Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 22 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: GG

Past, Somewhere on Earth

“Checkmate.”

One of his memories involved a particular board game. He’d played against the “mother” who’d created him, each taking turns moving their pieces on the board.

However, he wasn’t able to win a single match against her.

He couldn’t hold the pieces, so his “mother” moved them for him—and now she once again put his king into checkmate.

“And that’s my fifteenth win in a row. Hrmmm... This is unexpected. In a way, the fact that I’m winning at all makes this a success. It implies very gradual growth—a growth process different from machine learning. It’s probably faster when you consider the exponential curve, though.”

He couldn’t understand what his “mother” was saying here.

“This growth is organic. And that’s why...”

He had no idea what she was thinking at this moment. His thoughts were still focused on the board game.

He was on a losing streak, but he was gradually getting the hang of it, and he wanted to play again so he could put up a better fight—no, he wanted to win.

“Oh? You want a rematch? That’s new. Hmmm... Then I guess I should teach you some common courtesy for situations like these.” Silence. “Before you start a new game, you need to end the last one. And when you do that, both players should praise each other’s efforts. Let me give you an expression for that.”

His “mother” smiled at “him”—the screen that displayed his thoughts—and said...

“‘Good game.’ Remember these words if you ever play with people.”

Thus, the “mother” concluded her little lesson in how to interact with people, hoping that her “son” would someday get a chance to use it.

◇◆◇

Gideon, City of Duels, Central Arena

Even though this was only the first public battle of the final Tournament, the venue was already flooded with emotion (mostly confusion) by the presence of King of Termination, Albert Schwartzkaiser—a participant who, by all accounts, could not have been here.

These Tournaments allowed only the kingdom’s Masters to enter, and participants couldn’t switch to other countries for three Dendro years after its conclusion—which was one year in real time. Additionally, the contract made it so that any participant who committed a crime against Altar that would normally be punished by at least a year of penal servitude would be barred from using any save points anywhere in the world.

That made it more or less impossible that a foreign Superior—a member of Caldina’s very own Sefirot, at that—would participate in this Tournament.

Albert was known as perhaps the greatest contributor in the fights against Caldina’s many UBMs and other notable monsters, as well as the second in their duel rankings, behind only The Fight. Even if this was all part of some scheme, he felt like too valuable a piece to give away to the kingdom for three whole years.

“What is the meaning of this?” said Altimia, the first princess of Altar, as she looked down at him from her royal box. When did he align himself with the kingdom? she wondered.

The princess was definitely not involved in this. Landowning nobles could also induct Masters into the kingdom, though, so one of them might have done it in secret.

His name was not among those who registered ahead of time, Altimia thought. That means he must have gotten in through today’s lottery.

If Albert had been participating from the start, she would have definitely noticed and at least talked to him—or done whatever was needed to prevent this from happening.

However, he had never actually registered. Albert was only participating now because he’d happened to win the lottery for the Tournament slots that had opened up today.

The odds were against him...but we have designed this competition to prevent any foul play.

The winners and losers of the lotteries were decided completely randomly. The staff working on them were even Contract-bound to not intentionally manipulate the results.

That was why this could only be a coincidence—and they could not take away his win.

But if there is anyone actually behind this... It can only be Caldina’s president, Altimia thought. The Caldinan head of state was often said to be a witch who could see the future. Most people thought that this just meant she was excellent at thinking ahead, but it might have actually been far more literal than that.

If, for example, she could foresee exactly when joining the lottery would guarantee a win... Well, that would make her a truly terrifying and unprecedented force.

Someone like that was now likely getting involved in the war between Altar and Dryfe and had now sent Albert to this event. If these two things were true, the implications would be staggering.

Caldina has been offering us their cooperation for quite some time, Altimia thought. I have always refused, so did they decide to make certain we were in their debt? By giving us not just temporary reinforcements, but a Superior for us to keep?

Would Caldina benefit from this enough to make the loss of a Superior worth it?

Hm? Wait, when, exactly, was he...?

The moment a new question formed in her mind, Bishmal and Albert’s duel began.

◇◆

“Fight!”

A booming voice declared the start of the battle, but neither of the combatants moved an inch. Bishmal had always been the type to charge in without hesitation, and Albert surely had the upper hand in this situation—yet both of them stayed right where they were.

