Chapter 188: A Day of Connecting, Being Connected, and Connections
[Author’s Opening Note: I’ve been saying it every single day for ten thousand years—I absolutely love heavily armored inhuman things that look like crustaceans and beetles fused together for combat specialization (Dikarao is my fav).
But my absolute favorite is Shiki.]
The ochazuke alone wasn't enough, so I decided to whip up something simple. Oil in the frying pan, dump in rice and consommé. Throw in whatever's in the fridge, and in the end, just tidy it all up with salt and pepper. Done.
Rakuro: "I'll call it... what, Random Fried Rice?"
Or maybe Half-Assed Chicken Rice Without the Ketchup... Alright, from this day forward, you shall be known as Chick-Rice. Because I was out of eggs, you see.
Rakuro: "So, I took down one of the Blockers..."
I quickly finish my meal while posting a report on social media about defeating the Clione. The Clione was a fairly tough opponent, but it really should've done something about that fatal weakness of not being all that strong against physical attacks. Also, the durability on those buccal cones is way too low. What is this, agar jelly?
Still, performance aside, there were plenty of things that nagged at me on a setting level—like, for instance, the Clione's freshness. Basically, every fishman you encounter in this area is rotten. Or else, like the mermaids, they feel unnaturally, deeply human in a creepy way. But I didn't really get that same sense of wrongness from the Clione. It's hard to put that wrongness into words... How do I say it... hmm, like a labeling error on the outer shell? Like how something looks like a knife and even shows up as a knife in your item list, but when you actually use it, it sprays shotgun blasts for some reason. The display says knife, but the internal flag is registered as shotgun. That kind of wrongness. The fishmen and mermaids have that mismatched, patchwork feel—as if something else is being forced to behave like a merman, or... hmm.
Sunraku: "A pot with no bottom that still doesn't let water spill out, a closed gate you can walk right through, an NPC who canonically becomes your ally but whose flag is bugged and still reads as enemy, spoiling the betrayal..."
Araba: "What on earth are you talking about?"
Sunraku: "I'm putting into words the fundamental concept rooted deep in Ruluiath. Giving it shape as language stimulates the brain cells."
Araba: "O-oh...?"
Emul: "It's a chronic condition of Sunraku-san's, wa. Worrying about it will only tire you out, wa."
Nereis: "A sickness?"
How rude. It's brain exercise. That said, my build can't take down a Blocker that's completely immune to physical attacks. That'll have to be left to the magic users like Mold or Akitsu Akane... The problem is the remaining two Blockers.
Sunraku: "Magic hits, and physical attacks get through—but sometimes both magic and physical attacks get nullified..."
But the hints are plentiful. The key to solving this puzzle is the Clione. The Clione repels all magic. In contrast, among the remaining Blockers, there's a boss that nullifies physical skills. Those two, who exist as a pair—described as "the lively fishman duo"—impose restrictions on players extremely similar to the Clione. But their properties are the polar opposite. Oil and water. North and South poles. Yes—they're a matched set.
Inversion is only possible where there's a front and a back. Flip a perfectly featureless sphere, and its properties don't change. Which means our entire understanding was wrong from the start. It's not one Unique Monster and four Blockers.
Sunraku: "It's two pairs... of two-in-one."
You really went and baked in a disgustingly nasty gimmick, didn't you, Ctarnidd? Without a magic user, you're screwed. Without the opposite, you're screwed too. What do the remaining two—no, the remaining one pair—have in common? Sometimes they take hits, sometimes they don't. What's the condition? Critical hits or not? A damage limit?
Sunraku: "No, according to Rust, both Rust’s Strong Bow and magic bow attacks were nullified at times, but they also landed. According to Mold, when the player side was at a disadvantage, attacks started connecting—and vice versa. According to Akitsu Akane, her kunai attacks sometimes hit and sometimes missed..."
I kick upward with a high kick, snapping back the jaw of a mermaid who approached with a smiling face and a song. Catching Emul—who tumbled headfirst after taking a direct hit from the song—I feel my thoughts accelerating even further.
Among all the testimonies, the one to weigh most heavily is Mold's. While the other testimonies speak in terms of whether nullification occurred or not, his alone is framed with a different pair of antonyms.
Sunraku: "Attacks only hit when you're at an advantage, only hit when you're at a disadvantage..."
