44 I Challenge the Floor 10 Boss

Author: Bishamon Mine
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0664js/47/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

After shopping in a player no-entry zone and having Lloyd-san adjust my guns, several days later.

It’s been about a week since I started living alone, but I was spending my days thinking “leisurely isn’t bad either.”

Currently my address is the Suu Channel office Furi contracted.
The places I sleep are an inn-san in Highlane’s forbidden zone, or Swallow-san’s one-room.
When I sleep in Swallow-san’s one-room it’s like car-camping, so I sleep and wake in Earth-sphere outer space, or a parking field in Highlane’s forbidden zone. Or rather I mainly live in the forbidden zone.
If it’s Highlane’s zone opened to players, somehow it’s scary so……
Incidentally if I park Swallow-san in Japan the whole time the country gets angry, so that’s impossible.

And the day I started living alone, I thanked Alice, “Thanks for the 〈Key to the Dimensional Warehouse〉. Without it I’d have been at a loss.” Alice was worried “did something happen?”, but when I said “moving got easier” she tilted her head but was convinced.

Today too I desperately finished school activities, on the way home I can go home with Alice, the day’s reward.
The sky is cloudless fair weather, walking the coastline you can even see Mt. Fuji.
While I’m looking at a faintly floating triangle, Alice tells me events that happened in FateLege.

“The Floor 10 boss revived.”
“Eh, bosses revive?”
“Seems so. About three years from the first kill, it apparently revived.”

That makes sense, huh, the Star Cluster Empire used to go to Floor 50 so boss revival is possible.
But faster than I thought.

“What happens.”
“We can’t approach the warp port, and we became unable to warp to Floor 11.”
“Eh…… that, that’s a problem. There are people taking resources and such too. Players won’t be able to act either.”
“Yes, everyone’s in trouble. So a little over 200 people gathered from around the world six hours ago formed a subjugation force and went, but they got counterattacked.”
“200 people? Floor 30 Hermes, first was 2,000 people, next they also challenged Hermes with 1,500, right? Is that few people okay?”
“That’s, the opponent is 〈Frenzy〉 Midas.”
“Aah. 〈Frenzy〉 Midas, huh———”
“Suu-san, just now did you think ‘weak for a boss, huh’? Listen. Ordinary people cannot dodge 〈Frenzy〉 Midas’s barrage. Only the top 0.something% of humans can. And the first boss fight was around three months after FateLege started so they challenged with 1,000 people, well, by that fight I already had a special-model so I performed a bit, and came to be called Crimson Flash, though.”
“No…… if the period they cleared the Floor 10 boss was around three months after FateLege started, I still couldn’t even fly properly in space.”
“Is that so? ……Suu-san has history too——well around then even flying in atmosphere was hard for us.”
“Almost everyone was riding a plane for the first time.”
“On that point, around then military people were truly strong. In the Midas fight military people were a big success too.”

The starting line is different, huh. I ask while checking wiki information.

“——And, the “boss” Midas seems harder than “mob” Midas.”
“Yes. Even 1,000 people attacking, they couldn’t beat it easily——what troubled us most was fighting in outer space. The battlefield was huge chaos, players colliding with each other, flying in unexpected directions, attacks not hitting & not being dodgeable.——It’s a feeling of fighting while doing super-hard skating as robots.”
“Around three months after start it can’t be helped——but, 〈Frenzy〉 Midas, huh. Current me knows the barrage patterns——I could probably beat it even alone.”
“Don’t tell me, you’re motivated———?”
“I’ve never experienced a floor boss fight, so I thought I’d try it. Coming together?”
“I want to go together, but I’m a shield craft so I can’t fight without a healer.”
“Aah, right.”
“Then I’ll try calling a healer-san I know——right, Otoko-san might be good. That marshmallow-like frame is a healer craft.”
“Aah, Otoko-san’s is a healer, huh. Right, Inori-chan too, if she swaps equipment she can apparently become a healer too. Though apparently she becomes unable to do a strongest attack called vacuum something.”
“I see, she seems reliable for firepower too. Then shall we ask both of them.”

