Chapter 1396 The Fastest Star

Oh shit, this is bad. That is what I have thought at that moment. I mean, who would have thought that things would turn out quite like this?

It’s like living in the deepest wilderness of the New World, but you are afraid to be proud and mortifying Carved Wound of the Wolf, the Nightprowler. I guess that its might and majesty is so great that it cannot help itself but to affect everyone around it and instill fear into their hearts to some extent.

Or could it be that it was simply astonishing to see someone such as myself standing side by side with a supposedly one of the most powerful beings in this game and her snake companion? Would such a picture truly be that intimidating to begin with?

No, it is mostly the fault of the thing that just happened. That not one, but two other “Contractors” and their “Ladies” managed to meet inside of this “Snake’s Apple” coffee shop.

(Sanraku……! Sanraku surely need to be that thing, isn’t it!? Like the one in that famous video about the Unique Monster Orchestra!)

At the current moment Ogasei, who was sipping on his Alcohol-Free Kahlua Milk, which was in short nothing more but a coffee milk, stared at the salmon-headed eccentric Player who suddenly got his own clothes burst, much to the mixture of joy, astonishment and excitement of all their current surroundings.

Yes, Sanraku.

As a matter of fact, that name was slowly starting to become huge in the world of video games and even managing to reach the circles well beyond it. And as far as the world of ShangriLa Frontier goes, that particular player is pretty much a celebrity.

Bomber Bunny. Naked Mask-Man. Jet Samurai. Sigma-chan’s P. Tsuchinoko.

That Player is actually being called in many various ways, but the hottest name that is on everyone’s lips nowadays comes from that one stream video that showed his success in overcoming a huge and tough Raid-like battle against a Unique Monster completely on his own, which managed to elevate his existence to the absolute top of this world. And that someone is actually……

「The holder of the “Maximum Speed” title, the fastest player in the entire world of ShangriLa Frontier……」

「Hmm? What was that?」

「Huh!」

Perhaps the words that he thought that he muttered only to himself came to the ears of Sanraku, and when he turned around, Ogasei hurriedly turned his gaze toward his coffee milk, trying to pass for being greatly interested in it. Ogasei might have been someone who was not afraid of role-playing, but it was also true that people like that Sanraku just now were able to awaken that shy streak that he also happened to have inside of him ever since he was able to recall.

Perhaps he simply thought that maybe he must have misheard something, because shortly after that the salmon-head tuned his head back towards the pair that just recently entered the shop. It was then that Ogasei turned to Nine who was sitting right beside him and whispered into her ear, seemingly sounding all excited just like a small child.

「Hey, hey! What are we going to do, Nine-chan!? It’s Sanraku, Sanraku! In the flesh! He’s actually an amazing celebrity around these parts!」

「Hmm, I see. Well, good for you, I guess.」

「I wonder if he is going to give me his autograph if I ask nice enough…… Or maybe we can even take a screenshot together!」

「Well, good for you, I guess.」

But from Nine’s point of view, none of the things above seemed to be the case. Of the many “Goldunines” that diverged from the Original Goldunine, not counting the original one, every other Goldunine from the second to the ninth had some sort of exceptional ability that they seemed to be born with. And naturally, the Original Goldunine was holding all of those abilities inside of her as well. So it was nothing more but a fact that the “Single-Digit” Goldunines were the ones who killed and fed on many others that came after them, hundreds and hundreds of them. They would kill and feed on one another and then disappear…… But it would seem that not all of them actually perished due to that process.

In fact, it would seem that one of such single-digit Goldunines was currently right in front of her. And at the current moment this place seemed like hell to Nine, and she wanted nothing more but to escape from here as fast as she possibly could. Nine was not the type who would actively throw herself into a fight, nor is she was the type who could throw away her pride as much as Wimp could (although Nine herself had no way of knowing that.).

For Nine, the notion of her own “survival” was a cause for constant anxiety. And currently there was no way that she could escape from here all on her own. But would she really be that much safer outside of this coffee shop rather than if she stayed inside of it? Or what if she was to go outside only for that hiding white snake to wrap itself around her and just squeeze her to death? Nine, who continues to suffer from constant anxiety like that, wanted nothing more right now than to scratch her head as hard as she possibly could knowing that this white snake was in here somewhere and waiting. And that was also the reason why she couldn’t simply leave Ogasei’s side just like that. After all, he was her only ally. The only person that she could fully trust.

