Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 16 - Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: The Tartarean Possibility

Armored Pilot, Hugo Lesseps

Drawn by the pillar of fire, I’d arrived at the mayor’s mansion to witness a battle between two giant beings.

The pale maggot creature used its six arms to cast spells, while the countless maggots composing its body tried to bite into its opponent.

However, the silvery creature that looked like only the bottom half of something...was completely unaffected.

It used its tail to pulverize the maggot monster, and the creature’s attacks didn’t do any damage to it at all.

However, the same could be said about the writhing mass it was fighting — it instantly recovered from any and all damage done to it.

An amalgamation of maggots that negated all wounds, and a leg-and-tail creature that didn’t receive wounds in the first place. They both tried to defeat each other, but neither of them could do anything to hurt the other.

I felt like I was watching a scene from that mythological afterlife where battle never ended.

And, of course, it reminded me of Emily.

“...Cyco, what’s the number on them?” I asked.

“Zero for both. The legs are a summon, while the maggot...doesn’t kill anyone.”

...So La Porte de l’Enfer wouldn’t work on either of them, I thought.

“Hmm... So Master Dearest summoned Greatest. Well, that is no doubt the optimal choice to buy time against the creature,” said Persephone, shifting my attention away from the eternal battle.

“You know them?” I asked.

“Yes. The lower half is...well, to be concise, a monster Master Dearest summoned using an MVP reward. Its name is ‘Greatest Bottom.’”

“So that’s KoT’s...”

An MVP special reward could only have come from a UBM. With the text above the maggot creature saying “The Rebirthing Infestation, De Vermis” in UBM nomenclature, one could say that this was truly a battle between UBMs.

“He seldom uses it, however,” Persephone continued. “It is quite costly, after all. Master Dearest is a caster Superior Job and he charges the MVP reward whenever he finds the time — but even with that, it cannot fight for long. And it is not even as powerful as the original.”

“The original?”

“As you can see, it is nothing but a lower half. Were it whole, it would be able to defeat this De Vermis creature, but with the upper half taken away, Greatest Bottom is only legs and a tail with defensive skills. It could never be defeated, but it could never defeat this foe, so this would no doubt continue without end. No... Seeing as it would not last long, we are at a disadvantage.”

I assumed that she was simply saying that it was weaker than it had been as a UBM. But...what did she mean by the upper half being “taken away?” It was like she was implying that the upper half was actually owned by someone else now.

But UBMs who split MVP rewards were...

“Persephone...!”

My thought was cut short by the voice reaching my ears. I turned towards its source and saw a skeletal dragon rushing forward with a thin man enclosed inside its ribcage.

The skeletal dragon was unfamiliar, but I knew the man. It was the same person I’d seen several times back at the Triangle of Wisdom’s HQ — King of Tartarus, Benetnasch.

“Oh, Master Dearest,” said Persephone.

“So this is where you were,” said KoT. “And you are...the Triangle of Wisdom’s...?”

Apparently, he remembered me as well.

“Hugo Lesseps,” I said. “I am with Teach— I mean Ace, AR-I-CA. I know about the Orbs and your negotiations with her.”

“I see...”

“What is that maggot creature?” I asked.

“...To be brief, this is the result of the mayor’s Orb breaking and the UBM within being released.”

“Huh?!”

“By the way, since you’re with her, I don’t suppose you would have any means of contacting her? There is something I must tell her.”

“J-Just a moment,” I said before opening up White Rose’s cockpit, turning on the comms, and connecting to Teach’s Blue Opera.

The King of Tartarus then explained the situation to her.

“...And now it’s gradually growing in size. Ordinary attacks are ineffective; the only way to defeat it is to completely incinerate the entire surrounding area.”

“...You can’t be serious,” Teach said from the other side of the comms unit, her voice like a groan. “I just finished disposin’ of the toxic stuff and I’m headin’ back and...yep, I see it. Boy, is that gross. And then there’s the thing that’s just legs and tail... Hey, KoT, is that...?”

“No comment.”

“Oh, okay then... Here goes nothin’.”

A moment later, a melodic engine sound rang out and a pale blue combat unit sped through the evening sky above.

Blue Opera then fired shells at De Vermis that crackled with lightning, but the monster simply ignored them, repairing the damage just moments later.

“Well, this is hopeless,” Teach said. “I can’t win against these types.”

“...Aren’t you a little quick to give up?” I asked.

