Chapter 349: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 14

Author's Preface
[Urgent Hiring] Hyperbolic Time Chamber
[Urgent Hiring] How to Evolve into Metagross

"...And what exactly are your grounds for that?"

"You can tell just by looking. If you were genuinely having fun... you wouldn't be making such a sleepy face."

"For the record, it's currently night time, alright?"

I actually think feeling sleepy makes me a proper human being. Well, I'm practically half-asleep anyway, so functionally I'm in perfect health. Full-Dive gamers generally convince themselves with that logic to some extent...

"I'm not talking about biological fatigue. I'm talking about your... let's see, your tension."

"...You're speaking awfully intellectually all of a sudden. Is that your true self?"

"If you prefer, I don't mind speaking in whatever character and voice you desire while panting on a bed? Doing the deed under extreme survival situations isn't all that rare in panic-horror games, you knooow."

"That's basically an eighty percent guaranteed death flag, isn't it?"

The inside is still completely pink. Maybe I should sear it lightly?

"Oi, oi, it's just meant to liven up the conversation. Besides, no matter what kind of person my true self is, I can easily fake it... right?"

"........."

Seeing Deep Slaughter laugh while rapidly shifting the tone of her voice, I let out a sigh, once again acknowledging just how troublesome her specific skill set is, and urged her to continue. Ultimately, all she's done is point out my low motivation; I still have no idea what she's actually trying to say.

"I... want to see you going all out. Spitting up blood, whittling down your own body... and yet still smiling from the bottom of your heart as you continue to push forward. That's the You I want to see, Sunraku-kuuuun..."

Slip... The hand Deep Slaughter extended touched my cheek. Well, what her hand is actually feeling is the fabric of the True Gaze Bird Mask. Also, don't touch me. I'm starting to feel like the emotions I'm directing at you are eventually going to trigger the harassment filter.

"But there's a quest involved, you're fighting a Raid Monster with barely any preparation, and to top it all off, it's a nursing play... I understand why you can't get motivated. I completely understand, you knooow."

"You're leaving out the very simple reason of 'because you're here'."

Ignored, huh. I see how it is.
Waving the hand I had just slapped away with a smack as if she were reluctant to part with the contact, Deep Slaughter continued to smile.
As if to say that even my rejection was unbearably fun, she kept her lips curled into a grin and didn't stop talking.

"And soooo, I came up with a little plan that might just make you want to go all out."

"Let the plan fall through and bury it in the darkness of history."

"My, how coldddd... Well then, allow me to explain."

She really doesn't give up. In the end, no matter what I do, as long as there's a risk of death, I have no choice but to play it safe, so no matter how much she struggles, my tension isn't going to—

"First, I'll need Sunraku-kun to unlock your level cap."

"Let's hear the details."

...Hah!? Impossible, how could I exhibit such an instant-fall reaction...!!

"Kuh, damn you, Deep Slaughter...!"

"What do you think of a guy who completely changes his attitude in about two seconds and naturally blames someone else for it? I think it's great! Oh no, right now I feel like a married woman addicted to her domestic-violence husband! After all, 'married woman' literally means 'another man's wife,' meaning the fundamental premise is that I'm someone else's property, which is exactly why it's so immoral and..."

Aread... (Omitted) ...bhair.

"Well, to be blunt, it lowers my HP, but it's not even that hot, you knooow."

"It seems I have no choice but to slash you with the blade..."

"Fooo, that's just a simple PK, you knooow... I mean, that has its own immoral charm, but this time I'm offering a much more romantic invitation..."

With a gaze that was simultaneously fawning, inviting, and seemingly trying to drag me somewhere else entirely—all dyed in a smile—Deep Slaughter rubbed her cheek affectionately against Areadbhair and revealed her scheme.

"Chase two hares, catch two hares... Let's just kill both the Devouring Great Crimson Clad and 'Scar', alright?"

"Sunraku-san, are you truly alright, desu wa...?"

"It pisses me off, but that bastard is competent... She's at least capable of holding the frontlines until I finish my business."

It's not like I don't have experience riding on someone else's schemes... or rather, I'm overly experienced with it.
I've gone along with the evil plots of our Demon Lord Pencilgon to completely and thoroughly spawn-kill hostile factions, and in an MMO, following someone else's orders is pretty much a daily occurrence anyway.

But in this specific case, how should I put it... It feels like I've been forced onto a ship packed to the brim with explosives. And to make matters worse, Deep Slaughter is sitting right next to the explosives, puffing on a cigarette with a smirking grin on her face.

And since she's the type with a sort of self-destructive death wish, she occasionally brings the lit cigarette closer to the explosives while making dirty jokes.

"Thinking about the future, Divine Punishment really would have been the best option..."

