Chapter 337: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 3

"Ngyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

Screaming, I slammed the Areadbhair Rebuild into the "Tree" with a durability so absurdly high it made me feel actual murderous intent. Fully performing its intended purpose, the scorching blade burned through the excessively meaty trunk—which looked almost like an abnormally thick arm—slicing deep into it. But even so, it was too tough; I couldn't sever the core.

"Bad, bad, bad! Deep Slaughter, our DPS isn't high enough!!"

"Are you sure it's DPS we're lacking and not sheer manpower!? Come on, Sunraku-kun, why don't you try cloning yourself here and do a threesoooome with me!!"

"Pya..."

" "Ah." "

The "Meat Seeds" the Devouring Great Crimson Clad had launched from its back buried themselves into the ground, simultaneously growing into indescribable... no, if I had to describe them in one word, they were simply "grotesque" giant meat trees. Any player with a decent amount of gaming experience would know that leaving objects like this alone usually leads to nothing good.
And sure enough, roughly a minute later... the meat trees literally popped.

"Pyaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

"Noooooooooooo!!?"

Holding the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King in front of me in a defensive stance, a shockwave of blood and flesh of unknown origin slammed into me.  Instantly judging that it was impossible to fully block, I surrendered my body to the flow, rolling as I was blown straight backward.
I didn't use Levin Trigger: Hazard. If I did, I would definitely die. Getting through this battle completely damage-free was absolutely impossible... because the explosion of these meat trees blew away roughly sixty percent of the combat area, and it planted five of them at once. Meaning taking damage was guaranteed, no matter how much I struggled.

"Don't make the trees cry..."

"The main body is coming, you knooow!"

And worst of all, those were ultimately just optional parts; the main body was still attacking normally... They really have absolutely zero intention of letting a small group clear this. Well, it is a Raid, after all.
Recovering from my fall, I evaded the charge of the blood-red monster as it rushed in, extending its tongue.
Five minutes into the battle, it seemed Deep Slaughter had finally Gotten used to its movements. The punching bag from the start of the battle was nowhere to be seen as she flawlessly evaded the attacks. Retreating, I moved closer to the Sage wielding that familiar battle style.

"We have to do something about those trees first, or we're just going to be pinballs. We need to focus our attacks and cut down at least one to make a safe zone."

"Mmm, based on the timing of when the seeds are planted, we Might just be able to dodge them at the very last second, buuut..."

But that's no good. Merely "reacting" to the mechanics will only lead to a slow death. Unless we chip away at the main body while "dealing" with the mechanics, we're screwed. It seems Areadbhair's special attack modifier is actually working, dealing far more damage than a normal slash, but while it's an effective hit, it's far from a decisive blow.

"Qyarorororororororororororo!!!"

Scattering a noise that sounded like someone completely incompetent playing the recorder, the back of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad writhed and squirmed.

The area on its back where the dragon's spine probably used to be... looking at it now almost gave the illusion of peering into a blood-red stew pot where roughly chopped ingredients were boiling carelessly.
Like potatoes repeatedly surfacing and sinking in a blood-red tomato soup, the three severed T-Rex heads squirmed, scattering groans that could be either roars or death cries. And amidst a crowd of several other types of dinosaur-lookalikes—likely victims as well—the figures of the two absorbed Forest-folks could also be seen flickering in and out of the mass.

Ah, they got pushed down by the severed heads and sank... You guys, you're still being that Humble (Cowardly) even after death... But this isn't a laughing matter. There is no pause button in this game, so the situation is constantly progressing.

"Deep Slaughter!"

"Ooh, a new motion! I wonder what it is, I wonder what it is!"

You damn rearguard, acting so slightly carefree... I don't even have a single second to relax over here!
Red objects resembling squashed tomatoes shot out from the back of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad with a squelching sound. They were different from the Meat Seeds; they were slightly smaller and fired five at a time. Meaning this was a different action.

