Author's Notes: For this chapter, I'll be using the Web Novel version of the fight to help with this chapter, adding details from the Light Novel that fits my needs. I'm using Web Novel because at times I feel that it is done better than Light Novel before the changes, but other times Light Novel is better. So using both to help me here. I'm using the novels fights as I'm awful at writing them so unless there's something I really want to add, the fight will more or less be the combined of the two novels, with touches of things that I have added.
Posting this now to let you all know that the next chapter will possibly be a while, not because I want to, but because my keyboard is playing up and so I had to use my phone to add this. I'm hoping that it won't take long to get it fixed, but with how the world is with the coronavirus, I don't know how long it'll take to fix it. At the very least it'll be two weeks before I get my laptop back or getting a new one.
Chapter Twenty-One…
Wave of Calamity!
Kingdom of Melromarc, near the Village of Lute, 31st of January 740:
In an instant of the boom going off, the scenery around Naofumi changed. It would seem that they had indeed be teleported else where as he was warned, but the problem was that he didn't know where the fuck they were.
"The sky..." Raphtalia pointed out with a bit of fear as she remembered the last time this happened. But she knew she was stronger this time and she had a job to do, to protect her master no matter what.
The sky was filled with crevices, like a turtle shell, and was stained a terrible, deep red. Just as he was looking at the sky, a Quest Window popped open.
Survive the Wave of Calamity…
Reward:
5000 EXP (unclaimed)
10 Skill Points (unclaimed)
Upon seeing this, Naofumi was able to confirm that this ability worked with the Waves too, he had been wondering about that. He had been testing this out to see how it worked, seeing apart for the job to deliver the slaves to this village, and clearing the Zodiac Temple and one of the Tombs, he didn't get these Quest Windows popping up. He tried farming and other small jobs that he could get with the villagers to earn some coin, but he didn't have a signal Quest Windows pop up. This got him wondering how this ability worked, he knew that fighting monsters alone didn't work as he tried that before.
So it got him thinking that maybe the reason he got the Quest Windows was because the jobs that he was doing had potential danger, as he might face some sort of danger. Naofumi wasn't sure why he didn't have any quests for levelling up, but he suspected that he had to be doing a job, not expecting to gain EXP in the first place or what he was facing was dangerous and that the Shield believed he should have an extra bonus for facing such danger.
Seeing this Quest Window popping up now just made this belief even stronger, that he had to, at the very least, be facing something dangerous to gain these quests. And to be honest he was glad, as he was worried that because he would be working close to the other so called Heroes, he wouldn't be able to get much EXP during the Wave. But now he didn't have to worry about it as he would get some either way.
Before he could think more on this, as he looked round to get a sense of his surroundings, Naofumi suddenly saw three shadows. And they were followed by a huge group of people.
It was those damn heroes and their damn companions.
'Where are they going?' Naofumi asked himself. Then he looked at the direction they were running and also saw huge crowds of monsters surging from the cracks in the sky. It would seem they were going after those monsters and maybe to fight the boss.
This was where he was going to go so that they could deal with the Wave as soon as possible so that he and his slaves could get ready for the next Wave. To get stronger and get new items to do so. But that's when he heard Raphtalia say.
"We are near Lute Village!" Raphtalia anxiously exclaimed after examining the surrounding area. "This is a farming town. There are a lot of people here!"
"So?" asked Naofumi, not really caring about those assholes, "They should be evacuated by now, they knew that the Wave would hit somewhere -" then it hit him, they didn't know where the Wave of Calamity would appear, so no one had no idea where to go to safety. But still, he suspected that they would go to Castle Town for safety, just in case.
Just then to confirm his worst fears, a flare came from the village, to signal that there were people in the damn village. Whilst part of him didn't care what happened to them, he knew deep down that he had to try and do something to help them.
So he tried to call out to the others, "You fools, wait a minute!" Naofumi called out, "Look over there, people need you."
Refusing to heed his call, the three idiotic heroes dashed straight towards the source of the wave.
During that time, a huge group of monsters spilled out of the cracks, like baby spiders hatching from their cocoon, where they separated themselves from the overflowing monster horde, headed straight towards the village's direction.
Naofumi watched as one of the hero's shot something like a bullet flare up into the sky, signalling a sort of message.
Naofumi suspected it was to inform the knights and the adventurers where they were so they could rally them to their location.
Naofumi was in two minds what to do here, one part of him wanted to follow the heroes and deal with the Wave as fast as possible and so have fewer lives at risk. But another part of him, the part that still had innocence in him, wanted to help the bastards, to make sure that they were safe and sound.
But before he could make up his mind though, he heard Raphtalia say to him, "Master, I know you don't like the villagers, but we have to save them."
"Why?" Naofumi asked her.
"Because we're getting paid to do so," Kumiho reminded him, "it would look bad if people learn that we were getting paid to protect them but when they needed us, we're not around when we said we would be. If we decide to do more jobs like this in the future, we would have to keep our word, even if we don't like them. We don't want to lose work because we didn't do our job." Here Raphtalia nodded in agreement.
As much as he hated to admit it they were right, no matter what path he would take in the future. If he wanted to do this paid protection again, he would need to keep his word no matter what others might say about him. His name was mud to these people already, he shouldn't help them make his name even worse.
But then again, he had to wonder why should he go through all that trouble for only money, they would still hate him at the end of the day. He could make money by selling items as a merchant and not bother with the protection idea, because as a merchant, he could wear a mask to hide who he really was. But as he was thinking about this, another Quest Window popped up:
(Optional Quest) Protect 80% of Lute Village…
Reward:
+2 to Physical Attack (unclaimed)
+10 to Magic Attack (unclaimed)
+25 Physical Defence (unclaimed)
+15 Magic Defence (unclaimed)
It would seem that this Shield of his was out to make him look like a hero by having him protect this village, even though they had no problem seeing him as a demon and treating him like shit. Sure he might not have made things easy for himself, but that was only because they treated him badly first and so saw no point being nice to them. If they treated just let him be, he could leave things as bygones let bygones. This way he could show them another side of him, but with them treating badly, he saw no reason to play nice.
He already had too many people think he could be pushed around, but they were bigger fish and had more power than a small village, so had more reason to play nice to the bigger fish than with the small village. Right now, he had one mind set, play nice with those in power and those who haven't and think they can treat him like shit, then he would show them he couldn't be kicked around without him kicking back.
But if his Shield was willing to give him a few bonus sites as rewards to help these fools, even if they won't all that high, then he was more than happy to help. As every little bit extra of defence and attack helps make him stronger. He just hoped that this continued in the future, as it would help him get stronger and show those who think he was weak that he wasn't.
So he had to do this.
"Tsk! Fine. Let's go protect the village!" Naofumi told them, unhappy about it. Here the three of them rushed toward the direction of the village, separating from those shitty heroes.
o0OoO0o
Kingdom of Melromarc, Village of Lute, 31st of January 740:
Naofumi and his girls arrived right on time as the monsters from the Wave were overflowing the village and started to wreak havoc in the village.
The adventurers and the royal guards stationed there were barely able to defend against the horde's onslaught. They were greatly outnumbered, and the frontline could break at any moment…
"Raphtalia, Kumiho, help evacuate the villagers."
"But… What will you do Master?" asked Raphtalia
"I'll be distracting the Monsters as you help the villagers." Naofumi informed the young demi-human, just before he ran into the frontline, bashing his shield against a group of locust-looking monsters that were in his way.
Obviously, the sound of metal colliding was there but the damage wasn't, even if he had some damage points now, their defence was too high for him to do any damage.
At least he was able to grab their attention, just like other times that he did for Raphtalia and Kumiho.
"Gugi!"
