"Okay, so that's what? Twenty-two or twenty-three?" asked Motoyasu as he stared at the dissolving body on the ground, hoisting his weapon up behind him, and sighing. He looked positively bored, and for myself and Ren, we weren't looking much more engaged. Heck, Ren was blowing off steam by slashing at the back of the ship, slamming his sword into the door that should have led into the captain's cabin built below the quarterdeck, though in reality, it was just a fancy wall, the hinges being fake.
The whole SHIP was fake, honestly. We'd seen inside it when Motoyasu had us blast the kraken that had borrowed its way inside, and within the ship was…nothing. It was hollow and empty, without any beams or anything to hold it together. This thing was obviously magical, but still, it felt wrong to me, even as the wood mimicked the hydra's bones and knit back together, leaving us with no sign at all that we'd damaged it at all.
"Twenty-seven, actually," I said as I was now inspecting the railing on the port side, trying to figure out if the scratches in the wood meant anything at all. They didn't, they couldn't, I knew that, but still…it was becoming frustrating. Even (Void Gaze) showed me nothing around us that lit up, which I'd figured, given how it worked, it should. Instead, it just made everything but my yellow tinged allies look washed out.
"Twenty-eight is next then, that's even. You're up Ren," he said, motioning towards the Sword Hero, who growled, obviously frustrated as he slammed his blade hard against the hull, the force of the blow enough to briefly crack the thing apart, sending debris flying into the air, only for it to slowly come to a stop, and then fall back towards us into place, an interesting look to it as it jigsawed itself into its original shape, with not a break to be seen.
As he walked over, the Captain reappeared once again in a flash of purple light. It seemed to be tied to the ship itself, and while that would normally be an indication of something to do with the puzzle before us we'd tried just about everything we could think of to bring out something. Attacks of every element, thanks to my Boon giving ability, and even spells the other two knew thanks to crystal balls.
I'd even, in a bit of desperation, had them tear open part of the deck, and tossed the thing inside, thinking maybe that would do something. Instead, it just rattled around within, until finally blasting its way out, Motoyasu screaming bloody murder in frustration as it flew into the air, and he used a particularly powerful blast of light infused power at it, vaporizing the undead bastard…but leaving us no closer to the solution.
As Ren went to the front, to wait for the respawn, Motoyasu did his thing. That was mostly just jamming his spear into the mast, and trying to carve…something into it. He said it was a symbol he remembered from his game, and figured it couldn't hurt. And to be fair, it couldn't. We'd done everything any of us could think of. I'd even found that stupid gem in the crow's nest.
Not that it went into the eye of the figurehead. No, all it did was summon a ghostly crow thing to fire blasts of spectral energy at us. That would have been challenging, except Boons made my two companions weapons count as magic, and undead like that were vulnerable to magical attacks and Light element ones. A one-two punch that saw the thing die in a single strike from us.
We got loot from that, which was a nice consolation prize, given they were good accessories, four of them even. Problem was, they hadn't summoned the Soul Eater, and so we were left to just randomly do things. Even blowing the figurehead away, revealing it to be…a figurehead, same wood as the rest. Not even hollow or anything, and it reformed a second or so later, which meant it had nothing to do with the puzzle.
Just as I was leaning down, the Skull Captain reformed, meaning it HAD to have something to do with the puzzle. But Ren simply struck it down with a single blow, growling in frustration as it faded away. Motoyasu just shook his head, complaining silently about the kid not drawing out the fight to give him a break. Before he could voice that opinion, however, something finally changed, as we drifted close to one of the bluffs, and a huge chicken charged onto the vessel.
"What are you three doing?" demanded a familiar voice, as the chicken…filolial turned, allowing Naofumi and Raphtalia to slide off its back. Strangely, Motoyasu, who'd been about to fight the Skull Captain, backed up and protected his…family jewels with his hand, as he held his Spear up defensively.
"We're trying to figure out how to summon the boss of the Wave," he declared, and I nodded, putting myself between the pair to avoid any heated displays.
"And why can't you get it out here? People are dying out there while you three are playing around!" shouted the Shield Hero, before I could say anything, and I heard Ren growl, obviously on edge now. I wasn't happy with the accusation myself, but I ignored it.
"This is a puzzle of some kind. To summon the boss, we have to solve it, and while it's similar to the ones from our worlds, our games, it's not the exact same. What about you? Did the light novel have anything about the Soul Eater?" I asked, and that direct question seemed to give him pause, but he shook his head.
