I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of the characters.
Misjudged
Fenris walked through the maze in silence, Naomi, Eileen, and Sofia following. Sofia had refused a weapon, in favor of magic, so instead, he had bought her half a dozen magic books. He had however, managed to convince her to take a dagger with her, just in case.
"So, wait, what's our job again?" Eileen asked quietly.
"There's been several disappearances around this labyrinth," Fenris whispered back. "We were hired by a nearby town to look into it, since the Cardinal Heroes are busy."
"Meaning Motoyasu is doing whatever Mein says, Ren is training by killing powerful monsters, and Itsuki is God knows where," Sofia added.
"Exactly," Fenris said. "And besides that, there's a rare flower in this maze that can be made into a very potent aphrodisiac."
"Okay, that plant is going to burn," Eileen said.
"You don't need an aphrodisiac," Naomi said. "You've got me. Just say the word and I'll be ready."
Fenris rolled his eyes. "Whore."
They all fell silent as a snore reached their ears. They silently crept around the corner and stopped, staring at the creature before them. It was a maroon-skinned humanoid with a pair of devil horns on its undersized head, fangs, a bloated, obease torso and limbs, and a massive, knotted club resting on the ground beside it.
"Nobody...move," Fenris hissed, eyes tracking movement behind the troll.
Everyone stood frozen, however, after a few seconds, a snout came into view, the tongue flicking out of it. Then, the thing's head followed. It was huge. A snake with pitch black scales that was easily twenty times as long as Fenris's body, and half as wide as he was tall. His hand gripped his sword tightly as the snake slowly moved toward them. He wasn't sure if they cout take this thing. Not here. Not now.
The snake stopped as it neared them and raised itself, tongue flicking the air againb eyes staring directly at Fenris. The, a half second before it lunged, Sofia tackled Fenris aside. The snake's jaws snapped clowed on thin air and Eileen sent an arrow into its eye as Naomi slashed it along its side.
It whioped its head around, batting Naomi aside and Fenris scrambled to his feet, grabbing his great sword and charging. However, just as his sword bit into the snake's scales, the snake shot forward, yanking the sword out of his hand and swallowing Sofia whole.
"Sofia!" Fenris shouted.
He drew his broad swodd and drove it down through the snake, blocking its throat. A moment later, it reared up, rorain as flames exploded out of its mouth, followed by Sofia. Fenris sprinted forward, catching her and skidding to a stop as the snake shot toward them. However, Naomi stepped into its path, grunting in effort and swinging his greatsword, splitting the snake's mouth at the ccornersb the snake rearing back again, shrieking.
"Run, now!" Fenris shouted.
The snake roared, a jet of acrid green liquid spraying out of its throat, missing Naomi only because Eileen tackled her aside from it. Fenris jumped up and sprinted forward, drawing his last sword before jumping and driving jt down through the snake's head, smashing it to the floor. The snake threw him off and began to thrash around, hissing and spitting as Eileen peppered it with arrows. Then, Sofia raised a hand, reciting a quick chant before sending a jet of flames at the snake, engulfing its head and some of its body.
It shrieked and flailed for a few more moments before collapsing, the two swords that had been sticking out of it both melting into bright orange puddles. Fenris sighed and hugged Sofia, who wrapped her arms around him as well.
"You owe me two swords," Fenris said.
Sofia smirked and nodded, rolling her eyes as Fenris retreived his greatsword. Then, he turned to the door again, noticing a distinct lack of any trolls.
"Stay alert," Fenris warned. "The big guy's awake."
They all tensed, turning to the door as Fenris walked to it. He carefully peemed through, but the giant cavern was troll free. It was also very far from empty.
"Stay there," Fenris said, all three haulting. "This is..."
He stared up at the chains hanging from the roof of the cavern. They all had hooks on the ends, and almost all had corpses hanging from them. The corpses were all mutilated. Some rotting. Others fresh. He gripped his greatsword tightly. Disgusting. Wrong. Immoral. So many dead. So many people. Even he was disturbed by the sight.
"What is it?" Sofia asked from the door.
"I found the people who disappeared," Fenris said, eyes fallong to a mountain of body parts, easily bigger than the troll. "And I might have found our friend."
He took a step forward only for the ground beneath him to break apart, the troll's hand closing around his body. He shouted in surprise, struggling to get free, but to no avail. The troll roared, saliva and bad breath hitting him in the faceb making him gag. Then, an arrow stabbed into the troll's eye. It roared, staggering backward and using its free hand to block several more arrows. Naomi shot forward, but as she did, the troll grabbed its massive club and swung it over its shoulder at her. She dove aside, managing to escape the club, only to fall as the ground shattered as she was trying to stand.