The herd of tiny locust-like monsters charged towards Naofumi's direction. Seeing how physical attacks weren't working, he changed his shield into the Imp Shield, where he fired a few fireballs at the locusts, that set a few of these insects ablaze, whilst doing small amounts of damage to the others. But those who were on fire slowly got burned alive until they were dead and he got the EXP. And those who weren't dead, thanks to his Might stats being high, he kicked the locusts far away from him.
With the locust-like monsters dealt with, Naofumi decided to move onto his next targets: the zombies and the swarm of wasps. He wished that he had an aggro ability so that he could gather the monsters to him instead of attacking others, it would help him greatly. As he wouldn't have to chase after them or have them attacking someone he didn't want.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sounds of these monsters hitting him and his shield, as he protected a group of villagers. But thanks to his armour and shield, he received zero damage as usual.
"Shielder?" one of the male villagers said with a sneer, happy and unhappy to see him.
"Ah, right… you guys go and escape, you'll only get in the damn way!" the Shield Hero told the man and the others.
"Y-yes sir!" they said together, fearful with all the monsters in the area, worried that they would be killed if they stayed. Some hoped that these monsters would kill the Shield Hero, for what he did and what he represents too.
Fortunately, even though I was the only one on the frontline, no one was fatally wounded among the survivors.
"What the?" Naofumi asked in shock, as he couldn't see the adventurers and the royal guards that were here earlier.
What was wrong with these people? Villagers were in need of their help, but yet they were nowhere to be seen. He really could do with their help
While Naofumi was looking around to see where everyone was. He was annoyed as it was, and it didn't help with the monsters attempted to knock him out of commission with their claw, fang, and needle attacks.
Even though there were the sweet sounds of impact, Naofumi didn't feel any pain, only a bit of an itch. However, the feeling of them crawling all over his body was beyond disgusting.
Hence Naofumi set them alight with his fireballs. But he was only able to set a few wasps ablaze with fire, he ran out of MP before he could set alight some of the zombies ablaze. With all the monsters around and Raphtalia and Kumiho escorting the villagers out of the village, he couldn't regain his lost MP, he had to wait for it to fill up again.
"He-help m-" Naofumi heard someone trying to call out for some help.
Behind the young hero, the innkeeper who gave him problems when he first got here. He was being attacked by a monster. Now if it wasn't for being paid to protect this village, he would be more than happy to let him defend himself. But seeing how that wasn't on the agenda here, he had to protect the man.
So right before the innkeeper got decapitated by the monster's claw, Naofumi shouted out, "Air Strike Shield!"
As Naofumi cast the skill, a life-saving shield was immediately summoned and saved the innkeeper.
The innkeeper was surprised at the sudden appearance of the shield then looked towards his direction.
"Run for it!" Naofumi told him.
"… Ooh, thank you." After he bowed from his waist and voiced his gratitude.
"Don't thank me, I'm just doing my job." Naofumi told the man, "Now get out of here. You'll only be in my way."
Any gratitude that the innkeeper had left and his face darkened at the way at how Naofumi spoke to him, and so the innkeeper left the scene along with his family. Noafumi didn't want this sort of gratitude, not from someone who hated him for no good reason. Naofumi knew that if the king or someone high up in power told him and the others that he did something bad, they would more than likely believe it. And this Naofumi couldn't risk it, even if the gratitude was true, as he could be setting himself up for them to backstab him again.
No, if they truly feel sorry for what they have done apart from saving their lives, they would have to work for it. He wasn't going to forgive nor forget what they treated him all because they showed him some gratitude for saving their damn lives. Only a naive fool would do that, no, they would work for it before he accepted any gratitude from them. As it could be fake or limited until things were over and so went back to the way they were before.
Before Naofumi could think on this, he heard a stereotypical, ear-deafening shriek. Running towards where the shriek came from, he ran through the monsters to get to the person. Getting there he found someone who he suspected was a mother, shielding who Naofumi thought was her daughter with her body.
Naofumi saw that they were about to be attacked by some wasps, so he called out one of his skills, "Shield Prison!"
The cage appeared and protected the mother and daughter.
With the sudden appearance of the cage, the monsters switched their target to me.
'That's it. I'm right here. Come after me, just me.' Naofumi thought to himself.
Naofumi lured the monsters away before the Shield Prison expired and returned to the frontline.
Naofumi felt a bit out of breath here, he wasn't sure how long he was fighting for, but this is the first time that he had to fight so much and so many, it was getting to him. In the past, it would only be a few monsters that he and his slaves would fight, and if it was only him who was fighting, to let out his anger and frustration, he would only fight at least three. But this, it was getting to him, even with some boosts to his stamina, he was still human and stamina was meant to run out.
"Who else has been left behind?!" Naofumi asked himself as he looked around quickly, to try and find any stragglers. Sure he could say he couldn't find any, but he was on a job and even in his old world when he was doing a job, he would do it properly even if he didn't like who he was working for. This was no different, he might not like the people here, but he would do his job properly.
As he was looking around, a zombie came charging at him and without thinking about it, he immediately threw up his shield to block the attack, where there was a shower of fireworks. Unlike the few zombie's he faced so far, he was facing a zombie with a sword in both hands and wearing armour.
He had just enough MP for one Fireball attack, so hoping that this one would set the damn zombie ablaze, he cast the spell. Thankfully it did the trick and the zombie was ablaze and after a few moments, it was dead.
Looking around he saw a few foolish villagers fighting the monsters, at one look at them, Naofumi knew they were weak, that if he didn't do something soon, they would be dead. Right now, all he could do was to help these fools to escape and keep the monster's attention on him until Raphtalia and Kumiho could complete the evacuation of the village.
Naofumi knew that if he had a choice in the matter, it would be smarter to fight over where the other 'heroes' were fighting. With luck, they could have found the boss by now and dealt with it to end this Wave.
As the Shielder looked up in the sky he saw the monsters continue to erupt from the cracks in the sky. Some landing outside of the village, and some in the village. Naofumi wished he could attract a few of these monsters to him, as it would make his life all that much easier.
Then more monsters came at him. He wasn't too worried about them, he felt relatively safe though, thanks to the shield. But he really wanted to avoid their attacks if he could, but with how many there were, it didn't seem possible this time, seeing how more monsters were surrounding him.
If only Raphtalia and Kumiho were there, he could have a much easier time dealing with them. He really was regretting that he didn't have one of them stay with them now. It didn't matter, standing and letting the monsters attack him, wasn't doing anyone any good.
The problem was that he didn't have a way to fight back, his MP was low and he didn't want to use his Predator's Guard shield, as he didn't want it getting back to the king and the other heroes he had such a shield. That left him with SP skills, ones he had to be careful in using on running out like his MP skills.
He knew that the Air Strike Shield skill wasn't useful at this point, as that skill was best used for those running into him or when they were actually attacking him and using it at the last minute. Now he could use the Meteor Shield skill, but all that would do was have the monsters build up around him and when it was down, they would fall down on him. Shield Prison would only protect him for a while and he would be back where he started, them all over him. Freedom Shield was also out, as that shield was more of a range attack shield.
That left him with his ability to transform into a Werewolf, but that was his trump card should he get into a fight that needed extra strength. He didn't want to use that just yet or those who learn about it would either be on his back for having such a skill or/and would be finding a way to fight against it. He knew that would happen either way, but he wanted to wait as long as possible before using it. But if he wanted to get out of this monster huddle, he would have to use it.
That's when he could hit himself for forgetting two of his counter shields, the Animal Needle Shield, which he got from absorbing the normal Porcupine needles into his shield, and the Spiked Iron Shield. He couldn't believe that it slapped his mind, then again he didn't use them too often and so it was understandable that he forgot about them. Spiked Iron Shield would spike anything that attacked him, but that's it. But the Animal Needle Shield, should anything attack him, the needles of the shield would fire out all around him, hitting everything in the way, cursing damage to them. This was why didn't use it often, as the needles would hit ally and monster alike if the ally was in the way.
