Chapter 347: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 12

In terms of overall capabilities, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad completely dominates the field. However, when it comes to pure physical power and the ability to control the "Field," "Scar" has the advantage, while only in terms of tight maneuverability do I—a human—hold the edge.

"Kuh... They all looked this way the exact moment 'Scar' flinched...!"

It's not quite "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," but "Scar" and I are focusing our attacks on the Devouring Great Crimson Clad.
Because it entered the third phase where its parts became fixed, its movements are much easier to read compared to the unstable attack methods and means of the second phase.
And no matter how much "Scar" rampages, the tail-head obsessively targets only me... In other words, because I can be absolutely certain an attack is coming from that specific part, I can move with that premise in mind.

Even though the materials I'm working with are high-quality, it feels like I'm being forced to sprint at full speed across a thin steel plate haphazardly laid out to bridge two cliffs.
I may have acted all high-and-mighty like a veteran character in front of Allure earlier, but... I confess, this is a horribly luck-reliant game.

"Gu, noo...!"

Because I slightly messed up the angle adjustment of my shield, a laser beam fired at a perfectly perpendicular angle slammed straight into the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King (Dis Pater).
It's true that the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King can reflect magic attacks, and if I use the Exceed Charge, I can even devour the enemy's magic power.

But to put it bluntly, That's it. The only reason I regularly use Aspiring Blades of the Hero (Duxram)—a weapon with absolutely zero offensive abilities—is because the absolute advantage of "durability not decreasing" is completely one-of-a-kind among my arsenal.

In other words. Even Dis Pater... if it repeatedly blocks a laser that looks like it would vaporize a human body upon contact, its durability will be whittled down to a point where I can't just ignore it.

"Goddammit... We don't have enough DPS, 'Scar'!"

Haaah, dammit, I know, I know! I'm the one lacking DPS here! Interrupting an MvM battle is way harder than launching a solo surprise attack on a squad!!
In a sumo match where everyone is covered in heads, and one of them is constantly sending me a Passionate Gaze (Heat Gaze), there's no way I can contribute to the firepower.

Writing "tangled together" makes it sound almost cute, but no matter how you look at them, these guys have their weight listed in tons, not kilograms. What happens when you toss a single human into an incredibly dangerous entanglement like that? Having spent way too much time playing push-and-shove with the scorpions, I know exactly what happens through sheer experience.
Every single metric is fundamentally different between humans and monsters. Even just them stumbling over could easily become a death sentence for me. What is this, a ballroom dance for Grim Reapers? Hahaha, just drop dead, both of you.

"Kuh... Regardless of anything else, that tail-head is way too annoying."

While the four heads sprouting from its torso are completely occupied with "Scar," only that damn tail-bastard continues to target me exclusively, no matter how much time passes.
And above all else, the thing connecting that head to the main body is a tail, which means its range of motion is absurdly wide.

"Stretching its head from between its own legs to fire a laser, what is this, an acrobatics show... Tsuoo!?"

It was practically laser jump-rope; I frantically dodged a horizontal laser sweep aimed precisely at severing both my Achilles tendons.
I want to go on the offensive, but that tail-head seems fully aware that it's part of a tail, and mercilessly uses itself like a mace to launch blunt-force strikes.

What do I do? If I focus too much on it, the equilibrium between "Scar" and the Devouring Great Crimson Clad might collapse, but its attacks are far too lethal to just act like it doesn't exist.

"Isn't there some way to neutralize it... Dammit, I don't have enough firepower."

Well, I do have something. If I use Exceed Charge (Reject) of the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets (Gilta Brille)—which executes a strike, a thrust, and a brutal pulverization alongside a massive shockwave—I could probably literally smash its head into tiny pieces.

But even if I tried that, it would be difficult without pinning down that tail moving freely in every direction. Plus, I want to avoid creating a situation where I'm immobilized by recoil against a Raid Monster at all costs.
Right now, I can only afford to poke at it because "Scar" is holding almost all the aggro. If I get targeted by four heads while half-dead from the recoil, I'm cooked.

This is utterly troublesome. This Raid Battle demands an extremely orthodox party composition.
Looking at the existence of the Blood Crystals, you'd want ten—no, with five tanks guaranteed, fifteen people just to handle the main body. And the remaining thirty acting as a mobile unit to destroy the Blood Crystals.

