Poison Flame Turtle Dragon (3)

If we provisionally call Tarasque's form up until now its “Physical Mode,” should we call its current form its “Poison Flame Mode”? The way it sprays poison and flames evenly from its shell is exactly what you would expect from a Poison Flame Turtle Dragon.

"Hey, hey! It sure has taken on a dangerous-looking appearance!"

There was unmistakable surprise and barely contained delight in Jigoro's voice. It looked obviously dangerous, but apparently that was precisely what he liked. What a battle maniac!

"But poison and fire don't do much to me, you know!?"

That's right. As a result of being repeatedly poisoned and cured during the battle against the Toadman Prince, Jigoro had acquired the 【Poison Resistance】 Skill.

That said, his level was still low, so he probably could not withstand Tarasque's 【Deadly Poison】 indefinitely. At most, it would slightly delay the onset of the 【Deadly Poison】 status. Even so, Jigoro, who was effectively wearing a gas mask at all times despite its limited performance, should be the main attacker in this mode.

"We'll attack with brother at the center—"

"Gyaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Whoa!? Tarasque, which had not moved aggressively until now, came charging at us with a roar!

It was surprisingly fast, too! By taking long strides with its massive body and skillfully moving all six legs, it achieved a speed completely at odds with its appearance. What a nuisance!

Apparently, 'Poison Flame Mode' was an attack mode as well. It had clearly become more savage.

"For now, remote activation of magic circle, Spell Modulation, Earth Hole."

"Gaaaaaaaa!?"

To stop Tarasque's charge, I used magic to create a large pit in its path. Since it had reached a considerable speed and could not stop suddenly, Tarasque plunged headfirst into the hole. What a comical sight.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

However, it seemed unwilling to let us defeat it so easily. Tarasque began spinning at high speed like the Forest Beast Turtle and forcibly escaped from the hole I had dug. Unlike the Forest Beast Turtle, it continued spewing poison and flames as it spun, making it look like a storm of fire.

That was so cool. Could I recreate something like that with magic? I really want to learn how.

"What do we do, brother? Looks like even stopping it is going to be difficult."

Setting aside my pointless fantasies, Jigoro was right: stopping it by ordinary means would probably be difficult. So what should we do?

Two options immediately came to mind. One was to retreat while chipping away at it with long-range attacks. The other was the exact opposite: attack it head-on and force a no-holds-barred fight. What was the right choice for us? The answer was obvious.

"No choice. We'll go with a straight-up fight."

"That's more like it!"

"Good grief. This old body will feel it tomorrow."

Jigoro was delighted to hear that we would fight it head-on, and despite his words, Genjuro sounded happy as well. With these two around, there was no way they would accept such a passive strategy as chipping away at it.

In that case, it was better to let them unleash their full abilities and rampage to their hearts' content. All I had to do was focus on support.

"We'll use hit-and-run tactics. I'll scatter the poison with 【Storm Magic】, so close in while you have an opening."

"Sure!"

"Got it."

"Then... Astral Magic Circle remote activation, Spell Modulation, Wind Pillar."

I generated a Wind Pillar right beside Tarasque, with an expanded area of effect, sweeping up and scattering all the poison it was spraying. The gas was constantly being emitted anew, but as long as the Wind Pillar was present, it would suck it up and disperse it.

It was like an air purifier! I should have done this from the start. We no longer had to worry about being poisoned, but the other problem—the flames—remained as dangerous as ever. They were erupting so spectacularly that 【Water-Ice Magic】 would be water on a burning shell rather than water on a hot stone.

"Hahahahaha! Now this is thrilling!"

"Ho ho ho!"

However, do not underestimate the courage of our two vaunted battle maniacs. The two of them approached by weaving through the gaps between the flames erupting from the shell. Jigoro was one thing, but Genjuro supposedly had 【Fire Attribute Vulnerability】. Was he really not afraid of being hit by fire?

Before long, the two of them sprang out directly in front of Tarasque. Jigoro continued targeting its face, while Genjuro, who had returned to his three-sword style, attacked its right foreleg.

"Oraaahhhhhhh!!!"

"Hnn!"

Jigoro's fist once again broke off the spikes growing from its face, while Genjuro's slashes cut into its foreleg through the hard fur. Neither attack was anywhere near lethal, but they had certainly inflicted a steady amount of damage.

"Gagh... Gaaaaaaaaah!!"

Naturally, Tarasque counterattacked. Until now, it had primarily relied on its long tail, but Genjuro had already cut it off. Its attacks were therefore the same as before: biting and slashing with its forelegs.

Tarasque had six legs, so it could support its body with its hind and middle legs while freely moving both forelegs. Perhaps because this was an aggressive form, it swung its sturdy forelegs, each as thick as a great tree, in every direction.

"Ora, ora! Is that all you've got!?"

"There, there. You haven't hit me once."

Even amid that violence, where a mere graze would have killed me, the two of them never lost their rhythm. They carefully dodged the forelegs and bites while actually provoking it with taunting remarks.

"Guh... GUGAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

FSW's monsters generally have low intelligence, but they possess enough AI to get angry at being mocked. In human terms, Tarasque had gone red in the face and was recklessly lashing out.

"Kyu-kyu!"

"Kii!"

In other words, it was no longer paying attention to its surroundings. As a result, Kar and the Aerial Eagle I had summoned were steadily chipping away at its health with magic from mid-range. Their individual attacks were nowhere near as powerful as those of the two vanguards, but they kept attacking continuously, so their total damage output should have become quite substantial.

"...All right, the buffs have been refreshed. I can finally join in."

I hadn't merely been standing back and watching the battle. I had been watching for the moment everyone's buffs wore off and recasting them.

Now that I was finished, I could join the fight. I would absolutely avenge Kar's wing!

