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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 14 - Chapter 15




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Chapter Fifteen: The Final Choice 

Altar-Dryfe border, assembly hall 

Having donned Greatest Top, Behemot had become even more fierce than before. 

Chasing after Ray — the visible target — she occasionally fired her maser cannon towards the surrounding shadows in an attempt to drive out her two opponents in hiding. 

In his remaining hand, Ray held one of the twin blades from Nemesis’ fourth form — but instead of using it to attack, he was focusing on evasion. Though just barely, he was managing to evade both the attacks from her ethereal claws as well as the maser beams Behemot was firing at him. 

Panic had started to creep into Ray’s expression, and not only because of the onslaught. 

“Ray! Three minutes since activation! The damage counter won’t hold!” Nemesis told him telepathically. 

Be more specific! Ray replied. 

Chaser was a skill that subtracted an amount equal to the stat it copied from the damage counter. 

With Counter Absorption, they had absorbed about 200,000 damage — but with Behemot’s AGI being a whole 37,564 even under the effects of Faint Light, that wouldn’t last very long. Ray losing his arm to the maser cannon had increased the damage counter by a little bit, but since his total HP was relatively low, it was only a drop in the ocean. 

“There is only about 20,000 points of damage left in the pool! That won’t be enough for the next check! Chaser will be canceled!” 

Wait, that doesn’t add up. 37,564 times 4 is 150,256... There should still be enough for one more check! 

“Tsukuyo Fuso briefly switched the division target from AGI to STR, didn’t she?! It seems that the stat reduction for that minute was increased to the average between the two stat totals, relative to the length of the switch! I was unaware that this would happen, since this is the first time we’ve fought someone whose stats change so drastically and so quickly!” 

“Well... I guess that makes sense!” Ray replied out loud as he barely evaded another maser beam. 

He was starting to get more and more worried at this point. 

...I guess we have no choice but to take another hit and refill the counter! 

“But her Tiger Scratch hits three times... Can you withstand all of that? I cannot use Counter Absorption in fourth form.” Unlike at the beginning of the battle, Ray couldn’t use Counter Absorption because that would mean canceling Chaser, which would immediately let Behemot catch up to him. 

Thus, Ray chose a different approach. 

...I’ll just take it with my Brooch. 

“That is impossible! It will be shattered by the excess damage from the triple attack! Did you even consider the damage threshold?!” Ray’s current HP was a little under 20,000.With Behemot’s attacks dealing about 200,000 damage in total, the roll to break the Brooch would happen at least 10 times — so for Ray to withstand all the damage from the triple attack, he had to win a gamble on 10% a whole 20 times in a row. 

The likelihood of the Brooch breaking before the third attack was over 87%, so it was obviously ludicrous for him to expect to come out on top here. 

No... I’m only betting on two times, Ray thought back to Nemesis as he put the twin blade he was holding between his teeth. 

“Ray?!” With his only hand freed, he then reached into his side. 

Even as he did so, Behemot closed the distance between them. She was wary of his strange actions — but not enough to stop attacking him. 

“Oh, so that is what you have in mind,” Nemesis thought as she understood Ray’s intentions. “But this also relies on chance.” 

I know that. It’s luck-based and I won’t be able to do this again, but there’s no time like the present. 

“Very well. I will say nothing more, then. This might be the optimal choice, given the situation. So you will let her attack you to increase the time for Chaser... With the time you secure, Brother Bear should be able to accomplish more, as well...” 

Nemesis thought the damage they would add to their counter should be used to buy more time for Chaser, but Ray had another idea. 

No, I’m sending the damage right back to her with an Impact Counter, he thought. Impact Counter was the technique Ray had developed — a Vengeance Is Mine counterattack he delivered the moment he received the necessary damage. 

Naturally, it depleted his damage counter significantly. 

“Ah...! I see...” Nemesis said. She was shocked by his words, but chose not to object. “But that won’t be enough to defeat her. At most, you might crack that armor... but not fully destroy it.” 

That’s fine. I mean, if she suddenly decides to get rid of Fuso instead, even 600,000 damage on the counter will only last us two or three minutes. 

