Chapter 11: Spear vs Spear

All rights go to their owners.

Talking: "Lucifer son of the mourning, I'm gonna chase you out of earth."

Thinking: 'I'm gonna put on an iron shirt, and chase Satan out of earth.'

"Vandalism is always fun when you're fucking with an asshole."-Kane Stone.

A few days have passed since Kane brought back the BioPlant. Eventually, the plants begin to slowly grow into trees so they ensured to plant the seeds in certain spots to ensure that the village wouldn't suffer any issues due to the plants taking up space. The original seed that was planted in the centre has turned into a massive tree that could be easily seen from anywhere in the village, it could be even easily seen outside the village. The villagers' spirits are also affected by the BioPlant going around with a smile on their faces as if the famine was nothing more than just a bad memory. Keel and Shen went around town helping the villagers with some heavy lifting while Leo and Rifana go out and deal with some monsters in the forest. A ring spans around Kane and Griffin, the ground of the sparring ring coarse and rough.

Practise Spear: (+0) (Equip Effect:) Non-Lethal.

Kane twirls the Practise Spear and attempts to stab the Spear into Griffin only for him to block it with his shield and then rushing inside of Kane's personal space. Kane attempts to perform a spinning kick to the head but Griffin grabs his leg, stopping it before it can slam into his head. He pushes the grabbed leg upwards, causing Kane to lose his balance before kicking his leg out causing him to fall to the ground with a grunt. Griffin lets go of Kane's leg and walks off. "Catch your breath." He walks to the edge of the ring where the bench is situated, placing his practise spear and shield on the seating before grabbing a waterskin and lightly sipping its contents.

Kane gets to his feet, his attractive face and golden hair all messy and dirty from the spars. He's not wearing his Warrior armour instead he has on clothes that the villagers kindly gave him after the clothes he wore when he first arrived in the world was filthy, the village clothes were rather tight due to Kane's size and stature but he's fine with it as he's only using the clothes during spars and not much else. "So old-timer am I progressing well?"

Griffin turns around to look at Kane; staring right into his ruby eyes, the fire within burning even brighter despite losing to Griffin rather easily due to Griffin's superior skill. He sighs. "Your strength is impressive, far more than your average adventurer or even a veteran adventurer but strength is not the end all be all. Skill is more important and in that your novice level at best thankfully you're learning rather quickly." Griffin crosses his arms. "…You ready to go again?"

Kane raises his Spear in a stance, slightly parting his feet to strengthen his base. "Always."

Griffin stares him down, not finding any issue with his stance. Griffin picks up his spear and shield, taking his own stance, getting low, and covering his body with the shield. "Begin!" Kane charges in and slams into Griffin, forcing him back a bit.

"If I'm stronger than you then I'll make you fight on my terms." Kane stares down at Griffin with a smirk, slowly pushing him back.

Griffin smiles and pushes back, ending Kane's movement completely, his eyes widen as the two are in a complete stalemate. "I said you're stronger than your average adventurer, I don't remember saying you're stronger than me." As soon as he finishes his sentence Griffin violently raises his shield, dragging Kane's Spear along with it leaving him vulnerable to which Griffin performs a push kick on Kane's stomach making him fly backward, rolling as he hits the ground. "...Let's see how much you learned."

Kane gets to his feet, cracking his neck as he does so. "Careful what you wish for, old-timer."

Kane charges again, stabbing his Spear right into Griffin's shield. "You think doing the same thing will make it eventually work?" Griffin eager to punish Kane for his mistake in hopes that he'll learn to perform the same move as last time, aggressively pushing the Spear upward making Kane vulnerable until he suddenly gets low and spins, swiping Griffin's legs out under him, making him drop to the ground while Kane rises and performs a stab right for Griffin who blocks it at the last second. "Smart."

