Chapter 217: Ostensible Epilogue: The Beast that Sniffs Out the Fires of War

Kalaaan, kalaaan, the sound of a bell ringing.

『We would like to make an announcement to all players currently playing Shangri-La Frontier.』

An announcement from the management, an event still fresh in everyone's memory.
No, surely not, thought the players, listening with a certain degree of caution—only to be struck by absolute shock yet again.

『As of this moment, we have confirmed the defeat of the Unique Monster "Ctarrnid of the Abyss." The conquerors are the five players: "Rust," "Mold," "Akitsu Akane," "Sunraku," and "Psyger-0." Furthermore, in accordance with the defeat of the Unique Monster, we report that the World Quest "Shangri-La Frontier" has progressed.』

The Unique Monster "Ctarrnid of the Abyss." Before that day, it was the most widely known Unique Monster second only to the randomly encountered Lycaon and Siegwurm. It was known that it supposedly resided at the bottom of the sea right between the New Continent and the Old Continent, but absolutely no one had any idea how to actually get there. And now, it had been defeated.
Moreover, among the players who claimed that honor, that name appeared once again.

"It's that Sunraku guy again..."

"But it looks like the Attack Holder was there too, you know?"

"Even so, there's no way the exact same player could defeat two of them in such a short timeframe."

"Maybe he's actually affiliated with the devs?"

"Rumor has it they're insanely strict about that stuff, so it's probably not that..."

"Oh, I've heard about that. They have to sign an NDA saying 'I will not play Shangri-La Frontier on personal time,' right?"

"But in exchange, the salary is supposedly insane."

The fact that the unknown Unique Monster "Wethermon the Tombguard" had been subjugated by a mere three players was still fresh in their memories. And now, one of those three had successfully defeated another Unique Monster.
Whether they liked it or not, the information raced through the player base, and much like a game of telephone, the details began to bloat massively.

"I heard he's a half-naked player dragging a bunny girl around..."

"The story I heard is that he has a skill that lets him fly through the sky."

"Seriously? I heard he straight-up PKed the entire SF-Zoo clan."

By the time the rumor "He's a non-human PK player dragging a bunny girl slave around by a chain and crushing the skulls of anyone who gets close" started circulating, the players finally began to realize, 'Okay, there's no way that's real.' But regardless, the fact remained that the name of the player "Sunraku" had spread far and wide.

There is a phrase: Dohatsu-Shouten.
A rage so intense that one's hair stands on end and pierces the heavens... While the exact process differs from Fugutaiten (Cannot Share the Same Heaven), they might be similar phrases in the sense that they both ultimately settle on the final murderous intent of "I'm going to violently murder you."
And right now, within the clan "Black Wolf," there was a single person harboring a rage so intense that it felt as though her hair might turn into snakes and start rampaging at any moment.

"U-Umm... Leader........."

"..........................................What."

"I-It's nothing!"

On the surface, she appeared calm. But it was an emotion akin to metal that had been heated to its absolute breaking point and then rapidly cooled; even if it didn't burn the flesh upon contact, it contained a sharpness capable of slicing flesh just by touching it.
The clan member who spoke to her was completely overwhelmed by the response of the Leader—Psyger-100—who didn't move a single muscle in her face, moving only her eyeballs. He hastily retreated.
Upon retreating and returning to the main camp—or rather, to the other clan members—he began to converse with them in hushed tones.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible! She's way scarier than my real-life boss!"

"Come on, please! Out of all the members here right now, you're the only one who can actually communicate with the Leader!"

"Even if it's just a game, you're our Wall Tank, so step up to the frontlines!"

"Listen, I didn't spec into resistance against mental attacks..."

"...Hey, don't look at me with that 'Let's have the Magic class handle it' face! No way, it's too scary!"

Currently, within the clan "Black Wolf," there was a rumor spoken of with near-absolute certainty.
The rumor went: "Psyger-0" and "Psyger-100"—who are sisters in real life—had a massive fallout.

