Chapter 11 / Wave of Destruction
A few days passed since Itsuki arrived in Riyute and met up with Naofumi. While they were retaining their positions, the heroes were still getting stronger. The strengthening methods were giving them incredible stats, making almost every monster fight trivial for them. Even Raphtalia had been growing stronger, growing into the appearance of an eighteen year old, seemingly being the limit of her changes.
In the meantime, Riyute's economy started to stabilize once more with its villagers being ever so grateful for the help that Naofumi and the others were providing to them.
However, that only meant for Naofumi that it was time to pick up their things and move on. Although it was nice to stay there, he needed to see more places in order to grow even stronger to fight against the wave of destruction. Throughout the entire stay, ever since defeating the two-headed dog monster, he had only unlocked a small number of shields. The only noteworthy one had been the [Pipe Shield], granting him another useful skill, but one that he hadn't been given the chance to use yet.
He was thinking of making final preparations tonight before he headed out with Raphtalia the next morning, but since Itsuki was here, it was only manners to let him know what was going on. Before heading into his room, he knocked on Itsuki's door.
Itsuki opened the door with Welst relaxing in the background. "What's up, Naofumi?"
"I wanted to tell you that Raphtalia and I are planning to leave Riyute tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I guess there's not much reason to be staying in Riyute anymore. Are you planning on heading anywhere specific?"
"Not really," Naofumi shrugged. "Only to the next town, then I'll see what that takes me. I have to grow stronger to fight off the wave of destruction with everyone."
"The waves of destruction…" Itsuki rubbed his chin. "Speaking of which, it's been about a month since we've arrived in Melromarc, hasn't it? It should be happening pretty soon, but I'm assuming you haven't registered at the Dragon's Hourglass yet."
"Registering at the Dragon's Hourglass?" Naofumi tilted his head.
"Yeah. I was planning on doing it myself once I returned to the capital, but there were a few complications that arrived that made it a little difficult for myself. It doesn't change the fact that I'll still have to do it…"
"It's back at the capital?" Naofumi wasn't even keen about returning there, but if he wanted to fight against the waves, he didn't have a choice in the matter. "Where exactly is it?"
"I'm assuming it's back at the castle, but I don't actually know."
"Nope." Welst leaned in, popping into the conversation. "The Dragon's Hourglass is inside of the Three Heroes Church cathedral."
Both Itsuki and Naofumi flinched, glancing back to Welst.
"What!?" Itsuki shouted. "Why is it there of all places!?"
"I couldn't answer you, even on a guess," Welst shrugged. "The Dragon's Hourglass must have been there before the Three Heroes Church was present. If it was easy to drag out the damn thing, it probably wouldn't be in the building anymore. If you want to come across it, there's going to be some problems, specifically for the Shield Hero."
"That's the only way we can reach the waves…" Itsuki grunted.
"Then we'll think of a way," Naofumi responded. "It'll be more important for me to arrive in the capital, first and foremost. Even if the Church despises me, I don't think they can refuse if I want to register myself to fight against the waves, right?"
"You'd be really surprised how stubborn some of the Church members are."
"We'll come with you, Naofumi," Itsuki announced. "You don't have a ride, right? We can take the carriage that we hijacked over to the capital to cut down on some time. It shouldn't take too long."
"Thanks. I appreciate—"
Naofumi paused, replaying what Itsuki said.
"... What do you mean by hijacked?"
Itsuki paused, replaying what he himself said.
"Smooth one, Sir Itsuki." Welst sighed in the background.
A few seconds passed in silence before Itsuki gulped.
"H-have a good night, Naofumi."
With a loud slam of the door, Naofumi was left wondering what Itsuki was talking about. He hoped that it was a slip of the tongue, to which Itsuki didn't actually steal that carriage, but he was starting to be worried that it wasn't the case. He returned to his room, having a number of concerns.
-/IV/-
As the group had been packing up and making sure they were fully supplied for the journey back to the capital, they were being thanked by the locals of Riyute for the help they provided in the form of gifts. Frankly, there was too much, so he was thankful that Itsuki's carriage was around to help out.
Welst and Kojeel sat up in the front, letting Itsuki and Raphtalia sit out in the back with Naofumi. The Shield Hero was still trying to tear himself away from the gratefulness of the villagers, but once he got onto the carriage and it started moving, he bid a farewell to them with a wave.
"Which direction are we heading off to?"
"Follow the road down here. The path between Riyute and the capital is very straightforward."
With Kojeel manning the horses and Welst being their navigator, it left Itsuki, Naofumi and Raphtalia to wait until they reached their destination. For about half an hour, the back of the cart was largely silent, but Itsuki found himself wondering about something more important that they would have to come across during the wave of destruction.
"Do you think we'll actually have a chance to speak with Motoyasu?"
"If it's the same Motoyasu that we know and love, he's going to give us a chance, even if Myne is going to be around to stop us from reconciling."
"Are you worried about Myne?"
"If you had to make me choose a concern to resolve, I'll choose our problem with Motoyasu. It's not that I can overlook what Myne did to me, but my worries about Motoyasu exceed any emotions I feel towards Myne. More than my animosity, more than my frustrations." Naofumi found himself holding onto his shield. "If I can protect Motoyasu, I don't care what happens to Myne. I want him to be safe and stable."
"Then you can leave Myne to Ren and I. You might be able to move on from that, but we're not letting Myne get away with what she has done. Not that easily."
"I don't mean to interrupt you two, but…" Raphtalia tilted her head, glancing between the two heroes. "Who is Motoyasu? You two talk fondly about him."
While Itsuki held his tongue, Naofumi answered almost immediately. "He's a good friend of ours, one that we both knew before we came to this world."
"Is he a Cardinal Hero as well?"
