Heart of Akasha

A/N: Thank you for your review, merendinoemiliano.

Chapter 14: Headless Horseman

"Oh, good you are finally back!" Voiced Luna the receptionist as she greeted them outside of the guild building. "Please come quick!"

They followed Luna to the main gate where the adventurers of Axel – as in, enough Adventurers that they might as well be all of them – had gathered with weapon and torches to illuminate the dark. To which Naofumi added his own light from the Lacrima Lamp Shield

Opposite to them was a literal ghost army, undead knights in front of them surrounded by bluish-glowing flames. And in front of them was a headless horse, standing next to a seated knight whose head was also separated from the body, but still accounted for. He just carried it in his left arm instead.

The Dullahan noticed them, stood up and mounted his horse. With a red-glowing eye he looked down at the gathering.

"So finally you have decided to show yourself!"

Ji-Han exchanged a gaze with Naofumi. Did he wait for him because he was the Keyblade Wielder?

"I'm sorry, but we've just returned", Ji-Han apologized. "So, what is your business with me?"

"I don't care about you", dismissed the Dullahan him, "I am talking to the miscreant next to you. Tell me, why have you not come to the castle?!"

Ji-Han followed his gaze and notice Megumin. Oh, so the Dullahan had a history with her. He didn't come because he heard of the Keyblade, but because of something she did. Though what could she have done to piss him off like that? She didn't look old enough for him to do something like "come to my castle in a weak to become my bride or I'll destroy the town." Oh, wait, this was a western fantasy, they married earlier in those, didn't they?

"Umm… why should we?" Asked Kazuma as he stood protectively in front of his party member. We? So it really wasn't something like that. "And who's a miscreant? We haven't set off one explosion since you asked us to stop. Why are you so upset?" Oh, so Megumin used Explosion on him? Wait, she could only use one explosion a day. Did she went day after day to the Dullahan and set off an explosion in his face? He somehow doubted that if she did that, he would have waited so long to show up.

"You haven't set off a single explosion, have you? Not one magical blast? Ridiculous! Your insane Crimson friend has come by every single day!"

She did?! Then how…

"You went to his castle? I told you not to go, and you still went?!"

"O-o-o-o-o-owww! That hurts!" Kazuma was tugging on Megumin's cheek, causing her a lot of discomfort. "D-do not misunderstand, Kazuma- let me explain! I used to be able to get by just setting off an explosion in an empty field. B-but now that I have tasted the joy of exploding a castle, I need to cast my spell on something huge and hard…!"

Ah, so she attacked his castle day after day from a distance, which meant he could not just strike back at her then and there. Still, the way she talked about, she sounded like an addicted pervert. Kazuma was of the same opinion.

"I know what it means when you get all fidgety! And anyway, you can't move after you cast Explosion. Which means… you must have had an accomplice. Now, who was it…?"

Aqua averted her gaze when his look through the crowd fell upon her.

"What it youuuu?!"

"Yaaaah! We just wanted to get him back for finding any good quests! He's the reason I spend every day being screamed at by the shopkeeper!"

"What angers me the most is not that you insists on your puny pyrotechnics- but that you have no desire to help your friend! Before I was unjustly put to death and transformed by my anger into the monster you see before you, I was a Knight."

Ji-Han's froze.

"You are a Heartless?!"

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME!"

"Uwak!" Ji-Han took involuntarily a step back as his sudden outburst made the Dullahan even angrier. But he couldn't have helped it. Here was a guy who had fallen to darkness yet still had a sense of self. He had never seen something like that!

"As I was saying, before my death, I was a Knight. And as a Knight, I tell you- to abandon that Crusader, who selflessly shielded you from my curse with her own body, trading her life for yours the very image of Knighthood…"

He trailed off as Ji-Han moved to the side, revealing a blushing Darkness. Who else could he have meant, after all? The Crusader in question waved shyly, almost apologetic.

"…Wh…whaaaa…?!"

Naturally the Dullahan was in shock. After all, if Ji-Han had guessed correctly, in response to Megumin's harassment – the first time – the Dullahan had send a death curse towards her, only for Darkness to intercept it, falling prey towards it instead. He then had probably said something like "come to my castle or she dies in a week" and left them behind. Only for someone – probably Aqua, she was a goddess, after all – to break the curse instead, making it unnecessary for them to go to the castle.

His deductions were promptly proven true as Aqua started to break down laughing while pointing at the Dullahan.

"Aww, what is it? Are you surprised to see Darkness alive and well? Even though it's been more than a week? Were you waiting for us in your castle this whole time? Never knowing that I broke the curse on Darkness, like, five minutes after you left? Pffft! That's rich! That's too much!"

The Dullahan was fuming. Literally. Even with the ghostly lights being the only source of illumination, it was not difficult to see the strands of Darkness coiling around the headless rider.

Oh, shit.

"Don't screw with meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Darkness exploded around him in a violent noise. But that was not half as scary as what happened afterwards. From one moment to the next, the Dullahan's voice cut off, filling the surroundings with a deafening silence. Then, out of his chest, flew a pink-colored crystal in the shape of a heart, like those that appeared when Ji-Han took down an Emblem-Heartless. At the same time the Dullahan's body dispersed into dark particles, the crystal heart curved around from one side to the other, until a dark portal opened into which the heart vanished. Then the portal grew larger, until it was as large at the headless horse that the Dullahan had let behind.

And when the portal vanished, it left behind another horse. One that had smooth curves like a stuffed animal and two yellow dots as eyes. Its color was mainly black but all over her body were white symbols like Celtic knots, weaving around its body. But then it stood up and Ji-Han realized that it wasn't a horse, not at all. As at the same time the legs stretched out, a Sergeant-Heartless rightened itself on top of the horse's back. Or rather, the upper body of one, as the hip had been fused to the back of the horse, the legs missing entirely, unless you counted the horse's legs.

But most of all, the Sergeant-portion of the Heartless had no head. Instead, it was carrying a helmet under its left arm, but instead of a visor it head a white and smooth front, where the Heartless-Emblem was placed. Oh, and the right Arm ended in a sword made up out multiple spine segments. Not to forget that.

