Chapter 443: Dragons, O Dragons! Part Twenty

Siegwurm: "Hahahahaha! Magnificent! Oh, magnificent!! What radiance! Flames fierce enough to scorch my eyes! Treasure-bright brilliance dazzling enough to blind me!! Excellent! A hero is a single flame that draws people in and guides them! The sight of those who aspire to become heroes, set into motion by your fire as the opening signal, is the greatest proof of all!! Hahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha!!"

He laughed.

From high in the sky, Siegwurm looked down upon the players swarming like ants. He could have mocked them, but instead he expressed pure joy, free of all negative emotion, through roaring laughter.

Siegwurm: "Oh... humans, heroes. One day, your path will be filled with hardship when those beings return. Therefore, you must prove yourselves. If you slay another of the same 'color,' good. If you seek to slay me, better still!! I shall face you! Now, what will you do?!"

Akitsu Akane: "Then I’ll gladly accept your challenge!!"

Akitsu Akane leaped from Noirlind’s back once again and landed upon Siegwurm.

Even if magical attacks—in other words, the breath that could be called a dragon’s greatest weapon—were sealed, physical attacks using Noirlind’s huge body would not be nullified, whether or not they proved effective.

Noirlind: "Akitsu Akane! Do it!!"

Akitsu Akane: "Yes! Um, just a little to the right of the throat..."

Siegwurm: "So you intend to pierce my reverse scale... But do not think some half-hearted blade can penetrate me when I am prepared to die!!"

Siegwurm’s reverse scale.

When the golden Dragon King had been constructed from the combined wisdom of the Divine Era, one point had inevitably been left with lower durability than the other scales because of a structural flaw.

Under normal circumstances, piercing that part of Siegwurm would trigger the curse-blessing it bestowed.

To Siegwurm as he was now, however, it was merely a "slightly weaker spot."

But that was only when judged by the standards of a human attacker.

Here and now, Akitsu Akane could literally be said to possess a dragon’s fangs and claws.

Akitsu Akane: "Right here!!"

Noirlind: "Dieeeee!!"

Siegwurm: "Nghuaa?!"

Akitsu Akane was only the spotter.

Her true role was to tell Noirlind the location of the reverse scale based on her past experience.

And because Siegwurm kept focusing on the humans and letting his attention toward Noirlind wander, the black dragon seized the brief opening created by the two explosions on the ground and drove its fangs into the golden throat.

Siegwurm: "Ghh... Nngh! Insolent!!"

But even the fang that had slightly pierced the reverse scale was torn free along with Noirlind’s jaw when Siegwurm shook it off.

Then Siegwurm’s clenched fist slammed into Noirlind’s cheek.

Siegwurm: "You grow arrogant! You think you can defy me with so little?!"

Noirlind: "Say whatever you like. In the end, you will be the one displaying your corpse, Siegwurm!!"

Noirlind unleashed a jet-black breath from point-blank range.

Siegwurm made one horn on each side of the five remaining horns—one already missing—shine, wrapping his entire body in light.

The black breath scattered and vanished.

Noirlind glared at it with a look that seemed ready to click its tongue, then lunged at Siegwurm once more.

Akitsu Akane: "Ugh... Magic nullification is really hard to deal with...!!"

Barely clinging to Siegwurm’s back, Akitsu Akane complained about the glowing state that shut down her strength as a magic user.

Siegwurm’s magic-nullifying ability, Tupac Amaru, the Radiant Dragon King, could be compared to paint of overwhelming density.

The mana particles placed under Siegwurm’s complete control as Dragon King nullified outside mana interference by painting over it.

But this form had two weaknesses.

The first was that it could not be used together with Frenzy Domain, the barrier that nullified Skills. That meant Skill-based attacks still worked.

Although Siegwurm’s principles differed from Ctarnidd’s, he was bound by a similar restriction.

The second weakness was that the radiant form, which nullified all outside magical interference—in other words, all magic—was vulnerable to "physical interference" created through a magical process.

And that was something an entire category of equipment possessed by default—

Rust: "...Suzaku, I’m going to use you roughly. Is that okay?"

Suzaku: "I Do Not Mind."

Siegwurm: "Nnghuaa?!"

A single streak of "red" raced through the sky.

No, that was wrong.

It was not the sort of thing dyed red to the very marrow like some monster of the Origin.

They were truly beautiful scarlet wings.

The blade of cremation, once used to pin down a wolf that seemed like the embodiment of night, now rested in the arm of a machine person with radiant wings, fulfilling its original purpose.

