Note: I'm so sorry it took so long to update! My college decided that Thanksgiving was the end of the world so all of a sudden I had to deal with completely clearing out my dorm and moving all my stuff out and in to a new place. God I hate Covid. Anyway, I'm back and you all can expect a regular update schedule for a while! I don't think anything else will get in the way since break is right around the corner. Again, really sorry about the late update!
Reviews:
D3lph0xL0v3r: Well, I want Silver to feel like her own character, so her manipulative tendencies will stay, but don't worry they will tone down because the rest of her party are making sure she understands that manipulating others isn't really a good thing. At most she'll do stuff like puppy eyes for food and play time. As for Elina, I got a whole plan for her :)
Exiled Soul Nomad: Yeah, shit sucks dude. Why are our bodies so fickle?
Slackboy101: Sorry to say, but Hol Horse will not join the battle. As I've stated before, this fic will essentially be Shield Hero but with Stands thrown in to mix stuff up. Also, I never heard of those bosses, but Imma look them up to see what they are. If they're cool, then I can throw them in :)
RKing 93: Thanks :)
A Shield's Stand
Chapter 11: Baseball Fans Be Like: Let's Do the Wave!
All throughout the street was a number of demi-human adventurers and groups of soldiers standing at the ready for armed combat with an unknown enemy. They were all on edge, and Naofumi couldn't find it in himself to blame them. Sure, he had experienced a wave before, but a couple of things were already different.
First of all, each wave was supposedly stronger than the last if the information Melromarc's King and Shieldfreeden's council had provided him was correct. Naofumi had no way of knowing if a set of waves in one country affected the waves in another which meant any number of waves could have passed in other countries, drastically making this one stronger than the one he had faced. Secondly, this was a country of demi-humans who had an entirely different terrain than the one he was used to. He had spent only four days in the country and most of them were spent in the city preparing or getting chased by a giant sealed monster that could tear him and his party members limb from limb… which they beat by turning himself into a human cannonball the likes of the world had never seen before. Why was his life like this?
Ignoring the weird circumstances around his situation, Naofumi found that just like the last wave, there was simply just too much unknown to go into this battle with confidence. 'But hopefully,' Naofumi thought as he stared at the group before him, 'I can change that.'
Naofumi and his party walked up to the group of councilmen and soldiers who Naofumi assumed to be of incredibly high rank going by how the two groups were interacting with one another.
Of all the people, military included, Kane was the first to notice the group of honestly overpowered adventurers. "Naofumi!" The demi-human spoke with familiarity, "I hope your stay in the city has gone well so far."
Naofumi chuckled a bit before answering the deer, "Yeah well, it's been a little hectic, but this place has been great so far."
Kane threw a glance behind Naofumi too see Elina and Raphtalia pointedly staring daggers at one another out of the corner of their eyes and Rifana struggling to keep a newly seen Silver calm in her arms. "I can see what you mean, Naofumi. Things have been hectic for myself as well, what with planning for the wave and all. In fact, I was just discussing with some of our generals at the moment how best to disperse our troops to cover as much ground as possible."
Kane opened his mouth to continue, but Naofumi cut him off before he could change topics, "That's perfect, I was just coming to ask about your troop placements and extend an offer before you noticed me."
Kane got a glint of intrigue in his eye, "An offer you say, whatever could that be, I wonder?"
"Forgive the intrusion Councilman Kane," The man in well decorated armor spoke up, "But what in the world are you doing conversing so civilly with a Human?" The demi-human's cutting tone slashed any conversation between the group as the rest of the entire group looked at the man like he was insane.
Kane cleared his throat before speaking again, "Well, General Forh, the man you're currently seeing is none other than the Holy Shield Hero. He rode through the border wall on top of a Hydra before managing to take down the beast with his party and the aid of our on site soldiers and mages.
At the mention of the battle, the general's face soured. The man spared a glance at the gathered party, spotting the two demi-humans along with the silver winged child. The general levelled a glare at Elina, who wasn't afraid to toss one back, before returning his gaze to the Shield Hero in front of him.
"What are your relations with your party members, Shield Hero?" The general spoke, undertones of anger flowing through them.
