Chapter 35
Distortions were beginning to occur in the “world . ”
As Balmung said, is my bracelet the cause of this trouble?
Aura called it “a great power that can destroy and save . ”
Which direction should I be going in now?
To begin with, it was troublesome to be entrusted with such a thing . I was just an unremarkable junior high school boy .
When I started up my computer as I thought about this, I received an email from Aura .
I knew it was her without even looking at the name which was characteristically garbled .
Subject: Ple@se C()me
Sender: A*r@
Message:
You @re m# l@5t hope .
Only y()u c-n h!lp me .
C0me to +he dunge#n in
ΔDelta Server Merciless Grieving Furnace
R#turn my 5%gment to m^ .
W_tch o+t f0r Cubia .
Was Aura still alive? It was another matter altogether whether it was correct to say that she was ‘alive,’ but in any case she had sent me an email .
I had to meet her .
But what did she mean by “my 5%gment” I didn’t know .
Anyway, I contacted BlackRose and we met up in Carmina Gadelica .
Before we went to the area, we talked about preparing our equipment, and we went around to the equipment shops and magic shop .
As usual, the town remained uninhabited… or so I thought . I saw a few people logged in here and there . It seemed that ordinary users had returned to The World .
However, their appearance was strange . There was a small group of three or four people and when they would talk with each other, there was a gloomy atmosphere .
Their eyes were hollow and they didn’t seem to notice me or BlackRose .
I casually approached one of them and tried to listen in…
“I can’t say anything clever . I wasn’t hired for this…”
“I’m opposed to service overtime . ”
“I’m sleepy… I want to go home…”
“Damn . It seems that the chief was grateful . ”
“It’s true… that guy… what was it, Lios, the King of Light…”
An unexpected name came up, so I suddenly stopped .
Some of the people we were listening to looked back and saw BlackRose and me .
One called out .
“Hey, Bracelet Kite!”
I stopped on a dime as soon as my name was called .
“…Are you by chance subordinates of Lios?”
They were the subordinates who came along when Lios threatened to delete me, but they looked totally different from that time .
“Oh, what is it? The Tonkotsu Squad?” said BlackRose .
“No, it’s the Pig Racing (Tonsou) Squad . ”
The PC that called my name corrected the word, but the word had no power .
“What are you guys doing?”
“I am pretending that the problem is not that big . ”
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“I’m an employee, but I pretend to be a generic PC . ”
“I’m not doing anything . This is all overtime . ”
Their attitudes and manner of speaking was completely different from when I first met them . I got the feeling that they were not careless, just playing dumb . Why would that be?
“Don’t you roleplay?”
I said, recalling Lio’s explanation .
“Let me tell you something neat . When the month‘s overtime exceeds 40 hours, people want to cling to anything with a role . It’s to inspire ourselves,” The other guy said in a vague voice .
“But after 80 hours, it doesn’t matter what the role is . ”
Suddenly I noticed that the PCs, except the one talking to me, were stuck . From their mouths, I could hear something like gentle snoring .
I asked him what he was interested in .
“Um… what do you mean by Pig Racing?”
There was no reply . He also stood still like the others .
I had accidentally run into some strange people which suddenly took the wind out of my sails, but BlackRose and I reconsidered and decided to go to the area designated by Aura . Something happened when we were diving into the dungeon and walking the deepest part .
Suddenly, Aura appeared in front of me .
To be precise, it was a shadow of Aura . A holographic image was projected in front of us . She was exhausted and looked lifeless .
She asked me for help . But what should I do?
A ray of light radiated from the bracelet on my right wrist .
As the light wrapped around Aura, her face came to life .
Aura may be revived . Suddenly, a noise surrounded me .
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What was it, this feeling? The sound kept going .
Aura disappeared as if she were disturbed by the noise .
The next moment, we were being transferred to a mysterious space of data sequences .
It was the same one as when I fought against the Reaper and the Mural Monsters
“Kite, something is coming again…,” BlackRose exclaimed .
“It’s okay, we will win . ”
I encouraged her by saying that .
“The mural monster was easy to defeat, right? I don’t know what’s coming, but we’re getting stronger . So…”
My words stopped halfway . I was speechless .
The huge monster that was born when we killed the Reaper was now in front of us .
We were in a place like a tower in the void .
The monster looked at us with a huge face . It slowly rose up above us . First the head, which resembles a skeleton, then the torso appeared . It had a design like ivy entwined with a big tree, but it was too big to see the whole picture .
Would we have to fight with this monster that blew us away in the past?
We would have to do it . To save Yasuhiko, to save Aura, we would have to defeat it .
The monster’s torso had something like a beating heart inside it . Perhaps that was its weak spot . It was at the edge of the tower, but it was probably reachable .
I signaled BlackRose and we ran towards the monster at the same time .
Just then, a black lump fell from above us . It was a small bulb-like monster .
We kept on attacking while avoiding the clutter of small monsters . The trouble was that the HP of the small monsters would gradually recover .
Our HP was drastically reduced . It was really good that we got new equipment in town just before .
BlackRose’s heavy sword struck a blow that deeply scooped out the weak point of the giant monster, who screamed in agony . Black smoke emitted from its mouth and it sunk into the void .
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However, I thought I saw a light above us like we were in a cave, and the monster jumped suddenly and flew away . It had a tremendous momentum . The aftermath made a rumbling noise, and I felt uneasy . The giant monster no longer had a shadow or shape . It had run away .
“I guess you defeated Cubia . That was scary . ”
There was a voice behind me . Before I saw the source, I knew who the owner of the voice was . They repeated the same thing over and over again and I read the name even if it was unpleasant . When I turned around, it was who I expected . It was Helba, Queen of Hackers .
“Cubia?” BlackRose asked back .
“It’s the name of the monster you guys drove away . That aside…”
Helba looked at me as I stood up .
“First thing you have to do is liberate Aura . ”
“Liberate Aura?”
At Helba’s words, I remembered Aura’s appearance before Cubia showed up .
“Aura was divided into three segments and her power sealed . You have already regained one of them in your battle with Skeith . ”
I was bothered by the word I didn’t understand . No, wait . That’s what was written in the character string when the data of the Reaper, called Skeith, was drained .
“That will save Orca . It’s just a matter of when . That’s all I can say for now . ”
“Umm, Ms . Helba . Can I ask you something?”
“You don’t need to called me Ms . Just Helba is fine . What is your question?”
“What is Skeith or a segment?”
“Are you mistaking me for a teacher or something?”
Helba smiled coldly .
“I told you . I was helping out before . It’s not the other way around . ”
Helba transferred and disappeared .
She said just what she needed to say, ignored questions that didn’t need to be answered, and walked away .
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