PING!

{Quest Alert

Losing Your Head: Even the Headless Can Do it

Even being a demon, Beldia prides himself being an honorable knight. The rage he felt when his honor was ridiculed this much was used by the Heartless to seize his heart and turn him into one of them.

Defeat Beldia's Heartless, the [Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee].

Bonus Objective:
1: Defeat the [Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee] with the Keyblade.
2: Do not use [Card Summoning] during the battle.
3: Make sure no architecture is damaged during the battle.
4: Defeat as many [Undead Knight] as possible.
5: ?

Completion Award: +3 000 EXP to you and every party member.
Aqua won't die for now.
Increased reputation with the people of the Kingdom of Belzerg.
Increased reputation with members of the Hero Union.
Decreased reputation with enemies of the Kingdom of Belzerg

Bonus Award:
1: +7 000 EXP.
The enemy will not return later on.
2: +2 000 EXP.
You do not need to pay back 27 000 Munny to the Adventurer's Guild.
3: +5 000 EXP to you and every party member.
Increased reputation with the people of the Kingdom of Belzerg.
4: A payment of 1 000 000 Munny for every [Undead Knight] defeated.
5: ?

Completion Failure: +1 000 EXP to you and every party member.
Decreased reputation with the people of the Kingdom of Belzerg.
Decreased reputation with members of the Hero Union.}

Ah. And there's the quest. Dang it. Looks like they had to fight it, after all. But why was it a bonus objective not to use Card Summoning? And why would he need to pay back money if he does use it.

But all thoughts grinded to a halt when he noticed the Completion Awards.

"It's after Aqua!" He exclaimed as he ran in front of her protectively summoning the Hippocratic Battlefield. Maybe he should switch back to the Binary Spirit. Then, first:

"[Observe]!"

{Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee Lv83
Status: Unaffected
HP: 12450/12450
MP: 8188/8188
Type: Emblem-Heartless.
Elemental Alignment: Shadow, Bones
Elemental Resistances: None (0.2), Fight (0.4),
Darkness (0.9), Bones (0.9), Blood (0.8),
Rot (0), Poison (0), Space (0.9)
This Heartless relentlessly chases after its target,
using its bone whip to capture them and take out their heart.
STR: 74 VIT: 51 DEX: 75
INT: 79 WIS: 73 LUK: 63}

"None and Fight-Resistance", Ji-Han quickly relayed. "And stats in the seventies, except VIT which is 51." Mystic and Data, his normal attacks were still good to go but most of his stronger attacks were weakened greatly.

To make matters worse, the enemies did not stand idle by while he studied them. Yes, enemies, because the Undead Knights that the Dullahan had originally brought with him, were not vanishing, but instead running towards them on their own. At last those guys didn't have a Fight-Resistance.

"Everybody, light!" Kazuma called out, using [Kindle] to create a small ball of fire. Unfortunately, he was the only one. The other adventurers had already retreated from the approaching army. Both he and Naofumi cursed.

"Let's retreat, too", suggested the Hero of the Shield. "They've got light sources in the town!"

"Someone close the gate!" Shouted Kazuma additionally as they passed it and Ji-Han approved. Let's make good of those walls!

The gate fell shut behind him and the Undead Knights rushed against it like a tidal wave. But for now the gate held. In fact…

"[Heart Key: Close]!"

…Ji-Han made sure the gate would not break, no matter what.

As he turned back around, he noticed that the rest of the adventurers were still there. It seems they only retreated as far as to the safety of the city. Something that Kazuma was instantly using.

"Listen up!" He shouted. "Only a Keyblade can open something that has been closed with a Keyblade! And none of the Undead Knights have ranged attacks! For anyone who can attack them from atop the wall, they are free money and experience!"

With his insider knowledge, the Lucky Thief knew exactly what to say to motivate the people. Becoming stronger and richer fast without any danger to them? Sign them up!

"Just look out for the Heartless", added Ji-Han in response to the adventures with ranged attack eagerly moving towards the top of the wall. "I've gotta kill it with the Keyblade or else it'll just come back again!"

And since it was at a town; that would be pretty bad.

"Ji-Han, Shua", Naofumi now piped up. "Now's a good opportunity to use up your stat points. Shua, put everything into INT and then copy the first ranged attack the Heartless uses." "Smear!" "Ji-Han, decide yourself."

"Right", the Gamer acknowledged. "Also, [Inventory]!" Ji-Han used the opportunity to take out the [White Elf Hair (1cm³)]. "When I was in the other world, I've got this in exchange for a Plushie Coupon."

"…You are going to be insufferable, aren't you?"

Ji-Han just smiled at Naofumi's comment, before getting back to his [Status Window].

{Name: Han, Ji-Han
Class: The Gamer
Title: none
Level: Lv16
Status: Unaffected

HP: 1100/1100
MP: 550/550

STR: 48 (40+4+4) ← (+0) →
VIT: 28 (26+4) ← (+0) →
DEX: 40 (36+4) ← (+0) →
INT: 25 (24-3+4) ← (+0) →
WIS: 30 (26+4) ← (+0) →
LUK: 17 (13+4) ← (+0) →

Points: 13
Munny: 2 919 927}

He had 13 points left and STR of 48, while the enemy had VIT of 51. Which meant that he most likely could hurt the Heartless. On the other hand, it had over 10 000 HP, so getting only like 50 damage each time would still take way too many attacks to defeat it. But that didn't matter if he got killed.

Yet with a STR and DEX over 70, would it really matter, if he raised his own DEX and VIT? He wouldn't be able to outrun it or constantly take its hits regardless. He had to trust Naofumi to do that. In which case, taking out the enemy as fast as possible was his most important role! Especially since he had to be the one doing the finishing strike. STR, it was.

PING!