Behemot hadn’t attacked Tsukuyo even after equipping Greatest Top. 

The High Priestess was still dividing her AGI, so it wasn’t clear why Behemot wasn’t taking her out first. It could be that she was wary of some ace up Tsukuyo’s sleeve — or it could be some other reason entirely. 

Still, there was a chance that she would change her mind and target Tsukuyo at any moment. If that happened, only Ray would be able to keep up with Behemot, but even he would soon fall behind due to the increased cost for maintaining Chaser. 

Because of this, Ray figured that the only path to victory was to attack Behemot immediately. 

“What will you do after the Impact Counter?” Nemesis asked. 

The fourth form’s Vengeance is split between each sword — but with one hand, I can only attack with one sword at a time. I’ll use the remaining damage counter to maintain Chaser and support Marie and Tsukikage. 

“Understood... Don’t die, Ray.” 

It’s still too early for that. Chaser would soon be running another check, and they didn’t have enough damage on the counter to pass it. Once that happened, Ray’s speed would return to normal, and Behemot would become too fast for him to even see in spite of the AGI division. 

However, Behemot closed the distance to Ray long before the check happened. 

In response, Ray... came to a halt right where he was. 

Behemot couldn’t help but be surprised by this action, but that certainly didn’t stop her. 

She swung her right ethereal claw down towards Ray, and the two follow-up Tiger Scratch attacks were close on its heels. 

And so, the moment the first hit landed... 

“Hm...?” 

...Behemot felt that it had somehow not had quite the effect she was hoping for. 

The same happened with the second attack. 

That was when Behemot realized that something definitely wasn’t right. Knowing Ray’s HP, the excess damage should’ve already shattered his Brooch, at least. 

It didn’t take long for the explanation to show itself. 

Something fell from Ray’s side. It seemed to be a shattered accessory... but not a Brooch. 

It had the appearance of a dragon’s scale, and Behemot obviously knew what it was. 

A Dragonscale Ward, she thought. It was an accessory that shattered when the wearer took damage, reducing the incoming damage to one tenth of its total value. 

Ray had used some of these items in his battle against the Demi-Drag Worm, and after that experience, he now carried them everywhere he went just like he always wore a Brooch. 

Upon seeing two shattered Dragonscale Wards fall to the ground, Behemot realized what Ray had done. 

He reduced the amount of rolls the Brooch will make...? 

A tenth of 200,000 damage was only 20,000 damage. With Ray’s HP, the Brooch would only be forced to roll for shattering twice. 

Hitting a 10% chance 20 times in a row was ludicrous, but a mere 2 times was perfectly manageable. 

So that movement was... When Ray had put his hand to his side, he was doing it to take out and equip the Ward. He’d had enough time to do that once before Behemot’s attack. 

But what about the other Ward? He couldn’t have been wearing it from the start, because it would already have shattered from the shockwaves all over the battle, or the accumulated minor damage Ray had suffered so far. 

And since that obviously wasn’t the case, there could only be one explanation... 

He used Instant Wear right before impact... He manually equipped one while using the utility skill to equip the other. 

The moment Behemot figured out why Ray was wearing the Dragonscale Wards, the third attack finally hit him. 

So far, he had only lost the Wards... his Brooch was still in perfectly good condition. 

“UGHH!” he roared as he let the third attack hit him, negating the damage with the Brooch while swinging the sword clutched between his teeth towards Behemot. 

“Ah!” she gasped. 

Behemot knew that Ray’s strategy revolved around counterattacks, so she’d intended to end the battle with an attack from her other claw before he could retaliate. 

“Vengeance...” 

But if their speed was equal... 

“...Is...” 

...It was only reasonable... 

“...MINE!” 

...That Ray, whose blade was in motion the very instant he was hit, would deliver his counterattack faster than Behemot swung her left claw. 

As Ray’s Brooch shattered from the excess damage, the Vengeance attack from his twin blade struck Behemot’s neck. 

“Gh?!” The burst of fixed damage knocked Behemot’s whole body to the left. This wasn’t the first time Ray had used Vengeance while holding his sword with his mouth, so he was able to hit his target even though she was small. 

