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D3lph0xL0v3r: Khana swings both ways. I didn't put it in (maybe I will later), but she was going to suggest to Raphtalia (and maybe Eclair) to have her mage join in if they preferred men. Dante would probably point out the vast difference in them, one being an amazon looking warrior therianthrope and the other a meek, skinny mage.
Chapter 38 – Battle on Two Fronts
"Jesus, that was quick!"
Before everyone had turned in for the night, Dante spoke with Werner about the newest additions to his group. He made it clear, in no uncertain terms, what would go down if something were to happen to Rat or either of the siblings. Seeing how Werner was still wary of him, the message was received. He also told Werner that Rat needed equipment to work on his arm. Werner sent out some of his men to gather the materials, being told what was necessary by Rat. After morning arrived, Dante could see what came of it.
One of the rooms in the castle had been converted into a lab of sorts. There were a few pieces of equipment that stood out, such as culture tanks. A few reagents sat on one of the tables, as well as the remains of one of his burnt up arms. What really caught his attention was several of the liquid filled containers. Arms were already being grown in them, with bone and muscles already forming.
"If I gave you the impression I needed this immediately, I apologize." Dante told Rat. She greeted him with a bow when he entered the lab. While she still wore the clothes he gave her the previous night, she also got herself a lab coat. One of the tailors was going to come by today to dress her in whatever she wanted. "Still, I'm very pleased by the results."
"The least I could do was get started, Lord." Rat said, showing him to one of the arms. "I'm not sure how this will work, given what you told me and what I could get out of the samples. If nothing else, this prototype will help fill in the gaps."
"When will it be ready?" Dante took a closer look at the arm suspended in the tank.
"By the end of the day, at the earliest." Rat informed him. "But I think it would be better to wait until tomorrow."
"I look forward to seeing how it works." Dante said. He turned to Werner, who came with him to see his approval. He looked quite pleased with himself. "Good work, Werner."
"Of course, Lord Shield." The shusaku said with a bow. "If I may be so bold, does that mean you will be taking a member of my tribe to bed with you tonight?"
"No." Dante shook his head. "I'll be taking two. I doubt any of this was cheap, and you got it on such short notice."
"I thank you for your generosity." Werner bowed again. It wasn't just the equipment. A few of his men had gone around to the other alchemists to get the samples for Rat in the first place. One was still assisting Rat now, fetching whatever she needed.
On that note, it was a bit rare for Werner to ask for that. It wasn't as if Jaralis was the only one doing things for him, but this was the first time any of the four major tribes had done anything like this. There may have been politics at play that Dante wasn't aware of, but it didn't really bother him all that much. Then again, only three of them had any real influence. He had seen a couple hakuko sparingly, but none had seemed that important relative to the other three tribes.
With Rat settled in, Dante grabbed his party and headed out to Zeltoble. He wasn't taking everyone with him, not that he couldn't, of course. He had enough room in his portal skill's party limit. This was just the first time he needed to consider leaving some people behind to make sure things continued running smoothly. For that, Keel and Eclair stayed back to watch over the others. Atla wanted to come, but Dante didn't want her involved just yet. She had a good amount of levels, but not as much fighting experience. There'd be time enough to see what she could really do. Fohl was split on staying with Atla and helping with the wave like she planned to, as payment for treating her sister. Atla insisting Fohl go to "watch over Mister Dante" was enough encouragement.
The party composition was still good. Sadeena and Raphtalia were the heaviest hitters. Dio and JoJo fell in that category too, but they also had speed, which would let them all arrive at the wave's boss quicker. Fohl had good agility and attack, and she was quite proficient in unarmed combat. Rifana had them covered magically, with Dante bringing his defense. His attack was nothing to scoff at, but he knew the role he would be filling first.
At and around the hourglass, numerous adventures and mercenaries had already gathered in anticipation. It was several times the turnout than the wave for Siltvelt, though much fewer were mounted. Dante wasn't too concerned about whether or not the people here would go to defend any villages or towns near the wave. The monsters tended to go to where people were, so the adventurers would find plenty of monsters there to fight.
All that was left now was to wait for the wave to start.
"Hey, Dante, could I have a word with you?" Raphtalia asked, shifting to her demi-human form.
"Yeah, sure." He followed her away from the assembled adventurers. Once they were far enough away, she spoke again.
"Do you think it was okay to leave Eclair back in Siltvelt?" She asked, concern in her voice.
"I wouldn't have left her there if I didn't." Dante pointed out.
"But she's a human in Siltvelt." Raphtalia said. "You always told us to be careful and not to go alone."
"She's got Keel with her, and neither one are pushovers."
"Dante…"
Placing his hand on his hip, Dante let out a sigh. "Raphtalia, you're overlooking a pretty big thing here."
"What's that?" She asked.
"Eclair is their guardian." He informed her.
"What do you mean?"
"It's simple." Dante went on. "Aside from being one of my 'retainers', she's the one who jumped to the defense of the knights' families. Killing her would be signing a hell of a lot of death warrants. Nobody's going to do anything to Eclair, human or not."
All of those families had a vested interest in her survival. Outside of those people, it was still good to have Eclair around to make sure Dante didn't lash out at anyone else. Sure, there could be people wanting to remove her and direct Dante's rage in a favorable direction, but the risk of failure looked to be a good deterrent.
