Chapter 7: A Hero, a Whip and a Zombie!
After going around the country, helping where they can and completing some quests for the Adventurers Guild. Midoriya then went back to the Castle Town, where he got a quest to transport some medicine to a Village that's starting to get infected by a plague caused by a Dragon Corpse.
Midoriya and his party leave the Adventurers Guild, intent on going to help the people of Mirso Village with their problem. When they leave the Adventurers Guild Building, they are approached by a group of 3 Knights and 2 Mages. Midoriya tells his party to just ignore them and keep going.
"Sir Shield Hero, please wait." Says one of them as they approach.
"What is it this time?" Asks Midoriya turning around. "What are you gonna accuse me of now?"
"Uhm, it's not like that Sir Hero." Ake, the head of the little group says. "We just want to talk, we actually have a request."
Midoriya looks around, seeing a lot of eyes on them, he decides to head back inside. He requests a private room to talk in and they go there.
They enter the room and sit down around a table.
"So, you had a request?" Asks Midoriya "What do you want exactly?"
"Uhm, well we... Actually I um... Please! Let us accompany you, Shield Hero! At least during the waves." Ake manages to say. "We were deeply touched by your courage and selflessness when you fought in the last wave. Everyone here wants nothing but to support you in your tireless quest."
"Please don't call me Shield Hero here, I'm kinda trying to avoid people finding out so that I can help out more." Midoriya explains "But why would you want to join me? Why not ask one of the other heroes, like Itsuki or Ren or even Motoyasu? And if it's about the waves you can just fight them, you don't need me."
"You see sir... uhm... you see Sir. Midoriya we were impressed by how you fought during the waves. We came to realize that if anyone was fighting to protect others it was you. I myself also hail from Lute Village and you saved my family and many friends that day. As a group we agreed we'd look for you next time you were in the capital and we'd ask to join you." The boy says.
Midoriya starts thinking it over. "What do you think Denki?" ask Midoriya
"What's going on?" Asks Denki turning his head. He was a bit focused on eating a sandwich that one of the knights gave him "They seem friendly to me. One of them even game this."
"They do seem to be genuine." Says Raphtalia.
Midoriya thinks it over for a moment and says "You can fight me during the waves, but I'm going to need 3 favors."
"We'll do the best we can." Answers Ake. "What are your requests?"
"First. I need to be able to trust you, so I'll take some of you with me on my next mission, this'll also help train you for the waves, so win win. I'll be taking one mage and two knights . This'll allow me to get a sense of who you are and if I can trust you. I'd like to be able to, but considering what has happened up to this point..." Midoriya says, thinking back on his experiences in this world. "The second request is for those who stay behind. I want you to gather information for where I can get a magic stone. The type needed for Magic spinning wheels."
"That seems accomplishable." Answers the Demihuman mage of the group. "What's the 3rd request?"
"This one is a bit more tricky. I want to ask you if there's any way for you to get a class upgrade for my companions." Midoriya requests.
"That may be hard, sir hero. The church has control of the Hourglass and they have banned anybody who's on friendly terms with you to use it. I do apologize but I don't think we can accommodate that request." Ake says. "It will also take us a bit of time to get the preparations to join you on your adventure. Where are you planning on going?"
"To Mirso Village. They need some help over there. They're mainly asking for some medicine, since about a week ago an epidemic started over there, but I want to see if there's more I can do." Says Midoriya, comforting the Knights' conscience.
"I do have to ask... What level are you guys anyway?" Asks Midoriya.
"I'm 26, the rest of us are 25, 25, 22 and 21." Answers Ake.
"Okay. I'll take the stronger ones among you with me. We'll level you up a bit more on the way. Do what you have to to be able to go, we leave tomorrow." Says Midoriya.
"Thank you very much Sir Hero." They say before leaving.
"I guess we're staying in town for a little longer." Says Midoriya after the leave.
"Midoriya, I'm hungry!" Says Denki.
"Really, you just ate." Says Midoriya.
Denki's stomach grumbles.
