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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 17 - Chapter 5.5




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Interlude: The Ranker Known as Chelsea

Event Area, South, River

After taking out Jamie Crescent and his Abhra-Matanga, Chelsea’s group decided to look around for any hint that would help them solve the password at the goal.

As the number of people in the event dropped, those remaining would be carrying more plates—and those with enough would start heading towards the gate. Knowing that only a total of three players could win, it was all but certain that some were already rushing to the goal.

Since incorrect answers at the gate would send you to some other place on the island, though, taking the time to look for hints about the right answer was a better plan than rushing to make a guess.

Because of this, Chelsea’s trio decided to split up and search the island’s south for clues.

“Hmm...” As Chelsea walked beside a river, occasionally dipping her hand into the water, she was lost in thought.

Another river, much like the one on the island’s east side. Good for drinkin’ too. Despite the isolation, the island’s got some really diverse plant life and tons of water. Dunno if it’s related to the event itself, but I wouldn’t mind knowin’ its coords.

An ex-Granvaloan like her couldn’t help but see this island as one big treasure trove.

Granvaloa was a nation of linked-together seacraft drifting over the waves, but they, too, wished to have land of their own, be it a bit of coast or an island. One merely had to look at their adventurer’s guilds to see this—Granvaloa always had search quests for habitable islands posted.

Just showin’ them this island would make ya filthy rich... she thought. That reminds me... I haven’t seen any familiar Granvaloans here. I guess the ones who made it here must have joined after I left?

She checked the relevant info windows, but found nothing about this island’s location.

If this was any other game, one might simply assume that this area had been created specifically for this event and would disappear when it ended. But seeing as this was Infinite Dendrogram, the island was more likely to be a naturally occurring part of the world that had been remodeled to suit the purpose.

Well, whatever. I got Julie and the prize to worry about, sooo... Chelsea thought as she clasped her hands together before spreading them apart, creating a fist-sized orb of water.

“Here ya go,” she said before throwing the water-orb spawned by her Poseidon’s skill towards a tree growing on the riverbank.

The moment the orb touched the tree, it immediately exploded.

“Figured it was a trap,” she said. “Come on out, then.”

“Hmph. I suppose you saw right through it.”

From behind another tree stepped a bald man with a double-headed battle-axe on his back—King of Axes, Wan Zihao.

“How did you know the tree was a trap?”

“It’s obvious when ya look at the flora around it. I’ve been to a riverside in the east of the island, and though the temperature and altitude’s the same in both places, you got a tree here that’s nothin’ like what I saw over there. Thought it was a hint at first, but I gave it a little tap just in case and it went boom.”

“A sharp-sighted girl, aren’t you?” Wan said in understanding as many trees exactly like the one Chelsea had just blown up sprouted all around him, giving the surrounding forest a new color.

“You don’t look like a craftin’ job. I’m guessin’ the trees are your Embryo?” Chelsea asked.

“Indeed. This is my Embryo, Zaqqum.”

Type Legion, “Orchard of Hell, Zaqqum.”

It bore the name of a cursed tree said to spring up from the Islamic hell of Jahannam. When consumed, its fruits made the body boil before tearing it apart in a geyser of bodily fluids.

Based on something like that, it was no surprise that the Embryo was highly toxic as well.

It manifested as a Legion of trees growing fruits ripe with juices that were both acidic enough to melt through gear and flesh...and explosive enough to blow them up. And to top it off, if the trees were destroyed, they released acid and explosions even stronger than those of its fruit.

The drawback was that Wan had no direct control over the trees, forcing him to scatter them about and wait for the enemy to trigger them, but...

“Sure are a lot of ’em. Isn’t this dangerous to you too?” Chelsea asked.

“No need to worry,” Wan grinned, punching the nearest of Zaqqum’s trees. The tree exploded, but Wan and his gear were completely unscathed. “Zaqqum does no harm to me.”

