Reviews:
leon4321: I do have plans for Fitoria and Itsuki eventually, but that won't be for a while. There's still quite a bit to be established before that mess goes down.
SentinalSlice: Sorry man, she's not the main character, no plot armor present.
SomeCallMeDrunk: Yeah, I said in the author notes last chapter that I realized I could've just combined the two chapters to make one long setup chapter instead of two but at this point it's a little too late to fix that. Naofumi will also get the Shooting Star Shield, but he might have to work for it. Also, THANK YOU! I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far and I really appreciate the compliments!
Have A Little Feith: Of course, if you want to play optimally, you would want to get fortune as early as possible, however, in the case that you are playing for the long haul, it would probably be better to wait for a diamond enchantment due to the far greater durability it presents. And (to my knowledge) you can't throw enchantments from an iron pickaxe on to a diamond pickaxe since they don't have the same item ID. But then again, I'm not the most knowledgeable on this stuff, so who knows?
D3lph0xL0v3r: Everything will happen next :)
AzureStarDragon: Like drmcgraw186 said, regardless of whether they actually took the real thing, it is still essentially stealing the hard work of another person for no benefit to the one that made the material at all. Copying the weapon in total completely undermines the work done by the blacksmith and any who contributed to the craft. While I agree you shouldn't have to pay for full price since they still have the weapon, it is stealing the design rather than the weapon itself.
asukihatashi: Yeah, that's why I like Wireframe so much! And I know this sounds extra sus, but I found out about Mirio pretty much right after I made Wireframe, which in all honestly, a kick to the gut. I already have plenty of unique ideas about how to progress combat when utilizing Wireframe so I don't think I have to worry to much there. I have about two years with the stand to compile ideas.
ZLC genesmith: Dammit, that's supposed to say Wrath Bow, but yes, he does unlock the cursed series much earlier and he was how I would escape the same canon that pretty much every other story follows (not saying their bad, but it can get repetitive)
JtBlack-Hawk3198: ...spoilers :)
A Shield's Stand
Chapter 8: WHY WON'T THEY STOP EATING
The trip so far hadn't been too bad, all things considered.
Despite being fugitives of the law and some of the highest priority targets of practically every person in the Melromarcian Kingdom, they hadn't hit too many road bumps along the way. Sure, they did collide with a couple monster groups over the days they had been travelling, but with their high levels and Elina's impressive skills with her axe, they never put up much of a challenge for the group.
In fact, they even managed to stay on main roads most of the time, as most of the forces the King had spared to capture them were probably surrounding the Melromarc and Siltvelt border, leaving their path to the Melromarc and Shieldfreeden border completely open, Naofumi steering the whole way.
With such little danger in their way, the four members of the Shield Hero's party spent most of their time talking amongst one another, learning more about each other (read: Elina getting interrogated by Raphtalia and Rifana with Naofumi apologizing) as they traveled.
The three had learned that Elina had grown up within Castle Town, but unlike most of the other kids, was never raised in the faith of the Three Heroes Church. While it left her slightly unpopular amongst other kids her age, it never really bothered her and she was more open-minded to a lot of things the church had scorned, such as melee/brawler female fighters. At the age of 7, Elina had declared her desire to become an adventurer and scour the land for riches and thrills. Her mother had completely rejected her wishes but after nearly three fights a week, with the other children going home with far more bruises and busted lips than Elina, her mother eventually gave her permission.
"So why did you go with the axe?" Raphtalia asks, "While it suits you quite well, wouldn't most starting adventurers begin with a sword since it is the easiest for a beginner to use?"
Elina scoffed, "People who use swords are scared of getting hurt in a fight," Elina looks Raphtalia in the eyes, "They're cowards. Instead of going fist to fist with power and strength, they hide behind a slab of iron and slice away like they think they're so amazing."
Raphtalia sputtered in anger but Naofumi cut her off before any fights could break out, "So, how did you get your mother to let you start with an axe? Seeing how she never wanted you becoming an adventurer, I would expect that she wasn't too happy with your thoughts on swords." Raphtalia pouted as Naofumi reached into the carriage and pat her on the head, eliciting a small blush on her face.
"I didn't," Elina says bluntly, "I fought with my fists, like a real adventurer would."
"Holy crap!" Rifana exclaims, "So you just beat the hell out of the monsters until they died?" Elina nods, "That's insane! When did you switch to an axe?"
