Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 18 - Chapter 3.5

Interlude

Dryfe Imperium, North, Vara Plains

Located in the north of the northern country, the Vara Plains were a wasteland of little value.

Some decades ago, it was a wetland overflowing with life, but the worsening climate of Dryfe had destroyed most of its flora and fauna.

There was little of note here besides the occasional monster.

“Z e E z e e E Z e e E e e z Z e E e e.”

And now, in this wasteland, a sound very like hard objects being ground against each other could be heard.

It was a cry of an abominable creature—the self-assertion of a life-form inhabiting this wasteland.

The entity was an insect equipped with long, sharp, and hard mandibles, and its name was “Borer Deathbug, Shellstro.” It was a Legendary UBM specialized in defense and magic that enhanced its piercing ability.

Adapted to this wasteland, it had spent its days burrowing underground and attacking anyone who’d wandered into this place, stabbing them with its imposing mandibles and sucking out their life.

It could have been called the lord of the Vara Plains, but now...

“Z e E z z e E e E e z e e e...”

...it was on the verge of death, skewered like a scientific sample.

“W o w O w o.”

The abhorrent bug was surrounded by a number of other creatures.

Standing far taller than the average human, fully covered in plate and with insect legs peeking out of their head-concealing helmets, they were the Legendary-tier devils, Gigaknights.

A total of ten were surrounding Shellstro to finish it off.

Six were holding down the UBM’s legs to keep it still, while the other four were stabbing their greatswords into the gaps in its shell, quickly stripping it of its HP.

UBMs fought—and won—their battles through the uniqueness of their abilities, but that meant nothing when they were outnumbered ten-to-one by creatures that were the same stat tier as they were.

“Well, I guess I win...”

Standing some distance away from the Gigaknights’ hunt was the one who’d summoned them. A Dryfean Superior and secretly a part of Illegal Frontier, he was Hell General, Logan Goddhart.

Shellstro was among the eighteen UBMs whose locations and details he’d been given upon joining IF. Although it was fairly strong, the creature had little in the way of trickery. This had prompted Zeta to make the assessment that Logan “was perfectly capable of beating it by himself,” as it could neither escape nor repel him.

And just as she’d expected, Logan had rendered Shellstro completely incapable of even resisting.

Logan had once seen Gardranda—a demon on the level of a Legendary UBM—defeat two of his Gigaknights with little effort.

One could say that his success against Shellstro was a result of learning a lesson that day, but it really had more to do with the new build that Zeta had taught him, which let him overwhelm his targets with devils without regard for the related costs.

His current job configuration was so effective that even a Legendary UBM—albeit a very straightforward one—was no trouble for him whatsoever.

“Legendary Shellstro...done.” He had just defeated this great creature, and yet contrary to how he might have acted before, Logan showed no pride in it. All he did was matter-of-factly record the UBM’s defeat in the list Zeta had provided him. It was almost eerie how unexcited he was.

The reason for it, however, was clear—it was the peace talks, where he’d been instantly defeated by Tsukuyo.

Equipped with his new build, Logan had entered the scene as if he were the strongest there...only to be erased by the High Priestess’s Gloria β, along with all the other Dryfean Masters besides Behemot.

An intense battle had ensued, and he hadn’t been involved in any capacity. The fact that he’d been taken out like cannon fodder despite being a Superior had been terrible for his mental health; it was weighing down on him even now.

This was only made worse by the fact that it had been his fourth major defeat in a row, and defeating a UBM that’d been handed to him on a silver platter wasn’t enough to make the shock go away.

Things might’ve been different if Zeta were here—she was good at directing and teaching Logan. However, she’d yet to return to Dryfe from the terrorist attack on Altea.

“...Altar’s about to have some kind of ‘Tournament,’ right? Guess it doesn’t matter to me anyway. I’m with Dryfe and I have lots of UBMs...and I can’t win against people.”

It was an event that bound you to Altar in exchange for the right to fight for a chance to battle UBMs.

