Chapter 339: Dragons, O Dragons! Part Five

Even when the writing flows, the schedule keeps filling up. Such is the impermanence of the world…

Chimera Offshoot: "QooooooooooooOOOOO!!!"

Sunraku: "You're… the third and LAST!!"

First, a head with the torsos of multiple small dinosaurs—raptors—grafted onto it. Second, a head with the wings of a large pterosaur—a coatl—stuck onto what was probably the body of some kind of insect. And now the third: a Tyranno head. The body of an elf it had presumably absorbed sprouted from the left half of the head, while the right half was covered densely in horns or something and could not move. I finished it off.

Sunraku: "…Well, not exactly a satisfying feeling, huh."

I grimaced at the sight of the NPC—who until just moments ago had been acting just like a person—collapsing as its form crumbled. At the same time, I let myself feel just a tiny bit of relief at having achieved the first phase of testing. And immediately, I tightened the helmet strings that had loosened in victory's afterglow and began observing the main body of the Great Red Devourer.

Sunraku: "More red-pool attacks, huh… but!"

This is convenient. The red pool burst and spread, and chimera offshoots began spawning from it once again. The first time I saw this, I had way too much else going on… but if you look at it with the premise of observing and analyzing, things start to become clear.

Sunraku: "Deep Throater!!"

Deep Throater: "I confirmed it over here too!"

So that bastard's theory was right. It pisses me off, but I've gotta acknowledge it. Looking around, there's the lower half of an elf with a pterosaur neck growing out of it, and a shitty sea urchin with a bunch of tiny dinosaur heads stuck on… Ah, but conspicuously absent from all of it are the "Tyranno head" and the "male elf."

Sunraku: "Yo, bastard… what happens when your stock runs out? Huh?!"

I don't have solid proof. Even if it's out of ammo, raid boss stats mean it can still kill you with a punch, so I can't dismiss the possibility that this is all pointless. But with the info we've got right now, there's no other choice but to push this angle. The odds of winning were low from the start, so hesitating is just a waste. It's bungee jumping off the stage at Kiyomizu.

Sunraku: "Dammit, get outta my way!!"

I hurled the Dis Pater, Nether King’s Mirror Shield aside, and with Areadbhair Rebuild gripped in both hands, I stabbed through what was probably a dinosaur arm—rising from the ground—along with the ground itself. Whoops, the chimera offshoots are starting to sink. Now that I look closely, there are plenty of signs. Yeah, observation based on calm judgment really is crucial. I pinpointed the spawn points from the bulges in the red pool underfoot, saw the moment the red in the area gathered into a single spot, and leaped. I activated Flit Float and backflipped through the air to gain distance.

Sunraku: "Once the trick's busted, it ain't scary anymore!"

Deep Throater: "The trick… meaning the child… cough, [Distortion Haze]!!"

There's probably never been a moment I've been more grateful for the True Eye Bird Mask's glare. The fact that eye-power alone can hold that pervert in check is more broken than a million extra VIT. Actually, should I just blast that bastard first…?

Deep Throater: "Sunraku-kuuun! Behind you! Behind yooou!!"

Sunraku: "I know, dammit!"

That's why I fell back to where I threw the Dis Pater, Nether King’s Mirror Shield, isn't it?! I synced the great shield I'd snatched up with my body's movement and slammed it diagonally into the Great Red Devourer as it charged, nearly-severed head flopping wildly. If I took it head-on, I'd absorb all of its mass and kinetic energy and die. But if its trajectory is off, my body—dozens of times lighter than it—just gets knocked away, letting me escape the death zone. While stowing the Dis Pater, Nether King’s Mirror Shield in my inventory, I used one of the recovery potions I’d prepared in Inventoria—12 bottles to a dozen, 12 dozen to a gross. Miss, miss, miss, success, miss… What is this, shitty RNG?

Sunraku: "Eh, fine. As long as I can keep it at eighty percent, I'm not gonna get whittled to death…!"

It's a chicken playstyle built around defense from the start. I don't expect to beat it in two or three hours. The Lycagon clone I took down with three players and two NPCs, the Golden Scorpion I soloed—those took all night. Don't underestimate full-divers.