"When I was 16. I fought a tough monster with some serious armor plating that my punches couldn't really deal with. Probably would've died if it hadn't been for my party," Elina speaks with displeasure. "My mother practically begged me to get a weapon after that so I ended up getting an axe. Seemed like the least cowardly weapon there was, and I was right. It's a hell of a lot of fun."
"Isn't it?!" Rifana says in joy.
For the entire time they had been together, she had been the only one using an axe and Raphtalia never let up on asking her to switch weapons. She would always say that axes were far too one dimensional, and a missed swing would leave the user incredibly vulnerable. While Raphtalia would concede the vulnerability an axe user had to deal with, she would never see the axe as one dimensional! There were just too many cool tricks you could do with it!
The potential fight tapered off there, as Rifana and Elina got into a conversation about axes that neither Raphtalia nor Naofumi could really follow. Naofumi returned his eyes to the plain path ahead of him. While it was nice to not be under constant threat for once, it was awfully boring. The most excitement he had met so far had been seeing a new tree every so often since his team members just killed the monsters too quickly for him or Wireframe to even throw a single punch.
While he was proud of them for having reached such significant strength that such monsters failed to even threaten them like they had previously, he would admit to wishing for a little action every so often.
And with those thoughts created, he invoked the curse of 'What could possibly go wrong'.
The egg beside him shook in place, small cracks forming along the top of the egg. Naofumi's eyes widened in excitement, tugging on the reins and pulling the cart to the side.
"Why did we stop, 'Fumi?" Rifana questions.
Naofumi delicately lifted the cracking egg over the seat of the wagon, showing the hatching filolial to the other members of his party, "Look!" Rifana and Raphtalia rush up to see the hatching animal while Elina grunts unimpressed, watching unamused.
The egg continues to shake as the filolial chick tries to escape the confines of the shell, cracks slowly spreading out along the surface. Minutes pass as the filolial chick slowly hatches until finally, a clawed foot kicks through the shell, followed by a wing before finally, the chick's head appears from the egg, the cracked egg shell falling apart as the chick stretches its body. It looks around it's immediate surroundings, its eyes meeting Naofumi's own scarred face. It chirps happily before flying up and nesting within his hair.
Rifana snickers at the scene, before she nudges Raphtalia with her elbow, "Raphtalia, look at Naofumi right now. He looks like he just became king of the world."
Raphtalia tears her eyes away from the chick and a small snort escapes her. Naofumi's eyes are crossed trying to look at the chick on top of his head and his mouth holds one of the widest smiles she's ever seen him have. His hands shake with excitement before the chick starts to float off his head, presumably by Wireframe. Wireframe brings the chick down to eye level, ignoring it's saddened chirps, so Naofumi can properly see it.
The chick could fit comfortably in the palm of one of his hands and has gorgeous silver feathers which actually shone in the sunlight at the tips, all with small white highlights at the base of the feathers.. The chick's wings make up a fair portion of its body and seem to be far harder than the rest of it. Taking hold of the wing and giving it a small squeeze, Naofumi is surprised to feel that the wing doesn't give at all, maintaining a solid wall against his fingers. A brief look at the corner of his vision and Naofumi can see that the filolial has already been added to the party, a blank space where the name should be.
He looks at the others, "What should we name it? I have a couple ideas already, but I feel like 'Silver' would be a little plain."
The filolial chirped happily as his HUD updated.
The name now said 'Silver'.
"You just named it… didn't you," Rifana speaks as Elina bursts into a fit of laughter in the back of wagon.
"...Oops."
Monster User Shield
DEF: +2
MDEF: +2
Skill [ Monster Maturation Adjustment (Small) ] Unlocked
I don't remember this monster from Scooby-Doo!
Monster Egg Shield
DEF: +1
MDEF: +1
Skill [ Good Cook Lv 2 ] Unlocked
Walk around enough and you'll get a Wynaut
Monster User Shield II
DEF: +2
MDEF: +2
AGI: +1
DEX: +1
Skill [ Monster Status Adjustment (Small) ] Unlocked
The cook from Liyue can make quite a dish from this
After calming Elina down and escaping Raphtalia's scolding for naming their filolial something so plain, they got back on the road, Silver resting in Naofumi's hair. The day ended up being one of their more hectic ones as they managed to run into group of monsters after group of monsters. With the average level being around 19, Silver's levels shot up like crazy despite doing relatively little to the monsters itself.
After each battle, Silver ferociously dug into the monsters with a seemingly insatiable appetite, which was probably a result from levelling up so quickly, as he had seen something similar in Rifana and Raphtalia when he had begun training them, but this seemed much more pronounced than anything those two had ever gone through. Naofumi decided to shrug it off, as Silver was gaining levels far more quickly than those two had and it was only a chick, it was probably hungrier anyways.