“Ngh!” A bitter expression crossed on Bishmal’s face as he realized that he’d frozen up when he ought to have been moving. The impossibility of the situation had perplexed him to the point that he hadn’t launched into his golden combo.

Bishmal had disregarded checking the brackets to eliminate distractions, but that had ended up working against him.

Having lost the opportunity to strike immediately, he chose to wait and see what would happen instead of charging in. This unexpected situation had almost made him lose sight of himself.

Albert, on the other hand, was completely silent and showed no emotion in his expression. It was as though his face was carved from metal, betraying not a single one of his thoughts.

Maintaining the silence, Albert began walking toward Bishmal.

At first glance, he looked completely open to attacks, but a closer look revealed that his movements were smooth and stable.

Walking like a skilled martial artist or a precision machine, Albert closed the distance between them and, still eerily silent, extended his right hand.

He was offering a handshake.

Bishmal’s eyes widened once again. It looked like a simple display of sportsmanship from a fellow contestant, but it caught him completely by surprise.

The obvious conclusion was that this was a trap, but Bishmal’s touch could easily be lethal, so offering to shake his hand was an absurd move even if there was some ulterior motive behind it.

Neither Bishmal nor the audience understood what Albert was doing, but there were four in the venue who did. The Masters who had fought him in the preliminaries knew that he would do this once the match began.

Their responses to the handshake offer had been split between attacks and hesitant acceptance, but the reality was that this was no trap. It was not any kind of offensive maneuver at all.

“...Sure.”

After a bit of thought, Bishmal accepted the offer and shook Albert’s hand.

Albert’s grip was like steel, lacking the fleshiness of a normal human hand, but the handshake ended without anything happening.

Instead of following it up with some attack, Albert simply turned around and headed back to his starting position. He seemed wide open to any attacks, and Bishmal felt like he could win by just launching his ult right now.

However, he’d decided against it.

Partially this was because Bishmal was hesitant to attack someone from behind, but it was also the danger sense he’d honed as a ranking duelist that stopped him.

Bismal had the feeling that if he attacked now, it would be over for him.

Nothing beyond the handshake happened as the two returned to their starting positions.

This was the true beginning of the duel, and Albert assumed a fighting pose...

“Hm...?”

...but seeing it made Bishmal raise an eyebrow.

Based on what he’d heard, Albert’s combat style was wide-scale bombardment using heavy weaponry. He possessed immense firepower that he used to defeat countless monsters, and this was common knowledge thanks to an accidental recording of his battle against a UBM.

He was also known to use weapons—MVP rewards included—in duels like this.

However, Albert now stood before him unarmed and empty-handed.

“No weapons?” Bishmal asked. Albert only shook his head in response.

Most would think that he was mocking his opponent, implying that he wouldn’t even need weapons to defeat him—but Bishmal noticed that behind his sunglasses, Albert’s gaze was fixed on the audience.

Does he think that his attacks could destroy the barrier? Bishmal wondered. With the duels he’d fought in Caldina and Gideon, Albert was certainly familiar with arena battles by now, and all such battles typically worked the same way.

However, Gideon’s barrier had recently been broken by a UBM. Albert might have been limiting his use of weapons on account of that.

Putting aside the question of whether that was a valid concern, there were two conclusions to draw from that fact.

First, Albert might just be that confident in his firepower.

And second, he was truly concerned about any possible harm he might cause to the audience, however unlikely that was.

It wasn’t just weapons either—Albert hadn’t activated any of his Embryo skills either.

He’d deliberately chosen to fight without his biggest strengths.

“I see,” Bishmal mused. It was almost insulting, but he wouldn’t tell Albert to change his strategy. Albert was free to choose how he wanted to fight, after all.

And so, Bishmal would do the same.

He charged toward Albert. However, he wasn’t using Surt’s firepower. Just as his opponent wasn’t using his weapons, Bishmal faced Albert with nothing but his ability as a Power Wrestler.

He wanted to match Albert’s handicap, but that wasn’t the only reason...

I just can’t bring myself to go all out if my opponent isn’t! Bishmal thought. That’s why it’s better if I just hold myself back too, get on the same page mentally, and fight him from there!

