Chapter 381 - The White Journey Unburdened, Part Five
The moment the great, endlessly high wall of pure white appeared, several things happened at once.
The effect of [Scareless] that had been dwelling in my avatar vanished.
Sora's presence, which had been connected to me through the golden chains of [Twaibolt Mirari], disappeared, along with the shared STR status effect.
Furthermore, the status bars of my party members in the corner of my vision lost their color, freezing into a gray I had never seen before.
It took no thought to understand what the grotesquely transformed White Throne had done.
"We've been had…!"
First a forced teleport, now spatial isolation… Most likely, players were pulled in and separated, with the ten clones acting as anchor points—no, that's not right. The number decreased.
Naturally, a considerable number of players had gathered around the last two clones, yet when I looked back, I could count the number of people in this space in an instant.
Eleven people… exactly one-tenth of the raid's one hundred and ten members. All the pieces needed to guess the full scope of the gimmick had been laid out for me with painstaking care.
In short, we were likely sorted by proximity.
The result was the same—we'd fallen into a trap. And if that's the case, there was only one thing to do. I had to smash this thing as quickly as possible and forge a path back to my comrades.
"[Construction]."
I put away the now-disconnected shields and summoned a gleaming jade blade to my right hand. With white in my left and green in my right, I kicked off the ground and charged forward, another shadow falling in step beside me.
It was a strange feeling. This was the first time we had fought side-by-side, and we had never even practiced coordinating our movements, yet—
Without a single word or glance exchanged, we understood each other's actions as if they were our own.
The white clone, now swollen and cloaked in red, trembled and roared without opening its mouth. It was a ghastly shriek, clearly different from the terrifying yet strangely serene cries it had made just moments before.
Its agility, judging by its increased mass and sluggish movements as it took a ground-shaking step forward, had probably dropped to a level somewhere between the main body and the clones.
The way it shattered the ground just by stepping on it suggested its physical strength had skyrocketed.
Then, as the monster clearly took a charging stance, a swarm of crimson tentacles erupted once more from the cavernous black hole in its back where the red had overflowed—
Alright, I guess that settles our roles, then.
I activated [Rocket]. With twin blades in hand, I soared through the air, indiscriminately severing the countless tentacles at their roots the moment they appeared.
The translucent red projectiles, robbed of their chance to become a barrage, writhed grotesquely as they dissipated into mist.
"[Vivid Red (Fort Rouge)]!"
The instant the white clone took its second step, a small shadow leaped before it—and in a twist of fate, she too changed from white to red. She altered the color she wore and brought down a divine Sword.
—
A deafening roar and a shockwave tore through the earth, and a distorted scream echoed from the massive body that had been slammed to the ground.
I controlled my body, buffeted by the blast, with a void-touch from [Hare Real]… and activated [Rocket] once more. I cut down another bundle of the endlessly spawning tentacles on my way back.
I swooped down and hooked my arm around the Princess's body as she hung in the air, snatching her away. Immediately after, a volley of layered magic rained down upon the fallen white clone.
It seemed there was no need to worry about everyone's morale. Excellent.
"How was it?"
"I felt it. But it's incomparably tougher than before."
"I see. In that case—"
"Yes, you're right—"
I released Ashe's body as we landed, and we stood side-by-side once more, facing the enemy.
Scorched by explosions and struck by lightning, it still showed no significant wounds. Trembling with rage that shook the very space around it, the giant slowly pushed itself back up.
""—We'll just have to thoroughly slice it to pieces."
There wasn't a shred of fear in the air as we both took a step forward.
Leaving the role of damage dealer to Ashe, I surged ahead. My job, now in this second phase, was to act as the vanguard, clearing a path through the barrage.
Fortunately, unlike the first phase, it didn't seem to be creating any turrets. The rain of tentacles erupting from its body was, in terms of sheer numbers, just manageable enough to see through, more or less.
Okay, I exaggerated. To be precise… it was at the absolute limit. A barrage so intense I could barely pretend to see through it all.
It was one thing to take them out at the source, but there were far too many to strike down one by one after they scattered. With my connection to Tetra severed, [Foresight] had long since closed for business.
What to do… I suppose I have no other choice.
For some reason, my [Everquartz, White Crystal Sword of Sky-Soaring] had lost its light and seemed to have lost all motivation, so I slammed it back into its sheath. Fending off the swarm of tentacles rushing toward my exposed position, I shifted [Samidorizuki] to my now-empty left hand. If you're going to be 'Red', then I'll be 'Crimson' too!
I drew [Rabbit Dagger: Parabellum] with my right hand and sent it straight into my own heart, producing a faint shattering sound. My loosened hair tickled my neck.
I carelessly played my one-time, death-avoiding card… and activated [Desperate Crimson].
Through my widened vision, I instantly 'memorized' everything I saw. I'd think about it later—the debriefing session of afterthought could wait until after I'd made my run.
"Hraaaaaah!"
Scattering a crimson phosphorescence, I charged.
I kicked away one tentacle that grazed my side and bisected a volley coming straight at me with my left jade blade. Activating [Flip Stroke], I used just the little finger of my right hand—the one off my crimson sword—to return a rain of blades to the barrage approaching from below. Then, after a backflip into a septuple axel, I shredded and deflected the red onslaught coming from all directions.
There was no escape; the density of enemy fire was the same whether I went up or down. So, I pushed forward—my trusty blades were in my hands, and as long as I moved my right or left according to instinct and memory, I could intercept them.
Forward.
Forward, forward.
Forward, forward, forward… straight ahead.
If I just kept moving forward without fear—I knew I could make it.
Kesshiki Ittoryu, Tenth Strike, Revised.
"—[Mowing Thunder]!"
Upon landing on its back, I unleashed a horizontal bolt of lightning. The flashing jade blade roared, and with a reach that should have been utterly insufficient,
I mowed down the entire bundle of rising red tentacles in a single stroke.
"Ashe!"
From white to red, red to white, and now… from white to blue.
"[Swift Blue (Ventus Bluea)]."
The next moment, a streak of blue and silver light shot through the path I had cleared.
Her blue speed was of a different kind than mine, which prioritized versatile mobility. Her steps were solely dedicated to one purpose—to charge straight ahead and deliver a single, god-like slash.
"Wake up."
It was a call, and a key. A voice that awakened the proof forced upon her, whether she liked it or not.
And the Sword, which had conveyed a faint, whisper-like tremor to her hand,
"—Hmph…!"
Obeying its one and only master, it carved its blade deep into the great wall that stood in its way.
Are you two just going to do whatever you please?