"Well we have to gather some herbs to make medicines anyway, so we can probably hunt some food too." Says Midoriya.
They head into the woods to gather some extra materials. Midoriya then sets the Shield to autocraft medicines.
The next day, not wearing their equipment, the group of two knights and one mage approach Midoriya.
"What happened? Where's your equipment?" Asks Midoriya while preparing the carriage.
"I'm sorry sir Hero." Says Kamila, the demi human mage of the group. "We were able to acquire permission to accompany you, but we are considered off duty and thus not allowed to bring our equipment."
Midoriya thinks it over for a moment and says "Should be fine. I know where we can get some temporary equipment."
Midoriya takes the 3 of them to Erhard's shop. There they buy some cheapish equipment that should serve its purpose, but also has a good sellback price.
After they have everything they need, they head east. On the way to the Village they help out whoever they find in need of it. They find a woman that was on the way to a hospital and Raphtalia helps her give birth, they find a couple travelers in trouble with some monsters so they fight them off. They use the time on the road to also level up a bit, at least the knights, since Midoriya and company are already maxed out.
They spend 2 days traveling to the Village. The Night before they arrive at Mirso Village they set up camp and Midoriya cooks for the group. Everyone goes to bed with a full stomach.
Midoriya wakes up in the dreamscape. He looks around, noticing that aside from a couple spots his body is mostly made of smoak. He looks around, spotting a beautiful woman with a tough looking face to his right, behind her are 5 others.
"Who are these people?" Wonders Midoriya.
He gets a better look to the one furthest away from him, kinda recognizing him. "Is... Is that All Might?" He wonders.
Midoriya is reminded of the Sports Festival when he previously saw the Vestiges.
His attention is drawn in front of him, where the first user is battling all for one. Midoriya keeps watching as One For All shows him it's origins. Throughout these scenes however there's some sort of interference. The Visions change every once in a while to show past Heroes fighting the Waves and other enemies that are slightly hazy, so Midoriya can't really make them out. The images change from the past of One For All to that of the Shield. From the visions of One For All he sees enough to understand how All For One rose to power, but those of the Shield are more random, he doesn't manage to make much of it or understand much of anything. The only thing he really makes out is an image of two cardinal heroes fighting someone with their parties. Among the party members Midoriya manages to recognize a little girl with silver hair with thin streaks of light blue, cut in a short bob with two what look like cowlicks on her head. She's wearing a white gothic style dress. But aside from a giant turtle that's all he manages to make out.
The visions go back to those of One For All, just All For One gives his little brother a quirk.
"So you are the ninth..." Says the first user.
"He's talking to me?!" Midoriya thinks.
The first user continues "Sorry, we did the best we could. It's hard to show you. Too much interference. We've struggled just so you can still use us in this new world. I wanted to show you more, but am incapable..."
The first user is then replaced by a ball of light for a moment as the surrounding area becomes a grass field. The Ball of light becomes a man wearing a shield, but before he can say anything the man turns back into the first user again.
"Sorry it's hard to show you. You are able to use more of our power at least up to 45%. We've long since passed the point of singularity, but don't worry Even in this world you aren't alone." The first user says reaching out to Midoriya. Midoriya reaches back, their hands touch. Just then...
"Midoriya!" Shouts Raphtalia. "Midoriya are you alright?"
Midoriya wakes up finding himself pinned down to the ground by his allies.
He looks around, spotting one of them laying by a tree.
"What happened?" Asks Midoriya confused.
"You went crazy Sir Hero. You just started moving around at incredible speeds, breaking stuff. The noise was attracting monsters so we had to restrain you. In the process you did throw Kamila at the tree." Says Ake.
"Were you having a Nightmare?" Asks Raphtalia concerned for her friend, as the group gets off him.
"I don't know." answers Midoriya, looking at his scarred hand. "It was more of a vision. It was a really strange experience. Two different powers vying for control, both wanting to show me something important."
They decided to go back to sleep, needing their rest.
The next day the group resumes their journey heading to Mirso Village. They arrive around Midday.
