Frozen-Flame War Fortress (4)

The protrusions that emerged from the Great Bone War Fortress grew larger and larger, eventually becoming the heads of the monsters it had previously created as clones. Like the clones that had appeared before, they were merely bones gathered into those shapes, but they were large and imposing enough to intimidate even us.

Of the four heads, the monkey-like head faced Mac and the others, the rat-like head faced Ruby and her group, and the remaining snake-like and bear-like heads faced Jigoro and his group. The reason so many heads were targeting Jigoro's group was probably that they had dealt the most damage to the main body of the Great Bone War Fortress.

"Gooooo..."

The Great Bone War Fortress's transformation did not end there. It planted all the legs it had been using to attack firmly on the ground to anchor its body, and all four heads opened their mouths at once.

Deep in the throats visible through those gaping mouths, crimson flames swirled. A braced body, wide-open mouths, and flames... This was bad!

"A big attack is coming! Astral Magic Array, Spell Adjustment, Sanctuary!"

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

My worst premonitions had a way of coming true. Flames poured from all four heads, just like Dragon Breath. Knowing that no one could possibly have missed what was happening, I shouted a warning and hastily cast a defensive Holy Magic spell to protect Mac and the others, barely blocking the attack.

Naturally, the flames contained a huge amount of bone fragments. Anyone swallowed by this torrent of bones and fire would be finished. In fact, every clone caught in it was destroyed so completely that it could not even retain its original form, becoming part of the torrent of bones.

Meanwhile, Genjuro and the others avoided it by leaping and flying through the air. Since Wool could neither fly nor jump, Shifune came to his aid. She bound him with thread released from her abdomen, then climbed the wall with him to escape to higher ground. Shifune's dexterity and the strength of her thread were impressive, but the way she had acted on instinct was an even more remarkable save.

Mossan and his group, on the other hand, seemed to have barely survived thanks to Eiji's shield and Nanako's magic. Eiji himself and his shield were both battered, but he immediately replaced the shield, while Mikelo healed his wounds at once. They seemed to be all right as well.

"Ora, ora, ora, oraaaaa!!!"

Amid all this, Jigoro alone took an unbelievable course of action. At the very moment the flames were released, he leaped toward the head shaped like a bear.

Jigoro avoided the torrent of flames with his leap, landed on top of the head, raised one leg high, and brought it down in a powerful stomp. His full weight and leg strength not only crushed and broke the bones; the stomp also forced the upper jaw slightly downward while it was spewing flames. Whether he knew that or not, Jigoro continued delivering one stomp after another.

"Doooooaaah!?"

The rapid, heavy succession of stomps gradually narrowed the gap between the upper and lower jaws, until he finally forced them shut. The flames suddenly had nowhere to go, causing a tremendous explosion. The bear-shaped head exploded from the inside.

Jigoro was caught in the explosion as well and sent flying through the air like a leaf, but he regained his balance before hitting the ground and landed using all four limbs. He had the balance of a cat, as usual.

Jigoro's method had been completely absurd, but his actions ended up saving all three parties. The shock of the explosion broke all the legs supporting the Great Bone War Fortress, interrupting its flame attack altogether.

Moreover, the head Jigoro had forced shut had completely collapsed and was still pouring out black smoke. The Great Bone War Fortress had lost more than ten percent of its enormous health, leaving it with just over sixty percent remaining. On top of that, it slumped over and stopped moving entirely. No status icon indicated anything, but it looked as though it had been stunned.

"Hahahaha! You shoulda stopped spewing fire, ya moron!"

"It would have been harder to stop suddenly... More importantly, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. We can't let it slip away. Everyone, launch an all-out attack!"

"Are those two playing a different game from the rest of us?"

"And Izamu, who's used to that sort of thing, is pretty extraordinary too."

"Quit yapping and attack!"

Saara and Pop seemed to be whispering about something, but I could not hear them over Jigoro's boisterous laughter. However, as Mac had said, this was no time for conversation. After strengthening Jigoro and the others with 【Enhancement Arts】, I would join the attack and make the most of this opportunity.

I flew over and joined Mossan's group, rapidly strengthening everyone with 【Enhancement Arts】. During that time, the Great Bone War Fortress continued losing health under an all-out attack by all seventeen of us. It was a ferocious assault, as though we were venting all the frustration built up from having to focus on defense and chip away at it whenever we saw an opening.

Various martial techniques, spells, and special attacks using Skills rained down on the Great Bone War Fortress. Its surface burst, shattered, and tore apart, sending fragments flying in every direction.

"Whoa!? The fragments are reaching all the way over here... How much power is our brother putting into those punches...?"

"Ouch!? Good grief, is that guy some kind of real demon god? He's terrifying even just watching from here."

"I concur."

As I attacked with magic alongside Mossan's party, the bones Jigoro crushed came flying all the way toward me. Nanako and Nenashi, who were attacking from the rear with magic and thrown items, were caught in it as well, and they joined me in grumbling with sighs.

