players and NPCs heard it too.

『.....the inherited will.』

"Gaaah! I don't care if you use helium gas, just speak with a slightly better voice quality!"

This makes Wethermon's voice sound like a beautiful melody! Damn it, does simply speaking not only inflict a temporary "Fear State" on the NPCs, but also shave away the players' concentration!? Wait, more importantly, where the hell is the man himself (Ctarrnid)? Suppressing the urge to grind my teeth, I scanned the area.

"Sunraku-san... Above us!"

So it wasn't left, right, front, or back, but up. No wonder everyone was looking up.

"What the hell is that."

It's not exactly rare for the first phase of a final boss to look bizarre. It's practically a staple trope for a final boss—who at first glance looks weaker than a mid-boss—to suddenly transform into a grotesque monster.

That's precisely why I initially thought that giant octopus form was its first phase. If that's the case, is that its second phase? Or perhaps...

"Tch, unless we do something, the NPCs are just going to be industrial waste..."

"Sunraku, what should we do?"

"Let's move the NPCs to the side for now, otherwise they're just going to be punching bags."

"I'll guide them."

"Thanks, Mold."

They're completely stupefied. Even Araba and Ceecrue. It's blatantly targeting the NPCs with some kind of meta-mechanic, though it's hard to imagine they'll remain completely useless for the entire duration of the fight.

"A-Ah, aah..."

"Yeah, yeah, just stay off to the side, Emul... Alright, does anyone have a ranged attack that can reach up there?"

I pointed at it—the bizarrely-shaped Ctarrnid, which could only be described as something growing eyeballs and tentacles out of an octagram magic circle deployed in the sky—which still hadn't broken its silence, and asked the mobile faces (players).

"...Shooting straight up, even a greatbow probably wouldn't reach."

"Most likely, all magic will suffer from distance attenuation... and won't reach either."

If that's the case, then I have no choice but to make a move myself—just as I was thinking that, Rei-shi prefaced her words with a "However," and turned her face toward a certain person.

"The longest-range magic among us is probably... Akitsu Akane-san's 【Dragon's Breath】. If it's a direct copy of... Siegwurm's breath... it will probably reach."

"Is it my turn!?"

"...Akitsu Akane, stay."

Akitsu Akane has finally started being treated like a dog even by Rust, but I agree with the stay command since Akitsu Akane's Apology Cannon is a sort of trump card that we need to carefully choose when to use.

"We don't even know for sure if landing an attack will progress the phase. Let's verify a little more..."

"But an attack is coming, you know?"

"Scatter!"

One ShanFro hardcore player, two NephHolo hardcore players, and one player whose base specs just seemed to be naturally excellent reacted instantly to my voice, all of us leaping away in completely different directions.
In the next moment, a massive rain of octopus tentacles poured down from the sky, skewering the exact spot we had been standing.

"Hey, hey... did the main tentacle branch out even further...!?"

The Monster Octopus that had turned into a complex octagram pattern. A total of eight tentacles writhed, one from each of its eight "corners." However, one of those main tentacles had branched out into over a dozen thinner tentacles, stabbing into the ground like spears.
Assuming one tentacle can branch out into ten, and there are eight of those... Does that mean a maximum of eighty medium-sized tentacles are going to rain down on us?

"What are we supposed to do about that..."

『Advance with an unwavering heart. There is no height you cannot reach.』

"Shut the hell up!"

No, wait, it's too early to dismiss that as just a taunt. Battles designed to be conquered through means other than a simple test of strength often provide some kind of hint during the fight. If that's the case, was that line just now a hint?

"Tch... I expected as much, but they have slight homing...!"

It wasn't as overwhelmingly dense as the attacks from the Obsessive Treant we fought in Rabituza, nor was it as fast on startup as Wethermon's Thunder Bell. But perfectly combining the most threatening aspects of both, the tentacle spears gouged the earth as if cornering their targets, carrying ten separate damage hitboxes in a single attack.

"What's the condition for transitioning phases...? I don't see any obvious gimmick objects, and it's too far away to attack..."

No, wait. This isn't a turn-based RPG. If this is a real-time melee, there's no need to strictly obey the relationship between offense and defense. Even if two attacks clash head-on, it doesn't just result in a tie; whoever lands the more effective blow wins.

"Ei!"

And then, the moment Akitsu Akane slammed an attack with her dagger into one of the branched tentacles that had targeted her, missed, and stabbed into the ground... The moment I saw that attacked tentacle get sucked back into the magic circle in the sky at blinding speed, as if rewinding a tape measure... a viable hypothesis formed in my mind.

"The tentacles! Attack the tentacles stabbed into the ground!"

That's the only action we can take right now! We're going to knock every single one of them right back into that disgusting magic circle!!

Author's Afterword
Ctarrnid: "Don't give up! You can do it if you try! (Summary)"

Translator's Notes

• *[1] Kimottama / Colosseum: In Japanese, Akitsu Akane fumbles the word for "Colosseum" (Korosseo / コロッセオ) and accidentally says "Kimottama" (Guts/Courage / 肝っ玉). Sunraku points out that the only thing the two words have in common is the "ッ" (the small "tsu" character used to indicate a double consonant).