Spear and Shield

by RandomUsername1

(AU) (Female Naofumi) What happens when the Legendary Spear gets the person it wants instead of the backup that was Motoyasu? You get a American who wakes up in a new world who is all of sudden the Spear Hero which comes with many perks but being a Hero isn't all sunshine and rainbows as he's soon to find out.

7. Chapter 6:Wave of Calamity

Chapter 6 of Spear and Shield this is the second of the double update, so there's one more new chapter before this one

I don't own anything, all rights go to their owners.

Talking: "I'm worried about the future."

Thinking: 'Ain't fucking with the past."

"Do something that fucking stupid again and I'll scorch you with magical fire, see how you like it."-Current Spear Hero threatening an unnamed knight.

Naofumi opens her eyes to see the sun already shinning over the camp she had made. She looks around for Raphtalia, despite the rather complicated beginning, the two have been working rather well together. Naofumi and Raphtalia have been doing rather simple jobs at the guild, though due to Naofumi being a pariah Raphtalia is sent in to gather the jobs. The two have even somewhat became regulars at some alchemists' shops due to Naofumi selling potions and herbs. Unknowingly to Naofumi, a small number of people have even slowly started to appreciate her for all the medicine and herbs she brings in.

Naofumi eventually finds Raphtalia in the lake, catching what she assumes is fish. Raphtalia has changed a lot though to Naofumi's surprise, Raphtalia went from a frail sickly child into a vibrant young woman. When she first started changing Naofumi quickly went to the slave trader to figure out what was going on with her to which he explained that demi-humans can mature very quickly depending on their level. Naofumi was annoyed at having to buy new clothes for Raphtalia but the annoyance died quickly when Raphtalia had improved in combat due to her sudden growth.

Naofumi sighs. 'Things seem to be getting better despite getting screwed over, me and Raphtalia are getting stronger.' Naofumi's thoughts are interrupted by Raphtalia who comes back with a bunch of fish, having a soft smile on her face.

"Good morning Naofumi, I caught some fish for us to eat." She hands the fish to Naofumi who takes the fish off her hands who pulls out a knife and begins to scale and gut the fish for cooking. Raphtalia gathers some wood for the campfire to make the cooking process easier and after sometime she starts the campfire up again. Naofumi finishes scaling and cutting the fishes and put them on a metal skewer to cook over the campfire Raphtalia just started.

While the two wait for the food to cook Raphtalia turns to Naofumi. "Did you sleep well Naofumi?"

Naofumi looks at her. "It was fine." Naofumi spins the metals skewers. "We should head to town after this." Raphtalia nods and waits patiently for the fish. After sometime the fish are done cooking to which Naofumi takes the skewers and passes some of the skewers to Raphtalia to which she takes and thanks, Raphtalia proceeds to eat the cooked fish. Taking a bite she moans in delight from the taste.

"This is so good Naofumi!" Raphtalia says with a smile.

Naofumi hums in response and takes a bite out of the fish, chewing it. 'I can taste it a bit, maybe one day my taste will fully come back.' The two begin to eat in silent peace, birds can be heard tweeting and the calm river glistens as the sun hits it.

After finishing her food Naofumi speaks, wanting to plan for the day. "After we finish packing up the camp, we're gonna go grind a bit after we'll go to Erhard's and get new equipment."

Raphtalia nods with a smile on her face.

Sometime later.

After finally packing up, the two walk a bit deeper into the forest to grind for killing monsters, Raphtalia suddenly shouts out to Naofumi.

"Naofumi look out!"

Naofumi turns to see an oversized porcupine roll straight into her, lucky for her only one of the porcupine's needles embedded into her arm, the porcupine begins to run off with Raphtalia chasing after it.

Naofumi gets up, looking at the needle she lightly touches it feeling a slight sting when doing so. She takes a seat on a rock formation, Raphtalia can be heard chasing the porcupine. "Wait!" The porcupine runs around in the tall grass with Raphtalia following behind, making swings that only hit the tall grass. "Get back here!"

Naofumi grabs the needle in her arm, her eyes slightly watering from the pain. 'It's only been a few days since I last met up with Kane.' Naofumi grits her teeth as she pulls out the needle, after pulling out the needle she absorbs it unlocking a new Shield in the process.

Animal Needle Shield unlocked! (+0) +1 Atk.

'My shield's gained so many skills and abilities, I lost count of them all. But I still let my guard down and got hurt.'

"Naofumi!"

Naofumi looks at where the voice is coming from to find the porcupine running straight to her again, it pounces but before it can reach Naofumi she activates a skill

"Shield Prison!"

The porcupine becomes suddenly becomes enveloped by a green ball of shields, trapping making it easy prey for Raphtalia who slices the porcupine the moment the sphere disappears.

205 XP gained!

'The Wave is almost here, I can trust Kane to help us out in the Wave but still we should really upgrade our equipment before it's too late.'

"Naofumi!" Naofumi looks up at Raphtalia who turns around with a smile on her face. "I did it!"

Naofumi gives a small nod. "Good work Raphtalia, let's harvest the monster then get to Erhard's to upgrade our gear."

Raphtalia brings the porcupine's body to Naofumi, letting her harvest the body. Naofumi focuses on the carcass of the oversized forest critter.

Would you like to harvest this monster?

Naofumi pressed yes, it takes a few moments before a selection Shields appear before her.

Porcupine Meat Shield unlocked! (+0) +10 Phy Def, +8 Mag Def.

Porcupine Bone Shield unlocked! (+0) +10 Phy Def, +8 Mag Def.

Porcupine Foot Shield unlocked! (+0) +8 Agi.

Naofumi sighs as she stops reading the new Shields as none of them boosted her attack stat or gave her new skill. A sudden notification pops up in her vision.

Would you like to use the Porcupine's soul for Spirit Enhancement?

'Spirit Enhancement, that's the thing Kane told me about, let's see what it can do for me.' Naofumi clicks yes.

Porcupine soul absorbed! +50 Phy Def, Counter attacks are stronger.

Naofumi smiles at this. She looks up, straight at Raphtalia "Come on Raphtalia let's get back to town."

Raphtalia nods with a smile on her face.

---

"Wow, I hardly recognized you! You've turned into a real pretty lady, just like our Shield Hero. I haven't seen you two for a while, what have you been up to?"

Raphtalia smiles. "I had the innkeeper teach me table manners. I want to eat my food properly, like Naofumi does."

Erhard responds with a light tone. "That so? You've grown so much. Nothing like the pipsqueak you used to be."

Raphtalia pouts at this while Naofumi gives a amused smile.

"Anyway what can I help you two with today?"

Naofumi steps forward and leans on the counter. "We need to gear up for the Wave, so we need armour for both of us and a weapon for Raphtalia, any recommendations?"

Erhard puts a hand to his chin. "What's your budget."

"1250 silvers."

Erhard whistles. "Wow, Shield Lass you're doing pretty good money-wise if you can spend that much."

Naofumi rubs the back of her head while looking to the side. "Well... a lot of it is thanks to Kane, I've been working Guild jobs and I still have the 1200 silvers he gave me."

"He just gave away 1200 silvers?" Erhard's eyes widen in surprise.

"I saved his life so he gave me half of his rewards from his jobs as thanks among other things." Naofumi trails off.

"Why am I not surprised you had to save the Spear Kid, you ask me that kids a trouble magnet."

Naofumi snorts. "You can say that again."

"So moving on I'm guessing you want to get a new weapon for the kid huh?"

Naofumi nods at this. "Then for a weapon I would either pick an Enchanted Magic Iron sword or a Magic Steel sword." Erhard goes to the sword he has on display and passes two swords to Raphtalia. "Here try em out missy see how it feels."

Raphtalia begins swinging one of the swords, stopping every once in a while to swap the two to see the two feel in her hands.

"This one feels… weird"

Erhard looks at Raphtalia. "That would be the enchantment on the sword."

Naofumi looks at the sword Raphtalia's holding. "Enchantment huh?"

