Chapter 204: Sharing the Same Heaven - Part 10

Author's Preface

I think this will be the final update for this year. Please continue to support me next year as well.

"One, two, three... Yeah, I've roughly grasped the timing."

There aren't any specific delays mixed in, and since it's a heavily gimmick-focused boss, it lacks the direct threat level of a certain instant-death samurai or a certain invisible wolf... for now, at least.

"The moment the twelfth one impacts, it takes five seconds before returning to the sky. In that case, if I dodge it at the absolute last second, I can attack it freely for five seconds without needing to close the distance...!!"

Ten pitch-black tentacles skimmed past the tip of my nose as I retreated with short, rapid backsteps. Oh, I don't smell any fishiness.

"No, this is..."

Deductions come later; move your body first. Based on my count, twelve tentacles had lined up perfectly along my evasion trajectory, and because I kept my evasion movements to an absolute minimum, the gap between the consecutive tentacles was incredibly narrow. There's no need to be stingy with my weapons anymore. The Togetsu【Waxing】 and 【Waning】 sliced through the sea breeze, carving into the tentacles. Twelve tentacles were marked with wounds from the twin blades, retreating into the octagram in the sky as if running away.
Looking closely, five of the eight corners had already had their tentacles repelled, and it was only a matter of time for the remaining three. I can't help but feel that this is rather simple, but this is the type of strategy where if you don't realize it, you get stuck endlessly in a downward spiral. It might be the appropriate difficulty in the sense that "once you notice it, it's easy," but... well, there's definitely going to be a second phase.

"...And this is, the last one."

The unleashed magic arrow pierced the final tentacle plunging toward Mold, who was running around trying to dodge it. With the absolute last of the pitch-black tentacles retracting into the octagram, we had repelled the first phase's main attack method—twelve times eight, making ninety-six thin tentacles in total. Now then, what's your next move, Ctarrnid?

『There is no height you cannot reach. And yet, upon arriving... where do humans go next?』

Boss-exclusive poetry, huh? Breaking it down to its core meaning, it basically translates to, "What are you gonna do after you reach the goal?" If we're talking strictly about games, the answer is already decided: you start grinding the post-game content. When that's done, you start Boss Rush Time Attacks. And if you're really feeling it, you start doing Real-Time Attacks (Speedruns).

『Discover the self you believe in. Even if the world is completely transformed, your core remains unshaken.』

Along with those words, the octagram began to move. Squirming in a geometric pattern, the 2D figure swelled up... transforming into a 3D structure as if unfolding origami. The letters forming the magic circle crawled through the empty space as the entity that could only be described as tentacles and eyeballs sprouting from a flat surface—Ctarrnid—began to alter its form. The 2D plane became 3D, the 3D structure took on a definitive shape, and its sharp, angular edges were refined into a smooth silhouette.
Ah, of course. Seeing that sight, the true nature of the dissonance I felt when I slashed Ctarrnid's tentacles finally clicked. I had been wondering ever since I grasped Ctarrnid's ability: how exactly are we supposed to defeat a boss that can forcefully overturn logic with kindergarten-level sophistry?

No, wait, this is literally impossible. How the hell are we supposed to defeat an enemy that has nothing inside it?

"To think that magic circle wasn't just something Ctarrnid was operating remotely from somewhere else, but was actually Ctarrnid's main body itself..."

"Is that... its final form?"

"...There's probably... one more phase after this."

"It's coming, I'll take the vanguard...!"

The 3D "Magic Circle (Ctarrnid)"—shaped like a giant octopus—descended to the ground. There was obviously no way a magic circle had any weight to it, so despite its massive size forcing us to look up at it, absolutely none of the phenomena associated with a heavy object landing occurred when Ctarrnid touched down.
In response, Rei-shi readied her sledgehammer and stepped forward. It seems Rei also suspects there's more after this; the fact that she hasn't pulled out her black-and-white armor means she's preserving it for the impending final form. Even though we can mostly predict what it will do, since it's a monster we're facing for the first time, we need to observe its action animations.

