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Xenvic: I think so. Of course, that wouldn't stop any of the 4 heroes from traveling elsewhere to fight waves. Not that any of them did, likely because none of them knew. Of the other 3, I can only really see Ren doing anything about the waves in other countries. I think the other two could be convinced not to for one reason or another (mostly their parties), but I think Ren would care a lot more about boss loot, at the very least.

Chapter 33 – Othil Wave

Dante wasn't quite sure how to file this new information. On the one hand, no Takt gave him a lot of options. On the other hand, he didn't know that Takt wasn't around. For all he knew, the only real difference was when Takt would make his move. Then again, that brought a bunch of questions about him. Was he super egotistical, needing to be around his harem of women? Was he more cunning like Malty, waiting to carefully make his move? Did some other reincarnated kill him already?

Well, Dante had a new source of information right in front of him. He might as well make use of it. His party members were a bit on edge with the mentioning of Lloyd being the Whip Hero, so now was a good time to clear the air.

"It's good to meet you." Dante said, extending his hand. "I'm Dante, the Shield Hero."

"Ah…" Lloyd had raised his hand, but he let it hang limply. "The Shield Hero?"

"That's right." Dante confirmed, still holding out his hand. "I take it you heard some rumors about me?"

"Er, yes." Lloyd said, finally shaking Dante's hand. "I heard a few. They said…you raped your first companion. Or, was it the first princess of Melromarc?"

"Same person, and it was a lie." Dante told him. "I suppose I can't really prove that, but I can point out that Melromarc's religion is against the Shield Hero, and the king doesn't view anything relating to demi-humans in a positive light."

"That's true…" Lloyd, at least, seemed to understand the optics of Dante's situation. Shaking his head, he continued. "Well, if you're here to fight the wave, that's all I really need to know."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Dante said. "Let's talk strategy."

Over the next hour, the two groups discussed how they would handle the wave. The volunteer knights and adventurers' main goal was to protect whatever village or town was nearby when they were transported to the wave. They had the numbers to evacuate and hold out for a time. As Lloyd mentioned before Dante's group showed up, his party would search out the boss. He trained a number of griffins and would be sending them out. Dante's group would handle as many monsters as they could, then join Lloyd and his monsters in fighting the boss.

Lloyd also gave Dante a bit more information. His idea was right, being that he had to be within a certain distance of an hourglass to be teleported automatically to the wave. Rather, he would get teleported if the hourglass with the wave was the closest one to him, regardless of whether or not he registered to any other hourglasses. Lloyd didn't know if he'd get transported after the wave started, assuming Dante was out of range and then came closer during it. Also, a portal marker would be available at the hourglass starting 24 hours before a wave.

Once the bulk of the preparations were done, he sat down with the man, alone. They went to where Lloyd was staying until the wave, a small ranch just outside of town. Dante asked him for some different information. Lloyd had been the Whip Hero for less than a year. He was chosen by the Whip while he was in Faubrey, raising the level of one of his monsters. That already didn't sound right to Dante, who seemed to recall the Whip originating in Shieldfreeden. One interesting fact about Lloyd was that he's a noble, though an eighth child. He had little hope of inheriting anything substantial, so being chosen as a hero was a huge boon for him.

Of course, being a noble gave Lloyd a reason to know a fair number of things. Specifically, he knew about the royal family and a number of noble houses.

"So, you've never heard of Takt Faubrey?" Dante asked.

"Sorry, I can't say that I have." Lloyd shook his head.

"How about a genius? Someone making a lot of technological advances? Guns and flying machines?" Dante tried again.

"I did hear about someone doing some strange work with monsters, but that was a while ago. As for mechanical stuff, there are a few alchemists with some new ideas, but nothing like what you're talking about." Lloyd said.

This was pretty good news, assuming Lloyd was being honest, something Dante was confident about. He imagined the eighth child of a noble house would keep their ear to the ground about things to advance their station. Dante also learned how advanced firearms were in this country. They seemed to be somewhere between single-shot muskets and bolt-action rifles. He wasn't a gun historian, and the inclusion of magic in this world didn't help, but that didn't matter too much. The bullets in the pistol magazine he was summoned with would fetch him a pretty penny here.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Lloyd asked.

