Chapter 441: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part Eighteen

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I could say it with certainty: as I was now, I could defeat Lycagon (Shadow) solo.

I had been strengthened that far. I had reached my peak.

Sunraku: "One minute leeeft!!"

Keep them barely alive without finishing them off, while still standing out as spectacularly as possible.

If that was the goal, then this final minute, built upon the previous four, would be the climax.

My third form had a five-minute time limit. Strictly speaking, it was six minutes, but for me, it was five.

Now that four minutes had passed, it was about time to stop farming the small fry.

Sunraku: "I’m going for the main body! I’ll dye that white body in bloooood!!"

Bryleinyego: "What are you?! What the hell are you?!"

Hahaha! Scared, are you?

I had already racked up more than a hundred kills by this point.

The ultra-greatsword that should have been absurdly heavy now felt as light as a feather. It was so light that it was actually starting to feel a little difficult to use.

The more time passed after activation, the more monstrous my body became as the red skull consumed it.

The red liquid had once merely covered my body from above like a hood. Now it behaved like flesh, pulsing red with an eerie rhythm every time I swung my arms, whipped my tail, or crushed something between its jaws.

Sunraku: "CLI... MAAAAAX!!"

That red dragon was in the way.

It had been trying to use Bryleinyego as a shield for a while now, but the bastard was being unbelievably petty about it.

I kicked off the ground and charged.

But this was only the run-up.

As I closed the distance between the two dragons, I shifted into a throwing stance and hurled Memento Mori, giving it every bit of acceleration, momentum, and force the physics engine could provide.

Sunraku: "Take thiiiiis!!"

Deuredhowl: "Gyaaaaaah?!"

The sword might have felt as light as a feather to me, but to anything else, it was an ultra-greatsword even more vicious than a solid mass of iron.

With an incredible wind-splitting sound somewhere between a boom and a baow, the jet-black blade pierced Deuredhowl’s shoulder.

Sunraku: "Yeahhh... Now I’m getting into it. I’ll use one of my trump cards on yooou."

Roar, Areadbhair!

Burn, Areadbhair Rebuild!!

Once a Grateful reaches Rebuild and grows accustomed to its new wielder, it awakens a secret Skill yet untold when it truly recognizes them!

According to Vysache!!

The blazing sword burned away the slow lesser dragons still standing in my path and opened a road before me.

Sunraku: "It is an impossible spear, an unreal radiance spun from fragments piled, woven, and bound togetheeer!!"

According to the story, that spear ranked alongside Gungnir and Longinus as one of the biggest names among fantasy spears.

In truth, though, the name had apparently been made up in Japan.

That made it a phantom spear that had never existed.

Yet the certain victory and light it undoubtedly wielded were defined by Areadbhair as flame!!

The blazing sword roared as it consumed the air.

Its entire blade now glowed red, yellow, and white, radiating enough heat to threaten even me, its wielder.

I struck my chest hard with my right fist and summoned an enormous, unbelievably huge and heavy shield into my empty left hand.

The Empress Castle’s Manifest Bulwark Shield, Vauban Gargantula.

Far too heavy both in mass and stat requirements, the super-heavy tower shield had been crafted entirely from Fortress Gargantula’s armored shell.

At this moment alone, it became a brutally effective mass weapon.

I held the enormous shield in one hand and continued forward without losing speed.

Forward.

Forward.

Like a centipede that had forgotten the very word retreat.

Lesser dragons were run over, knocked aside, and sent flying.

I thought I saw one with a strange shape among them, but what the hell was that?

Did it just charge in and rub its face against my shield?

Are you mocking me?

Get minced.

With top-class physical and impact resistance, the Empress Castle’s Manifest Bulwark Shield was less a shield than a wall.

And that wall was charging forward.

Naturally, the lesser dragons went flying like bowling pins.

The players had already evacuated quite a while ago.

I did feel bad about stealing their targets several times. But whenever I looked at them with six moist eyes full of apology, they all looked away for some reason.

Communication was difficult.

Sunraku: "Acceleratingggg!!"

The troublesome cluster of lesser dragons had opened up.

