Chapter 204: Together Under Heaven — Part Ten
[I think this will be the last update of the year. I hope you’ll stick with me next year as well.]
Sunraku: "One, two, three... Yeah, I've pretty much got the timing down."
There's no delay mix-up in particular, and as a gimmick-focused boss, it doesn't pose the same direct threat level as a certain instant-kill samurai Wethermon or an invisible wolf Lycagon... at least for now.
Sunraku: "The moment the twelfth one hits, it retracts upward five seconds later. So if I dodge at the very last moment, I can attack freely for five whole seconds without needing to close the distance...!!"
As I backstep in small increments, the jet-black tentacle grazes past the tip of my nose ten times. Huh. It doesn't smell fishy.
Sunraku: "No, this is..."
Analysis can wait. First, move your body. By my count, the twelve tentacles are lined up in a row along my evasion trajectory. Thanks to keeping my dodges minimal, the gaps between the clustered tentacles are narrow. There's no need to hold back on weapons anymore. Togetsu — Moonblades: Waxing & Waning—tear through the sea breeze and slash the tentacles apart. The twelve tentacles, carved with wounds by the twin blades, retreat as if fleeing back into the octagram overhead. Looking around, five of the eight points have already had their tentacles beaten back, and the remaining three are just a matter of time. It almost feels too easy, but with this kind of strategy, if you don't notice it, you'll be stuck in a quagmire forever. In the sense that the fight becomes simple once you figure it out, this difficulty might be appropriate... But well, I'm sure there's a second form.
Rust: "...This is the last one."
A bolt of magic, loosed like an arrow, pierces the final tentacle that had been falling toward the fleeing Mold. With that last jet-black tentacle retreating into the octagram, we've beaten back the main attack of the first form—twelve times eight... ninety-six thin tentacles. So, how will you respond, Ctarnidd?
Ctarnidd: "There is no height beyond reach. Yet once reached... where does one go from there?"
Boss-character poetry. If I break it down, it's like asking, "What do you do after you reach the goal?" Well, if it's about gaming, the answer's obvious—you clear all the completionist content. Once that's done, boss speedruns. And if I'm really feeling it, real-time attack.
Ctarnidd: "Find the self you believe in. Even should the world change utterly, the core shall not waver."
With those words, the octagram begins to move. Geometric patterns writhe, and what was a flat figure swells... as if unfolding origami, the eight-pointed star transforms into a three-dimensional form. The characters that make up the magic circle crawl through the empty air, and Ctarnidd—eyes and tentacles protruding from the flat surface—changes shape. The flat becomes solid, the solid takes a distinct form, and the angular shape refines into a smooth silhouette. Ah. I knew it. Seeing that sight, the identity of the oddness I felt when I cut Ctarnidd's tentacles finally clicked. Ever since I grasped Ctarnidd's ability, I'd been thinking: how the hell are you supposed to beat something that can forcibly flip logic on the level of a kindergartner's sophistry?
No, seriously, this is impossible. What are you supposed to do against an enemy that has nothing inside?
Sunraku: "So that magic circle wasn't being remote-controlled by Ctarnidd from somewhere else... It was Ctarnidd's main body itself..."
Mold: "Is that... the final form...?"
Rust: "...Probably... one more stage, at least."
Psyger-0: "They're coming. I'll go ahead...!"
The three-dimensional "Magic Circle Ctarnidd"—in the shape of a giant octopus—descends to the ground. A magic circle shouldn't have any weight to it. Despite being a massive creature you have to look up at, Ctarnidd's landing causes absolutely no phenomena that would suggest weight. Rei-shi readies her sledgehammer and steps forward in response. She must also think there's more to come—the fact that she hasn't brought out that black-and-white armor means she's saving it for the final form. Even though I can mostly predict it, since it's a first-time monster, we still need to confirm its attack patterns.
Akitsu Akane: "What should I do?!"
Sunraku: "For now, we'll try to draw out its patterns to some extent. Once we can handle them, join the attack. Akitsu Akane, conserve your tool count as much as possible—there might be more to come."
Akitsu Akane: "Yes!"
Rust: "...Understood."
Mold: "Rust, I'll put some buffs on you first. The others too..."
Sunraku: "Ah, I'll just bounce all of those..."
One combo!
Akitsu Akane: "Me too!"
Two combo!
Psyger-0: "Um, I appreciate it, but... I think my own buffs will suffice, or rather, they don't stack, so it would be... meaningless..."
Three combo!
Mold: "Ah, yes..."
In the end, as Mold—resigned to only enchanting Rust—watches, Rei-shi and I ready our weapons and step forward.
Sunraku: "Rei-shi, there's almost certainly going to be tentacle attacks. Are you sure you can take them?"
Psyger-0: "Yes. I have a tank-type skill called 'Collision Counter'... I think I'll take some damage... but I can... endure it."
Based on the name, it's the type of counter where you hit the opponent's attack with your own. Nice. That kind of thing is my specialty, so I'm getting a little interested in tank jobs. Still, from what I've looked into in this game, resetting stats seems like a massive pain, so the admiration will stay just that—admiration.
Sunraku: "Now then, Ctarnidd. How will you move?"
Whatever comes, we'll handle it with the specs of us level 99 Extends... Hmm, hmm. Raising its eight tentacles upward? The tips of each tentacle glow in eight different colors? The light takes the shape of a crushed wine glass, and the tentacles grasp them? Huh, four of them shattered on their own without anything happening... Uwoah, bright—!
