＜Infinite Dendrogram＞

□ ■ Northwest Kingdom of Alter · Forest

"... fufu"

In the woods... Marie, thought to have been caught in the explosion, exhaled in the wind that she had earned her life in nine deaths.

She is closing her eyes and avoiding the position capture by Mockmoclen's sight jack.

(... I almost had the most stupid Despena I've ever had.)

The moment I got caught up in the explosion, Brooch immediately worked due to the amount of damage, and I was able to survive without much damage.

But the price was huge, and the Brooch , which prevented fatal damage, broke apart.

Above all, Daisy, one of the trumpets, ended up being stuck, and the cost made explosive and guided bombs unusable.

(... it wasn't too much, so I couldn't launch Consumer Magic in time.)

Whether Daisy died at an unexpected counter, or because the death was reminiscent of his original work. She couldn't use Consumption in time.

Thanks to this, it can be said that the situation that was more unfavourable than the original situation has worsened by just [broach] minutes.

But.....

(You managed to grasp the specs of magic bullets.)

Among the worst results was a clue as to who the other person was.

(Bullets without eyes, ears or nose. Guidance to me that was blocking the signs. And it wasn't me, who was the main body of the long-range sniper, but Daisy immediately after the launch. From here on out.....)

Based on the movements of magic bullets seen so far, Marie... the Ichinomiya is tied to the classic (...) nature of her knowledge.

― ― Heat source detection

Magic bullets are simply heading for calories.

(It imparts the properties of a thermography or a pit organ and flies to objects with heat. There is a temperature hurdle because it does not penetrate the trees. Priority is given to things that approach it and things that are hot. That's why Alcan Shell and Daisy were shot first.

Hikaru recalls and concludes the movement of the bullet, which exceeds Hikaru's ability to detect.

It also makes sense to be able to react to Marie. The calories won't go away if the signs go away.

Cannot escape detection in Hidden form technique .

After the first triple shooting, Audrey was shot in a single sniper, but Marie thinks it was Hikaru.

Audrey, a strange bird of fire attributes, would have been easier to direct.

(Maybe the Magic Bullets that move with Auto aren't that smart. No eyes, no ears, no nose, no mind to handle it. It's not a drone, it's just a substitute for a heat source. I can't even identify my enemies, so I'm now distancing myself from other allies. Same thing Barbaroi told me about the Battle of the Gravemark Labyrinth. Even if I tried to shoot over the rumored gate, I could not use it because it would hit an ally's power suit due to the exhaust heat of the guns and chainsaws.)

The same goes for Vito when he tried to help Melo.

Depending on Luke's temperature, he'll hit Melo and his cockpit buddies.

That's why Hikaru never backed up in the Labyrinth.

(Does she wear her own equipment to lower the temperature of the body surface, or does she avoid only running stones? But then, the gun that fires the magic bullet itself also generates heat when it fires... no, it only functions as a magic bullet after it fires. Then what if the gun itself was a custom-made custom gun that minimized temperature changes... hmm?

Custom firearms are not uncommon in Infinite Dendrogram.

In particular, the suppression of temperature change that suppresses shake and failure during firing is also one of the major modifications.

But....

(So the gun itself is a gunpowder type?

Currently, producers who create magical firearms in Infinite Dendrogram are losing their jobs.

[Catalog] But I still don't hear that the magic firearms production job has been unlocked.

Magic cannons exist, as do craftsmen, but shotguns and rifles are not cannons.

The only job that can produce firearms now is... gunpowder.

"Nh...."

Marie stabs herself in the shoulder... with her finger stuck where the magic bullet hit and pulls the bullet out of her body.

The grains of the shrapnel that were removed have now disappeared... just metal.

(Jobs that run magic firearms bend ballistics, but not gunpowder firearms. That's why it's perfectly the nature of the Magic Bullet itself... The Magic Bullet itself is close to a missile with a tracking capability, and the firearm is just a firing pad. In theory, she's the only one who pulls the trigger... oh, really?)

With that in mind, Marie realizes further facts.

(She's in the super position, but she's in the production position.)

Marie sensed that it was close to the gem storage serial beating theory.

Hikaru himself is a producer of magic bullets and has no direct combat power.