Naofumi nodded. "He's the Spear Hero. There's also another friend named Ren that was summoned to be the Sword Hero. We were living underneath the same roof, all four of us, so we're all pretty good friends. The situation is a bit complicated right now between us and Motoyasu, but I know we can easily resolve it if we talk things out."
"I've only read in the stories about the legends of the Cardinal Heroes. Sometimes, my friend would tell me about them, since she was an avid fan of those books, but it's almost mystifying to me that all four of them are so close to one another. You act so differently than what I expected."
"What does that mean?" Itsuki asked.
"I mean that Master Naofumi and Mister Itsuki feel like regular folks. I don't mean to offend you, but compared to how much praise the heroes in storybooks are given, it's quite a contrast."
"Yeah, I can see that. The Three Heroes Church praised their heroes as being gods, but if I take one look at Motoyasu and Ren with that in mind, I won't be able to take their religion seriously."
"Hopefully, we can introduce you to them one day."
"They do sound like good people," Raphtalia giggled. "If they have your trust, I'm sure that they truly are, Master Naofumi."
"I think you'll be able to get along with them just—"
A loud noise exploded through the ears, interrupting his thoughts. The air suddenly shook, causing them to be unbalanced off their seats. The wind almost felt like it was going to tip the carriage right over. Kojeel stopped the carriage, causing her to look back in concern.
"Hey! Is everyone alright!?"
"I-I'd like to believe so…" Naofumi groaned. He wanted to know what happened that caused them to stop, but he saw that Raphtalia was shaking a bit. "Raphtalia? Is something wrong?"
"T-that feeling and that sudden noise…? It couldn't be…" She stood back up and rushed out from the carriage, causing Naofumi and Itsuki to look at each other confusingly.
"Sir Naofumi! Sir Itsuki!" Welst's shouting pulled them up. "You might want to see this!"
Naofumi and Itsuki quickly shook the nerves off and climbed out from the carriage, noticing that everyone else was looking up towards the sky. Naofumi widened his eyes.
The sky, once coloured in a beautiful blue light, had been dyed in a crimson red shade. There was a crack in the sky, as if someone had shattered it. Most importantly, something was dropping right out of it, but from afar, Naofumi couldn't tell what it was. However, there was someone who knew almost immediately what they were facing.
"It's…" Raphtalia shuddered. "It's the wave of destruction…"
It was monsters, flowing out from the hole in the sky like a wave, crashing down onto the ground, but that wasn't the important part. It was the location as to where the monsters had been pouring out, landing in the direction that they were coming from.
"Kojeel!" Itsuki screamed. "We have to quickly get back to Riyute!"
"Of course! Get on!" She hopped onto the perch in front, causing everyone else to quickly head back in. "The carriage will feel bumpy along the way; please bear with it!"
"Just worry about getting there in time!" Naofumi shouted.
If they manage to turn around and move as fast as possible, would that be enough time to save everyone? There was no time to think about it. They have to do as much as they can before it is too late to change anybody's fate.
Everyone inside the carriage had to hold themselves down as they accelerated back where they were going. Raphtalia looked like she was having a difficult time against this jerking motion of the carriage. "M-Master Naofumi, I-I know it's only for a short time, but—"
"Please hang on, Raphtalia! We'll be arriving soon!"
Not before long, they noticed that a flare went up in the distance. Kojeel clicked her tongue, bearing bad news for the heroes and the other party members. "The monsters have already gotten through the village's perimeters! They'll have to hold themselves off for a few more minutes!"
Raphtalia grabbed onto Naofumi, but whether it was because she needed support through the fast carriage or if it was what he said about the waves, it wasn't something he could think about. Being the first wave he was participating in, he could feel his fingers shaking from restless nerves.
The carriage came to a sudden stop, causing Naofumi to look out the window. Undead monsters were roaming the path before them, noticing the presence of the carriage. Flying locusts were allied with them, hovering over for the aerial advantage. Naofumi hesitated for a bit, but Itsuki immediately bashed the carriage door wide open and rolled over to stand on his left knee. He drew his bow immediately and started aiming for the flying enemies. His shots were quick and fatal; one arrow was more than enough to take down an enemy.
In the meanwhile, Kojeel leapt from the front and pulled out her spear, dragging it through the air as she swung at the monsters. Welst provided support through his spells, crashing his flames against the undead. Naofumi and Raphtalia couldn't have been doing nothing here. Upon seeing their quick movements of the other team, they moved out as well, lending Kojeel a hand in dealing with the undead. Their combined efforts were able to make light work of the crowd, but that was only a small fraction of the problems at hand.
Getting back onto the carriage, they rushed over to Riyute, but once they arrived, it wasn't the same scene that they left before. The gate was knocked down and there were monsters breaking down the walls of the village. Once they made it inside the village, it was absolute chaos.
There were a few villagers arming themselves to fight back against the monsters, but their lines were quickly faltering. One of the younger villagers staggered from a heavy attack and fell over. BEfore Naofumi could think, he ran.
"[Air Strike Shield]!"
The transparent shield blocked the monster's follow-up and gave him enough time to get in between the two, swinging his shield forwards to push it away. An arrow sniped the monster's head with great force and it died instantly. A few monsters were trying to follow behind, but Welst's magic killed them before they had a chance to move.
Raphtalia and Kojeel ran up to check up on the villager.
"You guys came back?"
"We weren't going to leave the people of Riyute when something terrible is happening," Raphtalia answered. "Can you stand?"
"Yeah," the villager groaned, being pulled up by Raphtalia. "Thanks for the help. We're barely holding this off ourselves. We got reinforcements from that flare the chief sent upwards, but it's not enough to keep everybody safe. We've already lost people from the initial attack."