Thus we headed for Floor 10’s boss space to exterminate 〈Frenzy〉 Midas.
The boss is lurking in an asteroid belt near the warp port, they say.
A place where asteroids just collided, wreckage is flying at quite a density so be careful, apparently.
Because it’s a boss fight I plan to leave the one-room off.

 

◆◇Sight: A certain fighter-craft rider◇◆

 

I’m the master of the combat-specialized clan Prominence Saga, Brea.
Real name Nanba Keigo.
The Floor 10 boss revived, so I’m about to head to subjugation having recruited clan members and volunteers from outside.
As a fighter-craft rider in FateLege, I’m said to be among Japan’s top three. Well in FateLege fighting in humanoid is general, and fighter-craft riders themselves are rare, though.
That said, flying in outer space is hard even for me.

“Volunteer ladies and gentlemen, well gathered!”

When I start a speech, volunteers gather with a wobbly unreliable feel——as expected space is hard.
From Versus Frames gathered around an asteroid, applause returned all at once by comm.
Those who gathered this time, 500 people.
Because 200 people gathered from around the world were wiped out, I gathered extra, but it’s half the numbers when Floor 10 boss Midas was first cleared.
That said, everyone is stronger than when it was first cleared.
So even 500 people I calculate we can win.
In that first boss fight, it was all frames you can choose at the initial selection lined up, but everyone gathered here is riding things of 500,000 merit points or more, we can expect considerable combat power.

But thinking back, what was especially awful in the first boss fight was Swallowtail.
Because of that, fighter-craft riders came to be looked at with white eyes. Truly a nuisance.
An acquaintance of mine was on a Swallowtail too, but they only stirred up the battlefield.
That frame with only speed loses control in outer space and causes accidents everywhere.
If even one barrage hit they lose the shield, get knocked, collide with other barrage and get shot down immediately.
And even if they become humanoid form and shoot from behind a shield role, they don’t put out decent firepower.
If they fire the only firepower 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉 the engine stops immediately, damage per second is too low to talk about.
〈Excitation Wings〉? That’s a gag weapon.
So Swallowtail came to be treated as a landmine. Then all fighter-craft riders got lumped together, and ended up whispered as landmines.
Of course my frame is not a Swallowtail or anything.
SP-1 Spear.——Like Earth’s B-1 Lancer, a bomber with a pointed design, made about half size.
Using those long wings you can equip various weapons and attack power is high.
Also it has a generator dedicated to shields in a somewhat large torso, and the shield is extremely hard.
Only, in exchange, acceleration has become mild.
Well in space, acceleration and such is almost unnecessary.
In space, force that isn’t at a level humans can handle occurs immediately, so more than how strong a force you can generate, how much the frame listens is important.
And basically FateLege fighter crafts have excess speed. If you try, you get speed where if you turn a human becomes minced. We don’t need such a thing.

“Everyone. This time the Floor 10 boss revived, and currently many people are in trouble. Now FateLege resources are indispensable to Earth’s economy, if supply stagnates we’ll be hit by sudden price spikes and the world will fall into huge chaos. We have to prevent this no matter what!”
“That’s right!!”
“Right!!”
“Sitting does not change anything. We do it, with our hands!!”
“Oooooooh!!”

Morale is plenty, then even 500 people should be fine.

“As expected of Brea-san. Thinking of everyone.”
“Even among fighter-craft riders, only this person is in a different league.”

Honestly——because Swallowtail messed up in the first boss fight, recovering fighter-craft riders’ evaluation this far took a terrible amount of time.
This gathering too, I did as a representative of fighter-craft riders to work at recovering honor.

“Everyone, you’ve confirmed 〈Frenzy〉 Midas’s attack patterns on wiki and videos, right?”
“Of course.”
“Naturally.”
“Then let us go. People die in the economy too——with our hands, to protect many lives!!”
“Oooooooh!!”

Five hundred Versus Frames fire rockets all at once and accelerate.

“We’ll go at speed-energy 3000.”
“Understood.”
“Roger.”

We fly toward Midas, the hand-shaped boss floating far away, in a three-dimensional nine-column file——what came to be called a 3D file.
Then, as if crossing our vision, four lights were visible——probably players from somewhere.