As they enter town the Villagers that are out and about recognize the Filolial pulling the cart and swarm the cart, excited as to whom has come to their Village.
"It's saint Deku!" They say, as Midoriya exists the Waggon.
"Since when are people calling me saint?" Asks Midoriya confused.
"You are him, are you not?" Asks one of the Villagers. "Others also call you the Saint of the Heavenly Fowl or the Saint of the bird god. You are the adventurer who rides this cart, looking for people to help. Are you not?"
"I am." Confirms Midoriya
"Then you come at a most fortunate time, Saint Deku. I'm afraid our little Village is slowly becoming ill." Says the Villages Doctor, coming after he heard who arrived.
"I've heard your request and brought as many supplies as possible. Show me to your sick, I'll do what I can." Midoriya says.
The doctor leads Midoriya and his party to the church, which has been repurposed in order to treat the sick. While they work Midoriya asks what the origins of the plague are.
The doctor explains that he is not completely sure, but has an educated guess. He explains how 2 weeks ago the sword hero came to the lands and fought and defeated a dragon that nested in the mountains. This feat helped the Village flourish for a bit, but that 5 days ago, adventurers started getting sick. More and more followed as the disease caused by the rotting dragon infected more and more Villagers. No one has died so far, but they fear the worst.
Midoriya treats the symptoms of everyone there, managing to heal them for the time being, mainly thanks to his shield buffs.
Afterhe heads to a private room to talk strategie with his allies.
The doctor enters the room, before anything serious can be discussed and says "Thank you very much Saint Deku. You have been a great help. Our medicine ran out 2 days ago and I feared that I couldn't treat the people."
"I haven't done much." Says Midoriya "If that corpse stays there, then I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done to really save the people in this area. We can alleviate the symptoms yeah, but if the origins of the disease stay, then there's nothing that can be done."
"Don't say that Sir... uhm, Deku." Says Blake, one of the juvenile Knights, along for his mission. "I'm sure there's something that can be done."
"I'm afraid you are absolutely right." Says the Doctor. "We have no way of stopping the disease from spreading, all we can do is either leave, or treat the sick. But most people don't want to abandon their homes."
"Are there any adventurers that are still around?" Asks Midroiya. "Earlier you told me that they came to see the dragon's corpse."
"No. Unfortunately they all left after the epidemic started. The only ones still around are the sick ones." The doctor answers.
"Too bad then, we'll have to make this work just us." Says Midoriya to his party. He turns to the doctor and says "Listen I don't want to be impolite or say anything, but you still owe me payment for the medicine."
"Ah, right. That's the reason I came, to give you this." He says while pulling out a sack of money.
"Thank you, but I cannot accept. With the states that your Village is in you'll need the money." Says Midoriya. "I was thinking of you giving me the equivalent in supplies."
The Villagers give him what he asks for and with the materials at hand, he makes a couple small masks, not very effective ones but they should help a little bit. He also gets supplies, like pickaxes and wood in order to burn the dragon's corpse.
"I really should learn to craft from someone..." thinks Midoriya while making the masks. "I was going for the rebreather in my costume, but this is the closest I can make. Good thing we learned about filters in class, otherwise we'd be in a bit of a pickle."
The next day they head out into the mountains. While going towards where the dragon corpse is, they come across a group of monsters. The Knights get ready to jump out of the Waggon, but Midoriya stops them, explaining that the masks will only stop the sickness for a limited time, so they can't waste it fighting. He orders Denki to keep going and he obliged, using a wind attack to push all the enemies out of his way, even defeating a couple of the monsters. Midoriya equips the Chimera Viper Shield, to help against the sickness.
They reach the clearing with the dragon's final resting place and start unpacking the supplies in order to tear it apart. They grab the necessities to carry and go to inspect the corpse.
"Listen up guys, we're at the epicenter of the sickening air. The masks should help filter out the air, but if you feel you can't keep going, go back to the carriage and rest." Says Midoriya.
He turns to Raphtalia and says "That goes especially for you. Considering your health in the past."
"I'll be fine." Says Raphtalia stubbornly.