He stumbled, but one of the villagers caught him before he fell. "W-we're trying to round everyone up to a safe place, but it's looking impossible. If this keeps up, we'll end up losing most of Riyute to this wave."
"We won't let that happen," Raphtalia said firmly.
Naofumi glanced around. If he could use his bulk in order to distract the monsters, that would give the victims of the wave time to escape, but if this was truly supposed to be the wave of destruction, one thought was still at the top of his thoughts. Where the hell was Ren and Motoyasu?
They were probably somewhere else. Right now, he had to focus.
"I'm going to distract any monsters I find, so try to help out any villagers you come across and evacuate them." He readied his shield, preparing to run forwards before he heard a soft chuckle. A sudden notification popped up in front of him. "Huh?"
[Attention]
[Itsuki Kawasumi is requesting a party invitation.]
"I'm helping you out. You'll need some damage to make things easier."
Itsuki walked up right next to Naofumi, spinning his bow before gripping onto its handle tightly. Even on a mere survey, Naofumi could agree that there were far too many for him to deal with by himself.
"Are you sure about this? I think we'll be a bit busier than them"
"At this point, I don't have a choice. These people were living an innocent life, so any forms of injustice that come to destroy it shall be dealt with promptly and swiftly."
[Attention]
[Itsuki Kawasumi has joined the party.]
"Alright, I'm trusting you to back me up!"
"You can count on me!"
"Stay safe, Master Naofumi! Mister Itsuki!
The two heroes rushed out deeper into the village, leaving Raphtalia, Kojeel and Welst behind. There were a thicket of monsters roaming the streets and without hesitation, Naofumi leapt in to disrupt them. His shield wasn't doing any damage, just as always, but it was enough to grab their attention.
Itsuki leapt up on one of the unbroken houses and used the height advantage to snipe them off from Naofumi's pressure. His attention diverted, noticing a group of villagers in the distance in the middle of monster confrontation. Naofumi saw it as well, breaking through the horde to close in on them.
"[Air Strike Shield]!"
His transparent shield separated the monsters and the villagers before Itsuki was able to clear them out from afar. They looked at Naofumi, slightly stunned.
"You're… You're that traveler. You mean to tell me that you were the Shield Hero this entire time?" One of them looked scared, but the other villagers berated him.
"Don't worry about stupid things like that. We're out with our lives! Show gratitude!"
"Thanks, Shield Hero! Don't worry about us, there are more folks deeper in the village!"
"I got it. Thanks for telling me."
Naofumi followed their directions as Itsuki bounced between the buildings in Naofumi's trail. Someone was shouting for help down the street; Naofumi looked over to see a man being cornered by monsters with only a plank in his hand. Behind him, his family was cowering in fear.
Naofumi sprinted over, bashing his shoulder against one of the monsters before spinning around to deflect the others away from him. Itsuki continued to pick them off, one by one, while Naofumi bought a few seconds for the shooting gallery to wrap up.
"T-thank you…!" The man pushed along his family, running off.
Just as they were done here, a scream came down the streets. A woman was being chased by more monsters. Itsuki turned to see them coming to him and he readied his bow again, shouting out.
"Naofumi!"
Hearing the call out, Naofumi aimed his shield at the woman coming towards him, switching to his [Pipe Shield]. It contained a skill he found to be incredibly useful, just like [Air Strike Shield].
"[Shield Prison]!"
A cage, built from shields, surrounded the woman and trapped her inside, but what was outside couldn't affect those that were in there. Itsuki aimed his sights on the monsters trying to break down the skill with a glowing arrow.
"[Arrow Squall]!"
His one arrow exploded into a barrage of arrows, flying over to mow the monsters down. Some arrows hit [Shield Prison], but it was strong enough to resist Itsuki's skill easily. [Shield Prison] soon deactivated as Naofumi caught up, protecting the woman from the stragglers that survived Itsuki's attack; it bought time for the woman to leave and for Itsuki to clean up.
As they were in the center of this chaos, they ran from place to place, never stopping during the hour to catch their breath. No matter how many monsters they killed and villagers they saved, nothing about the situation looked as if it was changing. The number of enemies never felt like it was being reduced. Some of the villagers returned to assist them and they ended up having an evacuation group of their own after a while. As Naofumi and Itsuki would pull their attention and keep the monsters down, the villagers would come to pull their neighbors out to safety.
Having more than two hands made things easier, but after the second hour, Naofumi's energy was starting to feel drained. Or it was the third hour? Every minute felt the same as the next. Naofumi couldn't figure out how long it had been since they started, only paying attention to his heart pounding in his ears.
Even so, he was still on the careful lookout for certain people, but he still hadn't seen them.
"Where are Ren and Motoyasu? Shouldn't they be here?"
"If they managed to register at the Dragon's Hourglass," Itsuki grunted, landing next to Naofumi. "I'm starting to get worried, but we don't exactly have the chance to find where they are. There's no end to these monsters."
Naofumi called the assisting villagers to help escort some of the injured out of the area, but there was still no end in sight to the wave. Monsters upon monsters came through and while none of them were making it through Naofumi's defense and Itsuki's aim, there was only some much the two of them could take before their bodies would wear out.
"You think that's all of them?"
"No, we can't be certain…" Naofumi leaned on his knees, catching his breath. "If there's still monsters around, it probably means that there are villagers still remaining. It's either that or these monsters truly do look for senseless destruction…"
"We'll make one more round before—"
Itsuki bit his lips and ran into Naofumi.
"Watch out!"
He pushed Naofumi down as debris came flying over into where they were. Naofumi was surprised and looked over to see where it came from. Down the streets, a giant indeed was strolling through, equipped with thick armor and a giant ax. Its arm pulled back from the toss it just made.
