The Branching Point (Complete)
“It certainly was strange.”
Ser, who had been watching Hermila with an odd expression, finally spoke.
“From everything I’ve quietly listened to so far, Lady Hermila’s plan is designed solely and completely for the purpose of subjugating Valoran.”
“Well, of course it is… Ah. Don’t tell me…”
“Hmm. I’m not sure whether we simply misunderstood, or whether Lady Hermila deliberately kept it hidden… though it also seems possible that woman has simply gone mad.”
Ser’s gaze left Hermila and settled on me.
“Lady Noah, do you understand?”
“U-understand what…?”
Understand what?
That we need bait?
Or that we’re going to subjugate Valoran… what did she say again?
“Mm. Since it seems you don’t understand, this kind Ser will explain it in simple terms.”
“Uh… y-yes.”
“Lady Noah. There is a difference between subjugating Valoran in order to protect Cartia, and protecting Cartia by subjugating Valoran. Do you know what that difference is?”
“…Huh? I-I don’t get it.”
What is she even talking about…?
Isn’t that the same thing?
“In the end, both produce the same result. Valoran is defeated, and Cartia does not fall. But the process is entirely different. First, in the former case, the priority is protecting Cartia. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes.”
“In the latter, the most important thing is the subjugation of Valoran.”
“Uh… r-right?”
“Yes, exactly. If one chooses the former, one will minimize casualties in order to protect Cartia. Conversely, with the latter—”
Ser’s eyes left me and returned to Hermila.
“—one will do anything necessary to subjugate Valoran.”
“Yes. That’s correct. My plan excludes everything else. It exists solely to subjugate Valoran.”
As if that were only natural.
As if that were the only correct answer.
“Therefore, any damage that occurs in the process will be borne by me alone.”
Hermila answered in a voice steeped in fierce conviction and thick madness, then smiled gently.
“If she herself is willing to take responsibility… then under the present circumstances, there is truly nothing one can say against it.”
“What…? What kind of insane nonsense is that…?”
Rubia’s voice was thick with rage and contempt.
“No—fine. It’s true that when I tried to push Noah away, I said I didn’t care whether she lived or died. But… but this is different. How is this any different from killing them with our own hands?”
“Lady Rubia. We are not the ones killing the townsfolk. Valoran is the one who will kill them.”
“That’s… true, but…”
“Because of Erden’s surveillance, we cannot evacuate the residents. Of course, if we ran there right now and ordered them all to leave, we could drive them out. But that would only create more chaos, and even more people might die. In the worst case, Erden might even accelerate Valoran’s summoning.”
Ser’s words were horrifyingly rational, and Rubia’s face twisted.
“Sacrificing the few for the many. I’m not saying this method is good. To be perfectly honest, it’s fucking awful. But under the present circumstances, I believe it is an unavoidable choice.”
On the surface she seemed fine, yet Ser’s condition was far from good either.
A racing heartbeat. Blood surging too fast. Teeth grinding at irregular intervals. Nails digging into her own skin.
“Well, if you feel too sorry for the townsfolk, there is always the option of using adventurers or knights as bait instead. In a situation like that, they would be the ones obligated to defend the town. I suspect Lady Hermila has already planned as much as possible in that direction. Am I correct?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“Then allow me one question. Does a future exist in which Valoran is subjugated through an operation that uses humans as bait?”
“It certainly does.”
“…I see.”
Ser let out a deep sigh, nodded, and slumped.
“I feel thoroughly fucking terrible. It’s been a very long time since I’ve felt this fucking terrible.”
Rubia chewed her lip, then forced the words out.
“…Then at least tell us the reason. Why is bait necessary?”
Still wearing that unnervingly calm expression, Hermila picked up another stick and began drawing on the ground once more.
“Once Valoran spreads his wings, he will begin releasing orbs composed of miasma. It may sound ordinary when described, but those orbs are self-aware masses of miasma that pursue every living creature nearby and will not dissipate until their targets are dead.”
“My spirits cannot deal with them?”
“No. They pursue only humans.”
“Tch.”
“…Then what if we evacuate every resident and make ourselves the targets instead?”
Hermila shook her head.
“The orbs’ detection range is too wide. It’s impossible.”
Inside the newly drawn circle, dozens of dots began to appear.
“The range covers roughly thirty percent of Cartia. It would actually cause less damage to gather people in one place and limit the area.”
“Then… how many would have to die?”
“It happens so quickly that I couldn’t count precisely, but roughly one hundred fifty. Therefore, we would need about two hundred people every hour.”
“Every hour…? Then… he keeps using that attack?”
“Yes. He fires the orbs on roughly a one-hour cycle. Continuously, until the subjugation is finished.”
“Ha… haha…”
At last Rubia let out a hollow laugh, lowered her head, and dragged a hand down her face.
“…How many hours would it take? Until the subjugation is complete.”
“The shortest time among the futures I saw was fifty-two hours.”
