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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 4 - Chapter 2




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Chapter Two: Irregular Newbies 
The central arena’s lobby, ten minutes before the newbies went out to battle 
In the central arena, the veteran Masters were gathering and preparing the newbies that would leave the barrier and go to battle. At the same time, they were using their Embryos and skills to gather information regarding the forces they’d face. 
Rook, being one of those who would head to battle, made his own preparations. 
“So we’re about to fight other players...” he muttered. 
“Yep,” said Babi. 
The battle he was about to partake in wasn’t just a sparring match under the protection of the arena barriers. 
Failure would mean getting the death penalty and being removed from the ranks of those struggling against the chaos in the city. 
If that happened, Rook would be unable to help Ray, which was something he couldn’t tolerate. 
“At least we have some experience in this,” he muttered. 
Fighting the player killers outside the arena wouldn’t be Rook’s first PvP experience. He was fortunate enough to have a sparring match just before this incident began. 
Closing his eyes, Rook ran his mind over how it had gone. 
 
It happened at noon, on the same day that Rook realized Marie’s true identity. 
“This ‘Superior Killer’ that Ray often talks about... It’s you, isn’t it?” he whispered into Marie’s ear right after they and Ray went separate ways. 
“H-How did you know...?! I-I mean, no no no no! I’m not!” she burst out, the bewilderment in her voice all too apparent. Normally, she would have been able to hide it relatively well, but the surprise factor had made her blurt out the equivalent of “Yes, that’s true,” making Rook turn absolutely certain of his conjecture. 
“O-Oh, come now, I-I’m definitely not the man known as the Superior Killer.” Marie still tried to salvage it. 
“Then allow me to present you with the circumstantial evidence I’ve gathered,” said Rook. 
“Eh?” 
Thus, he began listing the reasons why he had come to this conclusion. 
First: despite the Superior Killer’s age and gender being unknown, Marie often referred to him as a man. To Rook, it seemed like an attempt to give the entity a different image than her own. 
Second: her behavior when talking to Ray about the Superior Killer’s thoughts tended to be different from usual. 
Third: during the battle against Gardranda, Rook had been high above the ground, but still hadn’t been able to see a thing of what was happening within the dense miasma below. Yet Marie, who had also been outside it, had stated with absolute certainty that “The Superior Killer shot Gardranda’s left shoulder.” 
Fourth: despite Marie having played for a year in real life, which was three years in here, she had a total level lower than newbies such as Rook and Ray, which led him to believe that she was concealing her true powers. 
Fifth: there was a comic with a journalist/professional killer protagonist bearing a great deal of resemblance to Marie, and from what he’d read of it, even their mannerisms were highly alike. 
That was when Marie raised her hands, looking absolutely defeated. 
“Heh. Heh heh heh,” she chuckled in self-derision. “I give up. This is the first time someone has realized it before I revealed it myself.” 
“You’re not exactly the best at concealing your identity, so I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who connected the dots,” said Rook. 


“Ghh!” Marie’s face contorted with pain. She’d had confidence that she was doing a decent job of hiding what she really was, so Rook’s words did a good amount of emotional damage to her. 
“Also, you use an avatar that has both the name and appearance of a character that’s both a journalist and a professional killer, so it’s completely obvious to anyone who has read the work,” added Rook. 
“I’m fully aware of that, but it’s part of my identity,” she replied. Marie was basing her Infinite Dendrogram character on Marie from her manga, so it was a given for her to be a “Marie Adler” that acted as both a Journalist and a professional killer. 
“Anyway, we know your identity now,” said Rook. “However, it doesn’t look like Ray and Nemesis are aware of it.” 
“I’d probably feel like dying if they found out,” Marie said. 
“You’re the one who gave them their only death penalty, right? Normally, I’d have a thing or two to say about that, but it doesn’t seem like you have any malice towards them right now, so I’m content with being silent about that.” 
“Thank you.” 
“That aside, can I make a little request?” 
Marie said nothing as she made a mental note of the fact that the flow of the conversation made his question seem much like blackmail. 
Rook might actually have a sadistic side to him, she thought. 
“A request, you say?” she muttered. “A-Are you about to have me do something inappropriate and—” 
“Nothing about that would remotely interest me.” 
“Okay, kid... No need to cut me that deep... But what do you want of me, then?” 
“I want you to have a mock battle against me.” 
“A mock battle?” she asked. 
“As I said before, I want to learn more about battles against people. And I figured that facing a hardened player killer such as yourself would be a good initiation.” 
“Well, I don’t really mind, but why the interest in such battles?” Marie asked. 
“That’s a secret,” he answered with a smile on his face. 
His expression was so beautiful it was angelic, but once she considered the conversation so far, Marie found it a bit scary. 
And so, the two made their way towards the sixth arena, located in the duel city’s sixth district. Though such places were normally bustling due to various events and betting matches, all the standard arenas were nearly barren today. 
