Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 9 - Chapter 1

Chapter One: Battle of the Fairy Tales 
The Town of Quartierlatin 
Hell General Logan Goddhart had unleashed two thousand devils upon Quartierlatin. Now, the Dryfean Superior continued to terrorize the town. 
It was early in the morning. The alarm sounding throughout the area woke everyone up and had them scrambling for safety. 
Sitting on the back of a devil different than the ones comprising the army, Logan looked down at the town like it was anthill. 
“I’m attacking a town...” he muttered. “Franklin tried the same thing a month ago and failed, didn’t he?” 
Gifted Barbaros had given him a quest: to derange the forces protecting Quartierlatin. In his mind, that was the same as invading the town. 
Not that he was wrong. The defending force would definitely have to shift their focus to him. 
However... he had no intention of limiting himself to being just diversion. 
“Looks like there are two ways I’ll succeed where he failed: I’ll beat The Unbreakable and take the town.” The Hell General grinned. “Lots of trees in this town. It’ll burn real well. Fire it is.” 
Thus, the two thousand devils began spewing balls of flame. They hit the houses, trees, and the inhabitants, setting everything on fire. 
“In the war, I found out NPCs give a lot of XP,” he grinned. “I’m on a mission from Dryfe, so they won’t put me on the wanted list. I’ll gather as much as I can here.” 
People were burning, screaming in pain, but the horrid sight did nothing to Logan — he cared only about the XP. 
The reek of scorching death didn’t reach him; in his eyes, they were only CG characters covered in flames that were just as artificial. 
To someone who had that setting on — especially for one who thought of this as nothing but a game — this was just him following his quest. Killing the NPCs for XP was just a nice bonus. It meant nothing to him. The only life he cared about here was that of his quest giver, Gifted Barbaros. It didn’t go anywhere beyond that. 
Despite being a Superior, one of the most prominent Masters, he still saw Infinite Dendrogram as nothing but a game. 
“Hm?” He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at an army of about two hundred knights. “Is that the defense force?” 
Those were the tian knights protecting the Quartierlatin County. They were moving out to defend the people from the vile, cruel demons burning their town and killing the townsfolk. 
“Ha!” Logan laughed, ridiculing the knights’ desperate, valiant resistance against the devilish horde. “They must have some bad AI. They don’t have the quality or the quantity, but they’re still coming at me. Idiots.” 
Yes, even their courage was worthless stupidity to this man. 
Logan let loose ten devils for each knight. 
It was far too much for a common tian, knight or otherwise, and they quickly overwhelmed them, halting their advance. 
The scene felt like a replay of the war. 
“They’re weak, but they’re still battle jobs. They give more XP than other NPCs,” he said in satisfaction before moving on. 
Eventually, he ran into a certain building. 
“There are a lot of them in there,” he said. “That makes it easier for me.” 
He was looking at an orphanage. It was full of children and workers hiding from the scary devils. 
But even this was just “an easy target” for him. 
Logan decided to shower the building in dozens of fireballs, simply because that was the most effective way to burn everyone inside. 
“I hope I find more places like this. They’ll make XP farming a real cakewalk,” he muttered as he raised the greatsword in his right hand. 
He was preparing to give the signal to fire and set the orphanage aflame. The idea that he was about to take the lives of many children hadn’t even crossed his mind. After all — this was just a game. To him, doing this felt no different than opening a treasure chest in an RPG. 
“Fi—” But his signal, the word “fire,” was cut short by a sudden turn of events — the complete extermination of all the dozens of devils he’d prepared for the attack. 
Some shattered into little pieces. 
Some were split in two. 
Some expelled all their blood and collapsed. 
Some began attacking their own, as if someone had taken control over them. 
The ways were different, but one thing was certain — someone had killed the devils. 
“What?” Logan looked around in confusion. He was surprised that someone here could destroy his Demi-Dragon-tier creatures so easily, and he wondered who it was. 
