Mist Ball

The Mist Ball made the first move. It manipulated the fog to create countless gravel pellets and fired them all at us. Fog bullets rained down like buckshot. They formed so quickly that if Karu hadn't instinctively shielded us, the three in the rear would have been hit directly.

"Grrr...?"

However, although they were difficult to dodge once seen, they apparently lacked much power. They couldn't even scratch Karu's scales, let alone the membranes of Karu's wings, and dealt almost no damage. Having expected a much more intense attack, Karu seemed bewildered by its weakness.

Just because the attack is weak doesn't mean we should take it head-on. Let's deal with this properly!

"First, let's try disrupting the airflow. Astral Magic Array, Remote Activation, Wind Pillar."

I created five Wind Pillars in positions that blocked the Mist Ball's escape routes. If it tried to flee, it would be struck by the wind-aspected magic it was weak against. This would also let us see what happened when the fog it was using was disrupted.

Just as I had expected, the Wind Pillars threw the fog drifting around the Mist Ball into disarray. I had hoped that would prevent it from using fog, but it wasn't that simple. It used 【Smoke Mist Magic】 to create fog of its own and began manipulating it.

To make matters worse, it generated purple-tinged fog—in other words, Poison Mist. Anyone hit by it would be afflicted with poison. The added ability to inflict a status ailment might have made it even more troublesome.

However, using 【Smoke Mist Magic】 and 【Mist Manipulation】 together would rapidly consume its magic power. Even if it had a powerful attack, it surely couldn't use it repeatedly. I wanted to turn this into a battle of endurance, but...

"Hah-ha! Here I go!"

"Well, I suppose that's how it goes. Karu, support Jigorou from above. I'll apply various buffs to everyone, so Iris and Shiitake, try different things and find an effective attack."

"Gwooo!"

"Understood!"

"Sure thing~"

Expecting Jigorou to wait patiently was simply impossible. So I strengthened everyone with 【Buff Arts】 while entrusting Jigorou's support to the two of them and one dragon. Karu immediately took flight, took up a position over the Mist Ball, and slashed at it with its tail. At the same time, Iris used a slingshot to launch Shiitake's alchemical items one after another.

The Mist Ball, floating gently in the air, didn't look particularly agile. In reality, however, it was anything but. It seemed to have tiny air vents on its surface, through which it sprayed fog to make quick, minute movements in midair. It used those movements to dodge Jigorou's claws by the narrowest of margins.

"Gaaaaah! So damn annoying!"

"Grrrrrrr...!"

Jigorou and Karu were becoming extremely irritated as their attacks continued to be dodged. On top of that, the Mist Ball fired fog balls with barely any windup while evading, forcing both of them to dodge or block as well. The Wind Pillars we had placed at the start restricted the Mist Ball's movements, but without them, it would have been even more troublesome.

"They hit, but they don't seem to be doing much damage..."

"Hmm, looks like we'll have to hit it with a wind-aspected attack after all. In that case, it's time for this 'Kamikaze Bomb'!"

Their thrown attacks were weaker than those of Jigorou and Karu. Perhaps aware of that, the Mist Ball focused entirely on evading Jigorou and Karu, allowing several of the thrown items to hit. However, none of the items dealt much damage. It seemed we would have to strike its weakness to inflict any visible damage.

What Shiitake took out was an alchemical item named the 'Kamikaze Bomb.' I knew its ingredients well, since I had been forced to help make it. Apparently, it was a bomb made using a wind-aspected magic stone and an explosive-aspected magic stone created with the staff's function. The explosive-aspected magic stone was used to increase the gunpowder's power and expand the blast radius... Huh? Expand the radius?

"And now, fireworks~!"

"Aaaaaah!?"

"Gwoooooo!?"

Shiitake's handmade 'Kamikaze Bomb' had indeed dealt the Mist Ball considerable damage. Judging by how far its health bar had fallen, it was by far the most effective attack so far.

