Chapter 6: The Wave of Catastrophe

Arthur is busy looking over at his different shields and skills while sitting on the rock and thinking to himself, 'It has been almost a week since the battle at the mine. I completely lost count on how much stuff I get to use. I should take some form of notes to keep track on all this shit.' Arthur then hears a rustle in the bushes which he stops and looks at his left. "Hmm?"

Gwen is standing next to him as she shouts, "Look out!"

Out of nowhere, a porcupine monster. Arthur raises his shield to block the attack as it curls up into a ball and lunges. However, one of its quills managed to pierce his duster. Luckily, it only pierced his duster and not his body.

The creature ran-off into the tall grass with Raphtalia chasing it, "Wait!"

Arthur removes the quill and adds it to his shield. He gained the [Animal Needle Shield] which does bleeding damage.

Raphtalia continues to chase the porcupine monster while saying, "Get back here!"

Arthur casts |Shield Prison| on the creature. The creature is stuck in a ball of metal and chains as it rocks it about. The creature struggles to break free yet unable to get out.

"Now Raphtalia!"

Then Raphtalia strikes the creature down as the shield prison disappears and killed the creature.

Raphtalia looks at Arthur, "I did it! I caught the monster!" Raphtalia looks like she could be around Arthur's age or older. The main reason is because when demi-humans level-up in this world, they age quicker until they reach their prime. Gwen already told him that when he questions why Raphtalia looks older.

"Thanks good!" Arthur approach and both he and Raphtalia take the monster apart to harvest its body to unlock some new shields and skills. Gwen keeps an eye out for anymore monsters. "Now then." Arthur gets up, "I think it is time for an upgrade."

The three of them made it back to Erhard's shop in order to get Raphtalia a new sword and to pick-up a new duster.

Erhard comes out from the back of his shop and notices Raphtalia has grown. He smiles, "Wow, look at you! I hardly recognize you. You've turned into a real pretty lady."

"Thank you!" Raphtalia smiles.

"So what have you been up to?"

"I had the innkeeper teach me table manners. I want to eat my food properly, like big brother does."

"That's so? You've grown so much. Nothing like the pipsqueak you used to be."

Arthur has a tissue held close to his right eye and looks like he's crying, "Yeah. My little sister has grown up so fast."

Raphtalia gets embarrassed as her tail stands up with the fur straighten and yells, "ARTHUR!"

Erhard just laughs. "Seems that someone has turned into a dotting sibling."

Arthur replies while still holding a tissue, "Yeah. But I really want my little sis to be cute and small. Now look at her. She has grown up so fast."

"CUT IT OUT! YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME!"

Arthur chuckles a bit but starts to get serious with Erhard. "Anyway, I got a budget of 180 silvers for a new weapon and for the special duster I wanted custom made from the leather from the two-headed black dog and the metal ore."

Raphtalia pulls out one of the swords and noticed it is very sharp. "Hey boss, this is a great sword."

"You like it?" Erhard says to Raphtalia, "That sword is made of magic iron."

Arthur says, "We'll take it. And my new duster."

"Hold on." Raphtalia says, "Why not armor?"

Arthur explains, "Because the new duster has armor in it between the two leathers and some cotton made from the metal ore we got from the mines. Which is like armor but hidden in plain sight."

"Oh." Raphtalia realizes. "Oooohhh."

Erhard pulls out a new duster that is black in coloration. However, there appears to be some magic iron armoring patches on the elbows and a bit on the shoulders. "Here you go. One new duster already to go."

Arthur says, "Thank you so much!" Arthur went to try it on. He obtained the Black Dog Custom Duster which gives him a defense up and given a magic defense enhancement from the ore. Arthur moves the curtain to show off his new duster.

"You look amazing, Arthur!" Raphtalia praises. And Raphtalia got a little more armor.

"I love the color!" Gwen admires the new duster as she gives two thumbs-up.

Arthur straightens his buttons as he walks up, "Black's not my color but it will have to do.

Gwen goes, "Oh please, black is always a good color on you."

He turns to face Erhard after straightening his duster, "Thanks for the new outfit."

Erhard smiles, "Make sure you give those monsters hell when the wave comes."

"Got it."

And so, the three exited the shop and prepare for the upcoming wave which is around 24 hours. Luckily Arthur managed to get to the Dragon Hourglass sometime before by sneaking into the church without letting any of the nuns or monks of the Three Heroes Church notice him because of their fucking religion that is against the Shield Heroes. While walking through town, they came across Itsuki.

"HEY!" Arthur waves at Itsuki and his party.

"Hey, Arthur." Itsuki greets him with a friendly hello. "How have you been?"

"You know. Managing to get by without kidding killed."

"I see." Itsuki notices Raphtalia, "And who is this?"

