Chapter 370: Epilogue: O Dragon King, O Pitch-Black Dragon.

It was not omnipotent, but it was highly skilled at reading the wind.
It was not omniscient, but it would never forget the memory of defeat.
It was not a god, but born in the Divine Age, it... sensed that the unprecedented calamity had been slain by three certain individuals, one animal, one (three) beasts, and numerous others.

『Hahahahahaha! The "Red"! The "Red"! The "Red"! Oh, wicked "Red"! The red that once devoured my beloved people and twisted them into hideous forms! Humanity, humanity has finally managed to strike you down with their meager strength! Hahaha, hahahahaha!!』

Though it bore no external injuries and was merely recovering its fatigue, the Golden Dragon King expressed its joy with its entire body, as if trying to exhaust all the stamina it had just regained.

『I know, I understand it well... The presence of that accursed dog, and my sworn friend Vysache... Hm? Why are the snake and the octopus... Well, fine. No, rather, this is preferable. Kukukuku... Heroes, oh yes, indeed, the ones to surpass me must absolutely be heroes.』

Driving the Pitch-Black Dragon Noirlind to the brink of death, and brushing off the meddling of the Red Dragon Dreadhowl... It sounds simple in words, but accomplishing all of that single-handedly is a paranormal realm utterly impossible for Pioneers to achieve in this Game.

That is why it is one of the Seven Colossi, why it is a Unique Monster. Its name is "Siegwurm the Heavenly Sovereign," and the Golden Dragon King laughed, and laughed, completely living up to its name as the ruler of the heavens.

『Oh, indeed, it was the right choice not to annihilate those dragons myself... Well, them dying on their own was unexpected, but if humanity can strike them down, they will surely reach even greater heights.』

Regretting the past, ruling the present, and looking forward to the future, the Heavenly Sovereign had only one desire.

───O humanity, O heroes, I entreat you to overcome me—this Trial. Surpass the eons I have lived, and go beyond even the Genesis.

But the Gold did not know.

That deep within a stagnant defeat, an unexpected encounter had already taken place.

【Wolfgang】

Pencil Knight King: Okay, thanks to Sunraku-kun disappearing like a shooting star and dropping a massive bomb on us right at the end, we're currently in a very annoying situation

OiKatzo: I don't know a thing about Mermen, man...

Rust: I know

Mold: Well, Araba-san was an NPC who was there when we challenged it...

Kyougoku: It's a little sad being left out of the loop since I can't go to the New Continent

Pencil Knight King: Just hop on the New Continent pioneer ship when one of them heads back your way

Pencil Knight King: Though that'll probably take about a month

Kyougoku: Well, I need to prep for the Bakumatsu event anyway so...

OiKatzo: I heard a rumor on the wind that they're doing some mock death game event? Bakumatsu is still out here being a nation of pure carnage, huh

Kyougoku: To put it mildly, this place is where my soul belongs

Pencil Knight King: The Bakumatsu corruption has reached the terminal stage in this child...

Pencil Knight King: Honestly, Kyougoku-chan, I'm kind of counting on you as actual military power, so I'd really like it if you played ShanFro properly too

Sunraku: Good morning

Kyougoku: Well, ShanFro's quality is obviously in a league of its own, so I do plan on showing my face every now and then

OiKatzo: It's already the afternoon...

Rust: Sunraku, Neph-Holo just dropped an update to prep for Neph-Holo 2, you should definitely come

Kyougoku: You aren't going to skip the Bakumatsu event, right? I heard from Zeninari-san, but that dual-wielder who only shows up for events is definitely you, isn't it?

Sunraku: Well, see, I've kinda got my hands full with something else entirely right now

Sunraku: I just got my hands on a phantom trash game from an acquaintance

OiKatzo: Ah. (Understood)

Pencil Knight King: Hey hey hey hey, you aren't seriously going to gatekeep info and drop out here, Sunraku-kun

Pencil Knight King: You realize we're going through hell just by being in the same clan as you, right?