But with being surrounded, that didn't matter, it would give him a few moments to escape. The main problem was that the Animal Needle Shield base defence rating was lower than any other shield that he had been using. So that meant that it would be possible for him to get some damage, especially with how many monsters were attacking. But still, it was the only option he had.
So quickly changing the shield to Animal Needle Shield, Naofumi had only needed to wait a few seconds for them to attack again. When this happened, as he planned, the shield shot out needles that stuck into the enemies. It wasn't much, but it made them pause in their tracks and created a space around. All he could do was use this to his advantage to escape before the received from the shook, so he cast Air Strike Shield that he used as a ramp to jump on and jump over the zombies and make a run for it.
Seeing how there were so many monsters around, Naofumi had to wonder how he could kill them on his own, as he used some Mana Stones to refill his MP. He could use his Imp Shield, but he would run out of MP before he could deal with them.
He had to wonder why he was doing all this for? For the money? So that the villagers wouldn't speak badly about him? It's not like he didn't have plans to make money himself, and they were already speaking badly about him already, how worse can they speak about him? So the question was once again, why was he doing all this?
Either way, as he stopped to look around, he saw that he was standing next to the village's store, where he saw a huge jar of oil for sale, for laps and such. Seeing this give him an idea, so grabbing a bracket and filling it with oil, Naofumi ran as fast and as careful as he could to the village's bell tower and climbed to the top.
As he got to the top of the bell tower Naofumi saw the true damage and how many monsters there really were. If he thought that if the village was bad, outside the village was just as bad with monsters attacking the adventurers. Naofumi knew that he couldn't think about the outside of the village, he had to deal with what was in front of him. So he started to ring the damn bell to get the attention of the monsters. As he was doing this, he thought to himself as he was looking at the sky, 'Damn it, how long is this going to take? It looks like it'll last for days? What are you doing you damn fools?'
"What are they waiting for?" Naofumi asked himself aloud, as he was getting annoyed at fighting all these monsters. But at the same time though, the monsters began to shake the tower, alerting Naofumi that they were there. So pouring oil down the tower and onto the monsters, the Shield Hero waited for the bracket to be empty before grabbing a torch from the tower and throwing onto the oil.
Just as he did this, he changed his shield to the Rope Shield and jumped off the tower, using the rope to hook onto a pole that was sticking out of a building. As he landed, he watched as all the monsters were burned alive, giving him the EXP in doing so.
Watching the monster burn, Naofumi wondered aloud, "Is that it?"
He just jinxed himself as more monsters appeared, ready to take the place that were killed.
'Damn it,' Naofumi thought to himself darkly, as he can't believe his luck, 'can't I get a break, even more a few minutes.'
Just then a huge zombie appeared and the only thought that came to Naofumi was this, 'This one could be trouble…' The damn thing had an axe in his hand, unlike zombies in the movies, these ones were faster and a bit more edgeal, especially this one. As before Naofumi could even think about blocking the zombie's attack, the attack hit him. It was the strongest attack that he faced during this Wave, as even if he wasn't able to block the attacks, should the attack hit him he wouldn't take any damage. But not this one.
"Ahh!" Naofumi screamed in pain as a searing pain shot through his shoulder, and blood sprayed from the wound.
From the pain and the shock of being hurt, Naofumi was forced back a few steps.
The axe went a few inches into his right shoulder and he lost about a hundred HPs. This was the first time in a while since he lost any HP or anything was able to bypass his defences, it shocked and worried Naofumi. He was just thankful that his defence was so high, as he was worried he might lose his arm or worse, he could have been killed.
Once again, he was wondering why he was doing this . Why was he getting hurt for people who hate him for something he didn't do? Naofumi felt like a fool for helping those who didn't want his help fully and for helping them when he didn't know why he was doing it.
Just then, before he could make a plan on what to do next, he saw a few villagers returning to the village, armed mainly with farming tools, but he saw a sword or two among them. They had a few adventurers from earlier, they had returned to help the villagers too. Little late seeing how he did most of the work already.
'Calm down… think.' Naofumi told himself, this wasn't the right time to think about such things. It only meant that even with the shield with a high based defence and decent defence bonuses, he wasn't strong enough for the high powered monsters. That he had to think more carefully when dealing with them. 'Damn! Shields are so hard to use!' Naofumi thought darkly.
Just then, the damn zombie was going to attack again, however, before Naofumi could move out of the way or cast a skill to defend himself, the attack was interrupted before pitchforks were being stabbed in the monster's arm. The people that saved him were the villagers that he helped to escape the village.
"What the hell? What are you doing here?" Naofumi yelled at them. Don't get him wrong, sure he wasn't thankful for saving his life, but the problem is that he didn't want to look after these fools getting in his way too. As he didn't want to worry about them getting killed by the monsters, as he was worried that he would get the blame for their deaths. "You're in my way! Get the hell out of here!"
"This is our village! We can't just leave it!" shouted one villager.
"Yeah, we can't let you scum it all," yelled another, "all we know you could do more damage to the village than any of these monsters. Blaming it on them."
"Fine then, whatever!" Naofumi told them with a sneer, unhappy that they would think that he would do that, "Now if you're going to help, I'll be the shield. I'll help to defend the line until the evacuation is complete! Get into a proper formation so that I can protect you, and let's get them!
"Do what you like." one of the villagers said, unhappy about this, but knowing that they need this demon's help if they want to save their village. Sure he might be a demon, but right now, he is fighting to defend their village and it is better to use him for this than have their village destroyed. It's not like the other damn heroes were here to help.
Honestly, Naofumi needed the help. Whilst he could attack with magic, it wasn't enough by himself seeing how it wasn't strong enough yet as he was the Shield Hero, but he learned that working as a group, it put them in a different league. Working with Raphtalia and Kumiho had made that very clear.
Now that he was in a group again, Naofumi changed his shield back to the Light Metal Shield, where they then ran to draw the attention of the monsters.
"Get an attack in and back off." Naofumi ordered them, he wanted to make sure they could attack, but at the same time don't get hurt. "We'll break up their advance. Then I'll jump in and take their attacks."
"Yes Shield Demon!" the villagers and adventurers called out. They didn't like working with him, not after hearing what he did to the princess and the thifts that he did. But he was still a Cardinal Hero who meant to know how to fight and deal with these monsters, so for now they would listen to him, even if they don't like it.
So to protect these fools, Naofumi ran to the front of the formation and took the enemy attacks with his shield, casting his skills when facing stronger monsters. The villagers used their farming tools to attack the monsters, attacking them from behind him, whilst the adventurers used their swords to hit them whilst try to get past Naofumi's defence.
A fews jabs and hits wasn't going to do it, but after getting hit ten or twenty times, the monsters started to fall.
"Squeee!"
Here the monsters tried to attack the villagers behind Naofumi, out of instinct, he jumped in the way to block the monsters.
"Relax! I'll take all of the damage with my shield." Naofumi informed them, "You just have to focus on attacking the monsters!"
Whilst they might not like him, they were relieved that he would be defending them.
At the very least INaofumi figured it was safe to assume that they understood they were going to be protected. They say in battle that whoever shouts the largest will amass followers. Naofumi suppose this was what was happening here. But that was good for him. Just like he told them, if they would help him, he would protect them to his best ability.
"But even still, there are so many monsters. When is that evacuation going to wrap up?!" asked one villager.
"What are the other Heroes doing?" asked another villager.
"Ha! They're fighting the waves and ignoring the people!" Naofumi told them blankly.
"But they…" one of the villagers began before they fainted when they heard that.
Just then, Naofumi saw a large shadow appear on the ground. And that man was flung away in a heartbeat.
"Ugh…"
There was another giant zombie there. Compared to the other zombies and the last huge zombie he faced, he was not only bigger but was wearing more extravagant armor and carried a larger axe.