Ray’s attack made Behemot’s left claw miss, slicing through the air where Ray’s right arm used to be. 

However, despite taking a direct hit and losing her balance, Behemot was still in perfect shape. 

“Gh...! It wasn’t enough!” Ray said, taking the sword out of his mouth. 

“It seems so! The metal did not shatter! Half its power was not enough!” The three attacks added 600,000 to his damage counter, and the Vengeance just now dealt half of that multiplied by two — but that wasn’t enough to destroy Greatest Top. 

There was a visible crack in the general area he hit, but Behemot was still fully armored. 

This was the power of Superior metal — the strongest material in this world. It was the pinnacle of toughness... so hard that even Behemot and Leviathan had been forced to use their ult and pulverize it over and over until they finally broke through. 

Even if Vengeance ignored defense, a mere few hundred thousands of fixed damage was far from enough to shatter it. 

...But it did crack it. 

“One more hit and it’ll shatter,” Ray said. There was still 300,000 damage left on the counter. Creating distance between him and Behemot, he switched to the twin blade which hadn’t been depleted and, after passing Chaser’s fourth check, he waited for an opening to deliver his next attack. 

Repositioning herself, Behemot thought about the Impact Counter she had just weathered. 

She knew that Ray had this technique — but despite knowing about it beforehand, she wasn’t able to actually counter it. 

Who could blame her? Ray was as fast as her and could begin his counterattacks while she was attacking him. Not even Behemot could handle something like that. 

Or more accurately — she had never had to. Almost no one was as fast as she was, and even if they were, there was no way they could survive her triple attack. 

But now, Ray — albeit thanks to Tsukuyo’s stat division — had done just that with pure skill. 

Experienced as Behemot was, she had never encountered anything like this before. 

Should I assume this won’t happen again because his Brooch is broken...? No... he can absolutely do this again. 

Of course, Ray still had Last Command. Even if his HP was completely depleted, he could move his deceased body to deliver another Impact Counter. 

Rosa had suggested that he pick up Death Soldier exactly because of this deadly — and deathly — combo. 

...I didn’t underestimate him, exactly, but he still surpassed my expectations. That’s amazing. Behemot silently praised Ray for dealing her the most damage she’d ever experienced. 

At the same time, Behemot considered her own situation. 

Three minutes left... Though time was effectively slowed down because of her supersonic AGI, the limit for Greatest Top was drawing near. Behemot was running out of time. Keeping her MVP reward’s flaw hidden was no longer her top priority — now, this battle could actually end with her defeat. 

Thus... 

I’ll get rid of the insurance. 

...She changed her strategy and turned Greatest Top’s head towards Tsukuyo. 

“Ah?!” Ray gasped in horror. That was something they desperately didn’t want Behemot to do. 

The main reason Ray’s party was able to put up such a good fight against Behemot at all was that she had so far refrained from targeting Tsukuyo. If she did that, the course of battle would change drastically. 

The head opened up and the maser cannon locked onto Tsukuyo. 

But the moment the beam was fired... 

“Please excuse me, Lady Tsukuyo.” 

...Eishiro leaped out of Behemot’s shadow and did two things simultaneously. 

He used his shadows to grab Tsukuyo and move her where the beam wouldn’t touch her — and also used an ace up his sleeve that would ensure Behemot’s defeat. 

Eishiro flung away his black twin blades and exposed his bare hands. 

Behemot instantly knew that meant he was preparing to use a particular skill. 

...There it is. 

King of Beasts, Behemot the Physical Apex was only truly afraid of one person here, and it was the King of Assassins, Eishiro Tsukikage. 

She was afraid of him because he possessed the ability most likely to actually kill her. 

The final skill of the King of Assassins, “Death and Murder,” could instantly slay even Behemot. It killed any humanoid creature that the King of Assassins touched. 

Although Behemot had the appearance of a quadruped animal, that was just the shape of her avatar as she’d made it during character creation. Despite her appearance, she still counted as a humanoid creature that would be affected by the skill, and his mere touch would result in her demise. 