"Oh, this is Raphtalia. She's my new little sister. Well, she was little before leveling-up. She was a slave until I freed her and adopted her into the family."

Raphtalia gives a nervous greeting, "Hello, Mr. Bow Hero."

"Hello to you too." Then focuses on Arthur, "By the way, did you know that you can get the countdown to the next wave at the Dragon Hourglass?"

"I did actually. I got there in advance. Plus, I'm pretty sure the king said something like that while explaining which was kinda obvious."

"Oh. Well, catcha later then." Itsuki and his party left. However, Mald gives him and Raphtalia the look of disdain as he pass by them.

"Who was that?" Raphtalia asks Arthur.

"That was Itsuki, the Bow Hero. Which was kinda obvious with that bow he was carrying."

"Oh." Raphtalia feels kinda embarrassed and just follows Arthur.

The next day...

It is the day of the wave and our two heroes get prepared for the wave. Raphtalia and Arthur are preparing at the Village of Lute until the final countdown. The countdown is at...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...0

Raphtalia and Arthur are surrounded by flashes of light as they are transported to a location...that is just outside of Lute Village. The skies above have started to go dark as it turns red with blue and yellow swirls with purple outlines that are spawning monsters.

Arthur looked at where the village is and goes, "Seriously?! We were just at the fucking village and the dumb thing spawned us here!? What the shit!?"

Raphtalia then points at the three heroes' parties, "Look, Arthur! The other heroes are-"

She gets interrupted by the sound of the village warning bell and a flare gets fired and everyone noticed it.

Arthur springs into action, "Quick! To the village!"

In the village, one of the villagers runs from some zombies and a few giant bees (although they look more like wasps. I know they are called bees but they look like wasps. Bees are supposed to be fuzzy in a certain section of their bodies. Wasps don't) as he tries to get away. However, Arthur enters into the picture and slashes the zombies and wasps with one of his swords tied to a rope. As for Raphtalia, she tries to get as many villagers as she can to safety.

He looks at the villager and says, "Get out of here! Head towards the mines! MOVE!"

"Right!" Then the villager runs away as fast as he could.

Arthur spins his blades attach to the ropes and hacked and slash as many monsters as he could yet doesn't gain any exp. But he does manage to kill as many monsters as he can. He then tries luring the monsters towards a fire as he grabs the flaming stick and burns a few wasps.

'Damn!' Arthur thinks to himself as the situation gets worse. He notices a few villagers are trying to fight against some of the monsters and are scared. 'How the hell am I supposed to fight like this?! These motherfuckers won't let up! And those stupid knights haven't arrived yet!'

"OVER HERE!" Gwen yells at the top of the watch tower...or is it lookout tower?

Anyway, Arthur notices her as she waves from the top.

"That's it!" Arthur says to himself when he gets the idea.

So he runs towards the tower with the monsters following him, climb up the tower with the torch in hand, and make his way up. Gwen isn't there with him yet Arthur rings the bell. Some of the villagers that are armed try to keep the monsters away while frightened, but they hear the bell. The sound of the bell is luring all the monsters to one location. They all gather around with Arthur pouring the contents of the oil lamp onto the floor and onto the monsters trying to climb up the ladder. He drops the torch on the floor and exits out of there as the tower burns with some of the monsters that were climbing up. Arthur manages to survive the jump without crushing his bones or taking any sort of fall damage yet left a little crater on the ground. Some of the surviving monsters surround him but he draws his swords with the ropes and is ready to slice and dice some inter-dimensional monsters.

Arthur smiles, "Time to get crazy!" He presses the button in his Linker and it plays Devil Trigger from Devil May Cry 5.

He swings his swords and charges right at the bigger zombies with the music playing. He cuts and slices at everything in sight like a little whirlwind made of blades as he spins around, chopping anything in his path and reduce them to nothing. He was spinning so fast and cutting down so many monsters that the brown hair and cowboy hat of his head fell off to show his real hair. His hair is the color of white. When he realizes that, he quickly puts it back on his head and continues to kill all the monsters in a murderous frenzy. After a few minutes, all the monsters around him are completely chopped up. He even does some stunts like cartwheels, limbo dodge some attacks, hacking monsters with such style, and throws only one soda bomb at them which caught the attention of anyone within earshot. With that done, the music stopped.

Raphtalia runs up to assist as she shouts, "ARTHUR!"

But when she arrives, Arthur has defeated all the monsters around him and is shocked to see the carnage. Body parts and monster parts are scattered all over the ground with some of the monsters weapons and armor pieces.

Arthur is facing away from Raphtalia until he turns, "Oh, hey there! Is everyone alright?!" Arthur is more concern about the villagers' safety than his own.

