Demon Ash (1)

Ursula's scheduled report confirmed she'd reached the magic-ash site safely as planned, so I decided to head to her side alone.

I wanted the tournament-roster members to keep running mock battles right up to the wire, confirming their tactics.

The rest of the members had two territories' worth of Magical Beast subjugation dumped on them, so their workload had doubled.

Once Yuria and Lyuka opened a Gate, slipping through would teleport me instantly.

Well, "instantly" relative to traveling several thousand kilometers. In reality, after the Gate lit up, slipping through took a ten-odd-second lag.

About the wait you'd get from a game's teleport-device effect.

"… Uwaa…"

What I found when I arrived on-site was… a sea of muddy water. The faint reek of something raw made it all the more unpleasant.

… A garbage-smell. The fact that the stench wasn't overpowering was a small mercy in misfortune.

"Naoto, thou didst come all this way…"

Ursula was looking out over the site with a slightly displeased face.

"Yeah, I wanted to see it…"

A "sea of," I'd said, but how wide was it… yeah, a bit hard to tell at a glance.

Maybe on the order of hectares.

100m by 100m made one hectare, right?

Pacing the perimeter roughly… a 500m by 200m flat-oval shape. Which meant,

About 10 hectares.

10 hectares — how big was that? How many Tokyo Domes?

I poked the magic-ash with a stick.

Not too deep; it hit bottom. The edges were shallow.

… But further in, it seemed to deepen.

The deepest part, at the center, was probably around 2m.

A shallow basin shape, then… ugh, what a pain. Whatever, the mud volume and so on. Averaged out, maybe 1m deep.

"For cleanup, the way it works is you burn this mud, right?"

"… Mm. Let us try a bit. Like so — gather dried grass and dead branches from around.

"Assemble a small framework like this, and set it alight.

"To keep the fire from going out, place an iron plate on top, and on that plate put a small amount of magic-ash…"

Pachi… pachi pachi pachi…

"… Uwa, the smell…!"

A reek like garbage that had grown even worse rose up.

"… Roast it like that for a while…

"Mm, now only ash remains.

"In this state, it's just ordinary ash. It loses the power to strengthen Magical Beasts, and if you leave it on soil, it'll decompose normally."

"R-right…"

I understood now that it was quite the pain.

"… Couldn't we just send it to an incinerator with teleport…?"

"As I told thee. Magic on magic-ash doth not work. Teleport, neither.

"To transport it, thou hast no choice but to carry it on foot.

"Building an incinerator to burn it is a valid approach. Or rather, if one means to clean it up in earnest, that is the only way.

"Build a great number of incinerators here, and burn it through with fuel and human-wave tactics.

"… However, this smell apparently draws Magical Beasts.

"Should one bring non-combat laborers along, their lives cannot be guaranteed.

"Hence, only combatants can do the work."

… What a pain. I fully understood now why Melville-san had wanted to dodge handling it.

"Then, as for policy, monitoring rather than cleanup is fine, hm?"

"… Yeah. At least until the Eclair match — another three days — let's just monitor.

"What comes after, we'll think about afterwards."

"Mm, understood."

… Our glorious S-Class debut mission had turned into something rather mud-stained. Or rather, garbage-stinking.

… That said, keeping some distance and just blankly watching the sludge was, in its way, an easy task.

"… Really, what is that stuff?"

"Yes, indeed… its true nature isn't understood."

I chatted absently with Lyuka.

"… Doesn't it feel like, at this world's end, useless waste like that ends up burying everything?"

"That's a frightening thing to imagine."

She drew back a bit.

"… That said, it isn't entirely useless, you know.

"Great Magical Beasts appear from it; Dungeons appear from it… for Magical Beasts, it has its uses.

"… Well, if magic-ash were to bury the world, vast numbers of Great Magical Beasts and countless Dungeons would be born, which itself would mean the end of the world."

"… That's scary too. Great Magical Beasts attack, so I get that, but Dungeons too?"

"Magical Beasts spawn inside Dungeons and pour out from them.

"In a Dungeon's depths, powerful monsters are born and grow day by day.

"… Once fully grown, it's said they become Great Magical Beasts, or monsters of comparable power even if not.

"In the end, Dungeons can't be left alone either.

"Not as urgent as Great Magical Beasts, though."

"I see…"

So we talked.

"How are preparations for the Eclair match coming along?"

"Yeah, just once in the mock battles, but I beat Shaina.

"… Everyone's growing steadily, and I think we're ready.

"So for now, I'd like to watch the magic-ash here a bit longer.

"… I've been pretty lucky in this world.

"With luck, it'll quickly turn into a Great Magical Beast or Dungeon, and the situation will resolve…

"If we can reorganize with Lyuka and the others in the mix, all the better."

