Chapter 790: December 15th: I Am the Tenth Truth. Thou Shalt Fear the Sharpness of the Blade.

It was there.

According to Saina, this was the "Okeagranos Plateau", and sitting enshrined at the peak of an incline that took quite a bit of effort to climb... right in the center of a vast grassland with almost no undulations or cover, was that thing, looking just like a king.

If I had to describe what each of us was gazing at and observing with our respective telescopic methods in a single phrase...

"A clump of knives is sleeping."

"Some new kind of modern art?"

"Aren't there some bayonets mixed in there?"

"The presence of an all-nighter."

"Should we just pop a shot into it for now? It looks like it has high physical resistance, though."

"I can Feel a Strong Presence even From here."

Now hold on DeepSlo, it's too early for that. We'd better observe it a bit more first.

In the first place, this situation is incredibly convenient for us. Right in the center of the plateau, likely curling its body up into a ball, is that thing—something that suits the phrase "full-body murder weapon" better than anything else.

I'm not a certain self-proclaimed 12.0-vision playerSurvival who is trying their hardest to look at it with the naked eye, so by synchronizing the visual data Saina observed with my Divine Age headgear to get a closer look, I could understand that with the prior knowledge of it being a "dragon", it wasn't just a simple clump of murder weapons, but something with a clear layout and purpose.

"Are those massive blades supposed to be wings? That's way past the point of whether it can fly or not... if they can't be detached, they're pure dead weight."

"Ah, Overwerke-san, that thing is definitely bipedal."

"It was bipedal? I see... so that means it's going to stand up even further from that state. Aiming for the head looks like it's going to be more of a pain than I thought."

"...It's night so I can't see a damn thing."

"It really doesn't feel much like a living creature, does it..."

"This is a world where Clay DollsGolems are treated as native wildlife, so it wouldn't be weird to have a full-body bladed weapon running around."

I mean, we already have a centipede hauling a railway cannon around anyway. But setting that aside for now.

From the looks of it, the prior information about it being the "Blade Dragon" seems to be literally correct. There was always a certain percentage of a chance that it was some indirect-approach variant where it was called the Blade Dragon because it launched slash-like attacks while actually being an incorporeal entity! So just getting confirmation that it's a pure physical type is something to be thankful for.

"It doesn't seem to have noticed us yet, so let's have a quick strategy meeting."

"I'm totally fine with just an all-out charge, you know?"

"Let's avoid a binary choice between an all-nighter or a suicide charge, Overwerke-san."

To summarize the information we've gathered just from looking at it for now:

・Its entire body is covered in a hard, sharp carapace.

・It is bipedal.

・(Probably) its back is facing us so it's hard to tell for sure, but it's an orthodox long-necked dragon.

・Looks strong.

"So with that out of the way, how do we attack?"

"Well, we don't even know what constitutes an effective hit yet, and physical attacks look like they might not do much, but as for what we should hit it with first..."

Everyone's gazes turn towards me... and also towards Ur Idim-shi. Well, the only thing guaranteed to be an effective hit is Areadbhair, as expected. Furthermore, Ur Idim-shi's absurd strength is also extremely reliable as fighting power.

"Anyway, setting aside how we're going to attack it, I can assume this party is structured as three vanguards and three rearguards, right?"

"Yeah, this time I'll be going as a mid-guard leaning slightly towards vanguard."

"Eh, Overwerke-san, if that's your position, does that mean you're using the Ritual Spirit Sword?"

"If I don't use it here, when else am I supposed to use it?"

Ritual Spirit SwordRitus... if I recall correctly, it was the dedicated weapon for the Mystic SwordRätsel class that takes a ridiculous amount of effort to craft. Well, I suppose this is the right place to pull it out.

From what I've heard, a "Mystic Sword" going all out is supposedly even stronger than a Sword Saint... but the only Sword Saints I know are a cat and Psyger-100, so I feel like that's not much of a reference point.

"Understood, let's do a final confirmation then. The pure vanguards are Survival and Ur Idim-san. Overwerke-san is a mid-guard handling vanguard duties, and Sunraku is a vanguard handling mid-guard duties."

"You figured that out pretty well."

"Well yeah, because you're constantly bouncing all over the place, distance-wise you're effectively a mid-guard either way."

I can't deny that.

"This time I'll be mid-guard... ah no, actually I'll stick to rearguard. If we practically have four vanguards, there's no need for me to force my way to the front. And Deep Slaughter-san will be rearguard, so does that cover everyone?"

No words of objection.

