[Sending love from a corner of the Ancient Battlefield.]
Chapter 486: Resound, Grateful Legacy — Will Tomorrow Clear Up, or Will I Clear My Frustration?
That's it.
Let's clear Leviathan.
After breaking into the upper tiers, losing eight matches in a row, and getting immediately beaten right back down into the middle tiers, those words suddenly floated into my head.
Sunraku: "I mean, seriously, spending three straight hours permanently queued for ranked... yeah. That was not good for my mental health."
God, I don't wanna look at that shitty TV screen again for a while!!
Sunraku: "Araba, we're getting the hell out of here today."
Araba: "W-what are you talking about the instant you wake up...?"
Sunraku: "Silence! I'm going back to a medieval world where televisions don't exist!!"
Araba: "You make even less sense than usual!"
You don't have to force yourself to understand.
Just act on instinct.
Sunraku: "Saina!"
Saina: "Awaiting instructions."
Sunraku: "Glad you're quick on the uptake. We're going to meet that thing!!"
Something had been bothering me for a while.
In an area this absurdly huge, isn't it strange that our only methods of transportation are walking and gravity-jumping?
I'd been looking around, figuring there had to be some kind of vehicle somewhere...
But there weren't any abandoned inside the maze, and there weren't any at the relay rest areas either. Ask Isana about it and all she'd do was give me that somehow irritating smile of hers...
But now I get it.
Sunraku: "This game really does love approaching everything through its worldbuilding..."
There are two types of enemies that appear in the First Shell Layer.
The New-Generation Golem, Technomagigelus, and an older-model Golem.
Two types...
Except no matter how far we walked, how much we fought, or how thoroughly we hunted everything down, the only thing that ever appeared was Technomagigelus.
At that point, even I was bound to realize something was off.
The important thing here is that SLF is the kind of game with a tendency to pursue its setting so obsessively that it'll sometimes put the fundamental premise of "players should be able to play comfortably" on the back burner.
This game is absurdly detailed about absolutely everything. Apparently even ordinary flowers have flavor text.
So if these so-called older-model Golems aren't appearing, maybe it's not simply because they're rare enemies...
Maybe we haven't fulfilled some condition.
Sunraku: "Looking back, finding the gravity-jump trick so early might've actually been a bad move."
Compared with walking, it lets you cover literally gigantic leaps in distance.
And because of that...
We'd left the "condition" far, far behind us without ever noticing it.
Sunraku: "Repair-Dispatch Golem 'Ants'... Its appearance condition is damage to the labyrinth......!!"
Saina: "Supplement: And within the First Shell Layer, it is also the only Golem possessing a means of traversing a wide area."
Something comes flying in from who knows where and lands in one corner of the maze that Saina and I have thoroughly wrecked.
It's a bizarrely shaped Golem that looks like someone fused a large motorcycle with an ant.
And because of the nature of that combination...
It has a "rider's seat."
The key to traversing this area.
Isana: "Excellent deduction! 'Ants' was originally a Golem designed for extravehicular activity in space, but its reliable design remained useful even after humanity settled on this planet. Its zero-gravity activity equipment was replaced with equipment for use within a gravity field, and it continues to serve as a repair unit to this day. However, it is currently operating unmanned... Even if you climb aboard, you won't be able to control it, you know?"
Sunraku: "Sorry, but this kind of puzzle is my specialty...!!"
After all, I've got knowledge and game logic from another world—another game—to draw on.
When a part is practically screaming, "THIS IS THE CONTROL UNIT!!" with all the subtlety of a brick to the face, figuring out what I'm supposed to do isn't exactly difficult.
Sunraku: "Think I can hit it from here..."
I raise the Aguacate.
Take aim...
And fire.
Araba: "Did that not miss?"
Saina: "Proposal: Destroy the relevant control unit with a close-range attack."
Sunraku: "........."
I pull a newly purchased sniper rifle from Inventoria.
"Puerro."
It's just barely small enough that I can still move while carrying it in both arms.
I bring the scope to my eye.
The instant I do, a "magnified image" is projected directly onto my retina, letting me aim far more precisely than I ever could with the naked eye...
Snipe.
BAGYAK!
Sunraku: "Easy."
...
What the hell are you looking at me like that for!?
Look! Two more consecutive hits!
Which means even counting that first miss, my accuracy is seventy-five percent...
That's an accuracy rate I can't trust worth a damn!
What garbage!!
W-well, okay?
I only wanted to test out the performance of the sniper rifle I'd bought?
You could say this was all part of the plan?
Though I've got this feeling that if I don't fight things head-on, my Vorpal Soul is gonna drop...
It takes a pretty obvious hit whenever I resort to cheap tactics.
Trap users everywhere must be weeping.
Sunraku: "The controls are... like a motorcycle? No, if it moves three-dimensionally, there should be controls for going up and down..."
Araba: "DWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH...!!?"
Ignoring the dumbass fish who had climbed onto "Ants" without permission, operated it without permission, and launched himself straight upward without permission, Saina and I spend about two minutes getting a rough handle on the controls.
Then, practicing safe driving, we pilot "Ants" toward Araba, who's currently enjoying a dangerous rodeo in the sky.
A dangerous rodeo on an ant.
Dammit!
Why the hell are you flooring the accelerator when I'm telling you to let go, you bastard!!
...
......
..........
Araba: "I see! This is quite enjoyable!"
Sunraku: "Y-you little...!"
Saina: "Recommendation: Administer one corrective strike."
Easy there, Saina.
Honestly, it actually is pretty fun, so I'm not exactly in a position to criticize him.
We'll hit him once after we're back on the ground.
That aside, controlling "Ants"—basically a three-dimensional motorcycle—is genuinely entertaining.
You don't just tilt the motorcycle-like handlebars left and right. Apparently, pushing and pulling them forward and backward makes you ascend and descend as well.
This ant is one hell of an overachiever, apparently determined to handle both rapid deployment and repairs at Mach speed.
And since it physically carries my consciousness up to higher places too, I almost want to take one home with me when we leave Leviathan...
Unfortunately, it's classified as an enemy.
No souvenirs for me.
Saina: "Warning: Significant depletion of remaining energy detected."
Sunraku: "Guess we can't ride this thing around forever. But this is more than enough... Araba! Saina! We're landing in the wall-side gravity field! Don't screw up and fall!!"
The First Shell Layer is on the reverse side of Leviathan.
To put it roughly, it's like taking an enormous box and covering its reverse surfaces completely in "ground."
So walking is one thing, but when you're flying, if you get caught by the gravity field of a "wall" or even the "ceiling" while moving away from the "bottom"...
...
Even so, the advantage of being able to remain in the "air" is far greater than crawling around on the ground.
Sunraku: "There it is... the boss area!!"
You really can't see the big picture until you take a step back.
Seriously, where the hell did they make us start from?
I couldn't see that thing at all from ground level...
Isana: "Before challenging the boss enemy designated as the First Shell Layer's overall trial target, how about stopping by the final rest area?"
Sunraku: "Sounds good. There's no save point, but we might as well stop there...!"
All right, let's desc—
Saina: "Emergency! Emergency!!"
Saina, you............
Isana: "Ah... and please be careful of sudden Gravity Rain..."
I mean, this one really isn't her fault.
While rescuing Saina after a Technomagigelus comes hurtling straight up from below, slams directly into Saina, and sends Saina crashing down...
Onward to the boss!