Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 9 - Chapter Ep1

Epilogue A: The Imperium 
Zero General, Gifted Barbaros 
“Ngh...?” 
I woke up and realized that I’d lost consciousness. I couldn’t remember when, though. My memory seemed to be failing me. 
Wait... My last memory before losing consciousness was the moment of the destruction of both Acra-Vesta machines, right before the moment the flying ship exploded. 
That must have been the moment I’d passed out. 
“Where am I?” I murmured. 
At first, I thought I’d been caught by the kingdom, but that didn’t seem to be the case. 
The light shaking around me made me realize that I was in a vehicle — a tank, apparently. 
The continent was large, but the only country using Geists (the tank-type Magingears) was the imperium. Because of this, at first I assumed I’d been retrieved by the Barbaros tank division, but I soon realized that wasn’t the case. 
The inside of this vehicle was nothing like that of the tanks I knew. It was far too large to be a Geist, so it had to be something entirely different. 
If I have to guess... 
“Ohh? Field Marshal. Ya up?” My thought was cut short. Someone replied to my drowsy question. 
I looked and saw a man sitting at the control seat. 
He was wearing an army uniform and had a cloak that made it seem like he was preparing to fight in the desert. 
There was a cigarette in his mouth, and his unkempt beard seemed to purposely accentuate his jawline. 
I knew this man. 
“King of Chariots, Colonel Murdoch Martinez. Haven’t seen you in a month.” 
“Yeh. Last time I saw ya was at the investiture.” 
This was one of the Superiors newly hired by Dryfe. 
During his hiring, he’d insisted that his payment would be accompanied by his receiving the rank of colonel in the imperium’s army. 
Since we’d had an open seat among the military authorities, the imperator had suggested brigadier instead, but Murdoch had replied with, “Thanks, but nah, colonel’s cooler.” He was no doubt a strange man. 
“Why are you here?” I asked. 
“I’m on a mission. Not gonna hide it — I was told it didn’t look good for ya, so I got sent to pick ya up.” 
“What?” 
“Franklin reported that li’l Logan lost, so the imperator stepped up and gave me a direct order to pick ya up and take ya away from the heat ’cause yer important and all that. I’d say the kid didn’t wanna lose an uncle, but what do I know?” 
“I see...” 
That seemed possible. It was no surprise that Franklin would know what was happening in Quartierlatin, and this man here had the speed to get from Vandelheim to there in less than an hour; he had the fastest, strongest tanks in the world, after all. 
I couldn’t feel it inside the vehicle, but we were probably going at breakneck speeds. We’d be Vandelheim in just a couple dozen minutes. 
With a quick glance, I turned around to look behind me. I couldn’t see anything through the tank’s wall, of course, but I was sure that Quartierlatin was just behind it. 
“What’s wrong? Oh yeah, I found your pricey-lookin’ doll. It’s inside.” 
Oh, so he got Faldreed, too. 
“Or did ya forget somethin’ else? Do I turn this thing around?” 
Something I forgot? Well, I guess you could say that. 
“It’s fine... I’ll go there myself eventually.” 
Once it was all over, I’d visit Quartierlatin and take my family with me. 
“Fine by me. Gotta say, the town’s a bit of a mess right now, but it’s a nice place. Really green. I’d love to visit it after it recovers.” 
“I understand what you mean. However, you should keep in mind that they have a ban on public smoking.” 
“Ha ha ha! I’ll remember that.” Murdoch’s cigarette shook as he laughed. 
Imagining the moment I would return to the land where I was born, I also cracked a smile. 
 
Three days later, Vandelheim outskirts, Triangle of Wisdom Headquarters 
Early morning of the third day after the incident in Quartierlatin, Hell General, Logan Goddhart, barged into the Triangle of Wisdom headquarters with greatsword in hand and demons at his side. 
“FRANKLIN! WHERE IS HE?!” 
The Hell General’s face was warped in anger and hatred, and it was easy to see that he’d come here to get back at Franklin. 
Needless to say, it was because the mad scientist had uploaded Logan’s defeat at the hands of a low-rank to the internet. 
Right now, Logan was like a gun with an itchy trigger finger on it. It wouldn’t take much for him to sic the entire devil army upon the headquarters. 
However, the Triangle of Wisdom members present didn’t seem all that concerned about that. They only said things like, “Ah, it’s His Excellency,” or, “Guess his death penalty’s over.” 