What was a surprise, however, was Silver's growth in size over the course of the day, already quickly tripling her original size only a mere four hours later, and tripling that size only seven hours later.
Even Elina, who was far more knowledgeable on the world than Rifana, Raphtalia, or Naofumi, was genuinely surprised by the rapid growth of the filolial. In only a day, it had reached the size of an average adult filolial and looked like it could comfortably pull the cart by itself. They also found out that Silver was indeed a girl, as her white highlights faded rather than becoming more pronounced which Elina said was something only female filolials did. Naofumi was kind of hoping for a boy, since everyone else was a girl, but he was happy to have another member regardless.
Eventually, one thing led to the next and they decided to let Silver pull the cart instead of the filolial lent to them by Lute. Raphtalia unhooked the Lute filolial, keeping it in place so they could still use it if Silver couldn't pull the cart, while Naofumi hooked up Silver to the reins, giving Rifana the thumbs up to start driving.
With only a little ushering, Silver began to pull the cart happily, slowly speeding up until the cart was moving at the same pace as it had been, Silver showing no signs of straining. Rifana turned them around and Naofumi doted on Silver upon their return.
Seeing as Silver could pull the cart much earlier than expected, the group released Lute's filolial, which Elina said would most likely return to the town by itself.
So with little regard for what could happen, Naofumi once more hooked Silver to the reins and the cart was off. Except, this time…
"Silver… Why are you speeding up?" Naofumi asks the silver feathered monster. Silver ignores him and continues to steadily increase her speed, seemingly sniffing the air around her. "Silver, slow down." The monster once again ignores him, as Rifana pokes her head out from the wagon.
"'Fumi, why are we going faster? You know Raphtalia can't handle going too fast," she asks.
"I'm trying to slow her down, but she won't listen at all. Frankly, I think she might be looking fo-"
BUMP
The four party members are thrown into the air as the wagon jolts upward. Naofumi looks forward to see that Silver is racing through the forest instead of travelling along the road.
"Silver! Slow down right now!" He cries out.
"CAWWW!" The silver filolial continues forward through the forest, her pace only increasing as the cart bumps its way over tree roots and uneven ground.
Elina decides then to poke out from the wagon, huffing as she saw the out of control filolial. Silver takes a sudden harsh turn, sending everyone and everything in the wagon jolting left. Elina grumbles as she hears at least three shatters behind her. She motions for the reins and Naofumi wordlessly hands them to her, holding on to the seat for his life. Elina calmly sits down, taking a breath of air before yanking back on the reins, choking the filolial and forcing it to stop, all while holding her axe to the wheels of the cart, bringing the entire party to a halting stop in the middle of a clearing. Silver turns her head towards Elina, a small glare present on her animalistic face. She hops down from the seat and walks to the filolial before delivering a powerful chop to the top of it's head. Silver goes down without much of a fight.
"Turns out, Silver has some pretty high defense, so your tugs on the reins probably didn't do too much to her, especially with your shit attack." Elina speaks gruffly, "But why did Silver lead us… goddammit."
The clearing around them was full of berries and fruits so large that any animal, even carnivores, would be attracted to them. There were also several monsters that were eating said berries, making the area even more appealing to the omnivorous filolial.
Rifana exited the cart while Raphtalia stumbled out before rushing off to puke. Elina levels a small glare towards the puking girl before speaking once more, "She was hungry."
We went through that because she was hungry?! The three thought.
"Well, it looks like she led us to some monsters, so we might as well kill them," Elina continued.
The monsters had surrounded them by this point, but that was fine, these monsters weren't particularly strong and wouldn't pose much of a threat to them. They looked like bears but if they had shorter legs and a single large fin along their spines. Quite frankly, they looked kinda dumb. The three women readied themselves before Naofumi walked over and undid Silver's reins. She wasted no time before darting into the first monster, using her larger body to bash it into a tree. Three other monsters leaped onto her, but her hardened feathers meant very few of their attacks even managed to phase her. Silver shook two off before throwing the third over to Elina, who swung her axe down, cutting it cleanly in two.
That seemed to put Rifana and raphtalia out of their shock who followed to assist the monster slaying filolial. Rifana darted left, cutting through two monsters and kicking a third before slicing it in two. Raphtalia shot to the right, skillfully cutting through several, instantly ending their lives. Naofumi looks on with pride, his two little girls all grown up and slaying monsters on their own, but he guesses he could help as well.