"I wanted to ask about that too, but I wasn't sure when I should." Raphtalia intertwined her hand, twiddling her thumbs. "In the throne room, when she brought up family…"
Dante recalled the scene, and what Raphtalia was likely about to ask. "I wouldn't have hurt her."
Raphtalia let out a breath. It pained him that she thought he would, or that he might. While he was angry at the time, there was no way he could harm Eclair. Just the thought of doing so brought back the memory of that broken woman tied in the cellar of her own home.
"I'm sure she knew that too, on some level." Dante revealed. "Her reflexes and instincts are sharp, but she needs to work on her diplomacy skills. When it comes to matters of honor, she tends to speak without thinking too much, kind of like how I have more recently in general."
Honor, and the royal family. Dante had talked to Eclair about the subject a bit. Her father had often spoken of the Wisest King of Wisdom and his contributions to Melromarc's war with Siltvelt. There was some friction between her father and the king, but there was plenty of respect too. Dante assumed most of that was one-sided, but he didn't voice that to her. Nor did he mention how her respect to him was even more one-sided. Mirellia was likely a far more mutual relation.
On that matter, Dante also acknowledged one similarity he had with Aultcray. Both of them cherished their families. If he were being honest, Dante had to admit that Aultcray might value family more than him. That is, if there was a gun to Dante's head and was asked. There was no way Eclair didn't think Aultcray wouldn't do anything and everything to protect his family. She wouldn't dismiss the idea of family in earnest. It was an obvious ploy yesterday, one that he realized after he calmed down and thought about it for two seconds.
"Just to be on the safe side, watch out for her." Dante said. "She understands politics, and likely her position, but that doesn't mean she won't say something that'll get her on people's bad side."
"Of course!" Raphtalia gave him a smile.
"Just be sure to stay in your therianthrope form more." Dante smirked at her, causing her to stammer.
"Y-You know I change out of it?" She asked.
Dante nodded, still smirking. "The slave seal may not tell me that exactly, but I assume as much when your stats go down."
It was something he noticed a few days ago, he just didn't bother bringing it up. She kept up her form most of the time, especially during monster hunts and when going around in the party. A little break now and again wasn't so bad. The MP cost had practically been reduced to nothing.
"Though, if you want to stay out of that form permanently, you'd better beat me in a match soon." Dante teased. "Once I get my arm back, I don't really see that happening."
That, of course, led to a bit of a problem. When they began their hunting session with Khana yesterday, Dante saw the Whip method wouldn't lower some of their levels. By his count, they'd sacrificed 200 levels with it. He recalled saying that was the amount goal while in Melromarc, but he didn't think that would be the actual limit. He almost regretted sacrificing so many lower levels, since higher ones gave slightly higher stats. A level reset might fix that, but that was something for way down the road. The Projectile's power up could let them sacrifice more, and the cost wasn't too great, but it would add up quickly if they wanted large gains. Alternate forms of empowerment would be needed now.
As an aside, he wasn't able to lower their levels below 40 after they all class upgraded. Technically he could, but the Whip power up said they had to be lowered back to level 1. That could potentially be another power up boost, since it seemed to still be allowed now. Again, something for later.
"Eclair's been showing me more sword forms and we've practiced a lot." Raphtalia gestured to the currently oversized greatsword on her back. "We've been keeping up with physical training too, so don't think you're unbeatable."
"Perish the thought~." Dante stuck his tongue out at her. So long as she stayed motivated, that was all that mattered.
"Oh, but I have been learning something else." She cleared her throat. "This be good where we at."
Dante arched an eyebrow. "Why are you talking like that?"
Raphtalia beamed at him. "So you understood me! Eclair's been teaching me Siltvelt's language."
"Ooh. That is good. Why didn't you mention it before?"
"I'm still not that good at it." Raphtalia admitted. "Once I am, I'll be able to overhear what the people in the castle are saying."
Not a bad idea, in Dante's opinion. Like Rifana, Raphtalia was quick to learn, just in a different aspect. From what he's overheard, the nobles seemed to think Raphtalia was some sort of raccoon/werewolf hybrid. It was mostly due to her large therianthrope form. Being from Melromarc, she couldn't understand the importance of blood purity. That was likely their thinking on the matter. Whatever information they could get from gossip from people looking down on his party members would be information not normally shared.
"Oh my! I didn't realize you were so talented~." Large arms snaked around Raphtalia's midsection, startling her. From the way she talked, Dante would have thought it was Sadeena, but the deeper voice was a dead giveaway. That, and the fact that he could see the giantess right behind Raphtalia.
"K-Khana!" Raphtalia squeaked out at the large woman's touch.
"I overheard a bit of what you were saying." Khana brought her face close to Raphtalia's. "You're worried about your friend? Let Khana here take care of your worries."
"I'll leave you to it." Dante turned about and walked off.
"Dante, wait! Stop!" Raphtalia's pleas fell on deaf ears. He wasn't trying to be mean, he just thought the repeat performance would go better without an audience.
Speaking of the Hammer Hero, that was another power up method he started using. He hadn't before partially because he had kind of forgotten about it, but also partly due to not having that many noteworthy equip effects he could transfer. At least, no equip effects that weren't attached to a primary shield. Taking effects from a shield would revert all the power ups done to it, so he hadn't bothered with those. He did, however, use a few from lesser shields after meeting Khana and remembering the method in question.
