Day 561-570/Day 567

Day 567 / 97th day
　Today we started by hunting around the nearby skyscrapers, and by evening we were right next to the huge axis tower that rises in the center.
　The size of the shaft tower is much larger than the surrounding area, as we could see it from a distance.
　It was even taller than the skyscrapers that made my neck hurt when I looked up from below, and its diameter was probably three times larger.
　The size alone is a feat, but there is not a single seam in the smooth metal structure.
　If I were to describe it as a metal rod stretching straight up to the sky, it would be a little easier to imagine.
　I wondered what kind of construction method they used, but since it was a miracle of the gods, there was no point in thinking too much about it.
　I looked for an entrance and exit to climb up the shaft tower, but I couldn't find anything that looked like it at a glance.
　I had learned from my journey so far that I would need to solve some kind of gimmick.
　First, I looked up in the sky, but both the short and long hands were a little far apart.
　Next, I looked at the floor and saw a line of light running at a certain angle and distance around the axis tower.
　The shaft tower blocked the view to the other side, but from the angle, it seemed to be divided into twelve areas like a clock.
　If that's the case, then from the structure of this place, the square with the shaft tower in the center would correspond to the dial.
　If this is the case, then there is a high possibility that the entrance and exit are located in the same compartment that the short hand points to as in the 【Time Gate】.
　Fortunately, the area around the shaft tower is an open space with no walls. Unlike the past, it is easy to move to the next compartment, and even though the axis tower is large, it is large enough to walk around.
　If I wanted to get in quickly, I could probably find a doorway by moving one or two blocks away.
　But I decided to take a break here.
　In a situation like this, there should always be a gatekeeper.
　If I got close to a certain distance, a hierarchical boss or something must have appeared as a gatekeeper.
　With a fierce battle expected, I decided to finish off the few "Wing Clocks of Time and Sand" that I had secured in order to be in perfect condition.
　Not only did I recover my physical strength, energy, and magic power that had been depleted by today's exploration and travel, but I also felt more energized and motivated to fight.
　As we rested, the short hand moved in the sky above us, and the moment it overlapped with the long hand, a square crack of light appeared on the shaft tower.
　The wall where the crack ran moved, creating a doorway to enter the interior.
　After confirming this, I walked to the shaft tower while riding the gray wolf, and a crack appeared in the space with a crisp sound.
　What emerged from the crack was a woman dressed in a red, white, and gold priestess costume.
　She had the beauty of an exquisite woman. Her vermilion eyes, which captivate anyone who meets them, have a gentle glow, and her full, cherry-red lips are so attractive that you want to touch them.
　You can find a lot of people who are interested in this kind of thing.
　You can find a lot of people who are looking for the best way to get the most out of their life.
　This is a very beautiful woman that you can almost be 【Charmed】 just by looking at her, but the atmosphere she wears is incomparable to the dungeon monsters you have encountered so far.
　The two eyes that look at you quietly are gentle, but deep down they are like those of a predator in front of its prey.
　The first thing the priestess did was to smile at us as we held our vermillion spears above the gray wolf, so there was no way we could admire her.
　There was a beauty there that gave me chills.
　Then, the miko made three large flaming gears appear on her back like a halo, sprouted peach-red wings from her waist, and flew to a height of about 30 meters in an instant and stayed there.
　--They had shifted to a combat stance.
　As soon as he judged that, he instinctively made the ash silver wolf leap to the right.
　In the next moment, as one of the burning wheels spun at high speed, some of the scattered fire turned into a burning bird and flew faster than the wind, shattering the ground it had just been on.
　The metal of the shattered floor scattered around the area at high speed along with the red flames, but fortunately I acted fast enough so that I was only agitated by the blast and suffered no particular damage.
　But the miko's attack did not stop there.
　Not just one, but all three of the burning wheels began to spin at high speed.
　The spreading fire quickly turned into a huge fire, and the huge fire turned into countless burning birds, burning dogs, burning foxes, and burning tigers.
　The more the wheels turned, the more the number of burning animals increased in proportion to the blazing fire.
　The fastest of the animals are the birds, but they are linear, and the most powerful, but few in number, are the tigers. Dogs are not as powerful, but they are more numerous and more coordinated, and foxes are depressing because they track you relentlessly while hiding in the shadows.
　Each one is a magic bomb generated by condensing magic power, and a direct hit will result in a fatal wound.
　It was impossible to avoid all of the attacks, which were similar to space bombs that could have killed thousands of ordinary kobold goblins, in the current state of affairs.
　Sometimes they would use their vermillion spears to slice through them and make them disappear, sometimes they would use the crown on their heads to absorb them, sometimes they would use the magic rifle in one hand to shoot them down, and sometimes they would extend their mechanical arms to crush them.