Naofumi cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders, "You ready Wireframe?" The unseen spirit floats at his side, vigorously nodding its head. "Well then, let's not keep you waiting!"
Naofumi charges into the frey, Wireframe layering itself over him as two monsters leap at him, their claws splayed out to tear through him. The first monster phases completely through him, crashing with the ground behind him while he blocks and parries the second monster. Naofumi delivers a forceful blow to the blocked monster, stunning it as the first once again charges at Naofumi. He sidesteps the lunge and grabs the monster by the nape of its neck, tossing it into its still stunned ally. The two go down to the ground as Naofumi walks up and latches onto both of them, their bodies sinking into the ground before only their head remains above ground.
"Well, that was a good warmup," he turns to see five more growling at him, "You want some as well? Well, I guess I have time," he smiles, this should be fun.
The three women of the group watch as Naofumi battles it out with five monsters by himself, skillfully avoiding, blocking, and trapping all of them near effortlessly. While they could kill them far more quickly and efficiently, this was a good showcase of what Naofumi could do, even when he himself could not attack anything substantial and without his legendary weapon's skills. Over the days they had travelled together, they eventually got around to telling Elina about Naofumi's stand, and to her credit, she just kind of rolled with it.
"I've seen weirder stuff."
- Elina Poli
The battle ended with all seven monsters completely subdued in the ground. The man in question turns to his party, a bright smile on his face. With a mock bow, Naofumi ends his performance.
"So, Elina, what do you think of Wireframe?" He asks.
The large woman rubs her chin in thought, "Well, if that isn't dependent on level or time limit, then it has some incredible potential in dealing with any enemies far beyond our level or skill ceiling, just be sure to not get too over reliant on it," Rifana nods along in agreement, "Plus, you're using your fists, so I can respect it."
A tick mark appears on Raphtalia's face, "You-!"
"ANYWAY! What should we do about Silver? We got into this mess because she didn't listen, so we should punish her in some way, right?" Naofumi cuts in on the quickly escalating argument. The four turn to the filolial in question, who has been indulging herself to the spoils of battle as well as the berries in the area.
"Y'know what, you're right," Rifana smiles evilly, "I've been craving some filolial meat for quite a while, he he he." Silver pauses in her feast and looks over to Rifana, a menacing (ゴゴゴゴゴ) aura surrounding her, she gulps in fear. "Come here you oversized chicken!" Rifana shouts as she begins the chase.
Silver squawks before darting away from the weasel demi-human, running around in circles in the clearing. Elina chuckles quietly to herself while Raphtalia sighs in exasperation at the scene. Naofumi shakes his head with a smile before going to absorb some well earned rewards.
Finbear Spine Shield
DEF: +2
MDEF: +1
DEX: +1
Skill [ Quick Swim (Small) ] Unlocked
Old Man Fiddleford made more than one Loch Ness monster
Finbear Claw Shield
ATK: +1
DEF: +1
Sid took more than a pizza planet alien this time
Pomegranate Berry Shield
DEF: +1
MDEF: +1
NO POMEGRANATES! NO NO NO NO NO!
While they weren't the best shield he'd ever gotten, every shield helped in the long run. Turning from the berry bushes, he saw the chase still going on, even as Rifana struggled to keep up with Silver's ridiculous speed and stamina.
"Rifana! Please stop chasing Silver!" Naofumi called out to the woman, the chase abruptly coming to an end as Silver hid behind Naofumi.
"But we still need to punish her! She caused us so much trouble!" Rifana whined.
"I know, I know… but look at this precious face!" Naofumi lowers Silver's face to them and coos at her adorable expression, "I can't punish something this cute!" Both Rifana and Raphtalia inwardly pout.
Raphtalia and Elina join the conversation, "Well, we can't let her think doing something like this is ok, so we have to punish her somehow." Raphtalia speaks up.
"Well, since she brought us here without our permission," Elina's face takes a sadistic gleam, "Why don't we eat our fill and leave."
Naofumi opens his mouth to protest, but seeing the three women of the group nodding along with one another, he closes it regretfully. Silver squawks indignantly, trampling the ground beneath her in a tantrum. Not wanting to attract any more monsters, Raphtalia, Naofumi, and Rifana hold onto her back trying to get her to stop, to little success before Elina also steps forward, reaching up and pushing Silver's head down.
The tramples stop and the three smaller members of the group breathe a sigh of relief… before the ground beneath them begins to crack at the combined weight of four people and an adult sized filolial.
