48 Months Ago, Plumber's training grounds, Amazon rainforest
Ben shuddered at hearing the sound of violent rushing water growing louder as he walked further, following his rather feline looking combat instructor, Magister Rook Blonko. Also known as one of the universe's finest and fiercest martial artists. Not even Vilgax dared to challenge him in a direct combat.
"Ah, This place seems most suffice." Rook smiled at him as they stopped near the edge of a river which eventually submerged into a huge waterfall. The water in front of appearing completely white due to quick turbulent flow , violent splashes of that managed to dip and churn huge rocks over the course of a time.
Ben dumbfounded, blinking in confusion, "Uh...Rook! What are you going to make me do today?"
Rook turned to his current pupil, "Simple, Today I am going to train you in the art of chi manipulation."
"Chi?" Ben raised an eyebrow, "You mean Mana? like my cousin does."
"In a way both of them are similar and yet extremely different. Both words mana and chi points towards the life energy which is present in all living beings residing in this universe, perhaps except ectonurites as their sense of life and death are much different compared to us. A Chi adept such as myself uses life energy in order to become one with the universe. It allows me to go beyond the limits of mortality, allowing me to perform a number of feats that a person of my species otherwise won't be able to. " Rook explained with a slight smile, adding as a matter of fact " A Mage or in short someone like your cousin can perform spells, A spell is a specific action which — when performed correctly — channels your life force in way that allows the individual to achieve a specific result based on the composition of the casting. Spells allow individuals to alter reality on certain levels, such as affecting the physical properties of objects and people, giving the caster access to supernatural powers and changing the very mechanics of reality itself. However it requires intense concentration, vast knowledge in number of ancient languages and sometimes, expertise in the usage of talismans , potions and other ingredients. Magic is a selective as not everyone can access it but chi is indiscriminate. Anyone with the right mind can learn it as long as that individual is willing to make real efforts."
"That makes sense. My cousin has been trying to teach me how to do some minor magic spells but they happen to be quite draining. I can't risk using them in battles." Ben responded with a nod.
"I believe the main reason behind it is your life force reserves, You need to practice more and perform a number of spiritual exercises in order to increase your mana capacity. However , with what I am planning to teach you, you should be able to use both Chi and mana based techniques as if they were as natural as breathing to you." Rook concluded with a smirk, which sent shivers running through Ben's spines. He clearly remembered what happened to him last time when he saw his instructor's happy face.
Flashback (A couple of weeks ago)
Ben gritted his teeth together as he performed a single handstand against the wall while balancing an egg between his teeth , a stack of books on each of his feet and a jug filled with hot milk on his free hand. He sweated bullets as blood in his body rushed to the wrong direction. It had been nearly an hour since he had been in this position, trying his best to not to collapse on the floor right there and then. To say that he was under a lot of stress would be an understatement, a few moments ago he barely managed to change hands for the twentieth time in the row and moved the stack of books from one foot to another. A couple of them fell in the process, but his teacher immediately walked towards him and put them in the same position they were.
It was a basic but really effective exercise for getting the grasp over your mana, improve your structural integrity and increase your aptitude with manipulating mana. Ben really thanked Gwen for constantly pestering him about learning some sort of life force manipulation otherwise he would have passed out right here and then. Focusing mana on the top of his head allowed him to create a gravity shift at his core and rotate it at his will, not only negating the adverse effects of his current situation but also allowing his blood to be pumped regularly and evenly distributed in the various parts of his body like it normally should have.
But that didn't mean it was easy to maintain this effect. He felt like he was a marathon runner on the verge of making world record, focusing and conjuring Mana on the top of his head, it was not only excruciatingly hard but also ridiculously exhausting.
"Fifteen more minutes..." Rook remarked with a lazy yawn
"YOU SAID THAT AN HOUR AGO!" Ben screamed in outrage.
Flashback end
"You will be swimming from here..." Rook spoke out in a nonchalant tone, pointing towards the at violent, swirling vortex and the awfully high hill from where the stream actually originated, "from there."
"You gotta be kidding me." Ben shook his head in disbelief.
"No, I am not. Chi flows inside your body through small pressure points which are roughly around the same size as the tip of a small needle. Most mages can only release chi through their hands and sometimes their head, in order to perform spells. However a chi adept must learn how to access those unused energy points, in order to increase his physical strength, sense of perception, reflexes and overall speed. This also happens to be one of the three principles of the martial arts developed by our grandmaster Kundo. " Rook explained as matter of fact.