Bourdrim’s Sufferward Prison lets me resist poison-type and curse-type fatal status effects, but if Death and Murder is neither of those, or if it’s powerful enough to break through that resistance... I’m not sure what will happen. 

She had heard of the skill from tians, but it had never been properly analyzed in all of tian history. 

After all... the cost for using it was the death of the user, and it even prevented the effects of the priest grouping’s resurrection magic. 

Naturally, no tian in history had ever wanted to analyze a skill like that. 

Perhaps The Lunar Society, which had the current King of Assassins who was also a Master, had details about it, but Behemot wouldn’t know what they were. 

No... They know about both Death and Murder as well as my Bourdrim. If they have all that knowledge and they’re still using it... it means that they think it can kill me. 

With that realization, Behemot was suddenly as cautious as she could be. 

Eishiro faced her with empty hands. 

To use Death and Murder, he had to use them to touch the target — and once he did so, both he and his target would die. 

It was already known that he would get the death penalty for this, but he cared little about that. If Behemot remained alive, she would defeat Tsukuyo — preventing his lady’s desire from being fulfilled. 

Eishiro was ready to throw his life away just for that. 

“Tch...” However, there was one problem that had to be dealt with before he could deliver his final blow. 

To use Death and Murder, he had to touch his target’s body, and that wasn’t something he could do while Behemot was covered in a Superior metal. 

He had to focus on dealing with that first. 

“All I need is a single opening. Please shatter it,” Eishiro said. 

“Got it!” 

“On it!” 

Two voices responded to him. 

One was Ray, while the other was Marie, who’d just jumped out of a shadow opposite of Tsukikage. 

Ray had just cracked Greatest Top and still had a method of delivering more fixed damage at his disposal, so he would definitely be up to the task. 

The surprising thing was that Marie had also implied she had a way to shatter the Superior metal protecting Behemot. 

She was only a pre-Superior, but she claimed that she could break a substance that even the Physical Apex had struggled to damage. 

Some would assume that she was just ignorant of what she was dealing with. Most would be sure that she wasn’t capable of such a feat regardless. 

However... Marie was not speaking in vain. 

She believed... no, she was confident that she could break it. 

Marie aimed Arc-en-Ciel at Behemot before transforming it into the large-barreled shape needed for the ultimate skill. 

And then, she voiced the name of the ace up her sleeve... the sure-kill bullet that used all six colors. 

 

About a certain character. 

When Marie’s Arc-en-Ciel received its ultimate skill, she decided that it should fire the characters from her manga. 

Red and black summoned Daisy Scarlet the Explosive. 

Blue and white summoned Lady Shirahime the Poisoner. 

Green and silver summoned Ulbetia the Piercer. 

Blue, black, and white summoned Upas-Kamuy the Crusher. 

Red, green, and silver summoned Fanatica the Annihilator. 

Using this framework, she drew her characters... her children. 

However, there was one character that she could draw, but couldn’t fire. 

It was none other than the protagonist of her manga and the character she role-played in Infinite Dendrogram... Marie Adler. 

Even with all six colors, Arc-en-Ciel couldn’t bring Marie to life. 

No matter how many times she tried it, she’d always failed. Marie Adler, frozen in the drafts, couldn’t even be spurred into motion by the power of an Embryo. 

Marie figured that the protagonist of her manga wouldn’t be truly given life until she found an answer for herself, and had given up. 

This was like homework for her heart and mind — homework she had yet to finish. 

However, she still had to prepare Arc-en-Ciel’s ultimate trump card... the result of firing all six colors. 

The problem was that these six colors were the ones she used for Marie Adler. No other character fit the palette. 

As she’d turned the problem over and over in her mind, she’d returned to reality and re-read her work. 

“...Ah.” And in doing so, she found that there was actually someone who fit these colors perfectly. 

Marie also understood why it had been so difficult for her to think of this character, but now that she had found her way back into her mind, Marie realized that she was almost certainly the best candidate for her six-color ultimate skill. 

 

Altar-Dryfe border, assembly hall 

To both Arc-en-Ciel and Marie, there was no turning back once they’d used that six-color ult. Using it came at the cost of all the “paint” she had, rendering her unable to use her Embryo for a whole day afterwards. 