There were three shield effects in particular that he applied to all his main shields. First was the Cacodemon Shield, which allowed him to use Levitate (minor). He found that he could use Titanic Charge with it to dash forward without needing to move his legs, but only with the Dark Tyrannosaurus Shield. The second was the Spellcobalt Ore Shield's Magic Absorption. On the Spellcobalt Shield, Dante could absorb MP first, then redirect the rest. The last was the Baron of Hell Shield's Howl. As a test of sorts, he applied that to the shield that gave him Hate Reaction and found that the ability was different on it. Instead of drawing in or scaring off enemies, it would keep them in a daze and unable to act for a few seconds. Unfortunately, like many other shields he's copied, that shield didn't upgrade as well as his main ones and the ability was an equip effect, so he wouldn't be using it much.
Before he got too far away from the pair of women, or too absorbed in his thoughts, another set of lovely arms wrapped themselves around him.
"Oh my~. Abandoning your party member to an unknown fate? How cruel~." Sadeena laughed as she spoke.
"She'll be fine." Dante looked over his shoulder at Sadeena. Behind her, he could already see Raphtalia changed back to her therianthrope form. Not that that deterred Khana at all. If anything, it seemed to encourage her.
"Aside from being a good fighter, maybe little Khana can help little Raphtalia keep her mind occupied~." Sadeena teased.
"That would help." Dante agreed.
Sadeena had mentioned it to him before, but his own mind was too occupied at the time to really consider it. The Q'ten Lo shadows had caught up with them in Siltvelt. It was at a pretty bad time, right after Siltvelt's wave. They likely saw her coaxing Dante in his decision making—or, more accurately, keeping him under control. Eclair may have been the face of restraint to Siltvelt, but Sadeena was that to Q'ten Lo. Sadeena hadn't spotted any in Zeltoble yet, but that could change.
Since those shadows had caught up, Sadeena wanted to keep Raphtalia close at all times. That was why Keel stayed back in Siltvelt instead of Raphtalia. Keel had also been showing interest in Rat, seeing as he was asleep in her lab this morning. It was probably superficial. He was at that age, after all.
"And you seem to have a bit of trust in her too." Sadeena added.
That was in reference to Dante telling Khana the same power up methods he told Rhubaldt. Like the werewolf, Khana seemed intent on doing her job, if for a good fight and not strictly for the benefit of the world. Being reminded of his old associate didn't hurt, and she had a better attitude than Mia.
"Yeah. Hey, Sadeena?" Dante placed his hand over hers. "I love you."
"Aw, I love you too!" She accentuated her response with a kiss on his cheek. "What brought that up?"
Dante leaned into her. "Since the last wave, my head's been filled with hate and murder, and my dumb teen hormones aren't helping, not that they ever did. I just…wanted you to know my feelings for you haven't changed."
Her grip on Dante tightened. "I never thought that. Not for a second."
"I know I've been short with you all, and I'm doing a little better at reigning it in. I don't want to lash out at everyone, especially not you all. I—"
"Hey." Sadeena turned his face toward her. "You know we aren't afraid of you, right? Like little Eclair said, just talk to us. We'll help you as much as you've helped us."
"Okay." He knew they still trusted him. He knew that for a fact. Raphtalia's concerns were justified, but that didn't mean she thought he would blindly attack his own party. That wouldn't stop the creeping thoughts in his mind, though.
~The Wrong Hero~
Soon enough, Zeltoble's wave started. Unlike all of the previous waves, this one wasn't close to any villages or towns. The adventurers they brought with them confirmed that. Apparently, the plains surrounding them weren't good for farming and there weren't any known ore deposits. The timber in the nearby sparse forest wasn't anything grand either. There were some plants that flourished here, but they weren't something most people would want to harvest. Most of them were toxic to one degree or another, though nothing too dangerous.
"This is…kinda boring." Dante's assessment was not only about their area, but the wave monsters themselves.
There seemed to be three main types of enemies in this wave. The first were orcs. They weren't the Japanese interpretation, with pig qualities, but rather a more western one. Green skin, fanged teeth, and bulky frames, though a little shorter than the average person. Curiously, while a number had wild looking hair, some had it pulled back into ponytails, and a good amount had beards too. They all brandished some sort of axe weapon. Two-handed axes were most common, while dual-wielding hand axes was next, with an even smaller number using throwing axes.
The second most common enemy were brown-skinned goblins. These were much more homogeneous, all of which were bald and had a shortbow as their weapon. The last enemy were boar-like creatures. They stood on four legs and were a little shorter than the orcs, but more than one and a half times as tall as the goblins. Tusks were their primary weapon.
"Hah! Got another one!"
"Two more for me!"
"That group of four is mine!"
Shouts from the adventurers filled the air as they met with the enemies. With no one in need of protection, the adventurers did what they did best and set upon the wave monsters.
At least someone's having fun.
At the request of the adventurers, Dante and his party made their way to the largest wave crack on foot. Since there was no urgency, Dante agreed. Khana and her party would have their fill and then race over to fight the boss with them.
As they walked on, they had their own enemies to take care of, though in a different manner than usual. A pair of orcs that were running toward them got put down by arrows. The first one had an arrow go straight through its head, while the second one fell with two in the chest.
"Nice one, Raphy!"
"Thanks, Dio."
Raphtalia rode on Dio as they walked, both transformed. It was a good opportunity to try out mounted archery for Raphtalia. Her bow had been changed out since receiving one from Jaralis. Her bow of choice had been a large war bow, but a smaller one was being used while on Dio. Of course, the smaller one would have been too big for the average person on a horse to use. Both bows were item drops from the griffins they fought in the mountains.