"But, it's hard to scale through that unless I fly over them and you are not a huge fan of me using aliens during the training session." As usual Ben was pretty vocal about his objection.
"You need to fight against the current of this waterfall by emitting just adequate amount of Chi from various points of your body. Too much, you will be blasted off and too little you won't be able to cause enough friction on the surface of water to stop your descent in the river. The main issue you will be facing here is how to force out your chi through your clothes and shoes. Of course, the amount may differ from person to person . In short, it's about finding the balance between two opposing forces only then you will be able to climb through the upward stream and reach the hill up there. Besides there are also a lot of side benefits. Swimming against the current, especially with the huge vortex in this corner will help with increasing your body's resilience to physical damage. Your overall muscular endurance will be increased. " Rook responded in a casual tone, as if this wasn't such a big deal.
"It's not like I mind working my ass of but this is quite risky." Ben sighed, appearing unsure for a moment. He didn't want to get sucked inside the torrent and lose his life by getting his head smashed against a bunch of jagged rocks.
"Ben, I know this probably seems harsher compared to other traditional forms of training you are used to but promise me when I say, This is the only way you can match against the likes of Khyber and Servantis. You have the Bi-omnitrix and you are quite proficient at using it but there might be a situation when you may require other forms of combat in order to defeat your enemies. Or where your teammates are not with you to make up for your weaknesses. And trust me everyone does have a weakness in some form. No one is completely unbeatable. It's also highly likely that the number of your enemies are just going to pile up as the time passes by, you must advance as fast as you can. There is no other option." Rook claimed in a serious tone.
After thinking for a while, Ben's eyes hardened. Remembering how helpless he felt when Albedo took away his omnitrix , how he couldn't do a single thing when charmcaster sacrificed their souls to some ancient demon, in order to revive her father. He hated feeling weak, especially after spending most of his lives trying to make others believe that he was awesome. He never wanted to find himself in such situations once again.
"Fine. I will do it. " Ben sighed in defeat, "But I need to use a transformation first to get used it. " He added in a slight mortified tone, staring at the turbulent water.
"Ah for the first few times, you can use Bullfrag. Incurseans can breathe underwater so you won't have to worry about drowning and focus on training" Rook responded after a very thoughtful pause. "But anything else would be considered cheating. You also won't be using any of your aliens to relieve yourself from any injuries or pain you are having, unless it's life threatening or impedes your training process. If you can't accept my terms, you are more than welcome to hang around my dojo but I won't teach you anything. However this means you have to wait a whole year before entering the Magister trials."
"It's alright. I can...agree to all that." Ben nodded in a slight mortified tone, staring at the turbulent waters
This was going be four very long months. He could only hope Gwen and Kevin was doing worse in their own "special " training camps.
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After the dinner, the heroes came back to their room. Tomorrow would be the day that they would embark on their journeys, as such, they would receive some financial backing from the king to really kick things up. At this point, even Naofumi had clearly noticed how much his reception had been clearly different from the rest of the heroes, seeing as the Aultocray made an effort to remember their names, whereas he merely called him Shield Hero or Shield. The eyes were windows to the soul, as they would say back in back in Plumber's academy, and right now Ben could easily tell that most people in this castle had it out for the shield hero as if he was some sort of prophesied Antichrist, about to bring an end to everything.
They dragged him all the way from his home to fight monsters for their sake. He was not expecting people to bow and worship the ground where he stepped as if he was some sort of deity, but he'd thank some neutral treatment, for crying out loud.
Ben could sense that something was wrong and a very bad feeling inside his gut told him that there were most likely a certain number of elements inside this castle who wanted to control the four cardinal heroes, which also included him. To be frank, it would have been understandable towards some extent if they knew who he was. As even a certain faction of plumbers, led by a high level officer called Servantis, tried to do it a few years back fearing that he had became too powerful for anyone to manage and they needed to take him out before he became a threat. They even attempted to brainwash Kevin in order to do their bidding, however they severally underestimated his former nemesis/ best friend's resourcefulness which completely backfired on them, resulting in their downfall and eventual imprisonment in Null Void, where they will be spending rest of their life fending off Mutated rabid To'kustars.
First thing first, he needed to figure out whether he was really summoned to help save this world or to aid a selfish tyrant's lofty ambitions. He couldn't just jump on the bandwagon and believe everything the king told him so far. While he didn't think Aultcray was necessary evil per say , despite his obvious vendetta against Naofumi but couldn't rule out the possibility of him having a personal agenda. Right now, he didn't have much choice in that regards but to play along and accept everything with a healthy dose of scepticism.
