Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 5 - Chapter 1

Chapter One: Plan C 
Duel city Gideon 
Gideon was roaring with cries of joy — cheers over Ray and the Royal Guard’s victory. 
With the defeat of the RSK, the remote controlling the monster-releasing devices had been destroyed as well. Even after the time limit had passed, there was no sign of any monsters being released in Gideon. Thus, the city’s people became overwhelmed with joy and praised the victors. 
The traitors working for Franklin, on the other hand, either became upset by the failure or scorned Franklin for his mess-up. 
Though the reactions were mostly split between those two, there were a few exceptions. One of them was Hugo. Being one of Franklin’s people, he was aware of Franklin’s plans and knew what the man would do next. That perspective also applied to a few of the veterans fighting or merely observing the situation. 
They knew that it wasn’t over yet. 
 
Jeand Grasslands 
Using optical means to hide himself, Franklin observed what was happening in the Jeand Grasslands. 
“Well... damn. Seriously,” he muttered while looking down at the place where the RSK had vanished. His tone contained suppressed rage, irritation, and a hint of self-derision. 
Tonight, he’d started the plan he’d formed as a member of Dryfe Imperium’s prime minister faction. At the same time, though, he’d challenged Ray Starling to a revenge match. 
Franklin loathed defeat more than anything else, and he wouldn’t find peace until he made anyone who won against him experience an even greater loss. That was how he’d broken the spirit of the Master who’d killed him, and that was exactly how he’d planned to get back at Ray for ruining his plan and indirectly defeating him. 
He’d intended to have the fine-tuned monster defeat this newbie and make him aware of his powerlessness when all the monsters ravaged Gideon. However, the actual result of the revenge match had been nothing like that. 
The RSK, the 100,000,000 lir Pure-Dragon-class monster he’d designed specifically to kill Ray Starling, was turning into particles of light. 
Franklin had lost to him again. 
It was an unexpected result, but he could’ve predicted it if he’d considered several factors. 
Franklin began thinking what he had to do in order to win against Ray Starling with the handicap he’d set for himself. That was about the only thing on his mind while looking at the place where the RSK had vanished. 
Though he ruined my plan and defeated me, he’s still a newbie, he had thought yesterday. Going all-out on him would be immature. Not to mention that it’s a waste of resources. Then there’s the fact that he helped out one of my people, so... All right, I’ll handle him with a single Pure-Dragon-class monster. 
Franklin slowly shook his head and sighed. “I was such an idiot for thinking that yesterday,” he said in a voice thick with anger and self-derision. He regretted his ever choosing to set a handicap, and tried to think of what he should’ve done instead, but in the end, he believed the result would’ve been the same regardless of what he did. That was because his opponent was Ray Starling. 
This was the person who’d defeated a Demi-Dragon Worm — a match for a high-rank job — while being level 0. 
Then, a few days later, he’d faced and defeated the UBM known as “Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda.” 
On the day that followed, he’d defeated the head of the infamous Gouz-Maise Gang and felled the UBM born out of the group’s grudge: Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise. 
And just now, he’d emerged victorious against his natural enemy, the RSK. 
The newbie had already brought about a number of miracles, and Franklin had a hunch that he could do it again. The memory of that hunch mixed with the reality of his defeat made his thoughts go into disarray. 
I don’t want to lose a single time, yet I’ve lost twice now. It happened even with my countermeasures in place. I can’t stomach this. I won’t allow it. 
Gradually, his verbal thoughts became emotions. A staggering lack of words overwhelmed his head before gathering and forming a single sentence. 
“I’ll go all out... and kill him.” 
At that moment, Franklin, the Superior from Dryfe Imperium, reached a certain conclusion. His greatest enemy wasn’t the imperator faction’s King of Beasts, the field marshall faction’s Hell General, any of the four Superiors from the kingdom or any of the nine Superiors from Caldina’s pride and joy that was Sefirot. 
It was him. 
The newbie known as Ray Starling was Franklin’s smallest, yet greatest, nemesis. Thus, he decided to defeat him using all he had. 
Next time, I’ll grind him into dust using my anti-Superior monster: Mechanic God Dylan, he thought furiously. 
However, that was something to do another time. MGD still wasn’t complete, and Franklin had other priorities. His revenge match against Ray Starling was purely a personal thing. He still had a role to fulfill as a Superior sponsored by the prime minister. 
With that in mind, he regained his composure and sprung into action, starting with... 
 
By the skin of his teeth, Ray had defeated the RSK and announced his victory to the people of Gideon. 