　Even when he was attacked, he dealt with it remotely as much as possible to minimize the damage, and he was able to toss and turn by the high speed movement that was possible by riding the gray wolf, which gave him time to observe the floating miko.
　The aftermath may have caused some burns, but he was still able to find a clue to the attack.
　The miko had excellent surface control, and her overwhelmingly powerful magic bombs that tracked automatically kept others at bay.
　In addition, they can stay in the air at a height of about 30 meters, preventing people from easily approaching them.
　It has not moved since its ascent, so we don't know its flight speed yet, but we can only smile at its high performance as it has become a fixed gun platform.
　However, there are still ways to do it.
　Just as I was putting together a strategy in my brain and naively thinking that I could get by with this,......, a burning rabbit appeared in front of me.
　Something related to 【Time】 is a phenomenon that is generated in the past animal groups, moves toward us, and explodes as if the moving part was omitted in the original series of flows. It was clear that it worked.
　In any case, the effect of the 【Time-Resistant】 had taken effect, and the rabbit that was about to explode in my grayish vision was immediately swallowed whole and dealt with.
　If it wasn't for the 【Time Tolerance】, I might have finally recognized it after the explosion, and even if I did, if I hesitated, my whole body would have been swallowed by the explosion just in time.
　As if to feel the rawness that I had grasped by moving without hesitation, the intensity of the burning magic power was extremely spicy, and the texture that popped in my mouth was similar to carbonated rabbit.
　First of all, he healed his burns and wounds with the magic power he gained from eating the rabbit, while opening up a blood path with the rapid fire of his magic rifle.
　Drop the miko from the sky.
　Let's start with that.
　【You have successfully defeated the area boss "Toki Miko, the Maiden of the Wheel of Time".】
　【Achievers will be allowed to move to the tower and can choose whether or not to fight the area boss, "Toki Miko, the Maiden of the Wheel of Time"】
　【Achievers will receive a treasure chest 【Miko's Flame Gear】 as a bonus for their first kill.】
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　“九十七日目　／　五■六■七目”
　今日は近場にある摩天楼を中心とした狩りから始め、夕方には中心に聳える巨大な軸塔のすぐ傍までやって来れた。
　遠目からでも視認できていただけに、軸塔の大きさは周囲よりもずば抜けている。
　下から見上げると首が痛くなるほど高い摩天楼よりも更に高く、直径は三倍はあるだろう。
　大きさだけでも大したものだが、ツルリとした金属構造体には継ぎ目の一つも見当たらない。
　金属の棒がそのまま天に伸びている、とでも言えば少しは想像しやすいだろうか。
　どんな建築方法なのか気になるが、【神】の奇跡だから深く考える意味はないだろう。
　そんな軸塔を登るべく出入口を探すが、パッと見ではそれらしいものは確認できなかった。
　となると、何かしらのギミックを解く必要があるのはこれまでの道中で学習した。