"Yep that one in particular is pretty interesting since that enchantment on armour just makes it lighter but on weapons? It makes the weapon lighter overall, making people swing faster which makes blades and such cut easier. It's a little more complex than that on blunted weapons though."

Raphtalia looks at the Enchanted sword. "I think I'll take this one boss."

Erhard nods with a smile. "Good choice! Right then onto armour, for the kid I would recommend some iron armour nothing to slow her down but something to protect her vital spots." Naofumi nods at this to which he pulls out parts of iron armour, letting Raphtalia get changed in one of the dressing rooms. She comes back with an iron breastplate, iron ankle guards, and iron spaulders. "As for you Shield Lass, well how about this?" Erhard shows off a full suit of plate armour. Naofumi and Raphtalia stare at with uncertainty.

"I don't think it's my style."

"It would strip Naofumi of all her individuality."

Erhard hums and goes to pull another set of armour "Well, there's this." He pulls out a set of chainmail.

"Ah, chainmail! It looks quite easy to move around in, I thi-"

"No way in hell!"

Raphtalia stares at Naofumi who has a snarl upon her face, glaring at the armour, it's mere sight enraging her. "I'm not wearing that fucking thing!"

Erhard and Raphtalia are surprised by the sudden aggression from Naofumi. "Alright alright, calm down, how about instead we do a custom order?"

Naofumi exhales, forcing herself to calm down. "...A custom order?"

"Yeah, a custom order, you bring in materials for me and I'll make you something."

Naofumi puts a hand to her chin contemplating the idea before the door to the shop suddenly opens.

"Yo, my man Ernie!"

The three look at where the sudden voice came from to find Kane entering the shop with his entire party. "Hey look, it's my favourite Shield Hero and my favourite Raccoon demi-human, ain't today just great?"

Erhard shouts out to Kane. "Ernie!? Everything you buy is 25% more expensive for just for that horrible nickname."

Kane takes a step back in shock. "What the fuck! It's only a nickname you stingy dick!"

"Stingy! it's 50% increase now!"

"You just wanna con all the money out of me you greedy old timer!"

"100% increase now for that old timer comment!"

"I might as well just steal your shit at that point!"

"Try it, I dare you!"

"Maybe I will, not like you can catch me!"

"I won't be able to catch you, but this hammer will."

The two stare at each other, causing everyone else present in the shop to become uncomfortable until the two start laughing.

Naofumi stares at the two with incredulity before scoffing and shaking her head. "Men."

Erhard after his banter with Kane, looks at his party with a smile on his face. "Would you look at that, I guess the little pipsqueaks in your party grew up just fine too."

Kane chuckles, turning around to look at his party. "Yeah, they're growing up just fine, that's actually why we're here, wanna update our equipment before the Wave."

"Right just like Shield Lass then, what's your budget kid?"

Kane walks forward to the counter standing directly behind Naofumi while Raphtalia walks off to go and talk to her fellow demi-humans. "2280 silvers."

Erhard hums. "Well for the kids I was thinking a scale armour set like yours, weapons a standard upgrade maybe throw on an enchantment, but for you I was thinking of doing a custom armour order just like the Shield Lass."

Naofumi rolls her eyes. "I haven't agreed to anything yet boss."

Kane laughs. "Yeah no fuck that, I bet you're gonna make an armour set that has a giant target painted on it."

Erhard puts a hand on his chest, pretending to hurt by Kane's comment. "I would never do that to you Spear Kid."

Kane stares at him.

"...Maybe I would add a small target."

Naofumi joins in with a dry tone. "That's just cruel boss, he already attracts monsters, no need to make him an even more obvious target."

Kane shrugs with a lopsided smile. "What can I say, I'm attractive to all things."

"Especially Trolls." Naofumi looks at Kane with a smug grin.

Kane raises his hand, opening his mouth to counter the point, before stopping and admitting to it. "I-...True."

Erhard gives a loud jolly laugh, that makes the four demi-human stop in their gossip and small talk momentarily to listen to what's going on. "The Legendary Troll Bait."

Naofumi and Erhard start to laugh at the nickname, the two continue teasing Kane, who stands there rubbing the back of his head while pouting. "You guys are bullies, hurting my poor feelings."

Naofumi shakes her head. "You big baby." Her thoughts return to the custom armour, she doesn't want to wear chainmail the very thought of it infuriates her but she needs some actual armour. "So you can make armour for us then?"

Erhard laughter dies before sighing, quickly refocusing onto business. "Yep, bring me some materials and I can whip something up for you, I can make you something too Spear Kid."

Kane opens up his inventory, looking at his inventory. He finds a bunch of materials in it, due to him harvesting nearly ever monster he kills and completely forgetting to clear it out every once in a while. "...Can you use bones in it? Cause I got some of the Troll's," Erhard and Naofumi both smirk at the mention of the Troll. "and I got some Alpha Dire Wolf bones too, I hoarded some other monster parts too, not sure if they're any good though."

Erhard motions to the counter to which Kane places the materials. "I've got a fuckton so you could probably use some of it for Iwi's set."

Naofumi opens her own inventory, and places some materials she gathered on the table as well. "I've got some metal ore, and some monster parts."

Erhard begins examining the materials, focusing more on the parts with higher quality.

Alpha Dire Wolf Fur

Alpha Dire Wolf Hide

Alpha Dire Wolf Bone

Light Metal Ore

Adult Cave Troll Bone

Erhard examines the Troll's bones to find cracks in it them, fortunately only some of the bones are damaged. "Damn Spear Kid you wanna tell me how you cracked a Troll's bone?"

Kane thinks back to the fight. "The retard probably cracked it, charging into one of the trees." He thought about it a little more, the memory of him using Seismic Leap straight into it's neck replaying in his head. "No wait, I might of slammed into it a little too hard."

Naofumi facepalms while Erhard looks at Kane with a deadpan look. "You're telling me, you slammed into a Troll so hard, you cracked some of it's bones?"

"I also stomped it's chest and sliced it's throat if it makes you feel any better."

"Ho-… Nevermind." Erhard shakes his head, giving up on asking further. "Well some of these bones are only gonna be useful in the smelting process but other then that I can make some good stuff with this."

"Sweet, how long do you think it will take?"

Erhard puts his hands on the counter, closing his eyes in thought. "...should have at least one of your sets done by today."

Kane and Naofumi look at each other, Kane shrugs. "Well I've already got armour so if I don't get a set it's not that serious."

Naofumi scoffs. "Yeah right, considering how you slam into monsters, you need all the defence you can get."

Kane grins straight at Naofumi who stares back with slight amusement in her eyes. "Guess that means a certain Shield Hero needs to keep me safe."

Naofumi rolls her eyes, not bothering to respond to him and instead looks straight at Erhard. "I think we still have enough time before the Wave so you'll probably be able to make both our sets in time."

Erhard looks at the two confused. "Do you two not know when the Wave is gonna be?"

The two shake their heads.

"No, all I know is that it's soon."

"Funny that you thought I did."

The confusion on Erhard's face become even more apparent. "Seriously no one told you about the Dragon Hourglass?"

Kane looks at Erhard. "You mean that hourglass they take sand from in the church?"

Erhard nods. "Yes, apparently the Heroes and their companions can do something with it making them teleport to the Wave, you two didn't know this?"

Naofumi scowls while Kane tilts his head. "I guess those nuns forgot, I mean they gave me sand from it but nobody told me about linking with it or something."

"I'll get to work on those armour sets, you two go link up with the Hourglass."

"So should we pay now or when we get back?"

"Later."

Naofumi starts to leave with Kane and all the others following behind. "Come on the quicker we can this done the better."

---

The group stand outside the church. The way it was built looked extremely peculiar with it's towers that looked like they more belonged on an art project then an actual place of worship.

"So you've been here before?"

Kane turns to Naofumi who's still looking at the massive church.

"Yeah, once when I went to go get the holy waters to break the slave seals on Keel, Rifana, and Leo." Naofumi hums.