Following that moment, he reached his limit, lost consciousness, and fell flat on his back. 
“Ray!” Nemesis shouted his name as she returned to her human form and supported his body. Liliana, Sir Lindos, and several other Paladins of the Royal Guard gathered in Ray’s vicinity. 
“Ray, are you all right?! Force Heal!” shouted Liliana as she cast a healing spell. 
“Those with spare MP, you take turns healing him and the incapacitated knights!” Lindos gave his orders. “Franklin is hiding right now, so the rest of you, search for him and Her Highness Elizabeth! Don’t let that man escape!” 
“Understood!” the knights replied in unison before scattering. 
A small number of them stayed with Ray. One was Liliana, who healed him with a pained expression on her face. 
“We can restore his health, but...” she said while looking at Ray’s left arm. It was Burned so badly that the debuff merely upgraded to Charred. Even high-rank healing magic would have a hard time with such grave injury-based debuffs. Defeating the natural enemy of all Paladins had caused him to pay a heavy price. 
Thankfully, Ray was a Master and thus could be completely restored by simply getting the death penalty and respawning once the time had passed. Whether he’d be willing to take this course of action, however, was a different matter entirely. 
“For now, just keep him alive, please,” said Nemesis. “Ray doesn’t want to make his exit just yet.” 
“I understand,” replied Liliana as she and the other knights healed Ray. 
A moment later, the sound of clapping reached their ears. Surprised, they looked for the source and found it in the hologram projected into the sky. 
Though they were unaware of this, it was displaying the exact same thing as the ones projected all across town. Right now it showed Franklin, smiling so widely it seemed unnatural. 
“Did you see that, dear audience?” he asked. “The monster I’ve created has been destroyed. How sad. Truly a pity. Even so, I believe the Paladins who pulled it off deserve a round of applause. So here, clapclapclapclap.” 
Clapping was exactly what he did. However, not a single soul joined him in that. In fact, the viewers who had been cheering just a few moments ago had turned silent upon seeing him. 
“So yeah,” he continued. “Congratulations. 251 seconds have passed since the time limit and uh, it’s pretty clear that the remote is destroyed. The monsters don’t seem to have been released, after all.” 
Franklin placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head in a disappointed manner. Then he reached into his pocket with a blank expression... 
“Lo, this right here is a spare!” 
He pulled out a remote, just like the one consumed by the RSK. 
“You wretch!” shouted Nemesis, the anger in her tone all too palpable. 
“Hahahahahah! The folk on the scene all look like, ‘What was the point of the last battle?’ I’m guessing the rest of the audience feels the exact same way.” Ignoring Nemesis’s words, Franklin continued speaking in a smug manner. “The battle up until now was just a sideshow — a revenge match. Come on, now. Stuff breaks, you know? Making spares is the obvious thing to do, don’t you think?” 
A grin formed on his face yet again. 
“By the way, this one works without a timer, so... I’ll just press it. Beepbeepbeepbeep.” With that, he nonchalantly activated the devices, releasing the 500 monsters in Gideon. 
“Franklin!” Nemesis roared in anger, but again, he paid no heed. 
“Hahahahahah! You were a pretty great sideshow. Sure, I didn’t like the result all too much, but seeing you now makes it kinda worth it. If only Ray was awake, too. I’d love to see his reaction.” Franklin laughed mockingly. 
Liliana glared at him, told her subordinates to continue healing Ray, and stood up. 
“Well, hi there, your excellency miss vice commander,” Franklin said cheerfully. “You’re gonna go help the citizens? Or are planning to defeat me? You think you can do that when you’re hurt all over? That’s some impressive perseverance... Anyway, I’m not having that. Call — DGP, KOS.” Franklin raised the Jewel on his right hand and summoned two monsters, both of which appeared right next to Nemesis. 
One of them was Dino-Earth Giga Phalanx: a pachycephalosaurus-like dinosaur emitting a red aura. 
The other was a King-Size Oxygen Slime: a blue Slime just like the ones he’d released in the arena, only several times bigger. 
“Th-They’re...” Nemesis muttered as her intuition told her something. The two monsters before her were far stronger than the RSK, the creature they’d just worked so hard to defeat. In fact, they were actually more menacing than Gouz-Maise, their foe from yesterday. 
“What? You find it strange?” asked Franklin. “I have the Superior Job of Giga Professor, and I am the owner of a Superior Embryo. You didn’t actually believe that the RSK was the only monster I had or that it was the strongest, right? In fact, out of all my special creations, he was among the weaker ones. While he was Pure-Dragon-tier, these are a match for Masters with battle-oriented Superior Jobs and Legendary-tier UBMs.” 
