Chapter 44 – Fun in the Forest
The carriage ride in Faubrey was mostly uneventful. For the most part, Dante was either making potions and medicine with his shield or reading a fire tome. Atla chatted with Dante while he did so, and Fohl tried keeping Atla's attention. Keel read over a magic tome of beast magic with Donavan. Likewise, Reiko read a shadow magic tome with help from Nisha. Like Raphtalia, it seemed fox demi-humans had light and shadow magic.
While the overlapping magic attributes might normally be a bad thing, Dante figured it would work out well. Raphtalia mostly focused on melee combat now with some bow use. That wasn't to say she was bad at magic or making illusions, but her therianthrope form offered great battle potential. Reiko wasn't that suited to using a weapon anyway, so spellcasting would be his role, should he become an active member in the party.
The ride to the North Ferret Forest also gave Reiko a chance to recover a little. Before they departed, the king of Faubrey wanted an audience with Dante. It wasn't anything crucial, just to "catch up" as Dante understood it. No one in the party wanted to meet with him. The vampires knew enough about him to stay away, and Keel nearly freaked out on hearing about the meeting. Atla did offer to go with Dante, but he and Fohl told her no, for different reasons. Reiko was curious about the man and Dante relented, not particularly wanting to go alone anyway.
It took over an hour for Reiko to calm down after the meeting. Apparently, fox demi-humans were really popular as slaves. The king had made mention of that, in fact. Beyond that, the king again mentioned Malty and how he couldn't wait to have her. He even offered Dante a taste before he dug in himself. Dante did his best not to show his repulsion, especially when the king said he wouldn't mind both of them going at Malty at once.
With that highly unpleasant experience behind them, they reached the forest in the late morning of the next day.
"Huh…" For a while, Dante had noticed the scenery around them changing. Trees had started becoming more common in the plains they traveled on before becoming a forest with a cleared path. Even then, the trees started becoming wider and taller, though more spaced out. He couldn't recall how this place was described in the web novel, if at all, but this did have quite the fantasy feel to it.
They arrived at a small town which seemed appropriately themed with the surrounding forest. Most of the buildings had a deep green color scheme, and a few of them looked like log cabins.
"Welcome, Shield Hero and retainers!" A man greeted them as they exited the carriages. He wore a similar uniform as the guards at Faubrey's castle. "I am Baron Vilkas, and I have been charged with overseeing the Great North Ferret Forest."
"Dante MacRory. Nice to meet you." Dante said, though he had a strange feeling in the back of his mind.
"I welcome you to the activation event. Before you proceed, allow me to tell you the history of this place." Vilkas spoke, beginning to lead them.
Oh, that's why. I feel like something similar happened to Naofumi at Cal Mira.
The baron began showing them around, pointing out a few of the attractions of the area. It didn't have the beach resort feel to it he assumed Cal Mira would, for obvious reasons. It did, however, feel almost like a hunting resort. There were numerous adventurers around, some at the shops, some preparing to fight the monsters here.
After passing a few hot spots, Dante noticed a totem pole. It had the carvings of a penguin, rabbit, squirrel, and dog on top of one another. There looked to be a plaque near the base of it.
Now that is definitely familiar.
"You have a good eye, Shield Hero." The baron approached with Dante, explaining how these monsters were the founders of this forest.
Dante, however, was more interested in the plaque. He looked it over and saw magical writing on it.
"As the source of you power, the Shield Hero commands you. Reveal the old lore once more. Support my allies. Faust Aura!"
Dante chose Keel as the target of the spell. In an instant, his stats jumped up about 25%.
"Whoa!" Keel looked down at his paws. "What is this? I feel so strong!"
"A hero exclusive spell." Dante answered. "I've been waiting to get this."
He was a little disappointed it wasn't at the Zweite level, but he supposed it made sense. If this was the first activation event, it should have the lowest level spell. Cal Mira would be the second with Zweite, followed by…whatever was next.
Really, I'm just glad I could read the spell and it wasn't in kanji or something.
"Oh, hey, Donavan, Nisha." Dante called to his vampire companions. "Does this place have any special meaning to you?"
