Chapter 362: Vice is a Poison as Sweet as Nectar

Kuh, I never should have considered leaving the rock-paper-scissors up to pure luck. Just like against that fiend, I should have changed my hand at the very last second.
I highly recommend opening with Scissors. From there, transitioning to Paper only requires moving three fingers, and changing to Rock only takes moving two.

"Look, look, Sunraku-kuuuun! Being able to dual-wield Rods is totally crazy, right!?"

As the victor of the rock-paper-scissors, Deep Slaughter enthusiastically shoved her hand into the pool of blood first and pulled out a red, jewel-like accessory: "Hand of Crave."
Incredibly, this accessory consumes two accessory slots but adds one extra equipment slot in return.
The sight of a completely crimson arm growing out of her back, just behind her left shoulder, gave off an indescribable creepiness... but judging by how it was moving with disgusting synchronicity matching the smirk on her face, she could probably control it entirely at will.

"Isn't giving a pervert an extra hand incredibly dangerous?"

"I can play with three spots simultaneously now..."

No comment.

And next, the second-place winner Tottori pulled out a pair of boots equipped with metal parts resembling the talons of a bird of prey. I don't know why, but I get the distinct feeling that he snagged the absolute jackpot...

"Necrophagy... It looks like if you kick a monster right as it's disappearing, you can get an item drop on a separate table from the standard drops."

"(A stare screaming I want thaaaaat)"

"Let's see, what else... Oh, it actually anchors your body when standing on unstable surfaces like tree branches."

"(A stare screaming I want thaaaaat so baaaaaad!!)"

"Wow, these are super light!"

"...Assassination."

"Eh? What was that?"

"Nothing, good for you."

Considering Emul on top of my head twitched, maybe he actually took my joke seriously? It was a joke, just a joke............ W-Well, it won't matter as long as I pull an even better reward than some talon boots anyway!?

"Just watch. My LUC has already reached a brand-new horizon... Here goes nothing!!"

Shhhloomp!!

Uwah, it's lukewarm... Or rather, thinking about it calmly, my hand has definitely sunk significantly deeper than the actual ground level... Mmh, I feel something! What is it? It's rugged? No, there are holes in it... Anyway, let's try pulling it out.

"Heave-ho!!"

The thing I pulled out, gripped firmly in my hand, was something large enough to completely envelop a human head... Was it a beast? A dragon? It was the skull of some unknown carnivorous monster.

"You dug up a corpse desu wa!!?"

"Owowowow! C-Calm down, Emul! Stop pulling my hair!!"

You were literally just fighting an opponent several thousand times scarier than this just a few minutes ago. Don't freak out over something like this. Owowowow.

"Looks like a piece of headgear?"

"...No, wait. This is an item."

It's the same type of item as the chalices. Let's see, what's its name... "Violent Blood Crimson-Clad Skull Crown ... What an overly grandiose name."

Whatever, the contents are what actually matter.

Brood=Krone (Violent Blood Crimson-Clad Skull Crown)
A reward for defeating the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. A bizarre red skull crown that resembles the upper jaw of a beast.
Using the chant "Blood Heart" as a trigger, it envelops the entire body and activates the first stage of the "Demi-Conversion" effect.
The user transforms into the form of a crimson monster for 300 seconds, continuously increasing their stats by fulfilling specific conditions.
Depending on the number of mobs killed that possess HP—regardless of whether they are Players, NPCs, or Enemies—the user's Maximum HP and MP increase, and all of their stats are enhanced. However, a Rampage Check triggers every 30 seconds. If the user fails to achieve a minimum of three kills across the total of ten Rampage Checks, they enter the "Hunger-Pede" state. As a result, their race temporarily becomes "Erebos Bloodroots," and the avatar is forcibly operated by the AI.
Furthermore, if five minutes elapse, the user is forcefully thrust into the "Hunger-Pede" state. After rampaging out of control for one minute, their HP is reduced to 0.