Create Magic Bullets. Job that Marie herself doesn't even know because she stuck one foot in a lost magic firearm producer.

That's why Marie initially thought of herself as a fighter close to the same name [Magic Cannon King], but she didn't look like a sword-swallowing name and was a producer.

There is another reason to think so.

(I didn't see Luke all the time because he wouldn't let them escape... and because he didn't realize that he couldn't even follow his gaze at the AGI super position. To hide that the battle speed will not catch up)

Create Magic Bullets in advance, and let Magic Bullets be dragged only during battle.

That's what that Hikaru's super combat style is.

Being able to afford Marie is also a kind of bluff.

Hide weaknesses, make them strong and invincible.

Whether it's odd or natural… it's the same as Igoronac's "immortal” combat style.

(But even if she fights much slower herself, the Magic Bullet will arrive. We don't have much time to tackle it...)

Little time has passed since I escaped.

The difference in the speed of battle by AGI - the difference in the speed of thought during the battle - would still be fine, but the charge seemed to have progressed considerably at the time of Marie's ambush.

(According to the specifications of heat source detection, the magic gun on the right hand is not of the type of heat or light. Maybe a fixed damage magic gun? Then it's also effective for Liz and Tarler-chan who doesn't have any substance.)

Marie also heard that Luke had scattered around the enemy in the Labyrinth.

Luke's defenses would have been added if he'd hit me here.

(There are two things to think about. How do we get her in the Magic Bullet Zone to deliver our attack and seal off the opponent's Magic Gun before we can do it?... I want to defeat her too, but [brooch] is not available.)

Now, both the explosive bomb that excels in thermal power and the guided bomb that excels in range are disabled.

Special ammunition is currently available in three colors. Black and red are sealed and cannot be used.

The special bullets you can shoot are Green + Silver “Piercing” Wolvetier, Blue + White “Poisoning” Princess.

(Wolvetia has a short range, so she just penetrates the hive with magic bullets. White princess receives poison from outside the magic bullet depending on the direction of the wind, but the inanimate magic bullet is ineffective and she herself is disabled with one [Healing Almighty Psychic])

A Wolvetier that outperforms Daisy if it attacks a single target.

In front of the White Princess spraying an anomaly in the viral system that contains debuffs in a wide area.

Neither of them fits the status quo.

(... polarization, we can only break through the Magic Bullet's air defense zone. A combination of 200 meters radius, "Nociception" and supersonic manoeuvre can be reached in less than one second.)

Marie thinks the problem is afterwards.

(Magic bullets arrive the moment they materialize to hit our attack. The velocity of the Magic Bullet is almost equal to that of this one. The more I shoot her, the more I chop her up, the hive. That doesn't make sense.)

The opponent has a [Brooch], which can also be Nullified by Wolvetier's True Strike.

Even with a firearm, if the damage can be repaired, it will be restored with a Paranoia stamp.

There's no more Daisy's firepower to burn out without a trace.

(Heat source detection also does not disable [Obstruction] 's search ability, and I don't have any convenient equipment or items to cool my body. [Paralyzing Bee Sword] 's targeting for late-acting paralysis... is also severe in time. The attacker doesn't have enough time to think about it. Besides, the time limit is approaching.....)

Marie can only hit with one hand.

You must either destroy the Hikaru equipped with the [Brooch], destroy the Repairable Magic Gun, or achieve this to stop the shelling.

(Now it's like I'm going to hit you... no?

With that in mind, Marie came up with a solution.

Are these really the only two options?

(If the opponent's magic gun is the correct substitute...)

Marie came up with a strange idea... that drew her face.

"I'm impressed..."

The owner of his clan... remembered the Master he had seen since the beginning of his login, and Marie sighed bitterly.

But I decided it was the only way, and I headed for the final defense.

◆ ◆ ◆

□ ■ Northwest and hills of Alter Kingdom

……

Hikaru wonders about the aftermath of the explosion heard from far behind and the shaking wind.

I switched my left hand weapon to a rifle with Instant Gear to take Marie out of range without a shotgun response.

Hikaru didn't know why the explosion occurred, even though he wanted to control it with a long range bullet.

I suppressed my desire to look back and make sure that Luke and the others were surrounded.

Shots fired backwards, just in case, but no response.