During low activity times such as these, it was possible to rent the arenas for barrier-protected mock battles. Unlike in normal matches, it was also possible to make the barriers opaque, and Marie was truly thankful that she wouldn’t have to fight while minding any potential observers. 
“You’re still below level 51, right, Rook?” she asked. 
“Yes, I’m level 48,” he answered. 
“Then don’t go near the barrier. You’ll slip right through.” 
The barrier system allowed those of level 50 or below to pass through freely. Though those players benefited from the barrier’s restorative qualities, it didn’t wall them off inside. That was the reason why they couldn’t partake in official arena battles. 
“The preparations are done,” said Marie as she set the block they’d rented into opaque mode. 
With Babi at his side and Liz taking the form of his equipment, Rook summoned Marilyn and Audrey, making him fully ready for battle. 
“We have plans for the evening, so let’s not go above ten matches,” she added. “Also, we might be sparring, but the gap in our power is still an issue, so I won’t be using my special rewards.” 
To her mind, fighting while using special rewards like the Palsy Stingblade would cause Rook to lose the ten matches without giving him a chance to learn anything. Marie would use her Embryo, but she would avoid using its ultimate skill for exactly the same reason. 
“Compared to many, my Embryo isn’t particularly tricky, so I’m confident it’s good for such practice,” she said. “Are you ready?” 
“Yes!” Rook answered with vigor. 
“Then let’s begin... Arc-en-Ciel.” Marie summoned a revolver-shaped Embryo into her left hand, and held a blackened dagger in her right. The Embryo was Arc-en-Ciel, Type Legion, while the dagger was named Night Pain. 
In response to Marie readying her weapons, Rook sent Marilyn and Audrey after her while Babi vigilantly eyed her for an opportunity to use a skill. Rook himself stood at the rear, protected by Liz, and used the Charm skill. 
This was the battle style they’d used many times during the hunting they’d done after Liz had joined. 
He was clearly planning to avoid using trickery and go all out on the very first match. 
“Very well, then I won’t do any tricks, either,” said Marie as she swung her right hand, causing the break-action revolver to unload its chambers. 
That action made Rook look puzzled. And not without reason, for she had emptied a gun that had yet to shoot a single bullet. However, even though it had the shape of a revolver, Arc-en-Ciel was more Embryo than gun, and what it shot weren’t bullets. 
“Black Homing, Red Burst, Blue Spread.” Marie’s words made three types of bullets — no, transparent containers filled with paint — enter the revolving chambers of her Embryo. Once again, she swung her hand again to give it the shape of a gun... 
“Fire.” 
...and pulled the trigger. 
“GYAGYAGYAGYAGYAH!” 
A moment later, several dozens of bullet creatures escaped Arc-en-Ciel’s muzzle. Bending their expected trajectory, all of them rushed to overwhelm Audrey. She flew in an attempt to evade them, but all the creatures followed after her. 
There was little difference between Audrey’s and the creatures’ speeds... 
“KIEEEEE?!” 
...so, when she soon reached the top of the barrier, they all caught up with her and exploded upon impact. 
Reduced to smithereens, Audrey’s corpse became particles of light and vanished. 
“VRAAAAAGH!” 
Right after that attack, Marilyn directed her horns at Marie and charged at her with all she had. In real life, this would be the equivalent of a 10 ton truck going at full speed... 
“Too slow.” 
...but to Marie — whose high AGI allowed her to break the sound barrier — Marilyn was barely even moving. 
She dodged the horns right before the impact and unloaded the chambers yet again before wordlessly filling them with two types: Red Burst and Green Piercing. Then — slowly from her own perspective and immensely quickly from Marilyn’s — Marie put the muzzle against Marilyn’s shell and fired. 
The bullet creature imbued with great piercing ability penetrated the tough material with little effort before exploding within Marilyn’s insides, quickly killing her and making her become particles of light. 
Next up, Babi, Marie thought as she looked around, but she couldn’t see the succubus anywhere. A moment later, without even turning around, Marie swung Night Pain behind her. 
“...Ah.” 
That action caused the slashed space to release a gush of blood before becoming Babi, clearly on the verge of death. 
Since she was able to use Drain Learning to absorb the skills of other monsters, Babi had received the Optic Camouflage skill from a Lesser Chameleon Basilisk, a creature inhabiting a forest area near Nex Plains. However, the hiding ability of that skill meant nothing to the Death Shadow — the apex of stealth. 
Babi disappeared, leaving only Rook and Liz, who was still acting as his equipment. 
With Arc-en-Ciel’s bullet type still set to “penetrating and bursting,” Marie fired at him. 
Marie had intended to end the fight with that one shot, but unexpectedly, the bullet creature shifted its trajectory away from Rook and exploded after hitting the barrier. 
Upon focusing on him, Marie realized that a part of his coat had become curved. 
Rook had already noticed the bullets’ penetrative abilities, and he’d chosen to turn them away instead of stopping them. 
“I see,” she said, astonished that the boy could notice that much from just one shot. 