Nemesis and the Royal Guard were at a loss for words. Franklin continued. 
“Surely you saw this coming, right? The only reason I used the RSK was because Ray had been able to kill a Demi-Dragon Worm, and going a step up in terms of tier seemed like the reasonable thing to do. I spent the appropriate amount of money to make sure everything was accounted for and intended to thoroughly break his spirit. But the result... well, I lost again.” He heaved a long sigh as his smile faded. “Ray won against me two times out of two. I swear that I’ll get back at him for this humiliation.” 
Nemesis stayed mute. She realized that, with the RSK, Franklin had been partially playing around. Though everyone had believed him to be immature for singling out a newbie, he’d still been somewhat considerate. However, now that he’d lost two times, Franklin had no such sentiments left. 
A Superior — one of the few strongest players — now saw Ray as an enemy. 
“Still, I have no intention to fail tonight’s plan,” he said. “Anyway, let’s see how the city’s doing. The monsters there are weaker than these babies, but I did throw in a few troublesome ones and... Hm...?” 
After looking in the city’s direction, Franklin tilted his head in a puzzled manner. 
Nemesis could easily tell what had him so confused. 
Gideon is too quiet. 
For a city being ravaged by 500 monsters, it was far too silent. 
By straining their ears, they could hear some sounds of battle, but they were strangely infrequent. 
“...Did it only release a part of them?” Franklin pressed the button again, but Gideon still remained the same. “The remote is functioning properly. That means the problem is on the other en...” 
Suddenly, he remembered something. 
Tonight, he’d encountered a certain person who could easily take care of the many devices hidden in the city. It was a person clad in a black mist which made it hard to tell whether it was a he or a she. 
The person’s name was... 
 
A certain place in duel city Gideon 
“Oh, I’m so glad I made it,” a certain person muttered while looking up at the projection above. 
Her name was Marie Adler. She was sitting at the edge of an alley to take a breather. 
Right next to her, there was a bag filled to the brim with devices with Jewels fixed inside of them. 
Each and every one of them were broken. 
They were the monster-releasing devices Franklin had placed all over the city. 

After fighting the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell, Marie had run around the city collecting them. Being the crux of the plan, these devices had had to be hidden until it was time. Because of that, in addition to their long-distance monster-releasing function, Franklin had also equipped them with a high-quality Conceal ability. That was the reason why they had been able to remain in the city for a few days without anyone noticing. However... 
“Sadly for him, I happen to be as good at finding as I am at hiding,” she said. 
Being a Death Shadow — a Superior Job from the onmitsu grouping — Marie excelled at Conceal. She could not only masterfully hide herself, but discover those in hiding as well. 
Marie’s Conceal Perception skill was maxed out. It was what had allowed her to see through the Conceal on Night Lounge, the monster Franklin had used to escape. 
During her search, however, she’d noticed the many Concealed monster-releasing devices littered across the city. Thus, after her fight, she’d taken it upon herself to gather and break as many of them as possible. 
In the end, she’d taken care of 403 devices — more than 80% of the total. 
Considering that a number had already released themselves ahead of time, it was hard to imagine that there were many left. 
This result certainly wasn’t all thanks to her. The Paladins’ battle against the RSK had bought her time to minimize the harm. 
This also marked a turning point in the situation: the Masters high-rank or above were now capable of leaving the arena. The only thing that had been holding them back was the potential of releasing monsters upon attacking the barrier. With that gone, they were now free to break it and retaliate against Franklin. 
His plan had completely collapsed. 
 
However, some veterans were more than aware of just how abnormal Superiors could get. 
They knew just how tenacious and meticulous Franklin was. 
Thus, they were absolutely certain of one thing: 
It’s not over yet. 
 
Duel city Gideon, not far from the western gate 
“...Oh, so that’s what’s happening here. Hahah. Now ain’t that funny. You all just keep ruining my plans. How... disheartening.” 
As he listened to Franklin, Hugo became painfully aware that the plan had failed. 
“...So it’s over,” he muttered to himself. 
Hugo was currently sitting on the ground, virtually unable to move. Rook and the others had bound him when he’d become Charmed. The debuff had canceled Cyco’s merging with the Magingear, and she was now at his side, Charmed and unable to do anything. As long as she was in that state, Hugo had no hope of breaking out of this situation. 
Looking away from the broadcast, he examined the situation around him. 
He was no longer in the area right before the western gate. 