They enter the church.

Keel whistles as she looks around the church. "Damn this place looks nice."

Rifana whispers to Keel, displeasure on her face. "Keel be quiet!"

"What? I'm just stating the obvious."

Rifana and Keel bicker, with Leo shaking his head in the back, the two continue arguing until Kane intervenes.

"You two knock it off, really not a good place to argue."

"Sir Spear Hero and the... Shield Hero"

A nun stands before them although this nun seem familiar to Kane.

"Hello sister, we here to… do something with the Dragon Hourglass, I'm not too sure what to be completely honest."

The nun bow. "The church apologises Spear Hero you should of been informed by one of us when you last visited us."

Kane blows air out of his mouth, waving his hand. "Ah it was no biggie, mistakes happen all the time especially when it's super late."

"Thank you for your kindness Sir Spear Hero if you would follow us to the Dragon Hourglass." The nun turns around, leading the group to the Dragon Hourglass.

"Here it is Sir Spear Hero."

Kane smiles at the nuns. "Thank you sister."

As the begin to step up, they become amazed at the sight before them which is otherworldly to say the least, it's at least as tall as a building, with strange eyes that constantly turn.

As Kane and Naofumi step closer a strange energy builds in their weapons, a beam which matches the colour of their gems strikes the Dragon Hourglass.

-22:48:29-

Kane stares at the sudden appearance of the timer.

"I'm guessing you got a timer pop up for you?"

Naofumi nods her head, slightly displeased at how little time there is left until the Wave, an irritating voice breaks the silence.

"If it isn't the Criminal Shield and the Gullible Spear."

The group turn around to find Myne standing alongside Itsuki, Ren, and their respective parties.

Kane scratches his chin. "...I don't think you know what gullible means."

Itsuki speaks up. "You were fooled into believing Iwatani."

"And you two dipshits believe Miss Rubs Her Tits On Everyone."

As soon as Kane finishes speaking Naofumi grabs his arm to which he looks down to find her gritting her teeth. "Forgot it, let's just go." She lets go and proceeds to walk past the group, Raphtalia directly behind her. Kane sighs and follows shortly after, getting looks from all of Ren and Itsuki's party.

---

The group follows Naofumi who stomps away from the church and eventually the town, Naofumi suddenly stops, remembering that a group of people are following her, Kane walks up beside her, concern on his face as he looks at Naofumi. She clenches her fists while gritting her teeth. The four demi-humans stare at Kane and Naofumi who are standing side by side.

Leo speaks first. "So…. Who were they?"

"The midget with the bow is Itsuki the Bow Hero, the edgelord with the oversized knife was Ren the Sword Hero."

Keel joins in. "Who's Miss Rubs Her Tits?

"…Uh" Kane scratches his head trying to remember her name.

"...Myne, the bitch's name is Myne. Although I've just been calling her Bitch in my head this entire time." Naofumi's tone was clearly enraged.

"...What did she do to piss you off so much."

Before Naofumi can speak Kane interrupts. "Myne framed her." Naofumi gives him a death glare. "What? It's the truth."

"I don't like talking about it Kane."

"How are people suppose to believe your innocence if you don't tell the truth?"

"No one will believe me."

"Well apart from you know me, Erhard, Raphtalia and hopefully my entire party."

Naofumi scoffs, about to bite back a retort but her eyes widen when Raphtalia grabs her hand. "He's telling the truth, Naofumi I'm not sure what this woman framed you for but I believe you because I've seen how kind you are to me."

Keel speaks up. "If Kane and Raphtalia believe you then I believe in you too Naofumi!"

Rifana and Leo step up.

"I believe it when Raphtalia said you've been kind to her so I believe you."

"I trust Kane so I believe you."

Naofumi looks at the people surrounding her, the fear and doubt slowly fades, she begins to tear up. "I-I"

"No need to say anything Iwi just let it out."

She turns to look at Kane to find him with a genuine smile on his face not his usual impish smirk. She grabs him by the arm and pulls both him and Raphtalia closer to her, she wraps her arms around the both of them, emotion flowing through her as she begins to weep freely. Raphtalia begins hugging her back while Kane rubs her back. After a few moments Keel decides to join in the hug to which Rifana eventually follows, the only person not involved is Leo.

"Come on Leo, might as well join the Disney Group Hug." Kane says with a smirk to which he gets hit in the stomach by Naofumi "Ow! Alright I deserved that." Leo eventually joins in. After a few minutes of the group hug, a sudden noise interrupts it.

"Groooowl."

"Who was that?"

Raphtalia squeaks out, embarrassed. "I-It wasn't me!"

Keel pats her stomach. "Not me this time."

"Keel are you sure it wasn't you?"

"Pretty sure."

"Well it wasn't me."

"Nor me."

Kane looks down to find Naofumi trying to hide her bright red face.

"Was it you Iwi?"

"S-Shut up."

Kane chuckles "Heh, well let's go get something to eat then go back to Erhard's."

"I'm deciding where we go though, no super expensive restaurant.

"I was thinking of maybe making something to eat, food always tastes better when you make it."

Keel grabs Kane by the arm. "Yes! I want more of that meat you made last time." While Leo and Rifana nod their heads at the thought of the food made by Kane.

Naofumi looks at Kane curiously. "You know how to cook or is all from the cooking skill?"

"A bit of both honestly."

He goes into his inventory to pull out a wooden folding table, he passes it to Keel who sets the table on the flat ground, he proceeds to pull out a bunch of chairs and hand them one by one to Keel who begins to set them up. After Keel finishes setting up the table and chairs, Kane pulls out a barbecue grill.

Naofumi looks at the grill. "How did you get that?"

Kane messes around with the grill, placing charcoal he made from the last batch and lights it. "Crafted it."

Naofumi stares at him. "You made a barbecue grill?"

"Yep."

"...Of course you did."

The charcoal in the grill begin to burn.

"So we got to wait a bit before it's ready so let's talk for a bit." Kane takes a sit.

Sometime later.

After sometime talking, and cooking the food the group finally get their food to which everyone starts to eat. Raphtalia is shocked at how good it tastes unsure of who's tastes better, Naofumi's or Kane's. "This tastes amazing Mr Kane!"

Kane gives a thumbs up. Naofumi slowly bites into the meat, her eyes begin to water. "I-I can taste it." Everyone at the table stops to look at Naofumi.

"You good Iwi?"

"It's just that I can taste this, my sense of taste has completely came back."

Everyone looks at Naofumi with a strange but sympathetic look apart from Kane who stares at Naofumi with a sombre look. '...Pretty sure I've heard thatdepression can mess with your senses, looks like she's beginning to recover from it or at least I hope she is.' Naofumi goes back to eating, after a while everyone follows suit. Eventually everyone finishes eating.

Keel puts a hand on her belly. "That tasted amazing."

Kane begins to chuckle. "You say that about pretty much everything you eat Keel."

"Well I really mean this time!"

Kane rolls his eyes and packs some of the spare food, placing it in his inventory.

Naofumi looks at this with curiosity. "Saving the leftovers?"

"Yep. I'm gonna save some for a rainy day and I'm gonna give some to Erhard, we should pack up and go back to Erhard's, see if he's got one of the armour sets complete."

Everyone folds their chairs and passes them to Kane who puts them into his inventory before folding up the table and also placing it in his inventory.

---

"Where the hell have you guys been?" Erhard stands there crossing his arms before sighing. "Ugh never mind I've got your set done Shield Lass."

Naofumi goes into the changing rooms, to put on her new armour set, she looks her self over.

The armour is well made and is clearly of high quality. She has Alpha Dire Wolf Fur on the neck of her armour to keep her warm and to add to the general aesthetic of the armour. Her upper torso is completely protected by one of the Light Metal plates while the rest of her torso is protected by hardened leather made from the Alpha Dire Wolf Hide. The metal plate shines brilliantly, a testament to Erhard's skill as he made the metal plates by mixing the Light Metal ore with the Cave Troll Bones, making the resulting alloy of the two extremely durable. She also has plates with Alpha Dire Wolf Fur being used as lining protecting her upper legs; all the way down to the top of her knee, the rest of her leg is protected by leather.