　まず上空を見るが、短針も長針も少し離れている。
　次いで床を見ると、何やら軸塔を中心に一定の角度と距離を保って走る光の線が在った。
　軸塔に遮られて反対側までは見えないが、角度からして時計のように十二の領域に区切られているみたいだった。
　となれば、ここの構造からして軸塔を中心にした広場は文字盤に該当するとみていいだろう。
　そうなると、【時刻門】と同じく短針が指す区画に出入口が設置されている可能性は高い。
　幸い、軸塔の周囲には壁など何も無い開けた空間が広がっている。これまでと違って隣の区画に移動する事は容易く、軸塔が大きいといっても歩いて回れるくらいの大きさになっている。
　早く入ろうと思うなら、一つか二つ隣に移動すれば出入口を見つけられる事もありそうだ。
　しかし俺はここで一端休む事にした。
　こういった状況なら、必ず門番がいる筈だからだ。
　きっと一定距離に近づいたら階層ボスなりなんなりが門番として現出してくるに違いない。
　激戦が予想できる現状では状態を万全にするべく、俺はまず確保していた数体の"時砂の翼時計"を完食する事にした。
　今日の探索と移動で消耗した体力気力魔力が回復するだけでなく、活力も戦意も高まった。
　そうして休息をとった俺達の上空に短針が動き、長針と重なった瞬間、軸塔に四角い光の亀裂が走る。
　亀裂が走った壁面が動き、内部に入る為の出入口が出来上がった。
　それを確認し、灰銀狼に騎乗した状態で軸塔に歩むと、パキリと音を立てて空間に亀裂が走った。
　亀裂から現出したのは赤と白、そして金を基調とした巫女装束を纏った一人の女性だった。
　絶世の美女と言って問題ない造形の美貌。目が合った者を魅了する朱色の瞳は優しそうな輝きを宿し、桜色のぷっくりとした唇は思わず触れたくなるほど魅力的だ。
　豪奢な金の天冠を被り、銀糸のような長髪は赤金の丈長によって一つに纏めている様は気品に溢れ。
　身の丈は二メートル程と高く、メリハリの効いたモデル体型で、スラリと伸びる白魚のような手には採り物だろう鈴と矛が握られていた。
　見ただけで【魅了】されてしまいそうになる程の絶世の美女だが、纏う雰囲気はこれまでに遭遇したダンジョンモンスター達とは比べ物にならない。
　対峙しただけで潰れてしまいそうになる程の魔力を内包し、静かに此方を見る双眸は優しいが、しかしその奥底に秘められるのはまるで獲物を前にした肉食獣のそれである。
　だから見惚れる事などできる筈もなく、灰銀狼の上で朱槍を構えた俺達に対し、巫女はまず最初に笑みを浮かべた。
　寒気を感じるほどの美がそこにあった。
　そして巫女は三つの燃える大きな歯車を出現させて後光のように背負い、腰から桃紅色の翼を生やし、三十メートルほどの高さまで一瞬で飛翔してその場に滞空した。
　――戦闘態勢に移行した。
　そう判断すると同時に、本能的に灰銀狼を右に跳躍させる。
　次の瞬間、燃える車輪の一つが高速回転する事で飛び散る火の一部が燃え盛る鳥と化し、風よりも速く飛翔して先ほどまでいた地面を爆砕した。
　赤い爆炎と共に砕けた床の金属が高速で周囲に散るが、幸い行動が早かったので爆風に煽られるだけで被害は特にない。
　しかしそこで巫女の攻撃は止まらなかった。
　一つだけではなく、三つ全ての燃える車輪が高速回転し始める。
　飛び散る火は瞬く間に大火となり、大火は無数の燃える鳥や燃える犬、あるいは燃える狐や燃える虎などに変化した。
　燃える動物群は車輪が回転すればするほど燃え盛る大火に比例するように数を増やし、既に視認できるだけでも五十を超え、まだまだ増えていく。
　動物群の中で最も速いのは鳥だが直線的、最も威力が高いが数が少ない虎。犬は威力はそこそこだが数が多く連携し、狐は陰に隠れながら執拗に追尾してくるので鬱陶しい。
　一つ一つが魔力が凝縮して生成される魔力爆弾であり、直撃すれば致命傷を負うだろう。
　普通のであれば数千単位で鏖殺できるだろう空間爆撃に近い攻撃を全て回避する事は、流石に今の状態では不可能だった。
　時には朱槍で切り裂いて消滅させ、時には頭の王冠で吸収、時には片手に持ったマジックライフルで撃ち落とし、時には機械腕を伸ばして握り潰す。
　攻撃を受けるにしても出来るだけ遠隔で対処する事で最低限の被害に抑え、灰銀狼に騎乗する事で可能な高速移動によって翻弄し、浮かぶ巫女を観察する時間を捻出した。
　余波で多少火傷を負う事はありつつも、それでも攻略の糸口を探っていった。
　巫女は面制圧能力に優れ、自動追尾する圧倒的な火力の魔力爆弾動物群で他者を寄せ付けない。
　加えて三十メートル程の高さで滞空する事で、容易に接近する事を防いでいる。
　上昇してから動いていないので飛翔速度まではまだ分からないが、固定砲台と化している現状、その性能の高さには苦笑いしかでてこない。
　ただ、それでもやり様はある。
　脳内で戦略を組み立て、これで何とかなりそうだ……などと甘い考えが過ったその時、一匹の燃える兎が眼前に出現した。
　これまでの動物群なら生成され、俺達を狙って移動し、爆発するという本来あるべき一連の流れの中で移動する部分が省略されたかのような現象は、【時間】に関係する何かが作用した事は明白だった。
　ともあれ、【時間耐性】が効果を発揮して灰色に染まる視界の中で今まさに爆発せんと膨張する兎を、即座に丸呑みにして対処する。
　【時間耐性】が無ければ爆発した後でようやく認識していたかもしれないし、認識していても躊躇えばそのまま全身は爆発に飲まれていただろうギリギリのタイミングだった。
　躊躇わず動いた事で掴んだ生を実感するように、燃えるような魔力の激しさは激辛で、口内で弾ける食感は炭酸に似た兎を楽しんだ。
　一先ず兎を喰った事で得た魔力で火傷や傷を癒しつつ、マジックライフルの速射で血路を切り開く。
　巫女を空から落とす。
　まずはそれから始めよう。
　［エリアボス“”の討伐に成功しました］
　［達成者は塔への移動が認められ、以後エリアボス“時巡る歯車の巫女”と戦闘するか否かは選択できるようになりました］
　［達成者には初回討伐ボーナスとして宝箱【巫女の炎歯車】が贈られました］
 
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Category:Novel
Category:Re:Monster ~ The Dark Continent ~ Vol. 4