This was the most terrifying thing about Zaqqum. It wasn’t its toxicity, explosiveness, numbers, or range, but the fact that Wan was completely immune to its effects, giving him an advantage in any area where his Embryo was summoned.

“Hm...? Looks like it’d be hella useful in duels,” Chelsea commented.

“It is! I am fifth in Huang He’s duel rankings—King of Axes, Wan Zihao! The third of the Five Generals gracefully serving the great and beautiful Huili!”

“That so? I’m Chelsea, a Great Pirate and eighth in Altar’s duel rankings.”

Following these introductions, the two equipped their double-headed axes and faced one another.

Their entire exchange so far was only meant to buy time. Wan needed to grow as many of Zaqqum’s trees as he could, while Chelsea had to prepare herself for combat and find out more about her opponent.

“What a coincidence,” said Wan. “We are both duel rankers and axe-wielders.”

“Yep.”

“But there is one major difference between us. Do you know what it is?”

“Nope. Haven’t the slightest. How ’bout a hint?” Chelsea said playfully.

In response, Wan roared, “I am...a Superior Job!” Not a moment after this declaration, he rushed towards her.

“Thought as much!” Chelsea replied, just barely managing to block Wan’s axe. The force of the strike sent her backwards.

Well, his stats are obviously better than mine, that’s for sure. Oh! she thought as she kicked off the ground to sidestep one of Zaqqum’s trees.

However, Wan then rushed closer and cut down the very same tree that Chelsea had just evaded, sending a rush of fire and acid towards her.


“Whoa!” she cried, creating a water barrier just barely in time to block the attack. She then retaliated with a water projectile, but Wan deflected it with just a swing of the axe.

“A water-wielder! Such a weak power!” he remarked.

“Maybe it is!” Chelsea said. Pushed back by Wan’s ceaseless offense, Chelsea had moved closer to the river. While she had a Great Pirate skill that let her walk on water, Wan had to get soaked to his knees.

However, he wouldn’t be a vanguard SJ if he were slowed down by something as puny as water.

Making Zaqqum grow even in the river, he kept closing the distance between him and Chelsea.

I knew it’d be like this, Chelsea thought. She wanted to sigh with resignation at how expected this whole situation was. He can grow them in water and there’s a whole lotta them now. Both my ult and World Reversal Waterfall are a no-no. They’d just make the trees explode.

The skills she favored in duels generally had a bigger area of effect. With her combat style focusing on weaponizing the liquids she summoned, she needed all the volume she could get.

Here, however, doing so would cause a chain reaction between all the Zaqqum trees, quickly showering her in acid and fire.

And since coming too close would mean being overwhelmed by Wan’s stats, she was forced to keep her distance while firing off ineffective bolts of water.

Ultimately, though, it didn’t matter if Chelsea was wary of Zaqqum.

“HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

If she didn’t start the chain reaction, Wan could simply do it himself. Cutting down a single tree with his axe was enough to instantly cover the area in acid and explosions.

This was actually his primary mode of fighting, which was why Jamie had called him “lumberjack.”

His ult allowed him to instantly create enough Zaqqum trees to blanket the entire arena stage, letting him start the chain reaction on command—a move too overwhelming for AGI builds to dodge, and too acidic for END builds to withstand.

His rival, Jamie, had to content himself with a lower duel ranking, because this move was enough to burn up Abhra-Matanga even when it was the largest size it could reasonably reach on the cramped dueling stage.

Zaqqum was a fearsome Embryo that could turn an entire area into one giant acid-explosion trap.

It was the reason why Wan was well-known and widely feared.

The info didn’t lie. It sure is a duelist’s Embryo, Chelsea thought. She’d actually known about this power before going into the battle. Everything she’d said when asked how she’d noticed Zaqqum had been a bluff—she’d actually recognized the tree’s shape the moment she saw it.

He can summon tons of the trees and choose who’s affected by them, but he can’t detonate them from a distance. They only drop their fruits on impact and explode only if destroyed. Those are their flaws.