"This one's different…"
"You think it might be its boss?" Itsuki and Naofumi both stood back up as the undead glared at them. "Back in Dimension Wave, these types of raid situations can end if the boss is defeated. It might be the same case for the waves of destruction."
"I don't see anything else looking like that, so we might as well give it a try."
Itsuki fired off a few shots to strike the arm, but it caught the arrows easily from the air. In fact, it treated Itsuki's arrows like nothing, dropping them to the ground as it started running towards them. Naofumi ran forwards to intercept it, anticipating a heavy blow when the ax came down on him.
However, Naofumi found himself more worried about the knockback as the swing sent him flying into one of the fallen buildings.
"Naofumi! Damn it!"
Itsuki fired an arrow right into its shadow.
"[Shadow Bind]!" The skill quickly paralyzed the monster, but it wasn't going to hold for long. Itsuki fired off a few arrows to pressure the boss before running over to the collapsed building. "Naofumi! Are you alright!? Say something!"
Much to Itsuki's surprise, Naofumi rose up from the rubble, shaking his head like a wet dog. He didn't look too injured and within a few seconds, he pushed himself out from the mess and got back on his feet. "I, uh, didn't expect myself to be able to take that so well."
"Don't make me worried like that."
The monster broke out of Itsuki's skill, but seeing Naofumi's defensive stat in action, this fight might be far easier than they could imagine. Naofumi rolled his arm, as he checked his health. The attack still did a decent amount to his health, so he couldn't recklessly take many of its attacks.
Even so, Naofumi had to be the frontline for Itsuki. He rushed in towards the monster before its attention could divert from them. The ax came around once more, meeting Naofumi's shield, but the force was still a problem for him. The knockback pushed him away as he grinded to a halt as arrows flew over to help. However, the monster was skilled, blocking Itsuki's arrows.
"Naofumi! My arrows aren't going through!"
"I can see that! I'll try and make an opening for you!"
Naofumi rushed back into the monster without a real plan. He wasn't experienced in fighting alongside a ranged fighter like Itsuki and while he could see how it might be easier than fighting with a melee fighter like Raphtalia, he simply wasn't used to what kind of openings Itsuki would need.
Playing it by ears, Naofumi used [Air Strike Shield] to block the first swinging attack and when that didn't work for the monster, they lifted their other arm to slam it into the Shield Hero. He thought about using [Shield Prison], but since it was a direct attack, Naofumi switched into the [Two-Headed Dog Shield].
"[Dog Bite Counter]!" The heads lunged out and bit down on the arm, but the monster didn't look affected by the nuisance. It might have lowered its movement speed, but it immediately swung its arm around as Naofumi's counter was still latched onto it.
"Oh no," he quietly whimpered.
The dog heads released itself during the swing and the momentum caused Naofumi to go flying once more into another building. Itsuki bit down on his lips and narrowed his eyes in disbelief, watching it unfold again. This time, Naofumi was able to land on a roof, so there wasn't much rubble to break out from, but the monster followed up by throwing debris towards him.
Naofumi flinched, but before it crashed into him, it preemptively exploded into pieces. An arrow emerged from the aftermath, but before he could thank its sender, the monster noticed Itsuki's interference.
Pulling its ax over its shoulder, the monster ran towards Itsuki. He managed to dodge the first slamming strike, but was able to narrowly dodge the second and third attacks. Itsuki leapt back up onto a stray rooftop, thinking he would be safe, but the monster swung its ax to topple its structure. A hasty escape caused Itsuki to land poorly onto the ground, rolling over himself.
"Geez! Naofumi is taking those attacks and shaking them off!?"
The monster glared at Itsuki before it grabbed a piece of the destroyed building and tossed it at Itsuki. He tried to pull up his bow quickly, but Naofumi activated [Shield Prison] to protect him while he leapt back into the fray to stop the monster from advancing forwards. He intercepted a swing, but he dug his heels into the unstable ground this time.
[Shield Prison] was still active and it was going for another swing at Naofumi. He swapped to the [Light Metal Shield], finally picking up a plan.
"Itsuki! Once you get out of there, prepare to use your strongest skill!"
The ax came flying at Naofumi as he activated his second counter.
"[Light Counter]!"
Upon impact, the area ignited into a bright light, exposing the monster into a daze. Since [Shield Prison] was still up, Itsuki wasn't affected by its effect at all and Naofumi immediately deactivated the skill to let Itsuki finish the job.
"Got it. My strongest skill, right?" They had a few seconds to capitalize on the opening as Itsuki pulled back his bow with power lacing his arrow.
"Let judgment come by heaven's command…"
Naofumi flinched, hearing Itsuki starting to chant. He didn't know there were skills that required chants to execute, but if they did exist, there was likely going to be great power behind it.
"Grant me power to smite evil from this land…" Electricity started emerging from Itsuki's bow, prompting Naofumi to quickly move out of the way. He didn't want to get caught up in the skill and even as a spectator, he was sweating.
"Roar, o'lightning! Strike down upon the wicked!" The ground beneath Itsuki shattered into pieces, rising up into the air. His eyes were narrowed down onto the boss and in one motion of his fingers, a loud thunderclap echoed from the middle of Riyute.
"[Tempest Arrow]!"
Like a lightning bolt soaring through the air, it ran right through the target. Naofumi couldn't see it until it happened and before his eyes, the skill ripped straight a hole the undead's body in a flash. It was left standing for a few seconds before it collapsed onto the ground.
Itsuki killed it in a single attack.
— "Holy shit, Itsuki."
"Is it dead…?"
"I think it's more than dead."
Itsuki gasped for air, as if using the skill made himself tired, but when he looked up into the skies, there was no change in the scenery. "The wave of destruction isn't over yet, so we must have made the wrong assumption. That wasn't the boss monster."
