Chapter 134: It's Different from the Game "Whew…"
Looking down from a height that spells certain death and staring at footholds that look like they'll collapse the moment I step on them, a sigh escapes me naturally.
Did I get too cocky coming up here?
This game might be a masterpiece among eroge, but as all you gentlemen know, you shouldn't expect too much from the technical side of an adult game.
Naturally, when playing the game, it was just Akito crawling up a 2D map, occasionally slicing through monsters in random encounters.
But what I'm experiencing isn't some high-tech simulation… it's actual reality, and it's driving me insane.
"Whoa—!"
Did they embezzle the construction funds when they built this communication tower? Why do these footholds crumble like cardboard boxes the second I touch them?
I could understand the lower sections being damaged from previous attempts, but why is it still this flimsy the higher I go?
The agents didn't fail for nothing.
Some bastard definitely skimmed the budget, and that's why no one can get up here.
"A foothold just fell. Watch your heads down there."
Copy th— kzzzt… Are— you— kzzzt— okay? Do I have to install another repeater already?
This fog even interferes with communications, so if I don't install repeaters every few meters, I can't even talk to the defense team on the ground.
After installing the repeater, I reassure Yukina—who's worrying about me despite being busy in the middle of a battle—and start crawling up the tower again.
In the distance, the sight of Angelica's spells piercing through the fog and raining down on the monsters Rio marked is truly a spectacle.
I can't see the monsters dying because of the fog, but the sight of the magic lances streaking through the mist is undeniably cool.
Rio doesn't have specialized search magic and has to provide combat support too, so he shouldn't be able to mark every single monster. Seeing that much magic being poured out means Yukina must be struggling down there.
The thug deserves to struggle more, though. While he's at it, if Yukina gets in danger, he should just go ahead and sacrifice himself.
I look up to find another foothold, but I can't tell what's solid and what's cardboard anymore.
It looks like a sturdy steel beam held together with plenty of bolts, but isn't it a bit much for it to fall off just because my toe brushed it?
I thought this would be a breeze, but it's much harder than I expected.
In my past life, those people who went rock climbing without magic really had nerves of steel.
Looking around, I spot a decent-looking space at a height where I'd definitely be caught by the fog if I tried to use my whip.
Please, let's get it right in one go this time.
I loosen my grip, take a coin, and toss it carefully.
Ting—!
With a crisp sound, the coin bounces off a pillar and disappears into the fog below. I relay another "watch your heads" to Yukina.
Ah… stop wasting coins and just throw them properly, for God's sake.
I've practiced enough to be confident in throwing them in a straight line, but this time I need to land the coin precisely on top of a ledge.
Looking up from below, I can't even see the surface I'm supposed to land the coin on. I have to lob it onto a space barely big enough for a single foot, so power control is crucial.
Ting—!
Failed again.
The space magic August taught me is a spell that swaps locations using a coin as a medium.
According to him, it's such a crude spell it barely qualifies as space magic, so he gave it the simple name 'Swap.'
It's not a fancy name, but personally, I think it's quite intuitive.
Anyway, Swap consumes less mana and is more stable the more the target coin is stationary and fixed.
Ugh…
While it's better to have the coin fixed, it's not like I can't swap with a coin while it's in mid-air.
If it only worked on fixed objects, I wouldn't have been able to toy with Bukgeuk-jwa back at the geezer's house.
I was saving mana in case I fell, but should I just go all out?
At this rate, I'll run out of coins before I run out of mana.
After a moment of deliberation, I pull the repeaters out of my bag, hook as many as I can onto my belt, and radio Yukina.
"I'm going to use space magic in rapid succession for a bit. A lot of coins might fall, so be careful."
The strands reaching out from the fog are slow at first, but they get faster as time passes.
Actually, the speed isn't the real issue. No matter how fast they are, how are they going to catch me when I'm teleporting?
The problem is that I'm still inside the fog, so it's hard to dodge if a strand suddenly bursts out from above.
I wanted to wait until I was out of the fog before using Swap to climb quickly, but thanks to that nameless bastard who pocketed the construction money, I can't make it up with just the whip.
"Whew—"
Exhaling a sigh for the umpteenth time since I started climbing this tower, I grab a handful of coins.
Let's go.
Flick—!
Ignoring the tapering structure of the tower, the coin soars upward in a straight line. The fog ripples, and strands begin to crawl out.
Simultaneously, a discarded coin touches the top of my foot. Swap activates, and my vision shifts.
Unlike the coin, I'm suspended in mid-air. The fog spasms, and dozens of strands erupt toward me. I hurl a repeater at the tower and flick another coin.
Without even having time to check if the repeater stuck, I repeatedly cast the spell, surging upward.
Wow… this is gruesome.
The strands that were heading for my previous position start squirming and climbing after me. As I repeat the magic and ascend, the number of pursuing strands increases until the view below looks like a pit to hell.
The countless squirming strands intertwine as they rise, looking as if they're devouring the communication tower itself.
It's the kind of visual where if a woman gets caught, she'll be ravished into a mess, and if a man gets caught, he'll be torn limb from limb.
Matching my constant movement, fog strands now erupt from above as well, trying to snatch the coins I throw.
"I've still got plenty of coins!"
Flicking coins with both hands, I swap with the ones that manage to evade the overhead strands.
Throw a repeater, flick a coin, swap, dodge a strand, flick, dodge, throw—
Moving my hands and feet frantically as I climb, I eventually reach a point where I can't keep it up and hug a steel pillar.
"My feet touched! They touched! Dragging me down now is cheating!"
