Chapter 340: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 6

The Blue Dragon Eldranza was a dragon possessing many characteristics of an aquatic creature. From the elbows down, its front legs resembled the fins of a whale, and blade-like scales grew from those very fins.
Yet right now, those front legs had hypertrophied to the point of being more massive than its entire torso, and despite that, they swung down to attack us with speeds that matched its state before the hypertrophy.

"Whoa... It's like a massive billboard flying through the air in a hurricane...!?"

"Well, it's a dragon after all... I suppose it's only natural it wants to spit out its surging pathos, you knooow?"

"I'd really appreciate it if it spared me the six-barrel pathos barrage, though!?"

"Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pathos."

Okay, that was slightly funny. But more importantly, the fact that all the newly grown heads had started exhaling breath attacks was extremely bad. Actually, calling it a Breath is giving it too much credit; it's literally just a Vomit Beam... In short, it's spewing out pieces of its own body.

The red leaking from its torn throats polluted the ground of the Elf Village for what must have been the dozenth time. If there was one difference from before, it was...

"You know, you often see guys using cloning techniques in games to fulfill the Lincoln Condition all by themselves, but doesn't that get hollow after a while? You're basically doing it while surrounded by your own faces, right?"

"Will you die if you don't sexually harass me?"

"I would die, yes. It's my life's work, after all."

"Then die!"

"So you really do have a necro-fetish, huuuuh?!"

Dodging a bite attack from the Seventh Head that had sprouted from a red puddle, we both broke into a sprint.
Looking around, tails, fins, and heads were popping up everywhere... Without discrimination—or rather, without any physical borders, they were standing haphazardly all over the place.

What the hell do you mean you're going to multiply yourself now that you've emptied the contents of your stomach, goddammit!!

"Oi, are you holding up alright, Deep Slaughter!?"

I'm fine. The red puddles feel like stepping on a deflated futon, so as long as I don't let my guard down, I won't get my feet caught, and even factoring that in, my stats are high enough to continue taking evasive action.
But she's a Mage. And not just a Magic Swordsman or something, but the highest-tier class: "Sage." That essentially means she's the absolute pinnacle of pure Mages, a rearguard squishy who would get crushed in a single hit.

At this point, you could safely call the entire field itself hostile; keeping all the aggro focused solely on me is impossible. Even if I went completely berserk and monopolized its attention as much as I could, some aggro would inevitably leak over to Deep Slaughter.
And right now, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's output organs were multiplying at a seemingly inexhaustible rate. Honestly, I'd love for it to just drop dead right this second, but if she dies, I'll have no choice but to transition from a slow bleed straight into a checkmate.

However, the response she returned contained neither complaints nor resignation.

"Oi, oi... It's true I'm a Mage, buuut... I'm not just some ordinary pure Mage. You of all people should know that best, shouldn't you, Sunraku-kuuuun?"

"Hah? ......Wait a second."

Don't tell me you didn't just mimic the appearance, but actually...

"Double Wand... So, it actually exists in this game too, you knooow? A melee attack method derived entirely from magic...! 【Dual Spell】 【Magiterial Blade】!!"

The wands she held emitted magical effects, and without detaching from the staves, they fixed themselves perpendicular to the grips... acting exactly like literal blades.
Vwoom. As she readied the two wands equipped with magical blades that cleaved the air, I was struck simultaneously by intense déjà vu and the overwhelming aura of a frontline warrior.

"And soooo... if you combine enhancement magic with skills trained from melee classes...! You get a roleplay of the SpellCre Sunraku-kun-respecting 'Front Arts Magician'!!"

The swung magical swords slammed into one of the proliferating heads of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad as it tried to attack her.
Her footwork was so light it was hard to believe she was a rearguard class. It was the exact same movements my avatar used back in the Spell Creation Online era.

"Eh, wait, you recreated my exact build in a completely different game...?"

"I genuinely thought you'd be impressed by this!?"

No, I mean, if Akitsu Akane or someone had done this, it might have been a bit embarrassing but flattering... but it's You. It feels more like my personal information was stolen and it's kind of terrifying... No, honestly, I'm just straight-up creeped out.

"...This is weird... My K... technique isn't working on it..."

"Your target for that technique isn't me, is it!? Haaah!!"