That was the idea. Though I didn't really believe that just because I was here, something with an unknown time scale — a day or a year — would resolve in three days or so.

We chatted along those lines, on and off.

… In the end, nothing in particular happened that day. Then night came.

"'Nothing in particular,' you say. There were Magical Beast attacks, weren't there?"

"No, sure, there were, but Ursula's crew dispatched them in an instant. Late to mention it, but you really are something."

Ursula and the others' coordination was truly splendid. Lyuka managed to keep up too, thankfully.

"Fufu… well, even thus, I and mine have cleared Dungeons many times.

"We're accustomed to fighting monsters.

"On this, at least, I have a day's head start on thee."

So Ursula said, puffing her chest.

"Well, Magical Beast strength is fairly coarse, you know. There's no real skill-based mind games… and

"Movement is simple. With the skills we've honed in person-vs-person combat, it's nothing.

"… Though when Miria was directing, it was insane."

"Mm, my blood ran cold that time. To have optimal strategy turned against me by Magical Beasts who outnumbered me — to think it could be that terrifying…"

We talked of such things.

"Speaking of which, putting it freshly… my directions, how are they?"

"What dost thou mean, how?"

"No, like, from Ursula — a senior Master compared to me — how am I? I'm still in my first year, after all.

"Rough in various places, I think…"

"… Right, that. I tend to forget. Thy directions are exceedingly high-level.

"It even feels as if I bring forth more strength than when I direct mine own self.

"… That Durath fellow — did he not say one acquires a master, grows stronger as a Garumon, yet becomes weaker as a Master…?

"I denied it, but… a little, I see it in myself.

"… The core of my heart, somewhere, hath indeed been entrusted to thee.

"And that, in one sense, hath weakened me… I cannot fully deny it.

"Simply put, the sense that if I lose, all is over — that responsibility.

"… The present me hath, even if I lose, the feeling that thou wilt somehow handle it.

"But, in another sense, I have grown stronger. Without having to mind the whole, I can fight freely and unfettered."

Ursula spoke of all this while looking just a little lonely.

"Ursula…"

"Misunderstand me not. I am happy. Only that I cannot return to before-knowing leaves me a little lonely.

"… But that is the same as not being able to return to virgin once one hath experienced it.

"It is what becoming an adult means."

Ursula laughed. A grown-up smile.

Inside the tent, of course we had sex normally, but if a Magical Beast came we'd have to dash out immediately, so we couldn't really settle in.

Still, even in that short time we tried to enjoy ourselves a little.

Even if the work we were doing was nearly the same as garbage cleanup, anywhere this whole group was together was paradise.

"Haa, ah, aaah… Naoto-chan…"

Zupu, nupu, nuchu…

Saria was on top of me, rocking her hips. Her splendidly huge mega-breasts swung this way and that, dynamic.

Beside me, Ursula was lying down, and on top of her Mikoto rocked her hips, enjoying their sex.

Saria's and Mikoto's splendidly large breasts swung burun, burun.

The swaying breasts were beautiful and bewitching; I lost myself watching them.

Mm, happiness… breasts are great, aren't they… soothing.

"Ah, aaah…"

Dokkun…!

I climaxed inside Saria, in tremendously wonderful pleasure.

"Fufufu… you got to ejaculate plenty inside Mama, didn't you. Good boy, good boy."

Saria gave me good-boy pats.

With those big breasts, it was like being held by a mother, truly settling…

"Haa, ah, aah…!"

Dokun dokun!

Ursula seemed to have ejaculated plenty inside Mikoto too.

"Haa, aah… Ursula-a…"

Chu, rero, kuchu, nuchu…

Mikoto and Ursula were kissing passionately. Mikoto was usually a bit cheeky toward Ursula, but seeing this you could tell she loved her.

"All right, let's swap with Cellas and Lyuka now."

"Yes, understood… I'll do my best on watch."

"Haa, haa… yes, full energy. I'll go give it my all."

So saying, Mikoto and Saria straightened their clothes. Lyuka and Cellas were up next, and I was looking forward to that — just then.

"Naoto-san! Ursula-sama!"

Libera, the one slated to swap in after, came rushing in. At her tense look, Ursula and I both straightened our clothes immediately and flew out of the tent.

…Uoooooooooo…!

A low, bellowing groan reached us.

Standing in the middle of the magic-ash sludge…

… was a misshapen giant. A one-eyed giant — a cyclops, more or less. But its body was abnormally knotted, steam rising off its whole frame, pitch-black and grotesque…

"That's… a Great Magical Beast!? Where did it come from?"

"… At the center of the sludge, it suddenly appeared. Do they… appear like that?"