"I try to keep my intelligent moments rare, surprises people when I do something even somewhat clever." Kane pushes the Spear into Griffin's shield even deeper attempting to hold him down. He slowly gets to his knees still holding back Kane's Spear to which he retracts it and kicks the shield making Griffin go backward a couple of feet. He slowly gets up from his knees to which Kane charges yet again not wanting to let Griffin get a moment to recover. Kane with one hand stabs the Spear into Griffin's shield and grabs Griffin's spear when he tries to stab in retaliation. The two are stuck in a deadlock for all of a few moments until Kane's Spear suddenly disappears to which he quickly follows up by grabbing the shield and pulling Griffin in to knee him in the stomach, Griffin gags as the air in his lungs rush out. Kane grabs the shield with both hands, attempting to flip Griffin to the ground in hopes that he'll let go of the shield. Griffin does as he wants and let's go mid-throw resulting in him flying off creating space between the two.

Kane tosses the shield out of the ring while Griffin quickly stands to his feet. "Spear vs spear now old-timer."

Griffin hums back in response, twirling the spear in his hands and spacing them. "Bring it."

Kane stares at Griffin for a bit, looking at his stance with the spear, noticing his low stance while pointing the spear downwards for reasons unknown to him. "...Charging you is probably a bad idea but fuck it." Kane points his Spear ahead of him and rushes Griffin to which the aged soldier sighs. Kane's Spear is mere inches away from Griffin's head to which the veteran reacts. Moving his head resulting in Kane's Spear going past his head, scratching the side of his face essentially doing nothing to him as it passes by his face. Griffin grabs the Spear and violently tugs it, pulling Kane towards him while he angles his own spear right for Kane's head.

Kane tilts his entire body on pure instinct, resulting in the spear aiming for him to miss but leaving him wide open something that Griffin punishes immediately before Kane can react, kicking out his legs before placing the point of his spear at Kane's jugular with superhuman speed. He looks up at Griffin staring into the man's eyes. Griffin removes the spear from his neck. "Skill is the most important part, your strength means nothing if I can just impale your throat." Griffin grabs Kane by the arm and lifts him up. "Although you got a good hit on me you couldn't follow up while I did and as such, I won."

Kane huffs and nods with an unwanted smile crawling on his face, feeling a weird sense of nostalgia hit him. Griffin notices the smile. "What's got you smiling? Think I'm joking or something?" The man speaks with steel in his tone.

Kane looks up and rubs the back of his head. "Nah, it's just… just feeling nostalgic is all." Memories of an elderly Irish man yelling at him to keep his hands up replaying in his head and promptly getting hit to the canvas. "So we going for another spar?"

Griffin stares at him, he looks up to notice the sun directly overhead. "...That's enough for today, let the spars settle in your head, we'll continue tomorrow."

Kane's smile turns into a devilish smirk. "Feeling your age?"

Griffin humphs. "That's right and you still got your ass handed to you by an old man." He walks out of the ring and sits down on a bench. Kane chuckles and sits alongside Griffin, looking up to the sky and watching the birds fly about, he notices the sky is cloudy. Feeling the windy breeze cool off his sweaty body. Griffin turns to him. "I've got to ask; do the other Heroes at least know how to use their weapons?"

Kane scratches his chin. "I'm going to go with a no on that."

"Why?"

"Because I beat the Sword Hero and Bow Hero all by myself in one hit each."

Griffin groans and rubs his forehead. "...Well it could be that they're skilled but you just dealt with them before they could properly get into the fight."

Kane shrugs. "Hey, I was taught to come out strong, if I knock someone out early means less chance I could get hurt." Griffin nods his head at the logic. "And I don't want to burst your bubble but well all the Heroes come from separate worlds where swords, spears, bows, and shields are all… well not really used as much, I mean you still get like fencing tournaments and shit but in the military or even normal day to day life? You would pretty much never see it."

"So all the Heroes have no experience with their weapons?"

"Pretty much yeah."

Griffin sighs and slumps, a frown on his weathered face, making the creases pop out even more. "Fuck sake. No offence but I rather our Heroes actually have knowledge on how to use their weapons."