"What do you mean, Lord Shield?" Donavan asked.
"Is there any vampire heritage here?" Dante elaborated. "Or at Cal Mira? I believe there's also the Vlad Mountains and the Dracula Desert. Or…was it Dracula Mountains and Vlad Desert?"
He hadn't noticed it the first time he heard of Cal Mira, but Motoyasu had brought it up in the web novel. Cal Mira was similar to Carmilla, and North Ferret was Nosferatu, both of which were names of vampires.
"I don't believe so." Donavan shook his head before turning to Nisha. "Did Elder Trivala ever mention anything to you?"
"She's gone to Cal Mira in the past a bunch before the war, and I think she went to the mountains, but she never told me anything like that." Nisha shrugged. "Why do you ask, Lord Shield?"
"No reason." If that was the case, Dante would just write it off as a coincidence.
The tour continued on for a little while before ending at where they would be staying. The baron said it was a high class hotel, though it looked like a grand hunting lodge to Dante. King Faubrey paid for the rooms, in addition to providing some discretionary money for souvenirs and such. His personality was quite strange.
With the rules of the activation explained to them, Dante and his party set out to begin hunting. This town area was close to the edge of the North Ferret Forest, so they had to go in deeper to fight.
"This place looks like something out of Middle Earth." Reiko commented.
"Bringing you with me was the right choice." Dante said with a laugh.
They came up to the first group of monsters. There were about a dozen flying creatures that looked somewhat similar to old insect monsters from a monster taming game series. The name in his appraisal came up as Violet Hornets.
"Donavan, Nisha, I want to see what you two can do first." Dante told the pair. Neither one had to do any fighting while they were in Melromarc and Zeltoble.
"Yes, Lord Shield!" They shouted as one.
Nisha wasted no time in pulling out her weapon. Reiko looked on excitedly, having already been told their family names. With a flick of her wrist, Nisha sent out the head of her whip into the nearest hornet. It struck the large insect, a couple of its legs bursting off its body as it fell dead to the ground.
"Zweite Rending Claws!" With his spell cast, Donavan lunged toward a different hornet. His hands had transformed into vicious looking claws, which he plunged into the monster, tearing it apart in a moment.
The rest of the monsters didn't last long under their assault. For how weak the violet hornets were, they gave quite a lot of XP.
"That was so cool!" Reiko enthused, his tail swishing back and forth.
"There'll be a lot more of that." Dante commented, absorbing the slain monsters. They continued on in search of more.
~The Wrong Hero~
The first day passed by rather quickly, and night was approaching. The other monsters they came across weren't much stronger than the hornets and were easily killed. The baron had said the monsters active at night would be worth more XP, but were also more dangerous. Not seeing the need to engage them just yet, Dante had them return to the lodge.
"I can't believe how strong I'm getting!" Reiko had gained a lot of XP from the day. It was even better than when Sadeena hunted in the ocean with Dio and JoJo. Then again, there were plenty of monsters around here.
"You'll get even stronger. Let's wash up before we get you dinner." Dante said. Reiko had been snacking a lot on the dried meat Dante had made and stored in his shield, plus a short break for a meal. He'd miscalculated how hungry Reiko would be, since he only had half his supply left.
The lodge came with a large outdoor bath, separated for men and women. It almost felt out of place, but there were enough taxidermy monsters around to change the feel of it.
"I want to bathe with Mister Dante!" Atla cried out as Fohl dragged her away.
"No, you can't!" Fohl responded, giving Dante a glare.
"Atla, go to the women's side with Nisha and your sister. We'll eat together afterwards." Dante told the tiger girl.
"I will finish quickly!" Atla changed gears and started pulling Fohl.
"Alta, slow down!" Fohl said, though she didn't seem to resist.
Shaking his head at their antics, Dante entered the men's side. There was an area to store their belongings, a washing area, and then the bath itself.
Seems like this place does have a Japanese feel to it. That, or this is a common setup for bathhouses.