Naofumi was able to stop one of the zombie attacks with his shield, but it was so powerful that it made the Shield Hero dizzy, and he reeled back. This was with Naofumi using his Barrier skill at the last second.
Like he would die here!
Naofumi gritted his teeth and tried to focus. If he lost his footing, he knew that he might really die.
This guy was way stronger than the others. Even though this zombie hadn't really landed a direct blow, he still took damage. The monster was unbelievably powerful.
"Are you okay?" asked Naofumi, not wanting to lose anyone that could fight for him.
"Huff… yes… but… what about you?" asked a villager.
"I'm fine! You all back off! I'm not sure if I can protect you all from this guy!" Naofumi told them.
"But!" said another, for some reason these damn fools weren't leaving.
'Were these villagers even listening to what I was saying?!' Naofumi asked himself, as he defended himself and the villagers from another attack. Was it like how people say in his world, that in the heat of battle, things get blurred? That allies can become enemies and enemies can become allies, that you would work with those you wouldn't normally would and do things that you wouldn't normally do? Whatever the case, these fools would prefer to stay and get killed, seeing how they couldn't fight this thing.
Just as the damn zombie did another attack, Naofumi cast an Air Strike Shield to block and push the monster back, but as he did, he heard the one of two voices he was hoping to hear.
"Master Naofumi!" Naofumi heard Raphtalia call out. Out of nowhere, she appeared with her holding her enormous broadsword in hand ready to fight. It was thanks to him using a few of his skill points that she was now able to hold it with such ease. It didn't mean she could fully use it yet, but right now it didn't matter as long as she could use it even a bit.
"Raphtalia! You're just in time! I need your help in taking this guy down." Naofumi told his slave, something in his chest rose, glad that she was with him. Out of all the people it was she and Kumiho that he trusted the most, maybe it was because they were his slaves and knew they couldn't betray him, but the truth wouldn't change that he trusted them above all else.
"Yes Master!" said Raphtalia, as her master's sword, this was her job, to kill anyone or anything that meant him harm, and this damn master dared to hurt her master. That was unforgivable, it would die for thinking of hurting him.
Naofumi and Raphtalia turned to the giant zombie as it once again tried to attack Naofumi, Naofumi held up his shield in preparation for this attack.
"I'll draw his attacks with my shield, and you focus on attacking, just like we've done the whole time." Naofumi informed her quickly, as the monster went to attack.
"Yes Master!" said Raphtalia as the monster about to attack.
Whilst the zombie might be much bigger than his compatriots, it didn't seem to be much more skilled. He turned his gaze to Naofumi and swung his enormous axe. Making sure he recast his Barrier skill again, he took the shock head-on. Naofumi knew he couldn't avoid his attacks or the monster might decide to turn its attention to Raphtalia instead. And if he had dodged them, it would throw off the rhythm, and Raphtalia would end up confused as well.
The giant zombie raised his axe to strike, just as it was going to hit Naofumi cast another Air Strike Shield to make the zombie lose balance, in doing so, Raphtalia dashed in to slash the zombie with her sword. It would seem that thanks to the attack, the zombie lost a bit of his strength. It would seem that they might have a chance against this damn monster.
"Raphtalia, this guy likes to attack whatever is nearby." Naofumi warned his slave, "Once you stick him, back off, and once I draw his attack, rush in for another shot!"
"Understood Master!"
"W…Woah…" The gathered villagers let their emotion slip out.
Which reminded Naofumi, they needed to get them out of there.
"You're still here? Get out of here!" Naofumi told them, "I appreciate your help, but now you are just getting in the way! The whole reason I'm here is to keep people like you from dying!" Which was half true, he was mainly here for the money that was promised to him, if it wasn't for that, it wouldn't be here. Not after how they treated him.
"O…Okay…"
They seemed scared by Naofumi's sudden outburst and nodded as they slowly began to back away.
Just as they seemed to be at a safe distance, Naofumi suddenly had a bad feeling in his gut. He wasn't sure what it was, but he sensed that danger was about to happen and their lives were at great risk.
"Raphtalia!" Naofumi called out to her as he ran over to her and threw his cape around her, hugging her close - making her drop her boardsword. As he did so, he raised his Light Metal Shield up and got ready for whatever was about to happen.
As he did this, a horde of monsters approached them, ready to attack them within moments. But before they could, balls of fire rained down on them.
Behind the horde of monsters, Naofumi spotted the royal knight's arrival. The magic users among their ranks were shooting out their magic; this was the cause of the rain of fire. The swordsmen of the group were killing the monsters that were able to escape the rain of fire. The monsters quickly ignited and turned into cinders.
Since there were a lot of insects they burned nicely.
Naofumi wasn't happy about this, the timing of the villagers leaving the village and this sudden attack feels suspicious, too convenient. It was like they waited for the villagers to leave before starting the attack, not only to kill the monsters but him too.
"You damn fools, I'm here you know?" Naofumi shouted at them. He knew that his physical defense was high thanks to all the battles he faced, but until now he wasn't sure that his magic defense was high as well for him to defend against such an attack. Either that, or Naofumi owed it to the special effect of the Light Metal Shield.
Naofumi watched as the monsters burned as the knights walked in their direction. As they came closer to him and Raphtalia, his mind was still wondering about the motive behind this friendly fire. Sure they didn't get along, but to do this? Didn't they know the risks of killing a hero? If they did know, didn't they care or was it they didn't believe the story? Whatever the case, Naofumi wasn't in the mood to deal with these assholes.
He glared at them while his cloak fluttered, scattering the flames.
"Hmph, so that's the Shield Hero…" said someone behind the knights, "He's surprisingly resilient."
As the knights came closer, they parted to allow the captain of the knights to walk by where he stopped a few feet from him where spat on the ground next to the Shield Hero.
Then a shadow from under Naofumi's cape, dashed towards the captain, brandishing a sword a longsword. It was Raphtalia, she was using her longsword that she had on her wrist. She only used it when she wasn't training with her boardsword, or when she didn't have the room to use the boardsword. In this case, she was using it as it was the only weapon she had on hand.
With a loud 'Klang!', the captain quickly unsheathed his own sword and locked blades with his attacker.
"What was the meaning of your actions against Lord Naofumi?!" the young slave told the night without fear, "I will cut you down depending on your answer!"
"You're with the Shield Hero?" asked the captain of the knights.
"Yes, I'm his sword! Show him the respect he deserves!" Raphtalia informed the knight, before warning him, "I shall not forgive any act of disrespect!"
"How dare you, a demi-human try to speak on the same level as us knights?" the captain sneered at her, "More so a captain, be careful demi-human or I'll punish you. Shield Hero, you should teach your companion how she should act around her betters."
"Oh, she acts well around me," Naofumi remarked with a smirk, "she only acts out around trash and fools, which you lot are."
"Shield Hero, you shall show me the respect as a Knight of Melromarc." the captain told him.
"You call yourself a knight?" Raphtalia asked in disbelief,
"You have neglected your duties of protecting civilians and helping them to escape the village when the monsters attacked," Raphtalia told him as she lowered her sword because of the look her master was giving her, "then you have the audacity to attack your own allies, specifically a Cardinal Hero like Lord Naofumi, whom you tried burning along with all the monsters using your magic. For those reasons you people are unfit to be called a knight!"
"Careful how you speak to us demi-human." the captain warned Raphtalia. The young slave grabbed the helt of her sword tightly, wanting to attack the captain for speaking to her like this, but a look from her master stopped her. She didn't know what he was thinking, but unless he said anything, she wouldn't attack. "Anyway, you're both fine aren't you? So no harm done right?" asked the knight with a smirk.
"No harm done?" Raphtalia asked darkly, "You could have hurt him if he wasn't strong as he was."
Raphtalia passionately continued arguing with the knight captain while the others began to surround her. This worried Naofumi, he saw that the captain was going to do something and so he called out, "Shield Prison!"
