Chapter 219: Interlude: He Who Desires the Fall of the Golden Hegemon of the Heavens

Author's Preface
I concentrated the sorrow and rage of not being able to play MHW, triggered a frustration explosion, and crammed it all into lore dumps.

This occurred shortly after Ctarrnid was defeated.

A dense, suffocating jungle. They were veteran warriors, explorers, and survivors.
But even for them, having overcome numerous uncharted territories and acquired the strength to match, this was not a place where they could afford to let their guard down.

"...So, yeah. We're a pick-up group, but let's take it easy without getting too tense."

The man equipped with a broad longsword at his waist and knight's armor fashioned with beautifully dyed cloth was named "BuLuck Shine." His name carried a hint of sorrow, but considering he had made it this far, there was zero compromise in his equipment and stats as a medium-armored Tank/Attacker hybrid.

"We still don't fully know all the monsters that spawn in the late-night hours after 3 AM. Even if we're not tense, if we aren't vigilant, we'll get swallowed whole, you know?"

Unlike BuLuck Shine, who sought harmony to avoid leaving a sour aftertaste in this one-time-encounter party, the man clad in pitch-black ninja garb wielding twin kodachi carefully scanned their surroundings. His name was "Vigilance." He had exclusively played solo until now, but the overwhelmingly harsh monsters of the New Continent had forced him into the bitter choice of joining a pick-up group.
At the very least, everyone here possessed a fitting level of skill; there were no parasite players who had climbed to the top without the talent to back it up. In that regard, it was a fine first experience for a party battle. Furthermore, his skill set—hyper-specialized in scouting due to his solo playstyle—displayed its true worth just as flawlessly in a party setting.

"That's true... But honestly, just the fact that the Cerberus Tyrannosaurus won't spawn makes it way better, doesn't it? That thing is completely insane..."

Speaking with a somber tone, this woman—one of the rare players in this game whose voice actually matched her gender—was named "Emi-Lia." While she didn't possess any particularly flashy unique traits, she was a Cleric with the Sub-job 【Carpenter】, earning her considerable respect among the "New Continent Group" players for her contributions to fortifying the base camps.
She was entirely unaware that seeing her wield a hammer for base fortification and a mace during her hunting breaks caused the vast majority of players to suspect, "Does she just really like hitting things?"
Having previously experienced the trauma of the base camp being completely overrun by the three-headed Tyrannosaurus—a monster whose true name remained unknown because no one had managed to kill it yet—she still cowered at the mere thought of it, even in the dead of night when it had never been confirmed to spawn.

"But I heard some people are trying to figure out if you can make it a Ride Monster for Riders, since the 'Tame' trigger actually exists for it."

And the final member of this temporarily assembled pick-up group was named "Reiji." Though they had only exchanged brief pleasantries, he was a Magic Swordsman connected by a thin thread to a certain individual, expertly balancing magic and straight-sword combat.
Rather than strictly pursuing the path of the sword, his Main Job was 【Magic Swordsman】, fighting with a blade imbued with the miracles of magic. For a specific reason, he had chosen 【Rider】 as his Sub-job, but he had yet to acquire a single mount simply because "Ugly Ride Monsters are undesirable."

"...For now, there are no monster signatures nearby. If there's something with stealth high enough to bypass my scouting, there's honestly nothing I can do about it."

"Understood. Let's reconfirm our objective. Our target this time is fulfilling the Pioneer Ship's request for 'Night Owl's Scaled Feathers'... which means hunting a 'Draclus Dinowl.' Just to be sure, everyone has fought a Draclus Dinowl before, right?"

Draclus Dinowl. Strictly speaking, its name was likely a combination of "Dino" and "Owl" attached to "Draclus." A monster bearing such a name possessed a rather bizarre appearance.

"That's the owl that looks like a dinosaur, right? We managed to kill one in a party fight when it attacked the base."

"...I have experience solo-killing it. I've only played solo up until now, after all."

"I've fought it before too. Though another monster crashed the fight back then, so I didn't actually kill it..."

Among the monsters that spawn on the New Continent, those possessing dinosaur-like traits all bore the name "Dino" or "Draclus." Whether they belonged to the exact same species or followed some other naming convention was a topic of heated debate among the lore-enthusiast players. However, to players who didn't care about lore, "Dino" and "Draclus" simply meant "a group of monsters with incredibly annoying properties," and nothing more.