Surely the nullification condition can't be something that absurd. There must be some condition where, as a result, attacks land only when you're at an advantage—and the reverse situation, too. I dodge a mermaid charging at me with a furious expression, arms spread for a hug—a genuinely laughable attack—and slam the Decapitation Sword into the nape of her neck. I think I heard a rather... distinctive death cry, something like "Pigyu!?", but my brain cells are already at top speed. Such trivialities have been left far behind in my thoughts.
Sunraku: "Akitsu Akane's kunai produced the same result against both Blockers. Rust's arrows landed when he had the advantage and missed when he was at a disadvantage... What's the commonality with kunai, and the difference with bows?"
What's the advantage of a bow? Being able to land attacks from long range. Then what's the disadvantage of a bow? When that advantageous distance is closed. What's the characteristic of Akitsu Akane's kunai? They're disposable items with lower durability than a standard combat knife, but they can be used as throwing weapons.
Sunraku: "...It's distance."
My thoughts break through the tunnel, illuminated by a light—an answer that, though unverified, I'm practically certain of. The reason the bow-user's attacks started landing the moment he was at a disadvantage was because the enemy closed to point-blank range. The reason the kunai produced halfway results was because they were employed as throwing weapons.
Sunraku: "I've reached the answer...!"
Emul: "What I want you to reach isn't the answer—it's a safe zone, wa—!!"
Sunraku: "Hm?"
Ah, right. This is basically a Musou game, and I got so absorbed in thinking I forgot... but we are absolutely, positively still in the middle of combat.
Sunraku: "Araba! Above you, above!"
Araba: "Ngh... You ask the impossible...!"
Sunraku: "Or would you rather your precious Great Strait became the Great Thigh Clamp again?!"
Araba: "Nguooooooooooh! A climb of this meager degreeeeee!!"
A simple, easy-to-read thought routine is convenient to work with, but watching it is a little worrying. I mean, some good-for-nothing pencil who can only draw obscenities is definitely gonna exploit that someday...
[Group social-media chat] Sunraku [post]: [Important] Regarding Blocker Strategy
Sunraku [post]: Right, as I pasted in that long block of text earlier, it's highly likely that the remaining two Blockers—excluding the physical-nullification one—have the restrictions of "Long-Range Nullification" and "Close-Range Nullification."
Sunraku [post]: Therefore, I'd like to propose that close-combat fighters beat down the Conch, and ranged fighters blast the Barnacle to bits. However, I have another matter to discuss today.
Mold [post]: Rust is a bit out of sorts right now, so I'll be responding in his place.
Sunraku [post]: What happened?
Mold [post]: Did you know they announced a numbered sequel to Nephilim Hollow at GGC?
Sunraku [post]: Seriously? I'm amazed they greenlit a sequel to a dead game.
Akitsu Akane [post]: I'm on break right now!
Sunraku [post]: Well, whatever. What I'm proposing is the timing for taking down the Blockers.
Sunraku [post]: We've been hunting the Blockers on the assumption that they'll produce some kind of special effect in the Ctarnidd fight, but...
Sunraku [post]: Ah, good work out there.
Sunraku [post]: There's a chance that the moment we take them all down, we'll transition directly into the Ctarnidd fight. And there's also a possibility that on the seventh day, the battle will automatically trigger.
Akitsu Akane [post]: Got it! I'll do my best again in a bit!!
Mold [post]: So, in other words, we want to finish off the Blockers by the sixth day?
Sunraku [post]: That's the idea. I've finished my errands, so I can stay logged in until the seventh day. So, in short: recruiting members.
Mold [post]: I'll somehow get Rust back to his senses by tomorrow and participate.
Akitsu Akane [post]: If it's the sixth day, I can make it!
Akitsu Akane [post]: I'm being called, so excuse me!
Rust [post]: The world is truly excellent. I can't die until next year.
Mold [post]: This is what Rust has been like...
Sunraku [post]: I don't not understand the feeling.
Sunraku [post]: If possible, I'd like to meet up with Rei-shi by the seventh day too.
Mold [post]: I haven't run into her at all. Is she not logged in?
Sunraku [post]: Maybe she's busy in real life. I hope she logs in on the final day, at least.
Sunraku [post]: Fortunately, we've got Ctarnidd itself as a huge landmark, so...
Sunraku [post]: Alright, so the plan is...
Alright, then.
Sunraku: "Okay, time to farm."
The boss fights are group activities. So I'll use this now-free fourth day to enjoy this place—not a Unique Scenario, not a Unique Monster, but the inverted city of Ruluiath itself—from corner to corner. Hey, there's plenty of space in Inventoria. Infinite room, in fact.