Chapter 442: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 19

Author's Preface
If I just increase the number of clicks, I can one-shot it! (A howl of sorrow)

At the end of the day, the item known as Brood=Krone was designed with a mechanic that ultimately forces you to swallow its demerits. The check every thirty seconds is merely an extension, a simple postponement of those inevitable drawbacks.

The side effect of Brood=Krone. That is the affliction of the status ailment "Hunger-Pede," where the user loses their dignity as a human being as the price for obtaining immense power.

Erebos Bloodroots... In short, it probably means you're forcefully turned into a lackey for the big boss of the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. It would be a pain if it was a race change with purely negative demerits, but if it turned out to be a race change with a decent amount of perks, that would just make things even more annoying.

"Ogggggggooooo..."

My body violently convulsed. As if I was having an out-of-body experience, the control over my flesh was steadily shifting from manual to auto.
The "Red" covering my entire body writhed, crawled, and began seeping into my body.

However, yes. However, indeed!

This brings up a certain question. It's a text-related question, actually...

『A rampage check activates every thirty seconds, and if a minimum of three kill confirmations has not been achieved within the ten total rampage checks, the user enters the "Hunger-Pede" state. Through this, their race becomes "Erebos Bloodroots", and the avatar is operated by the AI.
Furthermore, upon the passage of five minutes, the user forcefully enters the "Hunger-Pede" state, and after rampaging for one minute, their HP reaches 0.』

This is Brood=Krone's text. The problematic part is the "the user enters the 'Hunger-Pede' state. Through this, their race becomes 'Erebos Bloodroots'" section... Well, in other words...

"Ogag?!"

Twitch! My body convulsed exceptionally violently. It was as if the natural flow of things had been interrupted by something, and that something was tearing its way out from the inside...!!

"Gehu?!"

The organic red exterior blasted off. Revealing me underneath, decked out in my R.I.P. gear. But what accomplished this wasn't the gear, but something even further underneath.
Carved and cursed, the wolf's scars were burning with heat. As if harboring furious wrath toward some insolent trespasser violating its territory, as if declaring it would absolutely never permit them to step a single inch further.

"U-Ugh..."

To get straight to the conclusion, I had already confirmed this would happen ever since it procced that day at the Crystal Nest Cliff.
Brood=Krone's "Hunger-Pede" is basically what you'd call a forced Conversion. In other words, it gets completely repelled by the "Cannot be Converted" effect of Lycaon's Scar. But, if you were to ask whether that meant I could use this completely risk-free, that was far from the truth.

"B-Being immobilized here is... ugugh."

My body felt violently lethargic; I couldn't even muster up the initial flex of strength required to move. This game has a hunger meter where your performance drops if it gets too low, but it felt like an overwhelmingly worsened version of that.
"Hunger-Pede" wasn't a status ailment consisting solely of a forced Conversion; it seemed to be that plus some extra negative conditions. To put it bluntly, right now my stamina and hunger meter were practically locked at their lowest values refusing to recover, and I was probably going to die in one minute.

When I tested this at the Crystal Nest Cliff, I got blasted by a backspin smash before a minute passed, so I don't have absolute proof, but the forced Conversion and the instant death effect after one minute are probably separate.

『Damn you, damn you, damn youuuuu!!』

Well, the White Dragon who just got a crystal gut-punch is absolutely furious, so I'll probably die before a minute passes this time too anyway.

"You look a lot slimmer around the waist now with less meat, you know? Congrats on the successful diet."

『Kill hiiiiiiim!!』

Heh, did you really think a zombie-like mob-swarm killing method would work on me? Well no, I'll definitely just die normally, but I've experienced that kind of death so many times I'm sick of it. In Cosmo Buster, you get to experience getting endlessly beaten to death by things that look like potatoes.

However, it seems the god of this game somehow wants to tell me it's not my time to die yet.

"Come on!"

"Pugeh."

Someone leaping out from directly beside me grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and bolted. A split second later, a massive mountain of Small Dragons piled up exactly where I had just been, and before the main body of Bryreinyego could even order a follow-up pursuit, the surrounding players swarmed the main body all at once.

"Nice fight, that was amazing, No Face."

