Chapter 570: The Correct Answer Is "Impact Confirmed, Prep the Next Shot!!"

Author's Preface

It has finally arrived... the uncharted territory... the demon that absolutely demolished the American meta...!!

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【Wolfgang】

Sunraku: I triggered Goldunine's unique scenario, so I'm not salty at all.

Pencil Knight King: Your frustration is sizzling and oozing right out of you〜!!

Akitsu Akane: Did something happen?

Rust: The Unique Monster "Orchestra of the Reverberating Nether" has been cleared.

Pencil Knight King: And here we have Sunraku-kun, who triggered it first but got overtaken while slacking off in the real world!!

Pencil Knight King: But seriously, is there a reason you got overtaken like that?

Pencil Knight King: Mirei is that Library member who has a loose mouth but is actually super smart, right?

Sunraku: Well, I don't know about her IQ, but her tone is definitely loose.

Pencil Knight King: From what I've heard, it's a boss rush, right? I can't imagine a Library player winning against an opponent that you lost to.

Mold: Talk about a sudden shift in tone...

Sunraku: There must've been some kind of mechanic.

Sunraku: At least, I have no idea how you're supposed to beat a boss head-on when it summons an avatar that's a strictly superior clone of your stats, and then pulls out a rigged guard the second it gets in trouble.

Pencil Knight King: Oof, sounds like a total trash boss...

Pencil Knight King: So, there's a gimmick? Hmm, I don't buy it.

Rust: What exactly don't you buy?

Pencil Knight King: I mean, I always had the impression that Unique Monsters were the type of bosses where you'd still die even if you knew the clear method.

Pencil Knight King: Well, the fact remains that they beat it, so there might be some massive nerf mechanic for Orchestra that Sunraku-kun just overlooked.

Psyger-0: U-Um, actually, right now... on the stage...

Rust: Shh.

Akitsu Akane: ?

Pencil Knight King: For an elite like me, multitasking is a walk in the park.

Sunraku: Double the efficiency for evil deeds!!

Pencil Knight King: Double the efficiency for making fun of you!!

Sunraku: The nerve of this one.

Pencil Knight King: What I'm curious about is whether Orchestra is a one-time fight like Wethermon, or a replayable type like Ctarrnid.

Pencil Knight King: Anyway, Sunraku-kun, why don't you go check it out?

Sunraku: Uh, no way.

Sunraku: Actually, I'm thinking of not logging into ShanFro for a while.

Psyger-0: Eh?

Pencil Knight King: Huh?

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"U-Um, so, er... are you... r-retiring...?"

"Huh? No, no, no. I'm just thinking of clearing my head with some other games."

I haven't even unsealed Just-Ver yet, and there are a few other games I'm curious about... The trick to playing one game for a long time is to cheat on it once in a while. Honestly, getting hit by Orchestra's rigged guard temporarily dragged my motivation for ShanFro below absolute zero. It's not even a matter of wanting to play something else; I don't even want to see the title screen, but the fact that I'm still gathering info on it anyway makes me realize just how much real estate this game has taken up in my brain.

"It's just a breather, a little break. I'll probably come back eventually, but right now... that's where I'm at."

It's not like I'm salty about a Unique being cleared before me or anything—no, if anything, I'm salty because "the monster I was struggling with got beaten by someone else first." For real though, that rigged guard was the ultimate buzzkill... I wonder if there actually was some kind of mechanic I missed.

One possibility is that bringing Saina into the theater blatantly changed "my" movements... Hmmm, I'm holding onto this way more than I thought. I definitely need to make a clean break and refresh my mind.

"I-Is that so... Um, how long exactly...?"

"Hmm? I haven't decided on a specific timeframe, but... maybe a week?"

"A-A whole week...!!?"

As expected of a hardcore no-lifer. She must be utterly shocked by the sheer stupidity of me taking a break from ShanFro for a whole week, seven days, one hundred and sixty-eight hours. Sure, it might look that way from a hardcore player's perspective, but I'm still a self-proclaimed casual player at heart; I just get the itch to do RTA-style runs or get my collector's spirit fired up once in a while, but at the core, I truly believe I'm just here to have fun.

When I type the same thing in the chat, the real-world Amane Towa—while putting on a radiant smile for the crowd—glances in my direction for a split second with a dead-eyed glare.

"(◔ิω◔ิ)"

『Pfft』

『Pfft?』

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Pencil Knight King: Ugh, you are so incredibly annoying!!!

Sunraku: The real downside to this is that I can't even tell what kind of face I'm making.

Pencil Knight King: (◔ิω◔ิ)

Sunraku: What's with the sudden dumb face, did your brain short-circuit? Wait, is this just your normal state? Go get yourself inspected.

Pencil Knight King: So freaking annoying!!!

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Your smile is looking a little stiff there, MC-san.

Of course, even though I'd made a clean break (or so I claimed), I wasn't entirely calm; but despite the surprise announcement of the Unique Scenario EX clear, Pencilgon and her co-hosts had successfully steered their derailed presentation back on track, and they were now showing off a graph of the "highest level currently reached in ShanFro" (three of them were Wolfgang members, though their names weren't shown) and explaining the "records of monsters defeated by players" (golly, scorpions, centipedes, and spiders popped up—I wonder who could have possibly slain those?), displaying all this player progress in holograms while keeping up their banter, but despite trying to listen, it all went in one ear and out the other.

"（、ン）"

"You made... such a flat face...!!"

"Wait, was I really making that kind of face?"

"Ah, n-no, it's just... that's the emoticon that was displayed..."

Seriously, what kind of face was I... Ah, before I knew it, the stage event was wrapping up. Watching the trio on stage wind down their talk, my mind wandered to what game I should play for my upcoming vacation. Hazardous Farming, maybe? I heard a rumor through the grapevine that they recently added a super-massive Calamity Beast—isn't that lightning-strike hell absolutely insane? It's like they stripped the rain from that crappy Kirin and fully specced it into raw destructive power... Wait, was it a bull?

No, no, spending a rowdy vacation in Bakumatsu might not be a bad idea either. I've heard all about the Raid Boss-san's "Gratitude Thousand-Man Slash" incident. Kyogoku mentioned that a massive wave of items has flooded the pawnshops because of that, and it looks like a large-scale riot festival is about to kick off. I'm a bit curious about what Mr. Dullahan is up to right now... but then again, that guy probably tried to challenge the SYO-GUN and ended up getting decapitated.

No, wait, wait, I should stay the course and play Just-Ver after all. Just-Ver is famous for having incredibly atrocious, wooden voice-acting for everyone from the protagonist to the hidden characters, mostly because its original Japanese publisher, Hobbit Works, was a tiny, low-budget company. Eventually, after it became a massive hit in America, Gigant Spike Games bought out the rights to Just-Ver and gave it a proper dub—such is the game's history.

As a result, the legendary first-edition of *Justice Versus*—which was only on shelves for a measly month—now trades at an absolute premium. Thanks to a combination of terrible line delivery and god-awful pronunciation, the meaning of its most infamous, incomprehensible line, "Chaka-don Hyakunin Jidai Ho-i!!" is still a mystery to this day, and I absolutely must hear it from the actual physical copy instead of just watching a video.

"U-Um..."

"Huh?"

"Well... the event is over now... Where... where should we go next?"

Wait, seriously? I completely lost track of time. No wonder the chat log was scrolling by at warp speed—I basically left her on "read" while standing right in front of her. Hahaha, that's hilarious.

"Let's see... were there any other booths I wanted to check out... Oh,"

"?"

Come to think of it, I'd planned on going there.