Sunraku: "C'mon, hurry up and spawn those offshoots! I'll chop 'em to pieces the second they come out!!"

Ah, no, not the meat-seed type, aaah, it's gonna grow!!

Sunraku: "Rest in peace… no, seriously, just stay asleep…"

I muttered that while watching the final chimera offshoot—a monster with a Tyranno torso, a mass of raptor necks, and the upper body of another elf—sink into the ground. Dammit… it was exactly as tough as it looked. Still, the fact that two of us managed to take it down means it was weakened… no, that's not right. Did it reference its HP from right before it got eaten? In that case, this is the torso's HP after having three heads ripped off? Well, no wonder two could handle it—the thing was nearly dead already.

Sunraku: "Oi, Deep Throater. You good on MP?"

Deep Throater: "Hey, hey, Sunraku-kuuun… a mage who runs out of MP becomes an obstacle that can't even be a shield, y'know…? Ah, but, we've got holes and poles, so maybe there's a doll-type demand…"

Sunraku: "As long as I don't kill you, it's safe."

Deep Throater: "Wait, Sunraku-kun, I just lost twenty percent."

Whoops, my killing intent put a little too much force into that. Ignoring the idiot who was persistently licking the mouth of the bottle, I watched the Great Red Devourer, which had likely emptied its magazine. Each time we destroyed a chimera offshoot it produced, the parts it used in the next spawn—and the overall number of offshoots—decreased. And now that we'd cleared the spawn that was just the single Raptor-Heads-Tyranno-with-one-elf, it was safe to say its stock of monsters it had eaten was exhausted.

Now, the question is where we go from here… but raid monsters, as a rule, have stages, forms, and phases. Specific items are a privilege for story-mode final bosses and mid-bosses, so for raid bosses, the standard is that HP thresholds or meeting conditions through specific actions trigger changes in appearance, motion, and stats. Thinking along those lines, the act of emptying the stomach of the Great Red Devourer—obviously a gluttony-type monster—is highly likely to be a trigger for moving to the next phase…

And in response to that hypothesis, the Great Red Devourer answered with action.

Great Red Devourer: "VaRrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Sunraku: "Whoa."

Deep Throater: "Blood only comes out the first time, isn't it? Ah, my cheek's getting charred!!"

I felt the flat of Areadbhair Rebuild, thrust out to my side, sizzle against something—a yakiniku party on the blade—as I glared at the dragon corpse that had begun to spray its own body outward like blood, all over, with a scream.

Sunraku: "What the… whoa!?"

The Great Red Devourer is in the shape of a dragon to begin with, but it's not the winged, fire-breathing, sky-flying type. I mean, sure, its whole body is solid red and it's damaged everywhere, but still… how do I put this. No matter how you look at it, it's an aquatic creature. Actually, I've been trying not to touch on this, but I'm pretty sure I heard there's one dragon that died before any player could interfere with it… Considering that the Crazed Horde of Blue is sealed in the deep sea, that's gotta be you, right, Eldranza-san?

Well, that's not important right now. In SLF, story-based analysis ties directly into game-based analysis, but Eldranza's cause of death isn't that high in importance at the moment. What matters is that this thing has aquatic creature characteristics… meaning it's got gills, fins, and the like.

Sunraku: "Hey. What do you think happens if we get smacked by those?"

Deep Throater: "Wouldn't it be like giving a snack bag a full-force slap?"

So, splinters. Got it.

The red spray erupting from its body—squelching and squirming in that way that suggests something between liquid and solid—began swelling the body parts that formed its outline. Actually, does it look like its heads have multiplied to six…?

Sunraku: "Oi, Sexual Harassment Fingers. That thing ended up like that after following your plan. What's your fallback?"

Deep Throater: "Edging play, so it doesn't go all the way? Ah, my cheek's turning well-done!!"

Areadbhair Rebuild… who'd have thought it would have a use like this?

In short, it’s musical chairs. Anyone without a job has no choice but to steal one from someone who already has one.