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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 16 - Chapter 4




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Chapter Four: The Chain

Armored Pilot, Hugo Lesseps

After ending the call with Teach, we continued the search for the Murder Princess and the tian with her.

I had actually been aware of the Murder Princess before that conversation.

She was rather famous among wanted criminals, and I’d heard about her a good number of times while I was still in Dryfe as a member of The Triangle of Wisdom.

Honestly, I had trouble believing that girl and the infamous Murder Princess were one and the same. Though maybe a bit immature for her age, she seemed like a normal kid.

Still, I knew I had to do something. If it turned out that she really was the Murder Princess, the situation could get really bad.

“Can you feel something?” I asked Cyco.

“Hmm... She’s not nearby.” Cyco could sense any kinslayers in her immediate surroundings — specifically, within the effective range of La Porte de l’Enfer.

The girl’s appearance and stats were concealed, making Cyco’s skill the best way to search for her, but Cortana was quite a large city. Built around a lake, it was doughnut-shaped — but even taking that into account, it covered a massive area.

The range of Cyco’s senses would be only a small dot on the map.

“Compared to this city...my power is minuscule.”

Oh... She’s a bit sad about it, I thought.

“It’s like your chest in real life,” she continued.

...But not sad enough to be nice, I thought again. And it’s not that small... I’m still growing!

“Anyway, we need to keep combing the city,” I said. “If something happens, it’ll be too late.”

“Yeah,” Cyco replied. “You should also consider that they might attack you.”

“...That is true,” I nodded. They now knew my face, and Teach’s face too. If they realized that she was part of Sefirot, it was possible that they would launch some assault against us.

I couldn’t just ride White Rose around town, but I could at least prepare to take it out of my Instant Release inventory.

Several dozen minutes of searching later, we arrived at a bazaar full of people doing business while seated on carpets. Some were even selling wares that were on the larger side — I could see caged monsters in the distance. Careful not to be swept up by the crowd, I entered a relatively empty alleyway.

“Ohh? Well if it isn’t a Maiden I have seen before,” someone suddenly said — clearly addressing us.

“Hm?” I looked around, but I couldn’t see anybody. “Who’s there?” I asked.

The “Maiden” mentioned by the voice could only be Cyco, but that didn’t make sense.

To prevent the Murder Princess and the tian with her from gathering too much information about us, I had Cyco use Crest Disguise, just like I had back when we first met Ray.

However, the voice seemed certain that Cyco was indeed a Maiden.

The fact that they had also “seen her before” implied that the voice didn’t belong to a stranger, but there wasn’t a familiar face anywhere in sight.

“To fail to recognize me this badly... You should know that even my feelings can be hurt,” the voice said.

“Hugo. Down,” snapped Cyco.

“Huh?” I said and looked down, where I saw a mop of purple hair that didn’t even reach my waist.

Apparently, the person talking to us was so small that I had completely overlooked them.

...My avatar was way taller than my real height, so I had trouble acting my size.

“I called out to an acquaintance only to have that same acquaintance imply that I am tiny... How disappointing...” the person — a girl smaller than even Cyco — said, covering her face.

I couldn’t see her expression, but I could see that her small body was covered in an ancient Grecian-style dress that left one of her shoulders exposed. Just like her hair, it was purple, and the predominance of this color helped me remember who she was.

“...Are you Persephone?” I asked.

“Oh? You do remember? I was worried, seeing as we barely talked when we met at The Triangle of Wisdom...but you seem to have a good memory!” she said, standing on her toes and slapping my shoulder a couple times.

“Though, Franklin told us a great deal about you. For example, you are the clan’s rising star — and a Maiden’s Master, just like my Master Dearest! ‘Hugo’ and ‘Cuckoo,’ was it?”

“...I’m Cyco.”

“Oh, I got it wrong! My apologies!”

“Well, you look like some kind of colorful baby bird, so it’s not surprising that you’d have the memory of a bird too. It’s fine.”

“This is the first time we have even talked! Why are you so mean?!” the girl exclaimed.

Anyway, I did indeed know who she was.

She was Persephone — a Maiden Embryo, just like Cyco. The one she referred to as “Master Dearest” was...well, her Master — King of Tartarus, Benetnasch. He’d once helped my sis with some particular research projects.

“Now, why is a member of The Triangle of Wisdom here in Caldina? Traveling, I presume?” Persephone asked.

“More or less...and since you’re here, that means that...”

“Indeed. Master Dearest is in the city, as well. Ohh, he is currently at the mayor’s residence, facing a Magingear. A metal giant with a sky blue color,” she casually said with one eye closed.

“Huh...?!” I exclaimed. If she was telling the truth, then Teach was currently fighting Benetnasch.

I spent a moment wondering how it could have come to that and remembered what Teach said at the café.

“Is he here...to get the Orb?” I asked.

“You know about it? Impressive. Wait, are you after it as well? What a coincidence!” Persephone said.

Teach had mentioned that other Superiors were after the Orbs, but I never would’ve guessed that the King of Tartarus was one of them...

“Why is he after it...?”

“Ohh, saying that would infringe on Master Dearest’s privacy. I cannot give you the details, but I can give you the rough outline.”

“Huh?”

“Basically, he is chasing an unreachable dream. He is searching for something that would let him achieve an impossible task. Though, assuming it is possible, his best bet is to take me to the next stage,” she explained.

I looked at her in silence. Her description was abstract and I could barely understand the details.

However, one thing was fairly obvious.

Persephone was a Superior Embryo — one in her seventh form — and Benetnasch was after something that required “taking her to the next stage,” as in making her evolve to the eighth form, something that wasn’t even confirmed to exist.

There was a chance that the Orb in Cortana, which was said to “grant a new life eternal,” could help him achieve whatever it was he was after, so he was now fighting Teach for it.

