Chapter 1386 Packing All of Your Dreams Into a Science-Fiction Setting Part 1

The Leviathan’s “Secret VIP Area” localized inside of the Third Layer…… “Battlefield”.

This area was basically assuming the role of the “Player Versus Player” Coliseum, and it was the place where the Players themselves could fight one another, as the name might suggest. This activity was also the main attraction of this VIP-only area, available only to those who already managed to clear the entire Leviathan. The atmosphere in here was especially heavy and bloody, as it also emphasized the “darker” aspect of entertainment of this particular layer of Leviathan.

Additionally the Players could fight various kinds of monsters in here, thanks to the monster breeding area available in here that was similar to what could be found on board of the “Behemoth”. There was also a wide array of mechanical monsters that resembled the “Wisdom Guard” of the fourth layer. And of course, for winning battles and overcoming various challenges, a wide selection of rewards could be won.

And as you might expect of a Coliseum-type of area, in here there was also a form of gambling that the Players could participate in. It was a form of simple betting, one where you only had to bet on two possible outcomes: either the Player managing to beat the monster, or the monster managing to best the Player. It wasn’t actually all that much, but since there were still only a few people who managed to completely conquer the Leviathan, it was as good of a form of a past time as any while they were waiting for more conquerors to emerge victorious. And while you could always bet on other Players and watch their struggles, it was always much quicker to get the extra score to just bet on the Player winning and then participate in the battle yourself.

「Battle Ended. Winner: Rust!」

And just now, right as the huge mechanical lion with firearms all over its body was basically torn to shreds and turned into scrap iron, the announcement that the winner has been confirmed could have been heard all across the Coliseum.

「–––––– Splendid, magnificent! What a wonderful Score that was!」

「…… There is still room in here to grow even better.」

「At this rate, there is no doubt that you are going to easily win in the Survival challenge, where you fight twenty consecutive battles and with each battle won, the difficulty of the net battle is growing increasingly harder. But I am sorry to say this, Rust-sama, but the monster that you happened to defeat just now, that “Argoleon”, is the strongest, highest difficulty monster that we can offer you at the current moment. …… If you would like to go against something even stronger, I’m afraid that you will have to wait until the design phase is going to finish, as well as all the necessary implementations will be concluded.」

The firearm-equipped, armored lion Argoleon is a monster with a difficulty level of twenty out of twenty, so the maximum that was available at the current moment. The Brave Fish looked at the ferocious latest machine model that was easily converted into scrap metal in less than fifteen minutes, and then she shifted her gaze towards the girl who made managed to completely thrash her latest creation. Then she muttered to herself: “I knew it, I really should have made something even more vicious”.

Whether the person in question was able to her the Brave Fish mutter that to herself or not, on her end Rust just arrived at the conclusion that she was not going to “earn” anything more of value in here and that it would be wise to stop for now. When she managed to clear the difficulty level twenty challenge, she managed to finish the challenge that required her to do so while being undefeated, and she was able to acquire the reward for that…… Which was actually a huge amount of Score.

「…… Alright, that’s fine with me. Just make sure to notify me once the Difficulty Twenty One is going to be implemented here. Also, once that happens…… I’ll make sure to get there from scratch, so that you can have something to actually look forward to.」

「Hmm, but I must say…… You exhibit some amazing amount of Fighting Power, even though the regulations limit what you can use to machinery alone. I wonder if it is on the level of Wezaemon Amatsuki, or maybe even higher than that……?」

「…… I have not really fought against that Wezaemon guy, so I would not even know what it is that you are talking about, but…… I guess that I shall just take it as a compliment. Alright then, if you’d be so kind as to transport me from this “Secret VIP” area back to the fourth layer?」

「Very well, then. Understood~.」

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It was in this moment that Rust managed to reaffirms her feeling that the world of Shangri-La Frontier pursuits its fantasy elements to a strangely maddening degree. It was also the kind of world that pursuits its realism to the strangely maddening degree. And it was also a world that pursuits its Science—Fiction elements to a strangely maddening degree as well. And the main reason that reminded Rust of that fact was this place right here…… The Weapons Development facility on the fourth layer reserved for VIPs only, based on the same kind of technology and principles as the technology behind the INVENTORY…… Yes, the secret area of the fourth layer, “Arsenal”. And it was for quite some time now that this area was starting to be used more and more frequently.

「Ah, Rust!」

「Hey there, Rust! Have you finished earning your Scores for the day?」

「…… Hmph, another easy victory, huh?」

「But I must say, it’s really strange…… Although the fight was set for Solo mode for sure, I get a feeling that it should be adjusted on assumption that it’s not a one on one kind of battle, but rather a one versus a full squad kind of battle. At least, as far as the output is concerned.」

「…… Just to let you know, things such as one man army do exist in this world. Sometimes a solo player can take on a whole squad or even more and still emerge victorious, if only they try hard enough. It all depends on the feelings, you know?」

「Ahaha, surely you jest, Rust-sama.」

As much as Rust would like that statement to be just a joke, sadly that was not the case here. But it was actually Mold who muttered those words while operating a separate console in the corner of the room. For some reason, unlike Rust, who managed to get herself into debt once and had to make a comeback from the red into black through racing over and over again, Mold, who actually managed to obtain the necessary Score to leave this layer in one challenge.