Chapter 347: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part Twelve

In overall ability, the Great Red Devourer dominates. But in raw power and area control, "Scarred" has the edge. And when it comes to mobility alone, the human — me — holds the advantage.

Sunraku: "Gh... The moment 'Scarred' flinches, every single one of them looks at me...!"

The enemy of my enemy isn't necessarily my ally, but "Scarred" and I are both focusing our attacks on the Great Red Devourer. Now that it's in Phase 3 — with its parts fixed — its moves are easier to read compared to Phase 2, where its attack methods were wildly unstable. And no matter how much "Scarred" rampages, that tail head only ever targets me... In other words, I can move with the certainty that attacks will come from that part.

The materials in play are top-notch, but it feels like I'm sprinting full-speed across a thin iron plate sloppily laid between two cliffs. I put on a strong-character act for Aryur earlier... I'll come clean: this is a brutal RNG-fest.

Sunraku: "Nn, gwoh...!"

I mess up the shield angle, and the laser beam blasts in from straight ahead, slamming head-on into Dis Pater. Dis Pater, Nether King's Mirror Shield, can certainly reflect magic attacks, and with Exceed Charge, it can even devour the enemy's magic power. But that's about all it does. The reason I favor Duxram, Blade of Aspiration — a weapon with no offensive abilities — is simply that its absolute advantage of "durability that never drops" is unique among the weapons I carry.

Which is to say: even Dis Pater, if it takes hit after hit of these lasers — the kind that feel like they'd vaporize my body on contact — will lose durability to the point it can't be ignored.

Sunraku: "Dammit... the DPS isn't cutting it, 'Scarred'!"

Hah — yeah, I know! I'm the one whose DPS is falling short, believe me! Interfering in an MvM fight is harder than running a solo ambush on a whole squad!! In a sumo match made of nothing but heads — and with one of them sending me heat vision — there's no way I can contribute meaningful firepower.

Write it as "grappling," and it sounds cute. But these guys have body weights measured in tons, not kilos. What happens when you toss a single human into that kind of deadly grappling? I know the answer from experience, having played crush-tag with the scorpions a million times. Every measurement between a human and a monster is mismatched. One stumble from them is a death sentence for me. A ballroom dance of death gods, huh? Hahaha, both of you can drop dead.

Sunraku: "Gh... anyway, that tail head is too damn annoying."

The four heads growing from the torso are all tied up with "Scarred," but that tail bastard — no matter how much time passes — only ever targets me. And worse, the thing connecting it to the main body is a tail, so its range of motion is freakishly wide.

Sunraku: "Stretching a head up from between your legs to slam a laser in — what is this, a circus trick... gwoah!?"

I dodge a sideways-sweeping laser aimed precisely to sever my Achilles tendon — laser jump rope, I should call it. I want to go on the offensive, but that tail head knows full well it's part of a tail, and it has no hesitation about swinging its own head like a mace to attack.

What do I do? If I focus too much on it, the balance between "Scarred" and the Great Red Devourer could collapse. But acting like it's not there isn't an option — its attacks are too lethal.

Sunraku: "Is there any way to neutralize it... shit, I don't have the firepower."

There is one way. A strike, a thrust, and a nasty pulverizing hit with a massive shockwave — Gilta Brille's Reject could literally smash that head to splinters. But to pull that off, I'd need to pin down that tail, which moves everywhere at once, and more importantly, I want to avoid any situation where recoil leaves me immobilized against a raid monster. Right now, "Scarred" is holding almost all the aggro, which is the only reason I can poke at it at all. If I get caught in a recoil state with four heads bearing down on me, I'm dead.

This is seriously a pain. This raid fight demands an extremely orthodox party composition. Looking at the blood crystals alone, you'd want at least ten people just to handle the main body — no, five tanks minimum, so really fifteen. And another thirty as a roamer squad to break the crystals.

Still, SF-Zoo's tank lineup really is nice... In this kind of raid, unless there's a serious tank-killer, I can't picture benching any of them. Individually, Josette's probably stronger, but just splitting the burden five ways is a massive advantage... No point crying for what I don't have.

