ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

Well, I mean, the golem I happened to encounter when I went looking for a Magical Power Operation Unit was also a battle in a narrow passage, so if something comes out to fight us, it comes out to fight us, I guess. Sometimes even the game can ignore its own rules, you know?

「I will stay here and will stay alert at all times. So Rei-san, while I’m doing that……」

「Yes, I understand. I will give it a try.」

After saying that, Rei-san quietly walks forward, her legs wrapped in the Demonic Armor step into the pool of white “Wounds”. So far there were no changes to it, but when it touched the white “wounds” the armor started to make a loud hissing noise. However, no matter how bad this is going to look, I cannot just recklessly charge in to aid her here…… But maybe, just a little bit. Just the tip of my toes to test the waters……

BADUNN!!!!!!

「Ouch!! It hurts, god damn it!?」

「S-Sanraku—kun!?」

What the hell!? For some reason I am losing my precious HP at an astonishingly fast rate!? Oh shit, and now there is also the feeling that I vaguely remember, the feeling of static electricity starting to run through my body!! It’s the same thing as when my own “Wounds” react to something…… So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? You touch that thing directly, and it’s basically over for you? No way! My toes barely managed to come into contact with this shit, and it cost me fifty percent of my overall HP!? Isn’t that way too much!?

「No, if we were to add the effect of the “Fool” Arcana’s Reverse Position, just by touching this thing I am going to lose one hundred percent of my HP just like that……?」

T-Talk about an Instant Death gimmick alright…… Normally it would be about twenty percent of HP and it would be just that.

In a game where you control a character that does not have a clearly defined and responsive swimming motions, demanding from a Player the feeling of tension equal to balancing on the edge of a cliff is a pretty sadistic thing to do.

「So I guess that you really can’t touch it with the appropriate equipment, huh?」

「…… I’m going now.」

At the very bottom of the dim crack, there is a puddle of pure white “Wound” whose texture seems unlike the rest of it all. And Rei-san, who already reached near the center of it, has already sunk into this white puddle up to the area around her thighs.

However, when Rei-san drew her Demonic Sword that she was resting on her should up until now, placing the black and white sword above the surface of the puddle and lowering it down, the greatsword that was roughly the same size as Rei-san’s previous avatar sunk into it almost completely. And then, after a brief moment, a new system window was displayed right in front of Rei-san.

「And!? How is it!?」

「–––––– A person who speaks about myths of the past. A person who carries myths on and wears legends forth.」

Huh? Say what? A poem? But why so completely out of the blue?

「–––––– Look up to the sky, there you can see the two Gods. They sing, signaling the signs of ruin to come. They each hold the fragment of a myth, but are far away from the truth.」

Apparently, Rei-san was now in the middle of chanting some incantation that I have never heard before. Or was it perhaps something completely new, that did not even existed before? There was some system window opened right in front of her, and she was reading from it. Could it be that something new has been born here?

「–––––– Spell the truth out loud, and the answer shall doth appear. I am the one who hold the plain sword in her hand. I am an empty vessel, ready to be filled with the colorless blood.」

The “Wounds” in which Rei-san feet have been sinking started to slowly swirl around, becoming something of a small fountain or a murky swamp water. Then they changed into something that looked like a vortex that you can make when you unplug the bathtub filled with water. However, instead of being drained towards the unplugged hole and run down it, the swirling “Wounds” started to be sucked right into Rei-san’s armor and sword.

「–––––– The fate of standing at the crossroads. The fate of the branching paths. Both my body and my end are standing at the forefront of a choice. With the wind of beginnings gently blowing at my back.」

The white swirling mass that gathered around Rei-san started to cover the surface of her entire armor, clinging to it like parasite to flesh. The “Wound” then stayed glued to the armor for a moment before it eventually started to dry and solidify, making the armor look as though it was made out of some sort of monstrous flesh…… It really is a shame. Even though Rei-san managed to change her armor from organic one to inorganic, its image was still modeled after some sort gory, splatter-like grotesque horror. My condolences here, Rei-san.

However, the color that then emerged was gray, it was neither white nor black. Rei-san, whose armor was now almost completely covered in a dull gray shell, slowly started to pull out her sword, which was also completely sun in the puddle of the liquid “Wound”.

「–––––– I am yet to swear my oath. I am yet to sign up any contract. I am yet to accomplish anything in this world. But that I swear to you. I shall become chaos that inherits root of the Origin!」

It was then that Rei-san managed to pull out her sword from the swirling vortex of the “Wound”, and by that time this sword was already completely different from the previous “Demonic Sword” she used to own.

It was still a sword, but it looked anything BUT. It looked more like a raw block or steel, or a rough stone monument with rows of markings on it, with the hilt of a sword attached to its base……

「I-It’s over……」

「Ahh…… Good, but can you actually see anything with this thing?」

「Umm, yes, I can! I can see as clearly as ever!」

And then Rei-san emerged from the pool of swirling “Wounds” as if it was nothing special to begin with. Even though earlier on just merely brushing against this substance that was either liquid or solid would be more than enough to reduce your HP down to zero in an instant.

In response to my naive question, I could see the corner of her right cheek raise ever so slightly, indicating that she must have smiled in a bitter way. Right about now it was the only thing closest to expression I could see on Rei-san’s face, since the majority of her face was now covered in a smooth, plain-looking, flat mask.