Infinite Dendrogram: Volume 22 (eBook)

Sakon Kaidou (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-1542-6 (ISBN)

Infos

The Tournaments in Gideon are approaching their climax, and as the final day arrives, everyone anticipates Figaro will claim the ultimate prize... But the duel champion's certain victory is suddenly called into question by the unexpected appearance of a Superior who shouldn't even be in Altar!

Meanwhile, Juliet wanders the city and stumbles upon a streamer by the name of 'G.' The two become fast friends, but it seems that this Legendarian content creator came to Gideon with a purpose Juliet may not be too happy about...

Textauszug

Chapter 1: The Fallen Angel and the Arch Enemy

Ninth Day of The Tournaments, Gideon, City of Duels

“Nnnh...”

On this day, the Fallen Knight, Juliet—the fourth in Altar’s duel rankings—was faced with an unusual problem.

“There is no sanctuary where I might hone the darkness I wield... (I can’t find an arena to rent...)”

Gideon had a whole thirteen arenas, and they were the very reason the city received its title. However, they weren’t all being used for duels and events all the time. There would always be some that remained unused, and the local duelists would rent them for sparring matches or to test their new gear or skills.

But right now, there were The Tournaments that rewarded the winners with Orbs containing sealed UBMs. Many other powerful Masters had gathered from all over to fight for them and prepare for the fights. With tomorrow being the final day, their numbers were especially high, and because of that, not a single arena was left unreserved.

“My mortal frame has yet to acclimate to my newfound power... (And I still haven’t figured out the MVP rewards yet...)” Juliet had acquired two MVP rewards recently: one from a gacha ticket she’d won during the Anniversary and one from the UBM she’d slain after winning the Tournament she’d participated in. They had no doubt made her more powerful, but she had yet to familiarize herself with their specifics.

The MVP reward she’d gotten from the UBM had been generated with her previous reward in mind. They now formed something of a pair, best used together.

To put it another way: They were awfully unwieldy if used separately. They were, in fact, double-edged swords that would kill her if misused.

Before she could employ them in actual battle, she had to thoroughly test them within the barrier of an arena, where death wasn’t an issue.

Juliet let out a sigh as she spotted a familiar face.

“Oh. Julie! Any luck on your end?” said Chelsea—Juliet’s friend and rival—as she approached. “Goin’ by your face, I’m guessing not, huh?”

“Yeah... You too?”

“Nothin’ on the west, no. With a Mythical reward on the line, they’re all really serious about tomorrow’s Tourney.”

They had split up to the east and west sides of the city to look for any open arenas, but everything was fully booked everywhere.

They usually had Max and Shion with them too, but they weren’t in the city right now.

Max was out making money. There was an auction being held on the same day as the final Tournament, and among the items being sold was one of Tenchi’s Hundred Famed Blades—the exact one she wanted most—so she was out hunting monsters to gather as much wealth as she could before it began.

Shion was currently offline because of a cold. She had come online yesterday and had looked just fine on the Dendro side, but her servants had hastily chased her over there and brought her back.

Juliet had told her to take care of herself, genuinely concerned, while Chelsea had privately thought something rude—along the lines of “So even idiots catch colds, huh?”

“Hrm... Maybe some of our friends have a reservation? We could join them instead...” Chelsea suggested.

“The ones who are participating in the final day are Figaro and Bishmal, right?”

“Yeah. But Figaro probably didn’t rent one, while Bishmal said he wanted to ‘recharge his batteries’ and went to a maid café instead.”

Chelsea’s words made Juliet tilt her head. “Bishmal is one thing, but...Figaro didn’t rent one?”

“I mean, Figaro is a member of Death Period. Their entire base is a— Oh.”

Chelsea stopped mid-sentence. She was looking at something ahead, causing Juliet to do the same.

There, she saw...

“Ray?”

...their friend, Ray Starling.

◇◇◇

Sorcerer, Ray Starling

Today was the ninth day of The Tournaments, but instead of watching it, I was just looking around the bazaar.

The clan member participating today was Kasumi, but she’d been eliminated in the preliminaries and I didn’t know any of the people who made it through, so I just didn’t feel like watching it.

Kasumi wasn’t the type to fight solo, so her loss wasn’t really unexpected, and we’d already held a little consolation party for her during lunch.