As he began tearing apart the help menu, he managed to learn a few interesting things, some of them seemed completely absurd but Ben knew otherwise.
Just like in any other MMORPG, he could gain EXP and level up by killing pretty much anything which had a heartbeat. Like, if he had a party and a member of his party killed something, he would gain EXP from that as well, alongside all the party members.
His bow could absorb about anything from minerals to metals and plants to monster corpses into the magical gem, which would allow the bow to gain powers and forms based on what it "ate". The bow also had a proficiency gauge as a part of some sort of empowerment mechanics. Ben guessed that by draining the filled gauge back to 0% , he might be able to gain some sort of energy which could be used for strengthening various forms of his bow. Apart from that all legendary weapons had the ability to copy other weapons belonging in the some category, so long as they met level requirements.
Ben could feel something inside of him steer, as if the weapon in his hand demanded to be fed, wanting to taste the "all you can eat" buffet. However the young plumber immediately stopped himself from acting on his new found instincts. If this weapon actually "ate" the device, making it disappear or this experiment messed up with the controls of this highly sophisticated alien technology , then things might become a bit too much problematic for him to handle. Besides there was no Azimuth or Cooper to turn to for advice.
It wasn't worth it. However, that didn't mean he was going to completely give up on it. A grin formed on his lips as his brought his wrists together, circling through some of his favourite transformations he could use in this scenario.
Oh this is so going to be easy to abuse
And just like that a brilliant display of emerald lights engulfed everything.
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Getting breakfast really turned out to be easier than he expected. The moment he entered his bedroom after finishing his workout, he was greeted and then escorted by a maid. Someone who had likely been waiting since last couple of hours for him to return . A long table had been set up for the four cardinal heroes, which was covered with all sorts of fruits, pastries, some really tasty bacon and jars filled with juice. After having a refreshing meal, the boys started discussing amongst themselves about how they planned to start their adventures. Motoyasu wanted to challenge powerful monsters and rescue fair maidens in distress. Ren wanted to start with some basic monster hunting mission . Naofumi, not having any lofty goals in his mind unlike the duo, wanted to learn how to fight properly as he didn't want anyone who would end up working with him in the future to think of him as a burden. And Ben had to admit for someone who hasn't been in the hero business, that was quite noble. As the young Tennyson wasn't interested in sharing his real plans, especially with all these servants listening in, he just said that he wanted to explore the abilities of his legendary weapon a bit and study about the exploits of the past heroes and what they did in order to fight the waves, before deciding the next course of action
Overall, the breakfast ended on high note.
Shortly before the noon bell tolled, a servant retrieved all four of them , politely informing that the king requested their presence in the throne room, to meet and greet their chosen companions. Something that only added to Ben's worries from the previous day.
King Aultcray sat on his much decorated throne, making Ben wonder if the thing was really gold plated. Surprisingly he was all smiles when they approached, grinning with child like excitement.
"Good morning, Heroes! I hope you had a wonderful rest. Today you will embark on your journey to defeat the waves and to help you on this most dangerous task. We have acquired the best adventures in the city. Knights, mages, healers, archers and many other options available to you."
He waved his hand in a wide arc, as if he was an owner of a shop showcasing his merchandise. Ben couldn't help but look over the group of twelve men and women they had gathered. Each was dressed in the kind of clothes one could see adventurers wearing in children's fantasy shows.
It looked just about as cringeworthy as Ben expected it to be.
"Now then future champions!" The royal burden continued with a dramatic flair, making a few poncy gestures, "Please set forth with the hero you shall swear your allegiance to."
Ben blinked in confusion upon hearing that. What did he mean by those adventurers got to choose? This wasn't something they were doing for shits and giggles, it was about fighting monsters and saving this kingdom or perhaps this entire world from destruction. Hack, the king should be giving them as much aid as possible instead just asking these people to randomly choose whoever they wanted to work for. What was Aultcray trying to accomplish using this exhibition? That didn't serve any sort of purpose at all.
The adventurers began to walk towards the heroes and after a moment all of them had taken a place behind the hero of their choice. Ren had a good variety of followers. Motoyasu almost had an all female troupe following him excluding the one guy in that group. Three rather shady looking type individuals decided to join Ben. Which unfortunately left Naofumi with no companions. And he really didn't seem much happy about this.
Though Ben would gladly change his position with him in a heartbeat, if he could.
