Chapter 346: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 11

"Scar" is strong. It probably possesses the highest class of combat power within this Sea of Trees area, and an incendiary attack akin to thermite—something completely impossible as a natural phenomenon outside of a video game—can serve as a massive advantage against ground-dependent enemies.
But even taking all of that into account, when facing the Devouring Great Crimson Clad, I simply cannot shake off the very real, undeniable possibility of defeat.

First of all, even putting aside its Raid Boss specs, it's incredibly hard to gauge the accumulation of damage.
I can't even tell if the damn thing is alive or dead in the first place, and after watching its first and second phases violently thrash around (or rather, multiply) even with its necks half-torn off, there's a lingering terror that it might just casually continue fighting even if we blow away half its body.

Secondly, its action patterns have completely changed upon entering the third phase.
It's bad enough that a head suddenly sprouted from its tail, but now it's firing beams from every single neck at once. At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if it started blasting beams from the mouths on its wing-arms or the massive maw on its torso. Actually, it's absolutely going to do that, isn't it?

And above all else... these Blood Crystals that have sprouted up all over the Forest-folk village.
If they're just a simple debuff gimmick, then whatever, that's fine. But even with this mysterious "Primal Revolve" awakening, who's to guarantee this is its final form? The absolute worst-case scenario is that there's another phase waiting in the wings whose specs fluctuate based on the remaining number of objects on the field, just like Ctarrnid's Imaginative Form.

A Raid Monster subjugation by only three players, and completely blind on our first try at that. Thinking about it calmly, this is a bullshit impossible game. I honestly feel like verifying whether we can escape would be a more productive use of our time, but with the level-cap release facility being held hostage, we have no choice but to fight.

I'll be blunt: I do not trust Deep Slaughter. She's the exact same type of player as Pencilgon, albeit a different flavor, meaning she would absolutely send an anonymous tip questioning, "Why was the Altar of Awakening destroyed?" In that specific regard, I trust her completely to be a menace.
If it were Pencilgon, she'd fan the flames of paranoia as much as possible, prepare enough supplies, facilities, and personnel to intercept everyone, and then come out and play the Demon Lord. Both of them have absolutely rotten personalities.

"In short, if you die, my play-life is totally screwed."

That's exactly why I'm here. Not Deep Slaughter with her high rearguard support capabilities, nor Tottori, whose mid-to-long-range class is suited for assists. I, someone whose category is strictly an Attacker, came here instead of destroying Blood Crystals for a very specific reason.

"Inventoria really is a broken accessory, isn't it...!"

It's purely a matter of resources. Because I constantly play with my back against the wall, I carry a massive stockpile of recovery items. That's exactly why, by chucking potions like I'm in a snowball fight, I can forcefully fill the role of an item-dependent Healer.

While pitching recovery potions with all my might at "Scar," who had been doing nothing but taking damage for a while now, I compiled the information I managed to glean about the Devouring Great Crimson Clad—thanks to him acting as a punching bag and a firepower installation—into an improvised strategy guide.

First thing I figured out is that those breath attacks are classified as magic attacks. That's a low-key incredibly important detail.
The next thing I realized is that those heads... I'm pretty sure every single one of them is tracking aggro separately. Otherwise, there's no way the head on the tail would be targeting me so obsessively. I seriously won't forgive that thing... I want to crush that tail-head with my own two hands. I wonder if it has a part-destruction hitbox?

"Oh, perfect timing."

"Hyaaah!?"

And the third thing, which requires me to share information with the other two players.
Using Fading Mirror to sever my aggro, I dashed over to the Forest-folk who was watching us from the shadow of a building. I mean, this is the one I threatene—no, the one whose parents got eaten, that... uh,

"Adrill?"

"It's Allure!"

Near miss. Whatever, doesn't matter.

"Can I ask you to deliver a message to Deep Slaughter and Tottori?"

"Y-Yessir!"

"Let's see... 'Gimmick confirmed, requesting total removal. Target not showing signs of exhaustion yet.' ...Tell them that."

"U-Understood!"

Alright. The unoccupied heads are looking in weird directions at clearly unnatural timings, so whatever is happening at the end of their gazes definitely hasn't deviated from my predictions.
Hmm, the tail-head that's been obsessively targeting me seems about ready to notice me again. Seriously, what kind of grudge does that thing have against me? It's been relentlessly blasting the illusory image from Fading Mirror with breath attacks, but I haven't done anything to piss it off that much.

"U-Umm..."

"What is it?"

A voice stopped me just as I was about to return to the frontlines. Well, since there's no one else here, obviously Allure is the one who stopped me.