Storing what little clothes he had, Dante headed over to wash up with a small towel around his waist. A Tree Slime had fallen on him and Reiko earlier, so a good scrubbing was needed. Keel came up next to him, though he was in his demi-human form. It had been a while since Dante saw him like that, and he was a bit surprised. He knew Keel had been training with Eclair, but it seemed the dog boy was doing something more. Keel had gained a good amount of muscles since the last time he transformed.
"Like what you see?" Keel gave him a cocky grin.
"Why, do you?" Dante returned without missing a beat.
Keel scrunched up his face for a moment before smiling again. "I bet you're jealous. You probably didn't have muscles like me when you were my age."
"You're right about that." Dante poured water over himself. "I didn't have muscles like that when I was 10."
Keel gave him a pout, but a soft elbowing from Dante got him to laugh it off.
"This place isn't what I imagined it would be." Donavan joined them and began to wash. "These weak monsters give far too much XP."
"We'll try to find tougher ones tomorrow. There's a few things I remember about Cal Mira that might be here too." Dante told the older man.
At least one difference between the two places was there didn't seem to be a dragon hourglass nearby, since Faubrey's timer was still the most pronounced. It could be that Cal Mira didn't have one either, like in the web novel, but at the very least this was one less wave to worry about.
Once finished washing, Dante looked to the bath. He was never really one for baths, but relaxing in the one in Siltvelt changed his opinion on them. Before he got in, he noticed he was one party member short.
"Reiko, you coming?" He looked back at the changing area.
"J-Just a moment!" Reiko called back.
The three of them got in, relaxing in the warm water.
"By the way, Donavan," Dante began, "who's Trivala? You mentioned her earlier."
"Elder Trivala Belmont of House Morning Star. She's the oldest living vampire, roughly 200 years of age."
They did mention being able to live longer by drinking blood. Still, knowing it could be done is different from hearing someone doing it.
"She reached level 100 a long time ago and has been advising her house in matters long before I was born." Donavan concluded.
"Wow. With someone like that around, I can imagine fighting that family isn't easy." Dante mused.
Donavan shook his head. "In my lifetime, I have not heard of her fighting personally. As vampires age, we require more blood more often. For me, drinking blood every couple of days is enough. Elder Trivala must drink every hour or so. If she doesn't, she'll begin aging again at a faster rate. It gets worse the older we are."
"Damn." If Dante took his meaning, 'every hour' included when she would be sleeping. She probably didn't have the energy to go out and fight with a sleep schedule like that. Most likely, she was now only a source of history and wisdom for the family, and a defender of the home in times of war.
"That's got to be a lot of blood." Keel said squeamishly.
"My family has a number of human slaves for just that." Donavan said. "I imagine Nisha has more for her ancestor."
"Hm." It wasn't exactly torture, so Dante didn't have too much of an issue with it. He also doubted she was drinking them dry, or their house would likely have gone bankrupt trying to keep her alive.
They chatted a bit more, talking about their plans for the activation event going forward. It revolved mostly around sacrificing levels for everyone to get them more stats. Donavan and Nisha would continue to be dropped down to around 50, along with Dante, since it didn't look like they'd reach the level 60 limit in a day from there. Fohl and Atla would finish growing before Dante would drop them down. Keel had his level dropped down to one already with the Whip's alternate reduction. He didn't get any immediate boost, but his stats started growing at a rate closer to Sadeena's. If not during this activation, Dante would definitely take the rest of his party to the next one. The only downside was it looked like Keel no longer had a class upgrade, so they'd need to do that before he could go higher than 40. Finally…
"Hey, Reiko! You coming?" Dante called out behind him. He'd heard someone in the wash area, but Reiko hadn't appeared yet.
"D-Do I have to?" Reiko asked.
"No, but it'll help you relax a little."
Reiko walked around the corner, a small towel around his waist. He purposefully kept his eyes away from the group as he approached and got in the bath.
"You okay there?" Dante asked the boy.
"Yeah…" Reiko muttered with his head down. He kept a hand on his chest, covering the slave seal there.
"Coming to the bath wasn't an order." Dante told him. "I told you before, I'm not going to make you do anything."
After seeing how strong the rest of the party was, Reiko had opted to take the slave seal. Dante set only one condition, the same one as the rest of his party. No attacking him in his sleep.