"Not at all." Dante leaned back in his seat, gesturing to the man. "What did you want to know?"

"It's about the rumors that have been spread about you, at least what got circulated around the adventurers' guilds." Lloyd had a serious expression on his face. "About the crimes you've been committing."

"Huh." Dante held his hand to his chin. He hadn't heard anything, though he supposed anything bad said about him wouldn't have been mentioned in Siltvelt, by either the nobles or the commoners. It would be pretty bad if they learned he was the one going around and killing knights. Though, if that were the case, he was sure one of Siltvelt's nobles would have mentioned that. "What crimes?"

Lloyd looked into Dante's eyes, as if preparing to seek out any lies told. "They say you've been attacking merchant wagons and caravans. You've extorted small villages and wandering travelers."

Oh, is that all? Dante was relieved to hear that. "If these are things that happened in the past couple of weeks, I've been outside of Melromarc." He informed Lloyd. "Otherwise, I'd need to know the names of the villages to know if I'd even been there."

Lloyd gave him exactly that. He listed over a dozen villages and towns. The names of many of them rang a bell for Dante.

"I think I've been to all of those places, but I was selling medicine and potions there." He said. "I don't recall charging a particularly high price for them. If anything, I undercut some of the local merchants." He may have been able to sell more if he sold to the merchants directly, but the price would have been even lower. Since he didn't need to worry about inventory space or spoilage, there was no real need to. Part of the point of traveling around was to collect new monster corpses in the different areas, which he and some of his party did while the others were selling in town.

"Then the information was bad? It was someone else?" Lloyd asked.

"Someone else, or a complete lie." Dante recalled a time in the Reprise manga where they came across a fake Shield Hero going around and causing trouble. They were able to deal with the man easily. On a completely unrelated note, Dante now considered raising a dragon.

"What about you leaving knights for dead at the sight of the wave?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh…that one is true." Dante confirmed. "In my defense, they rained fire down on me and my party first."

"I see…" Lloyd nodded in thought. "I heard of a village where all the inhabitants went missing."

"That was…someone else." Dante said, immediately realizing what he was talking about and explaining the situation. He left out who was responsible, only mentioning the alchemist's missing seed in the temple.

Lloyd sighed. "That was dumb, especially if a warning was written on it. Still, with the waves going on, there is a shortage of food."

That was a common trend Dante noticed when they traveled in Melromarc. While not starving, many places were a little short on food, given the higher prices they were charging for meals. Before he and his party were getting turned away, that is. Disrupted trade routes could lead to other farming villages having more of their crops used elsewhere. Dante had considered giving out some bioplant seeds at the time, but decided against it. He wasn't confident the plants wouldn't go out of control, even if he did remove their ability to reproduce. There was no way he'd be responsible for that kind of thing. He should probably get with an alchemist soon to figure something out. Seeing how someone had been spying on them, it was a good choice. Sadeena hadn't mentioned being followed much, so it seemed whoever it was knew to stay far enough back.

"Well, I think I've heard all I need to from you." Lloyd announced.

"So, what's the verdict?" Dante asked, leaning forward with his chin resting on his folded hands.

"Hm, well…" Lloyd scratched the back of his head, a bit nervous. "I don't think you did any of the bad things I've heard. You have a dangerous look in your eyes, like you could set the whole world on fire if you wanted to." Lloyd quickly waved his hands in front of himself. "Not that you would! I just mean you could go that far, not that you will! You…uh…"

Dante barked out a laugh. "You're pretty good at reading people. I guess that comes from raising monsters."

"Yeah." Lloyd nodded, relaxing a little. "Monsters are easier to understand than people, more honest. Being chosen as the Whip hero…it has its ups and downs."

"I hear that." Dante said as he stood. "More monster training, but more politics."

"Exactly!" Lloyd stood as well, walking to the room's exit. The Seven Star Whip did give a number of bonuses to raising monsters and monster allies, according to Lloyd.

When they left the building, they saw how their parties were interacting with each other. Dio and JoJo were in their filolial queen and king forms, staring down a pair of griffins. Keel was running around on all fours, playing with some young red ursas, which were essentially bear cubs. Rifana seemed to be playing chess—or something similar—with what Dante could only describe as a land squid, the size of the main body being a bit larger than a royal filolial. A few more griffins were around, either resting or talking with one another, same as the remainder of Dante's party. One of the benefits of the Whip was giving increased intelligence to raised monsters, with many gaining the ability to speak. Dante wondered what abilities he could give to other monsters with his shield.

