Chapter 333
Chapter 333
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 333
Chapter Title: S6. The Erased Domain of the Ruined Castle ~■■ Asleep Beneath the Debris~ -2
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Yuri Lanster, who had told me to handle things and head up first, had been sliced into five pieces like Exodia. An indescribable fury toward some unspecified masses welled up at the sight, only for relief to wash over me right after.
Squeeze.
"...Mima?"
"........"
I hugged Yuri tightly and stayed like that for a moment.
If I hadn't gotten utterly wrecked by Dark Yuna, I might have heard the news of Yuri's disappearance only after everything was over. That would've been a grief too heavy for either Yuna or me to bear.
After that, I helped her with a bit of reassembly.
I seared and fused the severed info chunks back together like welding. But unlike actual welding, no sparks flew—instead, star candies and heart effects burst out.
Yuri swung her arms around vigorously as she said,
"Limbs are precious things, aren't they? I realize their value anew."
"Kyaaak!"
If only she could keep her mouth shut.
Alright, now that I'd saved Yuri, time to tackle things methodically. First up: getting my claws on the giant monster's main body.
I pointed my claw at the colossal beast hovering in the sky. Yuri caught my meaning instantly, dropped to one knee, and cupped her hands to make a platform—like helping a friend hop a fence.
"Kek."
Could I even reach that height like this?
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Sure, I could climb by hopping across those irregularly floating objects up there, but by the time I made it, the Yuri engine would've spun ten times over."
Yuri engine? What kind of time unit was that?
Anyway, it couldn't hurt to try, so I placed my foot in her hands. Here goes the jump...!
Shuuuwaaak—!
With the extra thrust from Yuri's arm muscles, my body soared up to those dizzying heights. Altitude climbed steadily. But it was nowhere near enough to reach the giant monster's body. I figured I'd peak at about half and plummet.
Should I go with the honest approach of climbing the debris after all? As I pondered how to land, a crack rang out from the ground splitting open.
Shuuuuwook!
Yuri leaped up to roughly my height, spinning midair as she called out,
"Mima, guard."
Guard?
Whirrrlk—!
Her leg, flung toward me like a whip fueled by centrifugal force from all those spins.
Ah, that's why—guard.
I adjusted my body's slime to bouncy-rubber-ball tautness, then curled up tight using front and back paws alike. A monster soccer ball, basically.
Thwack—!
"Graaak!"
It hurt.
The extra propulsion from Yuri launched my body skyward into the stratosphere. The giant monster's massive frame loomed ever closer.
Like a tiny raindrop plopping into a lakeside puddle. Sploosh. I successfully got sucked into the 『Great Monster』's main body.
........
Good. I've taken control.
Something like lingering thoughts had been inside the 『Great Monster』, but once I seized the main systems, it vanished like it had never existed.
Vrrrm. Crunch. Crunch.
I tested moving my right arm lightly, but at 100 meters tall, even a twitch wrecked everything around me. At this size, floating aimlessly like this was probably for the best.
I'd need to scout a way to compress it down to human size. Parading this form outside the 『Tower of Illusions』 would stir up all sorts of trouble.
Why assume the giant monster form would hold outside the tower?
This tower was where Yuna's sublimation blurred the line between illusion and reality. I'd already used that property once in the holy city to shift my race to an info-lifeform.
So I figured any power gained here could, to some extent, carry over into reality.
That said, I had no intention of absorbing all the info in the 『Erasure Domain』 to boost my strength. It'd be like eating underworld food—no turning back to the surface world. Risk of getting bound to the 『Illusion Realm』.
Drifting lazily in the sky, I telepathically pinged Yuri, who was gazing up from below. This body even had that function.
-Ah, mic test. Can you hear me?
"Ah, yes. Loud and clear. Looks like you've seized control."
-It's got all sorts of random features. Hey, Yuri, before you came in, I secured an exit route. We could bail right now, but...
"Tell me the plan. I'm listening."
This seemed to be the space where things erased by 『Subtraction』 ended up, so I dubbed it the 『Erasure Domain』.
And Yuna, long ago, had personally erased the trash from the old Violet Magic Tower. She'd likely used 『Subtraction』 in the process.
Meaning, she might be here.
One of the two who led that experiment—the former Violet Magic Tower Master.
-No clue if the guy's still got self-awareness or intact, but the data should be here. Securing it would help conquer the Tower of Illusions too.
Bonus: I could scatter the bastard who tormented Yuna to the winds.
"Understood. Nothing much up top, so we'll head down."
-Yeah, peeking up from here showed zilch. Might be stacked like a pile—the first stuff dumped ends up at the bottom.
We began exploring the 『Erasure Domain』 together.
Pushing aside and weaving through things swallowed by 『Subtraction』, Yuri and I descended slowly. Leftover session scraps from building the Tower of Illusions, Aisha's hole-riddled dragon scales, etc.
All sorts of junk formed the terrain, drifting in disorder.
From these objects, I could estimate timelines. The sections we passed were from the era when Yuna lived happily with us.
Filtering out meaningless session resources, I only probed things seemingly tied to Yuna. But no big hauls. All we found was...
"Mima, found some naughty mags."
-Why the hell are those here?
"Models are busty girls with long, lean builds."
-Ah, that explains it.
Yuna's secret jealousy over big-boobed, long-legged types, vented in private.
-Found one too... but for privacy's sake, I won't read it. You leave it alone too, Yuri. Let's pretend it never existed.
"What is it?"
-Her self-written poetry...
Amateur verses capturing stormy adolescent heartaches.
Just trivial, lightweight stuff like that. Maybe because this was a shallow layer?
Yuri Lanster smiled contentedly at my report.