For some reason, they also looked extremely sleepy. It didn’t seem like they’d just woke up; it was more like they’d been working on something all the way until dawn. 
“BRING ME FRANKLIN!” Logan demanded. 
“Oh, yeah... he told us to give this letter to you when you came.” The tian in charge of the clan’s official business handed it to him. 
The letter contained only the words “I’m waiting for you here,” accompanied by some coordinates. 
It was basically a challenge text. 
“YOU’RE ON!” 
Still livid beyond words, Logan hopped on a devil’s back and headed out to the given coordinates. 
However, as he left, he suddenly noticed something. 
What’s this smell? he wondered for a second, but then shook it off, ignored the thought, and just took off to his destination: the Harshwinter Mountains. 
“Hello!” called one clan member, logging in right as Logan left. “Whoa! This place is about thirty percent worse than normal!” 
He saw lots of his clan members, all half dead from the all-nighter of work. 
But then, it had to be noted that the clan’s standards for normality were a bit warped. 
“We’ve been doing lots of testing on this and that...” 
“Ohh, you’re making a new weapon? By the way, what’s this weird smell? I feel like I’m net fishing near the sea.” 
It was a scent you wouldn’t normally experience in Vandelheim, a landlocked city. It was a smell of pure sea water, and it was somehow permeating the entire Triangle of Wisdom. 
One of the collapsed clan members pointed at a few large objects covered in barnacles and corals. “It’s coming from that thing.” 
The silhouettes seemed like the limbs of a large reptile, but the azure color peeking out from beneath all the corals and barnacles made it clear that it wasn’t of animal origin. 
“What’s that?” the clan member asked. “Where’d you get it?” 
“The sea. Where else? Our leader salvaged it from the sea north of the continent.” 
“Eh? Didn’t the imperium create a navy and start face-offs with Granvaloa...? I’m impressed he could go out into the sea.” 
That was month-old news in the imperium. Dryfe had started planning to expand to the sea, so they’d formed a navy and ended up sparking tensions between them and Granvaloa, who owned a lot of the world’s oceans. 
“It’s the other way around. The leader wanted to salvage this thing, so he had the big-shots in the government create a papier-mache navy just for that.” 
“Eh...?” 
“While Granvaloa was distracted by the navy, the leader went off with some aquatic monsters to take this thing.” 
“Whoaa...” The clan member was thoroughly impressed by the level and scale of this distraction. “What is that, anyway? It’s all covered in barnacles and corals, so I really can’t tell...” 
“A Prism Dragon.” 
“...A what?” He knew the term full well. Just about anyone in the Triangle of Wisdom did. 
That was the name of a weapon type that had been used by the pre-ancient civilization during their final years. 
They were said to be on the same level as Mythical UBMs, and many doubted whether the things had ever actually existed. 
“You know the data we found in the ruins where we got Her Highness Claudiah’s Jade Storm? There was info on the appropriate location where the pre-ancient civilization lost one of the Prism Dragons, Lapis Lazuli Decimation. The leader used that data to go and salvage it, and, well, succeeded.” 
“Is this even usable?” the clan member asked. 
“It was, apparently. It’s been underwater for two millennia, but it was about ninety percent functional. Well, he’s used it for parts, though, so it won’t work now.” 
“Parts?” 
“Yep. The limbs are all that’s left, and we can use them for research and whatever.” 
Like he’d said, all that was left of Lapis Lazuli Decimation were the limbs. 
It was as though everything else had been eaten... 
 
To the north of Dryfe and the rest of the continent, there was an area called “Harshwinter Mountains.” 
It had a high altitude, thin air, and had awful temperatures below negative forty degrees Celsius. The area was made even more dangerous by all the monsters that lived here, many of which were stronger than the ones you’d find at the deeper levels of created dungeons. 
This area didn’t belong to any country. Theoretically, you could use it to travel between the east and west, but the number of people who’d succeeded at that could be counted on both hands. 
Even now, there was a violent blizzard here that seemed to reject all humanoid influence. 

Standing on top of one mountain, there was a Master wearing a lab coat. He obviously had a cold resistance accessory on him, but he definitely looked unprepared for this harsh climate. 
Still, this man named Franklin seemed to be in a good mood as he waited for something within the blizzard. 
“Ah, my boy’s here,” he whispered as he saw countless silhouettes appear at the base of the mountain. 
