Chapter 16: The wave

Erhard's Forge,

21:45:12

"Two hours, that's how long it took him to explain the basics, he could have done this when we got to this stupid world!" Naofumi shouted in anger while working on a potion.

"Kid, I get that you don't like it here. But could you not yell in the forge? I'm trying to focus on work."

"It's just stupid to me. First, they say I'm the weakest, and Ren is just now starting to get concerned. Screw that, all he's trying to do is get me to forgive him, so he doesn't have to give a shit later."

"Or maybe he's just trying to apologize because he was wrong, people do that you know."

"You are the only person who has apologized since I got here. And since every person in this place has a deep hatred of me for some reason. How am I supposed to know if anyone is sincere at this point?"

"Talk about trust issues, where's Sakura when you need her."

"I have no idea, she just ran off a while ago with Raphtalia. Who knows what they're doing."

With Raphtalia,

A circle forms on the ground around a balloon, bright light forms in the sky, taking the form of a ball. Raphtalia tries to hold its form, but everything disperses as she falls to the ground exhausted.

"That was a pretty good attempt." Sakura complemented.

"It's so… tiring, how do you throw spells like this constantly?"

"Sakura is a bird made for combat, and heavy lifting, Sakura's stamina tends to be a lot larger than others. But hey don't fret. That's how most new spells are like at first, you just gotta get a feel for it

"Says the bird who only uses three spells."

"And you can see how effective they are, just keep trying. I'm sure you can get it."

"You're right."

Raphtalia rises back to her feet and picks up her grimoire.

"I will not become a liability to Naofumi."

Creating a circle of light on the ground, Raphtalia tries to reform the spell, Trying her hardest so that she won't fall behind Sakura in strength, as the light reforms back into a ball, for another attempt.

With Naofumi,

"Well, whatever they're doing I'm ... 75% sure it won't destroy something."

"What about the other 25%?"

"They get into a fight and kick some poor guy into a house."

"Odd description but sure. So why are you here again?"

"The innkeeper banned me from making potions in the building after the last one caught fire."

"I'm not even going to question how you got that happened". Erhard said, hammering away at Sakuras sword.

Erhard shop. 0:30:22

Naofumi spends the rest of his day making potion after potion, and putting them into a crate for future use.

Sakura and Raphtalia practice their sword skills before returning to the inn for some rest. Waking up tomorrow they all gather inside of Erhard's shop for final preparation before the wave begins.

"Alright you two, final equipment check. I already have a Sakura sword, and crates of potions. So, is there anything else you think we need before this starts?"

"Can I have a special sword? you two already have magical weapons." Raphtalia asked

"Enchantment processes take some time, so that's gonna have to wait," Erhard replied.

Maybe you can use this, you think you can transfer an enchantment to another weapon?" Naofumi asked.

"Still a process, but are you sure you don't need this? Its stats aren't something you'll get every day."

Thunder dragons shield

Enchantment: Lightning

+2 shield of shielding

High Resistance to lightning

At the cost of 70 Sp, reflect/counter any attack at ⅙ of the attack's original damage.

Shield locked, Level 35 required.

"I already copied it, apparently that was a thing" Naofumi muttered before continuing. "So there isn't a need for it anymore. But seriously this sp cost for this ability is ridiculous."

"Whatever you say kid, but I won't have it done for a couple of hours, so the lass can use this instead," Erhard said, tossing a hilt to Raphtalia.

"Not to be rude uncle, but what's a hilt going to do against anyone," Sakura asked.

"It's a magic sword Sakura, it uses mana to produce a blade. Useful against magical and incorporeal monsters."

"Alright then, I guess it's not useless."

"We'll figure that out later, Now, anything else?"

"Other than armor for Raphtalia, Sakura has nothing to add."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to figure that out, but you don't want any armor?"

"I mean, won't it break if she tries to transform," Raphtalia asked.

"Acually, they're some enchantments that transform with you like magic clothes."

"There are?"

"Yeah, they have a lot in Siltvelt for obvious reasons, shouldn't be that difficult to get."

"Yeah, I don't have time to ship something from Siltvelt so I'll figure out the price later. Other than that, grab your weapons and get ready to combat you two."

Unknown location 0:0:0

As the timer hits zero, the party is enveloped in a flash of light, transporting them through space and into a random field. Cracks start to form in the sky and drop legions of monsters onto the field under the command of a freakish chimera, marching with the mission of destruction.

Raphtalia looks upon the legions of monsters marching towards them, slowly drawing her sword as her body shakes, triggering a response from Naofumi.

"Calm down, nothing will happen to you," Naofumi said in a soothing voice.

"Yeah, I'm… fine, just a little anxious."

"You'll do great, now let's catch up to the other three heroes we're already behind."

"We could, but that village over there looks like it will get decimated if we don't help them," Sakura said, looking across the field.

"Wait what?"

Naofumi takes out a telescope from his bag and looks behind him to see an undead legion of monsters marching towards the village.

"Shit, Sakura, we need to move fast!"

"Then hurry up and get on!"

The party gathers on Sakura's back and speeds towards the village. By the time they get there, monsters already started to pour into the village, attacking anything they see on sight. A man tried to fight back with a pitchfork, but it broke after he jabbed a giant with it. Falling to the ground, he is about to be struck by a giant club, but Sakura falls from the sky kicking down the giant as Raphtalia leaps off of Sakura and slashes the heads of two zombies, before turning around and stabbing one through its body.

"Thanks for helping me!"

"Hold up, tell everyone you see along the way to escape to the mines, you'll be safe there."

"Yes, thank you!"

The man ran off and started to pound on locked doors. Leaving the party to stop the monsters from entering the village.

