Chapter 459: O Dragon, O Dragon! Part 36

Author's Preface

Give me the courage and time to farm Grimnir for Kokkoro-chan, and give me harps too (The cry of a relic Magna-Enmity wind main)

The players who reached the New Continent, regardless of minor differences in skill, all boasted uniformly high levels.

The absolute highest among all players right now, reached at the end of maddening material grinding loops: Level 145.

The runner-up, achieved through repeated battles against unimaginably strong foes while wearing an oppressive collar: Level 139.

The "Level Ranking," known only to the administration, had just shifted.

"We need to hurry...!"

"Yeah, that's right. It would be a shame for me to miss a chance to rack up some Vorpal Souls... No seriously, I need to work harder..."

The crystallization of a hardcore gamer's accumulated and honed march—carrying the EXP added by spending recent times training a rabbit collaborator, a knight who had deliberately "withdrawn" during the midst of the Dragon Calamity.
The place visited was the village of Elves, devoid of Pioneer presence. Having finally managed to unlock the level cap without any reservations, Psyger-0... currently, Level 141.

"...Um."

"Yes, yes, weapon repai—heeek!?"

"...Ah, no. This is... an armor piece, like this."

The crafter player waiting near the exit of the New Continent Survey Ship for players coming to repair weapons worn down in the massive battle turned around at Psyger-0's voice... and let out a scream.
Having an idea of the reason, Psyger-0 reflexively pleaded harmlessness to the blacksmith player who had instinctively shifted into a combat stance.

"P-Psyger... you're from[Black Sword]?"

"Ah... no, I'm currently in [Wolfgang]. The one in Black Sword is... my older sister."

"I-I see... eh? So that's not a Conversion?"

"Yes, it's an armor piece... called the Armor of Twin Reason."

The previously paladin-esque appearance was completely gone. Perhaps having met some condition simultaneously with the level cap release, the Armor of Twin Visages—now the "Armor of Twin Reason"—had transformed into a grotesque form that looked like a mass of flesh shaped into armor.

The material itself was hard, posing no issue for its role as armor. But its surface pulsed in a way that was clearly impossible for dead materials, and the headpiece, which previously still maintained the shape of a helmet, was now equipped with fleshy "eyeballs" and even a "mouth."

".........Is that really armor?"

"...Because I can take it off."

"It's all squishy-looking..."

"The sensation from the system side is... reduced, so."

If it weren't, no matter how useful it was, even Psyger-0 wouldn't equip it. Taking off the helmet—which felt like slapping a lukewarm, skin-temperature compress onto the face—the "visage" of the helmet closed its eyes as if falling asleep and stopped moving.
Perhaps finally convinced after seeing that, the crafter player dropped their guard, albeit while maintaining a slight distance.

"I have a question... What is the... situation right now?"

"Eh? Umm..."

"Hrm, it seems that certain someone is throwing quite the fit. And I hear the Saint of Affection Iristella has also taken to the frontlines... Well, the most crucial point right now is that Siegwurm has created five clones."

"Ah... The Library's..."

Replacing the crafter player, the voice of an elderly man, deepened by the accumulation of years and wisdom, called out to Psyger-0.

"You guys are... yes, incredibly fascinating, truly. May I interview you about that armor at a later date?"

"Ah... um, yes."

"I'd love for Sunraku-kun to join us by all means... Ah, speaking of him, I hear he's on the absolute frontlines carrying some sort of interesting trick weapon."

"!!"

To the Professor, it was nothing more than a piece of information to liven up the conversation, but to Psyger-0, it was the ultimate correct answer, worth more than hundreds of other pieces of information.

"Excuse me... I have to, go."

"I see... Hrm, well, it's not exactly a situation for long talks, so it can't be helped."

Giving a light bow to the deceptively young girl who was apparently an authority in a specific academic field in reality, Psyger-0—with Diale camouflaged as a cloak on her back—broke into a run with unwavering steps.

Because no matter how sharp a blade becomes, it's meaningless if it isn't swung.

◇◇ 

While Sunraku clashed with Siegwurm and Pencilgon faced off against Deep Slaughter, what of the other founding member... OiKatzo?

"Turning inside out... No one would think it meant literally turning inside out, right!?"

"This isn't the time to be saying that, Katzo! That White thing has gotten completely crazy ever since it ate the Red's corpse!!"

Though obscured by Siegwurm's radiance, OiKatzo groaned bitterly on the absolute frontline of the frenzy involving the desperate Bryreinyego.
Checking that his HP was recovering from the potion, his gaze was fixed on the White Dragon Bryreinyego. However, its appearance had transformed into something entirely different—something utterly hideous—compared to when it first appeared at the frontline base.

『Gerororororo! Power! Power! POWEEEEERRRRR!!』

"To think it was an amphibian instead of a reptile..."