"I know." Reiko murmured.
"What's up then?" Dante asked.
In response, Reiko threw up his arms. "I'm in a bath with a bunch of guys!"
Dante blinked. "Yeah. And?"
"You remember I used to be…you know, before coming here." He nodded over at Donavan, not wanting to tell him about his past life.
"I'm surprised you haven't gotten used to it." Dante said.
"I have, but…it's different with other people." Reiko muttered.
"What, you never bathed in the river?" Dante asked. Then again, he didn't really know how villagers would bathe. He supposed going to a bath house might be a bit much, but Reiko learning alchemy could boost his family's finances.
"I believe commoners bathe using a bucket of water and a cloth, Lord Shield." Donavan answered.
"Yeah, something like that." Reiko confirmed. "I've never been naked around anyone but my parents."
"Still, we're all guys here." Dante pointed out.
"It's different!" Reiko shouted. "I mean, how would you feel being naked around a bunch of women?"
"I have been. Multiple times. Once was at the mines after my armor and clothes got burned off."
"I said I was sorry!"
"I've been completely fine with it. Besides, I'm the Shield Hero living in Siltvelt. You must have some idea what that means."
Reiko's face started to turn red. "W-Well, imagine you were 10 years old too."
"Again…" Dante reminded him that he became a child not too long ago.
"That's not even the biggest thing." Reiko went on. "Back before coming here, someone like you was totally my type—" He quickly covered his mouth with his hands.
Dante raised his eyebrows at that. Then, mimicking his lover, he placed a hand against his own cheek. "Aw, you're going to make me blush~."
"Shut up!" Reiko ducked down, keeping his nose barely above the water.
Dante and Keel laughed at his reaction. Even Donavan let out a chuckle, though he didn't have all the context of it.
"Humor me." Dante quieted down. "What is it about me you like? I doubt it's the black hair."
Reiko sulked as he raised his mouth above the water. "I just thought foreign men were handsome. I saw a lot in, uh, recording crystals."
"Hate to break it to you, but that's mostly just celebrities. A big part of their job is to look good."
"I guess, but you look good too. You have all those cool scars and those muscles and—stop it!" Reiko splashed water at them, prompting another bout of laughter.
"Hah! Man, what's the opposite of a tsundere? Instead of being unable to express these things, you can't help but let it out. It's just like when we first met." Dante reminisced about Reiko's slips back then.
"Is it always going to be like this?" Reiko asked as he slumped back against the edge of the bath.
"Probably not. I imagine it'll get better when you age up a little. Help make you bit less impulsive." Dante said. "Or it'll get worse, which I'll find highly entertaining."
Reiko grumbled to himself. "Hey, how old will I get? I never really asked my parents."
"Somewhere around Keel's age." Dante pointed to the dog boy.
"How come Raphtalia and Rifana are older?" Reiko asked.
"Luck of the draw, plus genetics." Dante said. "I think Siltvelt's elite races go up to around 18 also, but that's it."
"That's not fair." Reiko sulked. "I don't get to be an adult, and I don't get a transformation."
"I think you've been fairly compensated." Dante said with a raised eyebrow. "Why do you want to transform anyway? Did you want to be cute so I'd bet you?"
"Dante!" Reiko lowered himself in the bath again.
Before they left, Dante checked with Sadeena about Reiko. She said he didn't have a transformation, but that was mostly expected. It was a rare trait, after all.
"Don't let Dante bother you." Keel jumped into the conversation. "He just likes to tease people. He got it from Sadeena."
"That hurts, Keel." Dante pouted. "And after what I said to you before."
"See what I mean?" Keel said, pointing at Dante's face.
Keel jolted. He felt Dante's arm wrap around his shoulder, bringing him in contact with Dante's side.
"You still think I'm just teasing~?" Dante asked in a softer voice.
"N-Nice try." Keel stuttered. "I talked t-to Eclair. She said you were j-just joking."
"Is that so~? Dante whispered into his ear. He placed his other hand on Keel's chin, turning it to come face-to-face with Dante. "Then I'll show you…" He leaned closer to Keel, feeling his breath on his face.