“Personally, I wish he would focus on the main objective instead of getting sidetracked by these futile wastes of time... And how am I supposed to feel if he achieves his goal without me?”

“...Oh. I see,” said Cyco, noticing something. “So that’s why you’re not helping him fight AR-I-CA.”

“More like not helping him hunt the Orbs at all. I am boycotting this meaningless endeavor!” she claimed.

...So Persephone was walking around here instead of helping her Master because she was fundamentally against what he was doing. That must’ve been part of the reason why she revealed some information about her Master’s goal. It wasn’t uncommon for Maidens and humanoid Guardians to act on their own will, but Persephone seemed to take it a little far.

“Wait, if Master Dearest is fighting a Magingear pilot... Is it an acquaintance of yours?” she asked.

“...What if it is?” I countered.

“I pray that they do manage to take away the Orb! It is a nuisance! A revolting one, at that! I do not even want him to have it!”

...This is the first time I’ve seen an Embryo actually wish for her own Master to lose, I thought in surprise. What does she mean by “revolting,” though?

“So there! I will not involve myself in the fight... So don’t even think of harming me!”

...Pardon? I thought, eyebrow raised.

“Do not attack me thinking it would help your pilot friend!” she explained.

Well, I suppose it wasn’t out of the question that we’d decide to do something like that. Persephone was Benetnasch’s Embryo, and though she wasn’t helping him now, there was no guarantee that wouldn’t change if he was close to getting the death penalty.

We did have the option of beating her just to raise Teach’s chances.

“Wh-What is that look in your eyes supposed to mean?! Just so you know, I am frail and weak! Even a low-rank Guardian would leave me beaten and crying! So don’t attack me! And no looking at me with those eyes! I know what is currently going through your head! You are thinking ‘What nonsense is that? You’re a Superior Embryo,’ are you not?!”

What nonsense is that? You’re a Superior Embryo, I thought.

“The idea that every Superior Embryo is strong is a myth! And I am so specialized on one thing that I am especially weak! I cannot even be compared to that Pandemonium your clan leader has! That is a monster factory first and foremost, but it is plenty strong even when used to just trample — plus, it has camouflage! I am not nearly as versatile!” The Superior Embryo continued to desperately assert her weakness, leaving me unsure how to react.

Honestly, I felt like it was best to just leave her be, though that didn’t change the fact that Benetnasch and Teach were fighting. That was something that I couldn’t ignore.

But there was still the matter of the Murder Princess. What was I to do in this situation...?

“By the way, Hugo,” Cyco asked telepathically.

What is it? I replied in thought.

“Persephone is a bit like Nemesis, isn’t she? A bit smaller than even her, though.”

...Yeah, I thought that too.

Their appearances and mannerisms weren’t exactly the same, but they were alike in many ways.

I had no idea why, though.

It wasn’t like Embryos had siblings, after all.

◇◆◇

City of Commerce, Cortana, The Mayor’s Mansion

During Hugo’s encounter with Persephone, the two Superiors at the mansion were still fighting.

Blue Opera danced in the air at supersonic speeds, raining down bombs and artillery that quickly turned the mansion’s garden into a devastated wasteland.

Despite that, Benetnasch was unharmed.

“Necro Aura, Necro Repair.” He cast his skills as he stood.

“This is the third time... Goddamn, you’re tough!” AR-I-CA spat out. The necromancer was protected by Aragorn — an ex-Dragon King specialized in STR and END.

The King of Tartarus’s combat style could be summarized with the phrase “tank and caster.”

He used sturdy undead like Aragorn as vanguards while staying back and buffing them, debuffing the enemies, or casting offensive magic. It was a configuration that was focused on defense first and foremost.

It was hard to break through even for a Superior — especially one like AR-I-CA, whose offensive abilities were lower than the average Superior.

No matter how intensely she attacked, Aragorn only lost an insignificant amount of HP. That was quickly healed by Necro Repair — a regeneration buff — leaving the bone dragon completely unharmed.

On the other hand, Benetnasch and Aragorn had yet to land a single hit on AR-I-CA.

“Such an irritating assault,” Aragorn said with a growl. “Friend, my blade just cannot reach her.”

“And she’s out of the range of my spells...” Benetnasch added.

Aragorn’s attacks were purely physical, limited by the range of his skeletal frame. He could leap extremely high, but even that wouldn’t have helped him harm AR-I-CA, who had far more maneuverability and could use Cassandra to avoid danger.

In fact, trying to attack her in that way would leave Benetnasch vulnerable to her artillery, which would quickly result in a death penalty for him.

Benetnasch himself couldn’t attack her either. At the very least, she was outside the range of his curse-based debuffs.

His main alternative to that was his equivalent of the Lich’s Deadly Mixer — the High Necromancer’s ultimate job skill called “Deadly Explosion.”

This skill made grudge combust to create an explosion. That might reach her, but chances were that she would evade it.

With the amount of grudge that saturated the mayor’s mansion, the whole place was like powder keg. Deadly Explosion would no doubt level everything in the area. That did make the explosion potentially powerful enough to reach AR-I-CA.

However, Benetnasch had refrained from using it so far because it would kill so many innocent people. Even ignoring the mayor, who was on the verge of losing his last shreds of humanity, there were still servants and similar individuals who would no doubt die in the explosion.

“Well, with how much grudge there is around here, I’ll have to burn it down anyway,” Benetnasch said.

“Indeed,” Aragorn agreed. “The grudge here is abnormally dense. Were I a grudge-based undead, I would have no doubt been affected.”

The dragon was undead, but he wasn’t powered by grudge.

This was a result of the manner in which he had been created.

The necromancer grouping powered their undead using either grudge or their own magic. Maise, the Lich of the Gouz-Maise Gang that Hugo once fought, had used grudge. Benetnasch, on the other hand, used magic.