"Damn, you basta-"
The leader of the knights was firmly shut in the cage. Naofumi glared at the rest of the knights.
What kind of knight would attack their allies? Even if they can't stand that ally, in time of battle and great risk, allies should work together no matter what their problems might be in the past.
"Aren't the real enemy here the monsters spawned from the Wave?" Naofumi asked the knight with sneer, "Don't mix up your objectives!"
Ashen-faced, the knights turned their heads away after his rebuttal.
"A Hero that's a criminal doesn't have the right to say such crap." said the captain as Naofumi let him go, as he saw new monsters appearing from the Waves and coming to them.
To the knights' shock, they watched as the Shield Hero defended against them as if it was nothing, and with Raphtalia, who now picked her boardsword back up, slaughtered them as if it was nothing. Upon seeing this, the colour drained from the knights faces.
"Oh well… I'm fine with anything. So I guess it's safe to say that you guys want to make an enemy out of me?"
Looking at the Shield Hero withstanding all of that, the knights' faces turned completely blue.
After all, Naofumi was the Shield Hero. 'Do not mess with this guy' or other line of reasoning was there. But Naofumi could also see the dark look on the captain's face, along with a few other knights. It would seem that some would be willing to him.
Seeing that there were more monsters coming and the knights didn't see them yet, Naofumi smirked as he said, "Will, if you want to be my enemy, I'll be more than happy to leave you to deal with the next lot of monsters."
That was all the warning that the knights had when they were attacked by the monsters that appeared in the village.
As the knights were fighting the monsters, Naofumi asked Raphtalia as if nothing was going on, "Is the evacuation finished?"
"No… it's not done yet Lord Naofumi. I left Kumiho to help with the villagers as I feared you might need my help." Raphtalia informed her master, explaining why she was here and not helping the villages to leave the Village, "I believe that it will take a little bit more time."
"Shield Hero, please help us?" Naofumi heard screams for help from the knights as they fought against the monsters, a few of them were dead.
"Damn." muttered Naofumi, before saying, "Go back and help Kumiho, finish it! I'll keep the monster at bay as best as I can here."
Then a young knight came to them and begged Naofumi, "Please Sir Hero, please save my fellow knights and me, I'm truly sorry about my captain, we're not all like him."
"Why should my lord help you, when your captain tried to kill him?" Raphtalia asked darkly, more than happy to leave them to their fate for what they tried to do to her master, "I bet you didn't even try and stop him."
Naofumi put a hand on shoulder and for a moment thought about what he had seen, he wasn't amused at all. These people were meant to be knights, but yet they couldn't deal with a few monsters on their own. He understood that these might be different to the monsters that they normally face, but for them living in a world with demons and monsters, the Shielder thought that they would be better than this. But they were totally useless, more useless than Naofumi thought he was once.
But seeing how a few of the knights were killed by the monsters and at least one of them was begging for his help, Naofumi thought it was best to help them a bit. He was hoping that these assholes would learn not to piss him off. Although he highly doubted it though, but still, he wasn't a total ass that he wouldn't help those who begged or paid for him to help, otherwise he wouldn't.
His thoughts were simple, why help these people after they did nothing but drag his name through the mud and spread lies about him, and treat him like shit. He had no obligation to help them unless he wanted to do so. If they treated him better it might be a different story.
"Fine I'll help you this one time, as next time I won't, I'll let you die." Naofumi informed the young knight.
"But..."
"Don't worry Raphtalia, they won't do anything to me now. It's not like their attacks hurt me in the first place, it wasn't even painful or ticklish. It just… left a feeling of being licked on my arms and legs." her master reinsured her, as he patted Raphtalia's shoulder and followed with a glare at the knights"They know what will happen if they do, I'll lore monsters to them and whilst they are getting eaten, I'll escape without a scratch thanks to my shields."
Naofumi didn't know if he was able to intimidate them, but from their pile and worried looks from the young knight and the knights who heard him, he suspected that he did intimidate them. At least for now. Which was good, as he didn't have to worry about them stabbing him in the back during this Wave. Later on? He would have to deal with that problem when it came, for now he had a damn job to do.
"Now Raphtalia, we can't start a real fight until the evacuation is completed. As the villagers would only get in the way." Naofumi informed his slave, "Sure there's a lot of enemies here, but it's not like they can hurt me, I'll be fine with them. Just hurry up and get back here with Kumiho so we can clean the village of these monsters."
"Understood Lord Naofumi!" Raphtalia said with a bow, "Please be careful." and with that she ran off in the direction of the village, helping the reminding villagers to leave the place.
With Raphtalia gone, Naofumi ran with the young knight to help the rest of the reminding knights. With the knights saved, they went on to fight the rest of the monsters there. It wasn't long before they were able to manage to put a halt to the progress of the monsters, and to beat them back. They managed to get a foothold and dealt with most of them.
Once Raphtalia and Kumiho were able to evacuate the villagers, they returned to his side, that was when Naofumi commenced his retaliation. Using the knight squadron as their human shield, Naofumi and his slaves finished off the monsters by baiting them into their ready formation. It took a few hours before all apart a few monsters were killed and the cracks in the sky began to close.
As the cracks began to close, his Quest Window popped up, showing that he had cleared the first quest, surviving the Wave.
Survive the Wave of Calamity (CLEARED)
Reward:
5000 EXP (claimed)
10 Skill Points (claimed)
Thanks to this, he was able to gain er level that day, making him go up to level twenty-seven. He was thankful to having the extra EXP. As he found that levelling up to level ten was somewhat easy enough, but after that Naofumi found that the EXP needed to level up further, sky rocketed. Right now, to get to level twenty-eight, he would need to gain about another 30,000 EXP.
It was only thanks to the ability that allowed them to gain bonus EXP and the 'Quests' that they were able to get to such a level they were now. That and he had two slaves instead of one, as he believed if it was either just him and Raphtalia or Kumiho, they wouldn't be as high either as it was three of them now. As without an extra person in his team, they wouldn't have been able to kill as many monsters as they have and so wouldn't have gained the EXP.
As Naofumi looked around the village, he saw that Raphtalia and Kumiho killed the last of the remaining monsters that was left there. As they did, the Quest Window popped up again:
(Optional Quest) Protect 80% of Lute Village (CLEARED)
Reward:
+2 to Physical Attack (claimed)
+10 to Magic Attack (claimed)
+25 Physical Defence (claimed)
+15 Magic Defence (claimed)
Happy to have the extra stats, he saw the deaths of the people around him, he had to wonder what the fuck the other heroes were up to? Could it be all that hard to find the damn boss and defeat it? They ran off as if they knew where the damn thing was, but hours later the cracks in the sky were only starting to close now. So was it it took them longer to find the boss, was it harder to defeat or was it they were just stupid that it took them this long?
Whatever the case, he needed to get a piece of the boss for his shield. He just hoped that the damn fools left him something to upgrade his shield, and not take everything for themselves. He wouldn't put it past them, seeing how they didn't like nor respect him and think he was weak and useless.
o0OoO0o
It has been a few hours since the three Cardinal Heroes ran off to find and defeat the boss of this wave. As much as they hated to admit it, but it was harder to find the boss than they first thought. But then again, they should have suspected this though.
Sure this world was much like the world in their games that they knew of in their world, but there was one thing that they didn't account for, the monsters movement. From the little that the three talked together, whilst for one hero the monsters were in the places that they knew, for the others they weren't. For example, in one area the monsters that Renka was suspecting were there, but in this area the monsters that the other two heroes were expecting weren't there. On the other hand though, Motoyasu or Itsuki could expect some monsters in one area and get them, but the other heroes who expect another set of monsters but don't get them.