Thus, their duel assumed a form rarely seen in battles between Masters. No weapons, no ranged attacks, no unique powers—just pure hand-to-hand combat.

The audience was surprised to see Bishmal fighting differently than usual, but Albert remained silent and unfazed. He dealt with all of Bishmal’s punches and grapples using martial arts techniques that were mechanical in their precision. The eyes behind the sunglasses darted around, seeing all of Bishmal’s attacks and blocking them with optimal movements.

The high stats granted by a Superior Job were perfectly complemented by his excellent technique.

“Not bad!” Every time their bodies clashed, Bishmal could feel how high Albert’s STR and END truly were. While his friend Riser was a fellow hand-to-hand combatant, his AGI focus made fighting him quite different from this.

This guy’s AGI’s about the same as mine, but he’s got a good eye! Bishmal thought as he used Reveal to check Albert’s stats. He’s seein’ through and punishin’ everything I do!

Each and every response to Bishmal’s attacks was more or less perfect. Albert’s defense in hand-to-hand combat was unmatched, but it seemed to come at a cost to his offensive capabilities. He focused so much on repelling attacks that he neglected to take advantage of openings that even Bishmal himself noticed.

As a result, the tiny amount of damage that did manage to get past Albert’s defenses was starting to chip away at his HP.

Bishmal had the upper hand, which filled the audience with excitement, but Bishmal himself was growing increasingly uneasy.

He’s gettin’ faster!

Albert’s responsiveness to Bishmal’s attacks was only improving. It was as though he was learning the way Bishmal moved, allowing him to further optimize the speed and precision of his defense.

If this continued, Albert would eventually be able to see through everything Bishmal did, at which point Albert could go on the offensive and defeat him.

King of Termination was a job that emphasized attack power, and yet Albert was operating like an endurance build.

“In that case—” Bishmal cried, and jumped in front of Albert.

Albert tried to counter this, but the eyes behind his sunglasses widened a bit. His vision was briefly obscured by a burst of flame—and when it subsided, Bishmal was no longer right in front of him.

When the fire was gone, the only thing Albert could see was Bishmal’s shirt, now removed.

He looked around to search for the man himself, but...

“Got ya!”

...before Albert could turn his head, Bishmal locked it in place with a choke hold from behind.

Bishmal’s equipment was custom-made to match Surt’s powers that allowed him to turn him into flame. Even though they were made of cloth, they had built-in skills that allowed them to turn into fire whenever the wearer did.

Bishmal had just used that property of his equipment in combination with Instant Wear to remove the flaming shirt, then leaped backward, leaving the shirt behind. Since it was no longer equipped, the skill that transformed it into flame deactivated, turning it back into cloth.

Bishmal had basically used a double smoke screen of fire and cloth, allowing him to drop into a low stance position and slip behind Albert to grapple him from his blind spot.

“Hngh!” Bishmal grunted as he put all his strength into his grip, and with one strong move, snapped Albert’s seemingly unbreakable neck.

Albert’s head was now twisted over ninety degrees to the right. This usually conferred the Broken Cervical Vertebra status effect, which didn’t kill instantly, but was an injury-based debuff that quickly led to death.

Case in point—Albert’s HP was falling at an astonishing rate.

The unusual, gruesome conclusion to the duel filled the arena with not just cheers, but also shrieks of terror.

However, Bishmal didn’t even think of letting go of Albert.

His senses told him that this wasn’t over yet.

Despite the situation, Albert still wasn’t making a sound. His neck still broken, he moved his eyes to glance at Bishmal’s right arm before using both hands to grab it. Bishmal still showed no sign of letting go.

Eventually, Albert’s HP dropped to critical levels. Like a countdown, it was fast approaching 0. It soon reached the point where he was just 1 HP away from death, but then it stopped...

“α: Dubhe.”

...and, at the same time, the name of a skill resounded throughout the arena.

The voice was clear, as if the damage to Albert’s throat were absolutely nothing. This was the first time he’d said a word since the duel began, and doing so caused light to engulf his body.

A moment later, two things occurred.

Bishmal’s eyes widened as he realized he could no longer feel Albert’s neck under his arm—or, to be more precise, it wasn’t that he couldn’t feel it at all. It was more like he was suddenly trying to choke out a rubber tube.