Grudge-based undead weren’t taxing on the caster, but they were never intelligent and came with the risk of escaping the caster’s control.

Magic-based undead were the opposite, eating away at the caster’s magic in exchange for creating an undead monster like Aragorn, which retained the soul and mind they had in life.

Another flaw of magic-based undead was that they had enough free will to disobey the one who had resurrected them, but Benetnasch had forged a relationship of mutual trust with his undead — Aragorn included — so that wasn’t a problem for him.

The army of the dead he commanded — his company — was no doubt a force to be reckoned with, but he had no allies who could counter Blue Opera.

“It seems like I really should’ve gotten someone who can fly,” Benetnasch said. “But undead skydragons lose a lot of the flying ability they had in life... That’s not the case with Dragon Spirits, but you can’t ride those.”

It was worth noting that undead avians could fly as well in death as they could in life, but Benetnasch did not have command of such a beast. The reason for that was that Aragorn unconditionally hated all avians, which showed that not even death could cure a landdragon’s natural prejudice.

“I could’ve done something if Persephone was here, though...” he said with a sigh. He recalled how, right as they’d arrived at Cortana, Persephone had said, “I am not helping you look for any Orb, you cheater!” and walked away from him.

At any rate, this battle was a stalemate. AR-I-CA’s attacks were all blocked by Aragorn, while Benetnasch’s attacks couldn’t reach her.

This will never end, huh? AR-I-CA thought and sighed. I guess this is still better than dealin’ with Carl’s broken defense.

Neither of them had any moves that could quickly conclude this battle.

AR-I-CA had her ultimate skill — the one she’d used to break through Dangai’s electrical defense.

Benetnasch also had an ace up his sleeve that he could use without Persephone present, and it would likely be enough to defeat AR-I-CA.

However, neither of them intended to use these for two reasons: first, they were extremely costly, and second, they had to consider the possibility of additional enemies.

The mayor’s mansion was already being targeted by King of Tartarus and Ace — two powerful Superiors. Neither of them were stupid or optimistic enough to believe that they would be the only ones who might get involved in the struggle for this Orb. This was doubly true for AR-I-CA, who knew that the Murder Princess was in this city.

Man... What to do? What to dooo? AR-I-CA thought. If this continued, Benetnasch would definitely gain the upper hand.

In battle, Magingears quickly drained the pilot’s MP. With Blue Opera being more advanced and power-intensive than the usual Magingear, as well as with all the skills AR-I-CA was using, her MP wouldn’t hold forever. Her Superior Job, Ace, provided her with vast MP reserves, but there was still a limit to how long she could fight.

Benetnasch’s Aragorn, on the other hand, was undead. That meant that there was no limit to his health, while the amount of MP the necromancer was using on skills was no doubt less than AR-I-CA’s.

If this battle continued for an hour or two, Benetnasch would eventually come out on top.

Looks like that’s his plan too, she thought. Well, the boney boy has the endurance for it. It looks like it was made using material from...an Ancient Legendary dragon king. It actually looks like something Fran’d make. For a girl, she really likes dragons and reptiles and stuff.

Remembering her friend, AR-I-CA smiled to herself.

Oh well. The situation won’t get any better for me, so I guess I’ll have to use the quest item, she thought, taking an object out.

It was the Orb containing Thundershield Beast, Dangai — the very same one that she’d taken off of Zhang Zangqi in Hermine.

Taking on the will of its new wielder, the lightning-clad UBM unleashed its power, quickly enveloping Blue Opera’s armor in lightning — but not even scratching it.

The lightning then focused on the rifle in the unit’s hands...

“BANG!”

...and imbued the shell it fired.

The charged projectile cut the air and landed straight on Aragorn.

“Ah...!”

“This is...!”

Both Benetnasch and Aragorn were overcome by shock at what happened next — the impact shattered one of the dragon’s ribs.

Thundershield Beast, Dangai possessed the power of lightning, and he also controlled it to a minute degree.

AR-I-CA had covered her bullet in this lightning in an attempt to enhance its power, and it had been entirely successful.

Unlike her previous attacks, which had all been deflected by Aragorn’s sturdy frame, this shell clearly injured him.

There were multiple reasons why it was so effective.

Being undead, Aragorn had high physical defense and nigh inexhaustible fortitude — but in exchange, he’d lost many of the qualities he’d had in life. This included defensive skills like Dragon King Aura as well as all of the elemental resistances dragons tended to have.

Because of this, the storm of lightning shells shaved away his HP at a rate so high that Necro Repair couldn’t keep up.

Additionally, since the lightning had come from Dangai from within the Orb, it didn’t drain any more of AR-I-CA’s MP.

“Albeit weak, I sense the power of a fellow Ancient Legendary,” said Aragorn. “My friend, it does not seem that we can wait until our adversary exhausts her magic.”

A quick analysis of the situation was enough for him to realize that his HP would run out faster than AR-I-CA would run out of fuel.

In response, Benetnasch spent a moment thinking before giving a nod and saying, “...All right, I’ll do something.”

With the stalemate broken, he gathered his resolve to use the ace up his sleeve.

“I can’t use Persephone’s ultimate...so I’ll use this,” he said, pulling out the pendant hanging over his neck.

It looked like the lower half of a gargoyle, but it was made of a strange metal. At first glance it seemed to be silver, but it had a luster that proved it was anything but.

“...You will awaken it?” Aragorn asked.

“This will no doubt withstand her attacks. And while it protects me, you can go on the offensive.”

“But my blade cannot—”

“I don’t mean attacking her. I want you to chase after the mayor and secure the Orb. Once you get back, we’ll leave this place, go pick up Persephone, and then escape the city.”

“I see. Very well.”