Picking up on the message, Naofumi responded, "I found Raphtalia and Rifana as children at a slave trader's tent. I may have bought them, but I make no mistake when I say they are not my slaves. I nursed them to health, taught them to fight, and they have become some of the greatest warriors I've personally seen. Elina joined us just following the second Melromarcian wave when we were on the run from some of The King's Guard. She knocked him in one blow and has become the physically strongest of our group. Silver is the most recent to the group, she hatched from a filolial egg and transformed into a more human form, but she can freely change between the two." Raphtalia and Rifana gave a reminiscent smile as they were introduced, Elina a cocky smirk, and Silver just wiggled harder in Rifana's arms, trying to jump back into Naofumi's own. "While I can't speak for them, I consider my party to be my family, and I hope they do the same for me."
The general thought for a moment before giving a nod, satisfied.
"Anywayyyyy," Kane cut back in, "You said you had an offer for us, Naofumi?"
The tension in the group shattered at the deer's words, with many council members giving a sigh of relief as they seemed to have avoided offending the Holy Shield Hero.
Naofumi gave a soft smile with a nod, "Yes, I do. I'm sure you know the heroes are teleported to the location of the wave along with all those in their party at the start of the events, right?" The group of demi-humans nodded, "Well, in my status magic, it isn't explicitly stated that there is a limit to the amount of members allowed in said parties."
The general's eyes widened in understanding, "You want to party up with the military so we can instantly travel to the wave with the bulk of our forces."
The rest of the council members and military personnel looked among one another in surprise. To instantly have an entire army at the location of the wave would instantly bolster their defenses against the world ending events.
"Well," Naofumi sighed out, "Not exactly."
The idea was explained in full to General Forh and the others. A portion of the military forces they could gather from Illmita city would party with Naofumi temporarily so that they could teleport to the location of the wave and provide instant support against the wave. From there a number of soldiers would run a message with the location of the wave to the rest of the military's forces and from there would close in on all sides to prevent the escape of any and all monsters spawned. The idea had merit but it was dangerous to forego any amount of support for the wave, as none of them knew the full extent of the wave's strength. Even so, the general agreed to Naofumi's plan, if only because of Kane's insistence.
The general seemed to have more personal experiences that put him at edge around both Naofumi and Elina, but for the sake of his country, seemed to ignore his personal dislikes. Naofumi could respect that.
Naofumi turned to face the massive number of soldiers that waited behind him. It had taken the better part of two hours, but Naofumi had managed to register a very reassuring 1,500 soldiers into his party without any sort of party limit preventing the plan.
The members of Naofumi's recently extended party began to have light glow beneath their feet as the timer ticked down from ten seconds. The soldiers all steeled themselves for battle while Naofumi and his party all gave each other quick hugs (with the exception being Elina).
The timer hit zero, and they were blinded by a flash of light before they realized they were now situated on the side of a mountain, with a fairly sized lake at the base. The little flat of land they were on only held Naofumi, Silver, Rifana, a few other soldiers, and General Forh. They looked around them and could see similar flats of land were scattered across the mountainside, each holding a number of soldiers with the largest grouping being at the flat of land all at the base of the mountain.
"Shit!" General Forh cursed, "Our forces have been split up and we have a severe disadvantage in terms of terrain."
"I hope your soldiers have been well trained, General," Rifana said, "Besides, at least we don't have to defend a village this time."
"And it looks like your soldiers are sticking to the plan at least," Naofumi pointed out. At the base of the mountain, with the largest grouping of soldiers, several could be spotted darting out in a smaller group to bring in reinforcements and surround any spawned monsters.
"I'm bored Daddy! When can we fight some monsters?" Silver whined.
Naofumi took a quick look around them, seeing monsters had already arrived around the mountain, with most of them retaining some sort of features allowing them to scale the mountain easily. Many of them had scales for protection and some rather nasty looking claws granting them firm footholds in the rock. None of them appeared to be bipedal so they at least had that going for them, but even so, they were severely hindered in terms of mobility.
"Well, why don't you start fighting right now? Afterall, we got some great company," Rifana spoke with a grin as monsters began to converge on their location.
"Okay!" Silver poofed into her filolial form before crashing straight into the nearest monster. The soldiers and even the general looked a little wide eyed at the display. The monster had been reduced to mush by Silver's charge. Unfortunately for them, Silver didn't stop after just one.
