Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 17 - Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Rules

Paladin, Ray Starling

With college classes over for the day, I finished dinner and logged in to Dendro.

It was evening in real life, but here it was still just past noon.

“The event will begin soon, but we seem quite well prepared,” Nemesis said, glancing at the consumables and such that filled my inventory. I’d done various things in preparation for the event. Yesterday’s quest had given me some Scout levels, and today I’d switched back to Paladin so I could use more of my skills. “It is a shame, though, that your armor could not make it in time,” Nemesis added.

“Well, this’ll have to do for now,” I said. The VDA that B3 gave me had been completely destroyed at the peace conference, and the replacement I’d ordered hadn’t made it in time for this event. Left with no choice, I just bought some decent armor I’d found in a shop.

It seemed like a bit of a waste, but I had the money, so whatever.

“So, what have you learned about events such as these?” Nemesis asked.

“None of the previous ones had the same name as this one,” I said. “They were all totally different from each other too. There’s been battle royales, puzzle competitions, monster hunts, and so on... Like Chelsea said, the rewards were often rare items, including consumables that give you levels.”

There were even items that instantly max out low-rank jobs, which is pretty attractive for a guy whose build is incomplete, I added in my head.

“So that is the situation,” said Nemesis. “Well, regardless, you should try to enjoy this without fretting about much.”

We spent the daylight hours preparing, and soon enough, night fell in Dendro.

The moment it was time for the event to begin, we were whisked away from the capital and transported somewhere else.

◇

The very next moment, I found myself in a vast, white space.

Looking around me, I saw other Masters; more and more appeared as I watched.

“Huh... So this is how these things go,” I said. Figaro, who’d started out in Legendaria, had told me of these “Accident Circles” that occasionally sent people to other places, sometimes across insane distances. Perhaps this was how one of those felt?

“Is that...The Unbreakable?”

“The newbie who faced off against just about every Dryfean Superior...?”

“Heh heh heh, imagine the rep you’d get for kickin’ his ass...”

“Come on, you can’t be that proud of beating a guy who’s not even maxed out. We should wait a bit.”

“True that.”

Some of the other Masters talked amongst themselves while staring straight at me. I recognized none of them, and many of them were equipped with gear that looked totally different from any of the items I usually saw.

They must’ve been from places other than Altar or Dryfe. The eastern-style clothing on some of them particularly stood out.

Wait, I gotta find Juliet’s group and... What does Natsume’s avatar look li—?

“There you are!”

My thought was cut short by someone calling out. I turned to the source of the voice and saw...

...a ponytailed woman dressed in a vividly colored kimono.

The upper and lower halves of her clothing were unbalanced—the top had long sleeves, but the bottom was just a miniskirt. Overall, it seemed very cosplay-like.

She pointed at me, a smile spreading across her face that was decorated with a spot of paint.

Wait, I thought. Face paint?

“Found ya, Raaay! Man, seeing the real deal, your set’s so dark and shadowy! The boots and coat alone make it a total home run at dark-iness! I’m loving Nemesis’s ‘blali’ thing too!” the woman said as she approached me and slapped my back a few times.

“It has been quite some time since someone called me that,” said Nemesis, her eyes becoming distant.

Anyway, it was fairly easy to guess who she was at this point.

“...Are you Natsume?” I silently asked. In response, she took out some string from her sleeve and said, “You okay? Wanna play some cat’s cradle?”

...Yep, that’s Natsume.

“Oh, and call me ‘Alto’ here!” she added.

“Sure thing,” I said.

“Hm, so you are Ray’s friend from school. A pleasure to meet you,” said Nemesis.

“Same here, Nemmy!” Alto greeted her with a peace sign and a wink.

On her raised right hand I spotted a Jewel, so she probably used a tamed monster or two.

“Alto,” huh? I thought. From Soprano to Alto... How straightforward.

“Not as straightforward as you, I would say,” Nemesis commented. “Your name is practically the same both here and there.”

...You got me there.

“Wooow, she makes quips! That’s sooo cool! Maidens are so awesome—I’m kinda jealous! My Embryo isn’t cute or anything like that, so I can’t make outfits to match it.”

“...Wait, your words imply that my apparel is on the same level as Ray’s. How can you even say that?!” said Nemesis.

