The Flame Skeletitan
The hugehog fiends seem to just be running away, without any time to attack the Voracious Devils. The Devils, for their part, have already dashed away like hares.
The entire form of the skeleton wrapped in flames is now visible, and it is shockingly titanic. A little more, and it would be as tall as the walls. It must be almost thirty feet high.
The intense heat coming off it is making the view hazy. Every time it takes a step, it melts a foot-shaped portion of the ground that it sinks into. Plus, the vertical vibrations are awful. If it’s that big, the bones alone must weigh a ton, considering it’s bouncing my vending machine body into the air.
If it’s this incredible, I don’t think the cola splash we used on the king frog fiend will work. A few plastic water bottles hitting it would be akin to sprinkling water on a blazing firestorm.
I should give up on beating it and think of a way to buy time. The hugehogs should reach me shortly…which means there’s only one thing to do.
First, I have to change my form. I add a new feature that appeared at rank 2, a gas pump, and change into that. It’s the gas station appliance that’s always handy in the wintertime.
The mark of a certain gas station is depicted on my white body, and a sturdy rubber hose and levered nozzle are on my side.
Well, even if gasoline gets on me, as long as I reject it from entering the Force Field, it’ll be expelled outside, right? Let’s dispense a little gas just to test it.
I pull the lever… I see. As a safety precaution, the gas won’t come out when the hose is inside. I should have expected as much from Japanese manufacturing. Mission complete.
No, I’m not a person—vending machine—who would give up so easily. Isn’t there some kind of loophole I can exploit?
The Flame Skeletitan takes another step forward and the tremors increase, causing my gas pump body to hop involuntarily. And as I land, the nozzle comes out and falls to the ground.
That was lucky. The tip is aimed conveniently toward the path, too. Let’s splatter some gas all over the ground.
The gas flowing from the nozzle begins to wet the ground in front of me. The ground is stone here, too, so it doesn’t absorb the gas, instead allowing it to make a thin puddle all through the area.
The hugehog fiends, completely oblivious to what’s underneath them in their desperation to get away, step into the gasoline region.
“Oooiiink!” they cry, slipping and falling clumsily. Some are clutching their heads and groaning, too. A floor covered in gasoline is as slippery as a skating rink. Now that they’ve fallen, they’ll have a hard time getting back up.
And in the meantime, the Flame Skeletitan chasing after them brings down a giant, blazing foot—and ignites the gasoline immediately, turning my surroundings into a sea of flame.
I have my Force Field up to block the heat and flames, of course, but the hugehogs who fell and ended up coated in gas from head to toe go up in a brilliant blaze.
Unable to even give a death cry, their corpses fall to the ground, and the Flame Skeletitan plucks them up, opens its skeletal mouth, and tosses them inside.
It can eat even though it’s a skeleton? Those smoldering pigs are nothing but ashes now—is it okay with that?
Seeing a giant, flaming skeleton devouring burnt corpses amid a sea of flames is more awe-inspiring than terrifying. That’s something I can only feel because I’m in a safe zone inside my Force Field. If I were human, I’d probably be paralyzed with fear.
The Flame Skeletitan gives me a cursory glance after eating the six hugehogs, and without coming over to bother me, it walks away.
I’d changed my color scheme to blend in to the wall, so maybe it didn’t notice. Or maybe it was full, so it didn’t have any interest. Whatever the case, I’m saved.
Still, it left the place in a terrible state. The ground has giant, bony footprints pressed into it, and the walls it got near have melted and resolidified into strange, distorted shapes.
Was that a stratum lord, too? I couldn’t see it when I got my aerial view. Maybe it only appears under certain conditions.
Anyway, my only issue now is that I’m all alone again. But I have a feeling the Voracious Devils will come back when they get hungry. Their thought processes seem incredibly lacking. They could have just saved some in their bags for later, but they just ate the food without a second thought.
Also, holes dot the ground in every direction, warped by the heat, so it looks like it’ll be hard to push a vending machine.
Even the carefree Devils seemed to sense that this enemy was a direct threat to their lives, and they don’t return until it gets dark. Still, as you can see, they do end up chowing down in front of me again.
“Phew. All these surprises really make me hungry.”
Pell, you’re always hungry.
“I never thought we’d see the stratum lord here… I’ve heard the rumors, but that was incredible. We’ll be able to brag to the director after this.”
“That was really, really scary.”
“I hear you get a treasure if you beat the Flame Skeletitan, but how on earth are you even supposed to do that?”
I agree, Short. There’s no way to beat something like that. It’s giant, for one thing, but the flames don’t let you get close. Even if you pour water on it to extinguish them, you’d need an entire pond’s worth of water for it to do anything.
Throwing plastic water bottles at it would be pointless. I’m out of ideas, so I’ll stop thinking about it. I’ll probably never fight that thing anyway.
Surrounded by the Voracious Devils as they drift off into relieved slumber, I keep my eyes on the side path the Flame Skeletitan disappeared into.
“Don’t go too far right. Left—little more to the left.”