(Is the rifle off the effective angle of fire, or is it dead already?)

Unlike scattered shells that are idle and can search the entire perimeter, rifle-shaped magic shells limit the range that can be tracked in the firing direction.

The reason is because the range is too long, and if we search all around, we shoot through the worst Vito and Large.

Win with range, power, and bullet speed instead.

"It's almost over."

The right hand magic weapon - fixed damage type magic gun [life sharpener (thruster)] has already been charged 90% of the time.

The conversion efficiency was poor because of the fixed damage, and the magic filling had to be poured out of the gun handle in a regular way, not Kelidwen, so it took time, but it was powerful enough.

Fixed damage shell with difficulty defending. Even in Counter Absorption, it can never be sucked out, propagate from the impact site and inflict lethal damage on everyone there.

Or maybe I should have used this earlier in the Labyrinth.

However, it is a fixed damage ammunition, so it could self-destruct with just a few mistakes.

If you blur to the cockpit of [Red Crystal] at the time of launch, you will destroy your allies' [Brooch] and [Red Crystal], and they will die buried alive in the dirt.

The worst chance that she would pull the trigger for all of them, if only 1%, was very unlikely for her.

Now we can only deal with it because we are single apart from our people.

"Now... I will turn down the grief of caring."

When she muttered so much in her hands,

"--Please don't call my companions sad about caring for you -?

--That word was hanging on Hikaru's back.

…………

"Ah, good, good. I haven't fired yet. No, I've been thinking a lot about it after the explosion, so I thought maybe it wouldn't work. But when I looked at the clock, it was only about five minutes after the first shooting. AGI goes crazy at high time intervals."

It was Marie's voice, which was a relative enemy even before.

But this time... the Magic Bullet is not responding.

There are still hundreds of scattered magic bullets in the surroundings... but none of them show any sign of going to the Lord of the Voice.

Hikaru feels that.

"... illusion?

Hikaru thought about the skill of a job called [Illusionist].

It is possible to generate holograms and sounds without substance...

(Super Killer's super position is [shadow]. The ninja of heaven and earth... the super of the clandestine system. Can you use the Illusionist skill placed in the sub due to its high affinity? Or similar Ninja skills)

Marie operates a shadow counterpart who speaks words in her own right.

Now it can be said that the entity has disappeared from the downgraded version...

"Without an entity, you can't be detected. Or is this a restraint to see if a magic bullet responds to sound or light?

Or maybe it's a kind of miserable off-site tactic because there's no way to attack magic bullets.

"No, that's not the intention at all, right? Do you already know it's a heat source?

…………

Hikaru didn't know if the opponent had already discovered the secret of the magic bullet or if it was just a tease, but he tried not to reveal his inner agitation.

"This double-chan came out to talk to you. I can't calm down or speak from being hit by a magic bullet."

"Nothing to talk about?

"I just want to ask you a question.... well, let's hear it right away."

Marie's counterpart turns her usual smiling face into something serious and asks.

"--- Don't you think your people are luggage?

"---ha?"

Marie's question was unexpected.

I never thought about it - I shouldn't think about it - it was a question.

Too misguided, Hikaru turned to Marie.

"What does that mean?

"Isn't that right? You're super. You are in charge of all the magic of Igoronac. Without you, the party wouldn't be over."

It was a cross between the speculations Luke had heard when the clan gathered after the first battle in the Tomb Labyrinth.

The MP specialized Super is lending MP to its members. That's the backbone of the “immortal Igoronac", "said Luke, who had already read it.

"It's all thanks to you for long-range transfers, gear resurrection, and magic in magical weapons. I'm just taking care of my people. It's like an elementary school party for a rich friend."

…………

In that word, Hikaru loses the word of anger too.

Long ago, I was thrown up with similar words from around me.

In fact, Hikaru and his friends used to look like that.

Still, I feel uncomfortable with what I was told was still true...

"Wouldn't it be cramped if you were so caught up? It's also a good idea to stay away. It's not like I can't live without you."

――――

But the words that followed outweighed the discomfort.

◆

--It's not like I can't live without you.

No, friends can't live without her (...).

A friend who was once a child and fell into a plant condition in an accident that day.

Hikaru's house bore all the hospital expenses to keep them alive.

