Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 9 - Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Of Demons and Devils 
Prism Rider, Ray Starling 
Surrounded by a burning city, I faced a man. 
He was the Hell General, Logan Goddhart — one of Dryfe’s Superiors I’d heard about. 
Apparently, he was above even Franklin in battle. Leading an army of devils, he had used them to devastate the Royal Guard, as well as take the life of Liliana and Milianne’s father. 
I’d suspected that he was the culprit as soon as I saw all the devils attacking Quartierlatin. 
Machines, marionettes, and devils. There were three major threats here, and this guy was the biggest reason why I was here. 
In the ruins, the Prism Soldiers were fighting Dr. Mario’s marionettes, so they were too busy to be a danger to the town right now. 
Tom was there, too, and I trusted he’d keep them inside. 
But even if I hadn’t had those reasons, I’d still have come here, to the Hell General and his devils setting the town ablaze. 
“Ray Starling, you say?” the Hell General said as one of the devils returned the blade that’d pierced Veldorbell to him. “Ha ha ha! Your clothes have sure changed a lot over the last month. That’s a real villain look. Perfect for someone about to lose to me.” 
I said nothing in response and examined his appearance. 
He looked a lot like the protagonist of a game I’d played before cutting off all entertainment to study for my exams. His armor was custom-made to be just like that character’s, and his face was about what I’d have expected for that face in a more realistic art style. 
However, that protagonist would never have done something this vile. I couldn’t even imagine him proudly saying he’d feed children to devils. 
“This disgusting little...” I muttered in rage. 
Back at the hall in the ruins, I’d remembered the Gouz-Maise gang. But the machines were only like that because of their programming. 
This guy, on the other hand, was like the Lich right down to the core. Both of them hurt the weak and mocked those trying to stop them in the exact same way. 
That gave me a severe heartache. My state of mind was about the same now as it had been back in that old fortress. Even I knew I was on the verge of erupting. 
“Heh heh heh,” he snickered. “Ray Starling the Unbreakable! I’ve wanted to meet you.” 
“You have?” 
What the hell? I raised an eyebrow. 
“I’ve seen you fight since the time Franklin trapped the vice commander of the Royal Guard. I saw how you beat a Demi-Drag-Worm at level 0.” 
He was talking about the first thing I’d gotten involved in, here in this world. 
Well, that was a Dryfean plot. No surprise he’d know about it, I thought. 
“I also know he lost against you, even though he planned for it,” the Hell General grinned, clearly enjoying the fact that his ally had been defeated. “That felt great.” 
Perhaps he didn’t see fellow Dryfean Superiors as his allies? 
Well, you can say the same thing about our kingdom’s Figaro and Miss Eldritch, I reminded myself. 
“Now you stand before me,” he continued. “You foiled two of Franklin’s plots, and now it’s time for you to lose. Defeating you is my greatest wish right now!” 
“You wanna avenge him?” I asked. 
“No! My goal is to prove that I’m better than him!” 
I had no words. 
I could barely understand him, but I could tell he was gathering his forces here. Looking around, I noticed that none of the devils were going out to destroy the town anymore. They were all standing close to the Hell General, ready to beat me. 
I didn’t mind having to fight more if I kept them distracted from the rest of the town. 
“I went out of my way to come to the kingdom, and found you here all by yourself,” the Hell General grinned. “How convenient. No other Superiors will get in my way as I beat you and prove that I’m better than Franklin.” 
“Hm?” I had a slight sense of déjà vu. “Let me tell you one thing.” 
“What?” 
“Just a couple days ago, there was a PK clan that said something like that. It’s gone now.” 
Sol Crisis, the clan that had been solo killed by B3, was still fresh in my memory. The way Logan was talking was so similar to their manner that I’d just had to say that. 
It was a decent way to provoke him, too. 
“I’m not some lame clan!” he hollered. 
Sure enough, he became more hostile, and that was fine by me. 
“Me and my 2,000 devils can’t lose against a low-rank like you!” 
“2,000? You sure you know how to count?” 
Thanks to Veldorbell’s valiant fighting, the devil army here had been reduced to only about 500. Besides those, there were the ones fighting the Quartierlatin knights, but overall, their numbers had dropped by a lot. 
“Damn... you...!” he said through clenched teeth. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d popped a blood vessel. Either his boiling point was either really low, or he was just really shallow. 
Franklin had an air of mystery and eeriness, as well as supreme composure. Logan definitely didn’t. 