"Maybe Ren and Motoyasu are looking for the boss monster as we speak," Naofumi thought aloud. "It doesn't necessarily have to be inside Riyute, but in the area influenced by the wave of destruction, right?"
"I know… Ren would have found it by now. He's really good at sweeping an area for monsters, so if they haven't defeated it yet, it's making me worried." Itsuki recovered from his sluggishness and headed off with Naofumi. "I'm going to try and find them! You stay with the village and evacuate the rest of the remaining villagers!"
"Wait! Itsuki!"
"Master Naofumi! What was that loud noise!?"
As Itsuki ran off, Raphtalia was running down the streets towards him. Although he wanted to chase after Itsuki, it was obvious that he was a Cardinal Hero as well. The villagers needed the Shield Hero more than the Bow Hero, so he reluctantly turned to Raphtalia.
"That was Itsuki's attack, so we don't need to worry about that."
"Really!?"
"Never mind that for now. How is the situation going?"
Naofumi noticed that there was sweat dripping down from Raphtalia's face. She was visually tired from running around and fighting the monsters, but she kept face. "We were able to escort the majority of them over to the mining area for safety. Kojeel and Welst are both overseeing the transportation, as able-bodied villagers are defending the injured over there."
"And still, we're not finished yet," Naofumi guessed.
Raphtalia shook her head. "There's still a handful of villagers unaccounted for."
"Damn it."
Naofumi gulped down his fatigue. His mind was saying that he was already at his limits, but his body simply kept pushing forwards. He didn't know how much longer his adrenaline would run for, but seeing Raphtalia in a tired state, just as he was, gave him some motivation to keep going.
After drinking a health potion, Naofumi took a deep breath.
"Alright. We'll keep searching for them together."
"Of course. Lead the way, Master Naofumi."
-/IV/-
Ren would have been here by now, regardless of what kind of obstacles were in his way to registering with the Dragon's Hourglass. He would have been able to find the boss monster by now and at that point, the battle itself wouldn't have taken more than a few minutes.
Something was wrong. Itsuki could feel it in his gut.
It took about thirty minutes, but Itsuki eventually heard a rampaging sound coming from the forest. He ran over to the direction it was coming from, noticing that there had been trees which were knocked down. He managed to see something moving in between the trees, similar to a chimera. However, he saw that there were knights taking care of it.
There were a few adventurers helping out in the cause, but more importantly, there was a certain person taking on the chimera monster. Itsuki had no doubt he was the one leading the charge, but it merely spurred more questions than answers.
"Motoyasu…?" he whispered to himself.
As Motoyasu dealt the final attack, killing the chimera, the friend sighed with relief as his party members came over to congratulate him. That was when Itsuki saw Myne, instinctively clicking his tongue towards the ill-fated woman. He should have predicted that Motoyasu would let Myne back into his party, likely coming up with a flimsy reason as to why he could still tag along with another hero.
Confrontation was difficult to hold back. Considering the number of knights around, there was no choice in the matter if he wanted to keep his presence low. It wasn't wise to suddenly bring himself out.
Once the chimera died, the skies started to clear up from its cursed state. The red skies were disappearing, returning back to the blue color with the crack sealing itself up. Itsuki was a little surprised how quickly things faded away, but the monster corpse still remained.
Since Motoyasu was still a hero, he was obviously going to try and loot the corpse to grab whatever he can from it. It looked like it could have given him quite the number of spears and some materials that would be great to craft into armor.
"I swear, if he doesn't try to save some for us…"
However, there was a knight on a horse who ran out to the opening before Motoyasu did anything. When Itsuki heard what the knight told Motoyasu, his heart skipped a beat. Itsuki backed up a bit, accidentally rustling the bushes he was hiding in, which caused one of the knights to turn over with sharp eyes.
"Who's there!?"
Itsuki darted from his hiding space, trying to escape from their sights. He managed to lose them before they realized what was going on, but he could hear them trying to give chase to see who he was. His legs were already looking to surrender to fatigue, but if he heard that report correctly, then he desperately needed to get back to Riyute.
Considering how much leniency he was giving to Motoyasu after Naofumi convinced him to do so, he was starting to regret ever giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"Sir Spear Hero," the knight's voice echoed. "We've confirmed the location of the Shield Hero. He's currently inside of the nearby village of Riyute."
"Alright, then leave that to me."
Itsuki gritted his teeth, being fuelled by anger.
"Damn it, Motoyasu! What the actual hell are you doing!?"
"—We'll capture him."
-/IV/-
The monster attacks dwindled a bit as Raphtalia hacked through them without hesitation. It felt like the wave was closing back up, but they couldn't be too lenient on that idea.
"Here's another person, Master Naofumi!"
"I'm coming!"
Raphtalia helped pull out a villager from underneath the rubble, getting into safety with other villagers that were providing assistance. Naofumi handed him a health potion to have him recover a bit, but it was a permanent solution. The villagers carried him, noticing that the legs were no longer in good shape to walk.
So far, Naofumi only had the displeasure of finding a corpse a handful of times. He was still thankful that most of the villagers they did come across were still alive and with coordination from Welst and Kojeel, they were able to get all that were rescued on board to leave for the mining area safe zone. There were too many close calls that he could remember, but none of them were fatal and that was all he could ask for in this dire situation.
"... Huh?"
As the villagers were leaving, the sky started changing. The crack in the sky was disappearing as the color was returning back to normal. Naofumi couldn't really believe the sight, but he found himself laughing from exhaustion to see that they had done it. They were able to survive the wave and protect as many people as they could.