Yes, Areadbhair. Regardless of what it is now, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad still inherits the elemental affinities of its Base Body (Eldranza), making Areadbhair's flames extremely effective.
While I can't quite slice it in half with a single strike, if thirty hits can sever a head, then it's more than good enough. The problem is that, unlike earlier—which I'll call the first phase, and this the second phase for convenience—the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's main body is actively moving around.

"VaaaaaaaoooOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Kuh... You basically set up your own personal watering hole!? Don't fuck with me, don't try diving into a red puddle that isn't even ten centimeters deep!"

Visually, it looks like it's swimming, but this is honestly no different from just flexing a bicep. Still, having to deal with it as if it were an aquatic monster launching surprise attacks from underwater is a massive pain. A monster that escapes to a zone players can't interact with is destined to be crowned with the title of "Trash."

As if leaping out of the water, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad burst forth from right beneath my feet. But unlike earlier, it wasn't an attack that sucked in my footing like pulling a tablecloth.
If it's standing on the ground and I can react to it, then options other than running away become available. Gripping the Areadbhair Rebuild tightly with both hands, I ducked, and as the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's abdomen passed directly overhead—an abdomen that, much like its chest, was heavily damaged from some prior attack—I poured all my strength into thrusting the Areadbhair Rebuild straight up into it!!

"Nnu, kuooooo!!?"

It wasn't a deep stab, but resisting the overwhelming force trying to drag my entire body backward alongside it, I swung the scorching black sword forward with everything I had.

It felt like slicing vertically through a raging torrent with an oar—there was resistance, but it slid through almost smoothly... With that indescribable sensation, Areadbhair's blade broke out from somewhere around the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's groin area.
The wound itself was shallow, but I had definitely succeeded in landing a solid hit on the main body. From behind me, I heard some idiotic, bizarre rambling like, "Aah! Eldranza's little guy probably just got split into two separate sets!"... but from what I can see, this thing doesn't even have genitals... Is it a female?

"Well, I didn't think a single strike would be a decisive blow anyway...!"

The Devouring Great Crimson Clad, which had dived into the red puddle right behind me, scattered a massive spray of crimson droplets and submerged once again. Mechanically, "re-fusing" is probably the correct term, but visually, it's definitely submerging.

"Now then... What the hell am I supposed to do this time...?"

No matter how much I cut or burn them, they just keep multiplying... My suspicion that its stock is literally infinite is only growing. So what's the deal here?

" " "Verrraralalalalalalalalalalaaaaa!!!!" " "

Sorry, if you can't speak Japanese, at least try English.

............

.........

......

About twenty minutes later, having taken refuge in an abandoned house once again, Deep Slaughter and I reached a single, shared conclusion.

"This is a survival phase, isn't it?"

"I agree with youuu... Being completely surrounded by thick, massive, dark-red stiff necks coming from all directions is pretty rough, you knooow... By the way, completely unrelated, but since dragons are basically reptilian, wouldn't it be fair to say those are effectively turtle heads...?"

"That thing is a fish."

"...No, a Turt—"

"That thing is a fish."

"...It's arching backward! The thick, manly thing is arching its back like a shrimp, Sunraku-kuuuun!"

"I told you it's a fish, not a crustacean!!"

"Ngyaaaaah, barbecuuuuue!!"

Should I stuff chili powder into the burn wound...?

"Putting that aside... This might actually be really bad, Sunraku-kuuuun..."

"Everything you just threw at me was a high-speed Fastball (Dirty Joke), wasn't it... Ah?"

Looking at where Deep Slaughter was pointing, I saw deep red oozing into the abandoned house—leaking through the gaps in the walls and floorboards as if we were taking on water...

"...!!"

Kicking the half-rotted door open, I rushed outside and found that the red puddles had expanded all the way into the residential area where the Forest-folks once lived, an area that had previously been out of bounds.

"The range is expanding...?"

"Sunraku-kuuuun... I've got good news, bad news, and even worse news... Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Let me guess. The good news is that this is likely a time-survival phase. The bad news is that the red puddles are actively expanding right now. And the even worse news is..."

I can tell just by looking.

"The proliferating clones have tripled in number, just from a rough estimate."

"That's the bad news. The Worst news is... if this keeps up, it might actually reach the Altar of Awakening..."

"Ah... That's..."

The absolute worst news.

Author's Afterword
DeepThro-san is an insane Melee-Mage who, after maxing out her skill trees, chugged That potion and restarted the pure Mage path all over again from Level 1.