My heart was still full of rage, but this realization made my brain cool down. 
“Very well... I’ll just make you regret making a fool out of me!” he shouted as he made his devils move out. 
He probably wanted to crush me with sheer numbers. The army was moving slowly — probably to instill fear — but I appreciated that. It gave me time to think. 
“I have nothing against provoking him, but are you certain we can win?” asked Nemesis. “It feels as though you only brought your heart, not mind.” 
I’m not gonna deny that, but we do stand a chance, I thought. We’ve got two ways to win. 
“Two?” she repeated. 
Veldorbell broke his Brooch. It’ll be over the moment we bring him down to 0 HP. We also have a way to break through this army and land a hit. We’ve used it before. 
“That, eh? It’s certainly something we can use here. What about the other?” 
It’s a trump card... I’ll only use it if I have no other choice. 
“A trump card? You mean Payback Beyond the Stars? Wouldn’t it be of little use against him? He is a commander, after all.” 
“No, not that one,” I replied as I looked at my hands — at the Miasmaflame Bracers. 
These things were actually a bigger gamble to me than just jumping into the devil army. 
It would be fine if I didn’t have to use it, but I would if I had no other choice. 
“Hmm, I have trouble reading it, but I do understand you have something in mind,” said Nemesis. “I must say, though... this is a battle against an army, and your win condition is killing the leader without dying yourself. Silver might’ve been useful here.” 
“Too bad I lent him out,” I agreed. 
Before hearing the sound and coming here, I’d sent Azurite to head out and help the Quartierlatin knights. They were farther away, so I’d given Silver to her. She would come support me once she was done there. 
“Still, it’d be better if I finished the job before she got here,” I muttered. 
My reason for that wasn’t tian mortality, but the fact that the enemy was the Hell General. 
He had killed her mentor, and I felt she would push herself too hard if she had to face him. Considering how she’d glared at the army, I was pretty confident in that assumption. 
We’d only known each other for a few days, but I already knew she was gentle and wouldn’t hesitate to burden herself. 
“HA HA HA!” Logan guffawed. “How does it feel to be surrounded by so many devils?! Just so you know, these are all Demi-Dragon tier and above! Your little flamethrower won’t be enough!” 
I can tell, I thought as I looked at the devils I’d set on fire when I’d come here. They were all hurt, but could still fight. If I wanted to burn them, I would need to channel my Purgatorial Flames a bit longer. 
But... I had something else in mind. 
“All right,” I said after I looked around and saw no people anywhere nearby. The children in the orphanage were fearfully peeking at me through the windows, but they were pretty far away, not to mention indoors. 
Looks like I can use it... 
“Come on! Beg for your life or something! I’ll listen!” said Logan. 
“Man, how can you even say all these generic bad guy lines unironically? You’re a disgrace to your face and armor.” 
“Gh...!” 
“But yeah, I’ve got some words you. Listen closely,” I said as I covered my mouth with the edge of the Black Warcoat and raised my right arm. “Hellish Miasma, erupt!” 
A moment later, the right bracer released a dark purple mist. 
This was a fiendish skill that gave three severe debuffs: Poison, Intoxication, and Weakness. 
“Huh?! You’re using poison gas in a town you’re supposed to protect?!” he shouted. 
Well, thanks to a certain general, there was no one nearby, so why not? 
Since the devils had surrounded me, it touched pretty much all of them. The Hellish Miasma quickly took effect. The devil army fell to their knees and started writhing slowly. 
Logan probably hadn’t lied about them being Demi-Dragon-tier. But during the battle against Gardranda, the miasma had affected even Marilyn, who was on the same tier, so there was no reason it couldn’t work on these devils. 
Of course, it was possible that devils had a resistance to it, but then again, it’d worked even on Gouz-Maise, an undead, so the chances of it working on these guys seemed high. 
And now I would continue by doing the same thing I’d done against Gouz-Maise. 
“GHAH!” I went to the nearest devil, bit off a bit of its wing, and swallowed it. 
I instantly got the three status effects I’d given to it, as well as some curses for eating devil flesh. 
“Form Shift — The Flag Halberd!” Nemesis wasted no time transforming into the halberd and activating Like a Flag Flying the Reversal, which reversed all the debuffs on me. 
Poison now healed instead of damaging me. Intoxication now sharpened my sense of balance instead of dulling it. And Weakness now doubled my stats instead of halving them. 
The curse debuffs were either negated or turned into buffs, too. 