"Is this sort of thing normal for you three?" Elina asks somewhat hesitantly.
The three others just have a look of resignation as they respond, "Yes."
The ground beneath them crumbles and the five fall into the unknown cavern beneath them.
Naofumi hits the ground first. He stand up completely unharmed thanks to his ludicrous defensive stat and looks around the dark cave. Elina lands next, falling on top of Naofumi, crushing him into the ground. Raphtalia and Rifana follow soon after, all of them unintentionally dogpiling Naofumi. Silver flutters down slowly before landing on top of the pile of groaning bodies softly.
"Get off us, you stupid bird!" Elina roars at the filolial. Silver squawks smugly at the top of the pile before Elina stands up and throws all three of them off her. Naofumi stands up in pain after her. "So where are we anyway?" She asks.
That… would be a good thing to know. The party of four + a filolial try to see their surroundings, but the only light offered is the sunlight filtering in from the hole they made. Naofumi looks through his list of skills before begrudgingly failing to find one that will illuminate the area. Silver wanders under the hole and looks up, probably wondering how to escape and eat the remaining food on the surface before the group around her cheers. She looks down to see the room lit up by the sunlight reflected off her shining feathers, allowing them all to see a doorway to a strange hallway.
"It's a dungeon," Elina states, "And from the looks of it, it's not one the country knows about."
Raphtalia looks over at the large woman, "So we don't know what to expect? Then we should take this slowly and carefully, since anything could attack us at anytime."
Elina deadpanned at the raccoon demi-human before unsheathing her axe and charging off into the hallway, sadistically smiling.
"You gotta be kidding me," Raphtalia sighs.
The rest of the group follows after Elina in the dark hallways, beginning their escape from the dungeon.
They wander the dark halls for a long time, failing to find another room, even with Rifana's own advanced eyesight given to her by her demi-human status. At least they managed to find a torch.
Torch Shield
DEF: +1
MDEF: +1
Skill [ Burn Resistance (Small) ] Unlocked
Safety torch is not responsible for any burned houses
With the hall now properly lit up, the five could continue their trek with all of them actually seeing in front of them. They continue on, but unluckily for them, they end up back in the room they started in.
"...what." Naofumi said what they were all thinking.
"We went in a straight line! How did we end up back here?!" Rifana was more than a little annoyed. They walked for like… three hours!
Was there something they missed? Naofumi travels along the walls of the circular room, trailing his hand along the rough texture of the cold stone. He circles the entire room, coming back to his party, nothing found.
"There has to be some sort of trick to this, otherwise this wouldn't be much of a dungeon," Elina, their resident dungeon expert, said. "Maybe there's a stone we can push in or pull out," she turns to Naofumi, "Use your spirit thing to see if there's anything beyond the walls that we haven't been able to find," Naofumi nods. She turns to the two demis, "You two see if you can find anything along the ground while I try something."
Raphtalia begrudgingly agrees and they all split across the circular chamber. While the three search the room, Elina goes to the doorway between the hallway and the chamber, inspecting it closely. Out of the corner of her eyes, she notices a small amount of movement along the ceiling. Getting a bit closer she sees a pair of glowing purple eyes and large circular ears.
"Illusion bats…" Elina whispers as the bat flies away at having been spotted. "Shieldy! Get over here with that fancy torch of yours!" Naofumi returns to her, "Point it at the ceiling, I need to see if I'm right about this."
Naofumi follows her instruction, lifting his Torch Shield to the ceiling and spotting what seemed to be at least two dozen purple and navy blue colored bats molding to the roof of the hallway.
"What the-!"
SCREEEEE!
The bats fly from their perch on the ceiling and attack the two. Naofumi and Elina jump back, the bats chasing them as they retreat. The two use the time to release their weapons, Elina unsheathing her axe, and Naofumi summoning Wireframe. Naofumi jumps forward, Wireframe punching several bats out of the air as Elina takes one massive swing from behind him, the axe phasing harmlessly through his upper body and butchering five bats at once. The remaining bats try to split apart, understanding that staying grouped together would only lead to their deaths, but before they can, Naofumi uses Shield Prison to trap them all together.
"You want to go in there and pummel them all?" Naofumi asks expectantly.
"You already know me so well," Elina responds.
Wireframe grabs on to Elina, allowing her body to phase through the Shield Prison's walls. The screeches of bats are heard from within the ball of shields but Naofumi avidly ignores them as Raphtalia and Rifana finally arrive at the site of the battle.
"'Fumi, what happened?" Rifana questions.