“All right... Here I go. Awaken, Standing and Indomi—”

Right as he was about to pull out the ace up his sleeve...

“...Huh? Persephone?”

“Hm...? Yu?”

...both he and AR-I-CA received messages from their companions in some other part of the city. A moment later, screams rang out from somewhere in Cortana.

◇◇◇

Armored Pilot, Hugo Lesseps.

“The Murder Princess might be in this city? Good grief, we’ve got quite the crowd of walking disasters here!” said Persephone.

I’d ended up explaining our goal to her as well. Or more accurately, she asked and I just answered.

“But...Murder Princess, eh? I see...” she said, smiling for some reason. “Heh heh. That makes this city a true crucible of death. One who transcends death, one who mass-produces death, one who changes the meaning of death... Certainly this is not the result of deliberate meddling, but it is no doubt interesting.”

“Hm?” I raised an eyebrow, not sure what she was talking about.

“So, I assume you wish to both keep me from going to assist Master Dearest, while also maintaining the search for the Murder Princesss?” she asked.

“...You could say that, yeah,” I said.

“How greedy of you. But...very well. I will help you in your search.”

“Huh?”

“For better or worse, I have nothing better to do, and this will likely be more productive for me and Master Dearest than fooling around with some Orbs.”

“Productive? In what way?”

“I cannot say that, but rest assured that it will not be detrimental to you as you are now,” she said before walking away. “Come. Let us go. You wish to find her quickly, do you not?”

“...Yeah,” I said, and Cyco and I followed after her.

I intended to search for the Murder Princess while keeping an eye on Persephone, but she was the one who took charge.

She was so lively that it was hard to believe she was the same girl who had just recently been reduced to tears, whining about how weak she was.

With her in the lead, we walked deeper into the bazaar.

But suddenly, she turned around.

“Oh! If we will be together for the time being, why don’t we have a conversation?” she said.

“Like...?” I asked.

“Well, I may answer your questions. Is there anything you wish to ask?”

“Your clothes leave your shoulder exposed... How can you handle this heat?” Cyco asked.

...Is that really the thing you’re most curious about? I asked her in thought.

“Heh heh heh. Quite easily, actually,” Persephone chuckled. “I have a passive skill called ‘Kálypsi ton Nekrón.’ It gives undead enough sunlight and heat resistance to let them operate at full capacity even in broad daylight! I can use it on myself too, so I will never be sunburned.”

“...That sounds so nice,” Cyco said with a jealous expression.

I could tell by her expression that this made her wish she had a higher level of control over ice, which she’d use to keep her ice cream from melting.

“What about you? Any questions?” Persephone asked.

“...Yeah,” I said before posing a question that had been bothering me for a while. “It’s about The Triangle of Wisdom’s grudge engine research. Why did your Master help with that?”

At one point in the past, the clan...or rather, my sister had an idea for engines that ran on grudge. Magingears were MP hogs, and she thought she could fix this issue by giving them the ability to convert any surrounding grudge into usable energy.

That was her reason for investing into this research. For all I knew, she might’ve even planned to use the results to overcome the White Rose’s greatest flaw.

However, Benetnasch didn’t seem to have any obvious motive for helping. I’d thought that he might’ve cooperated in exchange for money, items, or some other reward, but he didn’t seem like the type of person who’d be convinced by that kind of thing.

That was why I just directly asked Persephone about it.

Her answer...

“Because it would make cleaning up easier.”

...was a bit hard to understand.

“...Cleaning up?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ohh, not the mop and bucket kind of cleanup, of course. Master Dearest takes care of that himself. I mean the cleaning up of grudge.”

“Hm?”

“Explaining what I mean requires explaining the nature of grudge and souls... Hmm... Give me one moment,” Persephone said before heading off to a nearby bazaar stand.

She came back with a cup full of juice, complete with large chunks of ice.

“Thirsty?” asked Cyco.

“No. This is for the explanation,” she said as she used the straw to point to the cup, ice, and then the juice. “So, here are the parallels. Assuming that the cup is the body and the ice floating in it is the soul, then the juice filling it is what you might call the ‘mind’ or the ‘heart.’”

Flesh, soul, mind or heart... I thought.

“Master Dearest and myself can see souls, so we know that there are ghosts who do not count as monsters,” she continued.

I was aware of graveyard- and dungeon-dwelling undead like Spirits and Wraiths, but she was obviously talking about something different.

“Imagine if the cup — the body — is lost, leaving the ice — the soul — exposed. Ghosts would then be like the remnants of juice — the mind — that still cling to the ice. If these remnants vanish, the pure soul also vanishes. In fact, it vanishes in the process of any normal bodily death. The remnants are what some might call ‘regrets’ and without them, the soul merely vanishes in peace.”

Hearing this made me wonder if there were any real world religions with a similar outlook on death, but that line of thought was a bit too much for a girl who’d just turned fifteen.

“And grudge is...akin to boiling water,” she continued.

“Boiling water?”

“A fraction of mind that has had its nature changed. Minds that die while harboring great resentment or dread boil especially well. Of course, you can feel such things while alive...but they are not much of a problem then. At most, you will generate an apparition or some negative emotional energy,” Persephone explained.

...I could understand that. Ray’s Grudge-Soaked Greaves turned grudge into MP and SP, but they could feed just fine on the negative emotions of living people.

“But matters are different when death is involved. As a corrupted form of the mind, grudge can greatly affect the bodies and souls of the dead,” she continued before downing all the juice in the cup. “Phew... For example, if you fill an empty cup with boiling water, it will be difficult to touch that cup with your bare hands. In this analogy, that is an undead monster — albeit a kind quite unlike Master Dearest’s magic-based undead. Oh, and I suppose it needs to be mentioned that grudge-defiled items may become cursed.”

Persephone then paused for a moment, then took a piece of ice in the cup.

