"First, go all out! Let's see if we can win this in one blow."
As he ran, Alain caught sight of Misha cheering him on from the corner of his eye. In the next instant, his stride carried him over the threshold and into the gray-white room.
Planting his foot, he launched himself into the air, the greatsword missing the ceiling by mere centimeters. Alain swung down at the Black Orb with all his might. Mid-swing, he pressed the button on the Gauntlet of Failure, and an intense surge of power flooded his entire body.
So, memory optimization does work on the Gauntlet of Failure—I'll analyze that result later.
His gaze was entirely fixed on the Black Orb.
With a soft thwack, Alain landed lightly on the edge where the wall met the floor.
"Haaaaah..." He exhaled a weary breath. The feeling of that strike was better than any hit he'd landed on the complete-form worms. As for the result... he turned his head, his eyes landing on the center of the ceiling.
The Black Orb, struck by Alain's full-power slash, now bore a deep crack that ran through its entire body, reaching deep inside. In the previous battle between the Devourer and the Corruptor, although the worms constantly attacked the Black Orb, they had achieved very little. However, Alain's slash had a significant effect. It wasn't even regenerating instantly like before.
But, he mentally added.
Alain frowned, watching as the Black Orb, like sludge, drew code from other parts of its body to fill the deep wound.
He leaped again, his blade striking the Black Orb's surface. This time, apart from a faint ripple, it didn't even interrupt the Orb's recovery process.
Relying on the earlier boost from the Gauntlet of Failure, combined with the damage bonus from Cleanup Acceleration against viruses, was the only reason he could inflict damage far exceeding that of the Devourers. Just now, Alain had only used a normal attack. The effect was minimal.
By now, the Black Orb had finished regenerating, though its form was considerably smaller than before. As Alain watched, the Orb slowly floated down.
"Hm? It can move?" he murmured as it came to a stop directly in front of him.
Alain felt no fear; his safety measures would protect him if anything happened. Now, he wanted to see just what this thing intended to do. He simply stared at the Black Orb, feeling as though they were making eye contact, yet unable to find anything resembling eyes on the entity.
"Alain..." Misha came in, worriedly taking his hand, ready to pull him away at a moment's notice.
Finally, after a brief standoff between man and orb, the Black Orb yielded. It stopped floating in front of Alain and moved towards the wall. Passing straight through it, it vanished without a trace.
Alain didn't think so.
With the Corruptor's departure, the entire room began to change. The incandescent light in the center of the ceiling flickered back on, the damaged furniture gradually repaired itself, and the black lines on the floor receded along the corners, following the direction the Black Orb had fled. In just a few seconds, the 'outside world' Misha was familiar with returned before their eyes.
"It's restored?" The girl looked around, feeling slightly relieved.
Alain didn't say much, simply taking Misha's hand, leaving the room, and returning to the corridor. He looked back the way they had come and, just like before, began opening doors one by one.
"They're all normal, no sign of the Corruptor."
After checking an unknown number of doors, Alain opened another one and understood. Inside, the Corruptor was still floating in mid-air. The furniture remained in its damaged state.
"I see..." Misha understood now. The creature had probably left the previous room because restoring its body consumed too much energy, making it unable to maintain its hold on that territory. Given time, it would likely recover and resume its previous level of erosion, perhaps even advancing further.
Alain glanced down at the floor and chuckled softly. The original two black lines were gone, replaced by scattered black tiles interspersed among the gray-white ones. The number of black tiles was much lower compared to the 'dark period'. It was likely due to this reduced energy that the Black Orb had chosen to arrange the corrupted squares sporadically across the floor.
Finally, the young man's gaze fell upon the door at the far end of the room – the door that supposedly led to innumerable other rooms. He slowly walked over and opened it.
Behind the door was no longer another room, but a vast expanse of empty darkness. Alain tried a few more times; the result was the same.
He wasn't particularly upset about losing the 'Anywhere Door'. He'd tried using the thing many times himself and had never once opened a door leading to the Core. Besides, Alain had already guessed what the Black Orb intended to do by creating this 'Anywhere Door' – it undoubtedly wanted to use it to erode other Mita rooms. Since that was its goal, Alain absolutely could not allow it to remain.
But, to think I could sever the energy supply to the Anywhere Door directly...
"Did that first slash really consume that much of the Black Orb's energy?"
Alain was once again astonished by the damage output resulting from stacking the Cleanup Acceleration with the Gauntlet's power. Based on his estimation, even if that blow had landed on a complete-form worm, which was slightly weaker than the Black Orb, it would have been enough to slice it in half, even if it didn't kill it outright. The Corruptor—the Black Orb—was clearly a special individual. It had the feel of a boss.
Currently, the damage he could inflict alone wasn't enough. In the future, Alain wanted to find a Mita who could cooperate with him to instantly defeat the Black Orb in a single strike. It wasn't that the damage from Cleanup Acceleration + Gauntlet was low. Alain felt that if he encountered other viruses later, using this combo would likely result in a one-hit kill against anything that wasn't a boss.
Alain realized he no longer felt much surprise at the prospect of encountering more viruses in the future. He felt a sense of dismay at his own adaptability...
Ultimately, why does this kind of thing even exist in a romance simulation raising game?
After leaving the room, Alain shared his confusion with Misha.
"Sorry, I don't understand that either..." The girl rubbed her temples. "If a virus is detected, the Core's antivirus program should respond immediately..."
"The Core has an antivirus program?"
A proper, official antivirus program like that sounds more reliable than my own antivirus, right? But it didn't respond...
"The Core's antivirus didn't respond?"
Alain glanced down the left side of the corridor. That area had previously suffered extensive damage from the worms' gnawing but was now fully restored.
"Even though the viruses caused this much destruction..."
"Indeed," Misha acknowledged, alerted by his words.
Together, they turned their gaze towards the door of the Hat's room. More accurately, towards the direction leading to the Core.
"What exactly happened at the Core?" Alain wondered aloud, simultaneously feeling a sense of urgency. If something was wrong with Mita's Core, the entire game world would inevitably be affected. The current situation, where the viruses were eroding slowly rather than launching an overwhelming offensive, proved there was still time to act.
"We still have to go to the Core," Alain sighed. His original plan was just to enter the game and earn some money—a relatively relaxed goal. Even with a scheming woman eyeing him covetously within the game, from his perspective, the Mita world was still interesting. Everyone was quite cute.
But things were different now.
Alain couldn't just stand by and let viruses run rampant in the Mita world. If anyone's going to run rampant, it should be me. Alain nodded. That shouldn't count as being possessive.
If he didn't have the strength, he might have let it go. The crucial point was... Alain had just killed a Devourer and severely wounded a Corruptor. He possessed the power to eliminate these viruses. With great power comes great responsibility.
That's what his predecessor—Spider-Man—said. As his junior, Mita-Man felt he needed to follow through.
What an embarrassing name...
"The Core... it seems we have no choice but to go. But before that..."
He looked at Misha, and Misha looked back at him. Simultaneously, they both turned their gaze towards the door.
The door to the Hat's room.
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