"This certainly is a unique situation." Aultcray sounded troubled, hiding a smirk which went unnoticed by almost everyone except Ben, "It seems rumors about you have been circling around the castle. It might also be a charisma problem. " The monarch stroked his white beard , acting as if he was pondering upon something serious.
Naofumi looked at his fellow heroes with somewhat pleading eyes, "Could you guys please help me out?" Two other heroes looked at their followers while Ben decided to seize the opportunity to get rid of extra "baggage". Especially the muscular knight, Ben didn't know why but he somehow reminded him of his grandpa's "old friend" Phil
"Excuse me, Your Highness!" Ben spoke out, causing the king to look at him with puzzled expressions, "For personal reasons, I can't accept the assistance from these adventurers so they should aid Naofumi with his quest."
The adventurers themselves took a step back in pure shock at Ben's declaration as the king himself frowned in response, "I do not know the personal reasons you might be referring to. However, the fate of our entire world rest on the shoulders of you heroes, I can't send you all by yourself in good conscience."
"You...you are one of those crazy hardcore leveling players, aren't you?" Motoyasu gave him a dumbfounded look.
"Somewhat...but that's besides the point." Ben chuckled in amusement, it had been a long time since someone treated him like a noob, which actually felt quite refreshing, " I come from a world which had been through somewhat similar problems your kingdom is facing right now. I have far more experience in dealing monsters than anyone else in this room, except you M'lord. It doesn't matter who you choose, anyone you pick will only weigh me down."
"What?" The big guy with a large mustache, who happened to be one of his followers, the shady looking knight to be exact, immediately stepped forward, shouting in indignation. It seemed like he was quite offended with Ben indirectly comparing him with some sort of dead weight
"Very well. If you are truly as skilled as you say, there should be no problems. However a demonstration is in order. Why don't you fight with three of your followers? If you lose, you must accept their assistance gracefully. " The king said with a hidden glee in his tone, he had the bow hero right where he wanted him to be. He was damned sure bow hero was going to lose. His followers were one of the most experienced fighters belonging to the church of three heroes. There was no way he could possibly take all three of them at the same time and hope to come out on top.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Ben remarked with a confident grin as he lifted his bow and began walking forward, "Let's begin."
He was halfway expecting something like that to happen, that's why he already transformed into his half kinceleran-loboan alter ego Xlr-Wolf , barely mimicking his human appearance using a spare ID mask.
Three individuals began attacking him from all directions, however their team work seemed completely below average compared to the likes of Helena, Manny and Alan Albright, who formed Helpers, one of the most formidable teams to exist in the history of plumbers. And Ben was quite used to battling them three on one as well. Needless to say, the three on one advantage his opponents had on him was completely pointless.
The armored brute charged towards like a raging bull, not even bothering to attempt any fencing techniques the fearsome forever knights used back home, making Ben wonder if he ever fought against individuals who were capable of putting up some real fight.
I wonder how Old George would have reacted after seeing "Knights" of these dimension... either he would have slaughtered them all or died of shame at witnessing them making a mockery out of his moniker
As the large man swung at him with a two handed swing, Ben just sidestepped the attack , turning towards his opponent with a wicked grin
CRACK
The sound of a sharp thud echoing throughout the entire area silenced all bystanders including the king himself .
With his head cocked upwards and blood flying free from his mouth, the knight miraculously climbed four full heights off the ground before beginning an incredibly painful descent, his companions looking up at his spiralling form in bewilderment. The remaining two then looked down to their utter disbelief, as Ben stood with his hands in his pockets and his foot jutted skywards, standing between two of them. This weird kid, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and sent a kick straight up into a man twice his size with apparently no prior movement or wind up leading into the blow. It was completely beyond their level of understanding.
Bow hero or not. This was not supposed to happen
"W-What the fuck?!" the spear wielder choked out when he saw his fellow comrade slam into the ground several feet away with a deafening thump. "H-How did… YOU LITTLE SHIT!" He spun around, swinging his spear straight down with an intent to seriously injure the boy who had brought humiliation to his friend, only for his vision to fade to black when the one he was targeting leapt at him with a left overhand that blasted his face and upper body coiling backwards. Knocked unconscious from the one hit, the spear wielder hit the ground with an even louder thud then his teammate's, like a huge piece of rock making landfall.
"Faust! Fire Strike." the mage standing behind him shouted as a ball of fire shot from his staff and came for Ben. Ben wasn't worried in the slightest as he effortlessly dodged it by performing a double flip in the mid air and rushed towards his last opponent. " Faust!-OOF!" He didn't have time to even start his assault when the runt he was trying to take from behind spun like a top, leapt into the air, and slammed a kick straight across his face. The mage literally spun through the air before landing painfully on his head.