{Since your STR has passed 50,
you have gained the perk [Athletic Body].}

{[Athletic Body]
Describes the owner as someone with a healthy body,
the foundation for a healthy life.
Increases HP by 50% of max-HP.
Increases Base-HP-regeneration by 10 HP per minute.
Increases HP-related skill effects by 30%.}

Holy shit! Ji-Han had thought that he had gotten to know most of his Gamer-ability and yet it suddenly came with something like that! And the perk itself, he finally got passive HP-regeneration! Even if it was only at 10 HP per minute and thus hardly useful for battle, it was the first time, he had any passive HP-regeneration! Thus Ji-Han was really happen, even with such a meager amount. And even that was offset by the increase in healing and maximum HP.

"SMEARGLE!" Shua suddenly shouted, pointing towards the top of the wall and then further up.

Ji-Han followed his paintbrush and got an eye-full of a giant flaming eye straight out of Lord of the Rings, the only exception being that the color of the flames were a sickly purple. And in front of that eye hung the separated head of the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee, staring down at them with its face blank for anything except the emblem.

"[Thousand Feet Charge]!" Naofumi suddenly shouted, followed by Aqua screaming in surprise.

{A party member has been afflicted with [Impaled 150] and [Life Curse 5].}

Ji-Han spun around just in time to see Aqua on her back, frightened staring up at the Hero of the Shield, who was slowly being pushed higher by the bone sword piercing through his back as it rose out of the ground, followed by the straightened upper arm it was fused to and then the rest of the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee.

"Smear!" Shua shouted, shooting one Super Shocker after another at the Heartless, but it did hardly do any damage. The Heartless just swung its sword around, flinging Naofumi through a window, as it caught its head in its hand. It then turned its attention towards the goddess, who was madly scrambling backwards.

Ji-Han jumped forward, attacking its behind with his Hippocratic Battlefield, as he used [Observe] to observe his progress. Around 200, no, 180 per attack? That made it around 100 strikes, didn't it? Of which Ji-Hana managed to get in three before the Heartless spun around and stroke at him with its sword.

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

Luckily Naofumi had gotten back up in that time and protected Ji-Han from inside the house. But as the sword hit the shield, it folded over the edge like a wet towel and would have hit Ji-Han if it had been just a bit longer. But Ji-Han still felt the air current in front of his face and thus could not help but yelp and jump backwards.

Kazuma and Darkness then jumped in from the other side, trying to bait it into turning back, so that Ji-Han could then go at it again, but the strategy failed on account just how pitiful Kazuma's single-HP-damage was compared to The Gamer and Darkness kept missing.

And then the transparent shield vanished, allowing the Nuckelavee to strike at Ji-Han unhindered.

"[Dodge Roll]!"

Ji-Han jumped to the right, allowing him to escape the bone sword and then activated it two more times to get behind the Hero of the Shield who had climbed out of the broken window. Though since the distance between him and the wall had been below six meters at the start, he couldn't stop himself from crashing against it. Or so he though, but instead of a sudden stop, he was continuing the rolling motion against the wall, before ending up standing upright in front of it. Like the wall only stopping his vertical movement yet making him complete the actual motions. Like as if you run against an invisible wall in a video game… oh, now it made sense.

"What are you spacing out for?!" Naofumi chastised him while he was blocking the bone sword and Ji-Han winced. He really had to get out of the habit of getting distracted by game-elements in life and death-battles.

For now he would try and attack the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee from behind the defense that Naofumi provided. However…

"[Inventory]!"

…for that he had to reach the Heartless in the first place. And with its weapon being so long, that was easier said than done. Especially since, compared to the Binary Spirit or even the Gaia Key, the Hippocratic Oath was rather on the shorter side. And since the enemy didn't have a Data-Resistance, he might as well check if it had a Data-Weakness. Or a Mystic one, if the Binary Spirit failed to do much damage.

The results? Somewhere between 120 and 130. So, Mystic seemed to be the way to go, if you looked at damage. Which was unfortunate considering the reach-thing. Especially if one remembered that he had yet to really fight with the Hippocratic Battlefield. He wouldn't be surprised if he at some point missed the enemy because he had been used to having a longer weapon.

Then again, that was generally a problem that showed up with martial artists, wasn't it? He probably hadn't actually trained enough in the – how long was it again – one week? In the week since he got his Keyblade to think of his weapon as "an extension of himself" or something like that. He was more or less just flailing on his enemies, after all.

But as he repeatedly stabbed at the Nuckelavee before retreating behind his human shield, he noticed that he, in fact, was more comfortable with the longer weapon in the current situation. Since he was actually stabbing from behind cover instead of his usual whacking, he was actually mindful to retreat as soon as he had managed to get a hit in to avoid the counterattack. With that in mind, he decided to keep using the Binary Spirit.

Unfortunately, the Heartless had other ideas. It raised its sword into the air and flung it around in a circle. Meanwhile the bone segments separated from each other, connected only by a string. Which tripled the weapon's length and increased the force of the impact to that of a whip. The attack was powerful enough to throw the Hero of the Shield off his feet and into the Gamer, making them tumble over each other.

"[Air Strike Shield]!" Naofumi quickly activated and with it managed to block the front legs the Nuckelavee had raised to trample them with. More than that, Naofumi also moved the shield upwards, pushing against the surprised Heartless and literally throwing it backwards. Directly on top of Kazuma and Darkness, the former quickly jumping away while the latter actually started blushing, before literally vanished under the bulk.

"Darkness!" Ji-Han shouted out in panic but Kazuma was not worried at all.

"Keep him like that, Darkness!" He told her as he started to attack their enemy while it was down. For a moment Ji-Han was dumbfounded at Kazuma's blasé attitude towards the fate of his party member, but then he remembered that Darkness was a Crusader, the same Class as Naofumi. She probably had enough VIT that it didn't hurt her at all. Thus Ji-Han quickly copied the Lucky Thief in attacking their foe.

{Critical!}

Ji-Han grinned as the Nuckelavee thrashed on the ground in Darkness's grip.

Perfect!

{Critical!}

{Critical!}

Uwak!

After the third Critical Hit in a row, Ji-Han had to abort the attack as one of the hooves nearly hit his head. Shortly afterwards, the Nuckelavee managed to find halt and pushed himself up and swung its sword around, forcing them to retreat out of its range. Everyone except for Darkness, who was clinging to its upper body with all her might.