Well, anyway. This is absolutely not an opponent for one beast (three beasts?) and one person to handle. Not a chance. But I'm doing it anyway. Feels like one of those heads is looking at me with some emotion I wouldn't expect from a reptile, but seriously — if you die, I'm screwed, so I'll babysit you to the point of being overprotective, you hear me...!

Sunraku: "Maybe I should just push a little recklessness and go on the offen— hn!?"

Crap. That's what this... feeling is...!! Noticing it was luck. Dealing with it is mandatory. I keep some attention on the tail head's movements while I cut it — a bright-red wolf bursting out from the village — down with Areadbhair in my right hand. Comparing it to Lycagon is unfair, but I glance at the four-eyed red wolf, sliced clean in two by a single blow. Then the roars and thunderous crashes erupting from all over the elf village make me want to clutch my head.

Sunraku: "...Ahh, is that so. They hatch on their own."

This is bad. This is really bad... At the extreme, I thought that if the elves acted as a meat wall, we could manage even if every monster in the blood crystals activated at once. But seeing that red wolf's movements just now...!!

???: "Vvvvvoooooooooooo!!" ???: "Grrrrr... Graw!!" ???: "Pqyaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Sunraku: "Whoa, what an evil animal parade... wait, no!!"

Their thought routine is "regroup with the main body"! Did something trigger a flag...? No, maybe it was triggered on their end? All blood crystal monsters released at once once a certain number are killed. That sounds plausible.

Sunraku: "Dammit... this is a total rehash of the Ctarnidd gimmick... you bastard!!"

No good. Solo firepower can't handle this. "Scarred"-kun, for now, forget the main body and focus on the smaller on— ahh, yes yes, you've got six eyes but zero interest in looking, huh!? At least spare one-sixth of your attention on something else, you idiot!

But the Great Red Devourer, with its ten eyes, seems to have a very wide field of view. One after another, it tears apart the blood crystal monsters as they appear — with a neck (tosses to the giant mouth), another neck (tosses to the giant mouth)... Ah, this is bad.

Sunraku: "Gh...!"

I switch my weapon to Gilta Brille. The Great Red Devourer has started stockpiling food, clearly reminiscent of that thing from the Ctarnidd fight. I try to activate Exceed Charge to stop it, but... oh, my tragic penny-pinching nature. The questions "What if I can't finish it with this?" and "Since 'Scarred' can substitute for raw firepower, is there really any need to force Exceed Charge?" bind my body. Because it's a once-every-seven-days trump card, I hesitate to choose the moment. And in that hesitation, the Great Red Devourer finishes its speed-eating.

Great Red Devourer: "AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrr!!!"

Sunraku: "You're kidding me. Oi oi oi... gwoah!?"

Yes, this is Sunraku reporting from the field. Currently, we... are flying through the air due to a massive shockwave centered on the Great Red Devourer!! "Scarred's" colossal body dancing through the sky — that's a lie, right? Not even setting off TNT under your feet would do that. Is this a scripted event? But do you guarantee no fall damage? I'm nervous, so I'll solve it myself.

Sunraku: "Gh... there's totally fall damage, isn't there...!"

A cow, a monkey, something with jellyfish tentacles for legs, a long-legged crocodile, a two-headed eagle, etcetera etcetera... From the quick count I managed, fifteen... eighteen? or so bodies — all uniform in their bright-red bodies — are crushed, devoured, and absorbed into the Great Red Devourer one after another. I'm managing my recovery gacha, but I can't take my eyes off it. Because...

Great Red Devourer: "AAAAAAAaaaaaaaarrrr!!!!"

...A red tornado.

Formed by a massive swarm of tiny fragments spiraling in a vortex — the Great Red Devourer sprouts a giant tornado from its back and roars, different from before. I see... No need for a stamp of approval. I know. This is the final form, right?

Tell me that's true. If there's more after breaking through this, I'm seriously gonna cry.