In a puff of smoke, Keel transformed and flipped back onto the ground before the bath. "Okay, I'm done!"
"Me too!" Reiko jumped out and the pair ran to the changing area.
"Don't trip!" Dante called as he laughed, slipping back into the bath and relaxing.
"Quite the lively group you have, Lord Shield." Donavan said, having observed the whole exchange.
"They're a good bunch." Dante said, head against the edge of the bath.
"I will say, if you are interested, I do have a nephew or two that might suit your—"
"I'm not gay." Dante interrupted.
"I know. You have that Sadeena woman too, so I assume you like both men and women." Donavan concluded.
"Nah, just women." Dante clarified.
"Then…what was all that?"
"Teasing." Dante smirked at the vampire. "Keel was right. While I did tease before coming here, I did mostly develop that trait from Sadeena."
"Even before, in Siltvelt?" Donavan asked. "I heard you propositioned the boy before the wave."
"I swear, you people get your information from the strangest places." Dante wasn't really surprised someone overheard that little bit in the courtyard. "Keel was just getting approached by some noble daughters, so I decided to have a little fun. I don't really have an interest in men, I'm just secure enough in my manhood to go that far to tease him."
Dante had thought to mess with Donavan a bit and let him think he was interested in men, but he thought better of it. Donavan was still a noble and tribe head in Siltvelt. Dante could totally see word getting around and people trying something. He really didn't want to go to his room one night to see men waiting for him or, god forbid, teenage boys. Really, he was fortunate no one tried that already.
~The Wrong Hero~
After the bath and dinner, they went to bed for the night. There were two suites prepared, one for the men and one for the women. Dante was able to convince Atla not to try sneaking in, though he didn't know how long that would last.
The next day, they got back to grinding. Dante remembered there being boss-type monsters on Cal Mira, so he asked the baron about them. Something like that was here, so he got directions and they headed toward there.
On the way, they faced plenty of monsters. Many were the same as from yesterday, but there were plenty of new ones, especially as they got further in. The deeper they went, the stronger the monsters became. Dante actually needed to start defending, either from the monsters having a significant enough attack and speed, or from there being enough of them.
For fighting, he'd have Shooting Star Shield VI active for his party to fall back into with Hate Reaction III luring the monsters to attack the barrier. Before a battle broke out, he'd cast Faust Aura VIII on everyone. With his lowered level, he had to pull the points from his other support spells—and a couple attack spells—to get it that high, but the bonus was well worth it. Even if he couldn't cast it as a Zweite spell, he had enough magical knowledge to use the All variant.
Speaking of levels, Reiko had grown a bit from the previous day. He was already looking to be around 14. Fohl looked like she gained another year, but Atla didn't change much.
They stopped by a river to take a break and refill their waterskins. The day had been progressing smoothly so far, and it wouldn't be long until they reached where the baron had told them.
Dante looked into the river, seeing what was there. A few large fish were swimming upstream. He pulled a net from his item drops and tossed it in.
"Lord Shield, let one of us do that for you." Nisha said as she approached.
"It's fine." Dante waved her off. "I've got some fishing bonuses, so I'll catch them pretty quickly."
"But, you're Lord Shield. You shouldn't need to do this at all." Nisha argued.
"No need, but I want to. Or, are you saying you don't want me to cook these for you?" Dante asked with a smile.
Nisha paused. "I'll prepare a fire for us."
She and Donavan had sampled Dante's cooking the day before, and she clearly wanted to again.
Dante returned his attention to his net. He could already see one fish get caught in it and another was about to follow suit. Before it could, something wrapped around Dante's leg. He looked down to see a blue tentacle stretch out from the river. In an instant, he was ripped from the ground and pulled beneath the water's surface. He heard the cries of his party before he was submerged. Struggling against the monster's grip, he let out a muffled cry.
Or, that's what would have happened.
The tentacle tugged vigorously at his leg, but it didn't budge.
"That's adorable." Dante reached down with his free hand and gripped the tentacle. He began pulling both it and the net from the river.