The armour fits surprisingly well but to Naofumi's annoyance it hugs her curves quite a bit making her stand out more, to make matters worse the armour doesn't look heroic at all if anything it makes her look savage and barbaric. She steps out a frown on her face, she look up at Erhard with a displeased look. "You know I'm suppose to be one of the Heroes right? You made me look like some bandit lord."

Erhard scratches the side of his face with one of his eyes closed with a smirk on his face. "Well it suits you, I call it the Barbarian Armour."

Naofumi gives a dark look to Erhard at the meaning behind his words. Kane coughs and looks at Erhard. "Y-You're not gonna do that to me right?"

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

Rifana rubs the back of her head, while Leo gives a sympathetic smile to Naofumi.

While Raphtalia and Keel before look at Naofumi, amazed by how she looks.

"You look great Naofumi, it really does suit you."

"Yeah! You look awesome and super tough."

Naofumi gives the two demi-humans a look of annoyed disbelief. "...Are you two serious."

Kane tilts his head while looking off to the side. "Welllll." Naofumi glowers at Kane. "See when you glare at people like that, the armour kinda suits."

Naofumi shakes her head, slightly annoyed by the look of the armour but despite her grievances with the appearance of it the stats on it are extremely impressive. "Whatever, despite how it looks the armour has got really good stats so it would be my loss not to wear it,... plus it's kinda comfy."

Erhard smiles. "Yep! Those materials really made something special, not only that but you can expand the armour further down the line with materials."

Naofumi stares at Erhard, frowning. "That option, how much will it cost me?"

"We're good friends. so I'll do it for cheap, we haven't met for very long, but I've known you since the day you first got here. I know you aren't like what everyone else said you are. You're always come to me for your goods too unlike Kane that unloyal brat."

Naofumi gives a heartfelt smile to Erhard for the kind words while Kane raises his arms in confusion. "Fuck you mean?"

Erhard gives Kane a displeased look. "I know that you went into other weapon shops brat."

"...I don't actually buy anything if I do it's pretty much useless shit, I'm mostly just there to copy all their Spears." He changes his Spear into one of the forms he's copied.

Magic Iron Spear: (+0) +30 Atk, +20 Mag.

Erhard's displeasure turns into confusion. "Copy?"

Naofumi's smile turns into a devilish grin at remembering the weapon copy system. "Here let me show you." Naofumi walks up to one of the shields on display and picks it up, Erhard follows looking at her as she picks it up.

Naofumi makes a motion with her hand, after a few moments her Shield flashes before transforming into an exact replica of the shield on display. "Nice."

Erhard takes a step back. "Nice my ass! You'll gonna run me out of business with that!"

Raphtalia runs to Naofumi's side. "That was amazing, how did you do it?"

Erhard turns to Raphtalia. "She's not amazing! She's just stealing!"

Naofumi turns around, she still has her devilish grin on her face. "Hey you implied I'm an outlaw, so I'm going to act like one." She begins to go around the shop, copying all the shields with Raphtalia's help who was able to convince Keel and Rifana to assist.

Erhard stares in pain as Naofumi starts to copy pretty much all of his shields with the help of Rifana, Raphtalia and Keel, Naofumi grabs another shield "Stop! That one's expensive!" Raphtalia brings another Shield to Naofumi. "That one's really rare." Keel brings a bunch of shields under her arms. "You're gonna damage them like that!" Rifana also brings a shield "Hey, that shield…"

Kane and Leo stand off to the side, watching as Erhard tries to convince the Shield Hero and her minions into stopping. "...I don't know whether to laugh or feel guilty about this."

Leo rubs his own arm. "Y-You partially responsible for this Kane."

Kane sagely nods his head with his eyes closed, stroking his chin, feeling the stubble against his hand. "Still funny though."

Leo smirks and shakes his head. Eventually Erhard gives up and throws his hands in the air. "Whatever! Do what you want!"

A few moments later.

Erhard stands behind the counter, with his hand holding up his head while tapping the counter with his other hand. "...Are you finally satisfied?"

Naofumi with her hands on her hips, nods with a smile. "Yep, I promise to pay you back."

Erhard huffs and waves his hand. "Sheesh… You can pay me next time just make sure you survive the Wave."

"So Erhard any chance I could copy some spears?" Kane looks at the spears around the shop.

Erhard gives Kane a blank stare before deflating with a sigh, waving his hand as he does so. "...Fine, you might as well since Miss Shield over here already did."

Kane chuckles and moves up to a few of them and begins copying them.

Shadowsteel Spear: (+0) +55 Atk, +40 Agi.

Siderite Spear: (+0) +80 Atk, +50 Agi.

Shooting Star Spear. (locked)

Kane stares at the Siderite Spear in disbelief, although the skill is unfortunately locked off the stats were extremely powerful. "Holy shit, did you make this Erhard?"

Erhard smiles with pride at seeing Kane hold one of the spears he's created. "Yep! Probably one of my best right?"

Kane transforms the Spear into the Siderite form. "That's an understatement, hey do you think you can make weapons out of monster materials too?"

Erhard after a few moments of thinking, he nods. "Yeah, a little more complicated but I would be able to do it, let me guess you want me to make a spear for you huh?"

"Yeah, probably best to do it after the Wave though."

"So when is the Wave?"

The two Heroes look at their timers, Naofumi speaks first before Kane can open his mouth. "It's tomorrow but we still have sometime in the day before the Wave hits."

"That's good I can probably make your armour in time then kid."

Kane gives a thumbs up. "Sweet, I'll see you guys tomorrow then I guess." He turns around about to leave the shop, while Keel, Rifana and Leo say their goodbyes.

"Hey, you guys do need to pay for what you bought."

Kane facepalms at forgetting to pay and walks back to the counter. "How much is it?"

Erhard counts it out, giving the two Heroes separate totals, they both pay with no complaints. "Here Erhard take this as a tip or something." Kane hands Erhard the leftovers from earlier who responds with a weird look but takes the offered food anyway. Kane shrugs and turns around to leave, following the rest of his party who are already walking out of the shop.

"Well Shield Lass, you gonna come back here tomorrow?"

Naofumi nods. "I gotta see how Kane's armour is gonna look, see who's your favourite customer."

Erhard laughs. "Well it was you before you pretty much stole all my shields."

Naofumi shrugs. "Hey, I wouldn't of done it if Kane didn't remind me."

Erhard shakes his head sighing, he decides to take a bite out of the food Kane gave to him, surprised at how good it actually tastes. "...Gonna be honest, I wasn't expecting it too taste this good."

Naofumi laughs. "He doesn't seem like someone who knows how to cook does he?"

Erhard chuckles while shaking his head.

"Anyone I should go as well I might go buy a room at the Inn and get some rest, see you later boss."

"Bye boss!"

"See you two later."

Naofumi and Raphtalia leave the shop. Erhard takes another bite of the food. "This is a pretty good tip."

The next day.

The group are lingering around Erhard shop. All of them standing and waiting while Kane is sitting casually on a box.

Kane is wearing the Warrior armour made for him by Erhard, to Naofumi's slight annoyance, it's nothing like hers, his armour slightly resembles a spartan's armour although more customized and unique, with the armour being a mix between scale and plate armour, any parts not protected by the plates or scales is protected by hardened leather which is dyed red. The armour is perfect in Kane's mind as it offers maximum protection without sacrificing any of his oh so precious agility.

-3:51-

Naofumi stares at the timer. "Only four more minutes." Raphtalia moves up to Naofumi to tell how grateful she is to have met her.

"I am your Sword! Wherever you go, I will go with you."

Naofumi unsure of how to respond gives a rather indifferent response. "That so?"

