＜Infinite Dendrogram＞

□ ■ Anecdotes of a piece of equipment

Once, the western central part of the kingdom was in turmoil.

Multiple wars by small groups of countries.

The birth of a giant nation by a non-standard strong man named [King of Champions] born in that vortex.

Three strong times by [King of Champions], [Dragon Emperor] and [Cat God] that began there.

Another war after the Three Kings closed the curtain with the sealing of [the King] and the death of [the Dragon Emperor] and the disappearance of [the Cat God].

Until later [the Holy Sword King] founded the Kingdom of Alter, no war would disappear from the land.

And in the midst of the war, many weapons were created, and many tactics were knitted.

Special attack tactics using [Dead Soldier] is one of them.

[Dead Soldier] Tactics of forcing slaves into enemy formation and breaking through protection with a bomb.

But this tactic had several drawbacks.

It's a "Last Command" that can still move after HP goes to zero, but that's also a story if you still have your hands and feet.

If you suffer enough damage to die on the battlefield, you will suffer as many defects as you cannot move.

There is also an uninteresting laugh that the bomb I was holding caught on fire and torn apart...... etc.

Countries that use special attack tactics also thought "this is not good" for boulders.

Even if there was no ethical blame for letting the slaves die, I felt a loss of resources.

More efficiently, he considered that the death of [the dead soldier] must be used in vain to kill the enemy.

"Don't waste people's deaths," etc., which was like a joke of a bad nature, but the officers were very serious at the time.

It was one alchemist who presented them with a solution.

He wasn't a super position, he was just a [high alchemist (hi alchemist)].

It's not like he had transcendental skills, nor was he a great genius who had crossed his intelligence like the famous flagman of civilization in the previous period.

Only that he had [Great Necromancer (Rich)] as a subjob would be characteristic of him.

But because of that build,... or because of his personality to build like that, he handled his grievances well.

Resentment...... In making an item containing a curse, he was among the top alchemists of the time...... not rated.

Because many of the things he makes were unbearable for normal use, such as [CBR "Karsted Bloody Regenerate" armor], which strengthens [bleeding] and [cursing] and [debilitating] on what he equipped.

An item creator who specializes only in making users suffer.

He was the main job in ordering torture equipment, but at one point he made an invention that dramatically changed his destiny.

It was a collar-shaped item called [Stone and Gold are Equivalent "Stone Equal Gold"].

It was an item with a name that would leave it to the discretion of the individual to say if he was to be an alchemist or not, but as a function it is simple.

Fly the curse to the nearest creature at the same time as the wearer's death. That's all.

But the curse in exchange for death - "Impossible" is awesome, desperate whether it is the opponent in character... or not, with serious after-effects.

With the life of a stone-like slave, it is also possible to take the life of a fierce enemy like gold. It also eliminates the useless death of [Dead Soldier].

If cursing the closest opponent, there was some fear that the curse would chain up among [the Dead Soldier], but that was no longer an issue with the Alchemist's development of accessories that were not covered by "Forced Heart".

The officers using special attack tactics praised the alchemists for this perfection and decided to mass produce to put them into action quickly.

But [stone and gold are equivalent] were never used in action.

Because on the night of the mass production decision, all the developers, alchemists and officers, were killed by someone.

In addition, some of the prototypes that had been completed and materials for development had also disappeared.

In the end, this invention disappeared into the darkness of history because no one knew the details and the material was gone.

Including who the hell killed the people involved and took the finished product away......

It should be noted that this is an irrelevant conversation, but the alchemist in the matter… The alchemist of the racehorse species (...) also left material regarding the handling of resentment.

That one is kept in a place unrelated to the development of the collar, which his descendants will find in later years.

Its descendants will follow the path of the Necromancer based on the material and develop the original Necromancer magic... which is another story.

◇ ◆ ◇

□ ■ Ministry of Border Zones and Forests

Shortly after the death of four Toms by the Chrono bomb, the collar they were equipped with - [stone and gold are equivalent] - is activated.

The four curses unleashed turn to Chrono, the closest living creature.

……

Chrono throws the bomb into the curse chunk, but it's in the blast and it doesn't look like they're affected.

Chrono immediately understood that it was the kind of curse that kept tracking himself.

At the same time, it does not react to energy or physical attacks such as explosions.

Compared to the velocity of Chrono, the floating curse is too slow and easy to escape.

(If so...!

I can shield someone somewhere on the verge of hitting them, and if I rub them, I can disable them with it.

"... ugh!?"

But I can't do that.

- If you don't defeat me, you'll be able to reach Tian in the kingdom.

- I'm trying to talk Alice into stopping your avatar.

"... him!!"

Chrono understands.

That statement by Tom wasn't just to tell you to defeat yourself, it was to seal your escape from this curse, he said.

If you run into Tian and try to rub the curse, at that point Chrono's movement stops and feeds on the curse.

Then I thought... but all around here are the escorts.

Naturally, there are escorted tians nearby.

Then even the monster thought...... but no sign.

(escaped...... no, no!

Rather than an area where there are many monsters that are far stronger than the original, weaker monsters thought they would be fleeing the explosion from earlier, and denied it.

The air has a slightly different smell from that of the tree.

Chrono guessed that perhaps some item had been sprayed and excluded the monster.

It was Tom himself who called to this place… i.e. also the proof left that this trick was at his disposal.

Not when I came to this floor before noon, but last night... while Ray and the others were consulting with Ultimia, I was alone and visiting this border zone to set up a trick on this forest.

It's easy for Tom, who can use a split body, to get out of the kingdom's escort unnoticed, or to split up and prepare.