My vision is dyed entirely blue. The blue flash—so intense it even paints over the blue of Ruluiath itself, colored as it was by some dangerous monster—was emitted from the blue grail held by Ctarnidd; the visual information I'd registered just before the flash supplements this fact. For now, it doesn't seem to be something that comes with damage. If so, what will happen? This is a Unique Monster, just like Lycagon. I can't definitively say Lycagon’s Contusion will take effect. It seems to be a gimmick, and I wouldn't be surprised if some horrible debuff was applied.
???: "Sunraku-san, are you alright?!"
Who was that? It's a female voice, but not Rust's or Akitsu Akane's. None of the NPCs with the gender: female call me with "-san"... Could it be an auditory hallucination effect? The fact that I can imagine Ctarnidd pulling that off pisses me off, since it means I'm dancing exactly in the designer's palm.
Alright, let's first check if everyone's status is okay.
Sunraku: "Everyone, check if there are any abnormalities in your status!! ...Wait, huh?"
...Who was that just now? A female voice, but it's not someone else's. That line just now was definitely something my brain thought up and my throat vocalized... No, wait. Hold on a second. Ctarnidd's ability is "Reversal." Reversal means flipping A to make B. No, in this case, maybe it's not A and B but X and Y that have been swapped—could it be?
Sunraku: "Whoa, huge."
Roughly the size of a handball. This is bad. It's not like I have zero experience using female characters, but... E? No, wait, F? Having to lug around two of these center-of-gravity-nightmare things while fighting Ctarnidd—even I'd have to be caref—no, no, calm thinking is important, but here I should probably just be genuinely shocked.
Sunraku: "Gender reversal...?!"
On a completely irrelevant note, even though I've been gender-flipped while half-naked, I'm not stark naked—I'm wearing underwear like a tank top cropped off below the navel. Part of me is disappointed, part of me is relieved since it's my own body... Well, whatever. For now, let's just punch it.
Sunraku: "You useless, hollow, papier-mâché octopus wannabe!!"
Psyger-0: "Eh, wha—hyaah..."
Judging by the height of my perspective, I'm about 150 cm tall. Weight... yeah, heavier just because of the chest. Stats themselves haven't changed. Weapons with stat requirements, like Togetsu, are still usable. Actually, my voice has subtly changed to a higher, more feminine pitch. Seriously? This even has a voice-change effect that would make all net-okama players weep with envy? Ctarnidd, you're a god to the net-okama players... While running, I gauge my approximate stride length, leaping power, and the like. In place of Rei-shi, whose mentality has been thoroughly scrambled and is now slumped on the ground behind me, I—Sunraku, now technically "Watashi Sunraku"—drive Togetsu's critical hit into Ctarnidd. As expected, direct attacks don't seem to count as effective hits against Ctarnidd. It feels like slashing at a lump of fat. The blade, which pierces through Ctarnidd's surface and bites inward, is stopped by a slimy, clinging, indescribable resistance. At the very least, I can't imagine this is actually dealing damage.
Sunraku: "Rei-shi! Your armor clearly doesn't fit, but can you move?!"
Psyger-0: "Eh, hya, um, uh... Ah, wait! I'm fine, my judgment is intact...!"
She was clearly in a state of panic, so I'd been readying the hilt of Togetsu as a makeshift hammer to perform a Psycho Analysis, but it seems Rei-shi sensed the atmosphere. She waves her hands frantically, appealing her own sanity. The voice she's putting on is somehow reverting to her original voice, but... well, fine. What's extremely troublesome is that, judging by Rei-shi's appearance, the body type upon gender reversal is probably random, and the armor she had equipped at the time conforms to her "original" body type. That means the current Rei-shi—who has shrunk from a giant to about the height of an average high school girl—is now wearing equipment that is comically oversized.
Sunraku: "As expected, it does use ordinary physical attacks...! Excuse me!!"
Psyger-0: "Hyaaaaaaaah!?"
Alright! Since it includes equipment, I wasn't confident, but my trained STR didn't betray me. I scoop up Rei-shi—clad in armor that looks about to fall off at any moment—and make an emergency retreat from the attack range of the tentacle, which is slamming down with a thunderous roar despite its seemingly massless body structure.
Sunraku: "The boss itself barely moves from its spot, so if you put some distance, there are plenty of safe zones. Is that the designer's mercy...?"
Psyger-0: "Prin... princess... carry..."
Anyway, let's regroup with the others...
Akitsu Akane: "Are you okay?!"
Psyger-0: "Hyoeh—"
An obstacle suddenly appears in front of me and vocalizes. As I look at Rei-shi, who's panicking even more than she was right after the gender reversal at this unexpected development, I lift my gaze. Filling my vision is a figure of bulging, rippling muscles—or rather, the kind of "beefy" muscles that seem more on the well-marbled side—stretching tight against the clothes. And as I direct my vision further upward, there's an old-man face with a Kaiser mustache, a fox mask perched jauntily on his forehead.
Sunraku: "No, wait. You're Akitsu Akane."
Akitsu Akane: "Yes! I'm Akitsu Akane!"
Yep, that's Akitsu Akane.
Just as I'm about to ask why, of all things, it had to be an old man again, the next instant—a green flash paints over everything.
And then the world... flipped upside down.
Ctarnidd (summary): "Even if you change genders, you’re still you!" [Later worshipped as the god of net-okama: Ctarnidd, summer of 20XX...]
- Red Grail: Close-range nullification
- Orange Grail: Long-range nullification
- Yellow Grail: Physical attack nullification
- Yellow-Green Grail: Magic attack nullification
- Green Grail: ?? Reversal
- Blue Grail: Gender reversal
- Indigo Grail: ????? Reversal
- Purple Grail: ???? Reversal
[If you haven’t defeated the Blockers, it turns into a hellscape where the boss uses magic nullification and physical nullification at Unique Monster specs.]