Sunraku: Warms the heart, doesn't it!

Pencil Knight King: I'd say the exact same thing if I were in your position, which just makes me even more pissed off!

OiKatzo: What trash game?

Sunraku: Presi-Legend

OiKatzo: You're kidding

Kyougoku: What's that

OiKatzo: A phantom trash game that only ever had a physical release, and right when they hit 3,000 copies sold, the CEO ran off with the funds and the development company went bankrupt

Sunraku: By the way, it's so rare that even used copies with scratched packaging fetch a premium price

Pencil Knight King: Anyway, seriously speaking, could you at least drop the raid monster intel?

Sunraku: Devouring Great Crimson Clad

Sunraku: Max participant cap is 45 players

Sunraku: The combat area is the Forest-folk village, though it's unconfirmed if it's fixed to that location

Sunraku: I don't know the spawn conditions, I don't know, but hitting a certain player count reeks of being the trigger

Sunraku: For our run, it used the Blue Dragon Eldranza as its base, but the main body is basically a swarm of locusts

Sunraku: First phase is a straightforward brawl, though it has the ability to absorb NPCs and monsters and use them as pawns

OiKatzo: Wai- hold-

Sunraku: It likely transitions to the second phase once all its clones are wiped out, covering the ground with a red field by spreading its own body out

OiKatzo: This guy is using the VR system's thought-input, isn't he!? Even though he never normally uses it!

Sunraku: Inside the field, the main body's limbs duplicate, or its size blows up. Not sure if it's because it used Eldranza as a base, but it has an attack pattern where it dives into the field and launches surprise attacks

Sunraku: No hard proof on the transition from the second to third phase, but there's a high chance it's a time-survival check

Sunraku: Survive for a certain amount of time, and the Devouring Great Crimson Clad burrows underground and triggers a special action called "Resource Revolve" to transition into the third phase

Sunraku: Typo, "Primal Revolve" [*1]

Sunraku: During the third phase, it absorbs the red domain covering the field back into its main body to buff itself. When we fought it, it sprouted extra heads

Sunraku: Furthermore, it shoots out crystals across a wide area of the battlefield. Breaking them spawns monsters from inside, and since the main body absorbs those monsters, ignoring them is a terrible move

Sunraku: Basically, if you leave it alone, it enters a state that's an extremely roided-up version of the first phase

Mold: The text is scrolling at insane speeds...

Sunraku: During the third phase, the main body takes on a more combat-specialized form, and it carries a massive red tornado on its back

Sunraku: And from that, it launches attacks using the Blood Crystal monsters it absorbed

Sunraku: In the first and second phases, it sends out chimeras made by haphazardly mashing together the parts of the monsters it absorbed, but in the third phase, it can spawn just specific parts of the absorbed monsters, making momentary reactions extremely difficult

OiKatzo: This is quietly his actual special skill, isn't it? High-speed thought-input

Kyougoku: The notification pings were getting so loud I was wondering what on earth was happening

Sunraku: On top of that, it can spawn unidentified monsters, and it comes equipped with a super-firepower attack capable of turning boss-tier monsters into ash in a single hit

Sunraku: As for weaknesses, since it directly inherits the physical traits of the base monster, the weaknesses stay the same

Sunraku: Building off that, the topic shifts a bit, but that colored dragon likely has a core inside its body acting as its weak point

Akitsu Akane: Um

Sunraku: Back on topic. As a clear reward, you stick your hand into a blood-pool-like object to get items

Sunraku: Figure out what drops on your own

Akitsu Akane: Ummm

Sunraku: Bottom line, unlike a Unique Monster, it's genuinely balanced around being a large-scale raid, so unless you're doing some extreme challenge run, you're gonna want at least thirty people

Sunraku: You satisfied with this? You satisfiedddddd?

Pencil Knight King: Lacking in sincerity

Sunraku: Are you kidding me, I should be the one judging sincerity here

Akitsu Akane: Um! I have something I'd like to consult everyone about!

Sunraku: Consult? About what?

