Chapter 500: Even if Scattered like Dust

Author's Preface
500 chapters... 100 million PVs... made it into the double digits for cumulative rankings... I was thinking about cracking a joke, but all I could come up with was "Praise Wingman", so I'll just honestly express my gratitude...

Thanks to everyone, my humble work Shangri-La Frontier has made it this far. When I first started writing, I never imagined my work would get secondary creations, and because the author replies without any restraint, the comments section has gotten a bit crazy, but volunteers even made a ShanFro Wiki for me. It is the utmost honor.

Having written this much, I think we're finally at the halfway point... so I hope all of you readers will continue to observe with mildly warm gazes as the author keeps spitting out lore settings.

Please continue to support this humble work moving forward. And you who are reading this, praise Wingman.

Mozambique-kun is already beyond saving, so how about he becomes an apprentice to the Smart Pistol?

◇ 

"First strike! The one to get the first strike is No Face! A-Amazing...! Wait, huh?"

Despite the excitement of Eito and the comments section, when Eito turned his head, there were two people glaring at the screen with complicated expressions.

"...Would someone normally pop their Ult here? No, sure, that guy is a romanticist, but using an Ult this early in the game wouldn't pump up the tension that much... Does he have an aim? Sil...ver, what do you think?"

"A reason to prioritize eliminating Display... Meaning, it's because he hated the Hack-Rise (Forced Analysis)? But even assuming he wanted to avoid taking any further damage, going so far as to use an Ult? is what I think."

Apparently, the two pro-gamers... or rather, one pro-gamer and a mysterious masked lady, felt a sense of incongruity at the far too hasty conclusion to the fight.

"Ah, ah— sorry, I was a bit lost in thought... Right, simply put, the cost-effectiveness of what just happened is quite unbalanced."

"Meaning?"

"To be blunt, the moment Hannya-san chose a head-on clash, the matchup was about 8:2 in Dust's favor. Hannya-san wasn't chipping him from the front either, but slowly wearing him down using the 'Valkyrie's' aggro, and right from the start, the top Display was nothing but a throwaway piece."

"So... if he took his time, he would have won normally?"

"Right. Or rather, Dust has an EX move that consumes gauge to fully reload his ammo, so I feel like he should have used that instead... It didn't look like an accidental Ult misinput either."

On the screen, having successfully escaped from the "Valkyrie", Dust showcased a rather disjointed spectacle of knocking out every cop he encountered while occasionally saving citizens from the "Mechanitan".
However, just before the viewpoint switched over to Hannya, who had respawned as her second character, there was still no one who noticed that Dust had made a strange movement—one that didn't seem so rare at first glance, but was utterly bizarre if thought about calmly.

◆ 

I feel like a dog right now. Though I don't intend to bark at the water's surface and drop my bone, I at least want to be a smart dog that doesn't forget the bone exists in the first place.

"...It stinks."

A troublesome scent. Specifically, I can sense the presence of a bastard packed to the brim with bursting Galaxy Power in armor rampaging around. I mean, I can literally hear massive explosions.

"One, two, three... well, this is about right. I don't know whether the 'Valkyrie' dipping out was a blessing or a curse..."

The respawn point for players' second characters and onwards is set to the "farthest location from any remaining players". Normally, it's likely an anti-spawn-kill measure, but for this specific occasion, it's a seriously appreciated system.
For a player who just won a 1v1, this tiny bit of free time is a huge advantage. For a player like me who went crazy and popped an Ult in the early game, it's practically bonus time.

"Now I just need to gain some distance appropriately..."

Man, I'm so glad I met a kind old man on a motorcycle along the way. Since we can't leave the city anyway, I told him where the evacuation shelter was, and he gave me his bike! Let's go with that story. I gained some Evil bullets in the process, but I'm sure that's completely unrelated.

"An American bike, huh? Well, technically this is a Western game..."

Our time together was only tens of minutes, or at shortest a few minutes... but I've entrusted this body and this life to you, partner. Run through like the wind!!
Full throttle! Just you wait, Cursed Prison. I'll show you the true skills of the pro-gamer who was once called the closest to the real Cursed Prison!!

...

......

Partner, turn off the engine for a sec, alright? Even from this distance, I get the feeling I'm going to be spotted.

".........?"

I couldn't quite believe what I had seen a few seconds ago, and reflexively hid in the shadow of a building... but while tilting my head, I peeked out once more to look at it.

Gashakon, gashakon, gashakon, pshuuuh (The sound of Cursed Prison, whose lower half had turned into eight legs, striding down the main street).

Bzzzt, dodododododo... (The sound of a clearly electrified chainsaw on the right arm quietly starting up).

Jagin, jagin, gigigigigi... (The sound of a giant pair of scissors integrated into the left arm opening and closing in search of prey).

"...What is that?"

No, seriously, what is that? Cursed Prison? No way, no matter how you look at it, that's a boss character like Machine-Beast Organism Arachnea Deadly Arms or something. It doesn't even retain a human shape anymore...
I mean, sure, given the "Mechanitan's" nature, they're basically just expansion parts that sprouted legs and walked around as far as Cursed Prison is concerned... but even so, ehh...? Is there even a custom build overflowing with that much murderous intent? No, no no no, don't flinch, me. From the looks of it, those weapons are all close-range high-firepower types, so a hit-and-away strategy should work... Plus, Dust is a mid-range type. Weapons that can't hit their target are synonymous with dead weight!

