Chapter 445: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 22

"My bad, that cheek of yours just looked too easy to punch."

『Gu, nwoah...!?』

The flames of anger and grudge shot out to burn the night sky, but they ultimately did not burn Skull Azuchi. Right before firing the breath, Dreadhowl's cheek was punched away by someone landing a clean hit, causing its aim to deviate ever so slightly to the left.
Because of that, the flames of grudge narrowly missed Skull Azuchi, ending up burning nothing but empty space.

"Dreadhowl... You've put my brethren through quite a lot. I've come to return the favor."

With no weapons in his hands, his "wings" tightly clenched—that fist was the true identity of the strike that blew right through Dreadhowl's cheek.
Trembling with rage at having his full-power blow thrown off and the humiliation of being slapped by what he considered a mere insect, Dreadhowl screamed with a breath mixed with flames.

『You bastard... With that appearance, you're nothing but a winged insect!!』

"I'm a Birdian. To make sure it gets through that boiled, senile head of yours... I'll beat it into your memory."

『Guuroaaaaar!!』

Dreadhowl's trump card "Great Eruption of Grudge", aside from being a simple ultra-long-range attack, also had the effect of massively buffing Dreadhowl's main body. The sight of it rampaging around while spewing fire and smoke from cracks running all over its body was being used as material to mock a certain player a little ways away, but there was no way this Birdian would know that.

"Hey Head! Looks like the guy is pretty damn pissed off!?"

"Bring it on! Hakuji-kun, let's smash 'em up real flashy!!"

"Jeez... For guys who were losing their nerve just a minute ago, you sure are acting tough."

Using hands with fingers as stiff as chicken feet compared to a human's, he straightened out his comb—slightly messed up from the fierce battle—pointing it straight up with both hands.

"Listen up, boys! The old man entrusted this to us and sent us here, don't you dare show him any pathetic faces! Let's charge right in there, oraah!!"

White feathers and a red comb, a man who was undeniably a chicken Birdian... voices echoed in response to the loud cry of Hakuji of the "Desperados."
Possessing wings yet unable to fly in the sky, and so they clenched those wings into fists... seeing the sight of these Birdians, one of the players muttered a single line.

"This energy is straight out of a delinquent manga..."

Inspired by the sight of a mysterious red monster (player) severing its arm and a chicken Birdian facing it head-on, the players suddenly shifted to the offensive.
A big part of it was because Dreadhowl was a character that naturally rubbed players the wrong way, but an even bigger reason was that among all the Color Dragons present, it was the very first to play its trump card.

If it made such a flashy system announcement, it was easy to realize that this was the "finale," even more so than it just turning more vicious as a final form.
This was ShanFro, a game where carelessly poking around the corners of a tiered box would cause some unique or hidden element to pop out. It wouldn't be strange if there was some sort of special reward for the honor of landing the Last Attack on a Raid Boss-class Color Dragon.

Furthermore, perhaps out of spite for being targeted, Skull Azuchi had granted a "Damage Up" buff against Dreadhowl, meaning that an overwhelming volume of violence—so massive that not even its final form with buffed stats could handle it—was about to be smashed into the Red Dragon.

"Forward, forward, forwaaaard! It's played all its cards! As long as the base is safe, we can make it work! Give it everything we've got too!!!"

Psyger-100's shout propagated. Medium-scale clans reacted to the voice of the top major clan, and small-scale clans responded in turn, instantaneously unifying the players' will.

Systematically unified magic, occasionally mixed with individual magic, rained down on Dreadhowl, while healers indiscriminately healed the players blown away by the massive body like crossroads killing.

『Gunuaaah! Dammit! Dammit!!』

No matter how grotesque its form, Dreadhowl's skeleton was fundamentally close to that of a quadrupedal beast. No matter what it did, it couldn't cover a full 360 degrees, and its HP was steadily bleeding out to zero.

『N-No! In a place... in a place like this, the great me...! The great meeeee!!』

"From what I hear, you're quite hated by the NPCs, Dreadhowl... In that case, I will leave you with these words."

Under the command of the Swordmaster, a play of swords began. One leading role, six supporting roles... a total of seven Servant swords attacked Dreadhowl while tearing through the air.

"Karmic retribution!!"

A blow mixing the light of skills and the light of buffs slammed straight into the center of Dreadhowl's brow, and then.

『A-aguga, guboa.............』

The flames radiating from Dreadhowl's body extinguished, its massive frame violently convulsed exactly once... and collapsed.

『As of this moment, the subjugation of the "Red Dragon Dreadhowl" has been confirmed. The Last Attacker is "Kusamochi"-sama.』

"Waaah," cheers erupted. With the first Color Dragon finally slain, not only the players but the NPCs as well suddenly gained even more momentum.
Perhaps because they let their guard down, a few players ended up getting attacked by Small Dragons, but even so, with one of the bosses on this battlefield sinking, the scattered military forces began to concentrate, albeit slightly.