"Silver, come back please!" Naofumi called as he and Rifana charged after her as best they could.
"Dammit! Of course I'm stuck with you!" Elina shouted from their spot next to the lake. It seemed with the mountain's presence, their forces had been divided along flat land and deposited wherever they could. No others were with them, so it was just the two of them until reinforcements arrived.
Raphtalia held back a growl that threatened to rise, "While I would have preferred to be with anyone else, we still have a job to do, so let's go."
"Don't tell me what to do, you damn raccoon."
With their pleasantries exchanged, the two launched off into battle, charging towards the nearest group of enemies. Their first group consisted of a number aquatic monsters that emerged from the lake, making several long ranged attacks with whiplike tongs or some type of water based projectile. Compared to the two warriors, the attacks were pitifully slow, not a single one even managing to come close to scratching the two. But for what the attacks lacked in speed, they made up for in sheer strength. A missed whip from a tongue landed on a boulder behind the group, easily splitting the rock in two.
Dodging another volley of attacks, Raphtalia backpedaled a bit before reversing her momentum with a dash, making several attacks miss her moving form and providing her a clean opening on a group of monsters. A single slash from her magic iron sword was more than enough to end the lives of the monsters in front of her. She didn't have much time to think before another attack from behind forced her to dodge lest she wanted to lose an arm. She quickly turned around and sliced the appendage off, making the fish monster squeal in pain, before ending its life. There were no other enemies in her immediate area so Raphtalia spared a glance at Elina, huffing as she saw the goliath make no attempt to dodge or defend, instead simply allowing the attacks to hit her before brushing them off and chopping away at the enemies.
Ignoring her idiot of a party member, Raphtalia turned her attention to the group of soldiers they had been placed relatively close to. There, the largest battle of the wave was underway as around 400 soldiers were engaging a similarly sized force of wave spawned monsters. By the looks of it, the soldiers were handling themselves well enough, but at the rate they were killing the monsters, they would soon be easily overwhelmed by the endless supply of enemies.
Raphtalia ran off towards the mass of bodies, cutting down monsters as they attempted to confront her. As she finally reached them, she sliced down a fish monster that was struggling against one of the outer soldiers. The soldier thanked her for the assistance before engaging another enemy. For the next couple minutes Raphtalia darted around the battlefield, aiding any struggling soldiers she saw and ending the lives of dozens of enemies.
Just like last wave's giant zombie soldiers, it seemed that some of the spawned monsters were not only larger than the rest but far stronger as well. Raphtalia spotted a group of soldiers attempting to approach a large fish monster that was simply rippling with powerful muscle. One of the soldiers darted forward before getting slammed by the monster's powerful tongue, the armor collapsing under the weight of the attack and the soldier being put out of commission. The tongue went to lash another but Raphtalia stepped in time to slice it apart.
"Do you have a medical station set up yet?" Raphtalia asked one of the soldiers.
"Y-yes ma'am! It was one of the first things we did upon our arrival," the smallest of the soldiers responded to her.
Raphtalia nodded at his answer. She doubted the soldiers would last very long under the attacks of monsters like this, so it was always good to have a medical area stationed up. "Get him to the station, he won't last long after that hit."
The soldiers chorused with a 'yes ma'am' before charging off, with their wounded comrade in tow. Raphtalia faced the supersized enemy and the damn fish stared her down. Both were tense before the amphibious monster suddenly bolted forward, intending to slice the raccoon to bits with its claws. Before it could even go anywhere, it was abruptly halted midair by a pair of large arms wrapping around its torso and suplexing the beast into the ground, snapping its neck on impact.
Elina stood from her suplex, running a hand through her pink hair, "What are you doing just standing around waiting for them to attack? Are you really that weak that you can't handle bastards like these?"
The two entered a brief standoff before Raphtalia growled angrily at her party member. "The soldiers have this area handled for now, but they can't hold on forever, we need to regroup with Naofumi and take on the wave boss."
Elina smirked at the smaller girl, "What, you need Shieldy to fight with you? How warrior-like, hiding behind another person like a coward." Elina looked away from the raccoon to swing her axe to right, bisecting another two monsters.