“I didn’t expect to see something so disgustingly familiar on my morning walk,” the answer came in the form of a man’s voice — or, rather, music that sounded like it. “Apologies, but I promised the children here I would play music for them. I know I am in not in the position to talk, considering what I did in Gideon... but I won’t let you harm them.” 
The owner of the voice was standing before the orphanage. 
It was an old man. He was surrounded by machines reminiscent of metal musical instruments, donning the shapes of a kobold, centaur, harpy, and cat sìth. 
He was the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell. 
Once a Master belonging to Dryfe, now he was merely a wandering musician who played music alongside his Embryos. 
“You’re... King of Orchestras!” Logan exclaimed. He knew the old man’s name. Franklin was a rival to him, after all, so of course he knew all the top fighters from the mad scientist’s clan. “Why are you here?! Did Franklin send you to get in my way?!” 
“No.” The old man’s music silently sung. “I’ve left The Triangle of Wisdom.” 
And I doubt Franklin cares about you enough to get in your way, the old man’s tone implied, though he didn’t put it in the lyrics. 
“Then why are you here?” Logan demanded. 
“Like I said, the orphans in here are my audience. I won’t stand by and let some vile devils take them from me.” 
“Huh...? What are you talking about?” Logan couldn’t begin to understand. 
He’ll play for some orphans? Is that a quest or something? he wondered. That was the only way he could process it. After all, what else could it be? 
Veldorbell ignored his confusion and added, “Not to mention that a man who does nothing in a movement like this has no business writing a hero’s saga. That is what’s most important to me.” 
The old man had started playing Infinite Dendrogram for the sole purpose of getting the inspiration he needed to write an opera depicting the life of a hero. He would attack or defend, but never stand still and do nothing. And like the free Master that he was, he was choosing to defend his audience instead of standing in line with his old faction and attacking. 
“A saga?” Logan repeated. “Write about me, then.” 
“Hm?” Veldorbell tilted his head in confusion. 
That made Logan irritated. How could the old man not understand something so simple? “I’m the hero of this game. There’s no better person for you to write about.” 
In response, Veldorbell merely chuckled, contradicting the Hell General’s claim more eloquently than any words ever could. 
“You damn...” Logan instantly began boiling with anger. “You’re a support build for support builds! Do you seriously think you stand a chance against the Hell General?!” 
“Who knows? What about you? Do you think a suppression type like you can do anything against an extermination type like me?” 
“Stop talking! I’m the Hell General! The most numerous and the strongest Superior in Dryfe!” 
“Fix your tone, brat. And you’re neither of those things.” 
“Shut up!” Logan gave in to anger and mobilized his devils. A hundred or so of them charged at the elder, hungry for his head. 
Their charge was menacing... 
“Percussion’s music isn’t so weak as to be broken without a plan.” 
...but they stood no chance against the invisible vibration waves. Those pulverized them in seconds. 
Logan was shocked. 
“Heart Beat Palpitation.” That was the name of the music created by Percussion, the Bremen playing the drums. 
Thanks to the passive skill Veldorbell held as King of Orchestras, “Orchestral King’s Conducting,” that music had been enhanced several times over, becoming a fearsome field of vibrations so powerful they broke apart physical material. 
Marie, the Superior Killer, had had to fake her own death to stand a chance against it. It was one of the most powerful defense-offense hybrid skills to come from Dryfe. 
“Tch!” Logan spat. 
“No point in talking anymore,” Veldorbell sighed, and stood like the conductor he was, his supreme orchestra at his side. He looked at the Superior devil-commander. “Come. My divine ensemble shall crush all of your imps.” 
“You dare mock me...?! You senile sixth-former!” 
And thus the two were matched up. 
The ex-strongest fighter from Dryfe’s top clan, the Triangle of Wisdom: the King of Orchestras, Veldorbell. 
The reigning duel champion of Dryfe and Superior — Hell General, Logan Goddhart. 
This was the beginning of their battle. 

 
Among the tales from the Brothers Grimm, there was one called “Rumpelstiltskin.” 
It went something like this: 
A poor miller once lied that his daughter could spin straw into gold. 