~The Wrong Hero~

Dante and his party had spent the remainder of the day hunting in the mountains near Siltvelt. It was especially good for Dio and JoJo, who weren't thrilled about needing to work with griffins. Dante tentatively broached the idea of raising a griffin, but neither of his kids would hear of it, so he dropped it. To be fair, the griffin of Lloyd's he tried to pet did bite him. Not that that had stopped him, of course, though that did lead to the story about the indigo gators from Gaelion's mountain.

When they returned to Siltvelt castle, most of his party went for their baths or to relax. Dante had something else in mind. During his stay there, he took the opportunity to find out what kind of cooking ingredients were available. While on the road, the choices were pretty narrow, but a fully stocked royal kitchen had a lot to offer. The cooks didn't want to have Dante in there, seeing it as a task beneath him, but Dante had them show him around regardless.

A few things were pretty similar to what he was used to, but there were more than enough differences. It had been over a month since he did any real cooking, but he figured out the general tastes and textures of a few fruits and vegetables and found some that would work well. With that, he made dough out of this world's equivalent of flour, rolled it out onto a few pans, spread on the fruite paste, and topped them with cheese and meat. The kitchen had a good sized brick oven, so Dante was able to make use of it. A few minutes later, and…

"Pizza time!" He called out, carrying the trays over to the private eating area he had his party meet him in.

"Oh my, what's this~?" Sadeena looked over the presented pies.

"Just a little something from my world." Dante set the pizzas down on the center of the table. "I think I recreated them pretty well. The cheese was the strangest, but I think I picked out a good one. Dig in."

From what he could tell, the crust was a bit stiff, the sauce was a little tangy, but the cheese was melted to perfection. The various meats he put on top were easy enough to start cooking before he began kneading the dough of the first pie.

"This is great, Dad!" JoJo called out, already finished scarfing down his first slice. Dante had made one pie for each of his kids, and another two for everyone else.

"It's quite delicious, Sir MacRory." Eclair commented. Despite everyone else using their hands, or paws, she elected to use the provided cutlery.

Actually, Raphtalia used the cutlery as well, after transforming back. It was easier to remove any grease from skin than fur, not that Keel or Rifana seemed to mind. She'd be in that form for the wave anyway, since she was still more comfortable like that and it would be a dangerous situation, presumably. That was the only reason, since the tailor already redid her clothes to more closely match how they were in her demi-human form. They were done the day after the feast, since none of them wanted her to have to walk around like that. Dante just found it funny at first.

"I've been wanting to make something like this for a while," Dante explained, "but the lack of a second arm made that difficult."

"It was worth the wait!" Keel said, taking another bite.

Seeing everyone enjoying his cooking, when he actually put in a real effort, was nice. Dante could really appreciate why Eddy opted to open a restaurant after he got out of their more dangerous line of work. Seeing everyone enjoying themselves like this was soothing. It was like they were a family.

"There was another reason I wanted to have dinner with you all like this." Dante said, shifting to his Humming Shield. "It's been brought to my attention that I've been talking about my past more freely than before."

That sentence alone pulled the attention of everyone at the table. Dio and JoJo noticed the shift in atmosphere and kept eating.

"With that said," Dante set his elbow on the table with his chin resting on his hand, "does anyone have anything they want to ask while I'm still in a chatty mood?"

Truthfully, he still didn't really notice talking about himself more. Or, rather, being more okay sharing certain things about himself. It was entirely possible he told them things he otherwise wouldn't, but he was in an admittedly good mood after meeting that family.

"I have a question." Rifana raised her paw, a light blush on her face.

"Go ahead." Dante prompted.

She fidgeted in her seat a bit, as if regretting speaking out. After taking a breath, she spoke. "Who was the first woman you were ever with?"