“Huh? Speaking of which, your armor is different than it was in the Hell General vid,” Alto commented, pointing at my clothes and ignoring Nemesis.

“That gear broke, so I’m making do with this for now,” I said.

“You gotta be more prepared! I didn’t even log in until I finished all my prep for my part-time job!”

“Part-time job?”

“Haven’t you got one? People are crazy for UTokyo’s tutors and stuff, y’know?”

“Well, I’m all right as far as money goes...”

“Oh, how I’d love to be able to say that!”

Living in one of Shu’s apartments meant I had no rent to pay, and my tuition and other college-related expenses were covered by my parents. I had an allowance on top of that, and since most of my free time was dedicated to Dendro, it was more than enough for me to get by.

...Though, thinking about it now, it might’ve been a good idea to start saving up. With Rook and Figaro being from the UK, I could totally see myself wanting to fly there for an offline meet-up or something.

“Ah, there you are, Ray. Is this somebody ya know?” a familiar voice said.

I turned towards the source and saw Chelsea with the others...including someone who wasn’t with us when we’d gotten the tickets.

Next to Juliet there stood a woman dressed all in black. Her outfit looked very much like a mourning dress. I’d seen her in a couple sparring matches with some of the rankers I hung out with, and if I recalled correctly, her name was “Shion Manjushage.”

“Yeah, she’s a friend from my college,” I said.

“I’m Alto! I hope we get along! Wanna play some cat’s cradle?”

“Aha hah hah... I don’t think so.”

...Natsume tries to play cat’s cradle even with people she just met? I thought before saying, “Alto here happened to get a ticket too. She usually plays in Tenchi, but since this is a good opportunity, she wants to handle the event with us. Can she join the party if it’s co-op?”

“Well, we just met up with Shion too. That makes six people total, which works out just fine,” Chelsea said, and the others nodded.

“...This gathering...’tis truly fate,” said Juliet.

“Excuse me?” Alto said, raising an eyebrow.

“She’s saying it’s fine by her,” I said to her. She didn’t seem to have caught Juliet saying, “Let’s have fun together.”

Speaking of Juliet...I couldn’t help but feel that she seemed different than usual, just like she had yesterday.

“Ohh, that’s good to hear,” said Alto. “By the way, Ray, you’re basically in a harem party full of pretty girls. How’s that make you feel?”

“At peace...”

“WOW! What a total chad thing to say!” The fact that I wasn’t with Milianne, Louie, Azurite, or anyone else I had to keep alive at all costs really did make me feel more relaxed though.

With the introductions done, the only thing left was waiting for the event to start.

“Man, there sure are a lotta people here,” said Max.

“Seriously,” I said as I looked around the empty white space. At a glance, it seemed like there were at least three hundred Masters here. It was hard to tell what the people in the distance even looked like.

“You might not be the only rankers here,” I said to Juliet’s group.

“Hey, don’t act like you’re not second in a ranking,” Chelsea retorted.

“Well, that’s for clans. It doesn’t say much about my personal power level...” My battle style is still far from reliable, I added in thought.

“You should start dueling,” she said. “Be like me or Shion and take a spot in both the clan and duel rankings.”

The clan that Chelsea had recently lost was one of the kingdom’s top thirty clans, while Shion was an interesting case, being thirteenth in all three rankings—duel, clan, and kill.

“By the way, Shion...how’d you get a ticket?” I asked. She hadn’t been with us on the quest yesterday, so I was curious about it.

“Well, I obviously got it in the gacha! I’m actually quite surprised that all of you were able to get one as well! How many times did you pull?”

“Gacha?” Juliet’s trio all said in unison, clearly confused.

I, however, fully understood what she was talking about. It had to be the thing I’d gotten Silver from and had been visiting fairly regularly—the gacha machine at Alejandro’s.

So the tickets could come from the gacha too, huh? If I’d gone to pull from it after getting mine, I might’ve gotten a dupe, just like I had with the Exploration Permit.

...I haven’t pulled it in a while, though. I really wanna do it now, I thought.

“You have quite the distant look on your face,” said Shion.

“Please do ignore it,” said Nemesis. Soon after that, a rather old-timey chime rang out throughout the space.

“Oookay! With thaaat, all the currently online participants have been transported heeere! From this moment ooon, no one else may joooin!”

