Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 1 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue 

Gardranda’s body got split in half and fell to the ground with a loud thud before getting reduced to shining particles and vanishing like any other monster. 
With the demon’s disappearance, the lingering miasma began to fade, as well. 
The dense fog vanished into the sunlight as if it was only natural. 
[UBM, “Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda,” was defeated] 
[Selecting MVP] 
[Ray Starling was selected as MVP] 
[Ray Starling is presented with an MVP special reward — “Miasmaflame Bracers, Gardranda”] 
The disappearance of the miasma and the system message made it clear that the battle was over. 
I read the message while lying on the ground. 
“It appears that... we’ve won,” said Nemesis. 
“Not yet!” I rejected that notion. Rook was still up high, fighting the Crimson Roc Bird. 
I had to go help him... 
“But Master! You still have the debuffs...” 
I looked at my status summary and, sure enough, the three status effects were there. Poison was draining my health, while my MP and SP were at a perfect 0. However, the battle wasn’t over yet. 
I didn’t mean just the Roc Bird, either. There was also the attack that had hit Gardranda before I’d destroyed it. 
That was obviously the... 
“Ray! Are you okay?!” 
I turned to the source of the voice and saw Marie — who I hadn’t seen since she gave me the Elixir — running up to me. 
She was probably approaching me because the miasma was no longer there. 
“Your status screen looks horrible,” she said. “Give me a second.” 
Saying that, Marie reached for her inventory and took out a few medicine bottles. Unlike my inventory — which was bag-shaped — or Cheshire’s — which was pocket-shaped — her inventory had the appearance of a wristband. 
Some of the bottles she took out were HP potions, just like the ones I’d used. There were also some that had the labels “MP” and “SP.” 
“Here’s some first aid for you,” said Marie. “It would be great if I could also remove your debuffs, but I don’t have anything that could treat Intoxication or Weakness... And I’ve already used up all the Antidotes I had...” 
With those words, Marie looked at the people at the carriages, who had also been affected by the miasma. 
Everyone — including the escorts — was down on the ground due to Intoxication and Weakness, but none of them had died of Poison. 
From her words, it was safe to assume that Marie was the one who’d helped them. 
“I had quite a lot of Antidotes, too,” she said. “But there’s a total of twelve people there, and treating them all required all I could give. Walking around and making people drink medicine made me feel like I’d switched my job to Pharmacist,” she laughed. 
Apparently, Marie had been doing her best to protect the people — the tians at the carriages — from dying. 
“Heh...” I smirked a little bit. 
“What? Why the smile?” she asked. 
Whoa, did I really make it that apparent? I thought. 
“Well, it’s just that... you’re pretty kind, aren’t you?” I asked. 
“I don’t think that kindness has anything to do with that,” Marie responded. “I just... wouldn’t like it.” 
“Wouldn’t like what?” I asked. 
“When killed, we players only get the death penalty, so that’s all okay, but tians don’t come back to life, right?” she explained. “I simply don’t like the idea of them being lost forever.” 
“...I know what you mean,” I said. It was probably akin to the bad taste in my mouth I’d feel whenever tian deaths were involved. 
Though she basically just said that player killing is okay, and as someone who was killed recently, I... wait... 
“Marie, it just came back to me,” I spoke up. “When looking around this place... did you happen to see the Superior Killer?” 
“Oh! Yes yes! I almost forgot!” Realizing something, Marie put her hands together. “I saw him! The same man I saw in Noz Forest — the Superior Killer — fired at Gardranda’s left shoulder! ...He left right after that, though.” 
So that thing was actually the Superior Killer’s Embryo... 
But why had he only shot the left shoulder? If his goal had been to kill Gardranda — a UBM — he’d surely have fired the same way he did when he killed me. With the way he’d gone about it, I could even assume that he’d helped me. 
“One more thing about him...” Marie continued. “From the direction he disappeared into, I think it’s fair to say that he’s heading to Gideon.” 
“I see...” I said. If that was the case, I could expect to meet him again. 
“Oh, are you healed?” asked Marie. 
“Yeah,” I replied. My stats had replenished while we were talking. Though my HP was still going down due to the Poison, my MP and SP were at max. 