Raphtalia bristled. It wasn't that she needed to hide, it would just be the smartest thing to regroup and engage the strongest enemy with a balanced number of attacks and defensive options. But if Elina wanted to turn this into some sort of competition, so be it. "Fine, you want to act like an ass, you can. But I'll be the one to take down more monsters than you along with the wave boss." The enemies seemed to be weak enough compared to her, so she doubted any could really do much to her if she went about it right.
Elina's smirk turned to a small glare, and before either of them knew it, they were competing for kills.
Each girl mowed through the enemies, quickly ending the lives of any monster they encountered before they even had a chance to retaliate. A monster that was about to slash open a disarmed and downed soldier was chopped in two. Another that was strangling a soldier with its tongue found a sword in between its eyes. Yet another tried to jump on the back of the raging goliath but was snatched out of the air and thrown into the dirt before being stomped on. One that tried to run found all of its arms and legs flying from its body.
Needless to say, they were doing pretty well for themselves.
With the competition spurring both girls into overdrive, the enemies surrounding the largest dispatch of soldiers were very quickly dwindling to the point where the two had to split off from the body of soldiers to find more enemies to kill (ie slaughter), which is how the two found themselves once more on the lakefront butchering any enemy that tried to exit the water.
"Bloody Sunday!"
"Formation!"
The two skills wiped over the group of enemies that had just emerged. Bloody Sunday cracking the ground beneath them and sending them all into the air as Formation sent Raphtalia blitzing past, swiping faster than the eye could see, stopping past them and sheathing her sword as the monsters all exploded into cuts and spraying blood.
"Really?! You couldn't kill your own so you had to get in my way?!" Elina (now drenched in the blood of the monsters) shouted at the raccoon demi human that had taken her quarry.
"It isn't that I couldn't kill any, it's that I couldn't find any more to kill," Raphtalia responded cheekily.
Elina tensed before raising her war axe. Raphtalia's eyes widened as she went to block the hit only to have the axe fly past her and kill the mountain lizard right behind her.
Elina leaned over next to Raphtalia's ears, "You might want to start paying attention."
As Elina wrapped her hand around her war axe, the water beside them began to creep up along the lakeside, slowly lapping at the adventurer's footwear.
"You could have warned me about the monster instead of throwing your damn axe at me!" Raphtalia cried out, "You could have killed me if you missed!"
Elina's eyes widened before narrowing to a glare, "You're not even gonna thank me for saving your ass? Are you serious?"
Raphtalia jabbed her hand into Elina's breastplate, "I don't have to thank you for anything."
The water continued to rise, unnoticed by the two girls as they continued to argue among one another. It wasn't until the water receded and a massive shadow fell over the two that they noticed something had changed at all. Turning to look at their now wet footwear before looking at the source of the shadow.
"Ah." Raphtalia said.
"Fuck." Elina said.
"Silver, you can't just run into enemies and expect to make it out all the time!" Naofumi scolded from atop the now stationary silver filolial.
It took a while, and some creative use of Wireframe, but eventually Naofumi and Rifana caught up to Silver, who was now caked in blood from ramming into monsters at full speed, splattering the weaker ones against her hard as metal feathers and sending tougher ones tumbling down the mountain at frightening speeds.
"But why not, Daddy?" The confused filolial tilted her head. If she hadn't been covered in blood and the two hadn't seen her barrel through almost fifty monsters by that point, it would have been cute.
"Because-Lion's Roar!-because eventually you'll fight a monster who can take the hit and we won't be able to stop them from hurting you," Naofumi explained as his skill stunned a majority of the monsters surrounding them, sending those that resisted the stun running in fear from the intimidation they faced. Rifana and Wireframe quickly and efficiently massacred the immobile beasts with powerful axe swings and fusions with the rocky terrain they were standing on.
"Plus, sometimes you might be unable to go to your bird form, for whatever reason," Rifana added before she chopped up another lizard creature.
"Exactly, so why don't we try fighting in your human form, ok?" Naofumi asked the girl-bird.
"Ok!" Silver said happily.
