Chapter 370: Epilogue: O Dragon King, O Black Dragon.
It was not all-powerful, but it was skilled at reading the wind. It was not all-knowing, but it never forgot the memory of defeat. It was not a god, yet born in an age of gods, it sensed that a disaster without equal had been struck down by three people, one rabbit, one three-headed beast, and many more besides.
Siegwurm: "Hahahahahaha! 'Red'! 'Red'! 'Red'! O wicked 'Red'! That red which, in days long past, devoured my beloved people and twisted them into hideous shapes! Humanity—humanity has finally brought you down with such meager strength! Hahaha, hahahahaha!!"
It bore no outward injury; it was simply recovering from exhaustion. And yet the golden dragon king showed such joy with its whole body that it seemed ready to burn through its newly recovered strength.
Siegwurm: "I know. I understand... The presence of that detestable dog, and my sworn ally Vysache... Hm? Why can I sense that snake and octopus too...? Well, no matter. No—in fact, I welcome it. Heh heh heh... A great hero. Yes, of course. The one who surpasses me should indeed be a great hero."
To drive Noirlind the Black Dragon to the brink of death, then swat aside Deuredhowl the Red Dragon's interference with a single blow... It sounds simple when put into words, but doing all of that almost as an afterthought lies in a realm no player could ever reach in this game. That is why they are the Seven Colossi. That is why they are Unique Monsters. Its name is Siegwurm the Sky Ruler. The golden Dragon King laughs and laughs, reigning over the heavens exactly as its name says.
Siegwurm: "Ohh, so I was right not to wipe out those dragons after all... Though I did not expect one of them to die on its own. If humanity can defeat even them, then it will surely reach still greater heights."
The sky sovereign regrets the past, reigns over the present, and looks forward to the future. Its wish is but one thing.
O humanity, O great hero, overcome my trial. That I may conquer countless ages and surpass even the Origin.
But the gold does not know.
That deep within a stagnant defeat, an unexpected meeting has already taken place.
[Wolfgang]
Pencil Warrior: Okay so Sunraku-kun vanished like a shooting star and then, as a parting gift, dropped a massive bomb on us, so now we're in an absolute mess of trouble.
Oikatzo: I mean, I don't know anything about Pescorians...
Rust: I do.
Mold: Well, Araba-san was an NPC around when we took on the challenge, so...
Kyogoku: Kinda sad to be stuck out here on the sidelines because I can't go to the New Land.
Pencil Warrior: One New Land Research Vessel is heading back your way, so why not just hop on that?
Pencil Warrior: It'll probably be about a month, though.
Kyogoku: Well, I have to get ready for the Bakumatsu event, so...
Oikatzo: I heard a rumor you guys are doing some kind of death-game-ish event? Bakumatsu's really living up to its name as a land of carnage, huh.
Kyogoku: To put it mildly, this place is basically where my soul belongs.
Pencil Warrior: This kid's Bakumatsu contamination has hit the final stage...
Pencil Warrior: Honestly, I count Kyogoku-chan as a pretty solid part of our fighting strength, so I'd like you to actually play SLF too, you know?
Sunraku: Good morning.
Kyogoku: SLF really is on another level quality-wise, so I do plan to drop in from time to time.
Oikatzo: It's already afternoon, man...
Rust: Sunraku, NephHolo got an update in preparation for 2, so you should definitely come check it out.
Kyogoku: You're not going to skip the Bakumatsu event, right? I heard from Zeninari-san—the dual-wielder who only shows up during events has to be you, right?
Sunraku: Ahh, well, I've kind of got my hands full with other things now, actually.
Sunraku: Someone I know just gave me a legendary trash game.
Oikatzo: Ah. (Got it.)
Pencil Warrior: Hey hey hey hey, Sunraku-kun, you're not gonna hoard all that info and disappear on us, are you?
Pencil Warrior: Just being in the same clan as you makes things a huge pain for us, y'know?
Sunraku: Makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy!
Pencil Warrior: I'd say the exact same thing if I were in your shoes, so that just pisses me off even more!
Oikatzo: What trash game?
Sunraku: Fuuun Prejiden.
Oikatzo: You're kidding.
Kyogoku: What's that?
Oikatzo: A legendary trash game that only exists in physical copies. The president ran off with the money after only three thousand units sold, and the development company went bankrupt.
Sunraku: Even used copies with damaged packaging go for a premium, by the way.
Pencil Warrior: More importantly, can you at least give us the info on the raid monster?
Sunraku: Great Red Devourer.
Sunraku: Max participants: 45.
Sunraku: Battlefield is the elves' village. Not sure if that location is fixed, though.
Sunraku: I don't know the trigger conditions. But having at least a certain number of people there seems likely to be one.
Sunraku: In our case, it used Eldranza the Blue Dragon as its base body, but the real body is a swarm of locusts.
Sunraku: Phase 1 is a straightforward slugfest. It can also absorb NPCs and monsters and use them as pawns.