Psyger-100, the founder of the clan "Black Wolf" and the one who led its members. And Psyger-0, who had joined the clan through the Leader's direct invitation and had now acquired the highest firepower in all of Shangri-La Frontier. The relationship between these two was by no means a bad one.
Even from a third-party perspective, the relationship between a leader who pulled the members along—slightly forcefully, but never unreasonably—and the ace who contributed firepower for that exact purpose could only be described as excellent, even putting aside the fact that they were sisters in real life.

However, for the past few days, Psyger-100 had been acting strange. Not only was she constantly cloaked in a blade-like coldness, but bringing up Psyger-0 visibly worsened her mood.
'There's no such thing as a relationship where people stay perfectly friendly forever, and a fight between sisters isn't exactly rare...' The members had thought, waiting for the situation to calm down. But the news that hit them was that the very same Psyger-0—alongside Arthur Pencilgon, a name practically synonymous with nightmare among front-line players, and the player "Sunraku," who subjugated the Unique Monster "Wethermon the Tombguard," plus a few others—had successfully defeated the Unique Monster "Ctarrnid of the Abyss."

"...Hey, isn't this situation actually getting really bad?"

"Yeah... It kinda smells like the end times."

Befitting a top clan, the players affiliated with it were no amateurs. While there were some like Psyger-0, who displayed astounding aptitude despite ShanFro being her very first MMO, the vast majority were veterans who had experienced other MMOs. Naturally, they were well aware of the ruin that the deterioration of in-game human relationships could bring.
A clan, or a guild, is fundamentally a group effort. Anyone who disrupts that formation, no matter how exceptional a player they might be, is nothing but a detriment. True, in a game where Unique Scenarios can suddenly trigger out of nowhere, things don't always go according to plan.

But even so, the fact that a Unique Monster—of which there are only seven in this entire game—was cleared with a party consisting of players outside the clan... The members collectively thought that was incredibly bad. They saw this as... the omen of internal drama.
Furthermore, the fact that a Unique Monster was conquered while the clan "Black Wolf" was almost entirely left out of the loop was also a severe issue. Because even in a top clan... no, precisely because it's a top clan, there are bound to be troublesome players.

The Fifticia branch of "Serpent's Apple."
Inside the establishment known to those in the know—where, for some reason, a shopkeeper with the exact same face greets you in every single town, and where taste restrictions are completely lifted—Arthur Pencilgon let out a wry smile upon hearing the announcement.
She had heard the gist of it. To summarize: 'I was planning on holding off right at the end, but since it was a direct route, I decided to go beat up Ctarrnid real quick,' 'Oh, the Attack Holder from the Black Wolves is here too,' and 'By the way, I also triggered Lycaon's EX Scenario.' The idiot who spouted off these strings of nonsense consecutively had been subjected to root vegetable sanctions, but that aside, it seems he actually managed to clear the Unique Scenario EX.

"Man... but still, this is going to cause a massive uproar."

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. It's an absolutely ubiquitous concept in any world where rankings or hierarchies exist to some degree.
If this had been Pencilgon or Psyger-0, things wouldn't escalate to such a massive degree. If a player possessing enough 'achievements' to be called by embarrassing aliases accomplished such a feat, people would eventually accept it.
But Sunraku doesn't have that. She and Katzo, who are close to him, might accept it with a 'Well, it's him, so it's not surprising he did something crazy,' but forcing that same acceptance onto the rest of the player base would be too cruel.

"If we don't establish some kind of landing point to make them accept it, we won't even be able to play the game normally."

"Ahaha, for that friend of yours to make you frown like that, he must be quite capable."

"Seriously, there are way too many people around me who suddenly toss impossible demands my way... You know?"

"Whoops, even if you point the tip of your spear at me, I can't offer a witty comeback."

There was one other person present, a player sitting at the same table as Pencilgon.
A single woman, clad in light swordsman attire with a haori draped over her shoulders without her arms through the sleeves, responded to Pencilgon's sarcasm with a proper, entirely un-masculine female voice while tilting her cup.
Truth be told, this woman, with her long black hair tied back, was also one of those exactly people who had come to toss an impossible demand Pencilgon's way.

"...So? What business does Kyougoku-chan, who ditched Ashura-kai right after that lolicon, have with me at this point?"