This was the strategy I’d used in my battle against the Revenant Ox-Horse, Gouz-Maise. 
Getting buffs by eating the flesh of a debuffed enemy and reversing it was a pretty unorthodox move. I’d thought I’d never use it again, but I had nothing against doing it again, in this case. 
“Hgh!” I exclaimed as I kicked the pavement below and jumped into a dash through the weakened devil horde. 
Cutting off a few of their heads on the way, I broke through the purple miasma to close in on the Hell General. 
“Huh?!” 
“FHUAH!” I exhaled as I swung my halberd’s blade. Logan tried to parry it with his sword, but my halberd slid on its surface and slightly cut into his protagonist-like face. 
“Damn you...!” The speed at which he tried to parry it was above mine, and I was buffed. 
This was because he was a Superior Job with stats suited for one. They were high, but not high enough to make him unbeatable. 
Also, his movements were kinda... 
“Ray Starling... that move was vile!” said Logan. The injury enraged him. He swung his greatsword down on me. 
“It’s your own fault for letting me do it,” I said as I evaded and attacked him myself. 
“What?!” 
Until now, I’d never gone out of my way to use this enemy-eating strategy, but there had been one time when I couldn’t have used it, even if I’d wanted to. 
It was my battle against Franklin’s RSK. 
He’d made the monster into almost the perfect counter to me: I couldn’t give it any of the three debuffs, and the Material Barrier was too tough for me to bite it. Franklin had known this move, and fought me after making sure I couldn’t use it. 
But Logan wasn’t like that. 
He’d said he wanted to beat me, but he didn’t have a single bit of the info needed, much less made sufficient preparations for it. He’d just thought he’d have an easy win here. 
Franklin hated losing, had a lust for victory, and always joked around while actually being one of the most serious people you could ever meet. Logan was nothing like him. 
“You’re half-assing it,” I said. 
“Huhh?!” 
This man had attacked Quartierlatin, destroyed the Royal Guard, and made the Grandrias cry, but my next words had nothing to do with my anger for the guy. They were just a small bit of truth. 
The words felt so natural that they just flowed out on their own. 
“You’re weaker than Franklin.” 
“Huhh?! B-B-But I... Me?! Hell General, Logan Goddhart?! Below Franklin?!” 
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.” 
Franklin had some of the weakest stats of any Superior, but he made up for it with the monsters he created. 
He never neglected to prepare all the necessary counters against the enemy, to ensure his own safety, and to keep a bunch of tricks up his sleeve. 
The thoroughness of his approach for battle made him such a threat that his own fragility was only a minor problem. 
Given all that, beating him had required the collective efforts of all the Masters in Gideon. 
This guy, though, was nothing like that. He had little grasp of strategy, and his devil army composition was way too basic. 
He had another major flaw, too... 
“TAKE THAT BAAAAAAACK!” he roared. My words must’ve stung. He started swinging his sword like he was losing his mind. 
Though he wasn’t a vanguard fighter, he was still a Superior Job and had impressive stats. The blade swings were fast and powerful, but they were way easier to dodge than duel ranker attacks. 
“Ray,” Nemesis spoke up. “He...” 
“You noticed, too, huh?” 
We both could see his flaw. 
Logan was at the top of Dryfe’s duel rankings. 
When you thought about it, it didn’t make sense for him to be an easier enemy than the kingdom’s duel rankers. 
But that was the reality here. Even if you ignored the fact that I was buffed, he was below them. 
The reason for that was simple. 
Crossing swords with him, I re-confirmed my suspicions. “You used devils in your duels, too, didn’t you?” 
“What about it?!” 
This situation was a better answer than any words I could come up with. 
He was used to summoning his devil army and winning the duels without doing any fighting himself. 
Actually, you couldn’t lose items in duels, so maybe he just always summoned the Mythical devil that had defeated Sir Langley. 
He probably used devils even when hunting monsters for XP. 
And this was the result. 
“You suck at swinging this,” I said, looking at his greatsword. 
“WHA—?!” 
He had the stats of a Superior Job, but he couldn’t use his skills well at all. 
Literally everyone in the Royal Guard was above him in swordfighting, and the duel rankers had way better moves than him. They were worlds apart. 
He was a Superior with a Superior Job. But he’d relied too much on his devils and Embryo. 
I’d learned from Marie that his Embryo enhanced job skills. That was what made it so easy for him to create these devil hordes. 