"Alright, what's the plan?" Raphtalia used

"Sakura can just blow them all away with a large tornado if you like. Sakura replied while cutting off the head of a zombie approaching.

"Casting a wild tornado like that would endanger the people and It will also damage the village and I don't have the funds to pay them back. Since you're the fastest we can get the civilians out of here, and then focus on dealing with the monsters on the inside." Naofumi order.

"Fine, but if things go south," Sakura muttered why holding a tornado in her wing.

A family cowers in fear as a group of zombies surround them. The father tries to stab a few with a pitchfork, but the zombies continue moving undeterred. As the cold feeling of death starts to loom over the family, a massive tornado falls from the sky, shredding several of the zombies and throwing them into the building, while the family stays inside the middle, safe and unaffected by the winds.

Once the tornado is dispersed, Sakura quickly grabs the family and starts rushing to trail, on the way she gathered a group of Filolial on a farm and told them to grab as many people as they can, evacuating the town and its people quickly, and running over any monster that gets in her path.

1 hour and 40 minutes later,

Raphtalia stabs the zombie in the gut and swiftly pulls it out to slash another head off. The swarm of the undead never stopped, Each time she kills one, more come to take the place of the dead one, making it a never-ending swarm of monsters approaching the village.

"Mr. Naofumi, I can take them down, I just need you to gather them into one place so I can kill them all in one blast!" Raphtalia shouted while slashing at another monster.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure you can figure it out," Raphtalia said while running to a safe distance.

"Damn it Raphtalia, don't just leave me by myself!"

As Naofumi is yelling, the rest of the zombies start to converge on Naofumi's position, forcing him to run away to avoid being mauled. During his escape, he gathered most of the aimless monsters in the town and gathered them in an alleyway. Using his rope shield he got to the top of a house and closed off the area with his air strike shield on one side, and a shield prison on the other side.

"Raphtalia, if you can hear me do your grand move now!"

"I see it, Naofumi just leaves things to me. Help me father, don't let all this work go to waste, [Zwite Holy Ray!]"

Weird symbols appear in a circle of light, as it forms under the feet of the undead. Clawing at the shield Naofumi made, they are unaware of the beam of light that formed in the sky. In one swift motion, Raphtalia lowers her hand and calls upon the light from the heavens, burning most of the monsters inside the alley. Naofumi turns around to see the two-building burnt and, damaged, while some monsters lay on the ground.

"Well, that's coming out of your paycheck."

"Oh come on Naofumi, we were being overrun."

"Then next time, don't burn a building with radiant energy."

"Don't lead them in a small alleyway then."

"Oh, I'm sorry Raphtalia, did I not give you a clear shot."

"Then why complain about the shot if you lead them to that position!"

"Hey, guys."

"WHAT!"

Both of them turn around to see Sakura on top of a fallen giant while holding a zombie by the neck.

"You missed a few, Sakura also thought we were keeping damages to a minimum?" Sakura taunted while twisting the zombie's neck.

"I tried too."

"You burnt two buildings."

"It was the best option."

"Ha, no it wasn't."

"Sakura, leave her alone and get back to evac," Naofumi said.

"Sakura's already finished. She came over here to help with your hoard but it seems you already have it covered." Sakura said while catching a bee with its stinger.

"Then clear the monsters out of the village, and force them into the field."

"With a tornado?"

"Fine, just don't damage anything."

"With pleasure."

Sakura stomps on the previously caught bee and leaps into the air. Channeling the power of the wind into a tiny ball, Sakura tosses it to the ground as it forms into a raging tornado, moving around and sucking everything up in its path.

Naofumi also moves with Raphtalia and starts to kill any monster that survived the initial wind, and starts to push them outside the village. Once outside the village, Sakura started to use some stronger spells to kill multiple enemies, while Raphtalia swung around Sakura's sword, sending out blades of air with each slash. They start killing a lot of enemies until Raphtalia and Sakuraa run low on mana, forcing them to fight with their swords while Naofumi runs along with them, blocking any attack that may hit them.

"Damn they just keep coming, When is this supposed to end again," Raphtalia asked.

"Once the boss is killed, I don't know what they are doing, but if they are as good as they say they are, they should have this done quickly."

Naofumi blocks another attack as Sakura strikes the stunned monster.

"There's a hill over there, we can probably see the other heroes if we make it."

"Maybe, Sakura can just- crap Naofumi!"

"I know, [Shield prison!]"

A ball wrapped in chains appears around the party as a barrage of fire rains down off the field, burning the grass and many monsters with it. Naofumi's shield ball remains as the fire stops falling, letting Raphtalia use [First Holy] to blast the person who sent the blast as the shield prison disappears

The captain who ordered the fire strike is struck by Raphtalia's magic and is sent down the hill. The group of knights that were with him, run down the hill to help their fallen captain.

"Huh, nice shot," Sakura said.

"Will he be okay?"

"Who knows, it's your spell. Now let's get back into position before-."

A loud boom of thunder is heard from across the plains, startling everyone. Shortly after, a large bolt of lightning falls from the sky, with another boom of thunder a few seconds later.

Once the thunder subsided, the cracks in the sky started to disappear. With no more monsters spawning, they were finally able to clear the area of any monsters, with some help from the knight vice-captain, since the original captain was knocked out.

After cleaning out all the monsters around the village, the party sits down by a newly lit fire and drinks some nice tea in the village. Due to the number of monster killers during this raid, they have about five levels, boosting them up to level 36. Bringing them closer to the level cap, and only stronger monsters from here.

AN: I would be lying if I said I had a reason for not updating this long so sorry. I need to get back to posting anyways since Family of the shield is outperforming me. (Good fic, go read it)

Anyways I need to work on finding a weapon for Raphtalia, perhaps a katana for future use, And a name for Sakura's sword. I'm thinking White typhoon.