The terms of the Contract were strict, but UBMs were rare content—enough to make it worth it.

Logan, however, was currently defeating UBMs one after another, yet none of this helped his state of mind at all. Partially because he was the former duel champion, he felt that this game was primarily about competing with other people. Nothing else had much of a point if you were on a losing streak.

As he was now, Logan was actually far stronger than he had been while he was acting tough in the arenas, but his spirits were at an all-time low. It was as though these two things were inversely proportional to each other.

If Sechs knew about Logan’s current state, it might’ve reminded him of Gerbera. Despite its humble size, IF had two members that had been defeated and then grew stronger, but had found this failed to improve their feelings.

“...I wonder if the Unbreakable’s participating.” Remembering the newbie who had kicked off his chain of defeats, Logan let out a heavy sigh.

The recording of Ray Starling’s battle against King of Beasts had once again put him in the spotlight. This consequently led to more people taking a look at Ray’s fight against the Hell General, which caused Logan no end of headaches.

As the view count rose, Ray Starling eventually came to be called a “devil-eater.”

Overcome by curiosity, Logan had summoned a devil and tried biting into it. The taste was downright hellish, making him conclude that someone who could fight after eating something like that was simply crazy.

He still wanted to get back at Ray Starling, but the last time he’d tried that without ample preparation he’d been instantly erased by Tsukuyo Fuso. This time he intended to attempt it only after he’d become as strong as possible.

[The UBM, “Borer Deathbug, Shellstro,” was defeated.]

[Selecting MVP...]

[“Logan Goddhart” was selected as MVP.]

[“Logan Goddhart” is presented with an MVP special reward—“Borer Deathspear, Shellstro.”]

“Oh.” Following that message, an MVP reward appeared in Logan’s hand.

Shellstro’s focus on penetration had made its reward take the form of a spear. At first glance it might appear very simple, but there were a few elements of the design that deserved a closer look.

It was black like the UBM’s shell and generally didn’t deviate much from the usual form of a spear, but it was also covered in sharp, insect-like decoration. Some would find it appealing, others cringey...

“It’s so cool...”

...and Logan was the former.

To him, Shellstro’s design was almost as cool as that of Viledragon’s Prideblade, Woltgyzur—his current favorite—a weapon that resembled nothing so much as a generic key chain with a dragon twisted around a sword.

Hell General, Logan Goddhart was an elementary school boy in real life and his tastes reflected this perfectly.

Regardless, Logan was done here. Feeling good about receiving an MVP reward he liked, he made his way back to Vandelheim.

“That was the last one on the list I could do. Now I gotta go back and do the homework Zeta left.”

Shellstro was the final of the eighteen UBMs that Logan could defeat on his own. Those remaining were more difficult than this, so it had been decided that he would beat them with Zeta’s support.

“I hope she comes back soon... Oh. That reminds me...”

Though Zeta hadn’t returned to Infinite Dendrogram, they had talked a bit by email. According to her, IF was planning to do something big soon.

Their leader—King of Crime, Sechs Würfel—had been imprisoned in the gaol since the last war, and Logan had been informed that he was about to break out.

The gaol was a game system meant to confine players who’d committed major crimes, so Logan wasn’t even sure if it was even possible to escape it. However, Zeta and the other long-time members of IF seemed to have no doubt that he’d succeed.

Sechs Würfel... I wonder what he’s like, Logan thought.

Regardless, he had been told that once Sechs broke out of the gaol, they would all separately head to Tenchi in the distant east, where Illegal Frontier would truly set their plans in motion.

I’m in the clan, but I haven’t met the leader yet... Actually, I haven’t met any members at all besides Zeta. Logan had never been part of any clan before IF, so he was looking forward to seeing his clanmates.

...I’m probably the weakest of us all though, he thought. The repeated losses had stripped him of his confidence, and despite the fact that he knew next to nothing about the other members of IF, Logan was already assuming the worst.

At this point, he had no means of knowing that a fellow clanmate in the gaol was thinking the same thing as he was.