So with the formation decided, we transition to the topic of our opening move... in short, how we're going to launch our surprise attack.

"Who here is betting on the 'damage won't pass through unless it's in a combat state' theory?"

Me, Overwerke, and DeepSlo—the three of us. Looks like Survival and Yashirobird are in the 'surprise attacks will work' camp.

"Basis?"

"Honestly, implementing sniper rifles and then making it so you deal zero damage before combat initiates warrants a formal complaint email to the devs."

"There might be cases where it's so hard that damage won't pass through, but I doubt it flat-out negates damage. Though I'm also against punching it while it's in that spiky egg state."

I see, they have a point. Things like Raid Monsters have bullshit specs where it's impossible to win unless you trigger their combat state, but conversely, once they enter that combat state, victory conditions are reliably set.

That's why I had a preconceived notion that even in that spiky, curled-up state, it would function similarly to a Raid Monster......... but if it really is sleeping, then tightening its defenses makes perfect logical sense.

The absolute worst-case pattern would be that it gets even harder once it wakes up and enters combat mode, but a creature like that wouldn't sleep in such an omnidirectionally prickly manner... though this is all just speculation based on prior intel.

Now then, taking that into consideration, what kind of first approach should we launch? As expected, slamming it with massive firepower before it can react to shave off ten percent... or greedily, twenty percent of its HP would be absolutely wonderful, but the real question is just how much HP that dragon has. If it's Raid Monster-class, we could be looking at fighting until morning... wait, time-wise, maybe until noon?

"...In Short, as long As That dragon Wakes Up, it Will Be fine, right?"

With that, Ur Idim-shi, who had maintained his silence until now, opens his mouth. Right about the time humanitywe had grown accustomed to his presence, this Ourc-san with his terrifying steel-like exterior and terrifying steel-like rationality spoke a simple and clear answer.

"I Will draw its Attention, You All Can attack During That Opening."

Nice idea.

...

......

.........

And so, I am currently standing in front of this completely un-cute, fast-asleep dragon.

"Alright, then."

Ur Idim-shi's idea was certainly nice, but there was just one mistake.

And that is the fact that, currently, he can pump out far more DPS than I can......... A decoy is supposed to be someone who, even in the worst-case scenario where they die, you can still somehow manage without. In other words, me.

I have absolutely zero intention of dying in the first place, but making Ur Idim-shi—who can deal vastly more damage during the split-second attack window of a surprise strike—the decoy is just pure nonsense.

".........Hmm."

Getting up close, I realized it all over again—this is unmistakably a dragon. Saina's video feed had a pretty high resolution, but it still couldn't compare to seeing it with my own naked eyes from point-blank range

When viewed from afar, it looked like its entire body was made of blades, but seeing it up close, I could spot rubbery-looking skin beneath the blade-like protrusions.

It's a lot more muscular than I thought, or rather, maybe that's exactly why it can assume that "curled-up" form. Now then... it looks like the others are in position. Which means it's about time for Dragon-kun to wake up.

"Today, you can enjoy this to your heart's content... experience the dragon hunt right down to your very core."

You're up, Areadbhair. The time to fulfill your dream has come.

It wasn't a misunderstanding; the moment I pulled the slumbering dragon-slaying sword out of Inventoria... Areadbhair distinctly took on heat and gave a shudder.

And then, as if responding to Areadbhair's quickening... the curled-up "thing" moved.

The head it had been hiding beneath its bladed wings and arms—which sprouted terrifyingly sharp blades of their own—slowly raised itself up, and a half-lidded, piercing gaze stared fixedly at me.

Gagi, gigigi... Its entire body of sharp carapace ground and squeaked as the dragon awoke. Spreading its wings and extending the legs it had been crouching on finally revealed the dragon's true size... yeah, it's freaking huge.

It's slightly smaller than Ctarrnid in his Imaginative Form or Siegwurm... but maybe because its wings are spread, it also looks to be around the same size as the Kirin that Wethermon summons. Meaning, starting right now, we have to fight a dump truck standing on its hind legs.

That's right, I'm not the only one fighting.

"Goooood morniiiiiiiiing!!!"

The moment the dragon's roar and my greeting clashed and echoed between us, everyone else launched their attacks simultaneously───!!

『TrueThe Truth Dragon SpeciesDragon: No.X』

『Tomahawk』

『Participants: Six』

『The Dragon Hunt has begun』

Author's Afterword

Strategy: Show No Mercy!! [*1]

Translator's Notes

• [1]: From Dragon Quest.