So it was hard to find the Boss of this Wave, the Chimera, as once they defeated enough monsters to summon the Boss, they weren't sure where it would appear. So they didn't know if they different enough monsters for the Boss to appear, so they went to the three areas that they believed the Chimera would appear and defeated lots of monsters in that area in the hopes it would appear. It helped that Elsa used her Ice Magic to freeze the monsters and made it easier to deal with them.
Sadly though, after defeating so many monsters, they weren't able to find the Boss in any of these places. So they feared one of two things, one the Boss location was elsewhere and they haven't yet found it. Or the other possibility is that it was already summoned and it was on the move, roaming the area - seeing how it wasn't like the monsters stayed in the same area like in the games they knew where they would be programmed to stay. They moved about and did what they wanted. The three heroes suspected that it was the former rather than the later, and so went in search of the Chimera. They were right too, they found the Chimera near the east side of the village.
But once they were finally able to find the Chimera Boss, and with the help of Elsa's magic, it took them little time to defeat the monster. It was a few moments after the defeat of the Boss that Naofumi entered the area.
"That pretty much takes care of it." Naofumi heard Renka say as he entered the area. She along with the other two heroes were already cutting Boss up to gain it's heads to upgrade their weapons. She was taking the dragon's head of the boss.
"Yeah, I have to admit that the boss was easier than I thought it would be, easier than in my game when I played it." said Itsuki, as he took the goat head,
"Yeah, if this is all we are up against, the next wave should be a simple matter." Motoyasu agreed with him as he took the lion's head as Renka nodded in agreement.
Upon hearing this, Naofumi had to scoff, sure it was easy, as they had left the protections and evacuation of the villagers to the knights and the adventurers. They would be saying something different if they actually helped with the villagers. Thinking about it even pissed him off. Whilst he didn't care about the villagers himself, for those three fools who considered themselves as heroes, they left them for the knights and the adventurers to deal with, not knowing how long it would be before they would arrive. If he wasn't there, it was highly possible that the villagers would be dead before the knights got there, there was so much that the adventurers could handle.
'How heroic of them.' Naofumi scoffed to himself, it would seem that even though they have been here for over a month, these so called heroes were still acting as if they were in a game. Thinking that like in the games, the knights would be here on time to save the villagers and if not they thought that the damn villagers were meant to be killed if they didn't survive the Wave.
Naofumi sighed in frustration.
It was quite a hassle for Naofumi to ignore these shitty heroes, but he was relieved that he and his slaves were able to manage to survive this Wave. The sky was now fully back as it was before the wave, no signs as anything bad ever happened other than the monster's bodies around the village that was. The sky was now filled with the colours of sunset. Naofumi knew that he was safe for at least another month or so.
He would spend the next month getting stronger, so that no monster or person could pass his defences. He would never get hurt again.
"Thinking about it, I don't think I have seen Naofumi anywhere." admitted Motoyasu as he thought about it now that the battle was over and gave them time to realize what was going on, not seeing Naofumi coming to them, "Have you two seen him?"
"No I haven't." Renka and Itsuki said together, before Renka went on to say, "It's not like he would be any help if he was here, it's not like he can fight. So it makes sense he isn't here."
"Lady Renka is right Lord Motoyasu, it makes sense that he isn't here," Bitch or as her friends and companions knew her as Myne agreed with the Sword Hero, "He would only get in our way, so it's better that he wasn't here."
Trying to ignore these assholes, Naofumi walked past them to see what they left of the Boss. He just hoped it was somewhat decent. It looked like they only took the three main heads of the Chimera, the only thing that they left was the body and the tail which was a viper head. Part of him wondered if the three shared the heads with each other or not, but he doubted it, from what he saw of them, they wouldn't think of it. Wanting to keep the power to themselves.
As he walked past the three stooges, Motoyasu said with a sneer, "There you are, you're coming out wherever you were hiding now that the hard work is now done?"
"Hard work?" Naofumi scoffed, "No, hard work is protecting the damn village alone when you three meant to be helping."
"Our job is to fight the Boss, not protecting the villagers." Itsuki told Naofumi, "Sooner we defeat the Boss, sooner the Waves could be stopped. It's the job of the knights and adventurers to protect the civilians."
"And what would happen if the knights and adventurers aren't able to protect them?" Naofumi asked darkly, "The civilians could end up dead before help could get to them."
"Of course they wouldn't," said Motoyasu, "the knights and adventurers would always be there in time to save them, if they didn't, it only meant that they meant to die for part of a quest or they are no longer needed."
"You, you…" Naofumi was godsmicked at hearing this, sure he knew that they thought it was a game, but to hear Motoyasu say that and the others nodding in agreement, he could only facepalm at it. To think that these fools would believe that the civilians would be saved no matter what they do, and if they were killed it was because it was part of a quest or something. He couldn't believe it. "You know what, forget it. I'm here for the Boss."
"So you're going to take parts of the Chimera even though you didn't do a thing to help to defeat it?" asked Itsuki.
"So what of it?" Naofumi asked him and the others, "I need to get stronger somehow."
"A job well done, oh brave heroes. Thanks to your efforts we were able to overcome the threat posed by the Wave." said the captain who just came behind them, sensing the trouble that was coming between the heroes. Sure he didn't like the Shield Demon, but he had seen what he and his companions can do together and if forced to fight, whilst the Three Heroes might be able to win against the Shield Hero, but it would be at the cost of their allies, something the captain couldn't allow. Especially when one of the heroes' companions was the king's daughter, so he had to do something to defuse this before anything bad happens and he thought that this would be the thing. So he went on to say, "In thanks, the king has properly readied a feast in celebration for your achievements. We humbly invite you to join in since we will also be giving your rewards there, so please come."
"Forget the bastard you two, he's not worth it." Renka told them, not ready to fight the bastard yet, she needed to regain her strength after that fight with the Chimera. She thought that the Bow and Spear Hero were fools wanting to fight the Shield Hero now, they had used most of their strength to deal with the Boss and they didn't know how much strength Iwatani had left. All they knew was that he had more than them and so could defeat them without much of a problem. "Either way, it's just Viper's head which is the most useless of the heads as you know."
Naofumi scoffed at the idea of the Viper's head being useless, from gathering shields like he has, he can already guess what shield he was going to get. A Viper's Shield and unless he was unlucky or was wrong about this, he was going to get some resistance to poisons and if he was lucky some sort of counterattack shield with poison or the ability to use poison attacks. So he didn't see that as useless, not one bit. As the poison could slowly chip away someone's."/thing HP and as long as he made sure they didn't cure themselves somehow, the poison could kill them. And depending how power the poison was, could be very slow or quick.
"You think you know better?" Renka asked suspiciously, wondering what the bastard knew that they didn't.
"No I don't," admitted Naofumi, "but I've come to learn that I can more or less expect what is to come depending on what I feed my shield. If I'm not mistaken, this Viper's head might be the most useful head of the four heads."
"You're bluffing," Motoyasu said, "from our games, all you get is resistance and poison attacks, which are useless seeing how we get way better shields down the line."
"And you call that weak?" Naofumi asked in disbelief, "In which case you have no idea how to fight properly than, as even if you do get better weapons, poison attacks can be very useful."
Before Motoyasu could attack him for saying such thing, seeing how he was one of the top players in his game Emerald Online, Itsuki put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't, he's just trying to get a rise out of you so that you would attack him and make a fool out of you."
"He doesn't need my help with that." mocked Naofumi, "He can do that on his own." While he wasn't trying to get a rise out of Motoyasu before, he was now.
But Myne and the rest of his companions stopped him, whispering something in his ears which seemed to calm him down a bit. "Later Iwatani." said Motoyasu, as he and his companion walked away. With the other heroes and their companions following them moments later after they give Naofumi dark looks.
As they left, Raphtalia asked worriedly, "Was it wise to upset them like that Master? They might try to retaliate because of that."
