Hello again, everyone.
As you might notice, the cover image of this story has changed slightly. That is what Ryu is supposed to look like from the beginning. Just saying.
See you in the afterword.
[X][X][X]
SPLASH!
I hit the water head first after falling from the tremendous height, no thanks to my Dark Blast form expiring from so far up there. There was no damage taken since my photon armor still worked perfectly. Photon armor also enabled me to breathe in space and survive its harsh environments to a certain extent, therefore underwater and its high pressure were no different. However, I was not so sure if the personal artificial gravity which came along with that function would be a good idea, since now I was sinking to the dark depths below.
After a couple minutes, I landed on the seabed ground with my two feet. Unfortunately, photon armor didn't provide dark vision, so right now everything was pitch black for me. In response to the situation, I activated the personal illumination feature which would light everything up within 10 meter radius, but I was practically giving my position away to anyone while it was active. I was never a stealth person to begin with, so I didn't care.
I also activated my photon interface to scan the surroundings and see if there could be any points of interest nearby. I also hoped that there would be Darkers or Darker-infected hostiles since in order to reactivate Dark Blast I needed to defeat such hostiles and absorb enough Darker Factor. Otherwise, I would have to walk on my own towards dry land which seemed to be far to the east.
"Hmm?"
There was a curious reading which the scanner picked up. The distance was a little far, about ten clicks north, but I decided to check that out anyway. I took my weapon out, which was an assault rifle, and activated a Photon Art which would enable me to run at high speed as long as it was active.
Shift-Nachtangriff!
ZOOOM!
"W-What the hell!"
To my surprise, the speed of my running was a lot faster than what the Photon Art would normally provide. Out of reflex and surprise, I halted the running.
As part of the Photon Art, right after I stopped running, two energy balls were shot forward from my weapon. To my surprise once again, the two balls were significantly larger and brighter than normal, demolishing everything they touched, including the ground they were grazing. Thankfully, they still disappeared into thin air after traveling about thirty meters forward. Otherwise I couldn't imagine what kind of destruction would have happened in their wake.
I stopped to think about what had just happened. Indeed Xiera had warned me that my Photon Arts and Photon Techs would probably not behave as normal while on Pandora, but I had never expected them to be ridiculously powered up like that.
"Interesting"
Luther's voice echoed in my head again. Of course someone like him would find this phenomenon interesting. There had been no other places where this kind of thing happened after all.
"It seems the photon particles on this planet are so... unique. I wish I could build a lab here to research on it"
I kept myself silent, not paying any heed to his words. Now that I knew about the effects, I mentally prepared myself and once again activated the Photon Art.
Shift-Nachtangriff!
ZOOOM!
I sped through the seabed at a speed which would allow me to arrive at my destination within a short time. Unfortunately, my photon energy reserve wouldn't last that long in maintaining the Photon Art. Therefore, I had to periodically stop and recharge. I kept in mind to cancel the Photon Art entirely instead of merely stopping the dash whenever I needed to, since it would be bad if I accidentally destroyed something important, or harmed whatever was living down here.
After about five minutes, I arrived at the spot indicated by the scanner. After stopping, I looked around to see if I could find the object of interest, whatever it could be.
"What...?"
It didn't take long for me to notice the object, since it was something I could recognize easily. It was a Gate Ship, in wrecked beyond repairs condition. In addition, it was covered in blood red veins, a clear display that it had been infected by Darkers and now was spreading Darker Factors to the surroundings.
I approached it, wondering if I could purify the wreckage and stop it from spreading Darker Factors. I put my hand on the wreckage and charged photon into it.
FLASH!
The wreckage was covered in bright blue light for a moment, and once the light dissipated the wreckage had lost all the blood red veins. The purification was successful.
"Alright"
After making sure that there were no more Darker Factors oozing out from the wreckage, I entered the interior of the Gate Ship through a hole at its back. I looked around at the inside and, as I expected, none of the terminals and teleporters inside were working anymore. This Gate Ship was totally gone.
However, something caught my interest. Or to be exact, the lack of something.
The food terminal on one side of the Gate Ship was not there. Not because it had been lost during the crash. That side of the ship was still intact but totally plain, as if the terminal had never been there in the first place.
The food terminal was a feature added to all Gate Ships much later than other features, after a technological advancement enabled exquisite dishes to be made within an instant. Seeing that this Gate Ship remains had no food terminal, I could only conclude that this Gate Ship had crashed here years ago before the feature had been added.
But that still didn't make sense.
