kscans

Chapter 910 - After the Banquet, Some Play

"—First off, as a basic premise, Sora isn't controlling every single one of those magic swords individually."

After defeating the boss—which I still wasn't sure if it was [Ifrit, Fire Demon] or [Volkidun, Fire Demon], not to mention what the heck an 'Unknown Wedge' was—I found myself holding a lecture for Ren and Shoh, who were naturally asking all sorts of questions while we sifted through the spoils of war in the deepest part of the conquered sixtieth layer of the Key Tree.

"With [Cradle of Sword-Craft]… or rather, with the magic sword aptitude skill tree that comes with it, the telekinetic control of the swords actually has a lot of built-in support."

As for the person in question, she was standing next to me, listening to my proxy explanation and occasionally nodding along.

It was because her shyness was still lingering due to her intimacy level with them not being high enough yet, but she was cute, so it was all good. Her partner will handle everything.

"For example, you can give commands like 'automatically target that guy,' or 'loop this trajectory,' or 'you, you, and you three, follow this leader unit as a set.'"

"I see… so you can set detailed, individual programs?"

"Yup. There are times when it looks like she's controlling a thousand swords, but she's actually only directly controlling the one in the lead. …Well, even programming the sets themselves is super difficult, though."

"In the middle of a battle, no less… At any rate, that's a feat I could never hope to accomplish."

"Same here. I can't even begin to imagine it."

Ren and Shoh directed their admiration toward Sora. Sensing the gazes of the two brothers, my partner endured for three seconds before she couldn't take it anymore and looked down at the floor.

So cute.

Anyway—

"So that's the gist of it. When I absorb the magic swords with this, I temporarily gain control of them, but there's no way in hell I can perform complex maneuvers like Sora can."

I tapped the [Hellgread Ignis (Crimson Red Hellfire Seed)] that served as the clasp for the one-sided cape—the peris—of my transformation outfit, the [Sakura Hanaori (White Sakura Weave)].

"She prepares a few 'sets' with 'leader units' for me beforehand, and I have to desperately focus my thoughts to control them. That's what you saw back there. So, in other words…"

Frankly, with Cradle Alter, Sora-san does the heavy lifting and I'm just an extra. I have other combo moves where I'm the main one, so I'll show those off eventually.

I wrapped things up with that casual explanation…

""We mostly understand. Though we still don't really get what you're saying.""

"You friendly brothers, you. You don't get it at all, do you?"

A bit of playful banter, a sign of our growing familiarity.

Sora still seemed to be a little ways off, but aside from their polite speech, my interactions with Shoh and Ren were steadily becoming more casual.

While they both exuded the air of a ranker now and then, I was surprised by how much they acted like normal people. I might have to retract my theory that all rankers are weird, interesting players.

Their 'sister' too, for now, is just a beautiful older woman who bestows graceful smiles—

"—Haru?"

"Eh, what? I'm sorry. That was just from a general point of view, and…"

"…Um, what are you talking about?"

My name, called out just as I was lost in my generally idiotic thoughts, made me jump. I whipped my head around to see a pair of amber eyes looking at me, blinking in confusion.

Crap, it seems this wasn't a telepathic scolding after all.

Naturally, Sora-san's confusion shifted to suspicion, and I received a sharp look that seemed to say, 'You were thinking something weird again, weren't you.' Deciding there was no need to confess the specifics of my 'weird' thoughts, I whistled and averted my gaze, only to get a light slap on my knee.

I felt about four pairs of lukewarm gazes on me, but since [Altera-Notis] wasn't active, it must have been my imagination. …As I continued this chain of idiotic thoughts,

"Honestly… I found a card!"

"Oh, really? Thanks."

A second light slap.

This time, a piece of loot was pressed against my cheek, which had gone completely slack after the battle.

A Key Tree Armament (card), which meant a jackpot. What we'd all been doing while chatting away was sorting through the results of my gacha spree, a now-traditional post-ten-floors activity.

Of course, I was the culprit, and I wasn't making everyone else help.

After clearing a neat ten floors, we were about to call it a day with a 'good work, see you tomorrow.' Then I decided to go on a gacha binge, and everyone else just stuck around out of curiosity to watch.

Besides the brothers who were mainly chatting with me, neither Gen-san nor Sayaka-san showed any signs of leaving.

At first, I thought I had chosen a bad time to act like an idiot and was holding them up… but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I guess I didn't need to worry about it.

Really, this party is the pinnacle of peaceful.

"Congratulations."

"What did you get?"

And, since they were likely sticking around out of interest, it was only natural for their attention to turn to the jackpot. Congratulated and questioned by the brothers, I examined the card…

"…Oh? This looks familiar."

"Ah, you think so too, right?"

Drawn within the stylishly designed frame was a picture of a 'greatsword' that was extremely similar to something from a fairly recent memory. In addition, its name was…

"[Elvad, Greatsword of the Supreme Dragon]… a laughably straightforward name."