“Now, what would happen to the soul of a dead person — this piece of ice — If it were to fall into boiling water?” she asked.

“...It would melt and disappear,” I answered.

“Exactly. If the water is lukewarm, a soul may remain in some cases, usually as undead like Spirits, but boiling water... Truly deep grudge melts souls completely and turns them into more grudge. After that, nothing is left. At the very least, the soul would not vanish peacefully,” she explained.

The idea that grudge literally melted souls made a light chill run down my spine.

“The souls of villains are especially susceptible. Exposed to the grudge of others throughout their lives, they are already partially melted. Prime for the crucible.”

Those words reminded me of the Gouz-Maise Gang.

They were fiends in life and became an undead monster in death. That UBM — Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise — seemed to be exactly what she was talking about — a monster born from the molten grudge of many vile souls.

If that was the case, it would explain why the damage Nemesis had accumulated while fighting Maise could be used for a Vengeance on the UBM he became a part of.


“On the journey to achieve his goal, Master Dearest had made a point to disperse any grudge that could melt away pure souls, but since there is so much of it in this world, continually replenished by the vices of man, he cannot disperse it all no matter how hard he may try. It is such a threat to souls, however, he could not simply ignore it either. That is why he cooperated with Franklin.”

She’d finally reached the part that I wanted to hear about.

“If they were able to create a mechanism that absorbs grudge and turns it into energy, there would certainly be far less of it in the world, especially if the technology spread across the land. Master Dearest would have less work to do, and the pure souls he wished to save would vanish far less often,” Persephone explained before her expression became somewhat saddened. “Though as you are well aware, they only created engines that lost more and more control the more grudge they gathered. They were essentially machines that automatically moved towards creating more grudge — the exact opposite of what Master Dearest wanted.”

I didn’t know what to say here, but my expression seemed to be response enough.

“Do not make such a face. The Triangle of Wisdom is not at fault. This merely proved that there is a limit to how much control technology can have over the realm of souls. Magic or science — the result is the same,” she said.

She had a point. Sis tampered with grudge using science, while Maise the Lich took the magical approach, but the result was the same — complete lack of control.

Perhaps this meant this wasn’t something people should have been meddling with in the first place.

“Because of that, Master Dearest still continues his ‘treatments.’ He has a core goal to achieve, yet he still makes certain to disperse any gatherings of grudge. Good grief... He burdened himself with far too much,” Persephone sighed.

Her expression seemed far beyond her apparent age.

Also, what she’d said so far made me curious about something else.

“...May I ask two more questions?” I asked.

“You may.”

“Everything you said makes it sound like your Master is very busy... How long does he usually stay logged in?”

“Converting to the other side’s time, about twenty-two hours per day. He never forgets to eat, relieve himself, and bathe, but any time not doing those things is spent here.”

I was at a loss for words. What she just said made me all the more curious about the answer to the third question I had.

It pertained to King of Tartarus’s motivations.

What Persephone said so far was enough for me to understand what he was doing. It might’ve been a slip of the tongue, but she’d said, “the pure souls he wished to save would vanish far less often,” and I felt that that was the heart of it.

He wanted to save souls. He was probably after Cortana’s Orb for the same reason — he thought that its power to grant “a new life eternal” could be used to that end.

He cooperated with The Triangle of Wisdom, purified grudge the land over, and now worked to gather these Orbs, putting in obscene amounts of effort...all to save souls.

But...I didn’t know his reasons for doing this.

He certainly wasn’t the kind of person to save the dead just for the sense of accomplishment. I’d seen him a few times while he was at The Triangle of Wisdom, but I’d never once seen him having a good time.

He always looked tired, worn out — and like he was feeling responsible for something.

And now I just found out that he was even sacrificing his real life to keep doing what he was doing here.

Basically...he wasn’t enjoying Infinite Dendrogram at all.

I was a Maiden Master myself, and I didn’t think of this world as a mere game. However, I would never be able to sacrifice my real life to save the dead of Infinite Dendrogram.

This world and reality — they were both worlds I lived in and belonged to.

For Benetnasch, though, this world had far more weight than the other one.

“Why does he go so far...?” I asked. He’d sacrificed his real life and was now traversing this scorching desert. What was he actually seeking here? Why was he trying to save these souls?

In response, Persephone...

“...I see I said too much. I cannot answer that.”

...didn’t give me an answer.

“And even if I did say it, you would not fully comprehend it. Your nature is different from his.”

“What do you mean...?”

“I believe the only ones who could understand it are Masters who have already pulverized their minds and hearts for the sake of this world, yet still cannot break. Though I do doubt there are any besides Master Dearest.”

Persephone’s words brought the image of a certain friend’s face to the forefront of my mind.

Perhaps he could understand it?

The moment that thought passed through my mind...

“Ah...! Hugo!”

“Seems like this conversation is over. Hmm... So this is the Murder Princess? What a curious presence she has.”

...the two Maidens said all of that, putting me on edge.

At the same time, I heard something shatter, followed by the roar of a beast.

◆◆◆

City of Commerce, Cortana, Bazaar, A Short While Ago

Meanwhile, Zhang and Emily were actually in the very same bazaar as Hugo’s group. The pair had already used their accessories to change their appearances, this time making both Zhang and Emily look like harmless tians.

Zhang had one of his eyes covered up, overawed by what he was seeing.

So that is the zenith of western necromancy... King of Tartarus the “Indestructible,” he thought. “Indestructible” was the least threatening of Benetnasch’s multiple nicknames.

Zhang was watching the events at the mayor’s mansion using the vision of a bird jiangshi under his command. Having been informed by Rascal that King of Tartarus was in Cortana, he’d sent the creature to do some recon around the mansion.