"Nah nah, compared to PvP, slamming home one or two super-specials is easy... Wait, what?"

No Face? Why am I being called such a weird name... no wait, hold on a second.
I've been called that before, I've even introduced myself as that before. But at the very least, not here. Why? Why am I seeing my life flash before my eyes now? Memories are being violently dug up at high speed. Huh? Come to think of it, didn't that defensive bastard say something...?

"Aah... Hoo ahh yoo?"

"I am real Meteors!"

"Oh..."

Hogyaaaaaah! It's the US Number One!!?

"Y-Y-You m-must have the wrong per-son?! I am a pure and in-no-cent girl, you know?!"

"I know, alright? This game has a gender-swap system, doesn't it? Keitzo told me."

That damn Ass-man bastard!!

"Besides, you're the only one who can pull off those kinds of moves, aren't you?"

"Th-That isn't true at all, I dare say?!"

"Your character's completely slipping, you know."

Dammit, my roleplay is crumblingngng...

"Shit... I'll never forgive that bastard..."

"Hey, is it true you're entering the event at the start of November?"

"Huh? Yeah, but I mean, do we really have to talk about this right now?"

In terms of the current situation, I'm currently being dragged along like a bag of garbage. I mean, I wasn't expecting VIP treatment or anything, but people usually treat luggage better than this. This is completely identical to dragging a body bag or something, right? The kind of thing a culprit does when hiding evidence in a dark forest at night, right?!
Also, a minute just casually passed and I didn't die, but the hunger state is still ongoing... Wait, does this really mean it won't go away unless I actually die?

"Hey Keitzo, this is No Face?"

"Hey Ass-man, are you stupid?"

"Wait, do I seriously have to parallel-process both of these explosives at once?"

Oh, going full throttle from the very first word we exchange face-to-face, aren't you, you bastard.

"Heya Sunraku-kun, you really went and made a flashy mess of things again this time, didn't you."

"Believe it or not, that exact state is theoretically reproducible by anyone, you know."

"The state might be, but the movements are a different story... Well, whatever. Look, look, Sunraku-kun, Rust-chan over there is getting all fidgety, so why don't you hurry up and give her the present."

"...I'm dealing with some insane lethargy from the demerits of that thing earlier, so maybe next time... ah, no good? Yes ma'am."

Could you maybe direct that glare that looks ready to shoot me dead toward the enemy instead...? Good grief.

"Uh, ah... Isn't it a bit too cramped to take it out here? No, maybe it'll fit?"

Well whatever, as long as nobody gets crushed, nobody dies. Come forth, Brunhilde Baskerville, aka Brunbas〜

With my stamina functioning at about ten percent capacity and my hunger at absolute rock bottom, every single movement feels like a massive chore. Sluggishly operating Inventoria, I finally locate the item I'm looking for and summon it from the storage space into reality.

Come to think of it, the only other times this thing has ever been brought out into reality were when it was first built, and when we were chasing that American Football Princess during the Memento Mori Unique Scenario... So this makes the third time?

"Allow me to introduce it: thanks to the existence of the broken item Inventoria, it has become a portable base... The Magitech Propulsion Seafaring Ship, 'Brunbas'."

I suspect... yes, I heavily suspect that this was originally a mechanic designed with the Blue Dragon in mind: a combat vessel that aggressively eats up massive amounts of Mani and the rare ore Lapisteria Star Crystal.
It has blades attached to its port and starboard sides like wings, and its ram is brimming with so much naked killing intent it can't even hide it... Or rather, in terms of its overall form, it really reminds me of that thing that shoots lasers in the deep sea...

"Doesn't it being completely beached on dry land just give off a really sorrowful vibe?"

"Well then, how about we go for a cruise right now?"

Alright then, we are now transitioning the Rust Plan to its final phase!!

Author's Afterword
・Magitech Propulsion Seafaring Ship
As you might have guessed, it was a shipbuilding system originally implemented to serve as a mobile base against the Blue Dragon.
It has various other uses, but to be clear right off the bat, the Three Greats aren't going to pull any half-assed moves like flopping around in the shallows, so you won't be fighting them.

Then what do you fight? ...Godzil*a or something?