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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 15 - Chapter 24




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Chapter Twenty-Four: Don’t Touch the GAME OVER

Royal Castle, Fourth Floor, Hallway

Damn it, what’s going on? Morter thought, sensing the sudden appearance of a vast concentration of magic below.

It was different from the one he was chasing and the one that wasn’t moving — a fourth source of magic.

Power-wise, it’s up there with that fiery old geezer’s. What’s the deal with this castle?

The magic he’d sensed belonged to Draconic Emperor, Canglong, but since Morter couldn’t know that, he was greatly perplexed.

Is this place actually haunted or something? He recognized this stray thought of his as the truth.

It accurately described his current situation.

Even now, he was being attacked by monsters. These obviously abnormal creatures chased after him, and he fought them all back, but he was immediately confronted with a new problem.

None of the monsters he’d defeated dissolved into light.

Upon death, they simply left the remains of what they had been: broken armor, shattered walls, collapsed flowers, torn paintings, and the like.

It was as though they had never been monsters at all — that they were nothing but objects that had gone out of control. No motes of light, no turning into loot... Something about them was different.

Morter didn’t even feel like he’d received any XP or anything when he killed them — something that would never happen if they were normal monsters.

An illusionist’s trick...? No way. Such illusions might’ve worked on someone else, but as Vespertilio Idea, who could move freely while remaining unperceived, he was nearly immune to illusions.

There were monsters here, even if they didn’t obey the relevant laws.

...And then there’s the biggest problem of all. Standing in front of a door, Morter glared at the magic he sensed on the other side.

There was the third abnormality — a fairly powerful magic signature.

The cause of all this weird shit could be on the other side, eh? The magic signature that had been moving through the fourth floor was now in front of him, behind this one single door.

It was as though it was waiting for something.

I got a bad feeling about this... I’d run if I could...but I can’t.

Morter resented the fragment of Idea within him — the very thing that kept him from running away.

That piece was what maintained the bodies of the people modified by the Embryo — the Ideas.

It was also a leash that would take control of his body away from him if he acted against his orders. Once under control, Morter’s body would be forced to do as he was bidden, but his movements would be far more awkward and less skilled than normal.

That would almost certainly lead to his death, so Morter had no choice but to obey.

Try to remove it and die, defy it and meet your end... This fucking setup, I swear...

He did like the powers he gained as an Idea, but the negatives had turned out to outweigh the positives.

I gotta do as Zeta told me and attack whoever this magic belongs to, he thought in resignation as he recalled the conversation.

“Important. The most important part of this request is to attack any strange person.”

“Strange? You know that if you include Masters, there’s strange people everywhere, right?”

“Aware. I know that. That’s why the entire city needs to be attacked.”

“...Huh?”

“Directive. I order Regina Apis Idea to destroy the city. The other three will assault the castle. You will sabotage the castle and attack anyone suspicious. It doesn’t matter if they survive or not.”

“...Are you insane?”

“Sane. I am of sound mind. This is part of the request we accepted, and chaos will help me achieve my own goal as well.”

“Is everything all right with your and the client’s wiring...?”

“Uncertain. I don’t know if either of our mental states are stable. However, for the client, this might be an important enough matter to ignore the resulting sacrifices.”

“...Man, if something’s important enough to call for that, I don’t even wanna know what it is.”

“Agreed. With that in mind, I want you to do this job.”

They had gone on to assault the castle, and Morter had followed an extremely suspicious magic signature.

Whatever’s behind this door is obviously something pretty weird... Did I hit the jackpot?

The moment that door was opened, the victor would be decided. Morter knew that full well, so he considered how he would go about this.

I’ll kick the door and activate the Darkness Boundary. They’ll lose sight of me, giving me a chance to end it all with Sudden Death.

Darkness Boundary was a function La Crima had implanted in him. It briefly absorbed the visible light in a certain range, robbing anyone in the affected area of their sight.

Sudden Death was King of Raids’ ultimate job skill.