The fog doesn't have a mind of its own, and there's no way it would understand me, but I press my feet against the pillar and shout desperately.
Hugging a steel beam without a proper foothold looks pathetic, but there's no one here to see me, and staying alive comes first.
The fog strands, their movements slowed, stop as if assessing the situation.
My feet are touching. Get those tentacles away from my neck.
The fog strands, so close they'd touch me if I moved even an inch, are scarier than any sharp blade right now.
As I watch warily, the strands slowly slink back into the fog. I finally let out the breath I was holding.
Seriously, nothing is easy in this place.
I thought I came well-prepared, but it's still a struggle.
How would Akito have climbed this?
He's an all-rounder, but he shouldn't have learned short-range teleportation yet, so he would've had to muscle through it like me. I can't even imagine it.
Would he have come alone and died, like when he was trapped in the Vegetable Shop Owner's zone? Probably not.
He's not the protagonist for nothing. Akito is the type to somehow find a way through, even if it's forced, and produce a result.
Wait, who am I worrying about? I'm the one about to die here.
After catching my breath, I start the Swap-run again.
Maybe it's pissed off because it missed me earlier, but this time the strands are aggressive from the start.
Unlike when I was inching up looking for footholds, using space magic lets me soar up exhilaratingly, and I soon break through the fog.
I'm still far from the top, but just escaping the fog that blocked my vision makes me feel refreshed.
Khhh~ What a view.
The way the fog is spread out calmly makes it look like I'm looking at an ocean.
And with the communication tower rising tall in the center, I can't help but be impressed.
If it weren't for the strands swarming up from below, that is.
"Too slow, you bastards! You think you can catch anything with that?!"
I know it has no intellect, but I've suffered so much that I flip the bird at the fog and flick a coin.
The strands, suddenly moving at insane speeds, fly toward me like arrows. I twist my body mid-air, using Swap to continue my ascent.
"Hup!"
Kicking off a tattered iron plate, I drive forward in a dropkick posture and land on a narrow ledge.
As I lie there with my feet planted, the strands squirm up from all sides before sliding back down.
Since all I did was flick my fingers, I'm not physically exhausted, but I'm mentally drained.
And because I used too much mana in a short burst, my head is throbbing.
Frey trained me for this, too.
She had me train in a near-zero mana state many times so I'd get used to fighting while mana-depleted.
Seriously, she didn't get the Training Instructor trait for nothing.
Every single thing Frey taught me is proving useful.
I pull myself together and stand up, spotting Angelica and Masayoshi in the distance.
Angelica is too busy firing off spells to notice, but Masayoshi holds a thumb up high.
That guy… he's cool in every way except for his face.
The fog prevents communication from reaching that far, but Masayoshi signals me by blinking a flashlight.
Wait, that's too fast.
I know there's something like Morse code here for sending short signals, but I'm not as smart as you.
I barely manage to decode Masayoshi's repeating signal: the number of swarming monsters has increased so much that the defense team won't be able to hold out much longer.
The defense team's situation is dire, but since I'm almost at the top, there's no need to worry.
Inside the fog, it was hard because strands erupted from above too, but now they only come from below, so I can use Swap without interference.
And since I've climbed so high, the top is just within reach.
Maybe… four? Five more flicks and I'll be there.
I'll head up as soon as my mana stabilizes a bit.
Rumble—!
Just as I'm checking the distance, I hear a massive mana reaction and an ominous sound.
Uh… no way?
The power is so immense that the fog parts like the Red Sea, revealing the ground below through the gap.
Frey, Turk, and the Greyhound mercenaries appear to have been hit by an attack; they're blown back before regaining their balance in mid-air and landing on the ground.
Good God, why is that here?
Through the gap before the displaced fog flows back in, I see the form of a hidden boss-class monster.
It looks like a version of the monkey-type monsters I'd been swatting away while climbing, but ten times larger, with muscular arms that look like they've been injected with liters of steroids.
They couldn't handle it? Why did it come all the way here?
Loud explosions continue to echo beyond the fog, and soon a transmission comes through—Frey must have linked up with Yukina.
Kzzzt… The info you gave— kzzzt— it's different! The cave collap— kzzzzzt— There must be an issue with the repeaters I installed haphazardly while teleporting up, because Frey's voice is barely audible.
But I think I know what the problem is.
I don't remember the monster's name, but I know the strategy.
I'd told Frey its weaknesses, attributes, attack patterns… well, not all of them, but the dangerous attacks to watch out for.
In the game, it's actually easy to deal with.
Its attack and defense are both excellent, but the intervals between its attacks are long, so you can easily take it down using hit-and-run tactics while utilizing the terrain.
The problem is that in the game, the terrain was indestructible.
Right, I thought that far ahead.
Could a stone pillar withstand a monstrous attack fueled by brute strength? If you hide behind one, you'll get crushed along with the pillar.
But… I didn't expect it to break out of its field.
I don't know the exact process, but it seems the cave collapsed during the monster's rampage, and it made its way outside.
Doesn't this… make the difficulty higher than in the game?
In the game, you only had to deal with one boss-class monster, but now they have to deal with its minions too.
Add the fog to that, and their vision is limited; if they try to jump, they'll get snatched by the strands and fall, so the Z-axis is restricted…
Frey will be fine. Given enough time, she might even take them all down alone.
But the others won't hold out.
I quickly flick a coin and climb toward the summit with everything I've got.
Mana stability? I don't have time to worry about that crap right now.
I have to link up with Central immediately and request a bombardment.
If I'm late, everyone except Frey is dead.
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