Chapter 104: After the Fierce Battle, Despair
To jump straight to the conclusion: with its vision gone and unable to target me, the Golden Scorpion's threat level had all but vanished. Its wildly flailing attacks became nothing more than a fire on the far shore once I put some distance between us. All that was left was to poke and prod between its attacks, and eventually, the Golden Scorpion would go down.
Sunraku: "But... that's not how this should go, is it?"
I open and close my right hand, confirming the numbness has faded, then chug the HP recovery potion I'd bought as little more than a token gesture and ready Togetsu — Moonblades: Waxing & Waning. It's not that playing it safe is wrong—when you're farming high-risk loops, nothing matters more than stabilizing your odds with safe bets. And anyway, RNG can go die, but that's beside the point right now.
Sunraku: "Until the fusion... yeah, with two minutes left, I should make it."
Whatever the motivation, every player plays games to do things they can't do in reality. If that's the case, then when conquering a powerful first-time foe, what you should prioritize isn't a safe victory. It's a more dramatic process, an uncertain gamble... Ironically, the very RNG I loathe is, in the end, the most crucial element of any game. When it comes down to it, if you're not having fun, what are you even playing for? Alright then—let's make this fun.
I dash forward. The Golden Scorpion's attacks are now so chaotically wild I doubt even it can control them anymore. With so many parts lost, there are bound to be holes in its storm of blows. I close in from the side where the right blade-pincer—now gone—used to be. One thrust, three slashes. The instant the Golden Scorpion pinpoints my position via damage, I shift its hate behind me with Water Mirror Moon. The moment it spins around, I pull a haniwa—no, a Blasting Earth Idol—from my inventory and hurl it straight up. Whoa, that thing really does do some kind of wriggly dance.
Tiptoe count: three, two, one... now.
Slammed against the ground, the Blasting Earth Idol swells so violently that, for a split second, I could swear it reverted to a sphere. The next instant, an explosion—far more powerful than I'd imagined—erupts against the Golden Scorpion's rear as it turns. The blast sends crystal shards flying and rattles the field. And in the chaos of the tremor, I reposition.
Sunraku: "That thing's gotta be in your way by now. Let me just cut it clean off for you."
The tail—already half-severed by the Crystal Scorpions—now hangs by barely a strip of skin after the Blasting Earth Idol's explosion. I drive Waxing, wreathed in the Glowing Pierce effect, through it. Against an opponent that can't even decide where to direct its hate, landing every hit is hardly a challenge. Five spiral strikes shave away what remains, and the Golden Scorpion's tail finally tears free from its body entirely. Togetsu — Moonblades: Waxing & Waning shouldn't have had the destruction attribute applied... maybe I'd fulfilled some condition?
Sunraku: "Whatever. It's curtains, Golden Scorpion!"
By now, the Golden Scorpion's only means of attack are its charge and its left blade-pincer. Even so, its fighting spirit remains undimmed. To deliver the finishing blow—a parting gift—I perform the paired-blade fusion for what must be the umpteenth time.
Sunraku: "You were a foe worthy of Wethermon."
At the very least, the Golden Scorpion—matching Wethermon, who imposed systemic disadvantages, through sheer base specs alone—was unquestionably a mighty enemy. No matter the time, no matter the game, there's no moment more joyful—and more lonely—than the instant you defeat a boss and it all "ends."
I activate the skill Crescent Vorpal. A single slash, carving from upper right to lower left, slams into the Golden Scorpion's maw. But it doesn't go down. Even after taking that fatal blow, it raises its left blade-pincer. In response, I reverse Dual Crescent Moon's edge...
Sunraku: "It's already morning. Sink along with the moon!"
A straight-sword skill: Fatal Blade Art: Half-Moon Cleave. A rising slash from lower left to upper right—the skill I bought in Rabituza draws a half-moon through the dawn light. The Golden Scorpion convulses violently as the gash carved by the Crescent Vorpal is traced and torn open anew by Half-Moon Cleave. The raised blade-pincer halts its motion. Yet it does not fall, drained of strength. Even with its senses scrambled by explosions, even with its sight destroyed—that upraised blow had, without question, been aimed precisely at me.
But all things meet their end.
As if its strings had been cut, the Golden Scorpion collapses, left blade-pincer still raised, scattering polygons in a grand display alongside a whirlwind of crystal shards.
Sunraku: "Nnnnnnnggggh... ALLLLLLLRIIIIIIIIGHT!!"
Battered by the rain of shattered polygons and glittering crystal fragments, I roar with joy. Crystal Scorpions activating? I couldn't care less. The elation of this single moment is irreplaceable. Some window or other pops up, but I'm so overjoyed I brush it aside without even reading its contents.
But this was a battle of endurance in a different sense from the Wethermon fight. That one demanded constant, nerve-wracking peak performance for thirty straight minutes. This one was high-difficulty in the sense of maintaining a minimum baseline over an even longer period.
Sunraku: "Haah... exhausted! That was fun! I'm sleepy!"
With a radiant smile undimmed even by the morning sun, I flop onto my back right there. If a Crystal Scorpion suddenly appeared this instant and crushed me into respawn, I'm confident I'd still be smiling. That said, there's still work to do. With the Golden Scorpion gone, the two Marsh Daggers that had been lodged in it have fallen to the ground. I pick up the cracked blades and gaze at them with quiet sentiment. Come to think of it, alongside Togetsu — Moonblades: Waxing & Waning—and its predecessor, the Vorpal Chopper—these daggers have been with me since the earliest days of my playtime. Maybe I should upgrade them a bit more. I stow the daggers—having fulfilled their role admirably—into Inventoria. And now, the main event.
