Poison Flame Turtle Dragon (2)

Still lying flat on the ground, I felt—on my skin, or rather my bones—something speed past overhead. It seemed my judgment had been correct. Lying low had been the right choice.

"Ugh... Everyone! Is everyone all right!?"

I called out to my companions, who I assumed were somewhere beyond the purple dust that had billowed up with the explosion.

That had to be gas created by its 【Deadly Poison】 Skill. Staying inside it was incredibly dangerous. Come out of there quickly!

"I'm alive!"

"I managed somehow!"

Jigorou and Genjuro emerged from the dust with their hands covering their mouths, reporting that they were still alive. Thank goodness. I had thought we would have to give up on defeating the boss the moment either of them was lost, so this was a relief.

"Kyu..."

"Cal!?"

What a disaster! Just when I thought Cal had finally come out, I saw that one of its four wings had a huge hole in it!

Cal seemed capable of flying with only three wings, but it was wobbling terribly and looked completely unreliable. More than anything, seeing it missing a wing was painful.

"Cal, drink this."

"Kyu~..."

Cal obediently drank the potion I offered. Its HP bar slowly began to recover, but this alone could not restore a lost body part.

Or rather, we had no way to restore lost body parts. According to the message board, 【Healing Arts】, which could only be learned by those with priest-type Jobs, included a technique capable of restoring them. Unfortunately, none of us was a priest.

I would have liked to treat it with medicine, but things were not that simple. Apparently, restoring a lost body part required a Supreme Potion, two grades above the Intermediate Potion I was using now, and one of at least 'Good' quality.

I don't even know how to obtain something like that. In other words, Cal's wing could not be restored under our current circumstances.

"Hey, you two..."

"W-what is it, brother?"

Jigorou's voice seemed to tremble slightly. But that was secondary. Right now, we had to—

"Let's kill that rotten turtle bastard...!!!"

"Y-yeah!"

It had inflicted severe injuries on Cal, my tamed monster and companion. Since we could not prepare medicine to heal it, Tarasque would have to pay for what it had done with its life, wouldn't it?

"H-hey, brother. Can I ask you one thing?"

"What?"

"What did that thing do just now? I only ducked reflexively when I heard your voice, so I didn't see a thing."

"Oh, that? Look over there."

I pointed to a dark-brown, rod-shaped object sticking into the river. Jigorou's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at it and muttered:

"Is that... a spike?"

What exactly was the explosion Tarasque had caused? It had used one of its Skills, 【Launch】. It had 【Launched】 the assault-spear-like spikes growing from its shell in every direction.

As it launched a huge number of massive spikes with 【Launch】, a vast amount of purple smoke had poured out at the same time. Mixed with the dust, it still billowed thickly through the area, hiding Tarasque from view.

"When it launched those spikes, the amount of smoke coming from their bases increased. That was probably the warning sign."

"Huh, I see."

"And having the area around it enclosed may have been another condition, too."

That's true. Genjuro's prediction made sense. This had undoubtedly been some kind of trump card.

"Let's clear away this troublesome smoke. Astral Magic Circle, Spell Adjustment, Wind Ball."

I fired five Wind Balls with slightly increased power, blowing away the poisonous-looking dust. When Tarasque finally came into view again, it was in the middle of growing new spikes.

"Is it loading the next round?"

"Can we go for its tail again now?"

"No, wait."

The two of them seemed to think this was an opportunity, but I did not. Although Tarasque should have been leaving itself open while extending its spikes, there was an inexplicable composure about it.

Its 【Deadly Poison】 gas had been blown away, and it had stopped moving, yet it showed no sign of panic. It was definitely luring us in. I could think of no other explanation.

"We'll resume attacking once it finishes extending those spikes. Until then, we'll reorganize. Brother, can you keep harassing it without Cal?"

"I can't say it's impossible, but it'll be pretty rough. I'll probably be too busy just running away."

Jigorou answered without trying to bluff. Tarasque was enormous, so while each of its attacks was broad and sweeping, they also covered a wide area. Even Jigorou could not fight it with complete ease.

