Chapter 521: An Orchestra For You, Part 3

Author's Preface
Shirafuji, you... didn't lock down the area...?

"Yesssssss!!"

Thank you, Pachi-emon! Don't ever show your face again, idiot!! If you're gonna call yourself "Wethermon", get a girlfriend first!
But I can't let my guard down. Orchestra reproduces the hardships in a heroic epic... meaning formidable foes. What will show up next...? I have so many ideas that it actually pisses me off. Seriously, why don't you become a crafter? Don't you want to plow fields and live a more peaceful gaming life?

"Not at all...!!"

I'm not as crazy as Survival or Yashirobird, but I'm still the type to actively pick fights with Disaster Beasts in Hazardous Farming. Deep down, I'm just wired for action games.
Now then, while I was catching my breath and recovering my HP, it seems Orchestra has entered the Second Movement.

『【The Tale Spun by Sunraku】 Second Movement... "The Night Sky, the Earth's Moon"』

The number of violins increased. What was that other flute called again... the one that goes pakkera pakkera... oh right, a clarinet.
The sound pressure of the expanded orchestra is increasing even further. As if responding to it, the entire theater begins to tremble... no, wait, the field is shaking completely independent of the sound!

"Whoa?!"

Zugooon! Something bursts out of the ground right in front of me. A new kind of ambush? Are they pretending to just play music but actually coming to kill me directly? But seeing what just sprouted from the ground, and what's still sprouting, clears up that suspicion.

"Earth's moon... and a Crystal Field... I see, so my next opponent is you!!"

In the blink of an eye, the theater is covered in crystal. A phantom appears. In an underground space (supposedly) devoid of a moon, the golden light of the moon shining on the earth threatens me with its massive body. Its chelicerae are specialized for hunting its own kind, and its tail has evolved to be more offensive... Meaning, that monster's name is the Golden Crystal Solitary Scorpion Goldie Scorpion!!

"........."

Uh, ah, yeah. Well, sure, if you consider the avatar "Sunraku" and his journey up to this point as a story, this is definitely an existence you can't leave out, but... y'know?

"I overhunted the crap out of them to make armor, so I'm actually pretty used to this..."

Story-wise, what needs to be reproduced is probably our first fight, but... anyway, I guess I'll fight while listening to the song and try to remember.

『───Night sky, moonlight in the sky, illuminates, accumulates, on the earth the scorpion of the moon』

If you create distance, the Goldie Scorpion fires venom from its tail like a laser, so the basic strategy favors in-fighting.
It's specialized entirely for offense, so it must be pretty confident in its claws and tail stinger. Almost all of its actions rely on them, which makes it easy to read.

I jump to dodge the claws that opened to snap my body in half, using them as a stepping stone to vault onto the scorpion's torso.
The stinger immediately thrusts down to skewer me, but a thrust is weak when struck from the side. I parry it, slam my blade into the tail as it extends off-target, and voluntarily jump off before it can buck me off, recovering my stamina.

"Normally it's just a continuous loop of this, but..."

Let's see, how did I fight it during our first encounter?

『───A blade to pierce the moon, yet grasped by a fist, luck, pierces the moon』

"Remembeeeer!!"

I remember now! You do too, right, Final Blade of Aspiration's End With the Hero Eska=Wallach?! If my memory serves me right, the Marsh Dagger I jammed into it back then was the one that was upgraded into Eska=Wallach.
Then let's reproduce the situation. As it spins around, its multiple legs generating rotational force to pack its tail with murderous intent far exceeding its simple mass, I twist my body and jump like a high-jumper. Using a crystal jutting out from the floor as a foothold, I land and instantly close the distance.

"Human-powered pile bunker...!"

The tip of Eska=Wallach pierces into the Golden Scorpion's eye bizarrely easily. Is it because it's a story reproduction that a "correct situation reproduction" goes through so smoothly? Whatever, there's only one thing left to do... Divine Arm of Hundred ExcellencesSamildánach, activate!