As they approach the Dragon Denki stays in his Filolial form, eating some treats he has for when he gets hungry. While looking at the dragon's corpse he gets some weird sense of satisfaction.
"It's bigger than I expected." Says Midoriya as they approach. "We should probably get started."
"Right!" Says Ake.
As they get closer the Corpse starts slowly moving a bit, healing even, fueled by Nothing but rage the Dragon Zombie growls at the sky.
"Sir Hero, we left our weapons at the Carriage." Says Balke.
"Go then grab what you need." Says Midoriya "Get ready and then come to assist.
"Right." Says Ake as the group runs to get their equipment.
Denki's eyes fill with anger and he runs at the Dragon, jumping into the Air and shouting.
"Zweite Thunder Slash!"
A blade of Lightning flies toward the Dragon hitting it in the face.
"Air Strike Shield!" Shouts Midoriya, giving Denki some leverage. He lands on it and jumps off, slicing at the Dragon with his claws.
The Dragon growls and prepares to attack.
"Shooting Star Shield!" Shouts Midoriya, an energy Barrier appearing around him.
"Everyone behind me!" He orders. The Juvenile knights that just entered the battlefield, as well as Denki and Raphtalia obey, jumping behind Midoriya for their own protection.
The dragon shoots poison gas at the group, but Midoriya's skill manages to keep the attack away, not even letting the gas in.
As soon as the attack stops Denki jumps out of the barrier and runs at the Dragon, shooting a couple air slashes and a Tornado, while getting closer.
"Denki! Don't go alone." Advises Mioriya.
"Ake, Blake, Raphtalia go help, do what you can." Midoriya orders.
"Right!" Says Raphtalia pulling her normal sword from its sheath and running at the Dragon Zombie.
"You have fire and earth magic right? Any support spells?" He asks, turning to the mage.
Kamila nods. "Right, then let's use them." Says Midoriya.
In unison they both say "By the source of all power I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and strengthen my target..."
"First guard!" Shouts Midoriya
"Zweit burning spirit!" Shouts Kamila.
They both select the whole party as a target, strengthening everyone in order to make the fight easier.
Midoriya activates one for all to 20%, preparing to attack, he then zooms at the dragon hitting him with a Saint Louise Smash. The Hit is potent enough to push the dragon back slightly, but not enough to take away too much health. He lands on the ground ordering "Blake, go assist Kamila in case the Dragon attacks her, Kamila you use fire attacks to weaken him from a distance!"
"Okay!" They both shout as Kamila prepares a fire blast and Blake runs back to assist her.
Midoriya, realizing how little damage the 20% hit did, powers up to 30%.
"Thanks to the Shield's defensive abilities I can power up to 30% without hurting myself, I can do 45% for a bit, but not for long and it'll end up hurting me." Midoriya thinks to himself while jumping back, hitting the air with a Smash, using the Air pressure as an attack.
"Hey look, Midoriya is using Wind Magic too!" Says Denki, not having seen Midoriya do that before. Raphtalia charges with Denki at the Dragon, slicing at him just as Midoriya's air attack hits, but not having much of an effect, they land back on the ground. Denki uses his lightning magic to hit the dragon, causing him to take a step back.
"Air Strike Shield!" Shouts Midoriya as he falls from the sky. A shield materializes under him, which he uses as a jumping off platform. He jumps off of it going at the dragon at immense speeds. He prepares the Shield while pushing One for all to 45%. He hits the dragon in the throat with the shield, breaking off some of the plating and going kinda through the neck, hitting the other side.
"Wow. That was amazing. He defeated the dragon!" Says Raphtalia celebrating a tad too soon.
Midoriya steps back and the dragon keeps moving, some of the poison gas coming out of it's throat.
"I think I just made it worse. It's a Zombie. I think we can't defeat it with melee attacks at random." says MIdoriya analyzing the situation. "Does anybody have any ideas."
Denki jumps back towards the dragon, keeping him distracted, while the others discuss possible courses of action. Midoriya keeps an eye on the situation assisting with the occasional Air Strike Shield.