"Let's go, partner... Let's fight fair and───"

Jagigigigigih!!! (The sound of the leg parts transforming and deploying eight gun muzzles).

"Oops (You gotta be kidding me)."

"Most welcomed (I'll welcome you grandly)."

Crap, those guns are the "Mechanitan's"───
The next moment, because I—the driver—jumped off, the motorcycle lost control, slid sideways, instantly turned into scrap, and exploded.

"Reloa— Uwoaaah!!"

And then, a barrage that punched right through the explosion's smokescreen struck my entire body. Crap, even if they're mob weapons, taking eight "Mechanitan" guns at once is bad for my HP... I need to run...!!

"Guh, ooooooooh!!?"

I'm gonna die, gonna die, gonna die! Ahh damn it, I dropped my gun! I'll die before I can pick it back up! I have to get out of the line of fire...!!

"Daaah!!"

I'm... alive! I'm not dead! But my health is under ten percent!!
Shit... Even if it's impossible to completely grasp the attack patterns of an exclusive form from a recently implemented piece of content, I was far too careless.

"The gun is..."

No good, standing in that line of fire again would be sheer suicide. To begin with, there's almost nothing left that Dust can do. Having defeated Display, it's safe to say he's fulfilled the vast majority of his role... but yeah, dragging this out to buy time feels pointless, and just throwing my hands up to surrender doesn't sit right with me either.

I dive inside a building through a shattered window, sprint through the interior, and exit out the opposite side. Good, I made it around to his back. The bullets are... crap, the Evil ones.
But I won't ask for too much anymore. Dust, heading out!!

".........!!"

"Tch! You cut through the building!!"

One shot, two shots... hit. I miss the third and fourth, and the fifth shot destroys a turret equipped on one of his eight legs. Just as I thought. Cursed Prison's versatility is an absolute menace, but the "outer shells" he absorbs are quite fragile. Even the Evil bullets can break them!

But,

"What's with that gross pivot turn!"

"Honestly, I'm kinda spooked myself."

Gasha-gasha-gasha! The eight legs squirm at high speed, reversing his body, and seven crosshairs roughly lock onto me. Tch, so this is it... But!

"Don't hoard your Elixirs! Use them propeeeeerly!!!"

Last shot!!!!
Right after I pull the trigger and the recoil presses against my wrist, bullets are slammed into my entire body.
Just before I'm blown away, I see the sixth bullet get guarded by his scissors... Wait, that's not a spider, it's a crab... Wait, the upper body and lower body can move independently... Wait, that really is a boss charac—

"Guhah!!"

And right there, Dust's health reached zero.

◆◆ 

"...Looks like Dust got taken out."

But I shall praise the courage it took to defeat Crap-TV and expose Cursed Prison's demonic modifications... Well, I mean, it's still me though.

Cracking my neck, I snap my wrists and lightly swing my wand.

"TQC, which draws from the three-thousand-year lineage of the Fairy Divine Fist... I'll carve its essence straight into your bone marrow. You better be prepared...?"

Let's Twinkie☆

Author's Afterword
Chapter 500 Commemorative Setting Dump Corner

• What exactly is a Unique Monster?
  Fundamentally, "Unique Monster" is strictly a game term; in the ShanFro world, they are referred to as the Seven Colossi.
  This is because a Unique Monster is defined by "the humanity of the ShanFro world" as a singular entity that does not bear offspring, yet is established as an absolute, solitary existence. However, they aren't necessarily purely one-of-a-kind, as seen with the self-replicating Goldunine or Vysache, the ancestor of the "Vorpal Bunnies."
  To define it accurately from a meta-perspective, a Unique Monster is "an entity with ties to the Divine Age that proves its existence through 'Power'." To explain it further: whether driven by pleasure, hatred, verification, or history... though their motives differ, they are entities that accept their own death while welcoming the challenge of the new humanity. That is what makes a Unique Monster.

Therefore, Isana, who does not accept her own cessation and grants "Wisdom"—albeit a bit violently—cannot be a Unique Monster.
But if Isana had accepted her own death and turned into a labyrinth seeking the challenge of humanity, she would likely have been bestowed the title of "Lunatic Devotion," embracing humanity with a fatal Love (Bug).
Also, Iristella, the defective product of Project Number One and an unwanted atavistic reversion, was guided by a rabbit and found hope in living through interacting with people. Thus, the title of "Decadence" vanished from her.

However, completely separate from that, the name Unique Monster holds a special meaning in the real world as well.
Against the three main servers "Ziz," "Leviathan," and "Behemoth"—which handle the Three Trunks and Seven Branches, World Generation, Control, Progression, and the saving of player data—there are seven sub-servers managing all Mob AI control and personality data control named "Vysache," "Lycaon," "Goldunine," "Ctarrnid," "Siegwurm," "Wethermon," and "Orchestra."
These were named by Tsukuyo in honor of the setting notes written by Tsukuri Kyojuro for "Shangri-La Frontier."

───The bedtime story told by an old man of the broken "Tsukuri Clan" to his worn-out favorite child. The story that brought color to the girl's world; that very story is the origin and foundation of this world.