"The Draclus Dinowl's silent attacks are incredibly troublesome, so Vigilance-san, can I ask you to focus primarily on tracking it rather than attacking?"

"Got it. If I'm mainly tracking, I can use various items, right?"

"Yeah, since you're a Ninja, you have a lot of tools at your disposal... Understood. Just please don't use 'Massive Tantrum'."

"Obviously I'm not gonna use that... If I did, even in a somewhat open area, a whole swarm of other monsters would come crawling in."

Despite the fact that the feathers covering its entire body had been replaced by "scales," the Draclus Dinowl attacked players with wingbeats so quiet they were practically silent, much like the owl it was based on.
Possessing both the ambush capabilities of an assassin and the toughness of a heavy knight—thanks to the robust scaled armor common to all "Dino" monsters—losing sight of a Draclus Dinowl even once would drag the fight out to an unfunny degree. Because of this, players possessing high AGI and solid scouting skills were highly valued.

"It looks like I'm the toughest one here, so I'll hold the aggro. Emi-Lia-san, feel free to just hammer away at it."

"Yes! I'll show you the mace handling I polished through carpentry!"

For the record, because of the traits of the 【Carpenter】 job, swinging a hammer does actually grant EXP to blunt-weapon skills, so she wasn't entirely wrong.

"And Reiji-san, please avoid using magic with overly flashy effects."

"Gotcha."

"Also, just in case, please conserve your heavy attacks as much as possible. The intrusion rate is supposedly pretty high during the late-night hours, so if push comes to shove, we need to sync up our big moves and end it in one fell swoop."

BuLuck Shine, who belonged to the clan "Team 10PM"—a group composed primarily of working adults who could only log in after 10 PM—had a fair amount of experience acting as a commander. Therefore, no one objected to his precise instructions as they advanced through the sea of vegetation devoid of even animal trails.

"Ah, sorry, I'm gonna pick up this item."

"Let's see... Ah, Wild Jura Herb. That's a material for 'Rough Potions', right?"

"Ahaha... Defending the base burns through a lot of items. Guess I'm just stingy."

"To begin with, we can't even reliably buy items, so local procurement is vital."

"If you don't know someone with an alchemy-related title, you just get ripped off. I wonder if there's actually anyone gullible enough to pay 5,000 Mani for a single potion synthesis, hahaha."

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, no one noticed Vigilance—who, having specialized entirely in scouting and stealth, left all synthesis entirely to others—widen his eyes and mutter 'Wait, seriously?' in the dim darkness of the night.
The four of them pressed onward. They preemptively avoided troublesome large monsters using Vigilance's scouting, and swiftly dispatched monsters that could be hunted relatively quickly while simultaneously gathering materials. Since NPCs bought even trash mob materials for surprisingly high prices, many players gathered them even if they didn't specifically need them for crafting.

"Reiji-san, didn't Rider have a job path that branched off from Ranger?"

"Ah, yeah, I branched from Ranger, so I can use 'Trace Chase'."

"Oh, lucky. Then I'll leave that to you. If I remember correctly, the key point for a Dinowl was a 'giant tree with broken branches'..."

"You sure know your stuff, BuLuck Shine-san..."

"Well, my real job requires me to memorize a lot of stuff anyway, but doing it in a game definitely changes the motivation level."

The skill "Trace Chase," which Rangers can learn, is a tracking skill that, when activated on specific objects, detects the location of the corresponding monster. While its precision is lower than Vigilance's skills, it can pinpoint rough coordinates within a radius of several hundred meters.

"It's pretty close. It probably hasn't noticed us yet, but... Dinowls had insane detection capabilities, didn't they?"

"Yeah. Apparently, if you specialize in sniping from the absolute edge of its detection range, you can get a preemptive strike, but usually, you end up fighting after it's already noticed you."

"Can you... actually snipe them?"

"Our clan... Team 10PM has this one guy who's terrifyingly strong. He's pretty good in PvP too, but he's strangely overpowered in survival-type environments like the New Continent, where 'ridiculously strong monsters are swarming everywhere'..."

