Chapter 211: Sharing the Same Heaven - Part 17

The white and black spiral crashed into Ctarrnid. Even though it was a clone, it was the exact same strike that had slaughtered Lycaon; surely even Ctarrnid would... Sadly, I'm not naive enough to think it would be that easy.

The eight towers... no, that's wrong. Eight massive tentacles, dozens of meters long, wrapped around and engulfed the Armageddon unleashed by Rei-shi.
Naturally, Armageddon is an attack skill; it's not something you can physically touch. Yet, even as they shaved away their own flesh, the eight tentacles wrapped around Armageddon's effect, squeezing and constricting it.

"No, way...!"

And then, with a boom, the effect of Armageddon was crushed by Ctarrnid with an anti-climactic ease that should have been impossible considering its true power. Did it diffuse the damage? Are you telling me it forced the tentacles to shoulder the informational resources packed into Armageddon to mitigate the damage to its main body?
However, Ctarrnid didn't pull that off without taking damage. The eight tentacles laid limply on the ground, having pulverized the Colosseum's spectator seats, and Ctarrnid's main body was visibly exhausted.

But Armageddon failed to defeat Ctarrnid. It isn't dead. Ctarrnid still has power left.

"Put me down, Araba! You go recover Rei-shi!!"

"Me!?"

"You're the only one here who can forcefully drag that heavy knight!!"

This is bad, bad, incredibly bad. If I remember correctly, regardless of whether that skill succeeds or fails, it imposes a massive demerit like sealing away skill usage afterward. Losing our main attacker at this stage of the fight is honestly a problem. A huge problem.

"Everyone retreat! Open up some distance!"

We need to regroup. Grudging even the time it takes to heal, I retreated from Ctarrnid while still sitting at 1 HP.
Looking back, I saw Araba swimming toward me, practically dragging Rei-shi, who was clad in dirt-colored armor and still holding her sword.

"Strategy meeting!"

Before Ctarrnid could recover from its flinch animation, we temporarily retreated outside the Colosseum.

"I'm sorry... The tentacles suddenly appeared, and my aim, slipped..."

"...We can skip that. We need to think, about what to do next."

No one can blame Rei-shi. In that moment, Rei-shi was the only one on the absolute frontlines. If massive tentacles suddenly sprouted right in front of you, anyone would freak out. Even I would. If anything, we should praise her for not missing entirely.

"Alright, briefly, everyone tell me the current state of your weapons and items."

"...My magic bow is almost at its limit. I can probably fire about twenty more times."

"Me too. If I only buff Rust, I can cast it a few more times, but..."

Mold and Rust are at their limits... Since they're returning players, it's entirely possible they didn't stock up on items all that much.

"What about Akitsu Akane?"

"U-Umm, well... I practically can't use the Hidden Blade Arts anymore... I-I'm so sorry!"

"I'm not mad, and I'm not blaming you, so it's fine. Just tell me what you have left that you can use."

"Yes! If I use up all my recovery items, I can fire one Dragon's Breath!"

"I see... Listen closely, Akitsu Akane. Both Rei-shi and I have already used our trump cards. Rei-shi is massively debuffed from the recoil, and I've used up all my items just to recover my HP..."

"T-That's a massive pinch..."

"Yeah, a massive pinch. Well, I still have one idea regarding combat strength, but... Right now, you probably have the highest firepower among us."

"M-Me!?"

"Stay, calm down. Alright, take a deep breath... Good, you're calm now. Exactly. Your trump card—leveled up after dealing with Lycaon and everything else—is our trump card."

"T-That's a heavy responsibility!"

Exactly. It's a heavy responsibility.
The NPCs' situation was about what I expected. If I had to point out something new, it's the revelation that Araba's Odachi is a special weapon that can recover its durability by consuming MP.
A few of the players gave Nereid a pretty serious look (myself included).

And finally, Rei-shi, who had been weakened to the point where her previous overwhelming presence was completely gone.

"Honestly speaking... how is it?"

...I'll be blunt. The current Rei-shi is nothing but dead weight.
The penalty for failing to meet Armageddon's conditions: on top of skills, even magic is sealed, her stats are universally debuffed, and Rei-shi can't even unequip the weapons and armor that visually reflect those incredibly unreliable stats.

"I'm going to be honest... If we keep going like this, I don't think you can even act as a wall."

"............I am aware."

As a hardcore player, Rei-shi understands that as well. That is exactly why, after a brief silence, she answered.

"I can still fight."

"Understood."

It wasn't an exaggeration or a bluff; I had no intention of doubting an answer backed by solid conviction. One of the top players in ShanFro said she could do it, which means she absolutely can.

At that moment, the thunderous sound of collapsing debris grew louder. That sound, which had been acting as background music since the beginning of our strategy meeting, was finally drawing closer. So that's how it is.

"Alright, the operation to defeat Ctarrnid is finally in its final sprint. No half-assed talk about 'whether we win or lose'..."

Because the NPCs won't respawn? That's part of it.
Because we don't know if we'll ever get the chance to challenge it again? That's part of it too.
But the biggest reason is far more fundamental: we have every right to be furious.

