Chapter 354: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 19

"...No, no, no, wait a second, DeepThro-san. You're saying... it was all a lie?"

"Hmm? Everything regarding the meteor magic was a lie, you knooow."

She confessed in such a casual tone it completely shattered the fundamental premise of everything that had led up to this point. Tottori stared blankly for a few seconds before suddenly snapping back to his senses and closing the distance between him and Deep Slaughter.

"N-No, no, no! That's not a joke you can just laugh off in this situation! What are we going to do!? Sunraku is fighting right now on the premise that a meteor is going to fall, you know!?"

"Fighting on the premise that a meteor is going to fall, isn't that just way too funny of a sentence to say out loud?"

"~~~~~─!!"

Faced with Deep Slaughter continuing to casually mock the situation, Tottori, finally boiling over with rage, was about to shout and step even closer. But before he could, Deep Slaughter thrust out her index finger and pressed it vertically against Tottori's lips.

"Shh, don't get so angry, alright? First, let's calm down... okay?"

Hearing her say that with the gentle voice of a mature woman, Tottori found himself unable to completely lose himself to his rage and lash out. Furthermore, he realized that since this was Deep Slaughter—the owner of "The Rod of Actualization, The Desire"—she must surely have some kind of plan, so he reluctantly took a step back and waited for her words.

"...Why did you lie about it?"

"Eh? You ask why... well, I absolutely love watching Sunraku-kun overcome hardships, you know? Just enduring until the time limit runs out... that's just, well..."

Seeing Deep Slaughter suddenly flush red and begin squirming around, Tottori felt a profound sense of disgust from the bottom of his heart, while simultaneously fully comprehending exactly why Sunraku hated her as deeply as a venomous snake.

"Y-You're insane..."

"I'm fully aware."

And precisely because she was, Deep Slaughter readied the Rod of Actualization and shifted the nature of her smile.

"What I'm about to do is a magic that Sunraku-kun has never seen before, a spell that will finish off both of those monsters Along with Sunraku-kun...!"

"What the... Hah!?"

"What are you saying, desu waaaaaa!?"

Hearing the words she declared with a fiendish smile so distinct it made them doubt whether she was even the same person, not only Tottori but even Emul—who had just rendezvoused after breaking off from the mobile unit—screamed in terror.

"It's fine, it's fine. Sunraku-kun is mostly out of his mind anyway, so he'll probably just casually forgive me."

"No, no, no, no! Getting friendly-fired in the middle of a Raid Battle is grounds for an actual real-life fistfight, you know!?"

"───Now that would be troublesome."

But still, Deep Slaughter took a deep breath while maneuvering the Rod of Actualization, and shouted loudly toward Sunraku, who was currently moving around at dizzying speeds.

"Sunraku-kuuuun! Is it okay if I catch you in the blast tooooo!?"

There was no response for a few seconds as dust and dirt billowed up amidst the raging storm of massive destructive power. Cutting through that cloud, the woman in the mourning dress—executing a backward retreat covering a distance slightly too massive to simply be called a "step"—dodged a crimson flash and screamed back.

"Drop dead!"

"He said it's okay."

"In what universe!?"

"Well, it's true he didn't explicitly say 'No', desu wa..."

Perhaps finally losing its patience with the annoying little gnat that simply refused to fall out of the sky (whether the Devouring Great Crimson Clad actually possesses the emotional capacity to "lose its patience" is another matter entirely), not only the regenerated tail but half of the four heads sprouting from its torso joined in, aiming a total of three lasers directly at Sunraku.

"How the hell is he naturally fighting alongside that monster like it's a co-op battle...?"

"Probably because both of them fight with such a crude, straightforward style, I imagine... Now then, shall we get started?"

The Rod of Actualization, The Desire. This rod—which forms a pair with the "Rod of Embodiment," whose name is currently unknown—possesses power of the exact same nature as its counterpart, granting an ability that is exactly what its name implies.

This was a set of words known only to Deep Slaughter and the Leader of the "Witchurch." A single sentence carved into the shrine where The Rod of Actualization, The Desire was enshrined, articulating the true essence of the Rod of Actualization more clearly than anything else possibly could.

~ There is no end to desire, and therefore, I shall nestle close to you. ~

"Well then, let's go all out this time... Let's take it up to Twenty Times, shall we!!"

While it was completely impossible for Tottori's eyes to comprehend exactly what kind of operations she was performing, Deep Slaughter swapped out several accessories and, with an expression of heartfelt joy, Loaded (Reloaded) a specific magic spell into the Rod of Actualization.

Simultaneously, the gemstone floating in the center of the Rod of Actualization's twisted, infinite loop began to shine brighter, and the monoliths orbiting it expanded their circumference, spinning at equal intervals.

