Chapter 458: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 35

Gold and gold clashed. A massive Dragon King and a diminutive human. The two golds, which should have been far too mismatched to even be considered a contest, were holding their own against each other enough to call it a dead heat.

『You deflect... yet, you repel my arm!!』

"Don't think you can crush me with a flick of the wrist!"

The purple spear pierced Siegwurm's leg.
The purple axe swept across Siegwurm's flank.
The purple hook caught on Siegwurm's arm.

In other words, the halberd—a composite weapon encompassing different categories—was holding its ground against the Golden Dragon King, fighting with the multi-armed versatility of an Asura.

"Is he... like, unable to fight unless he hides his face or something?"

"...As if that'd ever be a thing!!"

"Whoa!?"

Catching the hook on Siegwurm's swinging arm, using the tremendous energy of the massive weight being swung as a makeshift propulsion... Psyger-100 couldn't help but let out a scream as Sunraku literally flew in.

"Landing...! That was close, stamina was right on the edge."

"Should I say... long time no see?"

"Huh? Ah, evenin'. Honestly, trying to solo this was impossible from the get-go."

Perhaps because they had just witnessed that massive brawl moments ago, a strange empty space formed around the bizarre iron-masked man who had just flown in... Sunraku and Psyger-100. Emitting some sort of toxic-looking effect from his entire body, Sunraku returned the greeting to Psyger-100 as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"That weapon is?"

"Centipede Type Tausend (8-0.5), my shiny new trump card."

"Being shown all these unknown weapons one after another is starting to make me genuinely jealous...!"

"Why don't you try investing in Imron? That guy seems the closest to becoming an Ancient Blacksmith."

"Here it comes!"

"Dammit!!"

Whether it was a coincidence or aimed directly at them, they both leapt left and right to dodge the single breath attack that flew toward Psyger-100 and the others.

"Should I be taking orders or something!?"

"It seems we won't have the luxury for that anymore...!!"

Because there was no precedent, no one knew this fact.
Siegwurm was originally designed to take on the players entirely alone. But due to an irregular intervention resulting in a massive chaotic battle where four Color Dragons gathered, there was a special action that had been "sealed" by the system.

However,

With the Black Dragon Noirlind effectively operating as part of the players' fighting force, the Red Dragon Dreadhowl being defeated earlier than the system anticipated, and above all, the system evaluating the "quality" of the players and judging that they could withstand it, that special action was unsealed.

『───Dragon x Driver (Dragon King Engine)... Startup.』

Siegwurm was designed with the assumption of a decisive battle against a minimum of a hundred players.
And no matter how massive Siegwurm was, it would be difficult for all several hundred players to fight without having a moment of downtime.

So, what should be done?

『To burn the world, no assistance is needed, dash! My lingering shadows harbor heat!!』

It was simple logic. If there aren't enough seats and it becomes a game of musical chairs, then just add more seats.
Siegwurm's horns emitted a blinding light, and five beams shot out in all directions. Like fire, like lightning... five clones resembling plasma materialized.

"........."

"........."

The White Dragon, the Green Dragon, the Black Dragon, Siegwurm, and additionally, five clones. Simple math meant the number of dragons had doubled, bringing the players' movements to a dead halt.

『Now... what will you do?』

Right at the exact moment the plasma clones, mimicking Siegwurm's appearance, began to move.

"Aim for the horns!!!"

A single voice shattered the silence right before its collapse. The owner of the voice was a warrior clad in a golden mask and wielding a purple halberd, that man... Sunraku loudly exposed Siegwurm's "secret" with absolute conviction.

"His abilities originate from the horns! Both his skill nullification and magic nullification!!"

And,

"I'm guessing here, Siegwurm, but while you're using those, you can't use your other abilities... Am I wrong?"

『Kukaka, precisely. Because I produce one clone per overdriven horn, the clones and the horns are linked.』

"Take out the clones and the horns become free, but as long as you don't break the horns, the clones will keep rampaging... I'm bad at that kind of thing, so I'll leave it to you guys."

