Chapter 315: Cocky Hornet

Basically, areas in SLF are described with compound words. Some, like The Rampant Forest, use the characters directly; others, like Fellfate Caldera, have slightly altered characters. But for this area, "slightly altered" is almost too mild a phrase—more like "literally what it says."

Sunraku: "Flowing Cloud Region… clouds that flow and weave above—yeah, that's exactly what it is."

The Cloud Sea of the Flowing Cloud Region. Dense white clouds, reaching up to about my avatar's waist, blanket the entire land. The currents of air shape them into streams that look as if they're weaving yarn together, creating an illusion so strong you'd swear you're standing on top of the clouds everyone's dreamed of at least once. If this went on to the ends of the earth, it'd be an unquestionably spectacular view—but the rocks and trees poking out of the clouds here and there… well, that's its own kind of mystical, I guess.

Sunraku: "At least the ground's normal. Though falling over and getting blindsided scares the hell outta me…"

It's effectively like having the bottom half of my vision blocked off. If a monster shorter than this cloud sea snuck up and attacked, it'd be a colossal pain in the ass. More to the point, are Dominione Hornets really in a place like this? From what I've heard, they've got a pretty unique ecology—taming other monsters and whatnot—so do I need to watch out for non-hornet monsters too?

Sunraku: "Emul."

Emul: "Hai na! Mm mm mm… [Active Sonar]!"

The [Active Sonar] magic I once used via a Magic Scroll—now that Emul's learned it, I can use it as much as I want. With Emul, whose optional-part aptitude has only soared after large-scale enhancements, serving as my detector, I advance through the land of flowing clouds.

BZZT!

Sunraku: "Emul, any enemies around?"

Emul: "They're scared of Sunrako-san—every last one of 'em is running away, wa!"

Sunraku: "Well, at the appropriate level range, this is nothing but bullying anyway…"

Emul: "But, but, the Dominione Hornets will probably run away too, wa? What'll we do, wa?"

Sunraku: "I'll corner them in a situation where running won't help and wipe 'em out."

Emul: "D-Demon, wa! This person's a demon, wa!"

By now, the fact that all my gear except my waist belt had exploded off me isn't even a topic of conversation. The trash mobs—fish-like monsters that swim, or maybe fly, through the clouds—seem to be fleeing from me, so I advance with practically zero encounters, scanning the area for my target hornets.

Sunraku: "Hmm… the real problem is how my lower body gets all wet from these clouds."

Emul: "I'm not wet, so no problem for me, wa."

Sunraku: "………"

Kerplunk. I sink my whole body into the cloud sea and, staying hunched over, scuttle forward for about thirty meters. When I surface—lo and behold—a dripping-wet beauty, and instead of a drowned rat, a drowned rabbit.

Emul: "…………Well, I figured you'd do that, wa."

Sunraku: "Nothing warms the heart more than a bond deep enough for you to predict my actions."

As expected, the interior of the cloud sea is nearly impossible to see through. Better assume the visible range is under one meter. Hell, I can't even see my own outstretched fingertips. This is what they mean by "in a complete fog." …Well, with my navigator riding on my head, it's not really an issue.

Emul: "Sunrako-san, I'm sensing a bunch of buzzy-buzzy flying responses, wa!"

Sunraku: "Nice!"

My Lycagon’s Contusion's effective range is, according to several tests I've run, applied from roughly ten meters out. Since Active Sonar covers a thirty-meter radius, that's a solid twenty-meter advantage.

I sink myself fully into the clouds, poke just my head out, and squint. Sure enough, far off in the distance, I can spot black specks that stand out starkly against this pure white carpet. Their hovering is way too odd for birds. Safe to say I've hit the jackpot?

Sunraku: "Alright, Emul… you wait here for now."

Emul: "An ambush, wa?"

Sunraku: "Yeah, if I go all out, I figure I can make it in time. Emul, any obstacles between me and the response?"

Emul: "None, wa! It's straight and flat, wa!"

Sunraku: "Perfect. Then let's get to some hornet extermination…!"