Oikatzo: Hold on a sec—
Sunraku: Probably once you wipe out all the copies, it shifts to Phase 2. It spreads its own body across the ground and covers the area in a red field.
Oikatzo: This guy's using the VR system for thought input, isn't he!? You never use that normally!
Sunraku: Within the field, copies of the main body's limbs appear, or its size gets huge. Not sure if it's because Eldranza was the base, but there's an attack pattern where it dives under the field and ambushes you.
Sunraku: No solid proof, but the shift from Phase 2 to Phase 3 is probably a timed survival phase.
Sunraku: After holding out for a set time, the Great Red Devourer burrows underground, goes through a special action called "Resource Return" and shifts to Phase 3.
Sunraku: Correction: "Primal Revolve."
Sunraku: In Phase 3, it absorbs the red area covering the field back into itself to power up. When we fought it, it grew more heads.
Sunraku: On top of that, it shoots crystals all over the battlefield. Break 'em and monsters come out. And those monsters get absorbed by the main body, so leaving 'em alone is a bad move.
Sunraku: So basically, if you ignore it, the situation turns into an even nastier version of Phase 1.
Mold: The text is scrolling by at an incredible speed...
Sunraku: In Phase 3, the main body takes on a more combat-specialized form, and it has a red tornado on its back.
Sunraku: It fires attacks from the blood-crystal monsters it's absorbed out of that tornado.
Sunraku: In Phases 1 and 2, it spits out chimeras made from the mismatched parts of monsters it absorbed. In Phase 3, it can just create individual parts, which makes reacting on the fly really hard.
Oikatzo: High-speed thought input is actually one of this guy's hidden specialties.
Kyogoku: The notification pings were so damn loud I had to check what was going on.
Sunraku: Also, it can spawn unidentified monsters, and it has an insanely powerful attack that can one-shot a boss-level monster and burn it to a crisp.
Sunraku: As for a weak point, it likely inherits the physical traits of the monster used as its base body, so the weak point should be the same.
Sunraku: On that note, changing the subject a bit, I suspect those color dragons have a core inside them that serves as their weak point.
Akitsu Akane: Um—
Sunraku: Back to the topic. As a reward for beating it, you stick your hand into a blood-puddle-like object and you get an item.
Sunraku: What you get—find out for yourself.
Akitsu Akane: Um—
Sunraku: Bottom line, unlike a Unique Monster, this thing is clearly designed for a big group. Unless you're deliberately restricting yourselves, you'll want at least thirty people.
Sunraku: You satisfied now? Satisfied?!
Pencil Warrior: Lacking sincerity.
Sunraku: Seriously? I thought I was supposed to be the one judging whether people were sincere.
Akitsu Akane: Um! I have a request to make!
Sunraku: A request? What kind?
Akitsu Akane: Uh, well, actually—
Pencil Warrior: Hmm, from what I'm hearing, it sounds like the type of thing that gets nastier the longer you wait between attempts?
Pencil Warrior: Ah, sorry, Akitsu Akane-chan. Go ahead, go ahead.
Akitsu Akane: Yes! Well, the thing is, I've actually gotten to be friends with someone in SLF... Ah, an NPC!
Akitsu Akane: And I'm going to help that person with their challenge.
Oikatzo: A Unique Scenario?
Sunraku: Akitsu Akane found a Unique Scenario, that's amazing!
Pencil Warrior: And compared to that, a certain someone over here—!!
Oikatzo: I'll beat the crap out of you, you bastard.
Rust: This is like a train that keeps going even while it derails.
Akitsu Akane: But I don't know what to do all by myself, so could you please help me!?
Sunraku: That Fuuun Prejiden, though...
Pencil Warrior: Tch—! To think Sunraku-kun was such a cold-hearted bastard—!
Oikatzo: Refusing to help a fellow clan member—!
Sunraku: Argh, fine! I said I'll do it!
Sunraku: That said, I can't focus on it full-time, but I'll at least help out.
Akitsu Akane: Wow, thank you so much!!
Akitsu Akane: I'm so glad... After all, there's no way I could beat Siegwurm-san by myself!!
Sunraku: ...Huh?
Oikatzo: ...Uh?
Pencil Warrior: ...Oh?
Rust: ...Hm?
Mold: ...What?
Kyogoku: ...Say what?
Psyger-0: Um... I just finally caught up, but... what exactly are we talking about...? Or rather, um, this NPC you got to be friends with...
Akitsu Akane: Yes!!
Akitsu Akane: It's a Unique Scenario called "The Impure Black Challenges the Gold"...
Akitsu Akane: I'm going to help Noirlind-san, the Black Dragon!!
Sunraku: Fwee...
Pencil Warrior: Fwee...
Oikatzo: Fwee...
I've finally managed to write out half of this stupidly long Dragon Calamity arc... So despite the fact I've been irregular lately—I know, I know, what am I even saying now—I'm gonna take a break from updates for a while and get ready for what comes next. I mean, my real life is normally busy, but in my head it's just: settings, settings, settings... I wanna be Metagross!!