The global addition of the feature had happened about three years ago, yet the condition of the wreckage was not decrepit enough to signify having been abandoned here for such a long time. Moreover, this kind of incident should have been documented and resulted in Pandora being added to the list of planets since long ago if that had been the case.
If I had to try to draw a conclusion from these points, I would say that this was the Gate Ship Mel Rose had stolen to run away from Laguz, and this ship just happened to be one which had been missed by the global feature addition. That didn't make sense either because the Gate Ship which had been stolen by Mel Rose was a registered one, which should have the food terminal feature.
Unable to draw any good conclusions, I stepped out of the wreckage with an unsatisfied mindset. Too many questions, and not enough answers.
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, a large creature passed by and quickly went out of the illumination range. Its passing created a minor shockwave which staggered me a little. Just seconds later, it returned and stopped at the spot right in front of me. It was so big my illumination range didn't cover the entirety of its body, but soon it lowered its head into range, and now I was face-to-face with it.
I could recognize the serpent-like creature as the same one which had fought the corrupted giant octopus creature alongside the three persons back then. My quick scanning indicated that this creature was not infected at all, so I should keep myself from attacking first and see what would happen next.
Soon, the creature opened its mouth and began speaking.
"That object no longer spreads evil. This one thanks the other"
At first, I didn't quite understand what the creature meant. But it didn't take long for me to realize that they were thanking me for purifying the Gate Ship, stopping it from spreading Darker Factors.
"Many merfolk affected and became evil. That one creature, became large and powerful"
"Are there more of this thing that spread evil?"
I asked the question, trying to find out if there were any more infected objects which would spread Darker Factors like the Gate Ship wreckage. I couldn't do much against infected creatures which had already become berserk other than defeating them and hope they would survive the beatings, but for infected objects I could at least attempt to purify it like what I had just done with the Gate Ship.
"That object was the only one, as far as this one is aware"
"Good to hear"
I nodded in relief, and then I wondered why this serpent-like creature could escape infection without photon armor. Although, seeing that the Shironian natives of the planet Harkotan could do the same thanks to their goddess giving them her blessing, this creature could possibly be the same or similar case. I then decided to directly ask about it since I believed there would be no loss in asking.
"How come you are not infected like the merfolk and the large creature?"
"Difficult to explain, but this one will try"
The serpent creature then began explaining on how it had escaped infection. Their way of speaking was a little strange compared to normal ways, but thankfully with some thought process I could decipher what they meant. In the end, it was actually simple. They were in possession of a special magic which protected them from Darker Factor, though it came with a side effect of reducing their speech level into nothing while it was active. Now that the infected Gate Ship was no more, they no longer needed to maintain the magic.
"Evil merfolk are still out there. Would the other be willing to eliminate evil merfolk?"
I thought about it for a minute. Hunting infected merfolk would take a while depending on how many of them were, but as an ARKS and a Guardian, I wouldn't turn a blind eye on them running rampant and harming innocent beings. Therefore, I nodded.
"Alright, I will do it"
"Then this one will assist the other, starting with this"
The creature began glowing faintly right after saying that.
"Dringay'n Zemabca"
The creature casted something on me, and suddenly everything around me became very clear as if I was standing on land in broad daylight. Could that have been some kind of night vision spell? Nevertheless, now that the personal illumination system was no longer needed, I turned it off.
"Thank you"
The creature nodded, and the two of us departed to begin our hunt on infected merfolk.
[X][X][X]
"I see, all teams so far have had it rough"
Momon gave his short remark after hearing the stories from Gringham and Hekkeran about what had happened inside the ruins to their respective team.
"Yeah, thankfully we had no casualties"
Hekkeran said those words while remembering that their team had almost had a total wipeout if not for Sheep unleashing her seemingly dangerous, forbidden power which had costed her a lot. The entire team was now in a deeper debt than ever before to Sheep.
"Dragon Hunt had two casualties, and Tenmu is still not back yet. I suppose we will presume them dead if they are not back by morning"
Gringham and Hekkeran nodded hearing Momon's words. Seeing how dangerous the contents of the ruins were, and how difficult the trials they had to pass to return alive, such presumption wouldn't be far off.
"Ainz Ooal Gown... If he someday decides to rise from the tomb, he might become the center of a historical event, for better or worse"
As Momon stoically spoke again, no one around him could disagree. The power possessed by that undead was simply unfathomable. Not to mention that he seemed to have a high degree of intelligence and code of honor. Something which had never been seen in an undead being. Anything could happen in the future with that kind of mixture.
"By the way, Hekkeran"
Hekkeran was a little surprised by the sudden call, but he quickly responded.
"Yes, Momon-san?"
