Chapter 41 - A Castle on Sand, a Throne in Flux, Part Five
In this world of sand, a merciless, law-of-the-jungle spectacle had suddenly begun—no, this was the strong devouring the weak.
The majestic beast that had seemed so invincible in a one-on-one fight was now a pathetic sight. Swarmed by countless Serpents, the [Dusty Worm, Great Serpent of Dust] was being ravaged without even a chance to resist.
They coiled around it, bit into it, tore it apart… It was subjected to the absolute violence of numbers, unable to even let out a proper scream—
"Haaaah—... Wait… this is a little…"
Isn't this a bit much?
Suddenly faced with a hardcore monster splatter flick, I finally snapped out of my daze and glanced beside me. As for Sora… ah, well, yeah.
It's a bit late to remember, but Arcadia is a game. This world isn't real; it's a digitally controlled dream world. It's a virtual world that's indistinguishable from the real one.
Now, even with the prerequisite that this is all a game, a work of fiction, what happens when someone with no tolerance for that sort of thing is forced to experience it not through a screen, but with their own eyes, ears, and skin? What would happen?
"Hh… hah… ha…"
"Sora."
Her eyes were wide open as she sat collapsed on the ground, her breathing erratic, as if she were hyperventilating. I crouched beside her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and leaned in to meet her gaze.
"Sora, calm down."
I spoke to her, but she probably couldn't hear me. I've seen someone in a similar state of panic in real life, and she looked pretty much the same.
—Look, personally, I consider this hyper-realistic, shocking footage to be part of what makes this an amazing game, but still…
Voicing a criticism of this game that I may have never had before, I pulled Sora close, hugging her head to tear her away from the carnage she was fixated on.
I tried to pat her back with a deliberately lighthearted rhythm, repeating that it was okay, that it was just a game. To varying degrees, even I felt something welling up inside me, so I was in no mood to laugh at her trembling body.
While I was struggling to calm Sora, the situation before me—visible over her shoulder—continued to evolve.
Swept away by a tsunami of dozens, maybe even hundreds of Serpents, the great serpent was already gone, devoured. I couldn't find its azure color, swallowed by a sea of red.
—And then, of all things, the second act began.
"Hey, hey…"
Well, it seems the great serpent that gave me so much trouble has been cleaned up completely. How do I know? Because now the Serpents have started an endless cycle of cannibalism among themselves.
The sight of countless creatures swarming one was intense, but the sight of countless creatures devouring each other was no less shocking. It was a scene straight out of hell… This is going to be in my nightmares.
Are they going to keep eating each other until only one is left…? Yeah, that seems likely…
If that's the case, I should have a little time. I could try to calm Sora down in the meantime… or maybe, it'd be better to just—
"Sora, if this is really getting to you, let's just log out for a bit."
She seemed to… hear me. Confirming a faint reaction, I continued, consciously keeping my voice gentle.
"I'll protect your body, so you can log back in when you've calmed down."
One of Arcadia's features is that if you log out outside a safe zone like a town, your avatar remains in place. Naturally, even an empty avatar's HP will decrease if attacked, and death means an unavoidable death penalty. What's more, as if to punish lazy players who don't take proper precautions, the penalty is even heavier.
"Hey, you can't help it. They spring a splatter scene on you that'd make even a guy flinch. It's obviously going to be tough for a girl."
I could tell she was trying to respond, but her mouth just twitched unnaturally, unable to form words. I don't know if such symptoms can occur in a virtual world, but it looked exactly like a panic-induced seizure.
I remember seeing something similar back when I worked at a convenience store. A female college student ended up like that after our gangster-like manager started screaming at her in the back room.
He was yelling at her for some ridiculous, trumped-up reason, so I teamed up with my senior—a guy built like a rugby player—and we ran him off. But, well, that's another story.
Anyway, it was pointless to try and force a response out of her. I started talking even more than usual, trying to drill into her head that she shouldn't worry because I wasn't worried.
In truth, Sora had done nothing wrong. Anyone who saw something like that out of the blue would be justified in developing trauma and spamming the GMs with inquiries.
In fact, I'm going to. You're gonna pay for scaring my sweet, brave partner like this. You better be ready, because I'm prepared to fight…!!
"See? So for now, just leave the rest to your big bro and take a little break."
When I stated it as a final decision, Sora looked up—ah, don't give me that on-the-verge-of-tears look, my protective instincts are about to erupt.
"There, you see?"
She must have understood the state she was in. With a short prompt, Sora gave a small nod. With a trembling left hand—the one she could still move, it seemed—she called up the logout screen… called it up, and then paused.
"…Sora?"
About eight seconds passed. I called out to her, puzzled—and just after, a veil of green light enveloped us both.
It was her parting gift—while I was marveling at how she could manage that when she could barely even think, Sora gently pressed her forehead against my chest once, then tapped the logout button.
"………………"
The strength drained from Sora's body as she leaned against me. Her consciousness had logged out, leaving behind an empty shell of an avatar—which is to say,
"…Could you stop being so damn brave and sweet?"
I'm a teenage boy, the world's easiest mark, you know? The kind of creature that falls in love just because someone picks up his eraser, probably.
The avatar left in my arms conveyed a weight far greater than just its physical presence.
…I don't know how this is going to play out, but I absolutely cannot let this end with a "Whoops, sorry, we both died♪" I played the part of the dependable man, so I have to protect her other half, no matter what.
"…Alright, up we go."
An unconscious person is heavy. I'd heard that before, and it was true. It wasn't just the weight, but the fact that they couldn't balance themselves, which increased the burden on me.
I lifted Sora's avatar in a now-familiar princess carry and looked over at the swarm of Serpents, whose numbers had already dwindled considerably.
Those that were defeated vanished in a phosphorescent glow, so at least the scene wasn't a hellscape littered with torn-apart corpses.
Visually, the situation was becoming a bit more manageable—but I had a feeling it wasn't going to end like this. Something was going to happen, probably when the Serpents were down to the last one.
And a short while later, my speculation turned to certainty.
"Ah… so that's how it is?"
Having won the bloody cannibalistic free-for-all, a single [Desert Serpent] raised its head to the heavens and let out a victorious roar. And at that moment, the change began.
With a strange noise, like a great tree snapping, cracks appeared on the Serpent's body. Starting from its head, they instantly spread across its entire form, and soon, its massive body began to split open.
"…So you weren't a moray eel. You were a 'serpent' after all."
It was a molting, but it also resembled a metamorphosis. I had no way of knowing the exact trigger or the details, but it must be an evolution—the result of devouring its predecessor and all of its kin.
Shedding its outer skin, a crimson-black armor of sand, it revealed a brilliant azure color, more radiant than the one I'd seen before. The spiky crest on its head and the bladed lines spiraling its body were still underdeveloped… but I knew what its grown form looked like.
The only clear difference from the [Dusty Worm, Great Serpent of Dust] was the pair of emerald eyes in its sockets. The creature shook off the clinging remnants of its old skin as if annoyed, and—majestically raised its head.
As I watched its 'evolution' in stunned silence, a status bar popped up above the head of the newly-formed great serpent.
Its name was—[Bastide, Scion of Dust].