"What should I do!?"

"For now, we'll try to bait out some of its animations, so if you think you can handle it, go ahead and attack. Akitsu Akane, be as stingy as possible with your remaining items. There might still be more to come."

"Yes!"

"...Understood."

"Rust, I'll apply buffs to you first. The others as well..."

"Ah, I repel all of those, so..."

1 Combo!

"Me too!"

2 Combo!

"Umm, I appreciate the thought, but... my own self-buffs should suffice. Or rather, they don't stack, so it would be meaningless..."

3 Combo!

"Ah, okay..."

Ultimately, leaving Mold—who was now tasked with enchanting Rust alone—behind, Rei and I readied our weapons and stepped forward.

"Rei-shi, it's almost guaranteed to use tentacle attacks, but are you okay taking them head-on?"

"Yes, there's a tank skill called 'Collision Counter'... I think I'll take a bit of damage, but... I can withstand it."

Judging by the name, it sounds like a counter skill where you match your own attack against the enemy's attack. Man, I'm jealous. That's totally my field of expertise, so I'm starting to get a bit interested in Tank classes. Well, from what I've researched about this game, stat resetting looks like a massive pain, so my admiration will just stay as admiration.

"Now then, what's your move, Ctarrnid?"

No matter what comes, let's see if we can handle it with our Level 99 Exceed-tier specs... Hmm, hmm. It's raising its eight tentacles upwards? The tip of each tentacle is glowing in eight different colors? The light formed into shapes resembling crushed wine glasses, and the tentacles are holding them? Oh, four of them just shattered on their own even though we didn't do anything... Whoa, that's bright.

My vision was completely dyed in a single shade of blue. It was a blue flash that painted over even the blue of Ruluiath—which had apparently been dyed by some seriously dangerous monster—and my visual information right before it happened confirmed that it was fired from the blue chalice held by Ctarrnid.
At the very least, it doesn't seem to be an attack that inflicts damage. If that's the case, what happened? It's a Unique Monster just like Lycaon, so I can't definitively say Lycaon's Scar will completely negate it. This looks like a gimmick, so it wouldn't be strange at all if we just got hit with a horrendous debuff.

"Sunraku-san, are you okay!?"

Who was that just now? It's a woman's voice, but it wasn't Rust's or Akitsu Akane's. None of the female NPCs call me with the "-san" honorific... Is this an auditory hallucination effect? The fact that it genuinely feels like something Ctarrnid would do makes me frustrated, since it means I'm playing right into the designer's hands.

Alright, for now I should ask if anyone has any abnormal statuses.

"Everyone, check your statuses to see if there are any abnormalities!! ......Wait, aeh?"

................Who was that just now? It was a woman's voice, but it wasn't someone else's. I'm absolutely certain that the line just now was conceived by my brain and vocalized by my throat... No, wait. Hold on a second.

Ctarrnid's ability is "Inversion," and inversion fundamentally means flipping A to become B. Wait, in this case, instead of A and B, could it be that X and Y were swapped, or rather, no way.

"Whoa, they're huge."

Roughly the size of handballs. This is troubling. It's not like I don't have experience playing female characters, but E... no, F-cup? To fight Ctarrnid while dangling two things with such wildly shifting centers of gravity... I seriously need to be careful—no, no, maintaining a calm state of mind is important, but I should honestly just be surprised right now.

"Gender Inversion... seriously...!?"

Not that it matters, but even though my gender flipped while I was half-naked from the waist up, it's not like I'm completely bare. I found myself wearing an undergarment resembling a tank top cut off below the navel. I feel a bit disappointed, yet also relieved since it's my own body... Whatever, I'll just punch it for now.

"You piece of fake-octopus papier-mâché trash that ain't good for boiling OR grilling!!"

"Eh, e-hyaaaah..."