The others practiced a bit as well. Rifana was using her rod as a mace to fight off incoming orcs, using her somewhat oversized shield to block strikes. Fohl was more practical, using her fists to take out orcs and out-of-position goblins. JoJo, seeing the cool new girl fighting with her fists, joined her with punches and kicks of his own. For his part, Dante had a combo skill active to take care of enemies.
Dante and Sadeena combined Shooting Star Shield with Drifa Thunderbolt to create an offensive barrier. Any enemies—or non-allies—that came into contact with it got hit with a bolt of lightning. While maintaining it didn't cost anything more than the initial casting, every bolt took a little MP from Dante. He found a similar effect could be made using Fire Blast.
After their relatively leisurely walk through the slightly hilly plains, they came to the location of the wave's boss. They knew this would be the spot a while ago, since they could see the boss from a great distance. Dante had a good idea what the boss was, and his appraisal confirmed it. Before them stood a towering figure, easily standing more than three times as tall as Raphtalia. Matted hair dangled from its head, with a grotesque face leering down at them. It wore a sort of pelt around its waist as a loincloth and held a massive club in its hand.
The name of the boss was Titanic Ogre.
"Well that…huh." Dante looked the boss up and down.
"Something wrong, little Dante?" Sadeena asked.
"No, it's just…I'm not sure what I was expecting."
The Melromarc's wave was zombies and giant wasps, with a chimera as the boss. Othil's was dinosaurs with a tyrannosaurus rex. Siltvelt's was like a carnival, with no known boss. Seeing these more staple creatures from fantasy games was a little bit of a letdown. They hadn't been all that difficult either. The orcs weren't as hardy as the dinosaurs and not nearly as numerous as the jesters. Overall, there were more monsters here than in Siltvelt, but the large volume in a short time was what made Siltvelt's wave more difficult. The monsters here were more spaced out, like Melromarc's wave. Granted, if they fought these monsters in Melromarc's wave instead of the zombies, he would have felt differently. Now, however, they posed no real threat.
"Any sign of Khana?" He looked around, but couldn't spot her or her party approaching. He got similar responses from his party. "Alright then. Let's take care of this quickly."
"Shouldn't we wait for her?" Raphtalia asked. "She sounded really interested in fighting it."
"Nah. Business before pleasure." Dante readied his Dark Tyrannosaurus Shield. "If she gets upset, I'll tell her she played with the small fries too much."
"Still, you did tell her we'd fight it together…"
"Wow, I didn't think that was the case." Dante smirked, earning a confused look from Raphtalia. "Well, she was rather persistent. Fighting the boss together would be a good bonding experience. And, of course, celebrating afterword with drinks and merriment would strengthen that even more—"
Without another word, Raphtalia was next to Dante, her greatsword in hand. She stood ready to attack the boss.
"Haha! That's the spirit!" She clearly didn't want to give that woman any reason to get friendlier. "Now then…" With everyone on the same page, they attacked.
~Five minutes later~
"Ahh! What the hell, little man!?"
Dante turned to see Khana running up to them, her party trailing behind her. She held her hammer near its head as she came to a stop next to him.
"Zweite Healing Warmth VII."
Dante cast his spell over himself. The wave's boss had just fallen to the ground, dead, wounds decorating its body. The battle hadn't been that exciting, and nothing to brag about. The ogre's power came in the form of its height, attack, and HP pool. Outside of that, there was little of note. The only special attack it had was a more powerful strike, which Dante opted to avoid after receiving the first one. Its normal attacks actually did do a little damage, and the special attack much more, but that was it. It had no magical resistances and not much defense from what Dante could tell.
"You were supposed to wait for me!" She yelled.
"You didn't miss much." Dante said, looking the corpse over.
"That's not the point!" Khana thrust her arm toward the ogre, shaking her empty hand at it. "Big monster! I wanted to fight it!"
"Oh, it wasn't that good of a fight anyway." Dante shook his head. "You can still get some hammers from parts of its body. Use that to go kill a dragon or something."
"It's not the same…" Khana pouted, crossing her arms. The rest of her party caught up with her.
"Come on, let's go finish the wave." Dante gestured to the crack that reached the ground. This seemed to be another wave that needed the wave rift attacked in order to end. "Afterwards, you can hear all about the battle from Raphtalia. She landed quite a few good hits."
"What the hell, Dante!?" Raphtalia yelled. He honestly couldn't help himself.
Once they were done here, the two heroes would need to absorb all the monster remains and hand out the drops to all the adventurers. Dante had a general idea of what they'd be getting, since he had absorbed monsters as they walked. There were lots of good potions and compounding ingredients, rare ores for weapon making, and quite the variety of accessories. Ironically, the weapons were so-so.
"That was some mighty fine work you folks did." Before they reached the wave crack, a voice called out to them. From beyond the rift, a figure emerged, the source of the voice. Three more came after him.
"Did that guy just…" Khana stopped and readied her hammer.
"Yeah." Dante did the same with his shield.
"Hey now, is that any way to greet a visitor?" The blond man asked, tipping his hat back. He wore a fairly easygoing expression on his face, in contrast to his more serious looking companions. They were all human, as far as Dante could tell.
"I'd say you're more of an intruder than a visitor." Dante quipped.
