Chapter 90: The Stars Dance in Spirals ③

I drank the Elixir I’d been handed. The pain in my body vanished in an instant.
I picked up my knife and stood.

Mineha-san was lightly twirling a blue spear with a triangular notch in its spiral.
In sync with her movements, countless triangles rotated and turned into stars.
A Relic — [Remote Control].

“Wof. Where’s that core-something?”
“If you mean the Infinite-Spawn Core System, just straight ahead from here. Um—”
“What?”
“No, never mind.”

Why is Mineha-san even here?
I almost asked, but decided not to. She looked like she’d get angry.
Haiyaan’s voice came through the comms.

“Wof, are you alright? Looks like I made it in time.”
“Barely… Was the shutdown time always that short? I nearly died out there!”
“I forced the system into shutdown, but the reboot was much faster than expected. Might’ve been a trap.”

Calling it a trap doesn’t make me feel better…
Seriously, just how many grudges have you racked up, Haiyaan?

“Mineha-san’s gotten stronger, and—why is she here?”
“Didn’t she follow you?”
“Followed me… And that spear?”
“I made it. Well, more like I synthesized it. Broken OOPArts and more OOPArts, mixed with other materials. The first complete restoration project from my alchemist lab.”
“…So it’s a new OOPArt?”
“That’s right. Not bad for my first try in a while, right?”

You can actually do that?
Mineha-san had been overwhelming multiple Minos Units at once.
Those “stars” were actually large, fast-spinning white triangles — bigger and quicker than Oriones.

Oriones lacked finishing power, but that was because the triangles were smaller and fewer in number.

Her new OOPArt spear had triangles that were both larger and more numerous — easily twice as many.
Plenty of firepower now.

Triangles… fused with an OOPArt… plus the Relic [Remote Control].
Ah, so she combined it with Oriones.

“Mineha-san.”
“Wof. I’m angry at you, you know.”
“Y-yes…”

She glared at me — understandably so.
Still, I stepped up beside her. She spoke coldly.

“You should wait in the lab. You’ll just get in the way.”
“No. For the next five minutes, that won’t be true.”

I calmed myself, focusing. I activated my fourth Relic — [Generous].
In an instant, my hair and eyes turned violet, and the Gauntlets of Serene Sanctity transformed.

Mineha-san’s eyes widened.

“Y-you… that form…”

So shocked, she stopped her attack — and the Minos Units swarmed us.
I calmly raised one hand.

“[Phantasmagoria].”

Countless basketball-sized [Vanish] spells erased part of the Minos Units.

“That just now… Wof…”
“Mineha-san. Details later. Let’s finish this.”

She gave a small nod, and we ran forward.

My [Phantasmagoria] cleared the Minos Units ahead of us.
Mineha-san danced at my side, striking down those behind us with her stars.
One star suddenly darted upward, erasing an incoming spear arrow before skewering its wielder.

“Careful.”
“Ah—thanks.”

She pulled my clumsy self along, as if we were dancing together.
Neither me in [Genesis] form alone nor Mineha-san alone could do this — it had to be both of us, together.

We pressed forward like that.

Things were going smoothly — but time was short.

“Wof, good news. I can trigger another system shutdown.”
“Please do!”

I answered instantly. Yes, with this we could win.

“But this is the last one. There won’t be another.”
“U-understood… Do it.”
“3, 2, 1… Shutdown!”

With a lurch, the Minos Units stopped again.

“What? They stopped?”
“Let’s hurry.”

Almost there… The blue marker was so close — just one more step—

Suddenly my vision cleared.
The Minos Unit ahead had the blue marker and a black dot overlapping on it.
But it was different from the others.

“That’s—!?”
“That thing!?”

It was a Minos Unit with four arms and four eyes — much larger than the rest.

Each arm held a different weapon: sword, axe, spear, fist.
If I remembered right, this type was called a Minos Guardian.

So this was the Infinite-Spawn Core System.
And there were two of them — A and B.

“Well, well… fancy meeting you here.” 

Mineha-san said, smiling brightly in a witch-like tone.

Ah. So she’s here to help me… and also because her spear had been broken before.
Even if this one’s different, she probably wants her revenge.

She leveled her spear.

Looked like she’d take the right one, which meant the left was mine.

“…Wof.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s take them both — together.”
“Eh—”

Before I could finish, she closed the distance, raining all her stars down on both targets.

“BUOOHHH!”
“BUMOOOOHHHH!”

The Minos Guardians roared and swung their weapons, knocking some stars aside.

These things weren’t affected by the system shutdown!?

“Haiyaan! The Infinite-Spawn Core System isn’t shutting down!”
“What? Is it a Minos Unit?”
“No, it’s a Minos Guardian.”
“Guardian type — shutdown only works on Units.”
“Ah, so that’s it…”
“Exactly.”

Figures they’d have a countermeasure… Not that I’m really involved in this feud.

“Don’t get cocky!”

Mineha-san, clearly annoyed, added [Spiral] to her spear and thrust, knocking aside Guardian A’s axe.

“So tough!”

I cast [Phantasmagoria], surrounding both Guardians with countless [Vanish] spells, chipping away at them.
Still, it wasn’t enough to finish them.

Mineha-san showered them in arcs of stars, keeping them off balance — but their armor was thick.
Thicker than the ones we’d fought before.

This was bad — only one minute left.

We needed a decisive blow.
I sheathed Axe-san’s modified knife and drew Dagaa.

“Na?”
“Sorry to wake you — I need your help.”
“Na!”
“Huh?”

When I drew Dagaa, I felt something strange.
The grip was the same, but the blade had changed.