They push my body carefully according to Mikenne’s instructions. The ground is a mess of holes and hills, so we advance in search of a flat spot. Despite this going on since the morning, the sky is already darkening before we manage to get out of the collapsed area.
We didn’t make much progress today, but we’ll be on flat ground starting tomorrow, so our speed should increase. If that Flame Skeletitan shows up again, I’ll just have to buy them time somehow.
I don’t need any more excitement today. I’d like to spend a night in safety.
While I think about this, I’m working overtime as they buy products, one after another. I’m providing them at fairly cheap prices, but I’m starting to worry about their wallets. Won’t this put the continued existence of their group in danger?
As always, once they’re full, their caution seems to diffuse, and they plop down to sleep without leaving a lookout. Still, I think they’ll wake up right away if they sense enemies or hear noises, so if I make a warning sound, they’ll jump awake.
It sure is quiet tonight. This wide passage lined with giant walls has a certain atmosphere about it. It’s night, so the only light is from my body; a bit farther away, it’s pitch-black.
My light is too conspicuous, so I’ll turn it off. Darkness settles in completely, and the only thing I can hear is their breathing as they sleep. Ah, it’s so quiet it’s a little scary. But just having someone else nearby lessens my unease a bit.
If I were human and actually alone here, I might have really gone insane in a situation like this. That’s how isolated this place is—it gives me an instinctive terror.
If I had the ability to sense presences or something, it might have been different, but… Oh, come to think of it, there was an interesting feature here. If I remember right, it was around here— There it is, the motion detector.
I could do something like dim my lights at night when nobody is around, then turn them on fully only when the motion sensor picks something up. Oh, but I don’t need something like this, do I? I can adjust it all manually when I decide to anyway.
So I thought of a few different things, but watching them sleep that peacefully soothes my soul and makes me not care anymore. Hmm. Being near them makes me feel like their parental guardian.
I have to make sure I, at least, don’t let down my guard. I can’t see very much in the darkness, so I just pay attention to the sounds. And then I hear something faint.
I locate the direction it came from, eyes peeled, ears ready. It was a small swishing noise, but it doesn’t end; it keeps flowing. It sounds kind of like when the heat is on in a stove.
It’s coming from the left, a short distance away. I can’t see in the dark, but I think I remember that spot being the entrance to a side path.
A faint light comes through the darkness. It looks like it’s flickering; maybe it’s a lit flame to guide the way. I’d better wake them up.
“Welcome,” I say at a low volume, fearing that I’ll be overheard.
“Mmm…meat…just twenty more…”
“Mikenne, Short…you can’t do that… You’re both boys…”
I can hear them talking in their sleep. Also, it sounded like Suco was shipping Mikenne and Short as a couple in her dreams, but I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.
They don’t seem like they’re going to wake up. Wait, I can’t leave them like this, so I’ll turn it up a little.
“Please come again.”
“Vaaahhh! Wh-wh-what?!”
I’m glad Mikenne jumped awake for me, but he’s too loud.
His shout wakes everyone else up, and they look around in a fluster. At this point, the mysterious source of light must know we’re here. It’s growing steadily brighter, proving that they’re getting closer.
“It’s enemies, everyone, get ready to run!”
I have to say, I don’t hate their style of choosing escape over battle every time. It’s better than a lot of reckless, foolhardy hunters out there. As the Voracious Devils make ready their escape, a skull wrapped in flames, about the size of an adult human head, appears.
“A flame scoll! We need to deal with it quick, or it’ll call the Flame Skeletitan!”
“W-water! Someone hit it with a lot of water!”
That flaming skull is with the stratum lord? If this thing calls it, we’ll have no chance of winning. Water—we need water, right? I quickly drop a two-liter bottle of mineral water into my compartment.
“Huh? Water? Water came out of the magic box!”
“We’re in luck! Suco, give it here!”
Look, Short, I’d love it if you stopped putting these things down to luck. They don’t even consider that I, a vending machine, might have a mind. I think it’s about time to figure it out. I drop another plastic bottle off, tinged with resignation.
Once they all have a two-liter bottle, they seem to have trouble removing the cap right away with their claws, so they chop the top part off instead.
All of them charge forward with plastic bottles in hand, moving closer faster than I expected, before splattering the bottles’ contents all over the flying skull.
The skull’s flames, hit by four helpings of water, go out completely. Without its defenses, Mikenne delivers a bite to the skull, shattering and destroying it easily. When the flames go out, it’s pretty fragile, isn’t it?
I’ve only seen them running away before now, so I didn’t know their true strength, but they have fairly quick movements. Maybe they’re actually pretty strong. You wouldn’t think so from their normal behavior, though.
I’m glad we defeated the flame scoll, but they seem to be cautious, watching to see if it called any reinforcements. If the big one comes, they’ll have no choice but to run, after all.
After keeping a lookout for a while and making sure nothing else is coming, they decide to take turns standing guard through the night. I hope I can relax a little now while I watch over them.