I couldn’t let this chance pass.

I spurred myself onward and raced ahead with black lightning.

The small fry were no longer even obstacles. Quantum Gaze found a path through the accelerating world.

One step forward.

A second step planted firmly.

On the third, I leaped.

Bryleinyego, you realized Deuredhowl was my target, didn’t you?

That placement of lesser dragons was far too obvious.

They might as well have been saying, "Use us as stepping stones and beat the hell out of Deuredhowl."

So I stepped on them without hesitation and jumped.

Deuredhowl: "Wh-what...?!"

Sunraku: "Too slow to react."

I took a thrusting stance in midair.

The point of the sword...

No.

That wasn’t right.

At this moment, what I held was unquestionably the head of a spear.

The fourth spear that shaped the legend of an unreal weapon and drew certain victory into my hands.

Therefore, the name of Areadbhair’s secret technique was—

Sunraku: "Radiant Spear Hypothesis IV—Brionac: Incineration Caar!!"

The instant the white-hot spearhead struck Deuredhowl’s shoulder, directly into the wound opened by Memento Mori—

Sunraku: "Those crab-looking limbs of yooours... Tear off!!"

A tremendous amount of flame burst from Areadbhair’s blade as though a dam had broken.

It formed a huge spearhead larger than my entire body.

Carried forward by the force of the thrust, its explosive and incinerating energy blasted one of the red dragon’s arms away.

Deuredhowl: "M-my armmmm! My armmmmmm?!"

Sunraku: "Ooooh... As expected of Areadbhair’s anti-dragon power."

Could its arm already be severed through part destruction?

Or had Areadbhair’s murderous power against dragons made it possible?

Deuredhowl, you’ll manage somehow without one arm!

Bryleinyego: "Foolish red dragon! Writhe and suffer as you are!!"

Sunraku: "You too."

Bryleinyego: "Huh...?"

Areadbhair Rebuild gave off thin streams of black smoke as it temporarily lost its heat.

I put it away and replaced both hands with fists of steel and crystal.

Sunraku: "Exceed Charge!!"

I was going all out!!

The armor around both fists slid open, exposing the gold and silver crystals inside.

Their radiance compressed, leaving the trigger for its release in my hands.

Fool.

Fool!

Bryleinyego had sealed its own fate when it redirected the lesser dragons’ aggro away from me to make me defeat Deuredhowl!

It was far too late to attack me now!!

I no longer needed any visual assistance for something this simple.

With a step powered by Overflow, I closed all the way into Bryleinyego’s reach.

I would offer its belly the final ten seconds of Broad Crown and every last point of Gilta Brille’s durability.

Sunraku: "Reject!!!"

Bryleinyego: "Kah... haaa...?!"

Pierce.

Harden.

Shatter.

After those three processes, Bryleinyego’s abdomen was literally pulverized.

At the same time, an incredible recoil struck me, standing closest to the blast while wearing its cause on my own hands.

Sunraku: "Gnnuaaaaaah...!!"

Even my body, strengthened twice over by two effects triggered through kill score, couldn’t fully contain the recoil.

The boots of R.I.P.—barely proving that something human still remained inside—scraped two lines into the ground as I was driven backward.

Oh, crap.

I was going to fall onto my back...

Sunraku: "Nuaaaaaaah!!"

I bent forward as though bowing and planted my hands against the ground, driving the completely destroyed Gilta Brille into it.

That at least stopped me from falling flat onto my back.

Sunraku: "Sa—"

Before I could finish saying "safe"—

Five minutes had passed.

A moist gaze filled with apology.

(Being stared at by six eyes.)

Radiant Spear Hypothesis IV:

Thrust → flames appear → the flames form a huge spearhead → the flaming spearhead launches like a Spetsnaz knife.

Areadbhair’s original Radiant Spear Hypothesis was actually smaller in scale and had even greater piercing power.

Some idiot stuffed wildfire.zip into it during the Rebuild process, so the Rebuild version became an area attack.

In fact, the Rebuild version of the Hypothesis cannot pierce a dragon snake’s scales.