＜Infinite Dendrogram＞

□ [Saint Knight] Ray Sterling

< Maggie Gear >.

It is an abbreviation for Magic and Gear and is commonly known as Drife's main combat weapon.

On the right hand side of that weapon, shaken, I was thinking about something.

I walked into Infinite Dendrogram and started watching. - My brother Baldor was a weapon as well.

But even if it's a weapon, it's only a form of embryo that takes various forms by individual masters, and it's not made of technology.

In contrast, Maggie is a weapon built with the science and technology of the Dreyfe Empire, which is rooted in a world view.

The Empire of Drife, which built Magic, seems to be the only country in the world where science and technology have developed.

What I'm curious about here is that if science and technology have developed in the Empire of Drife, why don't other countries do it?

Technological innovation begins in one country but soon spreads to others.

It seems that more than a hundred years have passed since Drife became such a technological system as it is today.

Normally, science and technology should be widespread in other countries.

It may be a story of the degree of convenience that makes each country distinctive when considered game-wise.

But it's this < Infinite Dendrogram > that even includes player logouts in the root settings.

I felt that there was some reason for the technology system, which is too different.

So I asked Hugo this question during the trip of the Gozmaids Bandits to Negijo.

"What do you think this means?

"Huh. You have to explain a certain civilization to answer that question."

"Civilization?"

"Oh, it's a prior-period civilization, or a civilization called a prior-period civilization,"

... its name, like I saw it somewhere.

Oh, yeah. That's the silver commentary I got in the chatter.

That also said something about civilization earlier in the period.

"The civilization was thousands of years old in the world of Infinite Dendrogram."

According to Hugo, the world was thriving thousands of years ago.

A civilization similar to, but more advanced in science than, the Empire of Drife.

The civilization, however, disappeared.

Now they just leave that shadow on the machines and literature of the time when they are finely excavated.

"I'm not sure that's all."

There's a theory that the disappearance of a giant civilization is God's wrath at a human being who's grown up and can't speak for himself because of scientific civilization.

"God's wrath?

"They have a saying that one God and thirteen family members who flew from the other side of the sky have gone around destroying civilizations everywhere. Five countries other than Drife and Gran Baroa generally believe in it and have not studied science and technology '

I see.

Are you afraid of the heavenly punishment and not trying to touch it?

Hmm...... grambaroa?

"Are you saying that Drife and Grand Barore are different? In the first place, does Granvaroa have science and technology, too?

'Right. Granvaroa can be said to possess science and technology, or it can be said not to possess'

Which one?

'Let me start by talking about drife. Drife has long put up a sign saying, "We are the successors of civilisation," and continues his research in science and technology. Most of all, the technology could not be reproduced at the time, and in the end mechanical technology was developed that operated with human magic, as in Maggie.

"Running with human magic?

'Gamely speaking, they're consuming MP and moving it. For my [Marshall II], now about MP1 for minutes. Don't consume 1 in seconds if it's a battle. Drife machines are big and small, and that's how it works. "

MP consumption in seconds. You're just like my Reverse.

But I was also convinced.

That's why Hugo's jobs, [Pilot], [Mechanic] and [High-Level Pilot], were all specialized in MP growth?

"Are the old machines different?

"They had a built-in generator inside much of what was excavated. It creates its own magic to drive, and now it's lost technology.

Heh.

What about silver?

"So, what about Grand Barroa? I just found out that it has mechanical technology."

I only knew it as a country on the sea.

I was wondering if you were even in the Great Sailing Age on a sailboat.

'Huh. That country is more specialized in shipbuilding technology than mechanical technology. Steam ships also circulate to the private sector, but there is no such thing as automobiles. In a sense, it can also be described as a country that is more unbalanced than drife. Even though magic technology doesn't reach the foot of the Legendary or Yellow River Empire, sailboats can be advanced magic sailboats. "

"Heh."

Are you saying that Gran Barroa is an advanced country in both magic and science, limited to shipbuilding technology?

It's an imbalance, indeed.

"Plus, they don't even grasp the facts in the drife because it also salvages from the ruins of the seabed independently over there"

You're getting a little interested.

I want to go anyway.

'Hmm, it's Hugo. I wonder if the information on the civilization that you just told me about is also in the setup and the yakuza.'

"No? That's what I heard from an acquaintance of archaeologist Tian, and then a setup expert maniac exploring the ruins everywhere. My clan is full of hobbyists. '

"Clan?"

'Oh. There's a lot of people in Drife because they're so big. If you are to belong to the Empire of Drife, I will introduce you. "

"Ha ha, no"

"Huh. That too, I guess, depends on the outcome of later wars"

True, even if I don't feel like it, maybe that's what happens if Drife wins the war and absorbs the kingdom.

Depending on the outcome, I might end up in your clan.

"Clan. Hey. I'm not in the clan yet, am I?"

'It would be nice to belong if you had a face to like somewhere. It also increases the range of things you can do. You can make it yourself. "

"I'll think about it..."

Looks like we're here.

