#553 The Abyss’ Amusement

There was already a casualty right after Orkubo’s Castle, EX mode for advanced players, began.

“Not Sir Dalkish...!”

“He, who held the record for two consecutive years of clearing the castle, is already out of the game...?!”

Zoth Syra then appears as if emerging from the void, arms linked with Orkubo’s.

“Hohoho, a dropout this early?” she says, amused.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen her enjoying herself.

She’s been swamped with work lately, after all.

“You witch! This trap is unfair!”

“It’s common for people to be deceived by an optical illusion. You’re the foolish ones for falling for such a classic trick.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

“Also, I *am* a witch—specifically speaking, the Witch of the Abyss. Right, Orkubo?”

She clutched tighter and tighter by the arm, and Orkubo could barely utter a yes.

“But don’t fret. I am here to explain things to you.”

“Explain what? This sly trap?”

The muddled participants point to the balance beam.

“That was more of a greeting if you will. But it’s made it impossible for you to cross to the other side, right?”

“Right...”

Again, their goal is to get to the other side of the moat via the balance beam.

But if that platform stops midway, how else can they cross?

“This is where the real fun starts. Take a good look.”

Zoth Syra snaps her fingers, and something appears above the moat.

Several blocks float in the air, each just big enough for one person to get on top of.

“What are those?!”

“There are several blocks floating in the air, and they go all the way to the other side of the moat... I see now!”

They’ll have to cross the moat by jumping from one block to another.

Sounds a lot like an action game, huh?

“Hahaha! I see! So, that’s what you want us to do! We can jump on those blocks and clear this area, no sweat.”

“Oh, I didn’t say I’m done explaining yet.”

One of the participants immediately leaps and tries to jump onto the nearest block.

But just before he could do so, the block shifts to the side, and the participant, having lost his foothold, falls to the bottom of the empty moat.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

By the way, even if you fall, you’ll be taken someplace safe with magic.

So, you won’t die, only eliminated from the game.

“This game isn’t for the hasty. Those blocks are levitated by my magic, but they don’t stay in one place. They move around.”

“Huuuuuuuuh?!”

“They move back and forth, up and down or left and right at best. If you watch their movements carefully, you should be able to read their pattern.”

It’s starting to feel more and more like an action game.

“All right, let’s watch the blocks’ movements and proceed carefully!”

“Two people were already eliminated before we even started...”

Well, it is an advanced course for a reason.

However, since our opponents are experienced players, once they understood the gist, they were able to jump over the blocks with ease and accuracy.

In no time at all, they reached the middle.

“All right, only halfway to go! Once you get used to it, it’s easy!”

“Oh, just so you know, the blocks’ behavior changes in the second half.”

The first participant leaps to the next block before Zoth Syra’s explanation is over.

“In short, the blocks disappear and reappear.”

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

The block disappeared just before he could land on it. Without any footing, he fell straight into the moat.

“Yikes... So, the severity of this area hasn’t reached its peak yet.”

“You’re kidding! The moment the next block appears and the block before it disappears is almost the same time!”

“You mean we have to predict the timing of the next block and then jump to it? This is too intense!”

Now, it’s starting to resemble an old action game with an extremely high difficulty level.

Even so, people managed to cross the moat, despite a few drop-outs here and there.

“I’m beat...”

“This is a hundred times harder than crossing a normal balance beam...!”

Following the tricky moving blocks was more nerve-wracking than one could imagine.

The next obstacle is supposed to be a slope with boulders rolling down, but...

“This, too, has been modified. I’ve made it so that I can adjust the slope’s angle to my liking.” 

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Zoth Syra explains each obstacle to the challengers, arms still linked with Orkubo.

“The current angle of the slope is about five degrees. I’m going to change it to 10.”

“Gyaaaaaah!”

As the ground moves, the slope becomes steeper.

Zoth Syra is a more capable witch than I thought, using magic that can produce such an effect.

“Next, I’ll change it to 20 degrees.”

“Guohhhh!”

“And then 90 degrees at once.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

“Lastly, a complete 180.”

“Nooooooooooooo!!!”

The participants were confused by the absurdness to the extent that they couldn’t keep up.

It was no longer a matter of mere boulders rolling down a slope.

“The third obstacle is my original domain! Except this time, it’s been tweaked for the advanced level! In the general course, the Deep One multiplies the more it gets hit, but here...!”

I spy a battle-ready homunculus lying in wait.

For some reason, it resembles Orkubo...

“This Deep One is my masterpiece, the Orkubo Clone Deep One, which I have modified by incorporating genes from Orkubo himself. But due to my inexperience, I couldn’t reproduce even a tenth of his power.”

Even if it is less than a tenth of the original, if Orkubo was the source, that Deep One can still pack a punch.

Just one of them could easily destroy an entire country. 

Of course, all challengers who reached that point were mercilessly destroyed.

“GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

Arowana also tumbled down with the boulders in the second area and was thus eliminated.

In the end, no one was able to clear the advanced course.

* * *

...Now, some of you have noticed.

The supervisor of this advanced course, Zoth Syra, may have gone too far.

Thanks to her, the course became too difficult for anyone to complete. But then again, that was the whole point.

She’s been really stressed as of late—being upgraded (?) from a fugitive to a prime minister and then playing the most active role in the recent competition among the three races to conquer the Dragon Emperor’s Castle.

Because of that, most of the workload was concentrated on her.

If she didn’t release her pent-up stress now, she might explode at some point.

Thankfully, Orkubo’s Castle was conveniently scheduled at the right time.

It was the perfect opportunity to let her run amok as she pleased and relieve her stress.

She immersed herself in entertainment by having Orkubo accompany her from start to finish and then giving her the go signal to mow down everyone with her traps.

Yes, it wasn’t the participants on the advanced course who were having fun— it was the designer herself!

By declaring in advance that the difficulty level was too high, she was allowed to do whatever she wanted!

Though everyone was eliminated from the game, Zoth Syra was relieved of her stress and, as a result, can start fresh from tomorrow onwards. 

With all sorts of problems resolved, I’d say this season’s Orkubo’s Castle ended on a good note.

Here are this season’s highlights:

• Silver Wolf assumed the position of the Adventurers’ Guild Master.

• Also, he got married. To a cat.

• The aerial attraction, an idea of the goblin team, was a great success.

• Zoth Syra got to unwind by running the advanced course.

• Platy sold a lot of takoyaki.

• Ramen and natto made good sales.

• I lost again at the second obstacle (general course).

• The Demon King made it to the third obstacle.

• The first person to reach the castle tower in the general course was the former Mermaid King Nagus, among many others.

It was a very fruitful event, and we hope to do it again next year.