It spread as a rumor, and when the king caught wind of this, he captured the daughter and locked her up, saying, “Spin all this into gold by morning. If you do that for three days in a row, I’ll take you as my queen. If you don’t, I’ll have your head.” 
When the powerless girl gave up all hope, an imp-like creature appeared before her, offering to spin straw into gold in exchange for some jewelry. 
This happened twice, but the third time, the feat came at the cost of her eventual firstborn, and she had no choice but to comply. 
Having cleared the king’s condition, the girl became the queen. 
But when she had her firstborn, she begged the creature not to take him. The creature agreed on the condition that she guess its name within three days. 
In the end, she discovered that the imp shared its name with the tale — Rumpelstiltskin. 
Now, what kind of powers would a Superior Embryo of the same name have? What could False Finesse, Rumpelstiltskin actually do? 
It was based on the “spinning straw into gold” part of the story. Job skills under its effects became significantly more powerful. 
In its first form, it could only double a single number in job skill descriptions, but as it evolved, its multiplication grew, as well as the quantity of numbers it could influence. 
At this point, the Embryo’s constantly-active ultimate skill, “Straw-into-Gold, Rumpelstiltskin,” could multiply ten numbers by ten. 
That made Rumpelstiltskin the Embryo that could use job skills better than any other, uplifting them to new levels. 
For this invasion, Logan had multiplied the points he’d gotten from his sacrifice. Then he’d done the same for Call Devil Regiment’s summon count and time. 
And unlike how it was with Summoner creatures, the devils created by his skills didn’t need any fixed catalysts. The stats were in the description, and he was free to alter them. 
He’d multiplied all of them except for LUC — the multiplication didn’t have much of an effect there — by ten. 
Points, summon count, summon time, and seven stats. That made ten numbers multiplied, and Logan believed this was the best way to use his Rumpelstiltskin and Hell General combo. 
On the other hand, Logan rarely used skills besides his summons and army. He had party enhancement skills, but he didn’t like them much. 
Upholding them required lots of MP, and the cost scaled with the power of the buffed devils. Though Logan’s Rumpelstiltskin could increase effect power, it couldn’t reduce costs. Even his summon point manipulation was no exception. He merely increased the points he had, not lowered the costs of his summons. 
Additionally, though he had three stat buff skills to choose from — one for STR, one for END, and one for AGI — they only increased the stats by 20%. Multiplying that number by ten would only give him a 200% enhancement. 
Logan’s ultimate skill was more effective when used on the base stats during summoning. 
Basically, Logan preferred to fight by letting his Rumpelstiltskin-enhanced devils crush his enemies. 
Thanks to the nature of his Embryo, he’d quickly cleared the job conditions — including “summon count” — for Hell General, and he’d reached a Superior Job without even filling up the rest of his job slots. 
Despite that, his devil army was a powerful force. A horde that could be restored with a single skill was menacing indeed, and that was how Logan had won most of his victories outside of the arena. 
After all, who could stand a chance against such overwhelming numbers? 
 
That question was answered by his battle against Veldorbell. He hadn’t expected what was happening here at all. 
Reason insisted that a battle-focused Superior like Logan should absolutely dominate the support job from the conductor grouping pre-Superior that was Veldorbell. 
And yet... 
“Tch!” Logan clicked his tongue, his face in a grimace. 
The reason for his frustration was that his devil army seemed to stand no chance against the old man’s Bremen. Faced with the vibration field, the devils didn’t know how to continue. Charging ahead would make them shatter, and the fire they launched disappeared like mist. 
The deadly mix of defense and offense was too much even for a horde of Demi-Dragon-tier devils. 
To make things worse, the attacks of the other Bremen had longer ranges. More and more devils fell to the ultrasound scalpel, the high-output low-frequency waves, and the hypnotic music. 
The defense couldn’t be overcome by mere numbers, and the attacks were deadly and as fast as sound. 
Veldorbell’s battle style was almost a perfect counter for Logan. 
“Khh!” He voiced his vexation. 