He also seems to know that I need to do the unloading motion to change modes, she realized. Rook’s observational ability made chills go down Marie’s spine. 
“You won’t protect against this, though,” she said as she unloaded Arc-en-Ciel, loaded it with only Green Piercing, and fired once more. 
The piercing bullet creatures that escaped the muzzle had far greater penetrative power than the ones mixed with bursting, allowing them to easily overcome the curved defense, pierce Rook, and kill him. 
The primary feature of Marie Adler’s Arc-en-Ciel was the creation and firing of bullet creatures. The qualities of the bullet creatures fired depended on the paint used. There were six types of paint, and the ones she’d used in this battle were black for homing, red for bursts, blue for spread, and green for piercing. Besides these, there were also white for paralysis and silver for flash. 
Loading the six chambers with multiple paints gave the bullet creatures more abilities, but lowered the potency of each separate one. That made Arc-en-Ciel an Embryo that had to be used differently depending on the situation. 
“And that’s how it works.” Marie ended her explanation. 
“And how, exactly, is that ‘not tricky’?” asked Rook. By the end of the first fight, he had been shot to death, Babi had vanished, and Marilyn and Audrey had exploded, but they were now just standing there — all alive and well, because even monsters were protected by the barriers. 
“Hey now, I said ‘compared to many,’ and I stand by that,” replied Marie. “As far as sixth form Embryos go, Arc-en-Ciel’s very straightforward. By the time they start getting their ultimate skills, Embryos can become a bit... creative. For example, there’s an Embryo that ‘Turns people within a set boundary into toddlers.’ Then there’s one that ‘Forcibly removes people’s equipment and makes them naked’ and one that ‘Turns people into creatures that they hate.’ Mine’s quite modest in comparison, no? By the way, the ones I just named all belong to Legendaria’s Superiors.” 
Masters often described Legendaria as the “Land of Perverts,” and their strongest certainly lived up to that reputation. 
After that, Rook and Marie went on to have eight more matches, all of which were won by Marie. 
The second and third battles were basically replays of the first. On the fourth, Rook’s movements and actions had gotten better, so Marie started using the Shadow Clone Technique. Come the fifth battle, he was moving in a way to compensate for that, so she took to using Art of Hiding as well. 
After that, it was a one-sided show of Marie combining her Embryo and job skills to defeat Rook. 
By the latter half, Marie was putting more effort into their fights than she had during yesterday’s battle against Elizabeth’s would-be assassins, The Reaper’s Pinky. 
With Marie being a Superior Job wielding an Embryo in its sixth form, the difference in power between her and Rook was great. 
The onmitsu grouping’s Death Shadow job had high base resistances to debuffs, not to mention that she was equipped with items that increased them further still, rendering Rook’s Charm useless and giving him next to no chance of victory. However, there was one thing that greatly astonished her — specifically, Babi. 
Optic Camouflage wasn’t the only skill she’d gained through Drain Learning. She also had skills such as Monstrous Strength, Petrifying Breath, and even increased resistances to fire and poison. 
That certainly gave Rook a wide array of tactics, but alas, it wasn’t enough for him to land even a single hit on Marie. 
This makes me question if he’s actually learning anything, she thought. 
Since she’d experienced many PvP battles, this sparring certainly wasn’t the first time she’d encountered and prevailed against tactics meant to kill her. The time when she’d gotten attacked by what was most likely the King of Destruction was no exception, for she’d survived that onslaught. That made it quite obvious that lukewarm tactics were ineffective against Marie. 
Battles against someone more or less equal to yourself always teach you something new, she thought. However, when fighting opponents significantly stronger than you, it’s all or nothing — either you leave without any new knowledge or mature a lot. I wonder which one applies to Rook... 
Such worries went through Marie’s head as they prepared for their tenth and final match. 
“This will be our last battle, right?” asked Rook. 
“Yes.” Marie nodded. “Are you ready?” 
“...Just one more minute, please.” Rook was breathing heavily, making it evident that he was drained. The barrier restored all the stats to what they were before the battles, but they had no effect on mental fatigue. It was only natural for someone to get tired after being killed nine times in a row. 
“There, I’m okay now,” he said as he summoned his monsters. 
Despite his fatigue, Rook was ready to spar for the tenth and last time. 
“Very well. Let’s begin,” Marie spoke as she activated both her Shadow Clone and Hiding techniques. 
As her five clones appeared and assaulted Rook and his monsters, Marie herself hid and loaded Arc-en-Ciel. Her plan was to use the distraction created by her clones to load her Embryo with the most effective qualities and fire the bullet creatures at her targets. If all went well, that should end the battle, but... 
“KIEEEEE!” Audrey sounded a call as she released an intense stream of flame. The fiery tongues reached across the entire area, thoroughly scorching it all. The blazes were vast, immense, and bright enough to obstruct Marie’s vision of the arena. 
However, she’d seen this skill used in the previous battles, so she did exactly what she’d done the previous times. Marie slipped through the flames and aimed at the spaces between them, ready to fire bullet creatures in homing mode. 
