Chapter 633 - Overlapping Beacons
"—Haru."
"You're as efficient as ever."
Drawn by the light of the teleport, I once again descended upon the divine playground after a four-month absence.
Putting aside my reactions, retorts, and surprise at the messy scene visible from the maze entrance, I was in the midst of the warriors frantically preparing themselves in the short time available.
My name was called, and I turned to catch the 'scroll' that was hurtling toward me. Looking past it, I saw the [Insighter] who had tossed me the fruits of his labor, a familiar smile on his face.
It was business as usual for Istia's shadowy backbone to be an all-powerful, perfect, and lightning-fast workhorse. With half exasperation and half admiration, I offered him my praise of "Yeah, yeah, impressive as always" and unrolled the heavy, one-meter-diameter scroll—unroll, unroll... unroll, dammit...!
"...Didn't we go through this last time?"
Even if you say that, it's not as easy as unrolling a poster. As I fumbled, Tetra reached out from my side to help, and I gratefully accepted. We spread it out once more.
Then, I stared intently at the densely detailed map. One, two, three.
"Okay, perfect."
"Honestly, I'm still only half-convinced you can do that."
"I wonder which of us is the one who's 'as usual,'" I retorted.
As soon as I finished pasting the maze's structure into my virtual brain like a crystal-clear photograph, I received a suspicious look from my number one junior and passed the map to Goldow, who had approached.
And with that, I turned my attention back to...
"Well, so far so good—but sorry, there's no way I can just ignore that, unlike the 'water' last time. If I try to sprint at full speed, I'll be flattened in an instant."
"Probably. But the enemy will be just as limited in their marching speed."
The net of black iron glittered with a metallic sheen. It was unclear if the entire maze area was covered in it without actually entering, but either way, it was a troublesome—or rather, an extremely annoying environment for a runner.
In fact, if the entire maze is like that, it'll be a massive pain for every player, not just the runners.
First, visibility is severely restricted. Spotting enemies will naturally be delayed, and from the perspective of a long-range mage, it's a field littered with obstacles that block spells. It must be infuriating.
For many melee classes, it also looks like a difficult field to fight on.
Since it's meticulously placed not just above but also at the very bottom, it's simply a very uneven terrain. Just moving on the ground would probably waste a lot of energy.
Of course, if a ridiculously fast agility build tried to run in a straight line, they'd inevitably be crushed in an instant. As for combat, the combination of a chaotic, multi-level footing and numerous obstacles makes it easy to envision a battlefield descending into chaos...
Well, I guess. In short—
"Let's be real, it's not a problem for you, is it? [Acrobat]."
"Nope, not a problem at all, Mr. [General Commander]."
Just as Goldow said, the enemy is just as restricted from going full speed. In that case, our speeds will be equally reduced, and the more nimble one will still seize the initiative. It's that simple.
If anything, a field with plenty of footholds is my specialty, practically my home ground. I've even created tons of my own footholds to bounce around on before.
And in addition to that.
"—This is a tailwind for you, Kanata. You could even call it a perfect setup, couldn't you?"
"I'll... do my best!"
A field with countless contiguous, three-dimensional footholds. It was an unexpectedly perfect environment, meshing almost too well with Kanata's [Rebellion].
This could turn out to be more interesting than I thought. We'll mostly be acting separately, so I'll look forward to watching the archives later.
—Now then, with that said.
"Haru, I'm not gonna give you a bunch of detailed orders anymore. Do as you please."
"Understood. I'll do my best to live up to your trust."
"Good. Kanata, it's just like we talked about. Respond to orders quickly and without hesitation. Don't worry about making a few mistakes. We'll spare no effort to back you up."
"Yes!"
"Worst case, that senpai of yours will probably work for two, three, or even ten people."
"Yes!"
"Hey, now... well, I guess I was planning on it from the start anyway."
The countdown in the corner of my vision dipped below one hundred seconds, and the time for battle drew near. Before I knew it, each squad was fully prepared, and the number of gazes directed our way grew proportionally.
That familiar tension—but now, I'd met almost every player here. They were comrades-in-arms. The feeling of being an outsider that I had arbitrarily felt in the past was completely gone.
Kanata... as expected, he seemed relatively calm, so I probably didn't need to worry. A little nervousness was unavoidable, but once things started, he'd be swept up in the heat of the festival.
It wouldn't matter if he messed up and died two or three times. In fact, he should drive the enemy to despair by showing them 'this is the level of player who's coming back from the dead.'
So, the most important thing is... and I know I'm being a little persistent here.