Although jiangshi were undead that ran on magic rather than grudge, they had no will of their own, instead moving like machines controlled by the Fu that acted as a substitute brain. Additional Fu could be used to do things such as lessen the negative effects of sunlight, making them quite versatile as far as undead went.

The problem with them was that they could only operate based on set patterns imprinted on the Fu, but that usually presented no obstacle with a simple task like observation.

His undead are far superior to mine. A fight against him would be nearly hopeless even when I still had my Wuxing Jilong, he thought, looking at Aragorn.

Even with the five Pure-Dragon jiangshi that had been his namesake, at best Zhang could have hoped for an outcome where both he and Benetnasch were defeated.

To have even the slightest chance of winning the battle alive, he’d have to still possess Dangai’s Orb and give it everything he had. That was how wide the gap was between him and Benetnasch.

I see that powerful people have indeed gathered here...just as Rascal expected. This fact made Zhang feel uneasy.

The one Orb here in Cortana had attracted the Indestructible and The Blue Sky Songstress. Since there were several more Orbs spread out across Caldina, what other people of great power would they attract, and how fierce would their battles be?

...Perhaps what happens here will be merely the prologue, he thought, bracing himself.

His job right now was to support Emily and gather data on the major players here, and that was what he would focus on.

At the same time, Emily was looking up at a giant cage in the bazaar. Inside it, there was a horned, lionlike creature of the upper-Pure-Dragon tier — a Taurus Leo.

It was lying on its belly in its own filth, and the reek made many people keep their distance.

However, some were still actually lining up in front of it.

“Mr. Zhan! Why is that in a cage and not a Jewel?” Emily asked, pointing at the cage and tilting her head.

Normally, tamed monsters were sold through Jewels. Even when let out for a proper examination, they would never be put in cages.

Still, some monsters were sold in this state for a reason.

“Because the monster is not tamed yet,” said Zhang — and indeed, the creature inside was still wild.

When the traders didn’t have Tamers capable of taming the monsters they’d captured, the creatures would sometimes be carried around in cages instead. Of course, such trade was highly regulated, obligating the traders to keep their “products” sedated using drugs or other means and to make sure to keep them in cages strong enough to contain them. Naturally, appropriate measures had to be taken if they had fire breathing or other special skills.

Many believed that it would be easier to just put in a request at the appropriate guild to find a Tamer capable of subduing the monsters, but if the beast was particularly valuable, there was always the chance that any Tamer they hired would just take it and run.

There were already several cases of Masters doing something like this. They had save points in other countries and didn’t mind getting the death penalty, so they readily signed Contracts and took their punishment — as well as their place on the wanted list — just so they could keep a precious monster all for themselves.

“The monster is cheaper than normal because the buyers would have to do the taming themselves,” Zhang said. “Or rather, what they’re selling isn’t the monster, exactly, but the right to attempt taming it.”

This was especially evident when considering the fact that instead of a number of chances, the seller gave the buyer ten minutes to complete the taming.

“And if they can’t do it?” Emily asked.

“They do not get their money back,” Zhang answered.

“Hmm... So the seller doesn’t want the buyers to tame it,” Emily said with unexpected frankness, at which Zhang gave a slight nod.

According to the sign next to the cage, no one had succeeded at taming this monster for weeks now.

In a way, that was to be expected. Zhang could tell that in addition to sedatives, the monster was also under the influence of mind-impairing items that interfered with the taming process.

However, the Tamer who had just stepped up to subdue it this time seemed to be utterly unaware of this fact. Confident that he would succeed, the man was smiling as he envisioned the moment he would make the Taurus Leo his own.

“He will not succeed,” Zhang noted. The Tamer’s repeated attempts were failures, only making the Taurus Leo squirm. Panic began to creep into his expression.

“It’s moving around a lot,” said Emily.

“Unsuccessful taming attempts can make monsters go berserk,” said Zhang. “Though, thanks to the cage and drugs, that should not be a problem.”

“Ohh. This is dangerous, then.”

“Hm...?” Zhang raised an eyebrow, unsure what she was talking about. Emily pointed inside the cage and said, “The drug’s gone. It’s only pretending.”

“What?”

“And it’s moving around ’cause it’s preparing. It’s gonna crash into the cage,” she explained.

Zhang wondered how she knew that, but was forced to set that thought aside as the Taurus Leo got up and began throwing itself against the cage.

But the cage is supposed to be designed to contain it... Wait, no! Zhang panicked as he began to notice the dents in the bars.

Apparently, the lower half of the cage had rusted through, and the stench surrounding it explained why.

...Feces and urine! The monster used them to degrade the cage over time and wait for a chance to break out of it!

Not every monster lacked intelligence.

Caged monsters were valued as products based on thorough examination of their stats and abilities using Reveal or other skills, but none of this could gauge how cunning the monster was.

This one was smart enough to pretend to be affected by the drugs its captors employed and to use its own waste to ruin the cage containing it.

Because the seller had used anti-tame items on the Taurus Leo, preventing any buyers from actually taming it, the monster had had ample time to slowly rust away the cage.

“BRROOAAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHHHH!”

And now, with a mighty roar, it shattered its prison and leapt out into the bazaar.

It started by killing and devouring the tamer in front, then attacking the workers at the stand who had been selling the rights to taming attempts.

It was as though the monster was finally venting all the anger that it had built up over its long imprisonment.

...What do I do? I could subdue it using the Drag-Worm Jiangshi I’m keeping outside the city, but if we make ourselves stand out, we might attract the attention of The Blue Sky Songstress and her companions... While that thought ran through Zhang’s head, the Taurus Leo finished off the workers.

It had stained the area around it in blood, yet it still wanted more.

Its next targets, however, weren’t Zhang and Emily, but a little girl and her parents who were trying to flee the scene.

“BRRGHAAAAAARRH!” With another roar, the Taurus Leo rushed towards its prey, fully intent on consuming them to fuel its own flesh and bone.