Kane sighs, feeling slightly anxious at the upcoming Wave. He decides to people watch for a bit, finding everyone else just as if not more tense and skittish then he is. Everyone looks as if the slightest thing could set off their fight of flight response. "Should I bring my floaties for the Wave?"

Naofumi facepalms while all the others stare at Kane confused. "Not that kind of wave."

"Well that's upsetting. So should we play this by the ear or what?"

Naofumi crosses her arms. "No point in making in plan if we don't know where we're going, just stick together and don't do anything stupid, like slamming into a monster." She stares at Kane as she says the last words who shrugs back in response.

"is it really stupid if it actually works?" Kane raises a finger as he speaks.

"Considering you almost died? Yes."

Keel, Leo and Rifana stare at Kane, Leo and Rifana share the same look while Keel. "You slammed into a monster and won? That's awesome!" Keel stares at Kane with amazement.

Leo shakes his head while Rifana stares at Keel incredulously. "What?! No it's not, he endangered himself!"

"Well it's not like it's the first time." Kane says with a dry tone.

"Thats-"

"Enough, call him an idiot later but now get ready, we're going soon." Naofumi says aloud while looking at the timer.

-0:06-

-0:05-

-0:04-

-0:03-

-0:02-

-0:01-

-0:00-

The sky immediately turns to a blood red, shock fills the group at the sudden before suddenly being enveloped by light which when disperses shows everyone in a forest.

"Where are we?" Naofumi looks around before a hearing a gasp from Raphtalia and look to her to find everyone else looking to the sky. She follows where the others are looking to find the sky looking even worse, with what look like a massive cut in the sky as if it was a wound between the dimensions. Some parts of the sky had green whirlpools, monsters being swarming out of the whirlpools like a plague of locusts swarming down upon the land.

"The fuck is this Cthulhu bullshit before my very eyes?"

The group turn to sudden noises of rushing footsteps to find Itsuki, Ren and their parties running off. Naofumi looks at them and grits her teeth. "Come on let's go."

"Naofumi look, it's Riyute village!" Raphtalia points at the village from the vantage point the group find themselves on.

Kane shares a look with everyone as they look upon the village with horror. "There's no way in hell they got everyone out, the monsters are already swarming right towards them." Kane clenches his fist at the sight. "We gotta go help them!" Kane quickly walks to the side to try and shout for the other two Heroes. "Hey dumb fucks we gotta go protect the village!" He's completely ignored by them, which angers Kane at how quick they were to leave a village to die.

A sudden flare shoots up, entering the sky, the sight of which enrages Kane even more at how pointless it is. "Those pieces of shit. Let's go, that village doesn't have any time to waste!" Kane begins sliding down the hill speaking a skill which activates once he hits the bottom of the hill, he starts running towards Ryute village with speed not possible for an ordinary human. Leo, Rifana and Keel follow shortly after but lagging behind due to Kane's speed.

Naofumi stares at Kane and his party running to Ryute village. "Come on, we're going to Ryute village." Naofumi slides the hill chasing after Kane and his party. Raphtalia smiles at this before quickly following keeping pace with Naofumi.

---

The village is in complete chaos, the walls and fences that were put up to try and keep the monsters out were reduced to mere splinters, some building are ablaze giving the village a soft orange glow.

"Mom!" A woman and child hug each other tightly as they're surrounded by monsters. A zombie strikes to impale the two with it's spear.

"Spear Jump!" The zombie stops looking to where the sudden sound is coming from, the last thing it saw before dying was a Spear forcing itself straight into it's skull killing it instantly. Kane rolls as he hits the ground. He quickly gets upright, standing next to the mother and her child, the zombie he killed drops to the ground the Spear still jammed in it's head. Kane quickly hold out his palm to which the Spear quickly with an unseen force pulls itself out of the zombie's skull, he looks at the zombies slowly encircling them, shambling towards the three. "I'm gonna make a path for you two, once I make it you two need to fucking book it, got it?"

The mother slowly nods. Kane smirks at this. "Good, Spear Smite!" After activating the skill he throws his Spear sideways which cuts through the horde of zombies extremely easily, any zombie only slightly nicked suddenly combusts with white flames which spreads from the cut slowly burning them to a crisp. The woman stares in amazement before moving on, picking up her child who's still staring at Kane in awe, she quickly runs off after picking up her child.

"Thank you Spear Hero!" The woman doesn't stop running.

Kane watches the woman run off before refocusing on the monsters who begin to surround him again. "Well back to it." He charges into the horde, his fists up to his chin protecting himself, he throws a quick jab which hits one of the zombies square in the jaw causing it to stumble before it suddenly combusts into white flames. Kane stares at his fists at this. 'Huh I guess no matter what; the holy thing goes for all damages.' A zombie tries to strike Kane to which he dodges and performs a spinning wheel kick, hitting the zombie straight in the jaw, making it combust in flames mid air while flying into the horde, holding out his hand for the Spear to fly back into it. The Spear speeds straight back into Kane's hand, passing through zombies as if they were nothing but paper. He spins the Spear, he groans as he looks up to see the hornets overhead.

"God as if ordinary sized hornets weren't already assholes now I've gotta deal with the fucking super sized versions, how fun."

One of the hornets go straight for him stinger at the ready, Kane side steps and counter attacks by slicing at an angle cutting the oversized bug into two, he quickly follows up with large swings that carve into the zombies that get too close. He gets attacked by hornets again one tries to stab him before another follows behind, he dodges the first and grabs the base of the stinger of the second, he rams the stinger of one of the hornets into the other one while also stabbing the hornet who's stinger he's holding, killing them both instantly.

Kane huffs as he looks around, although the horde is noticeably thinned, more monsters are slowly trickling in although not as much as he was expecting perhaps something else has most of the monster's attentions somewhere. He shakes his head. 'Gotta focus more on evacuating the people and weathering the Wave, killing every monster I see is just making me waste energy and time.' Kane's thoughts are interrupted by a sudden ringing of a bell that echoes throughout the town, he turns to where the sounds coming from to find a bell tower being swarmed by monsters, hornets flying around with zombies slowly climbing it.

Kane charges straight for the bell tower attempting to get to it, to help who ever rang the bell from the monsters that surrounded them, the bell tower suddenly becomes ablaze and eventually tumbles which makes Kane sprint even faster.

"Die monster!"

Kane turns the corner to find a massive zombie with a group of people, one of the villager step forward and stab it's arm with a pitchfork, the monster turns to the villager it's arm already up for an attack but before it can swing down Kane tosses his Spear straight into the massive zombie's head penetrating it, it slowly tumbles to the ground. He walks up to the villager to check on him.

"You good bro?"

The villager slowly nods, awestruck at what happened. "Y-Yes thanks you to Spear Hero."

"Good throw Kane." Naofumi slowly walks up to the two, helping an injured villager walk.

"Iwi giving me a compliment, shit is the situation really that bad?"

Naofumi rolls her eyes and hands the injured villager to one of the others. "Not the time for jokes but yes the situation as you said really is bad, the swarm isn't stopping until those two idiots kill the Wave boss which seems to be taking forever."

Kane swears aloud, the villager joins in. "We're willing to help Heroes! This is our home, we're not gonna let these damn monsters destroy our homes."

Kane shakes his head and looks straight at the villagers and all of the others behind him. "No you guys need to get the fuck out of dodge with this shit, go protect your people, your families. If me and the Shield Hero don't have to worry about you guys getting harmed we can focus more on thinning the monsters numbers."

Naofumi nods her head. "He's right. Think about your families, don't let your deaths be pointless."

The villagers seem uncertain before finally resigning. "...Okay. We'll get to safety with the other villagers and keep them safe but please Heroes stay safe yourselves."

The two nod to which the man turns around and leads the group away to safety or the closest thing to it.

Kane turns to Naofumi who looks back at him with her arms crossed. "It's just me and you now Shield Babe."

"Naofumi! Kane!"

The two Heroes turn to find Raphtalia, Leo, Keel and Rifana running straight towards them.

Kane has an evil grin appear on his face. "Nevermind this shit is gonna be a lot easier now."