"Tether!" Naofumi caught and dragged over a monster, leaning it against the rock wall. "So what you want to do, is stand like this, legs apart and one in front of the other, knees bent, and your hands close to your face." Silver copied Naofumi's stance as best she could. "That's pretty good, just a couple things to fix but we can get to that later. Now, when you throw a punch, you don't just want to do it with your arm, but with your whole body. First you take a step, then you twist your body, and then you throw your arm forward. Like this," Naofumi delivered the mother of all right hooks into the lizard's head, but thanks to his mediocre ATK stat, it didn't kill the monster, only eating away a third of its health as it screeched in pain from what had to be a broken cheekbone at least.
"Ohhhhhh… ok!"
Silver went ahead and delivered her own punch. And if Naofumi's was the mother of all right hooks, then Silver's was the super macho father returning from war of all right hooks. The fist connected with the lizard's abdomen, punching straight through the skin, crushing any bones or organs in the way and sending the lizard cratering into the rock wall it had been leaning against. The wall didn't last much longer as it collapsed on top of the lizard a couple seconds later.
Naofumi and Rifana stared in complete shock. A single punch from a little bird girl had been enough to completely butcher a monster twice her size and collapse a mountain wall along with it.
"Like that Daddy?" Silver asked innocently.
"Holy shit." Rifana stated in shock as both her and even Wireframe looked at the girl.
Ancient Cephalopod
Level 35
The two warriors had been battling the giant squid thing for a while now, but thanks to its simply massive size and its long reach provided by its long tentacles, the two had failed to make any significant headway. Every time they tried to attack, the AC pulled back out of their range.
"How am I supposed to kill this thing," Elina grunted out as she blocked another crash of a tentacle, "If I can't fucking reach it?!"
"How about instead of shouting insults like you always do, you use your brain for once and figure something out!" Raphtalia shot before darting out of the way of yet another tentacle.
"Oh piss off already!" Elina pushed the tentacle back, swinging her war axe as she did so, managing to score a hit on the damn thing. "Haha, suck it! UHF!" The boss responded by instantly slamming into her exposed stomach.
Raphtalia sidestepped the Elina-missile, "Dammit Elina! Crescent Slash!" The skill slashed at three tentacles and pushed Raphtalia backwards, giving her some semblance of space between the attacking appendages and herself. Fatigue wracked her body. Between their earlier kill spree, her excessive dodging, and the use of several skills, Raphtalia's stamina was starting to fail her. 'If this keeps up, we won't last long, is there anything at all we can do?'
Suddenly, a familiar figure plowed into the ground at incredible speeds, sending up a cloud of dirt and dust. As it settled, Raphtalia saw Naofumi pull himself from the crater he was in, almost completely unharmed.
"Dammit, barely managed to block that one. I hope Rifana and Silver are ok," he mumbled to himself as he stood up and twisted his back.
"Naofumi, are you ok?!" Raphtalia asked in alarm. It was justified, the man did get rocketed in to the ground from an attack by a boss.
"Yeah, I'm alright, just got surprised by an attack."
Naofumi took account of his surroundings before seeing Elina pulling herself out of her own trench, a tired Raphtalia, and a giant squid thing that was about to squash him. "WOAH!" He cried out as he raised a shield to block a slam, "There's another one?!"
Raphtalia's eyes bulged out, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN ANOTHER ONE?!" A roar from the mountain was her answer, she turned to the mountainside, seeing an absolutely gigantic reptilian crawling across the face of the mountain towards them.
Decrepit Chameleon
Level 35
"Seriously? Another overgrown animal?" Elina spoke as she walked up to the two others, a trail of blood falling down her face and clutching her left shoulder with a small wince, "Can't the waves be any more original?"
Sending a small glare to Elina, Raphtalia focused on Naofumi, "I've been fighting this boss for almost twenty minutes and the only strikes I've landed have been when I was retreating and it attempted to strike. All the damage I've done has been surface level at best, I just can't get close enough to strike it."
Naofumi turned his attention to Elina, "What the raccoon said," she spoke bluntly.
Naofumi took a deep breath before looking back towards the Ancient Cephalopod, "At most, we have probably ten minutes before the other boss gets here. We have to take this thing down by then or we won't stand a chance." The two warriors behind him nodded, "I'll try to cover your openings as best I can, but the rest is up to you two."