“...?” That was when she felt something was off. 
It came not from beyond the fire, but from the base of her feet, as she stood in the place she’d reached after passing the flames. It was as though something was lying and waiting to ambush her here... and that “something” was a silver-colored, human-shaped creature. 
“...!” Overwhelmed with questions, Marie was at a loss for words. How did this thing predict that I, the original, would move to this location? Why is it able to wait to ambush me while surrounded by blazing fire? What is “it,” anyway? 
In an attempt to find the answers, she ran her mind through those questions. That created a momentary opening in her movements... 
“Mithril Strain!” Rook shouted. 
...and he and the silver creature took advantage of it with a skill. 
Assaulted by a silver slash, Marie was in no state of mind to evade it. Barely being able to bend in a way to avoid the damage, Marie lost her left arm to the slash. 
“■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■ — Arc-en-Ciel!” she shouted. 
From point-blank range away from Rook, Marie hit him with her ultimate skill — the one she’d intended not to use. 
In but an instant, Rook and his monsters alike were all evaporated. 
With that, Marie won all ten of the battles. Besides the loss of her left arm in the last one, the result had been exactly what everyone would’ve expected. However, that single loss of limb made Marie feel like she was the one who’d lost. 
At the start, Rook and his monsters had moved in a way not too different from before, but then he’d gone on to read her movements with terrifying precision and caught her off guard, giving him a chance to take her left arm. It was safe to say that, at that very moment, Rook had cornered Marie — a being far stronger than himself. 
“Thank you for the practice matches!” Now that the fight was over, Rook lightly bowed his head, expressing sincere thanks. 
“You’re welcome,” replied Marie. “You and your monsters aren’t bad at all... In fact, considering your total playtime, you’re nothing short of amazing. The way you use your skills and coordinate with your monsters is simply splendid. I was especially surprised by what you did last. Were you saving that tactic for the final battle, when you more or less understood the way I act?” 
“Yes.” Rook smiled. “I must say, you’re very strong, Marie. Even nine battles weren’t enough for me to become able to read your movements well enough. To be honest, I was going for your head with my last attack.” 
Oh, I see, she thought. He used the first nine battles to get a grasp of my movement patterns and then predict what I’d do in the last one. That aside, that bright smile of his certainly doesn’t fit what he’s saying. This boy might have the makings of a nonchalant brute. I’m kinda scared of what he’ll become. 
“Also, losing your arm didn’t affect your movements at all,” added Rook. “I expected that to create more openings.” 
“In high-level battles, losing limbs or organs is common, after all. It’s something you get used to.” 
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “Thank you very much for today.” 
“Did that help you much?” 
“Yes! Very much!” 
That makes losing an arm worth it, Marie thought. Still, he pushed me — a Superior Job — this far despite being a non-battle-oriented low-rank job. I’d already established that Ray, a newbie who’s already killed two UBMs, was amazing, but Rook certainly isn’t far behind him. 
Having played for long, Marie knew enough Masters to be certain that these two were simply exceptional. And it wasn’t because of their growth as players; they’d deviated from the norm right from the start. Marie was half-excited and half-scared trying to imagine what the two would become. 
“I wonder which one of them is stronger,” she muttered. 
“Come again?” asked Rook. 
“Oh, never mind. By the way, in the last battle, you used a skill you haven’t used before, right? Oh, and I don’t mean Mithril Strain.” Discarding the question from her previous mutter, Marie brought up something that had been on her mind ever since the battle ended. 
Rook had read her movements to ambush her, then used Liz to attack. Marie could understand that much, but she didn’t see the process linking those two points. 
She couldn’t see why he’d been able to wait for the ambush while surrounded by searing flames. The silver-colored humanoid figure might’ve been the result of Liz covering his body, but that shouldn’t have been enough to protect Rook from the heat. That feat required a considerable amount of fire resistance. Otherwise, he would’ve died from the flame before Marie even came close enough for the ambush. Due to that, Marie assumed that he’d used a skill that he didn’t use before then. 
“That was Union Jack!” Babi shouted with pride before Rook could give his answer. 
“Union Jack...?” Marie raised an eyebrow. 
“Yes.” Rook nodded. “It’s a unique skill Babi acquired when she reached her third form.” 
It seemed she’d gained that skill when she’d evolved during yesterday’s hunting, and they’d kept it hidden until the tenth battle. 
A skill they preserved for the very end... With all the preparation they did for it, it’s obvious that it has a powerful effect, but... But Marie was unable to tell what kind of effect it had been. Most Embryo skills were based on the Embryo’s ability characteristics. However, unlike that of Ray’s Nemesis or Marie’s Arc-en-Ciel, Babi’s primary characteristic wasn’t too clear. Due to that, Marie couldn’t see the full picture behind Union Jack. 
But, at the very least, she was able to tell that it was as terrifying as Rook’s superhuman talents. 
 
“All right,” Rook said and opened his eyes, having ended the short recollection. At his side was Babi, looking right at him. 
