Chapter 220: Interlude: Tome of Truth "The Abyss"

The recommended number of players to clear Ctarrnid of the Abyss is "8 or more."
It is highly recommended to minimize the variety of jobs among the party members.
Fundamentally, any job composition is fine, but having a Wall Tank makes the battle against the Imaginative Form somewhat easier.
The trigger condition for Ctarrnid's Unique Scenario EX shifts after the first clear. Initially, it requires accepting "Pierce the Apostle of the Abyss" and fulfilling specific conditions. However, after it has been cleared once, players can encounter the ghost ship sent by Ctarrnid by "accepting the NPC Unique Scenario 'Sailing Out to Sea on a Stormy Day' in Fifticia, provided two weeks have passed since Ctarrnid was last defeated."

Overview of the Inverted City Ruluiath
In this special area, the monsters that appear change depending on whether it is day or night.
During the day, "Familiars of the Abyss" and "False Mermaids of the Abyss" primarily appear. During the night, monsters from the deep-sea area "Deep Sea of the Netherworld" will spawn randomly.
There are many abandoned houses within Ruluiath, and as long as a bed is intact, players can save and log out using any bed.
There are four towers at the four corners of the area, and a special enemy known as a "Sealed General" resides in each one.
These Sealed Generals possess abilities corresponding to Ctarrnid's special abilities (detailed below). Defeating a Sealed General seals away the corresponding ability from Ctarrnid.
Ctarrnid resides in the underground space of Ruluia Castle in the center. However, until the gimmick on the top floor is activated, Ctarrnid remains in its "Delusional Form." If this form of Ctarrnid is defeated, the Unique Scenario EX is forcibly terminated, and players and NPCs are randomly teleported to another area.
In the upper levels of Ruluia Castle, there are three rooms: the "King's Office," the "Keystone Throne," and the "Top Floor of Nostalgia."
The King's Office contains the Queen's Journal, which provides hints for the gimmick.
The Keystone Throne contains the "Keystone of Inversion," the gimmick required to break Ctarrnid's "Delusional Form."
The Top Floor of Nostalgia contains the gimmick item "Past Glory," but the monster "Shark Demon of Vanity" must be defeated to obtain it.

By placing the jewel into the Keystone of Inversion, returning it to its past glory, the gimmick activates. This automatically dispels Ctarrnid's "Delusional Form" and initiates the actual boss battle.

Sealed Generals Guide

Clionea Ctila
This Sea Angel-like monster possesses the ability to seal magic.
She attacks relentlessly with her tentacles, leaving no openings, but since she can only attack at either pure close-range or pure long-range, dealing with her is relatively easy. However, since 90% of a Pure Mage's attack methods will be nullified, it is highly recommended they step back from this fight.

Sla-Beer, Dagon & Hydra
This is essentially a two-in-one boss. These twin half-fishmen completely nullify physical attacks, and by extension, all skill-based attacks. Because they seal the activation of all skills, their difficulty is the highest among the generals. However, the raw specs of the bosses themselves aren't that high, and since it is still possible to defend against their attacks, they can be easily defeated if Magic jobs act as the primary firepower.

Vashd = Mernacle
A sort of colony-type monster. Massive amounts of barnacle larvae produced from its body surface cling to its main body, completely sealing off close-range attacks. However, because it is extremely nearsighted, long-range attacks fired from more than 10 meters away will not trigger the larvae guard. Furthermore, it has very low knockback resistance, meaning it falls over easily.
Instead of instantaneous burst damage, pressure-based attacks that break Vashd = Mernacle's balance—such as objects or ropes—are highly effective.

Ammon Autumn
Projectile weapons are considered tasteless in a knight's duel. This Ammonite-themed knight can only be defeated through a pure, frontal, close-quarters 1v1 duel. Since standard CQC theory applies, it is the easiest boss to fight. However, it takes relatively advanced actions, so if you let your guard down, you will be skewered in a single thrust by its rapier.

