Chapter 212: Sharing the Same Heaven - Part 18

Author's Preface

Sorry for the late update. The truth is, I had actually stockpiled chapters up to this point, but I completely forgot that I drastically changed the lore and setting, so I had to rewrite them... What the heck is an "Imaginative Form"? In the original draft, it was just a normal octopus form...

The Tactical Mecha Dragon "Seiryu" is a Tactical Mecha Beast compatible with the Non-Standard Special Enhanced Armor 【Rising Waterfall】 set.
With the danger of breakage creeping ever closer by the second due to the effects of Lycaon's Scar, I broke into a sprint and issued a command to the Seiryu following behind me.

"Let's go, Seiryu! Combine!!!"

『Understood!!』

Mmm, being able to loudly shout a romantic word like "Combine" in a game with such high realism truly fills me with deep emotion.
Simultaneously with the roar of Seiryu—whose tension is notably higher compared to Suzaku's AI—several lines of text scrolled across my vision within the helm of the 【Rising Waterfall】.

Naturally, since I don't have eyes on the back of my head, I can't subjectively perceive exactly what's happening. But the pressure—neither too light to go unnoticed nor too heavy to crush me—indicated that Seiryu was covering me.
It felt like something was being pressed against my back; something draped over my entire head, wrapping it completely; and sliding down from around my shoulder blades, Seiryu's arms formed an additional outer shell over both of my arms.

『All parts link-up prep complete! This unit will now commence the combination sequence!』

"I read that obnoxiously long instruction manual, so I generally grasp how it works... Rise up!!"

According to its lore, Seiryu possesses the ability to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces. By fixing particles in the air and using repulsive force to do yada yada yada... In game terms, it's essentially as if the skill "Zero Gravity," which lets you walk on walls and ceilings, and the skill "Flit Float," which lets you step on thin air, are constantly active.

The VR system reads my thoughts, the ShanFro servers analyze them, and Seiryu projects the "path" I desire onto my helm's display.
The moment I stepped onto the path that shouldn't exist, which was projected onto my vision enhanced by 【Rising Waterfall】... how should I describe it? It felt like stepping on mud, or stepping on snow... an indescribable sensation, like the air itself was pushing up against the soles of my feet from directly below with tremendous force.

『Sky-Running Steps!』

"Whaaaat!?"

To compare it to something: a conveyor belt moving at extreme speed; uncontrollable straight-line skiing; or the feeling of being blown away while riding on top of a car you're not actually supposed to ride.
Inertia grabbed my upper body and tried to drag me backward. I hurriedly assumed a forward-leaning posture and faced straight ahead...

"Hey wait, the path is cut off like a ski jump ramp!?"

『Constant designation of coordinate routing required!』

"So you're saying distracted driving isn't allowed...!"

Flyaway!!
My body, clad in Seiryu, launched off the edge of the invisible, broken path. It seems Ctarrnid also noticed the blue hunk of metal tearing through the sky in a flashy manner, stretching out building-sized tentacles to swat me down.

"Oh, thanks for going out of your way to build me a path."

It seems I can't maintain the invisible path unless I constantly visualize a "path," but Ctarrnid's tentacles—which already exist as physical matter—won't disappear just because I look away.

"This is an express route straight to your face!"

Gumu, landing on the rubbery, sponge-like mass of flesh, I accelerated. If I recall correctly, the instruction manual said, "It accelerates by generating a repulsive force between the air and itself, repelling the user." In other words, I'm constantly in a state of being a pinball.
The blue Dragon Knight glided across the tentacles, which were likely formed by solidifying the blood and flesh of the eaten monsters. The goal was the base of the giant tentacles—the side of Ctarrnid's face as it reigned over the battlefield in a pose straight out of the Vitruvian Man.

Sliding across the writhing, flailing tentacle that desperately tried to shake me off with the absolute stability granted by gravitational manipulation, I navigated the Inventoria. This is a rare, lavish splurge, and since we have to wrap this up within three minutes anyway, there's no room to be stingy.
Wethermon's legacy, the Non-Standard Special Enhanced Armor, operates using the Tactical Mecha Beasts as a power source. And naturally, if there's armor, there are weapons.