He’d crushed most his enemies with sheer numbers, leaving the strongest ones for his Mythical. That had always been enough for him, so this was what he’d become. 
His own battle ability had never improved. He just kept on combining his Embryo and job skills. 
Basically... he was a really bad player. 
Even if he’d once been better at it, relying on his devils had made him rusty. 
“That’s why you stop being a big deal the moment your devils can’t move,” I said aloud. 
He was faster than me, but I could see his attacks coming. 
He was stronger than me, but I could easily dodge his sword. 
He was tougher than me, but I could hit him. 
I had all the experience I’d gained from my mock battles against the rankers. Even the countless defeats weren’t meaningless. 
I could easily handle him, even if I had lower stats. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he hadn’t practiced even once. 
“If this stays 1v1... I’ll win,” I said. 
“Oh, but it’s 2v1,” said Nemesis. 
“Yeah... that’s right!” I replied and attacked with even more intensity. 
“No way! I won against the strongest knight in the kingdom!” he yelled back. 
“By the time he got to you, Sir Langley was badly wounded. That’s why he couldn’t beat you before you could summon your Mythical devil.” 
Logan had sent his devil army at the Royal Guard. Sir Langley had fought with his men at first, but then charged through the enemy lines to get to the Hell General. 
I’d trained with the Royal Guard before, and they’d told me that, during the first battle, he’d gone out ahead of everyone to protect them, taking more punishment than anyone else. 
If Sir Langley had been at his best, the Hell General would’ve died before he could finish the summon. All Logan had done was finish off a wounded man with a Mythical devil. 
“Wanna try summoning the Mythical on me?” I asked him. 
“No way! I’d never waste a special reward on you!” 
“And that’s why you’re weaker than Franklin.” 
That lab coat shithead would do everything to win, and wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest. He’d make monsters using special rewards, even if they were throwaways. That was just how he was. 
“Ghh. Nnh...!” 
I continued attacking him all throughout the exchange, and he was more and more hurt by the second. 
None of the wounds were even near fatal, but the damage was definitely there. 
He had no Brooch anymore, either. We’d win if I just kept it up. 
“Devils! What are you doing?! G-Get over here and protect me!” 
The Hell General raised his voice and shouted at the devils that were suffering from the miasma. But Weakness and Intoxication made them too slow. 
“Shit! If that old fart hadn’t taken so many out...! No, I should’ve made more to begin with...!” 
Even as he yelled his regrets, I kept showering him in halberd attacks. One of them sliced through his left eye. 
“Ghuh! AAAAHHHHHH!” 
There was no pain. But losing half of his field of view made his fury even more intense. 
“DAAMN YOUUUU! YOU’RE ALL USELESS!” He glared at the devils writhing in the miasma, his one eye full of rage. “Then I’ll make you useful! CONVERSION DEVIL FLARE!” 
I gasped. The moment he used the skill, I felt something vanish, and my body was hit by multiple debuffs. “What...?!” 
“Ray! The devils behind us vanished and became a ball of fire!” Nemesis cried, right as I began to feel intense heat from behind me. 
I turned around and saw a sinister ball of fire. 
“Khh!” The skill had made Logan’s entire army vanish and converted them to an offensive spell. 
The devil that’d given me the debuffs had disappeared, too. Reversal couldn’t work anymore, so the debuffs once again were doing what they were intended to. 
I couldn’t dodge the spell. 
“Leave it to me!” Nemesis switched to The Black Shield. “Counter Absorption!” 
She used one of two uses we had left. The magic was absorbed by the barrier of light. 
But the damage was greater than 300,000. One Counter Absorption wasn’t enough, so Nemesis had no choice but to use the other one. 
“The second... will bear it!” she declared with confidence. 
That meant that the magic dealt would be over 300,000, but less than 600,000 damage. 
“1,000 for each devil, maybe?” I guessed. 
If so, the 500 devils had become about 500,000 worth of damage. Originally, it had probably just been 100 damage for each devil. He’d turned it into 1,000 with his Embryo. 
As we blocked it, I took out an Elixir and High Holy Water I’d moved to my pouch beforehand, and drank them to get rid of my debuffs. 
We successfully protected against the lethal attack and I healed myself, but... 
“Call Devil Gigaknight,” said Logan. 
We’d given him the time to summon another devil. 
The one that appeared now was about as tall as a human. 
Standing at over two meters, it was covered in heavy armor, held a sword in its right hand, a shield in its left, and wore a helmet with a slit that had insect legs peeking out. 