"Um... that is, can we, actually, win...?"

Honestly, it's a 9—no, even factoring in 'Scar’s' participation, it’s still about a sixty percent impossible game. But destroying Tottori's roleplay would be a dick move, so I decided to play it off with the aura of a high-tier veteran character.

"The future isn't entrusted to anyone's hands. Therefore, instead of wondering 'whether we can win or not,' we should be searching for 'what we need to do in order to win'."

Relying on RNG is something you only do after exhausting every single resource at your disposal. Meaning, I haven't lost until I've completely burned through my remaining one thousand five hundred recovery potions...

"Um, well, that's not what I meant..."

"Hmm?"

"Um, your body is..."

Ah, so that's what she meant. Yeah, judging purely by appearances, I definitely look like I've suffered a fatal wound.
I tapped my torso with my thumb—which was currently cracked and looked as though my body was burning from the inside out due to the effects of Scorched Bone and Crushing Flesh—and transitioned smoothly into a thumbs-up.

"It's fine. It's just doing this because I actively triggered it."

"Actively!?"

"Yep, yep. If a chance opens up, my whole body is going to catch on fire, so don't worry about it."

"Catch on..., catch on fire...!?"

"I'll even be electrified."

"Humans are scary...!!"

That's right. Organisms with half-baked intelligence are the scariest things of all. Games where the root cause of everything is just one individual's personal ambition are a dime a dozen, after all...!

"Um, well... Sunraku... sama."

"You really don't need to add 'sama'... What is it?"

...Well, you know. Enough time has passed that the position of the moon has clearly changed, but even so, it's pretty obvious what a character who just lost her parents moments ago is going to wish for.

"The Forest-folks are... I am, weak. No matter how angry I get... no matter how many arrows I fire... I can't beat a monster like that."

"Yeah, you can't."

That thing is an opponent meant to be challenged by a coordinated party of hardcore degenerates like Josette from the Shining Knights of the Holy Shield, PT Overwerke from the 10 PM Army, or the Saiga sisters. Even ignoring the fact that they're cowards, if you could beat that thing by poking it with a short bow, I'd send a bug report straight to the devs.

"So, please... please, avenge my mother and father... I beg of you!"

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

The urge to scream and charge forward right this second was crushed by a terror far greater than it. Emotions too heavy to overlook and too dense to forget manifested in her tears and clenched teeth.
Listening silently to the desperate wish of a fragile Forest-folk grieving in powerless anger... I readied the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King.

"Eh... Kyaaaaaa!!?"

The very next instant, a blood-red flash resembling a highly concentrated laser was poured directly at me, yet the straight-laced murderous intent of that death-laden flash was violently snapped back by a mirror housing the brilliance of the deep sea.

"Oi, oi, that's not what people mean when they talk about a Passionate Gaze (Heat Gaze)..."

"...Hyare, you're alive... why?"

The converging Heat Gaze (Breath?)—fired not from a mouth, but from a Turret (Eye Socket) forcefully created by melting its own eyeball—was narrow enough that I was able to cleanly reflect it using the Dis Pater (Mirror Shield of the Nether-King).

"Allure, was it? Remember this... In this world, there are fates that simply cannot be overturned no matter what you do. Just like how you can't defeat that thing."

However... yes, however.
Even if you can't overcome the Absolute Fates (Scripted Defeats) in ShanFro (This World).
If this isn't a Unique Scenario with theatrical elements, but a Raid Battle where raw combat power is the key to clearing, then I will loudly declare this to the grieving Forest-folk: as long as it isn't theoretically zero, we do not call it impossible. Isn't that right, Tias-sensei the TAS...!!

"But I don't believe for a second that this exact moment is one of those un-overturnable fates. And I'm sure Tottori... and that idiot Deep Slaughter feel the same."

And, as a bonus, I'm sure "Scar"-kun is harboring the exact same sentiment right now. So I suppose I'll tell her.

"We're here to win."

"...Yes...!"

Do you know the absolute method to defeat any and every enemy in existence, save for scripted losses?

If you don't get hit a single time until you finish punching them a million times, you can even beat a god!!

Author's Afterword
...He's saying all these incredibly cool things, but apparently, there's a certain someone actively dragging "Scar"-kun down with everything they have just as he's trying to get serious?

By the way, the reason the tail-head is obsessively targeting the protagonist is purely due to threat percentage calculations. In other words, the protagonist is currently recognized as posing roughly 20% of the threat of the absurdly strong Three-Headed T-Rex.