"If hardly anything got erased while she was with us, that means Yuna was happy. Something to be proud of."
-Is that so? Was it like that?
"Yes. Otherwise, something darker would be here. But... Mima. Bottom. No room to go further. Is this the end?"
Thud.
Yuri stepped onto the flat floor.
As she said, no stairs or gaps downward. But it felt off for this to be rock bottom.
Plenty of undiscovered info lingered, and this floor's texture... looked familiar.
Ah.
-Got it.
"My love?"
-Knew that ages ago. I meant the floor. See? One resource from the Stellarria session hasn't shown up yet.
"『Great Monster』 appeared, shattered ruined city too, so what's left unseen is..."
The giant robot 『Meteor』.
Screeech.
I extended a massive foreclaw to touch the floor. I could feel it—this was a manhole cover crumpled from the giant robot.
I plucked out a tentacle, gently scooped up Yuri, and placed her atop my head.
With her safety secured, I raised my claw's talons high, ready to smash the cover and drop below.
But right before the strike, a inner temptation whispered.
'What if you absorb that giant robot too?'
No. I'd just thought it—devouring everything tempting meant risking bondage to this 『Illusion Realm』. And I already had the 『Great Monster』 power. No need for more, right?
This form alone could pummel Dark Yuna outside. Teamed with Aisha for a combo, it'd be plenty.
'But—absorbing that births the 『Armored Great Monster』.'
Gasp.
I fell for the devil's whisper.
Clank clank clank, rrrrumble—!!
Absorbing the giant robot's data. The 100-meter 『Great Monster』 body grew to 150 meters, robot armor plating sheathing its limbs like carapace.
Above all—the 『Mana Engine』.
Vrooooom—!!
A deep engine roar thrummed as mana coursed through every corner. Yes, this! Felt great to have it back. I twisted and flexed the mana, reveling in the reunion.
Butterflies fluttered around me, flowers bloomed, rainbows arched. All illusion magic manifestations. The familiar thrill was electric—like getting your phone back after army basic.
I'd reclaimed my magic powers.
Yuri pounded my excited cranium playfully as she said,
"Mima, looks like we found the target. Check below."
I rolled my eyes to peer beneath the former cover in the 『Erasure Domain』. A twisted, tumor-like mass occupied space via illusion magic—like the succubus queen's dream-patchwork nest.
No reaction even with the cover off. Hadn't sensed the commotion above? Probably only detects inside that space.
Switching vision. Applied malice-detection filter, scanned the area. There: corrupted info flesh-walls, tangled info dungeon, and deep within, hunched...
An old geezer.
The former Violet Magic Tower Master, Scarabe, had devoted his entire life to his lifelong goal.
To achieve it, he spared no means or methods. He reached out to dark mages without hesitation, killed people, conducted inhumane experiments.
His goal: turning illusion into reality on a grand scale.
All for opening the 『Gate』.
Assume a virtual space 『Illusion Realm』 where all exists, craft a gate linking it to reality, summon needed things from within—the pinnacle of summoning arts.
Achieved, it'd grant omnipotence. Theoretically, summon anything: dragons, sublimated powerhouses, fantastical beasts never seen.
But merely opening it... was far too risky.
Who knew what might emerge? If a humanity-wiping plague poured out upon opening the 『Illusion Realm』's gate?
Or a wicked entity bent solely on slaughtering humans? That'd miss the point. Scarabe's research aimed for world domination, not suicide.
So he imposed limits on the 『Gate』: mirror properties. It'd copy and summon whatever was reflected in it. Shine an apple, summon an apple; a staff, summon a staff.
Trickier to use, but vastly safer. Caster controls what gets summoned.
And on the fateful final day, as research hit 100%, the completed 『Gate』 reflected not the prepared evil god fragment—but something else first.
'All of you, vanish. Everyone involved in this experiment.'
Thus, Scarabe's experiment ended with the old Violet Magic Tower's collapse.
But—he still lived on like this. His dream unfinished. In the 『Erasure Domain』 reached via 『Subtraction』, he devoured falling info from above, growing stronger.
He'd long eaten his fallen disciples. Even the info of those nasty mercenaries slain by Yuna in Sable Village—he swallowed them too.
He waited. Patiently. For the day he'd escape this place. The day he'd avenge himself on Yurensuto's test subject who ruined his experiment.
And now, fresh prey arrived.
Scarabe, sunken eyes and ten arms flailing, addressed the pink-haired woman before him.
"Heh heh heh... A succubus? Succubus queen's dream remnants fell here before. But your outfit's modest for a dream demon."
"........"
"Afraid of death in death? Worry not. You'll live eternally inside me. Pray your tiny brain holds clues to escaping... Huh?"
The pink-haired succubus offered no reply, boredly pointing skyward with a finger. A signal. She was transmitting this place's coordinates upward.
Intrigued and unnerved, Scarabe craned his neck to look up.
...Some shape was rapidly enlarging.
Nothing from the nest's barrier. Meaning it hadn't entered yet—still too far. Yet visible to the naked eye.
Something—something enormous—was coming!
"W-What the hell is that...?!"
"No need to know his name. But if you must call him something... Judgment, divine punishment, retribution, or..."
Karma.
Whipcrack. Yuri Lanster rode a pre-set elastic rope skyward, escaping Scarabe's nest.
Arriving right after was...
The mad sorceress, crawling to the 『Erasure Domain』's peak in 『Armored Great Monster』 form before plummeting—unleashing a tackle fueled by 150-meter frame, mass, and falling acceleration—
-Reverse Heavenly Demon Supremacy, you bastard!
Kabooooom—!!
No time to resist. The mad sorceress's impact pulverized the nest instantly, squashing Scarabe flat like a pancake under that immense mass.