"Right!" "Got it, Shieldy."
The battle began with Wireframe trapping one of the boss's tentacles in the lakeside. Elina went to sever it but another tentacle slammed down in front of her, forcing her to abandon the attack. However, that left Raphtalia open to slice at the tentacle, leaving another flesh wound for the boss. The next three minutes progressed with little difference, one of the three would bait an attack and the others would attack at the opening, it would stop the boss's attacks eventually but they weren't anywhere near enough damage to finish the wave. The soldier's could only hold out for so long before they were overrun.
"Naofumi, we have to do something else! We're running out of time!" Raphtalia called out as she dodged another attack, stumbling as she landed in her fatigued state. The boss saw the poor landing, taking the opening to swing two tentacles at the group from both sides, intending to crush her behind the immense force.
"Shit! Iron Will!" Naofumi's body turned to silver as he raised his shield to block himself, ending with an entirely silver statue of the shield hero. As he did so, Raphtalia felt an arm wrap around her waist and she lost contact with the ground.
"Naofumi!" Raphtalia screamed out as the attacks crashed into the two of them. Raphtalia felt no impact as the tentacles harmlessly phased through her but Naofumi wasn't so lucky. The two tentacles crashed into the ball of shields, crushing the skill after some amount of struggle. The tentacles receded and Raphtalia saw a still ironclad Naofumi within the grasp of the boss's tentacle. The arm around her waist receded and she fell to the ground, completely unharmed.
'Shit! I still can't move! Why didn't I test the ability out before?!' Naofumi thought from his constraints.
A large armored hand clasped on Raphtalia's shoulder, helping to pick her up from the ground. Raphtalia turned to meet Elina's eyes, both giving a nod of agreement. The boss threw another attack at the pair as they charged the lakefront. Raphtalia slashed at it as she jumped over, diverting its course from Elina before Elina chopped off the end of it. The boss yowled in pain before throwing almost every one of its appendages at the girls in rage. The two stopped and stood back to back, blocking or parrying every single one that came their way within an instant.
"Bloody Sunday!" The ground beneath the pair fractured, several pieces rising up, one of which held Raphtalia atop. "Batter up, bitch!" Elina slammed the pole of her war axe into the rock, launching Raphtalia towards the boss.
As she flew off, Raphtalia stood atop her hastily created ride, closing her eyes and raising her sword in focus. Raphtalia's eyes opened in fury, "Formation!" Raphtalia flashed away from her stance on the rock, reappearing in the air behind the head of the boss as several deep gashes appeared along the entire body of the boss. Finally, the launched rock rocketed into the exposed eye of the boss, puncturing through the entire head, ending the life of the wave boss.
Raphtalia felt her body give out on her as she began to fall to the ground. She looked to her left and saw Naofumi falling right next to her, still trapped. Raphtalia willed her arm to reach out and grab him, pulling him close to her as the two plummeted to the ground. 'If this is how I die, then I guess I'm fine with it. I got to see so much with everyone, and it's all thanks to you.' Tears fell from her eyes, "I love you Dad."
Before the two could crash into the ground, Raphtalia felt something wrap around them and yank them over their oversized shoulders. "As if I'd let you die on me like that, Raphtalia. Falling to your death would be the most idiotic way to die, and no party member of mine will die like that if I can do anything about it." Raphtalia turned her head and saw the scarred face of Elina smirking back at her. Raphtalia breathed out a sigh of relief before her fatigue caught up with her.
Elina landed on the ground, taking the brunt of the landing for the three. She set the two immobile members of her party on the ground beside one another before turning to look at the dead boss of the wave. A tired sigh left her before she collapsed onto her back.
"This is what you guys have been doing all this time? Jesus, if I knew sooner I would've gone back to adventuring a long time ago," Elina spoke to the two resting beside her. She took a brief glance at the sleeping raccoon beside her. "I guess anyone would do anything for family, huh?" The ground shook violently as the second boss made its approach known. "Oh yeah, forgot about you." Elina mumbled to herself, "Well, I can't even move and these two are out of commission. You got free reign to do whatever, so just get it over with."
The chameleon opened its mouth to blast them over with a wave of fire but before it could, a shout was heard by the giant.