Chelsea even knew a few limitations Wan hadn’t disclosed to her.

Shortly after she’d found out she would participate in this event, she’d gone on the internet to check out combat videos of duel rankers from all over Infinite Dendrogram.

Her reasoning was that if she and Juliet were chosen, other duel rankers would be chosen, as well.

And it’s lookin’ like he doesn’t know either of the ways I fight, she thought. Chelsea knew Wan’s fighting style, but Wan didn’t know hers.

There was nothing strange about that. While most duel rankers would spend a lot of time researching the fellow rankers of their own countries, there was little point in doing the same for foreign duelists, especially if they weren’t the top champions. Being from Huang He, it wasn’t unusual at all that Wan didn’t know anything about the eighth-ranked duelist in Altar.

Knowing about Chelsea the Altarian Duelist wouldn’t have meant much in this situation, in any case, because that wasn’t the Chelsea he was fighting right now.

“Your endurance is impressive, but...it is time to end this!” Wan cried. Chelsea used water to shield herself from the acid and fire while keeping a distance from Wan, but his immense stats and the time she spent on defense allowed him to draw closer and closer with every passing moment.

Wan created a Zaqqum forest and immediately detonated it in order to force Chelsea to defend herself, opening her up for an attack. The explosion, of course, would never deal even a single point of damage to him.

Wan then rushed through the inferno of acid and explosions to finish Chelsea off...or, at least, he tried to do that.

“...What?” Before he could approach her, he found himself lying on his back in the river.

At the unpleasant feeling of water rushing into his nostrils, he tried to stand up, but found himself unable to. After all, it was hard to stand without legs.

His were gone from the knee-down, as though blown away by an explosion.

What the hell?! Zaqqum ain’t supposed to hurt me! he thought in shock, breaking character for a moment inside his own head. He tried not to show it on his face, even though the incomprehensible situation he found himself in made this difficult. Ultimately, though, it was obvious he was completely baffled.

At that moment, another explosion rang out—this time blowing away the arm holding his axe.

“This isn’t...! It’s not Zaqqum...!” Though it was too late, he realized that the explosions weren’t caused by his Embryo.

“...So it finally hit ya, huh?” Chelsea said, looking down at him. Wan stared back at her, his vision filled with a cute, smiling face whose eyes were nonetheless icy cold.

And in her hand there was a Gem—a spell-storing consumable.

“Gems...? But...when did you take them out? And how did you hit—?”

“Not tellin’.” Chelsea cut him off and threw the Gem at him.

The resulting Crimson Sphere burned away Wan’s already half-dead body with little fanfare. The many plates he had collected scattered into the river, and all the remaining Zaqqum trees vanished.

Just like his rival before him, the duelist from Huang He found himself sent back without even knowing what had happened to him.

After gathering the plates, Chelsea quickly left the scene and headed downriver. The sounds of their battle might’ve attracted other participants, and she didn’t want to risk dealing with them.

Mitigating risk was also the reason she hadn’t answered Wan’s questions and proudly explained how she’d managed to win—that might have inspired him to take up a mission of revenge in the future.

Chelsea knew that a brief feeling of superiority simply wasn’t worth revealing your hand.

Right now she had none of the cheer she showed her friends, nor the mischievousness she showed her enemies. She only calmly weighed the pros and cons of her decisions.

He was a pain, but I’ve got some plates now. This should be enough for one attempt at an answer, so now I gotta find some hints. I wonder if those other two are having any luck, she thought.

Thinking of Max and Shion brought back a little of her usual cheer. The only things on her mind now were the plates she’d collected, her two friends, and the rival she would soon fight; Wan had already been forgotten.

The fact that she took out a top-ranking duelist who held a Superior Job didn’t move her in the slightest. This wasn’t anything unusual for her, after all.

At least, it wasn’t unusual for the person she’d been before moving to Altar.





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