"Man, that took forever! What's next, Leader... Leader?"

"They stole the Last Attack... Kusamochi."

"""Kusamochi..."""

"W-Wait, no, no, no! In a chaotic melee like this, getting the Last Attack is basically a lottery! There's no way I could've snatched it intentionally!!"

"It's a joke. But one of the Color Dragons has been slain. If his prediction was correct..."

The place Psyger-100 looked up toward. There was a sky where black, gold, and a small speck of red danced... With Dreadhowl's death, the true "Decisive Battle Phase" was finally about to begin.

"...Akitsu Akane!"

"Leave it to meee!!"

Evading a breath that resembled an artillery shell rather than a beam of light, and immediately kicking away an extended golden hand, the Lustrous Feather Suzaku vigorously threw the fox-masked ninja.

"I'll be borrowing your back again!"

『Kukaka, you dutiful one. But can you truly keep up with my movements?』

"Waaah!?"

"...Tch."

The posture of spreading his wings wide was the preliminary movement of a massive flap. As long as her role was to keep him pinned down so they could hit him with Noirlind's firepower, she couldn't overlook that movement. While reflexively clicking her tongue, Rust spoke to the mechanical bird enveloping her.

"Suzaku! Let's do this!!"

『Understood. Activating "Arahabataki".』

With her will and voice as the trigger, the mechanism that made Suzaku truly Suzaku began to operate.
Steel wings spewing fire, though normally only the main boosters were supposed to operate. However, "Arahabataki" activated all hundreds of steel feathers—the sub-boosters—that were usually dormant, creating literal "Great Wings of Flame."

『Ooh, this is...!!』

"...You're going to behave!"

"Arahabataki", a special mechanism that converted the sheer thrusting power meant to blast a human and steel beast freely in all directions directly into an attack.
Spreading its wings like a bird of prey, the Lustrous Feather Suzaku charged at Siegwurm. Siegwurm attempted to take evasive action, but a snipe, perfectly timed by observing his movements from the ground, struck him.

"Fire is hottest... right at the tip!!"

『Guooh!!』

The wings, swinging with a roaring hum, acted like blades. The tips of the flame wings swung as if to sever Siegwurm's neck, and the gold groaned slightly against that firepower.

"Not... yet!!"

Answering Rust's reckless demand, Suzaku's wings faced exactly opposite directions and spewed fire. The flame wings, which were supposed to flip only after covering a certain distance, forcefully spun right on the spot, continuously bashing Siegwurm.

"Hey, it's hot, I tell you!!"

"Dodge it with guts."

"G-Guts!!"

『Ooh, flames of distant days. A power born of human wisdom! Good, show me more of that radiance!!』

"Kh...!!"

Evading the fangs and claws, evading the whip-like tail, and defending against only one hit of a continuous barrage of single-shot breaths using her flame wings, Rust formed a bitter expression beneath her mechanical shell.

"Arahabataki" was certainly powerful. But at the same time, it was too powerful, jacking up the difficulty of piloting it.

"...I see, this really could easily end with me as a 'stain on the wall'..."

While wondering if the "Overflow" that Sunraku so frequently complained about felt something like this, Rust completely disregarded the strain on the machine and hammered her attacks into Siegwurm.
In extreme terms, damage wasn't necessary; she just needed enough knockback to keep Siegwurm pinned in place.

Dreadhowl fell exactly at that moment.

『───Hm.』

Siegwurm's movements stopped; despite his humanoid form, he lowered his long, distinctly draconic neck downward...

『You showed... an opening!!』

『Nuoh.』

"Wait, I'm getting dragged into this toooooo...!!"

"Wa───, ah, jeez!"

Noirlind, launching a surprise attack from above, sank his jaws into Siegwurm and dragged him straight down to the earth.
And so, hearing the fading voice of Akitsu Akane who had fallen alongside them precisely because she was clinging to Siegwurm, Rust flapped her wings and dove toward the earth as well.

Author's Afterword
Making fun of Sunraku using the Red Dragon as material.

"Sunraku-kun! With the cracked body and all the weird movements, could it possibly be a relative of yours?!"
"Don't casually use 'weird movements' as a common denominator. I'm pretty sure I don't have any dragons in my family."
"Well, you never know—" "No, you should know, the species is completely different" "—maybe, just maybe, it could be true!"
"Come on, look closely, Sunraku-kun! Remember your distant memories!"
"...Brother?"
"Pobufuu!!?"

In the end, Mold took a direct hit from a stray bullet.