Chapter 275
After the tornado of flames and ice raging in the center of the boss area subsided, the Great Bone War Fortress had taken the form of a four-armed giant wielding weapons and stood there imposingly. Then it raised all four arms and brought each weapon crashing down.
"Gwaaaaaaaaaah!?"
"Nghhhhhhhhhhh!"
Kamaboko and Eiji, who took the blow of a gigantic naginata head-on with their shields, both cried out in pain at almost the same time. Kamaboko was sent completely off his feet and slammed into the wall, while Eiji managed to withstand the blow but had no opportunity whatsoever to counterattack.
Kamaboko's skill as a shield user was in no way inferior to Eiji's, so the difference between them was probably due to the gap in their Race, Job, and Skill levels, as well as the weight of their avatars. A blow from such an enormous enemy, backed by extraordinary strength and mass, seemed difficult enough to block even without considering anything else.
At this rate, overwhelming violence would scatter the frontline. We had to come up with a countermeasure immediately...
"Woraaaah!!!"
"Nuuueeeh!!!"
Just as I began trying to think of some kind of plan, the two monsters roared. I instinctively looked in their direction and saw that Jigoro had used a kick from his left foot, while Genjuro had used two naginata to knock aside and deflect the great odachi swung down at them! Their mastery was as incredible as ever.
"Shaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"
However, the two masters did not stop at merely deflecting the attack. Jigoro used the momentum of his left-foot kick to deliver a roundhouse with his right foot, while Genjuro used his remaining two naginata to snap the gigantic odachi held by the Great Bone War Fortress.
Neither of them had simply broken or severed it through their own strength alone. They had used the Great Bone War Fortress's downward force to slam it against the ground and break it. They had combined their own strength with that of their enemy, but... how many players in the entire game could perform a movement like that?
However, the broken odachi began repairing itself immediately after it broke and returned to its original shape in an instant. Jigoro and Genjuro had destroyed it through their superhuman skill, but in practical terms, it seemed their actions had been meaningless.
"Wahahahahah! We can still play plenty more, huh!?"
"Hohohoho! This will make excellent training!"
Seeing the weapon repair itself so easily, the two were not despairing; they even seemed to be enjoying themselves. Apparently, they were happy that they could repeat the same thing over and over. I doubted their sanity, but it was far better than losing their will to fight or shrinking back.
"I'm beginning to doubt there's even a human inside him..."
"I mean, he's human, isn't he? I'm his grandson, and I'm human."
"People have questioned that for ages, haven't they? I thought the same thing when I first saw him."
"...I suppose they have. So, what do we do now?"
Ruby and Shio knew Genjuro in the real world, and apparently they had seen any number of people who shared my suspicions. They accepted my doubts as a matter of course.
Putting Genjuro's incredible strength aside, how we were going to fight from here was extremely important. Deciding that was Ruby's job as the party leader. I had decided merely to support the three parties this time, so it was not my place to butt in.
"...The Great Bone War Fortress's attention is divided between Grandpa and Jigoro, Moss-san's group, and Mac's group. In that case, we'll target the main body's legs."
"You mean you'll make it fall? Got it!"
"Which one should we target?"
"Either one should be fine, but... let's go with the right. Should we aim for the knee?"
"Got it!"
And so, we took on the task of attacking the main body. As an opening salvo, magic from Wool and me, along with Shio's shots, struck the Great Bone War Fortress's right knee head-on.
The attacks happened to hit at the exact moment the Great Bone War Fortress drew back its arms, and although the damage was not great, they succeeded in making the attacks from the weapons in its four arms veer far off course. It was only natural when I thought about it: anyone would lose their balance if their knee were struck just as they stepped forward. This must have been Ruby's plan.
"It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea, but it worked out well."
"Ooh, amazing."
"This helps everyone else too!"
Ruby looked satisfied that the plan had proceeded as expected. If we continued attacking its knee like this, we should be able to both nullify its attacks and deal damage.
With that in mind, we once again concentrated our attacks on the knee. This time too, we succeeded in landing an effective hit and created an opening for the other parties to counterattack. Their cheers were loud enough for us to hear them from where we were.
Our interference would have been impossible and almost meaningless if the Great Bone War Fortress had remained in its original form. That was because transforming into a humanoid shape had given it the same weaknesses as a human.
Moreover, although its appearance seemed to combine the best features of Jigoro and Genjuro, even an amateur could tell that it was hardly capable of putting them to full use. If it could perfectly trace their movements, we would have been trampled long ago, especially given its size.
"If we keep this up... huh!?"
"It jumped!?"
Just as we were about to launch another attack at its knee, the Great Bone War Fortress leaped almost up to the ceiling. Its agility and mobility were terrifying for such a gigantic body.
That movement would have been impossible in its fortress form, which was ponderous and incapable of jumping. Immediately after exploiting a humanoid form's weakness, we were shown its advantages in the most striking way possible.