He begged his parents to live the way they instructed him to, promised to take over part of his parents' company, and was paid a huge hospitalization and treatment bill.

She is now the owner, and her friend's life is at stake.

Her way of life was determined by the accident.

She threw away everything she had ever dreamed of with her friends for their future.

I don't think it's cramped - don't think it's cramped.

I don't consider the existence of a friend to be a liability - don't even think about it.

She doesn't abandon her friends.

Whether it's real or here, Hikaru is determined to protect his friends.

When I exchanged words again with my friends in this game, I thought my way of life was rewarded - I was reminded that I was carrying my friends' lives -.

The days of contact with my childhood heart friends are fun - but tired of some geared days - for the dazzling days that have come back - for the days when she is no longer real - she lives now - possessed by the past.

So she won't forgive Marie-I don't want to admit what Marie-I 've missed.

◆

"You're obsessed with delusions. You've been talking too long."

Hikaru turned back towards Luke and the others as if he were angry.

There is still a fence ahead of the line of sight and beyond the rays - [Life Sharpening] has already reached it.

"You threw up whatever you wanted about your buddies, but the cost of wasting your time was yours."

And Hikaru can focus on the [life-changing] iron while distorting the mouth.

"Thanks to me..."

And Marie was waiting for this moment.

The next moment the double behind Hikaru disappeared.

― ― Marie, who solved Consumption , was pressing her eyebrows (...) against the muzzle of Life Sharpening .

◇

It's all for this moment.

If you don't have one hand, use the other's.

Instead of crushing her before firing, she turns herself into a shield at the moment of firing.

The words of the double provoked the conversation and anger to make the timing of the shooting easier to read.

And when Hikaru saw the warning signs of firing, Marie, who was disappearing outside the Magic Bullet's air defense zone, used the Dismantling Magic to fill the distance and materialize the moment she pulled the trigger.

He exposes himself to a magic gun that causes enormous destruction.

It was a cleavage tactic similar to Ray's.

◇

Magic bullets move simultaneously in response to the appearance of heat sources (enemies), but there is no room for them to be involved in the resolution at the earliest.

――

Hikaru is stunned by the sudden appearance of Marie, but the fingers that already pull the iron do not stop.

"― Rainbow Phantom Gun Arcanshell

At the same time, Marie also pushed the muzzle of a single-shot large gun against Hikaru's abdomen to pull the trigger.

The bullets were fired simultaneously from the two magic guns.

Wolvetier, a two-color bullet with the greatest firepower, puts a spear in Hikaru's abdomen.

Special Bullets are blocked by Brooch , but Brooch is shattered.

And a fixed damage bullet hit Marie between her eyebrows.

Marie's body without Brooch collapses with a huge amount of damage and instantly becomes dust.

But Marie wasn't the only one who collapsed.

Fixed Damage Attacks are characterized by the propagation of collapse from the point of contact to the amount of damage.

The aftermath of the fixed damage from her body propagates to the ground in contact and Hikaru himself who grips it.

A fixed damage bullet that inflicts Hikaru's enormous magic and knocks out a castle fortress.

That's not exaggeration...

- I wiped out all the hills where they were.

Of course... including them.

◆

――――

At the moment of his disappearance, Hikaru could not think of anything.

Suddenly it was too sudden to understand.

The last thing I thought about...

(--Not your luggage.)

It was just a denial of the word "companion."

◇

(... is this your exit? It's just the first day out. Besides, Barbaroi laughs at the first drop out.)

Marie also thinks a little in the middle of extinction.

But in that situation, this was the best thing to do.

(Well, one sacrifice rather than total annihilation. Besides, it's Big Venus, right?... but it's a thorn)

My mouth had already disappeared, trying to remember when I defeated the [Plague King] and laughed bitterly.

(Still... even though it's an operation, did you say something a little too bad? Should I apologize when the war is over?)

Reflecting on the fact that it was such a nasty provocation, Marie eventually completely left the Infinite Dendrogram...

(Then - please do the rest, Death Period)

Marie Adler dropped out of Tri Flags after completing her second Super Destruction and entrusting the future to her allies.

(I'm sure you can handle it.)

The final thought was the affirmation of fellow men.

To be continued