"I got it!" Says Kamila. "He's a Dragon Emperor, the thing that's keeping him moving is his Dragon Emperor Core. In the zombified state he's in, it doesn't really matter how much we damage it as long as he has the core."
"Okay, then what do we have to do?" Asks Midoriya.
Kamila formulates a small plan and then they execute it.
Midoriya has to force the dragon back and pin him then use the rope shield to retrain him to the ground.
He jumps into the air, wanting to use air attacks to force the beast back. While in the air, he spots the Dragon getting the best of Denki, wanting to munch on him.
Seeing this unfold and panicking a bit, Midoriya thinks "Crap, I have to do it now! I have to capture him now!"
He prepares to flick his fingers and attack the dragon, but black tendrils come out of his hand instead.
They overwhelm Midoriya and start going around hitting stuff at random, but they do restrain the dragon, keeping him in flace.
Raphtalia, Ake and Blake aided by the mage slashes the Dragon's belly open, pulling the Emperor Dragon Core out.
The Dragon's animation stops and the corpse falls onto the ground dead.
Midoriya keeps unleashing the power in all cylinders, not being able to control it.
"You can stop now Midoriya!" Says Ake. " We defeated the dragon."
Midoriya has no control over the situation as Black whip starts, going crazy almost hitting Ake, but Raphtalia jumps in, pushing him out of the way.
"NNNNAAAAHHHHGGG!" Screams Midoriya in pain, trying to control this new power.
"I don't think he has control over it anymore." Says Raphtalia concerned about her friend.
"Shield Prison." Shouts Midoriya, summoning the skill to trap himself, but the skill breaks apart moments after it was summoned.
The group tries a couple different things to try and stop him, but only manage to succeed when Denki shoots lightning at Midoriya electrocuting him to the point that he passes out.
Fast as he is, Denki then manages to catch Izuku before he hits the ground.
They move him to the Waggon, where Kamila and Raphtalia tend to him, while Ake and Blake start breaking the dragon apart.
Midoriya wakes back up in the dreamscape. There Midoriya meets the 5th user of one for all. Who explains the Quirk to him.
"Try Harder dude. If you do, things tend to work out. We're on a bit of a time limit here, so I'll keep it short." the fifth user of one for all, Daigoro Banjo says.
Midoriya looks at him confused, wanting to ask questions, but looks at his mouth, realizing it isn't there. "Alright listen here Kid!" says Daigoro. "The power you just used is not from the shield, it's my quirk. Throughout the generations the quirk factors of the previous users have merged with the core of one for all. The core of one for all is small, but it has started growing, expanding. One for all itself is growing."
"But what caused this?" Wonders Izuku.
"Just now you wanted to capture the beast. One for all responded to your feelings and activated my quirk "Black Whip". From here on out you'll manifest 6 different quirks. They're going to be out of control because of all that power that one for all has accumulated. After all it has passed through 8 users. Luckily or unluckily you've been summoned to this world. It may have taken you away from our battle, but now you have time to train and hoan the powers inside you before you return. Learn to master them and control your heart. Just know that if you wield your power in anger the power will respond accordingly."
As he says this, the fifth user puts his hand inside of Midoriya, unlocking the full capability of Black Whip, before continuing. "Control your heart and Master us. Do your best boy. We'll always be with you no matter what world you find yourself in. You're going to be the one who completes one for all." Daigoro Banjo says before vanishing.
As the fifth user vanishes Midoriya's surroundings change and while he's still mostly mist, he now finds himself in a field. Where the fifth user stood, now stands another man. One who wields a shield.
"Well that took longer than I thought, honestly didn't think this was even possible. Listen here. My name is Shirono Mamoru, like me you were summoned here as the shield hero in order to defend this world from... Oh, I see so I don't have much time. I'll keep it short then. You must bring all the heroes together, not just the Cardinal Heroes. You must stop the enemy and his vanguard befo..." The Shield Hero from the past manages to say before being engulfed in smoke and disappearing completely.
Midoriya is then woken up to see that Kamila is healing him.
"What happened?" Asks Midoriya.