"Well now, that's one way of lookin' at it." They seemed to position themselves in a formation. To the speaker's right was a man with light or medium armor and a pair of thick blades. To his left was another man with heavy armor, a tower shield, and a spear just taller than him. Behind the three was a woman in what Dante figured was wizard robes.
"You looking for a fight?" Khana asked, leveling her hammer at them.
"Well, I'm hopin' you lot'll tell me I'm in the wrong place." The man said, somewhat gloomily. "I see your fancy weapons, so I'm thinkin' I'm not so lucky."
Dante thought for a moment. If answering him got him to leave without a fight, he saw no reason not to. If he was anything like Glass and L'arc, he could be convinced to help out. "What do you want to know?"
The man nodded. "Tell me, what are your heroes called here?"
"I'm the Shield Hero." Dante said, then gestured to Khana. "She's the Hammer Hero."
The man shook his head. "I figured somethin' like that, but it's not what I meant." He reached down to his holster, prompting Khana to grip her hammer with both hands and for Dante to take a step forward. The man pulled out a revolver, showing the side of it to them. A gem was embedded in the handle of it. "I'm the Lesser Hero of the Pistol."
Well, with all the worlds out there, I suppose there was bound to be some flavor of Gun Hero. I mean, there is an Armor Hero and Ring Hero, so why not?
"In that case, it's the four Cardinal Heroes and Seven Star Heroes." Dante told him.
The Pistol Hero sighed and glanced to the side. "Yeah, I guess I'm not so lucky today." Shaking his head, he looked back at the pair. "Looks like I'm here to fight, then."
"You don't need to." Dante wanted to make sure this man knew how the waves worked. That was, as much as Dante was aware. "I assume you're here to save your world by destroying this one, right?"
"He what?" Khana turned to Dante, but the Pistol Hero shook his head again.
"It ain't about that. At least, not fully. I'm afraid I'm here to kill you, Cardinal Shield Hero."
"Oh my~. Well, we can't have that." Sadeena sauntered next to Dante. The others had been listening in and waited to see what happened, but that declaration brought his whole party up.
"Sorry, Miss, but I'm only here for the boy." The Pistol Hero grimaced.
"Dante isn't alone here." Raphtalia brought forward her sword. The Pistol Hero's companions readied their own weapons, but he waved them back.
"I don't like fighting women and children." He gestured to them with his gun. "Sonny here, well, I have to make an exception for."
"You aren't hurting Papa!" Dio declared, her feathers bristling.
The Pistol Hero scratched the back of his head with the butt of his pistol. "Guess I'm killin' a father today, too."
"Why me?" Dante asked before anyone could make the first move. "Why me specifically?"
It didn't make sense. He didn't think he was anything special. Then again, someone else was supposed to be summoned instead of him. Was that it?
"You got somethin' that don't belong to you." He said. "It's not really somethin' that you can just give back, and I don't got a lot of time to talk 'bout it."
Yeah, that sounds about right. How does he know, and why does he care?
"Let's settle this like men, huh?" The Pistol Hero asked. "You and me, no one else fighin'."
"I don't think so." Khana turned her hammer in her hands. "Little man might have taken my fight, but I'm not about to let him get killed over it. And, it's no reason to make this fight fair for you either."
"It ain't about that…" The Pistol Hero fiddled with the cylinder on his gun as his eyes moved around the assembled crowd.
"Yeah, okay. Let's do that." Dante grabbed at his cloak, lifting it off of himself.
"Mister Dante!" Rifana called out.
"That weapon has a wide range of attack." Dante explained to her as he gave her the cloak. The small cacodemon was wrapped in it, squirming at being away from Dante. "Given his equipment, I'm guessing his focus is on agility. His attack is probably pretty high too?" He glanced over to the Pistol Hero, who confirmed with a slight nod.
"Little Dante…" Sadeena set her hand on his shoulder.
"My Shooting Star Shield isn't invulnerable, and I can't protect everyone at once. I'm not letting any of you get killed." Dante said. "I'll handle Hol Horse here." He gestured away from the wave rift and walked off.
"Hol Horse?" The Pistol Hero followed after him.
"Yeah, you look a lot like him." Dante said. The outfit was pretty similar, and the man did look pretty buff under it. He couldn't remember what the revolver looked like, but the Pistol Hero's weapon had fancy look to it. Reiko might get a kick out of it. "I suppose I should get your name before we try to kill each other."
"Don't seem like there's much point in that, but I reckon it couldn't hurt." The Pistol Hero stopped as Dante turned to face him a fair distance away. "The name's Duke Chance."
Of course it is. That's a cowboy name if I ever heard one.
"Dante MacRory." He said, shaking his head. "You also probably shouldn't give your moral code out to people you mean to kill. Some asshole might use that against you."
Duke shrugged. "I didn't figure you were the type."
"I guess you got me there. I'm not at the point in my life where I can sleep at night doing something like that." Sure, most of the demi-humans in his party were kids, but they did grow in age with their levels. He still wasn't completely fine with it, but he learned to deal with it. However, if someone were to use children as weapons, demi-human or human, well…Dante would make sure they spent the rest of their short lives in agony before they took a long dirt nap.
Dante held his shield up toward him. "So, we jumping right into this?"
"Whenever you're ready." Duke said, holding his pistol to his side.
