Chapter 1293 Resonating Mirror and Howling From the Sky PART 2 Part 2

「So? What is the conclusion you managed to arrive at while looking at the picture book compendium before you?」

「Huh? What was that supposed to mean? I don’t understand at all!」

「Oi! Hey now! Are you kidding me!?」

「”Hahaha, but there is something you can see in here, indeed! The environment in this hierarchy is strangely over-organized, don’t you think?」

「Isn’t it simply because this whole environment is artificial to begin with?」

「Just as Eternal Zero says, this is an artificial natural environment, yes. But at the same time…… I should say that the strength of the monsters in here seems to be intentionally ranked.」

Intentional ordering of strength of the monsters, huh……? Artificial natural environment, huh……?

「So? What exactly does that tell us?」

「There are three guesses that we have so far. Monster annihilation, ecosystem changes, acquisition of clear items that one of the monsters hides as a drop item…… I think the possibility of it being the first guess is really low in here, but at the same time it cannot be denied with all due certainty.」

「Hmm……」

Certainly enough, I don’t think it will be possible to wipe all of those pesky monsters out from this floor, and even if it was possible, there is no way in hell that we would be able to do that under one hour’s time. If so, is it going to the be third option? For example…… a clear item mixed in an egg being warmed by a bird-shaped monster. No, in that case the information gained from all other layers would be useless here. And if that is indeed so……

「…… Then does that mean that second option it is?」

「I actually happen to agree with you on that one, Sanraku-kun. Maybe…… I think we should defeat the strongest monster in here and try to stand on top of this miniature ecosystem. Sounds plausible, don’t you think?」

I told everyone gathered here my honest thoughts just like that, but I did not expect such a response. I turned my marbled gaze toward Bansai-san, who at the current moment looked like someone who was trying to hide his excitement behind a mask of stone-cold professionalism. And he was not doing a very good job at it.

「Hoo? And can you tell me the reason behind why do you think that is?」

「No matter how we try to look at it, this environment is clearly well-organized. And if you take an even closer look at it, it is a ladder that is organized by the strength of the monsters. And it’s so neat and clean that its almost beautiful…… Not to mention that no two monsters in here happen to possess the same level of strength. It is something that would never be possible if it was not done intentionally.」

It seems that judging by the information on the monsters from the lower echelons of hierarchy around these parts, it can be deduced that every organism in this place is divided according to the degree of danger that it poses to others. For example, a six-legged rhino that both EterZero-san and I managed to defeat earlier seemed to be classified as the Level Three when it comes to danger…… So we managed to bring it down pretty quickly and without much of the resistance on its side.

「Let’s try and find the monster that sits on top of the hierarchy in here in terms of HP or Physical Power and try to defeat it within one hour’s time. ……Hmm, I see, it is certainly something that I can see being a final test of sorts when it comes to a place like that. But now then, how are we supposed to actually……」

「This is just a suggestion on my end, but how about this? Let’s give ourselves five minutes of time and try to search. Maybe we are going to randomly happen across a monster that seems the strongest to us all?」

「Yes, sounds like a good plan to me. Also, it is worth mentioning that the most dangerous –– the strongest enemies inside of the Behemoth should be relatively easy to find. Since they are all sharing certain distinctive features.」

「Features?」

…

………

……………

The greatest feature of the Behemoth is its ability to create life.

And it’s not only limited to Next-Generation Human Beings. It can also be applied to monsters as well, produced as a result of experiments that have been continued for almost three thousand years. So it wouldn’t be all that strange of those monster actually managed to form their own unique ecosystem here on board of the Behemoth.

It seems that the adult specimens are basically bred artificially and stored in cold sleep using INVENTORY technology. It’s completely a space opera dystopia to say the least, now that I think about it.

Well, it doesn’t really matter to us that much about now. Also, “Ivory” always seemed like a sort of a mad scientist to me from the very beginning, so such practices are certainly not something that I would put past her.

The problem is the monster made by “Ivory” specifically, and designated as “Danger Level Ten” among all of the Behemoth monsters that we have encountered so far.

They are supposed to be the product of an experiment conducted to reproduce the properties of certain monsters as accurately as it was humanly possible, and are a failed work that was produced in the crazy concept of combining the properties of said monster into one crazy amalgamation.

「It is said that it was originally meant to be an infinite source of meat and livestock products, something that was brought into this world by combining the inexhaustible breeding properties of Golduinine the Inexhaustible and the replicating the individual properties of the Nightprowler Luukan.」

「This is downright crazy! God damn you, you kappogi apron fairy……!」

「Maybe so, but I still believe that even with something like this, there is love and motherhood to be found!」

I don’t know if this thing was really remodeled into a monster, or if it was a result of some really strange and convoluted accident, but it certainly looked like some abomination that you would witness inside of a nightmare and you would wish to never see it again once you wake up.

「It would seem that this is the Number One Failed product of this floor, “The Inexhaustible Mother Goose”, I believe her name is.」

「I wonder if just a good old punch to the stomach would do the trick here? Although that’s a whole lot of wishful thinking, don’t you think?」

「Come on now, Sanraku-kun. I know that this is technically the golden goose that we are talking about here, but you could have think of something way better to say here. Something way more fashionable.」

Oh yeah? Then how about this one, huh? Is that what you get when you combine the Wimp-Class monster with a Luukan-Class monster? A fucking monstrous goose that shoots eggs out of its ass and uses them like some sort of a slingshot projectile!? Is that what you are trying to tell me in here!?