It could only be used while undetected by the target, and it delivered a triple damage attack which ignored defense, endurance, and resistances. It also prevented the activation of the Brooches many people relied on to survive massive damage, and it was affected by the raider grouping’s basic skill, Sneak Raid, which tripled the damage done while undetected.

Modified as he was now, he could deliver Sudden Deaths powerful enough to utterly obliterate his targets.

Even when dealing with high HP opponents, he could still instantly kill them by targeting vital areas.

“Hm...” Even though he had figured out all of this in his head, Morter’s intuition and experience made him hesitate. He felt as though what waited for him behind the door was a bottomless pit.

But if he let fear hold him back, the Idea within him would forcefully take control, making him watch as his body headed to its death.

And even aside from that, there was the possibility of whoever was on the other side striking first.

Thus, Morter had only one choice here.

...Well, I guess I just gotta have faith. I’m a Superior Job — one of the few who rose above the rest. And even with all the dumb shit that came with it, I was given a crazy good body.

And so...

“Hh...!”

...he gathered his resolve and kicked open the door.

At the same moment, he activated the Darkness Boundary, drowning the surroundings in pitch black.


Even though he was also now plunged into darkness, being mixed with a bat-like Pure-Dragon-tier creature had granted him hearing good enough to perceive his enemy.

There’s two of them...?! I see...so one’s riding the other! Since they were so close together, he’d mistaken them for a single magic signature — assuming both of them had one, of course.

Below is a four-legged monster, above is...a really small human! The moment his hearing allowed him to grasp this, Morter instantly selected his target.

I’ll go for the one on top! Following Zeta’s order, he kicked off the floor and ceiling several times before approaching the strange, short person on the monster’s back.

Sudden Death! He spoke the skill name in his mind before swinging his blade-like claws down towards the back of the tiny figure’s neck.

Morter’s attack, backed by the power of a lethal skill, struck the tiny target.

“...What?” he muttered, and he stared at his claws, thoroughly confused.

The attack that was supposed to end a life didn’t even break through the skin.

It wasn’t just that — it seemed like the target wasn’t even affected by the attack at all.

Soon after, the effects of the Darkness Boundary expired, bringing light back to the world.

The moment his perception switched from sonar to visual...

“...HOW?!”

...he was overcome by immense shock.

His target — who had been unharmed by his deadly swing — turned out to be nothing but a little girl.

Mounted upon a four-legged beast, she looked at him with a disinterested expression and eyes that held no emotion.

I know she seemed small, but...an actual child?! A child was just hit by my ultimate skill and felt...nothing?!

Morter quickly used Reveal to find out more about her.

Theresia Celestite Altar

Job: None

Level: 0 (Total Level: 0)

The info he was given only made him realize that she had no jobs at all.

The only thing he’d learned was that according to her name, she was none other than the Third Princess of Altar.

“No... There’s no way!” Faced with this impossible reality, Morter rejected the facts he had just been given.

There’s no way this girl is powerless! She’s not just a princess. “Strange” doesn’t even begin to describe her... She has to be the most abnormal thing in the entire world!

Zeta’s order flashed back into his mind. Theresia now disturbed him far more than any of the I.F. members or his fellow Ideas had ever done.

“There’s nothing strange about this,” Theresia said, as though she had read his mind. Morter instantly jumped back to put some distance between them. “I survived because of my Brooch. There aren’t any fragments around because the Brooch just happened to not break. Your attack really scared me.”

Theresia described the situation in a way that made her seem like a normal child. Morter didn’t have Truth Discernment, but he didn’t need it to know that she was lying.

After all, Sudden Death was a skill that couldn’t be negated by Brooches.

In his mind, it would’ve been far better if the Brooch had activated for some reason.

He also felt that just like Reveal had failed him with her, Truth Discernment would also mean nothing against this girl even if he had possessed the skill.

“You followed the magic, didn’t you? You must’ve felt Dor, then. I mean, he’s my protector. He’s very strong...strong enough to destroy the world,” Theresia said as she pet the beast — Dormouse.