“Hey, Rook,” she said. “Were you remembering the practice battles from this afternoon?” 
“Yes.” He nodded. 
“Why’d you want to do them, anyway?” 

“I guess you could say that I wanted to prepare.” 
“For what?” she asked. 
“This afternoon, Ray told us about his battle against a tian group called the ‘Gouz-Maise Gang,’ and, well, I think it must’ve been pretty hard for him. After all, Ray... he’s a gentle soul.” 
“That’s true.” Babi nodded. 
“However, he was faced with a situation where he absolutely had to overcome that mental hurdle and fight against people. That made me think that, sooner or later, I would have to do it, as well, so I figured that I needed to prepare a proper mindset for such battles. And, just as I expected, we’re about to fight people, meaning that the practice matches against Marie were absolutely worth it.” 
“I don’t really get it, but if you’re gonna kill, then I will do it, too!” Babi declared. 
While they were talking, the people around them were finishing up their preparations. 
In the lobby, there was Ray, Rook, and a number of other newbies. However, the enemies outside were many, and they surpassed them in terms of both level and stats. Naturally, breaking through the enemies filling the plaza would be no small task. 
“Okay,” muttered Rook as he remembered his battles against Marie. “The most important thing to keep in mind while fighting those stronger than you is to take advantage of their openings.” 
Then he devised a certain plan and passed it over to his fellow newbies. With it, even they — no, especially they — would be able to take advantage of the enemies’ openings. 
They all agreed to the plan and soon headed out of the arena. 
 
Duel city Gideon’s central plaza 
The central plaza expanding before the central arena was usually full of stalls, street performers, and hustle and bustle in general, making it one of the city’s most popular attractions. Yet, despite it being the night of one of Gideon’s greatest events, the stalls were all barren and the performers were absent. 
Franklin’s game had thrown the city into a state of absolute chaos. Naturally, the common folk had scattered from the plaza like flies, as far away from the core of the chaos, the central arena, as possible. But a certain group was there to replace them. 
It was a gathering of about forty Masters and their tamed monsters or slaves. They were all prepared for battle, standing alert about anything that could leave through the entrance of the arena, ready to block the paths of anybody who tried. 
The group certainly wasn’t there to stop any of the monsters released in the arena from escaping to town. In fact, they were there to eliminate any Masters trying to curb the chaos enveloping Gideon. 
The group were Franklin’s pawns: the ones he’d referred to as “the betrayers” when having a phone talk with his sponsor, prime minister Vigoma. Just as their name said, they were the kingdom’s Masters who wished to defect to the imperium. 
Their reason was simple: profit. When wars happened and ended, there was a world of difference between the advantages gained by the victors and those gained by the losers. 
Thus, due to the situation in the kingdom becoming worse, many Masters were switching to other countries. Among those were ones who wished to switch after doing something to improve their standing with Dryfe, both to avoid becoming a loser and to curry favor with the winning side. 
The people in the plaza were exactly that — a group of Masters from the kingdom that Franklin had enticed with good conditions if they switched to Dryfe. He was having them participate in his plan as player killers. 
“Heh heh. Looks like they realized that low level kiddies can get out,” said a leather-clad traitor as he watched what was going on in the arena’s lobby. 
“Oh? And here I was beginning to think that we wouldn’t get to do anything,” replied a woman wearing priestly clothing. 
“HYAHAAH! Time to shoot some fish in a barrel!” shouted a man with his hair in a pure-red mohawk and sunglasses over his eyes. Though the sunglasses and hair didn’t seem to fit it, the rest of his apparel made it clear that he was actually a mage of some sort. 
The three with the highest levels among those that’d gathered in the central plaza. 
Strong Swordsman, Ryzac. 
Bishop, Myanna. 
Pyromancer, Mohawk Red. 
While most of the betrayers were somewhere around level 100, these three were over level 300. Also, perhaps due to them knowing each other for so long, they were acting like the leaders of the entire group. 
However, they certainly weren’t the strongest betrayers in the kingdom. 
There were two types of treacherous Masters. The first type had considerable power, while the second type wanted to switch because they were relatively weak. The former were tasked with handling the high-rank players that could potentially escape the arena, while the latter, weaker ones were positioned in the plaza to take care of the newbies. 
The very fact that these three were here meant that Franklin didn’t consider them to be particularly strong. 
“Well, time to do our job,” said Ryzac. 
Though they certainly weren’t pleased with his assessment, they still considered themselves lucky. After all, the task they’ve been given was extremely easy. Logic itself dictated that low-rank jobs were weaker than high-rank jobs and that low-rank Embryos were weaker than high-rank ones. Everyone knew that a job where people had to face those weaker than themselves was simple. 
“HYAHAAH! Here they come!” guffawed Mohawk Red. 
The betrayers could see that the newbies in the lobby were done with their preparations. 
There’s just over twenty of them... Yeah, we’ve won, Ryzac thought to himself and grinned. 
They were above the newbies in both individual power and numbers, making failure absolutely unthinkable. 