Kane snorts. "Can't say I blame you, end of the world, and your only hope is 4 people with weapons they don't even know how to use." Kane gives a dry chuckle. "Worst comes to worse, I'll keep the mood light with jokes."

Griffin snorts, slightly amused. "Your shit jokes might be more deadly then your Spear."

Kane places a hand on his heart. "Damn… that hurt more than the spars." Kane stares off into the distance for a few minutes, he straightens his back and looks at Griffin. "To be completely honest with you I'm confident with the next Wave."

Griffin rubs his cheek. "Oh? Why's that?"

"Me and the Shield handled our first Wave pretty well last time, we worked as a team, defending villagers and killing the Wave boss and we had no idea what to expect so the next Wave will probably be even easier than last time due to us having experience with it this time… touch wood." He pats the bench three times to which Griffin tilts his head.

"You realise the Wave will become even more challenging right?"

Kane grins. "I do, but I can't help but be confident my whole party is getting stronger, so is Iwi's if the last time I saw her was anything to go by and I'm planning on going back to Castle Town at some point." He exhales through the nose, as if what's he's about to say is going to slightly irk him. "...Thinking about talking to the King, maybe try and get some squads of knights to join my party so they can teleport with me."

Griffin stares at Kane, his eyes slightly wide, he turns away from Kane and looks ahead. "Huh. Well, well, maybe the Wave will be handled just fine. Touch wood." He taps the bench three times

Kane smirks at Griffin, the smile weakens. "Hey gotta ask, is the King a petty fuckwit that won't hand me, knight squads, because I insulted him and his daughter?"

Griffin's eye twitches, before he facepalms. "What? Why would you do that?"

"Because fuck him that's why. He and his daughter fucked over the Shield Hero just 'cause."

"They fucked over the Shield Hero?"

Kane looks at the man in disbelief. "Yeah they framed the Shield Hero for rape, how haven't you heard of this?"

Griffin rolls his head as he shrugs. "I don't pay attention to rumours and such, especially to rumours about the Shield Hero, I always just linked it to the Three Hero Church propaganda."

Kane tilts his head in confusion. "Three Hero Church?"

Griffin squints his eyes. "Yes the Three Hero Church, you know the Church that worships the Heroes; the Bow, the Sword and the Spear while demonising the Shield. How do you not know this?"

Kane's head moves back as the realisation hits him. "I've only gone there to get stuff but it's never gone beyond that. Honestly the whole thing puts me off, I mean people worshipping me as if I'm some living saint, just." He shakes his head, not finishing his sentence, showing off his displeasure at it. He stops and looks at Griffin. "How involved is the King with the Church? Better yet how powerful is the Church?"

"The King believes in the religion or perhaps just one part of it: the hate of Demi-humans and the Shield Hero. As for how powerful it is?" Griffin leans back in thought. He clears his throat. "A lot of nobles help line the Church's pocket by donations, add in the fact it's the main religion of the country while all the others are shunned, it's an influential force no doubt about that but in terms of military power? Not so much, at least not as much as it's influence."

Kane kisses his teeth. "As if the Waves weren't bad enough now there's a cult of assholes, great."

Griffins huffs, with his mouth in a straight line. "It's the Shield Hero that should be worried, they'll attempt to drive her in the dirt even more if they get the chance."

Kane hums, rubbing his chin. "Maybe I should go vandalise the Church, always fun to piss off assholes."

"You realise that would probably make you a pariah in the Church's eyes? Not as much as the Shield Hero obviously but still."

Kane blows air out of his mouth. "Fuck em. they're gonna worship me and do this shit? I'll make them regret it by making the most conflicting message for their cult."

An unwanted smirk appears on Griffin's face. "Not the smartest idea but I figure you're not going to listen to me."

Kane shrugs, a devilish smirk on his face. "Their fault for making me a living saint, I'm a troublemaker but they'll learn that real soon."

Griffin shakes his head, his smirk still on his face, he turns away. Rifana and Leo walk up to the two men sitting on the bench. "Kane."

