Chapter 438: Dragons, O Dragons! Part Fifteen

Oikatzo: "For now, I demand the right to punch you once over this!"

Sunraku: "Find Rust and I'll transfer that right to you."

Oikatzo: "Got it. Is she coming, or am I going?"

Sunraku: "It'd help if you brought her here."

They exchanged information in five seconds. Oikatzo ran off while escaping through the hole in the encirclement opened by the mysterious person wearing Shoro.

Oikatzo: "Let's see... Those two have Dragon Blood Demon flags, right...?"

And the other one was dealing with Blockentreed... or at least pretending to, while carrying out another terrible plan.

The seeds sown by the demon lord were already beginning to sprout. As one of the main culprits helping with the scheme, Oikatzo searched for the mismatched duo so they could finally carry out the plan. It had been proposed long ago but repeatedly put off for various reasons.

Oikatzo: "Like I'm ever going to find them in this mess!!"

How many people did he think were currently connected at the same time inside the frontline base that had become a battlefield?

Still, the odds were probably higher than throwing a rock and having it randomly hit Mold in the head...

Oikatzo: "No, they're probably near the Dragon Blood Demons... But where the hell are they...?"

After thinking for a moment, he decided to turn around and ask the first player he saw...

Deuredhowl: "Nghhh! Damn it! There's no way someone like me should be allowed to die!!"

The red, misshapen dragon was charging straight toward him in complete desperation, scattering damage effects from its entire body and casting aside every trace of the imposing air it once had as a powerful being.

Oikatzo: "Huh, wai—"

Oikatzo: "Whaaaaaat?!"

Bryleinyego: "Whaaaaaat?!"

By sheer coincidence, Oikatzo let out the same scream as Bryleinyego as he leaped sideways with all his strength.

Bryleinyego could hardly be expected to make such a quick move. Deuredhowl's huge body slammed straight into the white dragon, knocking it onto its side as it crushed a considerable number of the lesser dragons being produced endlessly from its back.

Deuredhowl: "Th-that's right! There's no way I should be allowed to die! You die in my place!!"

Bryleinyego: "You bastard...!!"

Apparently, the cornered Deuredhowl was trying to use Bryleinyego as a substitute.

When Oikatzo looked back in the direction it had come from, he saw Deuredhowl using Bryleinyego as a shield against whatever was pursuing it.

Psyger-0: "...Oh, Oikatzo-san."

Oikatzo: "Psyger-0-san... Ah, now I get it."

Oikatzo turned toward the voice and immediately understood why Deuredhowl had been driven into such a desperate state.

Psyger-0 was wearing the same armor that still looked more like an enemy than a player and wielding a greatsword that gave off an unmistakably dangerous presence. Behind her were members of Black Blade, along with many other players wearing what was probably the best equipment currently available, all entering the white dragon's combat zone to finish off Deuredhowl.

The red dragon looks like it's taken the most damage... Pencilgon should be stalling the green dragon, so are they planning to finish the red one here?

No.

Oikatzo rejected that thought.

It was still too early to remove Deuredhowl, which was currently drawing the most aggro. But even a dirty scheme couldn't completely control this part of the situation.

Oikatzo: "That base buff... What a pain."

The main reason so many attacks had been focused on Deuredhowl was that Skull Azuchi had given every player heat resistance.

For better or worse, this decisive battle phase left everything entirely to the players' own free will. Other than the choices to "defeat all the Color Dragons" and "defeat Siegwurm," nothing had been prepared for them.

That was why so many players followed the target indicated by Skull Azuchi, the base that could be called the players' symbol.

And the lord of Skull Azuchi was the boss—no, the master builder—of the anti-Noirlind faction.

If Skull Azuchi chose Noirlind as its next target...

Oikatzo: "This is bad... This is really bad..."

This was different from the battle against Wethermon.

Everyone was scattered across separate locations, and SLF had no way to send words beyond the range of one's voice. That severely limited any way to spread the words of Pencilgon, their "Brain."

Oikatzo: "What do we do? Which one do we target...?"

That was when it happened.

Fweeeee... Bang!

Oikatzo: "!!"

A firework that felt shockingly out of place on a battlefield rose with a sound that lingered strangely in the ear, burst apart... and bloomed into a white flower.

Oikatzo: "White!!"

In that instant, the battlefield moved.

???: "White."

???: "It's white."

???: "That's the 'signal,' right?"

???: "Bryleinyego!"

???: "Target Bryleinyego!!"

Voices rose from nowhere and no one in particular, amid the thousands of players packed together.

White.

The white dragon.

Target Bryleinyego.

A single person's words would have been swept away by the noise of the battlefield. But once the voices of dozens of people spread the information like rats multiplying, the players began to move under the assumption that it must be true, regardless of its basis or accuracy.

Oikatzo: "Sunraku!"

Sunraku: "What?! You're starting a conversation now?!"

Oikatzo: "Orders from the scoundrels! Focus on Bryleinyego!!"

Sunraku: "W-wait, wait, wait... Damn it, stop swarming me! Scatter!"

Sunraku shouted while swinging a monochrome greatsword and slamming one of the lesser dragons stubbornly clinging to him into the ground with one hand.

Sunraku: "TKO!!"

Oikatzo: "You mean TPO. The lesser dragon is the one you knocked out."

Sunraku: "Who cares?! So?! If the 'signal' came... that means we're good to go, right...?!"

Oikatzo: "Yeah! Pull the whole flow of the battle along with you, Sunraku!!"

The first stage of Pencilgon's plan was simple.

They had planted collaborators who enjoyed this kind of thing among the players. When one of the dragons was close to being defeated, those collaborators would redirect the attacks toward another dragon.

Of course, neither Sunraku nor Oikatzo nor Pencilgon, who had come up with the plan, expected every player to follow them. But even if only twenty people out of every hundred broke away, the group's efficiency would fall by twenty percent.

The firework just now was the signal.

Blockentreed, which specialized in toughness, would buy them time either way. Noirlind was fighting in the air and had managed to avoid drawing much aggro. That left Deuredhowl and Bryleinyego to shave away—no, buy—time by shifting the players' attention between them.

Once the firework went up, everyone except roughly two people was supposed to gather.

Freed from the search mission, Oikatzo applied buffs to himself and turned back toward the white dragon.

Oikatzo: "Going wild enough to get in the way of all the players around you... What a ridiculous order."

Sunraku: "The time has come to reveal my third form."

Oikatzo: "What? You change shape again? That's complete metamorphosis... complete pervert, more like..."

A raised middle finger and a downward-pointing thumb crossed in front of him.

Psyger-0: "U-um... Sunraku-san."

Sunraku: "Oh, Rei-shi. And Saiga-nee."

Psyger-100: "I confirmed the signal. She told me, 'One of ours will draw plenty of attention, so just ride that wave!' What exactly are you planning to do?"

Sunraku: "Heh... I'll show you the absolute limit of DPS...!!"

Sunraku drove the monochrome greatsword into the ground and operated Inventoria. Something red appeared in his hand.

It was misshapen and unnatural. It looked partly mammalian and partly reptilian, yet also possessed features belonging to no known creature...

A strange red skull.

Psyger-100: "What is that?"

Sunraku: "A reward for defeating a raid monster."

Psyger-100: "I see... No, I do not see! What did you say?!"

Sunraku: "Questions later. Focus, focus!!"

[Not enough time or skill.]

[The collaborators who enjoyed "secret-agent roleplay" mostly came through Zenith Guevara's connections.]