“Red, greet them with a little AOE spell,” said Ryzac. 
“HYAHAAH! Time to take out the trash!” replied Mohawk Red as he prepared an offensive spell, which was ready in just twenty seconds. It needn’t be said that it had power no low-rank job could withstand. 
They’ve probably got some buffs from the higher-rank players stuck in there, but that’s never going to be enough to bring a low-rank to a high-rank’s level, Ryzac thought confidently. Due to that, what was about to begin was going to be less of a battle and more of a one-sided extermination. Ryzac was absolutely certain of that. 
And then he was proven wrong. 
“What?” he raised an eyebrow. He’d expected the newbies to charge at them at full force. Instead, a mere one of those inside stuck his arm out through the barrier... 
“Hellish Miasma, full power.” 
...and released an intense flow of dark purple smoke. 
While the barrier prevented any of it from going into the arena, it spread throughout the entire central plaza, making about a fourth of the traitors lose their postures. 
“Huh? Wh-What...?” Ryzac looked at his status summary and noticed that he had a debuff called “Intoxication.” 
He then looked at the status displays of his party and saw the same Intoxication debuff, along with two others: Poison and Weakness. 
“G-Gas that gives three debuffs?!” Ryzac shouted in a panic. Luckily for him, he had accessories that protected him against Poison and Weakness, but that wasn’t the main thing to consider in this situation. “Why is a low-rank newbie able to use an item like this?!” 
His confusion was perfectly justified. After all, equipment had level limits. Skills that were able to apply three debuffs at once were the realm of high-rank jobs focusing on curses, so low-rank people should never be able to equip items that could do the equivalent. Even Ryzac and his buddies would have trouble getting and using such gear. 
However, there was an exception. 
When the equipment in question was an MVP special reward, it had properties that took after the UBM it was based on. Furthermore, MVPs could wear and use their special rewards regardless of level. 
But of course, normally, low level players never became MVPs. 
“Gheeh...” 
“Hey! Drink your Elixirs!” 
“Huh? B-But that’s such a waste...” 
“You retard! If we fight in this state, even low-ranks could give us death penalties!” 
The betrayers had lost their pace. With them being just a ragtag group of willing player killers, it wasn’t exactly reasonable to expect much coordination between them, but the unexpected turn of events made it even worse. 
While most opted to drink Elixirs themselves, many of those with monsters and slaves under their command were too stingy to share and instead returned them back to the Jewel. Naturally, that reduced their numbers. 
“Tch...!” Ryzac clicked his tongue in frustration. 
Having more Infinite Dendrogram experience, the three with the highest levels didn’t hesitate to swig the Elixirs and remove the debuffs ailing them. 
They sure got us with this one, he thought. I’m guessing those newbies got Elixirs from the high-rank players in there. They’re planning to take advantage of the buffs they got and take care of us while we’re suffering from the debuffs! 
But Ryzac had no intention of letting that happen. Turning to Mohawk Red, he saw a giant sphere of fire that looked ready to be released hanging above the mage’s head. 
All right! This will crush them the moment they leave! Ryzac thought as he felt something move within the smokescreen — from the direction of the arena’s entrance. 
He was quick to realize that many people were leaving the barrier. 
Ryzac instantly braced to face the newbies before realizing that something beyond his expectations was there, as well. 
Wait... There’s something huge! 
And so, breaking through the dark purple smokescreen came a dragon reminiscent of a heavy tank. A Tri-Horn Demi-Dragon, to be precise. 
It was a Demi-Dragon class monster that had little in the way of unique skills, but came equipped with particularly high stats. Ryzac had defeated these before, but what mattered here wasn’t that, but the question of... 
“Why does a low-rank have one of these?!” 
Such a creature’s presence here was thoroughly unexpected. 
As Ryzac considered that a high-rank might’ve lent it to some newbie... 
“MHOOOOOO!” 
...the Tri-Horn Demi-Dragon, buffed and strengthened by the Masters inside, charged with all the force it could muster. In its way were the betrayer Masters who’d yet to cure themselves of their debuffs. 
“Red!” shouted Ryzac. 
“Crimson Sph—” Following his buddy’s order, Mohawk Red prepared to launch the completed Crimson Sphere, the ultimate Pyromancer spell, towards the Demi-Dragon. However... 
“Silence.” That clear voice came from the top of the Demi-Dragon, and was followed by the sound of someone snapping their fingers. 
Once it resounded, Mohawk Red’s Crimson Sphere, which had been complete just a moment ago and had been meant to be the Demi-Dragon’s demise, vanished like mist in the wind. Then, with little resistance, the Demi-Dragon trampled the Masters who were too weak to retaliate due to the Intoxication and Weakness debuffs. 
“Red! What the hell?!” roared Ryzac. 
“That wasn’t me! Some guy canceled my magic just now...!” 