"I see. Then we need a mount for Cal. Summon, Black Wolf, Agility Boost, Agility Boost, Agility Boost, Agility Boost, Agility Boost."

Using 【Summoning Arts】, I called forth a level-20 Black Wolf, a wolf-type monster, and then used 【Enchantment Arts】 to raise its Agility as much as possible. Normally, a speed-specialized Undead could be enhanced further with 【Necromancy】, but unfortunately it was daytime, so I had to make do.

"Cal, you should ride this. Brother, I'll leave the orders for it to you."

"Okay, leave it to me!"

"Genjuro, do you have any requests?"

We had secured Cal's mobility. Next was Genjuro's turn. We would continue targeting the tail, but there might be some kind of support he needed that I had not noticed.

"Well... Could you harass it from the air? It would help if there were more targets to draw its attention."

"Understood. Summon, Aerial Eagle, Thunder, Agility Boost, Agility Boost, Agility Boost, Intelligence Boost."

As Genjuro requested, I summoned two Aerial Eagles. Our battle in the mountains had fulfilled the conditions needed to summon eagle-type monsters with 【Summoning Arts】. I had evolved them twice, imbued them with the lightning attribute, increased their speed, and raised their Intelligence to improve their elemental attack power.

Even hitting Tarasque's elemental weakness, they could not be expected to deal much damage against its HP and Defense. They were merely familiars assigned to harass it.

"Will this do?"

"Perfect."

"You two, looks like the big guy's about to start moving again."

We finished reorganizing almost exactly as Tarasque finished extending its spikes. With both sides ready, it was time for the second round. I would deliver the coup de grâce as soon as possible.

"GRAAAAAAAAH!"

"All right, let's go, you bastard!"

"Kyu-kyu!"

At Tarasque's roar, Jigorou and Cal, riding the Black Wolf, charged straight at it again. Tarasque countered with its tail. The attack was powerful enough that one would never guess its base had been deeply cut, but Jigorou and the others dodged it properly and resumed harassing the monster from the front.

"Then I shall go as well."

Genjuro deliberately waited before advancing and ran around toward Tarasque's rear. At the same time, the Aerial Eagles that had been circling overhead flew toward it.

"GROOOO!"

But Tarasque was not stupid. It had already learned that its tail was being targeted, so it tried to turn toward Genjuro, who was moving in to cut it.

"Don't ignore me...!"

"Kyuuu!"

"Gaa, gaaaargh!"

However, just as it tried to turn around, Jigorou's fist and Cal's 【Dark Magic】 came flying into its face. Cal was one thing, but Jigorou's blows apparently could not be ignored. Tarasque stopped turning with an irritated snarl and lunged at Jigorou with its jaws.

"Heh! Like I'd let you hit me!"

"Kyu-kyu!"

Even with its enormous jaws bearing down on him, Jigorou dodged with ease. In that opening, Cal leaped from the Black Wolf's back and slammed its tail into the side of Tarasque's face. The full-force blow rocked its head and stopped its movement, if only for an instant.

"There!"

Genjuro was not about to let this opportunity pass. With a battle cry, he charged forward with his great sword raised overhead. His determination to cut off that tail this time was unmistakable!

"GROOOOOOO!"

"Ngh!?"

At the instant Genjuro's blade seemed about to reach it, Tarasque roared and sprayed purple gas from around the base of its tail! I heard Genjuro cry out. Was he all right!?

"Cough, cough! What a nasty turn of events!"

Genjuro emerged from the gas, coughing. He had noticed the signs of the attack at the very last moment and retreated, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.

But he had not escaped unharmed. Burn marks covered parts of his exoskeleton. Apparently, that gas had been extremely hot. It must have been a brutal attack for Genjuro, whose weakness was the fire attribute.

"Healing potion?"

"I've already used it. The antidote too. But man, it stinks!"

"It stinks?"

Using his wings to extend the distance of his leap, Genjuro returned to my side and spat out the words as if disgusted. Why was he suddenly saying something like that?