Jigoro himself continued rampaging as though he did not care, even while being showered with fragments created by his own punches. Part of the Great Bone War Fortress had been gouged out into a crater. Apparently, the fragments scattered by such destructive attacks counted as damage, so Nanako and I were taking tiny amounts of damage as well.

Jigoro himself was also steadily accumulating damage from taking the fragments at close range, but Mikelo was healing him, so there was no problem. It was increasing Mikelo's workload, but Jigoro was contributing even more in firepower. Rather than complain, Mikelo was actually hoping Jigoro would land as many more hits as possible while he had the chance.

"Gigi... Gorigorigorigori!"

"What is that sound?"

As we all continued our all-out assault, the Great Bone War Fortress finally began to move sluggishly, as though it had restarted. Its movements were visibly slow and labored, making it look as if it was merely moving. It was far too feeble to call a counterattack.

Instead, a grinding sound, like hard objects rubbing against one another, began to echo from inside the Great Bone War Fortress. It was clearly doing something, and there was a good chance it was preparing a counterattack. The leaders of the three parties calmly ordered everyone to stop attacking for a moment and put some distance between us, and even Jigoro obeyed.

"Goggyaggyaggyaggyaggyag!!!"

Their judgment was correct. Accompanied by the eerie sound of bones grinding together, a pure-white powder sprayed out from every gap in the Great Bone War Fortress.

"Ptooey, ptooey! What is this!?"

"If I had to guess, bone powder. There were some large fragments mixed in."

"Then that sound earlier was it grinding part of itself into powder!? What a bizarre tactic, seriously..."

As Mossan said, the powder was made from crushed bones. The fortress was counterattacking by spraying it out in huge quantities and at tremendous force. Using bone powder might sound rather feeble for a counterattack, but in reality, it was troublesome for three reasons.

First, as Mossan had said, the bone powder contained some fairly large fragments. Being hit by that at close range would have been like being struck by buckshot.

Second, the bones possessed the power of the Fire Attribute. I had only been lightly sprinkled with a small amount, but even so, my health decreased slightly. If I had taken a direct hit, someone with 【Fire Attribute Vulnerability】 like Mac might have burned to death.

Third, the bone powder, still imbued with that Fire Attribute power, had formed a smoke screen around the Great Bone War Fortress. Its form was barely visible as a hazy shadow, and all we could tell was that something was writhing inside the smoke screen. We could not recklessly enter it, so I would clear it away first.

"Magic Array, Remote Activation, Cyclone."

As usual, I used 【Storm Magic】 to raise a wind and sweep up the bone powder. I had used Cyclone because there was an enormous amount of powder forming the smoke screen, and it had spread over a wide area. I had predicted that something like Wind Pillar would not be enough.

As I had intended, Cyclone gradually cleared the smoke screen, revealing what had been happening inside. Once our vision cleared, twenty newly created clones came into view.

If these had been ordinary clones, neither I nor anyone else would have been fazed. There were fewer than before, and they were not especially large. Yet in reality, the sight was so shocking that everyone instinctively stopped moving.

"J-Jigoro-san...?"

"To be precise, they are Jigoro-type clones. I never imagined it could do something like this, though..."

What the Great Bone War Fortress had newly created was, astonishingly, a set of clones modeled after Jigoro. The horns extending from their heads and their bulging muscles had been faithfully recreated in bone. Their faces, however, were not skulls. They were grotesque, featureless faces haphazardly assembled from ribs and other bones, making them extraordinarily creepy.

The fake Jigoro copies swayed their bodies lazily, then attacked all at once. They split up and charged toward the three parties: ten of the twenty clones headed for Jigoro and the others, seven went for Ruby and her group, and three charged Mac and his group.

"A fake of me, huh? Hah! Let's see how well you can move!"

The clones came running down the Great Bone War Fortress, and Jigoro greeted them with a savage grin. He approached them openly on foot, then, from a standing position, thrust out a fist at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

To my surprise, the clone narrowly dodged the punch that seemed certain to shatter its head. It even threw a high kick aimed at Jigoro's head while evading the blow. Its movement was exactly like Jigoro's.

"Heh heh heh... Ahahahahaha! Nice! This looks like it'll be even more fun than I expected!"

Jigoro deflected the high kick with one of his horns, then opened the fist whose punch the clone had dodged and seized the back of its head. He yanked it toward himself and drove his own head into it.

The headbutt was devastating, cracking the clone's bony head with a single blow. As the clone staggered from the impact, Jigoro hammered it with a kick as sharp as a spear.

That clone seemed strong enough to hold its own against Jigoro. And there were twenty of them? I wished I could believe it was a lie, but it was reality. Worse, the Great Bone War Fortress was also preparing to resume its attack.

This was a truly troublesome opponent. Unless we disposed of the clones immediately, we had no chance of winning!