After crushing the weakened Masters, the Demi-Dragon continued to ravage their ranks. That wasn’t all, either — a Demi-Dragon-class avian had appeared and joined the Tri-Horn in wreaking havoc. As the chaos and confusion among the betrayers grew, the newbies finally broke through the smokescreen and attacked them. 
I misjudged their power and let them have the initiative, but we’re still stronger, and there are more of us! Ryzac thought, and he thought right. 
Though they were equipped with unexpected items and had monsters common to relevant high-rank jobs, the difference in total power was far too obvious. When compared, the betrayers had far more than just double or triple the power. With a difference this great, there was little doubt that they would emerge victorious, and Ryzac was absolutely correct to think so. 
“The low-rank Masters are here!” 
“Gank ’em!” 
A woman and a man among the betrayers brandished their weapons in preparation to attack the approaching newbies... 
“Eh?” 
“Ah?” 
...but instead of attacking them, they attacked each other’s vital spots. 
The man’s ax dug into the woman’s shoulder, while her arrow pierced his throat. 
And so, completely clueless as to what’d happened, they fell to their knees and were defeated by the newbies moments after. 
“What the hell’s... Huh?!” Ryzac found the answer to his question before he could even finish speaking. 
His party’s status display showed that they had the “Charm” debuff. 
Charmed beings helped their enemies and killed their allies, making it one of the worst mental status effects in existence. And, due to it being mental, rather than disease-based, not even Elixirs could help protect against it. 
The two who’d practically killed each other and Ryzac’s party members weren’t the only ones who were Charmed. Other Masters, their monsters, slaves... The Charm gradually continued to spread until more than half of the betrayers were fighting for the opposing side. 
Indeed, it was hard to battle high-ranks while being low-rank. Emerging victorious while being weaker in both quality and quantity was truly difficult. So one simply had to borrow some forces. 
From where? Why, from the opposing side, of course. 
“Charm... CHARM?! There’s no way that’s possible!” Ryzac shouted. 
His reaction was only natural. He and his people had high-rank jobs and were equipped with decent items. Among those, of course, were accessories that negated the effects of debuffs. For instance, despite not downing an Elixir, Ryzac was unaffected by Poison and Weakness. 
However, the number of status effects in Infinite Dendrogram was vast, and it was nigh impossible to be prepared for all of them. 
While making equipment selections in preparation for this battle, one of the status effects that had been disregarded first was Charm. After all, skills that applied Charm could only be learned by a handful of non-battle-oriented jobs, such as Pimp or Harlot. 
High-ranks would sometimes take the Pimp job to get this skill or Female Monster Strengthening for its synergy with Tamer’s Monster Strengthening. However, none of the betrayers had expected to encounter a player that had taken it before getting to total level 50 — as one of their first jobs. 
“Huuhh?! The Charm’s spreading too fast! There’s more than one?!” 
“Hell if I know!” 
Another unexpected thing was the presence of an Embryo that could apply Charm, just like a Pimp. 
In the natural world, monsters that used Charm were powerful, difficult to tame, and cost a lot, making it unlikely for low-rank jobs to have them. However, none of that applied to a Master with a succubus for an Embryo. 
Making her way through the openings in the chaos of battle, she was Charming the men, one after another. 
“MYANNAAA! Use a spell already! Remove the Charm, damn it!” Ryzac called out to Myanna, his high-level Bishop friend. He believed that her healing magic skills had the potential to remove all the Charm on their side. 
However, no one answered to his call. 
“Hey, what the hell?! You dead or something?! Myanna!” he called out once more and again got no response. 
Since the three were acting as leaders of separate parties of lower-level Masters, Ryzac was unable to find out what became of Myanna. However, the fact that she hadn’t responded was enough for him to conclude that she’d died in the chaos. 
Why...? Why?! We were supposed to win this, damn it! 
Their having gone from having an absolute advantage to being even — no, disadvantaged! — troubled Ryzac to no end. Still, his experience as a player allowed him to easily cut down one of the newbie Masters charging towards him. 
Yeah. We’re not done yet! he thought. There’s still me and Red! 
Regaining his composure, Ryzac continued swinging his blade. 
Mohawk Red completed preparing another Crimson Sphere. “HYAHAAH! YOU’RE GONNA GET IT THIS TIME! Crimson Sphere!” he shouted, and there was no one to stop him this time. 
Mohawk Red’s most powerful spell went straight towards a single Master — the one wearing the bracers that covered the plaza in miasma. Red aimed to burn him down and relish the payback factor in the process. 
The newbie was caught unawares, and the Crimson Sphere landed right on him. 
“HYAHAAH! EAT IT!” 
The Master with the bracers got engulfed in flames and became particles of light before he could even leave any ash... 
...or so Red thought, but then the Master jumped out of the flames and charged towards him at full speed. 
“Hyah?” Red released a weird sound, completely dumbfounded. 
Then, right after a broken Dragonscale Ward fell out of the newbie Master’s pocket... 
“Vengeance is Mine!” 
...he hit Mohawk Red — a Master above level 250 — and instantly made him vanish. 