"Elina found something she called 'Illusion bats' and guessing by their name, they probably made us think we travelled in that hallway the whole time," Naofumi responds.
The two girls blanche at him, "Can we tear them apart?" They ask together, synced perfectly.
"Elina is way ahead of you."
At that moment the Shield Prison lowers, revealing several dead bats and Elina presumably covered in their blood. It was a sight that would not leave their nightmares for a while.
"You good?" Naofumi asks.
"Yup, now let's fight some actual monsters instead of these cowards."
Illusion Bat Shield
DEF: +1
MDEF: +2
Skill [ Minor Illusion ] Unlocked
Every clown in the world is now very scared
Travelling down the hallway (for real this time) the group of five reach a square chamber, one doorway on each wall and a strange obelisk in the center. The room was split into two levels, the upper which encompassed the lower area and reached every single doorway and the lower which had stairs from each doorway leading to a small platform where the obelisk lay. The corners of the platform, for some unknown reason, had ornate looking brown pottery that they all felt the urge to shatter. The obelisk held strange writing on the sides.
"This doesn't seem to be a normal dungeon," Elina says unprompted.
The other three share a glance, "What do you mean?" Raphtalia asks.
Elina scoffs at the raccoon's question, eliciting a tick mark on said demi's forehead, but answers anyway, "Most dungeons are just a series of rooms where monsters are created and you can fight for treasures and riches, and occasionally, you might find a dungeon that has a puzzle or two. But this one…" Elina trails off.
"It's a trial," Naofumi's voice commands their attention. "If what you've said so far is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, then we might have stumbled on something we maybe weren't supposed to find."
"But it's our only way out, so we'll probably be fine," Rifana waves off all of their collective concerns and she marches out into the center and off to another door.
"She said it."
"Yes, and now it won't be fine."
"Honestly this is getting to be a little ridiculous."
"Welcome to our world."
The others followed Rifana into the doorway, Naofumi's torchlight providing all visibility to the party. They kept their eyes peeled for anymore illusion bats but luckily for them, they never even caught a glimpse of one. The room they entered was strangely made out to be a series of several platforms, moats of water between each one. Crystals line the walls, finally granting them the gift of sight and Naofumi unequips the Torch Shield.
"Any of you see a way out?" Raphtalia asks.
The group of five responds with various several no's before Rifana speaks up from further in the room. "There's a plate here to step on," she leans in closer to read the inscription, "I think this is the way out!" She lifts her foot to step on the plate.
"Rifana NO!" Raphtalia tries to stop her but the plate is pressed. Raphtalia sighs into her hands, "You can't read…"
Several tentacle looking monsters sliver from the moats of the chamber and quickly began to swipe at the group of adventurers. They dodged the initial strikes and went to counterattack instantly. Raphtalia takes on a group of four in the back, Rifana fights against three of her own, Elina charges into three more, grappling them together, Silver just kind of… nibbles on one of them before making a face (?) of disgust and fighting it off, and Naofumi sends Wireframe to immobilize as many as possible.
Wireframe grapples the closest one and wrangles it towards the nearest platform, phasing it through and fusing the tentacle into the stone of the platform. Naofumi high fived his stand before seeing the tentacle wrench itself from the remaining platform, the tip now completely made of stone.
"I just turned it into a flail… didn't I." He then blocks a powerful strike from the improvised flail.
Rifana uses her agility to dart between the strikes and uses her brute strength to cleanly chop through any tentacles that even try to latch on to her. The only threat she faced was the openings she presented when she finished her swings, barely having enough time to block or avoid another strike, but it wasn't anything she wasn't used to as she jumped over the final tentacle, cleaving it in two along the entire length. She heaved her axe over her shoulder and joined Naofumi in his fight against an actual flail. Elina joins not too much later, having cleanly turned her three tentacle enemies into a single knot before chopping right through all of them.
The combined efforts of the three members brought it down far more easily, as Naofumi blocked a strike using Airstrike Shield before he and Elina held it in place for Rifana to bisect.
"Thank you for that," Naofumi starts, "I did not mean to turn it into a flail."
A small laugh escapes Elina's lips, "Honestly, only you could accidentally strengthen an enemy, Shieldy."
"What can I say, I'm an impressive guy," Naofumi cleverly retorts.
Out of the corner of his eye, he looks on as Raphtalia cleanly pierces through her third foe, before her sword gets stuck inside the rubbery flesh. The fourth tentacle takes advantage of the opening, wrapping around her ankle and tossing her into the air.
"Raphtalia!" "Raph!" Naofumi and Rifana cry out.
