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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 11 - Chapter 1




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Act One: The Golden Calamity 
2044, November, Control AI No. 4’s Workspace 
[Selecting target from vault no. 4.] 
[Initializing the time stopping cancellation process... completed.] 
[Ready for activation.] 
[Setting deployment area to the border of the Kingdom of Altar.] 
[Set to the northern area of the Kingdom of Altar, Lightning Dragon Mountains.] 
[Executing deployment.] 
[Initializing the third intervention for the purpose of creating more Superiors.] 
 
An Area Near The Border Between The Kingdom and The Imperium 
Altar and Dryfe. There was lots of traffic between these countries, but there were only two reasonable paths a human could take to cross the border. One was in the plains spreading out between Quartierlatin County to the kingdom’s northeast and Barbaros County to the imperium’s southeast. The other was the mountain pass linking Lunnings Duchy to the kingdom’s northwest and Eldona March to the imperium’s southwest. Between these countries, there was a steep mountain range called simply the “Border Mountain Belt,” and crossing it on foot was no small task, to put it lightly. However, the true problem in crossing it wasn’t the steep slopes, but the dragons inhabiting the mountains. 
It was said that in the heart of the Border Mountain Belt, at the peak of the highest mountain, Mount Skycrown, lived the strongest of the skydragons — Skydragon King, Drag-Heaven — while the surrounding mountains were occupied by other kings of the skydragon kind. Mount Skycrown stood alongside Landdragon King’s Harshwinter Mountains and the Outer Sea circled by the Seadragon King as a place densely populated by fearsome dragons that no sane tian ever approached. The occasional foolishly-confident martial artist or adventurous Master might actually enter the area, but with the sky dominated by Pure-Dragons, most of them were extinguished before reaching the Skydragon King; even those who made it that far were reduced to dust in a mere moment. 
The Border Mountain Belt was a place that no uninvited guests could leave alive. However, if you ignored the skydragons’ harshness to intruders, they were actually a very magnanimous kind. They rarely left their territory to hunt other animals, and never attacked the people traveling to the east or west of their mountains. As long as their borders were respected, they were actually a surprisingly safe neighbor to both the kingdom and the imperium. That was what separated them from the landdragons of the Harshwinter Mountains. Due to a shortage of food and an environment so harsh they’d named the whole area after it, the landdragons frequently left their mountains to hunt. That was an underlying cause of the ancient rivalry between landdragons and roc birds. Regardless, thanks to the orderly skydragons, exchanges between the two countries were going swimmingly. 
“Hmm... There is more human movement than usual. Is this a sign of another major event in the world of men? Is one of the countries changing rulers? Is it the north or the south?” 
Seated at the top of the Lightning Dragon Mountain to the west of the belt, a large dragon was looking down at the people passing by. Overall, he was slender, but his wingspan was vast and his horns imposing. It wasn’t just for show, either — there were pale sparks running through both the wings and horns, making it obvious that he channeled immense amounts of electricity. His name was Lightning Dragon King, Drag-Volt. He was the third child of the Skydragon King, and the head of the Lightning Dragon kind living around this mountain of the same name, which was particularly close to the border between the human countries. “There is also the harvest festival. Perhaps I should use Anthropomorphization and go see the town when the day comes.” 
He enjoyed observing the world of men, and it wasn’t unusual for him to transform into a human and go look around their settlements during special occasions. 
Drag-Volt even called Duke Lunnings himself a friend. The man knew what he really was, but hid it from everyone else; they even enjoyed festivities together. The majestic dragon truly enjoyed the world of men. “I would have to have one of my younger brothers take my place, so... Hm?” Drag-Volt suddenly felt the presence of an approaching dragon over ten kilometels away. “...This one does not belong here. Does he intend to harm mankind?” 
Controlling dragons that would bring harm to the area and mankind was one of his roles. Every dragon that perpetrated malicious attacks on humans increased the chances of sparking war between mankind and dragonkind. The Skydragon King and his family kept control over the local dragons in order to prevent that. And even if it hadn’t been his duty, Drag-Volt himself couldn’t tolerate any kin who would harm the world of man. “I suppose this is just another rebel from some mountain... Hm?” 
At first, he guessed that it was just a dragon who had gained power at some mountain or other and let it go to his head. However, the presence he felt as the creature drew closer confirmed that this was not the case. And upon seeing the being’s body, he realized that it was not one of his kind. 
“You... You are no skydragon.” Though still a dragon, this one looked wrong. Dragons usually had but one head, but this one had three, each of which sported a different number of horns. Things might’ve been different among seadragons and landdragons, but the orderly skydragons would’ve culled this creature, for it was known that malformed skydragons would not mature properly and were often malicious. 