The sound was followed by words spoken in a familiar, drawling voice. It seemed to have been spoken through a megaphone, but it was no doubt the same voice I’d heard during character creation and in the wasteland that used to be Noz Forest.

A moment later, the lights—assuming there were any to begin with—went out, plunging the space into darkness.

Then, after several seconds, a single bright beam like a spotlight focused on a space in midair. There I saw Cheshire, standing on a floating platform while wearing a tuxedo—his formal wear, I assumed.

“Welcome, everyooone! Thank you for participating in today’s event, the Anniversaryyy!” Cheshire said with a bow. His proclamation was followed by the sound of many photos being taken.

There must be some Cheshire fans here, I thought. Or maybe just cat lovers.

“I will now explain the ruuules, so please keep it down for a momeeent,” said Cheshire, prompting a large flat hologram screen to appear in the air. It displayed a photo of a circular island surrounded by empty ocean.

The island featured forests, mountains, and rivers, but I didn’t see a single sign of civilization. It seemed like the perfect example of an uninhabited island.

“This will be this event’s areaaa. The island, I mean, as well as the area five hundred metels above it and twenty metels into the surrounding sea. Touching the barrier around this zone will disqualify you, so be caaareful.”

The screen then displayed the boundary exactly as Cheshire described it.

I didn’t see myself wanting to get away from the island, but I’d have to be careful not to ride Silver too high.

Juliet was nodding in understanding. She had wings she used to fly around, so she was probably thinking the same thing as me.

“Your goal is the gate at the peak of the mountain at the heart of the islaaand,” Cheshire said, making the screen display a large gate. It had no doorknob or anything like that, but there were eight strange sockets on it. “As you can see, the gates have sockets that are meant for keys. These keys drop from the event monsters scattered all over the islaaand,” he said, taking out ten plate-like objects and holding them like cards.

...How does he do that with those cat paws? I wondered.

“The keys are plates that each have a number from 0 to 9 on theeem. The gate opens when you put them in the sockets to make the correct eight-digit number. Hints for the answer are scattered all over the islaaand.”

So we were meant to defeat monsters, gather the plates, and input the correct answer at the goal.

It seemed like a very “adventure” kind of event, mixing both monster hunting and riddle solving.

“Attention!” Cheshire exclaimed as he made the plates vanish, held up his equivalent of the index finger, and looked over the participants. “If you put in the wrong answer, the plates you used will disappear and be transported to a random place on the island, and you’ll be forced to climb the mountain all over again.”

That also meant that even if you put in the wrong answer, you could still gather the plates again and climb up the mountain for another try. I had Silver, so climbing mountains wouldn’t cost me that much time. If we did this as a party, then between my Silver, Juliet’s wings, Max’s Ipetam, and Shion’s “Prism Crawler,” as I believe it was called, we wouldn’t have any trouble getting around.

“Also, this event comes with a little bonus,” Cheshire continued. A bonus? “Instead of getting the death penalty, the players who die in this event will simply be teleported to their save poooints.”

“Wait, seriously?” Those words escaped my mouth, but who could blame me.

Dendro’s death penalty was particularly harsh even among games that had similar mechanics. It prevented players from logging in for a day of real time, which was three days in the game. However, that didn’t exist in this event, meaning that we could enjoy it without worrying about losing anything at all.

I heard some nearby participants say things like “Make that a standard feature. Holy shit...”

“Oh, but any broken gear that doesn’t have a self-repair function won’t come back, so be carefuuul.” My MVP rewards wouldn’t go anywhere, but I’d have to take care that Silver didn’t get destroyed. Just like normal, then.

As that thought crossed my mind...

“You also won’t drop any random loooot—you’ll only drop the plates.”

...Cheshire said something that completely changed the nature of this event.

It seemed like this was another mechanic to lower the riskiness of player death in this event, but that wasn’t the only implication.

He’d just basically said that plates could be gathered by killing players who had them.

It was both a riddle-solving adventure event and a direct clash between the participants—a fight for survival between Masters.

Cheshire then went on to reveal several more rules.

First, wild monsters unrelated to the event were incapable of entering the event area.

Second, participants were unable to equip Lifesaving Brooches.

Third, each participant would start in a random location within the event area.

Fourth, all participants would start a certain distance away from each other.

