ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 638: Slide Down / Bone Up! Part 1
–––––– After that, I was forced to ran away by means of physically dodging what seemed to be an endless assault of questions and inquiries.
–––––– And yeah! Even though that idiot Pencilgton insisted on me taking custody over the Sword of the Slaughterer, I am never actually taking that shit out of my inventory ever again!
–––––– And why is it that things like that are always happening to me!? Being forced to take such shit-tier detours only to end up fighting for my life against something that can only be described as unreasonable! And I’m sure that this is not even the last time that something like this is going to happen to me…
And it was because of that that when I arrived at Firstia in order to revive the Third Ship of the Bahamut-Class “Behemoth”, I looked so tired and miserable. It was all due to a mixture of fatigue and a whole array of incompatible emotions ––––––
* * *
「And what the hell is this?」
「THIS IS THE “TRIAL”, AS WELL AS A “REPRODUCTION”, AND FINALLY A “TEST” THAT I WANT YOU, MY CHILDREN, TO UNDERTAKE.」
Players of level fifty and above who boarded the Behemoth were now standing on the edge of something that could only be described as a “big hole”. It was something that was so dark and so deep that you could not actually see the bottom of it.
Just above the big hole, there was a hologram in the shape of a human woman floating in the void without anything to actually hold in in place. And from top to bottom that hologram looked like a sharply dressed, teacher-type of a woman! However, for some reason, she was also wearing an apron…… I think that in case of that woman, there was so much going on that I had little to no idea where to start with her. No sweater! White coat! Hagoromo! Glasses! She seemed to be somewhat just like “Brave Fish”, but also completely different in more ways than one…… But I must say, the power of that apron is really something else!
Just then, the holographic image of the “Ivory” woman continued to talk to us in a tone as if she was lecturing a bunch of students.
「I AM THE “IVORY ELEPHANT”, I AM THE SAME AS THE “BRAVE FISH”…… BUT MY POLICIES COULDN’T POSSIBLY BE MORE DIFFERENT THAN HERS.」
「Oh yeah? Then whatever should we do from here on out!?」
Apparently, one of the players got tired of waiting at the edge of a huge-ass hole in the ground with little to no hint as to what to do next, and so he shouted towards the “Ivory” hologram.
Hearing that, “Ivory” turned her gaze towards that player, the look in her eyes being extremely sharp for some reason.
「I WANT YOU ALL TO THINK ABOUT THE ANSWER YOURSELVES, EXPLODING GREEN PEAS.」
「Bufuh!」
「Nbufuh!」
「Why exploding of all things……?」
The counter punch from “Ivory”, which caused almost as much damage as the calling someone “Exploding Green Peas”, caused that player to start violently tremble in silence, most probably trying to contemplate what actually happened here. But seriously…… Exploding Green Peas? I get the Green Peas part, but why exploding of all things that you could have chosen? I don’t get it!
However, wheatear or not the players actually understood what this was all about (and judging by the look on everyone’s faces, no one was actually able to grasp what it was all about), the “Ivory” looked as though she was about to shift into starting to actually explain the situation for all of us that gathered here.
「THIS HERE BEHEMOTH IS CURRENTLY OPERATING IN A LEGACY MODE. ITS STRUCTURE STARTS AT THE VERY TOP AND DESCENDS ALL THE WAY TOWARDS THE BOTTOM…… I MEAN, IT’S JUST AS YOU CAN ALL SEE, IT’S BASICALLY A HUGE HOLE. NOW, HERE IS THE QUEST THAT I SHAL IMPOSE OF ALL OF YOU…… TRY TO REACH THE BOTTOM OF THIS HOLE USING YOUR OWN WISDOM, COURAGE AND POWER……」
Ahh, I see. So Leviathan was like a matryoshka doll where you head from the outer edge towards the center, but this one right here would go from top to bottom…… so maybe the direction of gravity is different on the inside and the outside? The same way like in the Leviathan? But the size was vastly different……or maybe this thing can even go sideways? …… From where we are standing it’s really hard to actually tell. Or maybe it will only seem like a dive for us, but others outside would perceive it differently?
「HOWEVER, I MIGHT HAVE SAID THAT WHAT IS REQUIRED TO TRAVERSE THIS HOLE IS WISDOM, COURAGE AND POWER…… BUT THIS LARGE HOLE IS DIVIDED INTO TEN DIFFERENT LEVELS.」
「So this is going to be pretty much like the Leviathan traverse, but with twice as many layers that we need to cross, huh?」
「SANRAKU, HUH? I HAVE HEARD A GREAT DEAL ABOUT YOU FROM THE BRAVE FISH…… THE ONE WHO OPENS UP THE WORLD, THE ONE WHO DOUBTS AND ASKS QUESTIONS. LET ME AFFIRM YOU FIRST AND FOREMOST: THE ANSWER THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS INDEED HERE INSIDE OF THIS BEHEMOTH.」
Yeah, I mean, I would greatly appreciate it if you would not address me personally like that. I really hate to stand out from the crowd more than I need to. But in any case, lately I have been getting so much attention focused on me that I am honestly starting to feel that this might actually become a huge problem in the nearby future.
「ALRIGHT, I THINK THAT THIS IS MORE THAN ENOUGH OF SMALL TALK FOR NOW…… YES, YES. PLEASE, MY BELOVED CHILDREN, SHOW IT TO ME! THE EXTENT OF STRENGTH THAT YOU HAVE MANAGED TO CULTIVATE THROUGHOUT YOUR JOURNEY……」
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………
……………
For the time being, about five people tried to just jump into the hole and see where that would get them. But the only thing they managed to achieve was to die right away, all the while being smite down with a mysterious “attack”.
「Did you see something?」
At this speed it’s impossible to light the torch, so we’ve been attacked and died not really being able to see what attacked us and how it did it.」
「What about trying to illuminate the darkness with magic?」
「I have learned that spells like three says ago. But I forgot to even cast it, because, like, it’s so annoying.」
「But what kills you is surely a blow. It’s neither slashing nor stabbing damage.」
「Yeah, it’s just like the Explosive Green Peas said! Well, umm, I get it all, but…… So it seems that it’s impossible “It’s exactly what the explosive green peas sister says, well, I understand, but it seems impossible to fall directly into the hole and utilize that technique as a shortcut.」
「Did you really have to call me by that cringey name!?」
「It would be nice if we had the source of light that would not go out no matter what……」
……Why is everyone looking at me like that all of a sudden?
「Tsuchinoko-san, isn’t there something like scientific source of light? Surely you would know something about it!」
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