In the many years of his life, Drag-Volt had never seen a malformed dragon grow as large as this three-head, and that alone was proof that it was not from these mountains. 
“Answer me! Where did you come from!?” Drag-Volt spoke in Draconic. However, the response he got... “ShEaAwOooOooOAAAaaaHHH!” ...was just a roar — a primal scream unleashed with a force that surpassed any ability to describe its insanity. “Mad-dragon! You know not even words!?” At that moment, Drag-Volt realized that this three-headed dragon must be annihilated, and thus released the strongest attack ability he had — a skill unique to him. 
The electricity in his back and horns grew in intensity before gathering in his maw... “Lightning Vortex!” ...And released as a giant, whirling lightning storm that reached several kilometels away. That was the fastest, most powerful attack of Lightning Dragon King, Drag-Volt — a Mythical UBM. It was literally lightning-fast and carried the energy of several nuclear warheads, burning anything in its wake. The force of the impact was such that it even melted the mountains surrounding the three-headed dragon. There was little doubt that it would boil every fluid in a living creature’s body before vaporizing them entirely, granting them a swift death. “Foolish, maddened dragon,” Drag-Volt said. “Why do you think me and my brother were stationed on the east and west of this border? An overconfident whelp is nothing to us.” 
He was in the west, while the younger of his elder brothers — Winddragon King — was in the east. If you ignored the Skydragon King, seated at The Skycrown, and his firstborn — his most trusted confidant — the strongest of the skydragon kind were placed at the mountains near the border. This was so they could easily take out any dragons as insolent as this one. The Lightning Dragon King had purged many such dragons over the five centuries since he set to this task. Thus, he didn’t doubt his victory this time, either. However... the same could be said about his foe. 
“SHuOoaAahHhH!” With another roar, the dragon emerged from the vaporized mountain... completely unharmed. 
“...Impossible.” 
This can’t be happening. Drag-Volt could not shake the thought. 
He could perhaps understand if the creature barely survived his strongest attack, and could even accept it sustaining merely light damage. However, it was impossible for it to be completely unharmed. After all, even his father couldn’t accomplish that — the Skydragon King himself. That would mean that this dragon here was actually superior to his immensely powerful father. “...No,” Drag-Volt denied the comparison, but not due to any sentiment as his father’s son, but because of his experience as a dragon with many battles to his name. 
“It must have something that shields it from harm.” A skill unknown to Drag-Volt protected it from his Lightning Vortex, and he believed that there was no point in attacking it again until he knew what it was. 
Thus, he gathered his resolve. “...FATHER! BROTHERS! DO YOU SEE ME!?” he roared to the heavens. 
Of course, The Skycrown where the firstborn lived was too far away to see. However, Drag-Volt was confident that they heard him and were watching this battle. “I WILL NOW GIVE MY ALL TO EXPOSE THIS WRETCH!” he roared again, gathering power in his limbs. “AFTER I PERISH, DESTROY IT!” 
The Lightning Dragon King was already prepared to die. Drag-Volt didn’t think that the creature before him was superior to the Skydragon King, but he knew for a fact that it was most certainly stronger than himself. 
“COME, YOU MADDENED DRAGON! I SHALL GIVE MY LIFE TO EXPOSE THE SECRET... OF YOUR DEFENSE!” Thus, Drag-Volt dove towards the dragon... 
“SHAhAHahHAhaH!” 
His death was unceremonious, punctuated only by the beast’s cackling roar. 
 
Kingdom of Altar, Lunnings Duchy 
Lunnings Duchy, situated in the kingdom’s northwest, was a welcoming land with a temperate climate. It was one of the country’s grain-producing regions, and it was harvest season. Looking over the fields of wheat that spread all the way to the base of the mountains, Duke Lunnings, who was here for an inspection, nodded in satisfaction. “Mhm... I see that this year’s harvest is especially abundant.” 
The chief of the local village smiled as he said, “Truly. We had a fair bit of help from Masters this year. Both the amount and food value are greater than last year, and the soil is still fertile enough for more.” 
“I see, I see,” nodded the duke. “I must admit, I was quite worried by the sudden growth in Master numbers three years ago, and though I’m aware there are folk as troublesome as Sechs Würfel among their number, I see that their arrival was a boon to my lands. Most excellent, indeed. Hahahah!” he laughed heartily. “This year’s festival is sure to be grand.” 
Lord Drag-Volt will certainly enjoy it, he thought to himself, not saying a word — for that was a secret not even his family could know, let alone the chief. 
“Mhm... With such a harvest, it will not pain me too much to not send out the gift,” the duke continued. 

“Gift?” the chief asked. 
“Mhm. As you know, this duchy shares a border with Dryfe, and we are on very good terms with our foreign neighbors in the Eldona March. Thus, during their auspicious events, we must send a gift separate from the one sent by the kingdom itself.” 