"Zveit Fire Shot!" Sofia shouted.
A fireball exploded against the troll's head and it staggered backward a step before Sofia landed on its arm, slashing the inside of its wrist, causing it to roar in pain, dropping Fenris.
Fenris landed on his feet and turned, roaring in effort and flinging his greatsword at the troll, the sword spinning in a blurred disk before stabbing into the troll's chest. Sofia sprinted forward instantly.
"No!" Fenris shouted.
With a bone-rattling crack, the troll's club connected with Sofia's enentire body, sending her flying. Fenris roared in rage, ears standing on end, and charged.
The troll swung down at him but he dove aside then leapt out of the roll just before the ground shattered. He grabbed the sword and swung in a circle around it before ripping it out, flying into the air iver the troll. The troll's club began to rise, but an arrow embedded itself in the troll's other eye just before Naomi slashed both of the troll's shins and dove aside.
The troll crashed to the ground, roaring just before Fenris planted his greatsword in the troll's brain and dropped to the ground, sprinting to Sofia. She lay broken against the wall, unmoving but alive.
"Dammit!" he swore, looking around.
There was a cart with a broken wheel off to the side. He sprinted over, ripping a pair of boards off of it, then another, which he broke in half. He used a rock to pound the nails sticking out of the two complete boards into the halves of the thirdb then set it down beside Sofia, gently lifting her onto it, cringing as she screamed in agony. Once she was on, he ripped strips off of the bottom of her skirt and used them to tie her on before picking up the end of the board.
"We're leaving!" Fenris shouted to Eileen and Naomi, Naomi having been quickly searching the room for loot, as was her job, and Eileen using her arrows to break the chains on the ceiling and piling the bodies to be retreived later.
Both sprinted over, Fenris running through the maze, following the scratches he had left in the wall and dragging Sofia behind himself, Naomi and Eileen killing anything that got in their way. After a few minutes, they reached the outside world and found several villagers waiting.
"You've returned!" the village elder that had hired him smiled before his smile faltered upon seeing Sofia. "Fetch the healer!"
"Summon the Shield Hero!" Fenris shouted after the man that was running away.
"The Shield Hero?" the elder asked.
"He's a healer that can amplify his potions and magic with his shield," Fenris said.
The elder nodded. "Come. You can stay in the village until your friend has recovered, free of charge."
Fenris nodded and a pair of larger men hurried over, lifting the board carefully before they all headed back to the village, meeting the healer just outside the gate. They headed to the hotel and the healer went to work trying to save Sofia, who was beginning to slip. Fenris paced the hallway impatiently as he was not allowed in the room. Naomi and Eileen stood silently off to the side. Finally the door opened and Fenris darted inside. The healer sighed, sitting back and wiping sweat from her forehead.
"Well?" Fenris asked, staring at the dark bruises covering almost all of Sofia's exposed skin, the bruises all swollen.
"I can't heal so much damage," the woman said. "I'm sorry. At most, I was able to extend her life by a few days."
"That's not good enough!" Fenris snapped.
"I'm sorry," she said. "It's the best I can do."
"We'll...leave you alone," the village elder said, leaving the room, Naomi and Eileen walking in.
"It-" Eileen stopped when Naomi rested a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head.
Naomi walked over, wrapping her arms around Fenris. Fenris grit his teeth, remaining motionless for a long moment before turning into Naomi's embrace, holding her tightly.
"It's my fault," Fenris said. "I never should have accepted this stupid job!"
Naomi shushed him gently, coming her fingers through his hair. "You know that's not true. Bad things happen. You know this isn't your fault."
"Yes it is!" Fenris snapped, tryinng feebly to pull away, only for Naomi to hold fast. "I should have killed it earlier! I shouldn't have gotten so careless! I shouldn't have let her come with us at all!"
"She would have followed," Naomi said. "But it's not hopeless. Naofumi might be able to save her still."
"He won't make it on time!" Fenris said.
"So you're just going to give up on her?" Naomi asked. "That's not like you. The Fenris I know wouldn't give up on his companions no matter what. He may not be a good person, but he does genuinely care about us. And he believes in us. He wouldn't give up on us so easily."
Fenris remained silent for a long while before pulling away. "Naofumi...Naofumi still has time."
"That's right," Naomi smiled, cupping his face. "That's the Fenris I know and love. Now, let's get you cleaned up so that you can give her a good mornng kiss when she wakes up."
"But..."
"I'll come get you if anything happens," Eileen promised.
Fenris hesitated another momemt before nodding and following Naomi out of the room.
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