Kane turns at hearing his name, he nods at the two demi-humans. "What's up?"

"We found a cave full of monsters, we're not sure if it's a dungeon or not but we figured it would be a good trip to get XP for us all, it would also lower the monster numbers in the forest."

Kane stands up and stretches. "Let's get to it then, see you later Griffin." He pulls out his armour from his inventory, equipping it as he follows the other two demi-humans.

Griffin hums. "Fight well kid."

Warrior Cuirass: +75 Phy Def, 45 Mag Def.

Warrior Greaves: +50 Phy Def, 25 Mag Def.

Warrior Gauntlets: +40 Phy Def, +20 Atk.

Warrior Armour set bonus: High resistance to bludgeon, High resistance to slashing.

The three wander through the town looking for Keel and Shenron. Kane scowls, fidgeting with his armour. "Something the matter?"

He looks up to find Leo staring at him. He looks back down at his arm and fidgets with it again. "This armour is just pissing me off, it's super tight for some reason."

"Maybe you've gotten too big for it?"

Kane grunts as he tugs at the arms and legs of his armour, after a few moments of his fussing over his armour he eventually is somewhat satisfied, the armour still slightly tight but it's the most comfortable he's going to be until he gets Erhard to resize it for him. The three walk around asking the villagers where Shen and Keel, thankfully one of the villagers point out the two, Keel is sitting up in one of the tree branches sleeping while Shenron is flying around, making loops and twirls. "Keel! Shen!" Shen looks down at flies towards them while Keel turns her back, her tail slumping off the edge of the branch. "Alright then, I guess we'll go fight the monsters with just us four."

Keel immediately shoots up. "Fight?"

Rifana facepalms while Leo shakes his head. Kane responds to Keel's question with a nod to which she hops down from the tree. Her dog ears perking up from her wild hair. "Good, I've been getting so bored with these shitty monsters, there's no challenge in it."

Kane's eyes narrow while his brow raises quizzically. "Then why don't you come and train with me and Griffin, could do you some good; get a challenging spar and learn something new."

Keel tilts her head, slightly unsure. "I mean, is there anything he can even teach me? I don't want to hurt the old geezer."

Kane raises his hand and lifts one finger. "One. It doesn't hurt to try and even if he can't teach you anything he would be excellent sparring practise for you." He lifts another finger. "And two. Don't underestimate him just because of his age, he's stronger than he looks and he's more experienced, so I want you to go get some training from him when you're free. The same goes for you two." He turns to Rifana and Leo who both nod.

Keel shakes her head, rolling her eyes. "Fine, I'll get some practise from him."

Shen pops his head in, still in his dragon form. "Wait what about me?"

Kane pats Shenron on the head. "You're already great Shen fighting as a dragon that and… I don't think Griffin can help you improve on that," he mumbles the last part to himself.

Shen preens under the words of Kane. "Now let's go, we have a cave to go clear out."

The group enters the forest, making their way to the cave. Dealing with the occasional monster that pops, attempting to interrupt the party, from oversized woodland critters to mystical monsters.

97 XP gained!

98 XP gained!

98 XP gained!

54 XP gained!

78 XP gained!

121 XP gained!

Kane absorbs the monsters, stuffing his inventory with even parts. He moves to another monster corpse about to absorb when he gets shocked by Gungnir.

{STOP HOARDING SO MANY PARTS YOU ASSHOLE!}

Kane stares at the yes or no option, a straight line on his face.

{Don't even think about it.}

Kane raises his finger and presses yes. The monster becomes absorbed and there's a moment of silence.

{You have issues.}

Kane blows a raspberry. "It's not that big of a deal, I've got infinite inventory." His other party members look confused at Kane who seems to be talking to himself to which Keel explains what's going on.

{And you never seem to use most of the shit you collect.}

"Saving it for a rainy day."

{There's rotten meat in your inventory, what are you saving that for?}

"...I dunno, maybe throw it at the Princess or King."