Dante laughed at her question. "Ooh, good choice. That one's a story." It really wasn't supper conversation, but he agreed nonetheless. "So, as I'm sure you're all aware by now, I was not a virgin when I was summoned. During the early stage of my career, it was pretty clear what my and Eddy's roles would be. I was good at math and had two languages under my belt, but I was bad at business and social situations. I mean, Eddy and Gloria were my only friends. Looking back, it's pretty funny.

"Eddy knew a lot of people, even before we got started. One was a woman—Miss Katherine, or 'Kat'—who had an uncle that was ex-military. He served in the marine corps, which I suppose you could think of as a more intense version of the army that also does sea based operations. Since leaving the marine corps, he worked as a private detective, bodyguard, and hired gun. He had over four decades of experience, some of which he imparted onto his niece. She had a few kills of her own, too, and spent a good amount of time at the firing range—a place for target practice with a gun.

"After Eddy gave me directions to Kat, I met with her at her home. We discussed what I was looking to be able to do—namely, learn how to handle a gun in combat properly, and not like some idiot gang member. My hunting rifle experience with my father would only take me so far. She took me to the range to see what I could do and saw some potential. After that, she offered me a deal. She would get her uncle to teach me himself. In exchange, I would spend my nights with her in her bed. And…there we have it!"

Dante took a sip from his mug after finishing his speech. The beers he could produce with his shield had really improved since first getting the ability. The grain stores in Siltvelt's castle really helped, along with the bioplant fruit he got from the seed he planted in his room's terrace. It was simple enough to find a gardener to check it out a multiple times a day while they were off leveling. It wasn't as if the bioplant had a lot of room to grow there.

Noticing the less spirited mood around him, Dante looked at his party members. They weren't quite in a state of shock, but their expressions weren't that pleasant. Except, again, JoJo and Dio, who were nearly finished with their pizzas.

"Something wrong?" Dante asked.

"Little Dante, you once mentioned you started doing what you did when you were 17, right?" Sadeena asked.

"Yeah?" Dante nodded.

"But, people in your world are adults at 18." Rifana said.

"Sure, in my country, but the age of consent was 16 where I was." Dante countered.

"The what?" Rifana tilted her head.

"Oops." Dante remembered he neglected to mention that bit of information when Rifana was talking about marriage and such. "Ah, well, that's the age someone can legally consent to having sex with an adult. Anyone younger and it's considered rape, regardless of any consent given. Teenagers aren't really known for long term planning and consequence evaluation, after all."

"Sir MacRory, that includes you." Eclair stated. "Even by our world's standards, you were barely a man. I'm not entirely clear on your country's culture, but it sounds like this woman used you for sex."

"Well…yes, that's exactly right. It was a trade, really." Dante said, nodding again.

"Were you not concerned about this woman getting pregnant?" Eclair asked.

"That wasn't going to happen." Dante said, taking another sip of ale.

"Little Dante, even if you were careful, there's still a chance of it happening." Sadeena said. "You even told me about these things in your world to help prevent pregnancies not always working."

"Oh, no, I meant it was physically impossible." Dante said, setting his mug back down. "Kat went through menopause by that time. Wait, do you have a word for that here? It means she couldn't—"

"What?!" Eclair slammed her fists on the table, eliciting a soft 'whoa' from Dante. "You're telling me this woman slept with you, a boy one-third her age, someone your country still considered a child?!"

"Huh. How old was she again?" Dante murmured, scratching his chin. "I seem to recall she had recently celebrated her 50th birthday—"

"Sir MacRory!"

Dante shrugged. "Oh well. Hey, Sadeena, didn't I make a joke once about liking older women?"

"Little Dante, that's quite the gap." Sadeena had a concerned tone in her voice. "Was your friend really okay with this?"

"Eddy? Oh no, he was livid when he found out that's what Kat wanted. Heh, Gloria wanted to go over and smack the crap out of her. I mean, it would have ended badly for Gloria, so I convinced her not to. Besides, I already agreed to it and spent a night there. I had made my bed, so…oh, crap, I almost made a pun!"

"I'm sorry if I brought up a bad memory." Rifana said, hanging her head.

"Not at all!" Dante chirped, swiftly bringing Rifana back up. "My choice of expression aside, it wasn't a bad experience. With that exchange, I got so much training in firearms, combat, everything I would need to fight. Her uncle was very skilled, and Kat was quite the woman herself."