And immediately after that...

“Gah...!”

...Bishmal’s right arm was pulverized. The bones in his arm shattered, shredding the muscle and flesh around them—his arm was now little more than a bag of skin filled with blood.

Never losing his stone-faced expression, Albert tore off Bishmal’s weakened arm and escaped the choke hold.

It seemed as though something invisible was bursting within both of his hands.

“Heh! Used an Embryo skill, huh?!” Bishmal didn’t understand exactly what had happened just now, but by using Reveal, he could discern part of it: Albert’s HP had jumped from 1 all the way to full.

“RRRAAAGH!” Then I’ll just bring it down again! Bishmal thought as he positioned his now-maimed body for a fierce kick. Just as before, Albert assumed a defensive posture and held out his left arm to block the attack.

However, something was different now. Albert didn’t even flinch, as though the kick didn’t cause any damage whatsoever.

And, indeed, his HP total didn’t change at all.

Bishmal’s eyes widened again. He’d felt it the instant they collided—when his kick landed, the force of the impact was completely dispersed.

It was nothing like it had been before—Bishmal now felt almost like he was punching a slime.

By contrast, Albert’s counterattacks now seemed to strike at Bishmal’s very core.

The moment Albert’s right hand touched his leg, a bone-shattering shock burst through him.

“Ghhh...!” Bishmal quickly jumped back to make some distance between them. Though not nearly as bad as the damage to his right arm, the damage from that one touch had clearly been devastating to his right leg.

That single exchange was all Bishmal needed to know that he now had no chance of beating Albert in straight hand-to-hand combat. If he wanted to win, he would be forced to fight the way he always did—using his Embryo, Surt.

The audience was shouting for him to do the same.

Bishmal and Albert both fell silent, and there was a brief moment where neither of them moved. Albert seized the chance to take out a revolver-type grenade launcher and fire it toward Bishmal’s feet.

Upon hitting the stage, the grenade created a red explosion highly reminiscent of the Crimson Sphere ability.

As Bishmal evaded the blast, he instantly understood what Albert was trying to convey: “I used my weapon, so stop holding back. Use yours too.”

“Then I’ll do just that! Burstflame Rise—Surt!” The next moment, Bishmal was engulfed in fire, and became the flame itself.

Appearing as something like a hybrid of man and elemental, he rushed toward Albert using his specialty—his charge.

Albert was quick to respond and fired another grenade at him, but the explosion meant nothing to a body made of fire. Bishmal closed the distance without issue, and Albert immediately dropped the grenade launcher in favor of using his right hand to deliver the same attack that had shattered Bishmal’s arm.

But since Bishmal was now essentially an elemental, the touch-based shock waves coming off Albert’s hands did nothing to him.

What’s more, mere contact with Bishmal’s body made Albert’s arm melted instantaneously.

Unfazed, Albert tried to draw another weapon, but Bishmal unleashed a high kick before he could do so. The leg of pure flame melted Albert’s left arm entirely from the shoulder down, the damage even reaching all the way to where his heart ought to be.

The severed arm fell to the ground, showing a glimpse of the steel inside.

“OOOAAAARRRGHHHHHH!” Albert’s HP fell to critical levels once again, but Bishmal did not relent, throwing even stronger attacks aimed at Albert’s head. Even if Albert had a skill that healed and strengthened him, Bishmal thought—no, felt—that he could counter it by just attacking so fast and often that Albert would have no time to activate the skill in the first place.

Faster than any forethought, acting first and thinking later, charging nowhere but straight ahead—at this critical moment, Bishmal clearly manifested his true self and worth.

He thoroughly pulverized, melted, and burned Albert’s head, making it impossible for him to announce any skills.

Albert’s HP soon dropped to 1 again...

“β: Melak.”

...and it stopped there once again as an emotionless voice echoed through the empty space.

“Aaagh!” Hearing the name of a skill didn’t stop Bishmal’s onslaught.

However, after just a handful of attacks, he noticed a change.

Having fully rebuilt his head and arms a second time, Albert was no longer affected by Bishmal’s flames. Even as his clothes caught fire, his skin was not even singed.