"Might not be wise, but it was fun." admitted the Shield Hero with a smirk, "What can they do, they need me and sadly I need them, so it's not like they can do anything to me right now. And by the time they can do something, I'll be strong enough to deal with whatever they throw at me."
"Please be careful Master, I don't want to lose you." Raphtalia informed her master, with Kumiho agreeing with her.
"I will." Naofumi reinsured his slaves, he wasn't going to bother the other heroes for anything unless he had no other option, even then he would do so bitterly. "Now let's see what shields I can get from this thing."
Looking at the Chimera's corpse, Naofumi had to admit that it was in a better shape then expected, he was half expecting that the other heroes would have torn it to shreds, but in fact it was still in tack. So he had Raphtalia use her broadsword to cut off the Viper's head and absorb into his shield. In doing so he unlocked the Chimera Viper Shield.
Chimera Viper Shield
Equip Bonus(s):
Antidote Compounding Up (unmastered)
Poison Resistance (small) (unmastered)
Skill: "Change Shield" (unmastered)
Special Ability:
Counter Attack: Snake Venom Fang (medium)
The Chimera Viper Shield was a green cross like shield, with a lot of gold trimming, where the green gem of his shield was, it was surrounded by what looked like a golden flower of some kind or to some a sun. It also had twin winding golden snakes.
This shield had some decent Equip Bonuses, the Antidote Compounding allowed him to make better antidotes which would be useful. Poison Resistance, well, he already had a few shields with this shield, so having another made him even more resistant against poison, which is always useful. If he was able to keep finding such shields, he soon wouldn't have to worry about poison again.
Now the skill that came with the shield, Change Shield, was the most useful of all of the bonuses, as once mastered, he would never have to wait for the cooldown time to swap a shield ever again. As this skill would allow him to do so instantly, best of all, it didn't cost him SP or MP to do so. For once, it would seem that his luck was up once again, he just hoped that it would stay like that for a while.
Next was the Special Ability, the Snake Venom Fang counter attack. As he suspected, it was a poison counter attack, which would poison anyone who attacks him and if activated, the counter attack would poison whoever attacked him. This was very useful, as it would weaken an enemy and help Raphtalia and Kumiho if they were facing a powerful monster.
Next the three of them carefully started to butcher the remains and letting his shield absorb whatever it could. In doing so, he gained three new shields, Chimera Meat Shield, which gave him the Equip Bonus: Cooking Quality Improvement. The next shield was the Chimera Bone Shield, which gave him the Equip Bonus: Darkness Resistance (medium). The last shield was the Chimera Leather Shield, which gave him the Equip Bonus Defense Up +10. They were all useful shields, but not so much as the Chimera Viper Shield.
Just as they were about to hand over the reminding parts of the Chimera to the villagers, Naofumi spotted something useful, the Chimera's Core. As he picked it up though, the mayor just arrived and saw what the Shield had in his hand and said, "Please Sir Hero, we would like to keep that so that we can sell that ourselves, find a core like that can bring in quite a bit of coin to this village."
Naofumi knew that cores can go for a good amount of coin, and if this village could sell one, they might be able to fix the damage to the village caused by the monsters. But with how the villagers treated him before today and seeing how they still owe him money for protecting the village, he wasn't willing to hand the core over. So he told the mayor, "Think of this as the remaining payment to what you owe for protecting the village, you don't have to find the remaining coins now. Unless you want to pay me another way, then sure I'll hand it over. Just be grateful I don't want to keep the Chimera's body. WIth it you are still able to use it to make and sell armour and sell the meat from it."
The mayor sighed at this, he knew that the Shield Demon was right, but with the core they could do a lot more. But giving it to the Shielder would make things a lot easier for them with him, he was now regretting treating the demon the way he did, now it would seem they were out of one core. So he said unhappily, "Fine, you can keep it."
Naofumi just smiled at this as he allowed his shield to absorb the core. In doing so, the shield transformed a Chimera's lion head, in the lion's mouth, was the shield's green gem. Near the bottom with the shield was what looked like a pool of black sludge surrounded by the chimera's arms and claws. The claws are holding a twisted red with black-highlighted crystal in its palm.
Whilst it didn't have a decent base defence, it did give him some base speed, which he was helpful. But what was useful about the shield was it's bonuses.
The Chimera's Shield
Equip Bonus(s):
Intelligence Up (Monster)
Monster Body Modification (small)
Special Ability:
Monster Evolution/Rank-up.
The Intelligence Up would make any of the monsters that he raised slightly more smarter. Which made Naofumi happy, as it would mean that the monsters would understand his orders and obey them better. When he thought about this though, he had a shiver going down his spine, he didn't know why, but he had an image of a monster in human form which was a young girl with blonde hair. The monster was acting childish and wouldn't obey his orders that will.
Naofumi had no idea why he would have such an image, maybe it was an image of the future? If so, he hoped that this shield would prevent this, but somehow, he wasn't too sure, as there are those who are smart but yet still act like a child for one reason or another. Naofumi hoped that if he ever got such a monster, that this shield would help to train it easier to make up for the childish behavior.
Now as for the Monster Body Modification, this would allow him to alter the monster whilst they were still in their eggs. So whilst he couldn't alter their race, he could add certain items to further boost the base status depending on the material used, quality effects status bonuses certain items to further boost the base status depending on the material used, quality effects status bonuses too.
As for the Special Ability, Monster Evolution/Rank-up, whilst he was wearing the shield, when one of his monsters or demi-human slaves in his party that is either ready for a Class-Up, he could interact with their Class-Up. During a Class-Up event he could, like with the Monster Body Modification, he could use material to make them even stronger. So it would mean that should one of his slaves or monsters weren't strong enough to his liking when they get to the point of Class-Up, he could use this new shield to make them strong when they are doing their Class-Up. Naofumi had to admit, this was useful in many ways. If he couldn't make them stronger before they hatch, then he could make them stronger and alter them during their Class-Up.
So, all in all, a good find.
With that done, he knew that he had to go to this damn feast that the king was doing for them. Okay, not for him, but for the other three heroes mainly.
Naturally Noafumi didn't want to participate. However, he needed the money that this trash of a king was handing out. Although it would only be five hundred silver coins, that was quite a sum of money for him at the moment, and he would need all the coins that he could get. So he would have to go.
He didn't want to bring his slaves with him, as he had this feeling that there would be trouble if he did. But at the same time though, he didn't want to be left alone with the assholes. So with a thought he said, "Okay, here's the plan, Kumiho, I want you to gather up on the monsters that you can and take them to Ulthane's place, so I can see what new shields I can get."
"Understood Master." Kumiho said with a bow.
"Now, Raphtalia, whilst I would like you to help Kumiho, I want you with me at the feast, so I have someone there to keep me somewhat sane." Naofumi told the raccoon demi-human, "But be warned, I want you to be on your guard, as I feel as if something is going to happen there. So be ready for anything."
"Understood Master, I'll be on my guard." Raphtalia said with a bow of her own.
Then Kumiho asked, "If you're suspecting problems, why go at all Master?"
"The most basic reason that anyone does anything that they don't want, for the damn money." Naofumi admitted to his vixen demi-human. "Whilst I might have some money on me, we need all the money that we can get. So I can't really turn down such easy money just because I have a bad feeling, all I can do is perpre and hope that nothing bad will happen. If it does, I'll fight my way out."
"Then I should be with you Master," Kuniho informed him, "no offence to Raphtalia, I'm the better of a fighter of the two of us. So should anything happen, I could help you more."
"And because you're he better fighter, I want you at Ulthane's so that should anything happen, you'll be my backup." explained Naofumi, "I don't want all my fighters there just in case something goes wrong, I want you out here so that if something happens and we get contained, you'll be out here able to make a plan to save us."