"Oh?" Sadeena gained a somewhat playful smile on her face. "And here I thought you didn't feel that way before?"

"What do you mean?" Dante looked her over.

"Well, you clearly held this woman in a good light." Sadeena said. "It almost sounds like you held…certain feelings for her~. And her I thought I as your first~."

"Ooh." Dante nodded at her words. "I get it. No, it wasn't like that. I never loved her, not like I do with…" He let his words trail off. Sadeena grinned at his lack of speech. He still had some trouble saying it out loud, more so when others were nearby. Dante liked to chalk it up to his physically immature body. "Anyway, I'd say it was more like respect or admiration. She had insisted I call her 'Kat', since she was 'Miss Katherine' to me. Anyway, if we wanted to have our revenge, I needed to get ready as quickly as possible."

"What do you mean?" Eclair asked.

"Hm? Oh, right, I never really explained that, did I? Our moms were killed by some gang members and the police basically knew who was responsible and did nothing." Dante said casually. "That was when I knew the police where I lived weren't very good at their jobs."

In truth, Dante acknowledged he should have realized that after the first rape accusation against him. The police thought he had threatened the girl that accused him, when it was actually Gloria who blackmailed her into revealing the truth. His trust in most people was weakened after everything settled, so there was that.

"…When did that happen?" Sadeena asked. "In relation to you first meeting Kat."

"Hmmm. I think it was under a week? Maybe five days?" Dante concluded.

The table got really quiet again. Sadeena stood from her seat and slowly walked to where Dante sat.

"What now—" Sadeena held Dante's head against her chest, gently running her fingers through his hair.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered to him.

"Okay? About?" Dante tried glancing up at her, only to see a sorrowful face.

"You were vulnerable, and that woman took advantage of you." She said, continuing to hold him.

"Huh. I think that is word for word what Gloria said to me when she first found out. Same action too." Dante pulled Sadeena's hands from his head and held them in front of him as he faced her. "Sadeena, it was thanks to that that I became who I am today. Because of that, I was able to take revenge against my mother's killer. Because of the training I got, I lived as long as I did, able to kill everyone who came after me before they killed me, including my own actual killer. Aside from the skills her uncle drilled into me, Kat taught me the kind of people that existed in the world. The kind who would use a 17-year-old boy for their own uses, regardless of what was given in return, if anything."

Dante ran his thumbs over Sadeena's hands. "As far as I'm concerned, I got the better end of that deal." He said with a smile. "Besides, the training was worse. It was physically exhausting most days, so it wasn't like every night was rampant with lust and carnal delights."

Sadeena barely held back her laugh. "We were having a moment."

Dante shrugged. "Moment's passed. It wasn't an issue for me then, I don't want it to be one for any of you now." He said, looking around the table. All eyes were on him, though two pairs weren't all that concerned with what he was saying before. Their eyes seemed to switch between looking at his and viewing his plate.

Dante slid the remainder of his food toward his kids and stood. "Well, this was fun, and I do mean that. Now I need to see a lion about yet another gift for Lord Shield. Rest well. We have a wave tomorrow."

~The Wrong Hero~

00:10

It was nearly time. Dante made sure to go over the plan with everyone again when they got to Othil. Dio was hooked up with a wagon that was prepared for the wave, in case they needed to move a lot of people in a hurry. They'd easily be able to ride three people per filolial to reach the boss. Lloyd stood ready with his assembled monsters, along with the knights and adventurers, with the most heavily armored ones stationed in the wagon. Aside from that, the time was spent mentally preparing.

00:03

"All Faust Power III! All Faust Magic III! All Zweite Guard VI!" Dante cast his buff spells on all his allies. He learned a few more things during his time in Siltvelt. Aside from the spells to increase physical and magical abilities, as well as increasing the level of his Guard spell. It turned out that the Staff's power up method didn't actually differentiate between the different spell tiers, nor if it was an All or Anti variant. Only the base spell mattered. Dante simply didn't understand the nature of magic enough to use the power up fully before.