Perhaps she was right that Morter felt Dormouse’s magic, but despite that — or perhaps because of it — he found the girl herself so abnormal that the magic signature meant nothing, no matter how vast it was.

“I’m just a normal girl, and Dor is my very strong protector. Your attack just happened to be blocked by my Brooch. There’s nothing here that your leader would want. That’s a reasonable explanation for all of this, but...” Theresia said as she looked at Morter with unreadable eyes, “...you won’t just accept it and leave, will you?”

The little girl’s aura was so overwhelmingly powerful that it might just be enough to make any ordinary person lose their minds or even die.

“Huh... Gh...” Morter couldn’t even bring himself to respond.

“...Very well. If you want information, then you can bring this back.”

Before he could say anything, the girl’s tone became more mature as she continued to speak.

“I am... ■■■ ■■■■.”

Her words, however, failed to reach him.

Or, more precisely, they reached him as nothing but meaningless noise.

“You probably couldn’t hear that. My job as ■■■ ■■■■ is camouflaged, and I can’t say the name to anyone myself. Though, I’ll still tell you what I know. You might not hear certain bits, but I want to convey it to you as is. The general meaning should still get through to you. This assault was orchestrated by someone who wants me eliminated, so the capital was attacked so that they could find out who I am. I’ll give you the answer, and that info by itself should satisfy them.”

“Wa—” Morter wanted to say “Wait,” but Theresia continued before he could finish.

“Also, it’d be troublesome if you died this close to me. Progression is slowed down thanks to Dor handling it, but if there are too many deaths nearby, some of it will get through. Also, the amount absorbed is the greatest when I or ■■ ■■■■■■■■■■ do the killing directly, and Dor doesn’t have the authority to eliminate you because of the Embryo you’ve been mixed with. Not many people die in the castle, and the barrier prevents ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■ from the outside, so this would be inconvenient. ■■■ ■■■■■■’s appearance would be pushed forward.”

Morter couldn’t understand — or even hear — a lot of what she said.

“Dor can destroy the world, but the ■■■■ ■■■■ would ■■■■ it.”

Morter’s very cells understood that he was just too insignificant to hear her words.

They were meant for those far more special than him.

He felt as though hearing this alien information would rob him of everything, even the prospect of a normal death.

Why must I hear this? Morter thought with the remaining fragments of his sanity.

“That’s why I want you to stop attacking me. Otherwise, more safety functions will be activated. The more danger I am in, the more of them are freed. Like how ■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ was unlocked because of Sechs.”

She spoke the name of the leader of I.F. — the one who outranked even those who had defeated him, modified him, and used him — but Morter was in no state to acknowledge that. But for some reason, he felt that some of the words he couldn’t hear had something to do with the bizarre monsters he faced back in the hallway.

“Back when Gloria attacked, I thought that I could end it all by taking it down with me. You just aren’t enough to deal with me... And now that I think about it, Gloria was modified too, so maybe not even that monster could’ve touched me.”

Theresia’s expression slightly changed.

“My safety functions are automatic. They’re activated to eliminate any threats and to keep me alive. You can see it in the ■■■■■■■■■■ that attacked you. You can’t hurt me because you’ve been mixed with a foreign object, but it still reacts to your attacks and skills. The reaction is weak because they caused no damage, but if you keep this up...it will surely be released. Eventually, ■■■ ■■■■■■ will show about half of its face...and that’s terrifying.”

She said that last word with a truly worried expression.

She was terrified not of Morter’s attacks...but of something within herself — the automatic defensive reaction of the power lying dormant inside her, ready to create unnatural monsters and whatever else it took every time she was attacked or put in danger.

This scared her like nothing else.

“I don’t want to release more of this power. I might kill my sister with it. So please...don’t touch me,” she said. With that, she had finished giving Morter his information and laid a hand on her chest. “...Don’t touch the GAME OVER.”

An ultimatum, delivered calmly.





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