Last Boss Quest, Final Stage, Round Three: Start!
After a short break in the Antechamber Area, Yogiri and Tomochika saw the announcement.
“All right, let’s go.”
“Round three has sixteen parties, right?” Tomochika asked.
“Only four rounds to go, then. I thought it would be a pain with so many people, but this actually isn’t that bad.”
“Yeah, we haven’t had much difficulty yet...”
Since all they had to do was defeat whatever enemy showed up, Yogiri didn’t feel like it was all that much work.
Standing up, they headed out the door, which took them to a barren wasteland. The ground around them was empty, reddish brown earth, which came to an abrupt end. Beyond that was nothing but clouds, so this must have been the edge of the floating island. In the opposite direction was a forest, beyond which they could see part of a large building. That was likely a castle, making it the center of the island.
“Want me to yell again?”
“Please.”
“Yogiri Takatou is right here!”
They had both grown used to her yelling by this point. Yogiri stepped away and covered his ears, while Tomochika made sure not to shout so loud as to hurt her own ears.
“I feel like we’re being really lazy about this, though,” Tomochika commented.
“I guess we’re not really doing much, are we?” But with the other participants prioritizing killing Yogiri, this was the most efficient way to proceed. “Speaking of which, wouldn’t it be possible to attack someone before the fight actually started?” he asked, the idea suddenly occurring to him.
“I wonder. You get moved to the battle channel when you’re within ten meters of each other, right? I don’t know what happens if you fight before then. There are plenty of long-range attacks you can do from outside that distance...” If that was allowed, though, there didn’t seem much point in moving them to another channel in the first place.
“We are not in the same space until we encounter an opponent, it appears.” An answer came to them from the forest.
“Oh, Celestina!” Tomochika exclaimed. Emerging from the woods was the quite familiar hotel concierge.
“I have investigated our surroundings with my threads and been unable to make contact with anyone before approaching within the set distance. I have, however, been able to manipulate the environment around them, similar to how you have, Miss Dannoura.”
Though he wasn’t sure it was quite the right analogy, Yogiri guessed it was like they were halfway outside of space. They couldn’t interact directly with each other, but they could still affect the environment around them enough to communicate. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to hear or see each other.
“Did you come here to kill me?” Yogiri asked.
“Yes. It is most inappropriate behavior towards a hotel guest, but...considering the issues you have caused for the other guests, I cannot avoid it.”
“I guess that makes sense. It’s not like we were your only guests.”
This would be a bit difficult. Celestina had helped them quite a bit in their travels and wasn’t a bad person at all. However, her sense of responsibility had brought her to kill Yogiri anyway, and it wasn’t like Yogiri would stand by and let her kill him.
Celestina approached, shifting them into the battle channel.
“What about the rules?”
“In the end, I must take your life, so specifying any further details seems meaningless to me,” Celestina responded.
“Oh, okay.”
Yogiri Takatou vs Celestina: FIGHT!!!
An announcement played in the air above them, indicating the start of the battle.
“I have already trapped you with my thread. If you do not resist, I will allow Miss Dannoura to escape here unharmed, and will ensure your death is as painless as possible.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Yogiri replied.
“Huh? Thread?” Tomochika looked around but couldn’t see anything. They had fought someone who had used a similar weapon back in the tower, but they had been able to perceive the threads back then. Assuming she wasn’t bluffing, Celestina’s threads seemed much thinner, to the point where even Tomochika couldn’t see them.
“Then how about this? I will kill Miss Dannoura first. Even if you can respond to killing intent, surely you cannot respond to killing intent aimed at others.”
“That’s not going to work.” As Yogiri spoke, Celestina collapsed.
Yogiri Takatou Wins!
“Huh?” Tomochika blurted out, taken aback by how quickly the fight had ended. Maybe she’d thought there was still room for them to discuss things.
“Knowing them doesn’t bother me that much,” Yogiri said.
As she had warned them, Celestina had made an attempt on Tomochika’s life, so Yogiri had killed her. That was all there was to it.