Stars Dance in a Spiral ③
I drank the Elixir I was handed. The pain in my body instantly subsided.
I picked up my Knife and stood up.
Mineha-san lightly twirled a blue Spear, strangely notched into a triangular shape, with her wrist.
Countless triangles rotated in sync with her movements, becoming stars.
It’s the Relic [Remote Control].
“Woff. Where is that Core thing?”
“If you mean the Infinite Spawn Core System, it’s straight ahead this way. Um…”
“What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Why is Mineha-san here?
I stopped myself from asking. It seemed like I’d make her angry.
Hayyarn’s voice came through the intercom.
‘Woff. Are you alright? Looks like I made it in time.’
‘Somehow… Was the shutdown time really that short? I almost died!’
‘I forced a system shutdown, but the reboot was much faster than expected. Perhaps it was a trap.’
A trap, huh? Even if you tell me that…
A trap in the first place… Just how much are you resented, Hayyarn?
‘Mineha-san seems stronger somehow, and why is she even here?’
‘Didn’t she follow you?’
‘Followed me…? What about that Spear?’
‘I made it. More accurately, I synthesized it. Broken OOPArts and OOPArts. Combined with various other things, it’s the very first fully restored creation from my Alchemist Lab.’
‘…So it’s a new OOPArts?’
‘That’s right. Not bad for my first work in a while, wouldn’t you say?’
Can he really do that?
Mineha-san had overwhelmed multiple of those Minos Units.
Stars. Their true form was white triangles, larger and faster swirling than ‘Oriones’.
‘Oriones’ lacked a decisive blow.
But that was because its triangles were small and few in number.
The triangles from the new OOPArts Spear are large, and there are more than twice as many.
It had become sufficiently powerful.
Triangles… Combined with OOPArts. And the Relic [Remote Control].
I see. He combined it with ‘Oriones’.
“Mineha-san.”
“Woff. I. Am angry, you know.”
“Y-Yes.”
She glared at me. Well, of course she would.
Still, I stood beside Mineha-san. She spoke coldly.
“You should wait in the Lab. You’re in the way. A hindrance.”
“No. For just five minutes, I won’t be.”
I calmed myself and focused. I used the Fourth Relic [Generous].
My eyes and hair instantly turned purple, and the ‘Gauntlet of Still Saint’ transformed.
Mineha-san’s eyes widened.
“Y-You. That form…”
She was so surprised that her control faltered, and the Minos Units attacked all at once.
Calmly, I held up one hand.
“[Phantasmagoria].”
Countless basketball-sized 【Vanish】 orbs erased a portion of the Minos Units.
“That just now… Woff…”
“Mineha-san. Details later. Let’s finish this.”
Mineha-san gave a small nod, and we ran.
My [Phantasmagoria] wiped out the Minos Units ahead.
And Mineha-san danced, manipulating the stars to take down the Minos Units behind us.
Suddenly, one of the stars moved diagonally upward, obliterating a spear-arrow and piercing the shooter.
“That was close.”
“Ah, thank you.”
She pulled my clumsy hand, making it seem as if we were dancing together.
Me alone in my [Generous] form wasn’t enough, and Mineha-san alone wasn’t enough either.
Together—fighting like that, we advanced.
Things were going smoothly. But we were running out of time.
‘Woff. Good news. I can use the system shutdown one more time.’
‘Please do it.’
I answered immediately. Yes, with this, we can win.
‘However, this is the last time. There won’t be another.’
‘U-Understood… Please do it.’
‘3, 2, 1, 0. System down!’
Clunk—the Minos Units stopped again.
“Eh, what? They stopped?”
“Let’s hurry.”
Just a little further, the blue point of light is close—just… one more… step.
Suddenly, my vision cleared.
A blue point of light and a black point overlapped on the Minos Unit in front of me.
But that Minos Unit was different from the others.
“That’s…!”
“That thing!?”
It was a four-armed, four-eyed Minos Unit.
It was much larger than a regular Minos Unit.
Each of its four arms held a weapon.
