Chapter 1062 - The End of the Mirage
...And so, a little over ten minutes after the battle began.
"How the hell did you manage to draw against this thing solo?!"
"Shut up about the draw! I'm telling you I could win now!"
Under the starry sky, we were dancing on a stage not of night's black, but within a crimson mist that hung like a fog, facing the Wolf that still raged incessantly.
Then, in an instant, a chill ran down my spine.
"Ashe!"
"Ngh...!"
The crimson filling the space... every time the [Rivelmet Wolf] took damage, the blood that was scattered according to the logic of the virtual world failed to dissipate, instead remaining and beginning to squirm in defiance of that very logic.
The remnants of life staining the air, the black wolf's blood-mist. As the pattern of its circulation matched my [Memory], I sent out a warning without delay, and her voice responded with an immediate, unquestioning affirmation.
In the next second.
...!
Right above us. From mist to body, from red to black. The giant wolf's head, formed in the blink of an eye, bared its fangs with jaws wide open and plunged straight down toward the prey beneath.
At that moment, Ashe kicked off the floor and leaped toward me, while I pulled my right arm back with everything I had, showing no restraint. As a result...
Connected to my avatar, the shadow threads of the [Nine Tail] snapped back like rubber. Our combined actions multiplied, outputting a speed that our current specs shouldn't have been able to produce.
By doing all that, I managed to snatch an evasion that I could just barely claim was comfortable.
"Now!" "Ngh...!"
Without severing the connecting threads, I spun, rotated, and then launched her.
I didn't catch the Princess as she was pulled from the danger zone. Instead, with a mutual understanding that required no words, I made effective use of her. With a swing that carried all the centrifugal force I could muster, I sent her back as a return gift...
"[Ventus]..."
A change of clothes...
"...[Blue]!"
Additional acceleration, followed by a flash.
One of Sora's handmade [Nel Widash]... but her MP resources hadn't recovered enough to produce those one after another, so a density-conserving version of the [Ten Swords] served as a substitute for the blade she couldn't call forth.
However, it was still a dense and heavy blade, concentrated from ten sand swords. Even if the mana within was far inferior to the original, if the arm of the Princess wielding it was the same, the balance would hold. Thus, with an arm fit to swing it and a blade fit to be swung...
...
The sword of silver-blue dust surged forth and bisected the giant, bodiless wolf head.
...And then more red was scattered, squirming with life...
"Ngh...!"
It formed a vortex. The moment that pattern perfectly overlapped with the image in my [Memory], I kicked off the floor without a second thought, relying on pure reflex. With a full-power leap combined with the release of [Kai]...
"Hraaaah!"
I followed up with a bit of fishing. Just like before, I pulled my right arm back with all my might, but unlike before, I wasn't just reeling in Ashe, but everyone else too. I assisted Sora, Ashe, and Tora-kichi, forcibly pulling each of their leaps even higher...
In the next instant.
...!
The giant wolf's howl echoed, shaking the space. Simultaneously, from the floor within a twenty-meter radius, a mountain of pitch-black, jagged, and sinisterly glowing swords shot high into the air.
This wasn't on the level of the spectacle the Saintess had shown us.
This was the kind of thing that was seriously meant to kill.
...And now.
I currently couldn't fly, glide, or float. So after jumping with all my might, gravity naturally took hold and my downward motion began. But...
Even if they were well-behaved swords, falling into a hell that was still squirming and waiting to masticate its prey was not something I could do and expect to stay safe.
"[Verme Kreis]."
The familiar incantation was finished before she even drifted over to my side.
Already falling and scattered...
"[Explode]..."
The magic swords of white flame flickering in the darkness numbered ten.
"...[Perflam]!"
Following their master's command, the flame swords reached their destination and erupted in a blast of fire.
Naturally, a pillar of heat rose, threatening us as we hung in the air, but the four invisible jaws driven by the [Great Tiger] near us tore the heat apart.