I really didn’t know who to bet on this time either, so I just went with a name that caught my eye—someone called “Grimms.” The sum I put down was smaller than any of my previous bets, but the multiplier was only behind Rook’s, so I’d still make some good money if he won.

Also, I currently didn’t have Nemesis by my side.

Well, actually, I did—but she wasn’t coming out of the crest on my left hand. She’d been meditating like this a lot more ever since our battle against that Overlord.

At first, I thought this was a sign that she was evolving, like what had happened in Torne. It didn’t seem to be a one-day deal this time, but there was no mistaking it: Having already evolved three times, she herself could now sense that her next evolution was drawing close.

There was something else she’d said about it too.

“Ray. This is conjecture, but...my next evolution will likely grant me the you-know-what.”

“Huh?”

“My ultimate skill.”

Ultimate skills. Bearing the Embryo’s own name, they were the greatest, most powerful abilities in any Embryo’s arsenal, and the supreme manifestations of their core traits.

This meant that her next evolution—her fifth form—would set in stone her nature as an Embryo.

Nemesis was currently reflecting on herself in preparation for that, and instead of disturbing her, I decided to just walk around alone.

“Hm?”

But then I noticed a couple of familiar faces. There was Juliet, looking somewhat down, with Chelsea right by her side. They’d noticed me too.

“What’s up, you two?” I asked as I approached them.

“The favors I carry, newly bestowed... They cannot yet be awakened,” said Juliet.

“I wanna test my new MVP rewards, but no arenas are open,” huh? I thought. I get it.

This reminded me that she’d been the one who won the Tournament on the fourth day, as well as beat the UBM to take the MVP reward afterward.

“Because of the Tourney, the arenas are bein’ rented by people who don’t usually use them,” said Chelsea.

“I see...” That made sense—duelists weren’t the only people participating in The Tournaments, and with the arenas being the perfect place to practice one-on-one fights, there were probably hundreds of people trying to rent them.

“And it’s the final day tomorrow,” Chelsea continued. “Not a single arena is open.” With the prize being a Mythical MVP reward, it was no wonder the participants were taking this seriously.

But because of that, these two hadn’t been able to do any training...

“Why not use our place, then?” I asked.

“Huh?”

My clan’s base was the Eighth Arena, and it had the same barrier that all the others did.

I’d even used it myself to test the axe that had blown away my arm.

“Can we?”

“Sure. It’s not like it costs us anything. Someone else might be using it, but the barrier can be separated just like in the other arenas, so won’t be a problem.”

If there was someone using it now, it’d probably be Figaro. He was participating in tomorrow’s Tournament. There was probably enough space for everyone there.

“Thanks! Maaan, there’s nothin’ like a good friend!”

“And so, we descend upon the citadel of the Light- and Dark-Wielding Hero Clad in Violet and Crimson... (We’re visiting Ray’s place...)”

“Hm? Juliet? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. She’s just cute like that.”

“I don’t really get it, but okay...” Well, Juliet was still a middle schooler in real life, so it was probably best not to pry.

Anyway, that’s how it was decided that I would let these duelists into our base.

“The Eighth Arena, huh? I’ve actually never been there,” said Chelsea, prompting a nod from Juliet.

“Really?” I asked. “You two are proper duelists, so I kinda assumed that you’d been to all of them.”

“The ranked battles all happen in the Central Arena, and there’s more convenient places for warm-ups and sparring,” Chelsea said. Well, looking back at it, whenever I joined them for sparring, we never did use the eighth.

“If we go to arenas besides that, it’s usually for their events, but...” Juliet added.

“Ohh...” Right. Since the eighth was in a bad location, it never attracted much of an audience and was operating at a net loss, so it probably wasn’t economically viable for them to do any big events.

That makes our base sound like some rural horse-racing track that was on the verge of shutting down, I thought.

“By the way, can you fill your arena with water?” Chelsea asked.

“I never tried, but I think...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.6.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Infinite Dendrogram
• Illustrationen: Sakon Kaidou
• Übersetzer: Sakon Kaidou
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: Adventure • Fantasy • Future • Light Novel • Sci-fi • vrmmo
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-1542-2 / 1718315422
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-1542-6 / 9781718315426