Chapter 243: Completion Elements are Only as Fun as They are Insane

During the Unique Scenario "Tour of the Rabbit Land," it's said that players are requested by the Vorpal Bunnies to defeat a monster called the "Rabbit-Eating Giant Serpent."
To begin with, why would a monster with a highly disturbing name like "Rabbit-Eating" appear in a country where the only people present are Vorpal Bunnies and the players visiting via a Unique Scenario...? The answer to that question lay within the seventh Unique Monster.

"Should I be speaking formally?"

"I do not mind either way. Seeing as how my sister acts, I am quite used to it."

Ah... well, whatever. Taking a seat in one of the guest chairs in the office, I continued my conversation with Aydward, the de facto king of this country.

"Goldunine physically constructs tunnels from her own dwelling straight to Rabituza, and sends forth her 'Divided Self' along with her kin."

"I heard about that. They literally spring forth inexhaustibly, so while you can push the front lines up, you can't push them back completely, right?"

"Yes... There was once a massive battle where we barely managed to push them back to the halfway point of the tunnel, but... well, I need not say what happened after that."

Goldunine the Inexhaustible. A "Serpent" Unique Monster whose very name makes it impossible not to feel an ominous premonition.
The enemies defeated by players who visit during the tour are strictly her kin, and merely the leftovers that leaked past the defense line defended to the death by the Vorpal Bunnies... Even ignoring her kin, the true threat lies in her "Divided Self," the leader of those massive serpents who look like they could swallow an elephant whole.

"I assume you have heard the details from Father? Those compatriots defending the front lines to the bitter end are essentially Suicide Troops who do not take returning alive into consideration."

"The 'Poison' scattered by Goldunine's Divided Self... That's exactly what I'm here for."

Naturally, it wasn't like I was going to fight Goldunine's main body, but according to Vash, "due to the nature of Goldunine," it's possible to receive the "Curse" even from her Divided Self.
It's not biological. It's a conceptual curse that plucks away any possibility of returning home for the Vorpal Bunnies who put their lives on the line for defense. A "Curse" granted by a Unique Monster will never be dispelled unless that Unique Monster is defeated.
And as long as her "Divided Self" isn't defeated, Goldunine's curse will continue to eat away at the Vorpal Bunnies, and they will rot away inside the dim tunnels... regardless of whether they're in front of or behind the defense line.
The most troublesome part is that the poison under the Divided Self's control is contagious. If the Vorpal Bunnies assigned to the defense returned to Rabituza, it would trigger an unprecedented disaster.

"I see... Indeed, if it is you, you might just be able to oppose that detestable poison. If it is you, possessing the scar of the Emperor of the Night... Lycaon."

"Or rather, you could say I'm actively going to get poisoned... Ah, yeah. To put it quickly, I plan on going to pick a fight with that 'Divided Self' of hers."

I don't know if the AI maneuvered things this way, or if it was designed as a predetermined route in the scenario from the very beginning. But the Togetsu that acquired a new ability... It's not the current industrial waste,【Meiki】, but rather the promising hope,【Konsho】, whose ability—the "Crystallization Effect"—holds the key this time.

"...Fumu, suppressing the tunnels is an important matter for Rabituza. Let me see, where did I place the map... Ah, here it is."

Aydward unrolled a tube-shaped parchment with his hands, revealing the information written on the inside.
Since they called it a tunnel, I completely assumed it would be a single straight path, but it seems the situation is much more complicated than that. A thick, straight tunnel directly connected the opposite end to Rabituza. From the side walls on Rabituza's end, numerous narrow tunnels stretched out like roots, and while it wasn't written where they connected on the opposite end, I could somewhat grasp the situation regarding the pushing and shoving match between the serpents and the rabbits.

"The central tunnel originally excavated by Goldunine's main body. We have secured safety in thirty percent of the tunnel... Beyond this point, there is a high possibility of unconfirmed or unsealed 'side-holes' existing, and the area even further beyond that serves as the absolute front line."

"Is there any possibility of them digging new side-holes and launching a surprise attack?"

"If they used existing side-holes, that would be one thing, but if they are excavating new side-holes, we can notice the sound. Having said that, I cannot say whether human hearing is capable of achieving the same feat, but... yes."

Obviously it's impossible. The performance gap between human ears and rabbit ears is way too big. It seems if a player participates in this, they'd have to remain on high alert for surprise attacks with zero preparatory motions at the very least.

"Goldunine's Divided Self... Her Cast-off Shell is located here in the tunnel. Hypothetically speaking, if you were to challenge the Divided Self..."

Extremely nonchalantly, precisely because the map was simple and thus what I needed to do was simple as well, Aydward casually voiced the unreasonable quota I needed to fulfill.

"Even assuming you depart from here, where safety is guaranteed, you must roughly run from here to here... You will need to sprint all the way through while slipping past Goldunine's kin. Can you accomplish this?"

And that's exactly why I answered just as casually.

"Even if I can't, I'll do it. I'll keep doing it until I can, and eventually, I will... That's what we Gamers are all about."

Breaking through a monster-infested dungeon with zero encounters? Isn't that just a standard routine for players who slacked off on leveling? It's a given for restriction runs, and even more so for RTA speedruns.
Moving with optimal efficiency and sprinting through the shortest route at maximum speed... turning a blind eye to minor time losses. Honestly, dodging trash mob encounters is second nature to me when it's not a grinding session. Even if it's a monster house consisting entirely of reptiles.

"I see, so this too went exactly according to Father's expectations... Splurging his own money like that, how extravagant."

"Nn?"

Expectations?

"I am talking to myself. Exactly one week from now, at night, a massive defense operation will be executed in Rabituza."

"Hoh."

Now that's some incredibly good timing.

"The objective is to push the front line up and seal the currently unhandled side-holes from the third sector to the fourth sector... If you say you can defeat Goldunine's Divided Self, then we shall lend you our aid as well."

"Bring it on. I'll promise you a tactical victory at the very least."

"Depending on your performance, we will consider that matter."

As expected, a single player can't guarantee a strategic victory............

That matter?

Thinking about it, with the new Togetsu, the Akitsu Akane Challenge, and participating in the defense battle a week from now... my schedule in ShanFro has suddenly piled up all at once.
Fortunately, I don't have any specific plans for next weekend either, so I can chug energy drinks without holding back. But right now, the most pressing matter is tomorrow... No, it's already today, huh. It's the super-fun discussion time between Wolfgang and Black Wolf starting past noon today.

To summarize, in response to Black Wolf's threat of "Stop talking smack and spit out the information," our Demon Lord retorted, "Shut up you bottom-feeders, you guys should just shut up and pay tribute"... It's an incredibly petty discussion. Furthermore, our Demon Lord has apparently turned the two bastards and the one new bastard into errand boys to set up a massive display of fireworks.

I spend my gamer life as a pitiful sheep constantly sandwiched between a bastard model and a bastard pro-gamer, so if I don't watch such a fun-looking fireworks display right on-site, where else am I going to watch it?

"I wonder if it's fine to record it..."

Well then, I wonder what's going to happen. Though I'm barely going to make it on time because I ended up sleeping like a log when I only meant to take a quick nap.

Author's Afterword
Goldunine-san has a terrible habit of stripping, frequently takes perverted actions, and is persistently clingy with genuine murderous intent included. She's basically a royal flush of being an absolute pain in the neck.
She's so bothersome that the things she strips off and leaves behind start acting autonomously, and over time, the insides get replenished, they start breeding, and an entire ecosystem is formed... She's a bothersome entity on the level of Godzilla Earth.