He could hear the parting villagers in the distance in their cheers, but with an injured person with them, they still had to bring their neighbor over to be treated properly. Thankfully, the stray monsters looked like they were retreating, so it likely meant that the boss monster was defeated.
This probably gave him the longest hours of his life, but when he looked over to Raphtalia, he noticed that she was looking at the departing villagers with a soft smile.
"Master Naofumi. We did it."
Her quivering voice tried to stay strong.
"Yeah," he answered quietly. "We sure did."
"We were able to… help as many people as we could…"
She started to choke slightly on her words, as Naofumi closed his eyes in peace.
"Yeah," he answered quietly again. "We sure did."
"I did what I could… I tried everything that I could…"
He could hear the bitterness in her voice. It didn't have to do anything about this particular wave, he would imagine. It was because she was strong now; it was because she had the help of the Cardinal Heroes now; it was because there were people that were able to survive this wave of destruction now.
Having all of this now wouldn't simply erase what happened the last time. If she had this power last time, if she had the help of the Cardinal Heroes last time, if there were people that were able to survive the wave of destruction last time, the pain in her heart wouldn't have been there.
Naofumi's body moved by itself as he pulled Raphtalia's head softly to his shoulder. Not expecting such a gesture, that was the final thing that broke her.
She held onto the hero, letting those memories weep right onto him. Her sobbing cried out, letting loose for him to understand everything that she went through. He stroked her head, trying to help her calm down, but it probably made her cry even more. For him, it was fine.
Raphtalia deserved to let all these emotions out.
"You did good, Raphtalia. You did good."
As long as he spent running around, he wasn't the one to experience the despair that came with a wave of destruction. As Raphtalia stood here, unfaltering against the pain of the past, she was showing herself to be much stronger than Naofumi—
—and for that, he had to be the one to support her.
Naofumi wasn't sure how long he was standing there, but the villagers were gone in the distance by the time his senses returned to him. They should follow with their example, meeting back with Kojeel, Welst and Itsuki in order to settle down and see if there's anything they could do to ease the village's damages, but Naofumi noticed there was another group of people heading into the village.
He narrowed his eyes, unable to determine who they were. His vision was becoming blurry from spending so much time running around, but a bad feeling crept up Naofumi's spine. It was only heightened as he noticed lights emerging from the group, being launched out—
—at them.
"Raphtalia!"
Naofumi pulled Raphtalia closer to him and covered her with his cape, summoning [Air Strike Shield] at the last moment. Raphtalia was broken out of her tear, hearing the hailing spells being slammed against the transparent shield.
"M-Master Naofumi?"
"Seriously…?"Naofumi looked over his shoulder. "What's going on…!?"
Two knights were approaching with drawn weapons. Their eyes were dead set on him and him alone. In seeing them launch an attack against her master, Raphtalia's bittersweet happiness quickly turned into frustrated anger and Naofumi felt her moving for her sword.
"Wait! Raphtalia, hold on!"
Raphtalia dashed out from under Naofumi's safety, slashing down on the nearby knight who blocked it with their sword. Clicking his tongue, Naofumi quickly stopped the second knight from attacking her by using [Shield Prison] on them, leaving Raphtalia to push her blade against the knight's.
"What are you doing!?" she screamed, seething in a blood-curdling cry. "What were you trying to do to Master Naofumi!? Answer me now! Your life depends on it!"
"A demi-human around these parts, huh? I take it that you're with the Shield Hero?"
"I am his sword," she answered firmly. "Now answer my question! That magic spell, there was no reason to use it here! The monsters are gone from this area! We've already taken care of them! You were trying to attack Master Naofumi, weren't you!?"
"I see no reason why I should answer you."
She lashed out from the colliding blades and threw out a few more attacks, but each one was easily blocked by the trained knight. They watched as Raphtalia frantically tried to break their defense until she let an opening be exposed between attacks, allowing the knight to strike quickly and launching her backwards. Naofumi ran up to catch Raphtalia from falling on the ground.
His [Shield Prison] disappeared, allowing the second knight to be back on the battlefield as they walked up calmly over to their comrade's side. They both approached the target quickly, leaving Naofumi little options to flee. He casted Raphtalia off to his side before running up to match their assault, but he didn't think about how different fighting people would be. Not to mention, he had to face two of them at the same time, who had been skillfully coordinating their attacks.
Their attacks were actually stinging him. He could feel his arms shaking behind their assault.
Raphtalia came to alleviate the pressure, throwing out slashes, but their swordplay was good compared to her self-taught style. One closed in quickly to Raphtalia, about to land an overhead slash.
"[Air Strike Shield]!"
The transparent barrier blocked the attack, giving Raphtalia a second to back up, but the other knight flanked from the side with a thrust. Naofumi grabbed Raphtalia and spun her around him to intercept the attack for himself.
He pushed it off of him and bashed his shield forwards, sending the knight backwards.
The two knights backed up a bit to reset themselves, but Naofumi noticed an arrow flying towards their shadows. Suddenly, they were both afflicted with a paralysis effect.
Raphtalia closed the gap for another attack, but as she was about to hit them, someone else leapt to block her attack with a spear. Raphtalia flinched, seeing that the person didn't look like any ordinary knight, but before she could realize what was happening, the man knocked her back to Naofumi.
"Sorry about that."
Raphtalia landed on her feet as Naofumi ran up to her, but his attention was stuck on the person that entered into the fight. There was no way he could ever mistake him.
"Is that beautiful girl with you, Naofumi? It's nice to see you're doing well for yourself."
"Motoyasu…?"
More knights approached the area, alongside a handful of adventurers. However, Naofumi flinched when he saw Myne by Motoyasu's side.
"Ah, so this was where the Shield Demon was," Myne announced. "We took longer than expected, but it looks like things worked out in the end. You were right, Mister Motoyasu."
