"Raphtalia, Rishia and half of the forces will be circling around the turtle to mount it from behind." said Naofumi
"And we are to attack it from the front?" said Marius.
"We're just distracting it and give the next city time to evacuate."
"Master, when are we gonna attack?" said Filo?
"Now."
Filo started sprinting towards the Spirit Turtle with Marius and Naofumi riding on her back.
"Marius. I brought you along because of your abilities. If you're gonna use it on the turtle use it." said Naofumi.
"It will take time. I still do not fully understand this power." said Marius.
"Well, learn it now. Cause we're gonna need it."
The Spirit Turtle saw them approaching and released the swarm of bat familiars. It then stomp the ground and sent a quake attack towards them. Filo quickly jumped to avoid the attack and continued running after she touched the ground. The Spirit Turtle lifted its foot, ready to trample the heroes.
"Hold on!" Filo then dodged the massive foot with incredible speed, with her two passengers holding her by the feathers.
Another massive foot was about to step on them. Naofumi used Meteor Shield to blocked it.
"Marius! Use it now!" Naofumi ordered.
Marius tried to activate the spear's power but was unable to. "I can't!"
"What! Why!"
"It does not work! The flames! I need the flames!"
"Well hurry up before the barrier broke!"
Marius tried to bring out the flames again but to no result. "Malaka! It will not come out!"
"Are you kidding me!"
The Meteor Shield broke, and Filo quickly moved out of the way of the attack. Then the bat familiars swarmed towards them.
"Nevermind! Just get the familiars away from me! I'll handle this turtle!"
The two dismounted Filo, Naofumi faced the Spirit Turtle and Marius equiped his spear and gladius. Several large magic circles formed in the sky and brought fire upon the familiars and the turtle.
A large number of familiars got through the fire attack, Marius and Filo started cutting them down to protect Naofumi. Facing the Spirit Turtle, Naofumi changed to the Wrath Shield. The turtle opened its mouth and fired a thunder attack. Naofumi blocked the attack with his strength.
Marius was covered with the blood of the familiars he cut down with his gladius. With the sight of the cascasses and having tasted the familiar taste of combat, the flame was slowly beginning to grow inside Marius. With the first wave of the swarm now killed, Marius and Filo turned around to see Naofumi fighting the Spirit Turtle.
The Spirit Turtle fired another thunder attack and it managed to go through Naofumi, sending electric shock to his body. Naofumi chanted healing spell on him but it did not recovered him from fatigue.
"Naofumi!" Marius called. "It's ready!"
"About damn time!"
The flames emerged from Marius body. He lifted his spear to the air and lighting struck the weapon, turning it into a lighting bolt.
"Filo is ready! Let's attack it together!" Filo braced herself and the two aimed for the turtle. "Spiral Strike!"
Filo launched herself at the turtle's throat and pierced through it. Before the wound could fully regenerated, the lighting spear flew into the hole Filo made. Marius then clenched his fist and a powerful lighting struck the turtle's throat, burning the flesh inside. Blood started pouring from the turtle's mouth as the inside of its throat was almost exposed.
Filo landed behind Naofumi to recover her magic, and Marius summoned the spear back to his hand. While the turtle regenerated its wound, it released more familiars in greater numbers. Large enough to darkened their surroundings.
With the remaining flames, Marius thrusted his spear towards the incoming swarm and created a barrier of lightning that killed the familiars as they got closed while Naofumi and Filo watched in awe. Gathering enough strength, Marius expanded the barrier, killing the incoming familiars.
The flames then quickly dissipated, and Marius fell on his knees as he supported himself with the spear and the shield, "There... I did it..."
"I didn't meant overdoing it." Naofumi looked at the turtle as it regenerated its wounds. "They should have sealed its heart by now... We need to go up there and help the rest."
"But what about the turle?" said Filo.
"We stalled it long enough. Let's go before the it finished regenerating."
"Okay." Filo approached the tired Marius and lowered her head, "Are you okay, Marius?"
"Tired, but I'm finished yet." said Marius.
"I'll help you recover your stamina, but we need to get up there ASAP. Filo, carry him if you have to."
Filo then cradled Marius in her wings while Naofumi climbed on her back. With a high leap, Filo jumped onto the Spirit Turtle's shell.
After gulping down an entire bottle of stamina potion, Marius felt his energy fully recovered.
"So I'm guessing the flames worked like a power meter." said Naofumi.
"Meaning?" said Marius.
"The more or longer you fought, the more it filled up your power meter. Really basic mechanic."
"I don't entirely understand what you said, but it does felt like that."
"If you're still my slave I can maybe see what your abilities are." Naofumi turned around to check their surroundings. They are closed to a ruined city that resembled ancient China. "Filo, can you sense where the armies went?"
"Hmmm... Probably... That way." Filo pointed at the mountain range outside of the city.
"Then let's go. We can't wait around any longer."
And with that, the two get on Filo and she runs towards the mountains. As they passed the ruined city, they could smell the foul stench of death around them. Then, they noticed the corpses started getting up and shambled towards them.
"Please hold on to Filo tighly." said Filo and she started kicking away any undead on her path.
"By the gods, this is madness!" said Marius.
After running passed the hordes of undead, they stopped at an empty part of the city. There, they spotted a Greek temple in the middle.
"Looked familiar to you?" said Naofumi.
"Yes."
They dismounted and headed inside the temple. Marius expected to see statues of the gods but only found treasure and artifacts stored inside.
"Look around. See if we can find anything that's related to the Spirit Turtle."
Looking around the temple in her human form, Filo spotted a mural with strange writings. Marius saw what she found.
"These are the writings of the samurai." said Marius.
"Can you read it?" said Filo.
Marius turned his head to Filo, " I don't speak Japanese."
"Wait, Japanese?" Naofumi quickly walked towards them and saw the mural.
"You can read it?"
"Read it? This is my language." Naofumi started reading the mural but found some parts faded and scratched out.
"So, what does it say?"
"It says something about the Spirit Turtle but some of the parts were missing. It was left behind by someone named Keiichi. But there's nothing interesting here, we should get going."
The onslaught of familiars attacked them to no end. The army of knights and the viking clans held off the attack. They are joined by Raphtalia who helped them on the frontlines and Rishia providing support magic from behind.
Fighting alongside his brethren, Rollo slashed and stabbed every familiars he sees. A gorrila-familiar grabbed hold of Rollo and smashed him to the ground. With his back on the ground, Rollo saw the beast lifting its fist in to crushed the viking.
Rollo only closed his eyes and he prepared for his own death. And just when the familiar was about to kill him, Filo kicked the beast away and Marius leaped on it and slashed its throat. Rollo opened one of his eyes and saw Naofumi lending his hand.
"Shield Brother! I was about to meet my glorius death!" said Rollo.
"Glad I could saved you in time." said Naofumi.
"Master Naofumi!" said Raphtalia as she ran towards them.
"Raphtalia. What's the situation?"
"We're in the middle of looking for the cave."
"And you still haven't found it?"
"No. According to the magic brigade, it's impossible to locate it with the turtle still moving."
As they fended off against the familiars, a small army of scouts arrived, "We've located a cave that's similar to the one spoken in the legend."
"Good. But we still need to deal with the familiars." said Naofumi.
"Shield Hero. You shall lead the knights to the cave. We will hold off the monsters." said Ulfric.
"Thanks. Everyone! Follow my lead!"
The knights started backing away, leaving the vikings to fight the familiars. They followed the Shield Hero as they make their way to the cave.
"We'll stay and fight! We'll dine in Valhalla!" the Raider shouted, and the viking war cry filled the air.
