Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 14 - Chapter 13.1

Chapter From the Past: The First SUBM 

2044, July 

A year had passed since Dendro had released, which translated to three years within the game. 

It was only by chance that Behemot encountered it in one of the most remote regions of the imperium. 

She was out on a quest from her friend, Claudiah — more specifically, Claudiah’s alternate persona, Reinhard. He had requested that she investigate an area in the northern reaches of the country. 

Due to an immense drought and its proximity to Harshwinter Mountains, the climate was extremely cold there, and the change in environment had attracted powerful monsters that some years ago had driven out the people who lived in the area. 

There were no towns here that would be occupied by monster-hunting Masters, so as a result, the far reaches of Dryfe had become essentially uninhabitable. 

To make matters worse, this problem seemed to be spreading deeper into the imperium, and Reinhard believed that it would eventually envelop the entire country. 

There were two reasons why he had sent Behemot there specifically. 

One was to look into the causes of the drought. She was to gather soil from several designated places and bring it to him for study. 

The other was to investigate some local ruins. An old text he had acquired from a particular source said that there were ruins somewhere in the area, and Behemot needed to confirm if that was true. 

Dendro’s one year anniversary event was also in progress. There were event monsters everywhere, so Behemot also saw this as an opportunity to go hunting in an area with no other players. 

However, there were two things that neither Behemot nor Reinhard himself could have anticipated. 

First was her encounter with a certain Master. 

For reasons unknown to her, a vagrant Superior was occupying a destroyed village in the area. 

And the other thing was... an SUBM. 

It was a massive gargoyle, shining in a manner reminiscent of both gold and silver, and its name was “Lone Yet Unmatched, Greatest One.” 

It had appeared here at the edge of Dryfe and advanced towards the center of the country. 

This was not purely by coincidence. Most SUBMs were deployed away from any capital cities and moved towards the nearest one while fighting any Masters they encountered. 

That was the standard, and out of the four that had come after Greatest One, only Penta-Phased Destroyer, Horobimaru was an exception. 

Thus, Greatest One — the first SUBM — was deployed as part of the anniversary of Dendro’s release, and was meant to advance towards Vandelheim. 

However, two Superiors were there to witness the deployment. 

These two quickly understood that the SUBM was headed towards the capital, and at that point, they already knew what they had to do. 

Behemot had no reason to ignore a colossal monster that would attack the city her friend inhabited, while the other Master had no reason not to stop a beast that would lay waste to anything in its path. 

The two Superiors then cooperated to fight the Greatest One. 

The battle was intense beyond description. 

As the first SUBM, it was something of a test case. Greatest One was made out of a metal that could withstand any attack and surpassed even Mythical metal in toughness... a Superior metal. 

It was also immune to temperature changes, as well as all kinds of offensive magic. 

Its powers weren’t only defensive, of course. Its wings granted it the ability to break the yoke of gravity, its tail vibrated at a high frequency and pulverized all it touched, and its maw was a maser cannon that scorched any living creatures it touched. 

Even The Tri-Zenith Dragon, Gloria, said to be the strongest SUBM, could only win against Greatest One by using its enhanced Fatal Field. 

While Gloria had taken the title of strongest thanks to its special characteristics, Greatest One was, well... the greatest of them all thanks to its pure combat ability. 

Being such a powerful creature, it was an excellent method of testing the Dryfean Masters trying to stop it from destroying their country — perhaps spurring them to evolve into Superiors. 

Greatest One could have become an even greater calamity to the imperium than Biframe White Whale, Twin Moby Dick was to Granvaloa or Gloria was to Altar, maybe even destroying the country utterly. 

However, this absurdly powerful creature wasn’t recorded in history... for it had encountered them, and to make a long story short, following a battle that shook heaven and earth, Greatest One was defeated. 

“How fearsome. I can scarcely tell who the true monster is here,” a half-sarcastic, half-honest voice spoke as the fragments of Greatest One dissolved into motes of light. 

This was addressed to Behemot and Leviathan, who, now that the battle was over, had returned to her human form. 

The speaker was a girl with purple hair. She had a slight build and wore a dress of ancient Grecian design as purple as her hair. 

This was Behemot’s comrade in arms... or rather, his Embryo. 

“Hmm... both Master Dearest and the critter are the MVPs. I was not aware that there were UBMs that gave multiple.” She chuckled as she listened to the announcement in her head. 

Since this was the first SUBM ever encountered, these were the first Superior MVP special rewards ever received, as well as the first time there were multiple MVPs for the same UBM. 

“Master Dearest” was how this Embryo referred to her Master — a gaunt man with deep dark circles under his eyes. For an avatar, he didn’t seem to be in good health. 

He looked at the reward he’d received before sighing in what seemed like disappointment and putting it away. Then, he turned away from the others and began looking around the completely destroyed, abandoned village, apparently searching for something. 

“...That’s quite the attitude for someone who only got MVP because of us,” said Leviathan with a menacing tone, clearly irritated by both the Embryo and her Master. 

