Dullahan are headless specter knights, severed at the neck.
These monsters obsessively fixate on beheading their enemies and possess a rather intuitive hierarchical system within their legion.
The lower-ranked dullahans are knights who have lost their heads, left with only their bodies. The higher-ranked dullahans, although decapitated, do not lose their heads and carry them around proficiently.
In short, the possession of a 'head' is a quite significant matter for them.
What if a high-ranked dullahan loses their head?
They are immediately demoted to a low-ranked dullahan without question.
'Here lies the problem.'
What happens if a high-ranked dullahan loses their body but keeps their head? How would that dullahan fare?
Since their bodies and heads are already separated, they wouldn't die, but what would they attempt to do?
The answer is 'they try to decapitate others and steal their bodies'...
It's horrific but fitting for a monster. By merely making contact with a headless body, a dullahan can usurp control of that body.
Then, carrying their old head, they continue their merry dullahan life as if nothing happened.
Therefore, in the game, when a high-ranked dullahan is left with only a head, one could frequently witness the terrifying spectacle of them seizing the bodies of low-ranked dullahans to resurrect.
No matter how elite the foe, if they steal the body of a lower class and rise again, they prove to be a rather troublesome legion to contend with.
"Let's think about this."
Facing the dullahan Legion Commander (head) loaded into a giant slingshot, I nodded thoughtfully.
"After cutting off the neck of that dragon, and then attaching this friend's head to it? Then... wouldn't it be possible to wrest some control from that three-headed dragon's body?"
"Theoretically, it's possible but... does that even make sense..."
The dullahan Legion Commander muttered uncertainly, but I paid no mind. I had calculated that this would absolutely work.
'Even if we can't take full control, we can at least cause some confusion within Ipian!'
There's no loss even if it doesn't work out.
At that moment, Evangeline, standing in front of me with her shield raised, broke into a cold sweat.
"...Isn't this plan a bit too bizarre? I knew you were like that, senior..."
"It's not that I'm bizarre, it's that this guy has such a bizarre special ability! I'm just trying to make use of it!"
As I made this not-quite-an-excuse, I swiftly stretched out my hand.
"Alright, let's start Operation Hairstyle Change!"
Hecate awkwardly adjusted her shortly cropped hair.
"Hair style change... to think it meant this..."
"How do you plan to cut off Ipian's neck?"
With the slingshot's string taut, the dullahan Legion Commander inquired.
I grinned and looked up at the sky. Ipian's massive form was drawing nearer.
"Just watch."
Ipian was in a frenzy. In other words, while his attack power had increased, his defense had decreased.
By the third phase, the scales on his head and neck had all fallen off, and in their place, he exhaled venom that shrouded his face like dark clouds.
Moreover, with [Elemental Dissolve] applied, even his magical defenses were reduced.
His once sturdy defenses were now noticeably weaker - the perfect timing for us to attack!
"Great job, Violet. You can end the illusion now."
At my command, Violet behind me, panting heavily, cancelled the illusion.
Ssshhh...
With the invisibility dispelled... the figure of an elf princess riding on the back of the three-headed dragon became visible.
Verdandi, with her long, flowing teal hair, was once again mounted on Ipian's back.
Just like the last raid, using Violet's illusionary domain for stealth, she had descended to the fortress courtyard and climbed onto Ipian's body - having been hidden on the dragon's back all along.
"Reusing an old tactic, that's so unlike you, senior."
"If it works well once, I'll use it ten or twenty times more! Just like boiling down bone broth!"
These bastards don't even exchange greetings or texts among siblings. It's certain they haven't seen each other's faces even during holidays for the past five hundred years.
Using the same method his brother died by, and without any shared information, he fell for it just as helplessly!
"There's no rule saying I can't use an unbeatable tactic more than once!"
Why take the long way around when there's a proven formula?
I shouted, swinging my fist.
"Now, Verdandi!"
In Verdandi's hand, the dagger [Isagum] flashed with a dazzling green magical glow.
"...?!"
Surprised, Ipian tried to dodge belatedly, but it was futile.
Emitting green flames from the tip of the dagger, Verdandi swung [Isagum] with all her might—
Cling—!
A dazzling green flash split the air.
Dong—!
And the next moment, Ipian's massive right neck pillar was cleanly severed.
"Keuh... kuhuk...?!"
Blood poured out like a waterfall, and one of the three-headed dragon's heads separated into the air.
"The right one?! No...!"
"What, what is this!"
Startled, the remaining two heads stopped their charge and hastily braked in midair.
Then, they violently twisted their bodies trying to shake off Verdandi.
As Verdandi made her escape, I repeatedly swung my arms forward.
"Damien, fire!"
A white flash sparked within Damien's brown eyes, and then—
Whoosh—!
The slingshot fired.
"How can you do such crazy thi-i-i-ings...!"
With the fading cry, the dullahan Legion Commander's head flew away.
The head fired by Damien drew a beautiful arc across the sky and...
Thud—!
It stuck perfectly to the severed right neck stump of Ipian, as if replacing it with a new head.
The remaining two heads were absolutely horrified.
"What the hell is this?!"
"A, a Dullahan Lord's head?! Then could it be!"
As previously explained.
A dullahan can usurp control of any body it touches with its head.
And my captured monster is the strongest among such dullahans, the Dullahan Lord.
"It's possible."
The eyes within the Dullahan Legion Commander's helmet flashed menacingly with murderous intent, and then Ipian's right half stiffly flailed like a wooden puppet.
"It works, it really works! I've taken over this damned dragon's body!"
"This lowly specter knight, what is he doing now?!"
"If you don't want to burn away with your soul, you better back off now...!"
In midair, Ipian and the Dullahan Legion Commander began a fierce struggle for control of the body.
Evangeline, who had been staring blankly at this scene, muttered nervously.
"A dullahan head attached to the severed neck of a dragon. It's starting to get a bit scary."
"It is quite grotesque..."
As I prepared for the next stage of the plan, I chuckled lightly.
"Still, isn't this better than the 'truly frightening scene'?"
"...!"
Evangeline's shoulders twitched as she recalled the recently witnessed, terribly crumbling scenery of Crossroad.
"Yeah, compared to that scene, this level of grotesqueness is almost cute."
Evangeline inhaled softly and signaled me with her eyes.
"What's the next step, senior?"
"If the hand you're dealt is useful, you might as well play it all, right?"
I turned my head to the side.
There, as expected, was the Banshee Legion Commander I had captured last time, gaping at Ipian.
***
The crying elf, the Banshee.
This monster can inflict a unique status ailment called 'depression' on its victims and, while the victim is depressed, possess their body.
Using the stolen voice of its victims, it emits a chilling wail, spreading 'depression' around it... such a mental status ailment monster.
In the game, it was a real headache.
The possessed ally hero would continue to cry until the Banshee's body was defeated, spreading the 'depression' debuff all around.
Whether to endure the spread of 'depression' and hunt down the Banshee,
Or to prevent the spread of 'depression' by killing the afflicted ally hero with your own hands.
It was a damned monster that forced such a terrible dilemma.
This time, I have [Unyielding Commander], so there's not much to worry about, but in the game, it was one of the creatures I hated the most.
But now, it's on my side. My captured monster.
It can be very useful!
"When was the last time you had a good cry, fairy of sorrow?"
Pointing at Ipian's left head, I commanded the Banshee Legion Commander.
"Hey, cry!"
The left head of Ipian's three heads, the one with the roughest mouth, is the most emotional.
In the game, its resistance to mental status ailments dropped each time another head died, embodying its sentimentality.
That means...
"Uh-huh-huh, kuh-huh-huh..."
With the right head dead at this timing, the Banshee's 'depression' took effect!
As the Banshee Legion Commander mournfully wailed, she inflicted a mental status ailment on the left head, soon filling its eyes with sadness.
"Ah, my sister... I never treated her well... and the other siblings... all dead. That guy on the right, he didn't deserve to die like this..."
Quickly succumbing to the depressive state, the left head drooped downward.
"...This works?"
The Banshee Legion Commander muttered in disbelief and immediately possessed Ipian's left head.
The possession was successful, and the left head—now the Banshee Legion Commander—lifted its head triumphantly and laughed heartily.
"It does work!"
Then, using the original tremendous volume of the left head, it began to wail.
"Heukheukheukheukryonggaesaekkiya, heukheukheukheuk bastard...!"
Though only the crying sounds changed, this violently loud wailing was no different from a dragon's roar.
"Oh no, left side! Snap out of it! If you go down too...!"
The middle head desperately yelled, pummeled by the dragon roar pouring from its side.
But for Ipian, the situation had already escalated to the worst.
The right half, stolen by the dullahan, was tearing its own limbs apart, while the left half, taken over by the Banshee, was shooting dragon roars at itself, causing self-harm.
Kwoooahhh—!
Eventually unable to maintain flight, Ipian crash-landed in the fortress courtyard.
Then, amidst the thick dust...
"I've been with you for ages, but I'm truly sick of it."
The middle head, with its eyes turned coldly golden, surveyed its left and right necks.
"My patience ends here."
The next moment, the middle head unleashed its breath.
Directly at its own left head.
Purrburrburb!
The fiercely shot black flame breath precisely burrowed into the mouth of the left head, which was gaping as it roared.
The left head tried to resist using its roar, but soon, before the powerful force of the breath, the entire head grotesquely burned and melted.
"Phew..."
After confirming the death of the left head, which it had completely burned and crushed.
The middle head stopped the breath and then sharply turned its head to the right.
And then, it bit into the neck where the head of the dullahan Legion Commander was hanging, and forcefully tore it off in a swift motion.
Puhak...!
Blood sprayed in all directions.
As if to ensure that it would never allow a dullahan intrusion again, it completely ripped off the neck.
"Middle, you..."
At that moment, the head on the ground—the right head—opened its mouth.
It had held on thanks to the dragon's tough vitality even after being severed. Coughing up blood, the right head muttered.
"How could you... even go as far as to kill directly..."
Crack!
Before the right head could say more, Ipian's massive hind foot crushed it.
Brain matter and blood splattered messily on the fortress's dirt floor.
"...How long has it been since my head was this quiet?"
Drenched in the blood of his brothers—and his own.
The last head, having fully seized control of the body, twisted its blood-soaked massive mouth into a smile.
"I should have killed you both much sooner."