◇

Hugo's Maggie stops in the woods.

Forward while weakening engine output and minimizing leaking sound.

A little further that way, the sight at the end of the trees was open.

"I see it."

The voice of Cuco.

At the same time, I check from the gap between the trees.

The scenery ahead through the woods had enormous buildings.

It was a stone fort.

Hundreds of meters of square space pioneered in the forest, built in the middle of it.

The exterior walls are stunning.

It was made a long time ago and now it seems to be abandoned already.

They make it the root castle of the bandits?

"It also matches the information on the map. There will be no mistake there. I've got eyes on you."

As Hugo says, a lookout bandit stands on the wall of the fort.

But it doesn't look too serious, I'm just looking around yawning.

There's no way he's noticing us in the woods.

It doesn't seem strange to notice, but it seems okay, too.

Sometimes the trees are tall, and they hide well.

It may also be dark green camouflage.

Or do you even have skills that make Hugo harder to find by your enemies?

"What are you going to do? Do we all set this up at once?

"Idiot, if they take the captured child hostage, it's over"

I say, "What if I fight and try to get it back?" They take it hostage.

But it's also harder to sneak in and find it than to know the internal structure of the fort.

In the first place, you'll notice as soon as you get out to such a pioneering place, even on an unscrupulous watch.

'... about that, but I have an idea'

"Thoughts?"

Hugo snorts cleverly and points himself with the fingers of the machine.

"Anyone in this world knows that this Maggie is the weapon of the Empire of Drife"

So I guess I've been traveling on the avoidance route until I got here.

"Yes, of the Empire of Drife (...), it's a weapon. There is no reason to come to the rescue of the children of the kingdom of Alter, the original enemy nation, of Drife."

…… ........................ Ah!

Is that what you mean?

'You'd think they had nothing to do with the kidnapping, even if I attacked the fort. That's right, there's no reason for Dreyfe's men to come and help in the kidnapping within the Alter Kingdom. First of all, it is not used by hostages. Even if you put it forward to the detour, if the drife people don't mind, you'll just get caught up and have fewer ransom tares'

Hugo's original standing, take it backwards.

'Hostages are not used, but they can't leave me alone attacking the fort. Definitely coming out to intercept. Ray sneaks into the fort and rescues the kidnapped children while I'm attracting it and dealing with them. That's the way it goes.'

"Okay. But it's a charade. Are you okay with this?

"This [Marshall II] is a robust airframe. Doesn't fall early. And there's Cuco."

"Yeah. What do you want?

"Give me my cover. [Smoke Discharger] is also used. to reduce the number while disputed by the smokescreen '

"Uh-uh... muh-uh"

"Ray's proximity to the fort would also be good to be dispersed in smoke. Rescue the hostages without ever finding them."

"Okay."

"Uhm! Me and Ray would try!

'This is probably a battle against time. Rapidity and accuracy required'

"Oh."

Rescue of children, battle against time.

It's like the first quest we made to help Migliane.

But then there was Liliana, and most importantly, there was my brother.

Without my brother, I wouldn't even have gotten to Migliane, and things would have gotten worse if he hadn't dealt with [Demidragworm] in the basement.

That was the difficulty: the five quests.

Extraordinarily more difficult than that this time. Difficulty: 8.

It's not something I've figured out what kind of monster is coming out, and I don't think it's going to be all right.

I don't even have a brother and Liliana that I relied on when I was Migliane.

But there's Hugo and Cuco.

I'm stronger than I was then, and Nemesis is with me.

So, how far can we go now?

"Either way, you can't afford to fail more than your child's life is at stake."

'Huh?'

And was it in your voice?

…………

Did you hear what I said, the camera on the head of the - [Marshall II] model - is pointing at my face.

"What the fuck?"

Well, I know what you're trying to say.

I guess they thought I was getting too serious about the game < Infinite Dendrogram >.

But to say it's in the game, it's bad aftertaste for a kid to die.

…………

Hugo says nothing.

He's looking at me over the camera with the silence of conceiving something.

"If you have something to say, say it."

'... right'

When I said that, Hugo opened his mouth.

But that word wasn't what I expected.

"What... What I thought was that Ray was Maiden's master, too."

The intent of the statement is unclear.

I wonder what that has to do with what I said about being Nemesis's, TYPE: Maiden's.

"Ray is TYPE: Do you know what much Maiden's < master > has in common?

"What do we have in common?

"Oh, someone I know said that Maiden's has something in common"

I've never met a Maiden other than me, but do you have one of those?

"What do we have in common?"

"I don't think of this Infinite Dendrogram as a game."

... What?

"Don't be silly. I know exactly what I'm doing."

No way, old novel. Regards, I don't dream of "I actually came to another world if I thought it was a game".

I understand that < Infinite Dendrogram > is a game.

'That's what I know said. I know by the head, but I don't think so at the bottom of my heart. So.....................'

"So?"

'... No, I'm sorry you said something weird about coming in. I'm a little out of line.'

Don't leave me out of it.