Ctarrnid of the Abyss Strategy Guide
The moment you enter the special area "Inverted City Ruluiath," a strict 7-day time limit is imposed. Defeating Ctarrnid of the Abyss in either its "Delusional Form" or "Imaginative Form" within those 7 days will clear the scenario.

Phase Information

Delusional Form
The initial state. A form that merely appears to be a giant pitch-black octopus. Its true nature is a phantom acting upon perception; strictly speaking, it is not actually Ctarrnid.
While in this state, it constantly activates the special action 【Fake Abyss】, constantly spreading a "Curse" to all NPCs participating in the scenario.
NPCs under this influence will aggressively initiate combat with the Delusional Form Ctarrnid.
It is completely impossible to defeat Ctarrnid in this form. It will only transition into its Fantastical Form once the "Royal Authority Gimmick" inside the castle is dispelled.
Its primary attack methods are sweeping strikes and slams using its tentacles.

Illusory Form
The second form. A grotesque figure sprouting tentacles and eyeballs from an octagram magic circle.
Simultaneously with the start of the battle, it activates the special action 【Glare Abyss】, spreading "Fear" to all NPCs participating in the scenario.
This is canceled once a certain amount of damage is dealt to all eight tentacles used for attacking, shifting it to the next form.
Its primary attack method is branching its tentacles to launch minor homing attacks at the players.

Fantastical Form
The third form. An empty, hollow octopus built entirely from intersecting magic circles.
The chalices held by its eight tentacles each activate a different special ability, applying corresponding inversion effects to players and NPCs.

• Red: Close-Range Nullification. Nullifies all attacks launched from within 10 meters of Ctarrnid.

• Orange: Long-Range Nullification. Nullifies all attacks launched from beyond 10 meters of Ctarrnid.

• Yellow: Physical Attack Nullification. Nullifies all physical and skill-based damage against Ctarrnid.

• Yellow-Green: Magic Attack Nullification. Nullifies all damage against Ctarrnid from magic that consumes MP.

• Green: Color Inversion. Inverts the color tone of the vision of players and NPCs.

• Blue: Gender Inversion. Inverts the gender of players and NPCs. Body proportions and age are generated based on stats and player (or NPC) action logs.

• Indigo: Status Inversion. Inverts the numerical values of two randomly selected stats.

• Purple: Damage Inversion. Damage dealt to Ctarrnid and the "Chalices" is inverted into healing, and healing effects are inverted into damage.

Destroying the "Eight-Colored Chalices" held by all its tentacles transitions it to the next form. Note: the inversion effects applied during this phase persist until the end of the battle.
It has no primary attack methods, but the effects inverted in the third phase persist until the end of the battle.

Virtual Form
The fourth form. A pitch-black sphere resembling a black hole that sucks in surrounding organisms.
It continuously and indiscriminately casts the spell "Random Encounter" without limit for five minutes, absorbing the summoned monsters every 30 seconds. The HP of the fifth form fluctuates based on the total number of monsters absorbed during this phase.
It does not attack players or NPCs.

Imaginative Form
The final form. The Lord of the Abyss, taking the form of an octopus-headed humanoid that has gained a temporary physical body using flesh and blood as a foundation.
Separate from its phase shifts, the Imaginative Form has two distinct behavior patterns. In the first stage, it references the motion logs of 8 randomly selected players and NPCs via the Abyssal Jewels and reflects them into its own behavior patterns using 【Analysis】 and 【Reflexus】.
The first-stage Imaginative Form Ctarrnid is equipped with five layers of "Damage Armor." Dealing a certain amount of damage breaks the armor one layer at a time. Breaking all the armor is the prerequisite to transition to the second stage.
In the second stage, Ctarrnid deploys eight "Titan Tentacles" using the eight Abyssal Jewels as origin points.
To clear the second stage, all eight Abyssal Jewels deploying the Titan Tentacles must be destroyed, followed by dealing a certain amount of damage.
Since the required damage threshold is easily achievable even by a single player, destroying all eight jewels practically guarantees the kill.