"Kane!" He looks up to his party displeased at him, although they don't know what he's planning on throwing it's a bad idea regardless.

Kane shrugs his shoulders, completely nonchalant. "What? Don't act like you guys wouldn't if you had the chance."

The three look off, not denying the claim.

{You're gonna throw tons of rotten meat at the Princess and King?}

"The Church too then."

"What do you mean the church too!" The three demi-humans speak in unison as their heads once again snap to Kane.

"Did I stutter?" Kane stares at the demi-humans with an unwavering look.

The three demi-humans stare at him in disbelief. "Are you crazy!" Shen sits in the background a smile on his face as he watches the rest of the party devolve into an argument.

"What else am I suppose to do with rotten meat?"

"Throw it away, not at people!"

"That's boring though."

Rifana pulls at her ears in frustration, Leo facepalms while Keel's mouth opens and closes, her lips turning into a slight frown.

30 minutes later.

After a few more minutes of the majority party arguing, they finally stop and get to the cave.

The entrance to the cave looks ominous, the light barely lighting up the threshold of the cave mouth, looking into the cave, one could see it starts to slope downwards into the earth. Kane takes the first step in and activates his Spear Light skill. "...Echo!" His voice travels down the cave. Vibrating off the cold walls. He makes his way deeper into the cave, his party following directly behind him. "You said there were monsters here?"

Rifana looks around cautiously. "Me and Leo saw monsters surrounding the cave."

"...Either this cave is empty or they're hiding somewhere, which I really don't like."

The group doesn't stop walking forward, on guard.

"Hissssss!"

The entire party stares at where the noise came from finding nothing, everyone apart from Kane picks up the sounds of slithering all around them. "Look like they found us."

Kane twirls his Spear into a stance, stopping as he does so. His entire party going back to back, waiting for the denizens of the cave to show themselves. A massive snake pounces at Kane, it's about half of Kane's height in length while its height is around 8 inches. Kane strikes out as the snake flies towards him, getting low and stabbing the snake from the bottom of its jaw, to his surprise the snake doesn't die, instead it stares at Kane before lifting the top part of it's mouth about to attempt something but Kane doesn't give it the chance and dig his Spear even further in finally finishing it off. He pushes the snake carcass off his Spear, the moment the snake corpse hits the ground all hell breaks loose. Monsters from every direction attack the group at once.

Salamanders and snakes both go straight for the party, their predator instincts believing they have their prey right where they want them, this belief quickly dies just like the monsters, who all get cut down easily. The party stands together for a few moments, Kane goes to harvest the monster corpses to Gungnir's annoyance. Keel shudders as she looks at the dead snakes. "Why did it have to be snakes?"

Kane rolls his shoulder, pressing yes again on the harvest. "I rather deal with snakes than spiders, not in the mood to fight with an oversized bug, that will probably spit venom and webs."

"...There's probably gonna be a spider in this cave now that you said that." Leo looks off to the side, looking around the cave walls.

"I hate that you're most likely right." Kane sighs as he finishes harvesting the final corpse.

Shen puffs up. "Don't worry! I'll burn any of the pesky bugs before they get too close." Kane smirks and pats Shen on the head. He starts to read the new Spears he's unlocked, looking for any new skills or stats.

Cave Boa Meat Spear unlocked! (+0) +2 Cooking Skill.

Cave Boa Bone Spear unlocked! (+0) +12 Phy Def.

Cave Boa Fang Spear unlocked! (+0) +9 Atk.

Cave Salamander Meat unlocked! (+0) +1 Cooking Skill.

Cave Salamander Bone Spear unlocked! (+0)+6 Phy Def.

Cave Salamander Tooth Spear unlocked! (+0) +6 Atk.

Kane stops bothering reading on about the new Spears since they didn't have any impressive stats or skills. "Everyone good to go?" He gets all positive responses, all around. "Back to it." He walks ahead of the party, them following suit behind.

They get even deeper into the cave, hearing skittering and slithering they can into battle positions.