“Hey, I was chosen for the Orb-gatherin’ precisely because my firepower isn’t too over the top! Big guys who regenerate are a job for Fatoum, Albert, the money-brain, or the bitch!”

...Who were those latter two? I wondered.

“Would they make it in time if I called them now...? They’re either at the capital or on the borders to other countries...and they’re slow as hell... Ugh! Losin’ Cortana would be real bad even for Caldina!”

This city was the starting point for Caldina’s Masters. If it was destroyed, the country would basically lose its entrance.

Not many Masters would want to start the game in a ruined city, after all.

Even ignoring all of that, Cortana was the heart of Caldina’s commerce. Losing it would be a major blow to the country’s economy.

“Ace, I have a proposition,” said Benetnasch.

“I’m listenin’.”

“If you accept three conditions, I will defeat this UBM.”

“...Hmm?” Teach thought for a moment. “I see. So you have someone who can deal with this?”

“...Oh, you were aware of my ultimate, huh?”

“So name the conditions.”

Teach didn’t seem to have any doubts that KoT could do what he said.

“The first condition concerns the UBM’s defeat itself. My method will make it impossible to give you the Orb if I didn’t need it myself, as we agreed previously.”

“Fine by me. Next.”

“Second...we agreed that you would do me a favor when I gave you the Orb. I want it done regardless.”

“I’m gonna need the details.”

“If you find any items or information relating to grudge disposal or ‘healthy revival’ of the dead, I want to know about it.”

“You’re not gonna ask me to actually give you the items or the info?”

“No.”

“Hmm...? Well, that’s fine too. What’s the last condition?”

“That would be...” Benetnasch said before pausing for a moment, as though hesitating to actually speak it out loud. “Permission to annihilate anything within a six hundred metel radius of De Vermis, part of Cortana included.”

...I could see why he’d hesitated. That was an outrageous request.

“Of course...I would only do it after an evacuation,” he continued. “My summon is buying the necessary time, so it should be doable. If possible, I would like you to help with it as well.”

“I see... ‘Annihilate,’ though...really? Whatever you’re plannin’ to use has gotta be somethin’.”

“...So, do I have your permission?”

“One moment,” Teach said, and then I heard some rustling at the other side of the comms. “Ah. Hello, Madam— I mean, President. Yes, it’s me, AR-I-CA. There is a problem with the Orb retrieval and... Huh? You already know everything? Just how much do you see? Are you actually Laplace’s demon or something? It’s in your name, so...”

I could tell that she was talking over comms with someone else.

“Okay then. Hey, Benny.”

...Benny? That seemed like a weird thing to call him, but KoT didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Yes?” he said.

“Just to check, is the mayor dead?” Teach asked.

“...He was consumed by De Vermis.”

“All right, we’ll just treat him as dead, then.”

...I felt like I just heard a pretty grim exchange.

“Here’s the results. You’re good for the third condition. With the mayor dead, Prez used her emergency authority to give you permission. Her exact words were ‘I will not hold you liable for any fatalities or property damages. Please thoroughly eliminate the threat of De Vermis from Caldina.’”

“...Understood.”

...Fatalities or property damages, huh?

“Teach, I...”

“So, Yu, let’s check the area around that thing for anyone who didn’t get away yet!” Teach began to speak as though she knew what I was gonna say.

“...Yes!”

“So yeah, we’ll be doin’ that, but when are you gonna do your thing, Benny?”

“...I can keep up the summon for at most fifteen minutes and a half more, so... I’ll use it after exactly fifteen minutes have passed.”

“All right! Let’s go, Yu!”

“Okay!” I moved White Rose — with its armor stored away to make it lighter — to go around and search for people in order to aid the evacuation.

...Though, I couldn’t help but wonder what Benetnasch had that could defeat that UBM.

◇◆◇

City of Commerce, Cortana

After seeing off the two Magingears, Benetnasch rushed into the six hundred metel radius, deeply lost in thought.

“You seem to be shocked that the ‘new life eternal’ is not what you hoped it would be,” his Embryo spoke to him.

“...Persephone.”

Aragorn was busy watching for anyone who could interfere with the use of the skill, so Benetnasch and his Embryo were the only ones talking.

“That is why I told you not to rely on those accursed Orbs. If mere UBMs can hold the miracle you seek, things would have taken a turn for the better far earlier. Or perhaps a turn for the worse.”

Benetnasch listened to her admonishment before slowly turning to her and asking, “Did you...know what De Vermis actually was?”