The girl began to wail in fear as the beast approached, while the parents wrapped themselves around her, hoping to at least save their daughter.

However, their fragile bodies would not be nearly enough to stop the terrible creature. They would quickly become its sustenance.

But just before that could happen, a small figure appeared in the beast’s path.

Shock overcame Zhang. The girl that had just been right next to him had moved at supersonic speed to stand before the Taurus Leo.

“BROOOAAAAARRGHHHH!”

Obviously, the beast saw her as just more prey and tried to attack her...

“Minus.”

...but Emily switched into her killing mode and swiftly dismembered and decapitated the creature, destroying it instantly.

The beast didn’t even have time to realize what happened. The destruction of its body was so intense that it immediately began turning into motes of light and vanishing, leaving behind only its loot...and Emily, covered in its blood.

“...Emily,” Zhang whispered in confusion.

Why had Emily rushed out like that?

Before she stood in front of the Taurus Leo, she hadn’t been in her killing state, which could only mean that it was the standard Emily who was trying to protect the family.

Zhang didn’t understand why she would help a group of strangers...and decided to wait until the girl had stopped being a killing machine to ask her.

However, before that could happen...

“Hey! Are you the one who killed my monster?!”

...a portly man — or an obese one, depending upon who you asked — appeared, practically dripping in gold and gems. Behind him stood several burly men.

The fat man seemed to be the merchant who owned the stall that sold attempts to tame the Taurus Leo. However, based on his attitude, it didn’t seem like he’d come to thank Emily for stopping the beast’s rampage.

“How dare you destroy my merchandise like that! I’ll have you pay for it in full!” he shouted.

Zhang and the rest of the onlookers were united in their feeling that the merchant was being absurd. Between the neglect of the cage, the misuse of drugs, and the way he’d interfered with the monster’s ability to be tamed at all, the merchant was no doubt the one at fault here. And yet, he wanted Emily to pay for essentially preventing any more casualties.

“Wait,” Zhang said. “That is just unreasonable. This was a—”

“Are you her guardian?! You better take responsibility and pay up! It’s ninety million lir!” the merchant said, cutting Zhang off and naming an insanely high price.

He wouldn’t be nearly as confident if he’d known Zhang’s and Emily’s true identities, but they were both disguised as normal tians.

“I have the backing of the mayor, Douglas Coin himself! I can have you arrested and condemned to slavery!” the merchant claimed.

Hearing those words filled Zhang with fatigue. He’d lived in Hermine for years, which was long enough for him to know that Caldina was full of people like this.

With money deciding so much of what went on there, most of the wealthy were also exceptionally greedy. Some even tried to get more money using illegal means — like those hooligans back at that alley.

Things weren’t as bad in places that had some degree of “self-regulating” activity, but the current mayor of Cortana was one of the lowest among the low. This merchant who was supposedly backed by him was obviously cut from the same cloth. He had no doubt used his wealth and power against many people.

With corruption here being so obvious, I would have expected the mayor would have been voted out by now, Zhang thought. Wait...if I recall correctly, in the election five years ago, every candidate besides the mayor dropped out of the race.

There was clearly something happening behind the scenes, but if the mayor had extended his power over the entire justice system, no one would be able to do anything about it.

With various countries funding the casino industry of Hermine, we actually struck a balance that made for a fairly clean government in comparison... Though, anyone who stood against casinos had no chance of winning.

The irony made Zhang sigh, and apparently the merchant didn’t like that.

“Tch! You don’t have the money, do you?! Hey! Seize them!” he cried. The bodyguards behind him made ready to capture Zhang and Emily.

“Hey! Hold on!”

“That girl stopped the monster’s rampage!”

“Yeah! People died!” The onlookers could no longer stand idly by and began to protest this obvious injustice.

“Huh? The only ones who died were my workers and the customer who signed a Contract saying that he will not hold us liable for anything that happens. That means that the only actual problem here is that my monster died. Or what, do you wanna pay for them too?” the merchant said, making the people fall silent.

Ninety million lir is a lot of money... Much more than the monster is worth, but still, Zhang thought. Is it best for us to just pay him using the money Rascal gave us? Or should we simply run away?

The Blue Sky Songstress and the Indestructible were still fighting at the moment, but there was no telling how long it would last.

From what Zhang had seen through the bird jiangshi’s vision, their battle had actually paused. If they’d settled their differences and were intending to come here next, Zhang wanted to get away as soon as possible.

However, this line of thinking was fundamentally flawed.

In Zhang’s estimation, the time limit on their current situation was up the moment either of the two Superiors arrived here, but it was actually much closer than that.

“Just grab them!” the merchant said, ordering his bodyguards to take Zhang and Emily.

“Wait. I’ll—”

“Minus.”

“...pay... What?” The girl’s single word cut his sentence in half. Zhang looked to the side and saw nobody.

“Khh...?” A confused gargle reached his ears — one of the bodyguards that tried to take them had had his throat and chest torn open by an axe.

Needless to say, the one wielding the weapon was Emily.

In confusion, the injured man tried to examine his state, only for Emily to swing her other axe and cleave his head in two. By the time Youaltepuztli had drained him and transformed him into bits of light, Emily had already sunk her axe into the other bodyguard’s side and split him in half.

Once the brutality was over, the onlookers finally realized what was happening.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!”

“M-Murder...!” They shrieked and scattered in a panic, creating a chaotic scene that was no better than when Taurus Leo broke out.

“Y-You monstrous brat! Hey! Just kill her already!” the merchant yelled, unaware that these would be his last words.

“Minus,” Emily said as she threw an axe at the man’s saggy cheek, slicing off the upper half of his head and instantly killing him.

The remaining bodyguards also readied their weapons, but they died as easily as the others.

