The Rising of the Shield Hero

The Shadow of the Shield

Chapter 24

The Ocean's Wave

"I don't know how, but we made it." The Queen spoke from her position on the ship which was carrying them out to sea. Several other large ships just like this one were travelling alongside it.

"Honestly, I'm impressed you managed to put together an army on such short notice." Naofumi looked at the Queen with his team standing around him.

"Oh it wasn't a big deal, preparing for the waves is the royal family's responsibility." Melty smiled as she closed her eyes.

Naofumi glanced at the Princess, "What are you doing here?"

Melty's eyes shot opened as she scowled, "What's that supposed to mean!?"

Naofumi gasped, taken aback by her response.

Kioka let out a very quiet chuckle, causing Naofumi to shoot a look at her. She turned and walked over to the edge, placing her hand on the edge and looked out at the Ocean.

"I am here because..." Melty looked down slightly, her voice dropping in volume as her embarrassment set in, "I'm part of your party..."

Filo stepped close to her, "I'm happy your here. I am always happy when I get to see you!" She giggled slightly.

Melty smiled at her, "Aww, thanks, Filo. I feel the same."

Raphtalia smiled, but the smile quickly disappeared as she turned to the Queen, "Do you think that the people from Cal Mira will be able to get off the island in time?"

The Queen nodded, "The Earl of Habenburg acted quickly. He's already finished evacuating all of the Islanders. Besides, we have every reason to believe that this wave will be happening at sea." She looked at Naofumi's party as a whole, "Right now all you need to worry about is the battle."

Naofumi smiled, "You've got a point but..." He turned away slightly, his expression dropping, "We sure don't want to get complacent."

"Seeing as the Dragon Hourglass is now underwater, it is definitely a reason to believe that it will be out here instead of being on the islands. Unfortunately, we were not so lucky in the wave I encountered here. But then again, the islands looked different back then. The Dragon Hourglass was not submerged. It was not an easy fight and evacuating was a lot more difficult, especially when the royal family-" Kioka stopped, bowing her head as she lifted her hand to hold her head, closing her eyes.

Mirror?

Kioka flinched slightly.

Everyone just stood there for a moment, silenced by shock.

The Queen narrowed her eyes slightly.

Naofumi stepped forward, placing his hands on the edge of the ship, looking at her in concern, "You've fought a wave here before?"

Opening her eyes, Kioka looked up at him, "I guess I did." She turned and looked at the Queen, "I am sorry if I said something out of turn, I don't know where my memory was taking me when I spoke of the royal family. It felt like memories were coming back, but when the thought of your family came to mind, it was almost as if hitting a brick wall. If I knew where it had been trying to lead me, I would tell you. I hope this doesn't cause any problems for Naofumi and the others."

Naofumi opened his mouth to speak, but when the Queen stepped forward, he closed his mouth.

"I understand that you still have barely any of your memories, so even just this small amount is a breakthrough. None of this will cause any issues with Naofumi or any of you." She smiled warmly at her.

Naofumi exhaled slightly.

"Master Naofumi! It's L'arc and Therese!" Raphtalia spoke as she walked over to the edge of the ship.

Noafumi opened his eyes and looked at the ship sailing alongside them. L'arc and Therese were at the front of the ship, looking out at the sea in front of them, "They're fighting the wave to?"

Melty walked over, looking at them, "You know them?"

"Yeah, they helped us in Cal Mira."

Raphtalia smiled, "I'm glad they're on our side."

"They're more reliable than the other heroes."

Kioka looked over at the ship, placing a hand on Filo's head.

Melty looked up at Naofumi, "Wow, it's not often you put so much trust in other people."

L'arc scowled slightly, turning his head to keep his eyes from making contact with Naofumi's.

Naofumi's eyes widened, he looked away also, his expression turning serious.

Kioka looked over at L'arc, then at Naofumi, frowning slightly.

Just then, the timer dropped to zero, all the ships started to glow gold. The Queen placed a hand on her hip, "It will begin when we teleport. Everyone, prepare for battle!"

Kioka closed her eyes as all the ships disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the ocean, the sky was red and the ocean seemed to match it. The swirls started to form and monsters began to fall into the ocean as became choppy and angry. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky with a serious but saddened look, her thoughts turning to when she woke up in the last wave. She moved her shield to her arm, feeling a sense of tension rising within her.

"Great... Here we go!" Naofumi called out. He placed a hand on Kioka's shoulder, causing her to look at him, "Keep watch for me, alright?"

She gasped but nodded, running to the front of the ship and began to scan the area.

The soldiers on each of the ships started dropping large barrels into the water, they all floated to the surface of the sea, the monsters stayed under these barrels, making it very difficult to even shoot arrows at them. Once the barrels were far enough away from the shops, they started to explode, causing a red liquid to burst out of them and taint the water around them.

Naofumi watched them explode, "What are those?"

A ship hand who was standing nearby looked at him, "They are Castbombs. They are made of Cohol Fruit."

Naofumi frowned and looked at him, "Cohol Fruit?" He looked back at the water to see the monsters float up to the surface, seemingly incapacitated by the alcohol. He smiled, "I get it. Concentrated alcohol affects monsters as much as people!"

With the monsters now floating the surface, the soldiers started knocking back arrows and firing at them.

Itsuki, who was on one of the other ships, looked at the soldiers carrying bows, "Do not let up! Keep on firing at them!"

One of his party members, a girl with green hair which was plaited into pigtails stepped forward, "Sir Itsuki!"

He turned to look at the sea in front of him, his eyes widened slightly as he saw the monster in the distance which was heading towards them at some speed. It was an incredibly large fish-like monster, with a large horn at the front of its head. It was much larger than the ships were. It was gaining speed as it approached the ships. It bared its large teeth as it lout of a terrifyingly loud roar.