'Oh, yeah. Killing a criminal or, in the case of self-defense, arranging a nomination, even if the opponent is Tian, is not a crime. Remember that.'

"Oh... that's, okay"

With that said, Hugo shut up.

After all, what did you just say?

"Master"

What the hell.

You know what he was about to say?

There's no way to tell.

You don't even know it's a nemesis, do you?

"Not really, of. But if you don't know, you might be happy without knowing."

What's that supposed to mean?

…… Ray, look at that. '

To block my question, Hugo's [Marshall II] finger points to the fort.

If you look, the gates of the fort are slowly opening.

"Over there, shaved, coming"

Now look in the direction Cuco pointed.

It seems that part of the forest surrounding the fort is open there and part of the mountain path.

From that mountain road several carriages were moving towards the fort.

"You've been kidnapping kids again?

"Seems so."

"Something's happening."

Cuco appears to be putting his hands on both ears, closing his eyes, and focusing his consciousness on hearing.

"Get back, by the way. Nakama. Gotcha. Come on. Broth. Corn."

…………

'No way!'

The men caught... you mean the ones we took down in the city and handed them over to the guards!

"Besides those five people in the city, you seem to have been noticed."

So what they're trying to kill after they get back to the fort is Rebecca's brother they were in charge of the deal......!

"Apparently, there's no respite."

It was a knee-standing position [Marshall II] gets up.

"I attack those carriages. Soon the forces in the fort should also come out and turn to respond. Then I'll sprinkle the smokescreen, so Ray needs to get in. Cuco needs backup."

"... Respond!

"Uhm!"

"No."

As soon as we confirmed our response, Hugo's [Marshall II] jumped out of the woods and stormed.

A roller dash using wheels on the legs, not bipedals like you were running through the woods.

While in that fast-moving state, he takes the firearm that was mounted on his lower back and sets fire to the beginning of the carriage.

The horse that was pulling the carriage in one blow can be bounced, and the shock will blow up your man, and the carriage will be rolled over.

A rear carriage stops at a sudden catastrophe.

But [Marshall II] does not miss that gap, firing and killing at the bandits who were around the carriage.

……

The sight made me feel uncomfortable.

…………

[Marshall II] continues to attack.

After several bandits were killed, it seems that the bandit side has finally got an interception posture as well.

But that wasn't a move that was an organization, each attacking [Marshall II] with his own weapon or means of attack.

It was swords, hand axes, bows and arrows.

In common sense, there's no way those teeth stand like tanks [Marshall II], but here is < Infinite Dendrogram >.

The bandits are supposedly junior combat positions, but still bandit attacks with a higher status than the usual people are frequently pierced and devoured by [Marshall II] armoured plates.

"- Huh!"

Still [Marshall II] doesn't stop.

Slash anything approaching with an army knife. [Marshall II] For a knife, but for a man, it was equal to a great sword. It had cut off the armor of the bandits, or turned down the torso.

Anything far away shoots with a firearm. The bandit, who was taking a blow like a cannon and unleashing a bow and arrow, disperses.

The number is obviously high for bandits, but [Marshall II] prevails in the power comparison.

The sight in front of me reminds me of the sight I saw yesterday of [Subdragon (Marilyn)] rampaging around in a herd of [goblins].

Probably as much as a force of war. As the words of < Subdragon Magic Gear > indicate... [Subdragon] class fighting power in one piece.

In addition, Hugo's manipulation was skillful.

Also, according to what Hugo told me on the road, the "pilot" skills of the pilot system increase the performance of the aircraft on board.

Some of them continue to carry battles to their advantage against bandits outnumbered.

"But not invincible"

Though he has defeated one after the other, the bandit's attacks have also hit [Marshall II] again.

That should be accumulating damage to [Marshall II] one by one.

"Ketten."

Cuco, who was waiting next to me, said "faults".

"Mangya, Kafuku, I can't. If you don't do it, you don't do it."

"... right"

[Marshall II] is a machine, even though it works with magic.

Like people and monsters, healing magic and medicine are not effective.

Unrecoverable HP and constant MP consumption allow that iron giant to fight for only a limited amount of time.

Still, Hugo stands on the arrow to save the children for the operation.

"So we, too, hang in there"

"Of course."

That's how dozens more bandits showed up from inside the fort, just like the time I answered.

For the rescue of our fellow attackers, for the interception of the Maggie... release the forces of war in the fort.

"Now."

Faster or slower than Cuco's words.

[Marshall II] sprinkled a canned object around his waist.

It rolled to the ground before spinning alone and erupting white smoke with fierce momentum from inside.

"[I'm sorry about that]... I can do it now"

That said, Cuco disappeared from next door to me.

It had disappeared from the party window for some reason, but it's probably moving to cover Hugo.

"We're coming, Nemesis!

"I'll take care of it!"

White smoke filled the fort and the fields around it, while I ran out for the fort with the Nemesis of the Great Sword.

To take advantage of this opportunity you made of Hugo.

To keep the captive children alive.

I ran through the white smoke and into the inside of the fort.

To be continued