Sunraku: "Nnnngh... this is a sight worth screenshotting and setting as wallpaper..."
Perhaps because it's a rare enemy—and thus encounters are scarce—the drop rate and quantity are generous. Scattered before my eyes are what must be over a dozen of the Golden Scorpion's drop items. I pick them up one by one, careful not to overlook a single one. And finally, I stow the golden crystal—roughly the size of a basketball—into Inventoria. Only now do I truly feel that the battle, which lasted the entire night, has ended.
Sunraku: "Haaah... Seriously... what a god-tier game..."
How should I put it... this is a genuinely healthy sense of accomplishment. Compared to the triumph of crushing some unreasonable obstacle in a trash game and lording over it, this feeling washing through my body is far cleaner and more refreshing. Though, that said, there's also something irreplaceable about the sensation of all your rage during a trash game being converted into pure energy. Generate stress, destroy stress... were trash games creation myths all along?
Sunraku: "Now then... what to do?"
Honestly, getting back to Eighthold from here would be difficult... no, let me correct that: it'd be a pain in the ass. The easiest thing would be to just take a rope-free bungee jump off the cliff and respawn. But after a fight with a Golden Scorpion that clung to life that desperately, dying that way just feels wrong.
Sunraku: "Even in a game, some things move your heart... Alright, let's claw my way back alive for once!"
The Crystal Nest Cliff trembles with an earth-shaking rumble. In the distance, swaying unsteadily, I see it: a scorpion's tail. Compared to the Golden Scorpion's, it looks nearly ten times larger, and it's drawing closer. If that's the size of the tail... just how enormous is the mountain that now has its sights set on me?
Sunraku: "The big boss itself is sortieing, huh... Fine by me. I'll escape even if it kills me."
I declare this to the Elder Crystal Scorpion, which has brought a horde of Crystal Scorpions with it. With Overheat's effect expired, I whip my unbearably heavy body into motion and break into a sprint...!
The back alleys of Eighthold. Early morning—the time when the late-night crowd has mostly logged out and the early-morning crowd is just starting to trickle in—means fewer players around. Without any trouble after my escape from trouble, I arrive at the promised spot. Honestly, the fact that I'm still in one piece is a miracle. That giant bastard scorpion was carrying Crystal Scorpions on its back and deploying them—what is it, an aircraft carrier or something?
Sunraku: "Emul! You here?"
Emul: "Hai na! Right here... wa!"
A wooden crate—carelessly discarded in the alleyway—rattles, and Emul bursts out of it. She looks up at me with a smile, then her eyes widen in surprise.
Emul: "S-Somehow, Sunraku-san, something incredible has happened to you... wa! I can feel your Vorpal Soul blazing... wa!!"
Sunraku: "Hahaha. Told you, didn't I? I was off doing something very Vorpal. Here, a souvenir."
Emul: "It's so sparkly and pretty... wa... What is it... wa?"
Sunraku: "Crystal Scorpion excrement."
Emul: "Fubyaaaah—!?"
Hey, that's actually a pretty rare item, so don't go throwing it away. After teasing Emul a bit, I return to Rabituza and head straight for Bilac's workshop.
Bilac: "What is it, bird-person? Good timin'. The stuff ya handed me—repairs are all done..."
Clunk. I place the Golden Scorpion's... Gleaming Crystal Stinger on the anvil. Bilac, who must have been repairing the reactor all night and day just like I'd been fighting, stares at it with dark-circled eyes wide as saucers.
Sunraku: "It's not just the Gleaming Crystal Stinger. Reaping Crystal Claw, Darkening Crystal Shell, Whipping Crystal Tail... and the crown jewel—this: the Golden Scorpion's Crystal Lifecore...!"
The rough, unadorned anvil is bathed in gold. Did my three-digit Luck stat pull a divine RNG roll? Or was this the lavish reward for a solo takedown? In any case, far too many materials for a single monster are arrayed before us, each gleaming with a splendor unmatched by ordinary crystal. The beauty of the Crystal Lifecore alone—a basketball-sized crystal with a galaxy-like spiral swirling within it—is such that just displaying it seems like it would enrich your entire life.
Sunraku: "Sorry to change plans on you, but I'd like to add these materials to the Bilac-made Legacy Weapon using Crystal Scorpion parts... Bilac?"
Eyes wide as saucers, mouth hanging open, Bilac remains frozen. Suspicious, I wave a hand in front of her face, check her pulse...
Sunraku: "Sh-She's dead...!"
Emul: "She's alive... wa!?"
Apparently, she fainted from sheer shock while still wearing that stunned expression. After spending some time with Emul reviving Bilac, and then smugly explaining the situation to the now-panicking and flustered Bilac, I accept the reactor with a heart brimming with satisfaction and head to my assigned room. Normally, Emul would be plastered to my head, but Bilac had gone haywire after being blasted by the gorgeous aura radiating from the ultra-rare materials, so Emul is busy tending to her. Thus, arriving alone in my room, I fight off the total loss of tension that threatens to send my consciousness spiraling and, in order to do the one last thing I want before logging out, I move to the storage space.
Sunraku: "Hehehehe... The first to claim a powered suit is yours truly."
I make my way through the storage space and arrive before a powered suit—Non-Standard Specialized Armor—floating in midair as if supported by an armor stand. Honestly, I can't be bothered with all the details, so I just pick one at random and examine it. I quickly ascertain that to activate the powered suit, I need to set a reactor into its corresponding Tactical Machine Beast.
Sunraku: "Fuhahahaha... Now, awaken! Seiryu...!!"