"Then, to start... Remote activation of magic circle, Spell Modulation, Earth Change."

Using Earth Change, I altered the ground beneath Tarasque's hind and middle legs. I transformed the coarse gravel and small rounded stones forming the sandbar into loose, shifting sand.

I also expanded the spell's area of effect through Spell Modulation, but I expanded it downward. In other words, the ground became sand to a considerable depth.

"Gaa?"

However, that alone could not cause Tarasque any real harm. In fact, simply turning the ground beneath its feet into sand had no effect whatsoever against its massive body and overwhelming weight.

"And now, remote activation of magic circle, Quicksand. Sink!"

I used Quicksand from 【Sand Dust Magic】 on the ground transformed into sand by Earth Change from 【Earth Magic】, creating an improvised antlion pit. I had wanted to try this combo for a long time. Now, how effective would it be?

"Gaaaaaaaaah!?"

Oh, it was devastatingly effective. Tarasque was caught by the sand flowing downward and gradually sank deeper and deeper. Confusion and bewilderment came through in its screams. This was a textbook case of being killed by something you did not understand!

"All right, let's pile on the damage."

I also began piling on 【Curse】 and 【Dark Arts】 spells. I knew Poison would not work anyway, and I would not use any instant-death spells; if one somehow succeeded, the other two would probably kill me.

"Guh... Gugaga...!!?"

Good, good. Most of the spells seemed to have landed. My steady leveling and the effects of the 'Skull Mask' must have paid off. Tarasque was now suffering from hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and phantom pain, while also being afflicted with paralysis and illness. Hahaha! This must be painful.

"That's brutal..."

"...I'm glad Izam is on our side."

"Kyukyukyu!"

The two of them had seen a disgrace no boss should ever display, and for some reason they were looking at me as though I were a monster. Hey, I knew this was a fiendish thing to do, but could you stop looking at an ally like that?

Kar alone was absolutely thrilled and delighted. Oh, Kar. You understand how amazing I am, don't you? You're such a good boy.

"There, while it can't move. Attack it already."

"I don't feel great about this, but got it."

"Indeed!"

"Kyu-uuuu!"

Tarasque could do nothing, caught in the Quicksand dragging it underground and subjected to a parade of status ailments. Jigoro, Genjuro, and Kar pounced on it. I would maintain the status ailments with 【Curse】 and 【Dark Arts】 while carefully monitoring its health.

I was watching its health, of course, because I was wary of 【Dragon Factor】. I knew from personal experience just how dangerous it was. The instant it activated, it put you on the back foot and kicked off a turnaround worthy of a manga protagonist awakening at the last possible moment.

Our plan was to whittle Tarasque down until its health was just barely above ten percent, then unleash our maximum firepower. It was uncertain whether we could finish it off that way, but we had no choice.

Of course, 【Dragon Factor】 also had a constant healing effect and was forcibly canceled once the user's health recovered to a certain level. Therefore, if I were alone, the cleverest solution would be to throw recovery items at it the instant its health fell below ten percent and 【Dragon Factor】 activated.

However, there was no way Jigoro and Genjuro would accept such a passive strategy. They played this game to fight powerful opponents who did not exist in real life, so I could not imagine them approving of a plan that exploited the game's mechanics.

Incidentally, the two of them did not consider long-range attacks with magic, weakening an enemy with 【Curse】 and 【Dark Arts】, or even using poisoned weapons unfair. Those were simply different battle tactics. They acknowledged that a mage's magic, a curse-user's curses, and an assassin's poison needle were no different from their fists and swords.

When I heard that, I thought it was an incredibly stoic way of looking at things. At the same time, I was truly glad they were my companions. I could not betray the trust of these two ascetic warriors. All the more reason for us to defeat Tarasque's final form together, with every ounce of our strength.

"It's almost at ten percent! Everyone, prepare your strongest attacks!"

"Been waiting for this!"

"Understood! Haaaaaaaa!"

"Kyu-uuuuuu!!"

Before long, Tarasque's health was nearly down to ten percent. Everyone began preparing their all-out attacks.

Jigoro began preparing 【Divine Beast Transformation】, 【Embodiment of Flame and Lightning】, and the Skill 【Armor-Breaking Fist】 from the 'Mad Ogre War Gauntlets,' a reward from the labyrinth event. It allowed him to reliably destroy an enemy's shell or armor while delivering blows that ignored defense once with each hand every two days. Naturally, Tarasque's shell was included among its targets. This had to be the perfect time to use it.

When Genjuro tightened his grip on his swords, each of the three blades changed. The odachi's blade turned jet black, while a sinister, resentful aura spilled from the katana and wakizashi.

The odachi was a reward from 'Azure Moon's Trial,' and its name was 'Odachi: Mochizuki.' It possessed multiple Skills specialized for cutting, one of which was 【New Moon】. Using it dramatically increased the odachi's performance, at the cost of rendering the blade completely dull for an entire day as a recoil effect.

The katana and wakizashi were a set of equipment called 'Cursed Blade: Nameless.' They were the weapons that had lain at the bottom of the underground lake where the Lesser Small Naga had lived. After Iris carefully sharpened and repaired them, they became usable—and turned out to be cursed blades.

When mana was run through them, they inflicted a special status ailment called 【Cursed Wound】, which prevented wounds from healing until the curse was dispelled. It was a powerful Skill, but unless they were equipped as a set, they could not be drawn from their scabbards. Moreover, every time the blades struck an enemy, they drained the wielder's health. According to Genjuro, even brushing an enemy for an instant drained a considerable amount of health, so he could only use them at critical moments. This had to be the time to accept that risk and attack.

I began preparing for my final attack as well. There would be no holding back in this situation. I would crush it all at once! With that much determination, I began constructing my magic.