Just as they looked, the red clumps slapped heavily onto the ground. Emitting incredibly unpleasant squelching noises, they transformed... giving birth to grotesque dinosaurs consisting of a single severed T-Rex head connected to multiple raptor torsos.
Even with the sheer diversity of monsters in this game, that is simply crossing a line. However you look at it, it's a chimera... no, calling it a chimera is too generous. "Something" born from crude, sloppy addition. Even with multiple torsos connected, the massive T-Rex head acted like a bulldozer as they charged straight toward me.

"What the hell... So, basically?"

It roughly "mixes" whatever it eats and turns them into monsters...? Even though NPCs are also prey?
...............I see?

"Okay, I'll hold you off even if it takes three days and three nights."

This is the exact type of monster you absolutely cannot allow to encounter NPCs. It's not that I'm worried about the NPCs getting eaten, exactly... but whatever is born as a result of that definitely won't be something we can just laugh off and kill.

"GuWrrriririaaaaaaaaa!!!"

"Shut up for a second."

Dealing with an enemy charging forward while weighed down by a massive Sinker (Head) is easy. I didn't even bother dodging; I simply matched its speed and completely shredded the T-Rex half of its face with Areadbhair. As if responding to my slightly lowered mood—and vastly increased motivation—Areadbhair scattered flames. By the time the main body of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad, whose attention had been subtly drawn by Deep Slaughter, turned its aggro back to me, the spawned chimera clone had lost whatever was supporting its form and collapsed into a Puddle of a substance halfway between solid and liquid, spreading across the ground.

"How much Ammo do you have left? If you have a predatory motion, that naturally means you have a 'hunger' concept, right?"

If it could spawn these things endlessly, it would be pure despair, but this game is quite strict about the concept of "consumption" in areas like this. I'm trusting you, Amachi Ritsu.........
The Devouring Great Crimson Clad has the shape of a dragon, but it's hard to sense anything truly biological from its movements. For starters, its neck is half-torn off, and its chest is so completely busted open that its organs are spilling out... Even now, a piece of its blood-like body fell to the ground and......... Wait, hold on a second.

".........Tsk!"

Looking down, the remains of the grotesque T-Rex that had lost its shape were spreading out like a puddle of water. And scanning the surroundings, similar "red puddles" had formed wherever the meat trees had exploded.

"Lingering objects...? A visual effect? No, or maybe............"

The worst-case scenario I could think of. The forms of its victims acting like a sludgy soup on its back, forming, sinking, and melting away. That means they are "transitioning from an amorphous state to a fixed state," right?
In that case, no......... is it possible?

The possibility that The exact opposite can happen.

".........Tch, Deep Slaughter!!"

"Yeaaah?!"

"Keep an eye on those 'red puddles'! They reek of a trigger flag!!"

"Maybe it's the scent of my womanhood, you knooow...?"

The gender of someone who can freely change their voice, character, and playstyle is even less trustworthy than a coin flip.

"More importantly! Sunraku-kuuuun! When I attack these blood puddles, damage effects pop up!!"

"Well there's your confirmation, goddammit!!"

Before the rest of my curse could fully leave my mouth, the body of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad, which had been convulsing all over... ah, yes, it literally popped like a water balloon.

"Ah... Don't tell me you're related to the Mud Digger or something?"

Spreading across the unkempt, grass-like ground were deep red, blood-red puddles... Is the squirming I'm feeling through my feet just a transmission of vibrations? Or is it... Making contact?

Author's Afterword
The chimera formed by connecting a T-Rex head to multiple raptor torsos is essentially a clone that looks like a rattling push-cart turned backward. It is incredibly gross.

• 【Diffuse Red Domain (You Are Inside My Stomach)】
  An evil version of Splatoon. By replacing the parasitic locusts that make up its body with a liquid state, it transforms into a puddle-like state covering a 30-meter radius. Naturally, it can still act in this state, so chimera clones can suddenly generate and burst out from the ground, or worst of all, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad itself can emerge from below like SPLASH......... Gotta feed it a bomb.
  By the way, this motion only occurs once a certain amount of red puddles have formed, so predicting it is easy. I didn't say dealing with it was easy.

Mud Digger-kun's specialty has now undergone an atrocious evolution and appeared before the protagonist once again. As a side note, there's no lore implying Mud Digger-kun got eaten or anything; this is just the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's basic technique.