“There’s an auspicious event in Dryfe?” 
“Mhm. They have stopped mourning the imperator they lost last month, and his successor has been chosen. I’m not certain who it is, but I would guess it’s either the last imperator’s firstborn, Prince Gustav, or Gustav’s son, Hallon. The imperator’s wife and mother of Gustav is from the Eldona family, so it’s likely that it will soon be even more prosperous than before.” 
And that was exactly why Duke Lunnings wanted to strengthen the ties between the two lands. He had considered funding the gift by emptying his family’s coffers, but with a harvest so great, the damage to his finances would be minimized. This greatly relieved him. Recently, Altar had been on good terms with both Dryfe to the north and Legendaria to the south. Duke Lunnings felt as though this harvest was a sign of peace and prosperity for all three western countries. 
However... fate had other plans. 
“...Hm?” The duke looked ahead into the distance. The color of the mountain beyond the wheat fields — the mountain whose pass linked Altar and Dryfe — had changed. It had been covered in green plant life, but now, mysteriously, the peak grew brown with decay. It didn’t stop there, either. Little by little, as though descending from the peak to the plains, the decay encroached on the wheat fields. “What is that? Poison? Is there a poisonous monster there?” The kingdom was no stranger to poisonous monsters, but those that could stain a whole mountain were few and far between. 
“Don’t tell me it’s a King Basilisk! They’re some of the worst Pure-Dragons you can encounter!” Duke Lunnings named a creature so dangerous that there was a perpetual bounty on them, even though they weren’t UBMs. Even the kingdom recognized them as especially dangerous. If a monster like that reached the fields or the town, the damage would be immense. Naturally, Duke Lunnings decided they were in danger. The chief, on the other hand, was rather calm. 
“A King Basilisk, eh?” he said. “Then I’m sure all will be well.” 
“Why are you so confident!?” asked the duke. 
“We have Masters staying in this village. We’ve been attacked by several Pure-Dragons since the crops became ripe, but they’ve always defeated them. Look.” 
The chief pointed at a party of five, speeding towards the decaying mountain. Duke Lunnings’ Reveal skill told him that they were all above level 300, and he saw that one of them was riding a landdragon Pure-Dragon. “Ohh! They should have no trouble at all!” he exclaimed in relief. 
“Indeed. They will surely slay the King Basilisk,” nodded the chief. The Masters were probably stronger than even the duchy’s knights. The chief had full confidence that they would be victorious, and Duke Lunnings expected good things as well. Alas, the party of Masters became orbs of light the moment they approached the rotting greenery. 
“...What?” A group of Masters over level 300 and an earth-type Pure-Dragon vanished in but an instant. This can’t be the poison of a mere King Basilisk... there’s something even worse in those woods! the duke thought, now absolutely certain. 
“C-Could it be... a Mythical UBM? Like Edelvalsa!?” The first thing that came to the duke’s mind was Unguided Army, Edelvalsa — the Mythical UBM that had appeared at the border of the Quartierlatin County in the northeast of the kingdom nearly thirty years ago. 
Back then, the disaster had felt like somebody else’s problem. Mythicals were astronomically rare, and the Border Mountain Belt was occupied by the orderly skydragons who never harmed humans outside of their territory. “Is it an evil dragon from the mountains?” the duke wondered. “But then Lord Drag-Volt should’ve put it in its place... Ohh, what is going on?” 
He closed his eyes, not certain how to feel about this sudden incident. “Still, we must act right away! First, we evacuate our people! Then I will return to the town — no, I will use the communication magic devices here in this village to contact the capital!” The duke quickly put together a plan. He wanted to contact the capital or the adventurer’s guild to call forth high-ranking Masters that could take care of this emergency. The wheat fields might be left in ruins, but the duke believed that as long as the people were alive, they would eventually recover. There were no holes in his plan, except perhaps his lack of awareness of just how menacing this monster was. The strongest monsters that had ever appeared in the kingdom were Mythical UBMs. With such a limited scale, it was impossible to gauge the power of this being. 
“D-Duke... DUKE LUNNINGS!” The chief had recovered from the shock of seeing the party of Masters in which he’d placed such confidence vanish in an instant, and now was staring at something with his eyes wide. 
“What!?” the duke exclaimed in frustration, before noticing what the chief was looking at and muttering a meek “...What?” 
They were staring in the direction of the decayed woods, but not into them. The cause of the decay and the monster that destroyed the Masters wasn’t something that could hide behind a few trees. It was still behind the mountain. Slowly, as though walking, it showed itself from behind the mountain. The thing they saw first was a head. A golden head with three horns slowly crossed the ridge and showed itself. Then, the duke saw a single-horned head show up from the left, and a two-horned head from the right. All three heads had long necks, covered in the same golden scales as the head. Finally, once it placed its front claw on the mountain top, the duke realized what he was looking at. “A golden... three-headed... dragon...” A monster as large as half the mountain — at least two hundred metels in height. Perhaps it was just a hundred, but even so, it was far larger than any monster the duke had ever seen. More importantly, his instincts told him that he could not stand in this thing’s way and that he should abandon all and run for his life. 