“Of course I did. I’d heard about it, after all. I knew full well that UBM was the sort of thing you hate the most — that which changes the meaning of death.”

While talking to Hugo, Persephone had said, “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.”

“One who transcends death” referred to Benetnasch and Persephone.

“One who mass-produces death” was obviously The Murder Princess, Emily. Though if Persephone had truly understood her power, she might’ve said that she transcended death, as well.

And the “one who changes the meaning of death” was De Vermis. It transformed humans into maggots, even claiming their very souls. The way in which it ended people’s lives as humans while still keeping them alive no doubt fit Persephone’s description.

However, it was something she could only say if she had known of De Vermis’s power.

But back then, not even the mayor — the owner of the Orb — knew about this.

“Why—?”

“Don’t ask me why I did not tell you, Master Dearest. You would have wanted to confirm it yourself even if I did. You never stop grasping at straws, after all.”

Benetnasch had no response. Her words were a knife sharpened by truth, and they cut deep into his heart.

“I will say the same thing I have said a thousand times — you are drowning, dragged down by countless weights. You could easily swim free if you cut them off, but you cannot, so you suffer without end.”

“Even so, I...”

“I know full well. I was born from you, after all. But as the first weight you must cut off, I must keep saying this over and over,” Persephone said before resting her forehead on Benetnasch’s back. “What you wish to accomplish is a true miracle. Even if I went beyond the seventh form, there is no guarantee what you desire will ever be possible.”

“I know...”

“I wish for you to be happy. I wish for you to forget me, this world...everything that gives you all this pain and suffering...and return to a proper life on the other side.”

Silence.

“But of course, you would not do that...would you?”

“...No,” Benetnasch said before turning around and laying a hand on Persephone’s shoulder. “I won’t deny that I’m hurting and suffering... I know that this way of life restricts me.”

Persephone’s expression became cloudy for a moment.

“But...I freely chose...to be bound in this way.”

“Master Dearest...”

“I can’t forget anything I’ve seen, and there’s no way I can give up now. As long as I am me...I will keep taking the liberty to choose this way of life.”

Those words came out with a certain resolve. It was a resolve forged years ago — a will that had faded and been damaged since then, but had never once broken.

Persephone knew the significance of this better than anyone else. The words made tears well up in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away.

“I see. In that case, there is only one thing for me to do. As the one who carries your wish, I will give my all,” she said as she grasped the hand over her shoulder.

“...Thank you.”

“For now, we must annihilate De Vermis,” Persephone said as she let go of Benetnasch’s hand and turned to face the UBM. “It is time. Master Dearest, the ultimate skill. Queen of the Afterlife, Persephone, stands by her dearest King of Tartarus, Benetnasch, to give her all to destroy this living hell.”

“...Please do, Persephone.”

Persephone called out to him, and Benetnasch responded with an awkward smile.

He then reached into his inventory and took out an item — a Legendary MVP special reward — before giving it to her.

With the item in her hands, Persephone nodded. “This should suffice. It will not be long...but long enough for the single attack we need.”

At those words, she raised the special reward upwards.

“Now...Master Dearest! I will build the gate!”

“...Yeah. I’m counting on you!” And so, Persephone...

“Here and now, I devote this treasure of a creature so many dread...”

...began to sing.

“This will become the gate to the realm of the dead.” Her voice was her own, but it seemed to echo as though many unseen voices were singing along with her. As they resonated, the MVP reward in her hands transformed into bits of light... It lost its Resources and vanished.

“It will be a door to the chamber of repose within me.”

The moment the reward dissolved into its Resources, a giant gate appeared before Persephone.

“Here these souls will make their triumphant returns.”

“Glory consumed by the past like a parchment burns.”

The form the gate took on was a purple triumphal arch. Though it did not resemble the great arch in real-world Paris, its splendor made it an apt comparison.

“Be that as it may, they shall cross through time,

And once again wield what they had in their prime.”

As Persephone’s song continued, a film of light appeared within the gate. Its colors were innumerable, and it soon covered the entire inner side of the structure.

“...It is prepared,” said Persephone, seemingly exhausted.

“Yeah...” Benetnasch replied as he put his hands on her shoulders to support her. “...Fourteen minutes and a half.” He whispered the time that had passed since he’d told Hugo and AR-I-CA of the time limit.

Thirty seconds left. As far as Benetnasch could see, with the exception of those trapped by De Vermis, there were no living souls in the immediate surroundings.