Raphtalia just nodded while thinking, 'That's incredible! He managed to destroy all those monsters by himself! Is this the true power of the Shield Hero?'

However, Arthur notices a group of knights showed up. "You guys are late." Arthur says to the knights.

The captain of the knights is a bit annoyed, "Looks like you took them all out yourself and didn't leave anything for us. Yet you are still alive and unscathed. You must be some damn cockroach!"

Arthur says, "You guys took too long." Arthur cross his arms, "But I guess I should sit tight and let you guys have a little bit of glory...*smirks at the captain* or be monster chow!"

A large zombie in heavy armor snuck up behind the captain and about ready to kill him with a giant axe. When the captain turns around, he noticed it and get scared. But Arthur shows up and blocks the attack with his shield. Then Arthur swings his katana at the head of the zombie right down the middle.

He lands back on his feet and says, "But you could die in honorable combat. Right?"

"Shield Hero!" one of the villagers shouted with a whole gang of villagers armed with pitchforks, torches, clubs, and whatever the hell they can get their hands on.

"What are you doing here?!" Arthur asks. "Shouldn't you guys have evacuated?!"

One of the villagers then says, "We did! But after seeing you in combat, we were inspired to defend our home!"

"This village is our home and we want to defend it!" one of the villagers outbursted.

Arthur sighs, "Alright." He turns to face a few monsters, "Then let's get these bastards!"

"YEAH!" The villagers rally behind Arthur along with Raphtalia.

"Tch." the captain went. He turns around and walks, "Come on. We should help the three heroes. Now!"

Ake, one of the knights that grew up in Lute Village, is unsure.

However, the vice-captain then says to the knights, "Phalanx formation! We must support the Shield Hero!"

Ake smiles when he hears that. The troops get into formation and say, "Phalanx formation!"

"Forget them. Let's go." says the captain. He just leaves with only two knights.

Over where Motoyatsu, Itsuki, and Ren are at, they are battling the Chimera boss in order to stop the Wave.

Itsuki fires, "Wind arrow!" A green arrow with wind is fired.

Ren strikes, "Crimson blade!" Ren's sword emits fire and does a fiery slash.

The two attack caused the monster to bleed and roar in pain.

Motoyatsu goes, "I'll end this!" His spear starts to spark and fires electricity, "Lighting spear!"

Motoyatsu deals the final blow and kills the monster. Once that happened, the skies started to clear.

Raphtalia notices the sky and gets Arthur's attention. She points at the sky and says, "Arthur, look! The skies are clearing up!"

Arthur looks at the sky as he punches the head of a zombie off and says, "About damn time. Those three really need to up their game." Another zombie comes up behind him and he just grabs it and punches its head off.

Good news is that none of the villagers died as long as Arthur took down the bigger and meaner monsters that the villagers can't handle. Those with torches manage to scorch the wasps while avoiding their stingers. Since the zombies are slow, it is easy for them to knock them down. Arthur thinks of it as a training exercise when the village gets attack by monsters and the heroes aren't around. Some of the villagers gather all the weapons and pieces of armor dropped by the zombies to be better equipped. But some will be sold to help rebuild the village.

Motoyatsu looks around and says, "Any idea where Arthur is?"

Malty says while leaning on Motoyatsu, "Well, he is a post-apocalyptic survivor. He's probably fine."

Motoyatsu gives Malty a threatening glance, "What did I say about opening your mouth about Arthur!?"

Malty gets scared and back away.

Ren says, "We should find him after we cut this beast up."

Itsuki then says, "I agree. Since he missed out, he probably want some drops from the boss monster."

"Heroes!" the captain of the knights approach after catching his breath, "Well done!"

Ren says, "The knights, huh?"

Motoyatsu says, "You guys showed up a little too late."

Itsuki asks, "Have you guys seen Arthur? Is he still alive?"

"The Shield Hero? He's fine."

"Are you sure?" Itsuki doesn't trust the captain.

"Of course. He is with the villagers right now. By the way, the king wishes to reward you heroes handsomely."

Ren uses his sword to cut the monster open, "Right. Let's cut this monster up."

While chopping up the monster and gathering a few pieces for upgrades and save some for Arthur, Malty starts to get an idea. An idea that might work in her favor as she smirks.

Back in Lute Village, the villagers cheered with their victory along with that of their new hero. However, Arthur falls down on the ground.

The villagers and Raphtalia noticed and try to help him up.

"Are you alright, Arthur?!" Raphtalia sounds worried as she tries to help Arthur up.

"I'm fine." Arthur replies, "Just a little tired. I fought against monsters before but this was too much. Not to mention that I had to think outside the box on how to fight. Not only that, this is the first time that I have to protect people while fighting as well" But then, Arthur gets an idea while looking at his guns. "Hmm."