"Mister Dante?" Atla looked over to see a clam-looking monster being lifted from the water. On its back end were three more tentacles that desperately tried to drag it back to the water.
Dante dropped the net on the river's edge and began walking toward the monster, reeling in the tentacle to keep it from escaping. Once he reached it, he grabbed the other tentacles, letting them wrap themselves around him.
"Hey Atla, want to give this a good punch for me?" Dante asked nonchalantly.
Leaping into action, Atla ran forward and thrust her hand into the clam's shell. It hissed at the attack before letting its tentacles fall limply to the ground. Dante dislodged himself from them and stood next to the blind girl.
"Nice hit." Dante told her.
"Thank you, Mister Dante." Atla turned her face up, looking at him expectantly.
Dante relented and patted her on her head, earning a happy hum.
"Hey, stop that!" Fohl shouted as she ran over.
"Don't worry, I'll pat your head next time." Dante winked at her.
"Who would want that!?" Fohl yelled.
Dante lifted his hand and pointed down at Atla.
"Atla, stop being petted by this guy!" Fohl told her.
"Sister, don't be so jealous." Atla said in return.
"I-I'm not jealous! I don't want to be petted!" Fohl stammered.
"Jealous of me, you goof." Dante said, looking over the dead monster. He held his shield against its shell and absorbed it.
Tendril Oyster Shield
(abilities locked) equip bonus: skill "Bubble Shield"
"Oh-ho, wow. I've been waiting to get this." Dante looked over the stats. It was an okay shield, but the skill was the important part.
"What did you get?" Atla turned to ask.
"A skill that'll let us fight underwater." Dante said. "Really could have used this before, but it'll really help going forward."
"As expected of you, Mister Dante." Atla smiled.
With fish pulled up, Dante got started cooking. A few more had snuck into the net by the time he had pulled it to dry land. With the use of a few herbs Dante had stored in his shield, the fish were cooked and the meal was ready.
It was also over in a flash. Everyone had dug into the fish, including Fohl.
"As delicious as always." Atla complimented.
"It was okay…" Fohl muttered.
Dante smirked. "If you don't like it, you're free to cook your helping."
"Er, no…" Fohl's voice was even quieter.
I'd say I have a tsundere on my hands with Fohl, but I know her displeasure is more genuine. Not that she hates me, since I'm treating her sister and all.
A thought crossed Dante's mind. "Hey, Atla? You mind helping me with something once we get back?"
"Of course, Mister Dante!" She beamed. "What can I do?"
"I want to practice one of my abilities, and I need you to test it out." Dante said.
"You're going to do something to Atla!?" Fohl gave him a hard look.
"I'm going to use my Air Strike Shield and have her point out the weaknesses. Maybe spar with her a bit too."
It was something he vaguely recalled. Atla was gifted with life force even without training. Dante believed she was able to break the barriers Naofumi infused with life force, helping him to adjust how he applied it. Receiving attacks himself could also help learning to deal with defense-rating attacks. It would be a poor substitute to actual training for Dante, but it could potentially improve his use of EP on his skills.
"I'll do my best!" Atla enthused.
With that settled, they packed up and continued on.
More monsters continued to cross their path, but they still weren't too dangerous. They continued to provide Dante with shield reveals and the bonuses were getting progressively better. Less and less light made it through the tall trees that surrounded them, making early afternoon look more like late evening.
As they neared the location the baron told them, they spotted a gorilla like monster.
"I'll take this one." Dante told them. "I want to get a bit more of a workout in."
Dante approached the monster alone. It took notice of him and began to charge, arms and legs thumping on the ground. Dante raised his Dark Tyrannosaurus Shield and was about to charge it when an arrow struck its leg. It fell to the ground and slid a few feet before stopping. Then, a torrent of fire washed over its body, incinerating it.
"Oh, sorry about that." Dante heard a voice. He turned to the source and saw a group of adventurers. "I didn't see you there. Didn't mean to take your kill."
"No harm done." Dante said. The baron had told them interfering with others' battles wasn't allowed.
The man held his bow to the side as he approached with his party. "It gets pretty dark this far in, so I really didn't see you there."