Fifth, the plates possessed by those who cleared the event would vanish.

“...And finally, the event can only be cleared by the first three peeeooople.”

That last one was perhaps the most important rule of all. It completely ruined our plans to party up.

“You will be transported to the area in five minutes! Use this time to prepaaare!” Cheshire said before he vanished and light returned to the space.

“So, what now?” said Chelsea. “Only the first three can clear it. That’s only half of us at most. If other participants make it, it’s even less than that.”

“Well, we said that we’re gonna team up if it’s a co-op thing,” said Max. “It clearly isn’t, so I guess we’re just gonna do it solo now, aren’t we?”

The sulky tone of her voice made me think that she was upset that we couldn’t do it as a group.

It wasn’t like we had to do it completely solo, though. If three people could clear it, we could do it as a party of three.

Since our starting points would be random, though, the people we ended up near would be totally up to chance.

“So...it’s not co-op, huh...?” said Alto, sounding troubled but still playing cat’s cradle. And Shion...

“Hm? Hmm? Umm?”

...She didn’t seem to have digested the rules yet.

“Well, it’s all gonna be luck, I guess,” said Chelsea. “But Julie, don’t ya think this is the perfect chance?”

“Huh?” Juliet blurted out. Chelsea was smiling, but not in a cheerful way—it was a smile of someone gazing at her biggest rival.

“No death penalty. No dueling rules or barriers. A chance like this doesn’t come often,” Chelsea continued.

“Ah!”

“Let’s go all-out and fight each other with everything we’ve got,” Chelsea said, pointing at Juliet.

“...Yeah!” Juliet replied with a strong nod. Her expression now showed none of the slight grief I’d picked up on before.

“We will now start the transportatiooon!” Cheshire’s voice rang out through the space again.

The event would soon begin.

“Nemesis,” I called.

“Of course,” she answered as she transformed into a greatsword and I prepared for the transportation.

“Oh, one last thing before you gooo...” I felt the same sensation I’d had when I’d been sent here. “...Don’t forget the name of this eveeent!”

And with that, we were all sent into the event area—the battlefield.

◇

The next moment, I found myself in a dense forest. Looking around, I saw nothing but trees, the ground, and a sky mostly blocked out by leaves.

“It appears we have been flung into the forest we saw in that image,” said Nemesis.

“Yeah. And it doesn’t seem like there’s any monsters nearby.”

We had to beat event monsters and collect the plates, but I couldn’t see any of them. Cheshire had said that there’d be distance between each participant, so for now, I didn’t see any other players either.

“Though, another forest... Will you use Purgatorial Flames again?”

“...I know I don’t have to worry about the collateral damage this time, but a forest fire would stand out too much.” The PvP aspect of the event probably wouldn’t escalate until the participants gathered more plates, but you could never be too careful. “First, I’d like to take a look at the surroundings and find out where I am,” I said. “Silver!”

I took out my Prism Steed and hopped onto his back.

I figured I’d ride up into the sky to look around and then decide what to do.

I’d also like to meet up with the others as soon as possible.

“All right, so let’s go up and—” I prepared to gain altitude, but then I heard a noise like a helicopter in flight. “Ah!”

I quickly made Silver dive into the foliage. Then, hiding between the tree branches and leaves, I looked up at the sky.

The source of the sound turned out to be a bird-like flying machine with two sets of whirling helicopter blades. It was either an Embryo or a Dryfean vehicle, and it had taken to the skies before I had.

“What do we do now?” Nemesis asked. Going to the sky now could result in a battle.

Is the informational advantage worth the risk? I wondered, but before I could make a decision, I heard a loud explosion.

Someone had shot down the flying machine.

A line of light—a beam—flashing up from the surface pierced right through the vehicle, bringing it down from the skies. Penetrated by the light, it caught fire, fell to the ground, and transformed into motes glowing particles—making it obvious that the Master flying it had been disqualified.

“That might’ve been us if we’d gotten there first,” I said.

“...It is best to avoid the skies, then,” said Nemesis. “At the very least, we cannot fly as long as those with such powerful anti-air capability remain.”

“Yeah.” I spurred Silver out of the foliage and downwards, deciding that we should move on the ground, using the forest as cover from those beams.

This event might turn out to be harder than I expected.