The guy himself claimed it was skills from his past, but he always dodged the question of what exactly those skills were. Despite that, precisely because he fought like a demon on the New Continent, the clan "Team 10PM" was currently farther ahead than the top clan "Black Wolf." Though, admittedly, this was a three-day reign born solely from the fact that the Black Wolves' main forces hadn't arrived on the New Continent yet.

"...Guys, a signal is close."

"Actually, it's heading straight for us... It took the bait!"

"Alright... Emi-Lia-san, back off for a second! I'm going to hit it with an opening strike!"

Being on the New Continent meant that they were hardcore Shangri-La Frontier players. Even if many hadn't hit level 99, reaching Fifticia was the absolute minimum requirement, meaning they possessed at least enough player skill to go toe-to-toe with a Usurper Dragon.
At the command of BuLuck Shine, the party leader who hosted the group, the other three scattered with flawless, unhesitating movements.

Silence. Even though both sides had locked onto their prey, one flew in on wings cloaked in absolute quiet, while the other stood entirely motionless, greatsword at the ready.
Perhaps realizing that its prey had already noticed it, the attacker... the Draclus Dinowl... switched from "Ambush" to "Combat," bristling the green scaled-feathers that had completely replaced the normal feathers across its body.
Fangs that clearly didn't belong to any avian species peeked out from its beak. Its movements—chewing the empty air as if testing its bite force, an action impossible for a normal beak—proved that it was a dragon-ified beast, perfectly living up to the "Dino" in its name. It was more than enough to make one imagine the 'something' occurring on this New Continent.

"It's clearly formed a 'jaw,' but is it still categorized as an avian...? Alright, let's go!"

Despite their appearance, the scales of bird-type "Dinos" aren't actually that hard. However, in exchange, every single scale is practically a knife. Carelessly touching them or taking a hit from them inflicts damage similar to Shark Skin spikes.
Therefore, the only effective strikes are bursts of instantaneous firepower—blows strong enough to completely crush the scales, or precise thrusts that slip between them.

"Fuuuuu!!"

The downward swing of the straight-sword clashed heavily against the right wing of the Draclus Dinowl, which was diving in with its talons bared. Because both sides were charging forward, the kinetic collision generated a raw impact far exceeding BuLuck Shine's own STR stat.

"Gugyoaaa!?"

Letting out a scream that clearly strayed far from anything avian, the Draclus Dinowl crashed, sliding across the ground.

"...!"

Raising his hand sharply, BuLuck Shine signaled the three scattered members. The very next instant, Emi-Lia, who had used the darkness and the cover of the trees to circle around to the Draclus Dinowl's front, leaped out into the moonlight.

"Heave... ho!!"

The blunt-weapon skill "Skull Shaker." It had lackluster visual effects, but an added bonus of a high probability to stun the opponent if it struck the head. The blow landed cleanly, and as the Draclus Dinowl froze, the attackers Reiji and BuLuck Shine lunged forward.
Although both wielded straight-swords as their main weapons, the two swordsmen possessed completely different fighting styles. Yet, they simultaneously unleashed the slashing skill 【Severing Slash】. A high-tier slash that demonstrated high efficacy against enemies with a certain degree of "hardness" slammed into the Draclus Dinowl—

『Silence. Stop squirming about, you squeaking insects.』

"Obuguo...!?"

The next instant, from completely outside the perception of the three players closing in on the Draclus Dinowl, an artillery shell flew in and slammed straight into the beast. However, perhaps the shell's durability was too low, for the Draclus Dinowl didn't suffer a fatal wound, and the shell... No, it wasn't an artillery shell.

"Vigilance... san!?"

Vigilance, who was supposed to be keeping watch while preparing to join the attack, burst open, scattering red effects—mildly diluted polygon blood—everywhere.

『Hmph... A rather uninteresting splatter pattern.』

"What...!?"

"What the hell, an enemy!?"

『Hmph. Familiars of the 'Green.' That fool... ultimately nothing but a petty creature crawling upon the earth.』

"Where is it coming from...!?"

Gushari. The Draclus Dinowl's body was crushed flat. An immense pressure capable of pulverizing even dropped items. Seeing the appropriately sized "Hand" that caused it, BuLuck Shine and the others instantly understood where the intruder was.

"BuLuck-san! Above us!!"

"Wha............ It's covering the entire sky...!?"

