CH 74

[At the End of the Battle of Wits]

“Phew. Clutched it somehow…”

Having finished the fight to the death with the baldhead, I landed on the now battered plain.

Okay, now that I had defeated him, there wouldn’t be anyone to get in my way. I should quickly destroy his Guild Core and end him for good. Dead players would revive as long as their Guild Core still existed, after all.

“…Ah, but before that.”

I lightly jumped back at the presence I felt from the sky. Then in the next moment—BAAAANG!—a flaming Zansword plunged his sword into the ground with a thunderous sound.

The place where I had been standing until just literally a moment ago was scorched and reduced to ashes by his blue flames.

“Yo, Zansword, still alive, huh? Pretty persistent, aren’t you?

“That ‘Ultimate Fire Enchant’ of yours is powerful but totally no good for surprise attacks. I could tell by the heat and light.”

“Haa, haa, shut your mouth…!” Zansword glared at me, appearing literally half-dead.

His whole body was full of holes and covered in blood—courtesy of my swords and spears. His samurai-like hairdo was also disheveled, making him look like a fallen samurai.

But as a man, I never let my guard down. Instantly I activated the ‘Arms Barrier’ skill and manifested over a hundred summoning formations around me.

This time, he should be checkmated for real, but…

“Fuh… Fuhahahahaha…!”

……For some reason, Zansword began to laugh. It wasn’t a laugh of madness, but one of victory.

“What, you still got an ace hidden up your sleeve?”

“No, no… I’m completely spent. I hate to admit it—so much so that I feel like throwing up—but you have won the battle for the seat of the strongest player.

“But Yuri, in regard to the ‘Guild War’, we are the winners!”

After saying that, he opened the menu and operated some item to display a video.

In it, a girl was running through the castle that was the center of my guild base.

Covered in some kind of beast’s skin, she slipped past the tentacles of my possession-type monster Cthulhu shooting out from the walls and floors of the castle one after another.

“This is…!”

“You may not know it since you always play solo, but a function exists with which you can display live footage of the surroundings of players whom you have formed a party with. Usually, when exploring a dungeon, you have your party member with high mobility go and scout the path ahead while you wait behind.

“And this girl’s name is ‘Crutteruo’. Thanks to her ability to freely move vertically and horizontally, she became one of the winners of the last battle royale. When it comes to stealth, no players come even close to her,” said Zansword with a triumphant face.

I see, so this guy had her move behind our backs as the three of us fought. He really had me.

As I smiled wryly, Crutteruo finally reached the room with the Guild Core.

There, the craftswoman Grimm—clad in Gothic Lolita dress—stood guard, but even if she did her best, it was unlikely for her to win.

I mean, she has literally zero combat experience… She was teary-eyed as she protectively spread her small arms in front of the Guild Core. She looked hella cute, sure, but cuteness wouldn’t do her any help in battle.

I could do nothing but watch her predicament, and Zansword smirked at me.

“Fufufu… as a matter of fact, I sent about 100 players to sneak into your guild base, but nearly all of them were killed by monsters and mysterious tentacles that grew out from your castle. I almost thought we had no hope of success… but Crutteruo managed to make it! How is it, Yuri? How does it feel to fall into my scheme?!

“Incidentally, you need not hurry to kill me and destroy the Guild Core; it will be futile. After all, Crutteruo is registered in another guild!

“Your guildmates, that is, Seele and the NPCs, are being stalled by Yario, too. You are checkmated!”

Nuhahahaha, laughed Zansword. I bet he had set up this scheme without the baldhead’s knowing.

I knew because we could understand each other with just eye contact, and he had fought his very best until the very end. If he had taken secret measures to ensure his victory, he wouldn’t have fought as fiercely and desperately.

…Ah, I see how it was.

“You sure are a sly one, Zansword. You didn’t tell the baldhead your little scheme because you wanted to make him fight me with everything he had, and consequently make me unable to notice it. You really had me.”

“Fuhaha, you are correct! Now then, Yuri, once your Guild Core is destroyed, you will disappear. Any last words?”

“Well, let’s see…”

I did have one thing I wanted to say. I clenched my fist and punched his smug face with all my might!

At the same time, I declared!

“We, the ‘Guild of Yuri’, will win. Don’t you look down on my friends…!”

“Guu… w-what are you—huh?!” Zansword groaned in pain, but then his face instantly froze when he turned his eyes to the live footage.

No wonder. The Crutteruo girl had successfully destroyed the Guild Core… but neither Grimm nor I showed any signs of disappearing at all.

◆◇◇◆

“Ououououou!”

――Crutteruo laughed loudly as she slipped past the tentacles growing everywhere. In front of her was a huge door.