Compared to many monsters I’d fought so far, this devil was pretty simple. 
However, it was even more menacing than Gouz-Maise. 
“Ha ha ha ha! I’ve gotta say, I expected to end this fight with that one,” said Logan. “But it’s not a problem that you survived it. Now that this one’s here, the fight’s as good as over.” 
Summoning the armor devil must’ve relieved him. He definitely wasn’t as desperate as a cornered rat anymore. 

“Really, now? You realize you traded 500 devils for just one, right?” I said, but even I knew that this devil was way above the devils from before. 
Hell, it was more menacing than the entire army. 
“You can’t tell? Gigaknight is a Legendary-tier devil!” he revealed, confirming that my senses weren’t lying to me. “It costs a lot, but not a special reward. Using it on you is a waste, but think of it as my thanks for all the stuff you said. I’ll kill you good...” 
“W o w O w o W o...” Gigaknight made an eerie moan as its insectoid legs wriggled. The sense of intimidation grew stronger. 
“Legendary, huh?” I said. 
Marie had recently told me that, “Even we battle-focused pre-Superior Masters have only a fifty percent chance of winning against Legendary UBMs. Your victory against Gardranda was a pretty unique case.” 
That meant I was dealing with a monster on about the same level as Marie or Juliet. 
The only Legendary I’d ever beaten was Gardranda, and that was only because I’d gotten to its weak point before it could release its true power. 
Monochrome had been even higher — Ancient Legendary — but I’d only won against that because Nemesis’s third form had turned out to be the perfect counter, and because I’d had B3 to help me. Not to mention it had been a strange UBM focused on some weird stuff. 
Gigaknight, however, was purely a straightforward fighter. If it had been specialized in something, I could’ve looked for openings I could take advantage of, but it didn’t look like I could expect anything like that. 
I could try gathering damage to launch a Vengeance is Mine, but I’d probably die before I had enough damage. We’d already used up our precious Counter Absorptions to survive against that spell. 
It was pretty obvious I was dealing with something tough and had a small chance of winning. 
“What of it?” I asked. 
I’d known I was dealing with something bigger than myself the moment I’d gone in to face the Hell General himself. 
In fact, I’d even considered that he’d summon the Mythical. Getting just a Legendary instead was actually good for me. 
“We still have a chance,” I continued. 
His greatest mistake had been attacking me with the spell he’d sacrificed his devils for. Nemesis had gathered the damage, and her counter was now on a whopping 500,000. 
This battle would end the moment I passed the Gigaknight and hit him with a Vengeance. 
“This makes it clear how much of a hindrance Payback’s charging time is,” Nemesis commented. 
“Yeah. But for now... I’ll just have to make do with this.” 
The devils had died, and the buffs were over. Still, I had my Brooch, and he didn’t have his. I just needed to go at him like mad and land a Vengeance. 
“Let’s go, Nemesis,” I sad. 
“Very well!” she said as she shifted from her shield to her sword form, and I dashed towards Logan. 
“Ha ha ha! You probably think you can win as long as you get close to me... but that won’t work anymore,” he laughed. 
His Gigaknight appeared instantly before me and got in my way like some sort of brick wall. 
“Huh?!” 
The speed startled me. It was like nothing you’d expect from something in such heavy armor. It swung its sword at me. 
“Gh!” I grunted as I stopped it with my blade, but the impact created was so powerful, I was blown away and hit a structure’s wall back-first. 
The hit wasn’t even direct, but that brief impact took a whole fourth — almost 3,000 — of my HP. 
“Ray!” Nemesis raised her voice, and I quickly moved. 
But I was too slow. There was an impact on my neck, and I felt the sword sink in. 
Obviously, the damage was lethal, activating my Lifesaving Brooch. 
I desperately stood up, only to be greeted by the ruthless Gigaknight’s downwards slash on my crown. 
That was, once again, negated by the Brooch, but this time, it failed the damage check and shattered. 
But I wasn’t gonna stand and just take the third attack. 
“Vengeance is Mine!” I roared as I did an Impact Counter, taking all the damage gathered so far, doubling it — raising it to 50,000 — and sending it back. 
However... 
“This goddamn...!” 
...all that did was shatter some of its torso armor, take a chunk of the flesh, and make it bleed. That was it. 
Gigaknight was still standing, not even flinching. 
That meant only one thing: 50,000 damage wasn’t enough. 
“W O w o W o...” 
