Chapter 1040 - ....................
A voice echoed in my head... no, it was more like a string of text from a cold system announcement had been carved into my mind. Before anyone could react...
"... ... Eh?"
We were transported in the blink of an eye.
"... ... Eh? What...?"
Sora let out a voice, having a similar reaction to mine.
"... ... ?"
Nia looked dazed, as if she couldn't keep up at all. She didn't look like she had any intention of keeping up in the first place.
"... What the hell is this?"
Tora-kichi muttered, though he didn't panic. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the surroundings.
And then there was the calm and collected one. Ashe stood there calmly, just like Tora-kichi, looking around while summoning her sword and quietly taking a combat stance.
And then...
"..."
It was completely out of character.
With all we had been through, this was the only way to describe his expression. He stood there with a face that was serious... yet slightly different, a calm and steady look. Kendy-dono.
Six of us in total. Not a single person was missing, and no one had been separated. We had successfully made it behind the Door, and where we found ourselves was...
"... ... Does it feel like I've seen this before, or is it just me?"
The timing was exquisite, and the sense of déjà vu for this peculiar landscape was unavoidable.
Pitch-black walls towered on both sides. Looking up at the ceilingless sky, a starry void met my gaze. Looking toward the end of the path, both front and back were dead ends.
The stage that came to mind...
"What a coincidence... I also remember being here recently."
"Same here."
Tora-kichi and Ashe agreed. There was only one answer.
"... Bullet."
I went for a final confirmation.
I threw the small blade in my hand straight up... and yes. On its way to the sky, it was slowed down by an invisible force field and then repelled, falling back down.
I couldn't tell what Kendy-dono was thinking, since he was being eerily quiet, but at this point, our thoughts were unified even if we weren't the participants.
No one who was familiar with the virtual world could fail to recognize this place.
"The maze district of the Four Pillar War?"
"I'm asking what the hell is going on here."
Ashe's murmur was the answer in everyone's mind, and Tora-kichi's retort was the question in everyone's mind. There was nothing else.
In my direct experience, it was most similar to the submerged field from three wars ago.
If you drained all the water... it was a plain field, so to speak. The smooth black walls and floors of the indestructible objects had a unique texture that was unmistakable, even without the gift of memory.
It was the real deal.
"Hmm... Uh, okay... ... So, what are we supposed to do?"
The unexpected had awaited us behind the Door, where we hadn't known what to expect. It was almost within the realm of expectations, but that didn't stop us from being bewildered. Nia asked the question, unable to bear the tension of the mysterious situation.
So, what should we do? How should we start moving? Everyone, including myself, must have been thinking at high speed. And naturally, the one we looked to first for trust was...
"... ... I see."
The silver-blue hair swayed as she slowly blinked her garnet eyes.
"... The debuff icons that appeared during the Green Connect conquest aren't showing up. For now, there's no visible time limit. Aside from the maze walls, there are no noticeable objects either."
Sora-san, whom I personally thought rivaled Ashe, was probably thinking as well, but Ashe was surely rotating her superhuman thoughts at a speed that couldn't be compared to mine or Tora-kichi's. After pursuing all the possibilities...
"Do we move forward or stay... Let's move forward."
"Okay."
"Understood."
"Yes!"
"Ah, okay."
There were no objections to the Princess's answer.
No one here thought it was a simple choice between two. Or rather, any player who had participated in a raid led by Ashe wouldn't think that.
There was no telling how many layers of thought she had piled up just to reach that simple answer. That trust was also part of the Sword Queen.
"Nia."
She immediately gave an additional order. Since this was an exploration into the unknown, there was no reason not to rely on her. Ashe, who had naturally taken the lead, looked back at her friend.
And so...
"Please."
"Got it, leave it to me!"
Nia opened Shimmering Blue Jade Twin Stars. She had been recruited into the party specifically for her eyes, so I had already returned the power of her eye from my hair ornament.
Truthnight Aquamarine, the Night Queen Seeing Through the Moon... she was already completely used to using her透視眼 (X-ray vision). Without the tension of using a finishing move, Nia lit up both her eyes in a very natural way.
It was at that moment.
"... Esteemed guests."
The knight, who had been watching over us, spoke quietly.
Knowing the time was upon us, he was simply calm... no.
He had been the first to step forward, ready to become a shield with the resolve he had been building up.
And so, in a split second.
Every one of us except for Kendy-dono nearly dropped to our knees at the same time.
"Ugh... what?!"
It was a reflexive action. I managed to avoid falling by bracing myself with my hands on my knees, but the sudden, intense disorder didn't fade. I couldn't brush it off.
My body was heavy, but it was more than that.
This feeling was...
[status loading failed]
"Hey, what the hell is that!"
We were in our raw bodies, having lost the system's benefits.
The power that had filled our avatars had vanished.
I, Sora, Ashe, and Tora-kichi. Even Nia, whose eyes had lost their glow, were all staggered by the sudden, immense, and fatal gap.
It wasn't a matter of STR or AGI. It was as if the virtual vitality that filled even a Lv.1 character far beyond a real body had been completely wiped out...
"... In this world, the power of the Goddess does not reach."
And yet, the knight spoke as he always did.
I could tell from the atmosphere. Even though he looked strange, he was on our side, helping us. I wasn't the only one who realized that instinctively in this moment.
"... You, what do you know?"
She was incredibly tough. She was the first to regain her balance despite having no power, and she ran to Nia, who was about to collapse, to support her.
Ashe asked as a companion, but she didn't look back.
Perhaps she didn't have the luxury of looking back.
"... I repeat."
Cold sweat ran down his cheek, and we realized it a second later.
"They are coming. Please, quickly prepare yourselves."
In the distance. Something appeared at the end of the hallway.
It was black. A true black that seemed to swallow even shadows, with no hint of color, luster, or light. It seeped out of the floor... no, out of the space itself, like a pool of sludge. Many of them.
"... ... ... ... ..."
Everyone here happened to know what that was.
And for some reason, Kendy-dono probably knew it too.
Then everyone knew.
... Those clunky, pure black polygon masses.
A mysterious, strange, and bizarre existence whose material feel couldn't be read with the eyes, which welled up from the void and stuck together to become massive.
And the only form within them.
"... Eh, what are we supposed to do about those monsters?"
A giant single eye that squirmed.