The elder of the village approach Arthur and Raphtalia, "Thank you so much for protecting us and help us fight against the monsters during the wave."

Arthur weakly wave his right hand, "Sure thing. Just glad to help."

Then all the villagers thank him and Raphtalia for their help.

Raphtalia says to Arthur, "I'll see if there is anyone injured and give them medicine." She lets go of Arthur.

"Go ahead." Arthur approves. Raphtalia then runs off to help anyone that is injured.

"HEY! ARTHUR!" Motoyatsu comes towards the village along with Ren, Itsuki, and all their party members. Ren is carrying some of the stuff from the Chimera's corpse to give to Arthur.

"Hey guys." Arthur weakly greets the others.

The other three heroes approach with Itsuki asking, "You doing alright?"

"I'm alright. Haven't done anything like that since I killed an army of bandits years ago. So now I'm a bit worn out."

Motoyatsu winces and goes, "Wait?! You killed an army of bandits?!"

"Long story." Arthur tries to stand straight while being tired. Although, it appears to be more of an act to some degree. Arthur is actually feeling pretty well despite everything.

Ren then gives a bag full of the Chimera's pieces to Arthur, "Here."

Itsuki says, "We would like to give you some loot since you missed out on the boss fight."

Arthur takes the bag, "Thank you."

Motoyatsu says to Arthur, "By the way, we've been invited to the castle to celebrate. Now I know that you dislike the king and all but it would be rude to turn down an invitation. Plus you might need the reward money."

Arthur sighs as he tries to put the monster pieces to unlock the [Chimera Shield Series], "Fine. I guess I could go."

"Great!" Motoyatsu smiles. "See you at the party. Oh and by the way. I know that I'm gonna get punched in the face, again, but where is your sister?"

"She's busy right now. Giving some of the medicines I made to the villagers." Arthur is referring to Raphtalia, not Gwen.

"Okay. Hope to see her there." Motoyatsu and his party left.

"See you at the castle then." Itsuki and his party left.

"See ya'." Ren and his party left.

After all three of the heroes and their parties left, Gwen pops up and says, "How long are you gonna play pretend?"

"Whatcha' talking about?" Arthur asks as he reviews what he has unlocked.

"You're not tired in the slightest." Gwen sounds serious. "When are you gonna tell them the truth?"

"Only when necessary."

"You do know that I'm just a figment of your imagination of your dead sister, right?"

"You don't have to remind me." Arthur looks a little sad as he clenches his left fist tightly.

Gwen sighs, "Alright, but keep in mind that the bratty princess will try something. When that happens, make sure everyone knows the truth."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Gwen disappears yet her voice lingers, "If you ever need me, all you have to do is ask."

Raphtalia runs up to Arthur as Arthur lowers his shield.

"Everyone seems to be alright." Raphtalia says, "No one is the slightest bit injured."

"That's good to hear." Arthur smiles. "Now come on. We're invited to the palace."

In a room in the palace as the sun sets, Motoyatsu appears to be alone as he looks out the window. However, Malty manages to sneak into his room as she hugs him tightly, which surprises him, and whispers something in his hear. Motoyatsu's eyes shine pink and his pupils have a heart-shaped symbol glowing for a few seconds. When he blinks, his eyes are normal.

"Yes, you beloved majesty." He says in a tone that makes him sound hypnotized, "I am yours to command."

AN: Hello again! Hope you guys enjoy this new chapter. Now for some Q&A from our audience.

Cloudy09: It's is actually a reference to Fallout Van Buren. There is no connection to the Fallout series.

DracoKnightReady: Congratulations! You have discovered the truth behind Gwen van Buren! I'm pretty sure that everyone probably figured it out before this chapter, but you are the first to say something about it.

JGResidentEvil: I do have a punishment that is worse than giving her a new name (and I did thought of a new name for her) but I'm open to suggestions.

Sakura Lisel: Arthur is actually stronger than he appears. Since he has been surviving in a post-apocalyptic future and has to survive on his own. Which means that he is stronger than an average thirteen-year-old despite his size. You have seen Brock's Happiny from Pokemon, right? She maybe small but ridiculously strong for an egg baby. Plus I didn't wanna get off track from the anime series itself. As for the whole exp from monsters thing, you can blame that on the Shield Hero wiki. Because the wiki says that all balloon monsters are worth 1 exp. But when I watched the series again when Raphtalia killed one, they are worth 15 exp. Plus according to the light novel, it took Naofumi a week to reach level 2. I have no idea why it is like that but don't ask me. Ask the guys that made the light novels and anime...and probably the wikia. I get most of my information from there.

Also, does anyone know that one female fighter in Itsuki's party? Because I can't seem to find her name anywhere and I know that she did speak and would like to put the character's name in later chapters.

BTW - Today's my birthday! WOO!