However, it was also the ability that had once destroyed a Superior. 

It was the strongest bullet... the strongest character available to her. 

And her name was... 


“Phantasmal Raingun — Arc-en-Ciel: La Gravelle the Godslayer!” 

From the barrel emerged a woman with a greatsword made from the bones of beasts and eyes covered by green bandage. 

Her name was La Gravelle the Godslayer, and she was the strongest hired killer in Marie’s manga. Said to surpass even the protagonist, she was the most powerful character in the setting — and she had never debuted, since the magazine had stopped publication. 

Because of this, only Marie knew about her. And her power as mimicked by the ult was... 

“K i l l.” 

...swinging her sword, just once. 

This resulted in an attack both faster and stronger than Behemot, even as she was now. 

The character’s basic concept was that she was “just super strong,” and dedicating the Resources of all six of the Embryo’s colors to this purpose alone resulted in a truly devastating strike. 

Marie had almost never used this bullet. 

In most cases, the attack would be taken by the target’s Brooch, leaving them alive to face Marie with her Embryo now unusable. 

Even in this battle, Behemot’s HP was far too high even for La Gravelle, so Marie had been waiting for a chance to land a critical hit. 

But now, she only had to shatter a part of Greatest Top. There was no better time to use La Gravelle than now. 

And so, the Superior Killer had bet all that she had on this one single attack... and it shattered the Superior metal beautifully. 

The part of Greatest Top that covered from the right side of Behemot’s head to the elbow of her right foreleg was now gone, exposing Behemot’s bare flesh. 

It had already been cracked by Ray, yes — but Marie’s all-out attack had actually overcome the strongest metal that this world had to offer. 

But as she bore witness to this victory... Marie’s head fell from her shoulder. 

La Gravelle had also been sliced in two and vanished before her summoning had truly ended. 

Upon realizing that Marie’s attack was inescapable, Behemot had given up on harm reduction and instead prioritized taking out both La Gravelle and Marie. 

The Brooch... Oh, right. Tiger Scratch makes it meaningless, just like it did for Rook, Marie thought as her severed head hurtled through the air. Well, it’s not like I can do anything without my bullets anyway. I’m leaving the rest to you, KoA... and Ray. 

And so, her head turned to motes of light before it even hit the ground. 

As Marie vanished, Eishiro hid in the shadows once again. 

With Behemot now exposed, he could take her out using Death and Murder. 

He’s not a problem now... I think? Behemot thought. If this was a proper, chaotic brawl, it would’ve been difficult for her to escape Eishiro’s hands, but the current state of the battle no longer allowed for that. 

There were only three of them left. Ray would be easy to handle as long as she paid attention, while Tsukuyo wasn’t much of a threat because she lacked direct offensive ability, so there was no one here that could reduce Behemot’s chances of dealing with surprise attacks. 

Even with her AGI divided, this was basically a one-on-one fight against Eishiro. And so, Behemot couldn’t possibly lose. 

At least, that was how it looked until a dark purple miasma flooded the area. 

“Hm...?” Behemot was totally confused by the sight. 

Ray lost his right arm, she thought. He shouldn’t be able to use his Hellish Miasm—... oh. 

That was when she remembered something. 

Behemot had gathered data about everyone she could potentially be fighting, and Ray had something that had defeated one of her fellow Superiors. 

There’s one more... There were four left on their side, not three... and the fourth one could use this skill. 

It didn’t take long for Behemot to find her. 

She stood behind Behemot, near where Ray’s severed arm had fallen. 

The bracer that exuded blood vapor was gone... 

“Wearing one half of an SUBM... interesting.” 

...And in its place stood a gold-copper-skinned goblin girl — Gardranda. 

Looking rather delighted, she eyed Behemot’s Greatest Top while she used the right bracer to fill the hall with her miasma. 

It leaked through the holes in the walls and ceiling, but there was still enough of it to cover the floor. This was obviously meant to be a smokescreen, because Behemot was immune to its debuffs. She had Bourdrim constantly active, so mist-based poison-type status effects were too unfocused to work on her. 