“I was with Dryfe. The top clan, at that. I know your fighting style well.” Veldorbell’s music sang in his voice. “You’re the Hell General — a devil summoner. Your strength lies in your ability to quickly summon an army of devils. Your Embryo’s unique skill lets you increase the cost-performance. It’s perfect for you. Normally, to get an army of devils this powerful, you would have to sacrifice a whole town, if not more. I assume these are all Demi-Dragon-tier?” 

He sighed as he described his opponent’s strategy, proving that he did indeed know what he was facing. 
Of course, that was mostly because Logan never even tried to hide his Embryo’s power from anyone in Dryfe. 
His ultimate skill was constantly active to begin with, so hiding it wouldn’t give him anything like an element of surprise. Not to mention he wanted everyone to know why he was above everyone else. 
He’d started this after the war, when Franklin had become a Superior. 
Logan’s sense of rivalry had driven him to flaunt it. 
Of course, there was little disadvantage for him in revealing Rumpelstiltskin’s powers, but it still gave people like Veldorbell a better grasp of the situation. 
It wasn’t enough to be a blunder, but it was a negative nonetheless. 
Side note: in the tale from the Brothers Grimm, Rumpelstiltskin’s name was revealed because the creature sang it himself, making it a fitting name for Logan’s Embryo in more ways than one. 
“But there is a limit to how much you can enhance the devil army. These are all too weak to break through Percussion’s vibration field,” Veldorbell declared. “If you wanted devils that could survive Heart Beat Palpitation, even a Superior like you would need to sacrifice something major, no?” 
“Well, you sure know a lot, King of Orchestras,” grumbled Logan. 
“I said I did, did I not? I’m certain we can defeat any devils within your reasonable limits... up to Legendary-tier, I’m guessing. So why not get rid of little old me by sacrificing a special reward and summoning a Mythical? You know, like you did with the kingdom’s commander.” 
He was referring to the Hell General’s ultimate job skill, Call Devil Zero Exceed. 
Unlike how it was with the other skills, the points for it could only be gathered by using a very luxurious sacrifice. 
Even for Logan, who could multiply the points gained by ten, the only items that could give him enough were special rewards. 
Also, since the Mythical-tier devil’s stats weren’t in the descriptions, Rumpelstiltskin couldn’t enhance them like it could for Call Devil Regiment. Same went for the Legendary-tier devils. 
But despite those many problems, it was still Logan’s trump card. It had brought him victory in all the battles he used it in. In a way, it was his ultimate skill. 
However... 
“You can’t do it now, can you?” Veldorbell’s song continued. “The cost is far too great. After all, this isn’t the arena.” 
This was the reason why Logan was Dryfe’s reigning duel champion. 
All items lost and consumed within arena barriers returned the moment the duel ended, and the special rewards he sacrificed were no exception. 
While dueling, Logan could use his special rewards without hesitation, sometimes summoning several of the Mythical-tier devils. 
No one else in the duel rankings stood a chance against that. 
Another side note: Franklin had once told him, at their first meeting, “You’re only the champ ’cause Behemot doesn’t duel, though. I mean, the King of Beasts could take care of your Mythicals in a snap.” 
Logan had seen both Franklin and the King of Beasts as rivals ever since. 
“Well? Will you throw away a special reward and bring in the Mythical?” Veldorbell provoked him. 
Veldorbell’s only chance to win would be the moment Logan tried to use that skill. 
As things were, he couldn’t move or disable the vibration field because he was protecting the orphanage behind him. But if Logan decided to summon a Mythical-tier devil, he could switch to offense. 
Summoning devils required time and rendered the summoner defenseless. During that moment, Veldorbell would disable the vibration field and attack with his ultimate skill, Beast Orchestra — Bremen. 
A super-powerful vibration wave from Percussion, or Wind’s song that drove enemies to suicide, would surely defeat both the devils and Logan. 
Perhaps Veldorbell only had to whittle away the number of devils until Logan had to summon more. Regardless, he was biding his time. 
Focused on his conducting, he observed Logan, waiting for the right moment to strike. 
