Chapter 343: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 8

Ah, I actually died.
So the second phase was a kind of foreshadowing. At the start of the third phase, what should have just been a tail had a head sprouted from it before I even realized it.
On top of that, despite the first and second phases being entirely physical, the breath attacks were suddenly unsealed... and every single sprouted neck used them simultaneously. Give me a break.

".........I, ......i......!"

But this is bad. Since the Forest-folks' Instant Base was dismantled, my last existing save point is probably Skull Azuchi. Even if I try to rendezvous with Tottori and the others who fled, I'll have to wander the forest with zero clues.

"......Oi...... ke up, ......riously......!"

Even so, what the hell was that third phase? Modifying the number of parts based on the situation? Unlocking new motions? No, more than anything, those mysterious crystals that practically screamed "The difficulty won't change unless you destroy these first!"... Ah, dammit, more importantly, I'm incredibly frustrated that I lost before that pervert did! She's absolutely going to provoke me with "Premature ejaculation!? Are you a premature ejaculatorrr~~???"... Since it's come to this, maybe I should just hire an MPK or Kyou-timate to wipe her out without dirtying my own hands...

"Ah... Emul, san, please."

"Good morning, time to wake up, desu wa, kick!!"

"Bugeh!?"

Impact to the stomach...! And to add to that, the recoil of my body bending into a 'V' shape slammed the back of my head against the ground for a two-hit combo...!!
Impossible. The beds in Skull Azuchi shouldn't be this hard... Huh?

"Sunraku-san, return to your senses, desu wa! The battle isn't over yet, desu waー!"

"Hah? Why are you here, Emul?"

Weren't you supposed to have normally left the party... Or rather, wait, what is going on right in front of my eyes...

"Kuh... Avoid close-quarters combat as much as possible! Avenge Rianne and Halfon... We will take back our homeland!"

"Hii! It looked this way!"

"Don't run! Stand and fight!"

If I had to give this a title, it would probably be "A Picture of People with Zero Horror Game Resistance Still Trying Desperately to Clear the Game." I know it's bad taste, but watching other people cry and scream from the sidelines is incredibly fun... In other words, I'm having fun right now.

But that's fine, it's not the most important thing right now. The most important point is that the Forest-folks, who were supposed to have evacuated and headed for the frontline base, are currently repeatedly poking at the Devouring Great Crimson Clad for some reason.

"What does this mean... Tottori."

"If I had to say... 'To see what is right and not do it is a lack of courage,' or something like that? Besides, if I hadn't used my resurrection item on you, you'd be straight-up dead, you know? You should show a little more gratitude..."

"Resurrection... Seriously? Then the battle is still ongoing!"

I still had a lingering twenty percent suspicion that this was an "it was all a dream" scenario, but seeing Tottori tap the slingshot equipped to his arm with a knock knock, I finally realized that I had been resurrected.
Eh, what the hell, you can even shoot items with that? I seriously want one. Can I get it if I threaten the Forest-folks?

"No, let's put the threats aside for now..."

"Threats?"

"Put it aside, leave it in the corner. More importantly, why are the Forest-folks fighting? For them, surviving should take priority over taking back their homeland, right?"

Honestly, I had considered the slight possibility of Tottori returning. He's a player, after all. In the extreme sense, there's no absolute need for him to remain completely fixated on the Forest-folks, so it wouldn't be strange at all if he wanted to see a Raid Monster for the first time.

Well, it seems he's actually the type to immerse himself more than I thought. I never imagined he'd return as part of his roleplay.
But since he did return, there are things I need to know.

"Hey, oi. Well... I can somewhat understand why Emul is here, but I thought I left two others in your care...?"

"I left the King in the hands of Raymond and Rasetta... Ah, two of the relatively higher-leveled Forest-folks. Apparently, they're being targeted by something? I figured heading to the base with such a small group would be a bad idea."

"The King?"

Oi, oi, the way you phrased that makes it sound like the Princess got completely different treatment.

"As for the Princess... Ah, well, this is incredibly hard to say... but as a decoy for the monster..."

"Good jo— Gehun! Gohon! What the hell are you doing!?"

"No, the words that just almost came out of your mouth were way more surprising..."

Shut up! I definitely wasn't thinking "Oh, if it's an accidental death, there's no risk!" It's her fault for having the face of Faer-kuso! It's because she's Faer-kuso!!

"You know what this means, right? If the Princess dies, it's pretty much a guaranteed Bad End route! Do you understand?"