Nemesis changed into The Flag Halberd. However, unlike before, the skill Like a Flag Flying the Reversal didn’t activate. It was probably because I’d defeated Gardranda — the source of the debuffs. 
“Well, whatever,” I said. “I can do just fine without the Reversal.” 
“Indeed,” Nemesis agreed. “...By the way, Master.” 
“What?” I raised an eyebrow. 
Nemesis raised the halberd’s spearhead upwards... 
“How, exactly, are you planning on joining an aerial battle?” 
...and asked something that I’d completely failed to consider. 
“...” 
“...” 
“...” 
We all turned silent as I realized that there was nothing I could do. 
Clearly, I didn’t think this through, I thought. There was literally no way for me to assist them. 
“Umm... how about hurling some rocks?” asked Marie. 
“There’s no way I can throw that high...” I said. 
They were so high up that even the Roc Bird — with all its great wingspan — looked like a small point in the sky. 
And Rook and Babi aren’t visible at all... Oh! I thought and noticed something. 
“They’re coming down,” said Marie. 
The Roc Bird began to look bigger as it began losing altitude. However, something seemed wrong. 
Instead of diving down at high speed — as it had when it’d attacked me — it was descending in a strangely gentle manner. 
When the Roc Bird in my sight was large enough for me to make out its details, I finally realized what was up. 
Rook — who was supposed to be fighting it — was riding it, instead. 
The Roc Bird gently landed on the ground and let Rook dismount. 
“Ray! Marie! Are you all right?!” he ran up to us. 
“Yeah, we’re fine, but... how about you? And where’s Babi?” I asked. 
“The battle exhausted her, so I had her return to me,” Rook answered while showing the crest on his left hand. 
“I see.” I nodded and shifted my gaze to the bird. “And this is...?” 
“Audrey!” he replied with enthusiasm. 
“CAAAW!” 
Audrey? I thought. Oh, I think I know what that refers to. 
“So, does the fact that you’ve given it a name mean that...” 
“Yes!” Rook said before I could finish the question. “I Charmed and successfully tamed her!” 
Well, it was true that Rook’s Male Temptation skill had a low chance of taming female monsters. 
...So this thing’s a girl, too, huh? I thought. 
“Hey, wait...” I said. “I’m quite sure this bird is Gardranda’s mount.” 
“The Charm skill didn’t have an effect on her at first, but it suddenly started to work when the miasma cleared,” he explained. 
That was basically the moment when I’d defeated Gardranda. 
So, with the demon’s death, Audrey had no longer been a mount, making the difficulty in Charming and taming her drop significantly. 
I looked and saw Audrey rubbing her wings on Rook’s back... 
Is that some sort of courtship behavior? I thought. Whatever the case, she seemed to be quite attached to him. 
I also felt that the name “Audrey” fit her far better than “Marilyn” fit the Trihorn. Though, for all I know, Audrey Hepburn might also be turning in her grave right now. 
“The miasma was too thick for me to see what was going on, so I was pretty worried about you guys,” said Rook. 
“Well, as you can see, we won,” I stated. “It’s all thanks to you guys.” 
“And me, of course!” Nemesis interjected. 
“I know that much,” I said. “Thank you, Nemesis.” 
“...Y-You’re welcome,” she muttered. “I-It’s fine as long as you’re aware.” 
Hm? I thought. What a strange response. 
“So everything’s taken care of now,” said Marie. 
“Seems like it,” I agreed. 
I still had the Superior Killer on my mind, but if he wasn’t here anymore, worrying about him was meaningless. Thus, I left that matter for later. 
Using my healing magic and Marie’s potions to restore my HP, we waited for the debuffs to go away. Because the cause of them — the miasma — was gone, the debuffs on me and the carriage people disappeared within ten minutes. 

Their leader — a merchant named Alejandro — was beside himself with gratitude. When the people got teary-eyed and thanked us with words like “Without you, my whole family would’ve died,” “You’re lifesavers,” or “We can’t thank you enough,” Rook and I both became a bit bashful. 
They, too, were heading towards Gideon, so we offered join them. Personally, since they’d lost a number of escorts in the previous battle and the ones that had survived were not in the best of shape, I was kinda worried about them. 