The group united and ready to battle although Kane's party all give him a dirty look for running off on his own who whistles while looking anywhere but them, they instantly stop messing around once a horde of zombies enter the area, shambling towards the group.

"Let's fuck em up"

The moment the horde reaches the group they strike. All of them killing monsters apart from Naofumi who goes in taking hits and setting up monsters to be killed more effectively, even Leo somewhat does what Naofumi does with his shield constantly blocking hits meant for others and occasionally banging his shield to temporarily attract the horde.

Rifana slips in and out, stabbing zombies that get too close before quickly switching to her bow to place a few well placed arrows in hornets before they can become a threat. Keel, Raphtalia and Kane all work together culling the horde; Kane and Keel make large swings with their weapons while Raphtalia quickly kills any stragglers before they can threaten anyone.

Another one of the large zombies comes in, it pulls back it's arm and swings straight for the group but Naofumi interferes and blocks leaving it open for Raphtalia to quickly finish off. The group kill the stragglers of the first wave before noticing the second wave of monsters already on their way to them.

"Fuck me, can't these assholes give us a break?" Kane sighs while staring at the oncoming horde. Suddenly strange beams light one by one all in the same spot above the town which turns into a big ball of energy.

"The fuck is that?" The ball suddenly explodes causing weird looking to cover the sky above them.

Naofumi looks at the magical ball in the sky before shock fills her. "Get behind me!"

No one questions it and they all stand directly behind her. "Shield Prison!" A green ball envelopes the group protecting them. A muffled laugh can be heard from outside the ball with footsteps coming towards the ball, someone can be heard speaking but it is too quiet to hear what the person is saying. Naofumi turns off the Shield Prison freeing the group. All of them stare at the approaching people with scowls and angered looks apart from Kane who looks around in horror eventually turning his back to them to see the village even more devastated.

'Did they burn up the villagers? Are they all right?'

"The Shield Hero? You're quite tough."

Naofumi kisses her teeth. "They didn't care that we were here?"

Raphtalia becomes enraged at this and charges the moustached knight who spoke, blade at the ready to impale him before being stopped by another knight with a scar on nose, the knight with the moustache looks clearly terrified at how close the blade came to him.

"Did you do this knowing we were here? Depending on your answer I'll have your head!"

The scarred knight barks out a order. "Draw blades!" The soldiers follow the order, pulling out their weapons and staring at the party.

The moustached knight speaks enraged at being embarrassed and threatened by Demi-Human. "You think you can threaten a Royal Knight you demi-human filth, I should have you executed for threatening-" Laughter breaks through the air and all stare at Kane who has his back turned to them.

Kane still laughing, speaks aloud. "If anyone's getting executed it's you dumb fucks."

The knight grits his teeth at this. "And who are you? Some lowly mercenary?

Kane turns around and walks towards them. "That's Spear Hero to you fuckwit." The knight goes pale upon the realization that he endangered the Spear Hero. "I gotta wonder what's the punishment for the attempted murder of two Cardinal Heroes?" Kane takes steps even closer, anger clearly on his face. "Maybe we could convince the King to burn you all alive, I think that would be a fitting punishment don't you."

The knights all look at Kane in fear at the threat. The moustached knight bows before speaking. "F-Forgive me Sir Spear Hero I would never knowingly endanger one of the three Holy Heroes."

Kane looks down at the knight and then to the others behind him, with a snarl he looks around before deciding what to with them. "All of you are gonna protect this village with your fucking lives. If I find out just one villager got so much as even a singe because of you retards then there's gonna be hell to pay." Kane turns his head to the knight who is still locking blades with Raphtalia. "And you Scarface if you don't put that fucking sword away I will shove it so far up your ass you'll be able to taste it." The man slowly pulls away his blade, keeping it bare just in case. "The same goes for the rest of you." The other knights were not as composed as the scarred man, quickly holstering their blades.

"Sir Spear Hero don't you think killing the Wave boss would be a better idea, the quicker the Wave is over the quicker the village can be saved."

Kane's head slowly turns to the same moustached knight again, the anger in his eyes burning bright, which makes the knight gulp. He steps into the knight's personal space, yelling at him. "You set this village ablaze without even checking if the evacuation was completed and now you want to run along, leaving behind the damage you caused." Kane grabs him by the collar and pulls him in. "That's not happening, so get back in line and do your FUCKING JOB!" Kane yells straight into the knight's face before pushing him back with the hand that's holding his collar making him stumble backwards, the knight quickly bows and walks off to his team of knights.

"M-Men we will search the village for survivors; protect any that you find." The captain begins walking off with his men who follow without missing a beat, wanting to get out of the Spear Hero's sight.

"If I find out you went to the Wave boss instead of protecting of the village, I will hunt you down and break your fucking legs."

The knight's response to Kane was just picking up his speed.

Naofumi looks at the backs of the knights watching them leave, she turns to Kane who's still staring at the knights. "I gotta say angry Kane is fun to watch."

Kane shakes his head. "Then I'll be a real fucking treat to watch if he still goes to the Wave boss."

Rifana speaks with a concerned tone. "Is it really a good idea to threaten a royal knight."

Kane shrugs, the look of anger still present on his face. "Probably not but I couldn't give less of a shit to be honest."

The group hear loud stomps running right towards them. "Oh what now?!"

A large monster pops, it's body is like a lion, it's front paws which resemble a dragons, the claws are razor sharp capable of rending flesh and bone with extreme ease, a lion, a goat, a dragon and even a snake head all stare at them with rage and blood thirst.

Dimensional Chimera

"...Fuck." Kane stares at the Chimera, although it has clear injuries it doesn't seem to be near death. Kane checks it's HP it's still around 60% of it's HP despite Ren and Itsuki fighting it for the duration of the Kane and Naofumi defending the village.

Naofumi grits her teeth. "Alright we need to be careful but also kill it fast, can't risk getting caught between the boss and other monsters."

"So those two retards didn't even finish off the Wave boss." Kane rubs his head, something the Chimera must of perceived as a threat as it began charging at him immediately. Kane hops to the side, dodging the Chimera. It's failure to hit Kane is punished by Rifana who shoot the Chimera straight into the lion's eye. The lion head roars in pain while the dragon head spews flames straight at her forcing Rifana to dodge.

Keel, Leo and Raphtalia speed forward striking at different points, the lion roars, it raises it's front paw and tries to side swipe Leo and Keel but due to Naofumi intervene the swipe was mitigated and instead made the three fly off, while the snake head wraps around Raphtalia.

Kane charges in, jumping straight onto it's back and begins to hack the snake part of the Chimera which forces it to let Raphtalia go to instead focus on Kane, striking right for him. He raises his Spear sideways, shoving it into the snake's jaw, blocking it from biting him. Kane hears one the heads behind take a deep breath in, he turns around to find the dragon head staring right at him. An arrow enters the dragon head forcing it to look right at Rifana who begins firing off even more arrows right at the dragon. Two more strike it in the neck and nose before the dragon head opens it's maw and burning the rest of the arrows before they could even reach it, Keel, Leo and Naofumi charge the Chimera at the front to draw the other heads attention onto them.

Raphtalia quickly follows up to help Kane out slicing at the base of the snake head, the snake tries to turn it's head to try and focus on Raphtalia but Kane pushes the Spear further into it's mouth.

"I'll keep it distracted, you finish it off Ralphy!"

Raphtalia doesn't respond instead she keeps cutting at the base of the snake's head. The snake begins to panic as it gets closer and closer to death and tries to escape from by swaying around but the Spear in it's mouth holds it in place. Raphtalia makes one last swing cutting the snake head clean off. Kane slides the Spear out of the snake's jaw. "Thanks for that Ralphy, you really saved my ass." Raphtalia nods with a smile.

Kane turns around going straight for the dragon's head but as he reaches the dragon head, the lion rears it's head back and lets out a loud roar which somehow makes everyone fly away as if there was a sudden force that pushed them all expect Kane who held onto the Chimera's body. The Chimera looks right at Rifana wanting to kill her first due to her range.