Akitsu Akane: Er, well, the thing is

Pencil Knight King: Hmm, from the sound of it, is it the type of boss that gets more annoying the longer the gap between attempts?

Pencil Knight King: Oh, sorry Akitsu Akane-chan. Go ahead, go ahead

Akitsu Akane: Yes! Well, I actually made a really good friend in ShanFro... Ah, it's an NPC!

Akitsu Akane: And I ended up helping them with their challenge

OiKatzo: Unique Scenario?

Sunraku: Finding a Unique Scenario, Akitsu Akane is amazing!

Pencil Knight King: Compared to a certain someone around here!?

OiKatzo: I'm gonna beat the crap out of you

Rust: Like a train that keeps running even after derailing

Akitsu Akane: But I have no idea what to do all by myself, so could you guys please help me!!

Sunraku: Man, Presi-Legend is waiting...

Pencil Knight King: Haaah!? To think Sunraku-kun was such a heartless bastard!

OiKatzo: Abandoning a fellow clan member in need!

Sunraku: Ugh, fine, I geeeet it!

Sunraku: That being said, I can't dedicate all my time to it, but I'll at least help out

Akitsu Akane: Wow, thank you so much!!

Akitsu Akane: Thank goodness... I definitely couldn't beat Siegwurm-san all by myself!!

Sunraku: Huh?

OiKatzo: Hmm?

Pencil Knight King: Oh?

Rust: Hm

Mold: Eh

Kyougoku: Say what?

Psyger-0: Um... I finally just caught up, but what exactly are we talking about... Or rather, um, this NPC you became friends with is...

Akitsu Akane: Yes!!

Akitsu Akane: It's a Unique Scenario called "Tainted Black, Challenging the Gold"...

Akitsu Akane: I'm going to be helping out Noirlind-san, the Pitch-Black Dragon!!

Sunraku: Fueee...

Pencil Knight King: Fueee...

OiKatzo: Fueee...

Author's Afterword

I've finally finished writing the first half of this god-awfully long Dragon Calamity arc... And with that, even though I've been updating irregularly lately and it feels a bit late to say this, I'm going to take a short break from updating to prepare for various things coming up next.

I mean, real life is normally busy as it is, but my head is just constantly filled with lore, lore, lore... I wanna be a Metagross!!

Q: What was the outcome of the battle between Siegwurm and the others at the frontline base?

A: Siegwurm-san engaged in extreme BMing, beat Noirlind half to death, and let him go. The reason being: "He's decently strong, so if I let the humans defeat him, it'll be good experience for them, right?" A true spirit of recycling.

After a humiliating retreat, Noirlind returned to his nest, thinking about venting his frustration on some "???-folk" when he encountered Akitsu Akane, who was in the middle of a cross-continent marathon under the motto "Let's just run until I die!" Or rather, Akitsu Akane quietly pushing through the Sea of Trees just shows her insane real-life LUC stat.

Thinking "I'll at least have a chat with her before torturing her to death" was the end of Noirlind's luck. Exposed to the most overpowered Light Attribute in the story, things happened, and it ultimately triggered the Unique Scenario.

By the way, on Siegwurm's side, right as he was thinking, "Maybe I'll stay quiet until the perfect stage is set for my grand entrance," Dreadhowl showed up.

Dreadhowl got overly cocky, thinking, "Noirlind shaved down his HP decently well, so I can beat him now!" but got effortlessly curbstomped by Siegwurm and fled. Incidentally, to challenge Siegwurm, Dreadhowl sucked up a ton of mana, which resulted in the resurrection of Musatan. So yeah, this is mostly his fault.

After that, Siegwurm-san chased off a noisy, electric Lion (kitty) with a single punch and was about to go to sleep until it was his turn, but then he sensed Musatan's defeat and went into absolute fever mode.

Eh? Write it in the main story? It's called background lore because the protagonist isn't involved.

[1]  Both 'Resource Revolve' and 'Primal Revolve' are pronounced 'Shigen Kaiki'