The party is about to reach the end of the cave, which for some reason seems to be a light source of sorts brightening the cave section, Kane deactivates his Spear Light skill as he walks up. They enter, quickly searching the room for any monsters. A whole bunch of monsters stand in the centre, they seem to be in a strange sense of slumber against the massive crystal formation that's dead centre in the room. The crystal formation is responsible for the light, emitting a white glow. "...What are they doing?" Rifana stares at the strange actions of the monsters.

Kane squints as he looks at the monsters. "No clue." He raises the Spear up in one hand, aiming it for one of the monsters against the crystal formation. Rifana follows suit, pulling out her bow and notching an arrow. Kane tosses the Spear impaling a snake against the crystal, causing the blood-covered Spear to stab right into the crystal. Rifana fires out 3 arrows in quick succession, before they hit their target a white beam of energy destroys the arrows.

The crystal in the centre slowly loses its colour, turning a shade of a very dark maroon. Kane holds out his hand, pulling the Spear back at him. He plucks it out of the air. The crystal begins to shudder and shake. "Ah fuck."

The monsters charge at the party, an insidious beam hits two monsters at the back, causing them to convulse and twitch. Kane's attention is focused more on the monsters that are about to reach them, before they get within striking range Rifana pulls out two more arrows and plants in the skulls of two salamanders. One of the salamanders and a snake go straight for Kane, he notices their eyes are abnormal, the same colour as the crystal like the one in the centre. The salamander reaches him first, leaping at him. He aims the Spear straight for the salamander's gullet, letting its momentum impale it. Due to him being preoccupied with the salamander, he doesn't notice the snake strike for him, slithering up his body and twisting its body around his neck, attempting to choke him out, he switches the Spear into a bracelet before attempting to pull it off his neck.

Kane grabs the snake by the tail and clenches, crushing the bottom of its tail, in retaliation the snake bites Kane's arm and tightens its grasp. The lack of oxygen starts to slightly burn and make his eyes water, he grits his teeth. He forces his arm between his neck and the snake, the other arm grabs it by the head and slowly pulls it off, the snake struggles, trying to get its head free and constrict Kane's airway but he doesn't relent, he pulls the snake off and just as he goes to slam it into the floor an arrow hits it in the head.

Kane tosses the snake carcass and looks up, concern for his party but to his relief, no one is harmed, his party stares at him just recently finished dealing with their monsters. "You alright Kane?"

Kane smirks and gives a thumbs up. "Always, thanks for the save." The group all smile before snaps and creaks can be heard, getting the group's attention. They turn to the centre, finding the two monsters that were hit with the beam changed and not for the better.

Two salamanders stare at them, although at this point one could argue if they were even salamanders anymore; It's now bipedal, standing up straight, their even taller then Kane in height. The mouths of the salamanders seem to ooze a vile brownish red liquid. "The fuck happened to them?" Kane stares at them, completely baffled by the sudden change in the monsters. Kane looks at their names in the HUD and their respective levels.

Cursed Salamander LVL-56

"...Kane, We should take these monsters a little more seriously." Rifana stares at it, her weasel ears, twitching and straight up. This reaction is shared with the other party members apart from Kane and Shen.

Leo nods in agreement with Rifana, staring at the monsters while Keel stays silent, her confident nature replaced with a more cautious one. Kane looks at his group then back at the monsters. "Just need to play it smart, fight together and we'll handle it fine." Kane activates his spell and some skills. "Hear my call and quicken my allies. Fast Boost!" The red light appears showing that the spell is in effect, the cursed monsters charge at them, not wanting to let them gain even more power. 'Rally.' Kane uses half of SP to boost his party before the monsters reach them.

The two monsters go straight for Kane, swiping at him. He backsteps feeling the wind from the slice pass by him. The party goes for the monsters, Keel and Rifana bisected one of the monsters while Leo and Shen focus on the other one, decapitating it. The two monsters drop to the ground, dead. Kane hums and stares at the monster's corpses. One of the monsters resurges with life, leaping at Kane who raises his arms in defence, it slams into him and begins to scratch his arms, damaging the armour in the process.