“Ah…”
After that, Rubia could no longer speak. She only exhaled sighs steeped in self-loathing.
“From the moment Valoran spreads his wings, his power increases exponentially. That is when the real subjugation battle begins. Truly… it was the absolute peak of absurdity.”
She’s right.
Up through Phase 2, Valoran isn’t that hard to deal with.
Phase 3 is when the real raid starts. Everything before that is easy by comparison.
Phase 3 Valoran.
Just like Hermila said, he spams homing missiles, and there are attacks that hit you in 0.2 seconds.
On top of that, area-of-effect skills he throws out whenever you start to forget about them, all kinds of status-ailment curses…
And… that off-beat attack that drops your HP to 1 if it so much as grazes you.
Uh… what was the rhythm again?
Whoosh— whooosh— swish— swish! Whooosh— swish— whoosh— swish— whoooosh— BOOM— swish-swish KABOOM! …Something like that.
Anyway, if you survive all of that and win… an even more annoying, even harder Phase 4 is waiting.
He flies around the sky like a damn pigeon, throws up walls of miasma that become unavoidable if you’re even 0.5 seconds late, and summons the horse he absorbed out of thin air—pop, pop.
And if you somehow grind through that too…
The long-awaited Phase 5 is waiting!!
Once Valoran enters Phase 5, he places an instant-death curse on a random player.
A curse that kills you if Valoran so much as brushes against you.
An absolutely ridiculous curse that kills you if he steps on your little toe.
But me? Me!
I had zero friends!
So I got that curse every single time!
So did I fail to kill him?
Of course not.
I.
Solo.
In nothing but my underwear, set the record for fastest no-hit clear.
When it comes to the Valoran raid, I can say with absolute certainty that I am the best.
So.
“Rubia.”
“Yes, Noah…”
“It’s okay.”
I wrapped my arms around Rubia’s ice-cold body as tightly as I could.
“I’ll… take care of everything.”
“What…?”
“Just trust me.”
Until now I had no choice but to stay quiet because the information on Valoran wasn’t solid.
Even now I can’t claim it’s 100 percent certain… but I don’t want to watch Rubia suffer like this any longer.
“Mm. Has Lady Noah also decided to simply go mad? Not a bad idea. While we’re at it, let’s all stop being monkeys and become human.”
“…I-it’s not like that.”
I stuck my tongue out at Ser and turned to Hermila.
“Lady Hermila. I have a request.”
“…What is it?”
“Please trust me.”
“Miss Noah. Under the present circumstances—”
“I trusted you too, Lady Hermila. So… if we’re friends… then please trust me as well.”
Hermila erased every trace of a smile, stared at me in silence, then sighed and spoke.
“Do you have a plan?”
“Yes. You don’t need to hold out. You don’t need to drag him all the way to the central plaza… and you don’t need to use people as bait.”
“I… don’t understand at all. Miss Noah has never even seen Valoran. How exactly do you intend to resolve this?”
“I don’t know Valoran, but…”
I raised my right arm and shook the bracelet linked to Cartia.
“L-Lady Cartia does.”
I’m sorry, Lady Cartia.
This… this couldn’t be helped.
Are you mad?
Annoyed?
Pissed off and dumbfounded?
Then come out right now and say so.
Not coming out?
You’re not going to come out?
Really?
Fine, then.
I’ll just do whatever I want.
You bad old… bad auntie… just stay quiet.
“So… please trust me.”
“Strange. Even a hero who lived through the Age of Chaos shouldn’t know about Valoran. And even if she did, I heard from Sirin that Lady Cartia has lost most of her past memories.”
“Th-that’s…”
“Miss Noah. You said friends shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. Please tell me. Is there… something you’re hiding?”
—Cocky little brat. You’ve gotten real fucking shameless while I wasn’t looking.
At that moment—
—You go around saying friends don’t lie to each other, and then you turn around and lie yourself? What the hell is that about?
—Cartia’s voice, laced with laughter, echoed inside my head.
—Tch… Not that picking fights over that kind of thing does any good right now. Fine. I don’t know what you want or what you know, but—
And then the bracelet began to tremble violently.
—I trust you, so I’ll help you just this once. You little shit.
Cartia appeared.
“L-Lady Cartia?!”
“Yeah. Long time no see, Rubia.”
“It has been a long time, Lady Cartia. That aside, didn’t you have business elsewhere?”
“Oh, Ser. Long time no see. Business? Yeah, I did. Taking a bloody shit.”
Rubia’s and Ser’s faces went pale with shock.
Seeing that, Cartia cackled and turned her gaze on Hermila.
“So… you’re Hermila?”
“L-Lady Cartia…?”
“Yeah. I’m Cartia. The Cartia who banished Valoran into a dimensional rift back in the days when tigers smoked cigarettes.”
Huh?
“What, why. This little punk ignoring an adult talking just ’cause I’m a ghost? Huh? Eyes not pretty enough for you? I’ll fucking gouge ’em out.”