I wasn’t sure if it was because of the damage, but Gigaknight didn’t swing its sword. Instead, it hit me with the back of its left hand, sending me flying a few meters. 
“Khuh! Ah!” 
That impact reminded me of my first enemy — the Demi-Drag-Worm. The power difference back then had been about as hopeless as it was now. 
But I wasn’t defeated yet. 
Still flying, I aimed my right bracer at it. 
“Hellish... Miasma!” 
It was drowned in a purple mist. 
“W o O.” 
But it didn’t look like that was working at all. Apparently, it had better debuff resistances than the devil army. 
“Damn thing has no weaknesses...” I muttered. 
“Ha,” Nemesis laughed. “This makes me realize we haven’t had many battles against enemies who are simply strong.” 
Breathing raggedly, I nodded in response. 
All the overwhelmingly powerful things I’d fought before had had both extreme strong points and weak points. 
Gigaknight wasn’t like that. It was just fast, tough, and strong. But that was enough to make it a powerful foe. 
“Shame we’re out of Counter Absorptions,” Nemesis continued. “Taking a few of those attacks is suicidal without it.” 
I nodded. 
The thing could probably kill me in one direct hit, and even if I parried, my HP wouldn’t last more than three times. 
“HA HA HA HA HA! Well?! How do you like my Legendary devil?! This is the power of Hell General, Logan Goddhart!” Logan laughed out loud. “Its AGI lets it move at almost the speed of sound! Its STR and END are over 10,000! And its HP is over 300,000! Try and beat it if you can! HAAA HA HA HA HAAA!” 
Well, the name fits, at least, I thought. That does seem like a stat distribution you’d expect from the knight grouping. 
The devil was probably weak at magic, but that didn’t help me at all. 
“You think we can kill it if we land 50,000 damage on whatever’s inside the helmet?” I asked Nemesis. 
“Aiming at its weak spots is one thing; gathering the damage without dying is another.” 
In terms of pure toughness, this thing was clearly one of the toughest things I’d fought. Shining Despair was only about eighty percent charged, which was a shame, since I was expecting some great firepower there. 
The last option I had would basically guarantee my death penalty in my current state. 
“Looks like there’s only one thing I can do here,” I said. 
I’d get past Gigaknight and beat the Hell General himself, standing dozens of meters away. 
That’d obviously be difficult... 
“But not impossible,” I muttered. 
Nemesis shifted to her shield form. 
I’d dodge its attacks or just prevent direct hits to close this distance. It was simple. 
Or at least, it was simpler than beating a monster in the stratosphere. 
“Let’s go, Nemesis,” I said. 
“Very well!” 
We ran towards the Hell General. 
Of course, the opponent wasn’t going to allow that. 
“W o O o o O o O!” Gigaknight moved at nearly Mach 1 speed to appear before me and swung its sword to split my torso in two. 
“Hh...!” I dodged it with a roll and held up Nemesis behind me. 
Then I felt a kick-like impact on the shield. It pushed me several meters ahead. 
I was hurt, but still alive. 
I resumed closing the distance between me and the Hell General. 
However... 
“W o W O w o...” 
The Gigaknight raced from behind me to right in front. 
“It was just behind us!” Nemesis exclaimed. “That’s too fast, even for something moving at nearly-sonic speeds!” 
“W o W o w O.” 
No... 
I heard the same voice behind me. 
“No way...!” 
I looked beyond the Gigaknight blocking my path, at the Hell General’s face. 
His grin had grown wider. 
“A second one!” 
“That’s right!” Logan shouted in joy, and the new Gigaknight brandished its sword at me. 
I still felt the other Gigaknight moving behind me. 
I was standing between two Legendaries — two Gigaknights blocking the ways forward and backward. We were outside, but I felt like I was in some lion’s den, completely cornered. 
“Ray!” Nemesis cried a warning. 
I frantically pondered how I could deal with the two Legendary devils. The idea I’d had before wasn’t an option now. 
I could barely even hurt one of them. With two of them, trying to get past them and beat the Hell General was basically impossible. 
“Even so...!” 
I wouldn’t stop moving forward. 
If I gave up now, I’d never see another possibility. 
No matter how difficult the path to our survival was, there was no greater obstacle than stopping. 
I called out to my body to stop cowering and freezing. Move your legs! 
I wouldn’t give up, even if I was attacked by near-Mach 1 blades from both front and back. 
The possibility was always there — with your will. 
No matter how small, no matter behind how many zeros beyond the radix point it lay... 