"—Alright, let's have some fun!"
It was meant for my junior next to me, but my voice came out louder than I expected and was met with a chorus of nearly three hundred replies. Goldow shrugged as if to say, don't take my job of giving the orders, and I shot him a sheepish grin before stepping forward with my junior.
The countdown hit ten seconds, and countless pillars of light erupted in the black rock maze area. Ten, twenty—a total of twenty-four.
The number of 'Pillars,' the main source of points in the Four Pillar War, corresponds to the number of rankers participating from each faction. Eight members from our Istia are participating, excluding the [Sword Saint] and [Screen], which means the enemy has sixteen "power players."
My, my, this is shaping up to be a lively festival.
"Kanata, listen carefully—right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right."
"Huh...?"
"If my visual estimate is correct, the closest one is there. Go take it down at full speed."
"Wh-what? Right, lef...—h-hold on a second, please...!"
"Ah, no. I just said 'listen carefully' on a whim. You don't actually have to memorize it."
I was prepared for this. I took out a piece of paper and a quill from my inventory and, with a wry smile, handed a note with '1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 11' written on it to my flustered junior.
"Starting from the first fork, turn right on those numbered turns."
"...—I-I understand!"
Good. In that case, the path is already open—
"You've probably had your fill of encouraging words by now, right?"
"Yes!"
We exchanged one last glance, our unspoken signal to fire the starting gun.
"Excellent... Then all that's left is—to keep up with me with all you've got, junior!"
"—With fighting spirit alone, I won't fall behind!"
We didn't bother to match our steps.
Showing him my back was more than enough.
I took a step forward from beside my junior, who had tensed into a running stance, and the entrance to the maze was right before me.
It's been just under five months since I received it. Now, with the 'name' I've grown fond of myself, I'll slam a triumphant laugh in the face of the world's will (the system) that prepared this malicious stage.
My title is [Acrobat]—you think a little bit of a complicated path is enough to stop these legs?!
◇◆◇◆◇
"That big bro/sis of ours just slid in there with some seriously freaky movements again."
"That was probably his base state, not even using thought acceleration. Senpai's movements are just a bug at this point."
"As always, I can barely see him."
They watched their junior soar through the air, this time all on his own, and vanish into the maze in an instant.
The speed and agility, incomparable to the scene from the past, were commented on by the smaller members, but their voices, just like before, were colored with an exasperation that was two sides of the same coin as admiration.
They knew that wasn't his full speed. But there was no doubt he had both feet firmly planted in a speed domain that easily surpassed the top high-mobility warriors... and yet,
What other reaction could they have but exasperation for the monster who had plunged into an obstacle-ridden maze without much braking?
"...Putting that idiot aside, it seems he did a good job with his junior."
Unlike four months ago, his abnormality was now widely known.
The 'junior' was sent off by cheers of excitement that overshadowed any shock or confusion. Putting him aside for a moment... Irori turned his gaze to the 'junior's junior' and muttered to himself.
—Or, it was supposed to be to himself.
"When he gets serious and puts his mind to it, his knack for mentoring isn't half bad, it seems. Though, looks like some people's spartan habits have rubbed off on him."
"...So I've heard."
He shot a half-lidded glare at the General Commander (Goldow), whose expression was laden with implications, but decided against poking the hornet's nest and swallowed any further words.
The [Acrobat] vanished in the blink of an eye, and a promising newcomer disappeared half a second later. It was too early to call him Number Two, but his potential was certainly being polished—
"Don't get left behind, in more ways than one."
"First of all, I don't think I've ever been overtaken. ...But, well."
And then, dozens of seconds after the two had taken their first step forward at different speeds.
"I'll admit there are things to learn from him—like this, for instance."
Two pillars of light rose almost simultaneously. The samurai looked up at the beacons signaling the destruction of the 'Pillars,' a smile of admiration that had gone past exasperation on his face.
"...Well then, I suppose we'll follow our cheeky junior's lead and 'enjoy' ourselves."
"You bet. ...Though, this old man's not used to all this brain work."
"You say that. I'm counting on you to support not just the junior's junior, but us as well, [General Commander]."
They bumped fists, and Goldow moved back while Irori moved forward. Their positions, roles, and destinations were different, but the hearts of the men, spurred on by the younger rabble-rouser, were all in one accord—
"Now, what are you all standing around for? Our juniors are going to take all the glory."
"Alright, get fired up and move, you bastards! It's festival time!"
—and with a heat like a great fire, they surged onto the battlefield.