The forest at night added an eerie ambience to the scene. Arabica and Naseem were level 60 and 80, respectively. He'd known that from the moment they joined his party.

It was only now that he felt that difference. They ran in an inconsistent pattern. Zigging and zagging here and there to get to the monsters while still making sure that he was close enough to absorb the monsters within his Shield while avoiding giving away the trail precisely. They could cover kilometres in the time it took for him to cover a couple of hundred meters. Of course, there was no point in completely avoiding leaving any trace of their travel and wasting time. It was more important that he level up.

The last battle had only been against a three-man patrol and it had been much too close. If it hadn't been for Arabica's illusion disrupting the magic attack, forcing it to lose form, Naofumi would be dead.

All three of them had agreed to power Naofumi up whenever possible, even if it slowed them down a bit, speed was not an advantage and hiding was not much of an option now that they'd been detected.

Naofumi watched the stats move up, almost in real-time, as Arabica and Naseem slaughtered the monsters. Well, almost all the stats, his attack was still negligible, much to his frustration. His defence on the other hand already surpassed Naseem.

He was only at level 33, but Naofumi wasn't worried.

The Church and that bitch would be sending more people after him soon. They'd die and he'd level up even more.

"Shield Hero," said Arabica, appearing out of nowhere, her body slowly becoming visible as if a heat shimmer was bursting from her clothes, "What is your defence stat's value right now?"

He told her a value.

Arabica gaped at him. The draconic woman looked truly ludicrous. Naofumi smirked at her irritating composure being lost. He saw her look to the corner of her eye where the details of party members were visible.

He found it strange that she didn't doubt him

His actual defence was twice the value he'd told her.

"That's amazing," she said, "Ahzad's never had a stat grow that fast!"

"Ahzad?" he asked, voice matching hers in that it was barely a whisper, the sounds of snapping branches and monster howls would ensure that their words went unheard.

The woman's eyes seemed to glow, "He's my half-brother," she said, "He was chosen by the Seven Star Claw, which is a weapon like your Shield." She added the last part after his confusion became obvious.

Naofumi scowled, "If you guys already have a Hero," he said, stopping and turning to her, "Why'd you need me?"

Arabica snorted, "The Claw is nothing compared to your Shield." she said firmly, "Lord Shield, it was due to the protection of your predecessors and the blessingsthey granted us that our nation thrives. My brother is strong in a fight, but he's not a God."

The Shield Hero said nothing and walked off. Arabica followed, uncertain, and apologized if she'd offended him.

He didn't respond.

Naofumi's mind was blazing. They'd told him about the Three Heroes Church. Arabica had spoken of the Shield Faith, noting how they were furious about his treatment, and that both Naseem and herself were here on their behalf.

It was only now that he caught a glimpse of the madness behind that belief. The fact that they saw him solely as the Shield Hero. As another miracle worker that will keep their country going. He snarled viciously as they left the canopy. The stars in the night sky twinkling down on him.

These bastards would fuck him over, just like what that trash king and Motoyasu and Mein did. The reasons would be different, but he could just imagine them declaring him a false god and making a spectacle of his execution.

But, he couldn't stay here. Nor could he simply walk into the lion's den with these two. Arabica may seem nice but that wouldn't last. One word from the Shield Church bastards and her illusions would be fucking with his mind.

He grimaced as he realized that he had barely any choices. Naofumi felt even more cornered when the level 80 came into view with a massive array of monster parts.

"Shield Hero," said Naseem, the smell of blood clinging to him like perfume, a small pile of monster parts near him as he waited on the edge of the forest.

Naofumi got to absorbing.

Each stat boost mastered weapon due to repeated absorption and skill added to his confidence. Added to his options.

None of them were good enough, yet. He wasn't good enough. No ability to attack. No skill at fighting and an inability to know where to go to escape patrols.

He couldn't fight a nation by himself.

The three of them headed to the coast where a boat awaited them to take them to Siltvelt. He knew that soldiers were patrolling the entire area they were in, only Arabica's illusion had lost them last time, but they were getting closer.

Closer to another nation in this prison of a world.

He was trapped.

Naofumi glared at the smug-looking Nun that had dropped in with a small army.

Arabica had vanished, her illusions ensured that her role in the battle was to disrupt the enemies and her ability to heal and enhance her allies ensured that staying away from the main thrust of battle was for the best. Of course, her high level ensured that she could fight, but the Nun and her 30 troops didn't look to be very low level.

He could only hope that she'd managed to stay hidden and actually do her job this time.

After all, the only reason they were ambushed so close to the meeting point with the monster they were meant to ride to safety was that the Nun and her squad had been hidden with illusions.

Naseem was behind him, chanting underneath his breath, his preparations hidden by the last-minute illusion that Arabica had cast. He was invisible and inaudible to anyone except his party members.

"Your pets are smarter than you, demon," said the white-haired woman with wrinkles, "but I expect that even you have some semblance of intelligence. Surrender now and you won't be harmed."

Naofumi scoffed. It was entirely involuntary. The Knights in full armour with their swords and spears and bows. The other nuns and monks and the men and women in robes all looked ready to attack. Each of them with dragons or filolials as mounts that looked ready to fight. His ability to sense magic was pretty poor, but the Shield had boosted his senses along with his level.

These people wanted him dead, but he needed to buy Naseem time.

"Why the hell do you want to capture me?" he asked, forcing himself to relax, reminding himself that his defence stat covered his whole body, "The last team just tried to kill me."

The Nun scowled, "You'll pay for their deaths," she said clutching the rosary in her hands tightly, before calming down, "it's clear that you won't surrender. His Holiness will have to do with your corpse. Atta-"

Naseem finished.

Some of the people facing him flinched, their instincts warning them despite the lack of obvious problems.

Lightning burst among his enemies.

In his world, the massive amount of current, blinding light and deafening sound would have been lethal for many, crippling for most and dangerous for all.

Here? Most of the filolial mounts died and the survivors went into a frenzy. The lightning tore through them, but most survived with charred flesh and little elsewhere nerve damage would have been common back home. His defence stat let him ignore the light and sound with ease. None of the others fared as well, but their disorientation was short-lived.

It was enough for Arabica, who had been hiding behind him and Naseem to slit their throats.

The Nun tried to rally them. She screamed, her deafness pushing her to scream even more loudly.

A Shield Prison from him, a barrier for containment made out of metal shields, was conjured with a thought. The leader and the people closest to her were isolated.

Without a commander, the small army troop was sent into further disarray.

First Shield, a massive green shield was used repeatedly to defend Naseem and Arabica as they jumped into the fray. Naofumi held Second Shield in reserve even as he moved the 4-meter tall green shield around the battlefield.

It couldn't attack, but it was unbreakable for these people.

A smile cut his lips at the levels he was gaining, but he didn't let his guard down.

It was wise. A knight reached him, raised his Sword high, "Die, Demon!" he screamed.

Naofumi walked into his range, raised his Shield to intercept the strike and smirked at the sight of the shock the man held when his sword snapped into two.

The tip of a poisoned dagger poked out of the Knight's throat a moment later. His body collapsed to reveal a furious, bloody Arabica. Who studied him, smiled at the lack of wounds and jumped back into the fray.

She looked terrifying and both his party members seemed to gain a second wind. The poor knights didn't survive for much longer, but none of them were pleased.

Naofumi absorbed the soldiers, nuns, monks and all their equipment. Arabica and Naseem paced. A loud argument erupted.

"We must go to the rendezvous point," said Naseem.

"We were ambushed on the way there. It's not safe." hissed Arabica, "We got lucky that the bitch was so arrogant. If they'd attacked us while in hiding we'd all be dead!"

"That was your fault," he said firmly.

Arabica looked furious, but guilt overtook it seconds later. She spoke after taking a deep breath, "You're right," she said, "I'm not skilled enough to see through the enemy's illusions, but that means that with our goal known to them we will be caught in better traps from now on."

Naseem bit his lip and said nothing. Naofumi stood up after absorbing the scum out to hunt him, dusted his clothes off and turned to Arabica.

"Do we have any other options?" he said flatly.

"The mountains along the border," said the dragon demi-human after a long pause. Naofumi raised a hand to silence Naseem when the man-made an interruption, "The security there is...inconsistent. Some places, those closest to the fortresses are dangerous, others are practically bare. The border is too big to patrol and secure fully and the mountains make it impossible to monitor every part of the area."

Naofumi felt lost. It was a familiar feeling and one that had accompanied him since he landed in this world.

"Why didn't we do this from the start?" he asked.

"Risk," she admitted, "The coasts are normally not as well guarded as the border. Now it is and so we have to look to other options."

"We should keep going," said Naseem frustrated, "My allies are ready to get us out once we're in position. The border has no such guarantees. We'll have to cover weeks worth of travel while being hunted."

"Is the coast any different?" she asked dryly while casting a healing spell on a gash on her arm, "We have thousands after us. What do you think the leader of the heretics here will do to the lord upon capturing him, huh? Better to do the unexpected."

The argument continued in that vein for a minute and Naofumi realized that this was his best shot of being free of both countries. He'd just need some luck.

The thought soured his mood, but determination buoyed it.

He'd won a fight and a sword had been completely negated by his defence stat. He needed allies and a glance at the monsters and the abilities the Shield forms had unlocked using it.

Dragon Growth Boost

Dragon Status Boost

Filolial Growth Boost

Filolial Status Boost

It was an obvious solution. People were untrustworthy, but animals didn't betray you unless you mistreated them and in this world, animals were far more dangerous than in his.

It was perfect.

"Can you get us some backup or help at the border?" he said, considering his two companions.

Both of them blinked at his sudden interruption to their argument, flushed as they realized that they had been ignoring him. Arabica shot Naseem a smirk as she realized that it was her idea being given weight.

"Yes," said Arabica firmly, "we'll have to travel to a town near the border, but I have means to communicate with my brother from there. Ahzad can teleport and I'm sure I can convince him to come to the border."

Naofumi's eyes turned to his Shield. Hope flared as he imagined teleporting away from everyone. Or dropping rocks on people by teleporting above them.

He needed that skill. If his inventory, monster absorption and item making matched then it was pretty likely that the teleportation skill would also match.

He hoped.

Naseem snorted, "He'll never be permitted to leave the homeland with the Wave coming in a few days. Certainly not to travel to Melromarc."

Arabica was cold and certain, "The Butcher is dead. And brother will not give the council a chance if I ask this of him," she said, "but...I'll be in debt to him and my mother."

"Good," said Naofumi, regretting hunting Filolials they'd seen before, "We'll have to get some mounts to make this quick enough."

"Right," said Arabica, glad to be getting her way, "We'll also need…"

The planning was done swiftly and they moved away from the coast with hundreds, if not thousands, hunting him in the wrong place and the transport that would take him to a country that he didn't trust.

He'd bought himself some time, a chance to gain some tools who wouldn't betray him and an excuse to use these two superhuman fighters to gain some levels while dodging his enemies.

Naofumi only had to make sure that he avoided the Claw guy.