"Time to show your strength!" Kazuma called out to her as the Heartless buckled like a horse, trying to throw her off. "Squeeze it to death!"

"I don't see any damage", observed Ji-Han as the Nuckelavee rammed Darkness into a wall. Not that it helped much. In fact, even though the Crusader seemed to be panting from the strenuous activity, she seemed to be having the time of her life.

"Are Darkness's gauntlets blessed?" Inquired Naofumi suddenly and Kazuma cursed. Of course the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee would not get any damage. Aqua had only blessed their weapons and thus the Heartless would not get any damage from Darkness's bear-hug no matter her strength.

"Quick, Aqua!" He addressed the goddess, but she just shook her head.

"I can't hit her, when they are moving like that!"

"Then just bless everything!"

"Bless… everything? Got it…" Light particles surrounded her. "I, Aqua, goddess of water commends you… be blessed!" A great wave of light flew out from her, making everything around her sparkle for a moment, before returning to normal.

PING!

{You and your party members have been blessed with
[Blessing of the Goddess 150],
[Protection of the Water Goddess 100] and
[Cheered On ALL 1].}

Oh, so the blessing came with a Cheered On-Effect on all the stats? Nice. Even if it was so low one would not notice it unless they could see it. But more importantly, was it working?

{8818/12450} {8398/12450} {7976/12450} {7555/12450} {7134/12450}

Holy shit. And how it was working! Just what kind of strength did that girl have?! She did more damage than him! Why wasn't the Heartless already on its last leg?

…Right, she first had to hit the enemy, didn't she? Now that she was literally clinging to the Nuckelavee, there was no room for error, no matter how bad she was in swordplay.

{6713/12450} {6292/12450} {5871/12450} {5450/12450} {5029/12450}

And additionally, her high VIT made it so that no matter what the enemy tried, she was practically safe from any retribution.

The Heartless, realizing the futility of the act, stopped and then threw his hands into the air. Which resulted in the head getting send flying high. It stopped there and soon around it appeared the familiar flaming eye. Then the Nuckelavee sank into the ground in such a way that the raised sword was the last to vanish and momentarily gave the impression of a shark's fin, before it too vanished. Darkness meanwhile was left behind on the ground in puzzlement.

"Shua!" Naofumi called out through the voice chat and pointed towards the sky. The Pokémon was quick on the uptake and send a Super Shocker into the sky, only for a wave of purple flames to intercept it like it was literally blinking.

So much for that.

"Watch your surroundings!" Ji-Han called out. "We don't know where it will appear again!"

He turned to the next wall and activated [High Jump], stretching his hand out to reach as far as possible. Which was higher than he first expected as he easily managed to grab the ledge of the roof of the two-story building. Since he didn't just got a level up in High Jump, was his jumping height influenced by STR, too? Nice.

Additionally it helped him pull himself up to the slanted roof without any problem and then to the top. The overview was interrupted at some points by one or two buildings, but it wasn't so densely populated, that he couldn't see most of the roads.

Now, the most likely targets were him and Darkness, who dealt the most damage to him and Aqua, who had been a person of interest from the beginning. Thus he was watching out for these two while having to make sure, the Heartless wouldn't take him by surprise, instead.

Meanwhile Naofumi was directing the strong Darkness, to pick up the goddess and hold her above her head. She screamed at the indignation but Naofumi quickly shut her up. Not that he couldn't understand her. Normally that position would put her pretty much on display like bait. However, since the enemy was going to attack from underground, being on top of another person was actually a pretty safe to be. Something that Naofumi apparently noticed.

So, imagine his surprise, when the Heartless did neither appear below him or the pair of girls, but a good distance away, if in view of them. There it caught the head and then held it in front of the horse one. And then the horse head split open into four parts that folded outwards like a grotesque flower, revealing a single spine and nothing else. Then the Nuckelavee literally attached the human head onto the spine, holding it in place.

And that was just the prelude. Now dozens of ghostly blue flames shot out of the empty neck and towards them.

Ji-Han cursed as he jumped down from the roof and ran towards his friends. Just what they needed, an AoE-attack that hit everything.

"Quick!" He shouted. "Everybody together!"

In haste they scrambled to get together, close enough to let the [Air Strike Shield] protect them all while all around them the flames bombarded the ground.

Or at last; that was what Ji-Han had expected to happen. However, for some reason the ghost flames flew all against the green transparent shield, like they were attracted to it. Or the people behind it. So they weren't AoE but homing?

"Shua!" Naofumi called out and the Pokémon nodded, before pointing the indigo-glowing paintbrush towards the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee. The glow vanished, only to be replaced by a ghostly blue. And then he was the one shooting dozens of ghost flames. They converged onto the Heartless and struck him with a multitude of blows. Blows, which after a while inflicted the same status effect that the Nuckelavee had inflicted earlier on Naofumi: [Life Curse 5].

Then it upgraded to [Life Curse 10] and then [Life Curse 15], before the fires were all spend. But it didn't stop there. Even after the attack was gone, the HP dropped which each second. Together with the Max-HP.

"Naofumi?" He quickly addressed his party member. "Are you alright? You got hit with Life Curse earlier, didn't you?"

"Don't worry", the person in question reassured him. "It went away after a minute. My Max-HP had been restored afterwards, too. Just focus on not getting hit yourself!"

"He won't be able to attack again!" Declared Megumin. "They always said that I am not supposed to use my explosions in the city, but now the enemy to defeat is within it! I shall let him face the might of my explosion!"

"Don't be stupid!" Kazuma chastised her. "It's a Heartless. It has to be killed by the Keyblade, remember? Just go and deal with the Undead Knights outside."

Megumin was sulking as the Nuckelavee galloped towards them, but Kazuma was right. It had like 4.5 thousand HP left, which soon would go down to 4 thousand, if the curse went on for a minute. Soon they would be starting to get to the point where everyone except for Ji-Han had to be mindful of accidentally doing too much damage.

