Chapter 771: December 14th: Disaster Journey to the West
Author's Preface
Happy New Year.
Seeing a work I personally respect doing a massive barrage of updates at the end of the year made me want to at least try to match it... so I did my best, but 2020 refused to let go of me, so it ended up becoming the New Year.
Please continue to support me this year.
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If talking isn't moving things forward, then there's only one solution left. Meaning, it's fine to chat idly, just move your bodies while you do it.
With that in mind, we slipped through the strangely quiet Sea of Trees remarkably smoothly and set foot into the desert...... It was 2:00 AM, though some places still looked like broad daylight.
"Hmm...... Ah, right. I want to take a little detour."
"Did you already forget what the hell you said yourself?"
Because I'm a man unbound by the past.
"You totally said 'no detours' before we left, didn't you......"
"Just need to restock materials for this, this, and this."
"Sunraku-san...... How many days of grinding are we doing? I can go for two all-nighters."
Even though myself, Deep Slaughter, and Survival, who didn't know much about his personality, were starting to realize that this person named PT Overwerke was "dangerous," none of us had the courage to point that out to the guy who was acting the liveliest among us...... Not even Deep Slaughter.
For this guy...... being a corporate slave was probably some kind of control limiter. One of those extremely rare "types who will chip away at their real life as much as possible just for a game"...... Oddly enough, exactly like that guy on the α Server.
While steeling myself not to be swallowed by PT Overwerke's bizarre aura as he answered without hesitation after seeing the spider, centipede, and scorpion gear I showed him, I continued the conversation.
"Well, I mean, it's right on the route to Catzeria anyway...... And besides,"
"And besides?"
"Survival, I'm pretty sure you'll like it there, you know?"
The poison concentration and the blast winds are a bit too intense...... but the wind there is slightly similar to the solitary island.
......
............
..................
Desert zones are simply vast above all else. Or rather, the same goes for the Sea of Trees, but if you just keep running aimlessly without a map, your sense of direction seriously bugs out.
To think that we, living in modern society, would actually end up estimating directions by looking at the stars and the moon...... But according to PT Overwerke, anyone who plays ShanFro to a certain extent considers this a required skill.
So, since I had gathered a lineup willing to sacrifice two or three days of their lives to ShanFro anyway, I figured a little "supply restocking" would be fine and immediately decided on a detour, which meant we had to cross the desert for that purpose, but......
"No, just look at this, Sunraku...... Do you get this, this self-transformation mechanism? I shaved down its ground operation specs, but this sharp-angled, streamlined customization can practically be called a fighter jet......"
"Looking at how it transforms, won't the main body be flying while prostrating (Dogeza)?"
"It was either that or the backstroke."
Saying that this place with few obstacles was different from the Sea of Trees, Yashirobird pulled out a tactical mech from his Inventoria...... or rather, its budget version, Chestoria. It was a Triangle Body type. I didn't think he'd be interested in robots despite his interest in guns since he wasn't Rust, but...... seeing this, I guess he had a normal level of interest after all.
The appearance of the already uniquely-shaped Pyramid-Men being customized even further was...... how to put it, a cluttered mess resembling a snow-protecting straw cape.
Generally, Type-Men behave like power suits when combined with a human, so they don't transform, but they can do something similar. For example, folding their limbs to assume a form specialized for flight capabilities.
"Obviously I can't fly endlessly, but I can cover quite a distance. And above all, I can still mount guns in this form. It's a long-distance transport robot utilizing the advice as a reference, you see."
Next was PT Overwerke.
Making a dangerous revving noise...... he was revving a motorcycle engine. And it wasn't some heroic-looking bike either; it was the type with a ridiculously bulky backrest. Something that felt like it had been forcefully cyberpunked, probably manufactured in the Leviathan nine times out of ten...... Depending on whether you have a "License" or not, the range of what you can do with Bahamut content changes by leaps and bounds.
Conversely, that means if you acquire every single license, almost anything becomes possible.
"I made this by leveling up my Vehicle License. It's not suited for the Sea of Trees, but having it is definitely worth it for wide-open fields like this."
"Vehicle License."
"Well, it's basically like a driver's license. Pulling one all-nighter is more than enough."
"Aren't you misunderstanding 'all-nighter' for some kind of currency?"
And next. Deep Slaughter.
Her Rod of Actualization, The Desire, could exponentially expand the output of non-attack magic. In other words, if she left the task of purely levitating to the small wand held by the third arm growing from her back, and entrusted the aerial propulsion to the Rod of Actualization held in both hands.
"Sunraku-kuuuun......"
"What is it."
"Well...... Thinking about the possibility that I might just receive the Maximum Speed title makes me feel kind of bad for you, y'knoooow...... Right?"
Hoo?
"Nice one, Deep Slaughter. If the goal was to provoke me, you get a perfect 100 points."
"What's my reward if I win?"
"That just lost you 100 points, it's a failing grade."
"Yes! Remedial classes with just the two of us! There's no way nothing will happen!!"
"Cigarette burn."
"Delinquent-you is wonderful too!!"
That joke felt a little too timely right now and it annoyed me, so I'll make sure to burn her extra hard.
Now then......... Everyone has made their preparations to cross the desert. "Hey." With this lineup, crossing the desert will be easy. Our destination is Catzeria, the Kingdom of Cats! "Hey, wait." We'll shatter every unseen and visible flag along the way, and at the end of it all, I...... no, we will absolutely crush that "No, I mean" shitty snake! Wimp is doing her best too, after all...... I need to work a little harder myself!!
"Hey! What the hell am I supposed to do here!!"
""""............""""
In the race between the tortoise and the hare, the reason the hare lost was purely due to arrogance. We, the people of the nightless sky, are hares that never sleep, and unfortunately, we haven't introduced any Zeno's paradox-style unreasonable turn-based footrace rules, so it's impossible for the tortoise to beat the hare...... Meaning.
"Well, don't worry, I've got that all figured out."
"Yeah, let's hear it."
"First, we tie this rope to Yashirobird."
"Please enjoy a comfortable flight, right?"
"Yeah."
"And then we tie the other rope to PT Overwerke."
"Please enjoy a wonderful land journey, would that be right?"
"......Yeah?"
"And then, we tie these two ropes to Survival's wrists and ankles, respectively."
To explain it diagrammatically...... it's kind of like this.
"Hey...... Why are you tying two ropes?"
"Because putting the burden entirely on one side increases the chances of an accident. And above all......"
"This robot,"
"This bike,"
""Is a single-seater.""
"Damn iiiiit!!"
Author's Afterword
Do you know what a button spinner toy (Bun-bun Goma) is? The thing where you put a string through a cardboard disk, hold the string with both hands, and spin it.
Yes, it's that. Do your best, Survival!
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