I equip the Levin Trigger: Hazard, rap my chest to activate it, and with a crackle, I'm wreathed in black sparks as I submerge myself in the clouds… Go!

Sunraku: "—!"

You think a little visibility restriction is gonna stop me?! Some runners who take on full-dive RTA challenges can blaze from start to goal blindfolded—this much fog is no enemy of mine!

Under the Overflow state, my sense of distance shifts drastically. If I let my guard down, I'll move like I just slipped on a banana peel on flat ground, and with the excess motion plus the speed boost, I'll end up doing two and a half somersaults straight into death. But conversely, momentum lets me forcibly stabilize movements that would normally be unsustainable due to balance—same way a hunk of metal like an airplane flies through the sky on enormous thrust.

I lean forward to the absolute limit, practically one second from a faceplant, and shoot straight through the clouds. Then, at the spot I more or less guesstimate my target to be, I leap. And at the exact moment of the leap, I deactivate the Levin Trigger: Hazard! Under ten seconds, my HP won't drop. Doing it repeatedly is a pain because of the on/off animation, but for a one-shot, it's an effective tactic.

Sunraku: "Surprise attack, monster-panic style—eeyaah!"

I feel like a shark rocketing out of the water to drag a jock under the sea, except I'm not making any sloppy moves that'd get me a chainsaw to the face.

When you think "bee" in SLF, you think of the Empire Bee that provides materials for the Empire Bee Twinblade, but those were more honeybee-themed. The Dominione Hornets now within my attack range as I surface from the sea of clouds, however, are pitch-black and distinctly hornet-like—clearly the type whose method of species propagation revolves around raiding and predation. Well, since the specs are on a completely different level, I don't really feel that threatened by them.

Sunraku: "This is what they call an assassin kill from stealth!"

Duxram, Blade of Aspiration, draws an arc from directly below to directly above, slashing open the belly of a Dominione Hornet. The hit effect—already tripled by the already-active Unbroken Lightdance—devours the black hornet's entire HP pool.

Sunraku: "First one down!"

They might demand rare materials later, so I'm just gonna slaughter every single hornet here. I chuck Duxram—whose status in my mind is now firmly cemented as "tough enough to handle rough, sloppy treatment"—at another Dominione Hornet, then cut it down with the other Duxram, Blade of Aspiration as it staggers from the hit. The hornet explodes midair; I catch its materials and the embedded Duxram while moving to the next hornet. And then—I notice the Dominione Hornets' weird behavior.

Bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…!!!

Sunraku: "Look, you guys are 'hornets,' not 'bees'—never mind, that's not the point."

I have a certain amount of prior intel on this area, and even on these guys. That's exactly why I know they aren't just ordinary hornets. And I'm getting the uneasy feeling—just a hunch—that the fact they're not fleeing but trying to counterattack means something very specific.

For example. Say you pick a fight with someone stronger than you. Normally, if your own strength isn't enough, you'd run, right? But conversely, what kind of situation makes the weaker party not run? Simple: they've got "pawns" capable of putting up a fight…!

Sunraku: "So it's a whistle to call your servants, huh…!"

The ground shakes. Emul's voice calls out from behind me. Looks like something big just entered her detection range… I can tell, just from how blatantly that massive lump of cloud is bearing down on us…!

PAOOOOOOOOOON!!

Sunraku: "It's huge…!"

From the cloud mass—larger than a heavy vehicle, maybe even bigger than that—a gray trunk thrusts out, thrashing like a writhing serpent and scattering the clouds clinging to its body. So this is the Cloud Dive Elephant, the rare enemy of the Cloud Sea of the Flowing Cloud Region…! Wait, hold the hell on, you bastard! You're over level 100—why the hell are you playing pet to a bunch of Dominione Hornets?!

Dominione Hornet: "We've won, gahaha!"

(That said, even Dominione Hornets aren't capable of capturing and taming a fully grown Cloud Dive Elephant. This particular one was a calf that strayed from its parent and was painstakingly trained from childhood. The Hikaru Genji Plan…!)