Accel World Vol 8 Chapter 9 (1/2)

Chapter 9

His Neuro Linker aht process clock, and Haruyuki shut his eyes and passed through the «acceleration» process released sinals in the real world

Waiting till he felt hisbody descend to a hard, level surface, he raised his eyelids

What was there was no longer the Arita fa A floor joined together in a complex manner from blue-black tiles with a dull n of like that of thin blades lined up A ceiling with narrow bea it The only illumination was from a number of curious purple candles installed on the wall; on the whole, it was rather glooe, he knew that it was a deep underground room

This was the center of the Unlimited Neutral Field, the deepest of the depths of the main shrine of the «Imperial Palace»—a small room linked to the hall a certain person had called the «Shrine of the Eight Gods» Why the design differed from the one he remembered was because the Unlimited Field’s characteristic «transition» had occurred, and the attribute had changed froe to this

“…It’s the «Dee”

A lovely voice that was also clear resounded; Haruyuki turned his gaze that way

The one standing with her two hands aligned precisely before herself was a duel avatar of a small frame equipped hite and scarlet armor that reminded one of a a Nebulas’ Eleration shrineher was of course shi+nomiya Utai—

In response to Utai’s voice, which he could not hear in the real world, he quickly responded

“I’e full of terrain traps and wild creatures The terrain’s probably harder than that of the Heian stage, but the I is indestructible anyways…”

While chatting, he checked his status in the upper left hand of his field of vision Since they had dived again after leaving once, while his health gauge was at full throttle his special technique gauge was zero

Following that, he looked around in circles, but of course other than those of hiionKuroyukihime and company who had escaped normally from the «Leap Point» portal in last tiinami, separated ten kilo up with Ash Roller and starting to move Basically, the only ones here were Utai and Haruyuki—

…No, that was not so There was one more person who should appear

“…Tha…that’s right He’s…”

“Already here”

In response to Haruyuki’s murmur, Utai had responded like that, so with an “eh” he tried to look around at his surroundings anew; at that instant

“—I’, Crow-san, Maiden-san”

Fro boy’s voice reminiscent of a balmy breeze in early summer reached them

He strained his eyes in that direction, and in the ht a silhouette stood out

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His overall impression was quite similar to that of Ardor Maiden Head armor in the shape of a parted hairstyle and a lucid face mask Arms swelled out in a shape that made one think of japanese-style dress Why the hakama3-style breast armor was extended horizontally was because the avatar was sitting seiza-style on the ground His ar but serene azure

In front of the body that was, if anything, of sht sword sheathed in its scabbard It was not that large a thing, but perhaps reflecting its concealed overwhel space was distorted iroup of the strongest Enhanced Armaments in the Accelerated World, «The Infinity»—

The deep blue avatar, who could be perfectly described as being a young warrior, looked straight at Haruyuki and Utai with his light blue eye lenses and then made a deep bohile still in seiza posture He lifted his body, raised his straight sword up frohtly

With a splendidUtai also bent her waist and returned the favor to the young warrior, who had stepped forward a few paces from the wall, so Haruyuki also hurriedly bowed his head respectfully He lifted his face; after being at a loss for words for a while, he opened his mouth

“Uh…u, Lead S, sorry to have kept you waiting”

At Haruyuki’s aard re warrior avatar smiled tenderly and shook his head

“Not at all, even if one said I waited, it was only to the extent of two seconds in real world time Please don’t worry about it”

—Though having said that, in this side two seconds o thousand seconds, in short over thirtya tio numb even as a duel avatar

Before that, in this day and age where the Neuro Linker was in widespread use, no one was «just waiting» any longer in one’s daily life For exaed to meet someone, the Neuro Linker would tell one how many more minutes till one had to leave the house and which tiration to one’s destination when ridden, and even the current location and the esti were displayed in detail Even for having a estion conditions of the surrounding stores in real ti up, and as for riding a taxi, with the push of a button froation application a request would be sent to the nearest vehicle Of course, due to unforeseen circu ti one’s tifully built into one’s Neuro Linker

As a result, in this place where there was nothing to do, fro kept hi but wait for thirty ain However, wholly as if he were used to sitting for long periods of ti warrior stopped Haruyuki’s apology and spoke amicably

“Really, please don’tfor the two of you to co experience I wouldn’t evena whole day”

