Chapter 816: December 17th: Blazing Beat Up Part 3
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The thing Eternal Zero threw — it was the "Temper Bomb," an item designed and named by Eternal Zero himself. He had named it with complete seriousness, and its performance was equally legitimate.
"Temper," by no means an abbreviation for natural perm, but the English translation for a tantrum, in other words, a type of... firecracker. It looked like a baseball-sized sphere. By gripping it while willing its activation and then throwing it, it would trigger a flurry of small-scale explosions the moment it hit, dealing damage to the opponent. A single explosion wasn't much, but the continuously occurring damage checks and the accumulated flinching would yield a result far more effective than just inflicting injury upon the enemy.
That said, Eternal Zero didn't actually think the Temper Bomb would deal any real damage to the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings, and he chose this item fully aware from the start that it probably wouldn't cause a flinch either. The reason being that Eternal Zero himself felt a sense of incongruity when he visually observed the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings......... and he had a certain hunch regarding the mysterious gloss enveloping it.
"Could that be........."
The Temper Bomb flew straight toward the scorching butterfly, drawing a slight arc through the torrential downpour. It hit the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings with a hard, knock sound.........
Pakikikikikikikikikiin!!
"Wha—"
<<Hah!?>>
<<No way!?>>
The shocked voices of the players surrounding the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings reached OiKatzo's ears over the intercom. Their astonishment was completely justified; the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings was an ultra, ultra, ultra-high-temperature Raid Monster, and they had come fully prepared to strike it down. Yet, the phenomenon that occurred right before their eyes was—
"The explosions......... froze!?"
Just like a bunch of grapes. The spherical shapes of the chain explosions, flames, and shockwaves were completely frozen solid, without a single bit leaking out.
"What the heck is that!?"
"Ehh, ah......... does anyone have a theory?"
The players, who had triumphantly surrounded what everyone assumed was the fire-attribute Smoldering Great Crimson Wings, couldn't hide their confusion at the ice-attribute phenomenon it had just caused. Amidst that, the one who voiced an answer in the form of a theory was...... a single player belonging to OiKatzo's party.
<<It's just a guess, is that okay?>>
"Hm? Ah— yeah, well......"
<<It's Exploding Green Peas.>>
The sound of multiple people sputtering could be heard over the intercom. But the person in question, seemingly tired of that reaction by now, simply stated her theory.
<<The logic behind the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings' abilities is energy production and manipulation, right? Well, if it can siphon the heat within a 2-centimeter radius of itself to the absolute limit......... wouldn't it end up looking something like that?>>
"True...... but if that's the case, wouldn't a much wider area freeze? The explosion froze, you know? What's frozen is probably the air? Or something like that."
<<What if anything that touches or steps into that hypothetical 2-centimeter radius becomes the target for freezing? The ice got chipped by that earlier explosion, and the blast radius entered the zone, so.........>>
<<Even if it's multi-hit damage, it's still ultimately a single attack. So it all got hit with the 'out' judgment at once, maybe?>>
As it turned out, that was the correct answer.
Second Form: Heat-Usurping Chrysalis Armor. It was a permanent heat-absorption state targeting the area up to 5 centimeters from its surface. Originally, it was a defensive form to prevent the energy constructing its body from escaping outward, but as a secondary effect, it indiscriminately and limitlessly robbed the temperature of any "thing with heat" that intruded into its range.
The reason it was clad in an armor of ice was because the massive volume of water from the heavy rain had frozen within its effective range. By its very nature, it is what ought properly to be called an invisible freezing spatial zone.
"If it's ice, we just have to smash it!!"
Watching a random PUG player bravely charge in, only to turn into an ice statue and shatter to pieces in a matter of seconds, OiKatzo wondered what to do............ and suddenly recalled words directed at him in the past.
───If you want to destroy something hard, the fastest way is to hit it with something of the same quality, right? If both are enemy factions, that's absolutely perfect. Let's live smart by playing the fisherman, Katzo-kun.
"I could have accepted that advice a lot more honestly if the person who crashed them together didn't say it to us, the ones who got crashed into!!?"
"Wha— what's wrong, Kei!?"
"We're going to destroy that armor of ice! But...... we're using Ice-attribute magic!!"
Finding a way out through the aching pain of past old wounds, OiKatzo's instructions were relayed to the party members over the intercom.
<<Not fire or something?>>
"If even explosions freeze, at worst, it might even freeze lightning strikes! If that's the case, we just have to smash it with solid objects where a drop in temperature isn't a problem!"
In truth, the only effective attacks against the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings in this form were strictly limited to "Magic" of specific attributes: Lightning attribute, Ice attribute, and Fire attribute only if it possessed a certain level of firepower or higher. Because it was a form specialized entirely in preventing its own energy loss, the resulting phenomenon was fixed to freezing.
It was information one couldn't possibly know unless they were on the developer's side, but it was not at all strange that deduction and trial runs ultimately formed the shortest path to the right answer. People call the success of an attempt that bypasses the trial-and-error phase "good luck."
"The ice broke!!"
"It's giving off an effect that looks obviously like it's leaking fuel!!"
"Whether you're a party member or a PUG, anyone who can use Ice-attribute magic, keep hurling chunks of ice at it!!"
"Alright, here we go! We're gonna strip off that clothing of ice!!"
With the heavens on their side, the pioneers fiercely challenged the Smoldering Great Crimson Wings.
But they must not forget.
"Vaooooooooooooooooooooooooooom......"
That the one who had the earth on their side was the enemy.
Author's Afterword
"If you want to destroy something hard, the fastest way is to hit it with something of the same quality, right? If both are enemy factions, that's absolutely perfect. Let's live smart by playing the fisherman, Katzo-kun."
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The line immediately after she slammed Sunraku (whom she had bribed during their ceasefire agreement) into OiKatzo, and right when both of them were exhausted, dropped a bomb on the two of them and blew them up while screaming, "Sooorrryyy! Miraculously, for some reason, I conveniently and suddenly got amnesia regarding our conversation from that specific period of tiiiiime!!"
On August 17th, Volume 5 of the manga adaptation of Shangri-La Frontier 〜Crappy Game Hunter Challenges God-Tier Game〜 will be released.
On another note, it seems the number of copies in circulation has surpassed one million, missus. One million copies means exactly one million. It's a million, not a minion. It's a word you only hear on quiz shows or when talking about Crossfire, Millionaire. Or maybe the Curry Bread of the Universe. [*1]
Leaving that aside, as decorated by the transcendent artistic prowess of Wethermon on the cover—who looks as if he perfectly expresses stagnation and conviction without needing a single word—we are at the climax of the Tombguard Arc. For the record, ShanFro is a sword and magic fantasy, really. It's just that the slightly prosperous mechanical civilization from before occasionally shows its face.
When it's evaluated this highly by the world at large, I naturally feel a bit hesitant to call my own writing "trash," but it is worth buying just for Fuji-sensei's artistic ability, perfectly turning the high-tension ramblings I wrote in the past into illustrations. By all means, please pick it up.
Translator's Notes
- [1] "Crossfire, Millionaire", "Curry Bread of the Universe": Both are cards in Duel Masters, Curry Bread of the Universe's effects has +1000000 in it.
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