It was now a slightly pointed triangle like an arrowhead, split down the middle into two prongs.
At the center of the split was a large, teardrop-shaped jewel glowing brightly.

Wasn’t this the same mysterious gem on Dagaa’s forehead? It had never appeared before.

“Na!”
“What, enchant Phantasmagoria? Use the True Eye? Wait, what’s a True Eye? The jewel?”
“Na!”
“…”
“Na!”
“Alright, fine — but I have no idea what’ll happen.”

40 seconds left. There was no time left to hesitate.

I used [Phantasmagoria] on the jewel called the True Eye.

I pictured it as if I were pouring every last [Vanish] into it.

The jewel shone with a brilliant purple light, and I understood instinctively.

I had been holding it lightly in one hand at my side, but without thinking, I gripped it with both hands and raised it high — somehow knowing it would be dangerous otherwise.

When I slowly swung it down, the ceiling far above trembled, and stone pillars and massive boulders came crashing down.

Not only that — the entire 12th floor quaked faintly, and the sound of collapse rang out from every direction.

When the swing ended, Minos Guardian B had been split apart.

And it didn’t stop there — far beyond it, the slash had cleaved through and shattered part of the Arc’s hull.

“Wh-what the hell is this…?”

< …Ah… to think… you would go… this far… >

“Eh?”

What was that just now? What? Who? No, there’s no one… wait, what…?

“Wof! You — what did you just do!?”
“That’s the thing… I don’t really know…”

『BUOOOHHHH!!』

The remaining Minos Guardian roared. It roared loud and long.

It swung its four arms with skill, closing in on Mineha-san.

“You’re noisy.”

She intercepted every strike with her stars, repelling them hard enough to lift the Guardian’s massive body into the air — and all the while, she kept glaring at me. Mineha-san was angry. She was serious.

She planted her spear in the ground and gripped its pommel with both hands — a stance you’d normally see with a sword.

“Feel honored. I’ll show you this. Dance — ‘Bewitching Star Manifest Spear’!”

She leveled the spear at the enemy, and eight stars lined up in a row.
The taut, overpowering aura radiating from Mineha-san filled and dominated the space.

“Starlight.”

She raised the spear high.
The eight stars began circling the Minos Guardian.

“Vortex!!”

As she swung the spear down, a ninth star fell from above the Guardian’s head.
In that instant, a violently shining vortex erupted, swallowing the Minos Guardian whole.

“…O-ohhh…”

Mineha-san smoothly lifted the spear.
The nine stars returned and fitted into place, forming a blue spear adorned with a white spiral pattern.

『…Infinite-Spawn Core System shutdown confirmed. Well done.』

“…Phew.”

As I caught my breath, Mineha-san suddenly locked eyes with me — and embraced me.

Before I could even react, I was held tight — warmly, gently, and with a touch of sadness.

I stayed silent.

At the same time — 12th floor, Arc Ruins.

On a stone plateau, an absurdly out-of-place white tea table had been set.

On that table lounged Chive, wearing a yellow robe with the hood pulled low over their eyes.

“Uu-aaaah, what’s with things actually getting dangerous for real?”

“This much is nothing for Shiro.”

Seated beside them was an entirely white-skinned girl, who sipped occasionally from a cup of herbal tea that shimmered with blue-violet light as she spoke.

A little ways away, the witch and a maid stood side by side.

“Well, well, that was surprising.”
“So that child really is your disciple, then.”
“Fufu, fufu… my proud disciple, yes.”
“That Wof-kid — give him to me.”
“Shiro is also interested in that child.”

The witch smiled while glaring at them both.
The maid, completely indifferent, stared at the wreckage of a fallen Minos Unit.

“Witch. Were these Minos Units from the earliest models? They don’t use Relics like the latest versions, but they’re still quite sturdy.”
“That’s right, that’s right. I’ve only seen this type once before, down at the very bottom of the Underworld Demon Gate dungeon.”
“Ehh, you mean that kind of thing? Showing up this high up? So it was actually dangerous.”
“Yes, yes. For Infinite-Spawn to appear in such a shallow floor is truly frightening.”
“Even so, I must admit — as expected of your disciple.”
“Mhm, mhm. Wof-boy is my proud disciple.”
“That wasn’t a compliment. Don’t you go destroying dungeons together, master and disciple both.”

Shiro spoke in exasperation.
The witch laughed. The maid sighed.

“Still, don’t you think this is a bit overprotective, witch? I get that your first disciple is cute, but we’re not even supposed to be in this dungeon, you know?”
“Well, well, it’s no wonder you’d say that. And you’d be exactly right.”
“Wait — exactly right?”
“Yes, yes. Overprotective and proud of it. And it’s true — he’s cute. That’s why I don’t want my disciple to die. If there’s even the slightest chance, I’ll save him without hesitation.”
“Wow, Wof-kid — you’re loved.”
“Shiro is also interested in romance.”
“So that’s why you brought us here?”
“Well, well, you just happened to be in town. No idea why there are so many Class I here, though.”
“Well, my motto is top-quality after-service, so.”
“Shiro had a message to deliver and needed to stay here for a while, so it was convenient.”
“I am here to guard the foolish prince.”
“Then, then, of course I’ll make use of you.”

The witch gazed downward with a smile.

“Oh my, oh my. Shiro from Messe having to stay put for a while — what could that mean?”
“That’s really rare.”
“Is something happening?”
“Yes, something is. That’s right, I should tell you — this is an important message from Grand Guildmaster Alhazard Aburamelin. One month from now, this city of Hydrangea will—”

Shiro spoke to them.

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