Branching Point (4)
"Noah. Is something the matter?"
"Uh, y-yes...?! N-nooo...! Hyeek..."
Ser's sudden call made me let out the strangest noise...
"Noah. Since we're the vanguard, you need to ask right away about anything you don't understand. Understood?"
"Uuu... Y-yes..."
I hate Ser...
She's way too sharp for no good reason...
"Next is the projectile attacks, but with Rubia and Ser here, it shouldn't be a major issue. The two of you should be able to deflect them easily."
Hermila's twig moved with elegant flicks and sweeps, sketching out a diagram.
A horse's head, a leaf, a sun, a greatsword, a fist.
"I was thinking this earlier, but Hermila, you fight with your bare fists without any particular weapon, don't you?"
"Yes. After going through all sorts of things, the only thing I can truly trust is my own body. Hehe."
Then arrows were scratched in for each direction with sharp scriitch-scriitch strokes.
"These are the positions we need to take once we weather the initial assault after entering. The most critical role here will be Rubia's, of course. Please keep a constant eye on the vanguard's condition."
A Y-shaped formation.
Greatsword on the left, fist on the right, sun in the center, leaf at the end.
"Once we've taken our places like this, we'll gradually fall back and lure Valoran out of the main territory. Continuing the fight in a confined space leaves far too many variables from the terrain, so we need to draw him all the way out to Cartia's widest central plaza."
Scriitch— scriitch—
The once-cute little drawings turned soft and blurry.
"That brings us to the twenty-minute mark. If we make it out without incident... from then on, we'll have to rely on our own instincts. There will be plenty of variables, and—"
Hermila trailed off and shot a sidelong glance my way.
"We've never carried out a subjugation with this particular lineup before."
At that, Ser's gaze locked onto me as well.
And Rubia's followed right after.
"Hic—"
"Pfft... Puh-heh... Did I startle you?"
Rubia, barely holding back her laughter, patted my back in gentle little taps.
"N-no, hic— huuh... I-I wasn't startled... Hic— eek..."
They showed no sign of stopping, so I sucked in a huge breath and—
"Haah...!"
—started holding it.
This should make them stop soon, right...?
"Ahem... Yes, well... I said from here on we'd each have to do our best, but I'll still go over a few of the more dangerous attacks to watch for."
Hermila quickly wiped away the smile she'd been holding and began drawing several sharp lines across the horse-head sketch.
"These are only things I've seen through my ability, so they're not absolute answers. Once we actually face them, they could be completely different, so please treat them as reference only."
"In the futures you've seen, Hermila, have you ever successfully subjugated Valoran?"
"I have."
"And yet you still have no certainty?"
"Yes."
Hermila's voice sank low.
"Hundreds of comrades have died 'unintentionally' because they put blind faith in my foresight. Thousands more betrayed us, drowning in suspicion that I had deceived them. So I ask that all of you treat this as nothing more than a reference."
A heavy silence melted into the air.
"Hic—"
And through it all, my hiccups refused to stop.
This is seriously mortifying...
"Pfft... Ahahaha...! Ha... Thanks to you, Noah, the atmosphere that was about to turn heavy just flew right away. I appreciate it."
"D-don't, hic— tease me... Ehek..."
"I'm not teasing. Before a hard fight, you should enjoy yourselves as much as possible. There's a reason adventurers live soaked in alcohol, you know?"
Hermila reached a hand toward my head with the same gentle smile as before, then let out a small sigh and pulled it back.
"Ahem... Shall we start again?"
She put on a businesslike smile and picked up the twig once more.
"Every attack I'm about to describe from here on must be memorized. If we had more people, we could respond on the fly, but right now it's just the four of us. Especially you, Noah. You absolutely have to memorize them. Understood?"
"Y-yes...!"
I'm completely confident.
I might not remember anything else, but boss patterns? Easy.
And... though no one knows it yet, they might even be exactly the same as the game.
"Good. Here, this newly drawn circle is the central plaza. Have any of you been there before?"
"I went once, about four years ago."
"I've passed through it plenty of times with Noah, coming and going."
...Did we?
"Then that's perfect. So if I do this... well? Do you recognize it?"
Hermila pointed at the drawing with an enormously proud expression.
But... hmm...
"It looks like something drawn by a patient with a severe hand tremor."
"Hermila. If drawing is difficult, you can just write it out in words."
"...N-Noah, does it look strange to you too?"
"Uh, uhh... umm..."
I carefully pointed to the least messy sketch and opened my mouth with caution.
"Th-this is like a magic explosion, right...? Ah, I can tell what it is..."
"That's the footprint from earlier..."
"...Huk."