Lyuka informed us.

"Mm… a Great Magical Beast, no mistake."

What was the thing's name? I checked the system. However…

was all that displayed. The name… hadn't been given yet?

"Great Magical Beasts are basically each and every one unique… And most have no name attached.

"Give it one here, on the spot."

I see, so you could give it a name before defeating it.

Calling it a plain "cyclops" felt off, even to me.

… That said, no other fitting name came to mind.

Whatever, then. Something casual.

"The target's formal name shall be Black Cyclops Type-Zero! Short name, Black Cy!"

When I declared it, ??? changed to Black Cyclops Type-Zero.

The system reacting instantly like that was nice.

"What is Type-Zero?"

"Discovered in year '00!"

"Mm, understood."

Now that the name was set…

"We're repelling it! Ursula, Libera, Mikoto!"

"Mm, leave it to me."

"Understood."

"Yes… got it."

"Cellas, Saria, Lyuka!"

"Yes, my sword I dedicate to thee!"

"Mama'll do her best."

"… Understood."

Out-of-Battle Battle!

… Apparently Great Magical Beast fights are best initiated in Out-of-Battle Battle.

The merit of Garumon Battle is the 3-on-1 nature. Meaning, even with area attacks, only three take damage.

Also, combat ends after a set number of turns, after which interfering is impossible for 10 minutes.

It allows fighting strong enemies without risk of life.

… However, Great Magical Beasts apparently grow stronger the longer you fight them.

Fail to defeat one early, and it bloats to uncontainable strength.

For that reason, the method is to launch a concentrated multi-person attack in Out-of-Battle Battle and crush it quickly.

The demerits: if an area attack hits, all six get hit, so defense is rough; and defeat tends to link directly to death.

The Master being exposed to enemy attacks is also a demerit.

Well, since I can use the Master as a 40-hit shield, I think it's a merit, though.

Zuzuzuzu…

While we did all this, Black Cyclops was steadily absorbing the magic-ash at its feet.

… In step with that, the magic-ash's volume was steadily decreasing. And in exchange, Black Cyclops felt like it was getting buffed.

… Bad. If we left it like this, it'd get even tougher and we might fail to finish it!

"Battle start! Ursula, Demon Art - Belzebute!"

"Mm! Have at it!"

Buaaaaaa…

Black fog enshrouded Black Cy.

… Felt like it was working. Resistance to status ailments seemed weak.

All stats 30% Down; paralysis, poison, illusion, confusion, sleep 100% granted; poison and sickness absolutely granted.

That was Demon Art - Belzebute's effect. If all of it really took, just churning this out would let us win with ease.

… But, despite Black Cy being slapped with all of it, it was still moving.

"What the… that thing…"

"Partly it's paralyzed. Partly it's asleep. Partly it's confused and bewildered. But it's huge — and likely multiple wills move that great body.

"Even if individual consciousnesses are obstructed, on the whole it still moves!"

So Ursula analyzed. I see — there'd be no easy win at any rate.

"Then even using Mikoto's Ultimate Art - Seal-Severing Barrier or Demon Art - Necromancy, completely locking its motion is impossible?"

"Probably, but it could be locked to some degree. Shall I?"

"No, first, reinforce. Demon Art - Underworld King Summon!"

… Now, the first showing, was it? I'd had her try it in mock battles, of course.

Gogogogogo…

The Underworld's gate… opened. And…

"Fuu… she who summons me, is thee? … This Underworld King Elva's power… canst thou wield it?"

So called out a blue-skinned, lovely beauty.

… This was Underworld King Elva. That she looked a bit like Mikoto, her summoner, was either because she was modeled on the summoner, or simply because their facial type was close.

I didn't really know, but at any rate she was a beauty.

In any case, she was a tremendously strong, reliable ally.

Libera I'd have brace flat for enemy attacks, so she was on standby.

"Cellas, Wind God's Blessing — everyone gather. Lyuka, Sanctuary of Light! Saria, Dragonic Aura, Dragon Battle Aura!"

50% Atk/Def buff for everyone, with Saria getting all-stats 2x on top.

That ended our action. Black Cyclops's speed looked slow. Ursula's Belzebute landing helped too, maybe.

"Guaaaaaaaaaa oooooooooo…!"

Black Cyclops let out a low, vast roar. A bone-chilling shriek, but it was just a war-cry with no combat meaning.

This turn, Black Cyclops couldn't move…

or so I thought, but,

_Zu, zu, zuzuzu…_t

Black Cyclops was, from its feet… drawing the surrounding magic-ash to it. And then… absorbing it.

"Gu… guo… guooooooooo!"

Pariin!