Naofumi wasn't sure how to make sense of this situation, but the tension in his body was telling him to bring up his shield against his friend. His mind couldn't accept it.
"Motoyasu?" Raphtalia repeated. "That person is the Spear Hero?"
"There's no doubt about it," Naofumi nodded.
"Isn't he supposed to be your friend?"
Naofumi merely sighed as his response. If there was something Naofumi knew for certain, it was that this wasn't the reunion he was thinking about when they were all talking about it back at the castle.
"Raphtalia. Leave."
"You're not going to try and pull this act on me again—"
"I mean it this time. This is between Motoyasu and I."
Naofumi glanced over to his friend, leaving Raphtalia to realize the seriousness in words. When he said to leave him during the fight with the two-headed dog, it was out of fear and desperation that he told her to do it. In here, those same eyes were filled with firmness and determination.
"Go meet up with the others. Please."
He felt Raphtalia hold onto his back a bit tightly for a few seconds, whispering under her breath.
"Don't do anything dangerous. Remember that you promised not to leave me alone."
"Yeah, I know."
Raphtalia ran away, but as he suspected, no one wasn't interested in her unless she got in the way. All they wanted was the Shield Hero. Soon after, only Naofumi remained in the area with Motoyasu, his party members and the knights. He was willingly surrounded by no one that could help him out.
Nevertheless, he took a step forward.
"What's going on, Motoyasu? Answer me."
"If you're still in there, don't resist."
"What are you—"
Knights grabbed him by the back. Since he was in the presence of Motoyasu, he unintentionally lowered his guard. They grabbed his wrist, locking his hands behind his back with restraints. They pushed him down on his knees.
"What's the meaning of this!? Motoyasu! I need to talk with you!"
"I have nothing to talk to you about."
"What the hell are you talking about!?"
"Stay quiet, Shield Demon," Myne smirked, crossing her arms defiantly. "Mister Motoyasu discovered the truth of your deceptions and evils."
Did Myne do something to his friend? Was this why he was acting so weirdly to him? He was thinking about having a talk with Motoyasu here. He thought he could get Motoyasu to listen a bit, but he never anticipated something along these lines.
"Hey, Motoyasu! You can't be serious about this, right!?"
"Take him away," Myne ordered. "We don't need to be hearing him howl like that."
"Motoyasu! Listen to me for a moment!"
The knight forcibly pulled Naofumi away from Motoyasu, but the friend merely looked away in pain. Naofumi noticed that Motoyasu's hands were trembling, but Myne came closer to hold them still.
"Don't worry, Mister Motoyasu." Myne whispered. "We're going to save your friend from that evil spirit. The Three Heroes Church and the king have the preparations finished, so all that is left is for us to undergo the ritual to save your friend."
"Right," Motoyasu whispered, almost in a daze.
"I'm going to save Naofumi, whatever it takes to do so."
-/IV/-
"Motoyasu… You're…"
Seeing Raphtalia be sent away, followed by Motoyasu capturing Naofumi, Itsuki wasn't sure what he should do. His arrow was aimed directly onto Myne right now, seeing how she was sliding her slithering fingers all over his friend, he didn't have anything to go off from. He didn't know why Motoyasu was doing this, he didn't know why Naofumi suddenly sent Raphtalia away like that, and he didn't know why Naofumi wasn't giving in to a larger struggle of escape.
Naofumi's words of belief stopped Itsuki from doing anything further than using [Shadow Bind] to stop the two knights in their tracks. He could only watch from a distance to see Naofumi being dragged into a carriage, presumingly back to the capital, but Motoyasu was close behind. He held onto the back of the carriage, as if he didn't want to be doing any of it.
And that left Itsuki confused.
He watched as the area was cleared up from the knights, including Motoyasu and his party. Watching the scene of destruction upon the village from the high ground, he could only wonder how Motoyasu was so blind to the truth before him. It was strangely abnormal for him, but soon, nothing was left to show for it except for the frustrations within his heart.
Itsuki returned to the mineshaft area, slowly walking the way there. His body was sore from participating in the wave while his mind was metnally incapable of sending the command. It took a while to arrive, but he could hear the noises of celebration. There were a few people mourning their losses while others tried to console them and cheer them up.
There was little need for him to intervene there.
"Welcome back, Sir…" Kojeel frowned, seeing the tiredness of the hero. "Sir Itsuki?"
"Where's Raphtalia?"
Kojeel was silent for a few seconds before pointing him in the right direction.
Even though mostly everyone had been celebrating, Raphtalia was left standing off back herself, looking over to the direction of the village. She was waiting for Naofumi to come back. The afternoon skies never seemed so bitter before in Itsuki's eyes, but that was how he would describe it, seeing Raphtalia hopelessly waiting for her master to return.
"I'm not sure what exactly happened at Riyute," Kojeel said, walking up to Itsuki. "However, I'm not sure you hold good news about the incident that she was involved in. I've only heard that Sir Naofumi was surrounded by the knights when she was forced to abandon him."
Kojeel silently glanced between Itsuki and then Raphtalia in the distance. This was supposed to be a moment where the heroes of the village were thanked and celebrated for all the work they did to protect whoever they could, but there was only frustration written across both of their faces.
As she left, Itsuki quietly walked over to the melancholic demi-human. Raphtalia didn't bother to turn around even after sensing his presence. All she could muster was a weak voice.
"Is Master Naofumi coming back?"
Her auburn hair was being blown back by the somber wind, as nothing except the silence of the breeze had been heard by the both of them. Even when the crowd of celebrations were happening right behind them. it was like it didn't exist at that moment.
"I'm sorry," Itsuki whispered.