But considering the current situation, taking that option would be a horribly bad move. Which means I have to continue this ride-share with the devil.
That being said, if I took off the 100% prejudice-tinted glasses, the "strategy" she explained was actually convincing enough.

Among teleportation-type magic, there is a spell considered to be the absolute highest class: O Angolmois, Great King of Terror Who Comes from the East Wind (Euros Baberi). To put it simply, it's apparently a spell that Teleports a massive meteor. She intends to use that to annihilate both the Devouring Great Crimson Clad and "Scar" simultaneously.

That is the strategy Deep Slaughter formulated. However, as compensation for boasting extreme power, O Angolmois, Great King of Terror Who Comes from the East Wind has the demerits of being unable to utilize chant omission and generating a massive amount of aggro. Therefore, in order to guarantee the successful activation of the spell, she needs me to unlock my level cap.

For now, I don't feel too much apprehension regarding the contents of the strategy itself. If I had to point out an issue, it would be the reliability of the spell O Angolmois, Great King of Terror Who Comes from the East Wind itself...

"Hey, Emul. Is it actually possible to do something like that with teleportation magic?"

"Mumumumu... My magic is a self-taught style, desu wa, so I don't really know about that..."

"Use—... I see."

"You were just about to say 'Useless'! You were just about to say 'Useless', desu waaa!!"

"Ah, stop hitting me, stop hitting me!"

Currently, I—getting repeatedly whacked on the head—and Emul—doing the whacking—are running in the exact opposite direction of the open plaza-like field where the grand monster battle was unfolding, heading straight into the heart of the residential area.
Our destination was, naturally, the Altar of Awakening. If we're talking about close acquaintances, it's the exact same level-cap release facility that Kyou-timate presumably reached.

Apparently, when you release the level cap from Lv.99 Extend, you instantly level up using all the experience points you accumulated during the Extend state.

"That bastard... So she basically meant, 'I've already prepared the stage,' huh."

I see. I have to admit, I'm actually starting to get a little motivated.
If I can't get motivated by the surrounding situation, then by changing Myself, I can heighten my motivation under the pretext of "test-cutting."
A massive event known as a Level Cap Release, and another massive event known as a Raid Battle... She's basically telling me to combine those two things and finally take this seriously.

I've heard quite a bit from Kyou-timate, who has started to naturally adopt the movements specific to those thoroughly steeped in Bakumatsu. The rumored Triple-Digit Skills apparently aren't unlocked under special conditions; they're simply "a group of skills that unlock at Level 100 or higher." Which means the moment I level up, the skills I've been continuously using up until now will likely undergo further evolution.

"And there's also something else to look forward to."

I've fought many powerful enemies up until now. Just how much accumulated experience is hidden behind those six letters: 'Extend'? Will I gain stats high enough to completely beat the absolute hell out of that goddamn tail-head...? Yeah, I'm actually feeling pretty motivated now.

"...We've arrived, huh."

Well, I had been able to see It from quite a distance away... But yeah, it has to be that.

For example, in a "Fantasy World," what's the best way to clearly display "Super Science"? I'd say one of the best methods is "Anti-Weathering Measures."
"Safe even after a hundred years," you might say... While all the surrounding buildings succumb to the passage of time and weather away, if there is a single object maintaining a dull, silver metallic luster without a single speck of rust on it.

Rebelling solely against the flow of time, standing out in a Forest-folk village covered in wood, earth, and plants as the absolute only thing crafted through Hyper-Advanced Metal Processing... It looked somewhat like a disc with claws that had been violently shoved into the ground at a slightly crooked angle. That place was, without a doubt...

"Is this... the Altar of Awakening, desu wa?"

"Probably..."

What is this? It looks like the legs of an upside-down jellyfish arranged at equal intervals... Since it's slightly tilted, it doesn't seem to be firmly anchored to the ground. It feels more like the "Disc and Claws" were just directly dropped onto the earth.

It looks exactly as if something just casually dropped a massive disc from above... Wait, is that why it's called the Disc of Tears (Tearplaten)? If so, whether it's appropriate to call this disc a tear or not, What exactly caused this... No, I won't pry into that right now.

"Now then, it's time for my first level up in quite a while."

Author's Afterword
For reference, here is a portion of the protagonist's recent battle record (Excerpt):

• Lycaon of the Night Raid (Clone)

• Arctus Regalecus

• Slavegiven Carrier-Angler

• Atlanticus Repnorca

• Ctarrnid of the Abyss

• Crystal Scorpion

• Crystal Scorpion

• Crystal Scorpion

• Crystal Scorpion

• Crystal Scorpion

• Crystal Scorpion

• Crystal Scorpion

• Crystal Scorpion
  (Omitted hereafter)