“Is, is that so… Um, well, I too…in terreatly looking forward to it That is, being able to ain, Lead”

A remark rare for Haruyuki spilled out like a drop from his mouth; the azure avatar hunched up his shoulders, and replied with a s bashful

Lead was an abbreviation Correctly, it was «Trilead Tetraoxide» Haruyuki had not checked that na to what Takumu had searched was the chemical formula of the substance «Pb3O4», in the Brain Burst systeiven his name as such

In the Unlies apart from his were not visible, so if he were to check his avatar na hiion from the «Install Menu» But he couldn’t behave like that all of a sudden, and, in the first place, whether «Trilead Tetraoxide» was his real na his proper avatar na to do so by any means

First and fore any kind of doubt toward Lead at such a late point would make this very Imperial Palace escape mission not come to completion As for ithout his cooperation the act of Haruyuki and Utai co out from the inner sanctuary probably would not be fulfilled—

Therefore, Haruyuki had already decided to have complete faith in Lead, and Utai seemed to have done the same The shrinewarrior lowered her head respectfully once more, and spoke far more smoothly than Haruyuki had

“I too am happy to have been able to e to inquire about various things, but…since we’re ion comrades outside the I about receiving your opinion regarding a means of immediate escape from here”

Though Haruyuki had a heap of things he really wanted to ask Lead—how he had entered this Imperial Palace, why he had not used the «one-time portal» in the hall above and escaped, as the truth behind the words that “he had not fought a norh it was not the situation to be chatting leisurely Kuroyukihi, but he wanted to ate as short as possible

They would surely have opportunities to hear his story whilethat, Haruyuki also nodded wordlessly In doing so, Lead straightened his sitting posture and replied in a voice with increased spirit

“You being selfish, that’s unthinkable The first time the two of you met me, you trusted me unconditionally In that case, it’s natural to answer to that trust… Allow ”

There, the young warrior stopped his words teripped in his left hand at his waist He leisurely raised his hand, which had become free, into the air and continued

“Currently, there exist tays of breaking out normally from this Imperial Palace However, one of them is realistically impossible”

His left hand moved further and indicated the depths of the not-so-wide room

What existed there was a railing, no, barricade with a design co countless short swords On the other side of the railing was a vast space filled with blue darkness In the far distance of the large hall that was several tiyht were visible

What was pulsing blue like a water surface was the light of a portal, basically a pathway to the real world And then a golden light that wavered ephe to Trilead, that very thing was the last Divine Weapon re in the Accelerated World, croith the na Light»

In the sa lured in Haruyuki went out a few steps and fixed his eyes with a stare upon the golden resplendence Since it was too far, he could discern neither the substance of the light nor the pedestal on which it was supposed to be placed However, in spite of that Haruyuki still felt «so»

The desire to possess a rare item? —Nay

The instinct to strengthen his fighting power? —Nay

The reason was that to Haruyuki, that light, which was supposed to be nothing more than an Enhanced Arht of as a simple item by any means As proof of that, the «drea—had «The Fluctuating Light» that they had seen as save data in the middle of the «Brain Burst central server», which in a certain sense was an areaalaxy than anything else? Just as if it were even the absolute core of the Accelerated World itself…

“The last Divine Weapon, «Youkou»—”

Suddenly, at his immediate left Lead’s voice reverberated, and taken aback Haruyuki awoke frohts

“If you can obtain it and activate the portal at its back, a normal withdrawal from the Imperial Palace is possible However, that is far too difficult As to why, this railing…the day before yesterday, it was a shi+menawa4, but froin to appear in the space back there”

“«Begin to»…does that mean that it’s not only one?”

Frohtly nodded

“Correct In the beginning there’s two…as the invader advances, or as the tithens, a further two bodies will increase apiece I’ve confirmed up to six, but probably with that it’s not the end Based on the conjecture that they will probably increase by at least two ht Gods»”

“…Eight, Eight Gods…”

Haruyuki h they had been unable to deal with even one of the «Divine Beasts», the super-class eneates outside the Imperial Palace, they were even doubled here

“…If in actuality that portal were linked to the next boss room, and there «Sixteen Gods» popped out…”

In response to Haruyuki’s nonsensical stateht, so in a flurry he shook his head and hands

“N, never ht, at any rate even if we don’t defeat the «Eight Gods» andtheir attacks, that also seeht”

“Yes, as you say, Crow-san, it hella seems that way Besides that, if we don’t co «Youkou» also probably seems hella impossible”

“…Forget about «hella» too”

Since it seemed that he would accidentally cause Lead, whose brain’s conversion dictionary seee word, Haruyuki hurriedly added that and continued

“Uh, uo out from that portal Which means, about the second ht have to also do that Basically…returning to the south gate once again and leaving froht?”