In that case, there was no need to even say who this Key Tree Armament was modeled after.

Hmm, I see.

"Hmmmm… —'Materialize.'"

After a moment's hesitation, I rose from the sea of loot from my roughly five-hundred-pull gacha spree and chanted the Key Word. As I took a step or two away from Sora and the others, a special effect of green light, exclusive to the first manifestation, gathered in my hands—and in the next moment.

"Whoa…!?"

"Ooh."

"My, my."

"Well."

"…That's big."

A thunderous thud.

I had a bad feeling, so I had put some distance between myself and my companions, and that precautionary measure turned out to be the right call. What answered my call was a monstrous weapon.

"Uh, is this size correct???"

It was a ridiculously massive double-edged sword, on a level that couldn't possibly be meant for a human.

It would probably be classified in the 'Greatsword' category, but its size was clearly outside even that top-tier classification. There were other things to notice, like the pattern on the flat of the blade resembling dragon scales, and how the blades near the base on both sides were blunted like a club, but…

More than anything else, it was its sheer volume and mass.

This was on a whole other level from my old [Prologue: Wedge Fragment Singing of Eternity (Angalta)]; this thing had to be four meters long.

"Alright, heave-ho—ah, nope, not happening. Figured as much."

The greatsword Elvad shone with a dull luster, just like the dragon-man Elvad enemy. I tried to lift it by gripping the hilt with both hands, but as I expected, a STR of 200 wasn't going to budge it.

Was this a setting exclusive to this weapon… or perhaps, exclusive to dangerous items?

It was a good thing it manifested lying on the floor instead of in my hands. If it had appeared normally, it would have likely caused a tragedy in most cases.

When you 'Materialize' a Key Tree Armament, there is a grace period before the weight is applied, but it's only for a brief instant, equivalent to the early version of [Quick Change].

If I had stood there stunned by its size, my arms would have been torn off or my hands crushed flat.

"Jeez, what kind of monster is this thing designed for…"

"""……………………"""

—Now, what's with you all? Don't give me that look.

Using my Recall and weapon aptitude skills to their fullest, I started swinging the greatsword Elvad around, making it appear and disappear with a great whoosh, when I noticed my partner Sora-san, as well as Shoh and Ren, staring at me as if I were the monster.

I know. I'm not going to play the clueless protagonist at this point.

Meanwhile, Gen-san was nodding with his eyes closed, as if to say, 'Not bad,' and Sayaka-san was gazing at me intently with a sparkling smile.

Again, what an infinitely reliable and peaceful party.

Let's keep up this momentum and tackle the next floors with gusto starting tomorrow.

---

Q. Is it okay to put something that heavy in your inventory?
A. All armaments that can't be used during the Key Tree conquest are stored in the clan room, so it was fine.

Apparently, it just barely fit into the space cleared out by the [Giant's Hand Axe] and [Gravidon].

Haru's current Key Tree Ver. stats below
────────────────
◇Status / Restarted◇
Title: Acrobat
Name: Haru　 Lv: 61
STR: 100
AGI: 160
DEX: 0
VIT: 0 (+120)
MID: 300 (+180)
LUC: 50
────────────────
◇Status / Trance / Restarted◇
Title: Acrobat
Name: Haru　 Lv: 61
STR: 200
AGI: 200 (+40)
DEX: 10
VIT: 0 (+60)
MID: 200 (+130)
LUC: 0
────────────────
Unlocked Armaments are listed below in order of [Verdant Gem of Covenant] usage.
1st Layer: [Alv Stella, True White Star Sword]
10th Layer: [Aquamarine Rabbit Heart]
20th Layer: [Perdia Eternity (The Earth-Sworn Star that Dreams of the Azure Sky)]
30th Layer: [El-Gran Stasia (Azure Sky Six Flowers, White Cloud)]
40th Layer: [An=Di Galta (God-Wedge Flashing Hand)], [An=Vo Galta (God-Wedge Flashing Leg)]
50th Layer: [An=Ru Galta (Hypothesis: The Wedge-Armor that Sings of the Royal Road)], [Sakura Hanaori (White Sakura Weave)]
60th Layer: Haven't chosen yet.

Any Arcadian can guess why two were unlocked on the 40th & 50th layers.
As for the [Hellgread Ignis (Crimson Red Hellfire Seed)], that's an exception because it's a part of the [Sakura Hanaori].

For Comparison - Normal Ver.
────────────────
◇Status◇
Title: Acrobat
Name: Haru　 Lv: 110
STR: 300
AGI: 300
DEX: 0
VIT: 0 (+200)
MID: 350 (+350)
LUC: 300
────────────────
────────────────
◇Status / Trance◇
Title: Acrobat
Name: Haru Lv: 110
STR: 0 (+100)
AGI: 0 (+250)
DEX: 0
VIT: 0 (+100)
MID: 1250 (+250)
LUC: 0
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