The journey to defeat Dio was already halfway over. With all the enemies representing the Tarot cards defeated, a new set of foes had taken the stage. These were the nine Stand users gathered under Dio, named after Egyptian gods—the Nine Egyptian Glory Gods.
"Doesn't this feel like playing a video game? Going level by level, with each stage having a boss with different mechanics."
Now that he mentioned it, it really did feel like a game—except it was the kind with no rewards and no leveling up.
Zenith felt this was a terrible setup. Why did the enemies always get the upper hand, laying out inescapable traps level by level and just waiting for them to dive headfirst into them?
In terms of an intelligence advantage, he was way ahead of Dio. As for personnel, that ragtag bunch of freaks under Dio couldn't even compare to the Stardust Crusaders.
It was decided. Rather than passively accepting their challenges, it was better to take the initiative. Let the Nine Glory Gods be the ones running the gauntlet! They would wipe out these nine elite mobs and head straight to the main base to fight the final boss!
When it came to infrastructure building, Minecraft players were invincible. The only thing limiting their construction speed was their willingness to grind. Zenith was going to build a battle tower. When the time came, he and the main cast would sit on the top floor and watch a live broadcast of the Nine Glory Gods trying to clear the levels.
You want the lives of the Joestar family? You want to evolve into the ultimate lifeform? I left the Joestars, the Red Stone of Aja, and the Stone Mask all in one place!
The Ultimate Lifeform, a vampire that has conquered the sun, truly exists! Kars is real!
While Dio's minor mobs were scattered all over the Egyptian land, Zenith was working around the clock to construct his envisioned battle tower.
"I mean, it's impressive that you can conjure up all these blocky things, but are you sure this stuff can actually hurt Stand users?"
Watching Zenith enthusiastically building away, Polpol was the first to express his doubts. "It's just a pile of rocks. I don't even see a generator or any gears. Can you really call something like this a trap?"
"That's where you're clueless." Zenith indicated that the young man was still too green. In Minecraft, slapping a wooden stick and a cobblestone together could serve as a power source. Levers, buttons, pressure plates—which one of those looked like it needed to be plugged into a generator?
When it came to Redstone engineering, Zenith didn't actually know much. His skills were pretty much stuck at the level of slapping together pistons, slime blocks, and Redstone dust. Back in the day, the only Redstone contraption he knew how to build was a TNT cannon, placing him at the absolute bottom of the builder hierarchy.
But just because he couldn't do it didn't mean no one else could. A tech-focused conglomerate like the Speedwagon Foundation had no shortage of geniuses. All he had to do was explain the mechanics and the desired effects, and he could just have them draw up the blueprints to achieve his goals.
At first, the Speedwagon Foundation researchers thought Zenith must have been completely drunk to come up with something so absurd. But when they actually saw his Redstone, pistons, and slime blocks with their own eyes, they all clutched their heads and screamed that physics no longer existed.
What was Redstone? In Minecraft, Redstone was wiring; it was a power source. Placed on the ground, it could supply energy day and night without any consumption whatsoever. Aside from its somewhat lacking power output, this stuff was the ultimate clean energy. It could even be used as a perpetual motion machine.
The technology of the 1980s was nowhere near as advanced as the modern era. Without having experienced the information explosion, and without any firsthand knowledge of the game Minecraft, the people of this era were completely defenseless against the many "obvious" Redstone traps from the game.
Observers that triggered when you walked past them, Sculk Sensors that activated upon detecting sound, and Daylight Detectors that reacted to sunlight.
They might not be super effective against the main cast, who were basically walking stat sticks, but the Nine Egyptian Glory Gods were almost entirely gimmick-based enemies.
As for whether those nine would willingly walk into the trap? It was a guaranteed yes. If it weren't for the fact that Dio really couldn't show his face during the day, he might have even come running over to challenge the tower himself. Dio, who always fancied himself the ultimate lifeform, would never be able to hold back if he knew there was something here that could let him conquer the sun.
The Nine Glory Gods were taking their sweet time—probably because that bunch of broke losers needed a while to travel—but Iggy arrived first.
He was a black-and-white Boston Terrier. Even though he was clearly just a dog, there was always a hint of superiority in his eyes whenever he looked at humans.
"Be careful, you guys. This dog already has a bad temper, and the helicopter ride was very bumpy. He's been showing his displeasure for a while now."
Face-scratching and hair-chewing ensued. Avdol mentioned that in a head-on fight, Polpol would likely lose to Iggy, which made the silver broom-head Polpol extremely dissatisfied. A dignified master swordsman, a knight who had trained for ten years—and you're telling me I can't beat a dog?
And then tragedy struck him. Iggy went absolutely feral on his head, wreaking havoc until Zenith pulled out his surefire winning weapon: a Minecraft bone.
Iggy's eyes locked onto it. As the king of dogs, a super canine with Stand abilities, he had eaten every delicacy imaginable in his life. But... *slurp*... why did that bare, smooth bone look so incredibly appetizing?
The Minecraft mechanics were working their magic. The block-man used his cheat-like game logic to instantly win Iggy's friendship. "After we beat Dio, let's go on an adventure together. We can travel across different worlds."
Different worlds? He meant the whole world, right? The people around them subconsciously ignored Zenith's phrasing. The guy rarely acted like a normal person anyway, so nothing he said was surprising anymore.
*An eternal companion!* Zenith said to himself in his heart.
Jotaro and the others all had their own lives. After defeating Dio, those who needed to go to school would go back to school, and those who needed to see their wives and children would go back to them. It didn't seem likely that any of them would be able to accompany Zenith on adventures to other worlds anytime soon.
Although he didn't know how long it would take to search for the next world, he had already chosen his first travel companion. As soon as the next world was found, they would set off immediately.
Even though he called him an eternal companion, expecting Iggy to act super clingy was impossible. At most, he would let Zenith pat his head occasionally, and even then, he'd do it with a look of utter disgust.
"Partner, I've already had someone set up your harem. Two hundred of the world's top-tier beautiful female dogs will be delivered in a while. But you've got to watch your health, you know? You can't just drown in luxury and lose yourself in the harem!"
Fortunately, Zenith didn't have much time to spout nonsense, because the Nine Glory Gods had arrived. Eight people plus one bird—good grief, they really brought the whole squad. Even the Stand users who were clearly unsuited for away games had shown up. Was Dio pushing them that hard?
"Are the items Lord Dio wants really in that tower? If we retrieve the Red Stone and the Stone Mask, and kill that group, we'll earn Lord Dio's praise."
"Boingo."
A little brat in a green vest stepped forward, carefully reading a purple comic book in his hands. He was one of the Nine Glory Gods, the Stand user representing the God of Books. His ability was to foresee the upcoming fate through his comic book, and his prophecies were absolute.
"A new page," Boingo said. "To complete Lord Dio's mission, the Nine Glory Gods entered the battle tower. Amidst a roaring sound, the tower ascended into the sky. Boingo got what he wanted, and all the enemies plummeted from the tower down to the earth."
"Heh heh, it seems fate is on our side. This is my little brother's Stand. Once it's printed in the book, that future is absolutely guaranteed to happen."
*It's in the bag,* the Nine Glory Gods thought to themselves. Being able to control fate was an invincible power. They would definitely complete Lord Dio's mission. Absolutely!
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