"I only got to read three pages before I got taken," he admitted, and I sighed, as the Skull Captain respawned again, Motoyasu growling at it, but I held out my hand and placed it on his shoulder, stopping him from one shotting the thing.
"Okay, Shield Hero, here's your chance to show us up then. He's the only element that keeps coming back, so we figure he's got something to do with the puzzle. Fight him, and see what you can figure out," I said, teleporting us back to stand by Ren, leaving the Shield Hero and his party right in the path of the Captain.
He didn't object, and instead got in front of his party, using his Shield to block the pirate themed undead's first blow, turning his blade aside so it slammed into the deck of the ship. He then kicked it away, not doing any damage, but getting himself some space to look up and down the thing, obviously using something similar to my own (Insight) skill to inspect it closely, before pointing down at the deck beside the thing.
"There! Its shadow!" he shouted, and I looked and saw…nothing, only to realize (Void Gaze) didn't let me see shadows, so for the first time since arriving on the ship, I turned that off. Instantly, the colors were brighter and shadows around me appeared, the vision of the world I'd been getting of level lighting fading into its more natural tones, and I had to admit, he was right, as I nodded.
"It's going the wrong direction for the lighting. Excellent work, Naofumi," I said, and that…well apparently he wasn't used to people complimenting him.
"That's my master! He's really smart!" said the chicken…the Filolial, causing Ren and I to both stare at the thing.
"It can talk?!" I shouted incredulously, as I stared at it…at her given the tone of the voice. My shock came from both I'd never heard one of the things speak before, but also because filolials were something considered edible by the people here. That was a horrifying thing to consider. Regardless, she smiled at me, despite the beak, and did a salute with one of her wings.
"Yep! My name's Filo," she said happily, and I looked at her, even as I began to shift my bow into dual wield formation, my left arm rising as it was equipped with (Precision) form mixed with (Hydra-Line), and loading bolts.
"Then it's a pleasure to fight beside you, Miss Fi…lo," I said, stumbling a little. That was the name of the young lady with Naofumi, and now I saw this bird had the same deep blue eyes. Suddenly I was frozen, and I glanced at my status sheet to see I literally had a PTSD trigger...like it even listed it as a stunned effect and everything. Luckily, I resisted, knowing what it was, knowing why, shortened it from almost thirty seconds to barely five, as I aimed my shots, and gave both of the ladies attack boosts.
"Ren! You've still got Light Boon on, basic attack on the shadow!" I shouted motioning for Naofumi and his group to come stand with Motoyasu and I as the kid did the deed. To his credit, with just an intonation of 'right' he charged forward. No questioning the order, no saying he was a hero too. He'd learned to listen to a plan when given, and so he leapt into the air very dramatically, and brought his shining blade down right in the middle of the shadow.
The thing burst apart, along with the Skull Captain, leaving us standing alone on the deck, watching as the scraps of shadows wriggled and squirmed along the wood, slowly working their way into the various places that we couldn't see. At first, I wondered if we'd erred in some way, but then there was a sound like a rush of water, and geysers made of shadows that shone with unearthly lights rose from those places where they'd chosen to hide.
The fountains soon started to come together, wrapping around each other with a horrid noise coming from them, as black flames began to burn from the dark shadows, and then fetid white flesh emerged from that. Clawed limbs scrambled in the air, talons glinting wickedly in the light from the holes in the sky, and deep red eyes that just shone with malice looked down at us, as the Soul Eater, a being that looked like a cross between a fish, a crocodile, and the nightmares of children, hung in the air.
"(Insight)!" I shouted, turning my skill onto it, and quickly looking through its stats. Interestingly, it was noted to be a Dimensional Soul Eater, a fact that was shocking, as it indicated something about the origin of the creature. However, I glanced away from that to the stat spread and skills, finding it was indeed an MP drainer, and had the same second life function that I was familiar with, as it began to writhe about, preparing to attack.
Its stat spread was decent, focused on magical attacks and defense, but it had a skill that naturally took physical damage down to around five percent of whatever it should be. A problem for most, but as it counted as undead, it had the same weaknesses they did. Including the one to Light attacks. The next lowest was Lightning, which might make sense, but it mattered little as I raised my hand up, shifting my attack into (Light Boon), and then loosing it the moment I could.