However, its blast radius had been far too large, catching Jigorou and Karu in the explosion as well. Only the tip of Karu's tail, which doubled as a weapon, had been slightly singed, but Jigorou took the blast head-on and was sent flying like a character in a gag manga. Jigorou recovered his balance in midair, landed on all four limbs like a cat, and immediately dashed toward the Mist Ball.

"Huh? The blast radius was bigger than I expected, dude?"

"Only kill the enemy!"

"Nahaha, my bad! Try dodging the next one better!"

"T-There's going to be a next one...?"

"...I'm finished with the buffs. I can lend a hand now. Magic Circle, Remote Activation, Spell Adjustment, Stone Wall."

Regardless of Shiitake's complete lack of remorse, I had finished applying the buffs and created a stone wall in the Mist Ball's path. Since it had been trying to escape the explosion site by spraying fog, it bounced off the wall with a smack. It really did have properties like a rubber ball. Its biology was extremely fascinating.

"Come on! Let's go, little Karu!"

"Gwooo!"

Jigorou pierced the rebounding Mist Ball with his sharp claws and tossed it up toward Karu. Karu swung its tail as if it had been waiting for this moment and sliced deeply into the Mist Ball. Its health visibly dropped, and calling it near death would not have been an exaggeration. Just a little more!

Fwooooooosh!

The cornered Mist Ball spewed out so much fog that our vision turned completely white. Was this a desperate last-ditch attack, or was it trying to blind us and escape? I couldn't tell, but clearing the fog had to come first.

"Magic Circle, Remote Activation, Storm... What is that?"

When I dispersed the fog with magic, two shadows appeared flanking the Mist Ball. Their color was the same grayish white as the fog, but their size and appearance were nearly identical to those of two people we knew very well.

"That's Jigorou and Karu-kun, isn't it?"

"Did it make copies of its enemies out of fog?"

What the fog had shaped was indeed Jigorou and Karu. The two fakes stood in front of us as though protecting the Mist Ball. I was genuinely astonished that it could accomplish something like this simply by manipulating fog.

"You think I'd lose to some cheap knockoff!?"

"Grrrrroooooo!"

The two whose likenesses had been copied pounced on their respective fakes. The fakes charged to meet them, moving no differently from the originals. Jigorou's fist collided with the fake's fist—or so it seemed, until the fake's fist and entire arm up to the shoulder simply dispersed into fog.

The same thing happened to Karu. Everything beyond the spot where Karu had bitten the fake's neck turned back into fog. Both fakes still had the rest of their bodies, and they were still moving. But as obstacles for Jigorou and Karu, they were utterly inadequate.

This was far too easy. There had to be some kind of trick behind it.

"Huh? What the hell is this damage?"

"Gyaaaaoooo!?"

As I had expected, there had been some kind of trick. Jigorou and Karu gradually began taking damage. At first, I thought they had been poisoned, but neither of their status markers showed any abnormalities. Then they were being injured by some other means. There was only one possibility that came to mind.

"...Acid Mist, huh."

"You mean they're being dissolved by acid?"

I confirmed Iris's guess. If it was Acid Mist from 【Smoke Mist Magic】, it could inflict gradual damage. I had rarely used 【Smoke Mist Magic】 because of its low burst damage, but I found it frustrating to see how troublesome an opponent it could become when properly mastered.

While Jigorou and Karu were taken aback by the unexpected damage, the portions of the fakes that had dispersed regenerated, and the fakes attacked again. Perhaps the easier they were to disperse, the easier they were to reassemble as well.

"How annoying!"

"Graaahhh!"

Jigorou used the Skill that generated lightning flames, while Karu countered with a barrage of spells, but neither had any effect. Their attacks blew holes in the fakes, only for those holes to close immediately. To turn this situation around, we would have to defeat the Mist Ball itself—the source of everything.

"That's what I thought too. I'll heal you, so Iris and Shiitake, somehow whittle down the original."

"I'd like to say, 'Leave it to us,' but it's really wary of us, isn't it~? Can we even hit it?"