The images of the confrontation played again and again before his eyes when he spoke up, causing him to clench his fist and suddenly smash it against the nearby tree. Raphtalia was surprised when he suddenly did that, turning around to see that dried up tears beneath her eyes.
This is the reception they got for putting their lives out there to save people from the wave?
"Damn it! Goddammit!" Itsuki smashed his hand against the tree, being the only way to vent his anger out. His voice was dry, scraping against his throat, but he didn't care. "Do those guys think they can do whatever they want to us!? They really think they can just use our friend against us!?"
Raphtalia could only watch quietly, unable to speak up. If she did, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine that her tears would return, but Itsuki kept punching the tree. His knuckles started to bleed, but the feeling of seeing Naofumi be taken away once again had hurt even more to him.
That's why he didn't want to do this anymore.
Regardless of what others might say, he wasn't going to put up with this anymore.
"We're not letting this go. We can't."
"Mister… Itsuki…?"
Pulling his hand away from the tree, he looked where all the blood was. It was spread across, and as he gazed longingly, he decided to make a decision here and now.
"We're heading back to the capital, but this time, our objective isn't going to be the Dragon's Hourglass." His hand closed on itself, this time with unyielding resolution. If he couldn't protect his own friends from injustice, he could forget about fighting against the evil of this world. "It's going to be Naofumi himself."
Itsuki met his eyes with Raphtalia's.
"We're going to save Naofumi, whatever it takes to do so."
[SKIT 059 : Naofumi's Cooking II]
[Welst] : "Sir Naofumi! Please be my personal chef!"
[Welst] : "O-Ouch! Why did you hit me, Kojeel!?"
[Kojeel] : "Don't you think it was disrespectful of you to ask such a thing from a Cardinal Hero?"
[Welst] : "Raphtalia must be living the high life..."
[Raphtalia] : "Master Naofumi doesn't cook that often. Although it is delicious, Master Naofumi takes time to create meals. Sometimes, he would rather put that effort into other business he needs to attend to. I don't want to take his time away from himself for my own personal tastes."
[Naofumi] : "If you guys ever want me to cook, I can try to find the occasion for it. The next time we meet, I'll get something going for you."
[Welst] : "Ah, bless the Shield Hero for his grace!"
[Kojeel] : "We really do appreciate your offer, Sir Naofumi."
[Raphtalia] : "Miss Kojeel? You're drooling a bit."
[Kojeel] : "E-excuse me for a moment."
[Welst] : "Wow. You even got Kojeel to be flustered. Your cooking is very powerful."
[Naofumi] : "T-thanks...?"
[SKIT 060 : Old Pranks]
[Raphtalia] : "Do you have any stories between you and your friends, Master Naofumi?"
[Naofumi] : "Not sure if I got anything interesting off the top of my head..."
[Itsuki] : "Of course there are interesting stories! What are you talking about?"
[Itsuki] : "There was the entire prank war that happened between Motoyasu and Ren after Motoyasu drew on face while he was logged in to BSO? It went back and forth, over and over again. When Ren hid a small alarm clock to wake Motoyasu up in the middle of the night, Motoyasu fired back by covering Ren's entire room in gift-wrapping paper. When Ren answered by plugging in an extra mouse and keyboard into Motoyasu's computer to disrupt his session of Emerald Online, Motoyasu froze Ren's stuff in jelly!"
[Raphtalia] : "That sounds really funny!"
[Naofumi] : "Okay, then whose prank was it that caused the bathroom to break down a few months ago?"
[Itsuki] : "... I'm under oath not to tell you."
[Naofumi] : "So it was, in fact, a prank that caused it, like I suspected."
[Itsuki] : "... I-I said nothing."
[SKIT 061 : Skill Incantation]
[Naofumi] : "Just what was that skill, Itsuki!?"
[Itsuki] : "[Tempest Arrow]. It's a skill I recently unlocked last week. It's very powerful, but it takes a bit of time to charge up and having a high cooldown and SP cost to it. That wasn't the base version of it, since I've strengthened it to output as much power as I could get it to with my current access of materials."
[Naofumi] : "I never thought there would be a skill that would require an incantation as well."
[Itsuki] : "Huh? There isn't one though?"
[Naofumi] : "... Wait, but you said incantations before you fired [Tempest Arrow]. Something about the lightning roaring?"
[Itsuki] : "Oh, I made that up."
[Naofumi] : "You what?"
[Itsuki] : "I scripted a few drafts for what I should say as I was charging up the skill. That one felt the most cool to me. I thought it might help increase the atmosphere's tension if there were incantations attached to that skill."
[Naofumi] : "S-seriously?"
[Itsuki] : "Something wrong?"
[Naofumi] : "I mean, if you like doing that, I don't actually have any real problems with it. If it weren't for the situation right now, I would think it would be pretty fun. Though, I'm not too sure if I'd been straight-faced enough to say something I don't need to say."
[Itsuki] : "Don't worry. My incantations are primarily for Ren to hear."
[Naofumi] : "... Okay, now I'm lost."
[SKIT 062 : Minor Injury]
[Itsuki] : "We're not letting them get away with this. They're not going to be using my friends like that."
[Raphtalia] : "M-Mister Itsuki...? I know everything about this situation is disheartening..."
[Raphtalia] : "Maybe you should at least disinfect your wounds on your knuckles and cover it with bandages...?"
[Raphtalia] : "There's no way that it's not hurting..."
[Itsuki] : "You and I are hurting more than what my hands could feel."
[Itsuki] : "I can resist this pain for now."
[Raphtalia] : "Unlike our pain, at least your hand can be treated now."
[Itsuki] : "... Fine, I'll go see Welst."
[Itsuki] : (Geez, she's really starting to sound like you, Naofumi.)
[Itsuki] : (Worrying about others as much you do...)