"It's fine, I didn't even attack it yet." At least he apologized for it.
The man looked at the rest of Dante's party as they came forward. "You were going to fight that by yourself, even though you have a party?"
Dante nodded. "Yeah. I wanted to see what I could do by myself."
"Pretty gutsy. Those things can do some serious damage. You don't even have any armor on." The man pointed to Dante's pants, still the only thing he wore.
"I like the thrill of it." Dante boasted. It was a little true, since he found the idea of taking attacks on his bare skin doing nothing to be funny.
"Where are you guys headed? We can make sure not to cross paths again." The man asked.
Dante looked back at his party. He saw the look in Donavan and Nisha's eyes. Fohl too. He looked back at the man's party.
"Let's see…" Dante turned around and pointed off in the distance. "We're headed in that—"
"Dante!" Keel yelled.
With a quick thrust, Dante grabbed the arm of a rogue-looking woman from the group. In it was a dagger coated in a sickly purple liquid.
"Shit!" One of the man's party members, a man with greatsword, quickly jutted to the side and raised it above his head. The bowman stepped back and pulled on his bowstring, his weapon aimed at Dante.
"Shooting Star Shield VII!" Dante activated his skill, pushing back the man's whole party.
Nisha sent her whip forward, wrapping around the mage's neck before he could begin casting a spell. Donavan leapt forward, delivering a strong punch to the rogue woman's head and breaking her nose. Fohl and Atla dashed through the barrier, striking out at the disoriented adventurers and knocking them to the ground. Keel stood with his swords drawn in front of Reiko, who was frozen in place.
Dismissing his skill, Dante ran to the two nearest adventurers. The bowman was pinned with Dante's hand around his throat, same as a woman with a mace and shield.
"W-What just happened!?" Reiko snapped out of it and yelled.
"We're going to find out." Dante said, a chill in his voice.
~The Wrong Hero~
After knocking out the adventurers, Dante used his powered up Rope Shield to drop enough rope to bind the lot of them. There were six in total, which included a second mage.
Once they regained consciousness, the questioning began.
"That wasn't a well thought out plan." Dante started with a taunt. "What, you though you could poison me and my party would just let you go?"
The bowman, who looked to be the leader, turned his head to the side. With a look from Dante, Donavan gave him a kick to his chest. The man groaned in pain as he hit the ground.
"Start talking." Dante looked down at him.
The leader spat up some blood before speaking. "You were too resilient. I saw you from afar taking all those hits on your barrier and knew we couldn't take you by surprise while you had it on."
"So, what, you thought a knife was going to do the trick? You could have attacked after I started fighting that monster." Dante placed his foot on the man's head. "You're going to have to do better than that." He began grinding his heel into the man.
"I have an ability!" The rogue woman quickly said. "Short-range attacks I make against unsuspecting targets ignore part of their defense. It's from my class up."
"Really?" That sounded like an assassin move if Dante ever heard one. "And why would you need that, I wonder?"
The woman fell silent.
"Don't tell this man anything!" The heavily armored man bellowed. "How did you even know she was going to attack?"
"Oh, so it's okay if I tell you guys stuff?" Dante asked as he removed his foot from the leader's head.
"Answer me, Shield Demon!" The armored guy yelled.
"Because of you, idiot." Dante walked over to him and knelt down. "I could practically taste your bloodlust. Same with most of my party."
"What are you doing? Get off!" The man cried as Dante ruffled around his armor.
Pulling something off the man, Dante stood. In his hand was a pendent with a sword, spear, and bow on it.
"Why am I not surprised?" Dante sighed. "Well, sequels do tend to be lackluster."
"What are you talking about, Shield?" The armored man yelled.
"Quiet, Armor."
While most of the party composition was different, the two key features were the same. The leader was a bow user (who spoke words as if he believed in fairness), and a tall, armored man who was belligerent and followed the Three Heroes Church's teachings.
"So, is that it? The Three Heroes Church sent you?" Dante asked the bound group.
"We're not telling you anything, Shield!" Armor II spat.