"Fumu, fumu... Oh my, oh my? Could this perhaps be a case of truth unexpectedly emerging from a lie...?"

"No, wait! DeepThro-san, exactly how wide of an area are we talking───!?"

"Who knows? The spell I set originally covers a two-meter square, so multiplying it by twenty... this entire area is probably going to get blown away, you knooow?"

"Everyone evacuateeeeee!!!"

With shouts sounding almost as if they had been waiting for that exact command, the Forest-folks immediately began to flee.
Deep Slaughter's lips—curled into a smile that only deepened further, yet somehow looked as though she were offering a prayer—chanted the name of that magic.

"───Please, I want to see your true worth once again... 【Uranogaia Tectonics (Crustal Heaven Shift)】!!"

It actualizes the Desires (Multipliers) of its owner. And so, the effect, the range, the cost of the "Jount" (Draw-in Teleportation) spell Deep Slaughter had set... Every single element was multiplied by "Twenty Times," and in this very instant, that entirely new magic was presented to its caster.

It was exactly as though, in this very instant, she had performed Spell Creation.

"I knew it."

I always knew you were going to screw me over somewhere down the line. Yep.
Pencilgon is the type of evil who forces you to pull the trigger on an atrocity alongside her, but this one is the type of evil who shoots you in the back and passes it off as an accident.

The moment she told me she was going to wipe out both "Scar" and the Devouring Great Crimson Clad at the same time, the lingering suspicion of "Wait, doesn't that include me too?" was constantly tugging at the back of my mind. It looks like I hit the jackpot. What's the multiplier on that payout? Oh, wait, since literally nobody bet on "Deep Slaughter is telling the truth," the bet is void? Hahaha, fuck you.

But you know...

"This level of villainy is just completely off the charts!!"

It was as if the very foundation supporting the earth itself had completely and cleanly vanished without a single trace of warning. Into a massive "sinkhole" spanning tens of meters across, the monster carrying a red tornado on its back, the monster clad in erupting black smoke, and one harmless human began to plummet.
Even I, someone who can actually understand human language, completely failed to predict this sudden freefall. There was obviously no way the Devouring Great Crimson Clad or "Scar" could have predicted it either. Watching the two monsters thrashing and struggling wildly as they fell was somewhat comical and almost cute. But seriously, just die. Die and turn into EXP and items for me.

"Kuh... What do I do? Can I make it?"

I see. Acting like she was going to drop something from above only to pull the rug out from below is exactly the kind of move she'd pull. I'll definitely punch her later.
But there's one question here. Setting aside the exact method she used to pull this off... where exactly did the massive mass of earth and dirt she erased go?

It wasn't exactly a difficult question. I could tell just by looking.

"Y-You absolute goddamn pervert!!"

Directly above the spot where the ground had vanished. In other words, floating directly above me was an utterly non-standard mass of earth. No, that's not it. It was simply so massive that its descent only appeared to be happening in slow motion.

In short, that perverted one-woman theater troupe had played a game of Daruma Otoshi with the earth itself, and was planning to turn us into a sandwich using the slab of bedrock she had just pulled out. Alright, just so I can beat her half to death later, I am absolutely going to survive this!!

Okay, calm down. As long as I use my skills, avoiding death by falling isn't actually that difficult. Using Exceed Gravity and Space Charge near the wall of the sinkhole to stand completely perpendicular... Alright, time for a strategy meeting.

Plan A: Sprint up the wall with everything I have and escape the sandwich. This is the most viable option, but the falling debris is terrifying. Since the Levin Trigger: Hazard is an absolute requirement, taking even a single hit from the rubble means instant death.

Plan B: Inventoria Escape. Since it's completely unknown whether I'll spawn underground or above ground when returning from the storage space to the real world, this is far too dangerous.

Plan C: Dig my way underground to escape... Hmm, if I had a shovel instead of a pickaxe, there might have been a tiny chance. Rejected.

It looks like Plan A really is the only... Wait, the bedrock is already that close? Will I even make it in time!? The time limit is way shorter than I thought. Oh crap, I'm completely scre—

"Ooi."

Excuse me?

Author's Afterword

• The Rod of Actualization, The Desire
  The one that nestles close to endless desire. It "Multiplies" non-attack magic, excluding certain specific spells.
  Since the MP cost and the demerits are also multiplied, if one can manage the insanely difficult MP management and overcome the risk of unexpected self-destruction, it can trigger phenomena equivalent to natural disasters.

The scale simply changes; the content remains the same. Therefore, strictly speaking, it's slightly different from creating a new magic. Even if the firepower is absurd, a Frizz is still a Frizz.