Alejandro instantly — and with great joy — agreed to have us tag along. 
After we’d raised up the overturned carriages, I saw the survivors take something out of the pockets of the deceased. Upon further inspection, I realized that they were box-shaped inventories. 
A moment later, the survivors stored the remains of the deceased into those boxes. Each and every dead person got stored into their own inventory. 
I asked Marie about it, and she said that it was how traveling tians treated their dead — by putting them into those “coffins.” 
With monsters terrorizing the roads, tians took the danger of death as a given. If some lost their lives while others survived, the dead would be put into those “coffins” so that they could be sent to their homes and families without decaying. That was why they all carried inventories where they could store themselves. 
It made me more aware of how tians — who were always in danger of dying — perceived life and death. 
“...Coffins, huh,” I whispered. I’d never cared much for any NPCs who’d died in other games, but it was different here. 
It gave me a lump in my throat. 
Even if I knew this was a game, I didn’t think I could ever get used to seeing people die here. That might’ve been because Infinite Dendrogram was simply far too realistic. 
Or perhaps... 
“I... I’ll just leave this for later.” I stopped that train of thought and returned to helping prepare the carriages. 
 
Half a day had passed since we’d gotten back on the road again. Marilyn’s dragon carriage was gently shaking me when I suddenly began to feel extremely sleepy. It was probably caused by me pushing my limits during the battle against Gardranda. 
“Why not take a nap? I’ll wake you up if something happens,” offered Marie, and I gladly accepted. Logging out would’ve resulted in me being left behind, so I took a nap while logged in, just like I did at the inn. 
Sitting down, I placed my back against the carriage’s cargo and closed my eyes. 
Not even five minutes had passed before I felt someone sit next to and lie against me. 
Wondering who it was, I opened my eyes and saw Nemesis sleeping with her head placed against my upper arm. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was tired enough for a nap. 
“Man, you sure are quick to fall asleep... Nemesis,” I said. Then I tried to follow her example and closed my eyes again. 
However, probably due to having opened my eyes once, I couldn’t fall asleep, and instead began to think about things. Specifically, I remembered the many and various things that had happened since I’d started Infinite Dendrogram. 
Despite the fact that only three days had passed in real time, they’d felt extremely dense. 
The most vivid memory I’d had so far was the battle against Gardranda. In terms of danger, it might’ve even surpassed my encounter with the Superior Killer. 
Not only that, but — probably because Nemesis and I had told each other how we felt about it — the regret I had been haunted with after getting PK’d had faded, and it wasn’t nearly as strong as before. 
At the current moment, the dominant feeling in me was the vague pain I felt after seeing the bodies of the tians killed by Gardranda and the goblins. 
They were nothing but characters inside Infinite Dendrogram — a game. And yet, my heart was grieving for them as it would grieve for those who’d died in reality. 
A part of me felt that such sentiments were wrong. I didn’t know what to say to that idea. Before I realized it, I’d opened my eyes and looked at Nemesis. 
She was my Embryo, my partner... and an existence that was limited to the game known as Infinite Dendrogram. However, the longer I looked at her sleeping face, the more I felt like I was looking at a living, breathing girl. 
She’s alive, I thought to myself. I just can’t think otherwise. 
“‘AI with intelligence equal to that of a person,’ huh?” I murmured. My brother had said that tians — the inhabitants of this world — were recognized as such. “But...” The drowsiness that I’d thought was gone came over me again and slowly overwhelmed my brain. 
As my consciousness became more and more vague, I once again began to run my mind through the things I’d thought at the party on my first day. 
Liliana and Milianne — tians. 
Demi-Dragon Worms and Gardranda — monsters. 
And... 
“Nemesis...” 
...Embryos like her. 
They all felt... so alive to me. 
“Is this really...” 
...just a game? 
Before I could voice those words, my consciousness was finally lost to the realm of slumber. 