“Tch.” Logan clicked his tongue. “You talk a lot for someone who’s not even moving his mouth.” 
He then cracked a hideous grin. It was an expression that didn’t belong on the face of the hero he’d used as reference for his avatar. 
“Listen here, old fart... You’ve got it all wrong.” 
“What?” 
“I don’t need to sacrifice a special reward for you. I’ve got something way cheaper.” He snapped his fingers, making one of the devils behind him show itself. 
It was carrying a person. 
“You wretch...!” Veldorbell exclaimed, this time with his own voice. 
“This NPC is more than enough,” Logan taunted. 
It was a girl Veldorbell recognized. 
She was one of the children he’d played for in the countess’s mansion yesterday, and she loved his music a lot. 
She had been so scared that she’d ran out of the orphanage, only to end up in the arms of a devil. 
“You said something about children, didn’t you?” Logan mocked. “I thought it’d be useful, so I picked one up. And looking at that face, I can tell I was right. This is the item that counters you! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Logan laughed out loud, gleeful that he got back at Veldorbell for trying to sway him. “HAHAHAH! Here’s a little something for the concert!” 
The devil threw the girl into the air ahead, straight into the destructive barrier that would reduce her to less than dust. 
“Heart Beat Palpitation, cancel!” Veldorbell acted instantly. 
He ordered Percussion to stop playing, canceling the field right before the girl entered, while Strings, the centaur, ran to catch her. 
But that was when the greatsword Logan threw pierced Veldorbell in his torso, pinning him to the ground. 
“Ghph..!” 
“Pathetic! That’s what you get for getting invested in NPCs!” Logan laughed as the devils attacked Bremen. 
They fought back using their skills, but losing their conductor meant a severe loss of power. They took out a few, but there were far too many. 
The devils were destroying them. 
Wind’s flute and Clavier’s keyboard were broken. 
Strings earnestly protected the girl and carried her back to the orphanage, but that came at the cost of its instrument and one of its legs. 
Pierced by the sword and unable to do anything, Veldorbell watched his Bremen. He was Bleeding, and his HP was dropping quickly, not to mention the special reward blade had some sort of curse-based debuff. 
It wouldn’t be long until he got the death penalty. 
Despite his state, he still looked at his Bremen, and they looked back at him. There was a fire in all their eyes. 
Though hurt or broken, they could still fight. 
“I guess it’s time for the finale.” Veldorbell, though fatally wounded, rose his hands to the sky. “Final Orchestra!” 
It was the King of Orchestras’s ultimate job skill. 
By taking an immense amount of his own health, it multiplied the effects of all musical skills by ten. 
Bremen regrouped and became a single musical machine centered around Percussion, the only one whose instrument wasn’t broken. 
“WHAT?!” Logan had thought that Veldorbell was as good as dead, so this turn of events shocked him. 
However, it was too late for him to do anything about it. Veldorbell and Bremen were already playing. 
“Beast Orchestra — Bremen: PERCUSSION!” 
Thus, the final and the greatest shockwave flew towards the distant sky, crushing over a thousand devils, as well as Logan himself. 
 
Once the shockwave had passed, only one being was left standing in the path it’d traveled. 
“You went and done it, old fart,” said Logan. “You took out over half of my army... and my Brooch.” 
He bit his lip and grimaced at the shattered Lifesaving Brooch that’d fallen off of him. He couldn’t believe that he, of all people, had just essentially lost a life to a non-Superior. 
However, the culprits weren’t unscathed, either. 
The shockwave came at a cost, apparently, since Bremen were now just empty pieces of metal, while Veldorbell was rendered immobile and silent by the greatsword’s curse-based debuff. Within the next two minutes, he’d Bleed out what little HP he had left and receive the death penalty. 
“You deserve a reward for giving me a hard time,” growled Logan, humiliated. “I don’t know or care if it’s a quest or if you just got invested, but I’ll completely destroy this damn orphanage.” Then he cracked a dark grin and pointed at the building. “I won’t burn it. My devils are gonna eat them one by one.” 
