Chapter 27: Before the Third Wave

It was morning and we had an hour before we were to meet with the soldiers that volunteered to help fight the wave. I decided to tell the others about something I had been thinking about.

"I think there may be something wrong with my clones."

"What do you mean, Master Endou?"

"Well, you know how their stats are basically the same as mine before the shield modifies them and gives bonuses?"

"Mhm, they are even stronger than we are." (Blake)

"They are quite the asset, Sir Endou."

"Well I've done the math and they aren't doing anywhere near the damage that they should. It's hard to tell when they can kill most monsters in a single blow, but in that fight with the zombie dragon it was apparent."

"It was? But we only won so easily because of them. Their magic held down the dragon so we could cut its head off." (Talia)

"It should have done more than just held it down, between those two attacks the zombie should have lost most of its HP. So it should have died when you both decapitated it, but instead it only lost a bit of health and Blake had to dive in for its core."

"So you believe that your clones are weaker than expected. Is it possible that the magic that you had before being summoned is simply less effective here? Or perhaps the dragon was resistant to magic." (Seb)

"Those are a possibilities, but it wouldn't explain why the damaged from their blades didn't do as much damage as expected either. Each of my clones should have significantly more attack than you, so one should have been able to cut off the zombie's legs or tail with in one or two strikes, but it took several more and didn't do much to its health."

"That is strange, what do you think could be the cause?" (Seb)

"It could be anything. Maybe the shield is starting to affect their attack, or it could be that they simply aren't as compatible with this world as we thought. I honestly don't know what the problem is, but it seems that at this point you three are able to do about as much damage as them with blades. Though their speed and defense seem to be working fine, so it's just attacking that's weird."

"Well, even if your clones can't kill things as well as they should, your still stronger than all the other heroes put together." (Talia)

"We certainly clean up after them enough." (Blake)

"I know, it just feels like I'm missing something and I can't quite put my finger on what it is. On a less serious topic, I finished those accessories I was working on." I pulled out the ones that I felt would help each of them the most. "For Blake we have a brooch that should be able to stay on when you transform and will boost your speed and endurance." The design was based on her feathers since those designs seem to be popular and it took a few tries to get one that would work for her.

"Does this mean I'll be faster and able to go all out for even longer?" (Blake)

"It should. Next I have the bracelet you wanted Talia. It has an effect to boost your attack as well as a slight passive healing effect."

"Thank you Master Endou." She smiled as she put it on.

"Seb, I'm sorry about the ascetics, but this necklace gives a powerful boost to mana regen and you did say that you wanted to increase it when we were talking about class ups."

"I suppose it won't be seen under my armor anyways." Seb said with a sigh. It was a rather gaudy piece of jewelry that I originally made in hopes of selling to a noble lady, but the combat bonus was better than anything I was likely to get making things with the materials I had on hand. "Did you not also make an accessory for yourself?"

"I have one." I held up a rather plain looking pendant with a ruby in the center. "It gives a boost to stamina. I hope that now that the other heroes have more experience, the wave should be over faster, but you never know. Now we should head over to the weapon shop to pick up our armor."

As we walked into Erhard's, "Hey, Shield bro, I was starting to wonder if you had forgotten about your armor."

"You said it would be done before the wave, and here we are. So, what have you got for us?"

"Well the bones and Dragon Core did wonders for upgrading the Barbarian armors. I couldn't do much for your coat, but it did get an upgrade in terms of effects. If you want anything better for yourself, it's going to have to be a new piece rather than an upgrade."

Their armor looks even more threatening now. I can see a piece of the core implanted in each of the chest pieces and it looks like some of the wyvern leather has been replaced with the dragon skin we got. My coat on the other hand seems to have developed a faint purple smoke-like pattern and had smaller fragments of the core running down the front hem. It seemed to have gained a few resistances and a recovery function.

"This is good stuff."

"I hoped you'd like it. I'd say this is some of the best armor I've made, even if I can't take full credit on yours."

"Speaking of things you've made, you mentioned earlier that we could commission a katana, but that there wouldn't be time for it and the armor. How long would it take to make one for us to pick up after the wave?"

"Depends on the materials, if you want one similar to this guy's sword it will probably take two or three days. I haven't made a katana in a while though, so it may not be the same quality."

"Master Endou, are you sure? My current blade is still holding up well."

"For now, but this wave is supposed to be stronger than the last one so it is about to see a lot of use without a break for sharpening, not to mention that we are going to have to head to another country for class-ups after that. Even if you don't need a new one right now, I want to be ready for when you do."

"Hold on a second there kid. Did you just say that you need to leave the country to class-up?" (Erhard)

"Yeah, the king decided to completely ban us from getting class-ups here, so our best bet is to go to another country for it."

"Why in the world would he do something as stupid as limit the power of the people that are defending us from the waves?"

"Probably the same reasons he has for most of the things he pulls against me, undue prejudice. It's no secret that he hates me and his daughter likes to use that to her advantage, which just makes things worse for us."

"What is the country coming to? You got any idea where you are going to go to for your class-ups?"

"The slave trader suggested Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden."

"You asked the slave trader for advice on class-ups?" (Talia)

"The guy knows a bit about everything, it's part of doing business in the dark side of society."