That was Logan and his army of devils — which had already lost some of its numbers due to the severe conditions. 
Logan hollered, “Found you, Franklin! What was the meaning of that?!” 
“Whatever do you mean? You’re gonna have to elaborate, Your Excellency,” Franklin responded with a slightly mocking tone. 
“That video! Why’d you upload that?! Because of it, I...!” 
Logan broke off, seething at the memory that the video had displayed only his battle against Ray, making it seem like he’d lost against a newbie 1v1. 
None of that could have happened without Veldorbell having destroyed vast quantities of Logan’s army and breaking Logan’s Brooch, but there was no way for viewers to know that. 
Because of this, most comments either praised Ray or ridiculed Logan. 
Logan’s infamy as a duel champion who fought only by summoning his Mythical devil made him pretty unpopular, so he was like the heel in wrestling — someone who pleased the crowd when he lost. 
Whatever the reason, Logan couldn’t handle being the subject of ridicule. 
“I’ll be frank — I was just observing Ray Starling to see if I could find a weakness,” Franklin said casually. “I really didn’t expect to capture that pure, grade A goodness... Kheheheh.” 
He wasn’t lying about that. Franklin had continued to observe Ray even after Logan’s defeat. He’d even recorded the fight against Acra-Vesta. 
However, Franklin had only uploaded the battle with Logan, because of a purpose that would become obvious soon. 
“You... damn...! You’d better be ready for this! I’m about to crush you over and over! Just like you once did to some insect!” 
“Oh yeah, I did do that once,” Franklin said. “But you can’t really pull it off with me, can ya?” 
“Shut up! Devils, attack!” 
Upon hearing Logan’s order, the devils flew and closed in to Franklin to tear him apart. 
There were even some of the Legendary-tier Gigaknights among them. 
A non-combatant job like Franklin would surely die in less than a second. 
“Nope. Can’t even have a proper test with these.” 
However, the devils that were trying to kill Franklin all burst and died in the blink of an eye. 
“...?!” Logan was speechless. 
Missile-like objects had zoomed in from beyond the blizzard behind the mad scientist and blown up the devils approaching him. 
Even Logan’s cherished Gigaknights had melted in a beam-like light. 
“I see!” Logan shouted. “You prepared a monster here! You unfair frick!” 
“Ha ha ha! I’m wondering why you didn’t expect something like this. Did ya seriously think I’d just stand here and die? That I wouldn’t place a monster or two to protect me? Please.” 
There was something behind Franklin, densely veiled by the blizzard. Showing only its silhouette within the snow, the monster was making sounds that seemed to lie right between mechanical and animalistic. 
“By the way, Your Excellency. About one of the reasons why I uploaded the video... Before getting yoinked outta the game, you’d already sacrificed your special reward, right?” 
“What about it?!” 
“You know what I’m getting at. You can summon the Mythical without sacrificing another one, right?” 
That was correct. The points Logan had gotten from sacrificing a special reward were still there, even after the death penalty. 
He’d failed to summon the Mythical in time against Ray, but he could do it now. 
“You’re telling me to use a Mythical against you?!” Logan bellowed. 
“Do it. Otherwise, you’ll be known as a scrublord who’s lost against both a newbie and a non-battle job. Just so you know, I’m filming this, too.” 
“...! YOU’RE DEAD!!” 
Logan went through the chant, ending in: 
“CALL DEVIL ZERO EXCEED!” 
He successfully summoned the Mythical devil. It was the strongest being under his command — the fearsome creature that had defeated the Celestial Knight, Langley, and brought him to the top of the duel rankings. 
It had the appearance of a stereotypical devil — head of a goat, bat-like wings, and four thin legs. The most notable thing about its looks was its size, as it was a whole seventy metels tall. 
All of its parameters greatly exceeded those of a Gigaknight, and all its stats except LUC were over 40,000. 
It could even use spells that matched those of magic-based Superior Jobs, making it extremely versatile. 
This was Zero Exceed, Logan’s trump card. 
“Boosted Devil Strength! Boosted Devil Endurance! Boosted Devil Agilityyyy!” 
Logan buffed the devil even more, raising its STR, END, and AGI all to over 120,000. 
“Behold! This is me at my strongest! I only lost against that weakling because I was caught off-guard! I’M STILL THE STRONGEST!” 
“‘Strongest’? But, dude...” 