Itsuki pulled back the string on his bow, an arrow a light formed, "Meteor Shot!" He let go of the arrow and it went towards the wave boss, however, the boss went under the water, causing a large splash of water to block the arrow. The boss swam under Itsuki's ship and then attacked one of the other ships, causing severe damage to it.

Ren was on the ship that was attacked, has been gripping the mast the whole time, but when it was attacked he gripped on it tighter, closing his eyes, "We can't hit it unless we get it out of the water!" He yelled.

Kioka turned towards Naofumi, seeing him jump onto Filo, when her eyes met with his, she nodded, her expression was serious as they both jumped into the water, swimming under the waves. She ran to the other side of the ship, keeping her eyes on Naofumi at all times.

As Naofumi and Filo approached the boss, he lifted his shield up in the air, "Hate Reaction!" A red glowing aura went around the boss, but also around all the smaller monsters as well.

Motoyasu gasped, "We can't fight the boss if all the smaller ones are in the way!"

Kioka tightened her ponytail and ran to the edge of the ship, but before she could do anything, Raphtalia stopped her, she looked at Demi-human, "I know what to do."

Raphtalia looked at her, "But you can't swim."

The Queen looked over at Kioka.

Kioka gave a small smile, closing her eyes, "I will be fine. If I don't do this, we won't beat the wave." As she opened her eyes, her expression was serious once more.

Raphtalia stepped back, "Be safe, Kioka."

She nodded and backed away from the edge, she looked at the soldiers, "Throw some more of those Castbombs in! Try and aim them to where I land! Don't detonate until the monsters come near!"

The soldiers looked at the Queen who nodded, "Listen to her."

Kioka gasped and looked at the Queen, she smiled slightly, "Do it now!" She ran towards the edge of the ship, jumping up onto the handrail and she froze for a moment, looking at the water. She shook her head and jumped. Panic filled her as soon as she was submerged, but when she looked over in the distance, she could see Naofumi trying to separate the smaller monsters from the main boss. She closed her eyes for a moment, "As source of thy power, this Shield Hero Orders thee. Decipher the laws of Nature and distract the lesser monsters in my area so that they stay off all those who are fighting. Lesser Hate Reaction!" She lifted her shield up, a red aura surrounded her, causing all small monsters to leave Naofumi alone and go towards her.

Naofumi gasped as he saw the smaller monsters leave him, he looked around then saw Kioka in the water, his eyes widened, "Filo, we need to go-" He stopped when the boss roared at him. He scowled, "Sorry Kioka... Right Filo, let's do this!"

Filo nodded and swam off with Naofumi.

As the monsters started to surround her, she looked up at the surface, seeing the cast bombs. She tried to swim up a little bit, but it turned out to just be a bit of flailing and the force of the waves were making it tough for her to climb. She closed her eyes as the Castbombs detonated, being hit by the explosion slightly. The water around her was now fully tainted with the alcohol for the Cuhol Fruit. But for obvious reasons, she was immune to the effects of the alcohol. All the monsters floated up to the surface, making it very easy for arrows to hit the monsters. She looked up at the surface, feeling herself sink further into the water, she closed her eyes.

Her eyes opened when an arm wrapped around her front from behind. She looked behind her and smiled when she saw Naofumi. Once they were back on the surface of the water, Kioka gasped as she looked at the corpse of the wave boss, "Nicely done."

Naofumi, however, was not smiling, "You shouldn't have been so reckless, Kioka. You can't swim. What would have happened if you got hurt?" He helped her onto the corpse of the monster, looking at her with a serious expression.

She scowled, "I am fine, Naofumi. If I hadn't distracted the other monsters, you would have had a much harder time to beat this boss."

He sighed, "Just don't be so reckless next time. If I lost you..."

Her eyes widened, but she didn't say anything as Naofumi walked over to L'arc who was already on the monster's corpse, his back turned to them.

"Nicely done! Thanks for the assist."

L'arc turned around to look at him, "Well, you weren't going to beat it alone with that defence focused shield."

Naofumi looked at him, "Thanks anyway."

"Hey!"

Motoyasu's voice caught Naofumi's attention.

The three Heroes walked towards them, Kioka was now standing behind Naofumi. Therese was also on the monster as well.

"Naofumi! You and your friend here did a really good job." Motoyasu waved slightly at L'arc.

Naofumi looked at them, "What are you guys doing here?"

Ren looked at him, "We came for the drops, obviously."

"The items that the wave monsters drop after the battle belongs to all the heroes," Itsuki said as he walked past them.

"That might make sense if you three did anything." Naofumi turned and closed his eyes, "Look guys, the one who killed this thing was-"

"Heroes? That your idea of a joke? Because no one's laughing., you weaklings can't protect a thing." L'arc spoke with a smile on his face.

The three heroes stood there, looking at him.

"Huh?" Motoyasu frowned.

Raphtalia started to walk over, "The Queen wants you to hurry up and get rid of the remaining monsters!" A large force blew Raphtalia's hair behind her as the three heroes were thrown to her feet.

"What the-" Itsuki spoke, trying to get back up.

L'arc held his scythe back, getting ready to strike.

Raphtalia ran towards her team, "Master Naofumi!"

Filo blocked the attack with her wing. Naofumi had been forced to kneeling from the force. Kioka however was still standing.

Naofumi stood up, scowling, "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I guess you really are the Shield Hero, huh?" L'arc smiled and bowed his head slightly, "Alright then, I guess it's come down to this."

"What the hell are you talking about, L'arc!" He stepped forward slightly.

"It's simple, really." He held his scythe out in front of him, "For the sake of our world, you've got to die."