Chapter 429: Dragons, O Dragons! Part Six

At this point, the battlefield had split into three fronts—the white dragon, the green dragon, and the red dragon—and chaos reigned.

Siegwurm had deployed Dragon Law: Notorious and had not come down since. Noirlind, which targeted only Siegwurm, likewise did not count as a threat for the moment.

So which dragon should take priority?

Bryleinyego, endlessly producing small dragons?

Blockentreed, drawing mana from the earth and unleashing terrain-warping attacks?

Neither.

Neither was the answer.

People sometimes discard reason and prioritize emotion. And sometimes, that emotion produces results beyond reason.

In other words—

Players: "Bring down that goddamn red dragon!!!"

Deuredhowl became the top priority for one simple reason:

Its personality was irritating.

???: "Fire your magic!!"

???: "Missed! That hovering is so damn annoying!"

???: "Can’t we damage those legs!?"

???: "Piercing attacks are a terrible match, at least! At worst, our weapons will break first!"

???: "Slashing is not great, piercing is awful... What about blunt attacks!? How about blunt attacks!?"

Massive Dynamite: "Oh? Then perhaps it is my turn?"

???: "All right, Maddai! Maddai is here! Star of the muscleheads!! STR buffers, gather up!!"

???: "And Black Blade...!? They have come up to the front line!?"

Psyger-100: "That is right...! I will stop its movement. Can you do it, Kusamochi!?"

Kusamochi: "Do not expect too much, but understood...!!"

A distinguished group of pioneers began to move: the clan that had once called itself Schwarz Vulf, now flying the banner of Black Blade.

As Psyger-100 at their head began casting magic, players with enhancement spells gathered from all around and one after another applied them to the heavily muscled heavy warrior.

Finally, a man holding a golden bow aimed the arrowhead skyward and drew the bowstring taut.

He appeared to be activating a skill while drawing the bow. Though not as many as the storm of buffs gathering around Massive Dynamite, several effects still enveloped him.

Psyger-100: "I have been practicing hitting moving targets lately... [Violence Thunder]!!!"

Once, this tyrannical lightning had been completely devoured by the Nether King's shield.

Its greatest feature was that the designated coordinates depended on the player’s field of view.

And that its point of origin was in the sky.

Deuredhowl: "Huh? What the—Gwoah!?"

No matter how it maneuvered in midair with jet-propelled hovering, Deuredhowl’s huge body was not agile enough to evade lightning striking from outside its awareness.

Lightning taking the form of a beast struck Deuredhowl squarely in the side of the head, freezing the red dragon’s body in midair.

Psyger-100: "Drive it in!!"

Kusamochi: "Got it! I am counting on you, Failnaught!!"

The man’s name was Kusamochi.

He was Black Blade’s sub-leader and one of the earliest members involved in founding the clan when it had still been Schwarz Vulf.

There was one more thing worth mentioning.

The Holy Bow Failnaught.

One of the five Wished Weapons, following the sword, spear, hammer, and staff.

The holy bow could switch between two bow types—a standard bow and a magic bow—and could even combine the two. An arrow fired from it was wrapped in golden magical power as though the arrow itself had donned armor.

The arrow climbed from below. The moment it slowed, the magic surrounding it burst apart, reaccelerating the physical arrow at its core.

Kusamochi: "The quickest way to bring down something jet-powered is to shove something into its exhaust ports."

The [Trick Arrowhead], its force amplified by the Holy Bow Failnaught, activated.

Despite being an expendable arrowhead, it was expensive enough to empty a new player’s wallet the instant the game began.

And when it hit—

Deuredhowl: "Gwoaaahhh!?"

It exploded.

For a human, it was like taking a low kick to a leg that had gone numb after sitting seiza for too long.

Deuredhowl lost its balance. Its enormous body lurched downward, and, perhaps having lost control, slammed into the ground.

???: "Go, Maddai!"

Massive Dynamite: "Ufufu, I am getting excited despite my age... Now then, here I go... [Herculean Blaster]!!"

An enormous quantity of buffs from countless people.