Ahh, the base of the ‘Guild of Yuri’ was a truly horrifying place.

As soon as she sneaked into the city with her subordinates, thousands of monsters immediately attacked them, massacring more than half of the members of the infiltration unit.

To make the situation worse, tentacles started growing out from the ground and strangled their remaining members one after another. Crutteruo almost despaired, again and again she wondered if the place was hell.

Because she had been raised by beasts until the age of five, she could hardly speak human—or at least, that was the stupid backstory of the character she was roleplaying as, which she loved, but faced with such horror of a base convinced her that the owner, Yuri, was a naturally crazy person.

She had had a really hard time so far. None of her comrades were left, and she herself was covered in wounds and was about to die.

However, using the full power of her ‘Beast Riser’ job—which allowed her to run on walls and ceilings—Crutteruo finally made it to her objective.

She looked at the simple map displayed at the edge of her vision. Behind the door, there was a mark indicating the location of the Guild Core.

“Ou—!”

Ahh, the core is in there! I have to hurry destroy it and win! I will be the one to defeat Yuri!

Crutteruo vigorously kicked open the door with those thoughts in mind. When she rolled in, she found the Guild Core shining black in the center of the room.

“Kh… I won’t allow you… I will protect the Guild Core!”

“Ou~.”

In front of the core was a small blonde loli, but Crutteruo judged that she was not a threat.

Grimm, wasn’t it? She had learned the girl’s information through her prior investigation.

She was a craftswoman player that Yuri had recruited… and, unlike the veteran craftswoman Francoise, she had absolutely no combat ability.

In other words, she is easy pick. On all fours, Crutteruo leaped across the room like a beast and threw a kick into the bewildered Grimm’s side—!

“Uwaaa?!”

Grimm was sent flying and crashed into the wall. This was the moment of victory. Maybe her level was quite high from grinding experience points through creating items? Grimm seemed to be still alive, but she would just leave her alone.

If she took too long, tentacles would grow out from the ground and catch her; she had no time to care about the small fry.

And above all, the Guild Core was right in front of her! If she destroyed it, the Guild of Yuri would be destroyed!

“Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”

I won! The final victor of this event is me, Crutteruo!

With that thought in mind, she threw a kick at the Guild Core with her full power—!

The Guild Core shattered. The broken pieces disappeared into particles of light that fluttered like a flurry of falling cherry blossoms, enveloping Crutteruo as if congratulating her victory.

“Ou~…!”

She ecstatically basked herself in the particles of light, savoring her victory—but in the next moment…

[—Gishaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!]

“Ouuuuuuuuuuuuu?!”

Thick tentacles coiled around Crutteruo! They were undoubtedly the special monster Cthulhu・Replica’s that possessed the entire city.

Ah, how?! What’s going on?! Crutteruo was bewildered, she didn’t get why the guild didn’t disappear when she had destroyed the Guild Core.

—As she was flustered, the small fry she had left alone, Grimm, approached her.

“I’m sorry, assassin… but what you destroyed was a fake core I made.”

“O—wait, what? A fake core?!”

The shocking revelation blew her cheap role-playing out of the window. Grimm grinned at Crutteruo and continued. “Yes, you hear it right. I presume you have been searching for the Guild Core by relying on the minimap at the edge of your field of vision, but its working is too simple.

“The real Guild Core is here!”

Grimm manifested a huge hammer and hit the side wall with all her might.

The inside of the ‘side room’ was visible through the destroyed wall and in there the real Guild Core sat.

In other words, Crutteruo was completely fooled by the craftswoman Grimm.

The item creation ability of ‘Craft Maker’ allowed one to create a decor as long one had the materials… the crafty trap created utilizing it had Crutteruo lost for words.

“T-that’s cheatiiiiiiiiiing…!”

“It is only natural you were fooled. Had you taken a moment to calmly look at the map, you might have noticed a slight discrepancy in the location of the fake core and the real core, however, Cthulhu had worked hard to not give you time to do so. Good job, Cthulhu!”

[Kueeeeee!]

The entire castle cried out in response to Grimm’s praise.

Ah, this is where the battle of wits ends. There would only be one ending for an assassin who was completely tricked and captured.

Grimm raised her hammer with a grin and gave parting words to Crutteruo, “My name is Grimm, a craftsplayer chosen by Demon Lord Yuri!

“Don’t you ever underestimate me again, you beastgiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl!”

“Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?!”

Baaaang! Her hammer swung down and crushed Crutteruo’s head, her HP instantly went down to zero.

Ahh… craftspeople are scary. When Crutteruo died, that thought sprouted from the bottom of her heart as she disappeared…!