Upon that, Lead turned toward Haruyuki and nodded while s

“It is exactly thus —If you insist by any ate either though”

“No, no it’s all right, we’re fine with the south gate! Ifor us there…”

After replying with that, Haruyuki suddenly tilted his head quizzically and inquired

“—Is the east no good?”

“I’ate… Since the characteristic attack of its guardian beast «Seiryuu» is slightly troublesome…”

“Really? What does he do?”

“«Level Drain»”

“Let’s give up on the east”

In less than a tenth of a second, he replied right away and immediately continued

“N, no, let’s give up on the north and west too; the south, if you please”

“hella understood, Crow-san”

Lead nodded with a dead serious expression on his face, and Utai, as standing to the right side, let a rare shter slip out with a chuckle

“Kuu-san and Lead-san are haret a word in”

“Eh…is, is that so”

“You two have splendid shi+te-kata6 and waki-kata styles”

Utai, who had coed the expression of her faceLead

“Lead-san, forgive us, but ould like your assistance”

“I’ll do what little I can —Well then, the two of you, first of all to above”

Lead left the barricade of swords and began to walk toward the ascending steps at the rear of the small room Utai continued after him

After chasing after the two and stepping forth several paces, Haruyuki looked back at the «Shrine of the Eight Gods» once again Gazing at the golden light swaying in the distant ultramarine darkness, he murmured inside his mind

—One day, I will coo on the right path, and coain…until then, please wait

For some reason, his words had become as if they were a call directed not at an Enhanced Armament but at «somebody», but to Haruyuki, completely as if the seventh Divine Weapon carried a will and were answering hily once—or so he thought

The stairs, which were heavy boards the day before yesterday, had changed into a spiral staircase joined together from polished stones and steel

At the tiun to lose track of how round floor

The hall at the place where they had come out from the stairs also indeed deserved to be called the «Deured into a both sinister and sole the walls A pointed ceiling chandelier that seemed just like soed were just the two right rectangular prism objects lined up in the center of the hall The pedestals of black granite where in the past the fifth and sixth Divine Weapons had been enshrined—

“Is that so…come to think of it, after all…”

Casually speaking out while walking, Haruyuki held his tongue Lead, as ahead, had looked back strangely at hi”

What he had tried to say was “After all, I have one of the Divine Weapons that used to be on those pedestals”

«The Infinity», the fifth Divine Weapon, was glittering beautifully at the waist of the young warrior avatar before his eyes And «the Destiny», the sixth Divine Weapon—was dozing lightly in the depths of Haruyuki hier its fored chrome silver The «Destiny» had now transforest but the most atrocious power in the Accelerated World

Haruyuki could not fully ree dream, but in the far, faraway past…in the very dawn of the Accelerated World, a Burst Linker who had succeeded in trespassing into this Imperial Palace had acquired the Divine Weapon the Destiny He did not use it for hiolden yellow armor and had appeared in Haruyuki’s dream

However, after that, so had happened No matter what, he couldn’t remember the details Even if he retraced his hazy ht, all that was resurrected were a nues

—An eneure

—Many Burst Linkers ere lined up around the edge of a large hole and were looking down

—And a nuh he did not understand them too well «Main Visualizer»…«Override phenorazed his hearing, but if he tried to grasp them then they would disappear all too quickly like soap bubbles If he tried to chase after theain «Overflohich would call up an extraordinary aht now, he had to avoid collapsing and beco unable to move

At any rate, due to soes, the shape—or the essence of the «Destiny» had changed into that of the «Disaster»

As a result, the Enhanced Arer be called one of the Seven Arcs If he were to explain how that had beco, no h; in the first place, he did not possess sufficient knowledge to explain things out

…I’m sorry, Lead

Inside his heart, facing the blue back of the younger warrior who ized

…One day, I will surely tell the whole story Not just about the «Ar for, what I’ However, when that time comes, you too…

There, against his will he checked his thoughts; Haruyuki hastened his feet and lined alongside the talking ahead

With their shoulders side-by-side, they passed through the area with the pedestals lined up left and right, and they headed for the south of the hall

At the point where the depths of the exit adorned with austere decorations becahtly raised his voice

“Huh…the terrain’s…different?”