Ben immediately turned to the king with a "courteous" bow, putting his best Michael Morningstar impression as he possibly could, "Are you satisfied with my performance your highness? Or should I have to fight with the companions of the other heroes as well?"
"That's unnecessary. You have proven yourself quite well." The king nodded, unsure about how to react to this strange phenomenon occurring in front of his very own eyes, "I knew that the adventurers we had brought here today were not of the highest level, instead we focused on individuals whom we believed to be of highest potential. As I didn't want you heroes to feel that there was no need to fight for yourself. However, I wasn't expecting you to defeat them so effortlessly. Among the four cardinal heroes, you seem skilled beyond your level. As agreed I will not force you to take any of these adventurers you." He concluded with a smile, seemingly quite impressed with the show Ben recently put.
"Thank you, your highness!" Ben said with a bow before continuing forward, "In that case, my followers shouldn't have any issues joining the shield hero. All of us are fighting for the same cause after all. "
This caused the king to frown deeply, while Sir Ben was indeed acting like a true hero from the legends and wanted to help out his fellow hero, he was unaware of the true nature of the shield demon. Without a single exception, the heroes of the shield always took the side of the beasts and waged war on the kingdoms of human, even coming close to wiping humanity out completely if it wasn't for the other three standing up against the shield tyrant. The shield hero might have looked and acted human but at the end of the day, he was a demon in disguise, someone who was sent by the waves to dissent among the true heroes and weaken the world. Sooner or later, he was going to show his true colors. Aultcray was damn sure about that. Which was the reason why he summoned him here in the first place. Unlike those brainless animals who worshiped shield hero as the walking avatar of their dark god, people of this kingdom knew about his true facade, all thanks to the teachings of the church. Besides as long as the demon was under his watchful eyes he could constantly monitor his progress, making sure that he remained much weaker than his fellow otherworlders. So when he finally turned against them like his predecessors, he would stand no chance against the true heroes. And in case he ended up dying in the waves, that would be nothing but a true blessing in disguise.
"I am afraid we can't do that, Tennyson-dono! We can't simply disregard their feelings. Their choice is their choice. However I will provide Sir Shield a slight increase in his funds so he can find himself more companions for his journey. And you will have your allowance doubled compared to other heroes as finding an individual who can meet your standards is going to take a lot more time, efforts and funds." The king responded with a sickeningly sweet smile which came quite close to turn into a full blown sinister smirk.
Ben frowned upon hearing that, immediately suspecting a foul play. While the king claimed in the beginning that Shield hero seemed least knowledgeable about this world which made him the least reliable. Ben didn't buy it. All four of them were summoned from alternate realities so it didn't make sense why they expected any of them to be knowledgeable about this strange world. Besides wasn't that something they were getting companions for? Now Ben had started getting really curious about the treatment of the shield hero in this castle. And it wasn't just about the king, even maids and servants gave Naofumi cold shoulder.
But why? Why was the Shield hero universally disliked in this place?
Perhaps, once he got out from this place he might be able to figure it out.
"No soul should be alone in such perilous travel! I'd like to aid Sir Shield hero!" A cheery voice rang throughout the room. Ben turned to his side to see the red haired woman smiling at him, She had charm, that was for sure. Her speech was soft in the ears and her eyes seemed to be sparkling with conviction. She was undoubtedly beautiful but it was the kind of beautiful which set Ben on edge. It was unearthly beauty and kind specifically applied while snatching the interests of men with lesser control and experience.
"Is that so?" The king looked at the woman with gleam in his eyes that the species shifter couldn't understand. "If that is what you wish. Shield hero , Do you accept her as your companion?"
"My name is Myne, I hope we get along well." She said cheerfully, extending her hand. Towards the Omnitrix bearer's utmost surprise and slight annoyance, the shield hero fixed his shoulders and pumped his chest up, trying to sound as courageous and as charismatic as possible as he shook her hand.
"It will be an honor having you accompanying me, Myne!"
"Thank you, Sir Shield hero." The redhead said cheerfully, almost causing Naofumi to deflate a bit upon hearing that.