“Th-That’s...!” Despite being struck by terror, the duke somehow noticed that one head — the two-horned one — was biting into something. 
“L-Lord Drag-Volt...!?” Indeed, those were the remains of the Lightning Dragon King. Though, for all the duke knew, he wasn’t dead yet. There were no scratches on the lifeless body. It was in oddly pristine condition, and hadn’t vanished because the resurrection period hadn’t yet expired. Sadly, that didn’t mean that there was hope. 
“SHyeAhwOWahwOWHahWoO!” With a feral scream akin to a human cackle, the two-horned head crunched its fangs into Drag-Volt’s neck, transforming his corpse into particles of light. “Th-This is... This can’t be happening...” As the count’s mind failed to process the sudden trauma of losing his dragon friend, the three-headed nightmare crossed the peak, revealing its full, terrifying glory. 
“SHEeEAHHhwOooOoO!” Then, the two-horned head let out a cry akin to a whistle. There was a giant oblong eye buried in the center of its face, and it was shedding a purplish, hazy light. 
It filled the duke with immense fear. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know what made him believe what he did. But he somehow understood that that single eye was the cause of the decay and the thing that killed the Master party... as well as Drag-Volt. 
“...EVACUATE! GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THAT DRAGON AS POSSIBLE! IT WILL KILL YOU!” The duke used the voice amplification item he’d brought to address his people to order them to run for their lives. The awestruck, dazed crowd was jolted back to their senses, screamed in panic, and ran as fast as their legs allowed. The duke jumped on his horse and fled along with them. Well-trained as it was, the horse stayed calm and obeyed its owner well despite the situation. 
The chief also began running. “Hoo... hoo...” His breathing ragged from the fear and tension overwhelming his heart, the duke spurred his horse into the fastest gallop it could manage. After a minute of this, he turned around to see the three-headed dragon still clinging to the peak. It walked slowly, and though its area of decay now reached the wheat fields, the villagers were only running faster. It’s too large to move any faster...! the duke thought in relief. It was surely a sentiment shared among all the people fleeing from it. Thus, only a few of them realized that the dragon was spreading its wings. 
In fact, if they hadn’t been panicking, they would’ve realized the obvious detail they’d all missed: The fact that dragons could fly. 
The three-headed abomination spread out its wings, which were each as large as its torso, and took its massive body to the sky. It flew at a leisurely pace, ending the lives of all living creatures it drew close to. The duke, the chief, the thousand or so villagers, the non-humanoids, and monsters... Their lives were taken from them in the blink of an eye. They fell to the ground like lifeless dolls. 
Thus came the end of the northwest region of the kingdom... The Lightning Dragon Mountain and the Lunnings Duchy. 
 
“And so, the SUBM, Tri-Zenith Dragon, Gloria, has been successfully deployed in the northwest of the kingdom. It looks like the Lightning Dragon King died, though. What a shame. He was quite promising.” 
“Nooo helping it, is theeere? Aaaanywaaay, if aaall goes accooording to hoow we set it, it should slooowly moooove to the soooutheeeaast, and the Fatal Field’s effects will reeeeach the capital in a weeeek!” 
“All that’s left for us is to watch. Let us hope that this will be a good test for the kingdom’s Masters, and that the one to conquer her will be a new Superior. 
“...” 
“You look like you want to say something, Cheshire. Is it because the kingdom is your homeground?” 
“We’re releasing a powerful enemy that can’t be defeated in normal ways... an SUBM. This will spur those slacking Masters into action and maybe even force an evolution. I understand that much, and I know it went well last time, but there’s still something I feel I must say.” 
“What is it?” 
“Gloria is... too strong. She’s above both Greatest One and Twin Moby Dick. She’s extremely complete as a monster, even when compared to the many other SUBMs we’ve retrieved and contained. Honestly, I think she should’ve been released at a later time.” 
“That’s exactly why we’re doing it now.” 
“...What?” 
“Humpty has high hopes for King of Destruction, Mad Hatter has his eyes set on the Over Gladiator, Alice is fond of the High Priestess, and you give lots of your attention to the King of Crimes. A standard SUBM would not have much of an effect on a country with so many outstanding individuals.” 
“...” 
“Do not forget, Cheshire. This is all in the hope that the kingdom’s Masters will shatter their limits and emerge victorious. It’s for that reason that we’ve crafted the most perfect monster of all.” 
 





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