The charge to eliminate the enemy and try to catch her before she goes splat but it was clear they wouldn't make it in time, the gaps between the platforms taking too much time to clear.
"Crescent Slash!"
Naofumi looks up in surprise at the name of one of Ren's skills. Raphtalia had not only ended her final enemy, but the sword slice had halted her momentum, allowing her to land safely and cleanly. Naofumi was so glad she was safe… but how did she use a hero's skill?
"Raph!" Rifana embraces Raphtalia, "How did you do that! It was so cool!"
"While Naofumi was resting in Lute and I was sparring with Ren, he taught me that skill in return for lessons on proper swordsmanship, did I not tell you already?" Raphtalia looks at the weasel innocently before Rifana delivers a soft chop to the top of her head.
(AN: I do not know proper swordsmanship, so if I say slicing and dicing are proper, then please just go with it, lol)
The four regroup at the doorway before realizing they were missing one more. They look around the now empty room to see Silver chowing her way through about ten tentacles. Their jaws almost dropped.
"I guess… it's an acquired taste?" Naofumi quips before Elina bonks him on the head with her fist.
"Bad, shieldy. Bad."
Returning to the central room Rifana gasped and pointed at the center obelisk. The two sides they had entered and left both had their side's writing glowing, while the other two were still dull.
"So we need to exterminate the next two rooms to finish this place? Seems easy enough," Elina shrugged.
"We have no way to guarantee that's how we even leave, for all we know it could bring this place down on top of us," Raphtalia argued.
"That may be true Raphtalia, but we don't really have any other options right now," Naofumi spoke softly, "Besides, I have more than enough defensive skills to protect all of us, and even if those fail, Wireframe can pull us all out, I'm sure."
Despite her anxiety at the situation, Raphtalia swallowed it down and trusted the Hero who had saved her. She just needed to have faith.
They venture into the third hallway, coming to a circular chamber, much like the very first they had fallen into. After a quick double check for any illusion bats, they walk into the room slowly, expecting something to attack them the moment they enter.
"There's something in the center of the room," Rifana speaks cautiously. The words she spoke were true, in the center of the chamber sat something small, furry, with wide eyes and a small tongue just barely poking out of its mouth. "Awww, it's adorable!" She coos at the small creature.
"That's some pretty good eyesight you got there, shame you don't have a brain to go with it," Elina snarked before ignoring Rifana's indignant 'HEY!' "Why would the dungeon hold a completely innocent creature in one of it's chambers after we just fought through two others with malicious ones?" Rifana opened her mouth to argue, but thought it over and just closed it, grumbling to herself. "It's a burrowed leepmore. On the outside it's not very threatening, but the second you get close enough it can take you out in one bite. The only good thing for us is it's stuck because their tails are always burrowed into the ground since it's where their heart lays."
"So we should keep our distance and do any and all range attacks we have," Naofumi summons out Wireframe, "And since you're all strictly melee fighters, just let me and wireframe handle this." He turns to Elina, "Is it just the mouth or the entire body that's dangerous?"
She rubs her chin in thought, "The most dangerous area is the mouth, but the claws and the spines it forms when it shifts are fairly dangerous as well."
Naofumi nods at the info before progressing forward towards the kitten look-alike. Each step thunders in the silent chamber, all while the kitten look-alike waits at the center, not a change on its face. He stops three meters from the monster and summons Wireframe, his guilt building up at harming such an adorable creature.
He turns to Elina, "Are you sure we have to hurt something so sma-" Wireframe yanks Naofumi away as the kitten shifts into a massive monster with horrific teeth and glowing golden eyes with no pupils, biting forcefully down where Naofumi had just been standing, "HOLY SHIT KILL IT WITH FIRE!"
Wireframe darts forward, unseen by the monster, and phases it into the ground, leaving only the top of it's head exposed so they can eliminate it cleanly, which they do after a minute to gather their bearings.
Burrowed Leepmore Shield
DEF: +2
MDEF: +1
AGI: +1
It's just standing there… menacingly!
The fourth chamber is smaller than any other, being about half the size, and holds ten levers on the back wall. Beneath the levers lay a number of symbols that seem to make up some Melromarcian writing.
"To the ones who dare venture so far, we pray unto you to save yourselves before further destruction is wrought," Elina transcribes the writing.
"You can read?" Raphtalia asks.
"Of course I can, I grew up in Castle Town," Elina scoffs.
"So what does the writing on the funny pillar thing say?" Rifana asks.