Even so, the tank group from SF-Zoo really is amazing... In this kind of Battle (Raid), unless they're an extreme tank-killer, I can't envision a scenario where they'd be taken off the starting lineup.
For a single target, Josette is probably better, but just dividing the burden five ways is a massive advantage... Well, there's no point in asking for things I don't have.

Anyway, this is definitely not an opponent one human and one head (three heads?) should be fighting alone. Absolutely not. But I'm going to do it anyway. For some reason, I feel like one of the heads is looking at me with eyes far too emotional for a reptile, but if you die, I'll seriously be screwed, so I'm going to nurse you to the point of being overprotective...!

"Maybe I should act a little reckless and go on the offensive... Nn!?"

This is bad, so it's That kind of gimmick...!!
Noticing it was a coincidence, but reacting to it was a necessity. Keeping a wary eye on the tail-head's movements, I used the Areadbhair in my right hand to slash down "It"... a pitch-red wolf that had lunged out from the direction of the village.

Since the point of comparison is That (Lycaon), it might be a bit cruel to compare them, but after giving only a passing glance to the four-eyed red wolf that had been cleanly bisected in a single strike, the roars and explosions rising from all over the Forest-folk village made me want to clutch my head in despair.

"...Ah, yeah, is that so? So they hatch on their own, huh."

This is bad. This is really bad... In the most extreme scenario, I had thought that if the Forest-folks acted as meat shields, we could somehow manage even if all the monsters inside the Blood Crystals activated at once. But seeing the movements of that red wolf just now...!!

"Vvvvvoooooooooooo!!"

"Grrrrr... Graw!!"

"Pqyaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

"Wow, what an evil Great Animal March... I mean, no!!"

Is their thought routine "Rendezvous with the main body"!?
Did we step on a flag...? No, did They step on it? An all-out release triggered when a certain number of Blood Crystal monsters are defeated. That sounds highly plausible.

"Goddammit... That's the exact same gimmick as Ctarrnid... you bastard!!"

It's no good, single-target firepower won't cut it here. "Scar"-kun, let's ignore the main body for a second and focus on the clones— Ah, right, right, you have six eyes but you're not looking at anything else, huh!? At least spare one-sixth of your vision for something else, you idiot!

But it seems the Devouring Great Crimson Clad with its ten eyes possesses a very wide field of vision. It continuously tore off the newly arriving Blood Crystal monsters with its necks and threw them (into its maw), tore them off and threw them (into its maw)... Ah, this is bad.

"Kuh...!"

Switching my weapon to the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets, I tried to use my Exceed Charge to stop the Devouring Great Crimson Clad—which had clearly begun hoarding food in a way reminiscent of "That" phase during the Ctarrnid fight—but... Ah, the tragedy of having a miserly nature.
"What if this doesn't kill it?" "If it's just about firepower, 'Scar' can substitute, so is there really a need to force it here?" These doubts shackled my body. Because it's a trump card that can only be used once every seven days, I end up overthinking the right time to use it.
And during that moment of hesitation, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad finished its speed-eating.

"AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrr!!!"

"You've gotta be kidding me, oi, oi, oi... Nowah!?"

Yes, this is Sunraku reporting live from the scene. Currently, We are flying through the air due to a massive shockwave that originated from the Devouring Great Crimson Clad!! I can't believe the massive body of "Scar" is dancing through the sky. Even detonating TNT right at our feet wouldn't cause this. Is this an event presentation? But will you guarantee I don't take landing damage? I'm worried, so I'll just handle it myself.

"Guh... There really is landing damage, isn't there...!"

A bull, a monkey, something that looked like jellyfish tentacles shaped into human legs, a long-legged crocodile, a two-headed eagle, et cetera, et cetera... From what I could count on the fly, about fifteen, maybe eighteen? Monsters, all uniformly possessing deep red bodies, were crushed, eaten, and absorbed into the Devouring Great Crimson Clad one after another.

Even while frantically rolling the recovery gacha, I couldn't tear my eyes away from it. Because...

"AAAAAAAaaaaaaaarrrr!!!!!"

───A red tornado.

Perhaps formed by a massive swarm of tiny Somethings swirling together, the Devouring Great Crimson Clad, now sporting a gargantuan tornado from its back, unleashed a roar completely different from before.

I see... I don't even need a stamp of approval to know this. This is the final form, isn't it?

...Please tell me it is. If there's another phase after we beat this, I'm seriously going to cry.