When Albert retaliated with a knife hand strike, Bishmal’s body, despite being made of flame, began to come apart.

The man who had been evaporating at Bishmal’s mere touch just moments earlier was now obliterating him instead.

“...I see how it works now.” This was enough for Bishmal to understand the power of Albert’s Embryo. It restored all his HP, then granted him near perfect resistance to his opponent’s means of attack as well as an offensive ability that was highly effective against them. It combined three incredibly powerful effects into a single skill.

Since he didn’t use it right away, I guess it only works when he’s nearly dead, Bishmal thought. The price for the skill’s power must have been its harsh use condition—it could only be used at 1 HP.

However, there was yet another secret behind Albert’s strategy.

Both times, his HP stopped goin’ down right before it hit 0. Guess he must have some kinda “guts” effect active. There was a generic skill like that... What was its name again?

The skill Bishmal couldn’t remember was called “Last Stand.” It came from Rear Soldier, a low-rank job from the soldier grouping, and it enabled those struck by a fatal blow to survive with just 1 HP for five seconds. It did not negate any damage, and though similar effects were often extremely good in traditional RPGs, in Infinite Dendrogram HP was usually tied to the physical state of one’s body, so it was far less useful. The five extra seconds meant little when someone was on the verge of death and could barely move, and once the time was up, any injury-based status effects they had would instantly kill them.

The primary difference between this skill and Death Soldier’s Last Command was that it could be treated by healing magic rather than resurrection magic, but the five seconds it granted were rarely enough for healers to make it in time. Considering its much longer duration, Last Command typically ended up being the more useful skill.

Since it kept one’s HP above 0, Last Stand could technically be used in duels—but unless you had a Superior Job and wanted to use your final ult to turn a guaranteed loss into a tie, it was fairly meaningless. Duelists fought to win, so none of them would waste a job slot for the possibility of a tie.

But it’s different for this guy, Bishmal thought. If he can survive a few seconds longer—just long enough to use that skill he’s got—he comes back stronger and with full HP.

Bishmal guessed how Albert’s combo worked, thought about the power of this synergy...and shuddered.

I dunno what to say. That’s a Superior for ya, I guess. Bishmal now had a grasp of Albert’s combat style. If pushed to the verge of death, he endured any and all attacks coming his way. Then, he used his Embryo skill to fully heal himself, become resistant to the attack that brought him to 1 HP, and even gained offensive abilities that would help him defeat his attacker.

This skill likely wasn’t unlimited, though.

It didn’t look like Albert’s MP or SP was going down by much, so Bishmal assumed it had a limited amount of uses instead. If he used them all up, he would no longer be able to come back from the verge of death.

However, this meant that you needed enough different methods of attack to force Albert to expend every use. If you didn’t, he was simply undefeatable.

Bishmal himself didn’t have anything besides hand-to-hand combat and fire, so now that Albert was resistant to both, there was no way he could win.

In fact, most duelists were hyper focused on a single thing, so even among the rankers there were few who could match him. Even Kashimiya had no chance, as he didn’t have anything besides his sword-drawing arts.

“RAAAGGGHHHH!” Still, Bishmal didn’t stop attacking.

There was no battle he would ever back away from. Even if he was up against an impassable wall, he would keep charging forward.

Whether the wall would break or not was beside the point—he would advance until it did.

That was the kind of man he was.

Albert, on the other hand, was still stone-faced and silent.

What was going through his mind as he watched this opponent relentlessly throwing out attacks that no longer worked? He certainly didn’t underestimate him. Just as he had before he’d gained his resistances, Albert watched Bishmal’s strikes, defended against them with optimal moves, and threw some counterattacks in between.

As this repeated, Bishmal was eventually brought to his limit. His ult had expired, and he’d sustained too much damage.

“...Ha.” Looking solely at the result, one could say that Bishmal just went straight at Albert and practically handed him the win. But strange as it might seem, he had no regrets—for at least after the battle began, he kept on charging ahead, showing no fear of the Superior.

Bishmal fought like himself, and that was enough for him.

The match soon reached its end...

“Good game.”

...and, after saying his first words that weren’t skill declarations, Albert decapitated Bishmal.

Thus, the Raging Blaze was extinguished, and Albert advanced to the quarterfinals.