It’d take longer, but his role here was to buy time anyway, so it didn’t matter where and how he attacked. 
Hell, we’re at war. It doesn’t matter how hard I crush them, he thought. “Do it.” 
The devils who’d survived the battle against Veldorbell amounted to fewer than five hundred. Besides them, there were about a hundred of those who were still fighting Quartierlatin’s knights. The devil army had lost a lot of its numbers. 
Even so, Logan was sure this was more than enough to eat up the orphanage and crush Quartierlatin. 
Veldorbell wanted to stop the devils heading for the children, but he could neither speak nor move a finger. This was the end of the aged composer’s promise and the beginning of a tragedy. 
However, there was someone who couldn’t allow that. 
“Purgatorial Flames, max power!” a man’s voice rang out, and the devils were drowned in dark-red fire unlike their own. 
Dozens of the ones leading the charge to the orphanage were set ablaze. They were now writhing on the road, screaming in pain. 
“Who are you?” Logan asked, looking at the source of the fire. 
With devils burning all around, a dimly-lit silhouette was walking forward. 
It had a strange appearance. 
The man’s whole body was covered by a coat akin to darkness itself. 
The armor that occasionally peeked through the coat was a menacing mix of black and crimson. 
His hands were shielded by bracers depicting demonic faces, while his legs were in boots reminiscent of corpses. 
Most who saw him would surely think he was wicked. 
But his eyes told a different story — the devils’ brutality had set them alight with a righteous fury. 
“I guess you’re the Hell General,” he said. 
Slightly taken aback by the raw emotion in his voice, Logan repeated his question. “Who are you?” 
He glared directly into the Hell General’s eyes before giving his name. “Ray Starling.” 
He was The Unbreakable — the one who’d broken Franklin’s plots twice. 
“Ohhh.” Veldorbell finally let out a voice as he slowly became particles of light. He didn’t know the reason why The Unbreakable was here. It didn’t even cross his mind that Ray had come because he heard the old man’s final Beast Orchestra. But Veldorbell was satisfied. 
He looked at Ray’s back with a fulfilled smile on his face. 
After all, that back was almost exactly like the one of the hero he’d envisioned for the dream of his lifetime. 
“I leave the rest... to you.” Veldorbell fought through the blade’s curse to speak those words. 
“You can count on me,” Ray replied. 
Upon hearing that, the elderly composer and his Embryos smiled before becoming bits of light and finally vanishing. 
Ray stood before Logan, his heart full of anger. 
It was an anger Nemesis was familiar with. She knew full well that Ray Starling... Reiji Mukudori... was a well-meaning person prone to acting on goodwill or righteous indignation. He could never ignore anything that could give him a bad aftertaste. Anyone who’d bring tragedy was a target to him, and he’d face them with a heart full of anger. 
He was like this in Infinite Dendrogram, as well as everywhere else, and it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. 
However, Nemesis knew that his anger had two forms. 
The first was the rage at those who filled the future with potential tragedies — the anger he used as fuel to unlock the future he desired. 
The second was the fury at the wicked malice of those who’d already created many tragedies and laughed on top of them. 
Most of those he’d faced were the former. Gardranda, the RSK, Monochrome... even Franklin was one of these. 
But there had been one very clear example of the latter — the Lich, Maise. 
That man had been a true wretch who’d taken the lives of countless children and gone on to toy with their corpses. 
Nemesis was aware that Ray’s anger back then had been different in nature, and far more than his flesh and blood could stand. 
And now, just like Maise before, Logan had crossed the line. 
He’d set the town on fire, attacked an orphanage, and declared he would have his devils eat the children. 
It was malice wicked enough to trigger Ray’s fury. 
Ray’s opponent was none other than the Hell General, Logan Goddhart — a Superior. The gap in power between the two of them was even greater than the one between Ray and Maise, not to mention that Logan had an army of Demi-Dragon-tier devils on his side. 
Ray was outclassed and outnumbered, but it didn’t matter to him. 
He had already decided he would face this evil.