And then, suddenly, it recovered from the status ailments. Belzebute's plague-poison should normally deal 5% damage but it was staying around 1%.

"Nuu…! It absorbeth magic-ash and powereth itself up mid-battle…!"

For magic-ash cleanup we'd love it to absorb all of it, but if it really did absorb everything, Black Cyclops would attain ultimate power-up and become uncontainable.

It was strengthened to about all-stats 1.5x. Remaining magic-ash was… easily 10 turns' worth.

Meaning, over 10 turns it'd power up 10 stages, I read.

"Uoooooooooooooo!"

And then Black Cyclops let out a fierce roar and raised its fist. And… slammed it down!

A range attack with that giant fist.

"Libera, cover Ursula, Holy Shield! Everyone, scatter!"

Leaving only Ursula and Libera, the rest of us scattered.

Cellas scooped me up and ran with me.

Dogoon!

A tremendous destructive shock rocked the earth.

… Well, complete defense, so no problem.

"… But, we can't relax. It probably powers up nine more times from here.

"There's no guarantee piercing or penetration won't grow into that!"

"We've got to take it down before then…"

"Yeah, exactly!"

Turn 2.

"… Ursula, Demon Art - Belzebute. With this, we offset its power-up somewhat."

"Mm, understood. I'll focus on debuffing for the foreseeable.

"… But, usable only through 5 turns."

"Yeah…!"

We had to manage it by then.

For now, a successful reduction.

"Lyuka, Sanctuary of Light.

"Elva, Underworld Dragon's Three Heads, Underworld Manifestation, Underworld Manifestation, Underworld Manifestation!

"Mikoto, Ultimate Art - Seal-Severing Barrier."

Spirit-element strengthened, Demon-element effects reduced. Well, the effect's only about 10%. But using it 5 times for Spirit 50% UP, other elements 50% DOWN is a fairly nice effect.

"Cellas, Wind God's Blessing. Saria, Dragonic Aura."

Now then, one shot for testing.

"Saria! Dragon Art - Ultimate Breath! Single-target 4-hit!"

5x, sure, but Dragon-element gets halved against Demon — though offset by Light-advantage element. Non-Spirit gets -30%. With Lyuka's Faerial Circle, +100%, so 5.7 * 50 * 70 = single-hit base attack 19950.

If the opponent's defense is 100, around 200 damage per hit, should be.

… With this, I could reverse-calculate Black Cyclops's HP.

Dogo dogo dogo dogo!

… Four-hit combo, perfectly landed. And the result was… close to 8 dots.

"Close to" — what did that mean? Actually 7 dots.

But… here's how I gauge an opponent's HP.

Enemy HP gauges only show percentages.

That means below 1/100 precision is invisible, but lately, I've come to read finer.

The rule is, after an attack, the time for the gauge to finish draining is fixed at about 1 second.

Meaning, if 1 dot drains in 0.125 seconds, the 8 dots' total drop is predictable. I can't count millisecond-precise, but on the order of 10 milliseconds I can manage decent accuracy now.

This time, when 1 dot dropped at about 0.12 seconds, I predicted 8 dots would drop. 7 dots actually reached at about 0.875 seconds, but the last 1 dot didn't drop.

… Meaning, ～796 damage, ～7.9 dots dropped is the prediction. So ～8 percent. Easy math: its HP is 10000.

Wow, easy to calculate.

… Don't mess with me.

We're fighting in a world where HP is 200 or less!

What's this 10000? Just because it's a boss monster, don't say "anything goes!"

"Ursula. Ursula's fought Great Magical Beasts before, right?

"… Do all Great Magical Beasts have absurd HP like 10000?"

"… Well, Great Magical Beasts had HP around 1000, ridiculous values.

"… But 10000 is a digit higher. And it'll likely power up further?

"… Of the Great Magical Beasts I've fought to date, this is the strongest. Truly, thou art… a man who hath it."

Ursula laughed wryly.

Aaa, sheesh! "Hath it" — like in attack ops where Miria and Vivia rush in — that kind of thing!

The luck that brought me wonderful Garumon as companions and the luck that got outrageous bosses thrown at me were probably two sides of the same coin.

"In any case… we've got to do it. We win!"

"Mm, of course!"

Black Cyclops's turn-2 action ended without it moving. Just as expected from Mikoto's Ultimate Art - Seal-Severing Barrier.

It sucked in magic-ash and powered up, but still couldn't move.

She'd locked its movement splendidly.

"… But it'll probably break through next turn. It feels like each turn, its attack count goes up by 1 — some kind of power-up like that, I think…"

"Quite the coincidence. I get that same feel — that it's powering up that much each turn."

Right now it was held. But… there was no relaxing.