00:02

It was also why his Guard spell didn't affect his skills before, when he battled with Idol. That, however, was fixed when he basically relearned the spell from the tome. He had a few ideas on why that was, the original thought being that he was essentially making constructs, and so they wouldn't benefit from his temporary stats. Now, he believed it was because heroes weren't meant to learn from crystal balls. After all, the skills from their weapons were all basically shortcuts to skills people in this world were capable of learning. Some of the skills, anyway. Or, it could have been some sort of interference from those behind the waves, since they still existed, as evidenced by Reiko. The exact reason wasn't too pressing.

00:01

Armor also would affect the skills Dante used in battle. The problem with the chainmail he wore to Idol's was two-fold. First, when they tested it after the fact, it had already received a good amount of damage, lowering its defense value. That led into the second reason, which seemed to be a threshold the defense value needed to meet. He noticed a difference after he got the Chimera Armor from Erhard and tested it a little during their travels. Different skills seemed to have different thresholds, as well as how much the armor's defense bonus affected the skills after surpassing that threshold. Other enchantments on the armor seemed to have their own thresholds, depending on the stats of the equipped shield.

Speaking of armor…

00:00

The same sound as last time sounded around them, and the familiar red dyed sky greeted them. With a quick look around, a village was spotted a short distance away. In front of them, monsters from the wave fell from the sky and started to charge at them. Dante was ready for the fast creatures, having been chanting a spell before the wave even started.

"Zweite Fire Squall VI!" He let fire rain down on the monsters, incinerating them before they even got close.

The gift from Jaralis the night before was a beautiful set of full-plate armor, coupled with a ring and circlet. Each piece was a dazzling fire red with gold trimming on the edges. Every piece helped evoke the image of a warrior bathed in flames, and the enchantments on the armor would help Dante do just that to his enemies. The defense value was close to the Chimera Armor he had before, though he was no longer immune to fire damage. It had a few other enchantments similar to the Chimera Armor, if not a little weaker. In exchange, it greatly boosted his damage with fire magic.

"Quickly! Get to the village!" Dante called out.

His answer was Dio taking off toward the village with the loaded wagon, the more agile knights and adventurers quickly darting after them. At the same time, Lloyd's griffins took to the sky to begin their search. The man himself, along with his red ursa cubs and land calamari, would stay with Dante's party.

"Here they come!" Lloyd pointed out the approaching wave monsters.

Dante didn't get a good look at them before he unleashed his spell. Now that he did…well, he didn't need to see their names to understand what they were.

It was like a scene out of Jurassic Park. Several different types of dinosaurs ran toward them on the hilly field. There was the more nimble looking bipedal ones, the bulkier looking ones that had three horns protruding from their heads, even a few winged ones flying through the air. Dante had never actually seen Jurassic Park himself, but he still knew a few names of dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus rex, velociraptor, triceratops, pterodactyl, long-necks. That last one may have been from a children's cartoon, and none of those were present anyway.

"Shooting Star Shield VII! Air Strike Shield VI!" His barrier kept out the dark velociraptors while the Air Strike Shield stopped the dark triceratops in its tracks. Unable to fight back properly, the fast moving monsters were cut down by the party protected in the barrier. Keel stood out with his dual swords and swift movements.

"Drifa Chain Lightning!" Sadeena's spell shot up into the sky, striking the first flyer and jumping to the next. Each one hit fell from the sky with a loud thud.

"Zweite Fire Blast!" Rifana's spell slammed into the triceratops as it ran around the erected shield, only to fall short of the party as several arrows imbedded themselves in its head. Raphtalia turned her attention to the surviving flyers above.

A second dark triceratops came over a nearby hill and charged right for the party. "Behind me!" Dante called out, his Stout Shield at the ready. While his Chimera Viper Shield had better overall stats, the Stout Shield still had higher defense, and he doubted this monster would bat an eye at being poisoned from the counter, should it break through.

When it reached the Shooting Star Shield, it did just that, shattering the translucent barrier. Dante held his shield up and met the charging beast. He skid back over a dozen feet before coming to a stop, his left hand grabbing hold of the larger creature's horn. The monster tried to jerk its head free, but Dante held firm, adding his right hand to the grapple. With a loud yell, Dante pulled the triceratops to his left, dropping it on its side.

With the opening presented to her, Eclair slashed at it with her sword, leaving over a dozen open wounds in two seconds. The great beast twitched for a moment before lying still. Dante gave his arm a quick rotate from the exertion.