"Those are magic runes, I can't read those, we would need an experienced witch or magic user to read those for us," Rifana deflates a bit at the words, her curiosity unable to be sated.
"So what do we do about the levers?" Naofumi asks.
"Chances are, only a combination of some will complete the trial, so we need to figure it out before we can progress. But the clue given is more of a warning than a clue," Elina surmises.
"That's because it probably is!" Raphtalia shouts out, her frustration over the situation having peaked. She turns to Naofumi, "Naofumi, we should just try to leave through the hole we made, it's the safest possible escape from here and I don't think that obelisk is anything good. We should leave while we still have the op-"
Ten clunks are heard, the two turning towards the lever to see Rifana, Elina, and Silver having thrown all of them down.
Raphtalia burrows her face into her hands, screaming into them. "WHY?!" She screams.
"Because I want to have some fun today," Elina remarks.
"Caw!" Silver agrees.
The ground begins to shake violently, the smaller breaks of the stone clattering along the ground. The five rush back into the central room, seeing the obelisk fully lit up, with cracks lining the entire structure.
"See! Told you Raph! That pillar is gonna break and stairs will show up to just let us out right aboooooouuut…" Rifana trails off.
The obelisk shatters completely in a blinding flash of light. The five blink and rub their eyes, trying to regain their lost sight. Raphtalia's ears perk up at the sound of heavy, labored breathing. She warily opens her eyes, her face quickly going pale at what stood before her. The rest quickly follow suit, Rifana being the last one to open her eyes.
"...now."
A massive five headed beast stood in front of them, each head glaring down another member of the party. It's skin was aqua blue and held many scales which probably served as some sort of natural armor. From its stance, they could see the underside, which was a whitish-grey but still retained the scaly appearance as the upper body did. Each head had fins where the ears should be, glowing gold pupils, and sets of fangs the length of Rifana.
While the other four members gape in shock and fear, Rifana just kind of looks on with acceptance.
"Honestly, I'm not even surprised anymore."
Naofumi Iwatani
Class: Shield Hero
Level 33
Legendary Shield, Wireframe
Bizarre Otherworldly Clothing
ATK: 42
DEF: 294
MATK: 33
MDEF: 224
DEX: 91
AGI: 131
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Stand Arrow
Stand Arrow Lv 2 (Locked)
Bullrush
Tether
Air Strike Shield
Dog Bite
Shield Prison
Lion's Roar
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Herbal Enhancement
Good Cook Lv 2
Demi-Human Growth
Friend of Demi-Humans
Mining Boost
Chopping Boost
Fire Resistance (Small)
Fishing Proficiency
Monster Maturation Adjustment (Small)
Monster Status Adjustment (Small)
Quick Swim (Small)
Burn Resistance (Small)
Raphtalia
Class: Demi-Human Swordsman
Level 34
Magic Iron Sword
Swordswoman's Dress
ATK: 144
DEF: 74
MATK: 108
MDEF: 38
DEX: 75
AGI: 144
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Crescent Slash
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Hearing
Undying Loyalty
Rifana
Class: Demi-Human Barbarian
Level 33
Magic Iron Axe, Steel Dagger
Short Furred Covering
ATK: 143
DEF: 38
MATK: 35
MDEF: 36
DEX: 142
AGI: 177
ACTIVE SKILLS:
None
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Eyesight
Undying Loyalty
Elina Poli
Class: Human Barbarian
Level 36
Plate Armor
ATK: 212
DEF: 78
MATK: 21
MDEF: 17
DEX: 60
AGI: 63
ACTIVE SKILLS:
None
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Hard Headed
Stubborn
Adrenaline Rush
Silver
Class: Adult Filolial
Level 21
Steel Wings
ATK: 85
DEF: 106
MATK: 87
MDEF: 128
DEX: 30
AGI: 81
ACTIVE SKILLS:
None
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Endless Hunger
Cart Puller
Undying Loyalty
Notes:
Hola, comatose estas... I'm back.
Sorry about missing last week, I had finals and I felt like making another chapter just to make that announcement would be disingenuous, so I'm very sorry for that. Regardless, we're back to the action :)
We get a lot more of Elina's personality and her working within the group, and the replacement of Filo! Sorry buddy, but I have the desire to be original :(
Also, cliffhangers! I spent quite a while writing this one and I was starting to get a little burnt out so I just kind of ended it a little earlier so I could rest without making anything too rushed.
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR REVIEWS! I WAN'T TO IMPROVE MY WRITING AND YOUR COMMENTS HELP A LOT WITH THAT!
- RandomA99