Chapter 87: The Parallel-Dimension Counterpart of a Golden Pikachu
The fireball that came out of the Mega Buster was, in fact, the exact same attack used by the Sonic 3 first-zone BOSS, the Waterfall Diver: the direct product of the cannon's Weapon Chip mechanic. In the game, the Waterfall Diver's fireballs slid along the ground and burned through wooden bridges, and those same properties carried over completely into the Weapon Chip's output.
Against a slightly agile opponent the thing would be completely useless. Against a mob that was, functionally, no different from a zombie horde, it was devastatingly effective. One shot could set a large cluster going at once.
"Hey, how come I've never seen you use this before?"
Yusuke, who had spent two months training alongside Ross, was understandably confused. He punched away a Rotting Hungry Ghost that tried to leap at him while asking.
"You think I dared? If I accidentally torched the dojo, Master would have sent me skyward as a firework personally."
Ross was quite confident about this. Lighting up any building in the dojo complex by accident would almost certainly have resulted in him and a fully charged Spirit Wave blast departing upward together.
"Oh."
Yusuke, after that reminder, noticed for the first time just how extraordinary the fireball's ignition properties actually were. One shot inside the dojo...
He shuddered.
If there was anything that distinguished this particular group of Rotting Hungry Ghosts from actual zombies, it was that they had some degree of intelligence. Not a great deal, but some.
When the first wave burned, a second group swarmed forward anyway. Their reasoning: Ross surely couldn't sustain this kind of fire output indefinitely; there had to be a gap; they just needed to close the distance.
Then the second wave went. Then the third. Then the fourth.
"Well. Some of them really need to see the coffin before they believe."
Looking at the scorched remains across the ground, and the rest of the Rotting Hungry Ghosts either fleeing into the dense housing or frantically burrowing back underground like panicked prairie dogs, Ross shook his hand and recalled the Mega Buster.
By the fourth fireball they had become convinced that Ross's ability use was easier than anticipated, and continuing would only make them dinner for their own kind. At that point the morale collapse was total and they ran.
"They're the lowest tier. Knowing to flee after losing a significant number is actually decent performance."
Kurama was being genuine. As bottom-rung foot soldiers they had done acceptably.
"Ross! At least leave some for me!"
Yusuke, very much not satisfied, complained.
"Don't worry. There's plenty more inside. Minions and bosses both."
Ross raised a hand and pointed at the foreboding castle in the distance.
The five-person group moved in a straight line, which meant cutting directly through the densely packed shantytown that covered the island like a slum. Rotting Hungry Ghosts were everywhere. But once Ross had set several buildings ablaze with the fireball and a proper conflagration had taken hold, the interference from them dropped significantly.
"Kurama. There's something I've been wondering whether to bring up."
They were nearly at the castle wall. Ross bounced over a few steps and fell in beside Kurama, acting somewhat awkward about it.
"You want to know what I think about you killing demons in front of me. That's it, isn't it?"
Kurama saw through it immediately and said directly what Ross had been winding himself up to say.
"Hmph! These low-grade things don't deserve to call themselves our kind! There are limits to how much you can underestimate someone!"
Hiei cut in from the other side, genuinely finding the implied concern insulting.
"Ross."
Kurama's voice, consistently mild in the same way his expression was, came across clearly.
"The logic of the demon world actually runs closer to nature than to human society. Eat or be eaten is the norm. Looking at demons through a human lens is a mistake. If you want a more specific comparison, demons are more like fish."
"Fish?"
"Fish. Big fish eat smaller fish, smaller fish eat shrimp. No shark has ever considered eating tuna to be eating one of its own kind. The same principle applies throughout demon society. And in any case..."
Kurama paused. For the first time, something appeared on his face that was closer to his true self, an expression that matched his original nature rather than his current identity: a quiet, faintly sinister smile.
"Demons are selfish things. We care only about what we care about. What happens to other demons is no concern of mine."
Hiei said nothing this time, but his expression confirmed he agreed with every word.
And that was what demons were.
In some sense, not particularly different from Nen users.
Yusuke had no strong reaction. He was solidly someone who prioritized the people around him and was indifferent to everyone else.
But Kuwabara, who had spent two months out in the world with Wing, taking on missions and seeing things most people never encountered, was visibly thinking.
Inside the castle, voices.
"My lords! Outsiders are approaching the Saint Beast City!"
"Who are they? Did the Association send them after we rejected their terms?"
"Whoever they are, they're not worth dealing with personally."
"Lord Suzaku. Your assessment?"
"Rabble. In my view, they won't even make it through the gate."
Outside, the group had reached the entrance.
"Absolutely no sense of aesthetic."
Ross looked at the massive skull head over the gate and gave it a failing grade.
"This entrance tunnel has the same feeling as the floor-200 corridor."
Yusuke, peering in, offered his own assessment.
Hiei, urgency still very much present, began to step inside.
Ross put out a hand.
"Don't go in. There's a trap."
He pointed upward at the equally dark ceiling of the tunnel.
"This mechanism is called the Gate of Betrayal. Fancy name, but it's just a descending ceiling trap. Unless you want to be the star of an X versus hydraulic press video, don't walk in."
If Ross were forced to name his least favorite type of trap, a descending ceiling was right at the top, second only to pit traps. The things even killed Super Sonic in the game without a second's mercy.
"How do we get past it? Fly over?"
Yusuke and the others immediately abandoned any thought of testing it themselves.
Meanwhile, Kurama glanced at his own backside and internally began calculating whether this was the moment his trousers were going to need adjusting.
Ross rolled up his sleeve and put on the Power Glove.
"No road? Make one."
[Switching template mapping...]
[Current mapped game protagonist has switched to: Tower of Druaga, Gilgamesh.]
[Current mapped protagonist abilities have switched to: Manipulation Affinity (Grade A), Sword and Shield Mastery (Grade B), Magic Backpack (Grade C).]
In Ross's hand, a gleaming golden mining pickaxe materialized from nowhere.