His party runs up and attempts to separate him and the monster, Keel grabs the monster by the nape and tosses it off, while Shen burns the other corpse, hoping to make sure it stays down but it also surges to life. Rolling backwards to stand in line with its fellow monster, the lower half and head rolling back. The crystal vibrates and darkens. A beam of light similar to the last one hit the two monsters and the parts that once a part of the two, the monsters regenerate lost limbs and as for the limbs themselves, they regrow entire bodies. Four monsters, stand staring at the party.

Kane stares at this, grimacing at the slight sting of his arm. He stares at the crystal. Kane looks at his Spear and the crystal. 'Spear Smite.' The Spear glows with a white light, he raises it like a javelin and tosses straight at the crystal. One of the monsters intercept, standing in between the crystal and the Spear, letting it get impaled in the head, the monster starts to scream as white flames envelope it, eventually turning it to ash.

824 XP gained!

Kane holds out his hands, the Spear flying back directly into it. He grabs it and twirls it, before charging ahead, his party following directly behind him. The three monsters chargeback in response. He grabs the end of his Spear and makes a sideswipe, catching two of the cursed monsters in one swing, resulting in them combusting and turning to ash.

824 XP gained!

824 XP gained!

The last one back steps and grabs the Spear, to which Kane smirks and violently tugs the Spear to him, unbalancing the monster. He raises his elbows upwards, slamming it into the monster's chin, the action condemning it.

824 XP gained!

The final monster turns to ash. The party directly behind Kane stares at its ashes, Keel sighs. "You just kill all the monsters so easily, it's no fun when there's no challenge."

Kane shrugs, his lips turning upwards. "Hey, not much I can do about it, plus it could of turned into a dangerous situation if we didn't deal with them quickly. I ain't risking getting overwhelmed by a swarm of cursed monsters."

Keel mumbles in agreement, to which Rifana and Leo smile while Shen walks ahead. Pointing at the crystal. "What do we do with that?"

Kane turns around and stares at the crystal. He raises his Spear and throws it, right at the crystal in another attempt to impale it. Another one of the beams comes out and attempts to stop it, but the beam seems to not affect the Spear at all resulting in the Spear jamming into the crystal. After a few moments, the crystal begins to shudder. The crystal returns to it's original pale white. Parts of the crystal swirl in a certain shade of red.

The party walks up to the crystal, cautious. Shen stares at the crystal, then turns to Kane and then back again. "It looks like your eyes dad!"

Kane turns to Shen, slightly confused. "Huh?"

"He's talking about the colour, it matches your eyes." Leo stares at the crystal, slightly mesmerised by the pretty swirls of red within the white crystal formation.

"My eyes?… Why does it match my eye colour?"

"No idea, maybe because you stabbed it with your Spear?" Leo reaches up, slightly flicking the Spear on it's end.

Kane hums, walking up to his Spear, still jammed into the crystal, he grabs the end and pulls it out. Standing there waiting for something to happen only for nothing to happen. "...Time to head back I think."

The others all murmur their agreements.

They leave the cave and make their way home, nothing of interest while making their way back, just the wind picking up and the sky getting even more cloudy. As they enter the town, a masculine voice calls out. "Excuse me, are you by chance the Spear Hero?"

Kane stops, turning around with his brows raised in a curious manner. He looks at where the voice came from to find one man standing there. The man is clearly a demi-human, with his ears poking through his hood, his party stares at the man. "Yeah, I'm the Spear Hero, something you need me for?"

The demi-human bow. "A pleasure to meet you my name is Cyvor, I am an envoy from Siltvelt."

Kane's head tilts. "...Nice to meet you? So what does an envoy want with me?"

Cyvor nods, his lip turning into a gentle smirk. "You are the Spear Hero, one of the few that can protect us from the Waves, we would like you to come with us to Siltvelt, aid us in defending our land."

