Chapter 1144 - Uneven Information Sharing
And, a few minutes later—meaning, after a brief time for the moisture to fly away rapidly in an extremely game-like way without having to dry them, and for the soaked clothes to dry.
"In the end, what did you do?"
While surrounding the bonfire I prepared for the sake of atmosphere, even though it was unnecessary.
When I judged that the displeasure had flown away somewhat along with the moisture and asked, Yura turned a menacing gaze toward the pitch-black giant lake...
"You know the disadvantage of my 'Anima,' right?"
"Well, to the extent of an overview?"
Even the [Screen]-sama, who usually only returns ignoring or biting to unnecessary conversation or teasing, is not reluctant to respond to at least necessary and minimum questions.
And when I nodded at the blunt words handed to me,
"I converted that into an advantage. ────I told you when I brought the request to you, didn't I? That the state of the [Deep Realm of Blue Source (here)] had changed, and that I'd skip the details of the basis for that judgment."
"You did say that."
"That's the answer."
"Ah... err............?"
At the phrasing, which was undoubtedly lacking in words, I first racked my brain.
Yura's 'Anima'—the Magic Tongue, [Tongue of the Blazing Conductor (Invertia)]. The advantage it brings is the cognitive-warfare-domain-dominance-type indiscriminate extraordinary strengthening ability that even I have fully enjoyed.
Status, skills, and magic. Out of the three elements that are the blessings of the system and the main power of the player, it seals two and extraordinarily strengthens—or rather "maddens"—the remaining one.
It is undoubtedly one of the broken Anima in Arcadia, capable of single-handedly turning a whole battlefield into a mess... but as if it were a law of nature, great power also contains great disadvantages.
The disadvantage of the [Tongue of the Blazing Conductor (Invertia)] is the extraordinary strengthening ability itself.
It's not that because the increase is too extreme, there is basically no one who can handle it, and since it's impossible to free-ride without a training adaptation period, self-destruction is inevitable... it doesn't mean that.
It means that the destination of the ability is not limited to its own kind.
Yes, the authority hidden in Yura's Anima also acts on enemies. And extremely troublesome is that the monsters, who move by a different logic than humans, adapt to it immediately.
Furthermore, perhaps because the presence scattered by the abnormal Anima is immense, a forced provocation (taunt) effect is emitted over an ultra-wide range simultaneously with the activation of the ability. If it were used in the Divine Garden (field), everyone would gather from approximately several kilometers around, and if it were inside a dungeon, potentially from the entire dungeon.
In short, it's a hell of hells where a great war between superhumans who have surpassed humans vs. a parade of monsters who have surpassed monsters automatically begins... well, it's something like that.
It's said in the world to be broken and such, and that is also a fact, but if you line up all the elements and think calmly, it's a piece of work that makes you say, 'Who could possibly operate this?'
In the sense that it's infinitely impractical, she herself sometimes describes it as a 'child's toy.' It's an apt description, or something...—
In any case, if I rack my brain based on such prerequisite knowledge, it's not hard to derive the answer.
"............In the [Deep Realm of Blue Source], once you pass through the teleportation gate (portal), you immediately plop (into the water), and if you don't have countermeasures, suffocation is inevitable. Even if you secure action time with some kind of countermeasure, no matter how far you swim, it's just infinitely pitch-black water, and you can't encounter anything... that was the information until now, right?"
Well, for me, who hasn't actually seen the "now" with my own eyes, there is no 'until now' or anything... anyway, for now, there seems to be no retort to my words.
Seeing Yura waiting for the continuation, I stated my thoughts—I don't feel like there's no need to show off a poor deduction if this fellow would just explain everything properly, but
Since complaining is nothing new, I state it.
"Then, if I were to guess, until now nothing would come near even if you released your Anima, but now... ────something (is) starting to come near, is that it?"
Having stated it, when I looked for a reaction...
"That's right."
Yura affirmed while lightly shaking her head as if she intended to nod once.
"It didn't exist before the conquest of 'Green Connect'... or it was hidden, or it wasn't interested in us and was tucked away in the depths. In any case, figures that couldn't be seen are now swarming."
"........................"
Then, I could only fall silent.
I mean, you know... things that infest a completely submerged dungeon, or rather a water-only dungeon, which is generally described as 'inside the sea.'
────I turned my face toward Sayaka-san, who is the 'conscience' of this place if I were to tag her. Then, the Saintess-sama, who had been relaxing and looking happy while basking in the unnecessary bonfire, turned around when she sensed my gaze.
She turned around, our eyes met, and after slowly blinking her green eyes.
"Um, yes. How should I put it—swimming things? Are..."
"I'm maximally sorry, but I can't be of any help; it's absolutely impossible, please forgive me."
Since she told me the fact using a choice of words that was maximally considerate, I, who have decided it's okay to yield to trauma, instantly threw away all pride and bowed my head.
I even straightened my posture and sat in seiza. Let my sincerity and genuine refusal be conveyed—and,
"Tch... stop it, it's annoying. I won't force you to go, I told you that beforehand."
"This guy is a pure good in a roundabout way for not joining in on that kind of bad joke..."
"I'll kill you."
"You do say 'I'll kill you,' though."
Not only the Saintess-sama, who naturally smiled and said, "Please don't push yourself," but Yura was also normally kind regarding this. I shall concentrate on my duty as the "legs" with peace of mind.
"I'm grateful............ And? Is that the basis for judging that it's become conquerable?"
"Not all of it. I took it as a sign (signal) that the dungeon has been activated for challenge. Having taken it as such, I gathered other bases for judgment—and now, well, I'm certain."
"Hoh..."
Anyway, the playfulness aside, I didn't forget the serious talk.
In the end, it seems she won't tell me everything, but well, that's likely part of the details of 'I'll tell you someday' that she said before. I won't pry now.
"...And so, I also assisted in the advance this time, but"
However, other than that, being short on words is her usual state. Perhaps she was considerate of me, the listener, for the conversation not progressing, so Sayaka-san also took it upon herself to assist in the conversation.
"It was more than expected. Although we did our best to resist with all our might..."
And, while gauging the complexion of her companion who likely resisted along with her...
"────Embarrassingly, the two of us were turned back in no time."
Without thinking deeply, without calmly breaking it down, she stated a result that anyone would immediately understand as 'terrible.' ...And Yura didn't deny it. In short,
"............Seriously?"
As far as I know, the top-tier individual combat power... personally, I think she's on par with Irori and others, who are next to [Sword Queen (Ashe)] and [Sword Saint (Ui-san)], or if anything, might even surpass them—[Screen (Yura)].
Not just me, but the world knows and recognizes her as 'Arcadia's best support mage (buffer),' the Saintess [Orb Law], and after being fully supported by her—she was turned back in no time?
Something like that,
"Eh, seriously?"
I could only say that, and when I turned my eyes toward the person herself.
"...Got a problem, you piece of crap?"
"Your mouth is so foul..."
Being glared at quite strongly, I immediately retreated, said I was sorry, and raised both hands.