"Non-Standard Armament... Since we've come this far, let's break away from swords and magic!"

I selected the Twin Gun Type 【Castor & Pollux】 and transferred it from the Inventoria to Ruluiath.
What was summoned from the storage space looked, at first glance, like rectangular blocks of metal resembling giant books. At the very least, they didn't look like heavy machinery.
But the moment both my hands touched their respective rectangular blocks following the guidance displayed by Seiryu in my helm, the metal blocks began to transform.

Following the straight lines crawling across the metal's surface, the metal unfolded like origami being returned to its original shape, wrapping around both my arms to form barrels. The armor side also deployed some sort of energy line connections in tandem with the transformation.

"Hyuu, that's pretty cool...!"

『Connection complete! Loaded rounds: 20!!』

"Is that per gun? Or both combined? ...Well whatever, twenty shots for now!"

For having chunks of metal attached to both arms, my movements were surprisingly light as I thrust the muzzles toward Ctarrnid. My imagination created a path that didn't exist in reality. Leaping off the tentacle path, my feet planted onto the path of force fields. That route, which only I was permitted to walk, passed straight in front of Ctarrnid, grazing right by its face.

"Spit out your ink!"

Lightning scattered. Energy bullets sparking with electricity were fired in rapid succession from the transformed Castor and Pollux. Despite the rough aim, every single one of them struck Ctarrnid's face, scattering their destructive power.

Voaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Taking highly advanced, high-firepower sci-fi attacks straight to the face at this stage, Ctarrnid screamed. Along with the flinch animation, its giant tentacles rippled, exposing an opening... but it's no good, it's too shallow.
At the end of my gaze, I formed a slide along my falling trajectory, sliding down it to land safely on the ground. If I don't hammer in more damage and force it to expose an even larger opening, I can't guarantee that Akitsu Akane's strike will land cleanly.

"...Amazing, very amazing, very marvelous..."

"Uwa, Rust..."

It seems I landed near where Rust was. Just as I was panicking over the approaching time limit while thinking about my next move, Rust—with Emul on her head—approached me.

"Sorry, but save the impressions for after we're done..."

"...I have a few theories regarding Ctarrnid's weak points."

"You've got twenty seconds."

We have less than two minutes left; every single second is precious.

"...The jewels at the base of the tentacles on Ctarrnid's back are glowing in a way that screams 'weak point.' If you hold the aggro, I'll shoot them."

The goosebumps breaking out on my skin inside my armor clearly indicated that, despite its movements being halted by the flinch animation, its aggro was squarely locked onto me. I didn't have the time to slip behind it and check for myself, but I didn't need to.

"Can you do it?"

"...Eight shots is my absolute limit MP-wise, but factoring in Mold's buffs, if I land all of them, it won't be a problem."

"Alright, leave the decoy duty to me. Emul, go tell Akitsu Akane to blast it the moment our attacks are finished!"

"Yes sir!"

"Alriiiiiight! Everyone! Move to Plan B!!"

The "B" in Plan B stands for "Beat the crap out of it"! The "B" stands for "Bury it"! The "B" stands for "Bust it up"! In other words, to reach the final stage of the operation, everyone except Akitsu Akane will dump every last drop of maximum firepower we currently possess!!
Since Ctarrnid can talk, it stands to reason it can understand us as well. Having our plans picked up just by clumsily speaking them aloud would be a disaster, so the strategy was converted into an extremely simple passphrase.

"Fair and Square, One-on-One!!"

Our opponent is an octopus that randomly inverts everything under the sun, so making the phrasing and the actual content of the operation complete opposites is quite fitting, isn't it?
With the command to take it head-on (lynch the bastard), everyone sprang into action. It seems my attack prompted it to descend to the ground to retaliate. Was it actually doing push-ups or something? Did floating in the air actually put a strain on it? No, surely not... Still, it works out perfectly for us.

『Remaining energy at 30%! Recharging required!』

"Fuel efficiency... no, you're saying the initial charge wasn't enough to begin with... Well whatever, I'm making you move even if it drains you to zero!"