Suddenly the weapons of my fellow heroes, as well as the armored claws of Filo, and Raphtalia's short sword began to glow brightly. Even Naofumi's Shield got a boost, as I turned back on my (Void Gaze), and then hopped around for a moment observing the battlefield from all angles, lining up shots, and even grabbing Ren from behind and bringing him up onto the quarterdeck, just behind where the Soul Eater floated.
"Speed boost, you and Motoyasu, hit him the moment you can, everything you've got. Non-elemental attacks, to make the most of the Light Element," I said, and he barely had time to nod as I shifted (Dual Wield) into two bows, one on each arm, using (Hydra-Line) to multiply what I could as I jumped again, landing behind Motoyasu.
"I'm going to give you super speed, you'll have seven minutes. Hit this thing with everything you've got in that time," I ordered, and he nodded as I jumped one final time, flying right in the face of the Soul Eater, which roared, but I winked at it, and then loosed my shots. The (Hydra-Line)s fired seven bolts each, all but three hitting their targets, those simply striking the deck of the ship and dispelling.
Regardless of my own skill as an archer, the two of them flash stepped, and the beast roared, as I teleported back to Naofumi, motioning for him to guard us, as the two Heroes did their work. And it was glorious work. At ten times speed, they were blurs, seen in afterimages, as they unloaded attack after attack onto the creature, draining their SP completely in seconds, and then resorting to just randomly striking the thing.
And it must have hurt a lot, as the Soul Eater's face contorted in pain, its claws swiping at the pair around it, trying to skewer them. Each attack missed, of course. To them, it was barely moving, like a slow motion animatronic. Eventually, Motoyasu's timer ran out, and he fell back, soon followed by Ren, who got one last powerful slash in, before leaping backwards to avoid a counterstroke.
"Naofumi! Guard!" I shouted, as I shot him full of defensive boosts. The extra was enough that he literally slapped away the Soul Eater, doing no damage, but sending the thing sprawling onto the deck, its body wriggling, as we ran towards the bow of the ship, Sword and Spear Heroes stumbling a bit. The moment they were as far from the Soul Eater as they could get, they both basically collapsed, breathing hard.
It wasn't hard to see why, either. Their MP and SP were both almost completely drained, and they had the 'Exhausted' status effect. There was a timer on that one, about five minutes for Ren, and seven and some change for Motoyasu. It meant for the moment their damage output was cut down, as their stats, even with my boosts, had taken enough of a hit to put them in my own range, which was not the best considering my build.
"Okay, it will take about ten minutes for them to recover. Can you ladies keep that thing busy until then?" I ask, but before I can do more, Naofumi, slamming his Shield down, summoned severa of his (Air Strike) shields before us, enough to hold back the still recovering Soul Eater.
"Ten minutes?! But they only did about a quarter of this thing's HP!" he declared, and I nodded, looking into my hud, which was more about a third, but that would be quibbling over details.
"And they did that in a minute. It takes a bit to recover from such efforts," I told him, and Ren nodded, reaching into his coat to draw something out, but before he could, there was a sound like a shepard's tone, rising in pitch, and we all looked forward to see the Soul Eater gathering energy in its mouth, building up a sickly green looking sphere that it fired right into the shields that stood between it and us, shattering half a dozen, as it smiled a gruesome grin at us.
The shields had protected us from most of the shot, but in the end, we'd been pushed back, Motoyasu and Ren slowly climbing back to their feet, and me standing there, going over plans in my head, trying to figure out what to do next. Naofumi scoffed, drawing the attention back to him, however, as he stood up tall, flaring out his cape, and then standing right in front of us.
"Raphtalia, Filo, I'm gonna use that Shield again. Keep back. And…I'm sorry," he said, turning his head a little towards Raphtalia who shook her head after a moment, and then took his hand in hers.
"Don't you remember what I told you? You can always count on me to be your sword," she said, smiling at him, which seemed to take Naofumi back a bit.
"I will follow you through fire and brimstone. Never forget it," she told him, looking right into his face with a determined glint to her eyes. Motoyasu, standing beside me, leaned towards me and Ren.
"So, uh…what's going on with that?" he asked, and Ren growled.
"Obviously they're having a moment. Let them. When we recover, we'll finish this," he declared, causing us to miss some of what came after, but it seemed he'd told Filo to protect the tanuki woman, as he marched forward, another blast from the Soul Eater scattering the rest of his shields, leaving him standing in front of it, all alone, the monster grinning again, as it began to squirm forward across the deck towards him.