The Great Bone War Fortress drove its odachi into the ceiling and fixed its body there. This was... bad! If my guess about what I would do in its place was correct, we would all die instantly!
"Everyone, use your talismans and retreat to the walls!"
Perhaps because I shouted in a strained voice, Ruby and the others used their Short Teleport talismans as instructed. The instant they got clear, the bastard kicked off the ceiling and came plunging down.
The kick seemed to reproduce Jigoro's, and the falling momentum, the Great Bone War Fortress's weight, and the force of its stomp combined to produce incredible power. The impact knocked some of the bones forming its foot loose, while the foot itself sank so deeply into the ground of the boss area that it created a massive crater.
The Great Bone War Fortress took self-inflicted damage from this, but the power was tremendous, and its effects were not limited to the point of impact. The kick generated a shockwave that spread throughout the entire boss area. Eiji's group and Mac's group were blown away, while Genjuro, who was a little farther from Jigoro and us and had not used a talisman, went tumbling through the air like a scrap of wood.
It had done this to eliminate us, the ones targeting its legs, first. We had used our Short Teleport talismans to put as much distance between ourselves and it as possible. A fierce gust struck us immediately after we teleported, but that was the extent of the damage. If our reactions had been any slower, everyone except me, who could survive one death, would have died. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was close!?"
"Moving like that at that size is cheating!"
Ruby and Shio's complaints were entirely justified. Everyone who had taken part in this boss battle must have felt the same way. Incidentally, Shifune and Wool had been knocked flat by the wind pressure that came immediately after they teleported, and were flailing their eight jointed legs and four legs as they tried to get back up. I should help them.
Even though we had been the farthest away, some of us had still been knocked down, so Moss-san's group and Mac's group had suffered even more damage. They had only just managed to stand up from where they had fallen, and most of them still seemed unsteady on their feet.
"Gahahahahahahaha! Now that's some spectacular movement!"
"Big movements aren't necessarily a good thing, you know..."
However, Jigoro and Genjuro alone had already gone on the offensive. The former let out a booming laugh as he used the wall he had been sent flying into as a foothold and leaped at the Great Bone War Fortress, while the latter flew in, opening his wings in midair to control his posture and rapidly close the distance despite criticizing the Great Bone War Fortress's movements. They were both targeting the leg still embedded in the ground.
Jigoro's flying kick drove into the side of its knee, while Genjuro's naginata carved away at it from behind the knee. The Great Bone War Fortress was trying to pull out its leg, but the two relentlessly attacked and prevented it from doing so.
The Great Bone War Fortress had no opportunity to swing its weapons while its leg remained half-buried. We had to seize this chance! Now was the time to press the attack!
"Izam!"
"I know! Pummel it with your 'Secret Arts' and 'Ultimate Techniques'! 【Cursed Mire of Vengeful Spirits】!"
I used 【Cursed Mire of Vengeful Spirits】, the first 'Secret Art' I had learned and one that had also played an active role during the battle against the Thornshell Scorpion Highlord. It was a 'Secret Art' that restrained enemies while inflicting status ailments, but status ailments had no effect on the Great Bone War Fortress, since it was Undead. My target was the restraint.
A familiar, pitch-black, highly viscous liquid seeped out from beneath the Great Bone War Fortress's feet and spread rapidly. Just as before, the surface of the swamp bubbled and boiled, emitting a dirty-looking gas.
"Gigigigi..."
The ground where the Great Bone War Fortress's legs were embedded had become a sticky bottomless swamp, making it nearly impossible for it to pull free. In addition, the swamp transformed into muddy hands that clung to the Great Bone War Fortress's limbs and weapons, trying to drag them down.
The muddy hands, which looked like manifestations of resentment, were stronger than they appeared. By slipping into the gaps between the bones making up the Great Bone War Fortress, they exerted even greater restraining force. It would not even be able to move for a while.
"That's more like it, brother!"
"Hoho! Monster hunting has turned into chopping down helpless targets!"
With its movements halted, everyone began using either their 'Ultimate Techniques' or 'Secret Arts.' Powerful techniques burst forth from various weapons and parts of their bodies, and flashes of colorful light erupted as they tore the Great Bone War Fortress apart.
The golden Jigoro smashed the torso apart with his fists, while Genjuro severed the two arms on its right side together from the shoulder. The full-power attacks we had conserved until now rapidly drained away its remaining health.
"Take this! Armored Flesh-Mass Fist!"
"Gigi... gi..."
Finally, Mac ran up the back of the Great Bone War Fortress and unleashed an 'Ultimate Technique.' His iron-clad fist swelled to enormous size, and when he slammed it down with brute force, it smashed through roughly the upper half of its head. With that, the Great Bone War Fortress finally ran out of health and collapsed.