"Pushing only the annoying parts onto us...! Overwerke! We're splitting your squad and my members into five! We can't expect the randoms to handle the clones!!"

"Understood! But you head for the main body; we should parallel an attack on the horns!!"

"You handle that, and I'll handle this! Hey Sunraku, since you talked so big, you'd better contribute accordingly."

"Of course! Besides, my artillery just joined up...!"

The crowd parted, a result of a mechanical armor that looked like nothing more than a robot charging in at breakneck speed. Emul, who had been clinging to the Dragon Armor that came to a sudden halt right in front of Psyger-100—or strictly speaking, Sunraku—spoke up to him alongside the machine.

"Mission Complete: Secured the individual named Emul."

"Sunraku-san! I have arrived desu wa!"

"Alright Emul! Clearance sale, dump everything right in Siegwurm's face!!"

"Yessir〜!"

A human, a rabbit, and a doll.
Different races, different origins, yet looking at him with the exact same goal. Siegwurm flashed a nostalgic smile, looking as if he were reminiscing about the past.

『Plotting to break my horns, are you... Kukuku... How nostalgic.』

And seeing that sight up close, Psyger-100 felt a tiny bit of jealousy at being left out of a story that must have progressed somewhere outside of her knowledge, yet still.

"Then I just have to step in and join the fray from here on out... Sunraku! I'll assist you, hold the frontline!!"

"Bring it on! Just don't stab me in the back!!"

The vanguard was the purple halberd, leaving the Holy Sword as the commander in the rear, while six masterwork and magical swords formed a formation of weapons acting as servants.
Their target was the Golden Dragon King. The other players, who had been confused by the shock of the clones' appearance, rallied their spirits and readied their weapons, forming a siege network around Siegwurm once again.

『Come! Prove yourselves worthy of my resolve to fight to the death... at the end of the blood, wind, lightning, and fire!!』

Rewinding time,

"Well, you know, I was suspicious from the very start. I kept thinking, was having both clear conditions gathered in one place originally part of the scenario...?"

The woman spun her words.

"It's a famous fact that ShanFro's system is insane to put it mildly. Even if a situation reached scenario-collapse levels, wouldn't it just find a way to recover...? Or so I predicted."

By the time Akitsu Akane succeeded in communicating with Noirlind and triggered the Unique Scenario, the woman had already reached that possibility.
Namely, that Dreadhowl, Bryreinyego, and Brockentried coming here wasn't due to the scenario's forcing, but rather because of some human intention.

Bryreinyego looked at the frontline base and said, "It's a good place to migrate to."

Brockentried acted as if he were certain that Tottori the Shimane would be here.

"Doesn't it seem like they came here because someone told them to?"

"I see? What an interesting deduction..."

A single woman replied to the inquiring woman.
Spun around and planted into the ground with a clack like a cane, the golden spear-wielding woman questioned her, and the woman who had grown a third arm from her shoulder as if born with it floated a deliberately theatrical smile.

"I wasn't exactly looking for the culprit or anything, but if I saw someone feeding lines to Brockentried, I can't just ignore it, right?"

"...Fufu, I'll just say this much: it won't deviate significantly from what you all are scheming..."

"I wonder about that? I've heard the rumors from Sunraku-kun, and this big sister would really love to hear what exactly it is you're plotting...?"

Arthur Pencilgon and Deep Slaughter. Two people floating smiles that didn't show a shred of hostility faced off at the edge of the battlefield.

"Arthur Pencilgon, the leader of the clan he's in... let's get along, shall we?"

"If it's businesslike, I'd be more than happy to, Deep Slaughter-chan?"

The one who set the stage, and the one who gathered the people. What exactly were these two discussing?

Author's Afterword
Siegwurm-shi, unlocking his clones out of the sheer emotional impact that a human came to break his horns carrying a weapon seriously crafted by the very guy who casually snapped one off in the past.