I stowed away Castor & Pollux, deploying the Non-Standard Armament Cannon Type 【Regulus】 in their place. A cylinder about a meter long attached itself to my right arm. Perhaps the Non-Standard Armaments themselves follow that kind of concept, because just like Castor & Pollux, the separated cylinders underwent transformation and combination to form a massive cannon.
I have no idea how long it's been alive, but it seems Ctarrnid accurately recognized Regulus as a threat, raising its arms like a shield and heightening its guard against me. You could just attack me with your tentacles, you idiot...

"Hey Ctarrnid, let me teach you something good... The meaning of those words is the exact opposite."

"【Takemikazuchi】!!"

"【Tidal Deep】!!"

Fair and square? That concept isn't worth a single Mani even if you tried to cash it in. Feed it to the goblins.
While its attention was fully focused on me, Ceecrue and Araba—who had slipped behind it—hammered their attacks into the back of Ctarrnid's knees. Knee-Buckler part two. If there's one difference, it's that the firepower hammered into the back of its knees this time is on a completely different level.

"Fire!"

And against Ctarrnid, whose center of gravity was thrown off by the knee-buckling, Regulus unleashed its light. Thanks to Seiryu, I wasn't blown away by the recoil, but I poured strength into my right arm to withstand the pressure that threatened to make it creak.
The fired artillery shell struck Ctarrnid near its collarbone, pushing Ctarrnid—whose center of gravity was already swaying backward—even further.

"If you want to flip over that badly, you can go play Othello with your own body... Rei-shi!"

".........!"

Ctarrnid was about to fall backward, but it wasn't enough. This wouldn't buy us nearly enough of the flinching time we needed.
That's exactly why we're hammering in even more. With the absolute intent to Overkill, I'm having Rei-shi beat it senseless with even more wads of cash.

"Here I come... 【Titanomachy】!!"

Among the Disposable Magic Scrolls Rei-shi possessed, it was the most expensive one, containing the strongest magic. Responding to Rei-shi's will, the sealed magic was unleashed.
This magic, belonging to the Earth attribute, required a certain amount of ground within range to activate. Although it was at the bottom of the ocean until recently, Ruluiath was originally an "Island." We are standing firmly on solid earth. The strike of the Giant God can be activated.

The earth rumbled. The ground of the Colosseum formed by Ctarrnid cracked open, as if something massive was unleashing its power with a deafening roar.

"Amazing, it looks exactly like flipping a pancake in a frying pan."

A giant earthen fist manifested, punching straight through the earth. Dwelling deep within the cracked fist was a strike from a Giant God cloaked in a glowing red, scorching heat, which sent Ctarrnid—who was already falling flat on its back—flying upward from directly below. Can you believe it? Ctarrnid is currently airborne.

"Rust!!"

Now then, let's see the power of Nephilim Hollow's strongest player!!

Author's Afterword
Ctarrnid's giant tentacles "display a weight proportional to their mass when interfering with opponents" but "do not display their true weight when interfering with itself." It's basically the whole "There's no way a beautiful girl with slender arms can swing a greatsword? Shut up! She doesn't feel the weight thanks to mysterious powers!" trope for the user themselves. Conversely, this means "Only the weight of a humanoid form applies to Ctarrnid's own physical laws." This subtly ties into binding magic and the like, making it an important piece of lore for the strategy.
To put it in super easy-to-understand terms for Duelists: it's like Armityle the Chaos Phantasm.

• Disposable Magic Scrolls
  Items that can be crafted by "Mage" type players or NPCs who meet certain conditions.
  Magic that can be used without the drawbacks of versatility, like Teleportation Magic, is mainstream, but it's also possible to seal attack magic inside them.
  That being said, the power decreases... However, since the "phenomenon triggered by the activation" itself doesn't change, items like 【Titanomachy】—which summons a super-massive object and can currently only be crafted by "Sage" NPCs—are traded at extremely exorbitant prices.
  By the way, the scrolls Rei-shi is blowing through without a second thought weren't paid for out of her own pocket; they were purchased using "Clan Funds" and entrusted to her. It's a classic case of getting caught up in the moment, "rage-spending Disposable Magic Scrolls," and heavily regretting it later.