And so, the time came. Benetnasch canceled the Greatest Bottom summon, making it vanish and become bits of light right before De Vermis’s eyes.

“Hm...?” De Vermis was confused by a powerful enemy just disappearing suddenly, but didn’t think too much of it. The only thing that mattered to it was increasing the number of its fragments. With all living creatures in the area gone, it had to find new bodies it could transform into itself.

However...

“...What is that?” Almost before De Vermis realized it, a strange purple gate appeared far outside of its skill’s range. Busy with Greatest Bottom, it hadn’t noticed the structure being built, but it was sure that it hadn’t been there before.

However, when it saw the film of light appear...

“Ah...”

...De Vermis became afraid of something.

That was a feeling it shouldn’t have possessed.

It felt as thought it was staring into an abyss — a vast nothingness directly opposed to the eternal life it desired.

Instinctually feeling that it had to destroy the gate, De Vermis rushed forward.

However, it was too late, for the preparations were already done.

“Gate to the Afterlife — Persephone...”

Despite still being far away, De Vermis felt like it could hear those words clearly — Benetnasch activating his Embryo’s ultimate skill.

A moment later, the gate’s light intensified. It began to shed a radiance that seemed otherworldly.

King of Tartarus, Benetnasch and Queen of the Afterlife, Persephone.

Those who knew their power might call them either “Indestructible” or “Witching Hour.”

“Indestructible” because he had transcended ultimate destruction — what he had wouldn’t remain even if the flesh decayed away — and “Witching Hour” because it referred to a time when you could encounter something you should have never been able to encounter.

Once they had used their ultimate skill, those around them would encounter something truly impossible — something that surpassed the demise of flesh and the ravages of time.

The shining arch of triumph...

“Amber Abyss Squadron!”

...allowed an amber metal dragon to fly once again.

◇◆◇

About Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the wife of Hades, the king of the underworld.

The most famous tale about her concerned her marriage to Hades — said to be the beginning of the four seasons — but the second most famous was that of Orpheus the musician.

Orpheus traveled to the realm of the dead to bring back his deceased wife. He played an indescribably beautiful song on his lyre that charmed all the residents of the underworld and eventually reached Hades and Persephone.

His music made Persephone weep, and she begged Hades to help Orpheus.

The singer was then allowed to take his wife back to the realm of the living, but only if he did not turn back to look at her the entire way out. If he did, she would have to stay in the realm of the dead.

In the tale, Orpheus looked back right as he reached the edge to the realm of the living, sending his wife back to the realm of the dead.

His dead wife returned to life for a single moment, only to be sent back, and that was where the story usually ended.

Having been based on a character from this myth, Persephone had an ultimate skill that worked in a similar way.

Queen of the Afterlife, Persephone was a Type Maiden-Castle/Rule.

Her ultimate, Gate to the Afterlife — Persephone, was a skill that momentarily brought the dead back to life.

It used Resources to create a gate for the dead to pass through, then brought the souls resting within Persephone back as they had been in their prime.

Persephone was able to bring the dead back to life using only their soul — something that normally could only be accomplished by the Skydragon King, Drag-Heaven.

She summoned the dead at the peak of their living power — exactly as they had been during the best times of their life, even including their equipment. It could be the famed heroes of ancient times, entire parties of champions, or even powerful monstrosities of old. The total power of the summoned souls determined the Resources needed, but they would come back no matter what.

However, this wasn’t a power that gave full control over the dead.

Anyone Persephone brought back wasn’t bound in any way, and they could use their resurrected bodies as they wished. They could be at odds with Benetnasch and perhaps even attack him.

That was why he connected with all the departed souls he summoned — for if they didn’t share Benetnasch’s will, they would not assist him.

The ones summoned now were no different.

Benetnasch had helped these souls once, and they were now resting within Persephone, ready to share the necromancer’s will when they were needed.

And so they were called, here and now.

Neither he nor they wanted to see people be consumed by the living hell of De Vermis, so, having crossed a time of two millennia, they now flew through the skies of today.

◇◆◇

City of Commerce, Cortana

The purple gate shone, and a giant silhouette flew out from it — a mechanical dragon, covered in amber armor.

It was a weapon, operated by the four people inside.

The creature was in fact a Prism Dragon, and its name was “Amber Abyss” — the same superweapon of the pre-ancient civilization that had fought against the Incarnation of Armaments and vanished.

And now, Persephone’s power had brought it back, along with the soldiers who piloted it.

“Captain, we have exited the gate without issue. Analyzing the environment.”