Kane tilts his head, even more, the words of the demi-human confusing him. "Wait other countries have to deal with Waves?"

"Yes Spear Hero, all countries suffer from the Waves."

Kane looks down at the ground, his free hand on his hip, he mutters under his breath. "Why wasn't I told?" He looks back up at the envoy. "Why me?"

"Other envoys have asked all the Heroes but unfortunately only you seem to listen to me, it seems the Spear Hero is the only one that does not look down upon demi-humans."

Kane shakes his head. "Leave the best for last I guess but Iwi doesn't hate demi-humans, I don't know what made you think that."

"Iwi?" Cyvor copies Kane and tilts his head, his ears flopping to one side.

"The Shield Hero."

Cyvor's eyes widen. "Really? The Shield Hero told all the envoys that spoke to her to leave her be and to not bother her, she even has a demi-human slave."

Kane slightly cringes. "It's… complicated, Iwi is just grumpy, probably got super suspicious of you and told you to leave her alone, as for the whole slave thing, she isn't mistreating the slave. She's told me the only reasons she even has her as a slave anymore is because of some special stat thing she gets."

"I see… that is good to know, it was disheartening to believe that our God disliked us."

"God?"

"Mommy is a God?" Shen's eyes widen, either in surprise or in awe.

"Mommy?" Cyvor stares at the Dragon.

"She bought his egg, so he thinks she's his mother, moving on. She's a God in Siltvelt?"

"The Shield Hero is considered the God of demi-humans."

Kane hums in response. 'Honestly, with those hips of hers, I don't really blame em.'

Kane gets poked in the chest by Rifana. "You're thinking something perverted aren't you?"

He turns to Rifana and smirks, he looks back at the envoy. "I can talk to her about it next time I see if you want."

Cyvor, nods with his eyes closed. Gratitude, showing on his face. "That would be most appreciated but I must will you help us with the upcoming Wave in Siltvelt?"

Kane shrugs, his turning up at one side. "When is it? The Wave here won't come for a few more weeks so I've got time."

"It's actually happening in 6 days."

"Can we even make that in time?"

"I can arrange transportation for you Hero, it will take at least a day or so before it will arrive, however."

"Go for it then, I'll be here in this village, just come pick me up when it's here."

The envoy bows. "Thank you for this Spear Hero. I will go arrange transportation for you and your party." He straightens out and walks off.

Kane rolls his shoulders. "Well Keel looks like you're gonna get what you want, we're gonna be fighting a Wave, that should be challenging enough for you."

Keel grins, fist-bumping the air. "I still want you to spar with Griffin though."

The fist abruptly stops, Keel looks up at Kane, about to voice her complaints but Kane's stare doesn't leave any room for arguments. "...Fine."

Kane's nose suddenly feels wet. He looks up, finding the dark grey, one water drop hits him on the cheek, then on his forehead, he looks back down, gazing into the village. Shen walks up and tries to take cover from the rain under Kane. Kane covers his mouth as he yawns, the grey skies and rain making him feel drowsy. "Come in let's get inside before one of us gets ill."

Omake: I'll make a Hero out of you.

Kane stares at Griffin, who for some reason seems to be smirking to himself. "...You alright old-timer?"

Griffin nods, smiling as a sense of nostalgia hits him. "Yep."

A memory replays in Griffin's head and suddenly he's standing in a field, he's in line with other men and women, a man with a buzz cut walking up. The whole line of recruits stand with wooden staffs. The drill sergeant in front holds out his staff. "Let's get down to business, to defeat the demis."

"Hey old man!"

Griffin shakes his head, his memory fading away to find Kane staring at him with concern. "What?"

Kane rubs the back of his head. "You uh… zoned out there a bit, you good?"

"I'm fine, was just remembering my boot camp days."

"...Oh. How many centuries ago was that?"

A smack echoes throughout the forest.

"Ow!"

Chapter 11 ends, Kane is finally getting some training for his Spear with his teacher that reminds him of his old kick-boxing trainer. Not much else to say really, see you in Chapter 12.