The spells Dante had cast at the start of the wave had run out, and he doubted this invader was about to let him recast them. Zweite Guard was the only one that mattered, but he'd see what this Pistol Hero was about. He hoped his assumption about him was wrong. It was a bit murky, but Dante seemed to recall that Itsuki had the highest attack out of the four holy heroes here. Having a similar weapon type, Duke might share that trait among his world's vassal weapons. He also didn't know how many power up methods Duke was using, nor how long he had been fighting. Dante wasn't able to see Duke's level, possibly because he was from another world. Either that, or his level was so high Dante couldn't even see the approximation. He really hoped it was the former.
"Titanic Charge IV!" Dante dashed through the air, his spiked Dark Tyrannosaurus Shield ready to impale the pistol user.
"Quickstep!" Duke's body jutted to the side, leaving behind an afterimage. "Right from the get-go, huh? Firebrand!"
A lance of flames shot from the pistol. Dante let it hit his shield head on. The flames exploded around him. He took some damage, but not much more than a normal attack from the wave's boss.
"How did I know you'd use fire?" He asked rhetorically. From past experience, he figured there was a good chance of it. Even if it could get easily replaced, he didn't want that cloaked burned up.
Dante started running for the pistol user, who began to jump back. Duke shot bullet after bullet at Dante, all impacting on his Shield. Those barely even registered to him. Either Duke didn't have all the power up methods in his world, his attack wasn't as high as Dante thought, or vassal weapons powered up less than holy weapons. The last one sounded familiar.
Of course, just because Duke's attack wasn't as high didn't mean his speed and agility wasn't. Even running full speed, Dante couldn't catch up with his backward hopping.
Duke whipped his revolver to the side, jettisoning the spent casings. Like Itsuki with his arrows, six more rounds loaded themselves into the revolver.
"Spritz!" Duke stopped his retreat to begin fanning his gun, firing off all six rounds in quick succession. Unlike how Hollywood might portray it, the technique had terrible accuracy. Duke's skill, however, seemed to reduce that, leading to all the bullets striking against Dante's raised shield.
"That's not going to work! Cleave Bash III!" Dante was able to close the distance during the shootout, swinging his shield. Duke's agility was no joke, allowing him to duck under the attack and run.
"Just testin' the waters, sonny!" Duke called out. "Got to see what you're made of."
"I think this is a bad matchup for you." Dante began running for him again. "I can keep taking your attacks, and I'm willing to bet my stamina is better than yours."
"We'll see. Entangling Shot!" A resin shot out of his pistol, expanding the farther it went. Webs of goo arched through the air.
"Air Strike Shield VII!" The web wrapped around the erected barrier, keeping Dante free from it.
"Quickstep!" Duke disappeared from Dante's sight, only for a loud pop to sound behind him. A bullet had landed squarely on Dante's back, taking a larger amount of HP than one on his shield.
"Shooting people in the back? Is that how men fight?" Dante quipped, turning to face Duke once more.
"All's fair in love and war." Duke replied.
"If you say so. I'm a bit torn, honestly. You seem like a decent enough guy, and I'd hate to have to kill you, but…" Dante raised his hand toward him. "As the source of your power, I command you—"
"Rupture Pellet!" A glowing green bullet came out of the pistol, leaving a trail of white smoke behind.
"Shooting Star Shield VIII!" Dante's barrier intercepted the attack, shattering on contact. "Yeah, I figured that was a—"
"Rupture Pellet!"
Another shot came at him. Taken off guard, the bullet struck him in the chest. It felt like his insides were being torn apart, forcing him to spit out blood.
"Dante!" He heard Sadeena call out.
"Stay back!" Dante shouted back, wiping the blood from his mouth. "You…the same skill right away?" He stammered out.
"You got it." Duke gave his pistol a twirl. "This here gives me the ability to use a skill already on cooldown, though at a higher cost. Don't worry, it costs more with every use until the cooldown is over, and not only Spirit Mana. That said, Swap Out! King's Gats!"
The revolver in his hand glowed for a brief moment. It split in two, the second one appearing in his left hand. The metal was a polished black with lines of silver in them. Both barrels were pointed at Dante.
"Deliverance!" He opened fire.
"Tower Shield VI!" Dante expanded his shield and hunkered down. The bullets impacted against the shield, damaging Dante. After a couple seconds, the shots continued to come, going past what he thought was the cylinder's capacity. Whatever ability that was, it must have increased the damage as well. Even with the increased defense from Tower Shield, every bullet hit as hard as a strike from the ogre.
"Zweite Healing Warmth VII! Zweite Healing Warmth VII!" Dante chanted his spells to recover from some of the damage. After 10 seconds of continuous fire, the attack stopped. Even with his healing, his HP was down to about 60%.
"You're a pretty hardy guy, sonny." Duke called out.
Dante released his skill, standing tall. "That's my job."
Dante wondered why Duke waited to use an ability like that, but one look at Duke told him what he needed to know. The pistol user was breathing heavily, sweat starting to pour down his face. He already switched back to his previous revolver. SP cost aside, it seemed to take a lot out of him. Duke saw Dante and his party fighting the wave's boss, but he probably wanted to get a better feel for Dante's abilities before exposing himself like that. It didn't seem like a curse series weapon, the damage wasn't that extreme.
Titanic Charge was off of cooldown. Despite feeling like his insides were on fire, Dante was confident he'd be able to keep up with Duke now. The problem was he had an evasion skill. Keeping up with the man was not the same as catching up with him.