The Chimera feels a sudden urge of pain in the dragon head forcing to refocus it's efforts back on Kane who impaled the dragon head, the dragon head roars in pain trying to bite Kane but finds it impossible due to him holding onto the back to the dragon head, so instead it begins to buck around making him swing around. He loses his hold and flies off, hitting the ground in a painful manner. Kane groans at how sore his arm is and slowly gets up, he turns to Chimera charging right for him, he raises the Spear ready to meet the Chimera's charge with the sharp point of his Spear, the Chimera is about to reach him as he tighten his hands on the Spear.

"Rebounding Shield!"

Just as the Chimera reaches him a green Shield appears right in front of the Chimera's path, due to it's momentum it slams right into the Shield, as if it was a slingshot it makes the Chimera fly off and hit the ground causing a small crater to form where it landed. Naofumi runs up checking on Kane. "Are you alright?" Raphtalia is helped to her feet by Rifana, Keel and Leo stand ready for the Chimera.

Kane gives a nod, before his face looks as if he was pondering something.. "Yep… Hey that skill how's it work? 'Cause I might have an idea"

Naofumi looks at her Shield. "If you attack it, it bounces the attack off."

Kane nods. "Alright make another one of those, turn it a bit at an angle like this." Kane shows with his hand how to make the Shield to which Naofumi creates for him.

Kane hops onto the Shield stomping on it with both feet while charging a skill.

"Spear Jump!"

The two skills combined made fly right into the air. He flew so high that pretty much everyone could see him, including the knights and villagers which was to say the least a very interesting sight.

Once Kane reaches the apex of "jump" he begins plummeting to the ground, he aims right for the Chimera.

"Seismic Leap!"

The Chimera looks up to the sudden shout to find the Spear Hero slam right into the lion's head killing it instantly, due to the death of the main body of the Chimera the dragon head and even the goat eventually followed suit.

Kane drops to the ground, landing right on his back as his entire body feels like jelly, he looks up to the sky to see it turn back into a clear blue sky, he raises his fist cheering upon the sight, not realising upon doing so he relieved everyone elsewho thought he was unconscious or worse.

6924 XP gained!

Level up!

"Gungnir make sure Naofumi gets some of that XP too." Kane waits for a moment for Gungnir's response and when he doesn't get one he speaks again. "Gungnir."

{Fine I suppose the Shield Hero earned it.}

3462 XP gained!

Level up!

Naofumi and the others eventually walk to Kane. "As stupid as the plan was… good work."

Kane gives a thumbs up. "Hey at least I got over my fear of heights."

Naofumi shakes her head with an unwanted smile appearing on her face, Rifana sighs while Leo and Raphtalia smile, Keel chuckles. "So should we go ahead and split the monsters parts then?"

"Yeah just give me a moment, pretty sure the human body isn't suppose to go that fast."

Naofumi rolls her eyes. "That's because it's not dumbass, G forces should of killed you, it's why your plan was stupid, I guess defence stats affect physics in a funny way."

Kane waves her off. "Only G force I care about is the movie that has hamsters." Kane holds out his hand. "Can someone help me up?" Naofumi sighs and grabs his outstretched arm, pulling him to his feet. As he gets to his feet he wobbles a bit before being stabilized by the group surrounding him. "Well let's harvest the monster I guess."

The two walk up to it.

"...Should we even leave anything for Ren and Itsuki? I mean those assholes fucked up royally."

Naofumi scowls. "Just leave em the scraps."

"Fair enough."

The two begin harvesting the Chimera, sharing pieces to unlock new forms for their weapons.

Chimera Dragon Spear unlocked! (0) +50 Atk, +40 Agi, Medium Fire resistance.

Skill unlocked! Burning Thrust: Causes all attacks to have a fire effect enchament.

Combined Skill unlocked! Rope Spear+Chimera Dragon Spear-Incendiary Blast: Throw a magical Spear which explodes in flames causing AoE damage and burn status effect.

Chimera Goat Spear unlocked!(0) +50 Mag, +37 Phy Def, +37 Mag Def, Medium Stun resistance.

Skill unlocked! Spear Ram: Slam into a foe with the Spear.

Chimera Lion Spear unlocked! (0) +65 Atk, +50 Agi, +20 Phy Def.

Skill unlocked! Spear Roar: Make an extremely loud roar that pushes back foes.

Chimera Viper Spear unlocked! (0) +30 Atk, +35 Agi, Medium Poison resistance.

Skill unlocked! Noxious Blade: Poison your weapon, causing the Poison status effect on opponents that are cut or stabbed by the Spear.

Skill unlocked! Toxic Blast: Throw a magical Spear which explodes spreading venom causing AoE damage and poison status effect.

Chimera Paw Spear unlocked! (0) +30 Atk, +30 Agi.

Skill unlocked! Spear Slash: Transform the point of the Spear into claws to slash your foes with.

---

Kane along with Naofumi absorbs the other parts although Kane doesn't get any more skills or such, only stat boosts.

Most of the Chimera's corpse has been harvested of it's parts only leaving small chunks of it's heads. Ren and Itsuki eventually pop up wanting to claim the Chimera's carcass only to find the stripped remains of it. Ren stares at in displeasure. "Seriously? You two pretty much took all the Chimera's parts."

Kane scoffs, staring at Ren with anger. "Well next time maybe actually be fucking useful and kill it."

Ren glares at Kane. "You're calling me useless even though I probably did the most damage to the boss?"

Itsuki stares at Ren in surprise. "What are you talking about? I did the most damage."

"What are you talking?" The two Heroes begin to bicker and argue about who did the most damage.

Kane sighs aloud, Naofumi facepalms while the demi-humans stare at the two Heroes. Keel scratches her nose. "These two aren't actually the Heroes right?"

Naofumi grumbles at this. "Unfortunately they are."

The two continue arguing, the sheer stupidity of it angering Kane. "Hey dumb fucks!" they both turn to him. "No one other then you two assholes gives a fuck about who did the most damage, because the Chimera still escaped from you and not only that, it was still healthy enough to put up a good enough fight. If we didn't deal with it this village would be fucked plain and simple 'cause there's no way in hell the knights or god forbid the fucking villagers would be able to kill the Chimera."

Kane motions towards the corpse. "You get the scraps cause you fucked up not once but twice, you left the village to die and you failed to put down the Chimera, so don't bitch, be grateful you even got this much despite being fucking useless."

"But we set off a flare so that the knights would know where to go, to protect the village."

"Like that fucking matters, you think a farmer would be able to handle monsters long enough for knights to come and save em?"

Before the argument could continue, the knights approach with a familiar face at the front although Kane glares at him making a cold shiver go down the captain's spine. "H-Heroes, well done in slaying the Wave boss, the King would like to reward you for your efforts."

Kane looks off to the side focusing on the village, seeing the still burning building pain his heart, Naofumi steps forward. "First we're gonna clear out the village of any remaining monsters and help the villagers we find, you can tell the King to wait."

The captain bites his tongue before he insults the Shield Hero as he does not want to risk angering the Spear Hero again. "The King should not be kept waiting."

"Well he can sit in his comfy throne for a bit longer, nothing to worry about." Kane says with a flippant tone. He turns to Naofumi. "I'm with you." Naofumi nods and the group walk off leaving Ren, Itsuki, and the knight alongside with the Heroes respective parties.

"Shall we expect you to come along Heroes?" The leading Knight looks at the two remaining Heroes.

The two nod, Ren elaborating a bit further. "Let us collect the materials from the monster and then we'll go with you."

---

The group finds the villagers and helps any injured, Naofumi stays behind to begin healing them with her potions, Rifana and Raphtalia leave to go kill any monsters remaining, Keel and Leo give a helping hand in moving rubble and carrying injured villagers while Kane, much to his annoyance was told to relax and to take it easy, which he would normally do with a smile on his face but seeing the smouldering ruins of people's homes and hurt villagers made him want to be more proactive, instead all he's allowed to do is to look around which causes him even more misery. He finds himself staring at two children crying over what he assumes is a coffin for their loved one.

