Chapter 427: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 4

Author's Preface
One quick drink to start, and two refills. Irregular updates, so it can't be helped.

"Alright, here we go! And with that, Sunraku-kun is officially in last place!"

All the colored dragons had gathered here, and Siegwurm the Heavenly Sovereign had also appeared.
Raising a cheer on the deck of the New Continent survey ship, Pencilgon manipulated her Inventoria, took out a baseball-sized glass orb, and immediately threw it straight up into the air.

The glass orb flew higher and higher, referencing Arthur Pencilgon's STR and TEC stats... and the moment it reached the maximum altitude of its accelerated ascent, it burst with a pop, spewing green flames into the mid-air.
This wasn't aimed at her Wolfgang (Family); it was a message aimed at her Collaborators.

In other words,

"The ones we've been waiting for have arrived. Come on, let's begin felling the Gold───!!"

"Pencilgon!"

"Hey there, Katzo-kun! Come on, it's time for a fun party! Hurry up and get in line for the parade!"

"Wow, you've got an amazing look on your face... Anyway, it seems highly likely that barrier from earlier forces a roleplay check!"

"That's fine, isn't it! If you push evil far enough, you become a dark hero!!"

"Ah crap! She's entered Demon King Mode! Where the hell is Sunraku! At this rate, she's gonna spectacularly self-destruct!?"

Floating a smile that seemed to converge delight, anticipation, elation, and various other joyful emotions into a single expression, Arthur Pencilgon pushed forward.
Before long, Zenith Guevara and the Super-Farmer joined up, and their total numbers swelled to roughly three times their original size.

"Hyaa, amazing, things are getting kinda fun now, Zeni-chan!"

"Well, I won't deny it, but... we're definitely on the Demon King's side here, aren't we!? I just want to conduct business legally, for the record!"

"Demon King brand fresh vegetables! Zeni-chan, let's do that! You know, the 'I grew these' thing! I'll do a double peace-sign ahegao!!"

"You're going to put screenshots of your own ahegao into circulation...?"

"Nice, I don't hate that kinda stuff, baby!"

The group of about fifty people that disembarked from the New Continent survey ship advanced, advanced, and advanced. Their destination was the Bone-Clad Keep, Skull Azuchi—the base of the Anti-Black Dragon Faction... or rather, the enemy's headquarters.

"Ahahaha! Outta the way, outta the wayー!"

"Uoh!? What the hell?!"

Numbers are the name of the easiest form of violence living beings can produce. Even players who weren't particularly united didn't even serve as obstacles before the silent intensity of forty-two heavily armed knights.

"Alright, excuse the intrusion!!"

Pencilgon, whose tension had risen to one step short of its absolute peak, kicked the door open. At her appearance, the players inside who were in the middle of a strategy meeting all turned around in unison, wondering what was going on.
Correction: only Psyger-100 was looking up at the ceiling with her hand over her face.

"You are..."

"Hey there, good evening, Emi-Lia-chaaan... I've heard the rumors. For a single production player to build a castle, that's really something...!"

At this highly abnormal situation, Emi-Lia—who was just about to make her move after receiving the report of Noirlind's appearance—furrowed her brows, letting her wariness show.

"What is your business here? We are about to head out to defeat the colored dragons..."

"The clan 【Wolfgang】 is aiming for Clear Condition 1, defeating Siegwurm the Heavenly Sovereign. And we intend to do it with the Black Dragon Noirlind kept alive... you see."

In that instant, Emi-Lia's aura changed so instantaneously it could almost be called vivid. From wariness to hostility; just one sentence was all it took to categorize 【Wolfgang】 as a hostile entity in Emi-Lia's perception.

That being said, Shangri-La Frontier had set heavy Red Name penalties due to past PK issues.
No matter how hostile a player might be, as long as the system's processing operated normally, there was almost no benefit to harming Pencilgon in this place...

"Ah, that's right, let me introduce the members of the Anti-Siegwurm Alliance... Nfufufu, this is Psyger-100-chan from 【Black Sword】 and PT Overwerke-kun from 【Team 10PM】."

"...Hahaha, well, my apologies. Team 10PM had a prior engagement with them."

"I apologize for keeping silent."

I see, Emi-Lia thought with an eerily calm mind. It seemed that without her knowing, the opposing faction had quietly increased its size.

However, truth be told, Emi-Lia had half-expected things to turn out like this.
She never believed she could unify the intentions of all the players in the first place. Besides, Emi-Lia's goal was strictly the subjugation of Noirlind. In the extreme, she wouldn't even mind shifting focus to defeating Siegwurm after taking down Noirlind.

But now that they had declared their intention to keep Noirlind alive, a joint struggle with them was impossible.
Judging from their reactions, it seemed the Knights Tempura and other clans were not included in 【Wolfgang's】 so-called alliance.

(The number of top clans on their side isn't that important. The vast majority of players are either unaffiliated or in mid-tier clans. In that case, it all comes down to how much support we can gather...)

The situation could be said to be disadvantageous. After all, the opponent was that Arthur Pencilgon, the first player in this game to defeat a Unique Monster, and the one who had used the PK clan "Ashura-kai" as decoys and crushed them to do so.
In the end, what drove Emi-Lia was merely a personal grudge, and she did not possess the firepower to drag surrounding players into it like Pencilgon did.

"........."

The situation was dire. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the masses swayed toward them... It was then.

"Wah."

"What was that?"

Skull Azuchi shook.
As if something had crashed into it... As Emi-Lia was pondering this, a player who was also her real-life friend entered the entrance hall where they were gathered, wearing an incredibly awkward expression.
She weaved through the gaps between the armored knights, stood before Emi-Lia, and opened her mouth, albeit hesitantly.

"Wow, you guys are really in the way! Yoisho, ahー... Emi-Lia-chan?"

"Did something happen?"

"Ahー... Um... please stay calm and listen to this, okay?"

A three-second silence.

"Um, Noirlind got Giant Swung by Siegwurm and sent flying, and he crashed into Skull Azuchi... and, um, it looks like the castle keep is half-destroyed."

The player "Emi-Lia" was somewhat of a celebrity among ShanFro users.
This was based on the monumental achievement of building a castle almost entirely through the power of players... and one more thing,

It was also based on her monumental achievement as the woman who built a fortress to defeat Noirlind.

And in this instant, an ice-cold thought of "Not again" completely painted over all her conflicts.

"...Bring it on."

"Oh?"

"It doesn't matter. No matter how many hundreds aim for Siegwurm, we just have to defeat Noirlind before them... Yes, yes. That's what Skull Azuchi is for, that's what everything up until now has been for..."

She murmured quietly—despite receiving a considerable provocation, though Pencilgon was hardly one to talk—in a voice that was far too tranquil.

"It doesn't matter. Yes, it doesn't matter at all. Bring it on. Yes, yes."

Her facial muscles were forming the shape of a smile, yet her eyes were completely inorganic. It was like oil and water, the South and North poles, compared to Pencilgon who was enjoying herself from the bottom of her heart; they bore entirely opposite natures that would never mix.

"Allow me to declare that Noirlind will not live to see tomorrow's sunrise."

"Siegwurm will sink with the moon."

Just exchanging those words, the leader of the wolves and the master of the bone castle decisively parted ways.

Author's Afterword
Q. Isn't this an impossible game for Emi-Lia-san?
A. Because she has Skull Azuchi, it's roughly an even match.