Thus, listening to the faint, distant roar of the wolf's anger amidst the thundering noise, we were blown together by the blast and wind... and landed once more.
In these ten minutes, this was the third time.
The first time had been a desperate, ad-lib response that would have resulted in our annihilation if we'd made one wrong move. The second time had been a slight improvement, practicing an improvised response by relying on [Memory]. And now...
I was still anxious, but I wasn't panicked anymore. However...
"...Say, I'm not being conceited, but who else could clear this besides us?"
"...Dunno. If the lineup was different, the content might've been different too."
"I... honestly think so as well."
"I... I agree..."
We were out of breath enough that we couldn't hide it, and we were exasperated enough that we didn't care to hide it either.
Really, honestly, who else is supposed to fight a maximum-level, half-raid-spec enemy filled with killing intent while their status is full of holes, their skills are locked, and their inventory items are restricted? Seriously, give it a rest, Arcadia.
While making light conversation, we composed our stances and breathing. We stared at the hellscape where the black of the wolf, the red of the blood, and the crimson of the flames were all mixed together.
"...Still, as expected."
"Yeah, as expected. That's how it is."
Eventually, under the night sky where the flames had cleared.
...
The black wolf had faced a storm of reactions, adaptations, and responses. It had continuously received a retort of blades against its fangs and claws in the form of a successful strategy. To put it mildly, it was covered in wounds.
Its fangs were shattered, its claws were broken, and its black fur was torn and tattered.
And yet... it was precisely because it refused to let even a shred of sorrow leak out, or allow us the insulting thought of pity, that it was a monster. All that remained now was the determination of victory or defeat.
Whether this thing... this [Rivelmet Wolf] was something reproduced by some gimmick, or if an individual actually living in the virtual world had been summoned...
I had no way of knowing, but this was the norm for PvE in Arcadia.
This was the constant that always existed at the end of a life-or-death struggle against an impossibly powerful foe that made you want to laugh at how ridiculous the joke was.
"Tora-kichi... you're a no-go for this part."
"Yeah. I'll leave it to you."
I wouldn't use grand words like admiration or respect. I just savored the emotion that I felt didn't need to be voiced, making sure I could carry it forward with me for a long time... on behalf of my companion whose blade was useless due to his contract.
"Got it. I'll take it from here."
As we reached the end, I wanted the conclusion to be clean. Since he'd left it to me in the flow of things, I didn't grumble. I placed my hand on the hilt of the [Shinuchi Gekka] at my waist... and took a step.
Step by step, until I had walked and slashed through the very end.
The black wolf lying on the ground didn't move as it glared proudly at its tiny enemy.
And thus...
"...Huh?"
No letting my guard down, no mercy. A few seconds after I had sheathed my blade, having severed the powerful foe with a single full-power stroke, I let out a stupidly confused sound at a strange sense of incongruity.
Then...
"...I've got a bad..."
"...Um, a feeling...?"
"...Well, yeah."
Since I had headed toward the finishing blow alone, the others were a short distance away. Beyond them, I could see Nia-chan looking bewildered even further back, but the three comrades who had been involved in the fight all wore the same expression as me.
And at the end of the voices I heard...
"...I didn't think it would end with this."
Ashe whispered and closed her eyes in frustration... and that was when it happened.
...!
Intense pressure, once again. Pushing through our fatigue, we entered combat stances out of pure reflex. We were shifting the gears of our breathing once more when a tremor struck us.
It was the impact of a massive mass being born from the void.
Following the [Rivelmet Wolf], this presence appeared before us without any warning... a pulse brought by an existence that truly shouldn't have been there.
...Now then, what should we do? I thought as I tilted my head back as far as it would go to look up.
"...H-Hey, it's been a while."
How long had it been? In a way, it was a close companion that I was almost always with recently, albeit in a different form.
"You been doing well?"
I threw a greeting toward the towering [Angalta, God-Wedge Sword-King] while my cheek twitched.
It's not like one wolf could beat four of us when we're all sealed up anyway.