"Come forth, Rage Shield!" he shouted, and then a red glow began to come from the center of his weapon, one that spilled out onto the deck, giving it a blood stained look, and even giving the Soul Eater a moment of pause. A wind began to kick up, emanating from his body, and billowing his cape out behind him, giving him the look of a full on Hero of Legend, even as red lines slowly spread over his body.
I watched, fascinated, unable to look away, wondering just where this would end up. Strangely, the pattern to the lines looked familiar, as circles with small pictures were drawn over his body, above his clothing, and as they started to come together, I realized they were in the shape of the form web I could access in my Bow's menu, when I wanted to look through them all in detail.
Suddenly, he was on fire, his body covered by it, as it changed his armor, making it thicker, and a nice black color, giving him the look of a villain, truth to tell. He then held his Shield just in front of him, and let loose a howl of maddened rage, charging forward, as the Soul Eater charged up another green blast. It never escaped the thing's lips, however, as Naofumi's form slammed into it, and the blast of their connection forced us all back.
That caused Motoyasu to briefly go flying, falling from the railing, but seeing that, I quickly did my thing, teleporting to him, placing my hand on his back, and then teleporting back, giving the Spear Hero only a moment in free fall, as he slammed down into the deck again, Ren looking down at us and helping me get the blonde to his feet, as Naofumi, now with Filo's assistance as she too was covered in flames, attacked our foe.
The Soul Eater tried to fly up and away, but Filo gave the boss a powerful kick, enough to generate a wave of force from it, which sent it smashing back down into the deck, Naofumi rushing up to it, and with his Shield, slammed once more into its flesh. This time, the flames took to it, the black fire that covered the creature being consumed by the hotter flames of Naofumi's rage, leaving us just standing there.
"Miss Raphtalia…he's done this before?" I asked, and she nodded, before turning to us.
"He has, but that doesn't matter right now. You have to help him. He's fighting there, all alone now, and he needs someone, anyone, to be his sword," she said, and I nodded, but the other two were still minutes away from recovering, and my own build wasn't much for direct combat. Still, he was doing damage…somehow, and that meant I should be able to help, as I charged forward.
"Naofumi! Filo!" I shouted, as I teleported to them, getting their eyes to turn to me. They were red…like not from dryness, but rather, they were shimmering with the same fiery aura as Naofumi's whole body. Their faces were ones of hate and rage, wrath incarnated in the forms of a young man and a large avian.
"I'm giving you both the best I can, make the most of it!" I shouted, not really wanting to be more specific as I shifted my Bow around, loading two (Precision) forms up with multishot, each chamber filling with individual powers that I fired out in a rainbow blast of light. They took the power into themselves, speed, attack, defense, even more Boons, all of them swirling around the pair, before they turned back to the monster, their faces set with grins to match any beast of hell.
The avian and man struck with powers that they normally wouldn't have, the Soul Eater, completely unable to deal with it, tried on more than one occasion to run, but its flight was too slow to outpace an angry filolial, and so it was smashed back into the deck, where Naofumi would press his Shield into its body, the fires burning it brightly now, taking it past half HP in only a minutes or so.
Then Naofumi…braced himself, his eyes shutting tight, and when they opened, they were normal, as Filo herself seemed to stumble a bit.. It was weird. The screen monitoring him seemed to completely glitch, and giving it my full attention, I tried to figure out what was going on, thinking that his Rage Shield mixed with the boosts I'd given him might have caused an overflow error.
With a cry of its name, Naofumi sealed his foe inside a (Shield Prison), the cocoon of shields I'd seen him use once or twice before. Chains and plates of metal seemed to materialize around the Soul Eater, even forcing its clawed hand back when it reached out for him, leaving it trapped, glaring out with those blood red eyes between a gap in two of the plates.
"You aren't getting away! Change Shield!" he shouted as the thing began to pound against the barrier around it. Suddenly there were spikes coming in from the shields around it, piercing its flesh causing it to unleash a horrid cry, as it was caught in place by the impalement.
"Within this virgin of cold ore, who shall swallow even your screams with her embrace, suffer in anguish as your entire body is stabbed and skewered! I cast the IRON MAIDEN!" his voice rang out, an unholy fusion of his own and some deeper voice that I'd never heard before. As I watched, transfixed, his sheet of info shifted, glitching icons moving all about, before one took shape, the (Iron Maiden) skill being what he was casting, by combining his Shield's forms and skills to make it.
