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Last Embryo Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 4

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Editor: Weasalopes

「Look, Lady Ayato, I’m really sorry for being such an insensitive douche. Now, care to tell me what was it you were trying to say to me?」

「I was trying to ask you if you have any idea what kind of strategy we could use to defeat the Minotaur and 『The Bull of Heaven』, since no one else seemed to come up with anything either. So, what should we do from now on? Because I’m sure we cannot allow things to simply proceed the way they are now.」

Now that he decided to fight it, deciding on what they should do might actually be a pretty sound idea, but hearing Ayato’s words, Homura folded his arms on his chest with a troubled look on his face.

「Even if you say that, and even though I want to do something as well, then putting the Minotaur aside, fighting against the 『Bull of Heaven』 would be beyond pointless, because no matter what we might try to throw at him, the storm clouds that form him will simply go back to their shape and reassemble themselves as if nothing had happened, so he is clearly not an enemy we might defeat simply by engaging it in physical combat. Then again, open combat is not the only way for us to win that Gift Game, right?」

「What should we do then? What are you suggesting?」

「First thing’s first: run as far away from 『The Bull of Heaven』 as possible, since we don’t have to defeat it at all, and wait for the Minotaur to show its ugly mug again. If my predictions are correct, then pretty soon it should undergo a change in behavioral patterns, giving us a golden opportunity for a shot at victory due to the Winning Conditions.」

Ayato simply blinked a few times at what Homura said just now. She thought that all this time he was simply reading books to do nothing else but pass the time in idleness, but it looks like for the last three days he was looking for a strategy that would allow them to overcome the current crisis. Switching her mindset to the deadly serious one, she sat in front on Homura and asked:

「Then, is it safe to say that you already have some sort of plan in mind, Homura-senpai?」

「Instead of using the words “some sort of”, I think it would be better to say that I am halfway through making one. Wanna hear what I have come up with so far?」

「Do tell me, or rather, if you were already thinking about something, then you should have informed us about it a little faster, dummy-senpai! After all, weren’t you the one who said that communication and information sharing are the very cornerstone of human civilization?」

Ayato said with a scolding tone while raising her index finger into the air.

It’s true, he definitely said something like that before, even if he couldn’t exactly remember when or where. But before they could talk about that, they needed to have another look at the Winning Conditions to understand them properly. Homura took out his smartphone from the pocket on his chest, navigated to the mail with the invitation he received and placed it on the bed in between him and Ayato so they could go over them once more.

 『–The 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority Invitation–』

Dear Mister Saigo Homura

We are delighted to inform you that you have earned the right to participate in the qualifications stage for The 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority that is currently being held in The World of Little Garden. In order to pass the qualifications stage and gain entry to the final selection, please defeat or enslave one of the Celestial Beasts of Twelve Constellations.

Celestial Beast required for subjugation: 『Taurus』

Winning Conditions:

1. Subjugation of the 『Taurus’』 Avatar
2. Erasing of the 『Taurus’』 lightning, returning its star to its original form

• Summary of the Rules & Duration Period:

The duration of the Game’s preliminary stage is 7 years. After the set time period passes without the participant achieving either of the winning conditions, said participant is to be disqualified automatically. Even if the one to subjugate the beast is not Mr. Saigo Homura himself, the achievement would still be counted on your behalf, so feel free to cooperate with as many people as you see fit.

*Points of Importance*

The challenge and its timeframe presented above have been prepared specifically so that Mr. Saigo Homura could take part in The 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority. Should you choose to abstain/abandon/ignore the participation or get eliminated in the preliminary round, it will result in the challenge’s cancellation and the collection of the Gift 「Proto Idea」 that is currently in your possession, so please forgive us for the inconvenience if that do happens. Furthermore, it is prohibited to leave Little Garden throughout the duration of the game, so please be mindful of that fact. Depending on the circumstances it might be possible to prolong the Game, but we strongly recommend to fulfill the requirements presented to you withing the allotted timeframe.

 Sincerely

 The 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority’s Facilitation Committee, 『The Laplace Demons』

「Reading it once more, I cannot help but to think that whoever those 『Laplace Demons』 are, they are taking me incredibly lightly, you know? No matter who offs the Minotaur its going to be counted as my win? It’s as if they were expecting me to be unable to clear this Gift Game on my own without getting any help!」

「Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do about it. After all, when it comes to Gift Games, we really are green behind our ears.」

But thinking about it in a coolheaded way, that was nothing short of an 「Easy Mode」. It was true that Homura’s greatest wish was to go back home as soon as possible, but at the same time, he loathed the idea, he loathed the idea of participating in such a poorly-written scenario made him want to rebel against it no matter what. He turned the smartphone towards himself and opened one of the build-in applications, which prompted Ayato to look at him quizzically.

「Uhm, senpai? I hate to break it to you, but there’s no way for the electromagnetic waves from our world to reach all the way to Little Garden, so you won’t be able to connect with the internet no matter…」

「I know that. I am fully aware that I won’t be able to do that, so I’m not using the internet, but an app called 「Encyclopedia of the World’s Myths and Legends」. In order to get out of the pickle we’ve found ourselves in our own knowledge might not be enough, so having something like that around should be pretty handy in order to gain additional information about our enemy by searching through the Legend of the Minotaur or The Epic of Gilgamesh.」

「Ah, I see, so you’re not using the internet, but an app instead? I… I completely forgot that you could do that, actually.」

Sliding his finger across the screen, Homura searched for any information they could use from the two legends he mentioned. He downloaded this app quite some time ago after Ayato recommended it to him as a perfect way for killing time, but he would never have expected it to become quite so useful in a situation like that. Actually, now the he thought about it, here in Little Garden, a place filled with all kinds of creatures taken straight out of fairytales and myths, this app might be like their own personal cheat codes compendium! And as a side note: it was exactly thanks to that particular app had so much knowledge about the things that only the biggest of nerds should know, like the origins and meanings behind such creatures and concepts like Halloween, Shirayuki-hime and Moon Rabbits, even though Ayato seemed to have forgotten all about it.

「Okay, so for starters I think we should search the words related to the second Winning Condition: 「Erasing of the 『Taurus’』 lightning, returning its star to its original form」. Something is bound to appear as long as we will input either an entire phrase or its segments and search for the matching results.」

「Y-Yes, that would indeed be great… w-wait a minute, senpai. I said wait!」

Flustered, Ayato opened the search page of the up and started to input the words Homura mentioned rather clumsily. Supposedly no one has ever saw Kudou Ayato playing around with a cellphone or a smartphone before, so it is quite possible that she never had something like that to begin with, which would explain who she looked like she wasn’t used to using and navigating them, so Homura took over, searching through and arranging the pages in order as he investigated both of the legends.