「I want to get the hell out of here, I want to get the hell out of here, I want to get the hell out of here……」

「Or maybe you would like to take a screenshot together with Nine-chan here?」

However, there is another irregularity right here. An eccentric person who wears the sign of the Lord of the Night itself, and also someone who managed to establish a non Master-Slave relationship with one of the other Goldunines. Yes, the individual named Sanraku. And when it comes to this world, there is absolutely no one out there who would not be scared of the Lord of the Night. And apparently this rule is no exception for those Goldunines, either. So, despite that person looking rather silly with his fish-like head, every single time their eyes wonder towards him, they are met with those horrifying marks and as a result, they are overcome with a tremendous feeling of intimidation that no one would be able to easily overcome.

However, there is also the other side to this whole situation. It can be said that this very eccentric player is on an equal footing to the original Goldunine, and who knows if he is not actually even stronger than her at the current moment? And if he’s not as strong as her, then surely he must be as strong as the white snakes that follow her everywhere she goes. So, it can be said that if they were to get on that person’s good side and befriend him, their odds of surviving in this brutal world would increase tremendously. …… And so, Nine turned her gaze towards the other Goldunine here, the one who was still glaring daggers at everyone else in here. Please, even if it turns out to be a complete and utter mistake, just stop antagonizing one another for the time being and think of a solution together!

And as for Ogasei, he also happened to turn his gaze towards Sanraku. His thoughts, however, were completely different. He was just contemplating if the two of them could take a screenshot together and if he would be okay with it.

* * *

At the current moment there are three Golduninens, and each and every single one of them has a Player who is accompanying them. And although it is rather irrelevant here, there is also a whole lot of foolish people in here, creating the hustle and bustle of this place.

Now then, one could wonder what was going to happen. The content of the meeting was obviously going to be about the Unique Scenario EX connected to the Unique Monster Goldunine the Inexhaustible, “Putting Me Out of My Misery”.

In the first place, the structure of this particular Unique Scenario EX still remains a complete mystery. But if it was to simply defeat the Goldunine the Inexhaustible in battle, then there would be no point of having other Goldunines exist in the first place. Much less to have them following the instinct of competing against one another.

But then, who would be declared a winner in this scenario? Someone who managed to make contact with Goldunine before anyone else did? But in that case, the existence of other Goldunines would also come to be questioned heavily. No matter how they were trying to think about it, nothing all that plausible was coming to their minds. One thing that just kept on appearing was the notion of multiple captures, but if they were to do that, there are always things like level and abilities to consider. Sanraku was convinced that if he was to battle each Goldunine alongside Rei, and Akitsu Akane, the three strongest Players that he knew, he was sure that they would be able to pull if off, but just barely. But in addition to the four dragon-snakes that guard Goldunine, there is also the main body to consider…… So wouldn’t it be safe to assume that going against a powerful enemy like that would be basically like that battle against Siegwurm, the Heavenly Emperor? A large scale, super Raid Boss battle? But what about other Goldunines then? In such a situation, the premise and purpose do not match one another in the slightest. And so, the nature of this quest was still one huge mystery.

「……… Yeah.」

So, perhaps the correct way to handle this thing was to simply persuade the original Goldunine to cooperate with the efforts of the Player?

In the first place, this particular Unique Scenario EX is already focused on flavor rather than anything else, so it’s small wonder that its clearing conditions are pretty blurred. Even in the case of a Unique Scenarios, the clearing conditions are sometimes unclear but there are hints as to what they might actually be. But the only thing that we have here for a hint is this: “Close to the dream that the snake has dreamt, right at the end of feelings”? What the hell?

「Now then, call it just a coincidence or a work of fate, but the fact remains that three Goldunines managed to meet one another in a place like this. Don’t you think that this calls for a toast?」

「Are you sure that those drinks are not poisoned? How can we possibly know that?」

「And when would we have time to do that? Besides, you will be able to tell if the drink is going to taste funny, right? So we can worry about that if it comes to that.」

Even when eating something like a pufferfish, there is always a possibility that you might die, but you don’t actually HAVE to die. But at the same time, since the possibility of death is always there, it’s always better to just leave thing like that to the professionals. Otherwise you can end up with a really bad case of upset stomach, if nothing else.

「So, honestly…… I would very much like to log out, since it’s already morning and all that, but I absolutely cannot say goodbye, not in this kind of situation. So, if we are to decide anything here, let’s do it right here and right now.」

「Decided? Decide what? What are you even talking about?」

What do we need to decide? You seriously need to ask me about such an obvious thing, Wimp? It’s as plain as a day!

「Do we all die here where we stand? Or do we make friends and go our respective ways?」

It was precisely at that time that the door of the “Snake’s Apple” came wide open once more ───