“It always exists!” I roared, paraphrasing Shu’s words, the ones that’d taken root in my very core, and took a step forward. 
The moment right before the devilish blades came to split me apart... 
“I love those words, too... I guess?” 
...I heard a powerful impact and a voice. 
 A Certain Consideration 
In Infinite Dendrogram, the power scale was based on monster strength. 
The most popular was “Demi-Dragon-tier,” equal to a full party of low-rank jobs. 
It was followed by “Pure-Dragon-tier,” equal to a high-rank party. 
Admittedly, the conversion there was based on tian standards. It wasn’t uncommon for a single low-rank Master to beat a Demi-Dragon-tier creature, or for a high-rank Master to beat a Pure-Dragon. 
Ray, for one, had defeated a Demi-Drag-Worm at level 0, without even a low-rank job. 
There was also a power scale that was used by very few people: Epic, Legendary, Ancient Legendary, Mythical, and Superior. 
Those were UBM tiers, and they revealed what tier special rewards they would give upon defeat. 
UBMs had appeared many times throughout the history of Infinite Dendrogram, and they were almost always defeated, often after many sacrifices. Due to that and other reasons, tians had created a technology that allowed one to measure UBM ranks before they were killed. Skilled Masters could gauge them just from experience. 
There was a job that was more affected by this than any other — and that was Hell General. 
One day, after UBM power scales were clearly settled, the Hell General of that era had looked at his job skills and realized that the job skill text had changed. 
Text that used to say “Summons a powerful devil” was now “Summons a Legendary devil.” 
It was as though the job skills themselves had accepted this shift in the world’s common sense. 
Hell General skills began calling the devils “Legendary” or “Mythical” instead of “Powerful” or “Extremely powerful.” 
It was only a change in naming, but it was a change nonetheless. 
Naturally, it led to a certain question. 
Not “Why did the change happen?” but “Are the summoned devils really on the same level as Legendary UBMs?” 
Logan had summoned his Legendary devils many times before, always gloating about their Legendary status. 
It was true that he’d used the Legendary devil Gigaknight to beat an Epic UBM called “Vilestone Dragon, Woltgyzur” and receive the “Viledragon’s Prideblade, Woltgyzur.” 
With just that, Logan had concluded that his Legendary devils were on par with Legendary UBMs. 
However, a certain Superior had a different opinion. 
These were some of the things he’d said about it. 
“Nah, killing an Epic really doesn’t prove that the thing’s Legendary. It could easily be another Epic.” 
“Eh? You’re saying that Gigaknight’s stats are about the same as a Legendary’s? Ha ha ha! Well, that may be true, but... it’s not the stats that make the UBM, right?” 
“And hell, Epics are often new UBMs, and you never know what to expect from them. Some stay there, some just keep advancing — you get the full range there. There are huge differences between different specimens, so Epics don’t really work for gauging strength. I’m not sure His Excellency the General’s (lol) Gigaknight is really Legendary, ’cause Epics just aren’t good for scaling that. It doesn’t answer the question if it’s on the same level as an actual Legendary UBM, though.” 
“Most UBMs evolve beyond Epic, y’know? I’ve even heard of ancient ruin relics getting high ranks right after they come out.” 
“You ever get an Epic special reward, and go, ‘Huh? It’s actually pretty damn good’? The UBMs you get those from were probably gonna go on to become way tougher and even climb up a tier or two.” 
“Things that would’ve turned out strong in the future show it when they die and become special rewards. I’ve beaten a whole lot of them, and I always enjoy thinking about what would they have been. ‘What would they have been...’” 
“Speaking of which, there were some interesting points in his equipment data that I got in Gideon: An original Prism Steed that’s not on the list, the MP tank boots that let him beat the RSK... and the bracers. It looks like they’re a special reward from a Legendary UBM, but...” 
A pause. 
“What would it have been?” 
 
Prism Rider, Ray Starling 
The sources of the impact were the swords of the devils. 
The blades were stopped by something right before they could split me. 
That something was the Miasmaflame Bracers, Gardranda. 
The front blade was blocked with the right, while the rear blade was stopped in place by the left. 
Before I knew it, they’d separated themselves from my arms. 
“Huh?! What?!” exclaimed Nemesis. 
She was shocked, but I quickly understood what was happening here. 
There was only one entity that could do this, and this phenomenon was its — her — way of saying that it was time. 
“All right! I’m entrusting this to you!” I called out. 