“What’s that.”
“What is it…… not our members, right?”
“No, the members are all around, though.”
“Came for boss hunting?”
“No, four people no matter how you think? Wait those four are too fast, just because you can accelerate as much as you want, what speed are they flying at. Idiots?”
“Wait, that——the lead frame, isn’t that a Swallowtail?”
“What!?”

Coming on a Swallowtail for what!? Planning to stir up the battlefield again!?

“Ah, they started combat!!”
“Oi, barrage is flying this way!”
“Shield roles forward!! Healers get ready!!”

What the hell are they doing! The barrage pattern will become unknown!!

“What do we do? There are already people who don’t know how the barrage is, right?”
“Let’s wait for those idiots to get shot down——everyone, don’t put your hands out.”

Aaah, it’s already a mess. Well, maybe good medicine for idiots riding a Swallowtail.
While I laugh at the Swallowtail with my nose——hn?
What was that just now, super creepy……? What is this creepiness……?
Ah——right, it was outrageous speed, then suddenly matched speed with Midas.
If I compare, a weirdness like watching a pantomime wall act——discomfort.

“……That Swallowtail, matching relative velocity is awfully fast——how.”
“What’s wrong?”
“……No, nothing.”

While tilting my head, a blue streak stretched from the Swallowtail.

“Oi oi, from the start 〈Critical Blackbody Beam (rinkoku)〉. Thinking about the engine?”

The blue streak pa, pa, pa——

“……Is three shots? It’ll stop, oi! The engine is on the verge of overheating already! After that if you even fire blackbody vulcan”

——However, ignoring my worry, pa, pa. Two more additional shots.

“Wait!! What!? ……Why doesn’t the engine stop?”

As expected 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉 wasn’t released anymore. But——the photodisintegration engine should stop on the fourth shot, why did they fire five and it didn’t stop?

“Wait, that Swallowtail’s movement is weird, right? Why don’t they stop their feet.”
“Come to think of it, they proceed like slipping through between barrage.”
“——The other three are stopping their feet normally though——the small one that seems firepower-and-healer has quite a lot of firepower, huh.”
“Wait, that Swallowtail is fast fast, why can they fly space at that speed and not even graze barrage.”

That’s right——the more an object accelerates the less it can turn. There’s inertia.
The faster you fly, the more force you need to turn, and the more G hits the human inside.
The trajectory you can draw becomes straighter and straighter.
I thought, and as expected.

“——That Swallowtail is bad! If they dive that direction at that speed they ‘checkmate.’ Didn’t they look up barrage patterns on the wiki!? They’re heading where barrage gathers——it’s a dead end!! Reverse thrust won’t make it!!”
“Too fast!!——If they don’t drop speed they can’t turn!! Why don’t they reverse thrust!!”
“If they fire rockets to turn, the momentum is too strong they can’t dodge!!”

While we’re predicting the Swallowtail will explode, the Swallowtail brought the rear rocket engines to the side and started an intense roll——fast. Truly fast. Rolling over and over like a propeller.
Then the next instant——we saw something unbelievable. The Swallowtail, for some reason, did a backflip. It reversed 180 degrees. The nose became rearward and it’s going straight backward.
The Swallowtail, with that movement just now, dodged all the barrage.

“Hah? What’s that. Why…… how could it do that movement!?”
“Even if you rotate in outer space, you only proceed in the inertia direction, right?”
“Ah, I see——!”

I noticed what that Swallowtail did.