Who are you!? I am you! No! I lost! I am you! I am blood! Blood! Meat! I am "Red"!! The soul is you! I am starving! You are me! That is the end! I am starving! You will starve too! Therefore......... Therefore, I will devour everything!!

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

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

Take a deep breath... Alright. Now then, Emul, I'm going to quickly teach you one specific way to use this skull.

"The effect completely overlaps with *R.I.P.*eeeeeeeeee!!"

Skoooon! The red skull, kicked upward with absolute full power, danced through the air.

"Black bloomers, huh..."

"Hat-trick, oraaaa!!"

"Afun."

After performing a fantasista-tier bicycle kick with the falling red skull right into Deep Slaughter's face, I calmed down a bit and picked Brood=Krone back up.

Well, strictly speaking, there are differences in their effects. Since it's an item, it probably doesn't conflict with my equipment slots either, meaning I can use them both at the same time. But that's a completely separate issue... Having the drop from a Raid Monster I fought so desperately to defeat turn out to essentially be a palette swap of equipment I already possess is honestly a pretty severe blow to my mental state.

"More importantly, this thing casually drops way too much vital lore..."

What the hell is an Erebos Bloodroots? With just this information alone, I feel like I could physically beat the Library clan into submission.

"Or rather, this is basically one of those 'If you use it too much, you won't be able to turn back into a human' kind of things..."

"Eh, yours has an effect like that too? This thing of mine has a pretty funny effect where if I take too much damage, it automatically starts attacking the wearer..."

"Mine apparently decreases my defense and durability values over time... Isn't ending up with an equipment VIT of 1 completely insane? It literally ceases to function as armor..."

"Oh? Is that a declaration of war against me, the guy whose actual base VIT is 1?"

All three of us fell perfectly silent.
Ah, whatever. In short... I suppose you could say a Raid Monster drop is an item packed with both game-breaking performance and utterly dogshit demerits, both to an incredibly high degree.

Yeah, well... Anyway, good work today!!

That being said, a field trip isn't over until you get back home. It's not like their existence had completely slipped my mind or anything; they were just pushed down in the priority queue of my thoughts. But regardless, we have to go pick up the King and Arfaeri—wait, no, Arfiliya, who are the entire reason we're even here in the first place.

"So, where did the Forest-folks who ran away with the King and the Princess go?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

Why are you looking at me with a face that says "You don't know?" There's no way I'd know. If anything, you're the one playing the Hero of the Forest-folks, so it's only natural that you'd know... wait.

"Don't tell me... the guys who ran away got lost?"

Silence spread across the entire area. No, surely not. No way, surely not............

"They're probably already inside the stomach of some beast..."

"No, wait, Sunraku-kun! If it's a tentacle scene! If it's a tentacle scene, they might not be dead yet, you knooow!?"

The fact that we actually have to bet on that possibility being real is just way too post-apocalyptic...

"But what do we do? Speaking of elves, there's always the Orc route."

"Oh crap, if that's the case, the men might already be dead, you knooow!?"

"...No, I've heard that Orcs are actually extinct, at least in this forest."

The expression Deep Slaughter made upon hearing that shocking piece of information from Tottori was truly beyond description.

"N-No way... My plan to 'Unleash a massive horde of Orcs on a group of incredibly attractive players and record the video' is..."

Stop casually plotting malicious MPK schemes. Or rather, if you tried that on the New Continent, wouldn't they just get completely intercepted since the player quality here is so high?

"B-But... No, if we could at least find their belongings..."

"Sunraku-san, acting on the premise that they're dead isn't good desu wa. Or rather, they're completely alive and walking right toward us desu wa?"

"Ghosts, huh..."

"Y-You stubbornly refuse to believe they survived desu wa!?"

I mean, they're a coward and a bunch of non-combatants, you know? To think they actually survived being left alone for hours... Whoa, they really are alive.

Author's Afterword
I really like Alolan Marowak for completely embracing the tragedy of the first generation.

Having reached the absolute zenith, the solitary fragment that drew the curtain on the Genesis. Their clash was inevitable, yet the jet-black god pecked at the world with its beak to prove that it alone was the absolute pinnacle.