At this point, a feeling of worry was creeping up in his mind. He had just remembered something which the entire team had failed to remember earlier.
"I can't help noticing that one of your members now has demon-like horns. Did something in the ruins somehow demonified her?"
Ah, this is what I have been fearing.
Indeed, nobody in the team remembered to remind Arche to reapply the illusion spells on Sheep. Momon and Nabe were the only ones who had seen those horns so far, but now Gringham knew about it as well since he was sitting right there listening to everything. Now Hekkeran had no idea whether he should be honest about everything or make something up to cover her.
"Tell the truth"
Imina whispered to Hekkeran in a low voice. Hekkeran actually was leaning towards the same option, but Imina's whisper solidified his decision. Indeed, Momon and Nabe were Adamantite Rank adventurers who definitely had seen a lot of things and people. Seeing through lies was probably one of the skills they had picked up during their career, so lying and making things up would be a very bad idea.
"Umm, no. She is what she is"
Momon leaned forward as he heard Hekkeran's words.
"If it's not too much trouble, tell me about it"
Hekkeran then began explaining everything he knew about Sheep, from the time his team had met her and Rose until the latest reveal that Ryu Seika, the leader of another Adamantite Rank team, was her brother. This also included the fact that for a certain time period she had been hunted down as the target of an Adamantite Rank job. During all the stories, Momon just sat there listening intently.
"I see, so you're planning to accompany her to E-Rantel instead of going back to Arwintar with the others after this job is done"
"Yes. It's the least we can do after she has saved our lives, twice now"
Momon nodded, and suddenly Gringham spoke.
"Ah, sorry, but I think I know some details thou hath missed. Namely, details about why the particular job was closed"
Hekkeran's eyes went wide. It had been his mistake to neglect looking for details about why Sheep was no longer hunted, so finding out the answer would be a great boon for him.
"The job was closed on a note that the target was not a dangerous demon at all. Instead, she was a people from... what was the name again...? Ark?"
"ARKS"
Momon said that one word in the middle of Gringham's struggle to remember.
"Yes, that's the one. She was a people from ARKS, and the adventurers she has killed have been infected by something they called Darkers if I remember it right, and they were already beyond saving. At least that was the news I heard. The adventurer team which closed this job was Ignite Maximus"
Hekkeran couldn't help getting surprised by the last two words, thus he stood up quickly.
"That is her brother's team! So he was in the Empire recently?"
"Calm down there, lad. The team only went as far as Rothar, and news don't travel fast. I bet they hath gone back to the Kingdom since some time ago"
"Oh, right"
Hekkeran sat down again, feeling a little embarrassed. Momon then spoke.
"Despite the fact, I still suggest that the illusion spells on her be reapplied. Common citizens might not receive her looks well. Nevertheless, all of you have been through a lot. Go back to your tents and rest up. I'll see you by morning"
All three workers nodded in agreement with Momon and stood up to walk back to their tents. There was still time until morning, and they all could use some good night sleep.
[X][X][X]
Morning has arrived.
Ryu somehow woke up earlier than Lily and Alice, and now he was sitting by the window overlooking the ocean. The sky was still fairly dark and he couldn't see the sun since the window was facing west. Both girls were still asleep, so Ryu just sat there thinking about the strange Falz Angel he had seen back then. There were things that just didn't make sense about the Falz Angel.
Firstly, the host of Dark Falz Loser, namely Luther, was supposed to be no more. Regius, one hero of the Six Pillars Council, had fatally wounded Luther. After that, Luther had been wholly devoured by Dark Falz Double and nobody knew what had happened to Luther afterwards. One thing for sure, devouring Luther had enabled Dark Falz Double to create and send clones of Luther to wreak havoc everywhere they liked.
Secondly, assuming that the Falz Angel back then had been one of the clones, its behaviour had been strange. Clones made by Double behaved like a regular Darker; berserk and hostile against any non-Darker. However, that Falz Angel had not shown immediate hostility after killing the Kraken. It had not pursued the team either when they had fled.
And finally, the form. Ryu had never heard of a Dark Falz having an altered form. He wanted to assume that the altered form was the effect of this planet's peculiar photon, but Elder's Falz Hunar form still looked the same. Another possibility was that the Falz Angel was not Falz Angel after all, just something that looked similar by chance.
There were so many questions but no sufficient information to make any clear answers. Ryu just let out a small sigh at this lingering fact.
"Uhhh..."
Ryu heard a yawning voice he was already familiar with.
"Good morning, Lily"
"Ah, good morning, Ryu-san!"