"Han-san?" Suddenly another voice cut in, but because of the charging Heartless, Ji-Han only threw a short glance at the newcomer – only for his head to turn once again, this time in full force as he recognized Kyouya, the owner of the magic sword Gram.

"Kyouya-Ssi?" He addressed the hero, before returning his attention back to the enemy, who was being intercepted by Naofumi. "Are you here to help?"

"Indeed", he confirmed. "With my magic sword Gram I can easily defeat this enemy, if you want me to!"

"Actually, we had just been talking about how we have to make sure that I am the one who kill the Heartless if we don't want it to later reappear", Ji-Han corrected. "So we need someone to block its attacks or get me closer so I can hit it with my sword."

Kyouya looked thoughtfully.

"You mean like Ika-chan?"

"One of your companions?" Ji-Han studied the two girls in question, wondering how they would help.

"Ah, no", Kyouya refuted. "Ika-chan is the employee of the Leon Shop. She can stretch her hair and carry people with it."

"That sounds perfect", noted Ji-Han. "Ika, [Party Invite]!"

But nothing happened. Why? Was it because Ika wasn't her full name? No, he did it generally without. Could he probably not invite people, he hadn't seen yet? He had to test that later. For now Kyouya realized that Ji-Han's method wasn't working and offered to bring her, while he left his two companions behind to help in the effort of stalling the Heartless. Ji-Han emphasized the danger, especially the Life Curse and then welcomed the addition to their fighting force.

Meanwhile the Heartless decided to take it up a notch. It swung its sword and when Naofumi blocked it, separated it into segments in a way that they passed his shield and coiled around his upper arm, allowing the Heartless to drag the Hero of the Shield off his feet and throw him away.

But something on this level was not an issue for the Disillusioned Hero. He just used one [Thousand Feet Charge] and was back instantly, ramming into the Heartless from behind and knock it off its feet.

Ji-Han's eyes nearly gleamed as he noticed this chance for Critical Hits, before reminding his comrades not too attack less they kill it with a Critical Hit. However, when Ji-Han went over to it, it threw its head into the air and sank into the ground, making the Hippocratic Battlefield just crack the street futilely.

Ji-Han cursed.

"Alright, he's gone again. Darkness, get Aqua! Naofumi, take care of Shua!" With the last attack, it might be possible that the agro had shifted. And while it was possible, it would just attack from afar again, being prepared wouldn't hurt.

But as he went towards the previous building, he heard Naofumi shouting "[Air Strike Shield]", followed by a pain in the back. {-170}

Ji-Han was flung forward, rolling over the ground and ended up sprawling upside down against the wall. Which gave him a good view of the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee as it climbed over the green transparent shield.

{You have been afflicted with [Life Curse 5].}

Ji-Han cursed and picked himself up as fast as possible, which was not that easy considering his current position. But he still managed to get up before the Heartless reached him and then used [High Jump] to get back on top of the building, the sword obliterating part of the wall.

Ji-Han quickly pulled himself upwards in haste but as he put his right foot on the edge, he saw the Nuckelavee going for another strike, one directly from below.

"[Dodge Roll]!" He quickly went to the left as the Heartless cut the roof in half, sending tiles flying up into the air and upon Ji-Han. But that was only the first part. Because the supporting structure had been broken, that half of the roof carved in. Only another [Dodge Roll] allowed Ji-Han to get to the other half in time.

"Hopefully these guys have insurance", he mused as he slid down the undamaged half of the roof and jumped back down onto the ground, not wanting to be up there, if the Heartless decided to destroy that half, too.

Suddenly, it became brighter and when Ji-Han turned upwards to the sky, he noticed the flaming eye with the separated head having moved until it was directly above him. Ji-Han had only enough time to register it, before the Nuckelavee broke through the wall, sending broken stone into his back and throwing him forward when its bulk followed. {-82}

When Ji-Han finally came to a halt, he didn't stop there and pushed through the pain to instantly use a series of [Dodge Roll]. All to bring as much distance between them as fast as possible.

{-44}

{You have been afflicted with [Life Curse 5].}

But it wasn't fast enough. The Nuckelavee managed to close the distance and strike him again, sending him flying just like the time before. This was bad, really bad. The [Life Curse] did not care for defense and would take down his HP just the same. But the Heartless would not allow Ji-Han the opportunity to heal. And he really didn't fancy his chances the block the snake sword with his current Guard. He only could think of one thing to help him:

Get better at running away and fast!

Ji-Han jumped forward in a motion he had done so often, but this time he forwent calling out the skill's name. He had already done it before, he just had to do it again! And he did. It was a bit shaky, but he managed to continue running after he had stopping rolling. Which was exactly what he needed.

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 4.}

Alright! Again!

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 2.}

And again!

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 3.}

And a-whoa!

However, this time he tripped and sprawled on the ground.

"[Dodge Roll]!" He quickly activated to avoid the bone whip, using this also as an opportunity to change directions, before trying it the normal way, again, already noticing the difference to before.

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 2.}

Again.

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 1.}

Again.

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 2.}

And in a different direction.

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 2.}

Slowly he was getting the hang of this…

PING!

{By using [Dodge Roll] without using the skill,
[Dodge Roll]'s level has risen by 1.}

Uwak! Spoke to soon! Another miss!

"[Dodge Roll]! [Dodge Roll]! [Dodge Roll]!"

Noticing that it got enough and not wanting to risk another miss, he went back to vocalizing the skill, literally rolling circles around the Heartless. Who got fed up with not being able to hit him and caught its head. And when it then held the human head above the horse one, Ji-Han knew it was time to book it. He didn't fancy his chances to survive that many attacks concentrated on him. Homing attacks.

Ji-Han cursed and stopped escaping with [Dodge Roll], spun around and raised his Keyblade to stop as many attacks as possible with [Guard] – only for someone else to ram into his back and pushing himself on the ground.

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

Luckily that one was just Naofumi who had used a [Thousand Feet] to reach him and protect him.