If I had watched Jurassic Park as a kid, this all might mean more to me. Dante pondered this as he turned to face a screeching pterodactyl. He swiftly brought up his shield, defending himself and Eclair from the beasts' burning breath. Oh, this is such bullshit! I don't face a single fire attack outside of Lute village, and now that I'm using different armor, fucking dinosaurs are breathing fire on me!?

A pair of arrows to the right wing knocked the monster form the sky, allowing the red ursa cubs to finish it off. Lloyd assured him that his monsters were good for the wave, and Dante had to take his word for it. For his part, Lloyd was pretty handy with that whip. He was knocking down the dark velociraptors before they got too close, letting his land calamari finish the job.

That was another thing Dante learned. The reason he could see people's levels—or, their approximate levels, in some cases—was because his shield had absorbed a number of humans and demi-humans, combined with his high appraisal. He could see the levels of Lloyd's griffins, but not the red ursas or land calamari. The names were always visible, of course. He assumed it was a similar thing to his medicine crafting skill and identifying illness symptoms, or the fact that he seemed to gain a redundant ability to detect poison with his cooking skill.

The battle raged on, with Dante keeping the apparently fire-breathing dinosaurs from getting to his party. Rifana cast Zweite Resist Fire on those present to ward off the flames.

A loud cry echoed from the distance. One of Lloyd's griffins was flying this way. The trees in the forest below it were falling to the side, matching pace with the flying monster.

At the edge of the forest, a rather large dinosaur burst forward. It was at least as tall as Gaelion, and seemed to share his blue coloring. The tyrannosaurus rex had spikes lining its head and went all the way down to the base of its tail. With a roar, it doubled its pace toward the party.

"Yeah, I saw something like that being the boss a mile away." Dante remarked. "Stand clear! Once I stop it, attack it from the sides!"

"Right!" His allies fanned out behind and away from him, leaving Dante to take on the boss's first attack.

It would be the same as when the triceratops charged at him, only this one would need to lower its head. If it didn't, Dante was fairly confident he could grab hold of its tail and slow it down, if not stop it entirely. From there, his party could bring it to its knees, or blast it down with magic—

The t-rex opened its mouth, but it didn't lower it. The spikes on its head and back began to glow, arcs of lightning passing between them.

"Shit! Change Shield! Spellcobalt Shield!" Seeing the buildup for the attack, Dante quickly shifted his shield and held it up. "Shooting Star Shield VII! Tower Shield III! Get closer!" He widened the area of his defenses and prepared for the strike, having his party join him. Crackling rang out over the hills as lightning struck all around. Larger bolts struck closer to Dante, shattering his Shooting Star Shield after the barrage, and the largest bolt seemed to shoot out from the dinosaur's mouth. It slammed into his raised shield, taking a small chunk out of his HP.

In response, part of the lightning rebounded onto the charging dinosaur, though that didn't slow its pace. "Scatter!" With Dante's call, everyone quickly got out of the way. The charging beast slammed its claw onto Dante's enlarged shield, forcing him onto the ground as it continued on.

"Dante!" Sadeena yelled out as she ran back for him.

The Tower Shield skill rescinded, leaving Dante with a normal sized Spellcobalt Shield. "Damn, that hurt…" Sadeena helped him to his feet. While Tower Shield boosted his defense, it didn't help as much as it could, since the base shield wasn't made for heavy physical attacks.

Admittedly, he should have used Air Strike Shield with Change Shield on that to morph it into the Spellcobalt Shield, and let that absorb the main lightning bolt. He'd have been able to stop the charge with his Stout Shield equipped. The lack of strong enemies had pushed those types of tactics to the backseat, superior power being the norm.

"It's heading toward the village!" Raphtalia called out.

"Hell. JoJo!" Dante called to his son.

Realizing his intentions, JoJo transformed immediately at his approach. Dante climbed onto his back, along with Sadeena and Raphtalia. The three heaviest hitters ran off towards the rampaging monster.

The boss was fast, but JoJo was much faster. They quickly caught up with it.