Another problem was the defense rating-attack. If he made a beeline for Duke, he was sure the man would hit him with it, cooldown or not. As he saw before, trying to cast a spell would leave him open to that Rupture Pellet skill. He might be able to move and cast, but blocking even normal attacks too would make it difficult. The matchup was bad, but Dante was the one at a disadvantage.
Whatever plan Dante was beginning to form died the moment he took another look at his status. He'd been keeping track of his expended SP, his diminishing HP, and his cooldowns, but there was more information available. He could see the list of everyone that was in his party, in some manner or other. His actual party was present, as well as the list of adventurers from Zeltoble under the battle formation section. There was a third group of people, this one with only six names in it.
The six slaves not in his current party.
Dante watched as one of the HP bars dropped down more than 20%. The other one dropped by 30%. With what he knew about their location, he had a good idea what was happening, but he hoped he was wrong.
Reichnott's land is under attack!
"Shooting Star Shield VIII! Titanic Charge IV!" Dante flew at Duke with his skills.
"Quickstep!" Duke avoided the charge, likely not wanting to risk breaking the barrier and getting hit before letting out a second attack.
"Everyone, kill them quickly!" Dante called out to his party. "Imiya and Tolly are being attacked!"
"What are—" Duke started to retort, but Dante ran at him again, prompting another set of jumps back and retreating shots.
"I don't have time to deal with you anymore!" Dante raged, desperate to reach the gunslinger. The wave needed to end before he would be able to use his portal skill. "I have people in danger now!"
"Sorry, sonny, but that don't change nothin' for me. Rupture Pellet!" The skill shattered Dante's barrier, but he kept coming. "Rupture Pellet!"
"Shield Prison VI!" The sphere of shields only partially formed in front of Dante before breaking apart immediately. Slowing to aim his skills allowed Dante to catch up with him again. "Cleave Bash III!"
"Quickstep!" Duke avoided the swipe by a hair's breadth. He reappeared away and behind Dante, but he'd expected that. "Entangling Shot!"
"Air Strike Shield VII!" Once again, the floating shield intercepted the web. Running around the barrier, Dante charged at the gun user again.
"Entangling Shot!" The second web, however, hit its mark. Dante's movement was slowed, but he kept moving forward. Unfortunately, he no longer had the mobility to dodge the next attack. "Rupture Pellet!"
The defense-rating shot struck Dante, causing him to take a knee. His vision blurred as more blood escaped his mouth. Duke trained his sights on the prone hero.
"Sorry, sonny." He said, preparing to attack.
"Hah!" In a blur of motion, JoJo delivered a kick to Duke's side, sending him flying. The filolial king stood in front of his father, wings at the ready, while Duke tried to stand. "Get away from Dad!"
"Quickstep!" Duke called out, narrowly avoid the strike from Dante's other child. The gunslinger adjusted himself as Dio eyed him with murderous intent. "I don't want to hurt you, kid, but—"
"Pistol Hero!" Khana yelled from next to the wave rift. Behind her, Dante could see Sadeena standing atop Duke's mage. Her harpoon was pointed right at the woman's throat. "Leave, or she dies!"
Duke looked between Dante and his ally, seeming to way his options. His other two companions had backed off slightly, weapons still drawn. "Damn it!" Making his decision, he bolted in the direction of the crack. Once he was close, he pointed his revolver at the pair of women. "Back off!"
With their goal accomplished, Sadeena and Khana jumped back. The sword dual-wielder sheathed one of his weapons and grabbed the mage's hand, pulling her up. They approached the rift, watching for attacks from the heroes' parties.
"This ain't over!" Duke called out as he and his companions disappeared into the crack. A moment later, the sky reverted to its natural red-blue color of late evening.
"Papa!" Dio called out, ripping the webbing from Dante with JoJo.
"I'll be fine. Zweite Healing Warmth VII." Dante was far from healed, but it was enough for now. His own regeneration ability would do its job. "Everyone, get over here! We need to portal out quickly!"
The webbing was tough, but it didn't last long under Dio and JoJo's attack stat. The others quickly rushed over, Khana and her party included.
"What's going on, little man?" Khana pulled Dante to his feet.
"I don't have time to explain. I'll return when I can. Portal Shield!" With his skill cast, he quickly overwrote Zeltoble's location with this spot and then teleported his party. Fohl might present an issue in Melromarc, but Dante wasn't too concerned right now. Besides, whatever was happening in Reichnott's territory, there likely wouldn't be a lot of witnesses left who cared.
~The Wrong Hero~
"This is…" Fohl looked around at the scene in front of her. When they arrived at the edge of Reichnott's estate, the first thing they saw was part of the manor on fire. A few of the houses a short ways away were in a similar state. The second—
"What the…it's the Shield!" A nearby knight called out, but he didn't look friendly. He and a few others were standing next to slain demi-human adventurers, fresh blood on their swords. "He's come to aid the beasts! Quick, kill him before—"
"Titanic Charge IV!" Dante rushed the closest knight, impaling him on his shield's spikes. XP flashed in his vision, telling him the knight was already dead.
"D-Demon!" One of the others called, but Sadeena ran him through quickly. The third one was pinned down by JoJo before he could even react.
"We need to hurry!" Dante called, scanning through his status. Imiya and Tolly had taken a lot of damage. Now that he was here, he could start healing them with his HP Endowment. He just had too…
Slave deceased
The words flashed in his vision. The slave information for Imiya…disappeared.