As much as Kuniho hated to admit it, but her master was right, if something did go wrong and they needed backup, it was best if she was out here waiting for them. It might be because he had the skill clairvoyance, but her master sometimes was able to sense how the monsters would react before they did or knew when something dangerous would happen before it did. So if her master said that he sensed that something was going to happen and that they might need her as backup, she would do what was needed of her and wait for them should they need her.
"In that case Master, I'll be waiting in case you need me." said Kuniho.
And so without another word, Kuniho went back to the village to start gathering up the monsters for her master, planning to borrow a carriage to take it back to town. As for Naofumi and Raphtalia, they began to make their way back to town, so that they could go to this feast that the king was holding.
"Ah, hum…" it would seem that a small handful of villagers saw them and were walking up to him and Raphtalia whilst the rest of the villagers were giving them and Naofumi and Raphtalia dark looks.
"What?" Naofumi asked suspiciously, wondering what these villagers wanted from him.
"I know we have treated you badly and thought of you as a demon, and for that we apologise." the lead villager apologised to Naofumi, "But a demon or not, I would like to thank you very much. If you hadn't been here, we wouldn't have been able to save everyone."
"I'm sure that you lot would have figured something out, even without me here." Naofumi told them, he didn't care one way or another. He was only there as he had been paid and because of the quest reward for saving them.
"No."
A few of the villagers there disagreed, thinking that they would be dead if he wasn't there.
"No, it's thanks to you being there that we were able to survive." the villager told him, "So demon or not, we few are thankful for your help."
"Think what you like, I just did what I did as I was paid to help you." Naofumi told them.
"We understand, but we're still thankful." another villager told him, "If you need help, please ask us and if we can we'll help you even if the others won't. To us, we don't care if you're a demon or not, at least you were willing to help us. You might have been paid, but you could have left us to our fate saying you didn't know we were here and we wouldn't have been any wiser. So once again thanks and take care."
And with that the few villagers bowed and went back to the village, to help with the rest of the villagers rebuild the place. Naofumi suspected that with the village being severely damaged, it would take them quite a while for them to rebuild the place.
'So they hated me the whole time whilst I have been here, but the moment that I saved them they would thank me.' Naofumi thought darkly at how two faced they were, something that despised, 'What calculating bastards they are.' But as Naofumi thought about it, it was better than having the whole village treating him like a criminal or like the shit that they just walked in. Having a few of them thankful to him might be useful in the future.
o0OoO0o
"Master Naofumi." Raphtalia spoke out as the two of them were walking back to the castle. "We did it. We were able to defeat a Wave."
"I guess we did." Naofumi admitted in shock, to be honest, with how people have been putting them down and made things difficult, he was somewhat shocked at the little damage they received during the Wave. He was suspecting that they would be more injured, instead, apart from a few cuts and bruises as well as being covered by the blood of the monsters, they were muddy, sweaty and in Raphtalia smiling.
"Thanks to you, Master, I was strong to defend you and Kuniho," said Raphtalia, "not only that, but I was able to make sure that there'll be no children who'll end up like me."
"Sure." Naofumi wasn't sure what else to say to that. He didn't know if it was just relief at the end of a long battle, or if she was reminded of her own past or something, but there were tears in her eyes. Happy that she was able to prevent at least a few children losing their families from the Wave. Naofumi himself didn't care about this that much, but part of him was glad for Raphtalia, to be able to get some comfort after a battle. He didn't know how many of them there would be, he hoped that there were a few more before the truth of the world hit. That truth is this, shit happens and nothing you can do can truly prevent it, you can only prevent it for so long before something big happens to shit on you.
He knew that, sooner or later, unless they were truly lucky, there'll be a time when the Waves become too powerful that no matter what they do, shit loads of death will happen. When that time happens, they'll need to be ready for that. But that was for later, for now he'll let Raphtalia have her moment for her part in battle and not bust her bubble until it was time to do so.
"I too… tried my best."
"That you did Raphtalia, that you did." Naofumi said with a smile as he patted her head, it was something he couldn't deny or take away from her.
"I defeated a bunch of monsters."
"That you did, you also saved me a few times too." admitted Naofumi, "I'm proud of you. You grew from that weak little girl I brought you as, to this strong fighter that I see now. I am truly proud of how you turned out."
"Guhehe." the young slave laughed shyly. It was strange for her, her master wasn't one to say or do nice things that often. He was a dark and moody person, which in her own strange way she loved about him. He was the type of person who would do what he had to survive, even if it meant it would upset others and make him look bad. Sure, she would prefer the Shield Hero from the stories, the kind Hero who would protect everyone. But that one was from fantasy, the one that meant to make her people happy and give them hope.
But she realized something, after everything that she has been through, that one wasn't the one that she liked or loved. It was this one, her Master Naofumi, the Shield Hero who whilst is dark and moody, is willing to take care of his slaves as long as they are useful that she fell for. She knew that as a slave, real love may never be a thing for her, so she would take the next best thing, a master who cares for his slaves and treats them somewhat nicely. Out of all the masters she might have ended up with at the end, she got lucky with Master Naofumi and would do whatever she could to stay with him. Even if it meant she had to follow him to hell and back or go to hell and conquer it for her master she would do it she he asked her to.
Although her parents tried to protect her from the hush truth of this world, she had seen what it really was and how it treats its heroes and those who aren't human. As long as the children were taken care of if they lost their parents, she didn't care what happened to them. She wasn't that naive little girl no more, she knew the darkness that was out there, both she and her master faced it and thanks to that, they became the people they were that she believed this world needed to defend it against these Waves.
"Thank you Master, I'll promise that I'll never let you down." Raphtalia said as she knelt down, and raised her longsword to him, she went on to say, "As long as you need me and you find me useful, I'll be your sword to use in battle as you like. And should my blade ever break, I'll be your sheath to use as you want." here both she and her master blushed at what she was getting at here. "All I ask is never throw me away, I don't think I could live on without you."
"My, sweet, sweet girl, thank you, I promise you, as long as you prove useful to me in one form or another, I'll never throw you away. You have my word on that." Naofumi said with a smile as she stroke her check before helping her up and said, "We have to get back to town and clean up, so let's hurry." He didn't want to rush it, but sooner he could deal with the king's feast, the sooner he could get the money the king promised and leave the place to get ready for the next Wave.
"Understood Master." Raphtalia said with a smile and bow as the two picked up the peace to get to Castle Town.
To be Continued!
Author's Note: Here ends another chapter, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and could leave some feedback on what you think of it. Thanks to using the Web and Light Novel of this chapter, doing this Wave was much easier as I didn't have to think much up and was able to write it faster. Yes some of you well say I should write my own Wave, but the thing is I'm awful at writing fights and so will take any shortcuts that I can. That doesn't mean that I won't be writing my own Waves, because I will be, but the Waves that appear in the Web and Light Novel, I'll be using them too.
Now, unlike the other versions, manga, LN, WN and anime, you see that I explained as to why it took the other three heroes so long to defeat the boss. I wanted to explain this seeing how not many have done so, or at the ones that I have read, so I asked on the Shield Hero Reddit about their thoughts about this and came up with this. So I hope you like how I explained this away. Sure the heroes might be fools at the moment, but foolish enough to not defeat the boss without a good reason.
The next chapter will be the last chapter of this part of the story. Seeing how I'm planning to use the work from Web and Light Novel, but editing the duel and a few other small things, I don't think it'll take that long to write. So hopefully it'll be out sooner than normal with me. The only thing that'll dely me is writing the duel, seeing that I'll be using some of the new shields and skills for it.
Because I'm now at the end of this part of the story and working on ideas for part two of this story, I would like to ask for your help. You see I'm planning to have demons appear in the next part of the story, and whilst I'm planning to use the demons from Darksiders, I also want to use other demons too. So I would like to ask, if you know of any demons I can use from other games. Would like demons that have a starter form and over time have better, stronger forms as they get stronger or later on in the game.