Sword. Ax. Spear. Fist. If I recall correctly, its name was Minos Guardian.
So this is the Infinite Spawn Core System.
And there are two of them. A and B.
“Well, well, what a fine place to meet.”
Mineha-san flashed a brilliant smile, speaking in a tone like The Witch.
She readied her Spear, looking like she was having a lot of fun.
Ah, right. Even though she came to help me, her Spear got broken before.
This one’s different, but she probably wants revenge.
Mineha-san readied her Spear.
It seemed she decided to take down the one on the right.
Which means I take the left one?
“…Woff.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll take them both down. Together.”
“Eh?”
As Mineha-san closed in, she rained all her stars down on the two figures.
‘BUOOOH!’
‘BUMOOOOOOOH!!’
Minos Guardians A and B shrieked as they swung their weapons.
Several stars were deflected.
The system shutdown isn’t working on these guys!?
‘Hayyarn! The system shutdown isn’t working on the Infinite Spawn Core System!’
‘What? Is it a Minos Unit?’
‘No! It’s a Minos Guardian!’
‘A Guardian type, huh. The system shutdown only works on Units.’
‘Ah, so that’s how it is.’
‘Correct.’
The enemy knows what they’re doing. Not that I know who they are, or have anything to do with this.
“Insolent!”
Mineha-san, annoyed, applied [Spiral] to her Spear and thrust.
She deflected Minos Guardian A’s Ax.
“It’s tough!”
I unleashed [Phantasmagoria].
Countless 【Vanish】 orbs surrounded Minos Guardians A and B, inflicting damage.
But it wasn’t enough to defeat them, ending up as only minor damage.
Mineha-san rained down stars in an arc.
Minos Guardians A and B were tossed about.
They really are tough. They feel tougher than the one I fought before.
This is bad. There’s only one minute left.
In that case, time for a decisive blow.
I put away Ax-san’s Knife Modified and took out the Dagaa Knife.
“Na?”
“Sorry for waking you. I need your help.”
“Na!”
“Hm?”
When I drew the Dagaa Knife, something felt off.
The grip was the same as always, but the blade transformed.
It became a slightly pointed triangle like an arrowhead, and it was split down the middle like a fork.
A large, teardrop-shaped jewel shone in the center of the fork.
Is this that mysterious jewel on Dagaa’s forehead? Come to think of it, it hadn’t been reflected before.
“Na!”
“Eh? Enchant [Phantasmagoria]? Use it on the True Eye? What’s a True Eye? Eh? The jewel?”
“Na!”
“…”
“Na!”
“Alright, I get it. I don’t know what’ll happen, though.”
40 seconds left. There wasn’t even time to hesitate.
I used [Phantasmagoria] on the jewel called the True Eye.
It felt like pouring every single 【Vanish】 orb into it.
The jewel then shone with a purple light, and I had an intuition.
I had been holding it lightly sideways in one hand, but sensing danger, I naturally gripped it with both hands and raised it high.
As I slowly swung it down, the ceiling far above shook, and stone pillars and giant rocks rained down.
Not only that, the entire 12th floor trembled slightly, and the sound of collapsing structures could be heard from all around.
And when I finished the downward swing, Minos Guardian B had been cleaved in two.
That wasn’t all. The area far beyond it was also severed, and part of the Ark’s hull collapsed.
“Wh-What is this?”
<…Ah… To do… such a thing…>
“Eh?”
What was that just now? What, who? No, there’s no one… Eh…?
“Woff! You! What did you do?!”
“That’s, well, I don’t really know…”
‘BUMOOOOOOOH!!’
The remaining Minos Guardian roared. It roared mightily.
Skillfully moving its four arms, it closed in on Mineha-san.
“You’re noisy.”
She intercepted all its attacks with stars, repelling them fiercely and sending the Minos Guardian’s massive body flying.
And she was still glaring at me. Mineha-san was angry. Seriously angry.
She thrust her Spear into the ground, then held the pommel with both hands, pressing down.
It was that pose you often see done with swords.
“Consider it an honor. I’ll show you. Dance! ‘Phantom Star Spear’!”