"Since I already drew it... just bear with me, everyone. First, this swinging shape is—"
Hermila let out a small sigh and pressed on with her explanations through the drawings, undaunted.
And so, bit by bit, the explanations coming from Hermila's mouth began to leave me stunned.
Everything was identical to the Phase 1 Valoran I knew from the game.
Of course he wouldn't move with the mechanical precision of the game version, but the patterns of those vicious attacks were all exactly the same.
Was it like that with Carpeng too...?
Hmm... first of all, the clear distinction between Phase 1 and Phase 2 was just like the game.
The main body's movements also somewhat resembled the game, which had had telegraphed wind-ups.
But I didn't get the sense that it was the same as the game.
It felt a little more... alive, somehow.
"—and once that happens, Valoran will dismount from the horse... Noah?"
Then what about Kalt?
Thinking back on it now, Kalt had been very similar to the game.
Phase 1 aside, Phase 2 had been close enough that you could call it completely identical.
Even the way to kill him had been the same as the game.
If I'd known how Tyrant had been, I might have been able to feel certain, but I had no memories of Tyrant at all...
"Noah. Are you listening properly?"
It's still too early to be sure.
Phase 2 could be completely different.
So I need to focus again...
Thwack—!
"Hgyak?!"
I immediately clamped my hands tight around the greatsword's hilt.
And there, stretched out long toward my head, was Hermila's finger.
"Uuuu... I-it hurts... Rubia... can you make this hurt less...? I-is it bleeding...?"
"Does it hurt a lot? Thankfully there's no blood... No, Hermila. How can you hit a child that hard? You can't just smack her hard enough that it sounds like a watermelon cracking. She's already a bit of a... anyway, please go easy on the head."
"Uung...? Hmm..."
Rubia got angry on my behalf, but...
Why... do I feel kind of bad about it.
"I-I didn't hit that hard... um, yes. I'm sorry. So, Noah. How far did you hear?"
"I-I heard everything..."
Hermila furrowed her brow and tilted her head.
"Then what attack is this drawing?"
"A vortex made of magic..."
"...And this?"
"Magic explosion..."
"You really... heard it all?"
I nodded.
"Strange... Well, since it seems you know everything for now, let's move on. We can check thoroughly once everything's finished."
Still wearing a dubious expression, Hermila erased every drawing and began sketching a new one.
This time it was a horse holding a greatsword.
"As the damage from our attacks accumulates, the horse will be absorbed into Valoran's body, and a massive shockwave will erupt. The area around the central plaza will be completely devastated, but that doesn't matter to us. We have Rubia and Ser, after all."
Oh... this is Phase 2.
Actually, that isn't a shockwave—it's Valoran screaming his head off—but in reality it might feel like a shockwave.
"Once he's absorbed the horse like this, Valoran's movement speed slows compared to before, but he starts using magic aggressively. The most troublesome spell is... spatial teleportation."
Scriitch— scriitch—
The greatsword was moved beside the sun.
The fist was shifted beside the leaf.
"From this point, we'll stick close to Rubia and Ser. Noah with Rubia, me with Ser."
Oh... that's right.
The video guide I'd watched had been just like Hermila said—the melee fighters falling back to protect the ranged ones, sticking right by their sides.
"Ah, so that's why you told me to put up a barrier? Because of the spatial teleportation?"
"Well, yes, but... it's called spatial teleportation, yet it's a little ambiguous to call it that. I don't know if Valoran intends it this way, but in every scene I've seen... he always teleports right next to a person."
Hermila was correct.
Valoran's spatial teleport skill was a movement ability that jumped to a random player.
That was why Phase 2 Valoran had been the easiest for me.
I'd always been alone, after all...
"Still, better to prepare just in case. Anyway, Valoran's spatial teleport has no telegraph. The moment you lose sight of him, you have to vacate your position. That said, if you all flee in opposite directions the situation could get tangled, so you'll need to keep your footwork coordinated."
"Is it not possible to stand and deflect it instead of dodging?"
"That would be better, but the risk we'd have to bear becomes far too great. Originally I would have planned to counter by deflecting, but with so few of us now, we need to endure as much as possible. The subjugation force stationed at Urusphier should be on their way."
"Understood."
Ser nodded and tilted her coffee cup.
"Well... this brings us to the five-hour mark in my plan. If we fight without major incident for roughly another three to five hours and keep stacking damage."
Hermila cut herself off and completely wiped away the circle drawn on the ground.
"Wings will unfurl from Valoran's back. From that point, we'll leave the central plaza and fight a street battle through the city."
Clack— Ser set down her coffee cup with a peculiar expression.
"From then on, we'll make use of Rubia's renown and Ser's authority."
Rubia's face twisted.
"We need bait."