"Thanks!" Replied Ji-Han and, seeing as he wasn't on his own anymore, finally activated [Wind Magic: Breeze of Regeneration] after standing up again. "That was way too close for comfort. Please keep him at bay while I heal."

"Right."

So Ji-Han once again stuck behind the Hero of the Shield while the person in question blocked the attacks of the Nuckelavee. But not to look for opportunities to attack. No, he was way too busy with healing. One look at his [Status Window] showed him that he had gotten way too low, with only like 300 left. And that was after the first seconds of healing. So, yeah, not able to do much besides healing. Luckily they only needed to hold out until Kyouya showed up with Ika.

But the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee had tasted blood and had become a lot more aggressive. He once again threw the head into the air and dived down.

"Be careful", advised Naofumi. "The last time he reappeared out of a dark portal behind you."

Ji-Han cursed. Bosses that ran away and then reappeared wherever they pleased were really the worst.

Ji-Han noticed a change in the lighting and looked up to see the eye moving. And since that one had only moved when it wasn't able to see him, its target…

"It's after someone else! [Dodge Roll]! Kazuma, Shua? Where are you? [Dodge Roll]. It's going after someone else. [Dodge Roll]. Look for the eye. [Dodge Roll]."

"It's not us."

Then where was it going? Aqua was with Kazuma and he had the Keyblade… not out at the moment, since he was healing, but you get the picture. Was there really a target that was more attractive than they?

"Orca!" Suddenly a voice screamed in hysteria and then he saw a silhouette against the red eye in the sky. A silhouetted, coming towards him.

"[Guard]!" He activated, just in time to block two blue tentacles coming at him. Unfortunately that meant that the skill faded out when the actual bulk of the person appeared and fell on top of him, throwing him to the ground.

"Hey, why did you throw my tentacles off-course?!" The person complained.

It was a girl with blue eyes and blue tentacle-like hair peeking out from under a white triangular hat with streamlining fins at the sides. She wore blue transparent and smooth circlets around her wrists and ankles besides her Leon Shop Uniform, which would have clued Ji-Han in to who she was, even if he hadn't seen her name above her head:

[Unsuccessful Invader
-Leon Shop Employee-
Lv55 Ika Musume]

"Ji-Han", Naofumi rose his attention, "is she the Ika?"

"Yep, her full name is Ika Musume." Without a surname apparently since there was no comma.

"Of course it is", mused Naofumi shaking his head.

Ji-Han raised an eyebrow at that, but they had more important things to discuss.

"Yes, I am Ika Musume –de geso. What can I help you with?"

"Kyouya-Ssi told us you can carry people with your hair? We need you to get me next to the Heartless, let me hit it with my sword and then drag me out of reach before it can strike back."

"Heartless?" She became fearful. "You don't mean the orca, ika?"

"How did you confuse a Dullahan with an orca?" Mused Naofumi perplexed.

"Technically it's a Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee", corrected Ji-Han. "But whatever it is, it's not an orca."

"Oh, is that so? In which case, I shall show it the power of an invader from the sea!"

"Actually, didn't Kyouya-Ssi tell you that we need you because I have to be the one to deal the finishing blow?"

"Oh, right."

"Get ready!" Interjected the Hero of the Shield. "It's coming!"

And indeed, there it was, galloping towards them. The flaming eye like a herald above it.

"Ika-Yang, [Party Invite]!"

"Wa- What is this?!"

Ji-Han quickly explained the Gamer and the voice chat and then the Nuckelavee was already upon them with Naofumi moving to intercept it.

"Alright, Ika-Yang, you know what to do!"

"Yes!"

Ika wrapped one of her ten hair-tentacles around his waist and moved him up into the air and towards their opponent. Who did notice the new approach and swung his snake sword in his direction. But luckily Ika was on the ball and moved him back out of range, before shooting him forward like lightning, Keyblade first. The Heartless once again tried to hit him, but he was already gone, only to strike once more when the attack had passed.

Ika's control over her tentacles was really spectacular. She was moving them around like arms with an unlimited number of joints, even able to make angular shapes to avoid the weapon. And they were fast, too, easily able to draw circles around the enemy without problem. In fact, it went so well that after the first few times, Ji-Han opened the [Inventory] and changed his Binary Spirit to Hippocratic Battlefield and Ika could easily compensate for the shorter Keyblade with her tentacles.

It was clear that she was the real VIP of the battle and he was just being dragged along so that Ika could use his Keyblade, but as long as they finally managed to take down that Heartless, he didn't care. Especially since the fight had been dragging on for who knows how long already and he just wanted it to be over.

Unfortunately, the Nuckelavee still had over 2000 HP left. Enough to throw a wrench into their plans. Once more it sank into the ground, making Ji-Han miss it again. But this time it did not stay underground for long but instantly showed up, directly below Ika. The tentacle girl jumped up in panic; with which I meant, she slammed two of her free tentacles into the ground and pushed herself into the sky, avoiding the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee. Then she returned the tentacles to her, leaving her airborne. Together with Ji-Han, who she had dragged with her, too.

"Throw me!" Ji-Han told her and so she did, moving the specific tentacle back a bit, before flinging it forwards with all her might. Like a meteor Ji-Han fell from the sky, ramming the Keyblade into the center of the upper body of the Heartless.

Ji-Han smiled as the HP reached 0. The Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee did one slow step, another one, then sank onto its knees.

PING!

{A skill has been created through a specific action.}

{A skill to maintain one's balance,
[Balance], has been created.}

{[Balance (passive) Lv1 EXP: 0.0%]
A skill to keep to the line of gravity regardless of footing.
Reduces sway by 3 %.}

Huh. Didn't expect to get a skill like that. Especially not when trying not to fall down from a dying enemy…

Ji-Han's attention was quickly taken by the head of the Heartless, who fell onto the ground in front of him and shattered, revealing a large crystalline heart, which rose into the air and vanished, followed shortly by the rest of the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee.

{+155 625 EXP}

PING!

{Your level went up by 2.}

PING!