The carpet of smoke would only serve to help Eishiro deliver his surprise attack. 

In a way, the miasma hid the “shadow minefield” under it. 

Behemot actually found this situation a bit troubling. 

To ensure that she evaded Eishiro’s shadow ambush, she had to actually see the shadows, so she had to defeat Gardranda as soon as possible. 

Using Nullgravity Wings to rise above the smoke might have seemed like a good option, but it actually would be a mistake. She would be far slower in the air than on the ground, which would make her an easy target for Tsukuyo’s compressed debuffs. In the worst case scenario, Tsukuyo might even divide her resistances and END by 6, which would leave her vulnerable to the miasma’s debuffs. 

...She won’t be that hard to deal with, Behemot thought. 

Gardranda wasn’t all that fast, comparatively. She could surpass the speed of sound, but she was slower than Behemot, Ray, and Tsukikage. 

But getting too close to her is dangerous. Gardranda had assumed a stance where she focused miasma into her right hand and flame into her left. Behemot theorized that if she approached her, Gardranda would counterattack simply with concentrated miasma and flame. 

The Apex was right in her assumption, for Gardranda was Ray’s right hand and thus had developed an excellent grasp of the art of counterattacking. 

And if I focus too much on her counter... Tsukikage will use his final skill on me, Behemot thought. Gardranda’s appearance wasn’t her only problem, though — Greatest Top’s time limit was drawing ever closer. 

Gardranda was also on a time limit, but Ray had expended all the MP stored in Gouz-Maise to summon her, resulting in a summon time of a whole 600 seconds. That was significantly more than the two and a half minutes left for Greatest Top, and if Behemot wasted any time at all, those two and a half minutes would expire. 

With Greatest Top gone, Tsukikage would be able to target not just the sliver of flesh that Marie had exposed, but Behemot’s entire body. 

Behemot couldn’t run or stall any longer... her only choice was to fight Gardranda. 

In order to have a chance at victory, she had to go on the offensive. 

Thus, she gathered her resolve and really looked at Gardranda... as well as her surroundings. 

Fuso isn’t doing anything... and I can’t see Ray. Is he hiding like Adler did? Behemot thought. 

Tsukuyo wasn’t doing anything noteworthy, but Ray was nowhere in sight. Behemot guessed that he was hiding in one of Eishiro’s shadows. 

She hadn’t witnessed the moment he slid into them or the moment he summoned Gardranda, so she assumed that he’d done all of that while Marie used her ult. 

If Ray was also hiding in the shadows, it meant that she had two ambushes to anticipate. 

I still don’t have any other options... I’ll just do it, Behemot thought as she gathered her resolve and charged at Gardranda. 

She didn’t use the maser cannon. Doing so would slightly limit her movements, and with Ray and Marie having cracked open a gap in Greatest Top, that would give Eishiro an opening he could take advantage of. 

Behemot dashed towards Gardranda and attacked her with a Tiger Scratch from her left Crescent Glissando. 

The deadly horizontal multi-attack wasn’t something that Gardranda, being three times slower than Behemot, could possibly evade. 

However, dodging wasn’t Gardranda’s intention. 

Instead, she took a step forward, sacrificing her defense in favor of getting close enough to attack. 

A moment later, her left hand lit up... 

“Purgatorial Flames: Zero.” 

...And released immensely hot flames. 

This was Gardranda’s trump card — the skill that had once instantly destroyed a Legendary devil. 

It could easily incinerate any flesh it came into contact with, and Gardranda was thrusting it right towards Behemot’s exposed neck area. 

This was a proper, unavoidable counterattack — just like the one her summoner had done in this very same battle. 

But there was one difference now... 

I knew she would do that. 

...And that was the fact that Behemot had expected this the entire time. 

Before Gardranda’s attack connected, Behemot used her speed advantage to raise her right foreleg and block the strike. 

Gardranda’s face twisted in shock. Although the area around the right side of Behemot’s the neck was exposed, the foreleg was still fully armored, and its perfect resistance to changes in temperature completely nullified the effects of Purgatorial Flames. 

A moment later, Tiger Scratch hit Gardranda and cut her in half at the waist. 

Her lower half was pulverized by the two follow-up attacks, while the upper half was knocked all the way into the opposite wall. 

During the brief exchange, Behemot had easily dealt with Gardranda’s counterattack and defeated her utterly. 

However, she knew that this battle wasn’t over yet. 

There they are. A moment after her attack on Gardranda, Behemot sensed two entities move at the exact same time from different directions. 

She was aware that Gardranda’s counter was ultimately only a distraction meant to give the others a chance to ambush her. With the goblin gone, the miasma would disperse and expose Eishiro’s shadows, greatly reducing the chances of their ambush succeeding. 

Because of this, the best moment to strike was while Behemot was still re-orienting herself after the exchange with Gardranda. 

But I’ve seen this happen so often that I’m totally sick of it! Eishiro and Marie had simultaneously ambushed her from the shadows many times now and it hadn’t once worked. 

One entity emerged from a shadow in front of her, while the other came out from between 4 and 5 o’clock. 

The person standing before her was the now-familiar blond youth clad in black. 

I’ll deal with Ray later! I need to get rid of Tsukikage first...! Vengeance was a potent skill, but she could survive it as long as he didn’t strike anything vital. Eishiro’s attack, however, would mean instant death, so the order of precedence was easy to establish. 

Because of this, Behemot quickly turned towards the other attacker and launched Winged Ripper shockwaves towards it. 

She chose this attack over Tiger Scratch to keep him from getting too close. Winged Ripper was a ranged skill which allowed her to deal with the menace before he even reached her. 

She’d thought this through from all angles, and this was obviously the right choice to make. 

However, the one to be hit by the two shockwaves... 

“Ugh...” 

...Was indeed a blond youth clad in black — Ray. 

Shock overcame Behemot. Her thoughts were too overwhelming to be put into words, but one thing was foremost in her mind: They tricked me. 

She realized that she’d fallen into a trap. 

When she looked back at the other attacker, she instead saw Eishiro — who had just canceled his transformation into Ray Starling. 

Behemot simply wasn’t in possession of all the facts. 

Once, The Lunar Society had hunted down a UBM in Noz Forest. It was the same UBM that a particular member of the clan had told his step-son about. 

The UBM was a strange goblin that could transform himself into a wolf or bat, among other things. 

And it was a UBM whose MVP special reward had gone to Eishiro. 

The reward allowed him to change his appearance, and though Reveal would instantly see through it, the forms he could take were nearly endless. 

Thus, after he and Ray hid themselves in the shadows, he changed his appearance to Ray’s and purposely charged at Behemot head-on, expecting her to assume the other person was Eishiro and prioritize him instead. 

And that was exactly what happened. 

Behemot gasped as Eishiro drew close. She didn’t have the time to retaliate. 

A moment before she could defeat him, he would already be in touch range. 

Being a combat veteran, she instantly knew that this minor difference in timing meant that there was no hope for her. 

“Death and Murder.” 

And so, Eishiro reached for the area where Behemot was exposed... only to touch nothing but empty air. 

This was due to a difference of mere centimetels — a space about as big as the first two joints of a person’s finger. 

Eishiro hadn’t misjudged the distance, nor was he too slow. Behemot had actually created this tiny distance herself. 

She had purposely canceled Greatest Top before its time ran out. 

The special reward could be equipped and unequipped in an instant, and by canceling it, she had lowered her height. 

However slight, the difference was enough to decide the outcome. 

Death and Murder failed to reach her... and a moment later, Eishiro flew by her. 

This was the attack that would’ve landed had she not canceled Greatest Top. 

The effects of Death and Murder killed Eishiro in an instant, and his body soon dissolved into light. 

Marie’s ultimate bullet. Ray’s sacrifice, and Gardranda’s. 

They’d all given so much to make sure Eishiro’s final skill was delivered... and it was all for nothing. 

“...I won,” Behemot whispered, with her own voice and in a human language. 

Her tone made it obvious just how cornered she’d really been. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it might jump straight out of her mouth. 