"It dragged us to the bottom of the ocean completely unprovoked and confined us for seven whole days. I'm going to make it apologize and pay for all the expenses it cost us. Even if I have to beat it with my bare hands or bite it to death, we are winning this!"

Ooh! Voices filled with solidarity and determination rang out at a volume that rivaled the destruction of Ruluiath.
Turning around, I saw Ctarrnid approaching us, haphazardly slamming its eight tentacles into everything in its path.
Because it was using its tentacles as legs to move, Ctarrnid's macho body was suspended in a posture that looked like it was floating in the air. The bone ring—which seemed to have expanded compared to when I first saw it, perhaps to deploy the tentacles—and Ctarrnid...

"...Leonardo da Vinci's."

"...Ah! The picture of the weird old man lying spread-eagle!"

"Fubufu! Fu, nfufufufu... It hurts! Rust, getting a spear-hand strike directly between the ribs hurts way more than you think!"

I wonder if they'll be okay... I don't sense a single shred of anger from them...

Reducing unforeseen circumstances to absolute zero is the mark of a first-rate player, but unforeseen circumstances will never truly be zero.
You can never completely eradicate probabilities that fall below the decimal point. Even if you corner your opponent with overwhelming superiority in both quantity and quality, you can't completely crush the gag-like possibility of a meteor suddenly dropping from the sky and inflicting massive damage exclusively on your own party, because we are not omnipotent.

However, that is strictly a reality filled with "ifs." In a game, unless it's a bug, events that haven't been programmed cannot occur, which means a "perfect strategy" can exist.

But still... yes, but still. This is ShanFro. In a world built on a reality that feels like the developers' obsession mixed with something far darker and more convoluted, unforeseen circumstances emerge as a danger that must absolutely be accounted for.

"This is a splurge...!"

【Regulus Gloria】, which massively increases all stats.
【Re-Over Wake】, which applies stat buffs proportional to the number and severity of bad status effects.
【Exaggeration Brave】, which massively increases all stats when fighting an enemy larger than oneself.
【Fairy Reward】, which increases unconsumed stats like STR proportional to the depletion of consumable stats like HP, MP, and Stamina.

I am currently watching a shower of banknotes fluttering through the air. No, wait, that's an illusion. What I'm actually looking at is the sight of a massive amount of Disposable Magic Scrolls being burned through.

I see, it's true that Armageddon's restriction seals the "activation" of magic and skills. However, using a Disposable Magic Scroll doesn't mean Rei-shi is actually casting magic. She's merely providing the MP; the one executing the spell is the parchment... wait, does the parchment execute it?

"This is my... final resort for emergencies. It won't last very long... but I can fight."

"Those look incredibly expensive. How much did they cost...?"

"Around eight digits..."

That's a minimum of ten million Mani, lady. Yep, that's definitely a shower of banknotes scattering everywhere.

The rust-colored knight, now clad in an overwhelming amount of magical effects, stood up powerfully.
Due to the restrictions, Rei-shi couldn't take off her armor or let go of her sword. But as expected of a hardcore player, it seems Rei-shi had left her sledgehammer out in the open instead of storing it in her inventory.

According to the system, Rei-shi is currently equipping a greatsword. In this state, the sledgehammer left out in the open isn't treated as a weapon, but rather as a type of object. While it's possible to use it to attack, you cannot use any skills associated with that weapon type.
But that doesn't matter to the current Rei-shi. Since she can't use skills in the first place, a hammer—which inherently has a higher damage multiplier despite not allowing skill usage—is far more useful as a weapon than a greatsword whose damage multiplier has been slashed.

"Now then..."

Rei-shi stepped onto the frontlines as well. Araba and Ceecrue took charge of the vanguard, while Akitsu Akane and Mold hid to avoid drawing aggro.
Rust was currently repositioning with Emul on her head, carefully waiting for the perfect timing to guarantee a hit since she couldn't afford to waste arrows.

Then what am I doing? I am currently fiddling with my windows in a location far away from Ctarrnid.
The core of this operation is the Apology Cannon—the Dragon's Breath—fired by Akitsu Akane, who has been forged through battles with numerous powerful foes, spearheaded by Lycaon. And to guarantee that it hits, we have to make Ctarrnid flinch to halt its movements.

And not just a normal flinch. We need a massive flinch that completely paralyzes it for at least ten seconds.
And within the heavily exhausted Team "Cannot Share the Same Heaven," I'm the only one capable of pulling that off.

"Knocking Ctarrnid out in exactly three minutes. It's a heavy responsibility... It might be tough because of Lycaon's Scar, but I'm counting on you."

Let's fulfill the ambition that didn't come true that day.

"I'm not skimping on energy. Go wild to your heart's content... 'Seiryu'!!"

Author's Afterword
Dark Souls on the Switch...?
"Dark Souls Anywhere" is such a power word.

Tactical Mecha Beast "Seiryu"
The very same one involved in the scene where a bird-head burning with ambition was crushed by the reality of "I can't equip it because I can't wear armor."
It can fly using a different process than Suzaku. Actually, Genbu can also hover, so Byakko is the only one that can't fly.

Fusion Jack
Fusion Jack
Float
It seems there is someone out there shouldering a sorrow reminiscent of this.