 
Undisclosed Location 
[“Polaris Bear, Polar Star” was defeated] 
[Final level: 83] 
[MVP: “God Hunter” Carl Lourlou, level 263 (total level: 763)] 
[Embryo: “Indestructible and Everlasting, Nemean Lion” 
[MVP special reward: Ancient Legendary item, “Ultimate Suit Series, Polar Star”] 
[“Ore Dragon King, Dragnium” was defeated] 
[Final level: 64] 
[MVP: “Giga Professor” Mr. Franklin, level 198 (total level: 698)] 
[Embryo: “Magic Beast Factory, Pandemonium”] 
[MVP special reward: Ancient Legendary item, “Ore Dragon King’s Complete Remains, Dragnium”] 
[“Navalport Strikefish, Portorpedo” was defeated] 
[Final level: 42] 
[MVP: “Great Admiral” Koukin Shoyu, level 229 (total level: 729)] 
[Embryo: “Great Flame Brewer, Abura-sumashi”] 
[MVP special reward: Epic item, “Come-and-Go Torpedo, Portorpedo”] 
[“Fox-eyed Charcoal, Enryou” was defeated] 
[Final level: 56] 
[MVP: “The Glaive” Aono Hokugenin, level 335 (total level: 835)] 
[Embryo: N/A] 
[MVP special reward: Legendary item, “Incinerating Fox-eye, Enryou”] 
[“Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda” was defeated] 
[Final level: 24] 
[MVP: “Paladin” Ray Starling, level 20 (total level: 20)] 
[Embryo: “Maiden of Vengeance, Nemesis”] 
[MVP special reward: Legendary item, “Miasmaflame Bracers, Gardranda”] 
“Hm?” Surrounded by darkness, still recording and doing its preset activities, it suddenly tilted its head. 
Considering that it always did nothing but work without as much as saying a single word, that was a rare occurrence. 
“How curious,” it said. “To defeat an UBM that’s above you in level... that is quite rare.” 
Its confusion was only natural. UBMs were exceptional creatures far beyond the norm. They all had multiple times the power of any boss monster at the same level. Even high-rank Masters had a hard time fighting them. 
Thus, it was extremely rare for a UBM to be defeated by someone of a lower level. 
Thinking that this defeat had been the result of a large number of low-level players and that the person had only been selected as an MVP by accident, it opened the battle log. However, the reality was far beyond its expectations. 
The person — Ray — had defeated the UBM all by himself. 
“Hoh?” 
That person was equipped with abilities that were optimal for giant-killing. The mid-battle evolution caused by *** had given him a new ability that was simply perfect for the situation. That person was equipped with an indomitable will. 
There were many reasons for his victory, but there was one that particularly stood out. 
“He realized it right after destroying the first head,” it said. “That is far too early.” 
The creature it acknowledged as an UBM — “Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda” — was a gathering of traps. 
First, there was the head that flagrantly released miasma and flames. 
The player would think that to be its weak point and destroy it, but that would cause it to create two new faces on the shoulders. 
All of those visages were traps. 
Getting rid of them would not only fail to destroy Gardranda — it would cause it to be strengthened even further. 
Even if all its heads were destroyed, it would go through more transformations and become even more powerful than before. 
It was completely indestructible as long as the core within its stomach was intact. 
Due to that, it had expected Gardranda to grow into a particularly powerful UBM. In fact, it wouldn’t have been surprised if the demon had reached level 100 — the apex of UBMs and the greatest level available to monsters — and broken through it to join the ranks of the exceptions known as SUBMs — Superior Unique Boss Monsters. 
However, in reality, this low-rank Master had been able to miraculously defeat Gardranda and stop its growth process. 
“Well, there’s no use in overthinking it,” it said. “Such cases aren’t unheard of. I will keep this in mind in my future work.” 
It finished analyzing the battle and closed the battle log window. 
However, its thoughts suddenly escaped through its mouth as words. 
“Whatever the case, this is reason to be joyous. It’s all meaningless if only the current Superiors grow stronger. If no new powers emerge, we will never have a hundred Superiors... and never reach Infinity.” 
After nodding at its own words, it took another glance at Ray’s log and continued talking. 
“Now... I wonder if he will make good use of Gardranda.” 
Imagining the future, it formed a faint smile. 
“Whether you do or not... just grow stronger while having fun. To you people, this world — from start to finish — is nothing but a game.” 
And so, control AI No. 4, Jabberwock — the one tasked with handling UBMs — returned to its busy, busy job.