“Keep an eye on the radar and fly towards the sky. Enter the Abyss Cannon firing sequence. You have a grasp of the situation, right? You better not fire it anywhere near the unevacuated areas!”

“Of course I won’t! Sure, it’s been two thousand years, but I haven’t forgotten how to use this!”

“Heh. You never change, sublieutenant.”

The revived dead were talking within the cockpit of the Amber Abyss. Since they had been kept within Persephone, they already had a full grasp of the situation here.

“Captain, the sublieutenant here sure seems fired up. I guess this is his chance to thank Mr. Benetnasch for confirming that his wife and kid survived and for looking into his descendants.”

“Th-There’s that, yes... But I’m also happy that I can fight for people again.”

“I understand...” said the captain as he looked down at the city and the disgusting creature that was De Vermis. “Our contract with King of Tartarus, Benetnasch says that we are to lend him our power when he fights monsters that endanger humans, the Incarnations, or the Extra-Continental Vessel. I believe this situation isn’t in conflict with that. Any objections?”

No one said anything in protest — their will was united.

“In that case...Amber Abyss Squadron, commence the mission!”

“Roger!” Amber Abyss suddenly stopped gaining altitude and stopped at one point in the sky.

Its metal head moved, targeting Cortana...specifically, the ruins of the mayor’s mansion.

“Prism Dragon No. 1, Amber Abyss, set the firing point.”

“Prepare to fire the Abyss Cannon. Pinpoint the radius of the attack. Fire at 20% energy.”

“Roger! Entering Abyss Cannon firing mode!”

The Prism Dragon opened its maw towards the surface.

Immense amounts of energy gathered in its mouth, but since it only needed a fraction of its total power, it was quickly ready to release.

“Energy at twenty percent...charging complete!”

“Abyss Cannon... FIRE!”

Thus, the compressed magical baryon acceleration cannon installed in its maw fired for the first time in two millennia.

◇◆

De Vermis couldn’t even begin to understand what the gate or the amber dragon were. However, it felt immense fear that drove it to desperately crawl away.

Alas, its running ended before it could even cover a few dozen metels.

De Vermis looked upwards and saw a giant orb of flame. Released by Amber Abyss, it warped the very air with its immense heat as it flew...and hit the ground close to De Vermis’s body.

“Hn...?!” The heat turned the air into plasma, evaporating the ground below and causing the UBM to let out a soundless scream. The maggots all over shrieked in pain, but without any air to carry their silent voices, no one could possibly hear them.

De Vermis had Reinvigorating Rebirth, but it wasn’t fast enough to replace the volume it was losing to this heat.

Its maggots were not just being burned, but obliterated without a trace.

Quickly losing parts of itself, De Vermis tried its hardest to survive.

The UBM pushed Reinvigorating Reincarnation to its absolute limit. It managed to endure by using the cell-to-maggot transformation it had used when the mayor lost his legs — continuous reincarnation that ignored the law of conservation of mass.

Using the skill caused immense pain, but it did not care about that. In fact, the pain of the skill was nothing compared to the pain of the fires burning it.

Loss of...whole... Calculate...healing... Must...bear...it... Despite losing immense amounts of volume, De Vermis didn’t give up on survival.

However, the next moment, the Abyss Cannon showed its true power.

The magic core within the orb of flame was released in a burst of heat.

Half of the magic released remotely activated a gravity spell. The rest of the magic became more heat, all of which was drawn downwards into the newly spawned epicenter of the gravity spell.

The result was a pit that trapped heat, and a gravity well that would not let the target escape.

Anything caught within would be trapped and thoroughly scorched.

This was the true power of one of the pre-ancient civilization’s strongest weapons — the Abyss Cannon.

Even greater shock overcame De Vermis. It beheld a meltdown leading straight into an abyss.

The UBM burned within the pit, sinking deeper into the ground with every passing second. The maggots that the orb of flame had missed returned to De Vermis while it sank several hundred metels into the ground.

The heat grew ever greater, burning the UBM with an intensity that soon surpassed the speed of its healing by a wide margin.

As all the maggots composing its body burned, De Vermis began to feel true fear.

I...I... Douglas... We... Eternal... A new life... ETERNAAAAAAAALLLL! Then came the final magic installed within the orb of flame — an immense explosion.

A few seconds later, a pillar of fire rose from the pit where the UBM was caught, scorching the last of the maggots.

Buried in a fiery grave, De Vermis’s life eternal was burned away to nothing.