Rook and the three girls with him had all moved to a place where they could see Franklin’s broadcast, and they’d taken Hugo with them. By Rook’s decision, he hadn’t been given the death penalty yet. 
“Ray defeated that monster,” said Rook. “The devices, too, were taken care of by... someone.” 
Though he didn’t say so, Rook was completely certain that the culprit was Marie. Hugo, on the other hand, was completely unaware of her existence, so all he took from this was the reality of the plot’s failure. 
“It appears so,” Hugo said. “Heh, Plans A and B have both failed... The plot is as good as over.” 
I guess this will mean an all-out war between the kingdom and the imperium, he thought sadly. 
“So I failed to prevent the calamity and ended up simply supporting the tragedy,” he muttered in self-derision. “If I’d known it would go down like this, I would’ve had ‘him’ reconsider, and... What?” 
Hugo noticed that Rook was looking between him and Franklin’s projection with a puzzled expression on his face. 
“You just mentioned ‘Plans A and B,’” Rook said. “Can I have their details? They’ve already failed, right?” 
“...Very well.” After a moment of hesitation, Hugo began his explanation, which sounded somewhat like a sinner’s confession. “For Plan A, we sealed the Masters that came to see The Clash of the Superiors in the central arena and kidnapped the princess. Then we threatened to release the monsters to force them to stay put inside. The low-level Masters that could leave the barrier and those that weren’t inside from the start were then handled by player killers, meaning me and Veldorbell... he’s a master with a Superior Job in our clan. Our leader was then meant to escape from Gideon with the princess, which would make the kingdom’s tians lose faith in the kingdom’s Masters. And that was pretty much the whole plan.” 
“...Not exactly thorough, if you ask me,” said Rook. 
“Indeed.” 
“The part about keeping the Masters in by making it so that damage to the barrier releases monsters is a huge flaw. After all, as proven by us, low-levels can pass freely.” 
“That was part of the plan,” Hugo said. “Apparently, it was necessary that we fight the kingdom’s Masters and defeat them in a one-sided battle. Low-levels are the most suitable for this purpose.” 
It wouldn’t be enough for everything to end when the Masters were sealed and rendered incapable of doing anything. To break the kingdom’s spirit, it would have been necessary for the imperium’s forces to gain a flawless victory against the kingdom’s Masters. Thus, it had been optimal for them to be as weak as possible, and that limitation on the barrier had been perfect for this. In the end, however, Plan A had completely failed because of anomalies such as Ray and Rook. 
“The way you handled the Masters that weren’t inside the barrier was very sloppy, too,” said Rook. “The plan would’ve completely failed if a Superior with no interest in the fight had just hung around town, right?” 
“The possibility was there, yes,” replied Hugo. “But as you’re aware, that didn’t actually happen. Not to mention that we had Cyco — the bane of many Masters here — and the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell.” 
Franklin had displayed a lot of cunning by positioning Veldorbell in Gideon days before the plan had begun. He’d had him act as nothing but a Master street performing in the central plaza, and soon enough, most of the people in town had become familiar with him and his band. Even the fact that he had his Legion Embryo out all the time had been taken for granted. 
When the plan began tonight, many of the kingdom’s Masters hadn’t recognized him as an enemy, giving him a perfect opportunity for surprise attacks. 
Though his stats were significantly lower than those of battle jobs, the bonuses from his Superior Job skills greatly empowered the attacks of his Bremen. And since they all moved at sonic speed, only AGI-focused Superior Jobs could ever hope to evade them. 
The Masters he’d defeated had been far more numerous than those Frozen by Hugo, and most of them had been reduced to dust before even getting the chance to realize what had happened to them. 
If the Superior Killer hadn’t been an AGI-based Superior Job with the Danger Perception skill, there was a high chance that she would’ve died from his first attack. 
“So,” said Rook, “I assume Plan B was what you had in store in case the Masters in the barrier turned impatient and just broke out, or if someone made it through the obstacles and got to Franklin — which is what’s happened now.” 
“Yes.” Hugo nodded. “Plan B was basically the release of all the monsters regardless of the remaining time. The ensuing chaos have would allowed our leader to escape with the princess. This was also what would’ve happened if ‘he’ had been caught off guard and been given the death penalty.” 
Franklin’s claim that it all would’ve ended if he died was nothing but a lie. It would’ve actually acted as the trigger to release the monsters, which was a testament to his meticulousness and troublesome nature. 
“Regardless of what transpired...” Hugo said before cutting his words short. He couldn’t bring himself to add that “...the leader had no scenario in which he didn’t release the monsters.” 
