As soon as Sheryl gave the order— Kshk Kshk! Thumpathumpa thumpathump! A torrent of sound filled the area.
“Ghhh?!”
“Graaaah?!”
“Ghee—”
At the same time, what could only be described as a rain of arrows came pouring down, turning the monsters into pincushions. I surveyed the area for the source of the sounds and saw that the ballistae—the same ones we’d passed by on the way to destroy the tower—had sprung to life on their own and had begun shooting at every monster in range.
And they were working in tandem with cannons as well.
Bolt after bolt, they kept pouring out and cutting down the monster population.
Hey! I can see some bolts made from squid and crab byproducts mixed in.
“Wh-What’s this?!”
“It’s raining arrows!”
“I-I’m saved! No wait, what the heck is this?!”
“The ballistae are moving on their own!”
“Dude, those are auto turrets!”
“I thought they were just props, but huh?! What kind of gimmick is this?!”
The other players, saved as they were, were just as startled as we were. At least, judging from all the voices in chat.
“I spotted them a while back and tried using one, but there were no triggers and no ammo, so I moved on. What’s going on here?”
“Were they set up from the start?”
“What mercy have you bestowed upon us, oh mighty devs?”
“Screw that! Let us players figure it out on our own. If they rig it so that it’s impossible to clear the game without some cheap trick, it just kills the vibe.”
No...that’s not it. These weren’t put here by the devs.
“No, I saw it. Those turrets? The island lord’s diver girl was setting them up at breakneck speeds.”
“I saw it too! The hell is she doing? I thought. But... Guess it was a strategic setup.”
“Hold up. You’re telling me the Island Lord Party did all of this?!”
“Just how many turrets did she place?!”
“Good news: We don’t do jack, and the mobs will get shredded.”
“Bad news: We have to stand around like useless morons and watch it happen.”
Chat is melting down.
“I’m here to report that Dimension Ganesha is getting turned into a porcupine with all the bolts those turrets are firing into him. An elephant in a needle stack.”
“His HP is dropping like crazy. This is insane.”
As the area around us was cleared out, Shouko and Kanade both turned to me.
“This is Sheryl’s handiwork, right?” my sister asked.
“Probably...”
“So it seems.”
“Kizuna...” asked Sheryl. “Where are you?”
“Between B-3 and B-4. Near the boss.”
“Uh-huh...”
That was where the conversation ended. Moments later, I spotted her racing toward us on her mount.
“Mobs clear! Everyone! The boss may look like a mess, but still! Charge!”
“Y-Yeaaaaaah!”
“I mean... I don’t think anyone here’s getting MVP at this point.”
“Someone’s got to scrape up the scraps!”
“Take what you can get! And I’m getting that last hit!”
The players regrouped and rallied, and they stormed the boss.
“Hurry,” Sheryl said flatly, pointing toward the bolt-ridden monstrosity.
So, we followed her lead and launched ourselves at the Dimension Ganesha—a living pincushion on its last legs.
Even then, the ballistae and cannons were bombarding it nonstop.
“P-Pwhaaaooo.”
What even is this situation...? I wondered as I got in a few hits. Then, thud! Dimension Ganesha crashed to the ground. His sad death cry left a lasting impression.
I mean...the poor thing had been turned into Swiss cheese by all the turrets. His misery was practically palpable.
The skies cleared up, a refreshing breeze signaling the end of the wave.
Is this really okay?
“...!”
Sheryl stood there with a smug, triumphant look on her face, while all the other players—me included—were left at a loss for words.
“Umm... Good game?”
“Was it really?”
“What just happened? Someone explain.”
I had to agree with whoever said that.
The Fourth Dimension Wave has been Cleared!
So said the system window.
“For what it’s worth...we cleared it, but I don’t really feel accomplished or anything...”
Seriously, what was all that? We were more confused than anything else.
“Those turrets weren’t there from the start, and they didn’t just sprout out of the ground.”
“Yeah, and some of them were firing squid and crab.”
“Wasn’t that cannon just shooting straight garbage?”
“The island lord must’ve done something again.”
Why are they pointing fingers at me?!
“Kizzy is innocent, I daresay! I mean, I just saw her looking completely blindsided!”
“Yeah, our sweet Kizzy doesn’t have the brains or foresight to pull off something like this.”
“I wanted to see her fishing up the boss again.”
“Give me some more crazy fishing.”
Just think about it. We’re on land. Are you mocking me?!
Even if I did manage to get a lure in its elephant mouth, the poor thing was already knocking on death’s door by the time I got there! The players’ expectations were all united in a strange direction.
As I grumbled to myself, the result screen popped up.
My Damage Dealt Ranking is...8.
I managed to get a decent score with my Energy Blade and my Cooperation Skill with Yamikage, but as expected, I didn’t contribute that much in the grand scheme of things. And considering the Energy I had to burn, I could only go all out when it was a large-scale event like this.
Yamikage, meanwhile, was at Rank 2. Her firepower was as absurd as ever.
It was mostly her AoE magic that shined with the massive monster spawn rate.
Silent but smug, Sheryl puffed out her chest. A proud Rank 1.
The gap between first and second place was like heaven and earth. Everyone else looked like children, comparing their acorn saplings to her proud forest of total dominance.
Well...we did decent too, so maybe we’re a little above the average sapling.
Her top ranking was only natural with the countless turrets she unleashed on the battlefield.
“Pennn.”
Looking closely, I saw that the turrets were moving in sync with the Pekkles stationed at strategic points, this linkage creating essentially unmanned machines.
Could it be...?
“Presumably, she figured out some way to link objects with Machinery, I daresay.”
“Uh-huh...”
Whoa. Not bad.
“You stationed turrets on the battlefield? That’s incredible,” said Shouko.
“Got the idea from Kizuna...”
“From me? What part?”
“Mass deployment.”
“She’s talking about the crab traps, I daresay. All those traps you scatter everywhere are what inspired her,” Yamikage filled in the details.