“R-REEEEED!” shouted Ryzac, and not without reason, for what he’d seen was something that simply couldn’t happen. Like himself, Mohawk Red was a high-level Master, especially when compared to most in the plaza, and yet he’d gotten one-shotted by a far weaker newbie. 
“Wh-Why is this happening?!” Ryzac shouted. 
He could still hold and swing his sword, but his mind was in a state of panic, causing him to mutter his thoughts. 
“We were all high-ranks here... Our stats and Embryo forms were higher than theirs... So why... Why are we being overwhelmed... It doesn’t make sense...” 
By that point, the forces on his side had been cut down by more than half. About 40% of those still alive were Charmed. And with them having lost Mohawk Red and Myanna — the strongest among them — it was safe to say that the betrayers were defeated. 
“...N-Not yet! I still haven’t lost!” Ryzac screamed. 
After forcefully encouraging himself, the high-level Strong Swordsman cut down the enemies before him. 
I tried to switch to Dryfe so that I could win, he thought. Losing here is the opposite of what I want. 
Vehemently, desperately, he defeated any enemies he crossed paths with. He could no longer tell whether they were newbies or ex-allies that had gotten Charmed — he fought any and all people that came to him as enemies. 
“Hh...!” That was when he came across someone particularly powerful. The person wore full body armor of a silver color — no, the results of his Reveal skill said that it was a monster called “Mithril Arms Slime.” 
He’s wearing a liquid metal-type slime as armor? Looks kinda tough... however...! Ryzac thought as he put his hand against his sword, a Type Arms Embryo. 
“All-Slashing Blade — Durandal!” he roared, declaring that he was using his high-rank Embryo’s ultimate skill. 
Durandal’s ultimate skill was different from Hræsvelgr and Poseidon, which were high-rank, as well. While those were the type of skills to unleash a single, powerful attack, Durandal’s ultimate skill was enhancement. 
For a minute after activation, Durandal became able to cut anything. No matter how tough the Mithril Arms Slime was, when imbued with this power, Ryzac’s blade could easily cut through it and kill the Master within. 
“Let’s do this!” he roared and charged, to which the Mithril Arms Slime responded with a swing from its blade-like tentacles. 
Though its speed matched — or surpassed — that of a high-rank vanguard, it wasn’t difficult for Ryzac to see it, as he had become stronger and faster due to the side-effects of his ultimate skill. He swung Durandal twice and — with great ease — cut the tentacles off before charging close enough to cut his enemy. Then Ryzac unleashed a horizontal slash meant to split his opponent at the abdomen. 
“You’re done.” 
Due to Durandal’s immense sharpness, he didn’t feel any resistance. However, it was clear that it easily broke through the Mithril Arms Slime’s defense and split the person inside in half. The upper and lower half fell to the ground with half of the Slime accompanying them each. Despite that, the upper half of the Mithril Arms Slime moved to stop the blood flowing from the cut. 
That’s useless. He’s as good as dea— Huh...? In order to stop the blood, the Slime focused most of its volume on the wound, causing other parts to become uncovered. 
Those parts included the Master’s face. 
Upon seeing it, Ryzac lost his words, for it was his friend, the Bishop, Myanna. 
The Mithril Arms Slime had bound her in a way that prevented all movement and filled her mouth with enough of itself to gag her. 
The realization that he’d split his own friend in half made Ryzac’s mind go blank. 
Taking advantage of his sorry state, the Mithril Arms Slime hastily turned half of itself into a spear and pierced him from his nether region to the top of his head. 
“Gh?” Naturally, the damage was critical, making his HP drop to 0. Though his consciousness was still somewhat alive during the resurrection period, the destruction to his vitals was great, making it obvious that he wouldn’t last much longer. 
“Make them panic and they show their openings. Aim for a critical hit and they die instantly.” Before getting the death penalty, Ryzac saw Myanna get freed from the Mithril Arms Slime’s bindings and slowly turn into particles of light as the Slime, with its job done, crawled towards some boy. 
As beautiful as a winter fairy, he talked to the Mithril Arms Slime in the same clear voice Ryzac had heard at the beginning of the battle. 
“Don’t miss an opening, and you can kill those stronger than you,” he said. “It’s just like we learned in the practice matches. Except this time, we were successful, Liz.” 
Though no doubt beautiful, Ryzac found the smile on the boy’s face to be scary beyond words. 
Aahh... Damn it... he thought as he vanished. If I’d known we had newbies like this... I wouldn’t have done this shit... 
Overwhelmed with regret, Ryzac got the death penalty. 
 
Soon after they’d lost their leaders and three strongest, the rest of the traitors gathered in the central plaza were quickly annihilated. 
Then, having passed that hurdle, the newbies spread out to help fight the monsters ravaging the city or to search for Franklin. 
Though this fight was merely the beginning for them, it should’ve been something they couldn’t win. While the betrayers had been presented with many unexpected things, in the end, it could all be boiled down to the existence of a mere two extraordinary entities — Ray and Rook. 
 





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