Ren and Motoyasu gave the young Tennyson a rather annoyed look, albeit for different reasons. The spear hero didn't like it how the members of his "crowd" were completely in awe about the whole display and the sword hero hated how the species-shifter managed to pull of that stunt without actually showing what he could do with his weapon. Naofumi was caught off guard with the presentation as well. He could tell that Ben was a seasoned fighter from the very first time he saw him but he never expected him to be on that level. Also, he was glad that Ben tried his absolute best to get him companions, even though that didn't work out as he wanted to.
The king called it to a close and distributed funds amongst the heroes. Ren and Motoyasu got 500 silvers each in order to cover their expenses for the time being. Naofumi got 800 silver a piece, in order for him to hire more adventurers and Ben got 1200 silvers . Though Ben suspected it had more to do with the king wanting to treat him special compared to his personal "favorite" shield hero and less with him being more capable of fighting than the other three.
Soon, all four heroes walked out from the throne room, followed by their companions (In case of Ren and Motoyasu). While Naofumi decided to stick with her partner instead of Ben , who decided to walk back to his room instead.
The shield hero ran to his senior, causing the species shifter to turn around, "Ben! Thanks for sticking up for me man. It might not be much but I promise I will pay you back sometime in a future." Naofumi reached his hand out as his partner quickly walked beside him.
Ben shook his hand gently, letting out a hearty laugh, " Make sure to look up the help menu to see what your shield can do and stay safe out there, you two."
The red haired girl Myne, bowed to him with a slightly seductive but friendly smile on her face, and for the briefest moment Ben thought he had seen a strange flicker in her eyes- some hidden intelligence- a powerful entity filled with so much hunger and malice that he couldn't even imagine in his wildest dreams. A strange noise echoed in his ears like a thunderous boom
Alas, you are finally here to face me, Champion of Paradox...
"You don't need to worry Sir Ben, I will do everything in my power to help the shield hero succeed, even if it's just the two of us. And I hope you can rely on me in future as well, Sir Tennyson."
She concluded in a sing song voice.
The omnitrix bearer tried his best to regain his bearings but failed to do so, he just couldn't forget whatever it was he'd seen in her gaze a few moments ago. His hands were suddenly sweaty and his throat felt constricted as fear and panic began to consume his whole being.
"Out...I need to get out of here." Ben shook his head, trying his hardest to breath.
"Are you alright, Sir Ben?" Myne asked with concern in her melodic voice.
"I...I have to go to the bathroom." Ben said and hurriedly fled, not bothering to take another glance at her.
"Such a strange guy. I thought I was pretty bad when it came to women but he is even worse. Anyways he is a good person, I hope he does well during the waves." Naofumi inwardly sighed as he left with his companion, failing to notice that the redhead's smile was now replaced with a sinister smirk.
Aultcray let out a sigh and waved his hand. Within a moment the entire room was cleared, leaving only himself there.
This batch was certainly not the pinnacle of the best legendary heroes their history records has to offer. The nobles of this kingdom provided their hard earned money for the heroes to throw away to their heart's content. Yet, they acted like complete fools, barely treating their plight seriously. It was only hero of the bow who showed a lot of promise. He was nowhere near unrefined and rude like his fellow heroes. He had also proven to be on a whole other level compared to his fellow heroes, taking down higher leveled and much more experienced fighters even before obtaining the powers and abilities associated with being the wielder of legendary bow. However for all his strength and battle prowess, the bow hero seemed a bit naive and too trusting of people. Something that the shield demon was bound to take advantage of. The demon was just acting all friendly with a true hero just so he could study his fighting abilities and learn about all his weaknesses, just so he could exploit them in the future. This seemed like a dangerous proposition. Especially if the shield monster somehow managed to learn about those fanatics in Siltvelt and waged war against the humans, just like most of his predecessors did.
He couldn't let that happen, he needed to protect the bow hero from the shield monster.
"I want you to shadow Sir Bow and in case the shield starts acting suspicious... " The king called out to seemingly no one, however the moment he uttered those words, a robbed figure appeared behind one of the massive pillars of the throne room.
" You don't need to instruct me any further, your majesty!" The robbed figure responded with a bow before disappearing from the room as if he was never there in the first place.
"Try as many tricks as you can Shield demon! As long as I am alive, I won't let you or your fanatic cult lay a finger on this kingdom."
Aultcray clenched his fists in determination as the image of young black haired girl flashed in front of his eyes and just like that, he started walking towards his private reading room.
Unbeknownst to both of them a masked figure had managed to witness the entire conversation play out by hiding behind the balustrade of the castle.
" I must inform the queen of what has happened here, ~degozaru."
She thought to herself before dashing out from the window, fleeing the castle as well.
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