Chapter 207: Reaching the Heavens Part 13 Part 1

At that exact moment, my body just started moving on its own.

「I’m not letting you get away!!」

I still have about five seconds left until the next light emission, until the chalice changes. You think you can completely heal the damages we managed to do to you!? As if I would let you do something like that!!

Even if your name and settings are kinda cool, I am still going to get you! I then reach out to my personal Sanraku Armory and take out a big and sturdy sword out of it, the one with the longest reach. By the way, at the top of my armament list is my trusty Yuzuki, followed by the Scorpion Gauntlets.

The chalices are sturdy, but that means that they can take as much punishment as you are able to dish out onto them. I am no Hero by any means, but even I was able to admire the dull shine of the blade that was reaching out towards the chalice. Although it was my wishful thinking and nothing more, it seems that the chalice has reached its limit from all the abuse we were subjecting it to, especially from the potion bombs we have been throwing at it.

Once the point of the sword reaches its target, the chalice begins to shine with ominous light. However, it was not the kind of light that would herald the fact that damage switches places with healing once more. It was the light of the chalice being destroyed, since its core was no longer able to sustain itself in this world.

「EVEN IF THE WORLD ITSELF CHANGES, THE FOUNDATION WILL STILL STAND STRONG. BUT IF THE CHANGE OCCURS, WILL HUMAN WILL STILL BE ABLE TO REACH OUT TO THE SEA OF STARS……?」

Yet another piece of dialogue from Kutanid. I have no idea what it means, but that’s not the problem right now. For now let us just memorize those lines and focus on the task at hand. We can always analyze them later. We can also assume that there will be more of them to come.

We continued to destroy the chalices, and eventually Kutanid lost all eight of them, alongside of the colors that they were representing. However, even though we were trying it quite a number of times, both Rei and I were unable to inflict any kind of damage onto the main body of Kutanid. Well, that was to be expected of magic life form…… No, it was probably a huge mass of magical energy given shape. That’s a more likely explanation. Personally, I don’t think that this phase of battle would allow us to do any kind of real damage, unless Kutanid itself would allow for it.

Once the eight chalices were done for, the tentacles started to roll inwards towards the main body. How should I say it……? It was awfully octopus behavior out of that monster. One that I would not normally expect from a Unique Monster like that. But why do I get a feeling that I have seen such a thing somewhere before? Ah, oh yeah! It’s like you are playing around with 3D models in graphic programs! It looked almost exactly the same!

As Kutanid continues to ignore any known laws of both mass and physics, its tentacles continue to fold inwards, focusing on the single point in space. Even though they should be getting thinner and longer, they were only becoming smaller and thicker, until they were completely incorporated into Kutanid’s body.

「You know what? Wouldn’t it be a total joke if what comes next was a plain, normal octopus?」

「You know what would be even funnier? If that normal octopus was able to kill us all simply by rolling over. That would be the joke of a century.」

Ah, I see that you get it, Rust. You must be one of “our” people then. During trials like that one, it is important to stay positive and laugh in face of danger. That way you won’t get frightened nearly as easily and you will not fall into despair.

Honestly…… Right now Kutanid looked rather pitiful. Like an octopus that ended up having all of its tentacles ripped out of its body. It was a really grotesque kind of a circle, with the octopi eyes slapped right in the middle of it. But even those eyes were slowly starting to sink in the middle of its torso. Finally Kutanid formed something that was resembling an apple-shaped cocoon, made out of a jet-black mass that looked unlike anything I have seen in my life. Just then that mass started to distort in a strange way, as if something was trying to break free from the shell that was once known as Kutanid of the Abyss.

「FAR, FAR, I HAVE COME SO FAR. I KNOW NOT OF HER HOMETOWN. MY HOMETOWN WAS THE VAST SEA OF STARS. AND HER SMILE WAS MY ONLY COMPANION.」

「Woah, somehow I get a feeling that this sentence came actually out of nowhere!」

「Does that mean we are finally going to fight its final form?」

「No, Rei. I would not be so sure about that. Let’s wait and see for now. I feel that this thing was a pupa, so maybe there will be one more form before we are going to go against its final iteration.」

Suddenly, the movements of the black mass stops all at once. Next thing is, before we even know it, the cocoon violently contracts. It was then starting to shrink its size, growing gradually smaller and smaller.

「I WALK IN THIS WORLD, BUT I AM NOT OF THIS WORLD. I LACK THE FLESH. I LACK THE BONES. I LACK THE BLOOD THAT WOULD COURSE THROUGH MY VEINS.」

「You hear that, boneless! Boneless, it says! Welp, octopi are limp to begin with, so small wonder about that.」

「Bafugh! Bafuahahaha!」

「MOLD! GET A FUCKING GRIP!」

I was surprised that Akitsu Akane did not laugh at that joke. And well, Mold was to be expected, since his laughing threshold is way lower than that of any ordinary person out there.

Well, I myself was not in the mood for joking, not as long as Kutanid was alive and kicking out there. Maybe I’ll allow myself to have a good laugh once we make sure that this thing is truly dead and gone.

「I-It’s okay. We are going to do this thing seriously. So Rust, Sanraku-san, please stop looking at me as though you want to set me on fire with your minds, okay!?」

Gamers are a truly mysterious people. Depending on the circumstances at hand, we can adapt to any situation and change our attitude at will. And it’s okay Mold, it’s okay now. No one’s going to set you on fire, so relax, man! Please don’t look at us like a lamb that’s realized that it is going right into the slaughterhouse! Good boy, good boy.

「IF SO, I WILL MAKE ALL DELUSIONS A REALITY. I WILL TURN ILLUSIONS INTO SOLID MATTER. THEN I SHALL EMERGE OUT OF THE FANTASIES. THAT IS WHY, THAT IS EXACTLY WHY I SHALL SHED THE VIRTUAL SKIN AND DONE BOTH FLESH AND BLOOD.」