"FIRE!"
A volley of arrows and magic spells assaulted the chameleon from all sides as a familiar weasel and silver filolial rode up to the three and snatched them up before darting away. Elina tiredly looked around, seeing a much larger amount of soldiers laying waste to the second boss.
"You look like you got thrown around by the Hydra," Rifana spoke with a relieved smile, "I guess you had some fun, huh?"
Elina just laughed as they retreated from their enemy, allowing the reinforcements to overwhelm the boss with their combined might. They cut it a little close, but the group of five managed to make it through Shieldfreeden's wave, with some of their group growing just a little closer.
Naofumi's skin finally returned to a normal shade as they rode away, the man stretching out as he was freed, "THAT WAS AWFUL!"
Balmus sat quietly upon his seat, reflecting upon the news that had quickly swept across all of Melromarc. The disgraced Shield Devil had managed to escape the country to a country of Demis. Thankfully, it hadn't been Siltvelt he had escaped to, only God knows what would have transpired should he have escaped to their greatest enemy. Their poor situation had turned far worse than he would like it to, but the situation could still be rectified given a quick enough response. Thankfully, he had just what he needed to place the church back on top in this struggle.
"You called for me Pope?" The blonde haired wielder of the legendary spear asked as he poked his head into the Pope's personal quarters.
The room was lavishly decorated, with gold decorations and plush furnishings covering the room. The Pope's bed was more than large enough to fit his aging body and to the side of the wall laid a number of windows that allowed a wonderful view overlooking the wealthier parts of the Capital. To summarize, the room was fit for a Queen.
"Yes, of course, sir spear hero, please come in. We've much to discuss." The old man's kind invited the confident hero into the room. Motoyasu joined the pope at his table, the tablecloth having decals of the three holy weapons splattered across it. "So I'm sure you heard the news that's been going around… about the Shield Hero?"
Motoyasu's fists clenched at the mention of the bastard who assaulted his closest partner, Myne, and the piece of trash who managed to humiliate him at the royal celebration. 'That bastard thinks he can just run away after all he's done? Like hell.' The Pope smiled at the hero's reaction. It would be easy to manipulate him.
Balmus sent a small reassuring smile at the hero, "It'll be alright, spear hero. We won't let the Shield Hero do whatever he pleases, rest assured. In fact, that's why I called you here." Motoyasu perked up at the words, listening intently, "If you would be willing to, spear hero, we've gathered a powerful force of adventurers to lead against him. They are the strongest the church has to offer and will follow your orders without question."
Motoyasu turned to his thoughts for a moment, "But… what about my current party? I don't want them getting hurt in the fight against that bastard, but I can't just leave them."
Even through all his idiocy, it seemed the spear hero was somewhat of a good person at heart, no matter, he could still use him with enough persuasion, "Of course, we would protect your party while you battle the Shield Hero, additionally, while we intend to aid you in the fight against him, we cannot spare to just give you our strongest followers for the rest of your journey. Upon your return you can re-party with your original followers and our own will return to our forces. I believe that way no harm will have to come to your party."
Motoyasu gave a sigh of relief before a worried look overcame him, "That's a relief but how am I going to tell them?"
"You can just leave that to me, sir spear hero. I'll make sure they understand your decision."
Motoyasu smiled at the Pope, "Thanks Pope, you really know how to take a weight off a guy."
"I would certainly hope so, I am the Pope after all," Balmus spoke with a chuckle.
Motoyasu slammed a fist into his palm, "I'll do it, just tell me when to go and I'll cut that bastard down."
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, spear hero, but there is still more I wish to give you to aid you in the coming battle as well as… some concerning news." Balmus spoke with false concern. "It would appear that the Shield Hero has enslaved more women for his nefarious deeds. Not only has he enslaved those two women, he has also enslaved one of the guild's own receptionists along with a small child."
"A child?!" Motoyasu cried out in surprise, "How low can this bastard get?"
Balmus laid a hand atop Motoyasu's clenched fists, "We will save them in time, sir hero, but before then, please, follow me." Balmus stood up and walked out of the room and further into the depths of the marble building. Motoyasu followed with determination in his eyes. Room after room passed them by before Balmus abruptly stopped in front of a lavishly decorated door frame.