"You seem to know too much about that kind of thing for your own good. But I gotta say that those are probably your best bets for convincing them to let you class-up immediately. Though I would advise Shieldfreeden over Siltvelt. Those in Siltvelt can go a bit overboard with demi-human supremacy."

"Right. So back to the katana, how much would it cost?"

"Given that it's you asking and the question of quality… 10 gold should cover it."

"Sound good. Oh and do you know anyone that could reinforce our wagon?"

"Kid, I'm a weapon smith, not a carriage repairman."

"I know, that's why I'm asking if you know anyone who can do it rather than asking you to do it yourself. Besides I figure most people who do regular business in this city know each other."

"Well I do know some guys, what kind of reinforcement are you thinking about?"

"Metal along the high stress areas. Basically just making sure it doesn't fall apart on us. There is only so much I can do to keep it together with Blake's speed, even with the suspension."

"If it's just that, it'll probably cost about 5 gold and should be done by the time you guys get back."

"Alright then, we'll be counting on you. We'll be back to pick them up after the wave is over."

I paid him the gold and we left to pick up Blake's boots from the crazy tailor. She was as energetic as ever but focused when Blake talked to her. I don't know what happened when they were taking her measurements back then, but ever since it seems like the tailor has some sort of odd mix of fear and admiration for Blake. It turned out that there was also enough thread for socks, which I probably should have about before, and the boots came out just as I had expected when I described them to her. Blake put them on and tested them with some small jumps and practice kicks.

"Feels good."

"How is it that you managed to turn magic thread into rubber soles anyways?" That was the one thing about them that I couldn't figure out.

"Oh, well I'm afraid that's a trade secret."

"Fair enough."

We then went to meet up with the soldiers that wanted to come with us to fight the wave.

03:04

There were only a dozen of them, but it was better than none. I added them to the battle formation so that they would be transported with us and began to explain what would happen.

"When the wave starts, we will be transported to the area along with the other heroes and their groups. Judging by what happened last time, they will make a beeline for the boss and ignore anything that doesn't attack them. At the same time monsters will start coming from the rift and cracks in the sky. Our job will be to protect any civilians and help them evacuate. You all understand that?" They nodded in agreement. "Good. Best case scenario is that the wave hits in the middle of nowhere and it ends before anyone can get hurt. Worst case, it covers multiple towns and we won't be able to get to everyone in time. Any questions?"

"Where are we supposed to evacuate the citizens to?" One of the solders spoke up.

"Anywhere that is safe or easy to protect. Last time we had them hold up in an abandoned mine that, luckily, was recently cleared of monsters, but since we don't know where the waves will hit, we'll have to make a judgement call on how to handle things."

"How long will the wave last?" The demi-human mage asked.

"It depends on how fast the other heroes can take out the boss and close the rift. Each wave is supposed to be stronger than the previous one so I would guess several hours. Then we will still have to deal with any lingering monsters."

"Umm…what kind of monsters?" this soldier was a bit nervous to ask.

"The only consistency between what Talia saw in the first wave and what we faced in the second is that some of the monsters appeared to be undead humanoids. The first wave also had several large canines with multiple heads, while the second had flying insects and a chimera as the boss. That said, we can't be sure of what we'll be facing so it's best to be ready for anything." I waited for a moment. "If there are no more questions, we should probably discus how we are going to operate in various scenarios."

That brought a confused look to the soldiers' faces. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well we are obviously going to have to follow different plans depending on the situation. It would be better if we can talk it over and decide now so we don't have to waste as much time planning during the wave. It will be simple if there is only one village or town to protect, but if there are multiple how will we handle it? Will we go to them one at a time or split up?"

The soldiers looked like they hadn't even considered how they would move to protect people, only that they would do their best. These guys probably haven't seen any battle outside of training and maybe some guard duty. It looks like I'm going to have to explain things so they can comprehend the danger and won't get themselves killed.

00:08

It took longer than I expected, but we figured out a plan for each probable scenario and made sure that the soldiers could manage. The general plan was for my party to do the main fighting while they handle the evacuations. I would assist with healing and support magic as necessary. If there were multiple villages, some of the soldiers would stay behind to finish evacuating after we clear out the monsters from the area and move to the next. If we couldn't evacuate we would split our forces to defend the villages. If the wave continues after we finish the evacuations, we'll leave defense to them and help the others take out the boss. There was also the possibility that my party would split up to maintain the defenses depending on how strong the monsters were. I didn't tell the soldiers, but I would be sending a clone ahead to other villages to reduce monster numbers and prevent extra deaths, and if there were no more villages then I would send one to the boss. We also decided to only bring the carts with us since the wagon was going to be upgraded while we were away. The soldiers had a filolial of their own that was going to pull one of them, but only after Blake made it clear to him that the cart was hers and he was only borrowing it.

00:01

"One minute warning. We are about to be teleported to the wave. Try to be careful in case you end up on uneven ground."

00:00

The third wave began and we were teleported along with the sound of breaking glass.

AN: There are actually several reasons that Endou's clones aren't doing as much damage as he expects and he will eventually figure it out, but the different magic system is one of them. There is only so much Erhard can do to improve a coat made of wyvern leather, but the crazy tailor can make anything out of magic thread. And of course Endou knows a thing or two about preparing troops for battle.