In all her time as a Superior, she had never experienced such a desperate battle. 

Behemot had once fought Dryfe’s SMTF and a certain Superior. The possibility of Claudiah dying had really made her lose her composure back then, but this was the first time that she felt that way about her own life. 

If she had been just a split-second late with canceling Greatest Top, she would’ve definitely died. 

Being put in such a deadly situation had made her heart race at absurd speeds. 

“Ohhh, dear. So it didn’t work, huh?” Those words reached Behemot’s ears. 

They were spoken by Tsukuyo Fuso, the only Altarian left who was completely unharmed. 

The High Priestess was now the only target Behemot had to deal with. She’d kept her around as insurance, but that was no longer necessary. 

Tsukuyo was a Superior, but she was merely a support job, and there was no chance Behemot would give her the time to use her final skill in any case. 

She would now defeat Tsukuyo to achieve her ultimate victory here in the hall, then meet up with Leviathan to defeat Shu; then, she could return to Claudiah. 

If Claudiah had been defeated, Behemot would either face Altimia herself or take Claudiah and flee to safety. 

“It’s... too early... to say that...” Accompanied by the sound of moving rubble, she heard someone speak those words. 

Shock overwhelmed Behemot’s mind yet again. Though, this was something she had actually anticipated — she’d merely briefly forgotten it because of the life-and-death situation she’d just survived. 

Behemot looked at the man standing there. 

It was Ray, standing there with a massive wound in his chest. He looked like a shambling corpse. 

Despite his awful state, he wasn’t broken. 

Last Command — the Death Soldier skill that allowed the user to move around after their HP hit zero. 

This was the second time Behemot had faced someone with that skill, but it still surprised her. 

After all... Ray shouldn’t have been able to move. The hole in his chest had been opened by her Winged Ripper, and it had completely pulverized his left lung. 

It was obviously a fatal wound. 

...How? she thought, for this didn’t make sense to her. Even if he didn’t feel pain, losing a lung had to make it difficult for him to breathe... he should’ve been suffocating. 

According to tian accounts, the Death Soldier slaves who were dealt enough damage to lose all their HP couldn’t move properly, either because they suffered unbearable pain or their bodies were too mangled. 

Last Command did nothing but prolong their deaths. The most they could usually do was lay in place and use a self-destruct ability. 

This was why Last Command had always been seen as a useless skill. 

Despite that... Ray was still standing. 

Bearing an agony that would continue for perhaps dozens of seconds more, he stood before Behemot, looking at her with eyes devoid of resignation. 

She silently stared back at him. 

Behemot had the option to ignore him. Ray would die if she just kept her distance and waited for Last Command to expire. 

If Tsukuyo tried to resurrect him, Behemot could just take her out. 

Due to the fatal damage that had been dealt to him, Ray’s Vengeance would now deal significantly more damage than before. 

If it hit Behemot in the right place, it might even kill her. 

At the moment, fighting Ray now was both risky and offered no advantage. 

Some would even call it stupid. 

Even so... Behemot chose to face him. 

If she ignored the challenge of a dying... no... an already dead newbie, she would be undeserving of her status as The Physical Apex. 

Thus, she refused to run from him. 

Though there was nothing to gain from this battle, there was still meaning in it. 

If she wanted to remain King of Beasts, the Physical Apex... 

If she wanted to live in Infinite Dendrogram while being truly herself... 

If she wanted to be someone who wouldn’t embarrass her friend... 

...This was a battle she could not avoid. 

“I am the top of Dryfe Imperium’s kill rankings, King of Beasts, Behemot,” she said, in normal human words. 

Ray fully understood why she introduced herself again. 

He coughed up blood before responding the same way. “I am the leader... of the Kingdom of Altar’s second highest-ranking clan... Death Period... Paladin, Ray Starling...!” 

They re-introduced themselves as opponents in a duel. 

The Masters then once again looked directly at each other... 

“Bring it!” 

...And shouted to one another before charging forward. 

 

Last Command had 45 seconds left. 

Ray Starling the Unbreakable and Behemot the Physical Apex. 

These two would now have their final clash. 





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