"Bunkeeeer!!"

My strike-enhanced fist violently smashes the pommel of Eska=Wallach, driving the pushed blade deeply into the Golden Scorpion.
Naturally, even if it's a reproduced enemy, having a sword jammed deep inside it makes it thrash around. Getting crushed as collateral damage would be a nightmare, so I quickly put some distance between us and wait for the next lyrics.

『───Awakening, surging waves, the brethren, swallow the enemy, thus, the moonlight, fades into the dawn.........』

"Eh? Hm? Uhhhh............ Ah, I remembered, but seriously?!"

Rumble rumble rumble... the ground starts to shake. That shaking reminds me of what happened to me once before. Right, back then, I'm pretty sure I......... Wait! Inventoria got nerfed, didn't it?!?!
The shaking gets worse and worse. The crystals standing tall like a bed of nails shatter explosively, and newly reproduced massive scorpions begin to appear. Three, five, ten of them... Uh oh, I'm gonna get buried at this rate, aren't I?

"D-Distance...!!"

What happens next is literally a massive tsunami of crystal, a killer mosh pit where scorpions more vicious than poorly-driven cars charge at you with total disregard for self-destruction. Back then I barely survived by escaping to Inventoria... but in this stage—not exactly cramped, but not spacious either—can I secure coordinates far enough from a monster to not get caught by Inventoria's restrictions?!

"Right!"

No good!

"Left!"

More just spawned!

"Front... is out of the question, back?!"

The wall! No, the audience seats... It's no use! There's a mysterious invisible barrier unique to boss fights! Dammit, what do I do?!

"UPPPPPPPP!!"

Critical SpeedBradyon is a no-go, I'll crash into the ceiling and die. What do I do? All my mobility skills are tied up with Bradyon, so going up on foot is impossible. In that case, I have no choice but to rely on magic power!!

"Sure glad I brought a Magic Scroll!"

I use the scroll for Instant TeleportApport, teleport to coordinates high up in the air, and pop Inventoria right there!!

"Guh... I feel like it's been ages since I used this..."

Probably because I almost exclusively use it for escaping, aside from talking to those fiends, my ingrained muscle memory subconsciously summons an MP recovery item into my hand. I use it while catching my breath, then return to real space.

"Alright, it's all coming back to me."

Well, it's not like I forgot the sight of that Goldie Scorpion showing up and repelling the Crystal Scorpions, but it feels like hazy "recollections" have shifted back into clear "memories." What comes next should be the climax. Come on, sing, Orchestra.

『───Light of dawn, fading moonlight, vanishing moonlight, yet shining moonlight bathed in the morning sun... When the third moon shines, the hero.........』

"'Severs the moon.'"

Vorpal Secret Art [Sever and Divide]. The glint of the blade that shone under the rising sun that day shines once again. I deliver a single strike, and with a returning slash, trace the exact same trajectory upward. The twin slashes strike down the golden ScorpionMoon just like that day... With this, the Second Movement is over, right?

"Now then, what's next?"

The reproduced Goldie Scorpion fades away. At the same time, the temporary crystal plain covering the floor also turns into particles and dissipates............ No, wait. The crystal is... turning red.........!!

"You've gotta be kidding me."

The crystals that should have shattered are melting into a sludge. Their transparent brilliance is corrupted by a sinister "red", spreading out thickly like blood... And, as if surfacing from water, it emerged from the widespread "red."

『【The Tale Spun by Sunraku】 Third Movement... "Red, So Red"』

The Devouring Great Crimson Clad.........!!!!

Author's Afterword
Actually, the "additional element to Orchestra" that Tsukuyo tinkered with hasn't appeared yet. In other words, this reproduction boss rush is Orchestra's original functionality.

Of course, prior to launch, it was going to be released with "stats exactly as they were at the time" due to Tsukuyo's intentions, but Ritsu worked hard to nerf it into "partial reproductions."