Judging from my eye level, my height is around 150cm, and my weight... is definitely heavier because of the chest. My stats themselves haven't changed, and I can still use stat-requirement weapons like Togetsu without any issues. Actually, my voice has subtly changed into a naturally high, feminine pitch. Seriously? Does it even come with a voice-changing effect that would make every single G.I.R.L. player shed tears of joy? Ctarrnid is basically the God of G.I.R.L. players...
Grasping my approximate stride and jumping power while running, I—no, she (Sunraku)—stepped in for Rei-shi, who had utterly collapsed in the back with her mind completely scrambled, and drove Togetsu's critical hit straight into Ctarrnid.

As expected, direct physical attacks don't seem to be effective against Ctarrnid. It feels like I'm slashing into a massive lump of fat. The blade pierces Ctarrnid's surface and bites into the inside, only to be stopped by an indescribable, slimy, clinging resistance. At the very least, it's hard to believe this is dealing any actual damage.

"Rei-shi! Your armor obviously doesn't fit anymore, but can you still move!?"

"Eh, hya, umm, err... Ah, wait! I'm fine, my judgment is intact...!"

Since she was visibly in a state of panic, I raised Togetsu's hilt like a hammer, wondering if I needed to perform some percussive psychoanalysis. However, Rei-shi seemingly grasped the atmosphere and frantically waved her hands to assert her sanity. It might just be my imagination, but her fake voice seems to be reverting back to her natural voice... Well, whatever.
The incredibly troublesome part is that, judging from Rei-shi's appearance, your body type after a gender inversion is completely random. And the armor equipped at the time is based on your "original" body type. In other words, Rei-shi, who shrank from a hulking giant down to the height of an average high school girl, is now wearing ridiculously oversized equipment.

"So you really do just use normal physical attacks too...! Excuse me!!"

"Hyaaaaa!?"

Alright, I wasn't entirely confident since I'm carrying the weight of her equipment too, but my trained STR didn't betray me. Scooping up Rei-shi—whose armor looked like it was about to fall off at any moment—I initiated an emergency evasion, diving out of the attack range of a tentacle that was about to slam down with a deafening roar, despite having a physical structure that supposedly lacked mass.

"The fact that the boss itself barely moves its coordinates, leaving plenty of safe zones if you gain enough distance, must be the designer's mercy..."

"A-A prin... princess... ca..."

Let's group up with the others for now...

"Are you all right!?"

"Hyoeh."

An obstacle suddenly materialized and vocalized right in front of my eyes. Wondering what was going on, I shifted my gaze away from Rei-shi—who was panicking even more than right after the gender inversion—and looked up. Filling my vision was incredibly robust musculature bulging against tight-fitting clothes... no, if anything, it was a perfectly well-fed, so-called "macho-chubby" build. Shifting my gaze even further up, I saw the face of a middle-aged man sporting a Kaiser mustache, with a fox mask resting neatly on his forehead.

"No, wait, you're Akitsu Akane, aren't you."

"Yes! I'm Akitsu Akane~!"

I knew it. It really was Akitsu Akane.

The exact moment I was about to ask why she of all people turned into an old man again, a green flash painted over absolutely everything.

And then, the world flipped upside down.

Author's Afterword
Ctarrnid: "Even if your gender flips, you're still you, right!?" (Summary)
Ctarrnid, who would later be worshipped as the God of G.I.R.L.s... It was the summer of 20XX...

• Red Chalice: Nullifies Close-Range attacks

• Orange Chalice: Nullifies Long-Range attacks

• Yellow Chalice: Nullifies Physical attacks

• Yellow-Green Chalice: Nullifies Magic attacks

• Green Chalice: ?? Inversion

• Blue Chalice: Gender Inversion

• Indigo Chalice: ????? Inversion

• Purple Chalice: ???? Inversion

If you hadn't defeated the Sealed Generals, the battlefield would have turned into an absolute hellscape where it uses Unique Monster specs to completely nullify all magic and physical attacks.