{You have completed the quest
[Losing Your Head: Even the Headless Can Do it].
Completion Award: +3 000 EXP to you and every party member.
Aqua won't die for now.
Increased reputation with the people of the Kingdom of Belzerg.
Decreased reputation with enemies of the Kingdom of Belzerg

Bonus Award for
[Defeat the [Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee] with the Keyblade.]:
+7 000 EXP.
The enemy will not return later on.

Bonus Award for
[Do not use [Card Summoning] during the battle.]:
+2 000 EXP.
You do not need to pay back 27 000 Munny to the Adventurer's Guild.}

Alright! With this the battle was finally over.

"Thanks, Ika-Yang, you've been a big help."

"Hahaha! See that?! That's the might of an invader from the sea!"

Ji-Han smiled as the self-proclaimed invader landed next to him and gave the rest of his teammates the good news through the voice chat:

"Everybody, relay the message, the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee is down! Let's meet up at the guild building for a debriefing!"

"Right!"

Good. With that cleared, he could finally look at the Loot.

"You've still got to reopen the gate", reminded Naofumi him. "And see if the rest of the Undead Knights has been dealt with."

Ah, right, there was that, too. Ji-Han quickly stored the Munny, the two potion bottles and the book in the inventory, deciding to look at them later.

Fortunately, when they got to the gate, one of the adventurers there reported that they had dealt with all the Undead Knights. The only thing left was the headless horse that Beldia had brought with him before he turned into a Heartless. And even though it had no eyes, Ji-Han couldn't help but feel as if it stared at him, before turning around and walking away. As he dispelled the lock on the gate with [Heart Key: Open] he still couldn't shake the feeling that he had missed an opportunity.


"[Heart Key: Close]!"

PING!

{[Heart Key: Close]'s Level has risen by 1.}

PING!

{You have completed the quest
[The World's Heart: 114-11-8315-yvy-epxpz].
Completion Award: +25 000 EXP to you and every party member not from that world.
The world is not devoured by darkness.
Increased reputation with all allies you meet on the world and their comrades.
Increased reputation with everyone connected to Traverse Town.}

PING!

{Gratitude from a world has created the keychain [Afterlife Fantasy].}

{[Afterlife Fantasy]
Element: Mystic
Damage: +3
Range: Long
+10% EXP-gains to purifying abilities.}

PING!

{You have completed the quest
[Grinding for Money: Who Doesn't Want to Be a Millionaire?].
Completion Award: +2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Increased reputation with Satou, Kazuma.
Decreased reputation with Aqua, Megumin and Dustiness Ford Lalatina.

Bonus Award for
[Help Kazuma Satou gain at last 200 000 Munny by defeating Heartless and monsters.]:
+2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Manatite Crystal (inferior).
Increased reputation with Satou, Kazuma.

Bonus Award for
[Help Kazuma Satou gain at last 500 000 Munny by defeating Heartless and monsters.]:
+2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Manatite Crystal (normal).
Increased reputation with Satou, Kazuma.

Bonus Award for
[Help Kazuma Satou gain at last 1 000 000 Munny by defeating Heartless and monsters.]:
+4 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Manatite Crystal (superior).
Increased reputation with Satou, Kazuma.}

Wow, that were quite a lot of things happening. Even if he could have anticipated most of them. They were, after all, following after he had closed the keyhole to the world, which showed itself when they went back to the guild building. So, besides the quest for saving the world, there was also the quest for getting Kazuma money, which now came to a close. Speaking of, where were the Manatite Crystals? Did they get send directly into his inventory? Not to mention there were still the item drops from the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee he had to look through.

But that was something he could deal with later. For now he had to meet up with his party members.

"What do you mean there won't be any reward money?!" Aqua's shrill voice was the first thing that greeted him upon entering.

"I am sorry", Luna responded apologetic in face of the angry goddess. "But as the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee was a recent enemy, there had been no time to issue a reward for its defeat."

"That's just excuses!" She declared. "Beldia was still a General of the Demon Lord's army! There should be at last some reward for even participating in the battle!"

"Do I have to remind you that it was the actions of you and the rest of your party that resulted in Beldia turning into a Heartless in the first place?" She chastised, making the goddess flinch. "If Ji-Han hadn't been here, who knows what would have happened. You should count yourself lucky nobody decided to bill you for that neglect!"

"I hope nobody thinks about billing us for the building the Heartless decided to destroy when he went after Ji-Han", Naofumi threw in, redirecting the attention towards himself. "Because in that case, it will be a long time until we decide to go after any more Heartless again."

"Of course not!" Luna was quick to reassure them. "The guild is more than equipped to handle the costs of a single house. But in cases of great vandalism, not even your status as the only Keyblade Wielder will protect your from the repercussions."

"I don't plan on flaunting my status like that in any way", Ji-Han defended himself, nudging Naofumi to stop him from unnecessarily antagonizing the guild. "I actually already closed the keyhole on the way in and plan on coming back later when I am stronger to deal with the stronger Heartless like the Underground Monkey."

"Coming back?" Repeated Kazuma. "Does that mean you are leaving?"

Ji-Han nodded.

"I'll most likely get the quest for closing another keyhole soon", he explained. "Probably once I check into the spaceship. So, once I finished up everything here, we'll be going."

"Fina- I mean, already?" That was Aqua, probably happy that Kazuma wouldn't be their party member much longer. Not that Darkness and Megumin weren't the same, but they were better in hiding it.

"That's right", confirmed Naofumi. "So let's hurry up and get down to business! How is the Lake Cleaning Quest coming along?"

"Ah, right!" Exclaimed Aqua happily, remembering that she was still getting money for other reasons and urged Kazuma to officially complete the quest.

PING!

{You have completed the quest
[Exploration Quest: Purify the Riverhead Lake].
Completion Award: +2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
You can buy [Water Goddess Hair (1cm³)] from Aqua for 1 000 000 Munny.
Increased reputation with Aqua, Satou Kazuma, Megumin and Dustiness Ford Lalatina.}

After receiving the notification, he took a million Munny out of his [Status Window], which transformed into a stack of paper bills and gave it to the goddess, who gave part of her hair in return. He then gave the hair to Naofumi, together with the Manatite Crystal of lowest quality, who absorbed them both.