The Mist Ball seemed wary of the owner of the bomb that had blown it away, and continued making quick, minute movements in midair. It was like a boxer bobbing up and down, ready to react swiftly at any moment. Hitting it with a straightforward attack looked extremely difficult.

"Then we'll have no choice but to use indirect tactics. You two, start attacking."

"Aye-aye, sir~"

Iris and Shiitake's items flew toward the Mist Ball, but it dodged every single one. It certainly had the ability to keep avoiding the combined assault of Jigorou and Karu. It had enough skill to embody the famous saying, 'If it doesn't hit, it's nothing to worry about.'

Meanwhile, the two fighting the fakes were being hard-pressed. The fakes returned to normal whether they were punched, slashed, stabbed, or blown away by magic, while touching them caused damage from acid. Whenever Jigorou and Karu tried to approach the original, the fakes chased after them at full speed and tried to smother them. In the end, the two of them had no choice but to keep the fakes occupied.

However, the acid attacks also reduced the durability of their equipment. The longer this dragged on, the more disadvantaged we would become. That meant the rear-line group had to turn the situation around.

"Can my Soul Arts not offset the damage? We need to hurry... Astral Magic Array, Activate, Wind Blade."

"What!? Are you seriously saying it dodged that?"

In addition to Iris and Shiitake's thrown items, I began attacking with 【Storm Magic】. However, the Mist Ball moved skillfully and narrowly dodged every attack. Shiitake let out an exasperated complaint, sounding thoroughly fed up.

I agreed, but complaining wouldn't defeat our opponent. Besides, why wasn't the Mist Ball using any magic other than 【Smoke Mist Magic】? If it used 【Water/Ice Magic】 to create walls, it could dodge our attacks with room to spare. The fact that it wasn't doing so despite being cornered meant there had to be a reason. What was it?

"...Is it devoting its magic power to creating and controlling the fakes? Does it have so little left that it can't spare any for other actions?"

Come to think of it, that was obvious. It had created two fakes larger than its own body simultaneously, and was even making them engage in fierce battles with their originals. Of course it had no room to spare. In fact, wasn't it in such a dangerous situation that, despite Jigorou and Karu being separated from it, it could do nothing but barely dodge at the last possible moment?

If so, I had thought of one plan. If it failed, we would never be able to use it again, so this would have to be done on the fly. But we had no choice!

"Iris, Shiitake. This is where we hold the line. We'll overwhelm it with numbers. Throw as many items as you can."

"If one hits, it's practically a win! Let's make it count!"

"Even a poor shot hits something if they fire enough!"

Accuracy was less important than sheer numbers right now. The two agreed with my judgment and began throwing items in rapid succession. If they couldn't hit it like snipers, our plan was to fire away like characters in a mafia movie until we forced a hit. That was the second stage of our plan.

"I'll attack with an area-effect spell. Astral Magic Array, Activate, Wind Wave."

To further increase the density of our attacks, I used an area-effect wind spell, the Mist Ball's elemental weakness. It disrupted the trajectories of Iris and Shiitake's items, but if their movements became unpredictable and harder to dodge, so much the better.

In fact, a thrown knife buffeted by the wind changed course and closed in on the Mist Ball. At its current health, even a graze should be enough to finish it! Go!

"No way!?"

"Soft Body at a time like this!?"

Just before the knife struck, the Mist Ball bent its body limply and dodged. It was just like when it had escaped Iris's restraint. It was a true emergency evasion.

"Now! 【Floating Skull】, activate!"

The Mist Ball, which used jets of fog to move at high speed, had transformed its body to perform an emergency evasion. In other words, this was the limit of its evasive capabilities. If we attacked now, we would almost certainly hit it.

When I came up with the plan, I had secretly sent 【Floating Skull】 around behind it. That preparation had been the first stage of our plan.

The weak Wind Ball fired from the skull struck the Mist Ball's body. Its power was low, but the Mist Ball had so little health left that even a weak spell of its elemental weakness could finish it. The Mist Ball went limp and flopped to the ground, while the fakes Jigorou and Karu had been fighting returned to their original fog and vanished.