"You started using some strange Magic Sir Hero, you went berserk, we did manage to defeat the dragon thanks to you though." says Kamila, relieved.
Midoriya looks at Raphtalia and asks "Everything okay? Did I hurt anyone?"
"Everythings fine." Answers Raphtalia. "It took us quite a bit of effort in order to defeat you, but your defenses were down since you were using your power."
"What about the corpse?" Asks Midoriya.
"The knights and Denki are taking care of it right now." Answers Raphtalia.
"Let's go help then." Says Midoriya, while drinking a healing potion in order to fully recover.
They go to assist, in breaking the dragon appart. Midoriya feeds pieces of it to his shield, unlocking many new shields. Finding the Dragon core on the floor Midoriya breaks it apart, feeding some of it to the shield to unlock new shields and storing the rest inside of it, since Kamila advised not to leave it out in the open. They grab what useful materials the dragon was made off and burn the rest, heading back to the Village after.
Raphtalia was affected by the disease, since she was in so close proximity for so long. Midoriya spends two days treating all the people in the village, to make sure that the plague affecting them is taken care of. During the time that they spend there, Denki feels extremely bored so he goes exploring. He comes across a cave, where it seems that someone once lived, there are a couple chests and leftovers there but not much else.
After a couple of days the gang leave the Village heading to a couple nearby areas to help out, they fight some monsters and bandits in different towns, heading back to the castle town once all the work is done.
Once they arrive back at the castle town, the 3 Knights return to their jobs, selling the temporary equipment back to Erhard. They at least leveled up during this time.
The 2 that stayed behind did some research, they inform Midoriya of a man, looking for his merchandise safely returned from some bandits.
Midoriya goes to the man and brokers a deal. The Merchant Hickwaal guides them to the bandits hideout and informs Midoriya of what he wants returned.
Midoriya and company storm the bandits hideout, swiftly taking all the bandits down, even the one that went through a class upgrade.
They return the Merchants possessions in return for the deed. Since they don't know who the other stuff belongs to, they end up dropping it off at the guard station along with the defeated bandits.
Hickwall thanks Midoriya for his help, paying Midoriya for his troubles and giving him the deed in order for him to obtain the magic stone he's looking for.
Midoriya then heads to the magic shop, where he enlists the help of the Witch who owns the shop in order to obtain the stone.
Once they arrive at the quarry they show the deed, getting permission to mine there. They grab a pickaxe and some other mining equipment and because Midoriya wants to mine the materials himself and is looking for a specific mineral he's directed to another side of the mountain, where mining hasn't started yet.
There they find the base of an old Alchemist, who has long since past. They go deep into the base, finding a tomb with a sealed box, the seal has been broken however and the contents taken. They go deeper into the cave looking for the minerals they came for. However on the way they are swarmed by little batlike monsters. Thanks to the Witch they manage to break out of the monster's spell, defeating them and they keep going deeper into the cave.
After a couple minutes of walking they find a clearing inside the cave, with a Nue sleeping in the middle guarding all the precious gemstones and crystals.
They are of course forced to fight the Nue, but not without some complications. After it's killed Midoriya feeds the materials to the Shield and starts mining the gems around. He feeds the first few gemstones into the shield, unlocking new features that increase the quality of the ones he mines after. They get out of the cave with an abundance of gems, enough to fix the Spinning Wheel and to sell or use as they see fit.
They head back to the castletown, where they fix the magic spinning wheel, using it to make Denki's magic thread.
"You're finally going to have proper clothes buddy, not just that cloak that you keep having to remove when you transform." Says Midoriya.
"Yay!" Says Denki "Although I kinda like my cloak."
After obtaining the magic thread the group heads to the tailor, where they make Denki some clothes.
The next day the group retrieves the now ready clothes and Denki tries them on. He steps out of the changing room wearing a white shirt with mid long sleeves and some blue overalls on top that have red pockets.
After finally getting Denki some clothes, after only 3 weeks of trying. The group heads to the adventurers guild, getting a couple more missions and quests. They set off to help the people in need of it.