The day before yesterday, when he had entered this hall, if he recalled correctly he had went through a passageway running east and west However, now the pathway visible on the other side of the exit stretched south as it asstaircase

The one who answered Haruyuki’s bewilderment was not Lead but Utai

“Since a «transition» had occurred and the stage had changed from «Heian» to the «Den but also its structure changed”

“Geh… —That means, my «memory» can’t be counted on anymore, doesn’t it…”

The day before yesterday, why Haruyuki and Utai had been able to arrive at this large hall without attracting the sentry eneuely remembered the route the avatar whose nae «dreaed due to a transition, obviously that memory could not be used

However, fortunately as if to reassure the two Lead nodded and spoke unhesitatingly

“It’s all right, I know the way”

“Eh…does, does that perhaps mean that you memorized the maps of this Imperial Palace, each and every one of the over one hundred types of stage attributes?”

As he asked in a duhtly being bashful

“Though having said that, I only remember the path froh”

“Th, that’ll be enough Whew…I thought y froh…on the other hand, I like it, but…”

At Haruyuki’s strange relief, Lead showed a modest smile, but his expression immediately returned to what it was before, and he spoke

“—However, speaking from experience, the level of difficulty of this «Deher than that of «Heian» The strength of a single sentry enemy is not that much, but since their nu found…”

At the ie of Lead, who see the nahtly tilt his head, but he immediately put his doubts aside and murmured

“I see, it ro8, so it’ll be hard to sneak around…”

Upon that, not only Lead but Utai too wore puzzled faces It seemed that soaht that it would no doubt be interesting to have the terms

“Um basically, it means that we have to use our nerves to e If that’s so, I’ll doaround”

“That’s reassuring”

In response to Haruyuki’s declaration, which was meant half in jest, Lead nodded with a serious expression and added “However”

“It’s just one place, but there’s a place where we can’t slip through the enee in combat once Please prepare yourselves for that”

“…Is, is that so Unh, understood It’s all right, e’ll try our best They’re weaker than those of the Heian stage, right, if so I think we can do it, it’ll definitely be fine, hopefully”

In his reat sweat, but with a show of courage Haruyuki pounded his chest once with a thuor went forth about three meters He looked back and questioned Lead

“With that, well…tentatively, just to be sure I wonder if you could tell ht, ill that be?”

In doing so, Lead’s response was unusually delayed; about two seconds later, for soized

“…Pardon me, Crow-san My explanation was not sufficient”

“Eh? Wha, asn’t sufficient?”

“Combat will becouards are patrolling the inner passageway en masse…”

“……What”

At the same ti out at his back with a clank

Fearfully, he looked round, and froe exit, an even more enormous silhouette peered into the hall

In the Heian stage of the day before yesterday, all the bodyguard enemies of the Imperial Palace’s inner sanctuary had japanese-style warrior figures, but the ones of now had a figure that should be called a «knight» thatan overall height of three meters was surrounded in bulkydoor in its left hand A rough large sword that seeht hand

The part below its helulfed in darkness and was not visible, but two eyes radiating a dull purple looked down on Haruyuki in a staring aze indicated that Haruyuki had basically entered the knight’s sphere of response

“…………What”

Leaking out a hoarse voice once radually

However, quicker than he could the knight caused the earth to rumble and took a step inside the hall

“VORUAAAAAA!!”

That war cry, which would be like that if one were forced to transcribe it, struck his avatar with a physical pressure Overhead Haruyuki, who had reeled, a too-ih up

“Just…a mome…”

In blank amazement, he had let out that voice, but there was no way the eneleaht tried to cleave in half the sle stroke—

Giin! That sharp ht process, which was in a half-stopped state

An arc of blue light that had coht ene the produced extension of tiers, this tith

The one who had passed hi warrior Trilead who possessed azure armor The earlier attack was unht sas still sheathed in its scabbard Instead, his hands were enveloped in a blue glitter