"He was a genuinely good PvP player... But honestly, to think he'd permanently station himself in Firstia of all places."

"Well, considering the guy who was even more of a battle junkie than me finally quieted down, shouldn't we celebrate that for the sake of the game?"

Pencilgon knew the reason she had come to visit. She was a player who originally belonged to Ashura-kai... Specifically, a player belonging to the militant faction within Ashura-kai that heavily prioritized PvP combat.
After Pencilgon's departure via the honorable PKK by the former #3, she quickly left Ashura-kai as well. The story was that she had headed to the New Continent, primarily joining pick-up groups...

"Personally, I'd love to hear how exactly you managed to return from the New Continent while it's still in the middle of an absolute survival crisis."

"Ah, I just asked a favor, you see. I had a Sage with the 【Teleport Gate】 send me back."

【Teleport Gate】... She had heard rumors about it. It was a spell positioned above 【Teleport】, functioning essentially as fast travel—capable of instantly moving the caster and a handful of others to any location they had previously visited.
A few NPCs supposedly knew it, but there should be less than a handful of players who had actually acquired it. To call that just 'asking a favor.'

(What in the world did she actually do...)

"Now then, since you'll likely be getting busy soon, let me cut straight to the chase, Pencilgon."

"Yeah, yeah, bring it on."

"Fufu... You guys are going to clash with the clan 'Black Wolf,' aren't you? If that's the case... let me in too. Into the clan 'Wolfgang'."

Exactly as predicted. This woman had absolutely no thoughts of "benefiting from the Unique Scenario's rewards." She was a purebred swordsman player who boldly declared, "As long as I have a katana, I can fight." This woman—who had once proposed an invasion of the Black Wolves, only to be rejected by that foolish brother of hers—must have heard the rumors about Wolfgang and returned.
Everything, simply for the sake of fighting the absolute strongest clan in Shangri-La Frontier. Even if it meant facing defeat and losing every single item she owned in the end.

"For the record, I've officially washed my hands of all that right now, you know?"

"Washing your hands doesn't mean your rotten core suddenly turns pristine, now does it."

If Sunraku and OiKatzo were here, they would have undoubtedly burst into laughter. At that devastating strike, Pencilgon's cheek twitched.

"Allllright, maybe Onee-san should dye her name red again?"

"Ahaha, in a completely unscripted 1v1, I won't lose to the likes of you."

Arrogant, yes, but she possessed the PvP skills to ensure it wasn't an empty boast. That was exactly what made her so troublesome.
The fact that she had carved a path through the harsh environments of the New Continent relying purely on pick-up groups—where one-time encounters were the norm—was an undeniable truth. The letters "Level 104" shining brilliantly on her status were absolute proof of that.

"...Even if I say no, you're not the type to back down. Let's just say I'll consider it."

"That is most excellent."

"Well, our clan operates as a democracy with three main members including me, so we'll have to discuss it."

As pure combat strength, adding someone capable of rivaling Psyger-0 to their hand was an exceptionally high-tier move. However, she was a Joker carrying the innate danger of self-destruction and going rogue... Thinking up to that point, Pencilgon suddenly had an epiphany.

(Come to think of it, those two idiots in my clan are basically Jokers anyway, so does it really matter at this point?)

Haaa... She let out a sigh. Even Pencilgon had types of people she was bad at dealing with.
Specifically, people exactly like the woman in the haori before her—whose head now sported twitching beast ears that definitely weren't there the last time she saw her—the type who "listen to what others say and understand it perfectly, but never had any intention of changing their own minds in the first place."

"And one more thing."

"You still have more?"

"My name isn't Kyougoku."

Through whatever principle, the player declared this while twitching her fox-like ears as if they had been there from the very beginning.

"My PN is 'Kyou-Ultimate'."[*1]

"We already reached the conclusion of rejecting that because it's too hard to say."

It was rejected.

Author's Afterword
It's the epilogue (Big smile)

Translator's Note

• [1] Kyou-Ultimate: Kyougoku (written with the kanji 京極), the kanji for Goku means "Extreme" or "Ultimate".