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“Hey, mister. This bow isn’t hitting the prize at all. Are you sure this bow is alright?”

A rustic kid, radiating a fresh out-of-the-countryside vibe, pouted as he alternated his gaze between the toy bow and the prize, failing to win the prize he wanted.

“Hahaha. It’s not the bow’s fault, kid. In fact, another child just won the special prize a moment ago.”

The vendor snickered dubiously and pointed at another kid, clearly a shill. This kid was flaunting a stuffed toy, nearly as tall as himself, in what seemed a scripted performance—ahem, he exclaimed in a delighted manner, “Yay, I hit the prize!” (although it was obviously physically impossible for the toy to have dropped from the rack).

Spurred on by that sight, the rustic kid exchanged his remaining allowance, just enough for one more challenge, for ten arrows.

Meanwhile, a group of kids was creating new replicas from a clay mold and painting them a bright pink color on a nearby plank. One of them brought a finished replica to the vendor.

“Mister, how much do you think this model could sell for?”

“Oh, let me take a look… Hmm, this side is a bit cracked, so about 1500 points, I guess. Maybe this type of model is a bit tough to create. The larger one here should have been easier, right? I’ll add a bonus to the previous point total; let’s make it 70 copper coins.”

Away from the chaotic situation on the floating continent, in the rural town of the small kingdom of Cilento, located in the northern region, an inconspicuous shady merchant with black hair and narrow eyes was swindling children out of their pocket money through dubious deals.

◆◇◆◇

“My bad, the conversation got derailed. What do you think Shimamura’s goal is in targeting the control room?”

“I thought maybe he had some way to snatch away control…”

“But it doesn’t seem that’s his intention. He’s just been fighting the whole time.”

The young girl narrated the situation as seen through her familiar and shook her head.

“Hmm. But it doesn’t sit well with me that he’s just fighting. There should have been some kind of giveaway if his goal was the main control.”

—Is he doing all this just to buy time?

This possibility suddenly flashed through the young man’s mind.

—But then, for what? Where is he going to get his support from?

Thinking of that possibility, the young man looked around the surface but didn’t spot any abnormalities. As a matter of fact, the “Sky Garden” had already crossed the Yuz Grand Duchy and was nearing the heart of the Graviol Empire.

“—S̲h̲i̲t̲. So that’s his goal!”

As the scene unfolded before him, all the fragmented clues in the young man’s mind suddenly clicked into place, forming a coherent picture.

“What’s the matter, Lubbock?”
“I’ve figured out what he’s plotting. We have to hurry and notify Hiyuki about it!”
“Notify? Well, the other side is also caught up in quite a peculiar situation.”

The young girl conveyed the scene observed by her familiar with a faint, mystified smile.

◆◇◆◇

“Fufufu, you have finally driven me to this state, eh?”

Taking an imposing pose in the grand corridor, Shima looked in our direction with a triumphant expression and bragged.

“Eww…”

I reckon my face must have been all cramped and twitchy at that moment. Our plan worked just as I had expected, reducing Shima’s HP by a large chunk.

We dodged any of his single-target attacks that he shot at us, while Kokuyou shielded us from the AoE magic. The rest of the attacks were countered by Utsuho’s counter magic (“E.T.O” utilizes a hit detection system, much like FPS or TPS games, so there was no target lock system).

On the other hand, Mikoto used her aerial capabilities to shoot light-based magic from a long distance. Whenever he was distracted by them, I would use my forte—hit-and-run tactics—to slash at him and dash away before his follow-up attack. We had been repeating this for nearly an hour, and I think we managed to shave off about 10% of his HP at a rate of 5 minutes per 10%… I guess? Around this time, Shima unraveled a magic circle in the surrounding area and summoned monsters from there. Shima was a master of four jobs: “Warlock,” “Summoner,” “Spellblade,” and “Dressmaker,” all max-leveled.

The last job was not anything special, but the monsters that crawled out of the summoning circle were quite strong, belonging to the devil category. However, compared to the monstrosity of our folks, they were no better than slimes and were wiped out in an instant. Except, Shima seized this chance for his next move as he opened some distance between us and something—the Nidhogg No. 2, in “Pet Unison” state, jumped out of his chest like a bullet to join the fray.

It expanded and engulfed the open space of the corridor in the blink of an eye. Unexpectedly, it stacked itself longitudinally instead of uncoiling horizontally. Just as I began to feel confused by its cylindrical shape, the Nidhogg No. 2 started to stretch flat and thin, much like molding clay, and soon, limbs grew out before it took the shape of a headless giant. The entirety of its body wriggled nauseatingly.

A headless—no, wait. It actually had one. Shima’s neck, as if beheaded, was growing out of the giant’s torso section. Though it was pitifully small compared to the overall size. He must have hidden his real body somewhere inside that giant, and from that vantage point, Shima cackled.

“Hahahahaha! What do you think of my splendid creation—the ‘Jotun’? Isn’t it breathtaking?!”

He even struck a bodybuilder-like pose to show off the giant’s muscles while saying that.

Truly, it was breathtaking. Breathtakingly creepy.