Bryreinyego, the dragon with a bizarrely bloated abdomen resembling an ant. But on the verge of death, that abdomen had suddenly "split" vertically.
It opened so wide it looked exactly like a massive mouth, and everyone assumed it was going to attack with those giant jaws.

But they were wrong. Or rather, they weren't wrong in the sense of "predation," but what Bryreinyego chewed on was none other than itself.

『Re-Birthday (Inside-Out Rebirth)』. Along with that skill name, it was like flipping a coin purse inside out, or like clamping down an open stapler.
Through a clearly biologically impossible "inside-out" process, Bryreinyego's upper body was eaten by its massive jaws.
Then, after a dozen or so seconds of chewing, a horrifying mass of white flesh—with forelegs and hindlegs made of thick muscle fibers spilling out from the "inside" of the mouth—crawled across the ground, lunging at the players with clear murderous intent.

"Hey, Nadi! You guys have been fighting Bryreinyego for a long time, right!? Don't you know anything about this!!"

"Do not call me by such a strange name! It galls me to expose my lack of martial experience, but this is the first time I've seen Bryreinyego pushed to such an extreme. I cannot offer any useful reference!"

"Is that right... Apparently so, Ketzo."

"Stop trying to make that name stick! Agh geez, too much of our fighting force is leaning toward Siegwurm! We're losing purely on numbers here!"

Yes, the transformed Bryreinyego hadn't lost its ability to produce small dragons. In fact, it was the opposite. After the announcement confirmed its defeat, the corpse of the Red Dragon Dreadhowl had been left alone, with everyone assuming "that's just how it goes."

Only a very few... specifically, only those who had "fought until a Color Dragon's weakness was revealed" prior to the decisive battle phase, knew of the core that governed the dragons' lives.
Having greedily devoured the Red Dragon's corpse—which had been left untouched with its "Core" intact—Bryreinyego hadn't just defeated it in the scenario; it had literally stolen the life of the Red Dragon Dreadhowl, and along with it, its properties.

"Small dragons with the Red Dragon's jet flame ability... As expected, humanity shouldn't let anyone else have fire! I understand that perfectly now!!"

Grimacing at the flames that scorched the side of his face with a hairsbreadth's timing, OiKatzo swung his effect-clad fist.
While confirming that the blown-away humanoid small dragon vanished into effects, he instinctively clicked his tongue realizing that the stock of "destruction-use" weapons he had hoarded in his Inventoria had run dry.

"Argen, how are things on your end?"

"Sold out ages ago. I went back to the ship to restock, but they're dry too. Being out of Money is seriously rough, isn't it."

"Stop casually flexing your bourgeoisie status... Someone like Sunraku would snap if he heard that, y'know?"

"If it comes to a fistfight, I'd welcome it! But first, we need to figure out what to do from here..."

Fighting Bryreinyego—the only one among the dragons, including Siegwurm, who utilized sheer numbers as a weapon—meant the number of times weapons needed to be swung increased proportionally.
And basically, the White Dragon's battlefield, which required continuous back-to-back fights with trash mobs, was unpopular. While there were some who had kept fighting from Bryreinyego's assault up until now, the fact that almost all the freed-up personnel after Dreadhowl's defeat flowed toward Siegwurm spurred the reversal of the battle situation.

"That damn Pencilgon... What are we supposed to do about this? Let alone a reasonable struggle, our defensive line is about to be ripped to shreds...?"

However, there was one point that OiKatzo had completely forgotten.

Assuming there were those who had continued fighting from the very beginning up until now.
That didn't necessarily mean those individuals had exhausted every single trick up their sleeves.

◇◇◇ 

"...If I'm going to use it all up, now is the time, isn't it?"

A woman with a rough stance, unimaginable from her past self, muttered softly.
That woman's name was Animalia.
The days when she made a name for herself as the absolute premier debuffer in ShanFro were a thing of the past. Her current self was—

"Bryreinyego, you are a destroyer of nature and animals... If so, I shall smash you with these fists!!"

Somehow, in some twisted way, she had evolved into a frontline shaman (Fist) who debuffs targets and beat them down herself.

Author's Afterword

It's been so long. Writing a side story was a pain, so I incorporated her directly into the main story plot right around the time I started writing "O Dragon, O Dragon!"... It took way too long. Just so you know, this person will have a bit more screentime coming up.

All that's left is Golden Quon...

• Armor of Twin Reason
  The Armor of Twin Visages that transformed into a new appearance after achieving the condition by unlocking the level cap.
  What unlocking the level cap means within the lore of the world is the key here. And I've already described it, actually.
  Psyger-0 doesn't know this yet, but if you leave the helmet off for about ten minutes, it will blink even when not equipped.
  Eh? Antinomy (Sword of God-Demon)? Of course it evolved too.