"That was a fart! That turtle actually farted on me!"

Genjuro was furious. Getting farted on was certainly a reasonable cause for anger. Still, a fart containing both fire and poison... That monster was beyond my imagination.

"I'll definitely cut off that tail!"

"Then take this."

Genjuro was hot with anger, but if he did nothing to counter the attack, the same outcome as before awaited him. To prevent that, I held out several talismans.

"Hm? What is this?"

"A Wind Wall talisman. This should block that gas."

"Oh, wonderful! Much obliged!"

"However, my 【Talisman Arts】 level is still low, so the magic stored in the talismans is weak. Use them all, and they will just barely block the gas once. Keep that in mind."

Although I had been actively raising the level of 【Talisman Arts】, it was still far lower than my other Skills. Because of how 【Talisman Arts】 worked, Genjuro would have only one chance.

"Sorry for being such an unreliable leader."

"No, it's enough. I just need to finish this in one go."

With that, Genjuro stored his katana and wakizashi in his inventory, then gripped the great sword with the three arms not holding a talisman. What was he planning to do?

"I'll show you two what swordsmanship is all about!"

With that, Genjuro spread his wings again, leaped, and rushed toward Tarasque at high speed. He circled around to its rear.

"GROOOOON!!"

"It won't work!"

Unable to turn because of the harassment from Jigorou and Cal, Tarasque sprayed purple gas just as it had before. Genjuro used the talisman I had given him at the same time.

The poisonous-looking gas was stopped by a wall of wind and failed to envelop Genjuro. Unaware that its counterattack had failed, Tarasque continued using its tail to finish off Jigorou and Cal. In other words, nothing stood in Genjuro's way.

"Shah!"

Genjuro raised his great sword high overhead and brought it down on the wound he had slashed three times earlier.

"GRAAAAAAAH!?"

Gripped firmly by all four arms, the great sword cut through the bones of Tarasque's tail with astonishing ease.

"And one more!"

With a follow-up upward slash, he severed the muscle and skin that had barely been holding it together. Tarasque's tail had been completely cut off.

"Ha-ha! Without a tail, you're easy pickings!"

"Kyuooooo!!"

Without the tail it had been swinging in every direction, Tarasque could only make broad, sweeping attacks. That left Jigorou in his element. He darted around nimbly, throwing Tarasque into confusion while landing powerful blows whenever he saw an opening.

Jigorou was not the only one attacking. I fired Thunder Arrows with 【Lightning Magic】, exploiting Tarasque's weakness, between supporting the others, while Cal cast magic from close range and devoted itself to blinding the monster. The summoned Aerial Eagles also drew its attention from the air with Thunder Arrows, and Genjuro, having cut off its tail, had returned to his three-sword style and was slashing at Tarasque's legs.

"Guuuuuu..."

Tarasque, being attacked from the front, rear, and above, let out a low, resentful growl. Then I saw the smoke leaking from its shell begin to increase once more.

"It's coming! Everyone, watch out!"

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

"Kyu!"

"Gwoaaah!!!"

Immediately after my warning, Tarasque launched its spikes with 【Launch】 amid a roar. But since we had already seen it once, we did not panic. We crouched low and rode out the attack.

As countless spikes were scattered, poisonous gas filled the area around Tarasque. This wasn't going to become another reset into a third round!

"Remote Magic Circle Activation, Spell Adjustment, Wind Pillar."

I caused Wind Pillars to form around Tarasque, whipping up the gas and sending it into the sky. It could not use the gas to protect itself this time.

"Good, now..."

"Grrrr... GRAAAAAAH!!!"

Just as I decided that approaching it was too dangerous and planned to whittle it down with ranged attacks, Tarasque roared. It was a full-power roar, without the composure it had shown before.

Then, from the hollows left where its spikes had grown, bright-red flames began to pour out along with purple smoke! Surely not...

"A mode change!?"

My cry from the depths of my soul echoed throughout the boss area.