Chapter 342: O God, O Beast! Erythrocyte

The Devouring Great Crimson Clad.

It devours organic lifeforms, replacing their constituent materials with a substance identical to its own, thereby absorbing them as a part of the "Devouring Great Crimson Clad."
Compared to the "Crazed Ultramarine" and the "White Great God"—entities that once drove the Divine Age civilization into an unrecoverable state—it belongs to a relatively better category, but it is undeniably a dangerous existence all the same.

It preys, and it replaces. But the true essence of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad does not lie there.

The Devouring Great Crimson Clad is another Red lurking beneath a certain extinct volcano... an entity bearing a Red distinct from the "Scorching Great Crimson Wings." Its true essence is the foundation of this world; it is the pseudo-materialized existence of its counterpart's Erythrocytes (Red Blood Cells).
In other words, a link with "——," which is a trait shared by all —— (Raid Monsters) on the New Continent, is the greatest trump card held by the —— (Raid Monsters) on the New Continent, who are the kin of "————."

"Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

A scream echoed out.

It was the death cry of the Blue Dragon Eldranza, who had been reduced to the base body for the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. A reproduction of the despair of a pitiful dragon, driven mad by confronting the fact that it, a dragon, was having its life stolen by a mere three monsters.
It was merely a lifeless, inorganic squirming reproducing the remnants—the final breath released by the vocal cords of a dead body. Yet the small beings who chose to remain and fight in this place stiffened their faces at the sight, which seemed to link perfectly with the squirming of the red "imitations" that tore, separated, connected, and mingled together.

It was almost like a Pupa undergoing the transition right before a larva becomes an adult.
Having exhausted the prey it used as a vessel for its excessively multiplied Crimson Clad, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad had fallen into a runaway state. The monster that had caused its own hypertrophy, the proliferation of parts, and the semi-autonomous rampage of discarded Crimson Clad simply because it forcefully tried to replace the Blue Dragon Eldranza acting as its base body... had finally harbored clear hostility.

"Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, ggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa............!!!!"

A scream echoed out.

The Devouring Great Crimson Clad knew exactly what it needed to do to concentrate the rampaging, excessively proliferated Crimson Clad into a single point and destroy its enemies.

The essence of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad is replacement... But not just that.
Replacement, Transportation... and Restoration.

But even that is merely half of its true essence.

"Hey, this is bad."

"A stake... straight down from above... Oi, oi, look at that, Sunraku-kuuuun, That guy is planning to Insert into the earth, you knooow!?"

"Stop i— No, is it impossible?"

The essence of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad lies in its service as the blood tide, and... its backup function born from being an identical existence to its source.

The spherical mass of flesh altered its shape into something resembling a massive cone. Its tip pointed not at the sky, but at the earth, and as it transitioned from a slow start into an accelerating rotation, its form became nothing short of a drill.

"Piston + spiral rotation... Movements that are hard to replicate with the human body... don't tell me its true identity is a vibr—"

"Areadbhair!"

"Not the nape of my neeeck!"

It wasn't that the Devouring Great Crimson Clad understood the content of that stupid conversation, but by some coincidence, the exact moment its tip pierced the earth was timed perfectly as if it were a straight man's counter-attack.

『The power of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad circulates───』

『The memories of red swirl───』

『Primal Revolve!』

As if a pool of blood were returning to its original current. As if entrusting its body to a vessel capable of holding the excessively multiplied blood.
Deep beneath the earth, unperceivable to the two Pioneers, the red touched its roots.

The next moment, from the massive hole bored by the Devouring Great Crimson Clad that had transformed into a cone, a deep, pure "Red" erupted like a geyser.
But that wasn't all. Throughout the ruined village where the Forest-folks once prospered, alongside the sludgy red puddles, crystalline bodies radiating an opaque glow sprouted and towered up from the blood.

"Qurororororororororo............"

The pillar of red blood stopped. With the energy from below cut off, the red that splashed and spread across the ground gathered back into a single point once again.

First, the legs were formed.

The skeleton was assembled from the abdomen to the back, and flesh, skin, and scales covered them in stages.
Its form was that of the deceased Blue Dragon Eldranza. However, if there was a definitive difference from its previous appearance, it was the fact that the injuries the Blue Dragon had sustained at the moment of its death had been patched up—as if roughly plugged with clay—using the characteristics of completely different lifeforms.