The night sky was black. But this deep, starless pitch-black wasn't the color of the sky. Existing above the trees, a body and wings so utterly massive they completely blotted out the sky BuLuck Shine and the others were looking up at.

『The time has come. Consider it an honor, insects. I shall grant you the glory of being used until you break as my familiars.』

"A monster... !?"

"Is this, a Drago—"

If one were to describe what that existence did next, it would be a finger-flick. But the destructive power packed into it was not something gentle enough to be contained within a cute-sounding word like a finger-flick. With just a single strike, Emi-Lia—who had defended the New Continent base through countless fierce battles—was pulverized.

"BuLuck-san!"

"Sorry Reiji-kun, change of plans."

Reading the intent of a top player in BuLuck Shine's eyes—not an "impossible objective" like winning or escaping, but simply gathering information—Reiji stowed his weapon in his inventory while shifting his gaze to that thing which had instantly crushed three lives—

『Do not look at me with those clever eyes, insect. It's displeasing.』

"Gah!?"

BuLuck Shine was blown away. The only reason his HP wasn't instantly depleted by that single strike was thanks to the robust armor he had forged by surviving countless fierce battles, and the stats he had tempered through those very same fights—

『You stubborn wretch.』

"........................"

With an overwhelmingly cruel... no, if one were to dare speak with insolence, an overwhelmingly vindictive follow-up attack, BuLuck Shine was shattered into pieces without even being given the chance to stand back up.
Pinning BuLuck Shine to the ground with the tip of a claw—sharper than a spear and heavier than a great hammer—the dragon, blacker than the darkest night, moved its finger as if grinding the already shattered BuLuck Shine into dust. The emotion floating in its eyes resembled disdain; it resembled mockery; but it was something far more inorganic.
Yes, it was a look that practically screamed, 'I squashed an ant simply because I was bored'... The eyes of absolute "Mercilessness" that didn't even recognize life as life.

"A talking dragon... Could it be a Unique Monster? No, haha..."

He knows he can't win. He knows he can't run. And before BuLuck Shine could even utter his first word to try and talk to it, he became a stain on the ground.
Therefore, the only thing Reiji could do was utter a few scant words as his dying breath. To merely mutter something in the fleeting gap before the dragon turned its gaze toward him.

And whether fortunately or unfortunately, or perhaps due to the shared trait of being a talking dragon—while they were identical in the sense that they wielded immense power against humans, he spat his words at the pitch-black dragon that so severely lacked the respect for humans, the expectations, and the warrior's courtesy possessed by the Golden Dragon King he knew.
In this place, Reiji spoke the absolute wrong answer, which was, for the player base as a whole, the absolute right answer.

"Are you a fake Siegwurm?"

『Do not speak that name!!!!』

Faster than Reiji could even process it, in the center of the sea of trees that had been obliterated down to the bedrock, the dragon roared, its eyes completely bloodshot with black. As if correcting the mistake of a foolish insect. As if trying to convince itself.

『My name is Noirlind!! I am the one and absolute True Dragon King!!!』

Through the encounter of BuLuck Shine, Vigilance, Emi-Lia, and Reiji, the information of the "Pitch-Black Dragon" began to spread among the players. They didn't fully comprehend exactly what it was. But they were about to dive headfirst into the war of the "Dragons" initiated by the progression of the World Quest.

The world progressed.
The Tombguard slept, and the "Newest Divine Age" moved.
The Abyss sank, and the "Pitch-Black that seeks to surpass the Gold" moved.
The world progresses, sending massive tremors through the lives breathing upon it in the process.

The Third Stage of the World Quest, "The Great War to Fell the Gold," begins.

Author's Afterword
For the record, the "Gold" in question couldn't care less about being the Dragon King or anything like that. "Who cares about that crap! Let's go find some strong humans!!"

By the way, the "Blue" (not the Crazed Ultramarine) was already brutally beaten to death by an Atlanticus Repnorca and a Slavegiven Anglerfish and has passed away. The ocean is seriously no joke.

• Draclus and Dino
  Strictly speaking, "Dino" is the first stage, and "Draclus" is the second stage. Monsters that undergo "Dragon-ification" for a certain reason become "Dinos," and when the symptoms fully progress, they become "Draclus."
  In other words, the Draclus Dinowl is in the terminal stage. It will casually attack even its own kind without hesitation.