Lily sounded surprised since it was unusual for her to wake up later than Ryu. Her voice was quite loud as the result.
"Sssh!"
Ryu quickly put his finger in front of his mouth, prompting Lily to keep quiet. Lily seemed to understand what Ryu meant, looking at Alice who was still asleep right next to her. This room only had two beds, so as common courtesy Ryu had one for himself while Lily and Alice shared the other.
"Sorry!"
Lily spoke in low voice as she slowly got out from the bed. She was about to put her armor on right after getting out, but Ryu stopped her with a hand gesture.
"You don't need to be so stiff. Come here and enjoy the morning view with me"
"Oh, alright, Ryu-san"
The seat Ryu was sitting on was a sofa which could fit two persons, so Lily, who was still only wearing her plain red shirt, tight black shorts, and socks, sat down right next to him. It was a rare moment for Ryu to see Lily being armorless with her hair down, and now that he had a closer look, he couldn't help feeling that she was actually quite beautiful. If only she was a little taller and didn't have such a childlike behaviour, perhaps he would not see her as a daughter like now. Perhaps, he would have finally broken his perpetual fate of not having any significant other.
"Is... something on my face, Ryu-san?"
"Ah, no... It's just... I just thought that... you look beautiful"
"Wha-?"
Lily was taken by surprise hearing what Ryu had just said, and Ryu was surprised as well himself. He actually had wanted to say about how rare it had been to see her in such state, but those words had come out from his mouth just like that. Now he had no idea what to say next.
"Uh, I mean-"
Ryu immediately took a deep breath, trying to regain composure. At this point, Lily was still flustered by Ryu's previous words.
"Uh, Lily. You are like a daughter to me. No father in their right mind would think that their daughter is not beautiful. B-But I didn't mean that you're not beautiful. You are, really"
Ryu's mind was a mess. He wanted to dig down a hole and disappear right now, realizing that his words just now was pointlessly long and didn't get any point across at all. He had just shamed himself in front of Lily.
"Argh! Forget what I said. I just wanted to say that it was rare for me to see you armorless with your hair down, and instead something else came out from my mouth"
Lily was speechless hearing Ryu's words, but soon she smiled and let out a small giggle.
"Ryu-san, you're really an awkward father figure"
Ryu just leaned back with his arms folded and his eyes averted from Lily.
"Yeah that's the way I am. Can't help it"
"You know, Ryu-san. I already have a father"
"Yeah, I know. I can never be like him"
"Papa is Papa, and you are you, Ryu-san. Both of you have your own way to be my father figure, and no matter what, I love you both!"
Lily made a warm smile as she said that, and Ryu couldn't help feeling captivated. He now had no idea whether he was more like a father captivated by the daughter's sincerity, or... something else.
"Yeah, I love you too, Lily; As my daughter figure"
Lily just let out a small giggle in response. As Ryu and Lily had their tender moment, both of them didn't realize that right under the blanket on the bed, Alice was facepalming both figuratively and literally after overhearing the conversation between the two.
"Stupid couple..."
[X][X][X]
"I see. Good work"
Ainz was still in his office with Albedo and Demiurge accompanying him. All three of them were still sitting around the small meeting table, and they had been there for hours with Albedo and Demiurge debating over various ideas mentioned by Ainz. Ainz was very glad that his sudden, out of the blue idea actually had been working much better than he had ever expected. In fact, it felt like a major breakthrough.
Just now, Ainz had just ended a conversation through [Message] sent by the spy inside Lily. Before this one, he also had received a different [Message] from Pandora's Actor who was still playing the role of Momon up there among the Workers. Having the events reported so far, Ainz had an idea about the current situation of various places, but all the incoming information put him into an even deeper mental fatigue.
Really, this almost feel like my old workplace.
Ainz didn't want to remember the hell he had been in back in the previous world, but the overwhelming situation at hand reminded him of it, like it or not.
"I need a break"
Ainz uttered that sentence while leaning back to his seat. Both Albedo and Demiurge seemed to be surprised, and they immediately expressed their concern.
"A-Ainz-sama! My apologies for exhausting you so much! Please take a rest!"
"It is unimaginable for us to dare keeping you up to the point of exhaustion! Please rest and bestow us a proper punishment, in any order Ainz-sama would like!"
Don't you two know that what you just said made me even more tired?
Ainz straightened his body up and spoke in response.
"I will do just that, but there are a few more things I want to address first. After all, the world won't stop for you no matter what"
Ainz then raised his hand towards the side of his head to cast the spell he was already somewhat tired of.
[Message]
"...Lily"
"Ah, Papa! How are you!?"