"Spare me the lecture in the middle of a battle... It's not like I abandoned her. That Princess has some completely broken accessory, so she probably won't die that easily."

A broken accessory?

"It's an accessory that applies the AGI and DEX of another person in the party to the wearer."

"Eh, what the hell, that really is a broken accessory."

Just having me around would turn Rei-shi or Massive Dynamite into hyper-accelerated, extreme-firepower weapons of mass destruction, wouldn't it? Eh, what the hell, that's completely broken. Compared to that, Inventoria is really no big dea... Well, it is, but just because it got nerfed doesn't mean you should think its level of brokenness has become reasonable.
Being able to store almost anything as long as it's non-biological is completely insane. Wait, an Organic Entity (Equipper) is inside it right now.

"Well, she said something about it being passed down through the royal family for generations, so I assume it's a dedicated item."

"Ah, bloodline-locked, huh..."

Even if there was a marriage system and a player married into the royal family, they probably still wouldn't be able to use it. Thinking about it carefully, using that item in this situation... Is it an accessory designed to sync the NPC's movement speed with the player's?

No, wait, wait, this isn't the time to be geeking out over accessories. Ah, Deep Slaughter dancing through the sky... Tamayaa~

"But even taking that into account, don't use a Princess NPC as a decoy... Are you utterly fearless?"

"No, I mean, she volunteered for it herself... And That guy keeps targeting the Princess and Erina anyway..."

That guy? That part is concerning, but I see, she volunteered............ Even if she dies, it's an unforeseen accident and I'm not at fault, so is it fine? No, it's not fine. If I mess this up, my Vorpal Soul will probably drop. I've heard it plummets if you act cowardly... My source is Emul's attitude.

More importantly, why does this guy look so composed? Deep Slaughter is still getting blown away with the vitality of a cockroach, and the Forest-folks, despite spitting out brave words, are physically committing to thorough chicken-play.

Right now, the power of their bows is so incredibly weak that the Devouring Great Crimson Clad is moving around like, "Which of these trash mobs should I kill first?"... Ah, I see. Their attacks are so pitiful that the aggro is completely scattered. Even for a Raid Monster, it probably doesn't want to waste a full-power breath attack to crush a mosquito.

But even that fragile equilibrium will break the moment the Devouring Great Crimson Clad gets serious... For example, if it decides to just crush them with physical attacks, there will absolutely be casualties. So why...?

"How should I put this... It's just a guess, but... 'Immigrant Elves' probably has a scenario boss."

"No, that has nothing to do with............ Eh, wait... wait, wait, wait, don't tell me."

"Actually, even before we met you guys, we went near the frontline base a few times. But every time, That guy got in the way... And if we didn't run away seriously, it would just keep chasing us..."

Then, Tottori flashed a ferocious grin, baring his teeth. At the exact same time, vibrations caused by a mass displacement entirely different from the Devouring Great Crimson Clad's movements reached my thoughts from beneath my feet.

"Then why not just crash it straight into the Raid Monster, right?"

Tottori said the luring was already complete.
The plan was simply for the Forest-folks to go all out buying time until Erina and Hesh—the two Elves accompanying Arfiliya—ran to their designated positions and guided it to the final point.
And when he rushed to the scene to explain the plan, he saw me get blown away by a direct hit from the breath attack of the head sprouting from the tail, so he used the single resurrection item he had brought just in case to revive me.

"Yeah, let me introduce you, Sunraku. This is the guy who has intercepted countless players and even managed to defeat the Allied Subjugation Force led by the 10 PM Army..."

It's the heavily scarred Three-Headed T-Rex. Did you properly take care of the Third Knight Order with the I-forgot-its-name-but-it-sounds-like-Billing-Sword style riding on its back?

The moment Tottori revealed its true identity, a Three-Headed Tyrannosaurus Rex accompanied by explosive flames... an imposing, majestic Emperor (Rex), seemingly declaring that despite its entire body being covered in scars, it stood there at the end of victory, completely detached from the weakness of defeat—appeared.

" " "Gwooooaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!" " "

No, wait, the winner of this is just going to become our enemy anyway!!

Author's Afterword
The Hero always arrives late.

There was a very dramatic sequence of events before Tottori and the others returned, but that's entirely left to the user's imagination.
By the way, another reason he returned was that Emul started recounting Sunraku's heroic deeds, making Tottori suspicious: "Wait, are they really going to defeat it with just the two of them and leave me out of it...?"

Also, Faer-kuso... Arfiliya and Erina escaped using the Forest-folks' secret "To Hide a Tree, Use a Forest Stealth Technique."