“——Don’t tell me the Dzhanibekov effect!!——That Swallowtail dodged barrage with the Dzhanibekov effect!!”
“The D-Dzhanibekov effect is what??”
“A physical phenomenon the USSR, Russia’s predecessor, hid for ten years!——The thing also called the tennis-racket theorem…… if you want to feel it easily, later take a book, hold it horizontal to the floor or ground, and throw it to rotate once straight vertically up, then somehow it starts adding a twist on its own. This mysterious phenomenon is the Dzhanibekov effect.”
“Like the buttered-toast law!?”
“Wrong……! Anyway, if you roll intensely like that Swallowtail, you can use the wings’ mass unevenness to change the rotation axis——you can do something like a moonsault. And that pilot understands that more complex shapes produce the Dzhanibekov effect more easily than objects composed of straight lines. For example more than a T composed of straight lines, pliers with a curved grip produce the Dzhanibekov effect immediately——further they’re probably raising force unevenness with forward force to produce the Dzhanibekov effect early. But——they’re going through barrage with only a narrow gap, they should have had only about 45 centimeters from the barrage——it becomes tremendously delicate operation———that Swallowtail rider knows Swallowtail inside out.”
“But even if there’s a gravity-control device, is that high-speed rotation okay?”
“There, light of a skill was flying from a comrade, so maybe they used some skill.”
“I see, they received skill support.——Brea-san, with that Dzhanibekov effect, can you dodge barrage with that frame——Spear?”
“Impossible of course! If speed rises, the scenery changes. Narrow, narrow——getting narrower and narrower. Eventually it becomes like a needle hole. Doing that in space is like throwing a needle and stabbing a needle hole.——That speed in space, I cannot handle it. On top of that dodging barrage with the Dzhanibekov effect…… what scenery is that Swallowtail’s pilot seeing……?”

While I’m breaking into a cold sweat, again a ridiculous scene unfolds in my vision.
Three 〈Critical Blackbody Beam〉s are released.
Just as I think then they can’t put out firepower anymore, the Swallowtail’s wings shone blue.

“Nooooo way, you!!———Don’t tell me!? They’re preparing 〈Excitation Wings (reitsuba)〉, but they intend to use that———!?”
“You’ve got to be kidding!! Indeed from there the only firepower a Swallowtail can put out is that, but it’s unusable!!——A weapon you can only think the one who made it has a wrong head. If it’s a place with gravity and atmosphere I get it. Not unusable!——But a weapon of body-checking with wings in outer space is impossible!!”

The Swallowtail grazes the hand-shaped Midas by a hair and starts going around.
Why, why can they fly that accurately!?

“Ah…… maybe——that, aren’t they adjusting the angle even calculating recoil of guns and beam weapons!?”
“That’s———stupid.”

With a truly weird, creepy——full-of-discomfort way of flying, the Swallowtail keeps dancing around Midas.

“……What is that, what’s riding it…… a Laplace’s demon that can calculate the future riding it or what?”

Oi oi, at this rate they’ll really beat the boss-spec 〈Frenzy〉 Midas with four people!!

“They used guided missiles!? How can they accurately pierce a lock-on point of only about 30 centimeters in that high-speed combat!!”
“Ask the person herself already!——Wait looking closely, that Swallowtail’s comrades——isn’t that Flash Alice, and streamer Otoko!?——I-I see, the high-speed rotation just now they endured G with Flash Alice’s 〖Gravity Control〗.”
“Ah——then maybe that Swallowtail…… the rumored “Kyo-in.””
“Kyo-in?”
“Kyo-in Suu. A high-school girl who appeared recently, who was a newbie until a little while ago.”
“A newbie until a little while ago? A high-school girl?——That’s that!?”
“A high-school girl monster who shut in a simulator 24,000 hours and cleared 〈Insanity〉 Death Road.”
“Simulator 24,000 hours!?——A high-school girl!? 〈Insanity〉 Death Road, isn’t that the one they say you absolutely can’t clear if you receive with a shield——then that pilot continued that high-speed evasion combat for 24,000 hours!?”

It wasn’t thousands of hours…… of course they would know Swallowtail inside out.

“Insanity Death Road has 〈Insanity〉-level Midas come out, right?”
“Then to her, 〈Frenzy〉 Midas is……”
“……N-nothing, I think.”

From there the Swallowtails kept fighting Midas about 30 minutes.
In our dumbfounded vision, at last Midas became like zircon and shattered to pieces.

“——Too fast! Slower than when 1,000 people beat it, of course, but that’s not a speed you can beat it with that number of people.”

Thus we 500 people, having only been shown an impossible scene in a daze, came to take the road home.
Myself who called Swallowtail a landmine is embarrassed.
With that girl’s appearance——maybe Swallowtail will start trending?
——No, at least not that.