During the battle, Behemot and her Embryo dealt the vast majority of the damage to Greatest One, yet the MVP special reward was split between Behemot and the other Superior — a fact which greatly irked Leviathan. 

“I am not sure I agree,” said the purple girl. “There is more to battle than fisticuffs. The little critter here seems to understand that. A beast of your size surely has a bigger brain capable of comprehending much more than she can, no?” 

“You’re dead.” Leviathan bared her fangs and prepared to attack. 

“Levia, stay,” said Behemot, stopping her Embryo in her tracks. 

The porcupine Master actually agreed with the girl here. Behemot and Leviathan were no doubt the ones who’d pulverized Greatest One’s metal body using their ultimate skill, but the girl and her Master were the ones who’d dealt with all the other problems... the many abilities that the gargoyle possessed as an SUBM. 

Thus, Behemot fully agreed with the MVP special reward split. 

“We were able to defeat that before it could do any damage anyhow,” said the girl. “We also received a special reward each. Let us consider this done and do what we came here to do. Master Dearest and I are looking for something in this abandoned village, while you have to investigate the nearby ruins. Oh, by the way, the entrance to them is about three kilometels to the east. Although... Our intense battle here seems to have collapsed it.” 

“...That’s supposed to be classified information for the imperium.” 

“That means nothing to us. Classified information for the living is common knowledge for the dead. Hm? Oh, did you find it, Master Dearest? Let us take our leave, then. May we meet again, if the fates so decree.” 

With their business done, the girl and her Master — the Superior — walked away from Behemot and Leviathan. 

The threat of the walking calamity known as Greatest One ended before it could properly begin, with no one but two people even knowing it. 

However, Behemot was left with two problems. 

First, she couldn’t actually investigate the ruins. 

They did indeed exist, but just as the girl had said, the shockwaves from the battle against Greatest One had completely buried the underground passage leading inside. Trying to dig it out could have resulted in even more damage, so they had no choice but return to Vandelheim without investigating the ruins. 

Delving into these ruins would require more people now, and since Reinhard needed time to gather them, the operations were postponed and only ended up happening once he became imperator. The ruins also ended up being the place where Jade Storm was discovered, but that is a story for another time. 

Behemot faced the second problem once she reported the Greatest One incident to Reinhard. 

Upon hearing the story, he spent a moment thinking about it until he said, “Please keep this secret.” 

“Hm?” 

“This special UBM... An ‘SUBM,’ was it? Similar entities are bound to appear again, and I believe that they would have the observers behind them.” 

“The control AI?” 

“Yes. This was likely what you Masters call ‘an event.’” 

Behemot quickly understood what he meant. Raids against massive world bosses had yet to happen in Infinite Dendrogram, but they were common in most MMOs — though it was rather disturbing that something like that would be released on the first anniversary. 

“However, based on our information, nothing like it appeared in other countries, so I believe that there will be some time in between their appearances.” 

“I see.” 

“There is no guarantee that they would appear in the same country twice in a row, though. In fact the probability of that is low. It is more likely that the other will appear in one of the other six nations.” 

“So it’s like a rotation.” 

“That is why revealing this information is disadvantageous to us. The ludo Masters would not appreciate missing a chance to participate in a hunt for a special UBM.” 

“I see. You want them to believe that we haven’t gotten one yet and that it might come soon.” 

“Indeed. That would help us maintain our power as a country.” 

People would leave if they found out that such a highly anticipated event would not be occurring in Dryfe. 

Due to the drought and the associated change in environment as well as increases in monsters, Masters were highly useful to the imperium, so it would be most undesirable if they left. 

There was the chance that the other Superior or his Embryo would reveal it, but through their cooperation, Behemot knew that neither of them were the type. Regardless, Reinhard was considering meeting them in person when the time was right. 

“Okay. So I shouldn’t use this special reward I got, right?” 

“Indeed. You can use it against monsters, but please refrain from doing so where other people might see you.” 

“All right. I promise I won’t use it, Claudiah.” 

“Hm...? I am Reinhard.” Since this was before the personas shared information, Reinhard did not yet know that he and his “little sister” were one and the same. 

“...My mistake. It’s a promise, Reinhard.” 

Just like that, Behemot made a promise to Claudiah Reinhard Dryfe. 

She kept it well, and there was never a need for her to break it. 

Time passed, and on the day of the peace talks between Altar and Dryfe, she was left with no choice but to do just that. 

...I’m sorry, Claudiah, Behemot thought, gathering her resolve as she faced Ray Starling, who was about to release Monochrome’s concentrated laser from his left hand. 

Not even she could survive an attack like this, and to avoid that, she could only use that special reward. 

Thus, she resolved to break her promise. 

After all, protecting Claudiah was more important than keeping the promise. 

And so, right before Ray’s deadly strike was released... 

“Transformation... Soaring and Indomitable: Greatest Top!” 

...She unleashed her SUBM special reward.