I had to respond in kind. She was leading me to my path to survival, so, for her, I would take it all, even the risk of a death penalty or even worse. 
I’d take it all... and beat the Hell General! 
“I’M GIVING YOU ALL I’VE GOT!” I roared as I turned the grudge in my Grudge-Soaked Greaves into MP. 
The negative emotions I’d gathered in the Monochrome incident and here in Quartierlatin had become 400,000 MP — nearly the same as in Franklin’s Game. I redirected all this MP into the Miasmaflame Bracers. 
“Set skill activation time... 400 seconds!” 
The sustenance in the form of MP fed the bracers, acting as the catalyst to pave the way for the summoning skill. 
“Come... Miasmaflame Princess: GARDRANDAAA!” 
Right after I spoke the name of the Miasmaflame Bracers’ third skill, they underwent an explosive change. 
The dark red flame and purple miasma whirled and gathered around the Miasmaflame Bracers. 
Tanned arms grew in and then out of them, creating the shoulders, torso, legs, and finally the head, which had two horns on it. 
It was the same person I’d seen in that dream — the demon overflowing with vast murderous intent and fighting spirit. 
“Wh-Who...?” Nemesis couldn’t hide her surprise at the sudden entrance. 
“Gardranda,” I replied. 
“Huh?!” 
Indeed. She was Gardranda. 
Not the incomplete UBM I’d beaten back then, but the true form that had never gotten the chance to show itself: Miasmaflame Princess, Gardranda. 

Her mother’s defeat should’ve made it impossible for her to manifest like this, but the Miasmaflame Bracers’ third skill allowed it. 
The skill that was named after her had the power to summon Gardranda’s true, complete form for vast amounts of MP and another certain demerit. 
“What’s that?! Why does a Paladin have a summoning skill?!” Hell General was confused. He clearly hadn’t expected what was happening here. 
But that was nothing compared to what was coming. 
“Am I a bother... perhaps?” Gardranda tilted her head before the Gigaknight in front, and kicked the Legendary devil’s armor with her slender legs. 
The Gigaknight flew almost ten meters back. 
“W o w O W o W O?!” 
The armor didn’t shatter, but it was badly bent. 
Gardranda went to the Gigaknight behind me so quickly that I couldn’t even see her — her speed was supersonic. She grabbed the devil’s legs in her arms. 
She, despite being of small stature, picked it up so easily that it looked like a comedy skit, and threw it upwards. The thing seemed really confused and shocked. 
Though they were devils that could move at almost the speed of sound, Gigaknights didn’t have wings. The thing couldn’t move in midair, so Gardranda took advantage of that by targeting her left hand, the left bracer, at it. 
The demon on the back of the hand opened its mouth and released a red, brilliant light unlike any I’d ever seen it make. 
“Purgatorial Flames: Zero,” she said, speaking the skill’s name, making the fire burst out. 
Its power was completely unlike what it had been when I’d used it. It was more like the fire used by the Great Miasmic Ogre, Gardranda... No... it was far above even that. 
What came to mind was one of Xun Yu’s skills — the Master Jiangshi’s ultimate job skill that created a heaven-piercing pillar of crimson. 
“W o W o w O o o o O o O o O o o?!” 
The Gigaknight had no means of dodging the flame. The crimson fire surrounded the devil, and when it connected, all the firepower gathered within the Gigaknight, and... 
“Dirty... fireworks?” She tilted her head, saying a fitting word for what happened next — an explosion. 
The Gigaknight was blown to smithereens and became bits of light. That single attack shaved away all of its 300,000 HP, killing it instantly. 
That was the Gigaknight that had lost 50,000 HP to my Vengeance, but that fact did nothing to change the fact that the damage from that fire was insane. 
“I burned it up... see?” she said as she looked at the left bracer, releasing nothing but smoke. “It won’t work for a while... I guess?” 
Hell General was looking at the scene like he couldn’t believe it. 
I could tell that Nemesis, still in my hand, was feeling something similar. 
Well, I couldn’t blame them. A young girl had just appeared out of nowhere and killed a Legendary devil in one shot. 
There was no arguing that it seemed unreasonable and strange, but I didn’t see it that way. 
After all, she was Legendary, too. 
Gardranda was a Legendary demon... and a UBM. 
“I’m gonna have to fight the other one empty-handed... aren’t I?” she said as she took a martial artist’s posture. “320 seconds left. I’ll get this done before it ends... okay?” 
Snapping her fingers, the Legendary demon began a devil hunt.