Everything calls Chrono here today, to push him into this situation.

(From the beginning, you were after...!

As if that were the difference in experience, Tom was putting Chrono in a trap.

And that's not the only trap.

Around the fleeing Chrono, the ground and trees can be bounced and scattered in the air.

To avoid it, Chrono is forced to change his orbit and slow down.

"Huh!!"

Small stones or pieces of wood. Something that normally means nothing.

But that's for Chrono, who moves at twenty-six times the speed of sound. It can be a threat to penetrate the body.

Therefore, Chrono had to change his orbit so as not to bump, or slow down to the point where he could withstand a bump.

But every time you slow down, the cursed mass packs the distance.

that distance gradually approached,

…………

- My distance is zero.

A black glow shows a burst of curse.

The curse shines four degrees, and after its potency, the cloud fog dissipates.

Shortly after...... Krono fell to the ground.

◇ ◆

…………

Seeing Chrono fall, the last Tom who was hiding approached Chrono with his figure hidden.

Together with [Nobody Whisper], Tom wore a curse-saver accessory that he once collected with [stones are equivalent to gold].

I couldn't even use my split to keep the object of the curse off the chrono, but the result is success.

(Curse definitely landed on Chrono)

It is the proof left that Chrono is stopping and falling to the ground.

Was the curse of as many as four shots deadly, and the dust of light begins to rise from its body?

(It was a forceful means, but if this stopped Chrono from rumbling...?

But Tom finds himself uncomfortable by accident.

The dust of light is rising, but Chrono's own body does not disappear inside.

Even though the Avatar of the Managed AI should be the same as the Disappearance and Resource Recovery.

- There you go, Tom Cat.

Shortly afterwards, Chrono, who should have fallen, scratches out - countless bombs and [gems] float around Tom, who was disappearing.

"Kuh!?"

As he retreated, Tom realized his own failure.

Pebbles and wood-edged walls made of bombs I set up to block Chrono's exit.

I realized that they had fallen to the ground rewarding Tom's invisible proximity.

Countless bombs didn't exactly capture Tom's position while he remained hidden.

Something that relies only on a rough position and can't blow up the area by throwing items in a row.

(But the curse should have hit straight......! How can you be safe...?

Tom thought about the question while taking evasive action and creating a separation.

But the bomb detonates simultaneously before you get an answer... everything in your body detonates.

"...... ugh!!"

Only the one within Tom survives in that series of explosions.

But Tom isn't safe either.

He has been pushed to a state where it is no longer difficult for him to move on his own, as he defended himself at the expense of both hands and feet to avoid extinction.

In front of Tom in that condition, a slowed chrono stood.

"As you know me, I know you, too. Because your proliferative status is based on the healthiest status of your surviving status.... if only you were scratched on both hands and feet, you'd be the same person coming out."

I can still give you a split.

But since Tom is as damaged as he is now, both hands and feet are nearly unusable, so combat action is nearly impossible.

Again, it would even be difficult to wear the rest [stone and gold are equivalent].

"... how the hell did you get me to avoid that curse?

Yes, that was the problem.

Surely the curse should have hit Chrono.

It's like disabling that one... and the gear that withstands four shots is difficult if not a perk weapon that specializes in it.

Besides, Chrono can't change his gear due to Juliette's legacy curse.

It should therefore never be preventable, and hence the question...... Krono's answer was only to shift his gaze where he had fallen until a moment earlier.

But that was also the answer to everything.

In the place where Chrono was falling...... there was something that disappeared as he rose the dust of light.

That's......

"Of birds... carcasses?

A carcass of monsters resembling four little birds had fallen to the ground.

Perhaps the earlier was something Tom didn't realize because he had been placed beneath the fallen Chrono's own body, a factor that could be mistaken for the disappearance of Chrono's own avatar.

"Impossible" is an equipment skill that flies curses on the closest creatures.

Therefore, it can be used as a shield if it is distributed in front of itself, even if it is not a human organism.

But to prevent it in the first place, wild monsters should have been excluded by Tom in advance.

Then that little bird monster... where did it emerge from?

"... the master admired the real sky and liked the bird song"

It was Chrono's own words that answered Tom's question like that.

It's a voice that recalls the past.

The moment of the end. Chrono remembers his < master > staring into the sky and listening to the song of the little bird in the fake nature shown by [Infinite Fantasy].

"So imitate it, I had a couple of little birds too... [Jewel] just kept them (...)"

……

From the former, Chrono himself had a monster.

I released it from [Jewel] on the verge of landing a bullet and diverted the object of the curse from myself.

It's ironic. If it were a combat monster that [Jewel] had sent out, Tom would have noticed the anomaly immediately.

Because he was a small, helpless little bird, he didn't realize that the curse was off, nor did he realize that Chrono was misleading the disappearance of that carcass into his own.

"... I guess I should say I did something wrong"

"Fine, because you were just treating me.... To be honest, I didn't know what a bird sounded like."

…………

Chrono's voice was not concealed by something like remorse: 'I couldn't understand what < master > preferred'.

But Chrono switches that emotion and looks down at Tom with a cold gaze.

"... that's it. Tom Cat. There's nothing you can do. If you want to split up and buy time, you can do that. I'll sprinkle it again, and I'll burn everything that comes out. I've been shredded by you for a long time, but it's still there."

That said, Chrono puts his hands out of his pocket.

Looking down at Tom as he pinched several [gems] between his fingers holding his pocket watch.

…………

"Goodbye, [Cat God] Tom Cat"

That being said, Chrono sprinkled [Gem] over the fallen Tom.

To be continued