Suddenly, there was a…tone was the only way I could describe it, and then Raphtalia, standing beside me, grabbed my arm and pointed skyward, with me looking up, and then my jaw dropping as I watched a new hole open. Where the holes of the Wave were green and sickly, allowing only the pale red light of the sky through, this one was…not flat, not like them, instead it seemed to extend upwards infinitely.
All at once, a flash of lightning congealed into a shape, the shape of an…well an Iron Maiden, a huge, mostly hypothetical, torture device, hanging from chainst that attached to nothing in the heavens. The thing slowly came down, the lightning continuing to flash and flare along its metallic shell, as it slowly creaked open, allowing the (Shield Prison) to rise up towards it, and consuming it.
There was a moment when I thought he should probably dispel the cocoon, but looking to him, I decided not to say anything, as he brought his hand up, and made a fist with it, the doors of the thing closing, not slamming shut, but with a slow deliberate pacing, as the pale blue light from it countered the red sky around it. With a single motion, the spiked body sealed itself around its inmate, and it let loose one final, primal scream of pain and hate, before it was silenced.
The Maiden vanished into blue and green sparkles a moment later, and the body of the Soul Eater spilled onto the deck, the HP bar of it empty now, and the body no longer a monster, but simply a corpse according to the Status Magic. We were stunned, having seen that skill, something that honestly did not exist within the bounds of the systems we'd been shown, and it was nice to see even the natives were confused by it.
However, as the body landed, the wet thunk of it on the wood reminded my of what was going on, my eyes scanning the deck around me. Behind me, Ren and Motoyasu were on the bow of the ship, their bodies still tired from before. Five more minutes was what they needed, but I knew we didn't have that kind of time. Worse, Naofumi and Filo were not doing much better than they were, looking on the verge of falling over.
"There's gonna be another one in a few seconds. When it spawn, don't hesitate, go for the kill, try to end it in one stroke," I said to Raphtalia, standing beside me, and it seemed to break her from her daze, as I pulled out my weapon, and prepared some boosts for her, everything I could, given charging Naofumi and Filo had taken a lot out of me, on top of keeping everyone else topped off.
We kept our eyes on the swivel, and as expected, another roar echoed out, and a…very much smaller Soul Eater began to emerge from the deck at our feet. Like, the first had been the size of a carriage, horse and all. I could have ridden it. This thing was barely half my size, as it squirmed its way up off the deck, and looked sickly, even as the HP bar of the boss began to refill, as if it was going to be a challenge as large as its parent.
We still braced, Filo even rising up to her feet, and Naofumi looking ready to go another round. Before we could do anything, however, a sudden rain of golden daggers fell from above, their sharp, glowing edges piercing the thing before us, each shot taking off its HP bar by chunks, leaving it to fall dead to the deck before us
"How very disappointing," came a woman's voice, causing us all to look upwards as said woman in a kimono shot downward, her body slamming into the deck with enough force to toss the two bodies over the edge, and leaving us staring at her.
"You actually have trouble with weaklings like these?" she said in a condescending tone, making myself and the others clutch out weapons.
"Are you really the Heroes holding the world's fate in their hands?" she asked, and then began to walk forward, her hands, as I noticed, gripping some fans that looked like they were made of a similar material to our own weapons base forms.
"There's only one here worthy of being called a hero," she said, as she came to a stop just before us, staring right at Naofumi.
"And what is your name?" she asked, with a smirk on her face. I was about to say something, but Naofumi summed up my thoughts well enough that I let him have it.
"How about you introduce yourself, before asking someone else's name?" he responded, and she seemed to enjoy that, her smile growing as she looked him in the eye, ignoring the rest of us.
"Oh pardon me. Whatever happened to my manners? I am called Glass, and that is all you need to know for now," she said, before raising one of her fans up to her face.
"Feel free to consider me your enemy," she intoned, and that…did not process correctly at first, leaving me unable to say anything, as the Shield Hero nodded at her.
"I'm Naofumi," he told her simply, and she folded out her fan, allowing it to cover her face save for the eyes.
"Naofumi? Well, well," she gently raised her fan into the air, looking like she was getting ready to do…something.
"Then may I suggest we begin the only battle of this Wave worthy of the name?" she asked, pointing her fan towards him.