"Someone will." Dante walked over to the discarded dagger. He picked it up and looked over it with his appraisal. "Wow. This here is a fast acting neurotoxin. Looks like it'll paralyze all muscles, eventually reaching the heart and lungs."
"H-How do you know that?" The rogue woman asked.
"I'm the Shield Hero. I have a lot of abilities. For instance…" Dante took the knife and ran the flat of it against his tongue. The adventurers gasped in horror at the sight.
"Lord Shield!" That, of course, included the two vampire nobles with him.
"Poison resistance was one of the first things I improved on." Dante tossed the knife aside. "I'm practically immune to poison. This crap won't do anything to me." The only reason alcohol still affected him at all was because it wasn't strictly a poison. He held a hand to his mouth for a moment. "Oof, spicy."
"Monster…" Armor II muttered.
"Now then, who's going to talk?" Dante observed the horrified group of adventurers. "I might start literally giving you the kiss of death if you don't."
"Oh, just like in Godfather." Reiko commented.
"Of course you saw that." Dante smiled at him. "You have good taste."
"It was all his idea!" One of the mages yelled as he nodded to Armor II.
"Derik, you bastard!" Armor II roared.
"You seem like a pretty honest guy." Dante told the mage. "Which is probably why you suck so bad at lying."
His words reeked of desperation, but also malice. If Dante had to guess, he didn't like Armor II all that much. Dante hadn't bothered to gag either of the mages. He could silence them long before they finished chanting.
"Well, if you won't tell me, I have no other choice." Dante casually walked back to his party and stood before Nisha. He whispered in her ear, causing her face to twist into a devilish grin.
"Which one, Lord Shield?" She asked, eyeing the adventurers.
"Whichever one you think has the least information." He told her.
Nisha nodded and approached. She gazed over the bound adventurers, seeking out her prey. Making her choice, she grabbed the mage who hadn't spoken. Opening her mouth wide, she bit into his neck.
"No!"
"Stop!"
Cries from the adventures rang out as Nisha began draining her victim of blood.
"As the source of your power, I—" To prove his assessment, Dante kicked the other mage, Derik, in the head, stopping his casting.
The mage in Nisha's grasp couldn't make a sound. Slowly, the light in his eyes faded. An XP notification appeared in Dante's vision, verifying the man's death.
"Ahh!" Nisha threw back her head, blood trickling down the side of her face as she looked up in ecstasy.
Dante blinked at the display. This got weirdly sexual all of a sudden.
Shaking that thought out, he gazed across the remaining adventurers. "Who's next?"
"Tell him!" The leader yelled to the rogue woman.
Sensing her life in danger, the woman spoke. "There was a posting in the Dark Guild in Faubrey. The Shield Hero would be at the North Ferret Forest. A bounty was placed on your head."
"The Dark Guild? I thought that was in Zeltoble." Dante looked down at her.
"There's a branch in Faubrey, and one in Shieldfreeden. Zeltoble is the main branch that sometimes sends jobs to the others."
Hm. So, someone in either Faubrey or Zeltoble posted this. If this is connected to the trouble the sisters were in before I got them, it's Zeltoble. Of course, why should my number of enemies stay the same when they can increase? I already have a few ideas on who it is, too.
"Who placed this bounty?" Dante demanded.
"I don't know, I swear!" The rogue cried out. "Rewards are left with the guild so the people who take the jobs never see their employer."
"I see." Dante figured he had all the answers he was going to get. He stepped over the mage he knocked out and rejoined his party.
"What do we do with them?" Keel asked.
"Donavan." Dante got the vampire's attention. "Join Nisha and drain the rest of them. You pick which one you want, then she gets her turn, and so on."
"Yes, Lord Shield." Donavan bowed, adopting the same type of smile as Nisha.
"Wait! We told you everything!" The rogue cried out.
"You also tried to murder me and my probably my party. It's not my policy to let assassins live, even shitty ones like you." Dante told her.
"Shield Demon!" Armor II made his final yell. Donavan had made his first choice.
Author's Notes:
I hear Godfather II was better than the original, but I wouldn't know. Haven't seen it yet. It's on my list.
By the way, the first monsters they fought were basically Beedrills from Pokemon.