Akitsu Akane leaped down from Siegwurm after the sudden ambush made him reel backward. She somehow returned to Noirlind’s back, then turned toward the attacker.

Akitsu Akane: "A r-robot?"

Rust: "...Akitsu Akane. I came as reinforcement."

Akitsu Akane: "Huh? Ah, Rust-san?!"

The red machine person flew through the air, blasting waves of heat from the steel scarlet wings spread from the waist.

Judging only by the keywords, a humanoid with wings might sound like one of the Birdian race. But a Birdian’s wings and arms were fused together, while this figure had separate wings and arms.

The wings sat a little low, but if anything, the figure looked closer to an "angel."

Noirlind: "What is that winged insect?!"

Akitsu Akane: "Ah, um, she’s from the same clan... Ah, yes, she’s my friend!"

Noirlind: "Hmph..."

Rust: "...Noirlind, we are here to make you win. We are here to defeat Siegwurm... A message from our boss."

Noirlind: "What?"

Rust: "...The message was: 'Hey, Noirlind! If you’re planning to bet your whole life on beating Siegwurm, then fight Siegwurm on the ground, YO!'"

Akitsu Akane: "..."

Noirlind: "..."

Rust: "...Ahem. Those were not words I came up with. I am only delivering the message."

Rust awkwardly defended herself against the indescribable silence.

Having completed her connection with the Tactical Machine Bird, she once again pointed her blade at Siegwurm.

It was a burning Incinerate: Magic Blade Slasher born from the wisdom of the Divine Era, different from Areadbhair’s flame.

Rust: "...Enemies who sit smugly outside the combat zone are disliked."

Siegwurm: "Armor from days long past... Heh-heh. Then what will you do?"

Rust: "...I don’t mean to brag, but right now, I am... Correction."

A star-like flash came from the ground.

Only Siegwurm, the target, noticed it.

From below to above—

Rust: "We are quite strong."

Siegwurm: "A sniper attack?!"

Rust: "...I do timed battles every morning. I’ll knock you down."

Five minutes earlier.

Pencilgon: "All right, fellow co-owners! I hereby request approval to register these as shared clan items!"

Oikatzo: "Why are you making it sound so grand...? Approved."

Sunraku: "Wait, how do I cure this status condition...? Approved."

Three windows carried out the same process.

The steel bird, its corresponding armor, and several weapons were registered as shared clan items in the clan item box installed aboard the ocean-conquest ship Bryubas.

Rust immediately operated the clan item box, causing the equipment to appear in the real world.

Rust: "Ooh... Beautiful..."

Sunraku: "Take good care of it."

Pencilgon: "That carries a lot of weight coming from Sunraku-kun, who treats equipment like absolute crap!!"

Oikatzo: "Sunraku, do you breathe out helium instead of carbon dioxide or something?"

Sunraku: "We already used this joke before, didn’t we?"

Mold: "H-heh..."

Mold, you...

Rust: "No, it’s fine. I’m fine... More importantly, can this do wireless communication?"

Oikatzo: "Wireless?"

No.

Rust’s undefeated record had not been achieved by her alone.

There was someone whose support ability was so strong that even when paired with random players, Rust could dominate.

That was why she could truthfully boast an undefeated record.

Oikatzo: "Hmm... I don’t know. Even if it has wireless communication, there’s only one reactor, so the other machines won’t activate..."

As Oikatzo tried to explain how difficult it would be to make Mold’s request possible—

Saina: "I see. In other words, intelligent communication."

The self-proclaimed embodiment of intelligence arrived.

The players’ fierce attack seemed to be holding the battle line, allowing Saina to return to Sunraku’s group.

With a series of mechanical clicks, she somehow folded away and stored only the shell around her head, revealing a face that was close to human yet clearly not human.

Saina: "Shoro is currently operating through energy supplied by this unit—me. Therefore, although communication must pass through this unit, long-distance communication with the wearer of Glosswing is possible."

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Pencilgon: "Hmph."

Sunraku: "Gweh."

Pencilgon stepped on Sunraku’s back as he slowly tried to crawl away on all fours.

Pencilgon: "What an adorable girl. Naturally, you’re going to introduce us, aren’t you...?"

Sunraku: "Stooop, damn it, let gooo..."

Twenty chapters in, and Siegwurm is still airborne.

Will this finish before the end of the year...?
(A moment of weakness.)

Siegwurm’s magic nullification can erase "magical bullets" and "bullets created through magic," but it cannot erase "a pre-existing bullet launched through magic."

At the very least, propulsion still follows the laws of physics.