And above all else, unlike the ugly fusions born from the cannibalization of resources until just moments ago, what stood there was the ruined remnant of a dragon corpse that had explicitly increased its parts with a clear understanding of their "purpose."

The primal source of red roared. With four necks sprouting from its torso, mouths grown from a newly acquired pair of wing-arms, and a massive maw supplementing the wound on its torso... it vibrated a total of seven mouths and roared.

A declaration that it had wiped out the possibility of self-destruction. And more than anything, a declaration that it would absolutely reap the two small lives standing right before it.

A pressure so intense it felt as if my skin was being burned by flames. The sentiment of Have games really evolved this far?—a thought I've had more times than I can count—had already vanished into the distance.
It wasn't a playful presence like Lycaon. It wasn't an intent to eliminate like Wethermon. Nor was it boiling murderous intent like Goldunine.

I couldn't feel any biological emotion from it. If I had to compare it... right, a guillotine or an electric chair holds no malice. Just as a tool designed to fulfill a set role in accordance with the laws of physics exhibits no emotion toward taking a life, there was only an intent to snuff out the lives of Deep Slaughter and myself? A purpose? A presence? I can't think of the right words to describe it, but I hold that conviction right now.

"...Deep Slaughter, can you record a video from behind?"

"I wonder about that... Even if I did, it would just be a video of an instant kill... It's coming!"

"Nnoah!?"

"Bugh."

It wasn't a forced, awkward movement like an aquatic creature in its first phase trying to act on land, nor was it the utter nonsense of the second phase forcibly defining the land as underwater.
With distorted legs that looked as if they were screaming "I slapped some extra parts onto my flippers to make them amphibious!", a massive weight kicked off the ground and charged straight into the spot where Deep Slaughter and I were standing.

Unlike its previous half-torn, unstable form that swayed uselessly under the laws of physics, a powerful bite supported by properly connected bones and muscles clamped down on Deep Slaughter.
Although I narrowly dodged it, the sudden evasive maneuver broke my posture. In that exact moment, my eyes met with the other three heads—the ones not currently engaged in biting Deep Slaughter and performing a one-way trip to the afterlife.

"Oi, oi, such a passionate ga... Wait a sec, oi, why is the back of your mouth glowing, nnaaaaaaah!!?"

A-At the very least, Levin Trigger: Hazard... No, I won't make it. Regardless of anything else, I have to escape the lethal zone of the breath attack.

"Kuh... 【Apport】!"

Teleporting while already in an impossible posture would undoubtedly leave me wide open for several seconds, but even so, I absolutely had to escape an instant-death attack like a triple breath.
Looking ahead through a forcefully twisted neck, I, having shifted my coordinates into empty air, suddenly turned my head to the side and...

Met the gaze of the fifth head sprouting from its tail.

"Oh, crap..."

Ah, this is bad.

"VoooooaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAARARARARARA!!!!!"

Unleashed crimson light. Completely off-balance in mid-air, even I couldn't dodge it.
My body was swallowed by the red light, my HP scraped away...

The Goddess of Luck did not smile upon me; my HP was carved all the way down to 0. My body shattered...

Author's Afterword

• Primal Revolve
  A serious mode common to all Raid Monsters. It is a return to their origin, and simultaneously a release of their true power.

Q. In short, what does that mean?
A.
Musa-tan: "Mamaaa, the pain of my flesh squirming out of my control is unbearableeee!"
????: "It can't be helped, I suppose. I'll link with you directly, increase your maximum tolerable capacity, and compensate for your missing parts using information output from my memory banks, okay? There, there, don't cry... You can do it all by yourself now, right?"
Musa-tan: "Yeah! (Full Murderous Intent) (Effectively Infinity Bandana) (Difference in sheer firepower)"

Side Note (Lore Dump) Corner
Kill Score Ranking during the Divine Age:
3rd Place! Who are you? From now on, I am the me inside of me! Devouring Great Crimson Clad!!
2nd Place! Written as Game Over, read as Me! Crazed Ultramarine!!
1st Place! My appearance is quite far off, but I'm the one who dealt the finishing blow to the Divine Age civilization! XXmu White Great God!!