"In here are the strongest weapons and armor we have to offer you, spear hero. We at the church pray it is enough to suit you in the coming battle." Balmus went to open the door.
Motoyasu waved his hand at the Pope, "Please Pope, you're already giving me a lot, you don't have to give-" Motoyasu stopped as he saw what lay in front of him. "OH MY GOD! THIS IS AMAZING!"
Motoyasu charged into the room without hesitation. Inside the room were incredibly powerful spears the church had commissioned from blacksmiths across Melromarc. They ranged from single point spears to tridents, and even halberds. Each one was far more powerful than anything Motoyasu had seen thus far and he barely met the level requirement for a couple of them. That meant the rest of the others were even more powerful than the ones he could use! And he was Level 53!
"This… this is…" He could barely speak when looking at the mass of spears all lined up for him.
Balmus let out a laugh laced with kindness, the hero truly was childish, "Please, spear hero, you haven't even seen the best that we have to offer. Follow me."
He led Motoyasu to the back of the room, where a single set of armor sat on display, gorgeously decorated with gold and platinum decals and immensely tough. "Here is the strongest set of armor the country has seen. The blacksmith we had fashioned it from had declared it his best work of all time. I doubt any attacks the Shield Hero or his unfortunate slaves level at you could even scratch this work of art."
"Pope… this is amazing… I don't even know what to say-" Motoyasu tried to express his gratitude but was cut off by Balmus.
"Don't say your thanks, spear hero. Fulfill your mission to show us your thanks, and we will all be indebted to you."
Motoyasu calmed himself down, looking Balmus in the eye, "I'll do it."
Balmus smiled to himself. Everything was proceeding splendidly.
Naofumi Iwatani
Class: Shield Hero
Level 45
Legendary Shield,「Wireframe」
Bizarre Otherworldly Clothing
ATK: 56
DEF: 369
MATK: 47
MDEF: 283
DEX: 116
AGI: 169
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Stand Arrow (Locked)
Stand Arrow Lv 2 (Locked)
Bullrush
Tether
Air Strike Shield
Dog Bite
Shield Prison
Lion's Roar
Iron Will
Minor Illusion
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 Knight
Level 40
Magic Iron Sword
Swordswoman's Dress
ATK: 168
DEF: 86
MATK: 126
MDEF: 44
DEX: 87
AGI: 168
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Crescent Slash
Formation
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Hearing
Undying Loyalty
Parry Profession
Rifana
Class: Demi-Human Rampager
Level 40
Steel Dagger, Magic Iron Axe
Short Furred Covering
ATK: 181
DEF: 55
MATK: 52
MDEF: 46
DEX: 180
AGI: 222
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Blind Rage
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Eyesight
Undying Loyalty
Blood Rush
Elina Poli
Class: Human Thrasher
Level 40
Magic Iron War Axe
Plate Armor
ATK: 250
DEF: 100
MATK: 35
MDEF: 31
DEX: 78
AGI: 81
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Bloody Sunday
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Hard Headed
Stubborn
Adrenaline Rush
Armor Crush
Silver
Class: Adult Filolial Guard
Level 40
Steel Wings
ATK: 152
DEF: 192
MATK: 154
MDEF: 233
DEX: 59
AGI: 148
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Steel Wall
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Endless Hunger
Cart Puller
Undying Loyalty
Wireframe
Power: D
Speed: C
Range: C
Durability: E
Precision: C
Development Potential: A
Ability - Malleable Phasability
Edit:
A reviewer made a really good point about Naofumi ending up seeming really fragile in the chapter (I agreed with them) so I fixed that up. Not the biggest change, the story still progresses basically the same, but Naofumi isn't as much of a weak boy.
Notes:
Like I said before, I'm really sorry it took so long for this to come out! To make up for it, you can expect a side story to come out featuring Ren's mischief apart from Naofumi sometime in the next two weeks when I find time to write it.
Anyway, this chapter was fun to write! We're finally getting into the juicy bits with Motoyasu and the Church and I am so excited for that to come full circle :)
See you guys next week!
PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! I WANT TO MAKE THIS STORY AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE AND YOUR REVIEWS HELP WITH THAT!
- RandomA99