The Iron Flail wielded by a pioneer who had devoted everything to muscle.

An overwhelming STR-scaling blow from a Triple-digit Skill acquired after the player level cap was unlocked.

A tremendous sound that could not be called either crash or boom slammed into Deuredhowl’s chest. The enormous body unmistakably lifted off the ground again, if only for an instant.

Monstrous though a dragon might be, it was hard to believe that sound had come from striking a living creature with a blunt weapon; it carried enough pressure that even nearby players who had not taken the blow themselves flinched.

Massive Dynamite: "...How unfortunate. I couldn’t get [Maximum Firepower]."

Deuredhowl: "Ogh... Gah...!?"

Deuredhowl’s entire body stiffened. Anyone could see that it had taken damage too great to ignore.

Psyger-100: "Press the attack!!"

With a battle cry, Psyger-100 gave the command.

As though they had been waiting for it, players all around raised their weapons and rushed the writhing Deuredhowl.

Psyger-100: "We do not need to finish it here! Land your attacks, then disengage! Watch for a retaliatory attack when it recovers!!"

The Color Dragons apparently were not treated by the system as raid monsters.

But that did not guarantee they lacked special actions triggered by remaining health.

Though their skill varied widely, every player who had reached the New Land possessed a certain level of player skill.

Deuredhowl: "Guh... You..."

Psyger-100: "Everyone, fall back!!"

???: "I am staying on purpose! Gather information about it from my corpse!!"

???: "All right, go die!"

???: "Leave the memorial screenshot to me!"

Deuredhowl: "You damned... insects!!"

???: "Ghh—t-top!?"

???: "Wait—"

???: "What, is it a spinning top!?"

Fire blasted from every protrusion on Deuredhowl’s body.

True to someone’s scream, it began rampaging with the movements of a spinning top, flinging away player after player.

Yet perhaps because the players had fought so boldly until that moment—or perhaps because that had made things worse—downward-arrow icons appeared everywhere.

???: "Massive! You are the target! Get away from the respawn icons!!"

Massive Dynamite: "Oh dear, what a problem... You know I am slow, do you not?"

Massive Dynamite had invested most of her parameters into STR and VIT. As was the fate of such an extreme build, its weaknesses were just as pronounced.

The warrior whose ability to brace herself and whose physical strength were unparalleled had paid for it with extremely low speed and health (HP).

Minor damage could be reduced almost to zero with VIT, but being sent flying by a massive body would still deplete her HP completely.

For that fragile cannon, there was only one answer: shields to protect it from the enemy.

???: "Tank Number One, reporting!"

???: "Number Two!"

???: "No time, so I will skip the rest! We are from SF-Zoo!"

???: "Sorry! Number Five’s dog wanted to go for a walk!"

???: "My golden retriever likes nighttime walks!"

Five players lined up in an echelon formation, all outfitted in what could only be called excessive heavy gear and holding shields that looked unmistakably cumbersome.

Then, at perfectly synchronized timing, their aggro-stealing skills activated, pulling spinning Deuredhowl away from Massive Dynamite.

SF-Zoo Tanks: "[Phalanx]!!"

The defensive skill, whose armor value increased when the same skill was activated simultaneously, took effect.

Five shields collided head-on with Deuredhowl.

For a brief moment, they held.

Then the balance of power tipped.

Counter skills activated in succession reflected Deuredhowl’s own kinetic energy back at it, flipping the red dragon’s body over with tremendous force.

Deuredhowl: "Ogua!?"

???: "No way, they stopped it!"

???: "As expected of SF-Zoo’s tank crew... They give you about three times the sense of security."

???: "Didn’t they barely have any attack skills besides counter skills?"

???: "They are the ideal tanks."

In a specialized clan where most members were rear-line fighters, the five tanks who took all the aggro were close to the best possible guards for Massive Dynamite.

Protected by the finest shields, which held Deuredhowl in place as though passing a ball between themselves, the battle against the red dragon accelerated.

And one front, pulling clearly ahead amid the chaotic battlefield, would stir the whirlpool of the Dragon Calamity even further.