Naofumi finishes healing the most severely injured, she steps out to take a break, she looks around the village finding Kane staring at the children before looking to the ground in melancholy. Naofumi herself feels pangs of sadness at this, not used to Kane having a forlorn look on his face which makes him look even more miserable. Naofumi walks up to him and sits alongside him. "Hey Kane."

Kane turns around, looking right at Naofumi before quickly smiling. "Hey Shield Babe."

"Are you alright Kane?" Naofumi looks at Kane with concern in her eyes, seeing through the easy-going mask he has on.

Kane looks shocked before quickly answering. "I'm fine, why what's up?"

Naofumi shakes her head. "...You don't need to lie Kane, I saw you looking around with that depressing look on your face."

"Could just be my resting face."

"Kane." Naofumi looks at him straight in the eyes to which he turns away. "You could talk to me you know?"

Kane slowly looks back, staring into her green eyes, seeing the concern within. He sighs, turning back to the children weeping over a coffin, the sight of which still aches his heart. "I-It's just that… I dunno call it being naïve or too hopeful but I was expecting everything to be all right, where not a single person died, makes me feel like… I failed them."

Naofumi takes a deep breath in, digesting what Kane said in her mind. "...You didn't fail anyone Kane, the people who died couldn't be saved so instead of thinking about them think about the people you did save."

Kane huffs. "Yeah, but I-"

Naofumi places her hand on his shoulder and lightly squeezes. "Don't think about it as failing the people, instead think about the saving part, you helped save the villagers Kane. Don't blame yourself for something out of your control, just focus on the fact that you did all you could and saved as many as you possibly could."

Kane turns to her, staring directly into Naofumi's eyes, her words beginning to lift his spirits but in a stubborn fashion he looks away, watching the children again. "Even if they live they still lost someone."

Naofumi follows Kane's eyes and looks right at the children, both still crying without any signs of stopping, clenching their shirts as they stand over the coffin, their tears falling onto the wooden tomb. "Maybe some of them will be… miserable after this but they're still alive. Maybe a certain thing or person will enter lives, changing it for the better or giving them the strength to move on..."

"How do you-" Kane stops mid sentence upon realising who he's talking to. "Do you really think that could happen?"

Naofumi still staring at the children, whispers just loud enough for Kane to hear. "...It happened to me." She turns with a warm smile on her face, the sight mesmerising Kane, her tone is soft, almost sounding like her old self just with more confidence. "A certain idiot with a Spear who wouldn't leave me alone when I was all by myself, standing by my side when so many others wouldn't."

Kane stares at Naofumi for a few more second in shock before a heartfelt smile snakes on his face, his gloomy mood melting away from Naofumi's words for him. "...Thank for that, Iwatani. I... Really appreciate you talking to me."

Naofumi smile widens, the two staring at each silently for a few moments. Naofumi clears her throats and looks away, slightly blushing. Kane smirks, turning away himself with a blush. Kane raises his Spear, aiming it near Naofumi. "You know we make a great team... so partners?"

Naofumi turns to him, finding the Spear close to her. She stares into the red gem and for some reason, she can feel it staring back, watching her. It slightly puts her off but she looks up at Kane to find his usual smirk on his face. She gives a soft sigh, tapping the red gem with the green gem of her Shield. "Partners." Kane's smile widens at this, giving a approving nod. Before the two can settle into a peaceful silence the both of them have a sudden pop up appear on their menus.

New Perk obtained! Divine Partnership (close friend): Due to your relationship with your fellow Hero, you can still earn 50% XP in her presence the other 50% will go to her, this works both ways for both Heroes. You can even be invited by The Shield Hero to her party or invite her to your own party.

Kane looks at Naofumi. "Did you get the same perk?"

Naofumi tilts her head. "Maybe, did you get a perk called Divine Partnership that in brackets says a trusted friend?"

"Uh sorta I got the same perk I think but mine says close friend instead of trusted friend."

"Weird, I guess we can work together once in a while now but not too often, losing 50% of my XP will screw me over in the long run."

Kane nods at this although he's progressing rather fine in term of level and stats so losing 50% of XP wouldn't be so bad to him.

Naofumi and Kane go back to watching the villagers. To their annoyance one of the knights walk up. "Uh Heroes the King requests all Heroes to come to the a banquet to celebrate their victory and to also be rewarded."

Kane looks at Naofumi. "Well free food and rewards sounds alright."

Naofumi frowns while sighing. "I don't want to deal with that trashy King...but I can't exactly complain about rewards."

The knight bows. "If you would follow me."

"We're waiting for our party to come back first."

"Understood, Lady Hero."

Deleted Scene: Angery Southern boi

"The fuck ya thinking about ya damn sonnaofabitch!" Kane grips the lead knight's collar pulling in him. "How about I turn y'all all crispy like?!" Kane screams into the knight's face. The anger boiling in Kane makes the southern drawl of his upbringing come back in full force, sounding almost like a completely different person.

The knight begins to tear up, sobbing out. "What is he even saying!" He bows his head. "I don't understand you sir but please forgive me!"

Kane begins shaking the knight, who's sobs are affected at the motion of being shaken around like a toy. "Why shouldn't I kill ya right now you gaddamn motherfucker!"

This goes on for a few more minutes of Kane screaming at the knight in a thick southern drawl with the knight in his grasps crying out about he doesn't understand but's he very sorry.

Naofumi chuckles to herself, hearing Kane's accent. It reminds Naofumi of that one cheesy cowboy action movie she's saw once when she was bored on the internet. "Easy there Cowboy, let's not get too hasty now." Kane stops shaking the knight and the two of them turn to Naofumi. "Let him go, we can put him to good use defending the village."

The knight takes the opportunity presented to him and begins to nods with desperation. "Y-Yes! As the S-Shield Hero said, let us defend the village with you Spear Hero!"

Kane turns to the knight and glares at him, making the knight sweatdrop. Kane growls and shoves the knight away. "Fine! but ya're gonna defend the village with ya damn lives! I'll beat the shit out of ya if ya run off!" He points at the knight who tilts his head at him in confusion.

Naofumi steps in, translating Kane's command and threat. "He wants you to defend the village with your lives, if you run off he'll promptly beat the shit out of you."

The knight turns to the Shield Hero, clearing his throat. Not expecting to be grateful to the Shield Hero of all people. "T-Thank you Shield Hero, we will... do what is asked of us." He bows to Kane and Naofumi before walking off to his group of knights.

The two Heroes watch the knights walk off, as soon as they leave Naofumi makes a comment. "...Cute accent Cowboy."

Kane huffs, crossing his arms. "Lemme hear ya speak English then."

Naofumi shakes her head, turning around and walking off. "Never gonna happen."

Kane holds out his arms. "Come on! Lemme hear some me love you long time!"

Naofumi snorts, rolling her eyes at the offensive joke. "In your dreams Cowboy."

Kane nods his head. muttering under his breath as he starts to follow Naofumi. "That would be a damn good dream."

Honestly I had thought of making Kane giving a southern accent when he gets really angry since like chapter 2 or 3 but I decided against it, like Kane's comedy relief for the Rising of the Shield Hero. (Have to be actually funny for that but hey an attempt was made.) But Kane isn't going to be always joking as we've seen, so I figured fuck it, instead of letting the idea of Kane going all Southern and screaming swears at people go forever unseen I'll just edit the chapter and add it in as a omake.

Also I probably written the southern accent fucking horribly but I have no idea how to write it so I did my best.

The end of chapter 6, I know it took sometime but to be honest Cyberpunk as buggy as that game is has taken up my time (Finished the game, not happy at CD Projekt Red for how meh Cyberpunk turned out to be.) Honestly this is bashing the other two Heroes but I mean the main story does that anyway so oh well not like it's something crazy.