Chapter 197: Reaching the Heavens Part 3 Part 1
Chapter 197: Reaching the Heavens Part 3 Part 1
There is an old saying in this world: ‘Time and tide wait for no man’.
It means more or less that you should always use Light Magic and Dark Magic as soon as you can, because they are crazy powerful and keeping them away is not going to help you in any sort of way. And if you run out of them, just use Fire Magic instead, since it is as good if not even more destructive. Things may wary when you apply magic to attacks, because then using Fire Magic in combination with let’s say arrows is a sign of being pure evil, but hey you won’t hear me complaining. Not in the least. Not when you could easily become a walking murder machine thanks to such tactics.
Now, some tactics are way more OP than the others. Some of them might eventually get patched. Some of them might get you banned. Some of them might cause the community to collapse. But does that even matter? What should matter the most is the fact that you are having fun.
All jokes aside, my oh my! Won’t you just look at the time! We have entered the underwater city in the morning, so I assumed that the countdown would also reach zero in the morning. And it just so happens that the seventh day have just started.
The time for our battle would span from the evening of the seventh day and end in the morning on the eighth day. That’s when the countdown should end. In other words, I expect our battle to last all night long. That way we could all be sure that nothing urgent comes up, as well as ensure that Rei, Rust and Mold would be able to participate without any interruptions. It was truly the best time ever for some hardcore quest conquest.
The more important matter is the black cardboard box that is right in front of me.
「It’s finally here……? No, wait, why the hell is it here in the first place……?」
On that day at the GGC I have met a mysterious person in black hoodie at the food court, a person who claimed himself to be an employee of the Gatling Drum company, the manufacturer of Riot Blood. Although I am sure it was nothing more but a polite business opportunity, I ended up with an ‘assortment of Riot Blood’ being sent to me as a thank you for promoting the Riot Blood during the GGC.
But here’s the thing: I do not remember actually sending them my address. But my guess is that Katsu must have leaked some of the info again. Hooray for privacy, right? That, and the fact that it arrived via mail in a pitch-black box made me feel some truly nasty occult winds, ones that should have been extinct in this day and age of reason and science. Even though it is the middle of summer, I shudder as a huge chill runs up my spine.
「Unlimited, Undead, Backdraft, Quantum, Tonight…… Hm?」
Orange can? But if memory serves me correctly, Blood Riot does not have any imprints on their cans and they only come in five variants…… Is this a prototype product, or something?
「Riot Blood Revolving Lantern……?」
Revolve…… Rotate…… Lantern…… Light…… Running light! Even though it could have been a misprint, no one would ever willingly name their product like that! No matter how you look at that, that’s way too sinister of a name!
Moreover, if you look at the design on the can, the person holding the logo of Riot Blood is a person holding a metal pumpkin-head helmet in its right hand and a burning lantern in its left hand. No. No, no, no, no…… It has not even been a week since the end of GGC. Why would they even…… No, no, no, calm down, me! I’m sure that this is just a coincidence. What’s the probability of something like that actually being true? Less than one percent, that what it is!
「It’s a free sample, right? …… What’s this? What do we have here?」
“Riot Blood Revolving Lantern is a trial product still in the test phase developed by our company to meet the demands of clients who need maximum amount of concentration in short amount of time. Although its effects are relatively short, lasting for only thirty minutes to one hour, we can guarantee that a boost of energy is going to be so big that not even a sleeping pill will be able to offset its effects. …… Think this is a joke?”
Calm down, my left arm! It is far too early for you to unconsciously try to reach out for my phone and dial a number for Police.
Even though the name of this thing is shady as hell and the caffeine amount is huge enough to knock you off your feet, there is just no way that an officially registered company would produce something hazardous to health, right? So calm down, hand off that dial! Don’t you dare to press that ‘connect’ button!
「What about the ingredients……? Oh wow, isn’t the amount of that simply a health hazard? And why are there so few of them? Isn’t it illegal now to conceal some of the ingredients for a stuff like that?」
You may be wondering why am I so wary of a mere energy drink? That is because Riot Blood must be consumed with utmost care, unless you want to suffer some terrible consequences. It is said that if you mix energy drinks with alcohol you get drunk faster, but when it comes to Riot Blood, the most hardened veterans of alcohol-drinking were downright knocked out cold after mixing their favorite liquors with Riot Blood.
A free samples from a renowned manufacturer…… and consisting of products that are not officially listed on their website to boot. This must mean that I am probably the first general consumer ever to receive such a thing. I must drink it with utmost care.
「Oh well, for now I might as well give it a try and we’re going to worry about other things later, when we actually have time to worry about them.」
I am sure that my performance is going to go up significantly for those couple of hours, but the real problem for the future is going to be limited shipping if it turns out to be good.
A few hours later I get my act together and leave the problems of reality in the real world.
Now it was time for us to log in to ShanFro and go to the palace in the center of the underwater city, where the rest of the Kutanid Extermination Squad should have converged by now. I have also decided to drink that energy drink beforehand, so it should start to kick in into my system soon enough…… Now, I do not know if it was the fault of the Riot Blood Revolving Lantern’s or not, but for some strange reason the edges of my field of view felt somewhat blurry and as if some strange symbols were appearing there from time to time.