However, Rook was practically able to read minds, so he could infer Hugo’s words even if he stayed silent. 
“If he wanted to break the country’s spirit, he could’ve done something far more effective than merely kidnapping the princess,” Rook commented. 
“You’re probably right,” said Hugo. “However, ‘he’ promised me that he designed the monsters to only attack Masters. He wanted to limit tian casualties, too.” 
“...Oh, I see how it is,” Rook responded with a short sigh. 
“What do you mean?” Hugo asked, thoroughly puzzled. 
“I’ve been wondering about this, but you saying ‘he wanted to limit tian casualties’ makes it all clear.” 
“Makes what clear?” Hugo couldn’t understand what Rook was wondering about and what kind of answer he’d found. 
In fact, Hugo was actually the only one who couldn’t make sense of this. Basically... 
“I now understand why you’re so blind when it comes to Franklin. You actually believe that he’d never massacre tians, don’t you?” 
...it was a question regarding Hugo’s perception. 
Before, during, and even after the plan, Hugo had continued to believe in Franklin, and that was exactly what Rook was curious about. 
“You... y-you think I’m blind?” asked Hugo. 
“Yes,” answered Rook. “You probably don’t think that, but to my eyes, that man’s a person who can easily start a massacre.” 
“He’d never. He’s like me! He also understands that tians aren’t just NPCs, but entities close to living beings... no, actual living beings! He’d never do something that vile!” 
“So what if he does understand that? Does that get in the way of him starting a massacre?” Rook demanded. 
Being told that Franklin was the type of person to commit such atrocities wasn’t something Hugo could stomach. “He’d never do that! I... I’ve known him for a long time! Don’t act like you understand him better than me!” 
His anger made apparent, Hugo shouted at Rook, who replied with a cold gaze and his own words. 
“That’s true. I only know Franklin through word of mouth and this incident. I’ve never even talked to him directly. Even so, I can assert that my assumption is correct.” 
“Why?!” 
“It’s because I don’t know him. By simply lining up what he’s done so far, it’s pretty easy to predict that he’s prepared something even more sinister. Anyone would assume that much. You’re probably the only one who doesn’t.” 
“Gh...!” Hugo gasped in response. 
Rook’s conclusion was based in nothing but reality. 
Franklin had participated in the war. He had killed many soldiers by feeding them to his monsters, and had even killed the king of this country that way. And tonight, he’d kidnapped the princess and tried to destroy the city in order to make the kingdom’s Masters look bad. It was only natural to assume that a person like that would do something even more atrocious, and Hugo was alone in not thinking so. 
“You say you’ve ‘known him for a long time,’ huh?” Rook continued. “I’m sure you have. It’s why you don’t see him as he is right now. You’re observing him through a filter, much like the mother of a criminal. ‘My boy would never do such a thing,’ and all that.” 
“Gh...!” If he wasn’t bound, Hugo would’ve most likely tried to punch him. Unable to do so, however, he simply continued sitting as Rook stared at him with the coldest eyes. 
That was when Babi talked to Rook through telepathy. “You’re very harsh on him, Rook.” 
That was a very natural comment to make. After all, the boy known as Rook was generally very courteous and could get along with just about everyone, so it was the first time Babi had ever seen him be so cold and judgmental towards someone. 
“I’m only this candid with those I can’t bear to watch,” he thought in response. 
To Rook, Hugo was the opposite of Ray, the person he wanted to observe as thoroughly as possible. His standards regarding this were extremely vague. However, the fact remained that watching Hugo filled him with a strong desire to make sure he didn’t continue as he was, so he pointed out his mistakes in a really harsh manner. 
“You know what, since you believe in Franklin so much... let me give you a simple prediction,” Rook said. 
“A prediction?” 
“Franklin is about to say something vile,” Rook said with certainty in his voice as he looked at the broadcast. 
A moment later, Franklin — who’d seemingly been despairing over Plan B’s failure — suddenly raised his head. On his face, there was a full smile. 
“Oh man, this is annoying. I can’t believe both Plan A and B have failed... The big and scary meatheads are probably gonna leave the arena soon, so... I guess I’ll have to start on Plan C.” 
“...Huh?” Hugo voiced his puzzlement. That was about the only thing he could do upon hearing Franklin’s words. 
All the Masters who’d participated in Franklin’s plot were just as confused as him. After all, none of them had been told about the existence of a “Plan C.” 
The only one who had known its contents was Franklin. 
“Plan C for ‘Crisis...’ Total annihilation of Gideon by 56,826 monsters.” 
And its contents were, as Rook had predicted, absolutely vile.