Story Lore of Ctarrnid of the Abyss
As a major premise, the values of Ctarrnid of the Abyss differ vastly from those of humanity. Ctarrnid does not recognize humans as "individuals," but rather perceives them solely within the framework of the "human race."
Due to its origins, Ctarrnid holds a deep-seated emotion of "respect" toward the human race. For a certain reason, it lures humanity—the products of "Project No. 1" and "Project No. 2"—to its base in Ruluiath to observe their strength.

Therefore, the entirety of the Unique Scenario EX is nothing more than a grand "Tabletop Game" orchestrated by Ctarrnid. As the Game Keeper, it praises and rewards those who overcome the hardships it imposes and defeat the final boss.
Some may have already realized it: Ctarrnid is literally a TRPG Game Keeper. The brilliant humanity that once created it, the great humanity that was utterly crushed by despair against impending ruin... yet refused to stop walking forward. Assessing their successors is Ctarrnid's fundamental principle, and its sole purpose in life.

Ctarrnid's true identity is the ultimate fate of a single octopus chosen as a test subject for the prerequisite experiment of "Project No. 2," conducted during the Divine Age: "Granting Limited Reality Alteration Traits to a Single Entity."
With the "formulas" obtained from the first and second experiments etched into its flesh, procedures were applied to bring indiscriminate reality alteration under the control of a single entity. As a result, Ctarrnid became capable of freely altering reality at will, under the conditional trigger of "Inversion."
However, as a side effect, Ctarrnid lost its physical body. It became an autonomous magic formula encoded with its own consciousness, cognitive abilities, and memories... That is the true nature of Ctarrnid of the Abyss.
In other words, it is living magic. Magic is, fundamentally, a "Concept" carved into the world. Just as the concept of matter altering through fire is called "Combustion," and the concept of a tossed apple falling down is called "Gravity," the phenomenon itself known as Ctarrnid is the concept of "Ctarrnid of the Abyss."

And there is one more character essential to telling the story of the entity known as Ctarrnid: the Keystone of Inversion located in the Keystone Throne... The statue shaped like a human woman is the only person Ctarrnid recognizes as an "individual."
It is modeled after "Alice Frontier," the individual who held absolute authority over "Project No. 2" and successfully connected the human race to the future using an approach completely different from "Project No. 1." The details of this are recorded in the Tome of Truth "The Immortal."

───The following unlocks at World Quest Stage 4 and Stage 5───
The reason Ctarrnid established Ruluiath as its base and sits in the abyss is, as recorded in the Queen's Journal found in Ruluiath, to seal away the "Crazed Ultramarine."
Fundamentally, the true identity of the "Crazed Ultramarine" is a [───] of [──────], meaning it refers to the quickening of the "Origin," an era even older than the Divine Age.
The threat of [─────], which the humanity of the Divine Age mobilized all their strength to resist, was never completely eradicated. Ctarrnid is assessing the humanity of the present, and sounding the alarm.

───The mindless "Origin" quickens. O humans, accomplish the resistance you once failed to achieve.

Author's Afterword
To summarize the above:
The phenomenon of things burning is "Combustion."
The phenomenon of things falling to the ground is "Gravity."
The phenomenon of inverting all conditions and states, possessing a will of its own, is "Ctarrnid of the Abyss."

Some seriously dangerous guys are about to wake up soon, so watch out. For now, I'll keep the absolute most dangerous one sealed away.
Also, you—yeah, you, the guy who seems totally clueless about romance. You're a massively important key person, so brace yourself for a lot of things.

And finally, the full name of "Alice" is revealed. She is an incredibly important figure in "Shangri-La Frontier," and a "setting" that holds extremely crucial meaning for "Shangri-La Frontier 〜Trash Game Hunter Challenges God-Tier Game〜".