Franklin made a grin that seemed both wry and full of ridicule. His right eye shone blue as he ran his Analyzing Eye of Wisdom. He’d already finished analyzing Zero Exceed and knew its stats clearly. So he gave his extremely frank opinion. 
“Those stats don’t even reach Behemot’s. It’s weaker than the King of Beasts, kiddo.” 
“...KILL HIM!” The words enraged Logan, and he set his trusted Zero Exceed on Franklin. 
The Mythical devil’s speed was twelve times the speed of sound, and it wasn’t something a non-combatant job like Franklin could keep up with. 
Even if Franklin had a Brooch and could transfer his damage to his monsters using Life Link, he’d get the death penalty in the blink of an eye. 
That would be the natural outcome. 
However, Zero Exceed’s attack charge was stopped by a different gigantic creature. 
“AGI’s lookin’ good,” Franklin commented. 
“...?!” 
Logan couldn’t see it in its entirety. This was because of the raging blizzard... and also because it was even larger than Zero Exceed. 
What he could see was that the creature had a strange, lapis lazuli-colored head reminiscent of dragons. 
The dinosaur... or kaiju... was a monster that seemed to be made of machinery. 
“Wh-What is that...?” Logan sputtered. 
There were two feelings swirling around within him: confusion because he didn’t know what it was, and fear at the fact that it could match his enhanced Mythical devil. 
“This is my MGD. The Mechanic God Dylan,” Franklin replied with a smile. “He’s my masterpiece. I completed him recently. The only problem I’ve found with him so far is that he’s so perfect that it’s hard to find a good enemy to test him on.” 
“...?” 
“I’d originally designed him to be an anti-SUBM and anti-King of Beasts weapon, so half-assed test subjects just aren’t good enough.” 
“...! Wait. You...!” 
Logan finally realized why Franklin had uploaded that video, why he’d said that Logan’s ability to summon Zero Exceed was one of the reasons, and why he’d provoked him to summon it. It was all so that Franklin could use Logan’s Zero Exceed as a test subject. 
“It’s a secret weapon, so I can’t use him in those duels you love so much,” Franklin said pleasantly. “Man, you lost at the perfect time. It made it easy for me to resolve to use it, y’know?” 
Those words felt both needlessly provocative and completely honest. 
“I’ve gotta be as sure as can be about this. Ray Starling always exceeds my expectations. To crush him for sure, I need it to be at least powerful enough to beat an enhanced Mythical devil.” 
Franklin’s words made Logan lose his. 
It sounded as though Logan, a Superior, was just a test for Franklin to prepare to beat a newbie. 
In fact, that was exactly what the mad scientist thought, and it made Logan boil with fury unlike any he’d had before. 
“Don’t look down on me, Franklin!” Logan screamed. “I’ll tear apart that pile of scrap and make you regret ever making light of me! My Zero Exceed is above that pile of crap!” 
Fired up, Logan ordered Zero Exceed to destroy the MGD, making the two monsters clash. 
Watching over the battle, Franklin cracked a faint smile. “Well... they do have similar stats.” 
He spoke quietly, and Logan couldn’t hear him over the blizzard and sounds of battle in any case. 
“But that doesn’t really matter here,” Franklin murmured. 
Those words were the very reason why the outcome of this battle was obvious before it even began. 
Thirty minutes later, a single monster went down the Harshwinter Mountains, carrying its owner. 
The creature with the lapis lazuli-colored head had lost its right arm. But that was the extent of it. It hadn’t taken a single fatal injury during the entire battle. 
Zero Exceed, on the other hand, had become particles of light and disappeared into the Harshwinter blizzard along with its owner. 
Logan had witnessed his strongest creature be crushed right before his eyes, and then received the death penalty. 
The battlefield had left the scar on the land — a giant hole in the mountain. It was akin to a grave. 
Despite the lost right arm, Franklin was very satisfied with the MGD’s performance. 
“Even the loud brat can be useful sometimes, huh?” he said fondly. “I even got to test the Decimation Cannon.” 
He was especially happy to know that the two-millennia-old weapon he’d taken from Lapis Lazuli Decimation worked like a charm. 
“The lost arm means there’s room for improvement, though. I’ll have to finish it up before the war. What’s important is that it can win an equal battle.” 
Franklin began planning modifications, picturing the enhanced MGD completely crushing Ray. 
The thought brought a smile to his face.