"No!" Dante trembled at the sight, but he had no time to spare. He brought up Tolly's info and transferred HP to him. Small wounds appeared across Dante's chest, but it wasn't an issue. His HP total was much larger than Tolly's.
"What's happening to you?" Fohl asked as she saw the wounds spread.
"We need to get this under control!" Dante ignored Fohl's concerns and started issuing orders, the screams of the people on Reichnott's lands starting to reach them. "Dio, find Tolly! He's in that direction! I'm going to find Reichnott and Fiadia! Everyone else, protect the people! If you see a knight wearing this emblem, take them out!" He demonstrated his point by slamming his foot on the prone knight's knee, breaking it and eliciting a scream.
"All Zweite Resist Fire!" Rifana cast her spell, protecting everyone from the spreading flames.
They spread out to their assigned jobs, Dante keeping an eye on Tolly's HP. The lumo might not be made for fighting, but he'd hold his own long enough. The knights they just dealt with were in their low 40s. He didn't expect Tolly to beat them, but between Dante's HP Endowment and healing spell, there'd be enough time.
Once inside the manor, Dante spotted a knight on the ground, dead. He looked to be one of Reichnott's. The flames hadn't spread to the main area yet, but it wouldn't take long. He had to check the burning area first. Running down the halls, Dante watched his footing as he passed over servant after servant, all cut down and lying in a pool of their own blood. He called for Reichnott and Fiadia all the while, keeping Tolly's HP up as he searched.
Dante quickly reached the part of the manor that was on fire. The roar of the flames was starting to muffle any other sounds. The first room he entered had fire coming from the adjacent room, spilling out onto the floor and walls. He ran into the flames, looking around for any survivors. Any bodies that hadn't already caught fire were already dead.
"-chnott!" He heard a voice faintly calling out from another room. Bursting inside, he found Fiadia on the ground. The room looked to be a compact, two story library. Chunks of wood lay next to her, and a broken railing was above her. The flames hadn't reached her yet, but that would happen soon enough with all the books, and there was smoke everywhere.
"Fiadia!" Dante rushed to the rabbit woman, placing his hand on her back.
"L-Lord…Shield Hero?" She looked up at him, blood covering one of her eyes. Dante gently rolled her over, immediately noticing an arrow through her good arm. He pulled it out, causing Fiadia to cry out.
"All Zweite Healing Warmth VII." He cast on the both of them. Fiadia's breathing eased slightly. She gripped Dante's arm, trying to pull herself up, but a fit of coughing stopped her.
"Reichnott!" She wheezed out. "You have to…find him…"
"I'm getting you out of here first." Dante moved around her, but she tried to push him back.
"No! I don't…matter." She breathed out. "Please…find…"
"You first!" Dante ignored her protests and wrapped his arm around her hips. With a heave, he lifted her up and over his shoulder. Despite part of her wounds being healed, she wasn't fit to move on her own. The damage from the smoke inhalation had likely sapped her strength.
Just as they left the room, the ceiling collapsed behind them. The fire was spreading faster than Dante anticipated. He ran them out of the manor as quickly as he could. Once outside, Dante saw a few villagers in the clearing, plus one of Reichnott's wounded knights. Dio came running over, carrying a slumped over Tolly on her back. Dante's status told him the lumo was just over 50% HP.
"Tolly?" Dante called to the lumo, easing Fiadia onto the ground.
"They killed her…" He murmured, but showed no other signs of acknowledging Dante.
"I know, Tolly, I know." Dante tried to console him, but there was still much to do. He pulled the lumo from Dio's back and set him on the ground. Tolly sat there, looking down at his claws. "Dio, go join the others. I need to find Reichnott."
"Okay, Papa." Dio nodded and took off. Dante waved over the survivors and cast healing magic on everyone. He also applied the Power and Guard spells on them, just in case more enemy knights showed up.
Fiadia told Dante where Reichnott was likely at. She'd lost track of him when the knights invaded and was trying to meet back up when she got ambushed. The fire had spread more and more throughout the manor. It wasn't long before Dante began following a trail of blood. Around a corner and into a small room, Dante found him.
"Reichnott! Don't worry, I…"
Dante lost his voice as he looked down at the young looking noble. He had a hand over a wound on his stomach, which had seeped his shirt in blood. His other arm, his right arm, looked broken and mangled. What stopped Dante wasn't the sight of the injuries, but what he saw in his appraisal. Unlike the other times he visited, he could no longer see Reichnott's level. He could only see a short description, just like he could for every other corpse.
Whoever was responsible for this was going to suffer.
Author's Notes:
Finally, a chapter ending where I wanted it to. Yes, the Gun Hero looks like Hol Horse a bit. I like JoJo, it's no secret. Also, there is a Gun Hero. Part of it was because I know there are fics that have a Gun Hero in them, so I decided to capitalize on that and make him a villain. Besides, with no Takt, someone has to take up the role of using guns. Also, cowboys.
When it rains, it pours. Dante wasn't wrong about his abilities. I thought about how Motoyasu works in Reprise, being an unstoppable monster and all. Aside from being very comedic, how do you handle a protagonist who's far stronger than those around him? Either give him an even more powerful enemy, or put him in situations where brute strength can't fix the problem. Most enemies would fall against Dante now, but one big weakness is that he physically can't be everywhere at once. Politics is also a good answer.