As she pointed the Spear at the enemy, eight stars lined up in a row.
The tense power and pressure overflowing from Mineha-san began to dominate the area.
“Starlight.”
She swung the Spear upward.
The eight stars surrounded the Minos Guardian and began to circle it.
“Vortex!!”
As she swung down, a ninth star fell from above the Minos Guardian’s head.
Instantly, a fiercely shining vortex erupted, swallowing the Minos Guardian.
“…O-Ohh…”
Swish—Mineha-san raised her Spear.
The nine stars returned and fitted themselves back into place, becoming the blue Spear adorned with a white spiral pattern.
‘…Infinite Spawn Core System shutdown confirmed. Well done.’
‘…Phew.’
Just as I let out a breath, my eyes met Mineha-san’s, and she suddenly embraced me.
Before I could even be surprised, she held me tightly, gently, sorrowfully.
“…”
I remained silent.
Same time. 12th Floor. Ark Ruins.
On a stone platform sat a white tea table, looking utterly unnatural and out of place.
A figure named Chive, wearing a yellow robe with the hood pulled low over their eyes, lay sprawled on the table.
“Ugh, ahh, what’s with things getting seriously dangerous~?”
“This much is no problem for Shiro.”
The girl dressed entirely in white sitting beside him said, occasionally taking a sip of her bluish-purple glowing herbal tea.
A short distance away from those two, the Witch and the Maid stood side-by-side.
“Well now, well now, that was quite surprising, wasn’t it?”
“So that child really is your disciple, isn’t he?”
“Fufu, fufu, he’s my prized disciple, yes he is.”
“That Wof-cchi. I want him.”
“Shiro is also interested in that child.”
The Witch glared at the two of them while laughing.
The Maid, with an expressionless look that said “this doesn’t concern me,” looked at the wreckage of the fallen Minos Unit.
“Witch. Is this Minos Unit perhaps one of the earliest models? Compared to the latest types, it doesn’t use Relics, but it’s quite durable.”
“Yes, yes, that’s right. Even Kon has only ever seen this type once, on the lowest floor of the Nether Demon Gate Dungeon.”
“Ehh? Something like that? On such a shallow floor? Man, that was seriously dangerous, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, yes, that’s right. For an Infinite Spawn to appear on such a shallow floor is a terrifying thing, isn’t it?”
“Still, as expected of your disciple.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh. Wof is my prized disciple, yes he is.”
“I wasn’t complimenting you. Don’t you two, master and disciple alike, go destroying the Dungeon!”
Shiro said, exasperated.
The Witch laughed. The Maid sighed.
“Still though, Witch, just because it was a crisis, aren’t you being a bit overprotective? Sure, I get that your first disciple is precious and all, but we aren’t supposed to be in this Dungeon, y’know?”
“Now, now, it’s understandable you’d say that. And frankly, you’re absolutely right, too.”
“Eh, you are?”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh. I’m fine with being overprotective. And it’s true he’s precious. That’s why, that’s why, I don’t want my disciple to die, you see. If there’s even the slightest chance of that, Kon will jump in to help without hesitation.”
“Wow~ Wof-cchi. You’re really loved, aren’t ya?”
“Shiro is also interested in romance.”
“Is that why you brought us here?”
“Well now, that’s simply because you were all in this town. Though I have no idea why there are so many First Class individuals gathered here.”
“Well~ For me, providing perfect after-service is my motto, so.”
“Shiro had to be here for a while to deliver a message, so I was here conveniently.”
“As for myself, I am here guarding the foolish prince.”
“In that case, in that case, it’s only natural I’d make use of you all, isn’t it?”
The Witch gazed down below and smiled.
“Oh my, oh my. Shiro the Messenger having to stay here for a while… I wonder what that could mean?”
“Suuuper unusual~!”
“Is there some reason for it?”
“Yes, there is. Oh, that’s right. I have an important message for you all from the Grand Guild Master Alhazardo Abramelin. One month from now. This town, Hydrangea, will—”
Shiro said to them.