"Anything good?" Asked Ji-Han interested and Naofumi nodded.

"The Manatite Crystal Shield increases my Max-MP while the Water God Shield gives permanent high Water-Resistance and even medium Water-Absorption when equipped. Which means I can heal myself when attacked with Water attacks."

"So it was worth the million Munny", noted Ji-Han satisfied. "Next on the list, the results of the battle. I've leveled up twice, just like Kazuma-Ssi, Naofumi leveled up once and Shua even thrice. Kazuma should use up his points while he's still one of our party members. I'll keep my points in reserve like usual and I am guessing you two will do the same, right?"

No objections, but Shua held up his brush, pointing with his free hand at it.

"Right, you got another Sketch didn't you?"

"Smear!"

"Right, so what should he forget…"

"I suggest Power Strike", Naofumi interjected. "He had copied this skill for quite a time and we meet too many enemies that have a Fight-Resistance of some kind. The sound wave is our only area-of-effect skill, the ghost flames are incredibly powerful and he needs to keep Super Shocker because it doesn't have an MP-Cost."

"You are right", agreed Ji-Han. "Power Strike it is. And considering how it's better for Shua to attack from behind you, why don't we try to make him a ranged attacker in general? He definitively put enough points into INT for the fight with the Heart-Hunting Nuckelavee."

Shua agreed, which left only one thing on Ji-Han's list: The Loot. Though besides the money and potion bottles, he only really had gotten one thing: The skill book. So, Ji-Han took it out and this time did not instantly dismiss the message that popped up:

PING!

{You have obtained the skill book
[Astral Projection].}

{Would you like to learn this skill?}
{YES} {NO}

"What is that?" Kazuma inquired curiously and Ji-Han quickly explained how his Gamer interacted with books.

"The skill this book would give me is Astral Projection" Ji-Han finished. "With is something like leaving your body and controlling your soul, if I remember correctly."

"It is", confirmed Kazuma. "Does that mean you now get third-person view, too?"

Ji-Han paused. Oh, god, he was right. The third-person perspective was something that was a staple of some video game franchises, if not even most of them. And not too few games even allowed one to switch between first- and third-person perspectives. However, since there were a bunch of games only in first-person view and the real-life was naturally in first-person view, too, he had not been surprised, when his Gamer did not come with the option to change the perspective.

But now he actually got a skill that would take the role of that. A skill that an enemy used before. Not only that, it was a skill he heard of in myths at home. It was quite funny, how something like that would mimic a game mechanic.

But when he went to accept the skill, he got stumped by a sudden roadblock.

{You cannot learn this skill.}

{Required INT: 30
Required WIS: 30}

"Stat restrictions?!" Exclaimed Ji-Han in surprise. "Skill books come with stat restrictions?!" Sure, he knew that was in thing in some games, but since he hadn't seen them in any of the skill books he had used before, it took him by surprise.

"There's still stuff you don't know about your ability?" Wondered Kazuma and Ji-Han shrugged.

"Since I don't get a manual for the ability, I only get new information on it, when I stumble upon it like this", he explained. "I don't even know if I got all the big revelations or if there's still some video game aspect that I am missing. I mean, just this battle I found out that I can get new perks when my stats reach a certain value."

"Let's talk about that one later", interjected Naofumi. "How many points are you missing for the book?"

"Oh, [Status Window]. Looks like I am good with WIS but my INT still needs 5."

"Then that should be something you can achieve by studying, right?" Ji-Han winced. He really wanted to see how the skill was, but Naofumi wasn't wrong. He had to keep his points for things he really needed.

With a sigh, he put away the book and the Hero of the Shield addressed the perks.

"Like I said", continued Ji-Han. "I got a new Perk when my STR hit 50 called [Athletic Body]. It increases my Max-HP, the effectiveness of HP-related skills and gives me an HP-regeneration of 10 per minute."

"That doesn't sound like much", noted Kazuma and Ji-Han nodded.

"True, but since I didn't have any passive HP regeneration before, I take what I can get."

"It's still not useful for combat", the Hero of the Shield pointed out. "Maybe reaching 100 STR will increase it."

"Right", acknowledged Ji-Han. "Grinding my stats, got it. Anyone else anything to address?"

Nobody raised their voice.

"Looks like this is it", mused Kazuma. "Thanks for letting me team up with you. Don't be a stranger and call from time to time, will you?"

"Call? The Voice Chat doesn't reach into other worlds…"

Kazuma stared at him blankly.

"Did you forgot the Hero Chat already?"

"Oh, right, there was that, too, wasn't it? Come to think of it, I do want to browse through the forums a bit and see what they've got. Maybe I could do it while grinding VIT or Food Preparation…"

"Didn't you just say, you would grind your INT", Naofumi reminded him and Ji-Han sighed.

Right, first business than pleasure, right?

"Smeeeaaar", Shua suddenly complained, tugging at Ji-Han's sleeve and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, you are tired? It is getting late, isn't it?" The Gamer noted.

"That is as good as a cue to leave as any", added Naofumi as he held out his hand. Ji-Han quickly said proper goodbies to the adventurers and then they went away, closing the chapter on the second world. Or third if you counted Cantehill.


A/N:

Hi, guys and gals.

Damn, the Heartless just did not want to die. But he was way too strong to be easily defeated by the current party members. There were multiple moments were I thought "Is that it?" only to realize that there was no way the Nuckelavee could not get out of this situation and so the battle continued Heck, I had planned for Ji-Han to finish the battle before Ika showed up, but he was just too slow.

It certainly wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't remember parts of the previous version of the fight like Ika being there around halfway, but without any memory of how I got to that point.

On another note, Kazuma and his party had quite a lot of Luck that the first General they fought was Beldia. I am not going to go into detail but with him turning into a Heartless – something that's been helped with by the cast showing up so late, not to mention their usual antics – things changed. A lot of the things that Kazuma tried in canon, would not be applicable in these circumstances.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku