UO: *Falls into studio, destroying the cameras* Um...that was insured, right?
NS: Eh, they're just props. Where were you?
UO: Um…*Looks at planning book* Making sure I don't get sick, surviving 2020 cause I have no idea how we lived this far and…*Squints* Fighting a Meth Gator...I hate Florida. Oh yeah, doing some of my own stuff.
NS: Yeah, that sure took a long while.
"Speech".
Text
Thought
Communication
Beast/Accursed/Divine
Skill/Spell/Technique
Chapter 6: Round 1
Rifana crouched in the shaded branches, breathing as quietly as she could. Her eyes, mostly hidden beneath her hood, locked onto the golden-furred monkey that sat just a few feet away. It scratched itself idly, using one of its six long arms, while another two hands sharpened a twig dexterously.
The Weasel demihuman drew her knife, waiting for the opportune time to strike, while a faint, glowing white mist flowed from her cloak, obscuring her form completely. They had come to this large dungeon that had been located inside a massive redwood. The dungeon itself seemed to rise into the sky well over 100 feet in height, its outer branches stretching out for what seemed like a mile.
The inside was largely hollow, with a sweeping spiral staircase leading them up the trunk, divided into multiple rooms. There, they encountered enemies expected of this type of dungeon: killer plants, larger bugs, small bird-like creatures and the like. But it was when they entered a large open area that things got difficult.
Monkeys swung nimbly from the branches that crisscrossed the inside of the tree, flinging rocks at Nick and Marcia with terrifying accuracy and speed. The large woman barely even flinched as they clanged off her armor, hitting Nick instead and sending him stumbling with a meaty thwack.
After cursing up a storm and making their newest member blush, Nick ducked behind the wolf girl's bulk, occasionally popping his head out to take a return potshot at the multi-limbed primates. Knowing that he would need some distraction, Rifana raced up a tree. Over the last few weeks, the young girl's level had risen steadily, bringing her nearly up to the same as her companions, and her body had grown with it. This led to some unfortunate timing as she'd grown while they weren't in town and the clothes didn't grow with her. Thankfully, the new ones that Nick had bought her beforehand had been large enough to account for that. As for skills, with her lithe size, climbing abilities and the skills that she'd learned from Nick's instruction and the recording of Gerrick's knifework, Rifana decided to go down the path of a Rogue. Considering the current party was a perfect fit with Nick as the back line and Marcia as the tank, this suited them fine. This led to her current situation as she snuck up on one of the monkey leaders. As the monkey scratched its head again, Rifana silently crept forward on the branches and with one quick motion leaped and stabbed the monkey in the skull with one swift, brutal motion. Her hand shook from the vibration of the impact, and she suppressed a shudder as the monster toppled off the branch down to ground below.
A chorus of angry screeches made her freeze as all the other monkeys immediately took notice of her. They coiled up and sprang towards, their many long arms flailing angrily, lips pulled back to reveal horrible fangs.
Where do I go? Rifana thought, stepping back, No matter which way I go, I'm not fast enough to dodge them on this branch…!
Suddenly, a chilling howl rang through the space, putting her hair on end and jolting her frozen muscles. The monkeys stopped, scrambling to change directions, while the weasel girl bolted for the tree trunk, scampering back down to the ground.
"Numbing Coating! Hive Shot!"
Dozens of yellow streaks shot from the honeycomb in Nick's Hive Bow, swerving through the air with an ominous buzzing to strike each of the monkeys. They quickly multiplied as the monkeys screeched and batted the bees around. As each stung, various effects popped up on Nick's HUD, telling him that he had successfully inflicted SPD Down and HIT Down. Then, swiftly, he pulled a number of arrows from his quiver and began nocking one after another, firing quickly and efficiently.
Six monkeys all dropped in a second, an arrow each piercing their eye, mouth or chest with unnerving accuracy. The rest scrambled and swung away into the trees, but Rifana stopped in her descent to hold out a hand, her glove suddenly glowing. She thrust her hand out and grabbed one of the fleeing monkeys by the tail and threw it back towards Marcia, who swung her axe in a mighty blow and cleaved through the monkey's neck, severing its head cleanly in a spray of red frost.
"Haah, that was close…!" sighed Rifana, sliding to the ground and leaning against the tree trunk.
"You did well," Nick told her, gathering up all the bodies and putting them in a pile, "That cloak hid you so well I almost missed you, and I knew where to look."
After teaching the demihuman how to fight, the Hero had taken the time to Socket her clothes, placing an Evanescent into her cloak to increase her speed and generate a stealthy fog, and Arcanites into her gloves to allow her to use magic with them.
"Where do you think the other monkeys went?" Marcia asked.
"Probably further in," Nick casually waved as he knelt down. "Hey Rifana, want to help?"
"Huh?" uttered the weasel girl, eyeing the corpses queasily.
"Your knife is better for disassembling these. I'm more likely to shock myself if I use it." He shrugged. "But if you don't want to, I'll make do."
She shuddered, but shook her head. "N-no…I just have never done this."
"Alright, I can give you a brief lesson. Marcia, can you watch our backs?" The wolf girl nodded and started to patrol. "So the first thing we gotta do is cut the belts off." He reached down and dug under its wrist. "You don't want to dig too deep for the fur on them. Or hair, cause they're mammals like us." As Nick spoke, he sliced the hands off before going up the length of the arm bones, all the way to the shoulder. He then came back and did the legs and back. Soon he had a full monkey pelt. Taking a whiff, he grimaced. "Damn, this thing needs a cleaning."
Rifanna looked ready to barf as she saw the insides of the body "S-so...what should I do?"
"Cut the jaw, find where they meet the skull and pry it off."
Rifanna looked at the dead body and traced the jaw line then jabbed the joint. "How are we going to preserve this going into town?"
Nick looked around. "Good point...these trees should have Resin that can act as preservative. Marcia, mind breaking up some of the bark? I'm looking for something like a plainer version of honey. Same color, not as sweet."
Marcia sniffed around and approached one of the sturdier sides of the massive tree. Bracing the edge of her axe against the side, she smacked the back, the edge biting deep into the bark. A small amount of tan colored liquid poured out. "This looks like it, Sir Nick?"
Nick walked over and examined the liquid. "Yes. Find some more and then we can preserve these bones.
"Is there anything else we can do?" Rifana asked as she took some of the resin and coated the bones and muscles.
"Well there should be treasure here and something to improve my bow," he said looking around. "Probably hidden, let's start knocking on the walls."
The trio walked around the room, knocking on the bark and hoping to find something out of place. It was when Rifana got to an area near the western wall that she heard a hollow thunk. "I think something's here!"
Nick and Marcia rushed over and with some maneuvering, popped open the bark. Tossing it aside, they spotted several stashes of packeted seeds and shiny, orange-colored rocks.
"Awesome, amber!" Nick said rushing in. "This is very hard to come by 'cause the only way you can get it is with ancient tree sap."
"What about these?" Rifana asked, holding up several small paper packets.
"Those look like seeds. Depending on what's in 'em, I bet some of these villagers would pay a lot for these. Let's pack up and head out. We got a good haul for our first time as a team."
RIfana smiled and grabbed a bag, before following her new companions out of the dungeon. Making their way down the winding stairs, they marched out of the tree into a mountainous forest bathed in the setting sun, the Dungeon Tree set atop a tall hill that overlooked the rest.
"Got to love that view huh," Nick remarked mildly. "We should be able to get out of the woods before sundown if we hurry."
"Yes sir."
"Right."
The trio walked through the woods, with less urgency than before. Nick took the time to watch his companions. Looking at Marcia, it was very hard not to notice how much she had grown the last couple of weeks, not only in height (now towering even further over the Hero), but also from how she would frequently roll her shoulders and complain that her plate armor was constricting her chest.
Sadly, there wasn't much that Nick could do for her on that front with his gems. Or rather, he could have, if he were to use the one-time upgrade from a Forgestone. As it was, however, he felt that it would be worth waiting to do so until she upgraded to a higher quality suit of armor. As it was right now, with the regular steel plate she had, a charging boar could bounce right off her without so much as a flinch.
Looking at their new party member, however, the Hero knew that he'd made the right call in Socketing an Evanescent into Rifana's cloak. The obscuring mists that the gem could call forth were ideal for someone as fragile as her, letting her slip past all but the most vigilant monsters. Similarly, the Arcanites he'd put in her gloves would allow her to easily retrieve her daggers after throwing them, along with letting her scale even the flattest wall.
As for himself, he had picked up several materials over the last few weeks that he could absorb for his arrows and bow. Idly, he brought out his notebook and began paging through each one he'd unlocked in the last few weeks.
Amber Coating
SP Cost: 30
Effect: Sticky Shot, SPD Down (Med)
Asura Monkey Bone Arrow
Effect: +45 ATK
Asura Monkey Leather Shortbow
Uncommon
Ability: Sixfold Shot
Type Bonus: +50 SPD
Weak Poison Coating
SP Cost: 1
Effect: Damage over Time (Small)
Intermediate Poison Coating
SP Cost: 1
Effect: Damage Over Time (Med)
Delayed Poison Coating
Effect: Status Intensity
Injector Arrow
Effect: Critical Status
Catalyst Shortbow
Rare
Effect: Status Merge, Status Recipes 1
Type Bonus: +500 SPD
Verdant Seed Arrow
Effect: RES Up (Large), Healing Up (Large), Recovery Recipes 1
"Um, Sir Nick? What are you doing?" Rifana asked.
He glanced up for a moment, before leafing over to the pages of recipes that he'd unlocked. "Ah, nothing. Just looking over what I've gotten so far. Hm…Perhaps we should save some of these seeds. If they grow into the right herbs, I could use them to make new poisons and medicines."
Both girls wrinkled their noses. Given how powerful the Hero was already, able to snipe any monster with lethal precision, it made no sense for him to use things like poisons. However, as long as the Bow would continue to unlock new forms and abilities, Nick saw little point in pursuing raw damage output alone.
Thus, for every boar and two-headed leopard that found itself with an arrow growing out of it, two of them shortly found themselves keeling over as the poison coating said arrows drained their health away. That was, if Marcia's axe didn't split them in two or Rifana's daggers didn't carve them open.
Soon enough they were out of the forest and approaching the settlement outside of the woods. Nick figured they could use some of the seeds they found before they had to go back to the capital.
We probably have another week left before we need to upgrade Marcia's armor. Then he paused. "Actually, now that I think about it, how are we supposed to know where the first Dungeon will appear? I mean, I gotta know when we have to actually fight these waves."
"If the legends are true, the four heroes have to commune with the Dragon Hourglass," Rifana offered, "There's one in the capital, I think."
Nick stopped. "...Dragon Hourglass?"
"Oh, I know what that is!" said Marcia brightly, "The big cities are all built around them, and they count down until the next Wave!" Then she frowned at the Hero. "Did you not know that, Sir Nick?"
"No, I didn't!" groaned Nick, putting his head in his hands, "Only a few weeks and we already gotta go back…damnit. And you say that there's more than one?"
"Apparently," said Rifana, shrugging, "I never really asked. My parents mentioned it, but…" she trailed off, biting her lip. "I don't know how long ago it was, but the first Dungeon appeared in my and Raphtalia's hometown, and the monsters…"
Nick nodded somberly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. In that case, we'd better go register with the Hourglass, in order to stop the Dungeons from claiming any more towns like yours."
"Yes…"
"First, let's drop off these seeds at the village, see if they'll take 'em off our hands."
Two days Later
The trio watched from the wagon they were riding in as they rolled towards the capital's gate, pulled along by a large, ostrich-like bird. The village they'd sold the seeds to was thankful for their spoils, resulting in a 75 Silver profit, a nice meal by the chieftain and a ride back to the capital on a Filorial wagon.
While they weren't the most exotic things Nick had ever seen, the large, fluffy birds had a charm to them, occasionally squawking quietly as one happily pulled their wagon. Apparently such things appealed to their nesting instincts, which raised many questions about how these Filorials worked as a species.
Hopping off the cart, Nick stretched his back. "Well back to the grind." Looking back, he saw Marcia stand to her full height, having been forced to bend over. The release tension nearly knocked Rifana to the ground. "That ride must have been brutal on your spine Marcia."
The direwolf girl eagerly clambered out of the wagon and unfolded herself to her full height of a little under seven feet. She popped her back with a whine, her ears and tail sticking straight out, the guards at the gate eyeing her with wary trepidation. "Not as bad as my armor, I really need new clothes, Master Nick."
"Then let's find a proper tailor. Hopefully the smith knows to expect us…"
Rifana nodded, even as she pulled up her hood and wrapped her green cloak a little more securely around herself, hoping to hide her face. Even with Nick's presence, she preferred to have as few humans identify her as possible. "I'm fine with what I have for now," she murmured.
Nick gave her a nod, before leading them to the smith. The Bow Hero waited outside as the smith he trusted fitted the much bigger girl with a new set of armor.
"Sir Nick? I'm ready!" Marcia called out. Stepping out of the shop, the wolf girl looked imposing in her new armor, even besides her general size. Starting from the legs, she had knee length metal greaves that allowed some of her thick, powerful, dark thighs to show through. Her skirt was short enough to allow her fluffy tail some freedom to wag freely. Her chest was fitted with metal that was big enough to allow her chest to grow further. In her arms was a metal helmet, which she then put on. It obscured her round face entirely, leaving only her ears sticking up out of the top. If not for the skirt, it would be impossible to even tell that she was a girl.
"Wow…looking good!" Nick complimented her, giving her a thumbs up, "Real intimidating."
"Thank you." The wolf girl ducked her head, her tail wagging energetically as she beamed under her helmet. Of course, said helmet only served to make her loom over him, thanks to her hidden expression.
He chuckled, patting her on the side with a dull clank. "C'mon, the hourglass is in the church."
The trio walked through town, the townsfolk giving them space, though whether through respect as one of the Cardinal heroes, or intimidation via Marcia's mountainous size Nick wasn't sure. Not that it mattered.
Rifana clutched her cloak closer, hiding in the wolf girl's shadow as she trailed behind the Hero. Unwittingly, wisps of mist rolled off the fabric, blurring and dulling her edges to make her even harder to notice. Sensing her distress, Marcia lifted up her tail and brushed it against the Weasel girl's cheek, calming her down.
Soon enough, they reached the large, ornately constructed church. Above the door hung a strange symbol, resembling a curved, horizontal bow, crossed over the connected blade of a sword and a spear-tip. "Ah. I guess this is the Church of the Three Heroes, then," he commented, grimacing.
"But...there's four heroes," Marcia pointed out confusedly.
"Yeah, well, these folks like to pretend otherwise."
She was silent, except to look up at the symbol with a clanking of armor. "To think that they don't even show the Shield."
"The shield is a hero especially to us Demihumans."
"That's why they don't have it here. Melromarc has been at war with Siltvelt for years, from what I've heard."
As they entered, a young woman dressed in the vestments of a nun came walking up to them. "Good day, sir. How may I…o-oh my! That weapon...you're Hero of the Bow, are you not?" She quickly bowed low. "It's an honor!"
He shrugged, rubbing the back of his head. "Not at the moment, surely? I've scarcely done anything all that praiseworthy yet. Be that as it may, I'm here to synchronize with the Dragon Hourglass."
"It seems you are the third to arrive, the Spear Hero was ahead of you...and he's giving that devil what for."
Nick blinked at her, momentarily, confused, then quickly grimaced under his scarf. "Is that so? Well, by all means, lay on."
Bowing quickly, though eyeing Marcia warily, the nun led them further into the church, opening yet another door. Beyond it was a spacious room, with high, stained glass windows, pillars, and a glimmering, ornate hourglass. It was quite the massive thing, standing even taller than the wolf-girl, with multiple bulbs through which glowing sand trickled.
Standing in the middle of the room were a familiar four people. Naofumi was glaring straight ahead, arms crossed over his chest, while next to him stood a familiar brown-haired girl with rounded ears atop her head. Much like Rifana, Raphtalia had rapidly grown over the past month or so into a lovely young woman, wearing a dark red and yellow long-sleeved dress, over which was a simple breastplate. The Shield Hero had draped himself in a long green cloak, again similarly to Rifana, though this seemed more like a coincidence than anything else. Underneath that, he wore a broad, sturdy chest plate which, along with the leather that now padded his thighs and arms, was lined with fur.
Standing off to the side, with haughty expressions were Motoyasu and his newest companion, Myne. The former was dressed in a long red leather suit, with plate mail over his chest and shoulders, while knee length metal greeves completed the look, giving him the look of a classical medieval chivalrous knight. The woman looked much the same as before, wearing a short skirt and a shoulderless purple dress, with detached sleeves.
"...that you could even show your face back here," Motoyasu was saying, calling out to the Shield Hero, "Have you no shame, Naofumi?"
"I could say the same, picking a fight in a church," Nick spoke up, strolling towards them. Marcia stuck close to him, but Rifana remained frozen, staring at an unaware Raphtalia. "Naofumi," he greeted simply, smiling.
"Nick," the Shield Hero answered back, his expression softening slightly.
Raphtalia gave him a polite smile and a bow. "Ah, Sir Nick! It's nice to see you again!"
"You as well, Raphtalia. I see that you and Naofumi have strengthened yourself nicely."
"Yes!" she said brightly, "Although Master Naofumi got a little careless today with a Porcupine."
"Oi, you don't need to tell him that!" snapped the Shield Hero, looking aggrieved, "I swear, you're just not gonna let that go, are you…"
"O-oh, Nick…" mumbled Motoyasu, giving him a disconcerted look, "You know Raphtalia?"
"Since she was about yey high," Nick replied wryly, not bothering with a measurement, "Which was a month ago, I believe."
The other Hero blinked, then seemingly chose to ignore that bit of information. "Listen, Nick, you can't seriously be okay with Naofumi having another girl following him around, right? Not after what happened with Myne?"
The older man's gaze slid slowly to the redhead, who quickly hid herself behind Motoyasu with a pitiful expression on her face. Then, he turned wordlessly back to Naofumi, completely ignoring the question. "So, are you here for the Hourglass as well?"
"Y-yeah," said the dark-haired young man slowly, "I only just heard about it."
"Same," Nick sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I can only hope I'm not too late."
"Well, according to the timer, the Wave isn't for another twenty four minutes."
His eyes bulged. "Twenty four-?!" He quickly strode over to the hourglass, unslung his bow and held it out. The yellow gem in the center immediately began to glow, before a beam of light lanced out to strike the hourglass, the sands flashing.
Instantly a timer appeared at the top of Nick's view, counting down from twenty four minutes. "Oh my god…I almost missed it…"
"Hah!" huffed Myne, tossing her hair with a smug smirk, "What an irresponsible Hero, almost running late for what the Kingdom needs him for!"
"Oh yes," he replied sarcastically, "How irresponsible, to go around helping people in the kingdom in preparation for said event. Speaking of which, Motoyasu, what have you been doing to prepare?"
"I've been training, of course!" declared the blond man proudly.
"Good. And what about your other party members? Why is it only this one?"
The redhead sneered quietly at the Bow Hero behind her own Hero's back at being referred to so dismissively.
"Oh, well, the others are off resting from our journey."
"Well, let's hope they're not rudely awakened. You've got twenty minutes."
"Ack!"
Meanwhile, Naofumi frowned as Marcia loomed over him, her eyes boring into him from behind her helmet. "Um…hello?" She didn't really answer. However, the man noticed her tail wagging and raised an eyebrow at her. "So, uh...you've got some Demihuman companions as well, Nick?"
"That's right. Ran into Marcia just outside of the city a while ago."
"Hah!" snorted Myne derisively, "What could an animal do? Something of that size could only ever get in the way of Sir Motoyasu's attacks and hinder him!"
Nick's eyes narrowed, but this time Marcia spoke up, her voice distorted by the metal helmet. "Sir Nick and I have practiced. The only attacks I'll get in the way of are the enemy's!"
"No one told you to speak, you brutish beast!"
She cocked her head. "So what?"
The redhead snarled at that, but owing to the massive height disadvantage, she decided to keep her mouth shut and instead hid behind Motoyasu again. The Spear Hero frowned up at Marcia. "Hey, anyone ever tell you to pick on someone your own size?"
"Yes."
That seemed to give him pause. "A-and you're still using your size to intimidate people?!"
Marcia cocked her head. "I intimidate people?
"You…"
"Now now, Marcia," sighed Nick, patting her arm, "Let's not waste any more time in here. We can hash out our differences after the Wave."
"Yes sir!"
It was at this point that Ren came swaggering into the church, trying not to look like he was rushing. "I'm not too late, am I?" he asked casually, but Nick could detect just a hint of worry.
"Last one to arrive, we got about fifteen minutes. Go sync up. See you at the Dungeon." With that Nick headed outside, to get some air and to get away from the egos of the Spear Hero and his companion.
"Hey Nick," Naofumi called out, following him.
"Hey," the Bow hero replied, "How's the adventuring been?"
"With Raphtalia, actually kind of nice," the other man replied. "We've been helping this village out, doing some mining, clearing monsters out of said mine…"
"Just a mine?" asked Nick, surprised, "Not an old Dungeon?"
The Shield Hero grimaced. "I'd rather not go into one with just one attacker."
"Fair enough. Honestly, I'm wondering how much of a bother the Boss will be; all the Dungeon monsters I've fought up until now haven't been all that tough."
Naofumi grunted. "Sounds promising. Well, I dunno how much help I'll be in that case, but I've a few ideas."
The Bow Hero only nodded briskly, as the timer at the top of his vision counted down to two minutes. "Almost show time, ready?"
"As I can be."
They waited as the timer ticked down. In fact, Nick realized that he could actually hear the ticking of a clock.
1:58
Tick.
1:57
Tick.
As the seconds went by, it became louder and louder. The man grimaced, unslinging his bow, each count of the clock emphasizing the beat of his heart. Even with all his experience, watching the numbers count down to an unknown challenge filled him with dread.
It was probably for that reason that the gods had not yet tired of watching him.
0:10
TICK.
0:09
TICK.
TICK.
TICK.
TICK.
TICK.
TICK.
TICK.
TICK.
And then, finally, the last second burned off.
BONGGGGG…
As a bell began to toll, the sound rolling over him, the world began to glow with a green light. Or rather, just the ground around him, along with Naofumi, and their companions.
Between one blink and the next, the town around them vanished, and suddenly the two of them found themselves standing on a hill. The sky above them had changed, tearing open to expose some otherworldly purple and yellow-colored space beyond. The tears were all curved, forming ripples in the sky, that all converged over a small mountain that loomed above them in the distance.
"So the Dungeon is a mountain?" sighed Nick, rolling his shoulder, "That doesn't seem so bad…just wish I knew where we were." He tried checking his mental map, but wherever he and Naofumi had ended up was too far from anywhere familiar for him to be able to orient himself. Just in time to see several monsters appear out of nowhere. They ranged from orcs as big as Marcia, lizardmen with leather armor, to skeletons popping out of the ground, all carrying various weapons. "Oh here we go!" He grabbed his bow and fired off two arrows, dropping an orc before they could take more than a step.
Naofumi blinked. "...Holy shit, that was fast."
Nick shrugged. "Well when you've been wandering the wilderness and plundering old Dungeons, you tend to rack up some stat boosts." As he said this, he watched as Marcia and Raphtalia started forward to confront the skeletons. "Any idea where we are?"
Naofumi looked around, frowning. There was something familiar about this area, in fact. However, as his eyes alighted on the telltale sight of a distant town and comprehension dawned, he gasped. "No…"
"What is it?"
"That's...that's Lute Village! The monsters are spawning outside already, and it's right over there!"
Grimacing, Nick followed his gaze, before turning back towards the mountain. "Well then, we'd better get moving. The sooner we defeat the boss, the sooner the village can be saved."
However, as he moved, Naofumi suddenly grabbed his arm. "Wait just a second. It'll take the soldiers from the capital too long to show up. If we all go into the Dungeon, then who's gonna keep those people from dying?"
"We don't have much of a choice if we want to stop this Wave! We need all four of the Heroes right?"
Naofumi growled and looked down. "...No, not yet."
"Huh?"
"It's still an early Wave, right? It might not need all of us yet. You and the other two, you go in after the boss, and I'll protect the village with Raphtalia."
"You're not defending that village with two people," Nick told him, sighing, "That's why, Marcia, Rifana, go with the Shield Hero to the village."
Raphtalia's eyes widened, rocking back slightly at the second name, gazing in shock at the cloaked figure. However, before she could say anything, Marcia nodded eagerly. "Yes! I won't let you down, Sir Nick!"
Rifana nodded as well, drawing her daggers. "We can't make you look bad, after all."
"Focus on keeping people alive, not my reputation," grunted Nick, "But you know, this'll just reinforce the others thinking that the Shield is useless."
Naofumi grimaced. "I…well, right now, you don't need someone to take the hits."
"Yeah, I'll probably just try and dodge," admitted the Bow Hero.
"Then I'll use my Shield for the people who do need it."
Nick sighed. "Good fucking luck. At least you'll be good against the skeletons?"
"How?" groaned Naofumi, "My Attack stat is total trash!"
"And you've got a big plate of metal versus bones. You don't need numbers to knock some skulls off and give monsters a concussion!"
Naofumi stared at him and then facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"Go, we got the monsters here!" Nick ordered.
Naofumi nodded and he and the three demihumans raced down the hill. Myne, seeing this, scoffed. "What the hell is that devil going? Pillaging for more victims?"
"He's doing his fucking job as a Hero!" Nick snapped. "Until the knights get here, we're all that town has and we need to clear this dungeon now! So both of you, get your asses in gear!"
Ren shrugged nonchalantly, his party standing nervously behind him. "I've been ready."
"Well that makes two of us," Nick sighed. So far, the Sword Hero had left the least impression on him. His stoic demeanor and few words made him difficult to read. Shrugging, the older man turned and ran towards the mountain, his SPD stat easily outpacing the other heroes.
Thanks to his HIT stat, he was able to notice an opening in the mountain halfway up the slope, and bounded up towards it, easily scaling the small footholds. Drawing a bundle of arrows from his quiver, he fired three into a lanky, scaly lizardman that spawned just in front of him, knocking it over and letting it tumble down the mountain limply.
When the other heroes caught up a moment later, their companions gasping and panting from the climb, Nick was waiting for them at a wide archway carved into the mountainside. A barrier shone in the opening, emblazoned with a diamond-shaped marking, each corner marked with a red, blue, green and yellow light.
"You're pretty fast for an old guy," commented Ren idly, "I thought an archer class was supposed to be bad at close range."
"Well, we're gonna be heading into an enclosed space, so long distance shooting won't do us much good," the Bow Hero pointed out, shrugging.
"Looks like only our weapons can open up the Dungeon. Hopefully we don't need all four at once…damn, and Naofumi is too far away."
The other two shrugged, lifting their respective weapons. Sighing, Nick did the same, all three Heroes pointing the gems of their weapons at the barrier. Each began to glow, the Bow with yellow light, red shining from the Spear, and the Sword flashing blue. A thin ray of light shot from the weapons, striking the respective spots on the glowing wall. The diamond-shaped symbol pulsed once, before the entire thing faded away.
Before any of them could think anything more than, Oh hey, it worked, a tide of monsters came streaming out towards them.
TBH
Naofumi raced into town, the demihumans hot on his heels. Screams of terror echoed through the village as orcs smashed through the buildings, while lizardmen began to ignite the remains. The few armed guards this village had were in a desperate struggle with many of the monsters, those who couldn't fight were being hunted down.
"Not good! Raphtalia, help the guards!" The Shield Hero ordered.
"On it Naofumi-sama!"
He looked at the giant wolf. "Marcia, right?"
"Yes! What do you want me to do?"
"Those orcs are gonna be the toughest, you think you can take them?"
"I can!"
"And Rifana, right?" Naofumi turned to the smaller weasel girl.
"Y-yes?"
"Help escort the villagers out and take out anything you see." Spying a woman and child fallen to the ground and at the mercy of a hissing lizardman, he rushed over and threw out his hand, his Shield transforming into a rectangular mass of tightly-placed pipes. "Shield Prison!"
With a flash of light and a whirling of wind, an array of solid, green kite shields suddenly sprang into being around the woman, rapidly locking together in a tight sphere, which was quickly bound in chains. The lizardman's sword harmlessly bounced off of it, making the monster stumble for a moment. Even as Naofumi released the Skill and ran forward with a yell, he threw out a punch, Shield clenched in his fist, and SLAMMED the plate of metal into the monster's face.
"Find shelter!" he told the woman as the monster fell back, "Now!"
"Th-thank you so much!" she gasped, running in the direction he'd come from.
Before the monster could regroup and attack, Raphtalia dashed in from out of nowhere, her sword hacking through its side and nearly slicing it in half.
" A little close, wouldn't you say!" Naofumi huffed, though he gave her a smile to take the sting out of his words.
"Sorry, my sword-arm is a little slow!" she replied seriously. She glanced towards the outside of town where the two other demihumans raced off and frowned. "But to think that that was…"
"You know that girl?" Naofumi asked, "I'll be honest, I barely noticed her before, with that big mountain following Nick around."
"She...was a friend of. When I was sold to that merchant, we were separated."
"Well, catch up later, there's too many monsters around here!"
"Of course, Naofumi-sama!"
In town, the screams had continued. But instead of human cries of terror, they were of orcs and lizardmen fleeing in panic as Marcia charged headlong into the throng. She swung her axe back and forth, smashing through skeleton after skeleton, and unleashing blasts of freezing wind simultaneously, which slowed the other monsters. Her blade buried itself deep in their flesh, freezing it even further as she hacked them to pieces with ferocity, snarling. All the while, a green shadow flitted around her, Rifana's daggers flashing and slicing dozens of cuts into them as well.
It was on this massacre, that Naofumi and Raphtalia approached having evacuated the rest of the village. "What's the situation?"
"We've cleared out this section, but if we don't do something, the rest of them are gonna hunt the survivors!" Marcia pointed out. In any other situation, she might have started squealing with glee that she was talking to the Shield Hero, but things were too serious.
Naofumi grunted in agreement, glancing around. "Yeah...we need something to draw them off some more." Then, his eye landed on an abandoned, weak watchtower. "...I'll be right back."
"Eh, wha-?" Before Raphtalia could stop him, the young man suddenly ran off, snatching up a still lit torch.
"Oi! Over here!" he yelled, waving the torch back and forth. Predictably, all the monsters turned towards him, and began stampeding towards him. He smiled grimly, and took off again, heading for the tower. His Shield quickly morphed into a flat coil of rope with a grappling hook at the end, which he quickly flung out, the hook catching onto the roof before he quickly retracted it, pulling himself up to the top quickly.
"That's it, a little more," Naofumi said, taunting them as they approached the rickety structure, intent on hunting the one that was taunting them. As they began climbing up the legs, however, he touched the torch to the roof, allowing the flames to spread. Those who were nearing the top, roared in pain as the flames quickly consumed them, their falling bodies spreading the flames into the rest of the group, not to mention crushing. Naofumi grinned and leaped off the tower. Landing, he turned his shield back to normal and slammed it against the structure. The flames and the impact were enough to destroy whatever stability the tower had left. The beasts and skeletons screamed as the flames swallowed them and burned them to ash. Naofumi found grim satisfaction in their deaths, preventing further damage to the village.
A loud horn broke his musing, making him look around. His eyes widened. "Raphtalia, Rifana, get over here!" he yelled.
The racoon girl instantly sped to his side, the other girl close behind. He threw his cloak around them and crouched down, raising his Shield up high and transforming it into a diamond-shaped metal form. As a small dome of energy flared up around them, Marcia glanced up as well, before hunkering down behind her own large round shield, which likewise flared with magic.
A moment later, a torrent of fireballs rained down from the sky, blasting many buildings into pieces and smashing the remaining monsters into nothingness. Just as soon as the barrage started, however, it stopped, and Naofumi peeked over his shield warily. When no further attacks came, he sighed and released the two girls. "Ah, sorry," he told Rifana, bracing himself for a tirade about grabbing a girl so tightly.
However, she only tugged at her hood, trying to hide her reddening face as she mumbled. "I-it's okay…"
"I'm okay!" Marcia piped up, lowering her shield.
"O-oh, right...that's good," said the Shield Hero, giving the armored warrior an apprehensive look, "Er...sorry that I left you out."
She shook her head, tail wagging. "I don't mind! I'm tough enough that you don't need to protect me, Shield-sama!"
He stared oddly at her, but decided to let it be. I guess it makes sense that Nick would want someone tough…
The sound of clanking armor made him look around as a line of armored soldiers marched into the town, carrying spears. "About time you guys showed up!" he called out to them, "Though you cut it a little close there!"
The man at the front, who bore a particularly thick mustache, sneered openly at him, making his hackles rise unwittingly. "Oh, so the Shield Hero was here? Well, it's a good thing that you survived…I suppose."
Naofumi gritted his teeth. "Yeah, it's a good thing that we got the villagers out first too, otherwise you would've killed them all with your fireballs!"
While the captain scoffed, the soldiers behind him all shifted, giving each other uneasy looks. Another man, with a tired expression and an unshaven jaw, grimaced regretfully.
"No matter. Men, form up! We're heading for the Dungeon to join the Heroes!"
"Oi, what about the village?" demanded the fourth Hero, "Who's gonna keep the monsters from respawning and overrunning again?"
"The fate of one village is not our concern," huffed the captain, "Besides which, I would rather step in front of a dragon than lend my troops to a criminal."
Raphtalia, who had slowly been growing more and more tense at his side, suddenly exploded into motion. Before Naofumi could even blink, her sword suddenly clashed against the unshaven lieutenant's sword, inches from slicing through the commander's body.
Before the captain could retaliate, several shouts rang up. The knights watched nervously as Raphtallia marched up to them, her fluffy tail bristling in fury. "How dare you!" The Racoon demihuman shouted. First you attack without any thought for the village, then you insult one of your own Heroes!"
Naofumi grabbed her shoulder. "Relax, Raphtalia. Whatever problem they have isn't our job to fix." He glared at the lieutenant. "You don't need all of the knights here. I'm sure you can spare a few people to protect the village. After all, until this dungeon is cleared, they will keep coming back."
The lieutenant nodded. "I understand. But if I disobey…"
"Do the right thing, you have rank!" Naofumi demanded.
Sighing, the lieutenant turned to the colonel. "Request to split our forces to help protect the village."
"Denied, this village and all these demi human lovers can be left to the wolves.
Marcia cocked her head, bemused. "I was doing okay, but there's only one of me."
Rifana sighed. "It's a figure of speech, Marcia. He's saying that he doesn't care about this place at all."
"Ohhhh...eh? Eh?!" The Dire Wolf-girl's helmet swiveled around to fix the captain with an indignant glare. "Are you really saying that? Are you really? What are you, an idiot?!"
Naofumi began to chuckle quietly as the mustachioed man sputtered at the insult.
"Sir Nick says that without its towns and people, a kingdom is nothing! What kind of soldier leaves people to die!"
The colonel sneered up at her. "Oh, and what are you going to do about it? Tell someone? As if anyone will believe a brutish beast like you. Go howl at the moon like the dog you are."
Marcia swelled with her own indignation, and a low, rumbling growl emanated from her black armor.
Oh boy… thought Naofumi, cringing slightly as the colonel paled under the warrior's gaze, I bet this guy would even leave a mark on me if I pissed him off…
Finally, the lieutenant cleared his throat. "You are correct, though. Protecting the people is our duty. Besides, it's not likely that all one hundred soldiers are going to fit into the Dungeon."
"Ugh, don't start with that again!" groaned his superior, rolling his eyes, "We need to bring the full might of our military against the-"
"Which is why I will be staying behind. Surely your military prowess will be sufficient to lead our troops without me."
Naofumi smirked, detecting the sarcasm that dripped from the unshaven lieutenant's voice. "I agree, why doesn't the good captain come with me?"
The captain growled, knowing he was in a no win situation. "Fine, I will go with you Shield Demon!"
Naofumi scoffed. "Whatever."
"Whoever wants to stay and actually give a damn about this village, come with me!" the lieutenant ordered. After some murmerings, only eight soldiers stepped forward. From the reactions of the villagers, they appeared to be from this village as some approached them in tears.
While the captain scoffed and stormed off to gather his men for the dungeon run, Raphtalia approached Rifana, who had lowered her hood. "R-Rifana?" She asked hesitantly.
The other girl turned towards her, smiling shakily. "H-hey, Raphtalia…" Tears welled up in her eyes, mirrored in her friend. "When I heard that you were okay, and that you were with the Shield Hero, I…I wondered all that time what I was going to say."
Raphtalia bit her lip, tears spilling down her face.
"Would you be happy? Would you be mad, that I escaped without the others?" Rifana bunched up on herself, drawing her cloak around herself, her smile growing weaker. "I couldn't take it anymore. Even though I was sick, I couldn't wait for Keel to come back before I ran…you always helped me stay brave, Raphtalia, but without you, I could only run away…!" Her own tears dripped hot and fat from her chin as she finally let loose a sob. "I'm sorry…even though you were always smiling, I don't know if...if I have the right to be happy to see you…!"
She began to back away, but Raphtalia wordlessly seized her arm and yanked her forward, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. "I thought I'd never see you again!" she bawled, squeezing the Weasel girl, "When I heard…when I heard that Seaetto was gone, I thought that we could never be happy again! I…I…!"
Even as the two cried into each other's shoulders, Rifana wrapping her arms around her friend's lower back, Marcia sniffled, watching them.
Naofumi rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Well as nice as this is, we might want to get ready for the dungeon."
"Sir Naofumi is right. E-even if this is totally beautiful, we're not done here!" Marcia declared, taking off her helmet to wipe her face.
Without her helmet, the Shield Hero was startled to see her soft, distinctly feminine face. "Wait, you're a girl?" he asked.
"Y...yes?" she confirmed, blinking, "Wasn't it obvious? I mean, I have a skirt…"
"I just thought that was a kilt or something! And that helmet totally disguised your voice!"
"Eh, really?" She furrowed her brow, even as she wiped at her tear-stained face, "Did…did you really think I was a man?"
Naofumi groaned, covering his face with his Shield. I hope the other Heroes are having this much difficulty.
TBH
AN: And that's a wrap! The first Wave-Dungeon is underway and the Heroes have...convened. I certainly wouldn't call them united just yet.
UO: *Sharpens Blade* Sorry, was thinking of ways to humiliate a certain princess.
NS: There will be time for that…but later. Next time, we'll be getting into the Dungeon itself, and fleshing out the canonically off-screen boss fight against the Chimera. And I hate half-assing fights.
Now, current levels of the party! If they're too low compared to how Naofumi and Raphtalia were in canon...it's because I couldn't muster the energy to try and research that shit.
As for why the other Heroes were unable to tell that Marcia was a girl: in Japanese, a name like hers would not come across as feminine to them. In Japanese, female names tend to end in something like -ko, or -na, etc. A name ending in an 'a' sound being feminine comes from Romance languages like Latin, Spanish or Italian, which folks like Naofumi COULD possibly be familiar with, but given all the heavy armor, Marcia being an Absolute Unit, and Motoyasu, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for them to make that mistake.
In addition, Raphtalia and Marcia suddenly using -sama suffixes is because the scene was from Naofumi's point of view.
Meanwhile new levels:
Nick Ward
Level: 14
Marcia Niado
Level: 14
New Equipment
Scaling Infused Black Plate (+450 DEF, +10% DEF per level)
Rifana
Level: 12
New Equipment
Ephemeral Cloak (+240 SPD, Obscuring Mist)
Mage Gloves (+100 INT, Mage Hand, Enhanced Theft)
Tempered Twin Daggers (+50 ATK, Auto-Repair and Sharpen, Minor Pierce)