"Zweite Fire Squall VI!" Dante unleashed his spell when he finished the chant. Unfortunately, the boss didn't seem that fazed by it. Dante could see burns on it where the spell landed, but they didn't look that severe. That spell was made more to attack a large group of enemies, not a single strong one. It was the only Zweite attack spell he had at the moment, though.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way. Hate Reaction III!" At his skill's completion, the boss began turning like a frigate, slowly facing them while keeping its speed. "Move back. Once I stop it, start hammering away at it."

After letting Dante off, JoJo jumped back with Raphtalia and Sadeena still on him. It didn't look like the others would reach them before the boss did, so they would have to do. With his Stout Shield out again, Dante was ready for the attack. Hate Reaction didn't prevent abilities from being used, but it did make them less likely. Fortunately, the boss followed through with that hope.

"Shooting Star Shield VII! Air Strike Shield VI!" His first barrier slowed down the boss, if barely, while the second seemed to do even less. Dante's shield met the dinosaur's head as it rammed him. With both hands on the shield, Dante slid back. He dug into the ground, slowing the push.

"Agh!" Just as he stopped being pushed back, Dante dropped his knee to the ground. Both hands were still on his shield, but one held on far less strongly.

It felt like something just tore!

The beast tried to capitalize on Dante's position, but he was able to bring his good arm up and grab the dinosaur's head. Unable to lift itself to open its mouth, the boss thrashed around. With a loud grunt of pain, Dante moved his other arm onto the dinosaur as well. The boss continued to jut its head about, trying to free itself. Dante held firm, digging into the earth below him and pushing himself back up. With a cry of pain, Dante pulled the great beast toward him, lifting it off the ground and over him, slamming it back down. The spikes on its back embedded into the ground, though the earth began to crack beneath it.

"Kill it, quickly!" Dante cried out, flat on his back and clutching his arm.

Not wasting a moment, Sadeena, Raphtalia, and JoJo sprang toward the downed dinosaur. Try as it might, the boss couldn't free itself fast enough. Between JoJo's mallet, Sadeena's harpoon, and Raphtalia's sword in her now transformed state, the exposed boss didn't last long.

In response to the boss's death, the sky turned back into a bright blue. The other members of Dante's party were starting to catch up, as well as Lloyd and his monsters. They were first drawn to the corpse of the beast, and then to the cries of the Shield Hero.

"Dante!" Sadeena rushed over to see what was wrong.

"As the source…of your…fuck! I can't…" Dante held onto his left shoulder.

"Zweite Healing Warmth!" Rifana came up, casting the spell Dante tried to. She applied it mainly to the area he was holding. He could see in his status that he hadn't taken an excessive amount of damage, but the pain wouldn't subside.

"Dante, what's wrong?" Keel asked, kneeling next to him.

"My arm…" Dante said through grit teeth. The pain was starting to increase.

Moving swiftly, Sadeena pulled off the armor on Dante's left arm, earning yet another howl of pain. Once free from the metal plates, they could see it. Dante turned his head to get a look. The skin around his shoulder looked like it was ready to tear, and the bones connecting his shoulder to his arm were out of place. The veins on his arm seemed to swell up as they got closer to the connection point. Black spots were visible on the shoulder.

"Mister Dante, what do we do?" Rifana asked.

"The pain…cut it off!" Dante managed.

"What?" Raphtalia looked down at the swelling limb. "But…"

"It's too much! Hurry!" Dante pleaded.

Answering his wish with no further hesitation, Raphtalia leveled her sword's tip against Dante's shoulder. With a swift thrust, the arm easily came off like it was made of straw. Dante grit his teeth for a moment before sighing.

"Zweite Healing Warmth." Rifana cast again, stopping the blood loss.

Dante breathed evenly, dragging his fingers through his hair. He looked to his side to see his newly freed limb lying next to him. Once they got back to Siltvelt, he'd need to see that alchemist again.

Author's Notes:

*Inhales deeply* RULES OF NATUUUURE! I had the dinosaur idea for a while, but I think they were originally going to be in Zeltoble's wave. My little joke here, well, I'm sure a quick video search will enlighten the unaware.

I've heard how some guys will go through something messed up in their childhood and think nothing of it, then tell their girlfriend or wife about it and they'd be completely flabbergasted about how their boyfriend or husband treats the experience.

Also, for anyone who's heard the rumors about this site shutting down, I do have my fic crossposted to both AO3 and Wattpad under the same title.