"I'm all fine. Now listen up; Something came up and I need all of you here. I would normally conjure a portal for you, but I believe right now you are not at the usual place. Therefore I shall send someone to fetch you. Finish your business there as fast as possible and wait right outside the city. Tell Ryu this and let me know his response"
"Alright, Papa"
Ainz then waited for a bit so Lily could relay the message to Ryu. Since she was still connected, Ainz could hear everything she said to Ryu. She relayed everything well, with no information missing. But of course Ainz couldn't hear what Ryu said in response. He had to wait until Lily told him what Ryu had said.
"Ryu-san said okay. We will be there soon"
"Thank you. I will see you soon"
Ainz then ended the [Message] and looked at Albedo.
"Albedo, tell Mare to go to Re-Lobell and pick them up. With his teleportation spells, there shouldn't be any problem, no?"
"As you command, Ainz-sama"
"Still, remind him to be as discreet as he could. While I do plan to make our existence publicly known, I don't want to draw unnecessary attention before then"
Albedo nodded, and then she stood up and walked away. Ainz diverted his eyes to Demiurge after Albedo left.
"Now that a good few hours have passed, let's take a look at what's left of the ranch and see the aftermath of the battle"
Ainz produced a Mirror of Remote Viewing from his inventory, and put it in a position where both him and Demiurge could see its display. He then directed the mirror to scry the location of Demiurge's ranch, and it didn't take long for him to find the remains. It was completely devastated, and neither Elder nor any Darkers were anywhere to be seen within range.
"Totally destroyed, and it seems all the livestock perished"
"My apologies, Ainz-sama"
Demiurge hanged his head in shame, while Ainz was pretty glad that Elder had won. With the ranch destroyed, the instant-fail condition for allying with ARKS was no more. However, Ainz felt that he still needed to be cautious in this matter.
"Demiurge"
"At your service, Ainz-sama"
"Get one of the photon armor units from Chief Blacksmith and go back to the ranch. I want you to clean everything up, corpses and all. Make the land look as if the ranch had never been there. You have the liberty in regards of the method"
"As you command, Ainz-sama"
"If for some reason Elder returns, retreat immediately. If he really won against the Wrath copy, he is no longer an opponent you can take alone"
Ainz knew that he shouldn't send Demiurge alone, especially since the Floor Guardians normally had one or more high level escort ever since the Shalltear incident. However, there were only two units of photon armor in Nazarick, and he didn't want to halt the research on them. So in practice there was only one unit which could be brought out for use to prevent Darker infection. This could be a highly dangerous mission, but he couldn't choose to let the remains stay there since none of the ARKS people should see anything remaining from the ranch.
"Understood, Ainz-sama. I shall be going then"
Ainz nodded, and Demiurge left the room. Now that he was once again alone, Ainz leaned into slouching position and let out a sigh. He almost felt that he could fall asleep right here and now, even if it something that was impossible to do, no thanks to his nature as an undead.
Ahh~~ I really want to fall asleep!
[X][X][X]
"Ah, dammit!"
Somewhere in Abelion Hills, Elder was leaning against a tree in the middle of a forest. His condition was nowhere near prime, having been beaten up quite badly.
The battle against that demon creature had been very exciting. Elder had fought with the best effort he could muster, and his opponent fought back with equal to almost greater force. He had almost tasted another defeat, and even that could have been a great thrill. Something Elder always yearned for.
But something unexpected had disrupted the battle.
"That creature. Never expected that... thing, to follow me all the way to this planet"
Elder sat down on the ground, trying to rest his beaten-up body. What had happened was a mixed blessing for him. He had absorbed a good amount of energy from the demon creature, and that was another step towards recovering his full strength. However, he had been partially denied the thrill of the battle because the intruder had gone on a total rampage, eliminating the entirety of Elder's Darker army with a single move, and then proceeded to lay waste to the demon army, including the demon creature he fought. Elder had been forced to retreat because he was already quite exhausted from the battle, so fighting the intruder would have definitely been a suicidal move.
"So I was not mistaken at all. That sound of glass cracking back then..."
Elder let out a sigh, thinking that his quest for power had become more complicated.
"The Darker-eating dragon... Heh, no joking there"
[X][X][X]
Afterword:
Things have become more complicated. A new ally and also a new calamity have arrived, both without many being aware of their arrival. The intertwining fates shall converge, but the question is when, and to what effect.
Q And A:
Q: Am I the only one who wants to see Pandora actor meeting his new 'sister' and the reaction?
A: That might be happening soon enough.
See you again next time.