And just like that, the merchant and his bodyguards were all dead.

The disaster left Zhang at a loss for words.

I was too careless. I underestimated how easily Emily could deem someone an enemy. It is not merely a matter of pointing weapons and threatening her, he thought.

Regardless, the situation was taking a bad turn for them. They had to hurry out of here before things got any worse.

However, before they could, three Masters ran up to Emily.

“That’s enough,” a woman said. “Please put those down and relax!”

“We saw what happened,” a man said. “I understand why you resisted, but there’s no need for any more violence.”

“We’ll vouch for you when the guards get here,” another man said. “So let’s settle this peacefully, okay...?” They seemed to have good intentions and were acting to get the situation under control.

Zhang wondered how to get away from them, when suddenly...

“Minus, minus, minus.”

...Emily swung her axes thrice.

Two lost their HP and died instantly, while the third one — the woman — survived thanks to her Lifesaving Brooch.

“Huh?” she said, confused, as Emily began repeatedly maiming her with the twin axes. “Wha—? S-Stop...!” she begged, but Emily ignored her, pulverizing her until she was nothing more than a hunk of flesh, then tiny motes of light.

“...What is happening?” Zhang said in confusion.

He couldn’t believe what Emily was doing.

The Masters had all approached her with good intentions, showing no desire to harm her, yet she had judged them as minuses and instantly killed them.

In fact, it was also strange that she’d murdered the bodyguards who had intended to merely capture her. Unlike the hooligans from that alley or the Taurus Leo, they hadn’t threatened her life at all.

The bar that those bodyguards and the Masters had to pass to be deemed as “enemies” seemed to be significantly lower.

“Is she actually...?” Zhang muttered as an idea came into his head that made his blood run cold.

While that was happening, the situation was only escalating.

“Stop that girl!”

“The stats Reveal gives you are fake! She’s not what she seems!”

Drawn by the commotion, other Masters had gathered here, some of them ready to face Emily.

Upon seeing them...

“Minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus, minus...”

...Emily repeated the same word over and over.

Normally, Emily was an innocent little girl who was generally friendly and usually liked the people she met, rather than disliking them. Because of this, there weren’t many things she recognized as enemies, making her switches to killing mode rather uncommon.

However, things were different once she’d already made the switch. While she was in her killing mode, the bar for her to judge someone as an enemy was much, much lower.

Those trying to restrain her, those trying to make her put down her weapons, those who simply approached her and happened to be powerful...

As long as they weren’t Zhang or other people from IF — essentially anyone she’d already recognized as a friend — her killing mode would see anyone who came too close as enemies.

Even trying to stop her would make you an enemy, making the number of targets increase endlessly.

Rascal and the other members of IF referred to this as a “chain.”

This was the phenomenon that devastated the massive Pentagon Caravan clan, led to the death of every fighter in a whole city, and drove a species of worms to extinction.

It was the murderous stampede that continued until all possible enemies were gone from her sight.

And it had now begun here in Cortana.

Emily dashed towards a group of Masters that had come to defeat her.

She covered a distance of fifty metels with a single step and swung her axes at the same time, removing the head of one of the Masters.

“Ah! Supersonic speed?!”

“EEYAAHH! STORM STINGEERRR!”

Right after the decapitated Master vanished, the Gale Lancer nearby used his ultimate job skill on Emily. She was wide open, and the supersonic attack was too fast for her to evade. It was a direct hit, but all of it was nearly negated by the defense of her skin.

The lance only barely hurt her.

“How...? Ghuh?!” the lancer exclaimed as Emily gave him the death penalty a mere split second later.

While this was happening, a Gunner Master fired his Embryo bullets, only for them to be repelled like it was nothing.

“What’s with her?!” one of the Masters said.

“She’s way too tough...! There’s no way she’s a tian! She’s probably a Master with an Embryo focused on phys-def!” said another, analyzing their enemy.

“Guess it’s a job for me, then!” a robed Master — a Pyromancer — said as he took a step forward.

Emily quickly faced and charged at him...

“Instant Charge! Crimson Sphere!”

...but the Pyromancer, who had an Embryo specialized in high-speed spellcasting, quickly cast his ultimate job skill on her.

Emily’s vision was drowned in crimson, and her whole body was covered in flame.

“I did i— Guhh?” the Master said as, a moment later, Emily’s tiny arm reached out from the ball of fire, grabbed his neck, and snapped it like a dry, withered twig.

The flame soon expired, leaving only Emily, completely unharmed.

However, the same couldn’t be said for her equipment. Her custom-made dress was resistant to fire and had withstood the Crimson Sphere’s flame, but the accessory that maintained her disguise had melted away. Now she stood there not as a harmless tian, but as herself.

Her face was clearly visible, exactly as it appeared on the wanted list.

“...No way,” murmured a Master as they stared at her unmasked stats.

Emily Killingston

Job: Murder Princess

Level: 528

(Total Level: 928)

HP: 8,056 (+36,550)

MP: 350 (+36,550)

SP: 1,980 (+36,550)

STR: 3,050 (+36,550)

AGI: 4,356 (+36,550)

END: 1,680 (+36,550)

DEX: 687 (+36,550)

LUC: 100 (+36,550)

Everyone present was perplexed by Emily’s stats. They were abnormal — simultaneously too low for an SJ, as well as too high with the bonus.

However, this was only to be expected. The bonus was created by the very skill that made the Murder Princess such a fearsome job.

This skill’s name was “Kill Leader,” and it had actually given Emily her nickname.

It was the Murder Princess’s passive ultimate job skill that made the job what it was.

Its effect was simply “give a bonus to all stats equal to the amount of humans killed.”

Indeed, the total number of people she’d killed, tian or human, was 36,550 — and each of them had added a point to her stats.

The more Emily killed, the stronger she became.





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